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Hadi Refuses to receive Former Yemen President
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Home Front: Politix
Obama bites dog
Posted by: tipper || 04/18/2012 15:23 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bo had better be careful. After November Obama will have more ... flexibility.
Posted by: crosspatch || 04/18/2012 16:32 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/18/2012 16:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Red-orange corresponds to desire, sexual passion, pleasure, domination, aggression, and thirst for action.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2012 17:04 Comments || Top||

#4  LOL.

Back in ye olden' 1970's, PRE-LARA KROFT = "BRADGELINA" GUAM, myself + classmates in Elementary School made a similar artificial dog out of hangars + colored yarn for our Arts-N-Craft class, albeit of course on a smaller scale.

Gaaaawd, I miss my dog.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2012 20:25 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Taquanda Shanti shoots Quantavius "Antnie" in possible hold up
No, not Walawi. This took place in Tampa, Florida.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2012 14:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
US Muslim: I was tortured at FBI's behest in UAE
A Muslim American seeking asylum in Sweden claimed Wednesday he was detained at the U.S. government's request while in the United Arab Emirates last summer, tortured in custody and interrogated about the activities of a Portland, Oregon, mosque.

Yonas Fikre told a news conference Wednesday that he was held for 106 days and was beaten, threatened with death and kept in solitary confinement in a frigid cell.

The 33-year-old, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Eritrea, says he had attended the same mosque in Portland as a man who has been charged in a plot to detonate a bomb in the northwestern U.S. city. He moved to Sudan in 2009 and later to the United Arab Emirates. He went to Sweden, where he has relatives, after being released from detention on Sept. 15.

Fikre, who converted to Islam in 2003, is the third Muslim man from Portland to publicly say he was detained while traveling abroad and questioned about Portland's Masjid-as-Sabr mosque. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a Somali American who is awaiting trial on a charge of plotting to set off a bomb in downtown Portland in November 2010, occasionally worshipped there.
Back when he was 19, the FBI helped him get the supplies he needed to make a bomb to blow up the Christmas tree lighting. They arrested him moments after his cell phone failed to set the thing off.
A decade ago, seven Muslims with ties to the mosque were arrested following a failed effort to enter Afghanistan and fight U.S. forces.
This article starring:
Masjid-as-Sabr mosque
Mohamed Osman Mohamud
Posted by: tipper || 04/18/2012 13:47 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "They turned me into a newt!"
Posted by: SteveS || 04/18/2012 14:18 Comments || Top||

#2  lol SteveS! - that's the first thing that came to my mind as well :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2012 14:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Nah, the first thing that came to mind was "But I got better."
Posted by: AlanC || 04/18/2012 14:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Since it was in the al queda playbook to claim abuse and torture...

If I were Sweden I'd hand him over to the US for a full investigation.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/18/2012 14:41 Comments || Top||

#5  I prefer the Swedes keep him...
Posted by: Steve White || 04/18/2012 15:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Heh. Great minds, and all that, Frank.

Hey, what's that Arabic word that means "lying like a rug whenever infidels are involved"?
Posted by: SteveS || 04/18/2012 15:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Hey, what's that Arabic word that means "lying like a rug whenever infidels are involved"?

See here. There's taqqiyah, which is saying that which is untrue, and kitman, which is lying by omitting the critical part of the truth. Does anyne remember the other kind of permitted lying? Something like tarawi or tawari...
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2012 16:07 Comments || Top||

#8  You had finished your "interview" with the FBI. Then Brenda Lee Johnson said she had no further questions for you.

But your communique with the "peaceful" islamists was impressive. 2LT down.

You should have pleded in the US in that matter. Puss
Posted by: newc || 04/18/2012 21:56 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Gen. Mike Flynn nominated to head up "Silver Bullet" (DIA)
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2012 13:45 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So what's the dope on this guy? Pardon my paranoia, but the fact that he was appointed by B-HO makes me...suspicious.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/18/2012 14:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, let's go there. This is Defense Intelligence. At around 8 min in this video, he states vision.

Rocky Shoals outlines what we know. It does not outline cigar chomping anything or backroom billiards. But it is
- I just don't know. And the others say little too.

Whatever it means in my eyes is I do not trust the head of this fish. It does not mean this could not be a good appointment. Looks Technically endowed. But I don't know shit.

Ferris? Anyone?
Posted by: newc || 04/18/2012 22:04 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Rare Ancient Statue Depicts Topless Female Gladiator
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2012 13:41 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Election 2012
Top tweets about Obama eating dog meat
Posted by: Beavis || 04/18/2012 13:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I always took him for a Lancashire Heeler type.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2012 15:32 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Possible Russian Responses to an Attack on Iran
Posted by: Chique Unock2033 || 04/18/2012 12:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Persian mil histoire' says "spillover" is all but absolutely guaranteed - in the post-Cold War, post-modern era, the Mad Mullahs are counting on it.

They've been saying it since the POTUS Clinton/Billary era - NOT JUST "VIETNAM" REDUX, BUT A "NUCLEAR" "VIETNAM".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2012 20:13 Comments || Top||


Europe
What is this floating orb chasing boats in the Baltic Sea?
Any Rantburgers have a clue? It's extremely maneuverable, but doesn't look much like a weapon.

Some kind of sea drone?


Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 04/18/2012 12:22 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The shark or fish that took the bait under that float must be good sized, but it clearly is being pulled , not under power, and pulled with tension from below. Likely a fishing buoy or sport fishing device.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 04/18/2012 12:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Somebody remaking "The Prisoner" again?
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/18/2012 12:55 Comments || Top||

#3  following up on NMBS's comment. Here in Hawaii there is a well-known story about a whale who got tangled in a large bouy and towed the thing from Alaska to Mau'i. Could be.
Posted by: Chiting Trotsky2486 || 04/18/2012 14:10 Comments || Top||

#4  I think NoMBS is probably right. But the paper that ran it is considered respectable. But maybe they did get sucked in by the video.
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 04/18/2012 14:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Does Humminbird have a Swedish franchisee?
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 04/18/2012 18:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Now we really now why Rosie's show got cancelled; she's on extended vacation
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 04/18/2012 21:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Hey! Maybe someone found our drill bit!
Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division || 04/18/2012 21:45 Comments || Top||


Arabia
A historical look at the birth of Islam
Posted by: tipper || 04/18/2012 12:21 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wahabbis/Salifs taking over Saudi and the holy sites was the biggest mistake in world history.Should have been the Hashemites.
Posted by: Gruth McGurque5303 || 04/18/2012 17:49 Comments || Top||


Britain
British farmer’s quest to find lost Spitfires in Burma
Posted by: anonymous2u || 04/18/2012 11:47 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Religion of Peace Shows Gratitude to Brits in Libya
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/18/2012 11:12 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Goons can't even use simple tools and technology to do a simple job? Oh, that's what rifle butts are for!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 04/18/2012 12:15 Comments || Top||

#2  There's an American military cemetery in Tunisia. Maybe we should dig the guys up and bring them Home.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 04/18/2012 13:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Reminds me of a bit in the book Band of Brothers where it talked about the opinions of the soldiers about the various groups they came across. Arabs and French were listed below the Germans.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/18/2012 14:49 Comments || Top||

#4  They've been learning from The Zero?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/18/2012 19:54 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
The Taliban Are Too Weak for a Tet Offensive
by Max Boot.
A taste. If clicking on the headline doesn't work for you, googling the title should get a working link -- the Wall Street Journal has an agreement with Google.
The Tet Offensive it wasn't. On Sunday, insurgents belonging to the Haqqani network attacked seven high-profile sites in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan. The Afghan National Security Forces responded swiftly and professionally with minimal assistance from NATO. Far more insurgents wound up dying (36) than members of the security forces (11). Life in the capital has already returned to normal. When I was there a few weeks ago, I saw a thriving city where the biggest daily concerns are traffic jams and air pollution—not insurgent attacks.

The failure of this insurgent assault bodes well for Afghanistan's future—and runs counter to the doom-and-gloom in the U.S. The Taliban, Haqqanis and associated insurgents continue to enjoy safe havens in Pakistan, but the only way they will shoot their way back into power is if we abandon the vast majority of Afghans who have no desire to be ruled by ignorant, medieval tyrants.

Mr. Boot is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of "Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present," out next January by Norton.
Posted by: || 04/18/2012 10:40 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thanks for the excerpt, whoever you are, anonymous poster. Next time, probably better to post a link to Google where the first search result is the article. Thanks!
Posted by: gromky || 04/18/2012 16:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Just like the real Tet, they don't need to be strong, just need to be strong enough to make us believe/understand the price of victory is more than it's worth to us.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/18/2012 17:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Just like the real Tet, they don't need to be strong, just need to be strong enough to make us believe/understand the price of victory is more than it's worth to us.

The real Tet involved 300K to 600K Vietcong and NVA regulars. It was about four orders of magnitude (10,000 times) larger than this offensive. By the end of the Tet offensive, we had lost about 4K dead GI's.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/18/2012 17:41 Comments || Top||

#4  But the US et al are already a lot closer to admitting it's not worth it than they were at Tet, when much/most of the country still backed the war. That said, this effort was not sufficient to even move the needle (the constant drip, drip, drip of IEDs and insider attacks are much more effective.)
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/18/2012 19:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Thanks for the excerpt, whoever you are, anonymous poster. Next time, probably better to post a link to Google where the first search result is the article. Thanks!

'Twas I, gromky. For some reason, sometimes my nym doesn't get attached when I post an article. But come now, you can't highlight, copy and past the article title into a Google search box? Even I can do that, and I'm one of the legendary end users who can't program the DVR.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2012 19:37 Comments || Top||

#6  Many Americans expected a "Korea"-styled outcome to Vietnam, hence were shocked when the 1968 Tet Offensive proved it wasn't, espec after Cronkite announced on-air how the US had lost the war.

During Korea, the US had clear Nuclear Dominance over both Red China + post-1945, still Stalinist USSR - by 1968, espec after the Cuban Missle Crisis + rise of Leonid Brezhnev, the US advantage was seriously reduced.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2012 20:40 Comments || Top||


Europe
Sweden's secret recipe
Advice from a successful -- and tax-cutting -- finance minister

When Europe's finance ministers meet for a group photo, it's easy to spot the rebel -- Anders Borg has a ponytail and earring. What actually marks him out, though, is how he responded to the crash. While most countries in Europe borrowed massively, Borg did not. Since becoming Sweden's finance minister, his mission has been to pare back government. His 'stimulus' was a permanent tax cut. To critics, this was fiscal lunacy -- the so-called 'punk tax cutting' agenda. Borg, on the other hand, thought lunacy meant repeating the economics of the 1970s and expecting a different result.

Three years on, it's pretty clear who was right. 'Look at Spain, Portugal or the UK, whose governments were arguing for large temporary stimulus,' he says. 'Well, we can see that very little of the stimulus went to the economy. But they are stuck with the debt.' Tax-cutting Sweden, by contrast, had the fastest growth in Europe last year, when it also celebrated the abolition of its deficit. The recovery started just in time for the 2010 Swedish election, in which the Conservatives were re-elected for the first time in history.

All this has taken Borg from curiosity to celebrity. The Financial Times recently declared him the most effective finance minister in Europe. When we meet in his Stockholm office on a Friday afternoon (he and his aide seem to be the only two left in the building) he says he is just carrying on 20 years of reform. 'Sweden was a textbook case of European economic sclerosis. Very high taxes and huge regulatory burden.' An economic crisis in the early 1990s forced Sweden on the road to balanced budgets, and Borg was determined the 2007 crash would not stop him cutting the size of government.

'Everybody was told "stimulus, stimulus, stimulus",' he says -- referring to the EU, IMF and the alphabet soup of agencies urging a global, debt-fuelled spending splurge. Borg, an economist, couldn't work out how this would help. 'It was surprising that Europe, given what we experienced in the 1970s and 80s with structural unemployment, believed that short-term Keynesianism could solve the problem.' Non-economists, he says, 'might have a tendency to fall for those kinds of messages'.
Posted by: tipper || 04/18/2012 09:21 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Living in Estonia, I admire Sweden's history. But having traveled the area extensively, I would say that I'd rather have a Finn any day. I think it comes from the self-reliance they had to exhibit in the war against the Soviets.
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 04/18/2012 11:52 Comments || Top||

#2  An economic crisis in the early 1990s forced Sweden on the road to balanced budgets,..

Must've been when the tax on the royalties from ABBA ran out.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/18/2012 12:59 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Tried to prevent Mumbai attacks, but US authorities didn't bother: David Headley's ex-wife
The estranged wife of admitted Pakistani American terrorist David Coleman Headley claims she tried to prevent the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack by going to US authorities abroad, but they did not bother.

"So I went to them and I then started saying all sorts of crazy stuff, I said he's going to bomb everything, he's a criminal. They didn't bother," Faiza Outalha was quoted as saying by Chicago's WLS-TV/DT.

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative Headley, who has confessed to his role in scouting targets for the Mumbai in a plea deal with the US government was an avowed terrorist when he married Outalha, according to the television station that tracked her to Morocco.

"I'm covering my face right now, yes, because I'm afraid that people really could look at, see my face and pursue me or come and try to harm me," she was quoted as saying.

"It was love at first sight, you know, and we just married and, you know, it was so quick," Outalha said. "He betrayed me in every way, many lies, he's been lying to me, I mean the marriage, he fooled me to this marriage."

Headley, alias Daood Gilani, claims he worked with officials from Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency to survey attack sites in India, even while on a Mumbai honeymoon with his new wife.

Indian authorities have sent a formal request to Morocco to hand over Outalha in the continuing investigation of the Mumbai attacks. If she cooperates, they hope that Outalha will offer information about the LeT founder and leader Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, for whose successful prosecution US announced a $10 million bounty two weeks ago, WLS-TV said.
This article starring:
Daood Gilani
David Coleman Headley
Faiza Outalha
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed
Posted by: tipper || 04/18/2012 04:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Typical Muzlim, her only concern is for her own skin even though this is her pigshit husband.
Posted by: Bill Schwarzeneggar1358 || 04/18/2012 4:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Not surprising. State Department employees at embassies abroad are openly contemptuous of everyone but their counterparts at foreign governments.
Posted by: gromky || 04/18/2012 5:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Where is Retief when we need him.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 04/18/2012 6:07 Comments || Top||

#4  How's she concerned for her own skin? The article is all about her concern for the victims of the Mumbai attacks.
Posted by: gromky || 04/18/2012 6:16 Comments || Top||

#5  NOW she's concerned.

She wasn't so concerned back then. You know, before the kabooms.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/18/2012 10:46 Comments || Top||

#6  She was concerned enough to go to the Americans to tell them about it. So was the Pantibomber's father. Neither was able to communicate the urgency to the State Department people they spoke with
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2012 11:50 Comments || Top||

#7  I stand corrected. Question is then what she knew and why they dismissed her.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/18/2012 13:24 Comments || Top||

#8  tried to prevent the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack by going to US authorities abroad

Sounds like the tried to do the right thing to me. Why not save the vitriol for, you know, the guys who did the killing, instead of the woman who tried to stop them?
Posted by: Secret Master || 04/18/2012 15:41 Comments || Top||

#9  Not able to communicate the urgency? Bah! More like she wasn't even allowed to see a U.S. citizen and had to tell her tale to a local employee. Have any of you ever *actually been* to an American consulate abroad? They have separate entrances for supplicants and Bwanahs. If you're a local and not even a U.S. citizen, forget it. The State Department's job - as they view it - is government-to-government relations. Fuck anyone else.
Posted by: gromky || 04/18/2012 16:02 Comments || Top||

#10  *** cough *** cough **** cough **** ....

D *** NGED AM CHOCOLATE COCONUT DONUT BAR.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2012 20:15 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Gulf fund's problems highlight Syria aid challenge
Two weeks after their bold promise, Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Arab Gulf states have yet to start distributing money from a multimillion-dollar fund designed to prop up Syria's rebels and entice defections from President Bashar Assad's army, Syrian opposition members and international officials say.

The cash program was outlined this month at a conference in Istanbul, where representatives of the United States and more than 60 other nations met to strengthen Syria's opposition and increase pressure on the Assad regime. Hoping to crack Assad's support, Washington and its Arab partners seized on the plan as a path forward even as they disagreed on the idea of giving weapons to badly outgunned Syrian rebels.

But the fund's implementation is already beset by problem -- basically, how to get the money there and how to make sure it gets to the right people. There's no way to monitor where the money goes as the country veers toward civil war. Because the rebels hold no territory and struggle even to maintain communications among inside and outside Syria, there is no clear way to deliver the money.

The problems underscore the larger problem to providing aid of any kind to the Syrian rebellion. The Obama administration recently signed off on $12 million in enhanced communications, medical and other "nonlethal" assistance to the opposition, but it is unclear what goods are making their way into Syria and by what means.

Even the recipients are largely unknown, with American officials themselves saying they are still trying to get to know Syria's armed and political opposition better.
Posted by: tipper || 04/18/2012 03:33 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
Wanted Talib turns self in for own reward
Mohammad Ashan was wanted for organising attacks on Afghan troops and so police were bemused when he voluntarily approached the checkpoint.
They arrested him immediately but called for American backup to check they had the right man.
“We asked him, ‘Is this you?’ Mohammad Ashan answered with an incredible amount of enthusiasm, ‘Yes, yes, that’s me! Can I get my award now?’” one US soldier told the Washington Post.
"Clearly, the man is an imbecile," a US official added.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/18/2012 02:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Barack Obama cracks down on oil traders
President Maldives: SPR, what SPR!
Barack Obama pledged to put more "cops on the beat" to oversee the oil market, as he went on the offensive with a range of curbs to stop traders from driving the oil price higher.
His actions will drive the price of oil higher; he's trying to assert control of the market in his thug-socialist way, and that will clearly push prices up.
The US cannot afford to let speculators artificially drive up the price of oil, the US President said on Tuesday, revealing plans to boost supervision of the market and tackle manipulation.

"Rising gas [petrol] prices means a rough ride for a lot of families," President Obama said. "It's like an additional tax that comes right out of your pocket."
And who would know more about higher taxes than a progressive Democrat?
The high oil price and its impact on consumers is underlining concerns about how the market is functioning and how much it is driven by speculation. Brent crude, London's benchmark oil, trades around $118 (£74) a barrel.

The measures from the White House, to be approved by Congress, include an "at least six-fold" increase in the number of staff who scrutinise the trading of oil futures contracts at US market watchdog the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The Obama administration also wants the maximum penalties for manipulation in oil futures markets to rise tenfold, from $1m and 10 years in prison to $10m plus sentencing which reflects the "seriousness" of the misconduct.
Posted by: tipper || 04/18/2012 00:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Of course, for a modest "donation" to a certain presidential campaign, the CFTC might develop glaucoma...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/18/2012 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Ben Bernanke must be worried about a knock on the door any moment now.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/18/2012 8:17 Comments || Top||

#3  this week's Strawman™
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2012 8:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Tacking to the middle.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2012 8:22 Comments || Top||

#5  If a 'bet' on future price of oil (or any commodity) was such a sure thing then everybody'd be making it, and the price would come down. Kind of like horse-racing - as more bets flow to one horse, the payout to the winner goes down. If the price keeps rising, then the bet is not a sure thing. The futures price just represents that which it takes to balance the bets (plus the commission). When the contracts expire or are settled the winning and losing speculators balance out. End users who absolutely, positively must have a set supply at a set date pay a lot for that guarantee; sellers who absolutely, positively must have a set income and a set time sell their potential for greater income in return for that guarantee (end users who find themselves more flexible than they had expected to be receive payment for re-selling guarantees they previously bought.) It's not evil at all (unless manipulated by insiders and crooks at protected, 'too-big-to-fail' Wall Street firms), it's just a means for balancing supply and demand and criticality of each.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/18/2012 9:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Dear Zero,
1984 and The Fountainhead were not written as guidebooks.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/18/2012 9:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Glenmore (#5) - nicely explained, but much too complicated for Joe Sixpack when you can whip up a nice Strawman™ and keep pushing your populist poop.
Posted by: Bobby || 04/18/2012 11:06 Comments || Top||

#8  Its the one and only Boogie man
He creeps, he hides, he sneaks, he slides
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/18/2012 11:37 Comments || Top||

#9  Dear Zero,
1984 and The Fountainhead were not written as guidebooks.
Posted by Bright Pebbles


I see a winner!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 04/18/2012 12:19 Comments || Top||

#10  My problem with speculation is when its done with paper backed by little or no assets, particularly of the person playing the game. About the time the last run on oil [somewhere near 148 barrel] in 2008, the banking system was freezing up, thus curtailing lending [which is the start of the bailout]. As soon as that happened, oil prices dropped. The government already had the ability to call margin well before then to avert that run, but didn't. Make the speculators back their game and put up dollar for dollar for their bids. Let them gamble with their own money.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/18/2012 12:55 Comments || Top||

#11  Polling must show the price of gas is hurting Obama's numbers and he has to deflect now to avoid his energy secretary's $10 a gallon goal comment becoming mainstream knowledge.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/18/2012 14:46 Comments || Top||

#12  "But Obama is unswayed. He is running as a “provider” and believes there are enough Americans who want free stuff to catapult him to victory in November."

Bill O'Reilly
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2012 15:00 Comments || Top||

#13  Third world socialist thug.
Posted by: Gomez Trotsky9549 || 04/18/2012 16:27 Comments || Top||

#14  Holland & EU SUPPORT LIBERALS AND DEOCRATS THIS ELECTION SEASON AGAIN
Posted by: Uneang Scourge of the Slytherins6067 || 04/18/2012 17:56 Comments || Top||

#15  #6: 1984 and The Fountainhead were not written as guidebooks.

Assuming he's read them. Those are "white" books, which - except for die-hard commies like Foucault, Marcuse, and Adorno - have been all but removed from standard college curricula.
Posted by: RandomJD || 04/18/2012 18:10 Comments || Top||

#16  Mr President. Since you killed the Keystone pipeline, which caused oil prices to skyrocket, your cops will hence forth be referred to throughout the blogger sphere as the "Keystone Cops".
Posted by: George Unique7923 || 04/18/2012 20:11 Comments || Top||

#17  George Unique7923 - Obama and his Oil police are "Keystone Cops".

Very well done, my man!
Posted by: newc || 04/18/2012 22:14 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen Considers International Sanctions Against Army Commanders
[Yemen Post] Yemen is considering all options including the use of force and notifying the UN Security Council to take necessary measures as army chiefs are still refusing to leave posts and hand over to their successors appointed by President Hadi, Akhbar al-Youm newspaper reported on Tuesday, quoting a military source.

"The Military Committee, formed under a power transfer deal signed after turmoil in 2011, is considering all options to make army chiefs respect the decrees issued by Hadi, in a move which comes after a 48-hour deadline for them expired," the source said, according to the paper.

"The Committee can speak to the ten countries sponsoring the power transfer deal and the Security Council to punish these commanders and to impose sanctions on others who were behind their rebellion including figures in the General People's Congress Party," the source continued.

Half-brother of ex-president, Muhammad Saleh, ex-commander of the Air Force and nephew of ex-president, Tariq Saleh, ex-commander of the armored brigade 3rd, are refusing to leave their posts.

Earlier, Hadi warned to strip them of their ranks and refer them to a military court, but the commanders turned a deaf ear to the warning and are now continuing their rebellion.

Ignoring the presidential decrees, which come within the restructuring of the armed forces, was described as a crime, with the Committee saying Hadi is the president and can make suitable decisions over the issue.

When some commanders started to resist their firing, some of the countries sponsoring the power transfer deal, threatened to sanction those trying to hinder the implementation of the deal and the UN resolution 2014.

The deal and the resolution were formulated last year to help Yemen overcome its crisis and encourage political reconciliation amid the Arab Spring shaking the region.

Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Saba calls off Hadi's congratulation to Al-Assad
[Yemen Post] The Yemeni News Agency(Saba) has cancelled on Tuesday a news story about a congratulation cable of President Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi to the Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
on the 66th anniversary of Syria's Independent Day.

The news story that angered many Yemeni people, in particular those protesters who took to streets against the regime of the former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
was called off two hours after it was published.

Yemen analysts said that the news story aimed to affect Yemeni relationships with the neighboring Gulf States and the United States and the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
s States that seek to oust Al-Assad regime.

Meanwhile,
...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment...
a source of the Presidency Office denied that Hadi sent a congratulation cable to Al-Assad, pointing out that Secretary-General of the Presidency Office Abdul-Hadi Al-Hamdani who is close to Saleh was behind the news story.

A source of Saba told Aden Online that the agency received the news story from Hadi's media secretary, Yahya Al-Arasi, pointing out that the agency publishes any news sent from Hadi's office without any amendments.

The source said Al-Arasi belongs to the Alawite Sect in Yemen and he sympathizes with Al-Aassad regime, pointing out that his tends could affect on Hadi'ss regional and international reputation.

"While Yemeni protesters, politicians and activists demand to expel the Syrian Ambassador from Yemen, Hadi's assistant has strong relations with Alawite groups" he added.

According to the source, Al-Arasi had invited journalists to attend a seminar titled (the Esmaili Sect as a model to equal citizenship) and that the seminar was postponed to unknown reasons, pointing out that he also has kinship relationship with the Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates....
family in Saada.

Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jordanian parliament moves to ban Muslim Brotherhood party
In a Lower House session, Jordanian politicians voted to add an item to the country's draft political parties law forbidding the establishment of any political party on a 'religious basis.'

Jordan's parliament took legal measures on Monday to disqualify the Moslem Brüderbund's political party, the country's largest opposition movement.

In a Lower House session, 46 out of 83 Jordanian politicians voted to add an item in the country's draft political parties law forbidding the establishment of any political party on a "religious basis."

The measure would disqualify the Islamic Action Front
...Jordan's branch of the Moslem Brüderbund...
- the political branch of the Moslem Brüderbund and the country's largest political party - from taking part in upcoming parliamentary elections.

Islamists claim the amendment comes as "retaliation" for the Moslem Brüderbund's opposition to a proposed elections law observers say ensures the continued dominance of tribal regime loyalists over the legislative chamber.

"This is only the latest in a series of measures by deputies to limit the influence of political parties and any dissenting views in parliament and political life in general," Zaki Bani Rsheid, head of the IAF's politibureau, told DPA.

"We believe all Jordanian citizens - not only Islamists - should have the right to form a political party without conditions," he added.

Bani Rsheid vowed that Islamists would fight the legislation, which politicians are expected to approve on Tuesday, "with all legal and political means available."

The country's political parties law, which along with the elections law has been highlighted by Jordan's King Abdullah II as key to the country's reform process, also bans the establishment of parties on an "ethnic or sectarian basis."
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Social terrorism: religious vendetta against Ahmadis
[Dawn] Religious persecution of people from Ahmadiyya community is not a new development in Pakistain. Ahmadis have long been marginalised from the time when they were declared non-Mohammedans in the amendment introduced in 1973's Constitution. Since then, they have been facing the wrath of many Mohammedans who have fundamental views and refuse to trade, dine and even sit with them.

Whether it is about banning a certain juice brand, expelling Ahmadi students from universities or failure to recognise the only Pak Nobel Laureate, the hatred fuelled by religious holy mans knows no boundaries.

Academic institutions remain an arena of conflicting views, hence often turning into another platform for religious fundamentalists to brainwash impressionable minds.

The University of Sargodha, which is in close proximity to Rabwah, is one of a very few universities which houses and educates students from Ahmadiyya community. The university has reportedly been a congenial institute where administration and management support students from different beliefs and schools of thought. However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
ubiquity of myrmidons, who use religion for their political interests, has contaminated the otherwise pleasant environment.

"I received a text message from my best friend, a week back, which said we should stop being friends because you are an Ahmadi and my allegiance with you is not considered appropriate within the parameters of my religion," said a student of University of Sargodha.

"A couple of days ago, during a laboratory session, some students disrupted the lecture and started preaching how Ahmadis are non-Mohammedans and are wajib-ul-qatal (eligible to be killed)," said another student on condition of anonymity.

According to a student, the so-called religious sermon took place in the presence of a teacher, which signified his involvement in the 'brainwashing' and 'hate speech campaign' against the Ahmadiyya community.

Brochures and booklets, entailing details of how Ahmadis should be prosecuted, are also being circulated amongst the students. So far, Ahmadi students have not been threatened, however, students report that they are constantly being followed and other students have boycotted them completely.

"Nobody sits with us. Nobody is willing to talk to us. Most importantly, people enter the lecture session and use abusive language against our religious holy mans which is why we have stopped attending classes," added another student.

"We miss lectures and when we go back, asking for notes and presentation slides, nobody provides us with the material."

According to the account of events narrated by various students, the religious repression is only prevalent in the Department of Pharmacy.

The Dean of the department, Prof Dr Muhammad Zahoor-ul-Hassan Dogar said, "I am not aware of any such events, however, I must say that a couple of such incidents took place a year and a half ago in our Medical College. I looked into the matter personally and punished the students responsible for such horrendous propaganda against the students of our university."

"I understand that it is difficult for students from Ahmadiyya community to trust any of us because of the reasons that we all know, however, unless these students report such incidents, we will not be able to take action against the culprits," he added.

Most of the students are of the view that since the majority of the other students were treating them as social outcasts, reporting this incident, to appropriate authorities, will further infuriate the perpetrators.

"I do not feel safe living in the dorm anymore so I now travel from Rabwah to Sargodha every day. I tried to inform a couple of officials, however, I was hesitant because the issue is still hot and I do not want to invite more enemies," said a female student.

Muhammad Akram Tufani, representative of Students Tahaffuz Khatam-e-Nabuwat, on being asked about the primary reason which instigated this campaign against Ahmadi students, said, "Ahmadis call themselves Mohammedans and that is unacceptable for us."

"They think they are better off than us religiously and they preach other students about their religion. We will not have them preach their religion to Mohammedan students," added Tufani.

However,
a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth...
Dogar said that Tufani has no connection with the students of the university and reassured that he cannot influence them in any way.

Students belonging to Ahmadiyya community said that this campaign was initiated on false accusations. Students and certain faction of teachers have been saying that a religious leader from Ahmadiyya community came to discuss our religion with other students; however, this is completely untrue.

Living by the ideology of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, which emphasised primarily on coexistence, all the citizens of Pakistain are entitled to live according to their own religious beliefs. Spreading hatred and creating religious divergence have never benefited us as a nation and will continue to hamper our growth.

The religious vendetta against different minorities is an open question mark to our psychological growth. Unless we curb our hostilities toward other people and provide them with equal opportunities to live, we will not be able to succeed as a nation or even as an individual.

Students, who are responsible to build the foundation of the country, should not be targeted. Mixing education with religious politics can have disastrous effects, which is why it is best to keep our prejudices aside and exist together without sidelining people who perhaps have much to offer to us as a nation.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Afghanistan
Jizya: Karzai wants 'at least $2 billion' a year from US
Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
on Tuesday said he wanted "at least $2 billion" a year from the United States after it withdraws its troops in 2014.

Karzai said the US should specify in a partnership agreement to be signed between his country and the US how much money it will give to Afghanistan after they leave.

"They (US) say we will give you money, but will not specify the amount. We say give us less, but write it down," Karzai told a group of university professors and students in Kabul.

"We want them to write down that America will give for Afghanistan's security $2 billion a year -- or at least two billion a year", he said. "If they want to give us more, they are welcome."

Karzai's comments came a day after he laid most of the blame for an 18-hour assault by squads of Taliban bully boyz in Kabul Sunday on intelligence failures by NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
forces.

Kabul has already achieved two preconditions for signing the treaty -- full control over the US-run Bagram prison and controversial special forces night raids against Taliban krazed killers.

Officials on both sides have expressed hope that a strategic partnership agreement governing post-2014 ties could be signed ahead of a NATO summit in Chicago in May.

"We don't want them to spend a lot of money here, we would like to help them save their money, but give some to us too," Karzai said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "We want them to write down that America will give for Afghanistan's security $2 billion a year -- or at least two billion a year", he said. "If they want to give us more, they are welcome."

How about the last thing we do when we leave there is shoot this Afghani pimp in the head.
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/18/2012 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  ...I'm sure other will do it for free, as a departing salute.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/18/2012 7:50 Comments || Top||

#3  We need to make sure that the first Americans to leave are Karzai's security detail, even if they aren't active duty troops.

See how he feels about that.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 04/18/2012 7:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Karzai is a swindling Taliban to the core. I wouldn't give him the sweat from my codpiece. Out of there, quickly without doubt or discussion.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2012 8:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Should have dusted off the pre-communist constitution and forced the old king in as a puppet with the Northern Alliance behind him. Instead we sort of turned our back on the Northern alliance for this joker?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/18/2012 10:29 Comments || Top||

#6  I believe "Fuck You Assholes" is the correct response.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/18/2012 12:24 Comments || Top||

#7  How about a bullet instead?
Posted by: mojo || 04/18/2012 13:10 Comments || Top||

#8  The $100b a year we're spending in Afghanistan is way bigger than $2b. My guess is that he's expecting a few hundred mil and figured he'd get the ball rolling with a $2b proposal. I think we should provide at least the amount we handed to the mujahideen to bleed the Soviets, conditional upon a non-Pashtun assuming the reins of power. We can fund it with the zeroing out of the aid budget for Pakistan when we withdraw from Afghanistan. Think of it as an economical way to bleed the Pakis. We also need to turn a blind eye as Afghanistan's non-Pashtuns help to resettle the Pashtuns in a country where they belong - Pakistan.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/18/2012 17:52 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Pudgy 'Keen on Economic Reform'
Hints are emerging from the black box that is the North Korean regime that leader Suet Face Kim Jong-un aims for some economic liberalization, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Tuesday.
Spending a billion dollars you don't have on a missile that doesn't work will make you do things you ordinarily wouldn't do...
Everyone knows economic liberalization means the peasants magically produce more without being given more food or raw materials. Who would be against such a thing?
"Economic liberalization" starts at the top, Fatso. Don't let the door hit you on the way out!
According to a record of Kim's statements dated Jan. 28 and obtained by the Japanese daily from a North Korean Workers Party official, Kim said, "When it comes to the economy, officials and economists are reluctant to voice their opinions because they are often met with bias and criticism that they are trying to introduce capitalist methods when they suggest some economic measures."

The paper said the statement suggests he is aware that experts are afraid to speak out and is willing to permit more discussion of economic reforms. The party official quoted Kim as calling the introduction of "excellent" measures that can be adopted, "whether they are from China, Russia or Japan."

Kim added, "Factories and companies are not operating sufficiently, and this leads to shortage of necessities for the people, causing inconveniences for them in daily life." By guaranteeing better material supplies and a cultural life, Kim said the state would enable people to extol the Workers Party honestly.

The daily speculated that Kim is anxious about the country's economic crisis and therefore likely to carry out radical economic reform in the near future. Kim went to school abroad and is keen on international standards, it added. When he visited a military base recently, Kim ordered a basketball backboard, which was painted black, to be repainted in white, which is the usual color everywhere else.
Which proves he's interested in economic reform?
Reading the sheep's innards said the same thing...
Posted by: Steve White || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Put another way, JONG-UN = DPRK/NORTH KOREA only has 11-14% of its export trade wid nations other than China, depending on whose Klakulator one follows. AGAIN, THE NEW SINO-DPRK FTAS IS ONLY GOING TO REDUCE FURTHER THE DPRK'S PERCENTAGE IN CHINA'S FAVOR.

Besides any new domestic "econ liberalization", he also needs to find ways to bring in more FDI to counter China.

Pudgy's + the DPRK's dilemma may be symbolized in ...

* WORLD NEWS > SOUTH KOREA: KOREAN RELIGIONS: NUCLEAR POWER WILL DESTROY US.

IMO the SOKORS sympathize + duly recognize the EVER-GROWING CHINESE THREAT TO NORTH KOREA, even iff SoKor Politicos are too PCorrect + Diplo-saavy to admit it.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2012 1:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Kim ordered a basketball backboard, which was painted black, to be repainted in white

Naw, he's just a Rolling Stones fan. But being North Korean, he couldn't get that quite right either.
Posted by: Gabby Cussworth || 04/18/2012 18:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Kim ordered a basketball backboard, which was painted black, to be repainted in white

Black being hard to see during midnight basketball...
Posted by: Pappy || 04/18/2012 18:17 Comments || Top||

#4  The SINS of the Fathers.... Now, if serious, you see what it feels like to want to help a people with a solid political class that may be against you. Maybe this is a step up. Brand new Leader and maybe he wants to alleviate problems.

I would give him his power play, if he liberalized a tad. Who knows, maybe he is listening.
Even that idiot marx knew he needed an economic engine, Keynes too. The ones who did not were your Grandpoo, Mao, and Obama.
Posted by: newc || 04/18/2012 22:36 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Student killed in Peshawar grenade attack
A student was killed and another received critical injuries when suspected gunnies hurled a hand grenade at a private school in Chargano Kallay on the outskirts of provincial metropolis on Monday morning.

Riaz Khan, the principal of Iqra Model School Charsadda Road, told local police that he was sitting in his office when he heard a huge blast. "I saw two students lying in a pool of blood when I rushed out of the office," he added.

The injured students were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital but one of them identified as Ali Ijaz could not survive while Waqarullah was admitted to the hospital at death's door.

The principal said that he had neither enmity nor anyone ever sent any kind of threat to the school. "A hand grenade was hurled at the school at 11:15am but it could not be ascertained if the assailants were on foot or riding a cycle of violence," police said.

An official of Bomb Disposal Unit also confirmed that it was a hand grenade attack. It seemed that attackers wanted to create panic among the students and people of the area, he added.

A terrorism case against unidentified persons was registered at Khazana cop shoppe.

The official said that the area was close to Mohamed Agency and most of the gunnies had shifted to settled areas owing to military operations in tribal belt.

Meanwhile,
...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin...
the law enforcers here on Monday defused a powerful bomb planted in agricultural fields at Mera Balarzai village.

The SHO of Badhber cop shoppe told Dawn that a family of Afridi tribe, having old enmity, informed police about the presence of a suspicious thing near its residence.

He said that personnel of Bomb Disposal Unit defused the bomb, which was packed in a canister. The bomb, he said, weighed about four kilograms.

"We suspect that the bomb was planted by the complainant himself to get a terrorism case registered against his rivals," the SHO said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Intelligence agencies say they warned of Bannu jail attack
[Dawn] Pakistain's intelligence services warned the government three months ago about a possible attack on a prison in the restive northwest that was raided at the weekend, officials said Tuesday.

On Sunday nearly 400 prisoners, including jihad boys, beat feet from a jail outside the town of Bannu after an attack by cut-throats armed with guns, grenades and rockets.

The intelligence information was conveyed to the government through a letter dated January 5, 2012, a copy of which was seen by AFP.

The letter identified Bannu jail as a target, along with the Pakistain Air Force base in the northwestern garrison town of Kohat, the Kohat cantonment and a cop shoppe.

"The intelligence information about the possible attacks was shared with the government in January 2012," a senior intelligence official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

More than 150 heavily-armed faceless myrmidons stormed the prison where Taliban and al Qaeda linked faceless myrmidons have carved out their stronghold.

Ehsanullah Ehsan, front man for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) jihad boy group grabbed credit for the attack, which he said was launched to free some of their top members.

A former member of the air force sentenced to death for an attempt to assassinate former president Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
was among the beat feet jihad boys, he said.

Adnan Rasheed was convicted after a bomb planted under a bridge in Rawalpindi near Islamabad in December 2003 went kaboom! moments after Musharraf's motorcade passed. His appeal is pending before the Supreme Court.

The intelligence official said Rasheed was the only high-profile jihad boy in the jail and the attackers were heard shouting his name after breaking in.

He said the government had also been warned of future attacks which would not be confined to the troubled northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
province.

Another intelligence official said: "Intelligence agencies had intercepted that an attack on Bannu jail to free inmates was being planned. But the date and time of the attack was not known."

He also said Kohat air base, cantonment and Bannu jail had been identified as targets and that law enforcement agencies had been informed.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  The warning gave them time to move more prisoners in so they could be sprung.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/18/2012 6:10 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexican authorities find 14 dead in Nuevo Laredo

For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of 14 unidentified individuals were found dead, stuffed into a minivan in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas Tuesday morning, according to Mexican news accounts.

The find was made around 0730 when officials were given information about three dead bodies left inside a Chrysler Voyager minivan near the intersection of Calle Maclovio Herrera and Avenida Guerrero. When police arrived it was realized 14 dead were inside the vehicle.

The dead were all male in their 30s, ten of them stuffed inside black plastic bags.

The drug gang affiliation of the dead was not disclosed, although Nuevo Laredo is considered to be Los Zetas territory,

The latest information on Nuevo Laredo is that operatives associated with the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels are attempting to move into Nuevo Laredo in a bid to oust Los Zetas from their main river crossing into the US.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
US officials scrambling to confirm reports of American terror leader's death inSomalia
[Shabelle] U.S.intelligence officials are scrambling to confirm reports that Omar Hammami, the American-born leader of an Al Qaeda-aligned terror group inSomalia, has been executed.

Unconfirmed reports surfaced in Somali media claiming the al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
jihadist was hunted down and beheaded on orders from a rival leader in the network.

A U.S. intelligence official told Fox News that, if true, Hammami's death could be a turning point in the recruitment of Americans and western Europeans by al-Shabaab -- as Hammami was thought to play a prominent role in that western outreach.

"Our folks have been looking for anything on this," the intelligence official told Fox News, adding: "We have not been able to confirm this report."

Significantly, web postings on jihadist forums have surfaced that speak of the American's death.

Somali media reports claim Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane is accused of ordering the execution. Hammami reportedly said last month in a statement that other Shabaab leaders had him fearing for his life.

Hammami, born in 1984, grew up outsideMobile,Ala., in the city ofDaphne.

But the American has been in war-tornSomaliafor several years. In that time, he has emerged as one of the most recognizable and outspoken voices of terrorist propaganda. He was going by the name of Abu Mansour al-Amriki, or "The American."

Al-Amriki first surfaced in the terror group in October 2007, when Al-Jazeera TV aired a report about the "common goal" of Al Qaeda and hard-line faceless myrmidons inSomalia. The report described al-Amriki as "a fighter" and "military instructor," but he concealed his face with a cloth wrap throughout the report.

In April, he showed his face for the first time, during a highly-polished, 30-minute recruitment video posted online. It featured anti-American hip-hop music and sporadic images of the late Osama bin Laden
... who used to be but now ain't...
Hammani's death could be a blow to the Al Qaeda affiliate, at least for its western recruiting efforts.

Al-Shabaab was responsible for the recruitment of some two dozen young men of Somali descent from theMinneapolisarea.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Arabia
Pro Saleh Gunmen Close Down Sana'a Airport
[Yemen Post] A security official in Sana'a International Airport told Yemen Post that gunnies loyal to Mohammed Saleh, ousted commander of the air force, forced themselves inside the airport and closed it down.

The official said the gunnies were numbered in the dozens and said they were loyal to Saleh.

A security official expected the gunnies to evacuate the airport within hours saying they wanted to send a message and not occupy the airport.

President Hadi issued a decree earlier this month releasing Saleh from his post, but he rejected the decree and insists in staying in power.

It is worth mentioning that Mohammed Saleh is the brother of ousted Yemen president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
, who left power in a international backed power transfer deal granting him complete immunity.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Secret Service agents had president's schedule in rooms
The Secret Service agents who brought prostitutes back to their hotel rooms in Colombia last week had copies of the president’s schedule in their rooms, which raises the issue of a potential security breach, a law enforcement official tells NBC News.
Did they leave the nuclear football on the bed table?
Secret Service personnel were in Cartagena in advance of President Barack Obama’s arrival at the Summit of the Americas, a trade conference, over the weekend. At least 11 were placed on administrative leave and flown back to the United States on Saturday when it came to light that they had hired prostitutes. Their security clearances have since been pulled, NBC News has learned.

The story might have been kept a secret had it not been for a disgruntled woman who claimed she had not been paid by one of the agents. She argued with two Secret Service agents and then went to Colombian police. Local police reported the matter to the U.S. Embassy.

It has also been revealed that among the Secret Service personnel involved were full-fledged agents, which further ratchets up the seriousness of the incident. The heavily armed agents play a key role in protecting the president, and their job is to neutralize attacks, according to the agency’s website.

It was initially reported that five military service members were also involved, but that they may have only broken curfew. Now officials say that more were involved and that they did more than just return to their hotel rooms too late –- several also paid for prostitutes.

The military service members involved were explosives experts and dog handlers from the Navy, Army and Marine Corps. The military advance team also included linguists and drivers, but they have not been implicated in the Wednesday night incident.

At a press conference Sunday, Obama said he would be angry if the allegations turned out to be true.

“When we travel, we have to observe the highest standards,” he said. “We’re not just representing ourselves. We’re here on behalf of our people.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Secret Service, is weighing whether to launch an investigation into the prostitution allegations.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they were embarrassed by the allegations.

“What we do know is that several of our members distracted the issue from what was a very important regional engagement for our president,” Dempsey said. “We let the boss down because nobody is talking about what went on in Colombia other than this incident, so to that extent we let him down.”

But Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., defended agents in the service, calling them outstanding. He received Secret Service protection in 2008 when he was running for president. “I am confident that the overwhelming majority of Secret Service people did not engage in this kind of behavior,” McCain said.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/18/2012 0:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Stolen!
Posted by: badanov || 04/18/2012 0:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Was it a schedule that was easily found by the public (speaking engagements, meetings, etc)? Then that isn't bad. A couple minutes with Google and a couple phone calls can find that information.

If they have travel routes and the like out (Highly classified), then they need beaten with lead pipes.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/18/2012 0:37 Comments || Top||

#4  If they have travel routes and the like out (Highly classified), then they need beaten with lead pipes.

They were just trying to help, Darth. ;-)
Posted by: gorb || 04/18/2012 3:02 Comments || Top||

#5  They were told to lock the schedules in the room safe--they could have been incapacitated or distracted and the safe compromised, especially when a menage-a-trois is suggested when she wanted $$ after arguing with 2 agents. Endangering POTUS over $47??? Especially in a country like Colombia when the US has gone after FARC and AUC, and ongoing ops against the cartels in league with Hezbollah, etc...is the Secret Service really that assinine??? If I was the Prez, I'd be more than a little distrustful and lay off all travel instead of scouting more vacay spots for Michelle.
Posted by: Omoluque Hapsburg8162 || 04/18/2012 11:00 Comments || Top||

#6  The narrative I heard this morning on the DC ads-news-commercials-traffic-ads-weather-commercials station said the 'secret' schedule was locked up in a room guarded by Marines.

At least, they still have integrity!

I wonder who was watching to door while the party went on inside?
Posted by: Bobby || 04/18/2012 11:10 Comments || Top||

#7  Obama's blaming the bushes.

Posted by: DoDo || 04/18/2012 11:11 Comments || Top||

#8  If I was the Prez, I'd be more than a little distrustful and lay off all travel instead of scouting more vacay spots for Michelle.

That depends on what you might consider the lesser of two evils. :)
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/18/2012 11:24 Comments || Top||

#9  OK, so why is the POTXS there, the drugs, the Whorws, ore the dopers?
(Recruiting Workers Umm Dopers)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/18/2012 19:10 Comments || Top||

#10  (EX POTUS I mean)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/18/2012 19:15 Comments || Top||

#11  I blame Colombian bush!

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 04/18/2012 19:35 Comments || Top||

#12  Obama's schedule:
Tee time - 10 AM
Smoke break - 3 PM
Read TelePrompTer - 315 PM
Blame Bush for any current country concers - 4 PM
Send get well ecard to Chavez - 8 PM
Posted by: Airandee || 04/18/2012 19:59 Comments || Top||

#13  The facial expressions tell it all: Billy is (still) chasing skirts, but all Bammy has to look forward to is Moochelle......I almost feel sorry for him (NOT!)
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 04/18/2012 22:04 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Saudi says its Diplomat held by al-Qaeda in Yemen
[Yemen Post] Soddy Arabian Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that its high-ranking kidnapped diplomat, Abdullah Al-Kaladi, who was kidnapped late March in the southern port city of Aden, is being held by Yemen-based al-Qaeda branch, calling on the terror network to immediately release him.
You Saudis think you're special, but to them you're just foreigners to be kidnapped. Do try to enjoy the adventure.
The kingdom's Interior Ministry front man Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said that their embassy in Sana'a has received a phone call from a Saudi citizen who is on the top of the ministry's wanted list since 2009, Mashal Mohammed Rashid al-Shadhoi.However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
the Yemeni government refuses to confirm that al-Qaeda as a network is behind the kidnapping.

The runaway informed the embassy that al-Kaladi is being held by al-Qaeda and relayed the terror network's demands, and conditions for releasing him.The conditions included that all jugged members of al-Qaeda in the kingdom's jails, including ladies, be released and a ransom payment be paid, according to Turki.He mentioned six imprisoned ladies by name, including the women known as al-Qaeda lady, said Turik.For his part, Shiek Ali Abdu-Salam, a tribal dignitary in the south of the country, known as Zabara, confirmed that the kidnapped Saudi deputy consul is being held by al-Qaeda gunnies in the southern province of Shabwa, declining to reveal any further details other than saying that the whole Shabwa is under the gunnies group's control except for Ataq, the placid provincial capital.Turki warned of the great danger of terrorism in Yemen, saying today they kidnapped a diplomat, tomorrow they will explode an embassy and later they might kill a prince.

Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Republican Guard forces storm Tariq air base in Taiz
[Yemen Post] Republican Guard troops stormed forcibly on Tuesday Tariq Air Force base in the southern province of Taiz, some 260 kilometers south the Yemeni capital of Sana'a, security officials told Yemen Post. The elite republican guard forces stormed the base after they intensely shelled the areas around the military airport, and set up new checkpoints and military posts in the area, the security official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press. The leadership of the elite republican guards wants to keep the dismissed chief in his position, completely ignoring President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi's orders, added the official. The elite Republican Guard, the best equipped and trained military troops in the country, is commanded by former President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
's eldest son, Ahmed, who is allegedly trying to ensure that his uncle, Mohammed Saleh al-Ahmar, who was dismissed by a presidential decree early in April, keep his post as the chief of the Air Force. This escalation comes a day after al-Dailami air force base in Sana'a witnessed rising tensions due to the sacked commander refusal to listen to the President decrees whereby he was fired. For the first time since the protests against him erupted early this year, al-Ahmar who is also the half brother of Saleh left al-Dailami air base in order to meet with his brother. He was reported to have been rebuked by Saleh for leaving the base and told to return quickly, local media outlets reported. After two weeks of his dismissal, al-Ahmar is still defiant to Hadi and refused to hand over the command of the vital military institution, making Hadi orders he be put before a marshal court. But that is a very unlikely prospect given that most of the military is still run by Saleh's relatives and loyalists.

Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Yemen: Official Warns of Assassinations in months to Come
[Yemen Post] A senior Defense Ministry official told Yemen Post that the worst is still ahead of Yemen and political liquidations, random attacks, roadblocks, and looting, are still expected to take place later in the year. He said that the more former President-for-Life Saleh
... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence...
feels weakened the more the time of random attacks and liquidations will near.

"Saleh will not let go of power easily. Though President Hadi is attempting to cut off the wings of Saleh aides, a time will come when Saleh will attempt to bring down the building of change and hope in Yemen," the official told Yemen Post.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


GCC call to Iran: Leave UAE islands
Keep calling boys, but the line is busy...
Doha: GCC foreign ministers held an extraordinary meeting here yesterday and condemned as "provocative" a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the UAE island of Abu Mousa, which is occupied by Tehran.

The members of the Gulf Cooperation Council "strongly condemn the Iranian president's visit to Abu Musa, which is a provocative act and a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over its three islands," they said in a joint statement.

"Any aggression on the sovereignty or interference in the internal affairs of a member country would be considered as an attack on all member countries and interference in their affairs," the statement said, adding that Ahmadinejad's Abu Musa visit contradicted good neighborly policies.

The GCC asked Iran "end its occupation of the three UAE islands — Abu Mousa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs — and respond to calls by the UAE to find a peaceful and just solution through negotiations or by resorting to the International Court of Justice."
The ICJ being almost as effective as the International Criminal Court...
The GCC ministers pledged their "full support to the UAE in all actions it takes to regain its rights and sovereignty over the three islands." Ahmadinejad's visit to Abu Mousa would not change historical and legal facts that affirm the UAE's sovereignty over them, they added.

The UAE has summoned Iran's ambassador to Abu Dhabi to denounce Ahmadinejad's visit to Abu Musa. UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahayan warned on Monday that if left unresolved, the issue "could jeopardize international security and peace."
You and what company of Marines? Wait, let me rephrase that...
This was followed by a warning from Ahmadinejad who said Tuesday that Iran will respond with force to any threats to its territorial integrity.

"The armed forces and the army will inflict heavy regret and shame in case of any aggression against Iranian lands and interests," Ahmadinejad said, adding that Iran "is ready to protect its existence and sovereignty."
Posted by: Steve White || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Moud is warning them back.

OWG SHIA-LED CALIPHATE, "NEO-PERSIANISM", + KEEPING/ISOLATING THE USN'S NIMITZ-CLASS + GATOR NAVY TO THE SEA OF OMAN = "SHAPING THE BATTLEFIELD".

Iran is counting on the major Muslim nations of the ME, includ Turkey + Afghanistan, to NOT allow their territories to be used by the US-Allies to launch anti-NucProg air strikes and espec any full-scale ground invasion of Iran.
INVERSELY, IRAN IS COUNTING ON SAME TO ALLOW THEIR TERRITORIES TO BE USED IN WAGING REGIONAL OR TRANS-REGIONAL, "DEFENSIVE", [Nuclear = Nukes-WMDS?]"GUERILLA/PEOPLE'S WAR" AFTER A "ZIONIST-CRUSADER-INFIDEL-IMPERIALIST" LED GROUND INVASION DOES OCCUR.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2012 2:13 Comments || Top||

#2  DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US SIDES WID UAE ON ISLAND ISSUE | AFP:US SYMPATHIZES WID UAE ON IRAN ISLAND RIFT.

ARTIC > ABU MUSA Island(s) = controls the access/entrance to the Oil-Rich Persian Gulf, IRAN NOW DE FACTO CONTROLS ABU MUSA DESPITE HISTORICAL SET-UP OF IRAN-UAE JOINT ADMNISTRATION.

Exclusive of the on-going Saudi-Iranian rivalry for Regional, Islamic, + Caliphate domination, SHI IRANIAN CONTROL OF THE INNER PERSIAN GULF + SYRIA-LEBANON CORRIDOR TO THE MEDITERR, WHERE IRAN HOPES TO ESTABLISH A PERMANENT AIR-SEA MIL PRESENCE, GIVES SHIA IRAN THE GEOSTRATEGIC EDGE OER SUNNI SAUDIS.

As Defenders-Protectors of the Islamic/Muslim Holy Places, the Sunni Saudis will be all but forced to engage in a Conventional + Nuclear Arms Race vee aggressive Shia Iran.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2012 23:35 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexican security forces bag 5 bad guys in Zacatecas

For a map, click here. For a map of Zacatecas state, click here

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of five unidentified individuals were shot to death in a firefight with Mexican security forces in Zacatecas state Monday evening, according to Mexican news accounts.

The engagement took place in Jimenez del Teul municipality as a joint patrol of Mexican 53rd Infantry Battalion and Zacatecas Policía Estatal Preventiva (PEP) agents were conducting search and patrol operations for five individuals kidnapped ten days before in the same municipality.

Armed suspects travelling board a Lincoln Navigator SUV fired on the patrol, and elements of the patrol returned fire, killing all on board.

The three men and two women killed were in their 20s. Security forces also seized two AK-47 rifles, a handgun and a quantity of powder cocaine.

The kidnapping took place April 4th, when an armed group entered two homes in Jimenez del Teul municipality, taking a total of four unidentified individuals. An attempt to thwart the kidnapping ended when the armed group kidnapped an unidentified Policia Preventiva agent. At the time of the abduction it was reported a total of ten individuals had been taken. It has also been reported the kidnapping victims may have been taken to Durango state, but none of the victims have been found so far.

Four police officers with the municipality failed to appear for work, citing threats from armed groups in the area. Shortly afterwards federal security forces intensified their presence. Jimenez del Teul municipality has a total of seven police officers.

Jimenez del Teul is a remote mountain community in far western Zacatacas bordering with Durango state about 20 kilometers to the west and Fresnillo city, about 40 kilometers to the west.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Britain's Lord Nazir denies bounty offer for Obama capture
[Dawn] A British politician on Tuesday denied offering a 10 million pound reward for the capture of US President Barack Obama,
I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar, we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick...
an allegation reported then later retracted by Pakistain's Express Tribune newspaper.

Nazir Ahmed, a member of parliament's upper chamber and a long-time member of Britannia's opposition Labour party, said he was deliberately misquoted during a recent speech in an effort by political enemies in Pakistain to discredit him.

"I never mentioned Obama and I never mentioned a bounty. I do not support terrorism and would never urge anybody to attack someone or capture someone," Ahmed, who was suspended by the Labour party pending an investigation, told Rooters.

The newspaper on Tuesday said Ahmed did not say the word "bounty" or Obama's name and that its earlier story was incorrect.

Ahmed told Rooters last week that he would be ready to help raise money for the prosecution of former US President George Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair for what he considered war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His comments were in response to a US $10 million reward announced earlier this month for help in the arrest of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who is suspected of criminal masterminding attacks in India.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  Nazir Ahmed: No, the bounty was on Bush. Bush, not Obama.

Labor Party: Oh, that's okay then. Carry on.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/18/2012 10:29 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Hadi Refuses to receive Former Yemen President
[Yemen Post] President Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi has refused to receive the former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
, the Emirati Al-Ithad Newspaper quoted sources close to Saleh.

Al-Ithad said that Saleh has dispatched a high-ranking delegation that included Abdul-Karim Al-Iryani, Yahya Al-Raee, Ahmed Bin Daghar and Yahya Al-Shoabi to negotiate with Hadi.

According to the sources, the delegation asked Hadi to arrange an appointment of a meeting with Saleh to discuss the decrees held by Haid early of April and how to reconstruct the GPC, pointing out that Hadi refused that.

Office of Saleh had described last week the latest decrees of Hadi that dismissed some relatives of Saleh as "hasty and unfair".

The sources said Saleh met on Monday some youths of the GPC who visited him to his residency and that he affirmed that nobody can dissolve his party .

Meanwhile,
...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. It smelled phony...
a front man of the Air Forces officers who have been protesting against their boss, Saleh's half-brother, Mohammad Saleh Al-Ahmar, said that Al-Ahmar prevented the Military Committee formed under the GCC-mediated power transfer deal of entering the Air Forces Command.

He revealed that the committee headed on Tuesday morning to the Air Forces command with the aim of handing over the Air Forces to the newly-appointed commander Rashid Al-Janad, affirming that Al-Ahmar did not allow the committee to enter.

He said that the Defense Ministry agreed with Al-Ahmar on Monday to hand over the command to Al-Janad, but he changed his mind after a meeting with Saleh on Monday.

President Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi gave Al-Ahmar on Sunday an ultimatum of 48 hours to hand over the command of Air Forces to the newly-appointed commander Rashid Al-Janad.

The sources said Hadi threatened Al-Ahmar on Sunday with stripping him from military rank and bring him to a military court in case he continued his rebellion against his decree.

Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Arab revolutions fail to stir divided Palestinians
(Ma'an) -- Popular uprisings have transformed the Middle East and North Africa in the past year, unseating four veteran autocrats and capturing the imagination of a generation of youths.

But the protests have left Paleostinians -- long at the center of the Arab world's main political conflict -- unmoved.

Dejected by lingering political divisions and exhausted by decades of mostly fruitless rebellion against Israel, they appear to have lost their appetite to take their fight for change up another level.

"There's no revolution here because the government is less oppressive than in Egypt or Syria, and anyway it's Israel that deserves our anger," said Mahmoud Bisher, 20, a student from the West Bank city of Hebron.

"But we're divided and there's no coordination. This only serves the occupation's interests," he sighed, referring to the schism between the Fatah-dominated Paleostine Liberation Organization in the West Bank and the Islamist group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, in Gazoo.

Small protests waged weekly in some of the villages pressed up against Israeli settlements and a separation barrier in the West Bank are among the few outlets for popular frustration, attracting a regular group of dedicated demonstrators.

In Nabi Saleh, Fridays usually see a couple of dozen activists and children surge towards Israeli military positions waving banners and hurling stones, only to be quickly scattered by the advancing soldiers' rubber bullets and tear gas.

"Resistance has been part of our strategy for more than 40 years," village activist Faraj Tamimi said, flinching as a tear gas canister sailed low, crashing and hissing near his feet. A companion's deft kick sent it back towards the Israelis to a roar of cheers from his friends.

"But after such a long time being suppressed by the Israelis, we get tired of confrontation all the time. The leaders could support us more and we hope protests like these become wider and will have more popular support," he added.

There is no sign of that happening, however, even though the last intifadas, or uprisings, remain fresh in people's memories.

Anniversary

The first intifada in the 1980s resulted in the Oslo interim peace accords, but that was seen by many Paleostinians as an appallingly bad deal.

The second intifada resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Israelis and thousands of Paleostinians between 2000-2005, and prompted Israel to erect a barrier in the West Bank.

A call to rise up again, issued last month by Fatah strongman Marwan Bargouthi -- who is serving five life terms in an Israeli prison for murders he committed during the last intifada -- has pointedly failed to galvanize many Paleostinians.

"They (the intifadas) had limited political impact, and that's why people haven't repeated them," said Rami Khoury of the American University of Beirut.

"The Paleostinian leadership is directionless and as the occupation continues, civil society and independent groups have failed to provide much intellectual guidance to the people."

Officially-sanctioned rallies for the "Global March to Jerusalem" last month attracted only modest numbers in the West Bank - after hours of Paleostinian stone-throwing and Israeli firing of rubber bullets, life quickly returned to normal.

Unofficial demonstrations in the squares of Gazoo City and Ramallah in the heady first days of the Arab uprisings calling for the estranged Hamas and Fatah factions to reconcile and unite also fizzled, in part due to tight police surveillance and arrests.

Efforts to resolve the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict through a negotiated peace deal are equally moribund.

President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
refuses to resume direct talks unless there is a halt to all Jewish settlement building in the occupied territories - a pre-condition that Israel rejects.

Paleostinian leaders had hoped to provide some kind of rejoinder to the Arab Spring. But they failed to overcome internal divisions or to achieve UN recognition of their statehood after a high-profile campaign stalled in the face of US opposition.

After any spring comes winter, and the scenes of death and destruction in Syria may also have discouraged those Paleostinians eager to confront either their own leadership or the Israelis.

Rhetoric of resistance

Nervous about political discourse taking place outside its control, the PLO in the West Bank has discouraged independent protests while putting the rhetoric of resistance to work on its own faded image.

In Bilin, a flash-point for community-based protests against Israeli settlements, a once-modest annual town meeting on popular resistance was mobbed this week by ruling Fatah party flags and government VIPs.

Foreign envoys and aging international solidarity activists occupied the front rows, listening to translations of speeches on headphones, while uninterested-looking Paleostinian youths mostly chatted among themselves.

"Peaceful resistance goes side by side with efforts to...found a state," PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
...Fayyad's political agenda holds that neither violence nor peaceful negotiations have brought the Paleostinians any closer to an independent state. The alternative to both, violent negotiations, doesn't seem to be working too well, either...
told the small gathering.

"This is the twin track of the political struggle conducted by the PLO - the single, legitimate representative for our people in all areas and forums," he added.

Fayyad is an economist. He knows that the greatest challenge to his government's institution-building drive may yet be curbing public sector unrest if dwindling foreign aid finally affects its ability to pay salaries.

The PA failed to pay civil servants salaries in full and on time on several occasions last year and is facing an even more difficult financial environment in 2012, with its budget deficit projected to exceed $1 billion.

"For 20 years after the peace accords, the Paleostinian Authority has gone from concern for the collective to concern for itself, to stay in existence by collecting checks and paying salaries," said Ibrahim Shikaki a lecturer at al-Quds university and a youth organizer.

During Friday's modest demonstration in Bilin, resident Umm Samarra walked along a deserted path in her traditional dress and headscarf towards the Modiin Illit settlement's wall, as Israeli soldiers manning the ramparts with tear gas guns looked on.

Asked if she felt abandoned by the Paleostinian leadership, she shrugged: "We don't know if the authorities support us or not, and we organize ourselves. Me, I've protested here for six years and I'm as strong as any man."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Trial looms for Somali accused of being land-based negotiator in US
[Shabelle] The trial of a Somali man U.S. authorities consider the highest-ranking pirate they have ever captured will begin this week in Virginia under a cloud of uncertainty about what the definition of piracy is.
Probably the same people who are still unsure about defining terrorism...
Mohammad Saaili Shibin is charged with piracy and a host of other charges for his role in the 2011 hijacking of an American yacht off the coast ofAfricain which all four passengers on board were shot and killed.

The owners of the Quest, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey,Calif., along with friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay ofSeattle, were the firstU.S.citizens killed in pirate attacks that have plagued the Gulf of Aden andIndian Oceandespite regular international patrols by warships.

Negotiations with the U.S. Navy were under way when shots were fired aboard the yacht. The Navy had agreed to let the pirates take the yacht in exchange for the hostages, but court documents say the men didn't think they would get the amount of money they had sought from the exchange. Hostages are typically ransomed for millions of dollars.

Shibin's case is unique from the 14 others who were charged in the case because he had never set foot onboard the sailboat, calling into question whether he can be considered a pirate, according to his attorney.

At issue is whether piracy is legally defined as committing robbery at sea or whether it entails a broader definition that can entail simply attacking a ship or facilitating that attack.U.S.law says piracy is defined by 'the law of nations' and what that definition is, as well as who defines it, is at the heart of the dispute.

Prosecutors acknowledge Shibin didn't board the Quest, but they say he acted as a land-based hostage negotiator who researched the victims using online search engines to determine what ransom to seek. He was incarcerated insideSomaliaby the FBI after being turned over by Somali troops.

Of the 14 others, who were all captured at sea by theU.S.military, 11 have been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to piracy. Three others await trial on murder and other death-penalty eligible charges.

Jury selection in Shibin's case is scheduled to open Tuesday morning and opening arguments could be heard later that day. But it's unclear whether a jury will ever get to decide whether Shibin is guilty of piracy.

That's because U.S. District Judge Robert Doumar has been seeking guidance from a federal appeals court on what the legal definition of piracy is in another case before deciding whether the piracy charges against Shibin should be dismissed. He also wrote Monday that he wanted to hear the facts of the case during trial before making his decision.

At issue is whether piracy is defined solely as robbery at sea or whether a broader definition applies. Federal judges inNorfolkhave issued two different rulings in two separate cases involving attacks on U.S. Navy ships.

The 4th U.S. District Court of Appeals heard verbal arguments on the definition of piracy in September, but has not indicated when it might rule. The ruling, or lack thereof, will likely have a significant affect on Doumar's decision on whether to dismiss the piracy charges as well as what his instructions to the jury will be if charges are not dismissed. Regardless, Shibin still faces weapons, hostage-taking and kidnapping charges, among others.

Shibin is also charged with piracy in the 2010 hijacking of a German merchant vessel. Prosecutors say Shibin earned between $30,000 and $50,000 for his role in securing an estimated multimillion-dollar ransom for the ship's release.

If convicted of piracy in either hijacking he faces a mandatory life sentence. Shibin attorney James Broccoletti contends that because Shibin didn't board and rob the ships that he can't be convicted of piracy. Without a ruling from the appeals court, Broccoletti said he would continue to pursue that line of defense.

"Everyone anticipated that the court would have ruled by now, so we're still in a holding pattern. We still have another two weeks to go before the jury gets the case. I'm going to try the case based on the instructions I've submitted," he said.

In prosecutors' proposed jury instructions, they contend that inciting or intentionally facilitating an act of violence against another ship at sea is enough to result in a guilty plea.

Through a front man, U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride declined to comment Monday.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Pirates


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
UN observers see 'difficult' job as Syria toll mounts
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] UN observers acknowledged on Tuesday that they face a "difficult" job firming up a shaky ceasefire in Syria as five non-combatants were killed in fresh violence as the truce entered its sixth day.

Colonel Ahmed Himmiche, a Moroccan who heads a six-strong advance team preparing for the deployment of a 30-person mission, said the observers would move forward one step at a time.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as The Woman to Call at 3 a.m. and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Walter Q. Gresham ...
said the United States was still "hoping for the best" but was discussing with other powers what to do in the event the peace plan collapses.

Her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, pointed the finger at the opposition -- 11 of 35 people killed in violence on Monday were soldiers -- and called on its foreign supporters to press the rebels to honour the hard-won truce.

UN chief Ban Ki-Moon called on regime forces to exercise "maximum restraint" and the opposition to "fully cooperate."

Three of the five dead on Tuesday were killed in regime shelling of Idlib, a northwestern province close to the Turkish border, where there is a strong presence of rebel fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Two more were killed and dozens maimed in a bombardment of the Basr al-Harir district of Daraa province, south of Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
and cradle of the 13-month-old uprising against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
's regime, the Britannia-based watchdog said.

The rebel Khaldiyeh and Bayada districts of the flashpoint central city of Homs also came under renewed shelling, it added.

The opposition Syrian National Council accused the regime of "flagrant violations of the ceasefire" and called on the UN observers to "travel to Idlib and Homs immediately to see first-hand the massacres which the regime is carrying out and has not stopped carrying out."

UN and Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
envoy Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
, who brokered the six-point peace plan, was to travel to Qatar for a ministerial meeting of the vaporous Arab League on the crisis later on Tuesday, his front man said.

Colonel Himmiche said "it's a difficult mission that needs coordination and planning."

"No ceasefire, not even the beginnings of a political process -- this mission will be one of the toughest ever undertaken by the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
," he added.

Clinton called on Damascus to honour Annan's plan in full, not just the promised ceasefire.

"What the Assad regime needs to do is to make clear that they're going to silence their guns, withdraw their troops and work toward fulfilling the six-point plan," she said.

Complying with the Annan plan also means allowing peaceful demonstrations, releasing political prisoners and allowing a peaceful political transition to begin, Clinton added.

"We want to see a political process begin, but if violence is renewed, the regime reverts to shelling its own people and causing a great deal of death and injury, then we're going to have to get back to planning what our next steps (are)."

State Department front man Mark Toner also pressed Syrian authorities to comply with the other points, including releasing prisoners.

"There's no movement on any of the other five points and it appears that the fragile ceasefire is eroding as well," Toner told news hounds.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said "stronger sanctions" against Damascus must be adopted to "pressure the Syrian regime" and erode its resources.

Damascus ally Moscow took aim, without naming them, at supporters of the rebels, such as Qatar and Soddy Arabia, for what it acknowledged was a "fragile" truce.

"There are countries -- there are outside forces - that are not interested in the success of current UN Security Council efforts," Lavrov said.

The advance team of military observers arrived in Damascus late on Sunday.

The delegation is setting up a headquarters and preparing routines to verify the ceasefire, a front man said.

Russia, which voted in favour of the text after vetoing two previous draft resolutions, will be "substantially" represented in the mission, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

"The specifics of our participation in the observers mission are being worked on right now," Interfax quoted Ryabkov as saying.

A spike in deadly violence forced the Arab League to end its own Syrian monitoring mission in late January, barely a month after sending observers.

The UN chief voiced concern late Monday.

"I am very much concerned about what has happened since yesterday and today," Ban said.

"It is important, absolutely important, that the Syrian government should take all the measures to keep this cessation of violence," he said, adding that Damascus must "guarantee" free access countrywide to the military observers.

Meanwhile,
...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase...
Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem will visit China on Wednesday, Beijing announced, to showcase efforts taken by Damascus to execute the UN ceasefire.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Jane Leeves (English) aka Alberta Leonard in "Miracle on 34th Street" aka Daphne Moon in "Frasier (TV 1993–2004)" aka Joy Scroggs in "Hot in Cleveland (TV 2010 - 2012)" aka Mona in "The Event (2003)" aka Wylie in "Mr. Write (1994)" (age 51)



Women Who Prepare to Bathe
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/18/2012 3:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Slight correction on Ms Parson's instrument.

That would be a mando-cello, not a mandolin.
Posted by: no mo uro || 04/18/2012 6:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Mandowhatever. You gotta look past that.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/18/2012 11:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Ms Parsons looks to enjoy a good plucking.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 04/18/2012 12:10 Comments || Top||

#5  She may just be stringing you along, AA.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/18/2012 14:24 Comments || Top||

#6  Obviously awaiting the arrival of her Secret Servant.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2012 15:02 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Guinea-Bissau junta bans demos, warns of crackdown
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Guinea-Bissau's new ruling junta banned marches Tuesday and warned it would crack down on demonstrators as the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
suspended the country over last week's military coup.

The junta's threat of "severe repression" against any demonstration or march came amid growing international pressure on the leaders of the April 12 coup, after the AU levelled a threat of sanctions against the putschists.

The junta launched an "appeal to the whole population ... to refrain from organising any march or demonstration, whether for or against the overthrow of the government of Carlos Gomes Junior," it said in a statement.

"Those who disobey the order (face) severe repression," it added.

The ban followed rumours in the capital that young supporters of former prime minister Gomes were planning a protest Tuesday afternoon in the capital.

Earlier Tuesday, the AU suspended the coup-prone west African country with immediate effect.

AU Peace and Security Council chief Ramtane Lamamra urged the AU commission -- the bloc's executive body -- and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to consider imposing sanctions on the coup leaders.

"Given the frequency of coup d'etats in Guinea-Bissau, council requests the (AU) commission in consultation with ECOWAS ... to submit to it within two weeks a decision or proposals for additional sanctions against the perpetrators," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
AQIM leader named Timbuktu governor
[Magharebia] Al-Qaeda and Islamists are working together to implement their own plan for the future of Timbuktu. Malians will have a new governor for the region, without ever casting a vote.

Ansar al-Din (Supporters of the Faith) reportedly plans to install Algerian national and al-Qaeda emir Yahya Abou Al-Hammam (real name Jemal Oukacha) as the local governor. Al-Hammam has lived in the region for several years, local sources said.

The governor appointment is part of the Islamists' partnership with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Upon the fall of the northern Malian city to Islamists and al-Qaeds fighters, Iyad Ag Ghaly, the Touareg founder of Ansar al-Din, called on those living in Timbuktu to help him institute sharia law.

"The Mujahideen and Ansar Al-Din have committed themselves to introducing Sharia law. One of our main ways of imposing the religion is to fight all those who reject Sharia law." He is getting help with his sharia strategy from some of the top AQIM figures.

On April 3rd, AQIM leaders Mokhtar Belmokhtar (aka "Laaouar"), Abou Zeid, and Yahya Abou Al-Hammam joined Ag Ghaly for "a meeting with the city's imams", said Cheikh El Bakaye, a family member of one of the holy mans involved in the talks.

"Yes, all three of them are there. Abou Zeid has said he is happy to be on Mali's Moslem soil," El Bakaye said.

They have turned the former Malian army camp at Timbuktu into their "base", according to a Malian army officer. The majority of the thirteen western hostages being held in the Sahel, six of whom are French, were kidnapped by these three men.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  Sounds like The Ham is a carpetbagger.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/18/2012 11:38 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Another prisoner on the run arrested
[Dawn] KARAK: Another prisoner, who beat feet from Bannu jail, was locked away by police here on Monday when he was trying to leave the district.

Police also claimed to have locked away 10 proclaimed offenders during a search operation in different areas of the district.

Police said that Gul Afzal, a resident of Mashokhel area of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, who was serving life term in Bannu jail, was locked away by Khuram police after he beat feet from the jail on Sunday morning.

"He was got off from a vehicle on suspicion and during interrogations he confessed that he had beat feet from the jail," police officials said. Mr Gul was sentenced to life imprisoned in a drug smuggling case.

He told police that he had been locked away in 2006 at Peshawar airport when he was trying to smuggle a huge quantity of drugs abroad.

It is pertinent to mention here that seven beat feet prisoners were locked away in the district on Sunday.

Meanwhile,
...back at the pound, Zebulon finally found just the friend he'd been looking for...
police locked away 10 proclaimed offenders in different parts of the district. Officials said that Aamir Mohammad, a resident of Malakand presently living at Scheme Chowk in Peshawar, was locked away in Terri. He was also wanted by Punjab police.

They said that Mohammad Sharif, Ayub, Mardan alias Ramzan, Nazir Gul, Waseem Sajjad, Muzafar Gul, Umer Nawaz, Kaleemullah, Nazran and Payao Rehman were locked away by personnel of Karak cop shoppe.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Africa Horn
TFG denies that it hires Al shabab defectors in the security operations
[Shabelle] The security agency of Somalia government has Tuesday strongly denied
No, no! Certainly not!
that it takes into service Al shabab defectors for its security crackdown inMogadishu.

While speaking to Shabelle Media, Ahmed Mo'allin Fiqi, the director of the national security agency flashed out reports tell that his agency employs without doubt and checking the faceless myrmidons defected from Al shabab who are accused of carrying out the attacks inMogadishu.

"It is baseless and false report that the security agency of TFG is involved the insecurity of the capital after employing Al shabab agents. We are committed and honest for our work to defend and secure the country. The call on MPs to refrain spreading such accusations," said Fiqi.

This comments followed after Salad Ali Jelle, a Somali MP accused the country's national agency took into the security services more than 120 Al shabab elements.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Afghanistan
Karzai challenges Taleban ‘brothers’ over attacks
KABUL: President Hamid Karzai called the Taleban "brothers" on Tuesday and reached out to them to do more for the good of the country after the insurgents carried out multiple attacks in Kabul and elsewhere at the weekend.

The deadly strikes on parliament, Kabul's diplomatic quarter and three provinces, had only prolonged the foreign presence in Afghanistan reviled by the Taleban, and hurt economic and security confidence, Karzai said.

"You did nothing for Islam, you did not work for Afghanistan's independence and you did not work for its people, freedom and development," he said in a speech commemorating almost 150 years since the birth of an Afghan reformer, but aimed squarely at the insurgency.

"You worked to prolong a foreign presence, you gave foreigners an excuse to stay," Karzai said.

But in an effort to keep alive reconciliation with the Taleban and hopes of a peace deal before most foreign combat troops leave the country in 2014, Karzai said he would not stop calling the Taleban "brothers.” "Some criticize me in the Afghan government and media for saying the Taleban are brothers, but I won't give up," he said to loud applause from officials and university students.

Karzai has laid most of the blame for the Taleban assault on NATO and his government's Western backers for the failure of intelligence agents to prevent it.
As opposed to the hard boyz who attacked...
"Washington is calm and quiet and their people are safe. London is the same ... But Afghans were panicking and suffered religiously and economically," he said in veiled criticism of the West, whose continued presence many Afghans now blame for the country's ongoing troubles.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's time for him to decide what he wants, to live with our friendship or die a horrible death with his brothers.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/18/2012 12:12 Comments || Top||

#2  ..or opting for a three star restaurant in Rio?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/18/2012 13:01 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Abducted Swiss Facing Deteriorating Health
[Yemen Post] A tribal elder revealed that the health condition of the Swiss teacher, who was kidnapped in western Yemen in mid-March, has tanked.

"She has started to suffer from mental problems due to the continuous abduction and the slowness of Yemeni and Swiss authorities in getting her freed," the elder said, according to sources.

The source quoted Ali Abdula Salam, known as Mulla Zabara, as saying al-Qaeda forces of Evil were behind the abductions of the Swiss woman and the Saudi consul. The consul was kidnapped while leaving his house in Aden on March 28.

"I have offered to give them my car and more than 200 livestock to free the Swiss woman but the abductors refused," he was quoted as saying.

Last month, the abductors demanded to release relatives held by the authorities in return for the release of the Swiss.

The elder also revealed the Saudi consul, al-Khalidi, who was kidnapped at his house in the al-Masnoura district, Aden, on March 28, is being held by al-Qaeda forces of Evil in Shabwa.

"But I don't have an idea about the demands of the abductors of the consul to release him," he said, according to the source.

The elder said al-Qaeda forces of Evil have controlled all towns in Shabwa except the capital Ataq and that the forces of Evil who were maimed in raging battles with the forces and popular fighters in Abyan recently are receiving health care in the Azzan area.

In mid-2011, al-Qaeda seized two towns in Abyan province including the capital Zinjibar. The forces of Evil have been fighting the forces since then and recently they have planned to expand their presence through attempts to occupy other towns in Abyan and nearby provinces.

With direct support from the US, the Yemeni forces are fighting the forces of Evil and more recently hundreds of forces of Evil were killed and injured in the Lawder city, Abyan.

Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


India-Pakistan
Fazl, Shahbaz push for prioritisation of Kashmir cause
Jamaat-e-Ulema-Islam (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ...
on Tuesday said that due to Pakistain's decade long history of making poor policies, our security forces have been stuck on the country's western borders, DawnNews reported.

Fazlur Rehman, along with the Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, attended the meeting of the Kashmire committee in Lahore.

Fazl said only stable and strong Pakistain can solve the Kashmire issue

"Kashmire was once an essential part of the country's foreign policy but now it is being neglected," the JUI-F chief said.

He said that his party wants the resolution of the issue through dialogue with the acknowledgment that both parties are equal.

India is building dams on the rivers which is hampering Pakistain's water-supply, Fazl added.

Moreover, he thanked Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for hosting the meeting of the committee.

Sharif, while addressing the meeting, said that thousands of lives have been sacrificed for the Kashmire cause but now the issue has been put on the back-burner.

Despite the United Nation's resolutions, Kashmiris have been kept deprived of their right to self-determination, Sharif added.

"Pakistain would never withdraw its right on Kashmire," he added.
That was remarkably almost coherent.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran Holds 15 from Israel-linked 'Assassination' Group
[An Nahar] Iran's intelligence ministry says it is holding more than 15 Iranian and foreign suspects belonging to an Israeli-linked "liquidation" network, according to media reports on Tuesday.

It also said it had uncovered a spy base run by Israel's Mossad in an unspecified neighboring country.

"So far 15 people, holding Iranian birth certificates and foreigners, have been incarcerated," official outlets quoted the ministry saying in a statement which added details to the arrests already announced earlier this month.

The statement said the group's mission "was to identify and assassinate one of our nation's experts and to bomb some of the nation's installations using professionally made technical tools."

It did not identify the alleged targets.

Iran -- which from time to time announces the arrest of suspected spies working for Israel or the United States without presenting much evidence -- has lost several of its nuclear scientists to liquidations widely blamed on the Jewish state.

The statement added that the intelligence that uncovered the alleged Israeli-linked group led to "reliable information which showed the Zionist regime illegally used diplomatic missions in some Western countries" to support the group's missions. It did not identify the countries.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Africa Horn
South Sudan defiant after week of fighting with Sudan
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] South Sudan's army vowed Tuesday to hold their positions in a contested oil field seized from Khartoum's army, one week after the outbreak of bitter fighting that has raised fears of a wider war.

Despite air strikes and a reported counter-attack by Khartoum's Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) to retake the disputed Heglig oil field, the South's Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) said it would not withdraw from the battle zone.

"If they advance, definitely SPLA is ready to fight back and repulse them... the SPLA is ready for them outside Heglig," Southern army front man Philip Aguer told news hounds.

The hostilities are the worst since South Sudan's independence from Sudan in July, and world powers have condemned the fighting, as fears grow festivities could spread beyond the current border conflict.

Fighting broke out last month between Khartoum and Juba in the Heglig oil field -- key to Sudan's already struggling economy, as it supplied around half of its oil production -- before an escalation of violence last Tuesday.

The South has reportedly placed tanks and artillery around oil infrastructure in Heglig, but as Sudan does not allow journalists to report independently in South Kordofan state to which Heglig belongs, it is difficult to verify the military situation.

Aguer said Khartoum had damaged wells as they sought to dislodge Southern troops by aerial bombardment.

"The border is still fragile, tension is still very high," Aguer added. "The SAF continue to bomb indiscriminately... On Tuesday they bombed one of the oil wells outside Heglig, it is still burning."
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Bangladesh
Suranjit is back
[Bangla Daily Star] In a dramatic move, the government yesterday made Suranjit Sengupta a minister without portfolio, just a day after he stepped down as railway minister amid the railwaygate scandal.

The government issued a handout in this regard yesterday but it neither said anything about Suranjit's announcement of resignation nor rejected media reports that he had been made to quit.

"With the authority vested in her under article 3 (IV) of the Rules of Business 1996, the prime minister has appointed Suranjit Sengupta as minister without portfolio, relieving him of the charge of the railway ministry," said a Press Information Department handout last night.

A minister without portfolio holds charge of no ministry but enjoys all facilities of a minister, and can be given a portfolio whenever the prime minister wants.

Contacted by The Daily Star, Communications Minister Obaidul Quader explained the government's change of heart in such a short time.

"He [Suranjit] was neither accused nor found guilty in the cash recovery incident. He was relieved of his charge by the prime minister to ensure a fair and transparent investigation. There is nothing wrong in it," he told The Daily Star last night.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
N.Korea Scraps Deal with U.S.
Darn, and it was going so well...
North Korea said Tuesday it is no longer bound by a Feb. 29 agreement with the U.S. pledging to halt missile and nuclear arms development in exchange for food aid.

"Since the U.S. violated the Feb. 29 agreement with its undisguised hostile acts, we will no longer be bound to it," North Korea's Foreign Ministry said. "The U.S. will be held wholly accountable for all the ensuing consequences," it added.

A government source here said the comments hint at an imminent nuclear test by the North. Pyongyang agreed on Feb. 29 to halt uranium enrichment and allow IAEA inspectors to return.

The North issued the statement a day after the UN Security Council "strongly condemned" the North for launching what it claims was a space rocket on Friday and tightened sanctions. Pyongyang accused the U.S. of abusing its position as the chair of the UNSC to deny Pyongyang's right to develop its defense and civilian space programs.

"We have therefore become able to take the necessary retaliatory measures free from the agreement," the statement said. "We resolutely and totally reject the unreasonable behavior of the UN Security Council to violate [North Korea's] legitimate right to launch satellites. We will expand and strengthen space development institutions and continue launching a variety of working satellites needed for the economic development of the country."

Meanwhile, U.S. Pacific Commander Adm. Samuel Locklear told South Korean reporters on Tuesday that Seoul and Washington are looking at "all options" to prevent further provocations from North Korea. Asked about the possibility of a "surgical strike" against North Korean nuclear facilities, Locklear said, "I can tell you that with the alliance we are potentially looking at all options."

Regarding what looked like a long-range missile unveiled during North Korea's military parade over the weekend, Locklear said he was not sure whether it was a functional missile or just a mock up.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Read, THE NOKORS WANT MORE FOOD ETC.

At last check, CHINA doesn't want to give them any more food aid than at present, + also doesn't want to care for any NoKor Refugees that come over the border. SEEMINGLY BY DEFAULT, JONG-UN, LIKE LATE BIG DADDY JONG-IL BEFORE HIM, IS LEFT WID THE US-ALLIES + UNO TO FEED THE MASSES WHILE CHINA STEADILY INCREASES ITS INFLUENCE + CONTROL VEE THE SINO-DPRK FTAS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2012 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  WORLD NEWS > NORTH KOREA TO PUSH FOR NEW ROCKET LAUNCH.

PLUs the Nuke Test.

You knew they would.

* SAME > EXPERTS SAY CHINA IGNORED UN SANCTIONS AND GAVE NORTH KOREA ROCKET LAUNCHER.

Read, TAIWAN + "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN".

E.g. MARIANAS VARIETY > repors that the Family of dead Chinese Fisherman is demanding that the PALAU/BELAU GOVT. compensate them for the death due to use of "excessive force". PALAU'S PRESIDENT HAD REPOR CLAIMED THAT THE DETAINED CHINESE FISHERMEN [22 ea.] MAY HAD DESTROYED ANY HARD OR REAL EVIDENCE OF THEIR ILLEGAL SPYING OR FISHING IN PALAU'S WATERS???

* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > US TOUGHENS NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS AFTER ROCKET LAUNCH. Warns more Sanctions to be forthcoming iff the DPRK proceeds wid alleged third nuclear test.

* SAME > CHINA [+ other World Powers] READY FOR "MORE CONSEQUENCES"[new provocations?] FOR NORTH KOREA: CLINTON. SecState Hillary.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2012 1:46 Comments || Top||

#3  "Since the U.S. violated the Feb. 29 agreement with its undisguised hostile acts, we will no longer be bound to it," North Korea's Foreign Ministry said.

IOW: We're going to continue to do what we were already doing, and would have continued to do all along, just without all the smoke, mirrors, and pesky formalities. And bonus food aid.
Posted by: gorb || 04/18/2012 3:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Nicely engineered to make it America to blame for forthcoming nuclear tests; could nork experience a national wide test malfunction?
Posted by: Bill Schwarzeneggar1358 || 04/18/2012 5:17 Comments || Top||

#5  This isn't "nicely engineered" at all. This is nothing more than typical dictator, progressive bull$hit. Anything can be spun to put the blame on the US or West no matter what we do.

The only response is to grow a pair and say "OK, no soup for you" and then cut off any contacts. Don't try and teach a pig to dance.......
Posted by: AlanC || 04/18/2012 8:50 Comments || Top||

#6  for 70 years this one trick pony has been using the same "sea of fire" and "running dog Imperialist lackey" rhetoric to cajole things from the west, all the while running a gulag state that is akin to the Nazi's. Counterfiting, drug running, technology theft, kidnapping, and arms sales to Iran have kept the Kim's in luxury and fed their army, while millions have starved. The average NORK kid is 3-4 inches shorter that his cousin in the south, and often literally stupid as a result of malnutrition. And over and over, the US and its allies keep hoping that this time there will be cheese at the end of the same old tunnel. Stop talking to them, and every time one of their crappy freighters heads out of port, somehow it needs to sink. They will get the message. If they can't feed the army, poof, bye bye, and the two-fer would be if it forces the ChiCOMS to feed them.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 04/18/2012 12:52 Comments || Top||

#7  UNEXPECTEDLY!
Posted by: mojo || 04/18/2012 13:09 Comments || Top||

#8  More this Guam AM ...

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA ENDORSES STRONG UN STATEMENT AGZ NORTH KOREA.

* SAME > US CONSIDERS SURGICAL STRIKES AGZ NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR SITES | "ALL OPTIONS" OPEN AGZ NORTH KOREA, SAYS US MILITARY.

Airsrikes, etc. won't occur unless Beijing + Russia give their consent, andor CHINA is in charge of the AirOps = UN Coalition, NOT THE US???

versus

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > TOKYO: JAPAN WILL BUY DISPUTED ISLANDS [Japan Senkakus = Chinese Daoyus/Daoyutai], GOVERNOR SAYS.

But-t-t, Tokyo wants to buy it from its private JAPANESE OWNERS, NOT FROM CHINA.

* TOPIX > NODA: NATIONALIZATION OF SENKAKUS IS AN OPTION.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS> CHINA DECRIES TOKYO-HATCHED PLAN TO BUY DISPUTED ISLANDS.

* SAME > DAOYUTAI'S OWNERS: CHINA BID/OFFERED US$430.0MILYUHN [Yen$35.0Bilyuhn] FOR DAOYUTAIS.

* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > TAIWAN TELLS TOKYO MAYOR: DAOYUTAI [Japan = Senkakus] BELONGS TO CHINA.

* SAME > CHINESE SHIP, PLANE BREAK [Scarborough/
CHIN Huangyan = PHIL Panatag]SHOAL STALEMATE | CHINESE WARSHIP RETURNS TO DISPUTED SHOAL.

* TOPIX > CHINA ASKS PHILIPPINES TO WITHDRAW SHIP [any + all PHIL Vessels] FROM SHOAL. Beijing = China is all but ignoring Manila's pro-Diplomacy diatribe or offers to compromise.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PHILIPPINES CHALLENGES CHINA TO GO TO UN COURT TO END SPRATLYS DISPUTE |
.... .... TO JOIN [UN]SEA TRIBUNAL TO END SEA SPAT.

See below.

* TOPIX > CHINA REJECTS PHILIPPINE [UN]MEDIATION OFFER; + CHINA AGAIN REJECTS PHILIPPINES CLAIMS OF SOVEREIGNTY ON DISPUTED SHOAL, + Spratlys etc. in general.

VARIOUS BLOGGERS = see the latest outcome of the Huangyan/Panatag dispute as a VICTORY FOR CHINA.

China will continue putting its foot down vee the SCS unless it starts seeing the love from the US + Taiwan ala FORMAL PRC-TAIWAN REUNIFICATION.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2012 23:19 Comments || Top||

#9  More this Guam AM ...

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA ENDORSES STRONG UN STATEMENT AGZ NORTH KOREA.

* SAME > US CONSIDERS SURGICAL STRIKES AGZ NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR SITES | "ALL OPTIONS" OPEN AGZ NORTH KOREA, SAYS US MILITARY.

Airsrikes, etc. won't occur unless Beijing + Russia give their consent, andor CHINA is in charge of the AirOps = UN Coalition, NOT THE US???

versus

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > TOKYO: JAPAN WILL BUY DISPUTED ISLANDS [Japan Senkakus = Chinese Daoyus/Daoyutai], GOVERNOR SAYS.

But-t-t, Tokyo wants to buy it from its private JAPANESE OWNERS, NOT FROM CHINA.

* TOPIX > NODA: NATIONALIZATION OF SENKAKUS IS AN OPTION.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS> CHINA DECRIES TOKYO-HATCHED PLAN TO BUY DISPUTED ISLANDS.

* SAME > DAOYUTAI'S OWNERS: CHINA BID/OFFERED US$430.0MILYUHN [Yen$35.0Bilyuhn] FOR DAOYUTAIS.

* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > TAIWAN TELLS TOKYO MAYOR: DAOYUTAI [Japan = Senkakus] BELONGS TO CHINA.

* SAME > CHINESE SHIP, PLANE BREAK [Scarborough/
CHIN Huangyan = PHIL Panatag]SHOAL STALEMATE | CHINESE WARSHIP RETURNS TO DISPUTED SHOAL.

* TOPIX > CHINA ASKS PHILIPPINES TO WITHDRAW SHIP [any + all PHIL Vessels] FROM SHOAL. Beijing = China is all but ignoring Manila's pro-Diplomacy diatribe or offers to compromise.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PHILIPPINES CHALLENGES CHINA TO GO TO UN COURT TO END SPRATLYS DISPUTE |
.... .... TO JOIN [UN]SEA TRIBUNAL TO END SEA SPAT.

See below.

* TOPIX > CHINA REJECTS PHILIPPINE [UN]MEDIATION OFFER; + CHINA AGAIN REJECTS PHILIPPINES CLAIMS OF SOVEREIGNTY ON DISPUTED SHOAL, + Spratlys etc. in general.

VARIOUS BLOGGERS = see the latest outcome of the Huangyan/Panatag dispute as a VICTORY FOR CHINA.

China will continue putting its foot down vee the SCS unless it starts seeing the love from the US + Taiwan ala FORMAL PRC-TAIWAN REUNIFICATION.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2012 23:20 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Suicide bomber kills 5 in Baidoa
[Shabelle] A jacket wallah killed 5 people, mostly Ethiopians in the southern Somali town ofBaidoaon Tuesday, when he detonated an explosive vest as he tried to enter a government security building, officials said.

Reports said the bomber detonated his explosives in front of UN headquarters in the town, killing 5, three of them were confirmed to be Ethiopian spy while the two others were TFG troops officials.

Baidoa, located 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest ofMogadishu, was the seat ofSomalia's transitional parliament until the hardline Shebab captured it three years ago.

Ethiopian soldiers fighting alongside Somali government forces took control of Baidoa in February.

African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
troops deployed in the town earlier this month, the first time the force has dispatched troops outside the capitalMogadishusince the 10,000-strong force was set up five years ago.

Al-Qaeda allied Shebab Orcs and similar vermin who launched a series of guerrilla attacks and vowed to topple the Western-backed government have immediately grabbed credit for Tuesday's bombing.

Earlier this month a kaboom in Baidoa's market killed at least 11 people and maimed several, an attack claimed by the Shebab.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Diplomats Accuse Syria of Holding Up Truce Monitors Accord
[An Nahar] Syria is holding up an accord with an advance party of U.N. ceasefire monitors which threatens approval for the full mission, diplomats said Tuesday.

Negotiations have become deadlocked on a memorandum of understanding which would allow the eight U.N. monitors currently in Syria to operate across the country, diplomats said.

U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
urged Syria to give the unarmed military observers free access across the country where the U.N. says well over 9,000 people have been killed in the past 13 months of conflict.

"It is the Syrian government's responsibility to guarantee freedom of access and freedom of movement within the country of these observers," the U.N. leader said during a visit to Luxembourg.

One senior U.N. diplomat said that if Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
's government does not make an accord by the end of the week then the Security Council could not allow the full mission of 200-250 observers.

Following recommendations from U.N.-Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
envoy Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
, the U.N. Security Council resolution which sent the advance party said there had to be "full, unimpeded, and immediate freedom of movement and access" for monitors.

"I think there is a risk that the Syrians will not agree to all of that and we will have to decide what to do," said the diplomat.

"I think we will be in a reasonable position to judge by the end of this week whether the Syrians are prepared to stick to the obligations they are now under as a result of the resolution and facilitate the operation of the advanced mission or not," the envoy added.

"There is a holdup and it looks like the Syrians are doing it deliberately," a second diplomat told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Both spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidentiality of Security Council negotiations on Syria.

The Security Council resolution passed on Saturday, the first monitors arrived on Sunday and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon must produce a report by Wednesday on their work.

Annan is to brief the council before the end of the week, diplomats said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


India-Pakistan
50 kanals retrieved from 'religious' group
[Dawn] LAHORE: The Administration of Aziz Bhatti Town and local police faced on Monday a massive resistance from the members of a banned outfit in Nishat Colony while retrieving public 50 kanals from them.

Town officials with police began removing structures established at the public land in the morning when the activists launched a massive protest against the operation, alleging that the retrieved land would be distributed to PML-N workers.
Someone is going to steal it, so it might as well be us -- seriously, guys, that's your argument? You know that all real religions pretty much start with, "No stealing," right?
Aziz Bhatti Town Administrator Aman Anwar Qudwai told Dawn the protesters pelted the officials with stones amid gun sex.

He said the massive protest and scuffles between the officials and the protesters continued for a couple of hours
Hours?!? Do these people have nothing better to do?
You're asking that of the 'Occupy Aziz Bhatti Town' protesters?
wherein some police officials and protesters were maimed. Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters.

He said the property was owned by the Sports Department that was to be used for the promotion of sports. Encroachers began eating up the land feet by feet; first they set up some makeshift arrangements at the place for weddings, then for Eid and funeral prayers.

"Their final plan was to occupy the land by converting it into a funeral ground and a seminary by joining it with an adjacent mosque," he said.

The official said a few months ago the Punjab government had planned a sports ground at the place and directed the Parks Horticulture Authority, TMA and the City District Government of Lahore to begin work at the project. He said the officials had asked land grabbers to vacate the land amicably.

"When we failed to resolve the issue through dialogue, we launched the operation," he added.

He said the retrieved land would be utilized for a sports ground, a public park, a cafeteria, recreational spots and a funeral/Eid prayer ground.

He said the officials had inflicting a blow to land grabbers.

"I have tasked the Cantonment Tehsil Sports Committee to implement the government's development plan and ensure provision of public facilities to the people at this place," he said, adding that a case against seven protesters had also been registered by the police.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Caribbean-Latin America
15 dead found in southern Tamaulipas

For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here.

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of 15 dead were found in two southern Tamaulipas cities Thursday and Friday, according to Mexican news accounts.

To date, no information has been released by authorities, since the government of Tamaulipas state is observing restrictions to news releases under Article 41 of the Mexican Constitution which forbids government propaganda during federal elections.

Ten unidentified dead, nine men and one woman, were found Friday aboard an abandoned soft drink truck in Ciudad Mante. Ciudad Mante is about 25 kilometers along Mexico Federal Highway 85, south of Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas.

Meanwhile in Ciudad Victoria, five unidentified dead were found in Colinas del Valle colony of the city. The count was four young men and one woman.

Recent news reports in Milenio news daily said that two new Mexican Army bases, for units of the Mexican 106th Infantry Regiment were recently completed, one in San Fernando municipality and one in Ciudad Mante. Mexican army bases typically house roughly a rifle company compliment, or between 100 and 150 personnel.

Tamaulipas of one of the most heavily fortified states in Mexico, with 8,000 Mexican Army troops at last count since last January.

San Fernando was the location a year ago where 193 dead were found in the aftermath of a murder spree by a Los Zetas group operating in the area. The find was the second biggest mass grave in modern Mexican history eclipsed only by the 331 dead found over last year in Durango state, 301 of those in Durango city alone.

San Fernando is located approximately between Ciudad Victoria and the northern border with the United State, about 120 kilometers northeast of Ciudad Victoria.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 04/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2012-04-18
  Hadi Refuses to receive Former Yemen President
Tue 2012-04-17
  UN Camp in South Sudan Targeted by Sudanese Warplanes
Mon 2012-04-16
  US drone strike kills senior al-Qaeda Militant in Yemen
Sun 2012-04-15
  Afghan capital hit by blasts, gun attack
Sat 2012-04-14
  U.S. drone strike kills 7 al-Qaeda members in Yemen
Fri 2012-04-13
  23 Reportedly Dead as Syria Regime, Opposition Trade Charges of Breaking Ceasefire
Thu 2012-04-12
  Nork rocket launched, then 'breaks up'
Wed 2012-04-11
  Syria denounced for not adhereing to agreed peace plan
Tue 2012-04-10
  Syrian Rebel Army Ready to Respect Truce
Mon 2012-04-09
  84 Dead, 200 Arrested as Violence Rages across Syria
Sun 2012-04-08
  Hugo off to Brazil for Emergent Care
Sat 2012-04-07
  Azerbaijani intel service jugs 17 hard boys
Fri 2012-04-06
  Mali rebels declare cease-fire after seizing north
Thu 2012-04-05
  Pakistan rejects US bounty on Hafiz Saeed
Wed 2012-04-04
  Yemeni airstrikes kill 43 al-Qaida militants

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