...but Im not going to discuss why I think Israel should or shouldnt attack. Im going to tell you why they will attack. Its already a done deal.
First, Israeli leaders believe that a nuclear Iran poses an existential threat to Israel and the Israeli public agrees. 90% think Iran is building nuclear weapons and 43% of the country support a military strike. Israeli leaders genuinely believe that they have a responsibility to keep the Jewish people safe and take a threat of this magnitude very seriously. The phrase Never Again isnt just rhetoric and Israeli leaders arent just posturing when they say that a nuclear Iran is unacceptable.
Second, Israeli leaders know that world powers will not stop Iran. Israeli warnings have been ignored for a decade. The sanctions being imposed now may have had an impact, if they had been instituted ten years ago when Israel first sounded the alarm. For the Israelis, its too little too late. By time sanctions take full effect in July, the Iranian nuclear program will be so deep underground that even the worlds most powerful munitions may not be able to reach it. The Israelis know that the US is not going to attack Iran. The US fears an increase in Iranian-sponsored attacks on US forces in the Middle East more than they fear a nuclear armed Iran. Israel knows that it is on its own.
The tea party movement, now nearly three years old, has fallen out of favor with Americans. So says the preferred narrative...
And Democrats are prepared to use it against Republicans in the 2012 election. Assuming the Dems themselves aren't completely toxic in November...
A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll may be more illustrative, though. It showed Americans were more evenly split on the tea party, with 44 percent supporting it and 43 percent opposing it. But just 15 percent of Americans supported the tea party "strongly," while many more -- 26 percent -- were "strongly" opposed to it. And if you can't trust a WaPo/ABC poll, who can you trust?
That suggests opposition to the tea party is more strident than the tea party itself, which means the movement may be doing the GOP more harm than good. The fervor and enthusiasm spurred by the tea party in 2010 appears to have dissipated, According to the Dems. What's really happened is that the tea parties are organizing, not rallying. Tea party folks don't need to rally anymore, because they've found each other and are now working with rolled up sleeves.
with no major tea party rallies taking place this year Because they don't need to rally. The reporter is about two years behind on what's happening. I always thought reporters were supposed to get out in front.
and fewer Republican candidates latching on to the label. On the presidential campaign trail, the tea party is rarely mentioned. If only the Dems were running against the Tea Party. Then this would be significant.
In contrast, Democrats are actually starting to wield the tea party label as a tool in their campaigns.
"I'm Bill Pascrell, and this is why I'm running: To stop the tea party," Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) says in a new ad. That'll get him 30% of the vote, which he was going to get anyway.
"It's no longer viewed as a populist, grassroots organization, but a dangerous group with extremist views that don't reflect the mainstream values of America's middle class," said Democratic media strategist John Lapp. He's a Democratic strategist. What's he going to say? 'Yup, the Tea Party kicked out asses'? Of course he wants to run against the Tea Party. He has to have something to sell his clients.
"The Republican establishment allowed the inmates to run the asylum in 2010. And now they're paying the price electorally." We'll see, John, but not until November. Nobody in the media foresaw the Trunk/Tea Party wave in 2010.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/07/2012
16:44 ||
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#1
The tea party seems to align more with the people who don't like either party (the majority!!).
#2
Every time I think I have agrasp on the arrogance and self delusion of the mainstream democrat party, they click their heels together and assert another thing as what it is not. The election is about the disasterous management of our national economy, the smothering regulations, the destructive nature of central control economic philosophy, hyper inflation from the feckless fed, and a Manchurian Candidate in the Oval Office who flicks the race care and outright lies of omission in every public pronouncement. They want to make the election about bogus themes they think they poll well on, abortion, women, mionorities, global warming, diversity....anything but a total case of malfeasance in office. Even the short-sighted, self absorbed, utterly uninformed American electorate will not fall for the hope and change crap this time!
A guest at an Ohio wedding wound up in jail charged with assault and intoxicated disorderly conduct. It all began when she refused to stop slow dancing with the groom, which escalated into a brawl with the bride and an attack on an off-duty police officer.
Dan Kuack was patrolling the St. Clarence Church Pavilion in North Olmsted, Ohio, on Saturday when he heard a woman "yelling and screaming at two unknown males," according to the police report.
Kuack approached the group in the parking lot and found that the two men were trying to keep the woman, Brooke Burke, from driving off in her car because she was allegedly drunk. She was yelling because they'd taken her keys, the police report stated.
The police officer calmed Burke down and took her back into the reception hall.
At that point the bride, Margaret Burke, told Kuack that Brooke had tried to assault her earlier in the evening, according to the report.
The bride said it all started when she'd asked Burke to stop slow dancing with her new husband. She said Burke became upset and started yelling at her, and at one point tried to hit her.
"Brooke turned around and started to approach the bride and began to yell at her and attempted to grab her," the police report stated.
Burke is believed to be the bride's sister in law, but neither responded to requests for comment.
As Kuack tried to get Burke to sit down, "She fell to the ground kicking and screaming and being belligerent," according to the report.
Burke struck the officer on the left side of his face several times, leading to redness and swelling. He restrained her on the table and radioed for help, according to the arrest report.
The bride said Burke's behavior stemmed from her being "very intoxicated," and when another officer asked her about hitting Kuack, Burke said she had only done that because she was drunk.
Burke was released from jail and is scheduled to appear in court April 10.
Remember Light Squared? Terrestrial telecommunications around the GPS spectrum? Possible interference with GPS? O admin pushing it? AF General going public and saying it will interfere with GPS signals despite pressure not to?
Well, bankruptcy is being considered by investor Falcone, while the vultures circle.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/07/2012
13:02 ||
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#1
One hedge-fund went all in on that one. Ouch that'll be a BIG loss.
#2
his Democrat benefactors in the Congress, White House, and FCC couldn't overcome the fact his push for a huge profit (on the cheap) would've damaged the GPS so many rely on. For once the dirtbags didn't win. FOAD Falcone
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/07/2012 15:03
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BP - expect a Stimulus payout to cover their losses
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/07/2012 15:50
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#4
DOES NOT IN WASHINGTON HAVE THE GONADS [besides Newt] TO GO BEFORE THE NATION + DEMAND THAT THE US MUST UNILATERALLY RETURN TO THE MOON IFF IT WANTS TO SAVE + VALIDATE THE "GREEN TECHS"???
Jeebus louissuz, neither the Bammer nor NASA, etc. should even have to think about it.
#2
"I can't comprehend how an avalanche can reach that place," said the officer, who didn't give his name because he is not authorized to speak to the media. "It was supposed to be safe."
how could an avalanche EVER happen on a glacier in the mountains? Idiot
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/07/2012 10:50
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I think Joooos are pretty much the fall-back scapegoat for moslems, tu, though Hindoooos are probably a close second in that area.
Personally, I blame Allen, who was obviously displeased with his people dispoiling his glacier.
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/07/2012 14:13
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Besoeker----Great article. I remember seeing quite a spread in Nat Geo Mag about the war in that disputed territory.
It is amazing to see this military stalemate and the absolutely horrendous filth and pollution that has accumulated. For nothing.
The best solution would be to joint venture the whole thing, but the Paks would never do that. A real shame. I for one have always wanted to go there since I was a kid, but I do not think that is going to happen.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/07/2012 14:42
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All the territory Pakistan has taken from India in Kashmir, both that they kept and that they gave to China, is what keeps India from having a land border with Afghanistan, and keeps the billions pouring in from the US so that we can supply ourselves fighting Pakistan in Afghanistan.
...The Eitan, also known as the Heron TP, is the largest and most sophisticated drone Israel makes. It is assembled by Israel Aerospace Industries and began operational service in the Israel Air Force two years ago, in a new squadron at the Tel Nof airbase.
The Eitan's wingspan is as wide as a Boeing 737 airliner and it can stay in the air for up to forty hours, carrying out long-range missions at 40 thousand feet, hundreds of kilometers away from base, broadcasting back real-time footage of wide areas. According to foreign sources, the Eitan also carries out missions over Iran.
Israeli and British security sources have confirmed in recent days that the Royal Air Force has been considering buying a number of Eitan systems, since the Mantis, a joint British-French unmanned strategic project, has been delayed and will not be operational before 2020. Falklands?
#2
I don't want to pick on the Euros, really I don't, but the English and French can't get a working long-distance drone ready before 2020? Come on guys, the principles and engineering have been done by the US, Israel and others. It isn't easy-peasy but it's not insurmountable, either.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/07/2012 11:58
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It takes money to fund a research team, Dr. Steve, and right now they have much more urgent needs for whatever they can scrape up.
Like paying off their buddies, bribing people, supporting illegal and somewhat legal aliens who are determined to bite off the hand feeding them, etc., tw?
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/07/2012 13:17
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I believe that skunk team is working on how to void the lawsuit against one said nurse who prayed instead of working without it looking like a voided lawsuit. It is quite ponderous, really.
#6
I'll continue to stand with Israel with all my heart and soul...However, I cannot provide resource support of any kind these days; those days are over. Pharaoh wants Israel to die. I haven't the means to fight him and his demons any more. -cz-
A paramilitary ranger volunteer was seriously wounded in an ambush in Pattanis Muang district on Saturday morning. He was identified as Mahama Rudingmeegah, 34, of the 4308 special paramilitary ranger task force.
Mahama was riding his car back home from working on a local road when gunmen hiding in roadside forest shot at him with M16 assault rifles. He was hit twice in his right shoulder and left leg and taken to Pattani hospital.
ISLAMABAD: Around 20 million children in Pakistan, including an estimated 7.3 million of primary school age, are not in school, said a statement issued by United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on Friday.
Does this include the madrassahs?
Investing in children and their education is vital due to the positive impacts it has on so many socio-economic dimensions. It is therefore imperative that all children in Pakistan, both boys and girls, have the opportunity to attend and complete their schooling, the statement said.
About the efforts of the fund for promoting education for children across the country, the statement said, UNICEF is supporting the nationwide Every Child in School campaign, which encourages parents and communities to ensure that all primary school-age children are enrolled for the new school year. A special focus is being placed on enrolling girls, who represent 57 percent of primary school-age children who are not attending school. Girls from poor families in rural areas, for example, receive just over one year of education, on average.
And that's considered too much by some...
The disparities in educational opportunities are influenced by multiple factors, like wealth, gender, ethnicity, geographic location, early learning opportunities, access and quality of learning and it is therefore critical that all who can positively influence childrens learning opportunities should come forward to ensure that this school-year is more successful than ever, said UNICEF Pakistan Representative Dan Rohrmann.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/07/2012
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Well, maybe their parents are scared by the daily school blowing reports.
#2
Which will bring down America first? Millions of illiterate religious fanatics overseas or a debt collapse from too many student loan defaults here at home?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/07/2012 12:17
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GHALLANAI: Terrorists blew up a government-run girls primary school with explosives in the village on Friday. According to details, unidentified terrorists planted and detonated explosives in the school, which is located in the Lakrro area in Sasi tehsil of Mohmand Agency. The school building was partially damaged due to the blast. However, no causality or injury was reported, as the building was vacant at the time of the blast. Terrorists in FATA have destroyed 92 government schools, most of them for girls, schools in Mohmand Agency during the past three years.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/07/2012
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Going by Mexican press accounts, General Alfonso Duarte Mujica was a rising star when he received his appointment to the 2nd Military Zone in 2008, and later to the II Military Region.
The Mexican left in the form of Proceso news weekly has even taken notice by expressing fear and trepidation that General Duarte Mujica may be next on the list to be SEDENA, the top army job in Mexico.
But four incidents during his still-ongoing tenure as commander in Baja California, each in turn social, political, human rights and legal could stand in the way of General Duarte Mujica getting the SEDENA job.
Rantburg.com correspondent Chris Covert separates the accusations from the facts.
KARACHI: Six people, including three PPP and a PSF activist, were killed in the ongoing wave of target and sectarian killings in the city on Friday.
Tension engulfed several areas of Orangi Town after four gunmen, riding two motorbikes, opened fire at a shop in Urdu Chowk Orangi Town. Four PPP workers Farhan alias Guddu, Nafees Siddiqui alias Munno Bihari, Umer Hayat and Rana Faraz received bullet injuries and were moved to hospital. Farhan, Nafees and Hayat succumbed to the injuries later.
DSP Tariq Malik said the four shooting victims used to meet at the targeted shops, and added that the shooting took place after Friday prayers. He said a heavy contingent of police reached the site of killing to maintain order in the area.
The killings triggered violence in Orangi Towns sectors 10, 14 and 15, Bismillah Colony, Faqeer Colony, Urdu Chowk and its surrounding areas. Some armed men also resorted to aerial firing, forcing markets to shut down.
Carrying the body of Farhan, scores of PPP workers marched on Shaheen Complex and tried to reach the Chief Ministers House in the red zone. Police moved in a container to block the way of protesters and also baton charged them, injuring six party activists. But the angry mob walked into the Fawara Chowk area where Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah showed up and assured the protesters that the government would arrest the killers. The assurance helped pacify the protesters who then dispersed and moved Farhans body to his home. No case had been registered until the filing of this report.
A seminary teacher was also shot dead in Surjani Town in an act of sectarian violence.
The incident took place in Sector L-1 near the Maymarabad Mosque where Naeem Sheikh, 55, was driving his car when gunmen, riding two motorcycles, opened fired on him. Sheikh received five bullets and died instantly.
Police said Sheikh was the resident of New Karachi and that he was also a teacher at Jalilia Madrassa. They said Sheikh was an active member of the Tableeghi Jamaat and that he could be a target of sectarian killing.
A Peoples Students Federation (PSF) worker was also shot dead outside his house in the Mobina Town police area.
Saeed Hussain Khan, 29, was the resident of Scout Colony and came under fire from unidentified gunmen. An injured Khan was moved to hospital where he succumbed to the injuries.
Soon after Khans murder, scores of PSF workers reached the hospital.
PSF Karachi President Faisal Sheikh said the victim was an active member of the federation in the Karachi University. Condemning the killing, the PSF Karachi chief said Khan was not involved in any criminal activity.
An activist of the banned outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), was also shot dead in Godhra Society.
Abdullah Bhumka, 55, was on his way home after offering Isha prayers when armed men shot him in sector 11-G, New Karachi.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/07/2012
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If President Obama and Congress fail to act this year, an enormous, unprecedented tax increase will fall on American taxpayers starting on January 1, 2013. The Washington Post called the looming tax increase "Taxmageddon," and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke called it a "massive fiscal cliff."
This impending tax increase is mostly the result of the expiration of many long-standing policies that all expire at the end of 2012. President Obama and Congress should start working together now to prevent this massive tax increase rather than waiting until the end of the year. That would assure families, businesses, and investors that their taxes will not rise sharply as the economy is still staggering to its feet and show the voters that Washington really can get important things done--even in an election year.
Taxmageddon is a $494 billion tax increase that strikes at the beginning of 2013. Under current law, tax policies in seven different categories will expire, and five of the 18 new tax hikes from Obamacare will begin.
These tax hikes will raise $494 billion in 2013 but will remain in place unless President Obama and Congress stop them. Taxpayers would see even bigger tax hikes in succeeding years as the tax increases raise more revenue as the economy grows.
Although these tax increases will not start raising new revenue until next year, they are having a negative impact on the economy today. Families, businesses, and investors need to know how much tax they will pay in the future before making important economic decisions. The uncertainty caused by Taxmageddon means they are stuck in neutral while they wait for President Obama and Congress to act. This is slowing job creation and stopping many of the millions of unemployed Americans from going back to work.
A tax increase the size of Taxmageddon for just one year is simply unprecedented. Usually tax and budget policies are evaluated on estimates over 10 years. A 10-year tax increase of Taxmageddon's magnitude would be off the charts. By comparison, all the tax increases in Obamacare--itself an enormous tax increase--raise $502 billion over 10 years, which is almost as much as Taxmageddon will increase taxes just in 2013.
#2
If this is allowed to take place, there will be a run on the market like none other we have seen in our lifetimes. I fear the recent downturns may be a signaling.
In which the Paks demonstrate their fine mastery of the media puff piece...
ISLAMABAD: An Islamist leader who had a $10 million American bounty placed on his head this week has been helping Pakistan de-radicalize militants under efforts to stabilize the strategic US ally, a top Pakistani counter-terrorism official said on Friday.
Hafiz Saeed, suspected of masterminding an attack by Pakistan-based gunmen on Indias financial capital Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people, including six Americans, met government officials from the Punjab province and pledged his support for the drive, the official said.
Hafiz Saeed has agreed with the Punjab government program of de-radicalization and rehabilitation of former jihadis and extended full cooperation, the counter-terrorism official told Reuters.
the counter-terrorism official said that Saeed had not been paid for his de-radicalization activities.
A senior police official in Punjab province, who is closely involved with investigations into militant activity, confirmed that Saeed and his supporters were helping efforts to transform militants into law-abiding citizens.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) were consulted, and they approved the de-radicalization plan. They assured us of their intellectual input and resource materials. They also offered teachers, he told Reuters, referring to the charity Saeed heads.
More madrassahs! More jacket wallas!
The bounty highlighted the divide between the United States direct approach to tackling militancy, and strategies employed by Pakistan, a nuclear-armed South Asian nation seen as critical to US efforts to pacifying Afghanistan.
While Pakistan has mounted offensives against militant groups like the homegrown Taleban, it also contends other tactics such as de-radicalization are vital to sustaining battlefield gains.
Yahya Mujahid, the JuD spokesman, said the group had not participated in the de-radicalization program.
Hafiz Khalid Waleed, another senior JuD member, declined to comment on whether the Islamist leader had been directly assisting the government in de-radicalization. But he said Saeed and his followers were promoting non-violence.
Hafiz Saeed was one of the first religious leaders to denounce militancy and suicide bombings, said Waleed. Our schools and madrassas (religious seminaries) are urging peace.
Under the program, former militants are urged to develop technical skills that could give them long-lasting employment to keep them from taking up arms against the state again.
Experts also try to reverse what Pakistani officials call brainwashing by terrorists militants who preach holy war against the West.
To help the deradicalization program, Saeed identifies former terrorists militants who may still be recruited for jihad because they are jobless and idle and he helps steer them toward the program, said the counter-terrorism official.
Nice way for him to identify new people for his group...
Waleed mocked the decision to place a bounty on Saeed.
President Barack Obamas election symbol was a donkey and his government is acting like one. They have no evidence against Hafiz Saeed and are scrambling to make up stories, he told Reuters.
Pakistani officials say Saeed, who Western officials suspect of links to Al-Qaeda, has the right to move freely because he has been cleared by Pakistani courts of a range of accusations.
Saeed abandoned the leadership of the LeT after India accused it of being behind an attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001. But his charity is suspected of being a front for the LeT. He denies any wrongdoing and links to militants.
Saeed agreed to support de-radicalization because he felt that former terrorists militants should find jobs and re-join mainstream society, said the counter-terrorism official, who has been at the forefront of efforts to fight militancy in Punjab.
The counter-terrorism official, who engineered the project, said 200 former militants had participated this year in Punjab, Pakistans most populous province, including some from Saeeds terrorist militant group. Another 100 will be completing the program by June.
Saeed, a former professor of Islamic studies at an engineering university, appeared at a press conference on Wednesday in the city of Rawalpindi, home to headquarters of the Pakistani army, recipient of billions of dollars in US aid. Flanked by some of Pakistans most virulently anti-American Islamists at a hotel about a 40-minute drive from the USembassy in the capital, he taunted the United States.
Saeed, a short bearded man, lives near a park and a mosque in a non-descript villa with a policeman stationed outside, in the central city of Lahore, capital of Punjab.
Some of his bodyguards wear olive camouflage vests while others are dressed in dark traditional shalwar-kameez, baggy shirt and trousers. Clutching AK-47 assault rifles, a few are positioned on his rooftop watching the street.
Saeed enjoys armed protection from the state because of his new thinking, sources said.
Al Qaeda or factions from the Pakistani Taleban may want to kill him, said one of the sources, adding India may want to target him as well.
Asked if the reward would anger Saeeds followers and undermine de-radicalization efforts, he said: There is resentment but I hope the program wont be affected.
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PESHAWAR: At least 12 terror suspects were arrested and explosives, suicide jackets recovered during an operation by security agencies in the provincial capital on Friday.
According to details, the agencies conducted the search operation in the jurisdiction of Tehkal police station. During the operation, 12 suspected terrorists were arrested and suicide jackets and explosives were recovered from their possession. The detainees were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation. Sources said the authorities hope to get important information from them, saying they were planning acts of terrorism in the city.
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KABUL: A splodydope suicide bomber killed the head of a regional peace council on Friday in Afghanistans east, police said, dealing a fresh blow to the countrys attempts to negotiate a peace deal with Taleban insurgents.
Hashim Monib and his son were killed as they left their mosque in Asadabad, the capital of the Kunar province, provincial police chief Ewaz Mohd told Reuters.
They were on their way home after prayers when the jacket walla bomber attacked them, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
Mustn't allow peace; bad for suicide bomber trainers employment prospects.
President Obama has signaled Iran that the United States would accept an Iranian civilian nuclear program if Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei can back up his recent public claim that his nation will never pursue nuclear weapons.
This verbal message was sent through Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited Khamenei last week. A few days before traveling to Iran, Erdogan had held a two-hour meeting with Obama in Seoul, in which they discussed what Erdogan would tell the ayatollah about the nuclear issue and Syria.
And how much 'flexibility' Obama would have after the next election...
Obama advised Erdogan that the Iranians should realize that time is running out for a peaceful settlement and that Tehran should take advantage of the current window for negotiations. Obama didnt specify whether Iran would be allowed to enrich uranium domestically as part of the civilian program the United States would endorse. That delicate issue evidently would be left for the negotiations that are supposed to start April 13, at a venue yet to be decided.
Erdogan is said to have replied that he would convey Obamas views to Khamenei, and its believed he did so when he met the Iranian leader on Thursday. Erdogan also met President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other senior Iranian officials during his visit.
The statement highlighted by Obama as a potential starting point was made on state television in February. Khamenei said: The Iranian nation has never pursued and will never pursue nuclear weapons. . . . Iran is not after nuclear weapons because the Islamic Republic, logically, religiously and theoretically, considers the possession of nuclear weapons a grave sin and believes the proliferation of such weapons is senseless, destructive and dangerous.
The challenge for negotiators is whether its possible to turn Khameneis public rhetoric into a serious and verifiable commitment not to build a bomb. When Obama cited this statement to Erdogan as something to build on, the Turkish leader is said to have nodded in agreement.
But the diplomatic path still seems blocked, judging by recent haggling over the meeting place for negotiations. Istanbul was expected to be the venue, but the Iranians last weekend balked and suggested instead that negotiators meet in Iraq or China. U.S. officials see this foot-dragging as a sign that the Iranian leadership is still struggling to frame its negotiating position.
The Erdogan back channel to Iran is the most dramatic evidence yet of the close relationship Obama has forged with the Turkish leader. Erdogan, who heads an Islamist party that is often cited as a model by Muslim democrats, has been a key U.S. partner in handling Syria and other crises flowing from the Arab Spring uprisings.
And Champ likes the way Erdogan treats his wife...
A sign of Erdogans role as intermediary is that he was accompanied, both in the meeting with Obama and on the trip to Iran, by Hakan Fidan, the chief of Turkeys intelligence service. Fidan is said to have close relations with Qassem Suleimani, who heads Irans Quds Force and is probably Khameneis closest adviser on security issues. Also joining Erdogan was Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister.
Syria was another big topic in Erdogans discussions with Obama and his subsequent visit to Iran. The Turkish leader told Obama he would press Iran to reduce its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom Erdogan once championed but is now determined to oust. Erdogan said he planned to tell Khamenei that Syrian attacks on Muslim opposition forces must stop. The Turks have been trying, meanwhile, to bolster the opposition so that it can provide a credible alternative to Assads rule.
Some Arab analysts see a weakening of support for Assad in recent days from Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, whose leader Hasan Nasrallah last week called for a political solution with the opposition. The key player in any such managed transition would be Russias president-elect, Vladimir Putin. U.S. officials hope he can broker a Syria deal before he meets Obama at the G-8 summit next month.
As Irans leadership debates its negotiating stance, the squeeze of Western sanctions is becoming tighter. Nat Kern, the editor of Foreign Reports, a leading oil newsletter, forecasts that Iran will lose about a third of its oil exports by mid-summer. It may get even worse for Iran after July 1 if China and the European Union follow through on recent warnings that they might stop insuring tankers carrying Iranian crude.
U.S. officials believe that if Iran refuses to negotiate, it will be easier to tighten sanctions even more.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
Let me correct my earlier Post from today - Israel + other anti-Iran Sunni Muslim Govts-States to go ballistic.
04/07/2012 - the Day the ME Nuclear Arms Race officially began, to include the so-called "Islamist/Jihadi Bomb", + wid US assent???
DITTO ANY GOP-DEM WRANGLING IN WASHINGTON OER THE NEED FOR MISSLE DEFENSE, GLOBALSTRIKE + SPACE STRIKE; + GLOBAL DEFENSE + SPACE DEFENSE.
More Space-based Lasers, etc. to be test-fired [again]to near that Madonna Fan from Guam.
#4
The challenge for negotiators is whether it's possible to turn Khamenei's public rhetoric into a serious and verifiable commitment not to build a bomb.
Ignatius makes a cogent argument for the somethings got to give strategy. Unfortunately, there are no guaranties that the foundations for such an argument would be effective with the Persian Turbans. In fact, history suggests the Wests feeble attempt at external pressure has been, at best, counter-intuitive. And, at worst, this decades long fiddle is playing precisely into the hands of Tehrans obvious play out the clock strategy. The starting point must be that Team Khamenei has rarely acted in Western concepts of rationality. And then theres the fact that the Mullahs have developed lying and deceit into an Art form.
#5
Its all moot. Israel has said if Iran keeps attacking jews, Israel will retaliate against Iran.
I expect to see IRG offices and barracks mysteriously exploding in the not to distant future.
It will escalate from there, but Israel has drawn a line in the sand and they don't usually back down when it is the lives of their citizens and jews in general at stake.
With Syria and Egypt in chaos, the time is now to face down Iran.
#6
To summarize, president Obama isn't even bothering to pretend he's not measuring Israel's back for knife placement. That was another one sliding in.
The DemoLeft + MSM is pushing H-A-R-D that "things are getting better in America" this 2012 thanx to the Bammer + Dems, + that the Bammer WILL EASILY WIN RE-ELECTION IN NOVEMBER???
As per DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > FRANCE: IRAN MUST BOW, i.e Iran must PROVE ITS CIVIE NUC ENERGY- ONLY INTENTIONS TO THE G5 + 1, HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE A SOVEREIGN NATION WILLFULLY DID SUCH A THING???
[POST-WW1 TREATY OF VERSAILLES GERMANY here].
And Yeeuuuppp, wid a threat of WORLDWIDE/GLOBAL ECON DEPRESSION too.
#9
More from DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > NUCLEAR IRAN WILL DESTABILIZE WEST ASIA, IS NOT IN INDIA'S INTERESTS: ISRAELI EXPERTS.
and
* SAME > [Iranian Lawmaker] IRAN CAN PRODUCE NUCLEAR WEAPONS, BUT WILL NOT. View does not represent that of the Iranian Govt.
As per my earlier POsts, methinks France + HIllary want something more substantive as proof.
FYI DPK POSTER = opined that IHO, given the state of Iranian proficiency in various Sciences including NUclear, IT SHOULD ONLY TAKE IRAN 1-2 MONTHS ONLY TO BUILD A RELIABLE NUCBOMB.
Secularists feared by Sajid Mir
Daily Nawa-e-Waqt reported leader of Markazi Ahle Hadith as saying that if the religious parties went on quarrelling among themselves the secularists of Pakistan might come to power again. If the mullahs got together he said the people will 'give them note together with vote'.
How blasphemers are invented
Monthly Naya Zamana had a report from Nabil Anwar Dhaku Chakwal which told the story of how a Foreign Office clerk Mohammad Ishaq turned saint while in America was named blasphemer in Talagang and sentenced to death for insulting the Prophet PUBH by a judge in Adiala jail Rawalpindi after a scared judge in Jhelum had first gave him death. Ishaq became popular in Talagang as cult figure and his followers chanted 'Ya Rasul-Allah' which was interpreted by jealous Deobandis as insult. A judge refused to take the case because he was scared of the Deobandis but later another scared judge in Jhelum gave him death, confirmed in Adiala jail.
Indian Kashmir attacks Valentine's Day
According to monthly Naya Zamana Muslim women's organisation led by Asia Andarabi went around stopping what they thought was Valentine's Day in the Valley. They were confronted by a couple in a restaurant who said they were about to be married and had come to the restaurant because it was their right. Asia retorted that even married couples were not allowed by Islam to celebrate Valentine's Day.
American, Iran and Ikhwan are enemies!
Daily Mashriq reported the police chief of Dubai as saying that the enemy of the Muslims were America, Iran and Ikhwan al Muslimoon in power in Egypt. Talking to a Kuwaiti paper he said that the region was under threat from the three.
Kayani as Salahuddin Ayubi
Writing in Jang famous columnist Haroon Rasheed stated that he greatly longed to write books about certain great people he revered and the first among them would be Dr Rafeeq Akhtar of Gujjar Khan known as the spiritual mentor of Imran Khan. Those who came after him as worthy of books authored by Haroon Rasheed were: Tipu Sultan, Jinnah and Salahuddin Ayubi. He said he had once called General Kayani the Salahuddin Ayubi of Pakistan which was not liked by journalist, Ayaz Amir.
Brigadier Ali wanted to kill generals
Monthly Naya Zamana reported that Hizbut Tahrir member Brigadier Ali Khan had planned to use Air Force planes to attack a corps commanders' meeting at the GHQ and thus kill all the generals in order to establish a Khilafat in Pakistan. Some Muslim civilians were also involved in the plot but all of them were British citizens.
Two kinds of storms
Writing in Jang Hamid Mir said that there were two kinds of storm (toofan): the first was ones created by Nature and they were genuine against which can be no human resistance. The second kind was invented by the human mind which in fact was turbulence of one mind which some wished to transfer to other minds. This storm was a mental storm and was composed of conspiracies. The first genuine storm was desi (home-made) while the second one was valayati and internationally linked. This valayati storm was not understood but every time it appealed to the people as social revolution it brought on the government of military rule.
Afghan Taliban leader killed in custody
Reported in monthly Naya Zamana, Afghan Taliban leader Maulana Ubaidullah Akhund was killed in custody in Karachi after being arrested in 2007 from Balochistan. Akhund was army chief of defence under Mullah Umar and belonged to Qandahar. He was released the same year but was rearrested in 2008 and kept in jail in Karachi where he died of heart attack, according to official sources. (Another commander of Mullah Umar - Dadullah - was arrested in 2010 from Sindh.)
Sindh Assembly and English
Daily Express reported that the Sindh Assembly got hot when one lady MPA Shazia Marri stated that she was offended by the English language used in a draft resolution by an opposition lady MPA named Marvi Rashdi. She told her that her English was wrong and she had no manners. Rashdi responded by saying Marri did not use normal makeup but applied think paint on her face. The speaker had to stop proceedings of the house.
Mansoor Ijaz and state agencies
Writing in Jang Hamid Mir stated that Mansoor Ijaz was known to him from the past as a plotter against Pakistan but some state agencies were attracted to him despite the fact that he had persuaded Musharraf to declare ceasefire in Kashmir which set the liberation movement against itself and against Pakistan. But those who spoke against Mansoor Ijaz as an enemy of Pakistan were accused by the agencies of being kafir.
Wife of Shakeel Afridi dismissed
Reported in Monthly Naya Zamana, a health officer with the government Shakeel Afridi was given Congressional Gold Medal for helping the US to get to Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad and kill him. He was a surgeon in Khyber Agency but moved to Abbottabad to conduct fake polio tests. The government in Peshawar moved - after his arrest and subsequent case of treason against him - to dismiss also his wife who was principal of Darra Adamkhel Girls Degree College from her job.
From 'farangi' slave to 'Amrikan' slave
Quoted in Nawa-e-Waqt leader of JUI Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the rulers of Pakistan had converted from Pakistan from the slaves of farangi (British) to slaves of America. After that the country was made insecure and the rulers began to loot it through corruption while extending the begging bowl to enemies of Pakistan.
Why destroy Osama's house so quickly?
Columnist Ishtiaq Beg wrote in Jang that it was perhaps not proper to demolish the house of Osama bin Laden in great haste. Many people may have doubts as to the motives behind the destruction of the house. The place could have been preserved as a school for girls or a public library. But there was also the consideration that the house could become a centre of attention for the lovers of Osama bin Laden.
Government hiding facts about Osama
Famous historian an ex-Intelligence Bureau officer Dr Safdar Mehmood wrote in Jang that the government will not reveal everything about the residence of Osama bin Laden and the incident of May 2 when the Americans came and killed Osama. Likewise Aimal Kansi was hiding in a remote hotel when the CIA was allowed to pick him up take him to the US and get him sentenced to death.
Wukla go on the rampage
Reported in Express lawyers in Lahore called wukla for their violent conduct beat up a civilian judge in Lahore and threw him out of the court. One lawyer named Iftikhar Bhatti first demanded that the judge give his judgement on his advice. When this was not done he became violent. Other wukla joined and beat up the judge. On seeing this, the judges in other courts got scared and struck work.
CAIRO: Thousands rallied in Cairo on Friday in support of an ultraconservative Islamist presidential hopeful who may be disqualified from the race after it was announced that his mother was an American citizen.
The protesters carried photos and campaign posters of Hazem Abu Ismail, a 50-year-old lawyer-turned-preacher who in recent months vaulted to become one of the strongest contenders for president, with widespread backing from ultraconservative Muslims known as Salafis.
The showdown between Abu Ismails supporters and the government has shaken-up a race that includes former regime officials and Islamists competing against one another in the first presidential election since last years ouster or Hosni Mubarak. The balloting is slated for the end of May.
Abu Ismails face smiling, with a long, conservative beard has become ubiquitous in Cairo and other cities because of a startlingly aggressive postering campaign that plastered walls and lampposts with his picture.
Egypts election commission, which announced Thursday that Abu Ismails mother was a US citizen, did not outright disqualify him because it has yet to start vetting would-be candidates applications. A law put in place after Mubaraks fall stipulates that a candidate may not have any other citizenship than Egyptian and that the candidates spouse and parents cannot have other citizenships as well.
Ah, so the opposition worked one time in Chicago...
As his disqualification looked increasingly likely, Abu Ismail said Thursday he faces an elaborate plot against him and insisted his mother only had a Green Card to visit her daughter, who is married to an American and lives in the United States.
The announcement about his mother is particularly embarrassing for Abu Ismail, who has used anti-US rhetoric in his campaign speeches and says he rejects dependency on America.
His campaign team claims the countrys military rulers, who took over after Mubaraks ouster, are looking for ways to disqualify him as a candidate. As his supporters began marching after Friday prayers down a main Cairo street toward the central Tahrir Square, his campaign chief, Gamal Saber, said the ruling military council is lying about the sheik.
We have proof that his mother is not American, Saber said, adding that their supporters are prepared to die in Tahrir Square to fight the fraud.
A follower of the ultra-conservative Salafi trend of Islam, Abu Ismail has been among the front-runners in the race. If he is disqualified, it opens the door for Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat el-Shater to win a greater number of Islamist votes. Another Islamist in the race is Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, a reform minded physician who was expelled from the Brotherhood last year and is trying to appeal both to religious and more secular-minded Egyptians.
An election win by an Islamist candidate would mirror Egypts recent parliamentary elections, where the Brotherhood won nearly half of the seats in parliament and the Salafi Al-Nour party came in second, with a quarter of the seats.
Abu Ismails supporters say he will cleanse the country of corrupt officials by enforcing a strict application of Islamic law.
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BEIRUT: At least 24 Syrians were killed in violence yesterday, opposition activists said, only four days before a troop pullback agreed by President Bashar Assad as part of a peace plan proposed by mediator Kofi Annan.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said shelling had killed at least 10 people, including four rebel fighters, in the flashpoint central city of Homs. Two soldiers killed in separate clashes and one person was killed in the town of Douma, it said.
The British-based Observatory, using its network of contacts in Syria, also reported seven civilians and four soldiers killed in clashes and bombardments in Anadan, north of Aleppo.
The fresh violence erupted a day after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the conflict was worsening and attacks on civilian areas persisted, despite assurances from Damascus that its troops had begun withdrawing under the peace plan.
Annan, who is mediating for the United Nations and the Arab League, has said both the government and opposition must stop fighting at 6 a.m. on April 12, if Damascus meets its deadline 48 hours earlier to pull back troops from cities and cease using heavy weapons in populated areas.
Assad's opponents have accused the Syrian military of using the run-up to the ceasefire to intensify assaults. Syria has now charged insurgents with doing the same.
In the latest violence, activists reported tank fire in at least three urban centers yesterday the town of Douma near Damascus, the restive city of Homs and Rastan, north of Homs.
At least five tanks and 10 buses loaded with security men and Shabiha (pro-Assad militia) entered Douma, one local activist said. There has been shelling on Douma since the morning.
In Rastan, an activist said Free Syrian Army rebels had confronted a morning tank thrust. They blocked the advance and the Assad army left. Then artillery started, he said.
Anti-Assad demonstrations broke out after Friday prayers in the eastern province of Hasakeh, in the town of Qamishli and Deir Al-Zor city, activists said. Protesters carried the white and green rebel flag. Some saluted other rebel cities.
Army shelling of villages in the northwestern province of Idlib has prompted a swelling exodus of refugees. Turkey said there were now 23,835 Syrian refugees on its territory. Over 2,800 arrived on Thursday alone, a Turkish official said, more than double the highest previous one-day total.
They crossed near the Turkish village of Bukulmez and more were waiting to do so, the official said. Forty-four minibuses ferried the arrivals to a refugee camp at Reyhanli.
The army is destroying buildings and bombing them till they turn to charcoal, said Mohammed Khatib, a refugee who said he came from Kastanaz, a Syrian town of 20,000 people. The army wants people to move out of their houses. If the residents refuse, they destroy them with the people inside.
Thousands of Syrians have also fled to Lebanon and Jordan. Host countries say they have taken in more than 50,000 since the revolt against 42 years of Assad family rule began a year ago.
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#1
The British-based Observatory, using its network of contacts in Syria, also reported seven civilians and four soldiers killed
Why am I reminded of the corresponding reports from Gaza? Guess it's the irrational prejudice I've against "human rights" organizations---especially ones based in Albion.
#2
The British-based Observatory, using its network of contacts in Syria, also reported seven civilians and four soldiers killed
Why am I reminded of the corresponding reports from Gaza? Guess it's the irrational prejudice I've against "human rights" organizations---especially ones based in Albion.
ISLAMABAD: The judicial commission probing the notorious memo scandal on Friday granted another chance to Pakistans former envoy to the US Husain Haqqani to appear before it on April 12.
The commission headed by Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa ordered the former ambassador to appear before the court with his BlackBerry handsets and relevant documents.
The commission also directed the government of Pakistan to ensure the former envoys presence through the ministries of interior and foreign affairs, proposing four options to bring him back confiscation of his property in Pakistan, issuance of an arrest warrant, filing of a criminal case against him or holding him in contempt of court.
Justice Alam said Haqqani was allowed to leave the country only after an assurance that he would appear before the court whenever ordered to do so. Justice Isa remarked that Haqqanis failure to appear before the commission would be considered the governments failure to present the former ambassador before the commission.
Foreign Ministry Director General Sohail Khan recorded his statement before the commission and presented the official record from January 2011 to the time when Haqqani resigned. He apprised the court that the former ambassador had gone to London from Washington in 2011 without informing the consulate concerned. The two BlackBerry handsets used by the former ambassador during that period were in the possession of the government of Pakistan, he informed the court. When the court cross-questioned the director general about Haqqanis travel to London, the official replied that the consulate concerned did not have any written record of that period. The commission in Thursdays hearing had ordered the director general to present the record before the court on Friday.
Akram Sheikh, counsel for Mansoor Ijaz, requested the commission to seek details of the secret funds of the Embassy of Pakistan in the US, saying the funds were used by Haqqani. Zahid Bukhari, counsel for Husain Haqqani, termed it an unnecessary and irrelevant issue. However, the commission directed the Foreign Ministry official to produce record of secret funds used by the embassy in the US from April to December 2011.
Justice Isa asked Bukhari why he had not written a letter to the BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM). The counsel informed the commission that he had conveyed the courts order to Haqqani, adding that his client wanted the order in written form, as he wanted to consult an American lawyer in that regard.
After hearing the arguments, Justice Isa again directed Haqqani to write a consent letter to RIM to waive his right to privacy.
Earlier, prior to appearing before the commission, Bukhari had said that his client would not write the consent letter to RIM. Speaking at the premises of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), he had said that he would request the commission to provide him a written order in that regard.
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The B.O. regime is stonewalling two politicians' requests to interview a former member of the National Security staff in connection with the failed Operation Fast and Furious gun-walking program, according to a March 28 letter obtained by The Daily Caller.
Caliphornia Rep. Darrell Issa and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, both Republicans, requested a response by April 4 to their letter, which asks for an interview with Kevin O'Reilly, that former staffer. But the White House, according to the letter, is blocking access to him.
Through staff, both Grassley and Issa confirmed to TheDC on Thursday that April 4 came and went without any response from the B.O. regime.
In their letter to White House Counsel Karen Ruemmler, Grassley and Issa cited a cryptic email exchange between O'Reilly and William Newell, the special agent in charge of the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives at the time Fast and Furious was implemented. The emails, their letter suggests, indicate that Newell was going around his chain of command to personally brief the White House about developments in the gun-walking program.
"You didn't get this from me," Newell wrote to O'Reilly in a Sept. 3, 2010 email about Fast and Furious, according to the letter from Issa and Grassley.
"Just don't want ATF HQ to find out," Newell wrote in am earlier email, "especially since this is what they should be doing (briefing you!)."
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which Issa chairs, has not yet made complete copies of those emails available to news hounds.
Newell testified before that committee on July 26, 2011, saying he couldn't remember what the email exchange was about.
"To date, the White House has not complied with multiple congressional requests to interview O'Reilly," Issa and Grassley wrote in their letter to Ruemmler. "Our staffers have had extensive discussions with lawyers in your office, who have represented that the White House does not perceive any need for us to interview O'Reilly and consequently will not make arrangements for him to speak to us."
Speaking with Fox News Channel host Greta Van Susteren last week, Grassley said that while Newell and O'Reilly are friends, "it's very, very unusual to have someone at a field office communicating directly with someone at the National Security Council."
Grassley hinted that Newell's poor memory about his emails with O'Reilly looked suspicious. "It's very convenient that he'd have an absence of mind when he's under oath in front of a congressional committee," he said.
JERUSALEM: A Palestinian leader said yesterday that his group is adhering to a cease-fire that stopped a barrage of rockets and air strikes between Israel and the Gaza Strip last month.
Sheikh Nafez Azzam of Islamic Jihad said Israeli reports that he had called for an ongoing struggle against Israel, despite a cease-fire, were mistaken.
We in the Islamic Jihad are committed to the cease-fire, Azzam told The Associated Press.
But another splinter group will be launching Qassams in the morning...
He said a firebrand speech calling for ongoing resistance was just the usual bullshit a general political statement.
"Don't pay attention to me."
We are continuing the struggle and the jihad, Azzam said at a Gaza Strip rally in comments broadcast on Israeli television. We will not be broken. We will not surrender. We will not accept the conditions Israel tries to impose. Azzam said the speech was delivered Thursday.
Israels Channel 2 had interpreted the speech as a signal that Islamic Jihad would continue operations against the Jewish state despite the cease-fire that ended a weeklong exchange of fire in early March between Israel and Gaza. Palestinian groups are frequently accused of sending one set of signals to radical supporters, and another set of signals to the outside world.
Gazas smaller fighter factions in particular are caught between the need to show their followers that they represent a radical alternative to the territorys Hamas rulers, and pressure from both Hamas and the public who do not want attacks to bring down another wave of Israeli retaliation.
Azzams statement came as Israel vowed to strike against the yet-unidentified militants who launched a rocket into the southern Israeli town of Eilat earlier Thursday.
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ADEN: Two Al-Qaeda terrorists militants died in southern Yemen yesterday when a bomb they were carrying on a motorbike went off prematurely near the headquarters of the paramilitary police, an official said.
"Slow down Achmed! This road is really rough and the bomb could go"
The incident occurred in the Mansoura district of the southern port city of Aden close to a building where the Central Security Service is based.
It blew up as it was getting near the building, the security official told Reuters, adding that he thought the dead terrorists men were suicide bombers. He said one of the terrorists men had been identified, adding that the explosion did not damage the building and that nobody else was hurt in the blast.
The Al-Qaeda-affiliated group Ansar Al-Shariah said in a statement it was behind the botched attack, saying its two terrorists fighters had been martyred after their device exploded by mistake.
The terrorists mujahideen, may God infest them with boils bless them both, were on their way to carry out a jihadi operation against a target linked to the puppet Sanaa regime," the e-mailed statement said.
The group also rejected as false and ridiculous a government report that said military and security forces had killed more than 100 terrorists militants in the past few days.
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Azerbaijan, Baku -- As a result of operational activities conducted by the Ministry of National Security (MNS), 17 members of an armed group who planned a series of sabotage and subversion and terrorist acts to disrupt social stability and creating panic among the population have been revealed and arrested, the ministry's center of Public Relations told Trend on Friday.
As a result of the special operations carried out in Baku, Ganja and Sumgayit, as well as in Gakh, Zagatala, Sheki and Gusar regions, four AKM-type submachine guns, a RPK-type machinegun, two Makarov pistols, one revolver-type pistol, one Stechkin pistol, a rifle, six full pistol clips, 300 cartridges of various calibers, 31 hand grenades, 15 explosive devices with remote control, three detonators, a large number of explosive plastids, three clips for a submachine gun, 30 Kenwood portable radio transmitters, three bayonet-knives, literature that promotes terrorism and jihad, large quantity of military equipment other items prohibited by law use of which was planned for terrorist and subversive acts were found and seized from detained members of the armed group.
During operations carried out in the city of Ganja, the staff of special-purpose group "Gartal" of the Ministry of National Security faced armed resistance. Those who did not flout the legal requirement to surrender, opened fire on a group of special-purpose employees, and threw a hand grenade at them. As a result, a MNS employee was killed and three were injured to varying degrees. One of those who showed armed resistance, using violence against a government official in connection with his performance of his duties, was killed, one wounded, two other members of the group were detained.
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BAMAKO: Mali's Tuareg rebels, who have seized control of the country's distant north in the chaotic aftermath of a military coup in the capital, declared independence yesterday of their Azawad nation.
"We, the people of the Azawad," they said in a statement published on the rebel website, "proclaim the irrevocable independence of the state of the Azawad starting from this day, yesterday, April 6, 2012."
Thanks to the once-Nazi sponsoredVolkswagon motorwerks, the Tuaregs already have a namesake luxury/performance SUV! Why not a country too?
The military chiefs of 13 of Mali's neighbors met Thursday in Ivory Coast to hash out plans for a military intervention to push back the rebels in the north, as well as to restore constitutional rule after disgruntled soldiers last month stormed the presidential palace and sent the democratically elected leader into hiding. The confusion in the capital created an opening for the rebels in the north, who have been attempting to claim independence for more than 50 years.
France, which earlier said it is willing to offer logistical support for a military invasion, announced yesterday that it does not recognize the new Tuareg state.
The new 2012 VW Touareg Rebel edition, in Afrika Korps green.
"A unilateral declaration of independence that is not recognized by African states means nothing for us," said French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet.
The European Union concurred. "We will certainly not accept this declaration. It's out of the question," said Richard Zinc, the head of the European Union delegation in Bamako.
Two tuts...
The traditionally nomadic Tuareg people have been fighting for independence for the northern half of Mali since at least 1958, when Tuareg elders wrote a letter addressed to the French president asking their colonial rulers to carve out a separate homeland called "Azawad" in their language. Instead the north, where the lighter-skinned Tuareg people live, was made part of the same country as the south, where the dark-skinned ethnic groups controlled the capital and the nation's finances.
The Tuaregs accuse the southerners of marginalizing the north and of concentrating development, including lucrative aid projects, in the south. They fought numerous rebellions attempting to wrestle the north free, but it wasn't until a March 21 coup in Bamako toppled the nation's elected government that the fighters were able to make significant gains. In a three-day period last week they seized the three largest cities in the north as soldiers dumped their uniforms and retreated.
Their independence declaration cited 50 years of misrule by the country's southern-based administration and was issued by the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, or NMLA, whose army is led by a Tuareg senior commander who fought in the late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi's military.
The group is secular and its stated aim is creating Azawad. However, they were helped by a hard-line faction, Ansar Dine. They are now attempting to apply Islamic law to Mali's moderate north, including in the fabled tourist destination of Timbuktu, where women have been told to wear veils and not be seen in public with males who are not relatives.
In all three of the major cities in the north, residents say they do not know which of the two factions has the upper hand. In the city of Gao, from where the NMLA declaration of independence was written, a resident said that it appeared that the Islamist faction was in control, not the NMLA.
"I heard the declaration but I'm telling you the situation on the ground. We barely see the NMLA. The people we see are the Salafis," said the young man, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. "I can't tell which group they are exactly, but we know they are the hard-liners because of their beards. They are the people in control of Gao. I'm right near the Algerian consulate right now which they have taken control of and they are here. They are armed and other are in the back of their pickup trucks," he said.
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#1
LIKELY NOT OVER YET, as lots of Al-Qaeda + other Hard Boyz are repor entering or planning to come to Mali.
PARIS: French police were expected to release without charge on Friday the last six of 10 suspected Islamic terrorists militants arrested in dawn raids two days earlier, legal sources said. Four were freed on Thursday after prosecutors found there was insufficient evidence to hold them. The sources would not confirm the exact timing of the release of the remaining six terrorists on Friday.
French officials said on Wednesday the terrorists suspects had been detained preventatively because they had a similar profile to Mohamed Merah, a 23-year-old Al-Qaeda-inspired gunman who shot dead seven people, including three Jewish schoolchildren, in southwest France last month.
So the French were profiling, eh?
A police source described those held as isolated individuals who are self-radicalized.
He said the terrorists suspects had been tracked on Islamist forums expressing extreme views and had been preparing to travel to areas including Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Sahel belt of West Africa to wage jihad (holy war). Some of those arrested had already visited these areas, the source said.
If that's not enough to arrest them it should be enough to expel them. Let them live in Mauritania...
Police arrested 19 people suspected of Islamist militancy last week. Thirteen are still being held, alleged to have links to French radical Islamist group Forsane Alizza (Knights of Pride) and being investigated on suspicion of terrorism.
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#2
In the meantime they got to toss their homes, question their friends and relations, and go through cell phones and laptops. Not to mention putting the fear of God in all involved, however peripherally. No telling how many have decided that being a Lion of Islam isn't worth it, after all.
Britain ought to make its prisoners work in "chain gangs" to clear litter building up on the side of major public roads, a Conservative MP has said.
Andrew Percy, MP for Brigg and Goole, made the suggestion after becoming concerned about rubbish mounting up by motorways in his constituency, including hundreds of bottles of urine thrown away by lorry drivers.
"In the US I have seen chain gangs out clearing highways -- why can't we do that here?" he said. "We have criminals expected to pay back -- why not get them out there doing something of use?"
Mr Percy has written to the Highways Agency to about growing piles of litter on the M62 and A63 in East Yorkshire following complaints from his constituents.
"We need a British equivalent of the US chain gang," he said. "The only risk we have in this country is there are too many do-gooders claiming it's against [prisoners'] human rights.
"We don't necessarily need them to be wearing orange jump suits and chained together, but what we should be looking at is we've got all these people sat in prison who could be working in the community."
#5
Here in the States the euphemism 'community service' is employed as a voluntary alternative to other punishment. You get a better gig/job depending on who you know or the public nature of your name [see numerous posts in the Burg on celebs]. There is even a provision in the 13th Amendment that a lot of people [to include the Judiciary] seem to ignore -
"Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
Fayes T Kantawala was on the streets of Lahore, watching the pompous procession of missiles
Pakistain Day announced itself on March 23rd with the Pakistain Phallic Parade in Islamabad, the closest I'll ever get to watch Trump Presents: Ms. Pakistain (golden idea, someone get on that). The experience was instructive, if only to say: "Oh look! That's the Education budget. It's two down from the armored Health budget on a wheel. What lovely colors they chose!"
Missiles and torpedoes of undeniably genital proportions made their way down the national runway, and I had to remind myself that it's not the size of one's apocalyptic machine that counts but rather its placement re: India
Missiles and torpedoes of undeniably genital proportions made their way down the national runway, and I had to remind myself that it's not the size of one's apocalyptic machine that counts but rather its placement re: India. In passive aggressive warfare, as in real estate, it's all about location. But the fun didn't stop in Islamabad (as if it ever began). In Lahore I was stuck for an hour that evening on the Main Boulevard behind hundreds of energetic young men on cycle of violences, a ritual for celebration in Pakistain in the absence of any other.
I was watching the parade mainly to avoid watching cricket, though I am told we won a cup and that's always a nice thing to know on your national day. But I was interested in the parade because I wanted to see what we had come up with to celebrate Pakistain in all its g(l)ory. It doesn't surprise me that I felt dull and insipid afterwards. Mile upon mile of technology devoted to mass killing, but not a light bulb or luminary in sight. Can you even launch a nuclear weapon, I asked myself only half-rhetorically, when you don't have electricity? Imagine the embarrassment: "Ignition in 3... 2...1... umm, Jeddah, we have a problem!"
Can you even launch a nuclear weapon, I asked myself only half-rhetorically, when you don't have electricity?
This is not a new dilemma. Schoolchildren will tell you nowadays (certainly the ones who come from 'liberal fascist' homes) that we have always spent over half our money on defense, with the same levels of intelligence that would inspire a sanitation worker to buy a Porsche, or ten, on credit and then hide.
Ten months after returning to Pakistain, I can feel the alienation leaking from my words. Having voluntarily removed the gleaming robes of my expensive liberal arts education, I am slowly putting on the grey tweed of Acceptance. Routinely depressed but rarely inspired, I am wrestling with what happens to a person when their own country becomes hostile to their very existence. Take banking. I tried to take out money the other day from one ATM, then another, then another, all without success. In the end I was blithely informed that the particular branch of my account had "no light", and therefore my money was inaccessible. "For how long?" I asked. "No idea," I was told. I can legally and arbitrarily be cut off from my account anywhere, at anytime, because the generator in an office in the nether regions of Hell has decided to go off.
And these are the small things.
I believe in freedom of speech, even for liberal fascists. I believe a state cannot use an exclusionary religious identity as the only one for its obviously heterogenous people and expect to prosper. I believe banning liquor here was a strange and (in light of the wedding season, for the very rich as well as the very poor) wildly ineffective idea. I believe that the more we resemble Saudi, the worse our lives will be. (They may be tolerated by the world at present, but they have enough oil to last them another 100 years.) I believe Pakistain's "minorities" have no real space left here. Why are my beliefs any less credible for public discussion than those of the Red Mosque holy man, who was recently awarded land for building a school? This man wants Shariah in Pakistain. I don't. Yet we both hold Pak passports (I swear to God: if even he has a Canadian passport I am going to kill someone.)
So when does one stop fighting? I could say: when the news shows footage from an Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer... rally where supporters abscond en masse with mounds of plastic chairs. Or I could say: when you read that the ex-wife of a prominent Khar man killed herself because she has been living for twelve years with acid burns inflicted by His (Feudal) Lordship, a crime for which he was never punished. But then you keep watching the news and you hear that Abdus Sattar Edhi has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and you think: hey, things are looking up here...
No worries, I'm a cul-de-sac watch warden, I'm armed, and I'm ready! I can't think of a thing I could say about this piece that wouldn't get me sinktrapped if I wasn't a moderator. Then allow me: Careful Champ. Your mangina will let you take only so much of a step, shoogs. And, Champ: hand-to-hand combat means contact with someone other than Shelley
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
04/07/2012 8:44
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#6
Best comment on this story (so far):
"Pretty kinky having a monkey wrench handy while having sex! I suppose to keep the nuts tight?"
:-D
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/07/2012 10:18
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#7
That's a great headline...Dang the Limey papers are so much more fun than our humorless liberal rags (as an aside, why is it that lefties have no sense of humor?)
Anyway, I pawing through my Rotadex for Heidi's phone number....
Or should I be more interested in the love bite on Kim's neck?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/07/2012 12:52
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It is ironic that when the nation is taking small steps towards democracy, the newly formed Difa-e-Pakistain Council, an assembly of ultra right wing politicians and ex-ISI chief Gen Hamid Gul The nutty former head of Pakistain's ISI, now Godfather to Mullah Omar's Talibs and good buddy and consultant to al-Qaeda's high command... , are out to derail the process.
The councilclaims self righteousness in projecting itself as the defender of the state's identity through religious and militaristic nationalism.Reason has been replaced by jingoism, justified in the name of faith.
Thecurrent political situation in Pakistain is the outcome of an earlier synthesis of Zia's militarism and religious ideologies of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... to combat the Soviet Empire. The American support of theanti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan and financial and military aid to the Zia regimecreated a strain of Islamthat justifies the killing of Hindus in their temples, Christiansin their churches and Sunnis, Shias and Ahmadis in their mosques. This ideologyhas destroyed the civil fabric of our society. Pakistain has become intolerant of its own citizens and religious violence has reached new heights.
In the past, Faiz Ahmed Faizhadchallenged the religious orthodoxy in Pakn his famous poem ' Dua'or 'Prayer':
Jin kadeenpairvi-e-kizb-o-riyahaiunko
Himmat-e-kufrmillay, jurat-e-tahqeeqmillay
(To those who follow the religion of lies and hypocrisy
Give the courage of heresy and desire for truth)
Have we forgotten that our founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah had rejected religious intolerance? His speech of February, 1948, was a clear reflection of his dream:"Pakistain is not going to be a theocratic State to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many non-Mohammedans -- Hindus, Christians, and Parsis -- but they are all Paks. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistain."
It is unfortunate that the tide of religious extremism has spread in every sector of our society and no attempts are being made by the intellectuals, state institutions, and politicians to get us out of this abyss.
Politicians must show courage and denounce religious fanatics.Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... , once a supporter of Gen Zia, should denounce extremism. Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... should also be critical of the role the Taliban have played in creating the mess we are in. And President Zardari should make sincere attempts to make up for his party's reported support for the Taliban in the past by going back to the PPP's original liberal manifesto. In a recent episode of TV show AwamkiAdalaton Geo TV, 97 percent of the audience consisting of university students voted in favor of rejecting religious extremism.The leaders of Difa-e-Pakistain Council should listen to the call of the young. Some of these leaders had been part of the American war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. It is time to correct the mistakes of the past. Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... , Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti and many other politicians have died at the hands of extremism. The bloodshed must stop.
It is time we carefully study Mohammedan history and the significance of religiouspluralism,which wasprevalent in Mohammedan Spain, Mohammedan India and the Ottoman Empire. It is this religious pluralismthat became the cornerstone of scientific, literary and philosophical success of the Mohammedan civilization. According to the Holy Koran: "Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from error;" (2:256).
Paleostinians stunned to discover that world, Israel's Left no longer care about them
In an almost desperate bid to counter the new historical trend, pro-Paleostinian elements recently attempted to change direction and bring the Paleostinian issue back to the agenda, through what they referred to as "Land Day." But they failed.
For dozens of years, Arab regimes dealt with Israel and the Paleostinians artificially, in order to hide what went on in their own countries and divert the attention of the Arab masses outwardly. Yet today there is no longer a need for this, as the Arab world's real problems have emerged in force.
And so, from being a major issue, and possibly the main issue, the Paleostinians were pushed down to the bottom of the priority list; their Land Day did not receive any substantial coverage, neither in the Arab world nor in the Western world.
Today, when the Moslem Middle East is disintegrating into religions, ethnic groups, minorities and distinct regions, when the slaughter in Syria is merely intensifying (the number of fatalities is already nearing 10,000,) when Libya's militias are killing each other, Yemen is crumbling and Egypt is facing deep trouble, it turns out that relatively speaking, the Paleostinian issue is the most stable in the Mideast.
Truth be told, that was always the case, yet for self-interested reasons the situation was distorted by various elements.
The Paleostinians encountered another grave calamity: Israel's public opinion lost interest in them. For dozens of years, Israel's leftist camp turned the Paleostinians into its defining issue. Yet suddenly the Left discovered that Israel moved on and that the issue is no longer on its agenda. When the Left also discovered that the Paleostinians have no interest in peace or negotiations, just like Syria's Assad, it replaced the Paleostinian agenda with a new one, premised on social issues like cottage cheese and the tent protest.
UN failure
As those behind Paleostinian moves over the years were almost always Israeli or Jewish, once they moved on to another issue there was no longer anyone who could do the work for the Paleostinians. The Shalit deal killed any remaining traces of interest in the Paleostinian issue. Rockets from Gazoo didn't change matters and neither did claims about a Gazoo "blockade," as there is no such blockade. Gazoo is in fact prospering after connecting to Egypt, but not to Ramallah.
On top of this comes an international doubt: did the Paleostinian issue justify such great attention all these years? When a US presidential candidate asserts that there is no such thing as a Paleostinian people, many things that appeared solid and absolute no longer seem that way.
Instead of wooing Western policy-makers, the Paleostinians' dual leadership chose to barricade itself via unilateral steps doomed for failure, such as the bid to force a new reality through the UN. As result of this, the Paleostinian Authority lost much of its credibility in the West, while the embarrassing courting of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, defined as a terror group, did not grant the PA much extra credit.
The Paleostinians were also stunned to discover that despite the so-called "Arab Spring," the Arab regimes have not changed much from the previous ones as far as matters pertaining to the Paleostinians are concerned. Land Day proved that the regimes in Leb, Syria, Jordan and Egypt, as well as Hezbullies, are unwilling to mess with Israel because of the Paleostinians. On top of this come the domestic Paleostinian divisions, which cannot be healed.
However, ars longa, vita brevis... another fact emerged on Land Day: The Paleostinian Authority and Hamas regimes are also uninterested in a major flare-up, for fear that this will ultimately come at their own expense and spread against unpopular leaderships. Moreover, Israel is too strong and has much experience with facing crises and protests.
All these developments require the Paleostinians -- both regimes and societies -- to engage in self-reflection, yet such phenomenon of self-reflection and correction happens to characterize Israeli society, rather than Paleostinian society. As was the case in the last dozens of years, the Paleostinian public will continue to follow its leaders, who lead it, one generation after another, to defeats and failures.
Officials with the federal agency now under congressional investigation over a lavish conference were captured on camera joking about the expense at the summit's "capstone" event in October 2010.
A briefing Thursday by the Office of the Inspector General shows former General Services Administrator Martha Johnson and Steven Leeds, former senior counselor to the administrator, were told in May 2011 about the investigation of the conference.
One official joked about how much was spent at a party hosted by the agency's commissioner. Another employee, in a mock music video, even sang about how he'd "never be under OIG investigation."
OIG stands for Office of Inspector General -- the office that earlier this week released a bombshell report that triggered firings at the agency that held the conference. The report found the Public Buildings Service, part of the General Services Administration, spent more than $820,000 on the meeting near Las Vegas in 2010.
Two House committees now are probing the agency. One of those, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, posted video of the GSA employees online.
Committee Chairman Darrell Issa said a briefing Thursday by the Office of the Inspector General shows former General Services Administrator Martha Johnson and Steven Leeds, former senior counselor to the administrator, were told in May 2011 about the investigation of the conference.
This administration knew about the spending scandal 11 months ago and they didnt act until this week, Mr. Issa said.
#7
I remember that when GW Bush was elected, they refused to give his administration keys to the offices
Don't confuse the Beltway, with its political hires, with the rest of the country.
Like every other government body, GSA could use a house cleaning, starting from the top. Its 'Advantage' program in particular could use a complete vetting. But for the most part, GSA works well.
If you think there's problems now, imagine that crap happening at each department/agency.
DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates authorities said yesterday they were investigating an employee of a US pro-democracy group after briefly detaining him as he tried to leave the Gulf state.
Time to fold up the quangos and bring them home...
Slobodan Milic works for the National Democratic Institute which was last week ordered to close its UAE offices. The Serb was detained at Dubai airport on Thursday evening, questioned and then allowed to return to his apartment in Dubai, NDI said. A UAE official said Milic had been questioned about NDIs activities and the investigation was continuing.
We are waiting for the results of the investigation, the official said, when asked if Milic could leave the UAE. He did not elaborate about the nature of the probe.
The UAE said on Thursday licensing irregularities were behind the closure of some foreign institutions in the Gulf state, a week after NDI and German democracy group Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) were told to shut their offices there.
Western-allied UAE allows no political parties and keeps a wary eye on signs of political dissent.
In Egypt, NDI was one of a number of civil society groups raided by police last year. Washington hinted at the time it could review its $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Cairo. That row was defused when Egypt lifted a travel ban it had placed on the groups American staff, whom it accused of carrying out political activities unrelated to their work, failing to obtain proper licenses and receiving foreign funds without Cairos approval.
NDI is loosely affiliated with the US Democratic party, while KAS has links with Chancellor Angela Merkels Christian Democratic Union of Germany.
Another NDI employee, Pat Davis, an American, flew out of the UAE on Thursday, said NDI regional director Les Campbell.
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04/07/2012
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CAIRO: Aides of ousted Hosni Mubarak's former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman said yesterday he planned to contest the presidential election, reversing a statement earlier this week that he would not run.
Omar Suleiman, 74, was Mubarak's close associate for decades and served as his vice president briefly during the uprising that forced him to step down a year ago.
Hundreds rallied in Cairo yesterday to press Suleiman to join the race, carrying banners reading Suleiman, save Egypt and "We need you Suleiman." Commentators say he would appeal to the country's military and voters worried about stability.
In a statement attributed to Suleiman circulated by campaign aides, the man who was the director of military intelligence and the General Intelligence Service vowed to run if he could get the necessary registration of 30,000 supporters by today.
I have been shaken by your strong position, said the statement, addressed to citizens of Egypt. The call you have directed is an order and I am a soldier who has never disobeyed an order.
Your call and your faith in my ability is an honor, it added. I promise to change my position if I can complete the registrations by Saturday.
Campaign aides have been pushing Suleiman to run and have leaked similar reports to the media during the last month. Suleiman himself has not spoken to the media directly and it could not be immediately verified whether the statement was written by him.
Suleiman decided to run because anyone who loves this country has been begging him to do so. He has even had to switch off his phone because of the number of calls he was receiving to convince him to run, campaign aide Saab Abbasy told Reuters.
Egyptians vote on May 23 and 24 in what is billed as Egypts first and last free and fair presidential race.
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DUBAI: Iran said on Friday it had a strategic relationship with Turkey that should not be damaged by officials remarks, a day after Turkeys prime minister said Tehran was insincere about proposing nuclear talks with world powers in Syria or Iraq.
Tensions between Turkey and Iran have risen after Turkeys vocal opposition to Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has close ties with Iran, and Istanbul hosting the Syrian opposition and international meetings of nations opposed to the Damascus government.
Turkeys Tayyip Erdogan said suggesting Damascus or Baghdad as a venue for the meeting was a waste of time, it means it wont happen. He told the news conference Tehran was losing its international prestige because of its lack of honesty.
We should not allow comments by different officials in the two countries to harm the strategic relations between us, the official IRNA news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying.
He did not specifically name Erdogan, who met President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and had a rare audience with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a visit to Iran last week.
A difference of opinion on some political regional issues is natural and through dialogue one should try to bridge the gap between countries stances and find the best possible solution to existing crises, Mehmanparast said.
Erdogan said on his return from Iran that he had received assurances from the Iranian leaders that their nuclear program was purely civilian and said he had no reason to doubt their sincerity.
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Migrants with criminal convictions will be able to get jobs denied to British workers under a new EU-wide criminal records regime being adopted this month.
In Britain, even the most minor convictions for student pranks or breaches of the peace can come back to haunt jobseekers years later if they apply for positions as teachers, policemen or other sensitive roles.
But migrants from EU countries applying for the same jobs will be given a clean bill of health, even if they have similar convictions, because other countries either wipe the slate clean or do not keep records of low-level offences.
The problem also applies to British workers trying to get jobs in other EU countries.
Justice campaigners have described the situation as scandalous and have asked MEPs and the Home Office to address the issue as a matter of urgency.
The problem arose after Britain signed up to a trial of the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS), a new system of sharing criminal records between EU member states which is being permanently adopted this month.
Britains rigorous Criminal Records Bureau regime means that even convictions classed as spent remain on file for life and can be thrown up during background checks by potential employers anywhere in the EU.
In stark contrast, countries such as Belgium and Germany routinely destroy after just three years records of convictions resulting in prison sentences of less than six months or fines of less than 500 euros.
Other EU countries have laws which prevent employers being told about spent or minor convictions, and in some countries, such as the Netherlands, fines of less than 100 euros for minor crimes are not treated as criminal convictions for the purposes of CRB checks.
As well as the disparity in the way records are kept, EU countries have wildly varying sentences for different offences. In Germany, someone who indecently assaults a child can be given a sentence of as little as six months, whereas in the UK the starting point is two years.
Three guesses as to how the EUcrats want to regularize such things .....
PESHAWAR: At least 12 terror suspects were arrested and explosives, suicide jackets recovered during an operation by security agencies in the provincial capital on Friday.
According to details, the agencies conducted the search operation in the jurisdiction of Tehkal police station. During the operation, 12 suspected terrorists were arrested and suicide jackets and explosives were recovered from their possession. The detainees were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation. Sources said the authorities hope to get important information from them, saying they were planning acts of terrorism in the city.
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QUETTA: Maulana Mohammad Qasim Sasoli, a prayer leader belonging to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (Noorani group), was shot dead on Saryab Road on Friday.
According to police, Maulana Qasim was on his way to Jamia Masjid Noorani to lead the Friday prayer when armed men on a motorcycle opened fire on him, killing him instantly. The killers managed to escape from the scene. The body was taken to Sandeman Hospital for an autopsy.
The killing sparked protest in Saryab area and people took to streets and burnt tyres to condemn it. Talking to reporters, JUP President Abdul Qudus Sasoli said it was not the first time that the JUP leaders were targeted.
Earlier, JUP leaders Iftikhar Habibi, Rafiq Sasoli and Maulana Kabir Qambrani had been killed in target killings. The government and law-enforcing agencies have failed to protect life of common people in Quetta. No one is safe, whether a cleric, politician or a common man, he told reporters, adding that the rulers must resign as they had failed to fulfil the basic obligation of the constitution.
He said that international players were involved in dirty games in Balochistan and local people were being used as tool for this purpose. The JUP announced a complete shutter down strike in Balochistan tomorrow (Sunday) to protest against the killing.
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(Ma'an) -- Four Paleostinian men are on death row in the Gazoo Strip and could face execution at any time, an urgent report from Amnesia Amnesty International said Thursday.
The group identified Mohammed Baraka as one of the detainees who recently lost his appeal. Three other men have also had their appeals rejected recently, Amnesty said.
Baraka, a father of six, was convicted on May 30, 2010, of murdering one of his relatives, the group said. He was sentenced to death and an appeal against the ruling was rejected in February.
Three other men have been convicted of various crimes including kidnapping, murder, political killings and of collaboration with the Israeli army resulting in killings of fellow Paleostinians.
Amnesty said it was not able to report full details on the men but it identified them by their initials as Z.J., 38, sentenced to death for abduction and murder, W.K.J., 27, for treason and being an accessory to murder, and M.J.A, for abduction and murder.
The group urged Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, to ensure that the death sentences are not ratified and that all are commuted. It is also calling for the Hamas government to abolish the death penalty entirely.
Emergency crews searched the charred remains of a Virginia Beach apartment complex Friday after a fighter jet crashed into it just after takeoff in what Navy officials called a "catastrophic mechanical malfunction."
Two Navy pilots -- a student and an instructor from nearby Naval Air Station Oceana -- ejected just before the jet careened into the apartment complex, demolishing sections of some buildings and engulfing others in flames. Some 40 apartment units were damaged or destroyed in the crash, but hours later no fatalities had been reported.
Seven people, including both pilots, were taken to a hospital. All except one of the pilots were released by late afternoon.
Virginia Beach Fire Department Capt. Tim Riley said more than two dozen residents remained unaccounted for, although all but the six most damaged apartments had been searched.
"What I'm praying for, what I'm thinking about now is that we don't find any more victims," Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms told reporters.
The two-seat F18 Hornet had dumped loads of fuel before crashing, though it wasn't clear if that was because of a malfunction or an intentional maneuver by the pilots, said Capt. Mark Weisgerber with U.S. Fleet Forces Command. The jet went down less than 10 miles from Oceana.
Bruce Nedelka, the Virginia Beach EMS division chief, said witnesses saw fuel being dumped from the jet before it went down, and that fuel was found on buildings and vehicles in the area.
The plane not having as much fuel on board "mitigated what could have been an absolute massive, massive fireball and fire," Nedelka said. "With all of that jet fuel dumped, it was much less than what it could have been."
The crash happened in the Hampton Roads area, which has a large concentration of military bases, including Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval base in the world. Naval Air Station Oceana, where the F/A-18D that crashed was assigned, is located in Virginia Beach. Both the pilots were from Virginia Beach, Weisgerber said.
Weisgerber said he did not know how many times the student pilot had been in the air, but that the instructor was "extremely experienced."
#7
BP, not really. It looks like they were trying to make the runway, which wasnt all that far. It all depends on the type of malfunction. Given the FI was very experienced, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt as to whether to ditch in the water, or try to make the runway. My uninformed guess is that he thought he could make it in and at least put it roughly on the runway (hence the fuel dump), and something else failed that prevented him from doing so.
#8
After reading the article and getting a few more facts, he was outbound, trying to make it to the water when the A/C failed completely. So this truly was a "best he could do" for the pilot of a broken aircraft - I'd lay off him a bit if I were you BP. He didnt ditch in the water because the aircraft did not make it that far.
#11
Some sort of castrophic failure of the plane just after take-off, BP.
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/07/2012 13:14
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#12
Similar crashes occur about every ten years or so near NAS Oceana/VA Beach, but very few had the miraculous lack of fatalities like this incident.
Local gov is always tweaking the flight patterns and the Navy's nose...The local Pols "...love "The Sound of Freedom", don-cha know; just so long as it's faintly heard. -cz-
#13
Engines went down right after take off. Not many options - sorted semi vacant crash site, dumped fuel, and got his crew out. Sounds like top gun to ME.
BEIJING: China placed six men from the Uighur ethnic minority on a terror list, accusing them of involvement in terrorist training camps and of inciting attacks in the countrys restive western Xinjiang region.
Chinas Ministry of Public Security said the men, whose names identify them as Uighurs, were members of the outlawed East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), blaming one for orchestrating violent attacks in the city of Kashgar last July.
Chinese authorities have accused the ETIM, which wants an independent homeland for Xinjiangs Uighurs, of orchestrating attacks in the region on many occasions. They also gave rare details of what they says are links between the militant groups and neighbouring countries, as it unveiled a list of six wanted suspects. The Ministry of Public Security published the names of the suspects, all apparently ethnic Uighurs, on its website late on Thursday, along with their photographs and an outline of their alleged crimes. All six had spent time in what the ministry called Pakistain a certain south Asian country where they were trained to carry out terror attacks and incited militants in China to carry out suicide bombings and knife attacks.
The public security ministry on Thursday said in a statement that it had frozen the funds and assets of the six men, whose whereabouts are not known. China has blamed incidents of violence in Xinjiang, home to the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighur people, on religious separatists who want to establish an independent state of East Turkestan.
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#1
The ETIM is a complex organization, an alliance of several groups whose common denominator is hatred of their Han overlords. (IMO their hatred has a sound basis.) Kind of like Tibet, only Muslim, and more violent, but I repeat myself.) Not all of the Turkic separatists are interested in independence - some prefer the Han welfare, such as it is, but want more autonomy; others want independence, but not an Islamic republic; the largest and strongest group is, however, the Islamofascists. They are the ones with significant external support. If they (ETIM) win against the Chinese (they won't, East Turkestan is where a lot of Chinese oil is found), the non-Islamofascists will be rapidly converted or killed.
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.
ISLAMABAD: Around 20 million children in Pakistan, including an estimated 7.3 million of primary school age, are not in school, said a statement issued by United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on Friday.
GHALLANAI: Terrorists blew up a government-run girls primary school with explosives in the village on Friday. According to details, unidentified terrorists planted and detonated explosives in the school, which is located in the Lakrro area in Sasi tehsil of Mohmand Agency. The school building was partially damaged due to the blast. However, no causality or injury was reported, as the building was vacant at the time of the blast. Terrorists in FATA have destroyed 92 government schools, most of them for girls, schools in Mohmand Agency during the past three years.
Going by Mexican press accounts, General Alfonso Duarte Mujica was a rising star when he received his appointment to the 2nd Military Zone in 2008, and later to the II Military Region.
If President Obama and Congress fail to act this year, an enormous, unprecedented tax increase will fall on American taxpayers starting on January 1, 2013. The Washington Post called the looming tax increase "Taxmageddon," and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke called it a "massive fiscal cliff."
President Obama has signaled Iran that the United States would accept an Iranian civilian nuclear program if Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei can back up his recent public claim that his nation will never pursue nuclear weapons.
BEIRUT: At least 24 Syrians were killed in violence yesterday, opposition activists said, only four days before a troop pullback agreed by President Bashar Assad as part of a peace plan proposed by mediator Kofi Annan.
JERUSALEM: A Palestinian leader said yesterday that his group is adhering to a cease-fire that stopped a barrage of rockets and air strikes between Israel and the Gaza Strip last month.
ADEN: Two Al-Qaeda 
Azerbaijan, Baku -- As a result of operational activities conducted by the Ministry of National Security (MNS), 17 members of an armed group who planned a series of sabotage and subversion and terrorist acts to disrupt social stability and creating panic among the population have been revealed and arrested, the ministry's center of Public Relations told Trend on Friday.
Britain ought to make its prisoners work in "chain gangs" to clear litter building up on the side of major public roads, a Conservative MP has said. 
Hamid Gul
Nawaz Sharif
CAIRO: Aides of ousted Hosni Mubarak's former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman said yesterday he planned to contest the presidential election, reversing a statement earlier this week that he would not run.
