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Boko Haram Denies Ceasefire, Pastes Threat Posters In Borno
Today's Headlines
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Damascus Car-Bombing Spotlights U.S.-Russian Rift, U.N. Inaction
A car bomb exploded in Damascus on Feb. 21 near the headquarters of Syria’s ruling Baath Party. It also happened to be a stone’s throw from the Russian embassy. The suicide attack killed more than 50 people.

On those facts, everyone can agree.

Still, in a bitter exchange between its spokespeople carried out over e-mail, the U.S and Russia blamed each other for failure to agree on a basic and toothless United Nations Security Council statement condemning the terrorist act.

The incident painfully underlines the UN’s two-year paralysis over a conflict that has left 70,000 dead and offers further proof of how bad relations between the two super-powers have become.

Here it is how it played out, virtually.

At 6:49 p.m., the Russian press office — which very rarely communicates — sent around an e-mail accusing the U.S. of blocking its proposed statement on the attack, which the Russians say caused severe damage to their embassy’s housing compound and chancellery:

“We consider unacceptable this search for justifications for terrorist actions.”

The Russians then took it a step further, taking a swipe at the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, on the U.S. compound:

“It is obvious that by doing so the U.S. delegation encourages those who have been repeatedly targeting American interests, including US diplomatic missions.”

The U.S. mission to the UN didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment. The response came a day later when its spokeswoman, Erin Pelton, issued a tersely worded statement.

The Russian assertion is false, she said.

“The U.S. had requested an addition to the statement to also call out the Syrian government for its continue use of heavy weaponry against civilians,” Pelton said. “Unfortunately, if predictably, Russia rejected the U.S. suggested language as ‘totally unacceptable’ and withdrew its draft statement.”

Russia has vetoed three resolutions to hold President Bashar al-Assad largely responsible for his country’s descent into chaos. The last attempt was July 19. Since then, the UN has been a spectator on the sidelines to the ongoing carnage.
Posted by: tipper || 02/22/2013 16:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  WTH? The Russians get in a spot of irritation (not really trouble) and they want a joint communique? Fuck them
Posted by: Frank G || 02/22/2013 22:23 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Look out JOE!! US gov't to air-drop toxic mice on Guam
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/22/2013 15:12 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How do they whether a mouse is a progressive democrat before they drop them?
Posted by: airandee || 02/22/2013 15:53 Comments || Top||

#2  But, will the impacts cause Guam to tip over?
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 02/22/2013 16:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Once the prey are gone the snakes will die out. This kind of problem solves itself.
Posted by: Iblis || 02/22/2013 16:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Because they look like Bill Mahar.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/22/2013 17:30 Comments || Top||

#5  ZOOOOOMG, Meeeses have Parachutes!

Next thing ya know Cute Squirrels will have AK-47's + wear Revolutionary Bandannas ...

Oh wait.

lol.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/22/2013 18:14 Comments || Top||

#6  No! Cute squirrels fight Communists! Just ask Rocky.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 02/22/2013 21:34 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria: 'Civilians killed' by Aleppo rockets
Three missiles have crashed into residential areas of Syria's northern city of Aleppo, killing at least 12 civilians, activists say.

Video footage posted online claims to show the aftermath, with people carrying away the wounded and a wide area reduced to rubble.

An activist in Aleppo says there are families buried under the rubble in one neighbourhood.

The UN says some 70,000 have died since the uprising began in March 2011.
Posted by: tipper || 02/22/2013 12:54 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "You're not TRYING, people!"
-- George Carlin
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 02/22/2013 17:55 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
UN Secretary General condemns Hyderabad attack
[THEHINDUBUSINESSLINE] UN Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
has joined the international community in condemning the terrorist attack in Hyderabad that killed more than a dozen people and injuring scores of others.
"Johnson, issue the 'Deeply Concerned' speech."
"Right, Your Excellency! Number Four, coming up!"
"No, wait! Make that the 'Strongly Condemn' statement."
"Okay. Number Seven, then!"
"And make it sincere."
"Number Seven with Heartfelt Condolences. Gotcha."
"And call me Your Excellency, dammit!"
"Sorry, Yer Excellency!"

"The Secretary-General strongly condemns the indiscriminate attacks against civilians which occurred in the Indian city of Hyderabad," said a statement issued by the office of the UN Secretary General yesterday. "He extends his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government and people of India."
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 12:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Marvin the Fixer would have known what His Excellency wanted before His Excellency said a word [sniff]...
Posted by: Steve White || 02/22/2013 15:26 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Thousands May Have Been Exposed To Deadly TB Epidemic Downtown
The feds are descending on downtown Los Angeles to combat a dangerous outbreak of a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis.

KCAL9′s Jeff Nguyen went downtown in search of people who may have been exposed.
Thus exposing himself. Smart.... Remind me not to have him cover the zombie outbreak
John Williams started living at the Weingart shelter on LA's Skid Row two weeks ago. Before he could be admitted, he had to undergo a screening for tuberculosis.

"They make you go get checked before you get into one of these programs because they don't want it spread out in there," Williams said.

With nearly 80 cases of tuberculosis being identified in LA County since 2007 -- thirty of which have been on Skid Row -- tuberculosis screenings are more important than ever for some.

In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a coordinated effort to contain the area's largest outbreak in a decade.

"We are really putting our resources into this," said Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, the director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/22/2013 12:20 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  TB outbreak = slow zombies
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/22/2013 13:46 Comments || Top||

#2  They will likely swam Ashville. Again.

O Zombie (cough)
o Lost (cough)
0 ima outa thomas wolfe (cough)
rosebud

Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 14:12 Comments || Top||

#3  AIDS and cancer won't kill us all, but TB might.
Posted by: Iblis || 02/22/2013 16:15 Comments || Top||

#4  DON'T WORRY ... Federal agents ... cough ... are onto the problem right now ... cough ... and John Q. Public has nothing to worry about ... hack, wheeze, die.
Posted by: Raider || 02/22/2013 18:22 Comments || Top||


Government
Stunner: ObamaCare-supporting Congressman suddenly not so sure you can keep your insurance after
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/22/2013 12:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There really needs to be an amendment that any laws passed by congress are enforced just as equally to all members of congress and the government.

No more gold plated health coverage if we are stuck with abomination fuckwits.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/22/2013 12:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't need an Amendment. It's already in the Constitution, just not enforced. See the Equal Protection and Title of Nobility clauses.
Posted by: Iblis || 02/22/2013 18:06 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Muslim Beheads Christians In NJ, USA
Sudden Jihad Syndrome, no doubt. Poor fellow, he couldn't help himself -- he was just overwhelmed by his need.
Posted by: JonC || 02/22/2013 12:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More from The Religion of Peace(TM), this time in the U.S.
Posted by: JonC || 02/22/2013 12:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Great. Start beheading Muslims. Start with the radical clerics.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/22/2013 15:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Fear their Lawyers, notsomuch the AK-47 = Jihadis.

The Lefties + ACLU + Islamist Attorneys will argue that his action was due to his frustration at not being able to satisfactorily practice his religion Islam "to the fullest extent possible", i.e. widout benefit of Sharia law in the US.

THIS WOULDN'T HAD HAPPENED IFF ONLY THE US HAD LEGAL SHARIA - UNLESS THE USA FORMALLY ESTABLISHES A BONA FIDE SHARIA SYSTEM, THESE BEHEADINGS WILL CONTINUE AS THIS POOR VICTIM WILL OBVIOUSLY CONTINUE TO BE VICTIMIZED BY AMERIKA'S ANTI-ISLAMIC BIAS + DISCRIMINATION!

"SHARIA IN THE US" N-O-W, D *** NG IT = BTW, WE ALSO NEED SSSSSSHHHHH....CCCCCCC COMMUNIST-SOCIALIST TOTALITARIANISM TO MAKE SURE THESE POOR MUSLIM VICTIMS OF WILY DASTARDLY REPRESSIVE ARROGANT FASCIST CAPITALIST BRUTISH ANTI-GLOBALIST AMERIKA DON'T GET OUT OF "CONTROL".

Well there ya go.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/22/2013 18:28 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
O Claimed Congress Forced Sequester - WaPo calls it a "Whopper"
Got four Pinoccios from WaPo last fall for telling a "wopper". Worth remembering. A key snippet:
(July 12, 2011):

They turned to [White House national economic council director Gene] Sperling for details about a compulsory trigger if they didn't cut spending or raise taxes in an amount at least equivalent to the debt ceiling increase.

"A trigger would lock in our commitment," Sperling explained. "Even though we disagree on the composition of how to get to the cuts, it would lock us in. The form of the automatic sequester would punish both sides. We'd have to September to avert any sequester" -- a legal obligation to make spending cuts.

"Then we could use a medium or big deal to force tax reform," Obama said optimistically.

"If this is a trigger for tax reform," Boehner said, "this could be worth discussing. But as a budget tool, it's too complicated. I'm very nervous about this."

"This would be an enforcement mechanism," Obama said.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/22/2013 10:59 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I created it, ordered it, fought for it....
it's your fault"
Posted by: Frank G || 02/22/2013 11:23 Comments || Top||

#2  I saw a Washington Times headline at lunch which said the public faults the Republicans.

It's good to be king.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/22/2013 13:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Gene Sperling
Whoa! Let me go all Joe here.....
I remember him when he was working for McGovern..

Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 14:19 Comments || Top||

#4  When you control the media you control who gets blamed. Unfortunately the Republicans have a long uphill battle to get a fair shake. Fortunately the tools (internet, cable news, etc) are in place if they learn how to use them.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/22/2013 14:46 Comments || Top||

#5  I just got off the phone with Candy Cow-ly at CNN. She said it was Romney who forced the sequester.
Posted by: airandee || 02/22/2013 16:03 Comments || Top||

#6  Pretty run of the mill dissembling for Champ. The only thing remarkable about it is that the MSM remarked on it.
Posted by: Iblis || 02/22/2013 16:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Unfortunately the Republicans have a long uphill battle to get a fair shake.

It's not an uphill fight when you get on your knees to fawn over the media in a vain attempt to earn the love of Donks who have have bylines. Got to face the reality that until you buy them out and run the media yourself, there won't even be a 'fair' in any part of the game of power.
Posted by: Chesney Speaking for Boskone3623 || 02/22/2013 16:16 Comments || Top||

#8  Oops, Chesney was my post.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/22/2013 16:17 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Drinking Their Own Ink
....There is for instance the wonderful idea that we can’t get out of this hole by cutting expenditures. REALLY? REALLY? So, let me see, if my family is spending 2000 a month, while making 1500, cutting expenditures is not the way to go. We shouldn’t examine our food budget, cut back on entertainment or perhaps move to a smaller place. No way no how, because cutting is not how you get out of a financial hole. No, golly-me. We’re supposed to get a student loan and take a course in something the government assures us will pay off. AND we’re supposed to go out to eat more. And move to a bigger place. And buy a newer car. And then we’ll be…

What? I don’t know. And neither do these people, because they’ve never balanced a checkbook.

The Aristos don’t have to balance anything. There’s always someone willing to finance them while using them as stalking horses. After all they talk so purty, and they say all the right things – the things that will allow those using them to get a greater grasp on power over the lives of everyone else.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/22/2013 09:16 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe if the budget isn't balanced, the organs of the senators and congresscritters should be sold til it is.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division || 02/22/2013 10:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Fire Senators, that'll do it, and Quickly.

I'm remembering Senator Phogbound (Of Dogpatch fame)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/22/2013 10:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Maybe if the budget isn't balanced, the organs of the senators and congresscritters should be sold til it is.

If you can backdate it to the Congresscritters who actually got to write a budget back in 2008 maybe so. At the moment Choomster is the one who helped strip Congress of its budgetary authority by saying "continuing resolution or complete shutdown." There's a lot about Congress I don't like but let's put blame where it belongs.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/22/2013 10:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Should the Congress balance the budget this year, the national economy will promptly collapse. Let us choose wisely.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/22/2013 12:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Nobody in executive and legislative branches gets paid until a budget is passed. No back pay when they finally pass the budget either. Every cent over and beyond a balanced budget is taken out of executive and legislative paychecks (and campaign funds) first before we deficit spend.

Problems would be fixed pretty damn quick.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/22/2013 14:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Silentbrick,etc.--As of today, we still have the means to harvest human organs, but unlike the Chinese leadership, we don't have the will.
Posted by: Cheting Glomong9412 || 02/22/2013 22:03 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Hugo closer to shuffling off this mortal coil
Hugo Chávez is still suffering respiratory problems after his operation in Cuba more than two months ago as he continues to battle cancer, the Venezuelan government has said.

"The breathing insufficiency that emerged post-operation persists and the tendency has not been favourable, so it is still being treated," read the first official communique on Chávez's health since his return to Venezuela on Monday.
Translation: he's still on a ventilator and still has a trach.
The short statement was read on national TV by the propaganda information mouthpiece minister, Ernesto Villegas, who said treatment for Chavez's "base illness" – presumably the cancer first detected in mid-2011 – continued without "significant adverse effects for now".

Little detailed medical information has been made public on Chávez's condition, meaning that the government's occasional short statements are examined by Venezuelans for clues about the future for him and the nation he has governed for 14 years.
He's dying. How long does that need to be?
Supporters pray the socialist president may recover and return to active rule, but many Venezuelans believe he has come home to resign and smooth over a transition or simply to die.
He won't resign. Caudillos don't do that...
"The patient remains in communication with relatives and the government political group in close collaboration with the medical work group," the statement added. "The president holds firm to Christ, with absolute will to live and maximum discipline in the treatment of his health."

Chavez, 58, is being treated in a Caracas military hospital.

Apart from a few photos released by the government last week he has not been seen or heard from publicly since an 11 December operation in Havana, his fourth surgery for cancer. He returned home at 2.30am local time on Monday without fanfare or media attention.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/22/2013 08:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As Instapundit often says, "Faster, please".

Of course, he usually says that about some advance in medicine, but it fits here.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/22/2013 8:37 Comments || Top||

#2  "I'm getting better"
"Nobody believes you"
"I feeel haaappy"

*clonk*
Posted by: Frank G || 02/22/2013 8:47 Comments || Top||

#3  We're all dying; some of us just have a better idea of the time frame than others.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/22/2013 8:47 Comments || Top||

#4  What's Venezuelan for fjords?
Posted by: Alanc || 02/22/2013 13:50 Comments || Top||

#5  "The president holds firm to Christ,

Has my vicious Granny said, "bastards cramming"
Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 14:03 Comments || Top||

#6  Stick a fork in him.
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 02/22/2013 16:08 Comments || Top||

#7  I myself advised him many years ago to consider having surgery to remove his growths, but he believed intense personal willpower + spiritual stength could overcome his affliction.

The threat of eventual death helps him to prioritize what is important in life, + by extension Govt-Society, versus what is not.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/22/2013 18:41 Comments || Top||

#8  And I thought Latin America's other El Lider Maximo was gonna live forever. Kinda weird that Fidel will outlive this guy.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/22/2013 22:36 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China's 'leftover women', unmarried at 27
Census figures for China show that around one in five women aged 25-29 is unmarried.

The proportion of unmarried men that age is higher - over a third. But that doesn't mean they will easily match up, since Chinese men tend to "marry down", both in terms of age and educational attainment.

"There is an opinion that A-quality guys will find B-quality women, B-quality guys will find C-quality women, and C-quality men will find D-quality women," says Huang Yuanyuan. "The people left are A-quality women and D-quality men. So if you are a leftover woman, you are A-quality."

But it's the "A-quality" of intelligent and educated women that the government most wants to procreate, according to Leta Hong-Fincher. She cites a statement on population put out by the State Council - China's cabinet - in 2007.

"It said China faced unprecedented population pressures, and that the overall quality of the population is too low, so the country has to upgrade the quality of the population."

Some local governments in China have taken to organising matchmaking events, where educated young women can meet eligible bachelors.

The goal is not only to improve the gene pool, believes Fincher, but to get as many men paired off and tied down in marriage as possible - to reduce, as far as possible, the army of restless, single men who could cause social havoc.
China has an active eugenics program intended to promote genetic improvement in their overall population.
Posted by: || 02/22/2013 05:51 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yeah, the leftover women (shengnu) have incredibly high standards and demand a ridiculously high price. The few men out there who meet her standards would never want a crazy shengnu for a wife. So, they're left to stew in their own juices. I know a story where a couple broke up before the wedding not because the man didn't own an apartment, he wouldn't sell and then buy a newer, more expensive apartment that was closer to her parents.

A lot of them would rather have no husband rather than a lesser husband. So be it!
Posted by: gromky || 02/22/2013 6:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Supply and demand, no?
Posted by: Perfesser || 02/22/2013 7:06 Comments || Top||

#3  The word for this phenom is hypergamy. The Chinese reinforce it by requiring that the groom pay a bride price to the bride's parents. For some of these women, I have to wonder if the bride price runs into the millions.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/22/2013 7:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Millions? Too steep for my blood. How much for an hour?
Posted by: Iblis || 02/22/2013 11:06 Comments || Top||

#5  To raise the child to adulthood. Of course.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/22/2013 12:23 Comments || Top||

#6  And a related topic: [SHANGHAI] Sherry Sheng, a 29-year-old Shanghai policewoman, bought herself a 4,000 yuan (S$792) black fur jacket, splurging for the last time before she starts paying off the mortgage on her first home.

Ms Sheng is part of a generation of middle class that Chinese media has dubbed "fang nu", or housing slaves, a reference to the lifetime of work needed to pay off their debts. Ms Sheng, who paid 1.1 million yuan for the one-bedroom apartment on the city's western outskirts, will be using about 70 per cent of her salary to service her mortgage.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/22/2013 13:19 Comments || Top||

#7  Its stereotyped as a Chinese or Asia-wide problem that is apparently also "coming to Amerika" + West???

* FREEREPUBLIC > THE LAST [Young = Youthful]GENERATION (AMERICA'S COMING DEMOGRAPHIC DISASTER).
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/22/2013 18:35 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
UK trial reveals new al Qaeda strategy
The trial of three Birmingham men convicted Thursday of plotting to launch a "catastrophic" suicide bombing attack in the United Kingdom revealed that al Qaeda has developed a new strategy to target the West.

The new strategy involves a teacher-training approach in which a select few Western operatives are taught bombmaking and other aspects of terrorist tradecraft in the tribal areas of Pakistan and are then instructed to return back to the West to "spread the knowledge" to a larger body of Islamist extremists keen on launching attacks.

The new approach is a response to the growing toll of drone strikes which have made travel to the tribal areas increasingly perilous for Western recruits and significantly diminished al Qaeda's ability to orchestrate terrorist plots from the region.

The trial revealed that terrorist groups in Pakistan are actively dissuading Western militants from making the trip.

Two of those convicted Thursday -- Irfan Naseer and Irfan Khalid -- received 40 days of terrorist training in the tribal areas of Pakistan in the spring of 2011, mostly inside houses in the valleys of Waziristan.

In conversations bugged by British police, the plotters described being handled by al Qaeda operatives and having attended a training camp run by Harakat al Mujahideen, a Pakistani terrorist group closely affiliated with al Qaeda.

The recordings revealed that like other Western militants before them, they were provided detailed instruction in the tricky and potentially hazardous methods to make bombs out of substances readily available in the West, and practiced detonating them. Their instructors included Arabs and Pakistanis.

They also were taught how to put poisons in face creams.

And their teachers emphasized they should put nails inside their bombs, to act as razor-sharp shrapnel.

Naseer, a pharmacy major and the plot's alleged ringleader, was heard recalling how one of their trainers had said the July 7, 2005, London bombers had missed an opportunity to kill more people by failing to put nails in their devices.
Posted by: tipper || 02/22/2013 05:16 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  british born pakis are the biggest danger to UK/US
Posted by: Ebbase Clunk1102 || 02/22/2013 5:54 Comments || Top||

#2  See also RELATED WAFF > GIVE THEM A FREE COUNTRY AND WELFARE AND THEY MAKE BOMBS.

Lifestyle + Amenities of the UK Welfare-Nanny State not enough for Radical Muslims.

USA???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/22/2013 20:49 Comments || Top||

#3  OOOPPPPPSS, forgot HBARAT RAKSHAK > HOW PAKISTABN TERROR TRAINING SPARKED PANIC AT A BIRMINGHAM GYM.

Hilarity did not ensue for those arrested.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/22/2013 21:17 Comments || Top||


Revealed: Al-Qaeda's 22 Tips For Dodging Drones
Al-Qaeda's list of 22 tips for dodging drone attacks - including at least one believed to originate with Osama bin Laden - has been found hidden inside a manila envelope in a building abandoned by Islamists in Mali.
Clearly, the universe is balancing the scales for the mess left unprotected after the Benghazi debacle. I wonder what else will be found in Mali...
Read the list in full here

The document includes advice such as "hide under thick trees" (believed to be bin Laden's contribution), and instructions for setting up a "fake gathering" using dolls to "mislead the enemy".

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/22/2013 00:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sugared mud works well in gas tanks.... heh...
Posted by: Water Modem || 02/22/2013 9:43 Comments || Top||

#2  the enemy is adapting.
Posted by: Raider || 02/22/2013 11:27 Comments || Top||

#3  just weaponize cell towers and television stations !
Posted by: Marilyn Lover of the Hatfields1778 || 02/22/2013 18:46 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Is El Chapo dead?
From TFA:

Interior Minister, Mauricio Lopez Bonilla, told reporters that there are research units working petenera area crime scene.

Lopez mentioned that an investigation will be done with photographs, documents, and later in cooperation with biometric codices Mexican and U.S. agencies to "identify fully" in the case of Guzman.

"We cannot say it is him, but it could be,", referring to Guzman.

Official preliminary sources report that the confrontation occurred in San Martin community, the municipality of San Francisco, in the central area of ​​Petén. This community is located 70 km from Flores, the main town of the department (state).
Posted by: badanov || 02/22/2013 00:04 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  could be a wish ... instead of reality. but if Guzman really did die - does that reduce the violence in Mexico? it might get worse, because Chapo exerts some control over one of the major cartels. after his death, whenever it happens, the ensuing chaos could unleash more murders.
Posted by: Raider || 02/22/2013 11:25 Comments || Top||

#2  I think the aftermath the death of of El Chapo will make the bloody year of 2010 look like a quinceañera.
Posted by: badanov || 02/22/2013 11:55 Comments || Top||

#3  well ... good news is that the period of "ex-Chapo bloodletting" is still somewhere in the future. It turns out that Chapo is NOT dead, and the rumor was wrong. Who knows - maybe he was just out watching a movie? His time will come - just not today.
Posted by: Raider || 02/22/2013 15:50 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Six tribesmen injured in clash
[Dawn] Six people were maimed when rival tribes clashed over a land dispute in Haleemzai tehsil of Mohmand Agency
... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar...
on Wednesday.

According to the political administration, the clash started when members of one of the tribes tried to construct a wall in the disputed land. The clash left six rustics injured.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Paris denies liberation of hostages taken in Cameroon
[FRANCE24] France's foreign ministry has denied rumours on Thursday that the seven French nationals kidnapped in Cameroon had been released, echoing a statement by Cameroon's communication minister.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Africa North
Tunisian Islamist party to pick hardliner replacement for PM
[FRANCE24] Tunisia's main Islamist Ennahda party will pick a hardliner to replace moderate outgoing Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali after he declined to head the next government, a party official said on Thursday.

Jebali, who is secretary-general of Ennahda, resigned on Tuesday after his plan for an apolitical technocrat cabinet to prepare for elections collapsed, largely because of opposition from within his own party and its leader, Rached Ghannouchi.

"Jebali declined to accept nomination (for next prime minister)," Ennahda said. "A new candidate will be presented to the president of the republic this week."

The liquidation of opposition leader Chokri Belaid on Feb. 6 plunged Tunisia into its worst political crisis in the two years since a revolt toppled President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and inspired Arabs elsewhere to rebel against autocratic rulers.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Opposition Denounces Damascus 'Terrorist' Bombing
[An Nahar] Syria's main opposition group, the National Coalition, denounced as "terrorists" those behind a deadly boom-mobileing in Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
on Thursday, regardless of who carried it out.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the Coalition stressed that "any acts targeting civilians with murder or human rights
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra

#1  Whoever the Boomee was in this one had to be a sturdy one to carry enough explosives to make that big a crater and kill/wound that many.

Of course, I grieve for the innocent maimed and the families of the innocent dead but I don't but wonder how the Islamist can justify killing another Moslem in the midst of all this.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 02/22/2013 2:03 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
BB murder site washed off after collecting evidences: witnesses
[Dawn] Two main prosecution witnesses in Benazir Bhutto
... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in...
's murder case on Thursday apprised an anti-terrorism court that the scene of the crime was washed off after collecting all necessary evidences as per practice followed in such incidents.

District Emergency Officer Dr Abdul Rehman and Firefighting Officer Ghulam Muhammad Naz appeared before Special Judge of ATC-1 Chaudhry Habibur Rehman for cross-questioning and informed that if the incident site was not cleansed timely, the law and order situation would have worsened there.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
IAEA Says Iran Installing New Nuclear Equipment, U.S. Says Such Step 'Provocative'
[An Nahar] Iran has begun installing next-generation equipment at one of its main nuclear plants, a new U.N. atomic agency report said Thursday, five days before talks with world powers, as the United States described such a step as "provocative."

"On 6 February 2013, the Agency observed that Iran had started the installation of IR-2m centrifuges" at the Natanz plant, the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency report said.

"This is the first time that centrifuges more advanced than the IR-1 have been installed" at the plant in central Iran, it said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Possible "Sequestration" USN layups + China back at Gwadar - all Iran is missing is the Russian Navy.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/22/2013 2:09 Comments || Top||

#2  DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRAN SEEMS TO ADVANCE IN CONSTRUCTION AT ARAK NUCLEAR PLANT.

Iran's "Heavy Water" alternative in the production of plutonium for "Energy".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/22/2013 21:10 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Acute skin disease in south Punjab
[Dawn] An acute skin disease is affecting people in south Punjab, it is learnt.

An official told Dawn that more than 1,000 cases of 'leishmaniasis' had been reported in seven districts of south Punjab from January till date, an unexpectedly high number.

As such a high number of cases had not been reported in the past, the Health Department has alerted all teaching/tertiary care hospitals in south Punjab.Medical experts say leishmaniasis is a skin-related disease which is transmitted by the bite of a female sandfly. "The sandflies inject infection into a human body and consequently large wounds appear on the skin within a couple of weeks," Dr Muhammad Alim of Jinnah Hospital said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Fatah Mad Over Report Of Indirect Israel-Hamas Talks In Cairo
[Jpost] Fatah official says only PLO is authorized to conduct negotiations as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians."
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Fatah


Africa North
Two Tunisia Police Shot and Wounded in Flashpoint Town
[An Nahar] Two Tunisian police were maimed in an exchange of gunfire with presumed Salafists
...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them...
on Thursday in Sidi Bouzid, the cradle of the country's uprising two years ago, a medical source said.

The shooting took place when police after a chase cornered four gunnies in a mosque in the center of the town, which is a stronghold of the ultra-conservative Mohammedan group blamed for unrest around the country.

An interior ministry front man said only one policeman had been hurt.

An Agence La Belle France Presse correspondent said that earlier, the four men had refused to stop their car at a checkpoint in Sabbala, a town north of Sidi Bouzid. Instead, they forced their way through, exchanging fire with police in an incident that caused no casualties.

He said police and soldiers were on Thursday night surrounding Sidi Bouzid's Rahma Mosque.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Africa Subsaharan
Seven Boko Haram Members Arraigned for Bank Robbery
[THISDAYLIVE] Seven persons alleged to have robbed some banks in Bauchi State in 2011 for the purpose of raising funds to support the Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
sect were yesterday arraigned before a Federal High presided by Justice A. R Mohammed on a 13-count charge.

Also, about 20 Boko Haram suspects awaiting trial in Kuje Prison, in a bold move to register their grievances over the poor state of Nigerian Prison, yesterday protested their non-trial by the Prison authorities since last year.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexican Army continues counternarcotics operations in Durango Sierras

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

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Mexican Army units with the 10th Military Zone have been conducting counternarcotics operations in remote mountain Durango municipalities since at least February 1st, according to Mexican news accounts.

According to a news account which appeared on the website of El Siglo de Torreon news daily, Wednesday soldiers detained four unidentified suspects who were observed wearing military uniforms. Reports are unclear where in Durango the detentions took place

Separate operations in San Dimas and Tamazula municipalities seized quantities of weapons. The contraband was seized in the villages of La Lajita in Tamazula and Tayoltita in San Dimas.

Weapons seized included two AK-47 rifles, three 5.7mm pistols, two 9mm pistols, one 40mm grenade launching attachment, one 40mm grenade, 333 rounds of ammunition and 14 weapons magazines.

A vehicle was also seized.

According to a news article which appeared on the website of El Siglo de Durango news daily last week, on February 16th an army unit seized quantities of weapons and cash in an undisclosed location in Durango state, detaining three unidentified suspects.

Among the contraband seized were three rifles, four weapons magazines, 64 rounds of ammunition, one rifle scope and one vehicle. The total amount of cash seized is MX $30,720 (USD$ 2,409.96).

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian TV: Army Shoots Down Israeli Drone Near Border
[Jpost] Syrian state TV reported on Wednesday that government forces shot down an Israeli drone near the Lebanese border.
Drones are cheap, pilots dear.
Mayadeen TV reported Syria had shot down an Israeli craft over Deir al Ashayer, a village near Lebanese border.

Damas Post quoted witnesses as saying they saw burning wreckage fall from the sky over the village of Yanta in eastern Leb.

Earlier on Wednesday, Lebanese news agencies reported Israeli warplanes conducted multiple overflights and "mock raids" over southern Leb.
An important reminder from your friendly neighborhood IAF: We're heeeeeeere! (Don't blink.)
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Drones are cheap, pilots dear.

Talk is even cheaper.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/22/2013 5:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Wasn't that the one stuffed to the gills with Chem/Bio goodies?
Gosh, sure hope not...
Posted by: Cheting Glomong9412 || 02/22/2013 20:51 Comments || Top||


Africa North
French, Malian forces fight Islamist rebels in Gao
[REUTERS] French and Malian troops fought Islamists on the streets of Gao and a boom-mobile went kaboom! in Kidal on Thursday, as fighting showed little sign of abating weeks before La Belle France plans to start withdrawing some forces.

Rooters news hounds in Gao in the country's desert north said French and Malian forces fired at the mayor's office with heavy machineguns after Islamists were reported to have infiltrated the Niger River town during a night of kabooms and gunfire.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told a news conference in Brussels that Gao was back under control after festivities earlier in the day.

"Malian troops supported by French soldiers killed five jihadists and the situation is back to normal," he said.

In Kidal, a remote far north town where the French are hunting Islamists, residents said a boom-mobile killed two. A French defense ministry source reported no French casualties.

French troops dispatched to root out rebels with links to al Qaeda swiftly retook northern towns last month. But they now risk being bogged down in a guerrilla conflict as they try to help Mali's weak army counter bombings and raids.

"There was an infiltration by Islamists overnight and there is shooting all over the place," Sadou Harouna Diallo, Gao's mayor, told Rooters by telephone earlier in the day, saying he was not in his office at the time.

"They are black and two were dressed up like girls disguised as women," a Malian soldier in Gao who gave his name only as Sergeant Assak told Rooters during a pause in heavy gunfire around Independence Square.
"And might I compliment you on the luxuriant growth of your mustache, miss?"
"I'll bet you say that to all the girls!"

Six Malian military pickups were deployed in the square and opened fire on the mayor's office with the heavy machineguns. Two injured soldiers were taken away in an ambulance.

French troops in armored vehicles later joined the battle as it spilled out into the warren of sandy streets, where, two weeks ago, they also fought for hours against Islamists who had infiltrated the town via the nearby river.

Helicopters clattered over the mayor's office, while a nearby local government office and petrol station was on fire.

A Gao resident said he heard an kaboom and then saw a Malian military vehicle on fire in a nearby street.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Tunisia boosts protection for journalists, politicians
[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisia's interior ministry last week began to provide protection to journalists and political figures targeted by jihad boys.

Opposition leader Chokri Belaid was not the only high profile leader that faced threats from jihad boys. Political figures and journalists also received death threats from religious Death Eaters in recent weeks.

The measures included added security to homes as well as bodyguards for high profile figures, tunisienumerique.com reported on February 14th.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


India-Pakistan
Operation to continue till arrest of LJ leadership
[Dawn] The federal government announced on Wednesday that the operation launched against the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ...
(LJ) would continue till the arrest of its entire leadership.

Briefing news hounds after a meting of the federal cabinet, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said all law-enforcement agencies were participating in the operation which had led to the killing of four LJ members and arrest of 170 people allegedly involved in carrying out attacks on Hazara Shias.

"We assure everybody in the country that the government will take the ongoing operation to its logical conclusion," he said.

Defending the 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...
government which has been under Zulfiqar Magsi since the imposition of governor's rule on Jan 14, Kaira said the federal government was satisfied with his performance and would keep on supporting him.

He rejected a perception that the army and the government were not on the same page on security measures taken for the Hazara community in Quetta. "The army is part of the government and we can use it whenever a need arises."

When asked that the army was ready to deploy its troops but the government had resisted the move, Mr Kaira said if tomorrow the province wanted army's deployment it could do it under the Constitution.

"Yes, in the past institutions used to act on their own, but now things are different and all of us are trying to work within a framework laid down in the Constitution," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


Five shot dead across Karachi
[Dawn] Five people were bumped off in the city on Wednesday, police said.

They said that a young man was bumped off in Orangi Town.

They added that gunnies riding a cycle of violence targeted Mohammad Aamir, 29, who was also on bike at Nishan-e-Haider Chowk, Sector 11½, within the remit of the Orangi Town cop shoppe.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Suspects Held over Murder of Tunisia Opposition Leader
[An Nahar] The Tunisian authorities have incarcerated
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
suspects in this month's liquidation of leading leftist opposition figure Chokri Belaid, the interior minister said.

"The investigation has progressed to the point that suspects have been arrested," Ali Larayedh told news hounds, without specifying the number of people enjugged
You have the right to remain silent...

"The investigation has not led yet to identify the killer, those behind the murder and its motives," said Larayedh, refusing elaborate in line with a secrecy order.

Belaid, 48, was rubbed out at close range by a lone, hooded gunman as he left his home in the capital Tunis on February 6.

His family blamed the ruling Ennahda party for being behind the killing, an accusation the Islamists have vehemently denied.

The liquidation triggered days of unrest as people took to Habib Bourguiba Avenue, epicenter of the 2011 uprising that toppled ex-dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, deepening a long-running political crisis.

On the day of the murder, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali proposed the formation of a government of technocrats as a way out of the crisis, but the initiative was rejected by his own Ennahda party.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


India-Pakistan
Army supports election on schedule
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Army has made it clear that the military supports free, transparent and timely elections in the country.
I support my winning the Powerball...
Speaking to media here on Thursday, military spokesman, Major General Asim Salim Bajwa repudiated media reports that recent moves by certain political forces including cleric Tahirul Qadri to question the integrity of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were backed by the army in an apparent bid to secure postponement of elections.

“Army has nothing to gain from delay in polls,” he said adding that the army wishes that general elections should be held in the country according to schedule in a free, fair and transparent manner.
And if you can't believe a Pakistani army general when he's talking about democracy, who can you believe?
The Inter-Services Public Relations director-general said any decision to deploy army in Balochistan would be made by the government. It could call out the army in the province or any city under article 245 of the constitution to help civilian administration control law and order.

Maj-Gen. Bajwa said the army has been supporting the democratic government for five years, adding why would it be changed in the end? What would army gain if polls are delayed, he asked.

Frontier Constabulary is leading operation in Balochistan with the assistance of intelligence and police, he said and added they are taking action against all terrorist outfits including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Malian army seeks out remaining rebels in Gao
[FRANCE24] Malian troops opened fire on the mayor's office in the northern town of Gao with mounted machine guns on Thursday to try to dislodge suspected Islamist gunnies holed up inside, witnesses said.

Gunfire and kabooms rang out in the early hours across the town, where French and Malian troops have been working to secure the area against bombings and guerrilla attacks by Salafist tough guys, witnesses said.

French and Malian military spokesmen were not immediately available to comment on what led to the clash.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Mali Jihadist Group MUJAO Says Sent Fighters to Gao
[An Nahar] One of the main Islamist gangs in northern Mali said Thursday it had sent fighters back into Gao, a city it controlled for nine months before French and Malian troops recaptured it last month.

"Our fighters entered Gao on Wednesday," Abu Walid Sahraoui, a front man for the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Local military sources and an AFP correspondent reported heavy festivities pitting Malian soldiers against a group of around 40 jihadists in northern Mali's largest city on Thursday.

"Our troops have been ordered to attack. If the enemy is stronger, we'll pull back only to return stronger, until we liberate Gao," the front man said.

He did not specify how many MUJAO forces had entered Gao, a city which French and Malian government forces reconquered on January 26, two weeks after Gay Paree launched an offensive in the north.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Africa Subsaharan
Hollande: Kidnappers Likely Separated French Hostages
[VOA News] French President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it...
says gunnies who kidnapped a French family of seven in Cameroon this week have probably separated the family into two groups.

Hollande did not specify on Thursday why he believes abductors have split up the family.

He told news hounds that French authorities are fully cooperating with Cameroonian and Nigerian Sherlocks to try to locate them and that it was best to work "discreetly."

On Tuesday, unidentified gunnies on cycle of violences kidnapped the family members as they vacationed in a town in northern Cameroon, near the Nigerian border. Four of the captives are children.

Investigators believe the gunnies took the family across the border into Nigeria.

No group has grabbed credit, but French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian blamed Nigerian Death Eater group Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Africa North
Alexandria businessman shuts factories amid dispute with workers
[Egypt Independent] Alexandrian businessman Farag Amr announced Wednesday that he would be shutting down a number of his company's factories that produce the "Faragello" foodstuffs brand, in response to strike tactics used by some his workers which the businessman said were "extortion."

Amr is the owner of the largest chain of food factories in the North Coast of Egypt.

With the recent closure, Amr Group joins the total of 4,550 factories in the private and public sectors nationwide which have been shut down in the political and economic upheaval since 25 January 2011.

Many factories have been forced to stop operations due to labor disputes, and others have stopped working due to a lack of fuel amid national shortages.

Amr told privately owned satellite channel ONtv Wednesday evening that the decision was made in "exceptional circumstances."

He said a small group of workers, led by a driver of a garbage vehicle, had attacked other employees in the company with knives and clubs and forced them out of the factory, forcing them to strike.

"We discovered that their only demand is to be paid the profits of 2014 in advance, which is illegal," Amr said. "I have been forced to close the factories in order to save the lives of the people."
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Chokri Belaid slain by salafists, Tunisia TV report claims
[MAGHAREBIA] A salafist cell was responsible for the liquidation of Tunisian opposition leader Chokri Belaid, Nessma TV news hound Jamel Arfaoui claimed on Wednesday (February 20th). The journalist reportedly received the information from a "reliable police source".

Belaid was shot and killed outside his home on February 6th, sparking a wave of protests.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


The Grand Turk
Turkey Allows Kurdish MPs to Visit Jailed Leader Ocalan
[An Nahar] The Turkish government has given permission for a group of Kurdish politicians to visit tossed in the calaboose
You have the right to remain silent...
Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan as part of renewed peace talks, their party said Thursday.

The justice ministry approved a list of deputies from the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) to visit Ocalan in his island prison on Saturday, it added.

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Ocalan, who was captured in Nairobi in 1999, is serving a life sentence in Imrali prison in the Marmara Sea south of Istanbul.

The visit will follow a meeting between two Kurdish politicians and Ocalan on January 3.

Local media said Ocalan might brief his visitors on plans for a ceasefire and the disarmament of the PKK, which is branded a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Turkish Jets Strike Kurd Rebels in Iraq
[An Nahar] Turkey sent jets across its border with Iraq to strike separatists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a local military source said Thursday.

The jets bombed 12 targets in the Kandil Mountains in the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq on Wednesday, the source told Agence La Belle France Presse without providing any casualty figures.

Pro-Kurdish Firat News Agency confirmed the raid, saying it targeted two villages and destroyed many farms and orchards.

The raid comes amid nascent peace talks between Ankara and PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence in prison.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Democratic forces to foil all conspiracies against democracy: Kaira
[Dawn] Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira said Thursday that conspiracies against democracy were not something new but democratic forces would foil all such efforts to derail the system.

Speaking to media representatives in Islamabad, he said: "Let me assure you that elections will be held in the country as per schedule and no undemocratic change will ever come."

Responding to a question, he said all state organs were part of the government and an investigation would be held to check why no appropriate action was taken when intelligence agencies had warned against a possible attack on the Hazara community.

However,
denial ain't just a river in Egypt...
he said that as the matter was sub judice he could not speak more on it.

On another question, he said the leadership of the Pakistain People's Party had tried to end the politics of confrontation and that it would be unfortunate if the approach of Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan prevails and the PML-N fails to hold direct consultations with the prime minister in order to forge a consensus on the caretaker set up.

He said the role of the caretaker prime minister would be very limited, adding that he or she would not be able to take decisions on the country's future.

Regarding consultations on the caretaker premier, he said a constitutional path would be followed in this regard and the name would be finalised at an appropriate time.

Replying to a question on the end 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...
, he said a decision would be made after consultation with all stakeholders.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
FSA Chief of Staff Warns Nasrallah: We Know How to Get to You
We certainly wouldn't object...
[An Nahar] General Selim Idriss, chief of staff of the rebel Free Syrian Army, on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Hizbullah leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...
, describing him as a "criminal" and "leader of Shabiha."

"The killer does not belong to a religion, sect or nationality, and any killer will be killed eventually," Idriss said, according to a statement issued by the Joint Command of the Free Syrian Army.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Huge jowls - whack him at the Burger King drive-thru...
Posted by: Raj || 02/22/2013 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  NaSRALLAH is deep underground. Hard to get at.

That jumbotron though is a great target.
Posted by: lord garth || 02/22/2013 7:53 Comments || Top||

#3  ... and we know where your ticklish spots are too!
Posted by: Raider || 02/22/2013 18:20 Comments || Top||

#4  OTOH BHARAT RAKSHAK > [Relief Web]HEZBOLLAH ANNOUNCES ALERT AMID ITS MEMBERS' RANKS [internal only], MEDIA REPORTS SAY, folowing attack by AL-NUSRA on one its patrols + new agreement wid FSA.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/22/2013 21:24 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Two killed in Yemen festivities
Two south Yemen separatists were killed on Thursday during clashes in Aden between police and members of the Southern Movement, a member of the group said.

The police fired on protesters from the movement, thousands of whom had gathered in the southern port city to demand independence on the first anniversary of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s ouster, Fathi Ben Lazraq said.

A rival rally was held in the same spot by members of the Al-Islah (reform) party, in support of unity.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Jebali Rejects Ennahda Offer to Return as Tunisia PM
[An Nahar] Tunisia was scrambling to find a replacement prime minister on Thursday and pull itself out of a major political crisis two days after Hamadi Jebali quit after failing to form a cabinet of technocrats.

The consultative council of Ennahda was to meet later to choose a successor to Jebali, the ruling Islamist party's number two, who ruled himself out following suggestions that he might be reappointed premier.

Jebali resigned on Tuesday after his plan to form a non-partisan government, announced in the wake of public outrage over the February 6 murder of leftist politician and Islamist critic Chokri Belaid, was rejected by his own party.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Indonesia District Chief Sacked over Texted Divorce
[An Nahar] Indonesia's president on Wednesday sacked a district chief who took an 18-year-old as his second wife but divorced her after four days via text message, accusing her of not being a virgin.
"You've done this before, haven't you?"
"What makes you think that?"
"I dunno. The cigarette? The book?"

The case of Aceng Fikri, the chief of the town of Garut 200 kilometers (124 miles) southeast of Jakarta, has angered residents who wanted him removed from his position.
"Yeah! Throw the bum out!"
Following a wave of protests, the local parliament launched an investigation and found that Fikri, 40, had breached multiple laws in his brief marriage. It recommended he be sacked, a decision later confirmed by the Supreme Court.
"It's our considered judgment that the bum should be thrown out."
"Hear hear!"

"The president has signed the dismissal letter for Aceng today," home affairs minister Gamawan Fauzi told news hounds.
"Dismissal's too good for him! Fire his ass!"
Fauzi said he would pass on the letter to West Java's governor so Fikri could be dismissed, a process which would take about one week.
It takes a week to say "Pack your sh*t and get out"?
Earlier one of Fikri's lawyers, Eggi Sudjana, had said the penalty on his client was too harsh.
Eggi?
"I must admit that from an ethical point of view his act was wrong, but ethical violations do not bear any sanction other than social, such as being jeered at or insulted," Sudjana said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Uh, uh, IDIVORCETHEEIDIVORCETHEEIDIVORCE
THEE@TWITTER.COM???

Islamic "quickie" wid E-Digital.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/22/2013 23:14 Comments || Top||


Dominique Strauss-Kahn: 'Half man, half pig'?
[FRANCE24] Dominique Strauss-Kahn "is half man, half pig", according to a former lover who has detailed their seven-month relationship in a kiss-and-tell book to be released next week.

Extracts of "Belle et Bête" -- which can be translated as "Beauty and the Beast" or "Beautiful and Stupid" -- were published in respected weekly news magazine Le Nouvel Observateur
This is considered news in France?
Thursday, alongside an exclusive interview with author Marcela Iacub, a lawyer and newspaper columnist.

Strauss-Kahn, known in France by his initials DSK and once billed as a possible Socialist candidate for the 2012 French presidential election, is described as unfeeling, selfish and sexually obsessed, "an artist of the sewers, a poet of abasement and filth".

But these are the very traits that appealed to Iacub, who started her seven-month relationship with DSK in 2012, a year after he was infamously accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid at the New York Sofitel.
Boy howdy, lucky for her she knew what she was getting into...
"You have had a long list of sexual conquests ... of mostly vulgar and unattractive women," she wrote in the style of an open letter to her former lover. "It is one of the authentic and wonderful traits of the true pig, a form of generosity that you show to all women prepared to receive you."
Ick. Who would want to be last in line for that?
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "an artist of the sewers, a poet of abasement and filth".
The French have a way with words....
Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 1:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Women.

These selfish traits are highly prized by women, as they denote an alpha male of high quality. Suppose he was nice? Then he's too boring.

Women.
Posted by: gromky || 02/22/2013 2:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Some women, gromky. And that's not an alpha, just a porcine.
Posted by: lotp || 02/22/2013 5:44 Comments || Top||

#4  I think gromky was seated at the bar when he wrote that...
Posted by: Steve White || 02/22/2013 8:03 Comments || Top||

#5  half man half pig part bear - is he related to big ol' dumb Al?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/22/2013 8:08 Comments || Top||

#6  Nah. Just a sad student of female nature.

This woman *knew* DSK was an accused rapist and yet she still accepted him. Why? Because women treasure an alpha male above all and will forgive any sins to be with him.

Sad but true.
Posted by: gromky || 02/22/2013 15:21 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm not sure it's the alpha male thing and is instead a masochistic thing. They obviously have some guilt issues and desire someone to punish them.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division || 02/22/2013 16:54 Comments || Top||

#8  I guess this is where the pork hits the sausage slicer. Ouch!!!
Posted by: Raider || 02/22/2013 18:25 Comments || Top||

#9  gromky, it is clear your education about women is woefully incomplete. It is also clear that all those trying helpfully to educate you will not be able to crack the extra-thick skull of your preconceptions. An aluminum baseball bat in professional hands is what's needed, and I have neither the time nor the energy to devote to this little project.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/22/2013 22:03 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghan Taliban target women
[Dawn] THE number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan has decreased for the first time in six years, said the UN, but assassinations by gunnies -- particularly of women, girls and government employees -- increased dramatically.

In its annual report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, the UN recorded 2,754 Afghan civilians being killed in 2012, a decrease of 12 per cent compared with 2011, and 4,805 being injured, a slight rise.

The overall decline was attributed in part to one of the worst winters on record impeding fighting. Fewer suicide kabooms and a fall in the number of air strikes also helped ease 2012's corpse count.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Standing headline, Afghan Division...
Posted by: Raj || 02/22/2013 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  You heard the man Johnson, leave the type set.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 1:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Islamic Lions!
Posted by: Frank G || 02/22/2013 8:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Islamic Lions!Raging Queens!
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra9196 || 02/22/2013 18:36 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
U.N. chief suggests Congo rebels had outside help to take Goma
[NEWS.YAHOO] The command, equipment quality and fighting ability of rebels in eastern 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...
when they captured the frontier city of Goma in November suggests they had external support, U.N. Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
said on Tuesday.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Mali PM Rules Out Federal State as Means to End Conflict
[An Nahar] Mali's Prime Minister Diango Cissoko on Thursday ruled out the creation of a federal state as a solution to the conflict in the north of the country, in an interview with French daily Le Monde.

"We are ready to talk about everything with everyone, not only the communities of the north. But it is out of the question to speak of federalism. We will not debate the partition of the country either," Cissoko said.

More than a month after the start of French military intervention in his deeply poor, partly desert nation to help fight armed Islamists, the Bamako government agreed to hold talks with northern populations, including the ethnic Tuaregs, who have a history of insurgency.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Ansar Dine


China-Japan-Koreas
Abe: Chinese need for conflict is ‘deeply ingrained’
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Must be true - thanks to Abe's statement, the Chinese are po'ed.

Again.

The latest ...

* ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINESE COAST GUARD SEIZES CONTROL OF DIAOYU ISLAND CHASING AWAY JAPANESE [fishing] SHIP | [Asahi Shinbun = AJW] THREE CHINESE VESSELS PURSUE JAPANESE FISHING BOAT NEAR SENKAKUS, i.e. INSIDE Nippon territorial waters.

* SAME > JAPAN + US IGNORED CHINESE SIGNALS + HISTORY, BLUNDERING INTO THE SENKAKUS/DIAOYUS CRISIS - FORBES [Stephen Harner].

* SAME > JAPAN NOT TO DISCLOSE EVIDENCE OF CHINA RADAR TARGET-LOCK [lock-on] MSDF ASSETS.

* TOPIX > [People's Daily Online] HOME-MADE WARSHIPS DEMONSTRATE OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN HIGH-SEAS TRAINING + COMBAT READINESS PATROLS.

PLAN's "Qingdao" DDG + "Yantai", Yancheng FFGS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/22/2013 2:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeah. They will NOT be happy unless others are humiliated and everyone kowtows to China, like the world should be. It was like that in the old days, then China was humiliated. Now the rest of the world needs to be humiliated so that the Chinese can feel better about themselves. The best way is through military conflict.
Posted by: gromky || 02/22/2013 2:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Now, that's rich---coming from a Japanese!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/22/2013 5:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Now, that's rich---coming from a Japanese!

The Chinese empire has expanded more or less continuously for 2000 years. The typical script was to demand something a neighboring kingdom found unacceptable and then invade. Or gradually occupy a neighbor's traditional lands while daring him to resist. In other words, like every other empire out there. Say what you will about Manifest Destiny, but our forebears actually paid for land taken from the Indians.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/22/2013 7:07 Comments || Top||

#5  The Indians are in a difficult position.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/22/2013 8:56 Comments || Top||

#6  With firewater?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/22/2013 8:57 Comments || Top||

#7  With firewater?

Different Indians.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 02/22/2013 10:48 Comments || Top||

#8  I was replying to Fei.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/22/2013 10:53 Comments || Top||

#9  I would say it is deeply ingrained in human nature and certain cultures encourage or repress it.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/22/2013 12:30 Comments || Top||

#10  With firewater?

I believe it was trade goods and cash, some of which the Indians* used to buy alcohol. Let me put it this way - even when the Indian fighters defeated the rebels, rebel captives generally escaped with their lives. The aftermath of the Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan, more or less contemporaneous with the second half of several hundred years of Indian Wars, led to the Chinese massacre of 70K rebels after a surrender had been negotiated on the basis of a rebel amnesty. There are treaties, and then there are Chinese treaties.

* I've heard it said that Indians get drunk easy and they are mean drunks, meaning the average bar really hates them as customers - they provide a small portion of total revenues while creating most of the problems for the bouncers and other patrons. It's a weird conundrum, and I suspect it's genetic - Indians probably tend towards alcoholism much as Orientals tend to be problem gamblers.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/22/2013 15:33 Comments || Top||

#11  The aftermath of the Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan, more or less contemporaneous with the second half of several hundred years of Indian Wars, led to the Chinese massacre of 70K rebels after a surrender had been negotiated on the basis of a rebel amnesty. There are treaties, and then there are Chinese treaties.

But there are rebels, and then there are rebels. Those guys got treated much more harshly than Zhang Xianzhong (for instance). They captured him but _let him go_ repeatedly.

(And between the last time they let him go and the Manchu killed him, he killed roughly 3 million people in Sichuan province.)

Zhang_Xianzhong
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/22/2013 15:48 Comments || Top||

#12  Please excuse that last line, I'm having minor computer cut-and-paste problems.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/22/2013 15:49 Comments || Top||

#13  I suspect it's genetic

Actually it's more a question of the length of exposure---a lot of Europeans died of demon drink, once distillation was invented (and they were exposed to wine & beer for thousand of years before that).
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/22/2013 17:14 Comments || Top||

#14  Kim: 3 gets you 7 I can kick that Sabre Toof
Joe: Cool, let me hold your beer.

Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 18:05 Comments || Top||

#15  Kim: 3 gets you 7 I can kick that Sabre Toof
Joe: Cool, let me hold your beer.


ROTFL
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/22/2013 19:57 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
5 Shibir men held with bomb-making materials
[Bangla Daily Star] Police rounded up five activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir
... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh...
for possession of a huge quantity of bomb-making materials and provocative leaflets in the city's Muradpur on Wednesday.

Acting on information, cops raided a three-storey building at Muradpur intersection around 10:00pm and incarcerated
Please don't kill me!
the five, said Panchlaish police.

The arrestees, all students, are Abu Bakkar, 27, Shamim, 27, Mohammad Apel, 25, Mohammad Rubel, 25, and Liton, 29.

Law enforcers also seized 10,000 copies of leaflets and as many posters with provocative contents, 10 litres of petrol, five machetes and four cartons of bomb-making materials.

Yesterday, two cases were lodged with Panchlaish Police Station in this connection.

In the afternoon, police sent the five to jail through a local court.

Mohammad Shahidullah, additional deputy commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (North), said they have information that thousands of activists of Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It 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...
and its student wing Shibir are making preparation to carry out destructive activities across the port city demanding release of several top Jamaat leaders who are facing trial for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.

Police have been conducting drives in the city to avert any untoward occurrence, he added.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Caribbean-Latin America
5 cops die in La Laguna

For a map, click here. For a map of Coahuila state, click here. For a map of Durango state, click here.
Photos of the aftermath of three of the incidents can be found here.


By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of five police agents in the La Laguna region of Mexico have been shot to death and another two were wounded Thursday afternoon, according to Mexican new accounts.

A news item posted on the website of Proceso news weekly said that four of the five dead police agents were killed on the Durango side of La Laguna in three separate incidents.

Two unidentified police agents with the Gomez Palacio, Durango transit police were shot to death near the intersection of calles Morelos and Urrea. A second incident took place minutes later on Bulevar Miguel Aleman near the Museo Francisco Sarabia museum against a sole police agent.

The third incident took place near the intersection of Calzada Lazaro Cardenas near the qtechnical school Centro de Estudios Tecnologicos, where a transit police agent was shot to death while directing traffic.

A fourth incident took place on Bulevar Guadalupe Victoria, which ended with an unidentified police agent wounded.

The fifth police agent was killed in Torreon in Coahuila, but no details have appeared in Mexican press regarding that incident.

The five dead police agents were identified in a news brief posted on the website of El Siglo de Durango news daily as Gilberto Rodriguez Gonzalez, Jose Luis Gamboa Aleman, Victo Ivan Guereca Salinas, Florentino Martinez Flores and Jose Miguel Castro Roman.

Two other civilians were killed in La Laguna.
  • A man was found stabbed to death in an incident characterized as an execution Thursday. Francisco Javier Ramirez Aldaba, 23, was found at a residence in Ejido El Vergelito stabbed in the chest and abdomen.

  • An unidentified man in his 40s was found tortured and strangled to death on Avenida Hidalgo in Oscar Flores Tapia colony in Torreon in Coahuila Wednesday night.

Meanwhile in other security news, the Durango state Fiscalia General del Estado (FGE) or attorney general announced Thursday that a total of nine unidentified suspects were detained by security forces. Security forces seized drugs, guns and vehicles.

A number of weapons were found when a Policia Federal (PF) road patrol stopped two men who were travelling aboard a Dodge Neon sedan. Inside the vehicle, PF agents found one 0.30 caliber rifle, one 0.22 caliber rifle, one 9mm pistol, one 9mm Lugar pistol, one Uzi type pistol and one 0.22 caliber pistol. Four weapons magazines were also seized in the traffic stop. The two detainees were identified as Javier Becerra Gallegos and Omar Becerra Gallegos, both 25 and from Ciudad Lerdo, Durango.

Separately, four suspects were detained in La Laguna for alleged car theft. The detainees were identified as Gregorio Contreras Aguirre, Gustavo Carrillo Reyes, Aaron Vega Renteria, and Julio Cesar Vega Renteria.

Three more suspects were detained for alleged attempted robbery. They were identified as José Martin Chavez Hernandez, Juan de Dios Garcia Navarro and Maria Guadalupe Rubio Rodriguez.

All nine suspects were transferred to the Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) in Durango city.

The La Laguna region began formal security operations named Operativo Laguna only last week, in which Mexican federal security forces including the military and Policia Federal units along with Coahuila and Durango state police units would maintain patrols in the region, especially in the absence of 158 police agents who had been dismissed or who had quit the police corporations in Gomez Palacio.

That reduction in force in La Laguna had left the region with very little local police presence until the Mexican XI Military Region agreed to coordinate police activities in the region.

A separate news story posted on the website of El Siglo de Durango Tuesday said that about 100 naval infantry effectives, the equivalent of a rifle company had been deployed at the Expo Feria, or fairgrounds in Gomez Palacio to assist in security operations. It was reported earlier this month that Mexican marine units had arrived in the region to assist with security, but this latest news is the first of an encampment.

At last report, the Mexican Army was answering 066 telephone calls, Mexico's emergency number. It was also reported by Mexican press in a security incident earlier in the month that army marine and state police units were being combined for the purposes of patrolling the region.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The (female) lagoon?

Is that the one with Milla Jovovitch?
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 02/22/2013 16:07 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Illinois state senator pushes anti-anonymity bill
[DAILYCALLER] A recently introduced bill in the Illinois state Senate would require anonymous website comment posters to reveal their identities if they want to keep their comments online.
If you're going to comment on this post, don't do it anonymously. Use an assumed name.
The bill, called the Internet Posting Removal Act, is sponsored by Illinois state Sen. Ira Silverstein.
Wonder what party he belongs to?
It states that a "web site administrator upon request shall remove any comments posted on his or her web site by an anonymous poster unless the anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post and confirms that his or her IP address, legal name, and home address are accurate."
I presume that's so they can send union thugs to mess you up if they don't like what you post.
The Democratic
I guessed that.
politician's bill, which does not ask for or clarify requirements from entities requesting the comment removal, would take effect 90 days after becoming law.
I wonder if the entities can be anonymous?
Pseudonymous and anonymous comments have long been a critical part of U.S. public discourse, though, and the bill may be on shaky legal ground.
Many of the Federalist Papers were written by some guy named Publius.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) noted on its website that the "right to anonymous speech is also protected well beyond the printed page."
But only for lefty sites...
"Thus in 2002 the Supreme Court struck down a law requiring proselytizers to register their true names with the mayor's office before going door-to-door," wrote EFF, noting that the Supreme Court protects Internet commentary as it does pamphleteering.
Possibly because the two are identical, except for one being electronic.
The bill is part of a larger trend of politicians seeking to censor anonymous online speech.
Since all the other problems the nation has have been solved.
The New York State Assembly sought the passage of a similar bill in May 2012, and Arizona politicians worked to ban Internet trolling altogether in April 2012.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the bill into law in May 2012, but only after the contentious language was cut.
Personally, I'm all in favor of public execution for trolls, but they probably have a right to be stupid and obnoxious.
Local politicians took similar action in Tennessee in 2012, when the Shelby County Commission pressed for a court order to reveal the identities of online commentators who posted nearly 9,000 comments on Memphis news site, Commercial Appeal.
The very same online commentor? Or 9000 separate commentors?
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This bill is bullshit.
Posted by: Anthony Weiner || 02/22/2013 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  The very same online commentor? Or 9000 separate commentors?

Yes, it was the strange case of one Richard Windsor, esq. well known bon vivant and dawg about town. It turns out sadly Richard (Dick to his friends) was also a meth addict and could paw out 300 emails and 500 comments per evening given enough water and the occasional scratch behind the ears.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 1:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Illinois state Sen. Ira Silverstein is an asshole
Posted by: Illinois state Sen. Ira Silverstein. || 02/22/2013 8:23 Comments || Top||

#4  I remember the day, not too long ago, when a liberal democrat would rather die than sign on to a bill like this.

What has happened to these guys?
They were always goofy, but DAMN!
Posted by: bigjim-CA || 02/22/2013 9:34 Comments || Top||

#5  The Democrats want secrecy, but sign a bill preventing it, seems there's a traitor in their midst.

Or some secret Repub.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/22/2013 10:12 Comments || Top||

#6  Too bad, Fred. If I have to use my real name I demand to be paid for my rants.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/22/2013 11:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Applies to websites in Illinois, presumably.

Also presumably, those will be hard to find in short order.
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 02/22/2013 11:41 Comments || Top||

#8  Legislators just do not get how the internet works. Illinois can pass a law banning anonymous posting, but it could only be enforced against an Illinois web site. Congress could pass a similar law for the US, but it would only apply to sites in the US. All Fred would have to do is get a Canadian server to avoid it.

A couple of years ago, Canada passed an embargo on any news about some political fight that was going on. Some Canadian passed info to Ed Morrissey at hotair.com who posted it.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/22/2013 12:16 Comments || Top||

#9  You see, when those old white guys wrote the 1st Ammendment, all they could envision, like muskets and bayonets, was parchment and type press. They had no idea about computers and internet, satellites in space. Its an outdated olde fashioned way of thinking and it is time evolve our allowance of free speech.

Also, you must wear a safety vest with your name and address when commenting at lawmaker events, so that party officials may quickly identify you and where you live so that we may better solve any problems.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/22/2013 13:15 Comments || Top||

#10  the folks at the EPA do not use their real names for givernment work.
Posted by: airandee || 02/22/2013 15:59 Comments || Top||

#11  Pseudonymous and anonymous comments have long been a critical part of U.S. public discourse, though, and the bill may be on shaky legal ground.

Ben (Richard Saunders, Silence Dogood, Anthony Afterwit, Polly Baker, Alice Addertongue, Caelia Shortface and Martha Careful, Busy Body, Benevolous) Franklin, please call your office.

H/T Mental Floss
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra9196 || 02/22/2013 18:58 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hotel California: Jihadists From Caucasus Arrive In Syria
Group calling itself 'The Battalion of Immigrants to Syria' promises to help implement Sharia law

A group of Jihadists from the Caucasus has recently arrived in Syria and appeared in a video posted Wednesday night on the Free Syrian Army's Facebook page.

According to the web page, the men have come to fight the Bashir al-Assad regime under the banner of Jabhat al-Nusra, a faction of the Syrian opposition that is classified as a terrorist group by the US government.

Against the backdrop of black al-Qaeda flags, an unnamed man speaking Russian -- simultaneously translated into Arabic -- said he belonged to an organization called "The Batallion of Immigrants to Syria" (Katibat Al-Muhajireen ila bilad A-Sham). He sent regards to his hosts from his Amir, or commander, Omar A-Shishani, a moniker which may indicate the group's Chechen origin.

"O brothers, we have missed many opportunities to apply Sharia law in this land. We will not miss another opportunity to apply Sharia law in this land and across the world," the man said.

"We will fight here until we achieve one of two goods: either victory or martyrdom," the man added, appealing to his audience for financial support for his group's "jihad."

Next spoke the group's deputy Amir, a man named Abu-Musab. In an unaccented Arabic, Abu-Musab called on viewers to join the jihad in Syria, stressing that it is an individual obligation placed on every Mohammedan.

Last week, British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned that Syria has become a magnet for Western jihadists who could potentially harm Europe upon their return from the battlefield.

According to Hague, Syria is now the "number one destination for jihadists anywhere in the world today."

The Caucasus is a region in southeastern Europe that lies between the Black and Caspian seas.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Be they anti-Assad local Reb or Foreign Jihadi, non-Muslims lose.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/22/2013 2:13 Comments || Top||

#2  ^^^^^^that.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 14:08 Comments || Top||


Car Bomb in Damascus Kills Dozens, Opposition Says
[NY Times] At least three boom-mobiles roiled Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
on Thursday, including a powerful blast near the downtown headquarters of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
's ruling party and the Russian Embassy that witnesses said shook the neighborhood like an earthquake. Antigovernment activists described the bombings as some of the worst to hit the Syrian capital in the nearly two-year-old conflict and said at least 72 people had been killed, mostly civilians.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Europe
Hezbollah man denies attack plot in Cyprus
[FRANCE24] A self-confessed Hezbollah militant told a court in Cyprus Thursday that he had collected information on Israeli tourists visiting the east Mediterranean island but denied plotting to attack them.
"Lies! All lies!"
Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, a dual Lebanese and Swedish citizen arrested in the port of Limassol in July last year, faces eight charges including conspiracy to commit a crime and participating in a criminal organisation.

"These accusations are baseless. I conspired with no one to commit any crime," he said during cross-examination at Limassol criminal court on Thursday, local media reported.

"I was given instruction to collect information. That's what I did."
"How you can claim that's 'conspiracy' is beyond me!"
Yaacoub said he was asked to log information on Israeli flight arrivals to Cyprus and jot down bus number plates carrying tourists from the Jewish state.

He said he did not know what the information was for and was arrested last July before he could communicate the information to a handler, whom he did not know, in Lebanon.

Cyprus is becoming ever more popular for Israeli tourists,
As opposed to Mauritania...
with arrivals in 2012 increasing 23.5 percent to 39,420.

In testimony read on Wednesday Yaacoub denied planning any attack, but did admit to being in Hezbollah for the past four years while also insisting that he worked solely in the group's political branch.
He also apparently believes there is a difference...
The defendant said he received orders from a masked Hezbollah operative called Ayman
...also from the political branch...
and was told to stake out hotels on Cyprus, including in Limassol and Ayia Napa.

Cyprus police have refused to comment publicly, calling the case a "sensitive political issue."

Shortly after Yaacoub's arrest, five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver were killed in a bus bombing at an airport in Bulgaria, the deadliest attack on Israelis abroad since 2004, which Israel blamed on Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

At Wednesday's hearing, Yaacoub was unable to answer questions about a red notebook containing the registration numbers of tourist buses he had with him at the time of his arrest.

He said he had received weapons and acted as a courier for the political branch of Hezbollah in Europe, delivering packages whose contents he said he was unaware of, to the French city of Lyon, to Amsterdam and to Antalya in southwest Turkey.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Africa North
Egypt Parliamentary Vote Set for April
[An Nahar] Egyptian parliamentary elections will be held in three stages, starting in April, a presidential source told Agence La Belle France Presse on Thursday.

"The elections will begin in April. They will be in three stages over three months," the source said, adding that President Mohamed Morsi would issue a decree outlining the details.

Earlier, the Shura Council, the upper house of parliament that currently holds legislative power, adopted an electoral law that was amended by the Constitutional Court and sent it up to Morsi for ratification.

The law bans members of parliament from changing their political affiliations once elected.

It also states that one-third of the seats should be reserved for independents.

Under ousted president Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
, independents who won seats often joined the president's National Democratic Party following their election, widening the ruling party's monopoly on power.

The lower house of parliament was dissolved last year after the top court ruled that the law governing the vote was unconstitutional.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Home Front: Culture Wars
NBC falls to 5th place behind Univision
from TFA:
I have a suggestion for NBC. Intensify fawning coverage of President Obama, and a leftist news agenda. You know, what worked so well so far...

They could swap 'NBC' and 'MS-NBC' and the ratings would be about the same...
An already bad month is getting worse for NBC. For the first time in sweeps history, the network is projected to finish fifth in the key adults 18-49 demographic. That's a crushing blow for NBC, which went from flying high in November with a sweep win & Steve Burke breaking his usual silence last fall to brag to the New York Times about the network's performance to its shows cratering and ratings plunging. From the beginning of the February sweep on January 31 through February 19, NBC has averaged a 1.2 rating among adults 18-49. That's below the 1.5 that Univision has been averaging so far over the 20 night of the sweep period. In fact, Univision has bested NBC every singe night of the sweep so far among adults 18-49 and is poised to overtake NBC for its first fourth-place sweep finish in the demo
Posted by: badanov || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  being the leftwing media branch for the DNC is working out soooo well for you.
Posted by: Frank G || 02/22/2013 7:59 Comments || Top||

#2  I like watching the news on Univision better. The newsbabes are hotter and my poor Spanish makes it less stupid. Plus all UFO stories.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/22/2013 9:42 Comments || Top||

#3  UFO stories? What time? What channel?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/22/2013 11:24 Comments || Top||

#4  They might as well change their name to the DNC News Outlet.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/22/2013 12:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Joseph & I are available, altho we have time constraints.

Pls call: BR549 for pricing information and needed do dads. Also no RFD in sight allowed. None!
Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 14:15 Comments || Top||

#6  I did see two levitating saucers; but it was in Spanish? Didn't notice.

Watched RFD, toy trains and horse training, until one day they had some program come on which had some jerk with skinny arms and thin hands give the beat poet version of Whats the Matter with Kansas. WTH and slammed the door.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/22/2013 16:52 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I assume only the Mods (bless their hearts) can see the back cover of the RDS&TP.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 0:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Jeri Ryan[Filmography](age 45)



Außerirdisches Design

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/22/2013 1:11 Comments || Top||

#3  If it hadn't been for the release of her allegations in her divorce, Obama would be in Springfield, figuring out how to get a new stoplight for Watseeka.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 02/22/2013 8:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Ja daß ist eine sehr attraktive Anzug der jungen Dame hat bis heute an. Sehr ausserirdisches Design - WOW!
Posted by: Glineter Cherong1335 || 02/22/2013 8:25 Comments || Top||

#5  7 of 9?? No way that's less than 11 of 10.
Posted by: Alanc || 02/22/2013 8:29 Comments || Top||

#6  macht ein Bär Scheiße in den Wäldern
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/22/2013 9:45 Comments || Top||

#7  Richard, I don't think the release was her doing.
Both she and her husband begged the courts not to release the records.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/22/2013 10:35 Comments || Top||

#8  Ja ein Bär macht Scheiße in den Wald, aber er verwendet nicht Toilettenpapier vielleicht Blättern oder anderen natürlichen Materialien die ihm zur Verfügung.
Posted by: Bigfoot Whusomble6191 || 02/22/2013 11:27 Comments || Top||

#9  Okay guys very funny. 40+ years ago Ich konnte Deutsch sprechen, jetzt ich spreche wenig Deutsch.
Posted by: Alanc || 02/22/2013 11:51 Comments || Top||

#10  Hell, forty years ago muh English was more better.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 13:51 Comments || Top||

#11  Looking out my winder so very dreary
puts muh mind on better times.
When such weather hailed the return of gawd in fungi form springing about in the shitty storm.
Then when young I dressed myself in khaki loathing the blue jean swarms, a short hair cut had I and glasses thick.
Pulling on a heavy sweater I ventured out into the weather, before the cops and after the thugs
Carrying naught but but a haversack and a reptile catcher perhaps a wire cutter from the army navy store
Into the pastures of the very best I ventured looking for snakes and birds and cow shit
The snakes, the birds, they come they go, but cow shit... after a rain is for evermore.
Often I saw nothing, but rain and cows, but on occasion I saw tits in shit.
And that made all the difference.


That was a long time ago. Things were different then, brain damage wasn't permanent gas was cheap.


Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 13:52 Comments || Top||

#12  Shipman...a shroomer? That explains a lot. ;-)
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 02/22/2013 14:02 Comments || Top||

#13  Caption this:

"That's right girls, I humped his brains out!"
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 02/22/2013 17:58 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Human Rights Watch demand soldiers be prosecuted for abuses in Mali
[FRANCE24] Human Rights Watch urged the Malian government on Thursday to investigate and prosecute soldiers accused of committing torture, summary executions and other atrocities in the fight against Islamist militants in the country's north.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  There's a shocker...
Posted by: Raj || 02/22/2013 0:12 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Turkish air force fires on PKK positions in northern Iraq
The Turkish Air Force last night fired on the positions of militants of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, Hurriyet newspaper reported today.

Eight F-16 drones were used. As a result, 12 PKK militants' shelters were fired.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
U.S. Envoy Opposes S.Korean Nuclear Armament
U.S. Ambassador in Seoul Sung Kim on Wednesday argued against South Korea's nuclear armament and the re-deployment of tactical nuclear weapons with the U.S. Forces Korea. They would be "a big mistake" for South Korea, he said.
Another Champ appointee who thinks he knows more than the locals do about preserving their country...
Kim warned against any measures that work against common efforts for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula but also stressed the importance of a powerful combined deterrent.
The 'denuclearization' of the peninsula isn't going so well, in case you hadn't noticed. Or are we to allow only one side to have weapons? Wait, I know the answer to that...
Kim also discussed the scheduled transfer of full operational control of South Korean troops to Seoul in late 2015. He said the handover will go ahead only if the governments of the two countries at the time are certain that the South Korean military is fully prepared.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sigh...
Posted by: Water Modem || 02/22/2013 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  This US regime opposes US nuclear armament.

Mega-sigh..............
Posted by: Alanc || 02/22/2013 8:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Dominance isn't offensive; it's just there.
Posted by: Cheting Glomong9412 || 02/22/2013 21:10 Comments || Top||


Japan Eyes Cruise Missiles to Attack N. Korea
Tokyo is eyeing the development of cruise missiles to launch pre-emptive strikes on North Korean missile bases, the Sankei Shimbun reported Wednesday.
They could just buy an export version of the Tomahawk. Call it the 'Tomahawk-J'...
The daily said the Japanese government is likely to put a clause paving the way for such missiles into a revised 10-year defense plan at the end of this year.
That'll make the Chinese happy...
Takeshi Iwaya, a lawmaker who heads a security committee in the ruling Democratic Liberal Party, told party members Tuesday, "Japan relies on the U.S. for the capability to hit enemy bases. Whether Japan can acquire part of that capability will be a major point in the defense plan."

Earlier, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the Diet that Japan needs to "consider acquiring the means to hit enemy bases in accordance with the changing international political situation."

At present, Japan's pacifist postwar Constitution prohibits it from acquiring pre-emptive attack weapons. In 2004, Tokyo considered developing a cruise missile with a range of 300 km but scrapped the plan due to mounting public concern that they would violate the non-aggression principles.

In 2009, the DLP looked at buying cruise missiles but the plan was shelved when it lost the general election.

But amid a general lurch to the right, Abe recently said striking North Korean missile bases could be considered "self defense" if there are no other ways to deal with such threats.

North Korea is estimated to have 150 to 200 Rodong missiles with a range of 1,300 km. A DLP official told the Sankei Shimbun, "There are concerns that it is not easy to deliver preemptive strikes on specific targets, since North Korea has mobile missiles, but cruise missiles could be used to attack key facilities of the regime."

Experts say Japan is capable of building a long-range missile any time it wants since it already has a rocket that can put a satellite into orbit.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Buy some from SKOR?
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/22/2013 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Put Sony in charge of production, make it tight, make it the right price, call it BoomMan.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 0:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Taiwan has 1900mph cruise missiles they would likely be happy to co-produce with Japan in exchange for some more tech exchanges like the hi-speed train robot track bed builders they license from Japan.
Posted by: Water Modem || 02/22/2013 0:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Water Modem: Or Submarines. Or fighter aircraft.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/22/2013 8:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Or giant fighting robots.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/22/2013 9:35 Comments || Top||

#6  You wish to Arm Japan, remember the Second World War, and be careful.

You might get what you wished for.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/22/2013 10:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Oh yeah, the development...

(wink wink)
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 02/22/2013 11:36 Comments || Top||

#8  it appears that the 'others' have already fogotten RJ
Posted by: Cretinous Humongous || 02/22/2013 11:50 Comments || Top||

#9  Who knows, RJ? If we'd have let the Japanese have their way in China during WWII the world might be a better place today.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/22/2013 13:09 Comments || Top||

#10  Think long RJ, China has ever been an expansionist entity, it's that our western history is kinda vague on that aspect.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 14:07 Comments || Top||

#11  C'mon folks ... everybody knows they've got Godzilla !!!
Posted by: Raider || 02/22/2013 18:23 Comments || Top||

#12  Under its post-war Constitution Nippon by same cannot act "offensively" or be a military aggressor - unless it is changed, JAPAN + ITS "DEFENSIVE-ONLY" JSDF IS MOST LIKELY TO BE ON THE RECEIVING END OF ANY NORTH KOREAN = CHINESE PREEMPTIVE OR UNILATERAL FIRST-STRIKE.

[NORTH-KOREA-VS-USS-GEORGE-WASHINGTON-CVN here].

Taken collectively, from various present MSM-Net Artics it would appear that China may not be interested in taking Japan head-on militarily, in part because it desires to keep RUSSIA neutral AMAP ALAP + not militarily involved in a US-China-Japan [ROK?] three-way conflict.

CHINA = TAIWAN IS STILL ITS FOCII, BUT IMO CHINA DESIRES A STARTEGIC COMBAT FRONT FROM TAIWAN ALL THE WAY DOWN TO NORTHERN PHIL + SE ASIA [Taiwan-PHIL-Hainan], N-O-T FROM TAIWAN TO THE DISPUTED DIAOYUS/SENKAKUS. The Diaoyus/Senkakus + Okinawa? is a Secondary Front, not China's primary front despite still being linked to Taiwan???

From the mostly empty NORTHERN PHIL, wid SHORE-BASED ASBMS + PLAAF AIRPOWER the PLA can better defend the Okinawa-Taiwan Straits from incoming USN Nimitz-class CVBGS + USMC EBGS out in WESTPAC while still allowing the PLAN + PLAAF to protect + do battle agz the JSDF in the Sea of Japan.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/22/2013 19:05 Comments || Top||

#13  DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [NY Times] CHINESE BOUYS ARE FOCUS OF LATEST DISPUTE OVER CONTESTED ISLANDS.

China has begun marking its alleged territory in ECS wid floating buoys, + Nippon demands to know why.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/22/2013 21:05 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
20 Boko Haram Inmates To FG: Charge Us To Court Or Free Us
[LEADERSHIP.NG] Twenty Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
suspects awaiting trial in Kuje maximum prisons, yesterday, protested what they described as sluggish justice system in the country and thus demanded to be re-united with their families as neither the government nor the Prisons authorities have made efforts to try them a year after their arrest.

This is even as LEADERSHIP can authoritatively report that only 116 out of about 545 inmates at the Kuje maximum Prison, which is already above the capacity of the facility are convicted , leaving the facility with a total of 429 awaiting trial inmates, while only 10 of the inmates are condemned criminals with five sentenced to life imprisonment.

The inmates, who explained that they were enjugged
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
in Kano and Borno states (Maiduguri) respectively since January 2012, on the suspicion of having connection with the Boko Haram, maintained that they have been in detention for a period of one year without being tried by a court of competent jurisdiction.

The inmates, who were visibly angry and pained, pleaded with the Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, who undertook a five hour intensive on-the-spot assessment of the prison facilities to provide additional operational vehicles to the Prisons Service, so as to facilitate their movement to court for trial, and added that it would also reduce cases of overcrowding.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram

#1  execute them, then free their remains
Posted by: Frank G || 02/22/2013 8:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Frank,

I agree. Give them the same treatment they gave that church full of worshippers on that bloody sunday and send the pieces home.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 02/22/2013 12:07 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Hazara killers -- supported from Punjab to the Middle East
[Dawn] In the aftermath of the Quetta massacre, the arrests of a few Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ...
(LeJ) faceless myrmidons have been looked upon warily as nothing more than a ploy to placate an angry nation.

If there was sincerity and strategic considerations behind this move, however, the headquarters of the Sunni beturbanned goon group in Punjab would have been dismantled much earlier.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


International-UN-NGOs
UN Under-Secretary-General visits Burundi to assess step to sustainable development
[SHANGHAIDAILY] United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
Under-Secretary- General and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Associate Administrator Rebeca Grynspan on Wednesday began a three-day visit to Burundi to assess the East African country's step in its transition to sustainable development, a blurb from the UN Office in Burundi (BNUB) said Wednesday.

According to the blurb, the senior UN official will also meet Burundian authorities, civil society actors, representatives of international organizations, representatives of donor countries and her UN colleagues.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And look for unicorns?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/22/2013 5:11 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Boko Haram Denies Ceasefire, Pastes Threat Posters In Borno
[LEADERSHIP.NG] Jama'atu Ahlussunah Lidda'awati Wal Jihad popularly called Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
has denied ever announcing a ceasefire.

On Wednesday morning residents of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital woke up to see pasted posters around mosques and in different parts of the city carrying messages from the leader of Boko Haram, Imam Abubakar Shekau which denied ever delegating anybody to discuss with the Borno State government on cease fire.

BBC Hausa service monitored in Abuja reported that some people in Maiduguri said they received some leaflets which were shared on Tuesday evening.

But the Borno State commissioner of information, Inuwa Buwala said that he was not aware of it even as he promised to investigate the incident.

It would be recalled that Borno State government earlier said it had reached a memorandum of understanding of a cease fire with the person that claimed to be Boko Haram front man.

Boko Haram has always passed its messages through posters and media.
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
UN Secretary-General "Deeply Concerned" About Hunger-Striking Palestinian Prisoners
[ENGLISH.PNN.PS] UN Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
expressed his deep concern over the "rapidly deteriorating condition of Paleostinian prisoners in Israeli custody who are on hunger strike," and especially the troubling case of Samer Issawi, who has been on a hunger strike now for 212 days.

According to a statement from Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday, 19 February, he has received letters from both Paleostinian President Abbas and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States about the prisoner situation. He reportedly spoke via telephone with Israeli Prime Minister about the issue.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  Summary execution would resolve the prisoner's plight, wouldn't it?
Posted by: Raj || 02/22/2013 0:19 Comments || Top||

#2  His way of dealing with North Korean famine?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/22/2013 5:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Soylent Kimchee is Palestinians? Yuck and yuck again.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/22/2013 9:52 Comments || Top||

#4  So tell 'em to eat something. I don't care if they want to starve themselves.
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 02/22/2013 11:36 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Three Thai terrorists turn selves in
Three Thai terrorists militants who claimed they had been hiding in Malaysia and confessed to being involved in the insurgency surrendered to authorities on Thursday, saying they believed promises they would get fair treatment. The three terrorists insurgents were named as Rosalee Masa, Mahadee Durae, and Arwae Leelawae. They are all from Tak Bai district in Narathiwat province.

The terrorists insurgents said they decided to turn themselves in because they were tired of always having to hide from the authorities. They went into hiding in Malaysia five years ago.

Mr Rosalee said he had wanted to surrender for a long time, but had no opportunity to do so. He said, "I'm glad that I'm back home to live with my family again, because it's hell having to live in hiding, and there's no other place where I can live happily and free like in Thailand. I'm sorry for the things that happened in the past but if the authorities will give me a chance, then I'm confident that I'll receive fair treatment."

He said 27 other terrorists insurgents who were living in Malaysia would also probably return to Thailand and surrender soon, but they were not yet completely convinced they would be treated fairly.

The Tak Bai district chief said he would do anything to reassure those who have been misled by the insurgency leaders and encourage them to turn themselves in. He said, "It's time to open up our hearts and offer an opportunity and promise of fair treatment to those who have been misled. If all sides cooperate in developing the southern border provinces, sustainable peace and happiness will return to the region."
Posted by: ryuge || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


China-Japan-Koreas
S.Korea Unveils Homegrown Cruise Missiles
Maybe the Japanese will buy some...
The Defense Ministry on Thursday responded to North Korea's recent nuclear test by unveiling ship-to-shore and submarine-to-ground cruise missiles that have already been deployed warfare-ready.

Dubbed the Haeseong-2 and Haeseong-3, respectively, the missiles have been developed with South Korea's own technology. They are both modified versions of a surface-to-surface cruise missile unveiled last year but are designed to be launched from a ship or a submarine. Their maximum range of 1,000 km covers all of North Korea.

The Haeseong-3 is a strategic weapon capable of being launched from a submarine that can stealthily approach the North Korean coast. Only a handful of countries have their own similar missiles. They include the U.S. (Tomahawk), the U.K. (Tomahawk), Russia (Klub-S), France (SCALP Naval), China, and India. The missiles are said to be so accurate that they can hit a window-size target of 1-3 sq.m, and powerful enough to pulverize a soccer field-size area to rubble.

The Haeseong-3 will be carried by a new Type 214 submarine, and the Haeseong-2 on a 4,500 ton-class Korean Destroyer (KD) vessel or a 7,600 ton-class Aegis destroyer.

The Haeseong-3 is subsonic and takes about 20 minutes to fly up to 1,000 km. It would be launched from the torpedo tube of a submarine in a waterproof capsule. When the capsule breaks the water surface, its nosecap is blown off and the missile pops out.

The Haeseong-2 would be fired from a vertical launch tube. The King Sejong the Great Aegis destroyer carries 32 Haeseong-2s.

Maj. Gen. Yoo Young-jo of the Defense Ministry said, "Ship-to-shore and submarine-to-ground missiles are primary strike assets in the operational environment off the Korean Peninsula."
Posted by: Steve White || 02/22/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The King Sejong the Great Aegis destroyer carries 32 Haeseong-2s.
0_o Hummm. Gives one paws.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/22/2013 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  All this submarine-launched stuff will be really useful considering South Korea doesn't just share a border with North Korea.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/22/2013 8:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Ship, sounds like it gives one claws...
Posted by: Alanc || 02/22/2013 17:24 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
36[untagged]
8Arab Spring
5Boko Haram
4al-Qaeda in North Africa
3Govt of Pakistan
2Lashkar e-Jhangvi
2Hezbollah
1Govt of Iran
1al-Nusra
1Govt of Syria
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Palestinian Authority
1Taliban
1Ansar Dine
1Thai Insurgency
1Fatah

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

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
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Frank G
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2013-02-22
  Boko Haram Denies Ceasefire, Pastes Threat Posters In Borno
Thu 2013-02-21
  Bombing in Indian Hyderabad, at least 11 killed
Wed 2013-02-20
  French nationals kidnapped in northern Cameroon
Tue 2013-02-19
  Mortars land near Syrian presidential palace
Mon 2013-02-18
  Five killed in attack at government office in Peshawar
Sun 2013-02-17
  Egyptian police publicly beat to death man suspected of killing officer
Sat 2013-02-16
  Bomb kills at least 20 in Pakistani city
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

Better than the average link...



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