Iran is asking the International Criminal Court to bring to dock the Israeli leaders for their war crimes in Gaza over the past two years and the crimes against humanity they perpetrated in massive air strikes. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the United Nations court specialized in war crimes to sue the Israeli leaders for their crimes against humanity in Gaza Strip.
Emphasizing the need for an immediate judicial action against the Israeli leaders, President Ahmadinejad that the ICC must send arrest warrants to the Israeli leaders by the Interpol. Those involved by any means in such brutality "should be designated as war criminal and murderer," stressed the president.
The cabinet members have also made major decisions about the crisis in Gaza. The Foreign Ministry will send Iranian request to the United Nations Special Court on War Crimes.
The leading Iranian lawyers will also prepare a law suit against the Israeli leaders in the international court by assistance of the Judiciary.
A special message from President Ahmadinejad will also be sent to heads of other countries in this connection.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters at the end of the cabinet session that special envoys would be introduced within the next 48 hours to submit President Ahmadinejad's messages to the heads of other countries.
Members of the cabinet also decided to allocate part of their salary to the Gazans who are suffering from hard conditions under the Israeli siege.
A Hamas advisor earlier told IRNA that Israel backed by the West and the United States, aims to eradicate Hamas in Gaza.
Azam Tamimi also condemned Arab states for their silence.
The horrific brutality of Israel against civilians have triggered international outrage and shocked world public opinion. Muslims and non-Muslims people in both Western and Islamic world staged protest rallies on Sunday condemning Israel's atrocities in Gaza. They also called on heads of world countries to help stop Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Posted by: lftbhndagn ||
12/29/2008
18:41 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#3
Right after they get done processing the arrest warrants for the Iran leadership that was engage in non-UN authorized terrorism war in Iraq. Stand in line.
A suicide bomber on a bicycle blew himself up Sunday amid a crowd of demonstrators in northern Iraq [Mosul] who were protesting Israel's air strikes on Gaza, killing one demonstrator and wounding 16 others, Iraqi police said.
#11
I'll go with Apostate, itsa IBR (Involuntary Boomer Reflex). It really does not matter who the poor targeted schmucks are... "Allan will sort'em out."
Try not to piss on the rugs, okay, hippies?
Anti-Zionists, cranky over Israel's brazen smack down in the Gaza Strip, which left 220 people dead, will have a whisper-quiet protest over at DiFi's office later this afternoon at 5 p.m. Co-Sponsored by Direct Action to Stop the War; the Middle East Children's Alliance (awwwwww), Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (oh Jesus, really?), and SF Women in Black (wait, what?). We didn't think much of this protest at first; another protest at Diane Feinstein's office where prog elitists can pretend to looked concerned, we sighed to ourselves. But it turns out you're supposed to "bring candles, posters, and banners; wear black." Wear black? We'll see you tonight at Market and Montgomery at five o'clock sharp. ...and don't forget the Big Giant Puppets...
#3
Take a Hawiian Vacation? Hope the situation Changes before he takes the Oath?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/29/2008 15:14
Comments ||
Top||
#4
well, Obama cant do anything till Jan 20. At that time he will meet with his advisers and sell out the only free democracy in the region to a group of despotic thugs thereby firmly grasping defeat from the jaws of victory.
we can only pray that it is too late.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
12/29/2008 15:16
Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: ed ||
12/29/2008 16:16
Comments ||
Top||
#8
It's aggrevating that those who complain about America's overabundance of influence refuse to take constructive action on their won. Let Hugo Chavez take a crack at making a Middle East peace initiative.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/29/2008 16:23
Comments ||
Top||
#9
Take credit when the Israelis time their ceasefire to his inauguration.
Posted by: regular joe ||
12/29/2008 16:24
Comments ||
Top||
#10
I think it comes down to a choice of surfing or snorkeling. It really depends on wave conditions.
#17
Didn't he say he is "observing" the situation? You see, he's fully engaged, he's present!
He may even contemplate about departing a speech to both parties, where then they would be so taken aback by his oratory that they would ovate "O-bam-a, O-bam-a!" for hours and engage in cycles of violence no more.
Violent confrontations broke out at the Israeli Embassy in London today as up to 1,500 protesters against Israel's Gaza campaign gathered in a vociferous demonstration. Campaign supporters, Palestinians and British Muslims stood on the pavement of High Street Kensington, west London, and chanted in unison: Five, six, seven, eight - Israel is a terror state.
Riot police were brought in to control the crowd, some of whom turned violent. Witnesses said some protestors were forcibly removed and others were seen with bloodied faces as violence erupted.
One campaigner was seen throwing a bag and what appeared to be a book over some gates towards the embassy and another was seen throwing red liquid. Officers retreated from the immediate scene as the crowds swelled, and some appeared to be trying to break through barriers to access the embassy.
The protesters waved Palestinian flags and held up placards, including some which read: Holocaust in Gaza and no peace, no justice.
Traffic on the busy shopping street was brought to a standstill as more protestors arrived and the road was blocked off near the Embassy.
Six police vans, four police cars and territorial units from the Metropolitan Police waited to intervene as the chanting continued. As the standoff continued, a security guard at the nearby Royal Garden Hotel said police had been rapidly outnumbered and handled the situation terribly.
The member of staff, who did not want to be named, added: There were only eight officers trying to contain a protest with about 500 demonstrators. They are trying to break down the barriers towards the Embassy and the police can do nothing about it. It has been handled terribly and now they are chasing to catch up a scene which is already out of control.
Gamal Hamed, from Hammersmith, whose 23-year-old son still lives in Gaza, said: Yesterday was the bloodiest day in my homelands history. We will do what we can to make the world take notice. I am delighted by the number of people who have pledged their support today - we are all worried about where the conflict goes from here.
Scotland Yard said three people were arrested at the London protest on suspicion of committing public order offences.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
14:20 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Heading back to pick up a weapon, Gamal? Help out sonny boy, y'know? Or is your talent noisemaking?
Gaza / PNN - The Free Gaza movement is sending another solidarity ship to the Strip, due this time to the major Israeli attacks. The four previous voyages have set sail in solidarity to the million and a half residents under siege. The boat has set sail as of early Monday evening.
Among the Free Gaza organizers is Eliza Ernshire who said, "We have calls for surgeons willing to go into Gaza and work there throughout this crisis. The doctors inside are exhausted and unable to cope with the number of wounded."
On board the ship expected to set sail on Monday are four physicians. Among them is Dr. Elena Theoharous, a surgeon and member of Cypriot parliament. Former United States Congresswoman and Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney will also be making the voyage. And local hero, Al Jazeera correspondent formerly imprisoned in Guantanamo, Sami Al Hajj, is also expected.
With the major military attack ongoing in the Gaza Strip in addition to the siege it remains to be seen if Israeli gunboats will stop the European ship. The Iranian Red Crescent ship that was expected to set sail on Friday, the day before the major Israeli assault began, was delayed ostensibly for 24 hours. The boat carrying a medical team and equipment was being rerouted from its landing point of the Gaza port to Egypt due to a lack of cooperation, as it was stated. The aid was going to be delivered overland through the Egyptian crossing with Rafah.
The Free Gaza movement, which intends to depart Cyprus at 5:00 pm today, writes, "We are not asking Israel for 'permission' to go, and we will not stop until the Dignity lands in Gaza. We are answering urgent calls from hospitals and health care workers in Gaza by taking in three physicians who will stay and work in Gaza for several weeks. We will hold Israel responsible for the safety of our passengers and our cargo of emergency medicine."
Even before the present Israeli blitzkrieg, Karen Koning Abu Zayd, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, asserted that, "Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution, with the knowledge, acquiescence and - some would say - encouragement of the international community."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
14:16 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
How's about us providing Cynthia as a permanent human shield to Hamas to protect rocket launching sites in Gaza?
#3
Israel has submarines. Submarines have torpedoes.
Just a thought.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/29/2008 14:45
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Sink it after they get there. Let's see how long it takes for them to get out.
Myself, I think they'll be praying for the Israeli's to deny them entry...
#6
There is enough meat on that crazy bitch to feed a family of 4 through the duration of this crisis. I say we round up and send over an additional 250,000 delusional Marxists to take care of another million Gazans.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
12/29/2008 15:36
Comments ||
Top||
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The lawyer for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich says federal wiretaps may have caught the governor making some "unfortunate" remarks but they don't show him doing anything that justifies impeachment. Attorney Ed Genson told a House committee that there's no evidence the governor ever took any illegal action to auction off a U.S. Senate seat or pressure the Chicago Tribune to fire its editorial writers.
Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on federal corruption charges. The criminal complaint includes snippets from Blagojevich conversations that were caught on tape. Genson says the conversations amount to "unfortunate talk, talk that shouldn't have been made perhaps. But not actions."
Only in Illinois can you say that and not have your lips fall off. Well, and New Jersey. And Louisiana. And Rhode Island.
The committee has been assigned to recommend whether the full House should vote on impeachment.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
14:14 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I dunno, I seem to remember somebody having a fund-raiser in furtherance of getting Hot Rod his cumshaw...
An arsonist threw a Molotov cocktail against one of Chicago's oldest synagogues early today, and police are treating the incident as a hate crime.
The firebomb was thrown against the wall of Temple Sholom, 3480 N. Lake Shore Dr., by someone who drove up about 2 a.m., police said, citing a witness account. It self-extinguished and caused minimal damage, according to police spokesman Officer Daniel O'Brien. "The offender drove off and made a derogatory statement, an anti-Semitic slur," O'Brien said, citing the witness account.
The suspect was described as a man in his late 20s who fled in a black, two-door car, police said. The vehicle sped away south on inner Lake Shore Drive.
Temple Sholom was founded in 1867, making it one of Chicago's oldest synagogues, according to its Web site.
The incident took place several days after Israel launched an air assault in Gaza in response to Hamas firing rockets into Israel. Jay Tcath, senior vice president of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago said it was hard to avoid "the likely connection" between the arson at the temple and what has been happening in Gaza. "Though no suspects have been apprehended and it's premature to unequivocally connect what is happening with this incident, it's hard to avoid the likely connection," Tcath said.
Lonnie Nasatir, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League in the upper Midwest region, said the incident is cause for vigilance. "All reports indicate right now it's being investigated as a hate crime, that the temple was purposely targeted. We are hoping that it's just one incident and that there are not further copycat incidents in the future. We don't know if it has any correlation with what is happening in Gaza."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
14:09 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This sort of crap is to be expected whenever Israel does something. So why didn't the synagogue hire a few armed night watchmen?
Me, I would have loved a happy ending, like "Molotov cocktail throwing man burned to death after being shot by security guard and dropping bomb."
#2
Like churches everywhere, Anonymoose, this synagogue no doubt has many more projects needing money than they have funds. I am equally certain the congregation hires off-duty policemen to stand guard during the high holiday services, when people could be hurt by vicious idiots. Buildings are replaceable, and anyway the damage is covered by insurance -- which I'm sure will go up as a result of this incident, essentially a tax on being Jewish -- but congregants are not.
#2
1) Is it possible the finger was severed by an M-16 round or shrapnal knocked loose by one (say, and AK-47 trigger guard)?
2) If it was an intentional execution, why would hostile witnesses have been left to tell the story? In fact, why all the theatrics - just claim hostile fire and drop a JDAM into the place.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/29/2008 14:26
Comments ||
Top||
#4
damn - I gotta refresh more often.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/29/2008 14:27
Comments ||
Top||
#5
This is "Operation Red Herring". This previously undisclosed operation was designed to identify every member of the media that is working for the other side. If we ever get political leadership that isn't in debt to the "news" media, they will be prosecuted for giving aid and comfort to our enemies. See No News is just the first to take the bait.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/29/2008 16:20
Comments ||
Top||
#6
so, Peter Arnett got rehired?
Michael Ware is the new Peter Arnett. Like Arnett, Ware is Australian.
#7
It's certainly possible that the man was executed but I would think that the probability was low. If an asassination was intended, a sniper rifle was probably the way to go. Assembling a group of witnesses seems unlikely as the American military is not looking for that type of reputation at this point in the Iraq war. I'm sure they can hardly wait to blow Dodge.
It is interesting that there doesn't seem to much of a claim that the dearly departed was a peaceful gentleman.
To me this looks like either a misunderstanding or a case where CNN is headlining a story of dubious origin because it agees with their template. Certainly there have been American attrocities in the Iraq war as there are in many wars (demonstrably the Iran Iraq War,) but CNN's credulous acceptence of this family's assertions makes me suspicious of the incident. Veracity is not a quality that I personally associate with Arab culture. I don't particularly care if that offends people.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/29/2008 16:44
Comments ||
Top||
#8
And these were simple farmers. Just look at their house.
Posted by: ed ||
12/29/2008 16:58
Comments ||
Top||
#9
Grizzled War Correspondent would know where Arneett is drinking reside.
Talk about "being in the moment"...
DELTONA -- A 27-year-old woman was charged with battery for biting her husband's penis, a Volusia County Sheriff's report shows. Woah, there, honey! No teeth, okay? After a night of drinking, Charris Bowers and her husband arrived at their Deltona home late Saturday and began having oral sex, the report says. Ah, Ye Olde Night of Drinking...
But moments later as Bowers and her spouse, Delou, engaged in the act, she began biting down hard enough that Delou Bowers asked her to stop, the report says. When she refused, Delou Bowers started punching Charris Bowers in the head and face until she finally let go, the report says. I usually like it when you get into it, honey, but...OUCH!
That wasn't enough, according to the report. Charris Bowers then attempted to punch her husband and he shoved her to the ground and left the room. Awwww, honey. Don't go away mad...
Charris Bowers told deputies that she bit her husband because she did not want to have sex. But after the deputy saw Delou Bowers' injuries, he concluded charges were warranted. Woah! Muldoon look at this!
Damn. That vacumn cleaner had teeth, sarge...
Charris Bowers was taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail Sunday morning and released a few hours later on her own recognizance after making her first appearance in court, jail officials said today. So, maam, got any place you can go?
I will have once this story gets out...
#5
GolfBravo, I'm trying to decide if the damage to my marriage from having a pair of those hot dog cooking thingies would be offset sufficiently by their coolness factor.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
12/29/2008 19:15
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Perhaps if you enticed wifey with a matching set of bun warmers.
Posted by: ed ||
12/29/2008 20:42
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Mugshot at the link. Judging by the looks, I'd assume Charris had "skills". At least I hope so, for Delou's sake....
Tehran: Iranian hardline clerics are signing up volunteers to fight Israel amid continued deadly air strikes on the Gaza Strip, the Fars news agency reported on Monday.
Fars said the Combatant Clergy Society on Monday activated its website www.rohaniatmobarez.com to register volunteers "to fight against the Zionist regime in either the military, financial or propaganda fields."
The news agency reported that more than 1,100 people so far had registered for military service against Israel.
All sorts of opportunities, but I favor the garbage scow in the Arabian Sea ...
The clerics' move came a day after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomenei issued a religious decree to Muslims around the world, ordering them to defend Palestinians in Gaza. Khomenei said on Sunday that whoever was killed in the fight to defend Palestinians was "considered a martyr". Excuse me? Wouldn't that be considered a declaration of war on Israel by Iran?
#6
CNN this AM > Israel proclaims to be in a state of "ALL-OUT WAR" AGZ HAMAS vee GAZA, whereas HIZBULLAG LDR NASRALLAH has reportedly ordered the Hizzies Hezzies Huzzies, etal. to "PREPARE FOR WAR" AGZ ISRAEL, INCLUD TO DEFEND LEBANON WID ARMS FROM ISRAELI MIL MOVES???
From orbat.com - not confirmed yet from any other source
Our trusty correspondent, Mandeep Singh Bajwa, informed us this morning that India has offered to send 120,000 troops to Afghanistan. Naturally we asked Mandeep "are we being used by the Indians in a psyops game to put pressure on Pakistan?" Not that the Government of India knows we exist, but in all the movies about the media the Editor always asks if the paper is being played.
Mandeep's answer, paraphrased, was this: "I don't know at what level the offer has been made, but the Indian Army and Air Force are down to identifying specific units, formations, and squadrons..." - details, as we said, at Long War Journal - "...as well as discussing a specific name for force commander, plus working on the details of pre-deployment training, so this is a lot more elaborate than needed for a psyops game.'
We'd prefer to discuss this after we learn more, rather than waste your time with elaborate theories spun out of nothing ("Orbat.com's military sources say..."). But the following points are immediately apparent.
For the new US administration, this offer would be heaven-sent and just making it would put the US Government in debt to the Indians - "your other friends/allies talked, we walked." The administration could turn around to to its own people, and say: "Americans, you complain we are carrying the Afghan burden by ourselves, now we have a partner."
At Orbat.com we've been constantly talking about the need for more manpower; well, here you have a whacking big increment of manpower. With US/Allied troops it takes one to 75% of what Orbat.com considers a minimum force if Afghanistan is to be won.
In one deft swoop, India forces the Americans to chose Delhi over Islamabad. To the Indians the constant US attempt to "balance" the two countries has been a source of serious blood pressure since the 1940s; obviously if the Americans accept it has to be India First from now on and Pakistan gets marginalized. Moreover, the Indians put America up the creek without the paddle regarding Pakistan: "what is it your so-called ally is doing, compared to what we are willing to do."
The devious cunning of the Indian move becomes more apparent when you consider if the US government refuses, the American people are going to get on the Government's case: "The Indians are offering and you're still sticking with those slimey two-timers the Pakistanis?"
For India, offering a huge contingent takes the pressure off the Indian government to act aggressively against Pakistan. India does not have a launch a single sortie against Pakistan to punish it for acting against India. Indian government can tell its own people: "What good will a pinprick do? The Israelis have been bashing up the Palestinians for two decades, and where are the results? What we are doing is to strike a hard blow at Pakistan without crossing the Pakistan border and getting beat up by everyone for provoking war."
Plus India neatly destroys Pakistan's strategic depth objective. The Indians have been wanting to get into the act in Afghanistan for several years, because they know a Taliban government means more fundamentalist pressure on Pakistan and thereby on India. But the Americans have been refusing India help for fear of offending the Pakistanis. For India to get into Afghanistan in force is to again change the paradigm of Indian-Pakistani relations as happened in 1971 when India split East Bengal from Pakistan. For the last almost 40 years India's efforts to marginalize Pakistan have been stymied. If the US accepts the Indian offer, India gains hugely.
But right now a lot of American decision-makers do not care if Pakistan is offended because they see the latter has no interest in fighting the insurgents or helping the US against the Taliban. Once alternate supply routes are available, US can write off Pakistan and as a consequence, paradoxically, vastly increase its leverage in that country.
As for Pakistani/jihadi retaliation against India or the Indian contingent in Afghanistan, we've said before the Indians don't care. Their point is India is squarely in the sights of the jihadis: India is already under severe, sustained attack and unable to retaliate. As for the security of the Indian troops, that really is the last thing the Indians are concerned about. They want to go to Afghanistan to fight, not to protect their troops against suicide bombers.
Two other minor points in passing. By making this offer, India takes the wind out of Pakistan's sails because the latter has very successful turned the world's attention from the Bombay atrocity to getting the world to stop escalation between India and Pakistan. Every day that goes by, India has less diplomatic/geopolitical freedom to hit Pakistan. But if India has offered several divisions for Afghanistan, obviously the last thing the Indians are thinking of is attacking Pakistan - 3/4th of the Army troops (as opposed to the CI troops) India is earmarking for Afghanistan are from the three strike corps. So India undercuts Pakistani claims that Delhi is preparing to attack.
The second point we find interesting. PRC knows if Pakistan falls to the jihadis, Sinkiang is the next target. By offering to go to Afghanistan, India is directly helping Beijing. Which puts Beijing in a very awkward spot as India is a big rival for influence in Asia. Not only will Indians be helping PRC, if China does send troops to Afghanistan, Delhi will canoodle with Washington without competition from China. The Chinese will have no choice but to join the Afghan venture or lose influence in South and Central Asia, and with Washington.
To sum up: Orbat.com has been second to none in bashing the Government of India as incompetent and impotent. But with this offer, India has overnight changed the rules of game in South/Central Asia and struck a potentially fatal blow at Pakistan. In the end, this could become much, much bigger by an order of magnitude than breaking off East Pakistan in 1971.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/29/2008
12:42 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[24 views]
Top|| File under:
#6
I love this idea. If the Indians decide to do it, best way to get 120,000 troopers from India to Pakistan is route 60 to Lahore, then follow route 5 all the way to the Khyber Pass. Indian commanders using maps would note that they pass through Gujranwala, Rawalpindi and Peshawar.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008 13:09
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Its about time the West and India teamed up against our common enemy Saudi funded Pakistan!!!
#9
I call BS. Not that I want to- but this doesn't pass the smell test:
-No way India would denude their strike forces, especially during heightened tension w/ Pak
-Logistics
-No training w/ NATO, especially as expeditionary forces.
If India wants to develop this capability, we should SHOWER them with training and supplies. But until then...
That's right. This deployment will be practical once India creates a route (via invasion) from India to the Afghan border. I really don't see it happening, especially given current budget realities.
#14
Hell, anytime would be the time for India to bomb Pakistani targets, ZF.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/29/2008 16:13
Comments ||
Top||
#15
It'd sure screw with Pakistan though, wouldn't it. It makes sense in a sort of reverse-psychology way. In fact, I would bet that Pakistan would have to pay way more than India would in the long run, and Indian troops would get some training out of the deal.
#16
Free Radical brings out a main point. India has 130 mega muzzies at home on a potential war path if things go south with Pakistan, which can keep India pretty occupied. Pak knows this and wants to tweak the stick on India to keep her off balance. India would have to neutralize the Pak nukes to do a conventional attack on Pak assets. That is a tall order.
A conventional war could and would probably escalate to a nuclear war, and if that happens all bets are off.
My best long distance ignorant estimate of what would happen in that case is that Pakistan would cease to exist and India could lose 1/4 to 1/2 the country.
My ignorant assessment is that India is not in a real good position to do anything decisive. What the world needs is to take away or destroy Pak nukes and all the nuclear infrastructure it has. Just who will do that is not yet clear, but that is what needs to be done. A nuke armed Pak and Iran would be a veddy veddy bad thing.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/29/2008 16:44
Comments ||
Top||
#17
Could they double-down and occupy Gaza?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/29/2008 16:46
Comments ||
Top||
#18
I suspect the training/interoperability issues are paramount. It is no longer safe for even British troops to fight on the same battle field with us. If India really wanted to make the commitment, they could develop a truly world class military. The boys in Peking would sit up and notice that.
As far as logistics go, a twenty foot container is a twenty foot container. If the Paks don't want to let them through, perhaps the Indians will have to open the route from Lahore to Peshawar to Kabul. That would tighten some turbans.
I'm not so quick to call BS on this. It's a win-win offer for India. If we accept, they move up to the Oz class of ally, and Pakistan takes a big hit. But even if it is declined, which I think much more likely, it still pushes the relationship forward. With Bush, there was little doubt about direction. With The One's coming it is less clear. It would be a good start to keeping things moving and getting his temperature. And just this article has to have heads spinning in Islamabad and Beijing.
#21
Let's not get too carried away about a nuclear exchange between Pakistan and India. Let's be clear, it would be bad and a lot of innocents would suffer and die horribly.
However, neither side has the ability to wipe out the other. Most of the nuclear weapons they have are relatively low yield fission bombs (uranium or plutonium), and they don't have that many. The good ole' ISIS has looked at this and estimates a few dozen for each. That's theoretical and doesn't account for recent manufacturing.
At the same time, it also doesn't account for delivery. A first strike India might deliver most of its bombs, and in that case Pakistan would take a devastating blow. Pakistan's first-strike capability is some less, particularly if the Indians are alert, and their second-strike capability is, I'm guessing (WAG, really) far less.
So I don't see Pakistan being obliterated, and I don't see India losing 1/4 of her people, even if the worst occurs. All that said, I don't want to see it happen at all.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008 18:08
Comments ||
Top||
#22
If you all might remember, I proposed just this idea a while back. It is full of WIN for any number of reasons.
First of all, it would unnerve the heck out of the Pak army, and everybody else, that may have fooled itself, yet again, into thinking it could take on the Indian army.
Second, the Pak army would have to split their forces, facing a "second front".
Third, the Indians could choose to position themselves just opposite the most troublesome parts of Pakistan, FATA and NWFP. This would force the Pak army to "invade" and hold those places, right in the bad guys laps.
Fourth, the Indians can just sit there and let the local nutcases charge their lines.
Fifth, it is doing NATO and the US all kinds of favors, for which some kind of remuneration could be expected, and would be in order. Heck, even Israel would be all grins to India for a while over this.
Sixth, it would be serious Vi*gra for their military to force project, and it goes a long way to getting India a UNSC seat, which they are already due.
Seventh, the logistics involved will even give a workout to their navy, cooperating with their army and air forces. That is very valuable experience.
#23
Wel-l-l, does explain some of the rants by Chin Netters this AM. Its not clear at this time iff CHINA + PAKISTAN will accept such a move, espec China which is already concerned about Islamist -led destabilization efforts in its WESTERN-SW CHINA + MONGOLIA + POST-MUMBAI POTENTIAL MIL CONFRONTATION/CONLICT AGZ INDIA AS A CONSEQ OF ANY INDO-PAKI WAR???
E.g. WORLD MIL FORUM [Chinese] + INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM [Indian-S.Asian] > Netters already believe the MUMBAI incident lays the whole of SOUTH/WEST ASIA wide open to US = PRO-US [includ NATO-EU] INFLUENCE + DOMINAT/IMPERIALISM, WHICH THEY DISLIKE ANDOR PROCLAIM TO RESIST BY ANY MEANS.
#27
My best long distance ignorant estimate of what would happen in that case is that Pakistan would cease to exist and India could lose 1/4 to 1/2 the country.
I suspect the numbers would be far smaller than that. Each country might lose in the tens of millions max. But that's it. Both Pakistan and India are pretty big. To completely cover Pakistan with nukes, you'd need 25,000 40 kT nukes. India has a few dozen, at best. Those few dozen nukes would cover slightly more than 0.1% of Pakistan's land mass. Put it this way - to completely destroy Karachi would require 130 40 kT nukes. That's more than double the estimated inventory of Indian nukes. If the Indians managed to muster up the ordnance, the total casualty count from flattening Karachi would only be 16m people.
#30
Most maps I see show Karachi being roughly 14x14 km.
The worst case with all possible suburbs would be 40miles by 15 miles. (doubtful)
so using this calculator and assuming Houston is similar in blast characteristics you see a pretty nasty mess with just one 40kt bomb calc
7 40KT warheads (according to the calculator) would pretty much erase Houston.
Karachi has to be a softer target than Houston excepting its building tend more toward stone and cement than Houston's .... The radioactivity from the bombs would be a huge factor too...
If it is like LA a few more ... but...
you only need to take out a few critical spots and the city falls apart.
#31
Karachi's land area is about 3500 sq km. A 40 kT bomb generates 3rd degree burns at best (for the victims) within a 3 km radius - what you might call the fatality radius. (These burns are likely to be fatal, given that they require immediate hospitalization that is unlikely to be available for tens of thousands at a time). That's roughly 27 sq km of coverage. Divide 3500 by 27 and you get about 130 bombs.
#32
I don't mean to get into the macabre of this discussion, nor am I promoting the use of nukes. I used to work at the Nevada Test Site and I have the utmost awe and respect for these little monsters.
What I meant for Pakistan to cease to exist was to cease to exist as a nation. Targeting key infrastructure, like port facilities, centers of govt, power plants, water and sewerage infrastructure can bring an industrial state to a halt in a very short time. No energy, no transport, no sanitation, no food. 4 Horseman stuff after that.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/29/2008 21:40
Comments ||
Top||
#33
I suppose if we take radiation out of the calculation and make it some kind of acedemic exercise that only takes into account theoretical blast radius and define the objective as every inch of Karachi being in one of said blast radii...
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/29/2008 21:56
Comments ||
Top||
#34
Targeting key infrastructure...can bring an industrial state to a halt in a very short time.
How much of the Land Of The Pure can be counted as an industrial state? Still, wiping out ports, the center of Islamabad, and the senior officers' cantonments will go a long way to cutting the head of the Pakistani snake. I've no idea whether nuclear bombs would be needed to accomplish that.
#35
I suppose if we take radiation out of the calculation and make it some kind of acedemic exercise that only takes into account theoretical blast radius and define the objective as every inch of Karachi being in one of said blast radii...
I wouldn't call it entirely theoretical given that we have two demonstration projects - from 1945 - of the effects of nukes on a city. The difference is that in Pakistan, most of the structures are, if my recollection from the Marianne Pearl movie is accurate, made of brick rather than the wood used in earthquake-prone Japan. One nuke isn't going to burn down the entire city. And the reality is that the city doesn't actually feed the countryside - it's the countryside that feeds the city. Killing people in the city couldn't possibly cause starvation. If you want to talk about the Four Horsemen, one of them is knocked off, right off the bat.
While radical Islams useful idiots in the Western media continue to be taken in by Hamas propaganda, both the Palestinian Authority and Egypt squarely blame Hamas for the present confrontation with Israel.
* Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Aboul Gheit harshly criticized Hamas yesterday at a press conference in Cairo. Gheit also blamed Hamas for not allowing wounded persons from Gaza to seek treatment in Egypt, saying Hamas were more interested in having the injured serve as pawns in their propaganda war on Western TV networks rather than allowing them to be treated.
* Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said that Hamas could have avoided the Israeli attacks on Gaza. We talked to Hamas and we told them please, we ask you, do not end the truce. Let the truce continue and not stop so that we could have avoided what happened, he said. Reuters reported these statements widely and yet certain international media such as the BBC have not reported them.
* An editorial I located (by Tariq Hamid) in the leading Saudi paper Asharq Al Awsat also blamed Hamas. It said:
... leniency with Hamas made the Arab world a partner in the suffering of the Palestinians.
... Arab states should call a spade a spade... let Hamas bear the responsibility if only once.
* For more details on Western media coverage and miscoverage of present events in Israel and Gaza, please see here.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/29/2008
12:34 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
True, but the bar is set awful low for this one.
The Sunni militant group, Jundallah, has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that targeted the elite Revolutionary Guards in Iran on Sunday.
Operation Lemony Snickett continues ...
In a message released on the Arab satellite network al-Arabiya, Jundallah said a suicide bomber from the group had struck an office of the Revolutionary Guards in the southeastern province of Sistan. The suicide bomber, Abdel Gharuf al Raidi, reportedly blew himself up during a meeting of senior leaders in the area of Sirwan.
Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, is also known as the Iranian People's Resistance Movement. It is an insurgent Sunni Islamic organisation based in Balochistan fighting for what it claims are the rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran. The group has been blamed for various offences and kidnappings in southeastern Iran on the border of Pakistan.
Last week, The Tehran Times newspaper cited the city's deputy police chief Ahmad Reza Radan who claimed police had delivered a "deadly blow" against the militant group led by Abdolmalek Rigi. He said during three operations police had killed Abdolmalek's brother and his deputy as well as 19 others.
Jundullah is reported to have killed 16 police officers they kidnapped in Iran in June.
The United States' three top broadcast television networks have quietly stopped sending full-time correspondents to Iraq, industry watchers say. Neither ABC, CBS nor NBC have full-time reporters in Iraq, the first time in many years that none of the major networks were present in an ongoing conflict zone involving U.S. troops, The New York Times reported Monday.
Representatives of the three networks declined to speak on the record to the Times about their news coverage decisions, but said anonymously they would continue to cover Iraq and that the staffing levels reflected an evolution of the Iraq storyline from one of covering violence to one about reconstruction and politics.
"The war has gone on longer than a lot of news organizations' ability or appetite to cover it," said Jane Arraf, a former Baghdad bureau chief for CNN who has remained in Iraq as a contract reporter for The Christian Science Monitor.
News industry sources told the newspaper the television networks are preparing to redeploy their reporting resources from Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan in the belief that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will follow through on pledges to focus military efforts there.
#1
The media declares their defeat and hastily withdraws to regroup for a 'push' in another theater. Isn't that what their sources, news gathers, phototags, opinion writers, editors, and fact checkers buds in AQ do already?
#5
Well, I'll tell ya, Mahmoud. It's a dangerous world and there's always war going on in some hellhole someplace. I'm hoping the network sends me down to Aruba to do the background down there before Hugo and the Russians invade.
War's hell, Mahmoud. And don't you forget it. Another Grey Goose, light on the ice...
#2
Type 2... dietary changes are sufficient treatment in most cases, already. Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes is a deadly, chronic condition that requires a lifetime of insulin injections and constant blood-testing for survival. There's virtually no comparison between the two - while both conditions share a name, it's helpful to make note of the distinction.
#3
REDDIT/OTHER > ALZHEIMER's may be consequence of LOW GLUCOSE/SUGAR INFLOWS to the human brain. Although not a new theory or suppos [1970's -80's], I 've posted whether this infers that ALZHEIMER's including PARKINSONISM IS A FORM OF DIABETES SPECIFI TARGETING THE BRAIN FUNCTIONS???
#10
[On this spot at 19:20, Aspissenace had a vowel movement. Rantburg software has cleaned and disinfected the site of the accident. Have a nice day.]
#11
[On this spot at 22:41, hordUpserfepe had a vowel movement. Rantburg software has cleaned and disinfected the site of the accident. Have a nice day.]
Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is ready to sign a truce over Gaza if Israel agrees to a ceasefire and lifts its blockade, the foreign ministry said here on Monday.
Which is what they were demanding before: Israel opens the border and doesn't shoot, whereas the various Paleo splinter factions, none 'controlled' by Hamas, continue to fire rockets at Sderot.
"The Hamas leader said he was ready to sign such a deal in a place chosen by the parties by mutual consent" in a phone call to Senegalese President Abdoullaye Wade late Sunday, the ministry said.
According to the ministry Wade offered a proposal for an "immediate way out of the crisis."
"It is about getting a definite truce between Hamas and Israel by signing an accord that would oblige Hamas to observe an immediate ceasefire in exchange for an Israeli immediate ceasefire accompanied by a total lifting of the blockade of the Gaza strip," it said.
On Saturday Israel unleashed a massive bombardment on Hamas targets in Gaza, that has reportedly killed more than 310 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,400 others. In retaliation Meshaal on Saturday called for a new intifada against Israel, including a return to suicide missions.
Wade spoke with Meshaal at 2100 GMT on Sunday in his capacity as the president of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the ministry here said late Sunday
Posted by: Fred ||
12/29/2008
11:04 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Make him move back to Gaza as part of the deal. See what he says then.
#4
Senegal? Senegal??? Since when are they the official mouthpiece of the Hamas leadership? And why should anyone believe anything they have to say anyhow?
WOUNDED Palestinians finally passed through the Rafah crossing into Egypt on Monday as medical aid went in the other direction to the devastated Gaza Strip. Nine patients, some in critical condition, crossed at the only Gaza exit point which does not lead to Israel and around 30 wounded Palestinians in all were expected to enter Egypt on yesterday, security officials said.
Egyptian lorries loaded with medication moved in early afternoon into the neutral zone of the Rafah terminal to allow the transfer of their cargoes onto Palestinian vehicles.
Earlier, an Egyptian security official said the Rafah crossing point would remain closed on Monday, a day after a policeman died from being hit by Palestinian gunfire. "The Rafah crossing is closed and will only be opened to allow the wounded through,'' a security official said.
Egypt accused Hamas on Sunday of preventing hundreds of Palestinians injured from leaving the Gaza Strip although ambulances were waiting for them on the Egyptian side of the frontier. Egyptian authorities had opened the Rafah border point on Saturday on the first day of the massive Israeli air operation against the Hamas movement, which controls the impoverished Palestinian territory.
#1
Earlier, an Egyptian security official said the Rafah crossing point would remain closed on Monday, a day after a policeman died from being hit by Palestinian gunfire.
#3
Egyptian lorries loaded with medication moved in early afternoon into the neutral zone of the Rafah terminal to allow the transfer of their cargoes onto Palestinian vehicles.
Bangladeshis voted in their droves on Monday in elections that marked the end of two years of emergency rule, with a pair of rival former prime ministers vying to reclaim power in the impoverished nation.
Amid tight security, the first polls since 2001 saw a turnout as high as 70 percent, with none of the violence that forced the last scheduled vote to be cancelled and an army-backed interim government take control. Long queues snaked outside voting stations all day as hundreds of thousands of police and troops stood ready to avert clashes between party activists or any attacks by Islamic extremists.
Despite efforts by the caretaker regime to shake up a political system seen as deeply corrupt, the two leading candidates were former prime ministers who ruled alternately since 1991 and whose mutual hatred has paralysed the country.
Sheikh Hasina Wajed of the Awami League and Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), wooed voters with promises of cheap food, action against Islamic militancy and curbs on corruption. The women, who were themselves jailed on corruption charges by the current regime before being released to contest the elections, warned of voter fraud but said they would not challenge the result.
After voting in the capital Dhaka, Sheikh Hasina questioned how some ballot papers had been distributed but insisted, "I want the election to take place peacefully. Whatever the result is, we all should accept it."
Zia appeared confident of victory. "If a free and fair election takes place today, we will win with a landslide victory like the 2001 election," she said.
With counting under way, analysts said the result was uncertain as a third of the 81 million electorate was voting for the first time. There were also concerns that a smooth transfer of power could prove difficult if no clear winner emerged. Final results were due after midnight (1800 GMT Monday).
Posted by: Fred ||
12/29/2008
10:50 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Afghanistan's Taliban guerrillas Monday called on the world's Muslims to unite and wage war against Israel in response to its air strikes that have killed more than 300 Palestinians in Gaza.
The Taliban, who lead an insurgency against the Afghan government and the Western forces backing it, also chided the United States and some European nations for not condemning the attacks, launched after a six-month cease-fire between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas expired. "We expect that the Islamic Umah to throw aside the wings of negligence, rise up and wage ... jihad and practically help the Muslims of Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan," the Taliban said in a statement on the group's website.
The al Qaeda-backed Taliban, toppled from power in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, are most active in southern and eastern Afghanistan, but have managed to spread their attacks to other parts of the country, including Kabul, since regrouping in 2005.
The Islamist group has vowed to drive out the nearly 70,000 foreign troops serving under NATO and the U.S. military's command in Afghanistan.
Earlier, the Afghan foreign ministry condemned Israel's attacks and demanded an immediate end to hostilities in Gaza.
Separately, a group of Afghans held a protest against the strikes in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif Monday, residents said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/29/2008
10:50 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
I appears that the Palestinians are once again playing their main role in the Muslim world. Getting killed in bunches so their Muslim "brothers" can talk a good game.
A WELSH MP yesterday called on the UK Government to either deport or arrest all British residents who appear on a United Nations list which names members and associates of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Monmouth Conservative MP David Davies, the only Welsh member of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, said he was shocked to see 15 British residents on the list. All but three are apparently free. Mr Davies said: "This is not a speculative list -- the UN is not known to exaggerate or make unfounded claims. These people have been named as involved with Al-Qaeda and I don't think they should be walking the streets of this country. Either they should be deported or locked up.
"It is little consolation that none of those named are said to be living in Wales. I hope at the very least they are all under constant surveillance. If they do the slightest thing, they should be locked up for a very long time. Al-Qaeda, as we all know, is a very dangerous terrorist organisation responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. I intend to raise this matter in Parliament in the New Year."
The 15 British residents on the list, which can be seen online at www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/consolidatedlist.htm, are all named as associates of terror group Al-Qaeda. They are:
Libya-born British citizen Ghuma Abd'rabbah, living in Birmingham;
Libya-born British citizen Abdulbasit Abdulrahim, living in London, said to have raised funds for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group;
Libya-born Abd Al-Rahman Al-Faqih, living in Birmingham;
Saudi Arabian Dr Saad Rashed Mohammad Al-Faqih, living in London;
Saudi Arabian Khalid Abd Al-Rahman Hamd Al-Fawaz, living in London;
Syria-born British citizen Mohammed Al Ghabra, living in London;
Egyptian Hani Al-Sayyid Al-Sebai, living in London;
Gloucester-born Sajid Mohammed Badat, currently in prison in the UK after pleading guilty to planning to blow up an aircraft with a shoe bomb;
Libyan Maftah Mohamed Elmabruk, living in London, said to have raised funds for the LIFG;
Libya-born British citizen Abdelrazag Elsharif Elosta, living in London, said to have raised funds for the LIFG;
Egyptian Al Sayyid Ahmed Fathi Hussein Eliwah, living in the UK with a UK passport;
Egypt-born British citizen Mostafa Kamel Mostafa Ibrahim, better known as the radical cleric Abu Hamza, in jail after being convicted on 11 charges, including six of soliciting to murder;
Libya-born British citizen Abdulbaqi Mohammed Khaled, living in Birmingham;
Jordanian national Uthman Omar Mahmoud, better known as the radical cleric Abu Qatada, currently in prison in the UK after breaching bail conditions relating to his appeal against deportation. Wanted on terrorism charges in Algeria, the United States, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and Jordan;
Libyan Tahir Nasuf, living in Manchester.
The list also includes six organisations with bases in the UK:
Sara Properties Ltd, Liverpool;
Benevolence International Foundation;
Meadowbrook Investments Ltd of Bristol;
Movement for Reform in Arabia, London;
Ozlam Properties Ltd, Liverpool;
Sanabel Relief Agency Ltd, Manchester.
The list -- known as the Consolidated List -- currently contains around 500 names and is split into four sections covering individuals and entities associated with the Taliban, and individuals and entities associated with Al-Qaeda. It was established to try to limit the activities of Al-Qaeda by freezing the assets of, and preventing the movement of arms by "any individual or entity associated with Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and/or the Taliban".
According to the UN's website: "The Consolidated List serves as the foundation for the implementation and enforcement of sanctions against Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and their associates. The (Al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions) committee is continuously seeking to improve the information on the Consolidated List to ensure that the sanctions measures can be imple- mented effectively."
Among those whose names are on the list are Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman Al Zawahiri, whose Egyptian passport number is included in his entry. Osama bin Laden's address is given as "not applicable".
A Home Office spokesman said: "The UN list is a publicly available document. We do not discuss individuals who appear on it for security reasons."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/29/2008
10:50 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Britain
#1
-- the UN is not known to exaggerate or make unfounded claims.
How is the weather in Wales, MP Davies? And have you ever been to Israel... or met an Israeli?
'Santa' Gunman's Marriage Dissolved When Wife Discovered He Abandoned Brain-Damaged Son I'm reposting this, as it contains A LOT more detail about the attack. The Fox title does not do it justice
COVINA, California -- A man plotting revenge against his ex-wife dressed up like Santa, went to his former in-laws' Christmas Eve party, shot at partygoers and destroyed his former in-laws' house with a homemade device that sprayed flammable liquid, slaughtering at least nine people before killing himself hours later.
Continued on Page 49
#7
Total sociopath - can't understand anyone's feelings but his own. The idea that he was despicable because he abandoned his son...nope, his wife was the evil one for leaving him, and to his mind, his rampage was entirely justified.
A suicide car bomb blast near a voter registration site killed 16 people, 14 of them children, and wounded 58 in southeastern Afghanistan on Sunday morning, according to a senior police official and the U.S. military.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman speaking by phone from an undisclosed location, said the suicide bombing was carried out by Qari Hameedullah, a Taliban fighter.
Afghan President [Karzai] called the suicide bombing an "un-Islamic act" and said those behind it [who have studied many years in Madrassas and presumably know much more about Islam than Karzai who has a secular education]] "are not aware of the Islamic teachings which outlaw the killing of innocent people.
#2
Afghan President [Karzai] called the suicide bombing an "un-Islamic act" and said those behind it "are not aware of the Islamic teachings which outlaw the killing of innocent people".
I'm sure that when you keep saying that a coupla million times, you may actually come to believe it.
#5
#4 Interesting that the taliwhackers are taking credit for killing innocents. They obviously did not learn a thing in Iraq.
If it' ain't in the Koran, it ain't worth learnin'. You can warp and twist anything Muhamhead said to cover anything you want to do. That's been its major strength in recruiting Arabs, who have a similar philosophy.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/29/2008 15:54
Comments ||
Top||
Mohammad Reza Arian, an Iranian military official with the rank of colonel, has defected to Turkey. Colonel Arian also succeeded in bringing out his wife and two daughters during his escape operation. This brings the number of senior Iranian military officials who have defected to Turkey over the last number of years to two. The first was General Ali Reza Asgari, who was considered to be the father of Hezbollah. He escaped to Turkey via Syria in early 2007.
Posted by: mhw ||
12/29/2008
09:26 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
So long!
Farewell!
Auf Wiedersehen!
Good bye!
Your due, your due...
Yep, you and you and you...
The India-Pakistan confrontation following the Mumbai attacks is the fourth such crisis in the last two decades. While India says it has provided enough evidence to Pakistan, Islamabad says what it has been given cannot be taken to a court of law for prosecution. Also, there is still no solid evidence that the Mumbai attacks were planned by a Pakistani group; or that the attackers were all Pakistanis. The audio recording of one of the attackers, available online, includes the use of Hindi words not in the Pakistani lexicon.
There is a strong sense in Pakistan that the Indian governments allegations are designed to deflect attention away from Indias own security lapses, to safeguard against erosion of electoral support for the ruling party and to utilise the crisis to further de-legitimise the Kashmiri insurgency.
Western support for Indias largely unsubstantiated allegations has encouraged Indian hawks advocating military actions against Pakistan, especially airstrikes against alleged jihadi training camps. They see the continuing US Predator strikes against Al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistans Western frontier as the example and precedent. But India is not the US and drone strikes have a more complex configuration.
No Pakistan government can acquiesce in such Indian strikes. As the Pakistan army chief has warned, any Indian attack will invite a befitting response. During the previous three crises, Pentagon game planners reportedly reached the conclusion that an India-Pakistan conflict is likely to escalate rapidly, including possibly to the nuclear level. Hopefully, as in 2002, the present Indian government will also reach the same conclusion and not allow the hawks to propel it into creating a South Asian catastrophe.
An Indian military strike, and consequent Indo-Pakistan conflict, would also imply the immediate termination of Pakistans cooperation with the US and NATO regarding Afghanistan. The use of the Pakistani airbase at Jacobabad; the NATO supply convoys through Pakistan to Afghanistan; intelligence cooperation on Al Qaeda and Taliban operations; the Pakistani military deployments and operations against Al Qaeda and the Taliban on the western frontier, would all end abruptly.
This is all the more likely because Pakistans collaboration with the US-NATO war in Afghanistan is highly unpopular in Pakistan and seen as the principal cause of the recent terrorist attacks on security and civilian targets within Pakistan.
Nor can President-elect Obama or New York Times editorials convince the vast majority of Pakistanis that the Taliban, not India, is the real enemy.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars. Indian military intervention dismembered Pakistan in 1971. India continues to brutally suppress the Kashmiri freedom movement and tolerates the systemic discrimination and occasional pogroms against its Muslim minority. It has deployed over 70 percent of its huge armed forces against Pakistan (not China) and seeks to establish its strategic dominance over South Asia and beyond. Indian intelligence agencies are supporting, if not organising, violence and terrorism in Balochistan and perhaps even helping some of the Islamist militants in the Frontier.
It is, therefore, naïve for the West to believe that the Pakistan government will forcibly suppress the militant groups which support Kashmirs liberation struggle at least until Pakistans strategic differences with India, including Kashmir, are resolved.
Nor should there be Western expectations that political pressure and economic incentives would persuade any government in Pakistan to compromise on vital national issues, in particular its nuclear and strategic programmes that provide credible deterrence against Indian and any other foreign aggression.
Western discrimination against Pakistan on strategic issues, epitomised by the Indo-US nuclear deal, and the periodic unrealistic demands for the surrender or elimination of Pakistans nuclear weapons, reinforce the common Pakistani view that the West is conspiring with India to weaken and destabilise, if not dismember Pakistan.
Also, Western chancelleries should not exaggerate their political and economic influence over Pakistan, even with the present government. Pakistan does not need to rely on US or Western military support. The most advanced Western hardware and technology will not be made available to Pakistan. The rest it can get, more reliably and cheaply, from China.
Economically also, a West preoccupied with saving its own broken financial institutions is in no position to provide Pakistan with the magnitude of financial and development assistance it requires for economic stabilisation and rapid growth. Here again, it is China, which has the financial reserves to come to Pakistans rescue.
This is not to argue that terrorism and extremism do not pose a threat to Pakistan, to its socio-economic development and its strategic objectives. However, unlike the threat posed by India, the threat of terrorism and extremism is not existential.
Despite Western media prognostication, there is no possibility of an extremist or jihadi government assuming office in Islamabad. Neither the Pakistani electorate nor the Pakistan Army would accept this. Ending extremism and its terrorist tactics, in Pakistan and the region will require a comprehensive and painstaking process of police and intelligence action and cooperation as well as the elimination of the political and economic grievances which create the justification for terrorism.
In this context it should be noted that all four recent India-Pakistan crises January 1990, June 1999, January-December 2002 and this one were linked, directly or indirectly, to the Kashmir dispute. Unless this dispute is resolved, such periodic confrontations will continue to erupt. Such a solution must be one that is acceptable, first and foremost, to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Finally, a comprehensive strategy against terrorism in South Asia must also seek to end state terrorism, state-sponsored terrorism and Islamic as well as Hindu extremist violence, including that perpetrated by Hindu fascist organisations like the RSS, against Muslims in India.
The writer is a former ambassador to the UN. The article is based on comments prepared for a discussion on the Mumbai attacks at the Asia Society in New York which could not be delivered because the organisers, at the last minute, excluded Ambassador Akram from the panel. The panel included the author Salman Rushdie and two Indian nationals
Posted by: john frum ||
12/29/2008
08:13 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[18 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It is, therefore, naïve for the West to believe that the Pakistan government will forcibly suppress the militant groups which support Kashmirs liberation struggle at least until Pakistans strategic differences with India, including Kashmir, are resolved.
Munir, whom the NYPD was unable to arrest for domestic violence because of his diplomatic immunity, admits that Kashmir is only one of many disputes to be settled in Pakistan's favor before it acts against the terrorist camps
Posted by: john frum ||
12/29/2008 8:20
Comments ||
Top||
#2
ANYTHING that happens to Pakistan would have to leave an improved situation behind it. I'm still partial to partition and disollution. If there were ever a state almost as bad as Hamass' Gaze, it's Pakistan.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/29/2008 20:50
Comments ||
Top||
#3
China's on the other side of the Himalayas, bub. You ain't.
About 300 illegal migrants are feared to have drowned in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of India's Andaman and Nicobar islands. The migrants went missing after they jumped from a drifting boat and tried to swim ashore. More than 100 people have been rescued so far. A survivor told police that more than 400 people had been on the boat, trying to reach Malaysia. The migrants are thought to be from Bangladesh and Burma.
"One body has been recovered so far and search operations are still going on in nearby islands for survivors," Ranjith Narayan, Director General of Police in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, told the BBC. Indian coast guard officials said a group of 88 people were rescued from a small boat near Little Andaman island, about 90 km from south of the capital Port Blair. Another 11 men were found on nearby Sandy Point island. A survivor told officials that the boat had little food or water and only a plastic sheet for sail.
Preliminary investigations suggested the men had left for Malaysia in six motorised boats about 45 days ago. At some point in the journey, they changed vessels. One survivor, identified as Mohammad Ismail Arafat, said he and others had paid a Bangladeshi agent for promised jobs. "We were left to the mercy of God... after drifting for 10-15 days, when finally we saw a lighthouse, many jumped into the water," a statement by the Indian coast guard quoted him as saying.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands lie about 1,200km (750 miles) east of the Indian mainland.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/29/2008
07:58 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Truthiness gets an airing thanks to the original O
From TFA:
A heartwarming Holocaust memoir that is to become a big-budget film has been exposed as a hoax by a Jewish survivor in Britain only weeks before it was due to be published.
Herman Rosenblat's Angel at the Fence: The True Story of a Love that Survived, tells how he met his future wife as a girl when she threw apples to him over the barbed wire fence of the concentration camp where he was held.
Oprah Winfrey, who twice invited Mr Rosenblat on to her talk show, hailed the book as the single greatest love story ... we've ever told on air. The still-unpublished memoir became the basis for a children's book and $25 million (£17 million) feature film, The Flower of the Fence, which is due to start shooting in March.
#1
Oprah seems to get suckered on these to-good-to-be-true heartwarming stories on a fairly regular basis. Seems like it would pay her to check these stories out throughly before embarrassing herself again.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
12/29/2008 9:35
Comments ||
Top||
#3
O has a problem in separating a 'good story' from facts or dealing with verifying claims of facts. It's the unfortunate half of elevating 'feelings' over the brains you were given. We saw the same problem manifested last month.
#6
Yep. Oprah endorses a lot blowhards who turn out to be bogus. Kinda makes you wonder about her endorsement of Obama.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/29/2008 12:04
Comments ||
Top||
#7
I read about this yesterday and there is an opinion of some survivors that this is mostly true. Mr. Rosenblat stated that he related the events as he remembered them from the perspective of a child. He claims this is not a hoax but his best remembrance of the events as they happened.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/29/2008 12:45
Comments ||
Top||
#9
Wait until she finds out that Obama is a fake also and that Bill Ayers wrote "Dreams of My Father". Sort of like Rathergate. The story is fake but the narrative is true.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
12/29/2008 12:53
Comments ||
Top||
#10
Too bad nobody hooked her up with Madoff. She'd probably be living on food stamps and guvmint cheese by now.
The putative Caroline Kennedy candidacy for senator has had the odd effect of reopening the media can of worms treatment of Gov. Palin. Compared to Sarah Palin's almost immediate immersion into crowds and public speaking, Kennedy seems like a deer in the headlights before the media that is either ignored or asked to submit written questions. Palin was a natural; Kennedy can't finish a single sentence without "You know" or "I mean." Palin's family saga and daily grind were populist to the core; Kennedy is a creature of a few blocks' radius in Manhattan and Martha's Vineyard.
Outsider and lower-middle-class Palin toughed it out in Wasilla for years of politicking on a 16-year slog through Alaskan old-boy politics; Caroline Kennedy in regal fashion apparently skipped voting in about half of New York elections, and has never run for anything.
Reporters swarmed over Palin's pregnancies, and her wardrobe, but apparently took on face value that Caroline's fluff books were really a sign of either erudition or scholarship.
Conservative Palin endured liberal Charlie Gibson's glasses0on-the nose pretentiousness, and Katie Couric's attack-dog questions; insider Kennedy I doubt will meet with either, much less sit down with a hostile questioner like a Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly. Her friendly New York Times "interview" proved an embarrassmentrarely have so many words been spoken with so little content.
But, no, the real embarrassment proves to be the media itself that apparently can't see this weird unfolding self-incriminating morality tale: It is not just that Palin is conservative, Kennedy politically-correct (e.g., pro-abortion, gun control, gay marriage, etc), or Palin a newcomer to public attention, Kennedy a celebrity since childhood. Rather it is the aristocratic value system of most NY-DC journalists themselves who apparently still assume that old money, status, and an Ivy-League pedigree are reliable barometers of talent and sobriety, suggesting that the upper-East Side Kennedy's public ineptness is an aberration, a bad day, a minor distraction, while Palin's charisma and ease are superficial and a natural reflection of her Idaho sports journalism degree.
A few generations ago, Democrats would have opposed Palin but appreciated her blue-collar story, and applauded a working mom who out-politicked entrenched and richer male elites. But now the new aristocratic liberalism has adopted the values of the old silk-stocking Republicans of the 1950sand so zombie-like worship rather than question entitlement.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/29/2008
06:47 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Swwms they're not looking for capability, only fluff that can be spun into apparent brains,
REAL INTELLIGENCE NEED NOT APPLY.
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
12/29/2008 9:03
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Sheesh, SEEMS, spell check dummy.
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
12/29/2008 9:05
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Whenever I think of the NYT and liberal MSM et. al. I can't help but see one of those 16th or 17th century paintings of the Medici court with all their sycophants, poppinjays and hangers-on in their silly hats fawning over the nobility.
#4
What's hilarious is that the pampered Princess even managed to insult the two questioners from the Slimes. Almost an impossible task, but she did it. Add that to the resume, as it's looking a bit threadbare at this juncture.
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Somalias president who has been widely blamed for his countrys deepening crisis, resigned on Monday, casting Somalia into a deeper political abyss, but, at the same time, possibly creating an opportunity.
Mr. Yusuf blamed the international community for not doing enough to shore up Somalias transitional government, which has steadily lost control of much of the country to Islamist insurgents. Most of the country was not in our hands and we had nothing to give our soldiers. The international community has also failed to help us, Mr. Yusuf told legislators in Baidoa, Somalias seat of Parliament.
His exit will most likely kick off an intense, clan-based scramble for his post, which in reality has become increasingly irrelevant as the government has veered toward collapse. Somalias transitional government controls only a few city blocks in a country almost as big as Texas and it has been continuously beset by poisonous infighting.
Earlier this month, Mr. Yusuf, who has been president since 2004, tried to fire Somalias prime minister but the Parliament refused. Several of Somalias neighbors, including Kenya, then threatened to impose sanctions on Mr. Yusuf and his family, accusing Mr. Yusuf of being an obstacle to peace.
Mr. Yusuf, a former warlord who claims to be around 74 years old though he is widely believed to be several years older, has constantly rejected efforts to bring moderate Islamist opposition leaders into the government. Now that he is leaving, many Somalis hope there may be a way to rebuild the government and give the Islamists a meaningful role.
Under Somalias transitional charter, the speaker of the Parliament will take over the presidency for one month until the Parliament elects a new president. Several moderate Islamists could be candidates.
Mr. Yusuf did not say what he will do now but many Somalis expect that he will return to his clan stronghold in northern Somalia. His militia has already fled the capital, with more than 100 soldiers loyal to Mr. Yusuf flying out on Sunday for northern Somalia. Several Somali politicians aligned with Mr. Yusuf also left for northern Somalia on Sunday, implying that Mr. Yusufs powerful sub-clan, the Majerten, may be pulling out of the government.
A quarter century has passed since Israel last claimed to go to war in the name of peace. "Operation Peace for Galilee" -- Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon -- failed to convince the international public and even many Israelis that its goal was to promote reconciliation between Israel and the Arab world. In fact, the war had precisely the opposite results, preparing the way for Yasser Arafat's disastrous return to the West Bank and Gaza, and for Hezbollah's ultimate domination of Lebanon. And yet, Israel's current operation in Gaza is essential for creating the conditions that could eventually lead to a two-state solution.
Over the past two decades, a majority of Israelis have shifted from adamant opposition to Palestinian statehood to acknowledging the need for such a state. This transformation represented a historic victory for the Israeli left, which has long advocated Palestinian self-determination. The left's victory, though, remained largely theoretical: The right won the practical argument that no amount of concessions would grant international legitimacy to Israel's right to defend itself. That was the unavoidable lesson of the failure of the Oslo peace process, which ended in the fall of 2000 with Israel's acceptance of President Bill Clinton's proposal for near-total withdrawal from East Jerusalem and the territories. The Palestinians responded with five years of terror.
Yet much of the international community blamed Israel for the violence and repeatedly condemned its efforts at self-defense. The experience left a deep wound in the Israeli psyche. It intimidated Israeli leaders from taking security measures liable to be denounced by the United Nations and the European Union, or worse, result in sanctions against the Jewish state.
One consequence was an Israeli reluctance to respond to periodic Hezbollah provocations following Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000. This hesitancy allowed the Shiite terror organization to amass a rocket arsenal with the proclaimed intent of devastating Israel's population centers. Finally, when Hezbollah unleashed its weapons in July 2006, Israel was widely accused of responding disproportionately. It was pressured into prematurely ending its defensive operations in Lebanon, and compelled to accept an international "peacekeeping" force that has permitted Hezbollah to rearm far beyond its prewar levels.
Israelis are now asking themselves whether their Lebanon nightmare is about to repeat itself in Gaza. The parallels are indeed striking. As in Lebanon, Israel in 2005 unilaterally withdrew to its international border with Gaza and received, instead of security, a regime dedicated to its destruction. The thousands of rockets and mortar shells subsequently fired on Israeli neighborhoods represented more than a crude attempt to kill and terrorize civilians -- they were expressions of a genocidal intent. Israelis across the political spectrum agreed that the state had the right, indeed the duty, to protect its people. But one question remained: Would the international community consent?
That question grew urgent in the days before Dec. 19, when the tenuous cease-fire between Israel and Hamas expired. Nearly 300 missiles landed in Israel, paralyzing much of the southern part of the country. Yet Israeli leaders held their fire. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni flew to Cairo to implore Egyptian leaders to urge restraint on Hamas, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told viewers of Al-Arabiyah Television that Israel had no interest in a military confrontation. If Israel was guilty of acting disproportionately, it was in its willingness to seek any means, even at the risk of its citizens' lives, to resolve the crisis diplomatically.
Yet the U.N. Security Council abstained from condemning Hamas and convened only after Israel resolved to act. The U.N.'s hypocrisy, together with growing media criticism of Israel, is reinforcing Israeli concerns that territorial concessions, whether unilateral or negotiated, will only compromise the country's security and curtail its ability to respond to attack. This fear is compounded when Israelis consider withdrawals from the West Bank, which is within easy rocket range of its major population and industrial centers.
Gaza is the test case. Much more is at stake than merely the military outcome of Israel's operation. The issue, rather, is Israel's ability to restore its deterrence power and uphold the principle that its citizens cannot be targeted with impunity. Without the assurance that they will be allowed to protect their homes and families following withdrawal, Israelis will rightly perceive a two-state solution as an existential threat. They will continue to share the left-wing vision of coexistence with a peaceful Palestinian neighbor in theory, but in reality will heed the right's warnings of Jewish powerlessness.
The Gaza crisis also has implications for Israeli-Syrian negotiations. Here, too, Israelis will be unwilling to cede strategically vital territories -- in this case on the Golan Heights -- in an international environment in which any attempt to defend themselves will be denounced as unjustified aggression. Syria's role in triggering the Gaza conflict only deepens Israeli mistrust. The Damascus office of Hamas, which operates under the aegis of the regime of Bashar al Assad, vetoed the efforts of Hamas leaders in Gaza to extend the cease-fire and insisted on escalating rocket attacks.
In the coming days, the Gaza conflict is likely to intensify with a possible incursion of Israeli ground forces. Israel must be allowed to conclude this operation with a decisive victory over Hamas; the untenable situation of intermittent rocket fire and widespread arms smuggling must not be allowed to resume. This is an opportunity to redress Israel's failure to humble Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006, and to deal a substantial setback to another jihadist proxy of Iran.
It may also be the last chance to reassure Israelis of the viability of a two-state solution. Given the unfortunate historical resonance, Israel should refrain from calling its current operation, "Peace for Southern Israel." But without Hamas's defeat, there can be no serious progress toward a treaty that both satisfies Palestinian aspirations and allays Israel's fears. At stake in Gaza is nothing less than the future of the peace process.
Terrorists Suspected separatist rebels have shot dead three soldiers and two civilians in Thailand's jihad insurgency-hit far south, police said on Monday.
Troops were inspecting a road to a school in Narathiwat - one of three southern Muslim-majority provinces beset by jihad unrest - when dozens of terrorists insurgents opened fire early on Monday, killing two soldiers. The attackers fled the scene after a 10-minute gun battle, police said, and about 300 security officials were deployed to hunt for the rebels.
Later in the neighbouring province of Yala, another army convoy was ambushed by terrorists suspected militants, with one soldier killed and three injured. Also in Yala on Sunday, an informant for the military was shot dead, while in a separate attack the same evening a local government employee was shot and killed in front of his house, police said.
#1
What China believes is necessary. China doesn't have universities full of anti-Chinese parasites. They may dislike their government but they are still Sino-centric chauvinistic.
#2
We'll see shortly. As China has invested a great deal of money and effort towards plundering the oil and mineral riches of the African continent, I suspect they don't look generously on a bunch of rag tags taking control of any of their ships. I don't think there will be much showing up in the press. Just a continuing decline in the amount of attacks/attackers with no explanation as to how it's occurring.
#4
As China has invested a great deal of money and effort towards plundering the oil and mineral riches of the African continent
I think this is more accurate phrasing:
As China has investedsquandered a great deal of money and effort towards plunderingpaying peak prices for the oil and mineral riches of the African continent
#6
Also on STRATEGYPAGE: ATTRITION: COMMUNIST REBELS LOSE THEIR EDGE [India].
Methinks its more correct to say the Commies are letting their Theo-Socialist = Fascist "Limited Commie", etc. Islamist cohorts take the lead [fall] for IN-COUNTRY VIOLENCE IN ORDER TO HELP GAIN POLITICAL SEATS. The Commie-Islamist alloance is very much a [Hollyweird]TEMPORARY COLLUSION/MARRIAGE OF MILPOL CONVENIENCE ONLY AS PER WAR FOR OWG-NWO - THE POST-WOT "DIVORCE" T'AINT GONNA BE A PRETTY!
#7
OTOH, WORLD MIL FORUM [paraph = Google Chinglish translation] > IIUC THE CHINESE PLA WILL SEVERELY PUNISH THE ILLEGAL COVERT OPERATIONS OF SMUGGLER"S AND TRAITORS, which IMO may infer the CPC = Chin Military Commission SETTING UP A PCORRECT LEGAL AND DIPLOM BASIS/COVER FOR [anti-Terror?]INTERNATIONAL PLA-LED BLACK OPS???
#8
Under the auspices of the Chin PLAN + PLAAF, two services which weirdly and msyteriously would be the leads in delivering covert Commando-INTEL ground units. CHINA's PLA MODERNIZATION > REMAINS VERY MUCH A WORK-IN-PROGRESS/PROCESS DESPITE SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS, i.e. CHINA HAS NOT YET DEV AN EXTENSIVE INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF PARTY-STATE CONTROLLED, NON-PLA [Foreign Ministry, etc] INFORMATION OR INTEL OPS.
The Israel Air Force used a new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States in strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday. The missile, called GBU-39, was developed in recent years by the US as a small-diameter bomb for low-cost, high-precision and low collateral damage strikes.
Israel received approval from Congress to purchase 1,000 units in September and defense officials said on Sunday that the first shipment had arrived earlier this month and was used successfully in penetrating underground Kassam launchers in the Gaza Strip during the heavy aerial bombardment of Hamas infrastructure on Saturday. It was also used in Sunday's bombing of tunnels in Rafah.
The GPS-guided GBU-39 is said to be one of the most accurate bombs in the world. The 113-kg. bomb has the same penetration capabilities as a normal 900-kg. bomb, although it has only 22.7 kg. of explosives. At just 1.75 meters long, its small size increases the number of bombs an aircraft can carry and the number of targets it can attack in a sortie.
Tests conducted in the US have proven that the bomb is capable of penetrating at least 90 cm. of steel-reinforced concrete. The GBU-39 can be used in adverse weather conditions and has a standoff range of more than 110 km. due to pop-out wings.
Also Sunday, Military Intelligence's Psychological Warfare Department broke into radio broadcasts in Gaza and warned Palestinian civilians not to cooperate with Hamas terrorist activity.
Palestinians reported that they received phone calls to their cellular phones and landlines from the IDF. The phone call, the Palestinians said, conveyed a recorded message ordering the immediate evacuation of homes that were next to Hamas infrastructure or being used by the terrorist organization.
On Sunday, head of the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration Col. Moshe Levy was interviewed by several Arab news outlets during which he stressed that Israel was not against the Palestinian public in Gaza but was operating against Hamas.
Defense officials said Sunday that Israel would, however, not hesitate to target the homes of civilians who protected Hamas terrorists throughout the operation. "We will go after every Hamas operative, no matter where he is," one official said. "We urge the Palestinians not to cooperate with terrorists."
Wut?
No, you mean who, perhaps.
Who then?
Perhaps you mean who now?
Who now?
I am Angelas Ashes, I am a Smart Bomb.
Scram.
Perhaps you mean leave, or begone?
Leave! Begone!
As you will, however, do watch out for Cleopatra.
Cleopatra?
Yes.
Who is this Cleopatra?
The Not-So-Smart But Bigger Bomb.
#4
I'm sure they have his cell phone number, bradeous. They seem to have everyone else's, after all... and they probably can easily run a trace on the location of his cell phone, too. Even through the bedding and the skirts.
#6
Wasting too much money to destroy the no good shits. You got to blow the barbarians with what they understand. Condemn the population who hides the terrorists. Before strike, Israel calls the stupid to get the hell out of there. I do not know why Israel does so. No wonder Israel is still fighting the barbarians without an end to it. I do not know who the stupid tells Israel to restrain. Man, blow the hell out of those who harm you if you want to survive and Israel has what it takes to do so. Sir, I have the highest education, I am an atheist or agnostic but I learned the very basic that the free spirit of Judaism is the salvation of human kind. You have to protect it no matter what it takes.
#8
and they probably can easily run a trace on the location of his cell phone, too. Even through the bedding and the skirts.
In that case TW I think they would be better to call him every single night - once at 10PM and at 2AM and again at 4AM. If they can get a fix on him each time and tell him where he is each time it'll drive him and his security detail completely bonkers. And Israel wouldn't have to violate Lebanese airspace to do it. (Except once or twice to buzz his residence and make him mess himself - just to drive the point home....). Keep him alive and in charge but drive him nuts - he'll start making mistakes.
The war in the Gaza Strip spilled over into Egypt Sunday when dozens of Gaza residents crossed the border only to encounter Egyptian gunfire aimed at driving them back. The ongoing closure of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has become a symbol of Cairo's policy, which critics charge is one of collaborating with Israel to impose economic sanctions on the Strip. Judging by Arab leaders' statements to the media, or the slogans shouted by demonstrators in several Arab capitals, one might have thought that Egypt, not Israel, was the one waging war on Gaza.
Hamas' demand that Egypt open Rafah to all Gazans, and not just to the wounded seeking treatment abroad, has been rejected in part because Egypt remains committed to an Israeli-Palestinian agreement from 2005 that governs the Gaza border crossings, even though it was never a signatory to the pact. But beyond this formal reason, Egypt wants to prevent thousands of Palestinians from once again crossing the border into its territory. This past January, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians broke through the border fence, the Egyptian government suffered harsh criticism at home for allowing Egypt's sovereignty to be violated.
Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that Cairo will long be able to withstand the enormous pressure being generated by the Arab media and public.
Thus far, Hamas has not succeeded in generating an Arab diplomatic initiative that would lead to a renewed cease-fire on its terms. Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which view Hamas as an Iranian ally whose goal is to increase Tehran's regional influence at their expense, prefer to wait a bit in the hopes that Israel's military operation will strip Hamas of its ability to dictate terms. And without those two states, the Arab League will have trouble even convening an emergency summit.
Granted, such a summit has limited practical value. But its absence indicates that Arab solidarity with the Palestinians is crumbling under Hamas' leadership.
Cairo is still furious with Hamas for having torpedoed Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah in November, while Saudi Arabia is wary of launching any new initiative after the much-touted reconciliation agreement it brokered between Hamas and Fatah in 2006 collapsed into bloodshed nine months later. As a result, Qatar is likely to step into the role of "honest broker" between Israel and Hamas. Qatar, one of only two Arab nations (along with Jordan) that contacted Israel directly to demand that it stop its operation in Gaza, currently carries diplomatic heft. This is partly because of its success in brokering an agreement between the warring factions in Lebanon this spring, but also because it manages to maintain good relations with everyone: both Israel and Iran, as well as Syria and Saudi Arabia.
Nevertheless, it will probably be premature to talk about mediation toward a cease-fire as long as Jerusalem believes it can force Hamas to sue for a truce on Israel's terms.
ISLAMABAD: Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan called his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Sunday and discussed with him the current situation in South Asia. Qureshi expressed concern over the increasing war rhetoric and tension in the region and said the international community should strengthen Pakistans hands to overcome the global challenge of terrorism.
Because strengthening Pakistain has worked so well ...
Babacan commended the calm and maturity that Pakistani leadership had shown in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, and said Turkey would play its role in preventing conflict in the region.
I don't think the Turks have much influence over the Indians ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The slave may have had a better life than she would have in Egypt, but if you want to live in the US you'd better live by the rules. Yeesh, didn't even send her to school. Amazing that in such a short time she seems to have come a long way with her education.
If you read to the end of the story, you'll see that circumstances suggest that they have yet another slave . . . . I'd say it's time the couple starts breaking big rocks into little rocks or perhaps serving ten years as fully supervised caregivers. And they certainly don't seem to be competent enough to have custody of their own children.
#3
Her employers were not satisfied, she said. "Nothing was ever clean enough for her. She would come in and say, 'This is dirty,' or 'You didn't do this right,' or 'You ruined the food,'" said Shyima.
I recommend kicking the rations up a notch by adding a bit of Preston Antifreeze to each recipe.
#4
After ordering a tuna melt on 12-grain bread, Obama approached reporters and placed his hand on the shoulder of pool reporter Philip Rucker of The Washington Post, who was scribbling away in his notebook. You don't really need to write all that down, Obama said.
Next time Obama, don't say a word, just slap Rucker into tomorrow. They'll get the message.
#5
The media served its purpose as far as he's concerned. He's just torked that the peasants apparently didn't get the memo the day after the election to go piss off.
#7
Don't worry, the media will be the 'battered spouse' who'll always return to their batterer, for the same failure of real self esteem usually associated with deep seated [and in this case, justified] but never articulated nagging self doubts. They need him to reaffirm their worthiness. It usually doesn't end well for either party. Pass the popcorn.
#8
I can't wait until it dawns on the press that Obama hates them more than Bush did. You will be able to tell when all the 'woe is us' and bad press starts.
#11
pass the popcorn is right...I don't like either entity, the press or chairman maobama. However, taking your kids to get an ice cream is not news worthy. I think there ought to be limits. I don't care where the guy goes on vacation or what he looks like w/out a shirt on. This is all just a sad commentary on where we are as a culture. The obssesiveness w/celebrity is sickening.
#1
Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, the head of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain, told The Times: "This story is very common, unfortunately. We have tried to plug some of the holes in the whole system, but unfortunately our clerics do not live on this planet.
They dont understand. For them, controlling the sexuality of the woman is far more important than justice, so we have this problem.
I am stunned by the admission. Therapy starts with admission.
#4
Islam traditionally allows husbands to take up to four wives at a time
This has become a huge problem as young Muslim women travel and attend school in the west (or what remains of it) and learn that women in the west are not subjected to such slavery.
#8
I hadn't heard this.
"On December 15, 2008, Drescher announced on Larry King Live that she is actively lobbying to be appointed to serve the remainder of Hillary Clinton's Senate term."
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/29/2008 15:10
Comments ||
Top||
#9
Why is that surprising, Deacon? Isn't NY a nanny state?
IAF planes targeted a guest palace used by the Hamas government and the house next to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's home in a refugee camp next to Gaza City early Monday morning.
Haniyeh was not home, as Hamas leaders have gone into hiding.
Haniyeh was not home, as Hamas leaders have gone into hiding.
The question is now, whose bed is he under or skirt is he behind. And if the latter, what is the probability that the skirt belongs to some guy from Hamass.
#7
I'm pretty sure that what Israel was after was the command bunker under the "guest palace", where Haniyeh and all his "guests" gathered as soon as the bombs started falling. Ishmail "Chicken Little" Haniyeh is "too important" to be killed, like the Hamass cannon fodder.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/29/2008 16:46
Comments ||
Top||
Between this and the financial problem, UK leadership will be under greater than usual strain this coming year. What that will end up meaning for the GWOT is anybody's guess but probably it won't be good.
#3
They are sooo lucky. After a norovirus epidemic had millions of Brits with trombone vomiting and explosive diarrhea (lovely image, that), now to get socked with the flu.
Pro-India parties have won enough seats in the state assembly to form a ruling alliance in Indian-administered Kashmir, according to tallies announced Sunday.
The National Conference party and the Congress party together won 45 seats, one more than is needed for a simple majority in the 87-seat state assembly. The two parties have started negotiations for an alliance so they can take power. The National Conference party won 28 seats, and Congress won 17.
"We are ready to align with the Congress party to form the next government," said Omar Abdullah, president of National Conference.
The seven-phased elections began in November, four months after India took direct control after the fall of a coalition government in the state. The elections ended last week, and vote-counting finished Sunday.
Before the elections, violent protests were conducted by anti-Indian groups, fearful state elections would firm up Indian control of the area, and by Indian nationalists, fearful that separatist groups would gain control.
Separatist leaders had called for boycotting the elections, but many ignored that call. India's election commission called the vote the "most credible election in the state."
The state's last coalition government fell after it announced it would transfer forest land to a Hindu shrine board that manages an annual pilgrimage. That move sparked huge protests by Muslim groups, and clashes erupted. When the government announced it was canceling the planned transfer, more clashes occurred.
Five members of the Sri Lanka's Civil Defense Force (CDF) were killed in a suicide blast in Sri Lanka at a church outside the capital of Colombo Sunday morning, police said. Eight other CDF officers and two civilians were wounded, police said.
Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but police suspect the bomber was a member of the Tamil Tiger rebels. There was no immediate response from the Tamil Tiger rebels to the incident, which, police said, occurred at St. Anne's Church in the Colombo suburb of Wattala, located on a roadway to the country's only international airport about 15 kilometers (9 miles) north of the capital.
The attack happened during a weekly festival that usually draws a large crowd shopping for vegetables and household goods.
The suicide bomber walked into an area where CDF officers were stationed and detonated his explosives, police said. Investigators suspect the bomber targeted the area because 150 police officers who help patrol the road to the airport are billeted there.
Terrified prisoners fled a Gaza City jail bombed by Israeli warplanes on Sunday, their faces white with dust and red with blood as they stumbled over huge piles of rubble.
Across the territory, grieving families pitched traditional mourning tents of green tarp outside the homes. Yet the rows of chairs inside these tents remained largely empty, as residents cowered indoors for fear of new Israeli strikes. Plumes of gray smoke rising into the sky marked the site of the latest Israeli attacks.
Even for war-weary Gazans, who've lived through countless Israeli incursions, air attacks and months of bitter Palestinian infighting, the latest surprise Israeli air offensive was unusually traumatic. In all, more than 290 people most of them Hamas policemen, but also 20 children were killed in some 300 Israeli air attacks over two days.
On Saturday, shortly after Israel unleashed the deadliest-ever offensive against Hamas and its rocket squads, hospital morgues quickly overflowed. In the initial chaos, the dead were wrapped in blankets and lined up on the ground, as frantic relatives searched for their loved ones.
On Sunday, 25 unclaimed bodies still lay in the morgue of Gaza's largest hospital, Shifa, their faces disfigured beyond identification. In the southern town of Rafah, residents held a mass funeral for 14 people, including two brothers, and a father and son, all of them members of the Hamas security forces.
#1
On Sunday, 25 unclaimed bodies still lay in the morgue of Gaza's largest hospital
Hmm. Nobody wants them. Aren't good Muslims supposed to bury their dead? I don't know if it's true, but it seems that someone who had no respect in the Muslim community would either be left for the dogs to dispose of or shoved in a mass grave.
#5
Stop the precision crap and bomb Gaza back to a hunter/gatherer society. Leave nothing standing but rubble, and bounce the rubble two or three times. Egypt will open its borders for the "poor" palestinians, and Gaza will be empty. Annex it to Israel, and begin redevelopment. Then start on the West Bank. When Hezbullocks attacks Israel, begin by nuking everything just north of the Litani, Israel's new border to the north. Before Jordan and Egypt can mount an offensive, put a little bug in their ear that there's an even larger nuke surprise aimed at their capital cities, and that the Aswan Dam is a "legitimate target". Syria has too many internal problems right now to do much, and Iran can only fire rockets, for which there should be a nuke reply.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/29/2008 17:02
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Aswan IS a legitimate target - it supplies power to military bases.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's government has issued a new passport to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, according to a senior official with Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party. Tsvangirai had threatened to pull out of a power-sharing deal with Mugabe unless the passport was issued.
"He now has the document after a long struggle," said the MDC official, confirming a report in the state-owned weekly The Sunday Mail.
Tsvangirai is in neighboring Botswana, but has said he cannot return to Zimbabwe without a valid passport. Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa would not comment on whether the passport was issued.
Asked whether Tsvangirai would join Mugabe's government if given the passport, Chamisa said it was more important that Mugabe's ZANU-PF party "shows sincerity by releasing the people it abducted and resolves the outstanding issues of equitable distribution of cabinet and senior posts" in the government.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe signed the unity deal September 15, but Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the MDC have failed to implement it because they cannot agree on who should control key ministries.
DHAKA - Bangladeshis poured out in large numbers early on Monday to vote in a landmark parliamentary election to take their country back to democracy, after two years of emergency rule by an army-backed interim government.
Voting started at 8 a.m. (0200 GMT) in more than 35,000 polling centres across the South Asian nation and will close at 4 p.m. (1000 GMT). Security forces and election monitors were present in strength in an effort to assure the election went peacefully and the results were credible.
Credible? Hah ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Iraq's Presidency Council on Sunday ratified a measure by parliament that clears the way for troops from Britain, Australia and a handful of other nations to stay in Iraq after a UN mandate expires at the year's end. Iraq's parliament gave approval to the measure on Tuesday.
Forces from Britain, which has 4,100 soldiers in Iraq, Australia, El Salvador, Romania and Estonia and from NATO have been awaiting a new arrangement to legalise their presence next year.
Iraq's three-member Presidency Council, comprising President Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents, must unanimously approve all legislation passed by parliament or it goes back. A council statement said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's cabinet had "authorisation to determine the presence of (non-US) foreign troops".
But British officials have warned that several negotiating steps are needed before Britain and other nations can secure final deals permitting their presence after Dec. 31.
A 15-year-old Bronx girl has been charged with two homicides including the death of a man whose dismembered body was found in a plastic bag. Sharell Butler was arraigned late Saturday and charged as an adult with murder in the deaths of 24-year-old Christopher Umpierre on Dec. 19 and 22-year-old John Hopkins-Drago on Dec. 21.
2 in 3 days. She was on a roll.
A Bronx building superintendent found Hopkins-Drago's body stuffed in a garbage bag. The medical examiner's office said the cause of death was stab wounds to his head, torso and extremities.
Prosecutors said Umpierre was shot in the chest during a home invasion robbery involving Butler and others.
Prosecutors do not believe that Butler was the shooter, but no one else had been charged in Umpierre's death as of Sunday, said Steven Reed, a spokesman for the district attorney's office.
Butler, whose street name is "Lady Red," was arraigned in Bronx criminal court and was being held without bail, Reed said. A lawyer for the teen, Xavier Donaldson, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
ACCRA, Ghana -Ghana's presidential runoff vote appeared to go smoothly, observers and analysts said, even though the West African nation's ruling party and opposition traded allegations of rigging. President John Kufuor is stepping down after two terms in office in what is expected to be Ghana's second successful handover of power from one legitimately elected leader to another.
Nana Akufo-Addo of the ruling party faced opposition candidate John Atta Mills, whose campaign maintains that the country's economic growth has not been felt in people's wallets. Neither candidate, though, secured enough votes to win the election outright. Akufo-Addo received 49.13 percent, while Atta Mills received 47.92 percent.
"On the whole, the election has been peaceful, with just some queues at some of the polling stations too long and too slow," said Kwesi Jonah, a scholar-in-residence at the Institute of Democratic Governance, an independent think tank.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
QUETTA: A pipeline supplying gas from Pirkoh wells to Sui plant was blown up in the Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti districts Sui tehsil on Sunday, area police officials said. Unidentified men planted the bomb near the 16-inch pipeline, and the explosion destroyed a portion of the pipeline. Pakistan Petroleum Limited sources said that a team of engineers had been sent to the site in order to repair the damaged pipeline.
Seperately, the railway track linking Quetta with other parts of the country was blown up and a Karachi to Quetta train was damaged in the Dasht area on Sunday, police and railway officials said. They said that no one was injured in the explosion.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The Pals may see a decline in their media and academic support as collapsing oil prices reduce the flow of gifts, grants, fellowships, inflated speaking fees, and other bribes to western professors, media personalities, peace activists, and other prostitutes.
#2
AC, excellent! I just wish there were plenty of bridges to sell to Soddys to reduce their truckloads of cash even further. Do we have some glitzy but not particularly functional (without a very thick RTFM) weapon systems?
#6
I want calm in Gaza. But I understand it's going to take a little longer for the Israelis to achieve it. As soon as all the Hamassholes are room temp, we'll have calm. So chill and wait for the calm.
#8
Could the rockets flying out of Gaza a result of the lowering/dropping of oil prices ?? Would this be a way to get them to increase again ?? I see that oil is up to over $40 bbl this am??
Posted by: Tom- Pa ||
12/29/2008 9:43
Comments ||
Top||
#9
Wake me when they get that agitated about dead and dying Jews as a result of Hamas/Fatah/Hizbullah/insert-your-local-crazy-Muslim -group-here activity, and I might actually give a damn.
#10
So where are the calls for the end to the violence in Sderot - where Hamas and its surrogates have been firing rockets at civilians continually for _years_.
I guess they don't matter since they're Jooos right?
#11
The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Zalmay Khalilzad, supported Israel's contention that it was up to Hamas to stop the violence. "Israel has the right to self defense and nothing in this press statement should be read as anything but that," Khalilzad said.
That, my dears, does not sound like the US is calling upon Israel to stop attacking the Gaza Strip. I didn't bother reading further into the article to see who else is not calling for an end to Israeli attacks. I'm afraid CNN is reporting from their imaginary world again.
#12
Halo?
Is dis Calm?
Hai hai Calm how are u 2 day?
Good, good.
Look Calm,
We got bsns here
You got fat or uncle ina can?
Sory Calm Ima mistaked...
Whooopsie.. sorrry thar Calm...
#13
Angry protests also took place in several cities around the world on Sunday against Israel after its air strikes in Gaza killed at least 270 people and wounded hundreds more. In London, hundreds of demonstrators battled riot police in an attempt to enter the Israeli Embassy, according to media reports.
Yeah, I think I know the kinda "calm" they want...
LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party Secretary General Jahangir Badar has said that a United Nations commission will start a probe into former prime minister Benazir Bhuttos murder in January next year, a private TV channel reported on Sunday. According to the channel, Badar said the PPP would provide all evidence to the UN commission to help with the probe.
Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the government wanted the UN to probe Benazirs assassination, APP reported. Babar said, We requested the UN to constitute an investigation commission so that the people who were behind the tragedy could be exposed, adding the announcement regarding the commissions formation was a good omen.
Just you wait until Carla del Ponte arrives ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The ISI...in the limo...with the sun roof handle.
The head of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said Sunday that he had asked his fighters to be on alert for any possible Israeli attack on Lebanon following raids on Gaza that killed nearly 300 Palestinians.
In a televised address at a religious gathering marking the Shiite Day of Ashura south of Beirut, Nasrallah said "I have asked the brothers in the resistance in the south specifically to be present, on alert and cautious because we are facing a criminal enemy and we don't know the magnitude of the conspiracies."
"What is happening today is a Palestinian copy of the July war," Nasrallah said, drawing a comparison between the Israel Defense Forces offensive in the Gaza Strip and the 2006 Second Lebanon War, which Hezbollah waged against Israel in southern Lebanon.
"This is exactly what happened with us. The possibilities and the same possibilities, the conspiracy is the same, the battle is the same battle, and the result, Allah willing, will be the same result," the Hezbollah leader told the crowd.
The Hezbollah leader also mentioned the missiles recently discovered by the Lebanese army, which it said were aimed at Israel and had timers set for launch, saying that Israel, or someone working on Israel's behalf, planted them.
Speaking about IDF preparations in northern Israel, at the border with Lebanon, Nasrallah said that he does not rule out the possibility that Israel fears a Hezbollah assault, "but there is another possibility," he said, "that at this terrible timing, in the shadow of the Arab conspirators and the American political vacuum, between Bush and Obama, there is the possibility that the enemy will take advantage of the situation and attack Lebanon. They need it because of the elections, or to improve their power of deterrence. We need to be careful and not take what is happening lightly."
The Hezbollah leader also mentioned the missiles recently discovered by the Lebanese army, which it said were aimed at Israel and had timers set for launch, saying that Israel, or someone working on Israel's behalf, planted them. "Who put them there before a war?" he asked.
"When they found them, they said 'people in Lebanon.' We in the Hezbollah have the courage to take responsibility for every action and we won't hide, like some others. Would it have been difficult for Israel to infiltrate southern Lebanon and put them there? The many Israeli agents, lone and institutional, could do this to give themselves an excuse to attack Lebanon."
In his televised address, Nasrallah criticized some Arab countries whom he accused of colluding with Israel and America, saying "I'll call things by their name. We need the word of truth and we need every nation to shoulder its responsibility in the face of what is happening."
"After Egypt and Jordan signed so-called 'peace agreements' all that remains is the Palestinian people, Lebanon and Syria," Nasrallah went on to say. "The Americans and the Zionists want to reach an agreement to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict on American and Israeli terms. They want the Arabs to capitulate to these terms without any conditions. They want to force these terms on the Arabs, with pressure, isolation, siege, civil war, media warfare, psychological warfare, assassinations and wars."
"There are those who speak of the Arab silence. This is not true. There is an Arab partnership. But not all the Arabs and not all the regimes ? there are those who cooperate with the enemy. Especially those who signed deals known as peace agreements with Israel. They help the American-Zionist project coerce its terms of submission on all the other resistance fighters, in every way - political, psychological and military," the Hezbollah leader continued.
"Just so we are very clear," Nasrallah declared. "The war against us was waged with Arab consent, and sometimes at the demand of Arabs. We are facing a conspiracy on their part regarding everything that is happening in the region."
#1
"Just so we are very clear," Nasrallah declared. "The war against us was waged with Arab consent, and sometimes at the demand of Arabs. We are facing a conspiracy on their part regarding everything that is happening in the region."
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
12/29/2008 0:36
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Why do all these guys seem to have homes overseas? There's Dodd, there's Rangel's Dominican place... I mean, if they're the guys who *write* the financial and tax regulations _here_...
#6
You couldn't buy a hovel in Galway for that money and apparently the cottage in question is a very nicely restored affair on the idyllic island of Inishnee, close to the coast in the fashionable Roundstone area of Connemara.
Think 600,000 - 800,000 and you're getting warm! That's getting on for a cool $1 million. Maybe he thought nobody would believe him - he's probably right.
The Micks clearly do not understand the Dodd CountryWide "Executive Discount" program.
IAF aircraft bombed the Islamic University and government compound in Gaza City early Monday morning, both centers of Hamas power. Witnesses saw fire and smoke at the university, counting six separate air strikes there just after midnight.
Israel Radio reported that two laboratories in the university were targeted. The IDF said the buildings were used to store rockets and explosives.
#2
Two laboratories in the university, which served as research and development centers for Hamas's military wing, were targeted. The development of explosives, IDF sources said, was done under the auspices of university lecturers. Officials said that the explosives developed and manufactured in the labs were used to make sophisticated explosive devices and mortars used against Israel. Many Hamas officials graduated from the university.
University buildings, they said, were also used for meetings of senior Hamas officials and that rockets and explosives were stored in the buildings. IDF sources said that the strike was approved together with the long list of targets that the cabinet had approved last week.
"This is a strategic blow to Hamas," one official explained. "It is a blow to their development capability and will make it more difficult for them to manufacture explosives and new Kassam rockets."
Looks like another serious setback for Gaza's Space Program...
ANKARA: Turkish fighter jets bombed Kurdish guerrilla targets in northern Iraq on Saturday and Sunday, Turkish Army sources said. Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in the Hakurke region of northern Iraq were hit on Saturday night and several other targets near the Iraqi-Turkish border were bombed on Sunday afternoon, the sources said.
The strikes in a mountainous border area claimed no civilian casualties, said Lieutenant Colonel Ihsan Kamal, commander of the border guards operation room in Iraqs largely autonomous Kurdistan region. This is becoming routine, Turkish warplanes targeting the border area. We are not worried about civilian casualties because these areas are deserted, he said.
But he added he had no idea of PKK casualties.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Blagojevich's lawyer Monday intends to submit President-elect Barack Obama's internal report to a House impeachment panel as evidence the governor wasn't trying to enrich himself while deciding who to appoint to Illinois' vacant U.S. Senate seat.
One self-serving report leads to another ...
Denied the ability to subpoena Obama's inner circle, defense attorney Ed Genson told the Chicago Sun-Times Sunday that the report will buttress his arguments the governor has done nothing wrong and deserves to remain in office. "Since I can't subpoena anyone, this is the next best thing," Genson said.
Last week, Obama's transition team released a report concluding that incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had one or two phone calls with Blagojevich regarding the Senate appointment and another four calls with the governor's former chief of staff, John Harris, who also has been charged. The Obama report noted that Emanuel was pushing Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett for the seat but concluded no wrongdoing on the part of Obama's aides or any indication that the governor was attempting to seek a cabinet appointment or ambassadorship under Obama in exchange for appointing Jarrett or anyone else.
#2
Should at least be able to get Blago on record as to whether or not the report is accurate. If he agrees with the facts of the report and they turn out to be innaccurate then that would raise the pressure on Emmanuel as well as the governor.
MINGORA: Thirty-four people, including four children, were killed and more than a dozen injured in an attack which police have described as a suicide bombing at a polling station set up for a by-election in Bunir district of NWFP on Sunday. Bunir lies on the edge of Swat valley.
Police said the bomber targeted the polling station set up at a primary school with an explosives-laden car when people were casting their vote in the by-election for the constituency NA-28. The seat fell vacant when Awami National Party (ANP) parliamentarian Abdul Matin Khan passed away. News agencies said four children and two policemen were among the dead. The school building collapsed.
Swat-based Taliban have claimed responsibility and warned of more attacks, with their spokesman saying the polling station had been targeted to avenge the killing of six Taliban by Bunir locals.
Officials said the ballot was suspended following the bombing.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have condemned the attack, and ordered an investigation.
Attaboy, Gomez, investigate that one. Sure beats doing anything about it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
ahhh the joys of Islamic democracy... one man one vote or optional car bomb.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
12/29/2008 15:13
Comments ||
Top||
From January 1 until December 21, Hamas and its allies had launched exactly 1,250 rockets across the border between Gaza and Israel. Then the escalation really started: on Wednesday 70 projectile missiles landed in the Negev and its populated areas. On Thursday, more of the same. On Friday, two Palestinian girls, cousins of 5 and 12 years, were killed by a rocket that was launched in the Strip and landed in the Strip. But these unfortunates were not the targets of fire. It was just another day of blast offs into the Jewish state.
The government in Jerusalem had made it unmistakably clear that it would no longer tolerate this fire power aimed at innocent civilian life. It had been saying this for months to an increasingly skeptical and apprehensive, not to say, restive public. And to Hamas which didn't seem to care. Instead, it threatened Israel by word and follow-up deeds that confirmed the recklessness - as if confirmation was needed- of also this Palestinian "liberation" movement, the last in the long line of terrorist revolutionaries acting in the name of pathetic and blood-thirsty Palestine.
So at 11:30 on Saturday morning, according to both the Jerusalem Post and Ha'aretz, as well as the New York Times, 50 fighter jets and attack helicopters demolished some 40 to 50 sites in just about three minutes, maybe five. Message: do not fuck with the Jews. At roughly noon, another 60 air-attack vehicles went after other Hamas strategic positions. Israeli intelligence reported 225 people dead, mostly Hamas military leaders with some functionaries, besides, and perhaps 400 wounded. The Palestinians announced 300 dead, probably as a reflex in order to begin their whining about disproportionate Israeli acts of war. And 600 wounded.
Frankly, I am up to my gullet with this reflex criticism of Israel as going beyond proportionality in its responses to war waged against its population with the undisguised intention of putting an end to the political expression of the Jewish nation. Within hours, Nicolas Sarkozy was already taking up the cudgel of French righteousness and pronouncing the actually quite sober Israeli response to the continuous war on its borders "disproportionate." Enough. What would be proportionate, oh, so so proportionate apparently, are those tried-and-true half measures to contain Hamas that have never worked. Remember that in 2005 Israel ceded Gaza to the Palestinians waiting and hoping that they would make something of a civil society of their territory, civil for their own and civil to their neighbors. It was not to be.
There is only small likelihood that Hamas has learned its lesson. These Sunni fanatics are still supported by the Shi'a fanatics in Iran. And they are also backed by the House of Saud which cannot be seen to be turning its back on Sunni piety. Gaza is the only place in the Middle East where Tehran and Riyadh are allied. In both Lebanon and Iraq, they are the bankrollers (and more than bankrollers) of hostile sectarian forces engaged in killing each other. Thus, Hamas has still some rope with which to play. Cash, after all, is a great deluder.
The current warfare will go on a bit longer. If there is a pause and if I were giving advice to the Israelis, this is what I would say to Hamas and to the people of Gaza: "If a rocket or missile is launched against us, if you take captive one of our soldiers (as you have held one for two and a half years), if you raise a new Intifada against us, there will be an immediate response. And it will be very disproportionate. Proportion does not work."
No sooner had I written these last words that Khaled Meshal, the Hamas leader exiled in Damascus (which also apparently pines to make peace with Israel), announced the beginning of the Third Intifada.
#2
Remember when the tiger at the San Francisco zoo had enough of the pestering and taunting by the intoxicated young men? Well one of those young men was attacked by the tiger and is now pushing up daisies and no one blames the tiger. Disproportionate Force.
#4
Disproportionate force would be 1000 Caterpillar D-11s lined up blade-to-blade along the NE border, & rolling SW, pushing all before them into Egypt. At full speed, ~2 hours, but some structures might need to be hit at less than full speed. Since I don't believe there ARE 1000 D-11s, I guess they'd have to substitute some D-9s and put some blades on their Merkavas.
#5
The US responded with "disproportionate force" to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor -- thank God. The way to stop aggression is to defeat it, not to give it time to inflict more harm.
#2
Another outstanding performance by local cop shop. Just how do they view their responsibilities ? Just to move in to sequester the dead until the coroners arrive some 6 to 8 hours later ? Pitiful.
ROME - More than 500 illegal immigrants arrived on Italian shores Sunday as opposition lawmakers attacked Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing coalition government for failing to tackle the problem. Some 253 illegally entered the country on Sunday morning by arriving on the southern island of Lampedusa, with a further 300 arrving on the neighbouring island of Linosa later in the day.
"The government's strategy on illegal immigration has been a miserable failure," said Marco Minniti, a senior figure inside the Democratic Party. "This year, we have already seen more than double the amount of (illegal immigrants) compared to last year," he added.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini called on Libya Saturday to do more to stem the flow of illegal immigrants from its shores. He explained that an agreement between Italy and Libya to cooperate further on tackling illegal immigration could not yet be put into action as it had not yet been ratified by the Italian parliament.
But Ivano Strizzolo, a Democratic Party deputy, said the deal, struck in August, had proved "totally ineffective".
Even politicians belonging to Berlusconi's ruling coalition criticised the increasing numbers of illegal immigrants. "The arrival of these poor people in Lampedusa has been orchestrated by one person... Colonel Kadhafi, former financier of international terrorism," said Mario Borghezio, a European deputy with the populist Northern League.
Immigrant arrivals by sea to Italy have greatly increased this year, surpassing 24,000 from January to mid-September, compared to a little more than 14,000 over the same period in 2007, according to Italy's interior ministry.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
There are at least 500 selling handbags in Venice. Italy doesn't need anymore.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
12/29/2008 12:51
Comments ||
Top||
ISLAMABAD: Lord Nazir Ahmed, a member of the UK House of Lords with Kashmiri origin, on Sunday said India mounted on maligning Pakistan without any proof after Mumbai attacks and that global peace relied largely on resolution of Kashmir and Palestine issues. He was speaking at a joint press conference with former AJK Prime Minister Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry. He said corruption of the ruling faction of Muslim Conference had divided the AJK on beradri basis, which served interests of only a few.
He termed the efforts for an in-house change in the AJK Legislative Assembly a democratic move, citing replacement of Tony Blair with Borden Brown through such efforts. He criticised statement of a Muslim Conference leader, who said his party had 200,000 trained Muslim Conference Mujahideen. He said such statements were irresponsible and against the stated position of Pakistan on Kashmir issue, adding it could raise questions that 700,000 Kashmiris living in the UK could get militancy training in AJK.
On the recent Israeli air strikes inside Ghaza, he said the OIC and Arab League should hold emergency meetings to settle the matter failing which feelings of Muslim youth could be hurt. He said the world had double standards on Palestine issue.
Barrister Sultan said the AJK government had failed to highlight Kashmir issue internationally effectively so there was a need for re-election. He accused the AJK government of giving 900 kanals of land to its cronies for as less a price as Rs 100 per kanal. He claimed that Sardar Attique had support of only 15 out of total 34 member of the Legislative Assembly so he had no moral justification to stay in the office.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
On the recent Israeli air strikes inside Ghaza, he said the OIC and Arab League should hold emergency meetings to settle the matter failing which feelings of Muslim youth could be hurt.
I'll bet "hurt feelings" are amongst the least of the problems of Gaza's "Muslim youth" right now...
#2
Wait a damn second, I thought it was about them damn Joooooooooooooooos in the Med. ? I mean can I get a WTF? There can be no peace without (Troll) and (Troll) can only be obtained with American Money and (troll) blood.
MOHMAND AGENCY: At least four Taliban were injured in the Sindukhel area of Lakroo tehsil in firing by security forces, while unidentified armed men also made a foiled bid to blow up a bridge near Ghazi Baig.
Separately, nine security personnel were injured when their truck plunged into a ravine. The injured were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital in Peshawar.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
It was not a poacher's gun that killed a leopard in the Lakhimpur forest in Uttar Pradesh. The full-grown cat was mauled to death by a tigress during a fight.
"The incident took place on Saturday night when the tigress was playing with its cubs near Matera village in Lakhimpur and the leopard came there, sparking a fight between them," District Forest Officer RK Singh said. The fight between the two continued for hours in which the leopard was killed, he said. Senior officers of the Forest Department have reached the spot.
Meanwhile, in yet another rhino poaching in Assam, a full-grown female one-horned herbivore, of highly endangered species, was killed near Kaziranga National Park while its horn was taken away. Forest officials said the female rhino which had strayed out of the park along with two males last week, was shot dead by poachers at Kameri Chapori under Numaligarh forest beat office on the outskirts of the Park three days back. The decomposed carcass of the animal was dug out on Sunday by the police after the villagers informed them of foul smell.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/29/2008
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
How the heck did a leopard survive for more than two minutes against a much larger opponent?
KABUL, Afghanistan -A single-file line of school children walked past a military checkpoint as a bomb-loaded truck veered toward them and exploded, ending the lives of 14 young Afghans in a heartbreaking flash captured by a U.S. military security camera.
The video shot Sunday shows an SUV slowly weaving through sand bag barriers at a military checkpoint just as a line of school children, most wearing white caps, comes into view. They walk along a pathway between the street and a wall, several of them pausing for a few seconds in a group before moving forward again. The vehicle moves toward the security camera while the children walk in the opposite direction, nearly passing the SUV when the footage ends in a fiery blast.
Photos of the bombing's aftermath showed bloodied text books lying on the ground beside small pairs of shoes. Afghan officials said the kids were attending a final day of class for the year to find out whether they would move up to the next grade.
Dr. Abdul Rahman, a doctor at a hospital near the blast, said the children were aged 8 to 10.
In an angry condemnation of the attack, President Hamid Karzai said those that carried it outcannot escape the revenge of Afghans and God's punishment."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
President Hamid Karzai said those that carried it out"cannot escape the revenge of Afghans and God's punishment."
Unless, of course, he keeps undermining Coalition forces everytime a sympathizer civilian gets killed.
#2
Friggin' soul-dead barbarians.
If there were any justice in the world, we would select 14 Gitmo detainees, put them against a convenient wall and set off a 2000 lb JDAM six feet in front of their faces. No blindfolds or cigarettes (bad for their health, you know).
#3
It's not really appropriate for a western reader of the headline to refer to these as students - they're just kids. Especially as the word "student" has unfortunate connotations in that part of the world.
#5
This is a bit technical.. but lettuce pray and think on things that are damn, damn difficult:
From Job
7 Aftr teh Ceiling Cat pwnd Job, he startz actin all emo n sais "OMG U tree n00bz wif teh funneh naimz, U hax3d fo shure, unliek tat n00b Job who got pwnd liek teh str8 n00bz.8 So naow yuz all ned tu taek sum cheezburgers n stuff and gib dem two me, but I not lissen to yu cuz yuz st00pid. But I here wut Job say. Mebbe he prey for u. If I feel liek it mabbe den I not pwn yuo. Cuz Job iz all gud n stuff an sai wut troo, not leik yu. LOLZ!"9 Den teh tree d00ds did leik Ceiling Cat say, an he lisen to Job wen he prey n not p0wn thoz n00bs. YAY JOB!
10 Den wen Job dun preying for hims frenz, Ceiling Cat gib Job liek wai moar stuff!!!! SRSLY!!!!11! Ceiling Cat p0wnzors all teh n00bs!!!!11 An all Job's brudders n sissers n stuff caem to hes hows. Dey eated cookies an gib Job mouseh toyz n sparkel wibbunz. Fo reals!
11 Ceiling Cat gib Job eevin moar stuffs dis tiem. He had leik wai maor sheepz n camelz n rhinoceruseses n, leik, sum lolphants tu.12 He gots seven sunz n tree doughterz.13 Job namd doters Jemimah n Keziah n Keren-Hapuch.14 Hims doghters wuz teh pweties kittehs evah!!! Srsly! When him deded, Job gib cheezburgers n stuff tu hes doters, not jus hims sunz.
15 But b4 him dededed Job liv leik wai moar long. He seed hims kittehs hab kittehs an dey hab kittehs an dey hab kittehs, to. Fo reals!16 Den him deded, all veree happi and hes wikserz gray. TEH END! Lolz.
#1
In 1958 as a bitter Bobby Layne who had been traded by Detroit to Pittsburg said that the Lions would not win another championship for 50 years. The Layne Curse ended this season. Think they'll do better in the future? Me neither.
The team made a habit of losing. The Buccaneers lost at least ten games in 17 of their first 21 seasons, including 12 straight from 1983 to 1994. After a particularly dismal effort in the late 1970's, longtime Buc's coach John McKay gave perhaps the quintessential comment on the organization's plight: A reporter asked McKay about his team's execution during the game. McKay responded "I'm in favour of it".
Posted by: Mike ||
12/29/2008 8:23
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Things are always blackest just before the coach and worthless player firing.
#5
Gotta hit bottom before you can move back up. If they go 1-15 next year, it'll be progress.
Just be glad Millen's not around to blow that No. 1 draft pick.
#8
I went home for X-mas w/the fam (west side of Detroit), after a game of drop-in hockey some old auto worker tried to tell me that William Ford really did want to win, he just didn't know how...the guy has had the team 50 yrs. They need to sell the lions to someone who cares more about winning then coaches and gm's kissing their ass.
#9
Hey BH6, at least ole Bill had enuff brains to get Mullally for FMC, which he also was running to ground. So, maybe there's a glimmer out there for the Lions. Look at it this way, at least it's a record. And will probably remain in the books for a while. It's like 16-0, only backward.
#11
should use that first pick on a WR. That'll work
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/29/2008 12:28
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Tebow won't come out. That leaves Bradford or McCoy. I think the Lions will go with McCoy since he is more mobile. Then they really need to do some serious FA deals and trades to boost the offensive line and bring in a good to semi-great all purpose back. If the Dolphins can do it - then so can Detroit (once they find a way to kidnap Parcells or clone him).
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
12/29/2008 12:50
Comments ||
Top||
#13
Detroit's problems start in the front office, and are just reflected on the field.
no amount of FA or drafting can make up for the lack of football sense in the front office. the city of Detroit aught to sue Bill Ford.. either turn over the franchise to a competent, or stop using the name Detroit... or move to another market so Detroit can rebuild their image.
on the upside, the lions are so bad, that it does give the city schools and PD a way to look good by comparison.
the lions are an embarassment to football
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
12/29/2008 14:13
Comments ||
Top||
#14
The Lions have been in a depression for some time now (last playoff appearance 1999). There's nowhere to go but UP !! At least the Detroit fans still have the RedWings, Pistons, and Tigers. Those three franchises sports 8 championships since 1984.
Posted by: Tom- Pa ||
12/29/2008 15:10
Comments ||
Top||
#15
Nonetheless, the KC Chiefs have the world's worst "Head" Coach. Given a year or two, Herm Edwards could single handedly dismantle the New England Patriots...
#18
They don't need Millen to screw up the draft picks. Remember Andre Ware?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/29/2008 20:47
Comments ||
Top||
#19
The NFL should go to the same system as the European soccer leagues.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
12/29/2008 21:08
Comments ||
Top||
#20
Well, the Broncos found ways to lose their last three games and skip the playoffs. If they'd won any one of them, they'd have been in the running for a wild-card berth, at least. Maybe they're trying to give Detroit some competition.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/29/2008 21:11
Comments ||
Top||
#21
Sorry about that, OP. Go Chargers!
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/29/2008 21:40
Comments ||
Top||
#22
The Bolts play the Colts, no?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/29/2008 22:00
Comments ||
Top||
#23
yep - Saturday 5PM PST
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/29/2008 22:03
Comments ||
Top||
#24
As a Bronco fan, I am glad they lost and got their butt kicked so thoroughly. We couldn't have stopped Indy as we are and we get a better draft pick. Plus, the defensive coach needs fired and the offensive play calling was horrible all year.
Broncos need a major re-tooling and the only way to get it is the complete ass-stomping they so richly deserved.
Although, it would be nice to see the Chargers go all the way. But their coach seems to choke in the playoffs for some reason every year.
King Albert on Sunday asked Herman Van Rompuy, a Dutch-speaking Christian Democrat, to take the reins of the Belgian government that quit December 19 after a scandal over the botched bailout of the Fortis bank.
Van Rompuy, 61, is expected to replace Leterme at the head of a quarrelsome alliance of Christian Democrats, Liberals and Socialists in a matter of days.
In the first 36 hours after the Israeli offensive against Gaza started, Hamas militants fired only 150 rockets, some with a range of about 22 miles, toward Israeli towns. That is below their capacity of up to 200 a day, an estimate by Israeli military sources. "They are keeping their heads down," says a senior military intelligence officer. "Their accuracy is very low right now because of the dense aerial presence by Israeli planes. They know that the chances that they are being spotted by Israel surveillance and intelligence forces is very high." The officer adds, "The clear skies above the Gaza strip did not helped them also."
The clear skies have also afforded ordinary Israeli citizens a chance to watch the onslaught and applaud. At noon Sunday two Israeli Apache combat helicopters hovered in the air two miles east of Sderot, an Israeli town less than four miles from the border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip. Below the choppers, a dozen Israeli spectators perched on a hilltop watched with anticipation. A minute went by and the first Apache fired a Hellfire missile, which went rumbling into the Palestinian side of the border. A few seconds later the crowd broke into cheers at the resulting sight: somewhere between the Jibalya refugee camp and the outskirts of Gaza city a ball of heavy black smoke was rising.
Then the second Apache moved forward and two minutes later it shot another hellfire missile. Another ball of smoke, smaller but just as black, rose half a mile north of the first target. Later on, the spectators listened to radio reports that Israeli helicopters had attacked Qassam launchers, the weapons that Hamas militants have been using to terrorizing Israeli towns along the Gaza strip. The choppers attacked immediately militants had fired a Qassam towards the town of Netivot, six miles east of the Gaza strip. Hamas claims that the attacks have killed nearly 300 people over the course of two days.
The attacks on Gaza have won widespread approval among Israelis and have rubbed off on politicians hoping to win big in elections scheduled for early February 2009. In a concrete, bunker-like hall in Sderot, one of those hopeful politicians, the Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, came by on Sunday afternoon to show solidarity with the residents of the area as well as to address a few dozen foreign diplomats brave enough to come to a community under threat of Qassam rockets. "Now we need your support to increase international pressure on Hamas. Enough is enough."
The locals need no convincing. Itay Avni, 32, who lives in the nearby Kibbutz of Nir-Am (population 400) is overjoyed at the Israeli assault on Gaza. He was among the crowd watching the Apaches launch their missiles. "Yesterday more then a hundred people from all around were here on this hilltop enjoying to the scene of dozens of aerial raids on Hamas military targets inside the Gaza strip," he says. "If I had open an ice-cream stand here I would have made a lot money." He adds, "Exaltation is the word to describe my feelings. At last, after eight years of defense alerts and hundreds of mortar shells, of Qassam rockets fired at our Kibbutz and the area, there is finally some retaliation. People are here to see it happening for real." Nevertheless, the people of the kibbutz are taking precautions. Students and all families with small children have left, moving to live with relatives further north in Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli ground forces seemed to be mobilizing for a fight. Two hours before the Apaches opened fire, some seven Merkava tanks gathered 10 miles north of the hilltop, right next to Erez crossing to the Gaza strip. They were part of a full battalion of 35 tanks, ready to penetrate the northern part of the Gaza strip as part of a ground operation. The soldiers were waiting orders.
#4
"Yesterday more then a hundred people from all around were here on this hilltop enjoying to the scene of dozens of aerial raids on Hamas military targets inside the Gaza strip," he says. "If I had open an ice-cream stand here I would have made a lot money."
#7
Its the playoffs. Israel has been sort of hanging around. Now they have a spot in the playoffs. First they are up against Hamas in an away game. It will be a blow-out. Then they go up against Hezbollah, who have a bye week, in another away game (much like the Colts will have two successive away games). Then if Iran or Syria or even the PLA decide to enter they have another away game to earn the Sand Cup. The Israel passing game and especially the deep kicking game will be overpowering to anyone who tries to stop them. And in some instances they will use their smash-mouth ground game and just punch holes in any defense up the middle. There is no stopping them - heavy air assaults, deep post patterns with little hitches here and there. Keeps the other guys off the field and the only sign of life is in London, Paris and Berlin where their fans and the supporting media will try to blame the Israel's for being too patient, too aggressive and too good at what they do. They will also complain that since Israel always wins it is someone else's time to win.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
12/29/2008 12:41
Comments ||
Top||
#1
I wonder how many there are a week in California, a similar-sized land area and population.
The government's response - take away knives. Stupidity cubed. Didn't they learn anything when they outlawed guns? Instead, catch the perps and crush their right hand. It'll do a lot more to reduce knife crime than anything else they do. Of course, there will probably be a disproportionate number of muslimbs walking around with a flipper instead of a right hand, but that would only be logical.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/29/2008 20:37
Comments ||
Top||
The Ugandan army on Sunday accused Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels of hacking to death 45 people in a church in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
An aid official sconfirmed Friday's massacre, saying the killings took place in a Catholic church in the Doruma area, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Sudanese border. "There are body parts everywhere. Inside the church, the entrance and in the church compound," the aid official said.
"We got information the rebels cut 45 people into pieces," added army spokesman Captain Chris Magezi. "They were cut with pangas (machetes) and hit with clubs but some luckily managed to escape. Our forces came to know about the killings while pursuing the LRA yesterday (Saturday) and the pursuit is on for the killers."
Continued on Page 49
#1
The difference between a civilized society and barbarians is clearly on display here. There is no way the barbarian society is "equal" to what we enjoy here in the United States, or even to the "enlightened socialism" of Europe. This is a bit more graphic than most barbarian strikes, but there are plenty of similar actions being staged by islamists, such as the 14 young children killed yesterday in Afghanistan. "Justifying" it by claiming it's a "religious duty" doesn't prevent it from being seen as pure barbarianism. We need to quit playing games and do some serious hurt to all barbarians, everywhere. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah are carriers of this incidious "disease", and need to be isolated and destroyed as groups, the individual members being separated from civilization. Maybe we could herd them all (or at least what survivors there are after a truly horrendous war to eliminate them) on some island somewhere, without any hope of ever leaving. It's clearly evident now that it's us or them. I don't want to have to spend the rest of my life defending myself against barbarians who have the social skills of a rabid lion. We need to do it now, so both OUR and THEIR children can live in peace. Begin by leaving Israel alone in dealing with their enemies, who are also OUR enemies.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/29/2008 16:08
Comments ||
Top||
MIRANSHAH: The Taliban on Sunday killed three men on suspicion they were spying for the United States in various areas of North Waziristan Agency. A body was found near Sargardan chowk, west of Miranshah Bazaar. A note found on the body said the man was a US spy and a cassette in which he made the confession would be publicised soon.
Two more bodies were found near Khesu Khel Pul, 24 kilometres east of Mirali tehsil of Miranshah. A similar note, proclaiming they were US spies, was found on the two bodies as well. The note said those spying for the US forces would be treated in a similar manner.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
yes, but our real spies are the one that 'caught' him.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
12/29/2008 15:10
Comments ||
Top||
#4
These morons believe we still use human spies. They have no idea that we've found a way to get goats and sheep to spy for us, especially those that have been "mistreated" by the Taliban. I understand that 40,000 bats are also being trained to keep track of Taliban fighters. The snakes, however, are proving much harder to train than we expected - something about "professional courtesy".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/29/2008 16:15
Comments ||
Top||
#5
I think they are killing everyone on Waziristan that is on the L&L Bean mailing list. Hopefully Victoria Secret will keep theirs quiet.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/29/2008 16:53
Comments ||
Top||
It's tit for tat in Thailand, as each side in the protests can stop the government seated by the other side.
BANGKOK - Hundreds of protesters rallied against Thailand's new government in central Bangkok on Monday, hours before Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was due to make his maiden policy speech to parliament.
Red-shirted supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2006, massed near parliament, which elected Abhisit prime minister two weeks ago. Many of the protesters slept overnight outside the building, and hundreds more arrived by bus early on Monday. Protesters carried pictures of Thaksin and others waved placards that read "Abhisit get out, this is a prostitute's government" and "We are ready to protect Thaksin".
A senior member of Abhisit's Democrat Party told Thai television they were negotiating with protesters to allow MPs access to the building, and they would delay the sitting if necessary.
Under the constitution, a new Thai government cannot start work officially until it delivers its policy statement to a joint sitting of the House of Representatives and Senate. Abhisit is due to deliver his speech at 9:30 a.m. (0230 GMT).
The previous government, led by Thaksin's brother-in-law, had to step down after three parties in the ruling coalition were disbanded by the courts, which said they had committed vote fraud in a general election a year ago. Since that election, pro-Thaksin governments were undermined by a series of court cases and street protests led by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a group that includes members of parliament in Abhisit's Democrat Party.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2008
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Any of you knowledgeable RBers able to tell me what, if anything, this has to do with the Muzzie terrorists in the south?
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.
Iran is asking the International Criminal Court to bring to dock the Israeli leaders for their war crimes in Gaza over the past two years and the crimes against humanity they perpetrated in massive air strikes. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the United Nations court specialized in war crimes to sue the Israeli leaders for their crimes against humanity in Gaza Strip. 
Violent confrontations broke out at the Israeli Embassy in London today as up to 1,500 protesters against Israel's Gaza campaign gathered in a vociferous demonstration. Campaign supporters, Palestinians and British Muslims stood on the pavement of High Street Kensington, west London, and chanted in unison: Five, six, seven, eight - Israel is a terror state.
Gaza / PNN - The Free Gaza movement is sending another solidarity ship to the Strip, due this time to the major Israeli attacks. The four previous voyages have set sail in solidarity to the million and a half residents under siege. The boat has set sail as of early Monday evening.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The lawyer for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich says federal wiretaps may have caught the governor making some "unfortunate" remarks but they don't show him doing anything that justifies impeachment. Attorney Ed Genson told a House committee that there's no evidence the governor ever took any illegal action to auction off a U.S. Senate seat or pressure the Chicago Tribune to fire its editorial writers.
Bangladeshis voted in their droves on Monday in elections that marked the end of two years of emergency rule, with a pair of rival former prime ministers vying to reclaim power in the impoverished nation.
The Israel Air Force used a new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States in strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday. The missile, called GBU-39, was developed in recent years by the US as a small-diameter bomb for low-cost, high-precision and low collateral damage strikes. 
DHAKA - Bangladeshis poured out in large numbers early on Monday to vote in a landmark parliamentary election to take their country back to democracy, after two years of emergency rule by an army-backed interim government.
ANKARA: Turkish fighter jets bombed Kurdish guerrilla targets in northern Iraq on Saturday and Sunday, Turkish Army sources said. Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in the Hakurke region of northern Iraq were hit on Saturday night and several other targets near the Iraqi-Turkish border were bombed on Sunday afternoon, the sources said. 
MINGORA: Thirty-four people, including four children, were killed and more than a dozen injured in an attack which police have described as a suicide bombing at a polling station set up for a by-election in Bunir district of NWFP on Sunday. Bunir lies on the edge of Swat valley. 
ROME - More than 500 illegal immigrants arrived on Italian shores Sunday as opposition lawmakers attacked Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing coalition government for failing to tackle the problem. Some 253 illegally entered the country on Sunday morning by arriving on the southern island of Lampedusa, with a further 300 arrving on the neighbouring island of Linosa later in the day.
MOHMAND AGENCY: At least four Taliban were injured in the Sindukhel area of Lakroo tehsil in firing by security forces, while unidentified armed men also made a foiled bid to blow up a bridge near Ghazi Baig. 
King Albert on Sunday asked Herman Van Rompuy, a Dutch-speaking Christian Democrat, to take the reins of the Belgian government that quit December 19 after a scandal over the botched bailout of the Fortis bank. 
MIRANSHAH: The Taliban on Sunday killed three men on suspicion they were spying for the United States in various areas of North Waziristan Agency. A body was found near Sargardan chowk, west of Miranshah Bazaar. A note found on the body said the man was a US spy and a cassette in which he made the confession would be publicised soon. 
