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Meteorite Hits Urals, Up to 500 Injured
Today's Headlines
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Home Front: WoT
Brennan open to special court for drone strikes
The White House nominee to run the CIA said setting up a special court to oversee deadly drone strikes against American citizens is worth considering but raises difficult questions over how much authority it would have in decisions currently made by the president.

Expanding on his testimony a week ago, John Brennan said the White House and other agencies had discussed the idea, when coming up with the process to determine which al-Qaida targets go on a capture-or-kill lists for the CIA and the military.

"It would raise some novel, and potentially difficult, questions and furthermore would grant courts authority over decisions that have traditionally been exercised principally, if not exclusively, by the executive branch," Brennan said. "Nevertheless, given the stakes involved and the consequence of such determinations...all options are worth considering."

His new comments were included Friday in written answers to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The panel is considering whether to approve Brennan's nomination for a full Senate vote.
Posted by: tipper || 02/15/2013 21:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Matt Damon Toilet Strike
Matt Damon, co-founder of Water.org, is taking a stand for the water crisis. Watch his announcement and support the strike by signing up to make your voice heard online through Water Day, March 22, 2013.
Lots of cool pics of useful idiots dedicated water concern people going on strike. In color! Never let a crisis or perceived crisis go to waste. Hollywood stars have all the answers.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/15/2013 16:16 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm only for it if Matt Damon is going without water or any sort of fluid for 2 weeks.

Gotta make a stand and a sacrifice for what you believe in dude.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/15/2013 16:33 Comments || Top||

#2  You mean he made another action flik?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/15/2013 16:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Matt Damon!
Posted by: Matt Damon! || 02/15/2013 17:03 Comments || Top||

#4  He's still alive?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/15/2013 17:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Matt Damon's problem is that he believes Good Will Hunting was a documentary about himself. He's just so much more evolved, doncha know.
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra9196 || 02/15/2013 18:39 Comments || Top||

#6  wasn't he just in an anti-fracking film funded by Gulf Arabs? STFU whore
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2013 20:20 Comments || Top||

#7  People diss Matt Damon's acting for being wooden, but I thought he was brilliant as the monosyllabic, emotionless spy in "The Good Shepard". OK, he was a little wooden in "Team America: World Police"
Posted by: SteveS || 02/15/2013 23:06 Comments || Top||

#8  FTLG someone in the US-West had better seriously verify China's Three Gorges + followon engineering plans before they screw up East Asia's water forvever like ancient Egyptians, Arabs allegedly did to North/Upper Africa's.

MORE-N-MORE GIANT SINKHOLES + OTHER NATURAL COLLAPSES ARE OCCURRING IN CHINA, + BEIJING SEEMS TO BE INTERESTED IN CONTRUCTING NEW DAMS + CITIES FOR THE SAKE OF NATIONAL MODERNIZATION + ECON GROWTH THAN FINDING THE CAUSE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/15/2013 23:32 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Norks to test two more nukes in 2013
Oh joy...
North Korea has told its key ally, China, that it is prepared to stage one or even two more nuclear tests this year in an effort to force the United States into diplomatic talks, said a source with direct knowledge of the message.

Further tests could also be accompanied this year by another rocket launch, said the source, who has direct access to the top levels of government in both Beijing and Pyongyang.

"It's all ready. A fourth and fifth nuclear test and a rocket launch could be conducted soon, possibly this year," the source said, adding that the fourth nuclear test would be much larger than the third, at an equivalent of 10 kilotons of TNT.

The tests will be undertaken, the source said, unless Washington holds talks with North Korea and abandons its policy of what Pyongyang sees as attempts at regime change.
Trust us, we'd love to see regime change in Nork-land, we just have no idea how to go about getting it done without destroying much of South Korea in the process.
North Korea also reiterated its long-standing desire for the United States to sign a final peace agreement with it and establish diplomatic relations, he said. North Korea remains technically at war with both the United States and South Korea after the Korean war ended in 1953 with a truce.
Peace agreement and diplomatic relations are the prelude to the sorts of accommodations the Norks, and their masters the Chinese, want us to make. They then want us off the peninsula, to abandon South Korea as an ally, to neuter Japan, and to give/sell them food, oil and so on. For a small power to do this successfully in that part of the world would be seen as major, major concessions and loss of face on our part. That's exactly what the Chinese want.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland urged North Korea to "refrain from additional provocative actions that would violate its international obligations" under three different sets of U.N. Security Council resolutions that prohibit nuclear and missile tests.
Keep urging, Vicky, but don't hold your breath...
North Korea "is not going to achieve anything in terms of the health, welfare, safety, future of its own people by these kinds of continued provocative actions. It's just going to lead to more isolation," Nuland told reporters.

North Korea's latest test, its third since 2006, prompted warnings from Washington and others that more sanctions would be imposed on the isolated state. The U.N. Security Council has only just tightened sanctions on Pyongyang after it launched a long-range rocket in December. Pyongyang is banned under U.N. sanctions from developing missile or nuclear technology after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear tests.
Worked well, huh...
North Korea worked to ready its nuclear test site, about 100 km (60 miles) from its border with China, throughout last year, according to commercially available satellite imagery. The images show that it may have already prepared for at least one more test, beyond Tuesday's subterranean explosion.

"Based on satellite imagery that showed there were the same activities in two tunnels, they have one tunnel left after the latest test," said Kune Y. Suh, a nuclear engineering professor at Seoul National University in South Korea.

Analysis of satellite imagery released on Friday by specialist North Korea website 38North showed activity at a rocket site that appeared to indicate it was being prepared for a launch (here).

North Korea has said the test was a reaction to "U.S. hostility" following its December rocket launch. Critics say the rocket launch was aimed at developing technology for an intercontinental ballistic missile.

"(North) Korea is not afraid of (further) sanctions," the source said. "It is confident agricultural and economic reforms will boost grain harvests this year, reducing its food reliance on China."
Posted by: Steve White || 02/15/2013 14:40 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why should we talk to Pudgy, except to tell him to FOAD, when he's just a puppet? Maybe a more effective approach would be to slap some stiff, across the board tariffs on the crap we import from China. Yeah, I know that'd jack up the prices we pay for the crap but maybe then we wouldn't buy as much of it. Put the sanctions on the Chinese and then see what happens.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/15/2013 15:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Fuck it. Time for Taiwan, South Korea and Japan to nuke up. Hard.
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 02/15/2013 17:16 Comments || Top||

#3  The Chinese are purported to be so long range in their thinking and planning. Yet, the only apparent end of all this thinking and planning is to surround themselves with hostile nations.

Insrutable.
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra9196 || 02/15/2013 18:03 Comments || Top||

#4  They don't care if the surrounding nations are hostile as long as they are subjugated...like Tibet...like North Korea.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/15/2013 18:14 Comments || Top||

#5  ...like the United States...
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/15/2013 18:15 Comments || Top||

#6  When Bill Clinton renewed MFN for China in 1994 he echoed George Bush's assertion that "the Chinese would take more steps to improve human rights if the issue were separated from the threat of trade sanctions".

Now we see more clearly where that misguided policy is leading us and it isn't good. We tried the carrot and it isn't working. It's time for the stick.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/15/2013 18:24 Comments || Top||

#7  "Time for Taiwan, South Korea, + Japan to nuke up - hard" > "post-US", #1 wannabe China + PLA won't stand for that, spec vee historical rival Nippon, + will likely initiate major war in East Asia.

The Clock is ticking faster + louder - e.g. Nuke wannabe IRAN, the longer China = USA-Allies wait in [meritorious] deference to Diplomacy + UN-led Sanctions, the more difficult things become. IRAN IS NOW MUCH CLOSER TO DEV NUCWEAPS, NOT FARTHER.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/15/2013 18:30 Comments || Top||

#8  I would ignore (publicly)the NORKS, while keeping up intel ops. Pudgy is just yanking our chain and taking attention ahead of O, which is not hard to do. I would have NO comments, but do the quiet work.

With respect to Iran, we have pi$$ed away time when we should have been doing more sabotage to their big site for centrifuges, as well as other components of the Iranian nuke program. O has been doing the same thing as the EUnik diplos which is zero. Dithering from behind. We are in for some nasty attacks.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/15/2013 20:00 Comments || Top||

#9  I think these guys have forgotten a really basic business principle. When you run a reclusive county that deals in counterfeit cash and methamphetamines .... NEVER sample your own products BEFORE you decide your foreign policy.

That would be my take on it :-)
Posted by: Raider || 02/15/2013 20:46 Comments || Top||

#10  See JAPAN TIMES > NORTH KOREA UPGRADING ROCKET SITE, FEATURES POINT TO IRANIAN HELP.

and

* DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > NORTH KOREA READY FOR ICBM TEST | [Space Daily] NORTH KOREA MAKES PROGRESS AT MISSLE SITE.

* BHARAT RAKSHAK > [Rodong Simrun] NORTH KOREA: NORTH KOREA MUST HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND INTERCONTINETAL MISSLES TO DETER WEST, i.e. for its Existential, National + Nuclear Security.

VERSUS

* BHARAT RAKSHAK > [The Australian = Greg Sheridan] SOURCE: NOKO NOW IMMUNE FROM ATTACK.

Quoting an anonymous US Official, whom also claims that the DPRK has now become an EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO THE US???

"IMMUNE FROM ATTACK" > IMO 'tis likely a bit premature - KEY WILL BE ANY INDIGENOUS NUKE-ARMING OF SOUTH KOREA [ + Japan, ASEAN?].

RELATED ASAHI SHIMBUN/AJW > JAPAN DEFENSE CHIEF [DM Itsunori Onodera] COULD HAVE PREEMPTIVE STRIKE ABILITY IN FUTURE.

* SAME > NUCLEAR "FINGERPRINTING" SHOWS JUST HOW POTENT NORTH KOREA'S NUCLEAR ARSENAL HAS BECOME.

Explosive yield for NOKOR's various Nuke Tests has upwardly progressed from one-kiloton back in 2006, to five-kilotons in 2009, to now ten kilotons in 2013.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA MUSCLES [out] THE US IN PACIFIC.

ARTIC > SENIOR PLA COLONEL LIU MINGFU from PLA's National Defence University = CHINA to force the US out from WESTPAC widin another twenty years [Year 2030-2033/2035?], US INFLUENCE TO BE LIMITED OR CONTAINED TO EAST OF PACIFIC MID-LINE [read, HAWAII, WAKE ISLAND?].

SECURITY ANALYSTS = US FACING ITS MOST DANGEROUS STRATEGIC SECURITY CRISIS SINCE END OF THE US-SOVIET COLD WAR.

[AL "THE HELL YOU SAY" BUNDY here].

* FREEREPUBLIC > [Free Beacon] "BEAR" BOMBERS [Bear-H] OVER GUAM: RUSSIAN NUCLEAR BOMBERS CIRCLE GUAM.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/15/2013 23:18 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Killed Iranian official was Iran's Hezbollah attaché
Arab media has reported that dead Revolutionary Guard official used guise of false alias to coordinate Iran's activities in Lebanon, Syria; including funds, weapon transfers to Hezbollah and rehabilitating arsenal.

The London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported Friday that Hush Husam Nawis, also known as Hassan Shateri, a senior Revolutionary Guard official who was killed in Syria on Thursday, was in fact named Hassan Shateri, while Nawis served as his alias.

Shateri was a general in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and headed the Iranian operation to rehabilitate the war-scarred country. He reportedly also served as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's personal emissary to Lebanon.
This article starring:
Hassan Shateri
Hush Husam Nawis
Posted by: || 02/15/2013 11:41 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is not getting much appreciation in the western media. But this guy was a big wheel for the Revolutionary Guards in Iran. Apparently they are very angry at his death. It appears he was targeted when Israeli bombers also hit the chemical weapons intended for Hezbollah (a couple of weeks ago). Or maybe there NEVER WERE any chemical weapons and this whole strike was aimed at Hassan Shateri. It's a major setback for Iranian agents operating inside Syria.

Once again ... pinpoint targeting by the Israeli intel agencies. With devastating consequences!
Posted by: Raider || 02/15/2013 12:42 Comments || Top||


Europe
Italy's ex-spy chief sentenced to 10 years in jail over CIA case
More on imam Abu Omar here and here.
Italy's former military intelligence chief was sentenced to 10 years in jail on Tuesday, February 12 for his role in the kidnapping of an Egyptian Muslim cleric in an operation organized by the United States, Reuters said.

An American former CIA station chief was this month sentenced in absentia to seven years in jail after imam Abu Omar was snatched from a Milan street in 2003 and flown to Egypt for interrogation during the United States' "war on terror".

The Milan appeals court sentenced Niccolo Pollari, former head of the Sismi military intelligence agency, to 10 years in prison and his former deputy Marco Mancini to nine years. The court also awarded a provisional 1 million euros in damages to the imam, the Ansa news wire reported, as well as 500,000 euros to the imam's wife.

Nicola Madia, a lawyer for Pollari, said he was disturbed by the decision and that his client would appeal to Italy's highest court. Pollari will not have to go to jail until the appeals process has been exhausted.

Madia said Pollari had not been able to defend himself properly because successive Italian governments had declared the case to be covered by state secrecy laws.

The sentences are part of the fallout from a campaign waged by then U.S. president George W. Bush after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Abu Omar alleges says he was tortured for seven months after being flown to Egypt in what was known as an "extraordinary rendition" operation. He was resident in Italy at the time of his abduction.
Posted by: tipper || 02/15/2013 11:13 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
More on Secret AQIM document find in Mali
It is always surprising that AQ is so OCD about bureaucracy, keeping minutes, keeping everything on computers, and the use of many aliases by the leadership. Somehow one would think they would be more free-wheeling; ad hoc, basically anarchists.
A secret document revealing how al-Qaeda in north Africa planned to seize "command" of the jihadist struggle in the Sahara has been found by The Daily Telegraph in Timbuktu. Telegraph Chief Foreign Correspondent David Blair reports.

Al-Qaeda leaders might live as outlaws in the depths of the Sahara, but they remain sticklers for bureaucratic protocol. When the "prince" gathers his Council, a detailed note is taken and the meeting carefully numbered.

We know this because the record of the 33rd meeting of the leadership of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was found by the Daily Telegraph in Timbuktu. It shows that the group took a decision with profound consequences.
At that moment, 18 March 2012, guerrillas from the Tuareg minority and Ansar al-Dine, a jihadist group, were on the verge of capturing northern Mali. They had just taken a string of Saharan towns near the border with Algeria.

The document shows that Abu Musab Abdul Wadoud, the "prince" of AQIM, chaired a gathering of senior commanders with the apparent aim of ensuring that his movement would gain most from the seizure of this territory.
Background on Abu Musab Abdul Wadoud.
Abu Musab Abdul Wadoud has a Facebook presence and he has been sentenced to death in absentia.
Link.
This 42-year-old Algerian is one of his country's most wanted men and a veteran jihadist. Before helping to found AQIM in 2006, he spent more than a decade as an Islamist foot soldier in Algeria's brutal civil war.

Wadoud outlined a "proposal and a vision for the future issued by one of our notables and member of the Consultation Council Ahmed Jebri". Wadoud is recorded as saying: "We have looked carefully into it and have found it interesting and satisfactory for this period of time, therefore we thought we would present it for you to discuss and give it careful consideration."
Jebri's idea was to praise Ansar al-Dine for their "victories during the latest encounters which have been carried out by our Muslim heroes on this grand desert".

He added: "This heroism thrilled and reassured us following what we had thought to be an unknown fate because of the lack of complete gathering of information."

But there was a sting in the tail. AQIM wanted a share of Ansar al-Dine's impending capture of northern Mali. In fact, it wanted to take over completely. "We had to think of the necessity to draw a plan to command and control the jihad activities there at this critical moment and target all efforts to achieve the required goals".

Jebri's plan was contained in a letter to Ansar al-Dine, which is quoted in the document. In this missive, the AQIM commander is implicitly critical of the other jihadist group, complaining that "we would have hoped that we had enough information about Ansar al-Dine". But this was sadly lacking and "we must open our eyes to all the potential threats and perils in order to avoid them and be fully equipped to face them in case they happen".
AQIM's solution - which was to take command - reaped a handsome reward. In the next two weeks, Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal - the three main cities of northern Mali - all fell into the hands of Ansar al-Dine and Tuareg insurgents.

In accordance with the plan in the document, AQIM then pushed them aside and won de facto control over 300,000 square miles of Mali, complete with arms dumps, airports and ready-made training facilities.

Al-Qaeda has always sought to hijack the success of other extremists. In Afghanistan in the 1990s, the Taliban did the hard work of capturing territory; al-Qaeda moved in behind and turned the country into its training and recruitment hub. The document shows that AQIM was following the same modus operandi in Mali.

The opening page of this record was found outside a building on the northern edge of Timbuktu that AQIM had used as a training centre. Recruits from across the Muslim world would gather in the old headquarters of the Gendarmerie Nationale, a paramilitary unit. Here, they were drilled and indoctrinated until last month, when French bombs destroyed the sand-coloured building.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/15/2013 09:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  > surprising that AQ is so OCD about bureaucracy

Why? The dictatorial mindset is always heavy on the bureaucracy. A sociopath will put more trust in systems than people.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/15/2013 10:17 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
John Brennan's Willful Blindness
On her way out the door, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the unsayable. Literally. Until last month, when she repeatedly warned in congressional testimony concerning the Benghazi debacle that we confront a “global jihadist threat,” the Obama administration did not allow the use of the words jihad and threat in the same sentence.

How ironic that the principal architect of this “see-no-jihad” policy is John Brennan, President Obama’s current Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism Advisor and his choice to head the Central Intelligence Agency.

Setting aside the obvious questions about why Mrs. Clinton chose her swan song on Capitol Hill to state the obvious but impermissible truth, if sheÂ’s right, then why on earth would the Senate want to entrust critical collection and analysis of intelligence to the very person who has epitomized and enforced a policy of willful blindness toward the central threat of our time: the supremacist Islamic ideology of Shariah and the holy war, or jihad, its adherents are obliged to wage?

Brennan has repeatedly insisted that jihad is not about holy war. Rather, as he put it in a speech in May 2010, “Jihad is holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam meaning to purify oneself or one’s community.”

Posted by: tipper || 02/15/2013 09:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Brennan was also in charge of the Fort Hood shooting investigation. If it is discovered that he was at the controls of the Benghazi disaster, he might face a difficult challenge.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 10:33 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm continually gob smacked by cretins like Brennan who insist on this crap in the face of countless honest to goodness Muslim Holymens saying the exact opposite.

Personally, if I was a Mohammedan Holymen I would be insulted that this idiot thinks I'm so stupid I don't know what I'm saying about my own religion!!
Posted by: Alanc || 02/15/2013 12:42 Comments || Top||

#3  "Jihad is holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam meaning to purify oneself or one's community"
If 99% of the Islamic population uses the term to mean violent struggle it doesn't matter the legal definition is. After all the West isn't allowed to say "Crusade" because clearly there is only one meaning and that is anti-Islamic war.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/15/2013 14:45 Comments || Top||

#4  I'd like to hear a little more from Brennen the eunuch's "life partner" in his own words...Holy mackerel, what a Jihad-loving, anti-American POS!
Posted by: Elmavimble Brown1950 || 02/15/2013 23:41 Comments || Top||


Europe
Brussels Central Office Issues Warrant of Arrest for Pope Benedict XVI
Looks like the conspiracy theories are starting. See some others at the site.
Pope Benedict XVI is wanted by the Brussels Central Office over crimes against humanity and ordering a criminal conspiracy.

According to a statement by the Brussels Central Office, the pope, known as Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger resigned to avoid an impending warrant of arrest for him. His arrest, according to the statement, would also see to it that the property of the Vatican be seized.
Posted by: tipper || 02/15/2013 09:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The secret manuscripts of the caves of St. Bartholomews have been found ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 9:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Vatican has assets; assets are always targets for lawyers; cause is irrelevant.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/15/2013 10:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Slow news day in Kampala.
Posted by: Grunter || 02/15/2013 11:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Last time I checked the Vatican was a sovereign country. It wouldn't be a seizure of property but an Anschluss annexation by another governmental entity (re - EUcrats). The Revelations folks would be excited.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2013 11:47 Comments || Top||

#5  "It is our further decision to proceed as well with the indictment and arrest of Joseph RatzingerÂ’s successor as Pope on the same charges; and to enforce the commercial lien and “Easter Reclamation Campaign” against the Roman Catholic church, as planned. We call upon all citizens and governments to assist our efforts to legally and directly disestablish the Vatican, Inc. and arrest its chief officers and clergy who are complicit in crimes against humanity and the ongoing criminal conspiracy to aid and protect child torture and trafficking.”

Oh, so THAT explains it.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/15/2013 13:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Oh brother.

Do these people seriously have nothing better to do?
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/15/2013 13:09 Comments || Top||

#7  Do these people seriously have nothing better to do?

No. And they're well-paid to do it.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/15/2013 14:40 Comments || Top||

#8  Heads of state are generally immune from prosecution so him resigning to avoid something seems bizzaro.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/15/2013 14:40 Comments || Top||

#9  If they want to find a religion condoning slavery and trafficking, I think need to look towards Mecca.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/15/2013 17:58 Comments || Top||

#10  @9 as 1.6 billion islamites do five times daily..
...Huston
Posted by: Cretinous Humongous || 02/15/2013 18:18 Comments || Top||

#11  The ONLY time Americans place an O and a U together is when I get it wrong... Doh!
Posted by: Cretinous Humongous || 02/15/2013 18:21 Comments || Top||

#12  Who the hell died and left a pipsqueak little country the king of the world? What gives them the right to issue international warrants for things that didn't even happen there?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/15/2013 20:16 Comments || Top||

#13  I wouldn't tout that, CH
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2013 20:18 Comments || Top||


Bulgaria puts Hezbollah on EU Foreign Minister's menu
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov has put the conclusions of a probe related to a terrorist attack at a Bulgarian airport last summer on the agenda of the EU Foreign Affairs Council netw Monday (18 February). The probe points at the military wing of Hezbollah in Lebanon, an organisation which does not appear on the EU's list of terrorist organisations.
How hard will the Council have to spin this time to ignore the irrefutable?
EU ministers will listen to the presentation of the probe's conclusion by Mladenov over lunch, and "an animated discussion" is expected to follow, an EU diplomat said.

Bulgaria recently concluded the investigation into the terrorist attack that destroyed a bus at the airport of Burgas on 18 July, killing five Israeli tourists and the Bulgarian driver.
Posted by: tipper || 02/15/2013 08:12 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Hamas says delegation ordered to leave Bulgaria
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Bulgarian security forces on Friday raided the hotel rooms of a visiting Hamas delegation, ordering them to leave the country, a party statement said.
Oh my. Actually PNGed?
The visit was lauded by Hamas as a sign the party is being increasingly welcomed across Europe, while prompting clarifications from Bulgaria that the government had not invited the representatives.

The bloc said in a statement Friday that Bulgarian security ordered them to leave the country before the end of the five-day visit. They said Israeli pressure was behind the move, and noted that they entered the country officially.

The Hamas delegation left Bulgaria shortly after.

The PLO ambassador in Bulgaria told Ma'an he was informed by the Bulgarian foreign ministry that they "regret" the presence of the Hamas delegation and took a decision to ask them to leave.

Amb. Ahmed Madbouh said the foreign ministry denied it had raided the hotel, but rather had a "calm discussion" with the Hamas delegates.
Perhaps while ever so casually noting the contents of the assigned rooms...Potayto, potahto, donchaknow.
Posted by: tipper || 02/15/2013 07:58 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Update
Hamas Condemns Bulgaria over Expulsion of Its Lawmakers
Posted by: tipper || 02/15/2013 9:57 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
What the Left Does Not Understand About Islam
Posted by: tipper || 02/15/2013 06:28 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What the Left Does Not Understand --- whatever doesn't fit into the narrative.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/15/2013 6:32 Comments || Top||

#2  g(r)om, what you mean is everything.
Posted by: Alanc || 02/15/2013 8:34 Comments || Top||

#3  AC, when it comes to their personal welfare---you'd be surprised how intelligent some of them are.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/15/2013 9:51 Comments || Top||

#4  not just the left

Most gays do not understand or deny the abundant evidence of the Koranic hostility to homosexuality.

Similar with feminists.

There are even Ahmadis in the US who spend a dozen hours every week defending Islam while moslems persecute the Ahmadis in majority moslem countries.

There are blacks who refuse to admit the abundant evidence that moslems were the biggest slave traders.

It is rather remarkable.
Posted by: lord garth || 02/15/2013 9:57 Comments || Top||

#5  The left does not understand the threats to their being from our enemies from without or within. They are so busy bending over backwards or forwards trying to look accepting of everything, hip and cool, and liberal that they miss the threats. That's how we got who we got in the WH--someone who spends his time on the golf course, thinks he is hip, cool, and the smartest man that was ever, constantly campaigns on pop TV, and does nothing but screw up the country into one big cluster%#*!.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/15/2013 10:51 Comments || Top||

#6  The ironic thing is the right supports defending the west against Islam in order to preserve the things the left holds dear yet the left so loathes the right (and so blinded by their own heirarchy of grievences) that they backstab and give aid and comfort to those that want to destroy them.
Posted by: Rjschwarz || 02/15/2013 10:53 Comments || Top||

#7  Also, it is a foundational piece of leftist dogma that the rattlesnake, the scorpion, the black widow and the cobra have as much right to be in the crib as the baby does. There is no "good" or "evil..."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/15/2013 12:56 Comments || Top||

#8  This isn't shocking, I mean, if the left actually did understand something, that'd be shocking.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division || 02/15/2013 13:01 Comments || Top||

#9  Helpful video to assist with understanding Islam.

[British War cemetery in Libya filmed last year as I recall]

Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 16:59 Comments || Top||

#10  In their mating and migratory habits, liberals are indistinguishable from members of the Ku Klux Klan.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/15/2013 20:49 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Meteorite hits Russian Urals: Fireball explosion wreaks havoc, up to 500 injured (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
[RT] Russia's Urals region has been rocked by a meteorite explosion in the stratosphere. The impact wave damaged several buildings, and blew out thousands of windows amid frigid winter weather. Hundreds are seeking medical attention for minor injuries.

Follow RT's LIVE UPDATES.

According to unconfirmed reports, the meteorite was intercepted by an air defense unit at the Urzhumka settlement near Chelyabinsk. A missile salvo blew the meteorite to pieces at an altitude of 20 kilometers, local newspaper Znak reports quoting a source in the military.

Regnum news agency quoted a military source who claimed that the vapor condensation trail of the meteorite speaks to the fact that the meteorite was intercepted by air defenses.

A bright flash was seen in the Chelyabinsk, Tyumen and Sverdlovsk regions, Russia's Republic of Bashkiria and in northern Kazakhstan.

"As of 13:00 Moscow time, 500 people have sought medical attention [in the disaster area], 22 of whom have been hospitalized," Vladimir Stepanov, head of Russian national crisis management center EMERCOM told Vesti 24 news channel. Among the injured there are 84 children, Emergency ministry reported.

Those in Chelyabinsk who had their windows smashed are scrambling to cover the openings with anything available -- the temperature in the city is currently -6°C
. The Russian army has joined the rescue operation. Army units are searching for meteorite debris in several places, including an area near a military base next to Chebarkul Lake, west of Chelyabinsk. Another search area is 80 kilometers further to the northwest, near the town of Kusa.

Military units are also searching for possible debris in the neighboring Tyumen region.

Radiation, chemical and biological protection units have been put on high alert. Since the explosion occurred several kilometers above the Earth, a large ground area must be thoroughly checked for radiation and other threats.

At least one piece of the fallen object caused damage on the ground in Chelyabinsk. According to preliminary reports, it crashed into a wall near a zinc factory, disrupting the city's Internet and mobile service.

The Emergency Ministry reported that 20,000 rescue workers are operating in the region. Three aircraft were deployed to survey the area and locate other possible impact locations.

Witnesses said the explosion was so loud that it seemed like an earthquake and thunder had struck at the same time, and that there were huge trails of smoke across the sky. Others reported seeing burning objects fall to earth.

The Urals regional center of the Emergency Ministry claimed it sent out a mass SMS warning residents about a possible meteorite shower. However, eyewitnesses said they either never received it, or got the message after the explosion had already occurred.

Classes for all Chelyabinsk schools have been canceled, mostly due to broken windows. Institute students have been dismissed until next Monday. Authorities also ordered all kindergartens with broken windows to return children to their families.

Police in the Chelyabinsk region are reportedly on high alert, and have begun 'Operation Fortress' in order to protect vital infrastructure.

Office buildings in downtown Chelyabinsk are being evacuated. Injuries were reported at one of the city's secondary schools, supposedly from smashed windows.

An emergency message published on the website of the Chelyabinsk regional authority urged residents to pick up their children from school and remain at home if possible.

Those in Chelyabinsk who had their windows smashed are scrambling to cover the openings with anything available -- the temperature in the city is currently -6°C.

Chelyabinsk regional governor Mikhail Yurevich is urgently returning to the region. Yurevich said that preserving the city's central heating system is authorities' primary goal.

"Do not panic, this is an ordinary situation we can manage in a couple of days," the governor said in and address to city residents.

Background radiation levels in Chelyabinsk remain unchanged, the Emergency Ministry reported.
Posted by: || 02/15/2013 05:17 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yeah, the gubbamint did great things to protect you people, but the internet service let you down, so the warnings came too late. Good thing the air defence boys busted it up so high in the atmoosphere! More funding for air defense and the early-warning folks!
Posted by: Bobby || 02/15/2013 6:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Regnum news agency quoted a military source who claimed that the vapor condensation trail of the meteorite speaks to the fact that the meteorite was intercepted by air defenses.

No, we have no video footage. We do this all the time here in the Urals. You'll simply have to take my word for it.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 6:08 Comments || Top||

#3  This is nothin'. I remember back in '57 we had a real fireball...
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/15/2013 6:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Intercepted by a missle? Horsehockey.It was travel at about 30 kilometers per second.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/15/2013 7:52 Comments || Top||

#5  On of the problems with intercept is target detection. You have to have at least two point to project speed and direction of the incoming target. The equipment has to be fast enough to obtain those two points and then do the calc to tell the missile the intercept location. Those old movie images of rotating radar dishes means that such systems are incapable of executing the function on inbound target traveling beyond a certain speed. Even phased array radars have limitations. That was one of the problems with the original Patriot system in the First Gulf War in getting an intercept calc and launch fast enough to take out incoming SCUDs. Then there's the issue of doing a calc and intercept before the moving target travels beyond range. Unless the Soviets Russians have significantly upgraded their systems, DB is right.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2013 8:26 Comments || Top||

#6  No news from Fox on the Ural Mountain event; trumped by a lengthy Black History Month report featuring COL(Ret) Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr. and a new fitness book by Jillian Michaels.

[Both COL Lawrence and Michaels, absolute great Americans by the way]
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 8:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Intercepted by a missle? Horsehockey.It was travel at about 30 kilometers per second.

I expect the news people to downplay that aspect, even if it happened, because the US missile defense effort is carefully lovingly nerfed to never be able to produce anything (because missile defense is impossible, don'tchaknow) and we don't have ABM's in place to do anything if we're attacked in the continental US. I think there's a half-dozen interceptor missiles in AK, and a half dozen in Californica, and that's it.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/15/2013 8:48 Comments || Top||

#8  ...a large ground area must be thoroughly checked for radiation...

Call me suspicious and paranoid if you must, but I detect the odor of rat. There's no reason to suspect a meteorite of being particularly radioactive. Could just be journalistic ignorance. Could be an anthropogenic meteorite.
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 02/15/2013 9:04 Comments || Top||

#9  From the article:

"It is believed that the incident may be connected to asteroid 2012 DA14, which measures 45 to 95 meters in diameter and will be passing by Earth tonight"

"Believed" by whom?
Posted by: Barbara || 02/15/2013 9:11 Comments || Top||

#10  Could just be journalistic ignorance.

Seems to be an international trait. So many get their education information from Hollyweird movies.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2013 9:27 Comments || Top||

#11  Since the trajectory of this meteor(ite) and the asteroid are completely different it is unlikely to be anything except coincidence.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/15/2013 10:00 Comments || Top||

#12 
Posted by: Beavis || 02/15/2013 10:36 Comments || Top||

#13  another vid of windows and doors blown in.

How do you say in Russian - Meteors why do they hate us? Метеоры Почему они нас ненавидят? (at least according to Google translate)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2013 10:50 Comments || Top||

#14  SMOD
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2013 11:05 Comments || Top||

#15  northern Russia. Why is it always northern Russia?

well ... I mean "always" as in once every hundred years or so. Hahahaha!!!
Posted by: Raider || 02/15/2013 11:14 Comments || Top||

#16  @Beavis
It does look like the opening of a medium budget sci-fi film.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/15/2013 11:18 Comments || Top||

#17  That one shot of it coming straight on would have me needing to change my shorts if I was the driver!

Posted by: DarthVader || 02/15/2013 11:31 Comments || Top||

#18  Why does everyone in Russia have a dash cam?

Because when a meteor coming right at your nose neither surprises the drivers or is the most dangerous part of the commute.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/15/2013 11:37 Comments || Top||

#19  ....because 'insurance' in Russia has a different mechanism which makes our tort lawyers look like two bit hustles. Wait they are.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2013 11:51 Comments || Top||

#20  Angie, as Pappy obliquely mentioned, Chelyabinsk was a closed city under the Soviets with a lot of nuclear R&D work. In 1957 there was a huge explosion that killed hundreds and spread radioactive materials widely.

If I lived there today, I'd want reassurance that this event neither added to nor stirred up more of the same.
Posted by: lotp || 02/15/2013 11:56 Comments || Top||

#21  Thanks for the compliment. I thought it was also the site of their ABM radar or something ABMish. I'll bet they're wondering why the meteor couldn't have picked on Chernobyl.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/15/2013 12:30 Comments || Top||

#22  I watched the video, it WAS NOT SHOT DOWN, IT LANDED NORMALLY.
(Or as "Normal s a meteor usually is)
There's NO vapor trail, and no interrupt in course.
(A hit would make a "Bobble" there is none)

Showmanship, or a downright lie.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/15/2013 12:59 Comments || Top||

#23  The most decorated sniper in US history who went to heaven recently must be up there shootin at the Russians. :)
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 02/15/2013 14:21 Comments || Top||

#24  I'm sure Iranian or North Korean anti-missile defenses saved Russia. Just give them a few hours to photoshop together some evidence and you'll see.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/15/2013 14:42 Comments || Top||

#25  "And this is the best that you - that the government, the U.S. government, can come up with? I mean, you-you're NASA for cryin' out loud, you put a man on the moon, you're geniuses! You-you're the guys that think this shit up! I'm sure you got a team of men sitting around somewhere right now just thinking shit up and somebody backing them up! You're telling me you don't have a backup plan, that these eight boy scouts right here, that is the world's hope, that's what you're telling me?"

Bruce Willis as Harry Stamper
Movie Armageddon

HAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Raider || 02/15/2013 15:40 Comments || Top||

#26  Just seen a very bright meteor over Perth. Perhaps 20 minutes after the asteroid past.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/15/2013 16:05 Comments || Top||

#27  with24
I have seen a couple reports stating that Putin flew up and smashed the meteor into bits moments before impact, saving thousands as well as a horse ranch.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/15/2013 16:37 Comments || Top||

#28  Joe! Joe! Send word, wisdom needed. What does the sky tell you?
Posted by: Shipman || 02/15/2013 17:07 Comments || Top||

#29  Journalists are not strong on science. "CNN anchor Deborah Feyerick asked Bill Nye the Science Guy on her show Sunday if climate change could have had anything to do with the direction of the object's [asteroid's] path."
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/15/2013 17:17 Comments || Top||

#30  They'd better be careful of their lies, IF the Bolide WAS destroyed (Damaged, hit, deflected etc) by a missile, AND IF they bragged about it.

They're responsible for ALL the broken Windows and any other damage.

Watch for a retraction shortly. They won't pay for a damned thing.

Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/15/2013 18:38 Comments || Top||

#31  Iff I am correct, + what I saw were indeed related to this incident, there were actually FOUR SEPARATE FIREBALLS, coming in over Guam-WESTPAC = Agana/Hagatna Bay from different points on the compass as perpendicular to the horizon, but all seemingly heading towards the same strategic point or area somewhere in or over East Asia + Eurasian mainland.

It would appear that at least ONE of the above is what broke up + struck Chelyabinsk.

I believe I heard + felt one distant "boom", one that caused my teeth to suddenly knock together as iff in stuccato, but I'm not absolutely sure iff its related to this Chelyabinsk fireball.

I am NOT convinced that the above or the Chelyabinsk fireball are only "coincidental" = unrelated to DA14 - THE TIMING IS JUST TOO CLOSE/PERFECT??? Iff anything, I suspect that NASA-JPL, etc. made some kind of [embarrassing] Error(s) in their original + follow-on observation, calcs for DA 14.

Lest we fergit, MSM-NET = NASA-JPL claimed that they were "closely monitoring" DA14, + that despite its projected path there will be "no threat", of "impact", or any other any sort to Earth or Humanity. DA 14's FLYBY DIDN'T HAPPEN AS CONFIDENTLY, AS WIDELY, OR AS PROFESSIONALLY ANTICIPATED, NOW DID IT?

IMO the only thing likely to be correct about NASA-JPL's description per the Chelyabinsk fireball is that it may NOT had been the physical DA14 rock per se.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/15/2013 19:04 Comments || Top||

#32  "I have seen a couple reports stating that Putin flew up and smashed the meteor into bits moments before impact"

I sure hope he rememebered to put on his cape inside the telephone booth ... before he leaped up into the sky.

HAHAHA!!!
Posted by: Raider || 02/15/2013 19:18 Comments || Top||

#33  FYI at the speed the four fireballs were moving over Guam-WESTPAC, NOTHING MAN-MADE ON THIS PLANET OR IN THE KNOWN/CURRENT USDOD MISSLE INVENTORY - ICBM OR ABM-BMD OR LASER - COULD HAVE INTERCEPTED OR STOPPED THE SAME IFF THEY WERE TO DE FACTO IMPACT EARTH + INTACT.

Not in Single, Several, Dozens or Score(s), or likely even iff in 00's - 000's or 0,000's MAYBE.

ADVANTAGE = BRUCE WILLIS + BOYZ, iff only NASA-JPL, etc. can GUARANTEE they won't be sideswiped + destroyed by a rock(s) or fragments NASA-JPL Perts missed???

OOOOOOOOPPPPPPPSSS ....

Amers may want to RE-SUBMIT that Petition to POTUS Bammer as per BUILDING A STAR WARS-STYLE "DEATH STAR". Keep resubmitting it until Washington surrenders like France + says "yes".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/15/2013 19:24 Comments || Top||

#34  Damn lamers!

33 comments and not one about Klendathu!

Get with the program!

The only good bug is a dead bug!
Posted by: badanov || 02/15/2013 19:39 Comments || Top||

#35  OWG-NWO "The Govts-Perts Consensus is that there is no Consensus" also applies to EFFECTIVE-N-RELIABLE OWG SPACE DEFENSE + MANAGEMENT.

OR LACK THEREOF.

Ditto as per Peak Resources, Solar Storms, Pulsar, etc.

[COMET APOPHIS + 2030 GUAM, EARTH-VISIBLE MOON EXPLOSIONS here].

To paraph KRAUTHAMMER = SAY IT WID ME, AMERIKKA ...
> COMET APOPHIS = SMALL ROCK; MOON = B-I-G ROCK.
> SHOEMAKER-LEVY NINE = BIGGER-THAN-APOPHIS ROCK, POST SL9 IMPACT JUPITER CHUNKS = BIGGER-THAN-MOON ROCK = EARTH-SIZED? ROCK(S).
> "THIRD SECRET OF FATIMA" RIDERLESS WINGED HORSE
= SUN-DESTABILIZED PLANET MERCURY = PLANET-SIZED ROCK.
> PLANET MERCURY ABOVE = AKA NOT-NIBIRU/PLANET X.
PLANET X???

Since OWG/GG = akin to SPACE GOVT-ORDER, is Washinton really sure they wanna cancel that Death Star???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/15/2013 19:54 Comments || Top||

#36  no word from Boeing as to the status of the latest DreamFryer battery burning tests.......
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 02/15/2013 20:10 Comments || Top||

#37  Meteors and asteroids: What is the difference?
Posted by: tipper || 02/15/2013 20:54 Comments || Top||

#38 
Posted by: linker || 02/15/2013 21:07 Comments || Top||

#39  Thank God for Russian dashboard cams.
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 02/15/2013 21:24 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Is Malaysia turning into a theocratic state?
Posted by: tipper || 02/15/2013 05:12 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't know about Theocratic, per se, but you need to be a special kind of jerk to decide you're not going to put up with Singapore any more.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/15/2013 16:36 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Gerthudion Glitle9360 || 02/15/2013 22:38 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Six suicide bombers attack Bannu police station
BANNU: At least one army officer was injured when around six suicide bombers blew themselves up on a police station in Bannu on Thursday, reported Express News.

Security forces imposed a curfew in the area after the incident and started a search operation.

Police also recovered eight Kalashnikovs, 13 hand grenades and one suicide jacket from the attackers.

Around 50 officers were present inside the station when the attack took place, while more officers were called in for the search operation.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Bannu Nisar Tanoli confirmed that the area was declared clear after the search operation.
Posted by: tipper || 02/15/2013 02:32 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Meteor blast injures more than 100 in Russia
A meteor exploded in the skies above RussiaÂ’s Urals region, creating a shock wave that shattered windows, injuring about 100 people.

The meteor disintegrated over Chelyabinsk at about 7:25 a.m. Moscow time, the local Emergencies MinistryÂ’s division said today on its website. Burning streaks lit up the sky, caught by drivers on dashboard cameras and posted on YouTube.

Billionaire Sergey Galitskiy, chief executive officer of OAO Magnit, said in a post on Twitter, “A serious meteor fell. At our hypermarket in Emanzhelinsk, windows were blown out, the roof shook, there was a strong shock wave.”

As many as 20,000 emergency staff and three aircraft have been deployed in the Urals region, the Emergencies MinistryÂ’s regional division said on its website.

“No further pieces of the meteor are expected to fall,” according to the ministry’s statement.
Posted by: ryuge || 02/15/2013 02:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A likely story.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/15/2013 3:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Well something's hit the ground... Because I hear the russian military claimed it intercepted it I think its not a meteor...
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/15/2013 4:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Given the speeds of meteors (6 miles per seond for the slowest ones) what chances has the Russin military of intercepting one?
Posted by: JFM || 02/15/2013 4:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Video
Posted by: tipper || 02/15/2013 5:37 Comments || Top||

#5  An up-date by the Russian Military said the claim of a missle interception was from local reporters and had no basis in fact. There are now pictures of small impact craters available.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/15/2013 11:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Next on the internet -

Dear Mr. Smith,

We have recently come into possession of valuable meteor fragments, but do not have the means to move the material out of country to fetch a very lucrative return on the international market.....
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2013 11:55 Comments || Top||

#7  I wonder how long it will take for the Meteorite Men to get there.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/15/2013 16:45 Comments || Top||

#8  FREEREPUBLIC Artics say the number of injured is now up to 900 [Fox News + CNBC TV say 1000].

Intehwesting, FREEREPUBLIC AGAIN > RUSSIAN MP CLAIMS IT WAS A WILY DASTARDLY "US BALLISTIC MISSLE TEST".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/15/2013 19:35 Comments || Top||

#9  See also RELATED WAFF > ALIEN ATTACK ON RUSSIA!

Not-ET is coming, not-ET is coming!

On a serious note, the thread's Videos as per the the meteorite's awesome overhead smoke trails is a small or benign indicator of that FRIGHTENINGLY BIGGER-N-BADDER Humanity may witness in coming years + decades.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/15/2013 20:03 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
'The Pilgrims were illegal aliens' [VIDEOS]
Confidential, expensive USDA sensitivity training

Footage of the United States Department of Agriculture's compulsory "Cultural Sensitivity Training" program reveals USDA employees being instructed to refer to the Pilgrims as "illegal aliens" and minorities as "emerging majorities" -- at "a huge expense" to taxpayers.

The video clips were made public Thursday evening by the conservative government accountability group Judicial Watch, which obtained them through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made on May 18, 2012.

The clips star Samuel Betances -- a diversity instructor with Souder, Betances and Associates -- who says in the video that he got his diversity training start under former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. In the clips, Betances instructed USDA employees on the proper thinking about diversity and minorities -- or, as he called them, "emerging majorities."

Between requiring the employees to repeat that "every federal agency has discriminated against African-Americans, Hispanics, Native American Indians and other groups," and a long account of his personal history, Betances encouraged the employees to take note because the presentation is "a huge expense."

"If you take a look at all of you here and you think about your salaries and your benefits and what you have left undone -- plus my fee -- plus the expense of the team that's putting the video together, this is a huge expense," he says in his video.
Posted by: tipper || 02/15/2013 00:55 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Are they Aliens, or are they aliens???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/15/2013 1:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Can't be "illegal" in a place where there were no laws.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/15/2013 3:12 Comments || Top||

#3  The brave work of Samuel Betances is a generational stop-gap measure. His work must continue until total control of the government public education system is achieved and they become effective transmission belts for group-think, victimization, socialism, and communism.

Our next session will permit you to stand up, move around a bit, and become interactive. By a show of hands, how many here are familiar with the Umkhosi Womhlanga dance ?



Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 5:17 Comments || Top||

#4  The Pilgrims as Illegal Aliens

Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/15/2013 6:48 Comments || Top||

#5  What superficial, knowlege-free nonsense! But it's most.y conservatives who read history these days, liberals having gone in for what it pleases them to call 'social studies'... and 'news'.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/15/2013 7:39 Comments || Top||

#6  So the USDA position is that letting in 'illegal aliens' means the locals will lose their land, culture, and country in the end. Sounds more like a dire warning than a denunciation to me.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2013 7:59 Comments || Top||

#7  If the Pilgrims were indeed illegal aliens it really points out the need for stronger border inforcement. What a backwards argument.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/15/2013 14:47 Comments || Top||

#8  "Illegal Alien" > D *** NG IT, I don't recall there being any Thanksgiving Turkey-n-Stuff portrayed in the original MTV '80's Video???

No Squanto or Samoset or Pocahontas either.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/15/2013 23:35 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Malaysia in standoff with suspected Philippine terrorists
Malaysian security forces have surrounded dozens of suspected Philippine terrorists militants in a remote area.

Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said about 80 to 100 gunmen have been cornered in the state of Sabah on Borneo island. He said security forces were negotiating with the men near the small coastal town of Lahad Datu. Hishammuddin said, "We know the situation is still under control. I confirm that no Malaysian citizens, to my knowledge, are being held hostage or for ransom. Security forces are still in control and negotiating with them, some of whom are armed."

He declined to confirm that the gunmen were from the adjacent southern Philippines. But asked whether authorities were involved in negotiations, Hishammuddin said, "Of course they will have to be involved in the operations."

Earlier Thursday, Prime Minister Najib Razak said, "We have surrounded the area and our police and armed forces have the ability to handle the matter." A tight security ring including army and naval forces has been thrown around the "heavily armed" group.

A statement by National police chief Ismail Omar Wednesday had said the men had surrendered when ordered and the situation was defused. The government has not yet explained the about-face.

A Philippine military official said that Manila did not rule out the possibility that the men could be members of the Abu Sayyaf. Philippine southern command military chief Lieutenant General Rey Ardo said, "We have received similar reports but we cannot confirm, nor rule out, whether they are members of the ASG (Abu Sayyaf group). Other lawless elements as well as (Filipino) pirates are also known to stray into Malaysian waters."
Posted by: ryuge || 02/15/2013 00:46 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran Sought Nuclear Parts In China
[AFP] Iran tried to smuggle thousands of specialized magnets through China for its centrifuges, in an effort to speed its path to reaching nuclear weapons capability, according to a new US report.

The report, by a renowned American nuclear scientist, said the operation highlighted the importance of China as a transit point for Iran's nuclear program, and called for sanctions against any Chinese firms involved.

The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) report said an Iranian front company used a Chinese commercial website to try to acquire 100,000 ring-shaped magnets, which it is banned from importing under United Nations
...Parkinson's Law on an international scale...
sanctions, in late 2011.

Two magnets were needed for each of 50,000 first-generation centrifuges used to enrich uranium at Iran's nuclear plants, in a process that Western powers say is designed to build nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

The ISIS report by US scientist David Albright suggested that the operation meant that Iran was trying to "greatly expand" its number of first-generation centrifuges even as it builds more advanced machines.

"China needs to do more to show that it is a responsible member of the global economy," the report said.

"In particular, it should crack down on the efforts of Iranian smuggling networks."

The ISIS said it could not establish whether Iran found a Chinese supplier willing to provide the ring magnets.

The Washington Post, which first reported the ISIS report, quoted a European diplomat with access to intelligence as saying Iran was positioning itself to make swift progress on its nuclear program.

"Each step forward makes the situation potentially more dangerous," the unnamed diplomat was quoted as saying.

The White House would not comment explicitly on the ISIS report but said that it was aware of Iran's "aggressive" efforts to avert UN sanctions.

"The unprecedented international sanctions put in place against Iran are not only designed to crystallize the choice for the Iranian regime regarding its nuclear program, but also to deter and disrupt Iranian procurement of components to support its nuclear program," White House front man Josh Earnest said.

The report will raise new concerns about the extent of progress in Iran's nuclear program, despite international sanctions, which will be at the top of the agenda when President Barack Obama
B.O....
visits Israel next month.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Iran was now closer to crossing the "red line" after which it would be able to build a nuclear weapon but had not yet reached that stage.

It will also raise the stakes for the latest round of talks between world powers and Tehran, due to take place in two weeks.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/15/2013 00:37 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  We;re trying to tell China what to do?
Point out to them what's good for them, and what's bad, and no fakery.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/15/2013 14:46 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Four suspects from rebel raid nabbed in southern Thailand
Security officials arrested four men thought to be involved in the failed terrorist militant attack on a marine base in Narathiwat province Thursday. The arrest came amid warnings that the death of 16 terrorists insurgents killed in the bungled attack would encourage younger Muslims to join the rebel ranks.

Three of the suspects were nabbed while traveling in a pickup truck in Rueso district after police noticed bloodstains on the vehicle's left door. The men were identified as Fader Jaema, Aleeya Latae, and Muhammad Ghadafi Jaena. Another man was arrested while receiving treatment for a bullet wound at the hospital.

Officials are investigating whether they helped other terrorists militants escape after the marine base attack.

Sixteen of about 50 armed terrorists insurgents wearing military uniforms were gunned down in a bloodbath when they tried to storm the base early on Wednesday morning but were surprised by a counter-attack by the marines.

Experts on the far South voiced concern Thursday the Muslim terrorists militants could stir up more violence in reprisals for the deaths of their colleagues.
Oh goody! Concern trolls!
Political scientist Panitan Wattanayagorn, of Chulalongkorn University, said the militant assault was a dangerous sign terrorists rebels have growing confidence and courage to confront state authorities. He said the attack was a well-coordinated effort and that the government must proceed with caution when dealing with terrorists insurgents.
Thanks for your profound analysis, Professor Obvious.
The terrorists militants are expected to seek new recruits to energize the separatist insurgency. The fresh recruits will be led to believe that they will become heroes by following in the footsteps of the 16 dead terrorists militants.

He did not believe the terrorists militants would carry out major revenge attacks anytime soon. The Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) insurgent group may now realize that they have to resort to former tactics such as killing officials in higher positions or kidnapping people for ransom.

The terrorists militants might renew their campaign of violence again during Songkran when state officials lower their guard and get into the festive mood, he said. He said if the terrorists militants had succeeded in their attack on the marine base, this would have had a serious psychological impact on other marine units and local residents.

Sunai Phasuk, a Human Rights Watch researcher, said the death of Maroso Chantrawadee, a terrorist militant leader among the 16 terrorists militants killed during the raid on the marine base, could discourage terrorist militant attacks in the area for some time. Previously, several other terrorists militants were also arrested and some killed. But he warned that terrorist militant violence could escalate in other areas.

Srisomphop Jitpiromsri, a lecturer at Prince of Songkla University, Pattani campus, said the dead terrorists militants have become heroes in the eyes of insurgent sympathisers and their deaths could draw even more sympathy.

A source said the shooting of Narathiwat teacher Chonlathee Charoencho in his school last month was seen as a mistake by the terrorists insurgents. The teacher was popular among local people and his killing prompted them to come forward to give information to state authorities, he said.

Meanwhile, funeral rites held for the dead 16 terrorists militants in Narathiwat's Bacho district were attended by many local villagers, a source who attended the ceremony said.

Many villagers lining the route to a local kubor (Muslim cemetery) carried and passed the coffins along to the burial ground. Villagers chanted prayers in honor of the dead terrorists rebels who were praised as "martyrs" throughout the rite, the source said.

Meanwhile, six soldiers were slightly wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in Narathiwat's Si Sakhon district Thursday morning. The blast was believed to be in revenge for the deaths of the 16 terrorists militants.
Posted by: ryuge || 02/15/2013 00:17 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


Africa North
Opposition forces call for mass demo at Qubba Palace on Friday
[Egypt Independent] Thirty-eight political groups have called for a mass demonstration against President Mohamed Morsy in front of his new offices in Qubba Palace on Friday.

Participating groups include the Alliance of Revolutionary Forces, the Free Front for Peaceful Change, the Dostour Party, the Second Egyptian Revolution of Anger Movement, the Maspero Youth Union and the Revolutionary Youth Union.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the movements said four marches would head to the Qubba Palace, where Morsy has been working to avoid unrest in front of the Ettehadiya Presidential Palace. The marches would start from Sheikh Keshk Mosque in the Hada'eq al-Qubba district, Nour Mosque in Abbasseya, Al-Matarawy Mosque in Matareyya and Al-Alf Maskan Square in Gesr al-Suez.

The statement said the mass protest, called "Checkmate," is a response to Morsy's failure to react to weeks of continuous protests across the country, in which hundreds were killed, injured, detained, beaten and tortured. Morsy relied on the brutality of the security forces to suppress the people's angers instead of responding to their demands, the statement claimed.

Revolutionary Youth Union spokesperson Tamer al-Qady said the protest would follow Morsy to his new location, but that the demonstrations would be peaceful.

Karim al-Saqqa, youth secretary of the National Salvation Front, said the front is not taking part in the demonstration. He said the NSF would take part in other actions instead, such as spreading awareness in underserved areas about the problems with the Brotherhood government.

Jama'a al-Islamiya is organizing a counter mass demonstration of Islamist forces on Friday in front of Cairo University to renounce violence.

At least 58 have been killed across the nation since violent clashes between security forces and protesters broke out during demonstrations marking the anniversary of the 25 January revolution.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Ennahda vows unity as Tunisia impasse lingers
[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisia's ruling Islamist party and three of its allies on Wednesday (February 13th) reiterated their support for a cabinet composed of politicians.

Ennahda, the Congress for the Republic (CPR), Wafa Movement and the Liberty and Dignity bloc issued a joint statement rejecting Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali's proposal for a non-partisan cabinet of technocrats.

"The current stage requires a coalition government open onto parties and independent figures with a large parliamentary, political and popular support," TAP quoted the joint declaration as saying.

The stance directly contradicts a proposal by Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, himself a member of Ennahda. Jebali has threatened to resign if his proposal for a technocrat government is rejected. He originally floated the idea to end the political crisis following the assassination of leftist leader Chokri Belaid.

In view of the growing tensions and disputes within Ennahda, observers believe that the unity of the Islamist party, which withstood shocks under Bourguiba and Ben Ali, is now at risk.

Samir Bettaib, spokesperson for al-Massar Social Democratic Party, said that the dispute between the hard-line wing in Ennahda, represented by Ghannouchi, and the moderate wing led by Jebali and Interior Minister Ali Larayedh, was currently witnessing a truce.

He claimed that this was due to Ghannouchi's interference in the government's work and his obstruction of its activities; something that caused disputes between him and Prime Minister Jebali.

Despite the conflict, Ennahda leaders have vowed to maintain party unity.
"We may be wrong, we may even be criminally stupid but, by Allah! we are unified!" Also, something about shoulder to shoulder forward into the glorious future we go...
"There are always differences and different viewpoints in any democratic movement," Jebali said. "This is what is happening right now in our movement."

For his part, party leader Rachid Ghannouchi said divisions were unlikely in the movement. "God willing, there won't be any splits in Ennahda," he said.

"Ennahda is committed to its institutions and is firm about its unity. However, there is a flow of opinions within it; all opinions are expressed freely and, therefore, I don't believe that Ennahda's unity is threatened," Ghannouchi added.

Internal conflicts have begun to appear within Ennahda since it came to power, according to Riadh Sidaoui, director of the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Analysis.

The most prominent of these conflicts are those between Ennahda leaders in Tunisia and their colleagues overseas, and the provincial conflicts between Ennahda members in southern and inland areas and leaders in coastal areas, the analyst said.

He added that the other conflict that is threatening Ennahda was the division between leaders who lived in Tunisia under Ben Ali's regime and those who lived in exile.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Mauritania strengthens security partnerships
[MAGHAREBIA] Mauritania and Senegal agreed to co-ordinate efforts against terrorism and transnational organised crime, AFP reported on Thursday (February 14th). Mauritanian Foreign Minister Hamady Ould Hamady and his Senegalese counterpart Mankeur Ndiaye announced the security strategy at the conclusion of a two-day meeting in Nouakchott.

In related news, security experts from Europe and the Maghreb region gathered in Nouakchott on Tuesday, for a conference on Mauritania's fight against terrorism.

"Mauritania, which has suffered directly as a result of terrorism, has drawn the attention of its brother nations and friends to the danger posed by this phenomenon and the need to fight it using all available means," Defence Minister Ahmedou Ould Idey Ould said at the event, organised by the Mauritanian Institute for Strategic Studies.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Zardari govt failed to improve Sindh's condition, says Nawaz
[Dawn] Pakistain Mohammedan League -- Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
on Thursday attacked the government saying "President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari
... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ...
's administration" had failed to improve the province's condition in the past five years, DawnNews reported.

Speaking at a public meeting in Naudero, the PML-N chief criticised President Zardari in particular and the Pakistain People's Party (PPP) in general.

Sharif said those who had voted for the PPP had done so 'out of love', however, the province had failed to experience any change for the better.

He said unemployment was at its peak in Sindh, adding that if work had been done on educational institutions, the province's youth would have had degrees in their hands.

The PML-N chief said his party had worked to serve the people in the past, adding that if it was voted into power again, it would work tirelessly for the purpose of public welfare.

Sharif moreover pledged that if his party emerged victorious in the upcoming elections, it would connect Larkana and Naudero through a motorway.

He also criticised the government over the deteriorating law and order situation in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US State Department: John Kerry will not meet Assad
[Ynet] The US State Department spokesperson said that reports that State Secretary John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, the Senate's current foreign policy expert, filling the vacated wingtips of Joe Biden...
intends to meet Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Terror of Aleppo ...
in Damascus
...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations...
are untrue.

The spokesperson called the rumors insane, adding that Kerry has no intentions of visiting Damascus until the Syrian people are on their way to a free and democratic state.
In other words, never. Credit where due, The Smartest Man in the Room made the right call on this one... at least until he changes his mind.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Or did Bashir just not pick up the call?
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 02/15/2013 13:01 Comments || Top||


Africa North
JFK Hails 'Successful' French Intervention in Mali
[An Nahar] U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday praised the "successful" intervention by France to root out Islamic rebels in northern Mali, and urged Malian leaders to organize elections.

Speaking ahead of talks with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, Kerry said Mali would be among issues discussed during their first meeting at the State Department.

"We urge the government to continue the political transition process towards elections and to step up negotiations with the non-extremist groups in the north," Kerry said.

Mali's army is struggling to restore security after a French-led military intervention helped it push out al-Qaida-linked rebels who had seized the country's north last year and brought in strict Sharia Islamic law.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  Kerry, Mind your own F-in business.
You're too damn stupid to Govern. (Or whatever else Obama calls it
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/15/2013 14:38 Comments || Top||

#2  4.3
Posted by: Shipman || 02/15/2013 16:39 Comments || Top||

#3  You'll never be a hero, aboard a PBR
John's gone away, aboard a PBR
Pretty weak, ol John, Pretty weak I say
John's gone away, aboard a PBR
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/15/2013 17:53 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Churches Attacked with Petrol Bombs in Indonesia
[An Nahar] Attackers threw petrol bombs at three churches in central Indonesia Thursday, in the latest assault on religious minorities in the world's biggest Moslem-populated nation.

Police in the south of Sulawesi island reported three consecutive attacks between one and four in the morning, national police front man Agus Riyanto told news hounds.

"As we understand, the attackers threw water bottles filled with flammable materials at the churches," he said, adding that the door of the first church caught fire.

Witnesses managed to put out the flames and the churches were only slightly damaged. No one was hurt, Riyanto said.

Attackers hurled petrol bombs at two other churches over the weekend in Sulawesi.

Parts of the island had a decades-long history of sectarian violence between Moslems and Christians, with thousands killed or displaced, before a 2001 peace agreement.

Two weeks ago a minister in the west of the country's main island of Java was placed in durance vile
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
for three months for holding services at his Pentecostal church. Authorities claimed the church did not have a permit to conduct religious activities there.

In Bekasi city near Jakarta, authorities Thursday sealed a mosque where followers of the Islamic Ahmadiyah sect worship and announced a mayoral decree banning all Ahmadiyah activities in the city.

"We want to remind the (Ahmadiyah) community they cannot worship here," said Asep Syarif Hidayat, head of the Bekasi National Unity, Politics and Social Protection Agency.

Followers of Ahmadiyah do not believe Mohammed was the last prophet and are regarded as heretics by conservative Moslems.

Several regulations have banned them from proselytizing in Indonesia, but the Bekasi decree is the first to place a blanket ban on all the sect's activities.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Twasn't too many weeks ago that Perts on the MSM-Net said jihad could N-O-T happen or occur in Indonesia???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/15/2013 23:22 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Report: N. Korea Upgrading Iranian Rocket Launch Site
[Ynet] Some design features suggest North Korea getting help from Iran to upgrade launch site, US research institute says

North Korea is upgrading one of its two major missile launch sites, apparently to handle much bigger rockets, and some design features suggest it is getting help from Iran, a US research institute said Thursday.

A successful satellite launch in December and a nuclear test on Tuesday, both in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, have intensified concern that North Korea is moving toward its goal of building a bomb small enough to be fitted on an intercontinental missile.

An analysis written for 38 North, the website of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, indicates that North Korea has made significant progress since October in constructing a new launch pad and other facilities at Tonghae, on the country's northeast coast.

The assessment is based on commercial satellite photos, the latest taken in January.

It says design features, including a flame trench covering that protects large rockets from the hot exhaust gases they emit on takeoff, is similar to one at a launch complex in Semnan, Iran, and hasn't been used by the North before.

The analysis also identifies activity at an older launch pad at Tonghae, last used for a long-range rocket in 2009, but says it's unclear if that indicates preparations for another launch there.

38 North estimates that construction at Tonghae's new launch pad could be completed by 2016.

It says tanks installed last fall in support buildings that would be used to store fuel propellant prior to a launch would be big enough for rockets three or four times larger than the Unha.

Analysts doubt the North has yet mastered how to miniaturize a nuclear device to mount on a long-range missile and attain its goal of being able to directly threaten the United States.

"This analysis is just another piece of the puzzle indicating North Korea's intention to field increasingly capable long-range missiles able to carry nuclear warheads," said Joel Wit, a former State Department official and editor of 38 North.

He said it hinted at "the cozy relationship between the North and Iran as both move forward with developing weapons of mass destruction."
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You have to wonder if all this increased actvitity inside N. Korea is just a smokescreen to draw the eyes of the USA away from Iran - while they finish their first A-bomb.
Posted by: Raider || 02/15/2013 12:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Bear in mind that Iran's our enemy, and a whole host of ideas spring to mind.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/15/2013 14:48 Comments || Top||

#3  The DPRK successfully exploding an 8-10 kiloton Nuke Warhead + launching a Military LRBM = DITTO IRAN???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/15/2013 23:24 Comments || Top||


Africa North
In Timbuktu, Al-Qaeda Left Behind A Manifesto
[Ynet] In their hurry to flee last month, al-Qaeda gunnies left behind a crucial document: Tucked under a pile of papers and trash is a confidential letter, spelling out the terror network's strategy for conquering northern Mali and reflecting internal discord over how to rule the region.

The document indicates that al-Qaeda predicted the military intervention that would dislodge it in January and recognized its own vulnerability. The letter also shows a sharp division within al-Qaeda's Africa chapter over how quickly and how strictly to apply Islamic law.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Arabia
Gulf Monarchies Reject 'Provocative' Iran Talks Idea
[An Nahar] The Gulf monarchies on Thursday rejected as a provocation an Iranian proposal to include the Syria crisis and the situation in Bahrain on the agenda of upcoming talks on Tehran's nuclear program.

The head of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Abdellatif Zayani, announced the "total rejection" of the Iranian proposition, calling it "a provocation" and "interference in the internal affairs of Arab states."

He was reacting to comments by Iran's deputy minister for Asian affairs, Abbas Araghchi, who was cited by the Mehr news agency on Tuesday as saying Tehran had "proposed that the crises in Syria and Bahrain be the subject of talks with the Western powers in Kazakhstan."

It was a way of "mixing up the cards", which reflected "Iran's procrastination and lack of seriousness in reaching a settlement that puts an end to regional and international concerns over its nuclear program," Zayani said in a statement.

Iran's charge d'affaires was summoned on Thursday by Bahrain's foreign ministry, where he was handed a note of protest, the official BNA news agency reported.

The Iranian proposal was "an interference in Bahrain's internal affairs and a violation of illusory sovereignty," which "stirs regional tensions and instability," the agency added.

The comments by the Gulf states come less than two weeks before Iran and the so-called P5+1 -- Britannia, China, La Belle France, Russia, the United States and Germany -- are due to resume discussions in Kazakhstan, eight months after they were suspended.

The talks aim to address a key Western concern about Iran's capacity to enrich uranium to fissile purities of 20 percent, a process that can be used for peaceful atomic purposes as well as for making the core of a nuclear bomb.

Relations between Iran and the GCC have plunged to a new low, with Tehran suspected of supporting Shiite opposition protests in Bahrain against the Sunni monarchy.

The Islamic Theocratic Republic is also a staunch ally of Syria's Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
, while the Gulf monarchies are key backers of the rebels in the conflict that has raged for almost two years and cost tens of thousands of lives.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Africa Subsaharan
Thousands Flee Central African Rebels for DR Congo
[An Nahar] More than 8,500 refugees have fled the Central African Republic for the Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo or Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
since last week for fear of attacks by rebels, a Congolese official said Thursday.

Between February 7 and 13, "8,646 people have fled Mobaye", a Central African border town close to positions held by the rebel Seleka coalition, which signed a peace accord with the government last month, Willy Isekusu, local district commissioner for DR Congo's North Ubangi province, told Agence La Belle France Presse.

"According to several sources, we now have more than 11,000 Central African refugees in several parts of North Ubangi", added Simplice Kpandji, a front man for the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
' refugee agency in Kinshasa.

A large number of the refugees are children, many of them unaccompanied, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

U.N. agencies on Thursday began an evaluation mission, mainly to consider setting up a humanitarian site and establish a crossing place for the refugees. Many of those who have fled are being hosted by Congolese families.

Refugees started crossing the Oubangui river, which forms part of the 800-kilometer (500-mile) border, on February 7 to flee shooting blamed on the Seleka coalition, which last Friday acknowledged that there had been an incident but said it was over.

Isekusu said at the time that the shooting had rapidly stopped, but added that it was "fear of the unknown" which was driving refugees into neighboring DR Congo.

On Wednesday, Isekusu said the exodus was still going on because of person or persons unknown who were looting and carrying out atrocities.

Forces of the Seleka -- which means "alliance" -- took up arms against President Francois Bozize's regime in mid-December and came within striking distance of the capital Bangui in the unstable and impoverished country.

Leaders in the central African region helped to bring about peace talks, which led to an accord in Gabon's capital Libreville on January 11. Under that agreement, Seleka members were granted posts in a national unity government.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IDF Shoots Palestinian Crowd Near Gaza Border Fence
[Ynet] IDF soldiers fired at Paleostinians crowding near the Gazoo border fence in the southern Strip after they did not heed their calls to disperse. According to the IDF, one Paleostinian was fired upon after attempting to sabotage the fence.

According to Paleostinian sources, two men were maimed; one suffered a moderate to serious chest injury, the other a moderate injury to his hand.
Lather, rise, repeat... until they find a new game to play.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  what's the F'n message? Stay away from the Fence. Same as sticking your AK in an electrical outlet
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2013 0:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Paleos beggining to forget the last lesson.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/15/2013 6:22 Comments || Top||

#3  It's quite hared actually to find it in your heart to feel sorry for the obviously Stupid. Two and two is four. The Sky is Blue.
Posted by: Threater Flusoper9823 || 02/15/2013 7:07 Comments || Top||

#4  "Paleos beggining to forget the last lesson."

Can't forget what they never learned, grom.
Posted by: Barbara || 02/15/2013 8:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Yes they can---how do you think they've survived for so long? But the lesson needs to be hard and frequently reapplied.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/15/2013 11:55 Comments || Top||

#6  At least the IDF isn't shooting at their legs anymore.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/15/2013 14:25 Comments || Top||

#7  Well, there is the theory that maiming them creates more of a burden on their society. They have to spend resources to take care of the guy. But if he's dead that's just one less mouth they have to feed.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/15/2013 15:49 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Authorities See Salafi Groups Popping Up Everywhere Inside Russia
The Russian government has been forced to admit it is worried not only about IslamÂ’s proliferation in the North Caucasus, but also about the proliferation of ideas of the North Caucasian militants spreading to other regions of Russia. Russian authorities are trying to prevent the spread of jihadi ideas above all in the Volga region, and regard it as the weakest link in the chain of affected areas of the Russian Federation

The government’s latest strike hit a Muslim group in St. Petersburg. On February 8 and 9, a large-scale police operation targeting radical Muslim groups was conducted in various parts of the city. The Federal Security Service (FSB) and police used significant manpower to carry out this operation. The building of the Main Investigative Office for St. Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region alone processed 271 Muslims who were arrested during the operation. Reports of the total number of people detained varied, with some estimates as high as 700 people. This suggests that an astoundingly large police action was carried out in the city sometimes referred to as the northern capital of the Russian Federation. A police press release stated the operation was “aimed at searching for and detaining persons who may be involved in terrorist and extremist activities”.
Posted by: Water Modem || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  An advantage of KGB education over an Ivy League one.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/15/2013 6:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Ditto as per CHINA.

As said before, its no longer the US-VS-CHIna in Asia-Pacific, but its now US-VS-CHINA-VS-NUCLEAR-ISLAM [Nukulaar, that is].

The only questionne' is whether Radical Islam's Hard Boyz will attack + overcome China before they attack the US.

What part of "ITS THE 'G-L-O-B-A-L' IN "GLOBAL JIHAD/MOHAMMEDDAN CONQUEST" did we not understand???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/15/2013 19:31 Comments || Top||


Arabia
France wants to sanction Iran over Yemen arm smuggling
[Yemen Post] Amid further reports in the press establishing Iran's guilt over the alleged smuggling into Yemen of a cargo of weapons, La Belle France expressed "its concerns," and desire to pursue the matter right through the UN Sanctions Committee.

On January 28th, Sana'a confirmed in an official statement the seizure of the ship, saying it had found in the cargo hull -- surface to air missiles, C4 military-grade explosives, 122-millimeter shells, rocket-propelled grenades and bomb-making equipment, including electronic circuits, remote triggers and other hand-held explosives --

It was soon established the surface-to-air missiles were Iranian-made Misagh-2, as for most of the weapons found on board of the ship.

While high ranking officials -- Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi and Yemen National Agency Chief, Ali Hassan al-Ahmadi -- affirmed Iran was to blame, calling on the UN Security Council to begin an inquiry ahead of possible sanctions, other intelligence sources announced the shipment of weapons had been meant for the Free Syrian Army and not the Houthis - Yemen Shiite rebel group based in the northern province of Sa'ada -

Moreover, the Jihan initial port of departure was in Ukraine, not Iran, making the link to Tehran somewhat of a stretch.

As tensions are running high with calls from Sana'a for Tehran to stay away and not meddle within its internal affairs, Iran Foreign Ministry fought back, refuting in block the accusation and warning such baseless and grave accusations would have negative repercussions on Yemen-Iran relations.

Several politicians remarked that similar accusations had been directed at Turkey some two months ago, when several containers hiding weapons were found by the Customs Authorities.

"I remember the government jumping to conclusions when Turkey was accused of facilitating the import of illegal weapons into Yemen ... And even though no forensic evidence other then conjectures were there to back such accusations, Turkey was put on the spot and its government had to intervened.

Iran is in the same position now, except for the fact that the UNSC seems to find its guilt politically agreeable and convenient," said a military official under cover of anonymity.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Africa Horn
Goverment Troops Take Over Lower Shabelle Region
[Shabelle] the government of republic of Somalia has now taken over a village which is situated in lower shabelle. Namely Mubaarak and Janaale village. The district police boss visited the area to congratulate the forces for their hard work.

Mubaarak falls under northern part of Awdhigley in the region of lower shabelle and janaale falls under east side of Qoryoole.

Fear increased in lower shabelle especially qoryoole and General Abdulilah Osman Agey said that we are in front line to fight and eradicate this fear out of their citizen.

The resident of Qoryoole who spoke with shabelle radio said that some of Al shabab members have left the town while others are still in the city with low profile recognition and the government are trying their best to make all end meet so that there citizen will fill free.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Arabia
28 Egyptians detained in terrorism cases in Saudi Arabia, says ambassador
[Egypt Independent] One thousand Egyptians in Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
have been implicated in terrorist cases, with 28 currently locked away
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
pending investigations, and the rest already indicted, said Saudi Ambassador to Cairo Ahmed al-Qattan on Thursday.

"They might be extradited to Egypt to serve their sentences here," he said, adding that Saudi laws are applied to everyone without exception, whether citizens or foreign nationals.

Qattan claimed that the 2 million-strong Egyptian community in Saudi Arabia is the "most disciplined" among foreign communities there, and that they seldom violate the law.

"The number of Egyptians in Saudi Arabia exceeds 2 million people, and the number of Egyptians in Saudi prisons does not exceed 1,000 people," he said on Wednesday.

Qattan's statements came during his meeting with Pope Tawadros II to congratulate him on his ordination.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Africa Horn
Iran denies shipping arms to Islamist militants in Somalia
[Shabelle] Iran has denied allegations that it has been supplying Islamist forces of Evil in Somalia with weapons, describing the charges as "absurd fabrications," according to a letter obtained by Rooters on Thursday.

As the United States pushes for an end to the U.N. arms embargo on Somalia, U.N. monitors following Somalia sanctions are warning that Islamist forces of Evil in the Horn of Africa nation are receiving weapons from distribution networks linked to Yemen and Iran, diplomats told Rooters.

According to the latest findings by the U.N. Security Council's monitoring group, which tracks compliance with U.N. sanctions on Somalia and Eritrea
...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age. ...
, most illicit arms are coming into northern Somalia -- that is, the autonomous Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
and Somaliland regions -- after which they are moved farther south into strongholds of Islamist al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
hard boys.

"The allegations of arm transfers from Iran to Somalia are absurd fabrications and have no basis or validity," Iran's U.N. mission wrote to the U.N. Security Council in a letter obtained by Rooters. "Thus it is categorically rejected by the Government of the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran."

"It is unfortunate that the Monitoring Group has, in an obvious irresponsible manner, put such unfounded allegations and strange fabrications in its report, without first bothering itself to communicate them to my Government," Iran's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee wrote to the council.

"It is further regrettable that the content of the report is leaked to the media for propaganda purposes," he wrote. "This malicious campaign, which is done in the name of the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
, endangers the credibility of the Security Council along with that of the United Nations."

SOMALI NETWORKS

The monitoring team's concerns about Iranian and Yemeni links to arms supplies for al-Shabaab forces of Evil come as Yemen is asking Tehran to stop backing gangs on Yemeni soil. Last month the Yemeni coasties and the U.S. Navy seized a consignment of missiles and rockets the Sanaa regime says were sent by Iran.

According to the monitoring group, the supply chains in Yemen that provide al-Shabaab with arms are largely Somali networks, council diplomats said on condition of anonymity.

Yemen is just across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia's northern coast, making it easy to move all kinds of goods -- legal and illegal -- from the Middle East into Somaliland and Puntland.

Iran's U.N. mission also wrote to the council regarding the allegations about the ship containing arms bound for Yemen. It denied responsibility for those weapons.

"It has been further claimed that the items seized on board ... the ship were produced in Iran," Khazaee wrote in a separate letter to the council. "Even if some of these items were made in Iran, this does not provide any evidence that Iran was involved in the shipment of arms to Yemen."

U.N. Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
has said the 15-nation council should consider lifting the arms embargo to help rebuild Somalia's security forces and consolidate military gains against the al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab hard boys.

It is a position that has the strong backing of the United States, which is pushing for an end to the 21-year-old U.N. arms embargo. The Security Council imposed it in 1992 to cut the flow of arms to feuding warlords, who a year earlier had ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and plunged Somalia into civil war.

La Belle France and Britannia oppose lifting the arms embargo for the government, U.N. diplomats say, and would prefer a more gradual easing of the restrictions on arms sales to Somalia's government.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Iran denies nuclear program

Iran denies cyber attack

Iran denies shipping arms

MSM denies laziness in writing Iran headlines
Posted by: American Delight || 02/15/2013 4:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Iran denies (Lies) about everything, there that covers it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/15/2013 18:57 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Armed Forces apologize for 'accidentally' killing 13-year-old boy
[Egypt Independent] Ahmed Mohamed Ali, a spokesperson for the Armed Forces, apologized publically for the "accidental" fatal shooting of 13-year-old street vendor Omar Salah on 3 February.

The teen was killed near the US Embassy in Cairo after being shot by security forces during clashes sparked by the second anniversary of the 25 January revolution.

Ali claimed that the soldier fired his weapon by mistake during a routine inspection.

Ali added the soldier who shot him is being investigated and alleged that the boy's family has waived their right to seek justice through the courts.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  the boy's family has waived their right to seek justice through the courts.

Wonder how much THAT cost.

AND are they planning Out of Court relief, (Make sure your insurance is paid up)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/15/2013 14:34 Comments || Top||


Government
White House Raises Stakes in Hagel Showdown
[An Nahar] The White House raised the stakes Thursday in its battle to appoint a new defense secretary, accusing Republican politicians blocking the appointment of sending a bad signal to U.S. war allies.
Appointing a dope to be Sec Def sends what kind of signal again?
Appointing yet another antisemitic, terrorist-loving dope sends what kind of signal? (FIFY)
President Barack Obama
In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died -- an entire town destroyed...
's choice for the post, former senator Chuck Hagel, must be confirmed by the Senate and a senior Democrat told Agence La Belle France Presse he was not sure his side had the votes to overcome an almost unprecedented filibuster.

White House front man Joshua Earnest said the delay had jeopardized Hagel's planned appearance at a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
ministerial meeting next week in Brussels with U.S. NATO allies to discuss the pull-out from Afghanistan.

"It is difficult to explain to our allies exactly why that is happening. It also sends a signal to our men and women in uniform," Earnest said.

"We need our new defense secretary to
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "It is difficult to explain to our allies exactly why that is happening. It also sends a signal to our men and women in uniform," Earnest said.

No need to "explain" anything. Simply send Panetta or the General Allen's replacement. Had you not pulled General Allen out, you could have sent him! No need to make excuses or apologize for our constitutional process.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 4:37 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: junkiron || 02/15/2013 7:26 Comments || Top||

#3  It is difficult to explain to our allies
...because you know our allies are really stupid and can't understand anything or anyone which is why we have to tell them what to do.
Posted by: Alanc || 02/15/2013 8:45 Comments || Top||

#4  The difficult thing to explain is why our allies should make concessions to Champ when he's clearly speeding down the road to irrelevance.
Posted by: Iblis || 02/15/2013 12:08 Comments || Top||

#5  I suspect most of our allies are curious why Hagel was put up in the first place.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/15/2013 14:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Hagel is a Pub. The Pubs don't support him but the Donks do. Go figure. I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere and ended up down the rabbit hole.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/15/2013 17:30 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Trader among four shot dead in Karachi
[Dawn] Four people were rubbed out in different localities of the city on Wednesday, police said.

They said that a trader was rubbed out and another maimed in an armed attack inside the wholesale fruit and vegetable market, better known as New Sabzi Mandi, off the Superhighway.

Two men riding a cycle of violence entered the market, opened fire on two vegetable traders, Tai Jan and Abdul Hameed, and escaped.

The maimed were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where Tai Jan, 38, was declared dead, while the second victim was admitted for treatment.

Sohrab Goth DSP Qamar Ahmed said that the dear departed originally hailed from Swat
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
and it appeared that he was targeted due to some personal enmity.

Following the incident, traders came outside the market and blocked traffic on the main Superhighway in protest against the killing. However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning...
after negotiations with the police they dispersed peacefully.

The president of the fruit and vegetable market, Haji Shahjahan, alleged that a Rangers van was parked at the market, but despite hearing gunshots the Rangers did not intervene.

Trader killed in 'sectarian' attack
The owner of a wholesale commodity shop was rubbed out in Gulistan-e-Jauhar on Wednesday evening.

Police said that assailants entered the shop in Gulistan-e-Jauhar's Block-17 near the City Bakery, fired at its owner Anwar Abbas and fled. The victim was rushed to a nearby private hospital where he died. He suffered two bullet wounds in the head and chest, the police said.

The police suspected that the killing might have driven by a sectarian motive.

Tension gripped the locality following the killing.

Two found rubbed out in old city area
The body of a young man was found in the old city area on Wednesday.

Police said that unknown men threw out the body from a moving rickshaw in the Bihar Colony within the remit of the Chakiwara cop shoppe and fled.

The body was taken to the Civil Hospital where the victim was identified as Mohammad Noman, 28. He had been shot in the head.

The police said that the victim used to hang out with some Lyari
...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot....
gangsters and he might have killed on suspicion of being a police informer.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Esquimeau village our hero was receiving a quick lesson in aeronautics......
the body of another man, identified as Muhammad Anwar, 24, was found in a garbage dump near a park in the Kharadar area.

The police shifted the body to Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
for a post-mortem examination.

The victim sustained multiple bullet wounds. He was a resident of Kharadar.

Woman killed
The body of a young woman, bearing severe torture marks, was found in her house in Qasba Colony within the remit of the Pirabad cop shoppe on Wednesday.

Police said that she was identified as Salma, 25, wife of Abdul Ghaffar.

The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination to know the cause of her death.

The police said that they were looking for her husband who was missing.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Sectarian threat to polls
[Dawn] THE brutal killing of a leading lawyer in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
last Friday, apparently for his belief, should awaken everyone who wields any authority in Pakistain to the dangerous consequences of the continued failure to address the root causes of sectarian violence in the country.

The liquidation of Malik Jrar Husain, a soft-spoken, non-controversial lawyer and a prominent campaigner for human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
, is the latest in a series of high-profile sectarian killings in Peshawar. Earlier, some weeks ago, two senior doctors, one an eye specialist and the other a gastroenterologist, had been rubbed out. And an additional sessions judge barely survived a bullet injury.

It is said that Mr Jrar Husain was being considered for elevation to the high court bench. At a time when scores of posts of high court judges are said to be lying vacant in the country for want of qualified candidates his death is doubly painful. One wonders whether Peshawar is becoming another Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, where the assassination of prominent professionals seems to have resumed.

A month has passed since the nation-wide protest against the Jan 10 massacre of the Hazara Shias in Quetta had rattled the powers that be and the Raisani ministry had been sent packing. Mercifully, no major incident has been reported from Quetta since then, although one wonders why the law-enforcement agencies, that were in command even before the imposition of governor raj, had failed to establish order earlier.

Elsewhere, however, the monster of sectarian violence has been taking its toll. Only the other day two religious scholars were killed in Bloody Karachi. Earlier, 27 people were killed in a blast outside a mosque in Hangu. The attacks on Eid Milad processions at some places in Punjab indicate that the virus of sectarian intolerance has also spread to the villages.

Notwithstanding the imposition of governor rule in Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
, the shock caused by the Quetta massacre and the bereaved families' refusal to bury the dead for four days has scarcely galvanised the state and society into action against the menace of sectarianism.

What makes the situation especially serious and disquieting is the fact that the administration is still treating assassinations for sectarian differences wholly as a law and order matter and that too in a narrow sense. The emphasis continues to be on increasing the ring of security for vulnerable communities and individuals. An example is the federal interior minister's assurance to the president of the Jafaria Alliance that additional security was being provided to the Hazaras in Balochistan. The public has not been taken into confidence as to what 'additional security' means.

The complaint that even the task of catching the culprits responsible for the major incidents of sectarian bloodshed is not carried out does not seem to be baseless. The organizations behind the killing of the Hazara Shias and quite a few members of other sects in Balochistan have been known for many years. One of them made its plans to exterminate the Hazara Shias known in advance. The statement that the organization to which the killer gangs belonged was banned long ago is meaningless. For one thing the new identity acquired by the outlawed organization is known to the authorities, and for another the relevant laws do not exempt persons belonging to banned outfits as well as those committing crimes after their organizations are banned.

Besides, no action has been reported against the instigators of sectarian violence. A great deal of literature is published year after year that causes hatred among the various religious sects. Suppression of such activity was one of the primary objectives of the law designed to deal with terrorism and sectarian violence, an objective that, for all practical purposes, seems to have been discarded. Those having access to pulpits and possessing public address systems continue to preach hatred, extol violence and incite impressionable youth to murder anyone who does not share their belief.

That sectarian madness cannot be cured by courts and law-enforcement agencies is now a cliché. Yet alternative strategies are not developed to answer the need for a battle of minds that the situation demands. The recent accord in Bloody Karachi between two religious organizations belonging to different sects for a joint protest against fratricide was welcome but they need to do much more to promote inter-sect harmony.

The problem with initiatives for a better understanding between different sects and mutual tolerance of one another is that exchange of views and making of compacts are limited to leaders/scholars of the parties involved; the process is not carried to the grassroots. Ordinary members of the different communities, especially in the vast countryside, get messages of inter-sect goodwill in bits and pieces through the media or intermediaries and often remain unconvinced. There is great need for the leaders of the various sects to address, jointly as well as separately, their followers in towns and villages.

One does not know whether it is possible to persuade the Learned Elders of Islam of various inclinations to concentrate on the elements of unity in Islamic thought instead of excommunicating all those who wish to seek salvation from one of the many other legitimate paths open to them. The reason is that often sectarian exclusivity is pursued for worldly gains. Separate mosques, madressahs and debating caucuses are built and organised as a means to acquire power over ordinary people and also to harness methods of better living. Often the arguments for sectarian peace and harmony fail to break the rock of material interest. And now sectarian controversies are politically motivated as well.

A nation-wide effort by religious scholars as well as lay persons and civil society activists to keep sectarian forces out of politics is urgently needed during the run-up to the general election. One can already see growing polarisation in society, and political and religious parties, along sectarian proclivities. There are grounds for apprehension that certain elements might exploit sectarian differences to undermine the democratic character of elections. The danger of violence too cannot be ruled out. That will be a great disservice to both religion and politics and, as in the case of nuclear fallout, the next generation of none of the sects will escape the dehumanising effect.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexican media executive denies censorship agreement with government

For a map, click here

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A Zacatecas state based newspaper executive denied Thursday that any agreement to "censor crime news" between him and the state government of Zacatecas had been signed, according to Mexican news accounts.

La Jornada news daily reported last Wednesday that Luis Enrique Mercado Sanchez had signed an agreement with Zacatecas governor Miguel Alonso Reyes that would reduce front page reporting of violent crime incidents in news media.

Another media executive, identified as owner of local Zacatecas radio stations Estereo Plata and La Super G, Juan Enriquez Rivera, has also signed the agreement, according to the report. Mercado Sanchez is CEO of two newspapers, Imagen and El Centinela, and a former federal deputy with Partido Accion Nacional (PAN).

The agreement dubbed Por Nuestra Image or For Our Image was characterized in the La Jornada article as an initiative intended stop prominent display of bloodshed on newspaper front pages or electronic media.

The next day, however, Mercado Sanchez told Animal Politico news that no agreement existed that would stop the publication of crime news or photographs on his publications.

According to the translation, Mercado Sanchez said, "The perception out there today is that Zacatecas is ruled by violence, and that's not true," adding, "We think that we as a newspaper (should) change that perception, and we therefore simply voluntarily announce that we will stop publishing sensationalist news on the front page."

"There is no agreement with the government of Zacatecas, nor signed any documents," said Mercado Sanchez, according to the translation.

A news account of the meeting of business executives which appeared on the website of NTR Zacatecas news daily last Monday, said that among the issues discussed was the image of Zacatecas as a violent state because of violent crime. The initiative called for media businesses to change how crime news is reported in Zacatecas state, so as to improve the public image of the state.

During that conference Mercado Sanchez told the panel that newspapers should refrain from displaying violent crime news on the front page and place the news in sections such as Police or Security "where it where belongs," he is quoted as saying. He also noted a drop in violent crime in the state in year over year statistics.

Governor Alonso Reyes was in attendance and publicly endorsed the initiative.

According to an APRO wire dispatch which appeared on the website of El Diario de Coahuila, Governor Alonso Reyes is promoting his own publicity program he calls Hablar bien de Zacatecas, or "Speak well of Zacatecas". Alonso Reyes denied in the report that Por Nuestra Imagen was a gag rule for the press.

The notion that crime news in Mexico would be censored has appeared in the news before. The Mexican federal security apparatus is bound by laws which require full detailing of raids and arrests. However, according to news accounts, Mexican federal officials announced last month that they would alter the way crime news would be presented, including a ban on the use of aliases and a ban on press accompanying counternarctoics raids.

Colima governor Mario Anguiano Moreno told the local press in his state last month that agreements had been made between his state and federal officials which would in effect censor the news by reporting only on incidents when deemed "necessary".

Whether such agreements exist are in question, and would run counter to the latest laws and requirements placed on the Mexican national Secretaria de Gobernacion (SEGOB) or Interior Ministry by the Chamber of Deputies, which require monthly publicly displayed reports on counternarcotics activities of the Mexican federal security services, including the Policia Federal, now operating as a sub agency of SEGOB, as well as Mexico's military.

It has been reported in the Mexican press that SEGOB has been obsessed with secrecy in its dealings with state officials, going so far in one official conference in Chihuahua last month as taking the cell phones of the governors and their staffs in attendance.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No more an agreement than that which exists in the Beltway between the media and the White House. Strange, however, in that some things never get mentioned or covered in the media though.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2013 8:34 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Rebels capture airport near Aleppo, seize Syrian MiG fighter-jets
NICOSIA — For the first time, Sunni rebels have captured Syrian Air Force fighter-jets.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels seized a military airport in the northern province of Aleppo. In a statement on Feb. 12, the London-based opposition group said the rebels also captured MiG fighter-jets stations at the airport in Jarrah.“The rebels seized dozens of fighter-jets, most of them MiG-17s, and others that included the Sukhoi and L-39,” Syrian Observatory said.

Western analysts said the statement appeared to refer to the Mi-17 utility helicopter, also used in strikes on rebel strongholds. The L-39 is a trainer and light attack aircraft supplied by the Czech Republic.
Posted by: Water Modem || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Captured is not exactly the same as being able to fly them.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/15/2013 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Surely anyone can take off, assuming the thing is fueled and the battery isn't run down, SteveS. It's what happens afterward that gives guardian angels grey hair. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/15/2013 7:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Capturing these aircraft will deny Pencilneck's forces control of airspace even if no one can fly them. If any pilots have defected to the rebels, they may actually have air support. There is still the problem of keeping the aircraft maintained and in a state of readiness.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/15/2013 8:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Dang, that looks just like an Iranian F-313 air superiority fighter...
Posted by: Steve White || 02/15/2013 9:27 Comments || Top||

#5  even if you have a pilot it isn't such a good idea to take off without checking the engine, instruments, etc.
Posted by: lord garth || 02/15/2013 9:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Pilots would need to be trained and checked out on each captured aircraft.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/15/2013 10:23 Comments || Top||

#7  Looks like a boneyard to me.
Posted by: gromky || 02/15/2013 13:34 Comments || Top||

#8  Agree boneyard, but the 2 in the barn still have air in the tires and the tarps are some effrot at preservation ( keeping bird poop off)
probably worth it for these guys to put a round through the engine.
Al-DavisMothan
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 02/15/2013 20:03 Comments || Top||

#9 
Posted by: Gerthudion Glitle9360 || 02/15/2013 22:06 Comments || Top||


Africa North
'Fundamentalist Island' Harbors Mali Rebels, Locals Say
[An Nahar] Boncana Amadou, the 93-year-old chief of the village of Kadji in northern Mali, points a worn finger toward the Niger river and a strip of land down the middle that locals call "Fundamentalist Island".

"Do you see that there?" Amadou says. "Those are Malian fundamentalists living there, and they've been sheltering Islamists from MUJAO."

MUJAO is the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, one of three armed Islamist groups that seized Mali's vast desert north for 10 months before a French-led military campaign launched on January 11 forced them from the towns under their control.

MUJAO's stronghold was Gao, the largest city in northern Mali, which the fighters from the al-Qaeda offshoot have continued attacking with suicide kabooms and a street battle in recent days.

Kadji sits some 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Gao.

A village of around 6,000 people, it is divided between the high river bank and an island below, straddling a strand of the Niger with no bridge between the two parts.

Locals say the island is inhabited by several hundred members of an Islamic fundamentalist movement called Ansar Sunna (Faithful to God's Word).

"That part of my village has escaped my control," says Amadou, sitting in front of a mud hut.

Ansar Sunna was founded more than 25 years ago and preaches a "radical Islam", says Mamadou Adama, deputy mayor of the district that includes Kadji and 12 other villages.

"Today it has spread all around this region," Adama says.

Ansar Sunna requires women to wear full veils -- a practice uncommon among Mali's 90-percent Mohammedan population -- separates men and women during the daytime, has only Koranic schools, forbids smoking and denies public health workers access to the island to vaccinate children, locals say.

Bossou, a cousin of the village chief who has visited the island, says men with guns guard the entrance to the collection of mud huts where its residents live.

There is also a combat training camp on the east side of the island, he says.

"Most of the (MUJAO) recruits in this region come from the island. There are Nigeriens, Ivorians, Nigerians, Senegal
... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees...
ese and Malians there," says Ibrahim Toure, another district official.

He and other witnesses say MUJAO fighters are hiding out in Kadji.

"A boat took them all to the island... with 13 cases of ammunition," he says.

"That island is where Islamist fighters departed from to go attack the cop shoppe in Gao" on Sunday, he adds -- a street battle that lasted several hours and killed at least three civilians, according to hospital sources.

Three Islamists were killed in the fighting and three Malian soldiers lightly maimed, the defense ministry says.

The Malian army came to Kadji two weeks ago but took no action against the training camp on the island, according to the village council.

Mali's army, which is under-equipped and deeply divided, suffered a string of humiliating defeats by the rebels before La Belle France stepped in.

Ousman Cisse, a teacher from Kadji who now lives in Gao, says he fears Salafist tough guys will keep staging attacks up and down the Niger, which cuts a large arc through northern Mali, unless their base on the island is eliminated.

"They're going to use it as their launch pad for all their operations. From that island, by boat, you can go more than 200 kilometers throughout the region," he says.

"They're capable of anything," says Oumar, a nurse's aide in Gao, who asks that his last name not be used. "That Fundamentalist Island needs to be destroyed as soon as possible."
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  "That Fundamentalist Island needs to be destroyed as soon as possible."

ARCLIGHT!!!!
Posted by: Pappy || 02/15/2013 11:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Long day Pappy?
AB is still on strike.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/15/2013 16:40 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Mystery surrounds Iranian Guards commander's death
[FRANCE24] At a funeral service in the Iranian capital of Tehran on Thursday, footage broadcast on state TV showed mourners bearing the flag-draped coffin of a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards' commander whose killing has underscored the involvement of the powerful Iranian force in the Syrian conflict.

Iranian media and official statements provided two different names of the dear departed man, highlighting the murky nature of the workings of the Revolutionary Guards Corps -- or Pasdaran, as it's commonly called.

The semiofficial Fars news agency identified the slain commander as Gen. Hassan Shateri and said he was in charge of reconstruction projects in southern Leb.

But an official statement issued by the Iranian embassy in Leb identified him as engineer Hussam Khoshnevis and denounced the "terrorist attack" that killed him. In Leb, the Hezbollah-owned Al Manar TV also identified him as Khoshnevis.

The discrepancy suggests that Shateri was probably undercover as a civilian official at the Iranian embassy in Beirut.

Official Iranian statements were vague about the circumstances of his death, with Fars reporting that Shateri was killed on Wednesday on the road linking Damascus
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
with Beirut. The news agency blamed "mercenaries and supporters'' of Israel.

However a Syrian opposition commander told Rooters he was killed in an attack by rebel fighters near the Syrian town of Zabadani close to the Lebanese border.

There was little doubt however, that the dear departed was an important figure in the Iranian security establishment.

"This is a very senior Iranian official, several media reports indicate that he was responsible for the al Quds force in Leb," said FRANCE 24's Beirut correspondent Selim El Meddeb.

The al Quds force is an elite, special operations unit within the Revolutionary Guards.

High-ranking Iranian figures attending Thursday's service, included Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, Revolutionary Guards chief Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari and al Quds head, Gen. Ghasem Soleimani.

This article starring:
Hassan Shateri
Hussam Khoshnevis
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Mossad learned that before you can kill them, you have to know ALL of their names, nicknames, aliases and official titles.

Once you wade through that morass of misinformation and silliness, locating and killing them is pretty easy.

Now remember if the fatal wounds are anywhere but at the base of the skull or the eyes, it was probably a war wound. If it was a KGB style kill shot, then it was Mossad and that is what has all of the Iranian newspapers and hierarchy wetting their pants about.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 02/15/2013 13:04 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Explosions Target Political Security Office, Governor's Residence in Yemen
[Yemen Post] Unknown gunnies detonated two bombs at the political security building and governor's residence in Yemen's Baidha province on Thursday, a day after two kabooms hit the political security office and a military camp in Dhamar province, local security sources said by telephone.

One of the bombs was thrown at the gate of governor Al-Dhahiry Al-Shaday and several adjacent homes were damaged, the sources said, adding that the second bomb exploded at the political security office at dawn. There have been no reports of casualties from both attacks.

The Yemeni army has recently launched an offensive against Al-Qaeda in Baidha that was ceased under a tribal mediation by elders who told the government they can convince the Islamic fascisti to leave the Rada city. The army is also seeking to release three Europeans who were kidnapped in Sanaa in December and handed to Al-Qaeda in Baidha.

Lately, leader of the Rada Islamic fascisti visited the capital Sanaa and met with bigwigs on the battles and the release of the two Finns and Austrian.

The outcomes of the talks have not been announced.

However,
a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package...
unconfirmed reports have emerged that President Abdrabu Mansour Hadi had told the leader Abdul Ra'ouf Al-Dhahab that he and his relatives with links with Al-Qaeda should surrender to the authorities and release the three Europeans in exchange for stopping the fight against the beturbanned goons.

Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


India-Pakistan
Pakistani Taliban call meeting in response to APC peace offer
[Dawn] The Pak Taliban have called an 'important meeting' of its Shura (council) in response to the Awami National Party's All Parties Conference peace talks offer in Islamabad, a front man for the banned cut-thoat outfit said Thursday.

"We have convened an important meeting of the shura tomorrow and will respond by 1 pm Friday, what we are going to do next," a front man for the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) Ehsanullah Ehsan told Dawn.com speaking from some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location.

Ehsan said the cut-thoat group would hold its meeting at some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location along Pakistain-Afghanistan border.

More than 27 political parties and lawyer organizations participating in the APC had agreed to negotiate with those Talibs who were ready to accept the law and the Constitution of Pakistain.

However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds...
the cut-thoat group vowed to continue terror attacks until a peace deal is reached.

"The attacks would continue until we go into a viable agreement...its not so that we should stop every thing before the achievement of our goals," he said.

"We shall be continuing with more such attacks until the peace deal is finalised. Military attacks and peace talks are continuing on both sides, the security forces have also not stopped attacking the Taliban despite offering an olive branch."

About the participation of the Jamaat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI-F) and Pakistain Moslem League -- Nawaz (PML-N) in the conference, Ehsan said: "The Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
has not participated but we shall respond tomorrow after the meeting."
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Arabia
Gunmen Attack Security, Military Installations in Central Yemen
[Yemen Post] Gunmen attacked on Wednesday the headquarters of the political security and a military camp in Dhamar province in central Yemen but there have been o reports of damage and casualties, state media reported quoting local officials.

"Two gunnies, who were onboard a cycle of violence, threw a bomb at the political security building at night and another attacker threw another bomb at the gate of the Qeshla military camp in the morning," the local security officials were quoted as saying. There were no casualties and investigations have been launched into the two incidents, the sources added.

Almasdar Online, however, reported that three gunnies detonated a bomb at night at the political security building and quoted local sources as saying that they saw ambulances and other vehicles rushing to the kaboom site.

Yemen has been experiencing alarming security disorder amid sporadic battles with Al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons in central and southern parts and persistent political unrest as the country is gearing up for a comprehensive national dialogue.

The country has the most dangerous gangs in the region: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula QAP, the most dangerous branch of the global Qaeda network, and the Shiite 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. Its slogan is "God is Great, Death to America™", Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews" ...
Group which is receiving Iranian support.

AQAP has been involved in deadly attacks against security and military commanders, personnel, installations and other targets since the army drove all faceless myrmidons out of their strongholds in Abyan
...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues...
and Shabwa provinces.

Also, there are armed rustics who control some areas where the state is unable to impose the rule of law and increasing arms smuggling adds to all problems threatening Yemen's stability.

Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Economy
Babs Boxer, Bernie Sanders propose first US carbon tax
[FRANCE24] US senators proposed a tax on carbon emissions Thursday amid growing calls for action on climate change, but the bill is expected to face staunch opposition from many conservatives.

Two days after President Barack Obama
I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money...
urged Congress to tackle the emissions blamed for rising temperatures, two senators laid out a plan that would for the first time set a price on carbon throughout the United States.

The plan by staunch environmentalists Barbara Call me Senator! Boxer
Senator-for-Life from Caliphornia...
and Bernie Sanders
...The only openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords...
would charge $20 per ton of carbon from major polluters such as coal mines and oil refineries, rising 5.6 percent annually over 10 years.

"We are looking at the danger of a planetary crisis," said Sanders, an independent from Vermont who generally votes with Obama's Democratic Party.

"When scientists tell us that the temperature of this Earth may go up at least eight degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 Celsius) by the end of this century, that means cataclysmic changes to the planet. We have go to act," he told news hounds.

In hopes of shielding consumers from higher costs, 60 percent of the generated revenue would be sent back in a monthly rebate to every US resident. Much of the rest would go to improve energy efficiency at homes and promote renewable energy such as wind and solar in a bid to create jobs.

The senators, citing the Congressional Budget Office, said that the carbon fee would generate $1.2 trillion over 10 years. They said that around $300 billion would be devoted to bringing down the ballooning US debt.

Senator David Vitter, the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee that will take up the bill, attacked the proposal.

"It's not just energy prices that would skyrocket from a carbon tax, the cost of nearly everything built in America would go up," he charged.

Democrats control the Senate but Republicans lead the House of Representatives, where many of the party's politicians contest the view of mainstream scientists that human activity is causing temperatures to rise.

A proposal to set up a "cap-and-trade
... a government initiative to set limits on carbon emissions that could then be traded for money by the people who designed it ...
" system -- which would restrict emissions and provide a market incentive to businesses by allowing a trade in credits -- died in the Senate in 2010.

Europe pioneered the cap-and-trade system but the idea of switching to a straightforward carbon tax has increasingly come into favor. Australia last year introduced a carbon tax of Aus$23 (US$23.8) per ton.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Didn't our beloved president promise recently not to do such things, or am I misremembering?
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/15/2013 5:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Little more than and element of the political camouflage necessary to achieve both space and time. The discussion and truth concerning Benghazi must be pushed to the very rear. The topic(s) utilized to achieve the distance are irrelevant.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 6:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Babs Boxer, Bernie Sanders propose first US carbon tax

Yes, and the sun appears above the horizon in the east in the morning and disappears below the horizon in the west in the evening. Tax, spend, tax, spend, tax, spend. Repeat and rinse.

"The only two certainties in life are death and taxes."
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2013 8:03 Comments || Top||

#4  An attempt to pay down debt thru inflation, albeit 'stealth' inflation, to be blamed on energy companies.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/15/2013 10:15 Comments || Top||

#5  I'ma want a Politician Hot Air tax of %200 of their Salary or Office budget (whichever is higher). None of said tax to go to Congressional retirement funds, Congressional med benefits or other like pork.

Posted by: Water Modem || 02/15/2013 10:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Protect us from these useless, destructive idiots. How did they get in and stay in office?
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/15/2013 17:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Next election should be their last.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/15/2013 18:21 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Two Die after Bangladesh War Crimes Protest
[An Nahar] Two people died on Thursday after suffering injuries in violent festivities between police and Islamists earlier in the week during protests over war crimes trials in Bangladesh.

The demonstrators have been demanding a halt to the trials of opposition Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
party leaders for crimes including genocide and rape they are alleged to have committed during the 1971 war of independence against Pakistain.

Nine people have now died of political violence including Jamaat supporters, some of whom were rubbed out, since the Islamists launched the protests last month.

Police said a lift operator of a state bank succumbed to head injuries after he was beaten by supporters of Jamaat on Wednesday as festivities erupted between police and Islamists in Dhaka's main commercial area.

A village guard who was gravely injured on Tuesday in another violent protest that broke out near the southeastern port city of Chittagong also died of his wounds on Thursday afternoon, police said.

"He was attacked by Shibir (student wing of Jamaat) activists," Rabiul Islam, Chittagong special branch police chief, told AFP.

The entire leadership of Jamaat including its chief and deputy chief and two bigwigs of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party have been tried by a war crimes tribunal set up by the country's secular government.

A senior Jamaat leader was sentenced to life imprisonment last week for mass murder.

The government says the trials are needed to heal the wounds of the nine-month war in which it says three million people were killed, many by pro-Pak militia whose members allegedly included Jamaat officials.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


India-Pakistan
MQM stages walkout from Sindh Assembly's in-camera session
[Dawn] Provincial politicians belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
(MQM) staged a walk-out from an in-camera session of the Sindh Assembly on Thursday after media reports of withdrawal of criminal cases against members of the banned People's Amn Committee, DawnNews reported.

Sindh Inspector General Fayyaz Leghari and Additional IG Sindh gave an in-camera briefing over Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
's law and order situation.

MQM members staged a walkout midway through the session. The MQM politicians shouted slogans saying that annulment of cases against Islamic fascisti was not acceptable in any case.

The MQM convened an emergency meeting of it's joint Rabita (coordination) committee to discuss the party's further course of action.

Earlier, TV news channels had reported that the Sindh law ministry had issued instructions ordering the withdrawal of 34 cases against the members of the proscribed People's Amn Committee, including Uzair Baloch, Zafar Baloch and Habib Jan, which were registered after the Lyari
...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot....
operation in Bloody Karachi.

No cases withdrawn

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon talking to media persons after the in-camera session of the Sindh Assembly said that no cases had been withdrawn. He said that another session of the Sindh Assembly would take place tomorrow (on Friday) during which the issue would be clarified.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Trial of Al-Qaeda plot suspects begins in Jordan
[Egypt Independent] Eleven men went on trial on Thursday in a Jordanian military court accused of plotting to carry out suicide kabooms in the capital, including on shopping malls and the US Embassy, judicial sources said.

The Jordanian defendants, all suspected supporters of Al-Qaeda, pleaded not guilty
"Wudn't me."
to charges of "possession of explosives and plotting to undertake terror attacks and infiltration across borders," the sources said.

The prosecution said the cell had targeted major shopping malls in the capital and was planning a bombing campaign in the capital's affluent Abdoun neighborhood, where many foreign embassies are located.

The indictment said the group planned to attack the embassy with mortar rounds and then blast its way inside with suicide bombs, but gave no further details.

Security officials initially said when they announced they foiled the plot in October that the members of the bad boy group had spent some time in Syria, without saying when they had returned to Jordan.

Jordanian authorities have incarcerated
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
scores of hardline Islamists in recent months along its northern border with Syria as they were about to cross the frontier to join jihadist groups fighting to overthrow Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
Jordan regularly arrests Islamist suspects and puts them on trial in military courts that human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
groups say are illegal and lack proper legal safeguards. Many civil society groups say many of the Islamist cases are politically motivated.

In 2005, Al-Qaeda grabbed credit for three suicide kabooms that destroyed luxury hotels in Jordan's capital, killing dozens of people.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday Gam Shot

Ashley Tesoro [Filmography](age 30)



Intelligent Design Something Else


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/15/2013 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  I dunno...that design looks pretty darn intelligent to me!!
Posted by: Justrand || 02/15/2013 9:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Ashley really is..... "something else".
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 9:26 Comments || Top||

#4  I dunno how smart she is but she sure does appear to have some other things going for her.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/15/2013 10:17 Comments || Top||

#5  I believe her designer was Supremely intelligent.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/15/2013 11:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Unlike this meme, perhaps, which I too find a bit stale over time.
Posted by: lotp || 02/15/2013 11:50 Comments || Top||

#7  SEE, LOTP thinks "Intelligent Design" is over the top as well.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/15/2013 14:22 Comments || Top||

#8  Whatevery you call it I appreciate the effort and link.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/15/2013 14:35 Comments || Top||

#9  how about "Proof of Providence" or "POP" for short? ..hahaha...I crack myself up. (and that's all that matters, or so the voices tell me...)
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 02/15/2013 17:57 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Suicide attack at Hangu check-post kills seven: police
[Dawn] At least seven people were killed Thursday when a jacket wallah rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a security check-post in Hangu district
... Hangu is famous for its greenery, hills, beauty and water. Most of the people of this area are Bangash & Orakzai Pashtuns. Part of the Bangash are Shia. The Orakzai and the Sunni Bangash are determined to kill them...
of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
province, police officials said.

According to DSP Shaukat Ali Shah, the suicide bomber targeted a security check-post located in Tal area of Hangu manned by both normal and paramilitary personnel.

Shah confirmed seven, including three Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel, were killed. The dead also included four civilians, including two women, while eight others were maimed.

Security personnel cordoned off the area and the injured were shifted to a nearby hospital.

Nearby buildings were also reported to be damaged by the high-intensity blast which, eyewitnesses said, had left a crater in the ground.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


China-Japan-Koreas
5.4 billion barrels of oil and 55.1 trillion cf of natural gas in Spratly Islands
MANILA, Philippines – The disputed Reed Bank in the Spratly Islands is estimated to contain up to 5.4 billion barrels of oil and 55.1 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, according to a newly published report by the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Quoting data from the US Geological Survey, the EIA estimates the disputed Spratly Islands territory may contain significant deposits of undiscovered hydrocarbons.

“USGS assessments estimate anywhere between 0.8 and 5.4 (mean 2.5) billion barrels of oil and between 7.6 and 55.1 (mean 25.5) tcf of natural gas in undiscovered resources,” the EIA said in the Feb. 7 report.

“Evidence suggests that most of these resources are likely located in the contested Reed Bank at the northeast end of the Spratlys, which is claimed by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam,” the EIA also said.

In all, the EIA estimates the South China Sea to contain approximately 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 tcf of natural gas in proved and probable reserves.
Posted by: Water Modem || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Vietnam repor is not happy also about China's successful new rapprochement wid Cambodia + Laos.

Iff NDTV's claims about China mass mobilizing PLA Troops + Veehiiikles in the provinces across from TAIWAN are true, as for possib mil conflict wid JAPAN, China is also putting itself in a good strategic position to strike at the Northern PHIL in support of any major PLA attack agz PHIL from HAINAN [Cambodia?].

Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/15/2013 1:06 Comments || Top||

#2  The EIA said:
The United States consumed a total of 687 billion barrels (18.83 million barrels per day) in 2011 and 7.0 billion barrels (19.18 million barrels per day) of refined petroleum products and biofuels in 2010. For both years, this was about 22% of total world petroleum consumption..
That means the South China Sea contains a 5.8 day supply of oil as consumed by the USA in 2011.
Whoop-te-doo!
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/15/2013 3:25 Comments || Top||

#3  How much oil does the United States consume per year?

Correction: The United States consumed a total of 6.87 billion barrels (18.83 million barrels per day) in 2011 and 7.0 billion barrels (19.18 million barrels per day) of refined petroleum products and biofuels in 2010. For both years, this was about 22% of total world petroleum consumption.
Estimates of South China Sea oil in toto are still less than 2 years of US consumption at the 2011 rate.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/15/2013 3:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Thanks Joe. Please keep us updated.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 6:11 Comments || Top||

#5  A funny thing happened to "peak oil" on the way to the future.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/15/2013 6:30 Comments || Top||

#6  The future has hit 'peak oil' several times. Yes, I'm looking at you.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2013 8:17 Comments || Top||

#7  But...but...but, we've passed Peak Oil™! We're all gonna freeze and diiiiieeeeeee!

/leftist loon
Posted by: Barbara || 02/15/2013 9:01 Comments || Top||

#8  Get a quick look, you'll not be seeing many of these anymore.

Note: Old Fairbanks Morse engine powering pump jack being run by natural gas regulated from the same well. Soybeans in the background.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 9:14 Comments || Top||

#9  If only there was a peak stupid.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/15/2013 10:19 Comments || Top||

#10  We may or may not have reached Peak Oil but the concept is real and it will occur relatively soon.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/15/2013 10:23 Comments || Top||

#11  While the perspective of American consumption is interesting, it's not about America. It's about the nations involved in claims. For the Philippines ranking around 43rd in GDP, that oil/gas has a far more significant impact upon their economy, both the national and the traditional graft/corruption (google 'PEMEX corruption' for a model).
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2013 10:30 Comments || Top||

#12  Oil is about as relevant as peak flint would be to neolithic man...
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/15/2013 11:20 Comments || Top||

#13  It's about the nations involved in claims.
I agree. However, the total amount estimated is piddling on the world stage, and the report is misleading to even hint otherwise.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/15/2013 12:12 Comments || Top||

#14  Anguper ... good point. Supports the general idea that "all the sources of good, cheap oil have been found already". There is still oil that can be discovered, but it's either in smaller deposits or the extraction costs will be higher in the future. It all points to price pressure on oil as we go forwards, and pressure on the USA to cut its oil consumption.
Posted by: Raider || 02/15/2013 15:10 Comments || Top||

#15 
Posted by: Simon || 02/15/2013 16:48 Comments || Top||

#16  Troll/bot alert, mods!
Posted by: Barbara || 02/15/2013 17:44 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US: No comment on Iran's nuclear item purchase attempt
[Ynet] The White House refused to comment on reported Iranian attempts to purchase items for its nuclear program in China.

The White House deputy spokesperson said that Iran is way behind on its nuclear program's schedule due to international sanctions which stopped the supply of critical components.
Oh dear, that is so unexpected. Our president's dictation to Prime Minister Netanyahu will have to be entirely reworded, now that the PM is looking even more correct than before.
Nah. Champ will just talk louder, point more, and say "now let me make this clear"...
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Africa North
Tunisia PM to Announce New Cabinet Line-Up Saturday, or Quit
[An Nahar] Embattled Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said on Thursday he will announce a new government line-up on Saturday, and warned that he will quit if it is rejected.

Jebali has been pushing to form a government of technocrats in defiance of his Islamist Ennahda party since the murder last week of vocal government critic and leftist figure Chokri Belaid plunged the country into political crisis.

"I want to go through with this initiative," Jebali told reporters on the sidelines of consultations with party leaders.

"Tomorrow morning (Friday) I will meet all the parties who have, or have not, accepted this initiative.

"On Saturday I will announce the new government line-up and if it is rejected I will submit my resignation to the president," he added.

Ennahda has rejected a new government made up exclusively of technocrats and called for a pro-Islamist rally on Saturday to back its legitimacy.

The Islamists have joined ranks with the center-left Congress for the Republic Party of President Moncef Marzouki, and two other parties, in proposing that the new cabinet comprise both politicians and independents.

But Jebali on Thursday insisted that the criteria for being in the new cabinet must include non-partisanship as well as a firm engagement by future ministers not to run in the next elections.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria Gunmen Kidnap 40 Civilians, Mostly Women and Children
[An Nahar] An armed group in northwest Syria on Thursday hijacked a bus and kidnapped at least 40 civilians, mostly women and children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Most of the victims were women and children, barring a couple of men," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman, whose Britain-based center added they came from al-Fua and Kafraya villages in Idlib province.

Both are majority Shiite Muslim villages, while most rebels are Sunni.

The Observatory said the bus had been en route to Damascus. It did not specify which group was behind the kidnapping.

"The group were probably warlords who have taken advantage of a total security vacuum in areas where the army has pulled out," said Abdel Rahman, who warned that there has been an increase in kidnappings in northern Syria.

"There are many who are taking advantage of the conflict and an absence of centralized power," he said.

"We are very concerned about what may happen to these women and children."
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Syrian Observatory for Human Rights--One of those UN organizations? The following is a man/woman on the street discussion of human rights: Human rights video link. They list some 30 human rights. I looked for the free phone, internet hookup, food stamps, AK-47, etc. but didn't see them. Human rights documents still not as good as the founding documents we have.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/15/2013 10:40 Comments || Top||

#2  What's with the underlining and highlighting of certain words or phrases that are typed?
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/15/2013 10:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Possibly Fred's automatic translation, JohnQC. There is a translate button as part of the array when one submitsan article -- highlight the text, then click on Translate, it does it automatically.

Unless you mean something else, in which case a sample would be helpful for diagnosis.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/15/2013 14:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Now these are the guys that Zero wants to help, right?

I thought attacking civilians was baaaaad.
Posted by: Alanc || 02/15/2013 16:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Thanks TW. An example would be "free phones" in sepia and underlined in my above comment.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/15/2013 17:08 Comments || Top||

#6  That doesn't show up on my iPad, JohnQC. Perhaps one of Rantburg's many computer experts could weigh in...
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/15/2013 19:18 Comments || Top||

#7  ?
I don't see it, but I use AdBlockPlus on FireFox latest version
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2013 20:21 Comments || Top||

#8 
Posted by: Gerthudion Glitle9360 || 02/15/2013 22:09 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Youth Killed in Clashes on Bahrain Uprising Anniversary
[An Nahar] A teenager was rubbed out near Bahrain's capital on Thursday as festivities erupted when hundreds erupted into the streets to mark the second anniversary of a Shiite-led uprising against the kingdom's Sunni rulers.

The demonstrations, staged early morning in Shiite-populated villages across the Gulf archipelago, turned violent when police fired shotguns and tear gas to disperse the crowds, wounding several people, witnesses said.

Protesters, chanting "Down Hamad" in reference to the king, responded by hurling petrol bombs at the security forces, they said, and a 16-year-old boy was shot and killed during the confrontation, according to the opposition.

On the eve of the anniversary, the opposition held a new round of reconciliation talks with the government and its supporters, although there was still no sign of a breakthrough.

The opposition identified the slain teenager as Hussein al-Jaziri, saying he had been killed in the Shiite-populated village of Daih near the capital Manama.

Jaziri was "maimed by a shotgun that regime forces fired... He was severely maimed in his stomach and died at the hospital," said al-Wefaq, the main Shiite opposition bloc.

The interior ministry said that "a maimed person who was brought to al-Salmaniya hospital was pronounced dead."

Opposition groups had called for strikes and nationwide protests on Thursday and Friday to mark the Arab Spring-inspired uprising that began on February 14, 2011 and was crushed by the security forces about a month later.

Public security chief Major-General Tariq al-Hassan had warned late on Wednesday that "those who engage in any type of illegal behavior will be dealt with swiftly".

But demonstrations took off in the villages of Barbar, Bilad al-Qadim, and Sitra where protesters waving Bahraini flags chanted: "The people want to overthrow the regime".
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


India-Pakistan
Well, that worked out well: 92% of Pakistanis now dislike America
After four years of Barack Obama's diplomatic 'leadership' and billions of dollars in attempted friendship aid, a new public opinion poll reveals that 92% of Pakistanis now disapprove of the United States.

The results could have been worse. Not much. But a little. Fully four Pakistanis out of 100 do approve of the United States, President Obama and his policies. They, however, seem to keep kind of quiet about their views in that rowdy land. That's the lowest favorable rating Pakistan's citizens have ever given their ostensible North American ally.

The new Gallup Poll, out this morning, reports that the recent high point of Pakistani approval of the United States came in the spring of 2011 when 27% approved. But then public opinion went south on North America.

Something to do with U.S. Air Force planes over Afghanistan one night confounding Pakistani radar into thinking its skies were perfectly empty when, in fact, a pack of stealth aircraft were advancing toward the city of Abbottabad carrying a Kevlar-coated posse of heavily-armed SEALs in night-vision goggles.

Their assignment was to land, blow open the gate, kill a few people if necessary and bring back the body of one, Osama bin Laden -- along with his computers, correspondence and anything else of interest. It was a mission any president would order.

All without notice to Pakistan officials, elected or otherwise.

Posted by: tipper || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Given the current state of Pakistain and it's inmates, I feel rather good about this. You are known by your enemies as well as your friends.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/15/2013 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  This is actually a compliment.
Posted by: Omose Angeaque7353 || 02/15/2013 0:33 Comments || Top||

#3  When you consider it was Pakistan that provided the training and material support to the Taliban that led to their takeover of Afghanistan, after which they provided al Qaeda with a base to train for the 9/11 attacks, they're lucky we haven't burned the entire country to the ground.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/15/2013 1:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Pakistan is lucky the west is stupid.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/15/2013 4:16 Comments || Top||

#5  Something to do with U.S. Air Force planes over Afghanistan one night confounding Pakistani radar into thinking its skies were perfectly empty when, in fact, a pack of stealth aircraft were advancing toward the city of Abbottabad

When one considers the distance and platforms flown (helos), I personally think the "radar blocking" theory is very weak as applied to the mission's INFIL (infiltration phase). The EXFIL (exfiltration phase) makes stealth and radar blocking absolutely incredulous. Pakistan is not Mali. They have a sophisticated military, a modern air force, and are armed with nuclear weapons. Bin Laden was sold on the clandestine market. Outside the walled compound, the raid was theater, the stuff of books and movies. Just my personal opinion.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 5:47 Comments || Top||

#6  As distinct from the 91% before?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/15/2013 6:24 Comments || Top||

#7  pretty obviously we feel the same. We should cut all visas for Paks
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2013 10:59 Comments || Top||

#8  Bin Laden was sold on the clandestine market

And given the now-known circumstances, it probably was not worth what was paid for him.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/15/2013 11:19 Comments || Top||

#9  Well, so much for the vacation in Islamabad, eh?
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 02/15/2013 12:31 Comments || Top||

#10  Pakistain is a collection of people and places that no one else wanted, much like Afghanistan.

So, since no one else wanted them some smart aleck said "what would happen if we put all of these people that loath and dispise each other into one country?" Then the rest of the room said "Let's find out" So we have Pakistan.

It appears that Nehru knew what he was doing when he let Jena talk Ghandi into the partition and despite the violence (The Islamists can use ANYTHING as an excuse to maim, torture, rape, murder, and burn), I think India got the better of the deal.

I am still wondering why on earth the rational and right thinking oligarchs in India would want to hold on to that pest hole Khasmir?
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 02/15/2013 12:58 Comments || Top||

#11  When I was in India the pretty wise-folks I spoke to were somewhat irrational about the Kashmire issue. Pride is a tough thing to think around.

Also, I agree India got the best of the deal with the partitian but India still has Islamic slums in a lot of major cities. Maybe they should have made it more affordable for some to leave back in the day, or charter busses now for any that really need to live in an Islamic state.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/15/2013 14:38 Comments || Top||

#12  Sounds like they badly need extermination, what say you?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/15/2013 14:42 Comments || Top||

#13  rj, my bet is that the Muslims would prefer to live in slums in India rather than slums in Pakistan or Bangladesh. Plus many of them speak the local languages of where they are rather than Urdu or Bengali.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/15/2013 20:09 Comments || Top||

#14  The jizya social welfare benefit is better for the individual and the community in India than in Pakistan...
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/15/2013 20:18 Comments || Top||

#15 
Posted by: Gerthudion Glitle9360 || 02/15/2013 22:20 Comments || Top||


Appointment of KP governor challenged
[Dawn] The appointment of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
Governor Engineer Shaukatullah was challenged before the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
High Court on Wednesday on the ground that he was not a registered voter and resident of the province Two identical writ petitions were filed separately by freelance journalist Shahid Orakzai and senior lawyer Gohar Rehman Khattak.

Both the petitions were filed on the same ground with the request to the high court to declare the impugned appointment of Engineer Shaukatullah by the President of Pakistain as unconstitutional and against the law.

The petitioners questioned whether a person could be appointed governor of a province when he was neither its resident nor a
registered voter there.

They stated that Engineer Shaukatullah was appointed governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, replacing Barrister Masood Kausar under Article 101 of the Constitution.

According to the petitioners, Article 101 (1) of the Constitution states that there shall be a governor for each province, who shall be appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister.

They quoted Article 101 (2) of the Constitution which states: "A person shall not be appointed a governor unless he is qualified to be elected as a member of the National Assembly and is not less than thirty-five years of age and is a registered voter and resident of the province concerned."

They pointed out that Shaukatullah belonged to Bajaur tribal agency and he was also elected an MNA from the said area on NA-43 constituency in the 2008 general elections.

They added that he was having domicile of the said agency. They said that his impugned appointment was in clear violation of the Constitution of Pakistain. The petitioners also requested the court that as an interim relief the court might restrain Engineer Shaukatullah from performing his function as governor of the province.

The respondents in the petitions are: federation of Pakistain through secretary, ministry of law and the secretary Election Commission of Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Peace volunteer killed, houses torched in Bara
[Dawn] A volunteer of a peace committee was killed and more than a dozen houses were set ablaze by gun-hung tough guys in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency on Wednesday.

Official sources said that Abdul Khaliq, a peace volunteer belonging to Zaodin tribe, was killed during a clash between security forces and gun-hung tough guys in Sheen Qamar area on Wednesday morning. He was killed on the spot when a bullet hit him, they added.

Militants in the area had occupied a bunker but security forces recaptured it after a shootout with them. The shootout claimed the life of the peace volunteer, sources said.

In Barkai area of Storikhel, gun-hung tough guys torched the residential compound of a local elder, Malik Almas Khan Storikhel. Sources said that gun-hung tough guys set on fire at least 13 houses, built inside the fort-like compound at midnight after overpowering the watchmen.

They said that household items worth millions of rupees were reduced to ashes. Sources said that the family of Malik Almas had long ago vacated their houses owing to threats from beturbanned goons. They had hired few watchmen to guard the compound.

In Kohat, a man was killed when an improvised bomb went off in a house in Behzadi Chakarkot area on Tuesday night, police said.

The kaboom rocked the entire locality and created panic among the residents of the area. Police said that the device was planted in the house of Katoo Khan. A guest identified as Sajid was killed in the kaboom. The bomb disposal squad officials said that at device weighed at least one kilogram.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


Home Front: Politix
Sheila Jackson Lee: "I'm a Freed Slave"
You know what else she is? Nuts. From the Hill
Posted by: Beavis || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yet another in the howling crowd of agent provocateurs who scurry about wafting chamber pots, advancing the cause of victimization, entitlement, and reparations.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 5:00 Comments || Top||

#2  It is not for nothing we have Dorner apologists swimming just below the surface. The pretext of cultural victimization [emphasis on social cause vs actual crime] has long been preached by the Sheila Jackson Lee crowd.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 5:36 Comments || Top||

#3  The less cause they have, the louder they howl.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/15/2013 6:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Remember the LA riots in 1992?

As they were attempting to loot and burn Korean grocery and liquor stores in the hoods, there were Koreans still alive who had been actual slaves of the Japanese. Of course, that concept meant nothing to Ms Jackson's community when they set out to confiscate the property of Koreans who had labored to pursue the 'American Dream'.

BTW Ms Jackson, how many young people have you, and your fellow pols, reduced to indentured servitude to pay back student loans without the financial means to so for decades. It's the company store game all over again, but you operate it.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2013 8:12 Comments || Top||

#5  A few years ago I saw a fellow with a t-shirt that said "retired slave". I wanted to say "You're welcome", since my ancestors are all from New York and Pennsylvania.

Of course, that would have been racist of me.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/15/2013 9:09 Comments || Top||

#6  You owe the Red Chinese 1.2 Trillion Dollars. Your freedom will not last for very long Sheila J.
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 02/15/2013 9:27 Comments || Top||

#7  She's not free. She's still tied to the victimhood, govmint plantation.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/15/2013 9:46 Comments || Top||

#8  What more could we expect from a CBC.....whip ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 9:57 Comments || Top||

#9  she's a f*cking asshat racist. She belittles her staff, is just plain stoopid, and spends a whole day camped out before the SOTU to make sure she gets that dumb mug in the aisle shot.
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2013 10:04 Comments || Top||

#10  She looks good for a woman 150 years old.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/15/2013 10:12 Comments || Top||

#11  Or maybe she's from somewhere slavery still exists/existed more recently?
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/15/2013 10:13 Comments || Top||


#13  With my level of taxation (and lack of anything in return for the amount paid) I am a NEW slave.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/15/2013 10:25 Comments || Top||

#14  In the meantime, here are some "Peak" job opportunities.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 10:26 Comments || Top||

#15  Apologies...the above comment should have been posted to the Spratly Islands article.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2013 10:29 Comments || Top||

#16  #11, well she'll never address the practice of 'pimping' in her community - see sex trade/slavery.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2013 10:34 Comments || Top||

#17 
well she'll never address the practice of 'pimping' in her community - see sex trade/slavery.


Anyone remember if she commented on the video of ACORN advising on how to set up underage slave brothels? Or on Planned Parenthood providing cover for them?

Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/15/2013 11:08 Comments || Top||

#18  News flash Sheila,

No one would WANT you as a slave. You are too whiny, too much of a bitch and too hard to make work. You would have been hog food if you were a "slave".

Go away.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/15/2013 12:10 Comments || Top||

#19  It doesn't bother me that idiots say idiotic things. It bothers me that there are people who will listen and take her, um...comments...seriously.
Posted by: Iblis || 02/15/2013 12:25 Comments || Top||

#20  No, you're a Slave, by your own choice, and we don't want a whiner, go away.

Literally, we don't want you, but you keep coming around and saying "I'm a SLAVE", OK you're a Slave, now we can do as we want with you, go to hell with the rest of your slave friends.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/15/2013 12:44 Comments || Top||

#21  Since you cannot enslave a free man, if she was a slave, she was not free.

As she is an extreme statist and racist, I think that's a safe conclusion.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/15/2013 13:45 Comments || Top||

#22  My ancestors were slaves to the Czar. They got out of there (Jews weren't popular there) and made a good life.

Get over it and go on with yer stinkin life.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/15/2013 16:01 Comments || Top||

#23  I guarantee every person on this planet has a slave somewhere in their ancestry. Until very, very recently it wasn't a rare condition.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/15/2013 17:59 Comments || Top||

#24  Rob, you know better than that. Slavery was invented so white men could suppress the black man. Only blacks have been slaves.
/sarcasm
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/15/2013 20:18 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
South Korea unveils missile it says can hit North's leaders
[Egypt Independent] South Korea unveiled a cruise missile on Thursday that it said can hit the office of North Korea's leaders, trying to address concerns that it is technologically behind its unpredictable rival which this week conducted its third nuclear test.

South Korean officials declined to say the exact range of the missile but said it could hit targets anywhere in North Korea.

The Defence Ministry released video footage of the missiles being launched from destroyers and submarines striking mock targets. The weapon was previewed in April last year and officials said deployment was now complete.

"The cruise missile being unveiled today is a precision-guided weapon that can identify and strike the window of the office of North Korea's leadership," ministry front man Kim Min-seok told news hounds.

North Korea has forged ahead with long-range missile development, successfully launching a rocket in December that put a satellite into orbit.

The North's ultimate aim, Washington believes, is to design an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead that could hit the United States.

North Korea, which accuses the United States and its "puppet," South Korea, of war-mongering on an almost daily basis, is likely to respond angrily to South Korea flexing its muscles.

North Korea, technically still at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, carried out its third nuclear test on Tuesday, drawing condemnation from around the world including its only major ally China.

The test and the threat of more unspecified actions from Pyongyang have raised tensions on the Korean peninsula as the South prepares to inaugurate a new president on 25 February.

"The situation prevailing on the Korean peninsula at present is so serious that even a slight accidental case may lead to an all-out war which can disturb the whole region," North Korea's official KCNA news agency said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Hopefully it doesn't mistake Mickey Mouse for Pudgy.
Posted by: gorb || 02/15/2013 1:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Some Japanese sources are hinting that Skor plans to now build some nukes.
Posted by: Water Modem || 02/15/2013 10:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Bets that Japan has already done so, very very quietly?
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 02/15/2013 12:30 Comments || Top||

#4  you have to believe that both Japan and SKor are going to go nuclear now. No doubt he USA will try to head it off .... but there is a major cold war happening around the Korean Pensinsula from this time onwards.
Posted by: Raider || 02/15/2013 13:58 Comments || Top||

#5  So long as WE (USA) are not involved, one Nuke is all the USA would stand before wiping the North Koreans off the face of the earth.

We already think they're dispicable. Wouldn't need much more.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/15/2013 14:21 Comments || Top||

#6  RJ; WHile all the American adults thing NKOR is abysmal, the Smartest Man in the World, the one with his finger on the button, may not share that assessment. And I think that he hasn't added Pudgy's trading card to his collection of Third World Despots I have Bowed to, so i would not hold my breath IIWY
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 02/15/2013 19:59 Comments || Top||

#7  Barry the bower would just grovel more deeply...
Posted by: Gerthudion Glitle9360 || 02/15/2013 22:14 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel Convicts Hamas Members of 'Terror Membership'
[An Nahar] An Israeli court on Thursday found two senior Hamas members who had taken refugee in Red Cross east Jerusalem offices guilty of "membership of a terror organization" and staying in Israel without permits.

Former Palestinian minister for Jerusalem affairs Khaled Abu Arafeh and Hamas MP Mohammed Totah had barricaded themselves in the International Committee of the Red Cross offices on July 1, 2010, but were arrested on January 23, 2012.

The ICRC compound is in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied east Jerusalem.

According to police, the two men both had their Israeli ID cards revoked 18 months before their arrest, meaning they were not legally entitled to be in the city.

The Thursday ruling at the Jerusalem district court, provided to Agence France Presse, was part of a plea bargain the two reached with the prosecution.

Sentencing is due to begin on February 26.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Rebels Seize Syria Town on Iraq Border
[An Nahar] Syrian rebels from the Islamist al-Nusra Front on Thursday seized the town of Shadadeh in the oil-rich northeastern province of Hasake, on the border with Iraq, a monitoring group said.

"After three days of fierce battles against the army, al-Nusra Front fighters have seized control of Shadadeh," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists, doctors and lawyers for its reporting.

Fighting and car kabooms by the jihadists left more than 100 troops dead in three days, during which 30 al-Nusra Front fighters also died, five of whom were from Kuwait, said the Observatory.

"Dozens of employees" working for the state oil company were also killed in the rebel assault on the town, said the watchdog, without elaborating.

Further west, pro-regime media on Thursday admitted the army's loss to Islamist fighters of Base 80, a strategic army complex tasked with securing the nearby Aleppo international airport and military airports in the area.

"The army is preparing to retake control of Base 80," al-Watan daily said, adding that "hundreds of gunnies" were killed in fighting over the complex.

The Syrian rebels also shot down two military warplanes over the northwestern province of Idlib, said a monitoring group on Thursday.

Both jets were hit with fire from heavy machineguns while the air force was carrying out a series of raids in the area, much of which is under the control of the rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Elsewhere in the strife-torn country, the army made its own military advance, seizing a key district in the central city of Homs after several weeks of fierce fighting, said the Observatory.

"The army has entered Jobar in western Homs, and rebel fighters have withdrawn from the district," said the group's director Rami Abdel Rahman.

The victory comes a week after the army took control of Kafraya, also in southwestern Homs.

Activist refer to Homs city as "the capital of the revolution" and several of its districts have been suffocated by a siege for some eight months.

On January 19, the army launched an all-out bid to secure the route linking Damascus
...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations...
to the coast, which runs through western Homs but has so far failed to take complete control.

In violence elsewhere in Homs province, the air force bombarded "for the 10th day in a row" the ancient city of Palmyra, activist Mohammed al-Khatib told Agence La Belle France Presse via the Internet.

Warplanes also raided the nearby town of Rastan, which has been out of the control of the army for at least a year, said the Observatory.

"Homs province is strategic to the regime because it is the largest in the country and because it links Damascus to the coast," said Abu Rawan, a Rastan-based activists.

"The army will do all it can to take back rebel-controlled territory," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



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
Fri 2013-02-15
  Meteorite Hits Urals, Up to 500 Injured
Thu 2013-02-14
  Pakistan asks Taliban to announce 30-day cease-fire for talks
Wed 2013-02-13
  Syrian rebels say they captured military air base near Aleppo
Tue 2013-02-12
  KCNA confirms: Pudgy sets off a nuke
Mon 2013-02-11
  Seven killed, 11 injured in attacks across southern Thailand
Sun 2013-02-10
  Syrian troops, rebels clash over Damascus highway
Sat 2013-02-09
  India Executes Man Convicted in 2001 Attack on Parliament
Fri 2013-02-08
  Suicide bomber hits north Mali, troops clash in capital
Thu 2013-02-07
  Syrian Army Launches 'All-Out Attack' on Capital Region
Wed 2013-02-06
  Fat Lady Sings for Abd el Kader Mahmoud Mohamed el Sayed
Tue 2013-02-05
  Second big turban nabbed in northern Mali
Mon 2013-02-04
  Ansar Dine #3 arrested in northern Mali
Sun 2013-02-03
  Yemen Troops Kill 12 'Qaida Militants' in Restive South
Sat 2013-02-02
  Syria Suicide Attack on Regime Kills 53
Fri 2013-02-01
  Binori Mosque cleric among 10 killed in Karachi

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