#1
The real disaster is Afghanistan and as I warned years ago, will cause Western nations not to intervene in countries where they have a genuine strategic interest like Syria.
But this is taboo and never mentioned because Afghanistan was 'authorised' by the UN, so everything must be hunkydory.
A new RAND report examines five options for U.S. and allied military intervention in the Syrian civil war using airpower, and warns that destroying or grounding the Syrian air force is operationally feasible but would have only marginal benefits for protecting civilians.
The report also concludes that any airpower option would involve substantial risks of escalation by third parties, or could lead to greater U.S. military involvement in Syria.
The study by RAND, a nonprofit research organization, comes at a time when the Syrian government has been accused of using chemical weapons against opposition forces, accusations that drew threats of military action from the United States and other western nations.
"There are five basic missions the United States and its partners could take on to pursue the goals of protecting civilians, limiting or containing the conflict, or changing the course of the civil war," said Karl Mueller, a senior political scientist and lead author of the report. "Choosing between them, or not doing any of them, should be based on a clear sense of the military realities and their potential rewards and risks."
The five missions are:
Negate Syrian airpower by maintaining a "no-fly zone" over Syria, or by destroying the Syrian air force. The likely availability of nearby bases in Turkey and elsewhere make this a relatively easy task for the U.S. and allied forces, although maintaining a prolonged no-fly zone could impose significant burdens on the forces involved. Negating Syrian airpower would have only a marginal direct effect on protecting Syrian civilians, as most civilian casualties have been caused by government ground forces.
Neutralize Syria's extensive but mostly antiquated air defenses, which is well within the U.S. military's ability. Syria's integrated air defense system primarily consists of 1970s-era radar and surface-to-air missile technology, which U.S. pilots were able to overcome in Iraq and Serbia. This would begin with intense air and cruise missile strikes against Syrian air bases and air defense systems, followed by a longer hunt for mobile missiles. However, such an effort would be used to facilitate other operations, not an end in itself.
Create safe areas where Syrian civilians could be largely -- but not completely -- protected from air attack, artillery bombardment and direct ground attack by U.S. and allied air forces. Effectively protecting the civilians in these areas would require competent forces on the ground. If not provided by the U.S. and its allies, the forces would need to be provided by the Syrian opposition, in which case protecting safe areas would also amount to providing air cover for anti-regime forces.
Enable opposition forces to defeat President Bashar al-Assad's regime, using airpower similar to that employed by the U.S. to overthrow the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001. Such a mission would require the use of fighters, bombers and remotely piloted aircraft to strike Syrian army and other regime targets. The authors assess that the current balance of the war favors the regime, and that the opposition forces would require substantial military support to defeat Syrian ground forces and gain the upper hand. Such a mission, the authors warn, would help both desirable opposition groups and extremists. Moreover, there is a risk that a successful mission could lead to instability spilling over Syria's borders to Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq or beyond, and to widespread retribution against populations associated with the defeated regime.
Prevent the use of Syrian chemical weapons by using air attacks to strike Assad's chemical weapons stockpiles and their delivery systems, or deter future use of chemical weapons. Attacking or threatening to attack targets Assad values more than his chemical weapons stockpile would help avoid creating "use-it-or-lose-it" incentives for additional chemical attacks. The authors warn that while airpower could be used to reduce the Assad regime's ability or desire to launch large-scale chemical attacks, eliminating its chemical weapon arsenal would require a large ground operation.
"The U.S. and its allies can certainly conduct an operationally successful air campaign in Syria," Mueller said. "But each of these aerial intervention options has the potential to escalate or expand the conflict, and could lead to unwelcome responses from Assad's allies or to wider or deeper U.S. military involvement. The next steps following an initial intervention should be central to any strategic planning for using airpower in Syria."
The report, "Airpower Options for Syria: Assessing Objectives and Missions for Aerial Intervention," can be found at www.rand.org. Its co-authors are Jeffrey Martini and Thomas Hamilton.
The report was supported through philanthropic contributions and conducted within the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy, which brings together analytic excellence and regional expertise from across RAND to address the most critical political, social, and economic challenges facing the Middle East today.
Do you fok'ing ALREADY have boots on the ground Klingon para-mil operatives in Syria? Have you ALREADY coordinated targets with your "non-AQ moderates" fighting Assad? Are we ALREADY in a clandestine, Soodie funded conflict ?
#8
As per #1, the USAF just said it not ready or prepared to support any strike on Syria.
Which indirectly means or infers IMO that ground troops will be needed, espec iff the Bammer intends to do more than just attack baby Assad's CHemWar assets.
Lest we fergit, AFAIK THE SO-CALLED "OBAMA DOCTRINE" MAKES NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN KINDS OR TYPES OF WMDS USED BY A DICTATOR + GOVT. IN THE COMMISSION OF HEINIOUS/MALICIOUS CRIMES AGZ HIS OWN PEOPLE.
AFAIK again, no one is talking about taking out Assad's BIOLOGICAL, ETC, NON-CHEMICAL WEAPONS [NBC-CBRNE], OR DID I MISS SOMETHING???
[BREITBART] At least eight people are dead and more than 25 others were wounded in shootings over Labor Day weekend in Rahm Emanuel's Chicago. The shootings were widespread, from the far south and west sides of the city and spanning north into neighborhoods that see far fewer shooting incidents normally.
At lease one shooting occurred in one of the citys newly created Safe Passage routes, designated to provide a gun-free zone for Chicago students to get to school.
In the midst of Chicagos bloody holiday, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy continued to tout the citys overall decline in murders from 2012 and push for stronger gun laws.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
10:27 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Part of my route to work every day takes me past a couple of these 'Safe Passage' streets. The folks are out in force. There are people wearing yellow T-shirts and some others wearing blue T-shirts. What the shirts say I don't know. I've seen a few Chicago cops on these streets but not many, and only a couple squad cars.
Seems like they're trying to make it work. Question is, why haven't they been doing this all along?
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/04/2013 13:01
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Apparently the 'Safe Passage' program is working well...
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/04/2013 13:04
Comments ||
Top||
[FOXNEWS] Army Pvt. Bradley Chelsea Manning is seeking a presidential pardon for leaking reams of classified information that her lawyer says did not merit protection.
The Pvt. Manning Support Network released documents Wednesday that defense attorney David Coombs filed a day earlier with the U.S. Justice Department and the Department of the Army.
Manning, previously known as Bradley Manning, has declared her desire to live as a woman while serving a 35-year prison sentence at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
In his her petition for pardon and commutation of sentence, Manning writes: "The decisions I made in 2010 were made out of a concern for my country and the world that we live in."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
10:25 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
The scary thing is that I can see Obama granting it.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/04/2013 13:53
Comments ||
Top||
#3
I know a cattle farmer and veterinarian assistant down in Bibb County who could assist him with the transition operation. Fairly certain it would be at no cost.
#5
No, I'm pretty sure they don't want Snowden coming home anytime soon. The legal and judicial aspects would be a PR nightmare for the regime. Notice how extradition discussions have faded from the news ?
[Washington Post] As the hearing continues, our ace photographer Melina Mara reports she spotted Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) "passing the time by playing poker on his iPhone during the hearing."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
09:58 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
I'm not sure how to appropriately express how mad this makes me.
Maybe it would be like getting ready to enter a burning house, knowing that there are patients trapped inside, perhaps even an arsonist, and upon looking for orders, finding the chief staring at a good looking on-looker in a weird creepy way.
Maybe its the sarcastic response that makes me want to pound by fist through the desk. Coming from a guy who should know the seriousness of flying combat missions over enemy territory.
#2
Maybe if he'd known the seriousness of flying combat missions over enemy territory he wouldn't have been a guest for so many years at the Hanoi Hilton.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/04/2013 19:19
Comments ||
Top||
#5
What mind, RJ?
Posted by: Barbara ||
09/04/2013 19:51
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Oh, his mind is made up already. He's so far in the tank he can't be in the same room as the betta.
He has been banging the drums loudest for over a year now, finally has his hearing, and finds all that and the fate of this nation less interesting than a losing game of p@kr. Really shows off that resolve, not able to focus for a measly three hours. Pathetic.
Hey McCain, who you playing against? '08 Obama, Palin, and betta?
[WEEKLYSTANDARD] "First of all, I didn't set a red line," said Obama. "The world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are [inaudble] and passed a treaty forbidding their use, even when countries are engaged in war. Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. Congress set a red line when it indicated that in a piece of legislation entitled the Syria Accountability Act that some of the horrendous things happening on the ground there need to be answered for. So, when I said in a press conference that my calculus about what's happening in Syria would be altered by the use of chemical weapons, which the overwhelming consensus of humanity says is wrong, that wasn't something I just kind of made up. I didn't pluck it out of thin air. There's a reason for it."
Nobody, nobody passes the buck faster or better than Champ...
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
09:50 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I believe he initially called it.... "my red line". Nice of him to so willingly share his red line.
#2
Seems that 98 percent of the world expects the US to enforce the red line Mr President. One would think that if it was a group red line and of such importance they'd be falling over themselves to help.
#3
Well, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz says there are actually dozens of countries behind us. She's just not allowed to tell us who they are.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/04/2013 10:30
Comments ||
Top||
#4
What a puss in suits. Kerry too, "oh, just thinking out loud about sending in an invasion force; geez is that a pretzel hot dog?"
Horses and bayonets. What was being used alongside gas in WWI. I think it was 3dc, and please correct me if I'm wrong, who had the suggestion of a world convention to re-certify the chemical weapons ban. Made sense to me, simple up or down vote, get everyone on record.
Maybe if our warmongers weren't so busy playing video p@kr, these ideas would happen.
#7
And quoting a WH official in April of 2013:
"And the people in Syria and the Assad regime should know that the President means what he says when he set that red line. And keep in mind, he is the one who laid down that marker. He's the one who directed that we provide this information to the public. And he's the one who directed that we do everything we can to further investigate this information so that we can establish in credible, corroborated, factual basis what exactly took place."
#8
BULLSHIT, it's on tape.
No backing out on this one.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/04/2013 11:28
Comments ||
Top||
#9
I was suggesting convening all the signers to ask if it meant nothing but paper as it had no penalty clause with no defined enforcement. Let them decide what to do and walk away until they get some spine or tear it the fuck up.
Wonder if it was this group that came up with that "I didn't set a red line," said Obama. "The world set a red line."
Sept 3rd:
The White House is getting advice from some former campaign advisers on how to win congressional support for a strike on Syria, Fox News has learned, with top White House aides soliciting their input during a long strategy session Tuesday afternoon.
The aides met with former top Obama campaign hands like strategist Anita Dunn, former deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter and long-time adviser David Axelrod.
While the president himself did not attend the meeting, attendees said the goal was to kick around ideas about how to help Obama win crucial votes in Congress as he faces a critical test of his presidency as soon as next week.
#13
How in the name of all that's holy could any congress person vote for this abortion after this display of bald face lying and blatant, virtually admitted, attempt to pass the buck???
How could any self-respecting person look at themselves in a mirror after cowering in the face of this humiliation???
"Hey isn't it great that Obama is asking Congress to vote on authorizing bombing in Syria; maybe if this works out Obama will obey other portions of the Constitution"
Posted by: lord garth ||
09/04/2013 13:40
Comments ||
Top||
#15
What saddens me about this most of all is that my
children's reaction seems to be representative of there age group.
Note I'm talking about 27 - 36 sons & DILs...
the reaction is "ehh, so what, they all do it. It really doesn't effect me". Though they will grumble about taxes that hit them directly they can't put it all together. I tried from when they were little to inculcate a sense of individualism and hard work. THAT WORKED. They are both hard working and take full responsibility for themselves but they can't translate that into principles that should govern the elite, ruling class.
I blame the progressive sucker women they married and their ultra-left Masshole educational system brainwashing. 8^(
#17
And if you like your health insurance, you can keep it. And if you make under 250K a year, your taxes won't go up. I never said that shit either...
#18
Watched both Senate and House hearings... all 8 hours...
It passed the Senate committee on a 10-7 margin and goes on to a Monday vote in the Senate.
It has a less likely chance of passing the house. Both parties very troubled and upset in the house.
It really looks like the administration want's to do a Gadaffi but doesn't want to say it.
It looks like 30 to 60 days of intensive air and missile ops.... over and over
with an option of 90 more. I would venture the attack will be modeled on Shock and Awe.
As to PaxAm's statement.... I doubt we have 60 days worth of Tomahawks in the inventory...
This should address Thoughtful's "use by date worries".
Mention was made of several Globalhawks on the scene monitoring all movements...
No real desire to actually touch the poison gas stockpiles...
Also, noise about "bones" and other planes.
It's shock and awe. Oh and I have heard heavy trains late at night last heard before Shock and Awe.
No mention in all 8 hours of Syria being a proxy war between Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi. Some distant hints but no questions or statements.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/04/2013 18:00
Comments ||
Top||
#26
No mention in all 8 hours of Syria being a proxy war between Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi. Some distant hints but no questions or statements.
This is most worrisome. Nobody even asked? They're either morons or complicit or both, just going right along with whatever information the administration spoon feeds them.
And then there was Kerry's remark (see Drudge) that Soddies will pay for us to invade Syria. So we're just hired guns for the Soddies? I knew it all along.
#29
Let's get one thing straight. If "regime" is overthrown, Allawites and Christians, and---probably---Kurds and Druze, get butchered.
OTOH, this is the same "regime" that uses Lebanon's Christian and Druze and Sunni Moslem populations as human shields for its proxy Hezbollah's attacks against Israel. So to me it looks like six of one, half-dozen of the other.
On the Third Hand... I wouldn't trust the current administration, or the people who tell me they're trustworthy, to tell me Charles Manson needed to be incarcerated, much less think they have the brains or intestinal fortitude or moral backbone to go against people like Assad or Putin, even if it needed to be done.
If they think it's so goddamn important, they could resign and find replacements who didn't have lunch with the SOB while his proxies were killing American soldiers and torturing Israeli soldiers to death. (Anyone have any idea about whether Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were still alive in April 2007?) Maybe enter a monastery while they're at it, I understand that's the traditional thing for Annointed-monarchs that resign.
#32
FOX'S BRIT HUME said it best this AM [paraph] > "THIS PRESIDENT JUST DOES N-O-O-O-O-T WANT TO TAKE OR ASSUME ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYTHING".
* FREEREPUBLIC > [Fox News] ISRAELI SOURCES ON OABAM SYRIA APPROACH [strategeery]: "THIS IS NOT HOW A SUPERPOWER ACTS".
Missing POTUS Jimbo Carter's Rabbit + well-intentioned naivete'???
There is no leadership in the Syria Crisis, only [intentional = pre-planned?] UNIVERSAL/PERVASIVE CHAOS - THE QUESTION IS "WHY"?
IMO, iff one believe that the Bammer is a dedicated anti-US Marxist-Anarchist-Globalist, the answer may lie in his PCorrect-Deniable support or adherence to an anti-US OWG-NWO + "Multipolar World" dominated, controlled, or otherwise managed by PAR GLOBAL CO-SUPERPOWERS.
By this scope, he is covertly but intentionally helping Shia Iran become the world's first ISLAMIC GLOBAL NUCLEAR SUPERPOWER, + already Nuclear China to take over 1/2 of the Pacific , including but not limited to Guam-WESTPAC + Hawaii, perhaps even 1/2 of CONUS-NORAM.
FOR IRAN + CHINA, ETAL? TO BE A US-STYLE, PAR "CO-SUPERPOWER" = THE US M-U-S-T LOSE OR UNILATERALLY GIVE-UP POWER-N-INFLUENCE IN IMPORTANT WORLD REGIONS + ACTIVITIES TO TRANSFER TO THE NEW GUYS???
Subjectively speaking, FAIR TO SAY/ARGUE THAT SEVEN WORLD CONTINENTS = SEVEN OWG GLOBAL FEDERAL "UNIONS" = SEVEN OWG "CO-SUPERPOWERS"???
The prob or folly is iff the deliberate or intentional US rollback will NOT be interpreted as de facto MilPol = Startegic weakness on the aprt of Amer's rivals, inspiring them to attempt to take over from the us completely. HISTOIRE' SAYS MORE THAN NOT THE US ACTION WILL BE INTERPRETED AS DE FACTO WEAKNESS.
Truth be told, iff the Syria Crisis alone is any measure, IT ALREADY IS SEEN AS SUCH AS PER THE MSM-NET + TOP US POLITICOS.
[Politico] A new use-of-force resolution for Syria sets a 60-day deadline, with one 30-day extension possible, for President Barack Obama to launch military strikes against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and it will also bar the involvement of U.S. ground forces in Syria.
#2
Here's my compromise. Congress votes to allow Champ to bomb Syria, if Champ publicly acknowledges that he is doing exactly what he previously critisized Bush for doing.
a little hot in hell, Ariel? Say hi to Uday and Qusay.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/04/2013
08:11 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Saved us millions of dollars. Should be an investment option made available to the entire prison population. Perhaps a small stipend to surviving families as appropriate.
#4
He didn't like being caged. Prolly never occurred to him his victims didn't like it either...
Comment of the day
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/04/2013 10:01
Comments ||
Top||
#5
I'm guessing he had a lot of time to really think about what he'd done and what they do to child molesters and such in prison.
I've always been surprised why we have a suicide watch in prison. Much better to have suicide assistance. Make sure nobody is pushed into it, and legalities are all taken care of and all that but by all means, if you'd prefer to death row yourself who are we to deny.
Heck, I'd even say the state should throw in a last meal as if it were an official execution to be eaten after the fatal pill is swallowed so there are no take-backs. Or if you prefer you can take a massive overdose of drugs so maybe you'll be smiling as you kick. Whatever, you won't be missed.
#10
Maybe Manning will take the plunge. Or perhaps he'll do it in the traditional German method of suicide in prison: Shooting himself in the head, twice.
A bomb went off yesterday afternoon in Narathiwat province, injuring a member of a seven-man teacher protection unit. The explosion occurred on a village road in Chanae district as the unit was returning to its base.
Volunteer ranger Adithep La-ongsri was injured by the blast which almost blew his left leg off. Sgt Preecha Pikhiri, the unit leader, said he and his men were on foot when the bomb exploded. They had just escorted a group of teachers home.
Outrage is not a strategy. I thought military action always had to have a purpose behind it so what is the endstate here? Hit, and then hope?
I am not sure in what way even limited strikes help the people living in my constituency: how does this further Britains or Americas national security?
There cannot be a sane person in Britain who would not think it a good thing for us to get involved in the war in Syria if by doing so it would ease the horrors faced by the Syrian people and dire risks to people in neighbouring countries.
We must be guided not by our alliance to America, but by our duty to understand that military force should only be used in support of a clear purpose and with a clear objective in mind - in support of our national interest. I am yet to be convinced that there is a strong and clear-cut case that military action will deter the Syrian government from using chemical weapons nor am I convinced that in 20 years time some other tyrant thinking of using chemical weapons will turn around and say to his or herself Whoops, better not do that: remember what Obama, Cameron and Hollande did back in the summer of 2013.
The use of chemical weapons was indeed a crime against all of humanity. But by firing one missile we are involving ourselves in a civil war on the side of a fractured opposition which includes people with proud links to Al Qaeda. By striking now, without clear cause and purpose, we risk consequences that we have not even thought of: this is a case of hit and then hope.
Adam Holloway, is a former British Army officer turned investigative war journalist. Mr. Holloway, without consulting his government, slipped into Afghanistan using his own funds (much like Michael Yon). In 2006, Mr. Holloway returned to the UK and eventually was elected to Parliament.
#5
The beheading of a British soldier on a street in his homeland by an muslim is still fresh in the British public's mind.
I guess the average Brit perhaps feels there's no good reason to help out any ingrates in Syria...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/04/2013 7:09
Comments ||
Top||
#6
And, no, I'm not saying there are no innocents in any of the benighted middle eastern cesspools states.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/04/2013 7:10
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Not sure of the specific reason(s), but British officers and NCO's being prohibited from the CENTCOM Syrian planning cell; pretty good confirmation that Great Britain made the correct decision.
#10
Listening to the clueless, stumbling bastid ramble, on the teevee. Talking about the outrage of "400 dead children"....while at the same time he's 'fully in' with Planned Parenthood extermination centers. Absolutely incredible.
#12
Shi'a vs Sunni civil war and christian nations are considering getting in the middle of it? Yeah, that'll work out well, give them a common enemy.
It's hezbollah vs Al Queda. Let them work it out and clobber the survivor. Perhaps my thinking isn't nuanced enough but it doesn't seem that difficult.
#13
Ofcourse all the UK could deliver is a few tomahawks from submarines and some stand-off missiles. The US could deliver are share of the payload easily.
The best thing we can do is just provide the refugee camps with materials and money. Help support are Nato allies and Jordan - which is now 1/5th Syrian!
#14
"The best thing we can do is just provide the refugee camps with materials and money."
F*ck that. Why does it have to always be US?
Let the Saudis, Kuwaitis, etc., help their co-religionists. After all, they've got billions for our oil money - let them spend it on something besides gold faucets.
Yes, I'm sick of it. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
09/04/2013 13:12
Comments ||
Top||
#15
I was talking about the UK's contribution, but I do agree.
#17
I'll support this intervention when the Pakistani Parliament votes to intervene with us. They can provide the manpower on the ground, and we can join them by providing air cover and technical support.
... is good, but could be better. With the popularity of Rantburg, Mayor Fred is needing a new server so Rantburg can be all that it can be, and is....
Just so you know, when he gets a new server, an elementary school receives his donated server which is prolly the most sophisticated server in the entire school district.
And you can be a part of that.....
For you stats folks, check these out:
Achieved on those servers:
285,204 articles
1,145,510 comments
A question to you, fellow citizens of Rantburg, when reading those over one million comments at Rantburg, how many times have you thought, "I didn't know that."
Information brings knowledge -- thus Rantburg U. Universities welcome and appreciate donations.
Reward yourself with the inner smile you will feel, for that time you thought, "I didn't know that," when you:
1) Scroll way down, working the right side of the screen...
2) See that brilliant blue Rantburg rectangle glistening out at you... and below that, then
3) Click on the DONATE button.
Rather snail mail a check? Just state that desire in comments, and you will be rewarded with the needed info to do so.
Now, just go do it -- 5 bucks is worth your Rantburg experience. After all -- it's for the kids....
#1
Sitting in the BA lounge at Zaventam (BRU) waiting for KLM flight to JFK and the freaking connection won't connect with PayPal. Will have to defer my endowment until after I land.
I still have a sock filled with Rupiahs if that will help.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/04/2013 3:25
Comments ||
Top||
#2
What are the specs for Fred's new server?
I see that he is hosted. Why not a VM on one of theirs?
#5
The 'Burg server is a physical piece of hardware, located in south Baltimore. It also runs three small VMs for other projects I do. Donations pay the monthly hosting fees except for when I dip into the till and have to cover it out of our family budget.
If we crash, I should be able to drive the twenty minutes from my house, swap the old server for the new, and be back in business within, say, an hour or an hour and a half at the outside.
We back up the database three times a day: midnight, 8 a.m., and 4 p.m., so that if I do have to restore we won't be more than eight hours out of date.
That's all subject to occasional change, mind you. The local version has a GUI, so I can compose the 'Burg on it when not working on my laptop. I also do my programming on it, to include other projects, many of them abortive, and it runs my local Samba file system so I can access it from my wife's machine(s) and from my Windows VMs. I compose the bloid using an ancient copy of Fireworks on one of those.
Occasionally I do something stupid on the backup box and end up blowing the system away and having to reinstall from scratch. Once I did something spectacularly stupid, blew away the system, and let Ubuntu try and install over the backup disk. I was pretty pale and shaky until I got the backups running properly again.
The new server I'm looking at has twice the memory of our current machine, twice the storage (not that we're running close to filling up what we've got), and an improved processor. It should sing like a nightingale.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013 9:26
Comments ||
Top||
#6
or a fat lady?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/04/2013 9:36
Comments ||
Top||
If you're going to buy anything from Amazon, if you'll click on the Amazon logo and go to Amazon through Rantburg, Fred gets a minuscule cut. (But hey, it's better than nothing.)
Every time I go to Amazon to buy something, I always go through Rantburg. It's easy, and helps Fred a little.
Posted by: Barbara ||
09/04/2013 13:03
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Wow, an IBM 360, WITH the punched-card reader? Top o' the line!
#15
I don't think that's an IBM/360 - the front panel has way too few 'flashing lights' and the 'console' was usually hardcopy (with a very loud bell). Somehow this makes me think of Honeywell....
#18
Bet the mods are excited! But looks like they are playing video games on it! ;-)
Posted by: Glaish Pheasing5659 ||
09/04/2013 19:35
Comments ||
Top||
Yes, its very Onion-ish, and satirical, but under the humourous surface is something to be considered.
By "VLADIMIR VLADIMIROVICH PUTIN"
[Breitbart] You Americans want to remove my ally, the Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad. To borrow a phrase from your John F. Kennedy, Assad may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he's my son-of-a-bitch.
So if you want to destroy him, what are you going to give me in return? If your answer is, "We will give you nothing," well, why would I ever agree to that? That's not negotiation, that's dictation; it's a return to the bad Yeltsin days, when Holy Mother Russia was pushed into the mud like a used whore.
Look, I'll be the first to say that Obama's "red line" comment was dumb. It's obvious he hadn't thought it through; one can see it in the words he used to express his policy. He said that the "red line" would be crossed if "a whole bunch" of chemical weapons were used. What kind of language is that? How does one quantify a "whole bunch"? This is the President of the High-and-Mighty United States, and he's talking like a schoolboy?
The Romans, who knew something about both imperialism and trickery, always asked, cui bono--who benefits? Well, the beneficiaries in this episode are the rebels--also known as Al Qaeda. Way to go, Americans!
So let's check some other news items: Here's a June 6 item from a Turkish newspaper reporting on "the case of Syrian rebels who were seized on the Turkish-Syrian border with two kilograms of sarin." And it's not just the Turks: Carla Del Ponte, the Swiss-born former UN Prosecutor for War Crime Tribunals, has echoed those same charges against the rebels. They're the bad guys!
Yet could this evidence against the rebels all be Russian disinformation? Hey, we're good, but not that good.
Meanwhile, go ahead: Look for this information in your mainstream American media--your so-called "free press." You can barely find it. Yankee lapdog reporters will cover everything that Obama says, and everything that John McCain says, but they won't send reporters to warzones to go and actually figure out what happened.
Yes, American reporters are sheep. They try to figure out what Obama wants them to write, and then they write it. Or if Obama doesn't have a clear line on some topic--which is often--they look over the shoulder of the reporter next to them and copy that. Like I said, sheep.
The result is a herd mentality, showing no understanding of what true necessity truly looks like.
Pakistan is the real problem--they make Afghanistan possible. So those are the real evil empires: Iran and Pakistan. Bringing them to heel won't be easy, of course, but we Russians have never shied away from strong measures. The Americans could learn a lot from us.
So that's my vision. Let's stop worrying about silly little niceties about the right and the wrong way to fight a war. Let's stop trying to bring democracy to barbarians. Instead, let's bring them the only thing they understand--force.
Let's join one another to crush the unholy, unruly, jihadi Muslims. The good Muslims will thank us for it. And if they don't--too bad.
Posted by: Paul D ||
09/04/2013 6:56
Comments ||
Top||
#2
I agree with everything: Pakistan, the press, Obama and specially the Jihadis. We helped them in both Bosnia and Afganistan and they rewarded us with 9/11.
And not just Arabs; in soccer matches in Bosnia the assistants displayed signs supporting Saddam.
#3
Can't tell if its really from Putin because a lot of the verbage sounds very American, but I agree with nearly every word.
W. Bush should have bought the Russians and Chinese off long ago with free-rain in Central Asia. Tell them we'll talk smack about freedom but basically do nothing about it when it comes to their backyard in exchange for help or at least non-backstabbyness.
[Dawn] 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... general secretary Liaqat Baloch has warned the federal government against destabilising the coalition government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... A blurb issued here from the party provincial secretariat on Monday quoted Liaqat Baloch as saying that the federal government was hatching conspiracies and trying to buy MPAs to overthrow coalition government in the province.
"Federal government will have to pay heavy price if it tried to destabilise provincial government," he said while addressing meeting of the provincial office-bearers of the party. The meeting discussed strategy for the next local bodies elections in the province. JI is coalition partner of Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... and has received three ministries in the provincial cabinet.
He criticised the federal government for increasing prices of petroleum products and electricity charges and alleged that Pakistain Mohammedan League-N had mortgaged the country with International Monetary Fund and other donors. He said that the recent increase in oil prices was part of the IMF conditionalities and added that oil prices in international market had not increased.
Expressing concern over the recent drone strike in North Wazoo agency he criticised the central government policy and said that America had been defying international law by violating Pakistain's airspace while the federal government was silent on this serious issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
#1
Meanwhile, not to be outdone by the JeI ...
* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > A NEW PAKISTANI MILITANT OUTFIT "ANSAR AL-ASEER" VOWS TO WAGE WAR ON INDIA | ... ... ... WAR IN KASHMIR [J-&-K] + OTHER INDIAN CITIES - INDIA TODAY.
* FYI also from SAME > CHINA MOVED N-MISSLES [DF-11 SRBMS + TELS] TO PAKISTAN VIA KARAKHORAM
HIGHWAY IN 2005: INDIAN INTELLIGENCE REPORTS | IDRW.org.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > POSTER THREAD: NORTH EAST INDIA TO SEEK SECESSION + INTEGRATE WID CHINA?
[Al Ahram] President Barack Obama Ready to Rule from Day One... this week plans to urge reluctant world leaders to support a U.S.-led military strike against Syria as he attends a global summit in Russia and makes a stop in Sweden. His three-day overseas trip comes as his administration seeks authorization from Congress.
Top politicians signaled support Tuesday after meeting with Obama, while La Belle France said it will wait for Congress' decision before any military action of its own.
Obama's presence at the Group of 20 gathering in Russia is bound to bring questions about Syria, recently leaked U.S. surveillance programs and especially his tense relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... , an ally of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... "It's been like watching a slow-moving train wreck for nearly two years," Andrew Kuchins, a Russia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said of the Obama-Putin relationship. "Mr. Putin and Mr. Obama don't like each other at all."
That's not Obama's only headache.
His surprise announcement over the weekend that he would seek congressional authorization for a military strike against Syria, instead of going ahead with a strike as many expected, may have caused doubts among world leaders about his willingness to follow up on his threats to rogue nations.
His administration argues that the strike is needed in response to what it says was a deadly chemical weapons attack last month.
Before his White House meeting Tuesday with top politicians, Obama said he is confident he will be able to work with Congress to pass a resolution authorizing the strike on Syria. Obama said congressional authorization must send a clear message to Assad and hamper his ability to use chemical weapons.
After the meeting, the top Republican in Congress, House Speaker John It is not pronounced 'Boner!' Boehner ... the occasionally weepy leader of House Republicans... , said he would support Obama's call for action against Syria and said his party colleagues should, too.
Votes in the House and the Senate are expected next week, just after Obama ends his overseas trip. He leaves for Sweden later Tuesday.
Syria isn't officially on the agenda at the economy-focused G-20 summit. But world leaders are expected to ask Obama whether he plans to proceed with a military strike if Congress doesn't support it. It's a question Obama's aides have refused to answer.
Obama spoke about Syria by telephone Monday night with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the White House said Tuesday. A White House statement said Obama and Abe pledged to consult on a possible international response.
Obama is to arrive in Stockholm on Wednesday morning after an overnight flight from Washington.
The White House hastily added the Sweden visit to his schedule after he canceled plans to meet one-on-one with Putin in Moscow ahead of the G-20. That came in response to the Kremlin granting temporary asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, defying Obama's requests to send the former NSA systems analyst back to the U.S. to face espionage charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
The Bammer + Admin may also have tp pull double duty vee helping CHINA + JAPAN MAKE AMENDS OVER THE SENKAKUS/DIAOYUS DISPUTE [Okinawa?].
* FYI see TOPIX > [Japan Times]HIGH-RANKING CHINESE OFFICIAL SAYS BALL IN JAPAN'S COURT, over islands dispute.
Maha-Rushian histoire' says that when China starts talking like this, it means or strongly infers that MILITARY OPTIONS are increasingly being considered.
* Also from TOPIX > PHILIPINES SAY CHINA BUILDING ON DISPUTED SHOAL.
Beijing ignoring Manila.
* SAME > [PHIL Sun-Star] MNLF CALLS FOR SUPPORT FOR INDEPENDENT MINDANAO.
* GMA NEWS > NEW ARMED GROUP POSES THREAT TO GPH [Govt. of Phil]-MILF TALKS - MILITARY [aka AFP = Armed Forces of PHIL].
[Ynet] An Egyptian security official says helicopters have rocketed bad boy hideouts in the northern Sinai Peninsula.
The official said the two helicopter gunships fired 13 rockets after surprising bad boy gatherings on Tuesday in two locations, al-Muqataa and Touma, south of the town of Sheikh Zuweyid near the border with Gazoo. He said "dozens" of bully boyz were killed and maimed but that fighting was still ongoing. He did not mention if there were yet any soldiers on the ground to assess the number of casualties.
[An Nahar] Al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... bloc on Tuesday condemned Hizbullah's "attacks against citizens and diplomats under the excuse of security measures," urging the president and the premier-designate to overcome "illegal obstacles" and form a new cabinet.
"We strongly condemn the attacks of Hizbullah's militia on citizens and diplomats," the bloc said in a released statement after the MPs' weekly meeting at the Center House.
The statement elaborated: "In addition to its fighting in Syria alongside the regimes' forces and subjecting Leb to all kinds of dangers, Hizbullah keeps dragging the country into festivities and puts it in a confrontation with neighboring Arab nations."
Kuwait's ambassador to Leb revealed on Friday that a Kuwaiti diplomat was searched at an "unofficial checkpoint," also calling on his country's nationals to leave Leb.
Also, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... had filed a complaint to the Foreign Ministry after one of its embassy vehicles in Leb was searched by Hizbullah members at a checkpoint near its stronghold of Dahieh in Beirut's southern suburbs last week.
Diplomats in the car were also searched before being allowed to return on their way.
These incidents come after Hizbullah had stepped up its security measures in and around Dahieh after a bombing in the area on August 15.
Al-Mustaqbal said that last month's twin blasts in the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... "were orchestrated by Syrian intelligence bodies."
"This contradicts with all claims that say Leb and its security have become under the mercy of the Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... s,"
"(Syrian President Bashar) Assad's regime is the top Takfiri and terrorist that is targeting both Leb and Syria," the statement stressed.
"Tripoli's crime is a continuation of the Samaha-Mamlouk scheme."
The statement was pointing out to the case of former Information Minister Michel Samaha and Syrian security chief Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk.
Lebanese judicial authorities have charged Samaha and Mamlouk with forming a group to commit terrorist crimes in Leb.
The two were also charged with plotting to assassinate political and religious figures.
The al-Mustaqbal statement added: "We praise the efforts exerted by security bodies, especially by the International Security Forces Intelligence Bureau, to uncover the group that executed the bombings in Tripoli and the one behind the kidnapping of the Turkish pilots."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[MAGHAREBIA] The daughter of Moamer Qadaffy's former spy chief was kidnapped in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , Libya Herald reported on Monday (August 2nd). I think they typo'd the date by a month. We had the story she was going to be released on August 29th.
Gunmen kidnapped Abdullah Senussi's beautiful daughter as she left Al-Ruwaimi prison in Ain Zara, Libyan Justice Minister Salah al-Marghani said Tuesday. She's actually kind of hefty, the lady arm wrestler type. Better looking than her daddy, though. Most people are.
"Turban-wearing gunnies in five vehicles attacked the convoy that was accompanying Unud al-Senussi as she left prison and kidnapped her," AFP quoted Marghani as saying. "Hrarrr! Into the motor car wit' yez, me proud beauty!"
The convoy had been due to take Senussi's daughter, in her early 20s, to the airport to join her family. "Help! Help! I'm being kidnapped!"
"It is the shared responsibility of the government, of the thwar and the international community to find this girl," he added, calling on those who kidnapped Senussi to return her without delay. Calling on them to return her without delay always works.
She served 10 months for entering Libya from Algeria on a false passport. "Ummm... Is the air conditioning broken?"
"No air conditioning."
"Where's the bathroom?"
"That bucket in the corner!"
"[Sigh!] I'll have to take it for ten months!"
"Where's my tip?"
Her father Abdullah, Qadaffy's brother-in-law and intelligence chief, is wanted by the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... on charges of crimes against humanity. I shouldn't mock. The poor girl's probably dead now. Since she was being shipped out of the country the guys in turbans probably weren't Dad's myrmidons, come to rescue her.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#1
"[Sigh!] I'll have to take it for ten months!"
"Where's my tip?"
[An Nahar] Police locked away Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! a "suspected jihadist terrorist" wanted by Morocco, in the Spanish north African territory of Melilla on Tuesday, the government in Madrid said.
Officers arrested Mohammed El Bali, who was "in charge of a jihadist cell based in Nador", a nearby town in neighboring Morocco, a short statement from the Spanish interior ministry said.
He was arrested under an international warrant issued by Morocco.
The ministry said it would issue further details later.
Melilla, home to around 80,000 people, has one of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... 's two land borders with Africa, along with another Spanish territory, Ceuta to the west.
In June Spanish security forces broke up an al-Qaeda-linked network operating in Ceuta and the neighboring Moroccan town of Fnideq, arresting eight people.
That network was suspected of sending dozens of Islamist bully boyz -- some minors -- to Syria, in some cases to carry out suicide kabooms, the ministry said at the time
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
[Al Ahram] Egypt's National Coalition in Support of Legitimacy (NCSL), the Islamist alliance supporting deposed president Mohamed Morsi, said on Tuesday that Egypt has suffered a myriad of political and economic losses since the former elected president was ousted on 3 July.
Marking 60 days since Morsi's overthrow by the armed forces, following mass popular protests, the NCSL issued a statement listing the losses they think Egypt has sustained under the "coup authorities," including: the closure of several factories, the incurring of more debts, and the renewed state of emergency, which is due to end in less than two weeks.
"Sixty days have passed since the coup of the 3 July 2013 against the first elected civilian president for Egypt," the statement reads. "The Egyptian people have been subject to a forgery of history that might be the worst in the history of mankind."
"The authorities of the coup have committed the worst crimes against humanity; They killed, burned, and tortured patriotic and Islamist figures, twisted facts ... and the Egyptian economy was dealt major blows from the first moment."
The pro-Morsi Islamist forces have staged demos on Tuesday to mark the day, with a turnout of protesters estimated in the thousands.
The interim authorities resorted to forcible eviction of the pro-Morsi sit-ins at Rabaa Al-Adawiya and Al-Nahda squares (in Cairo and Giza) on 14 August, leaving hundreds dead, predominantly from the Islamist camp. This was followed by a stream of arrests of prominent Brotherhood and Islamist leaders, who have been given an array of criminal charges.
Two days after the deadly dispersals, Friday 16 August saw large heated rallies supporting Morsi, who hails from the Moslem Brüderbund, as the day was marked by exchanges in live fire and dozens of deaths.
However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... the last two Fridays have been much calmer, with a lower turnout at planned pro-Morsi protests, fueling speculation the security clampdown on the Moslem Brüderbund has left them crippled.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#1
IIRC TOPIX > EGYPT PRESIDENT MORSI SAYS MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD'S FATE IN THE HANDS OF JIHADIS.
Pragmatically, iff Iran can send IRGC + Quds Force to Syria ot protect + fight for Baby Assad, it can do the same wid Egypt + MusBros - ditto as per Al-Qaeda + Taliban, etc. foreign militant groups???
For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here
2 die, 2 detained in San Fernando municipality
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A total of 11 unidentified individuals were rescued from captivity by Mexican Security forces in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, according to Mexican news accounts.
An El Universal wire dispatch featured on the website of El Diario de Coahuila news daily said that a Base de Operaciones Mixtas (BOM) detachment rolled up at a residence in Altavist a colony Sunday night. Two unidentified men were found in the house, strangled with plastic bags. Two men were detained at the scene.
The victims told officials that they were waiting payment of ransom for their release from their families.
BOM detachments are a mix of local, state and federal security units, including police and military. Ciudad Victoria is the state capital of Tamaulipas.
Meanwhile, in San Fernando municipality two unidentified armed suspects were killed by Mexican security forces Monday
According to an official news release posted on the website of the Tamaulipas state government, a BOM road patrol encountered a convoy of three vehicles near a break near Rancho El Novillo on the Urracas-Reynosa road. The news release said that passengers riding in the convoy fired on the patrol. Return gunfire killed two.
The three vehicles in the convoy were subsequently abandoned: one Chevrolet Avalanche, one Chevrolet Silverado and one Nissan Murano. Security forces also seized one rifle, one handgun, six weapons magazines and 70 rounds of ammunition.
The news release also claimed that two armed suspects were detained near an abandoned narco camp at a farmhouse. A couple was detained at the scene, identified as Margarita Hernandez Gonzalo Alvarez and Manuel Martinez Aldama. Two handguns were seized as well.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com. His latest work of non-fiction, The Wounded Eagle: Volume 2 went on sale September 1st at Amazon.com and Smashwords.com.
[Al Ahram] Congress is holding its first public hearing about U.S. plans for military intervention in Syria as President Barack Obama I am the change that you seek... seeks to convince skeptical Americans and their politicians about the need to respond to last month's alleged sarin gas attack outside Damascus.
Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... , Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey were to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. A classified briefing open to all members of Congress was to take place as well.
The president's request for congressional authorization for limited military strikes against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... 's regime is at the core of the discussions planned in Washington over the next several days as Obama sends his top national security advisers to the Capitol for a flurry of briefings. And with the outcome of any vote in doubt in a war-weary Congress, Obama was to meet Tuesday with leaders of the House and Senate armed services committees, the foreign relations committees and the intelligence committees.
The president announced over the weekend that he would seek approval from Congress for military strikes against the Assad regime to respond to an attack in the Damascus suburbs last month that the U.S. says involved deadly sarin gas.
That decision sets the stage for the biggest foreign policy vote in Congress since the Iraq war. A vote could come once politicians return from summer break, which is scheduled to end 9 September.
Obama won conditional support Monday from two of his fiercest foreign policy critics, Republican Sens. John Maverick McCain ... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution... of Arizona and Lindsey Graham ... the endangered South Carolina RINO... of South Carolina.
A congressional vote against Obama's request "would be catastrophic in its consequences" for U.S. credibility abroad, McCain told news hounds outside the White House following an hour-long private meeting with the president.
But despite Obama's effort to assuage the two senators' concerns, neither appeared completely convinced afterward. They said they would be more inclined to back Obama if the US sought to destroy the Assad government's launching capabilities and committed to providing more support to rebels seeking to oust Assad.
"There will never be a political settlement in Syria as long as Assad is winning," Graham said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Ynet] Former NBA star Dennis Rodman said Tuesday he was going on his second North Korea trip this year to have what he calls a friendly visit with the country's authoritarian leader, Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... The trip by the flamboyant basketballer comes days after North Korea rejected a visit by a US envoy who had hoped to bring home an American missionary tossed in the slammer Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! there, Kenneth Bae. Speaking to news hounds at the Beijing airport before leaving for Pyongyang, Rodman declined to say whether he would seek Bae's release. "I'm not going to talk about that," he said.
[Al Ahram] A spate of boom-mobiles in mostly-Shiite neighbourhoods of the Iraqi capital on Tuesday evening killed at least 14 people, security and medical officials said.
The bombings struck across Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... at around 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) and left dozens of others maimed, in the latest in a trend of increased attacks in the evening as Iraqis visit cafes and other public areas.
Nine other people were killed in attacks around Iraq earlier on Tuesday, part of a surge in violence in recent months that has sparked concerns that Iraq is edging back towards the all-out sectarian war of 2006-2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq
[MAGHAREBIA] Forty-nine inmates broke out of a prison in Gabes on Sunday (September 1st), the president of the Prisons and Correctional Institution Syndicate told Magharebia.
"They violently assaulted a fellow prisoner in their cell until his blood covered the cell," Olfa Ayari said in describing the breakout. "After that, they called a prison guard for help, and when he opened the cell, they took him as hostage and asked the rest of the inmates to leave the cell."
"However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... only 49 out of a total of 61 inmates at that cell responded," she added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[Telegraph] May need the west's support for years.
General Joseph Dunford, the highest US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... commander in the country, said that the security forces' weekly death regularly toll tops 100 and therefore they may need five more years of western support before they can fight independently.
He added that it was too early to tell whether NATO had been right to end combat operations and only offer training and support in the war torn country this Spring.
He said that both NATO and Afghan commanders viewed the number of men being lost as "serious", telling the Guardian: "I'm not assuming that those casualties are sustainable."
The rapidly expanded security forces, now 350,000 strong, have grasped the basics
Our original committment in that area included the goal of having all officers and enlisted men able to read and cipher at the second grade level. Anybody know how that's going?
but struggle to support themselves in areas varying from logistics and planning to intelligence-gathering and back-up in difficult battles.
The west officially shifted their role in Afghanistan from combat to support and training in June, and General Dunford said that "time is going to tell" whether that was the correct decision.
His comments highlight a rift between the views of western politicians keen to end a bloody and expensive war and military commanders on the ground who see Afghan forces struggling to cope.
All NATO combat troops are due to leave by 2014, and President Barack Obama They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them... has said that in 17 months the transition to Afghan control will be complete, although he has promised a follow up NATO training mission.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... no firm date has been set for the end of assistance, and General Dunford told the Guardian that western troops may need to remain until 2018 to tackle problems from the air force to intelligence.
"I look at Afghan cops development as really kind of three to five years," General Dunford said, adding that this could include a combat role such as close air support.
The US is currently negotiating a long-term security deal with Kabul to pave the way for wider western co-operation, but Washington has warned that unless a Bilateral Security Agreement is agreed in the next few months they will be forced to remove all their troops.
That could pave the way for a civil war given the state of the economy and the security forces this could pave the way for civil war, it is feared.
Despite the heavy losses the Afghans have managed to remain "resilient," General Dunford added, preventing the Taliban from accomplishing and ensuring 80 per cent of the population is secured from violence.
The Afghan defence ministry no longer publishes monthly corpse counts because of concerns about morale, and the interior ministry said that 1,792 coppers had been killed since March.
[Al Ahram] An Egyptian military court on Tuesday sentenced a Moslem Brüderbund member to life in prison for violence targeting the army in the port city of Suez last month.
Forty-eight other members received sentences of between 5 to 15 years in prison, while twelve others were acquitted on the same charges.
The defendants were accused of "shooting and adopting violent means" against the army in Suez on 14 August following a nationwide security crackdown against supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[BBC.CO.UK] President Barack Obama Ready to Rule from Day One... has won backing from key US political figures on his plans for a military strike on Syria.
Mr Obama said a "limited" strike was needed to degrade Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... 's capabilities in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack.
Key Republican leaders John It is not pronounced 'Boner!' Boehner ... the occasionally weepy leader of House Republicans... and Eric Cantor both signalled their support for military action. Congress is expected to vote next week.
The UN earlier confirmed that more than two million Syrians were now refugees.
More than 100,000 people are thought to have died since the uprising against President Assad began in March 2011.
President B.O. and Vice-President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... met House Speaker John Boehner, House Democratic Leader Nancy San Fran Nan Pelosi Congresswoman-for-Life from the the Socialist paradise of San Francisco ...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964... Bay Area, born into a family of politicians. Formerly Speaker of the House, but it's not her fault they lost. Really. Noted for her heavily botoxed grimace... and the chairmen and ranking members from the national security committees in Washington on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Yokay, so given that the Russians, Turks, + UNO repor believe the Syrian Rebels, NOT Baby Assad, may had done the dirty deed, it now behooves the Bammer to reasonably release its evidence agz Baby Assad to the scrutiny of the MSM-Net + Internatinal Community.
SORRY, BUT THE "YOUTUBE" EVIDENCE DOESN'T CONVINCE ME IT WAS ASSAD.
[Washington Post] The $52.6 billion U.S. intelligence arsenal is aimed mainly at unambiguous adversaries, including al-Qaeda, North Korea and Iran. But top-secret budget documents reveal an equally intense focus on one purported ally: Pakistain.
No other nation draws as much scrutiny across so many categories of national security concern.
A 178-page summary of the U.S. intelligence community's "black budget" shows that the United States has ramped up its surveillance of Pakistain's nuclear arms, cites previously undisclosed concerns about biological and chemical sites there, and details efforts to assess the loyalties of counterterrorism sources recruited by the CIA.
Pakistain appears at the top of charts listing critical U.S. intelligence gaps. It is named as a target of newly formed analytic cells. And fears about the security of its nuclear program are so pervasive that a budget section on containing the spread of illicit weapons divides the world into two categories: Pakistain and everybody else.
The disclosures -- based on documents provided to The Washington Post by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden -- expose broad new levels of U.S. distrust in an already unsteady security partnership with Pakistain, a politically unstable country that faces rising Islamist militancy. They also reveal a more expansive effort to gather intelligence on Pakistain than U.S. officials have disclosed.
The United States has delivered nearly $26 billion in aid to Pakistain over the past 12 years, aimed at stabilizing the country and ensuring its cooperation in counterterrorism efforts. But with the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest... dead and al-Qaeda degraded, U.S. spy agencies appear to be shifting their attention to dangers that have emerged beyond the patch of Pak territory patrolled by CIA drones.
"If the Americans are expanding their surveillance capabilities, it can only mean one thing," said Husain Haqqani, who until 2011 served as Pakistain's ambassador to the United States. "The mistrust now exceeds the trust."
Beyond the budget files, other classified documents provided to The Post expose fresh allegations of systemic human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... abuses in Pakistain. U.S. spy agencies reported that high-ranking Pak military and intelligence officials had been aware of -- and possibly ordered -- an extensive campaign of extrajudicial killings targeting forces of Evil and other adversaries.
Public disclosure of those reports, based on communications intercepts from 2010 to 2012 and other intelligence, could have forced the B.O. regime to sever aid to the Pak armed forces because of a U.S. law that prohibits military assistance to human rights abusers. But the documents indicate that administration officials decided not to press the issue, in order to preserve an already frayed relationship with the Paks.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Just read an article about the Taliban in Karachi. They are regularly funded by College students and local businessmen.
We need to support the MQM in Karachi.
Posted by: Paul D ||
09/04/2013 11:09
Comments ||
Top||
[Dawn] Jail authorities in Gilgit Baltistan said extraordinary security measures have been adopted to avoid any untoward incident as eight prisoners were shifted from District Jail Gilgit to District Jail Ghizer in northeast of Pakistain on Tuesday.
"We have deployed law enforcing agencies around the Jails and personnel of police have also been placed at the disposal of jail authorities to make sure that inmates live in a peaceful atmosphere" Inspector General Prisons Wasil Khan told Dawn.com.
The official said situation in the whole country was not a hidden secret and since most of the prisoners here were facing cases in sectarian violence so enhancing security was the need of hour.
Citing some recent incidents of jailbreaks in the country, Wasil Khan said paramilitary troops including GB scouts, Punjab Rangers, Frontier Constabulary and GB Police have been deployed at the security of jails.
Dozens of heavily-armed Pak Taliban Death Eaters had freed nearly 175 inmates, including 35 'high-profile Death Eaters', during a brazen overnight attack on the central jail in Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... on July 30 this year.
However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... it was not the first instance when gunnies attempted to free their captive associates in Pakistain, nearly 400 prisoners including gunnies had escaped on April 15, 2012 from Bannu Jail after an attack by Death Eaters armed with guns, grenades and rockets.
"Since the capability of jail officials was not satisfactory thus we requested the government to provide us law enforcement agencies," said Wasil Khan.
He disclosed that the jail wardens had no weapons and they were not provided with uniforms.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[BREITBART] A robbery suspect was apprehended Sunday morning after police say he fled the scene on a moped wearing a ski mask over his helmet. We do not make this stuff up. Really. Occasionally somebody else does and we fall for it, but we don't make it up.
24-year-old Wesley Keith Baxter allegedly entered a Hubert gas station, demanded money and threatened a customer with a screwdriver before making his not so subtle getaway. According to the Onslow County Sheriff's press release, "Deputy Culpepper stopped the suspect a short distance away and was still wearing the helmet with the ski mask over top...The suspect apologized for robbing the victim and told the officer times were hard and he just needed some money."
Baxter's apology along with the fact that he had a ski mask over his helmet gave Culpepper a fairly strong indication he had apprehended the right suspect.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
threatened a customer with a screwdriver
Threatened to strip his threads, did he?
[An Nahar] Romanian prosecutors on Tuesday charged a former Communist-era prison chief with genocide for beating and starving political detainees.
Alexandru Visinescu, 88, was the commander of the Ramnicu Sarat prison in eastern Romania between 1956 and 1963, a period when Communist repression against dissidents reached its peak.
Intellectuals, members of the clergy and politicians were tossed in the slammer ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... there.
"As commander of the Ramnicu Sarat jail, Alexandru Visinescu submitted prisoners to treatments leading to their physical destruction," prosecutors said in a statement.
"Prosecutors... have charged Alexandru Visinescu with genocide," they added.
Visinescu declined to comment to news hounds after he was presented with the charge at the prosecutors' office in Bucharest.
He faces life in prison if found guilty.
The Romanian body investigating Communist-era crimes has said it has given prosecutors evidence showing his alleged involvement in the deaths of at least five political prisoners.
More than 600,000 people were sentenced and tossed in the slammer Please don't kill me! in Romania for political reasons between 1945 and 1989, according to the Sighet Memorial for the victims of Communism.
Very few former Communist leaders and commanders have been prosecuted in Romania.
Former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu ...late Communist dictator of Romania, where he was executed by a firing squad organized by his indignant subjects. While he was alive Old Nick was the subject of periodic mandatory adoring rallies and was respected in Washington because he wasn't Like All the Other Commies... and his wife were convicted of genocide in 1989 in a makeshift trial. They were executed on December 25, 1989.
Genocide is defined by the United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... as an "act committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group."
It was made an international crime under a 1948 U.N. treaty.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
[Dawn] Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... on Tuesday vowed not to politicise a planned solution to restore peace to Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... and hoped others would cooperate with the federal government in doing so.
The premier arrived in the picturesque provincial capital earlier this morning, a day before he was scheduled to preside over the federal cabinet session on the port city's deteriorating law and order situation. The crucial session on Wednesday is expected to decide on a planned targeted operation against criminal gangs and armed militias of political groups, whose deadly pie fight has ruined peace in the country's economic hub.
Sharif held a meeting with representatives of all major political parties after arriving in Karachi, including the Pakistain People's Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM), 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... , Sunni Tehrik ...formed in Karachi in 1992 under by Muhammad Saleem Qadri. It quickly fell to trading fisticuffs and assassinations with the MQM and the Sipah-e-Sahaba, with at least a half dozen of its major leaders rubbed out. Sunni Tehreek arose to become the primary opposition to the Deobandi Binori Mosque, headed by Nizamuddin Shamzai, who was eventually bumped off by person or persons unknown. ST's current leadership has heavily criticized the Deobandi Jihadi leaders, accusing them of being sponsored by Indian Intelligence agencies as well as involvement in terrorist activities... and Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... -Fazl (JUI-F). The meeting was also attended by Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah and Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ibad.
Speaking at the meeting, Sharif stressed that he had come as the prime minister of the entire country and not just as representative of the Pakistain Moslem League -- Nawaz (PML-N).
"Karachi is the most important city and the economic hub of Pakistain. Unemployment will rise if the unrest in Karachi is not quelled," he said. "Peace is imperative to bring foreign investment into Pakistain."
The PM said that his government wished to restore peace to the city, and said he respected the mandates of all political parties. He assured that his administration was ready to extend all support to the Sindh government.
Earlier, the MQM and the federal government appeared to be heading on a collision course after news trickled in that an earlier invitation to MQM leader Farooq Sattar to attend the cabinet meeting on Wednesday had been withdrawn.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
A little under two years ago, Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, urged British businessmen to begin "packing their suitcases" and to fly to Libya to share in the reconstruction of the country and exploit an anticipated boom in natural resources.
Yet now Libya has almost entirely stopped producing oil as the government loses control of much of the country to militia fighters.
Mutinying security men have taken over oil ports on the Mediterranean and are seeking to sell crude oil on the black market. Ali Zeidan, Libya's Prime Minister, has threatened to "bomb from the air and the sea" any oil tanker trying to pick up the illicit oil from the oil terminal guards, who are mostly former rebels who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi and have been on strike over low pay and alleged government corruption since July.
As world attention focused on the coup in Egypt and the poison gas attack in Syria over the past two months, Libya has plunged unnoticed into its worst political and economic crisis since the defeat of Gaddafi two years ago. Government authority is disintegrating in all parts of the country putting in doubt claims by American, British and French politicians that Nato's military action in Libya in 2011 was an outstanding example of a successful foreign military intervention which should be repeated in Syria.
Proposal: put Libya into U.N. receivership for twenty years. Appoint a modern, civilized country with no history of 19th and 20th century colonialism to serve as steward. They rebuild the country, re-order the sensibilities of the people and fix what's wrong, and they spend the oil revenues to do it.
I nominate Poland.
In an escalating crisis little regarded hitherto outside the oil markets, output of Libya's prized high-quality crude oil has plunged from 1.4 million barrels a day earlier this year to just 160,000 barrels a day now. Despite threats to use military force to retake the oil ports, the government in Tripoli has been unable to move effectively against striking guards and mutinous military units that are linked to secessionist forces in the east of the country.
Libyans are increasingly at the mercy of militias which act outside the law. Popular protests against militiamen have been met with gunfire; 31 demonstrators were shot dead and many others wounded as they protested outside the barracks of "the Libyan Shield Brigade" in the eastern capital Benghazi in June.
Though the Nato intervention against Gaddafi was justified as a humanitarian response to the threat that Gaddafi's tanks would slaughter dissidents in Benghazi, the international community has ignored the escalating violence.
Just like we did in Syria...
The foreign media, which once filled the hotels of Benghazi and Tripoli, have likewise paid little attention to the near collapse of the central government.
The strikers in the eastern region Cyrenaica, which contains most of Libya's oil, are part of a broader movement seeking more autonomy and blaming the government for spending oil revenues in the west of the country.
Once upon a time Cyrenaica was a country separate from Tripolitania. Libya is a modern invention. Blame the Italians...
Foreigners have mostly fled Benghazi since the American ambassador, Chris Stevens, was murdered in the US consulate by jihadi militiamen last September. Violence has worsened since then with Libya's military prosecutor Colonel Yussef Ali al-Asseifar, in charge of investigating assassinations of politicians, soldiers and journalists, himself assassinated by a bomb in his car on 29 August.
Rule by local militias is also spreading anarchy around the capital. Ethnic Berbers, whose militia led the assault on Tripoli in 2011, temporarily took over the parliament building in Tripoli. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has called for an independent investigation into the violent crushing of a prison mutiny in Tripoli on 26 August in which 500 prisoners had been on hunger strike. The hunger strikers were demanding that they be taken before a prosecutor or formally charged since many had been held without charge for two years.
You won't see the Committee on Constitutional Rights campaigning on behalf of these prisoners with near the fervor they have over the mooks jugged in Gitmo...
The government called on the Supreme Security Committee, made up of former anti-Gaddafi militiamen nominally under the control of the interior ministry, to restore order. At least 19 prisoners received gunshot shrapnel wounds, with one inmate saying "they were shooting directly at us through the metal bars". There have been several mass prison escapes this year in Libya including 1,200 escaping from a prison after a riot in Benghazi in July.
The Interior Minister, Mohammed al-Sheikh, resigned last month in frustration at being unable to do his job, saying in a memo sent to Mr Zeidan that he blamed him for failing to build up the army and the police. He accused the government, which is largely dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, of being weak and dependent on tribal support. Other critics point out that a war between two Libyan tribes, the Zawiya and the Wirrshifana, is going on just 15 miles from the Prime Minister's office.
Diplomats have come under attack in Tripoli with the EU ambassador's convoy ambushed outside the Corinthia hotel on the waterfront. A bomb also wrecked the French embassy.
Tell us about it...
One of the many failings of the post-Gaddafi government is its inability to revive the moribund economy. Libya is wholly dependent on its oil and gas revenues and without these may not be able to pay its civil servants. Sliman Qajam, a member of the parliamentary energy committee, told Bloomberg that "the government is running on its reserves. If the situation doesn't improve, it won't be able to pay salaries by the end of the year".
About as smart as Egypt, having to import half the calories required to feed its people, running off the tourists that provide 90% of the foreign exchange. Is it something in the water over there?
Posted by: Beavis ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#1
Another sad all over situation where deposition ruined chances for stability. It was coming anyway, just not as badly as it is now.
#5
#3 The west seems to be infected with serial stupidity and cupidity in all diplomatic matters these days. AlanC
Filling the news with a foreign crisis cut from whole cloth, appears to be the standard antidote for a regime beset by a failed economic strategy and scandal.
Anyone who cannot see through Champ's methodology really isn't bright enough to be elected to public office. Boehner's and other pubs signing on to the Champ's Syrian resolution only highlights their complicity in the grand beltway scheme of obfuscation and deception.
#6
certain tribal cultures seem to be unable to maintain productive civility without the boot of an ultra strongman on their collective necks. Islam seems to exacerbate this tendency
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/04/2013 9:39
Comments ||
Top||
[BUZZFEED] "Secretary Kerry, the American people say no to war. Ban Ki Moon says no to war, the Pope says no to war. We don't want another war," Medea Benjamin of Code Pink ... a U.S. anti-war group. The group describes itself as a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities. It was founded in 2002 by Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin and of the other usual antiwar suspects. Its website lists hysterical allegations of US war crimes, and states that thousands of civilians were killed in Fallujah in 2004. Maybe it was millions. Benjamin was a 2000 candidate for the U.S. Senate on the Green Party ticket. She lost... yelled at the hearing after Kerry was finishing his remarks.
"The first time I testified before this committee, when I was 27 years old, I had very similar feelings to that protester," Kerry said. Medea Benjamin hasn't seen 27 for about as long as JFK. Nor has she ever been in favor of any war under any circumstances.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
when I was 27 years old, I had very similar feelings to that protester,
....but then I grew up and realized that there is no good or evil, only power and the will to use it. It's really all about politics and party.
[Dawn] Nishtar Colony police on Monday nabbed Please don't kill me! a woman allegedly for proclaiming herself 'prophet' and booked her under blasphemy charges.
Model Town SP (Operations) Tariq Aziz said Salma alias Fatima (40), principal of a private school and wife of Tanveer, a resident of Bahadarabad, started distributing pamphlets in the neighbourhood around 6am on Monday allegedly inscribed with blasphemous remarks and proclaiming herself 'prophet'.
He said on being informed by some locals of the situation the police took Salma in jug and recorded statements of witnesses.
The SP said a case under Section 295-C (use of derogatory remarks, etc, for the Holy Prophet PTUI!) of the Pakistain Penal Code had been registered against the accused on the complaint of Jmaia Masjid Anwar-e-Madina prayer leader Qari Iftikhar Ahmad Raza.
He said the woman had been handed over to the women police for further action.
Aziz said it was premature to declare the accused normal.
He said following the incident locals remained peaceful and no violence was reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
[Al Ahram] Egypt's Moslem Brüderbund said on Monday it holds the Interior Ministry and the General Prosecution Office accountable for the well-being of the group's supreme guide who is currently locked away Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! pending trial.
"The Moslem Brüderbund puts the Interior Ministry, the general prosecution office and all state officials fully responsible for the health and safety of the Supreme Guide [Mohamed Badie] and all detained citizens whether they are from the Brotherhood or not," the Brotherhood statement read.
It also claimed discrimination against Brotherhood detainees in terms of the treatment they receive compared to detainees affiliated to "the ousted president's [Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... ] former regime." The Brotherhood attributed the alleged discrimination to its opposition to "the coup", referring to president Mohamed Morsi's deposition on 3 July amid mass protests against him.
Badie, 70, reportedly suffered a heart attack last week. A security source told Ahram Arabic news website that Badie's condition is stable and a team of doctors were sent to examine him in prison. In addition, an interrogation session was also delayed once as he reportedly suffered from fatigue.
The supreme guide was tossed in the clink Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! on 20 August in Cairo. He was referred to the Criminal Court on charges of inciting the murder of protesters at the Moslem Brüderbund headquarters in Muqattam on 30 June.
The prosecution regularly interrogates Badie in prison as investigations are ongoing in his alleged involvement in other cases including festivities at the Ittihadiya Presidential Palace in December and July's festivities at the Republican Guard headquarters.
Meanwhile, ...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind... concerns were recently raised by Egyptian NGOs for alleged cases of torture against detainees in prisons, including those of the Brotherhood. On Sunday, Egypt's Prosecutor-General Hesham Barakat ordered all prosecution offices nationwide to conduct a search in Egypt's prisons to reveal such cases, if they exist.
Dozens of Brotherhood leaders and hundreds of members and supporters were arrested in the wake of the 14 August police forced dispersal of the pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo and Giza which triggered a wave of violent attacks across the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[Dawn] An activist of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat ...which is the false nose and plastic mustache of the murderous banned extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain, whatcha might call the political wing of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi... (ASWJ) was bumped off in Orangi Town on Monday, police said.
They said that Arman Nizamuddin, 30, was targeted near his residence in Islam Chowk, Sector-11, within the jurisdiction of the Iqbal Market cop shoppe. He sustained multiple bullet wounds and was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where doctors declared him dead. He's dead, Jim!
The victim, father of four, was a barber by professor, said area SHO Amjad Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... , adding that he was a worker of the ASWJ.
SI bumped off
A policeman was bumped off in an apparent targeted attack near the Banaras bridge on Monday evening, police said.
They said that Sub-Inspector Piyaro Khan, 45, was on his way home after performing his duty at the Pirabad cop shoppe when gunnies targeted him near the Banaras bridge. He sustained three bullet wounds in the neck, head and chest and was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors pronounced him dead He's dead, Jim!
The victim, who originally hailed from Larkana, was living in Musselmenabad, Qasba Colony. He was not wearing uniform when he was targeted.
The police said that it appeared that he had gone to the area to buy some eatables for the family.
Ex-MQM man killed
A young man was rubbed out in an Orangi Town locality on Monday evening.
The Pakistain Bazaar police said that Imran Jamil, 28, was sitting at his tyre puncture shop in Orangi Town-10 when gunnies targeted him and fled. The maimed was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead He's dead, Jim!
"The victim was a former activist of the Unit-125 of the organizational structure of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... ," said Pakistain Bazaar SHO Bashir Ahmed.
Body found
A young man was found murdered near the ICI bridge on Monday. Police said that the body, which bore torture marks, was found under the ICI bridge.
The victim was later identified as Amir Ahmed, who was a resident of Memon Society in Khadda Market, Lyari. He was working at a shop in the Kharadar area and had been missing since Sunday afternoon.
Shopkeeper bumped off in Manghopir
A young shopkeeper was rubbed out in the Manghopir area, police said.
They said that Zamanuddin, 30, was sitting at his general store in Manghopir when three gunnies riding a cycle of violence emerged there, fired at him and rode away. The motive for the killing could not be ascertained immediately.
'Robber' killed in encounter
A suspected robber was rubbed out in a police encounter in Sohrab Goth on Monday evening. Police said that two men were allegedly looting Lal Mohammed near Lasi Goth when a police team reached there.
In an ensuing encounter, one suspect, Jodo Khan Mehsud, 32, was killed, while his accomplice, Sheruddin, was jugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! , said Sohrab Goth SHO Mohammed Naeem.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[MAGHAREBIA] A Sale court on Monday (September 2nd) sentenced nine members of a Moroccan "Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Tunisia and Yemen, with the Tunisian version currently most active... " cell to multi-year prison terms, Atlasinfo.com reported.
The Ansar al-Sharia in Morocco members were tossed in the clink Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! at the end of 2012 in Rabat and other cities for allegedly plotting attacks against "sensitive buildings, security headquarters and tourist sites", the interior ministry said.
Dubbed "Ansar al-Sharia in the Islamic Maghreb", the cell was seeking material and military support from its fellow al-Qaeda allies in northern Mali, the ministry added.
The cell included a former Salafist Jihadist prisoner and a man known for expertise in explosives, intelligence officers from the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DST) determined.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Ansar al-Sharia
[MAGHAREBIA] A Tunis court on Monday (September 2nd) issued an international arrest warrant for Seif Allah ben Hassine (aka Abou Iyadh), Attounissia reported. The warrant is reportedly related to the Jebel Chaambi violence and weapons caches discovered in Médenine and Douar Hicher.
On August 21st, an arrest warrant was issued for the Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Tunisia and Yemen, with the Tunisian version currently most active... leader in connection with the liquidation of opposition politician Chokri Belaid.
On August 27th, Tunisia officially designated the hard-line salafist movement as a terrorist organization tied to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Ansar al-Sharia
[An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... on Tuesday hoped U.S. President Barack Obama I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money... will not act on Syria as his predecessor George W. Bush acted on Iraq, accusing caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati of appointing directors general as "his spies" in state institutions.
"I had suggested in 2005 to form a parliamentary committee on security, but they have been delaying it because there is a political will against its creation. It should be a regular committee like the rest of committees and MPs must demand a proper performance from the security agencies, or else it should not be formed and let them bear the responsibility," Aoun said after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc in Rabiyeh.
"Let the draft law be defeated in the Administration and Justice Committee, but I have performed my duties before God and society," he added.
Aoun accused Miqati of issuing a decree "in which he says bizarre things about the jurisdiction of the caretaker cabinet," noting that the caretaker premier "has named directors general as his spies."
"This case did not happen in any cabinet in the world. This is a constitutional and legal heresy that is against all the norms of proper governance," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
We need to send a few U-hauls to the middle east and let the different ethnic groups move and consolidate. If that means Shia Iraq, Kurdish Syria, Christian Lebananon (including Copts), and Jewish Israel so be it.
[An Nahar] German intelligence said Tuesday that spying on a conversation between a Hizbullah member and an Iranian diplomat provided "an additional clue" that proves Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... used chemical weapons in the August 21 attacks.
"The intelligence agency (BND) intercepted a phone conversation between a high-ranking Hizbullah member and the Iranian embassy and in which the Hizbullah official seems to admit chemicals were used," a report by Der Spiegel magazine said.
It elaborated: "He said in the phone call that Assad lost his nerves and made a big mistake by ordering the chemical weapons attack."
The magazine said the revelation was made during a secret briefing to select politicians on Monday, in which BND head Gerhard Schindler said that while there is still no incontestable proof, analysis of the evidence at hand has led his intelligence service to believe that Assad's regime is to blame.
Schindler explained that "only Assad's regime is in possession of binary chemical weapons such as sarin."
"The BND believes that regime experts would be the only ones capable of manufacturing such weapons and deploying them with small missiles and that they were used in attacks before August 21," the German magazine said.
It pointed out: "The telephone conversation intercepted by the BND could be an important piece in the puzzle currently being assembled by Western intelligence experts."
Der Spiegel's report comes after U.S. President Barack Obama Republicans can come along for the ride, but they've got to sit in the back... warned last week he was ready to launch military strikes on Assad's regime over its alleged use of chemical weapons.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Al Ahram] The army retook control of a strategic town in northwest Syria on Tuesday after 10 days of intense bombing and festivities, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"Armed forces, backed by paramilitary soldiers, retook Ariha after 10 days of shelling" of the town, which on August 24 fell to fighters from rebel factions including the Islamist group Al-Nusra Front, it said.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the town in Idlib province had been virtually emptied of its residents and armed forces and pro-regime militias were currently on a looting spree.
His Britannia-based group relies on an extensive network of activists, doctors and lawyers on the ground for its information.
Ariha was of "strategic importance" as it is located on the main road linking the large town of Idlib to the coastal city of Latakia, Abdel Rahman said.
"The regime managed to retake the town in ten days," he said. "The town was hit last week by air raids and artillery fire, and on the ground, violent festivities opposed the army and paramilitary forces against rebel armies."
The army was on Tuesday also bombing Jabal Arbain, a mountain near Ariha, to try and retake control there, the Observatory said.
Armed forces control the majority of Idlib town, while rebel fighters exert power on large parts of the province of the same name.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[MAGHAREBIA] The latest festivities in the Libyan city of Sirte reportedly killed a young man at the week-end, prompting tribal elders and Libyan politicians on Sunday (September1st) to call for calm.
"There was fighting in the central town area between two gangs in which light and medium weapons were used," local resident Ezzedine al-Amin said.
All the heavy weapons having been sold to their friends in Syria...
"The sound of blasts and gunshots could be heard in different areas of town, and some public properties were damaged," the Sirte man added.
The General National Congress asked the western faction of the Libya Shield forces to step in to ensure stability in Sirte.
"There are talks and a series of continuous meetings between the local council and Council of Elders and all security agencies in town," al-Amin said. "They want to put an end to the recent security chaos in Sirte, including liquidations, festivities and attacks on state properties."
"There is major resentment over the bad security situation," he added.
Shield forces were reportedly prepared to intervene should the situation deteriorate.
The security threat escalated last month, when Derna jihadists said they would move into Sirte. The snuffies threatened that anyone who stood up to them would be killed.
Their threat followed the death of the commander of al-Qaeda in Sirte. He died last month following festivities with the Zawiya Martyrs Brigade, which is affiliated with the Libyan army.
"Ahmed al-Tir, also known as Abu Ali - the commander of the al-Farouk brigade recently named by al-Qaeda as emir of Sirte - was maimed in Sirte," said Amin al-Mansouri, a 24-year-old employee at the city's university.
The Islamist fighter was then reportedly taken to Tunisia, where he died of his wounds on August 4th. Two foreigners fighting in his al-Farouk brigade -Tunisian Hasan Mohamed and Algerian national Ali Sasi - were critically maimed, al-Mansouri added.
The festivities with Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Tunisia and Yemen, with the Tunisian version currently most active... have not been the only incidents to rattle nerves in Sirte.
Journalist Youssef Mohammed told Magharebia that Radio Free Sirte was robbed and sabotaged.
With equipment stolen, the station was taken off the air.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
[BIGSTORY.AP.ORG] As the B.O. regime tries to prod Congress into backing armed action against Syria, the regime in Damascus is hiding military hardware and shifting troops out of bases into civilian areas.
Politically, Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... has gone on the offensive, warning in a rare interview with Western media that any military action against Syria could spark a regional war.
If the U.S. undertakes missile strikes, Assad's reaction could have a major effect on the trajectory of Syria's civil war. Neighboring countries could get dragged into a wider conflict, or it could be back to business as usual for a crisis that has claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people over 2½ years.
The main Western-backed opposition group says that during the buildup last week to what seemed like an imminent U.S. attack, the army moved troops as well as rocket launchers, artillery and other heavy weapons into residential neighborhoods in cities nationwide. Three Damascus residents, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... for fear of reprisals, confirmed such movements.
One man said two members of the elite Elite Republican Guards broke into an empty house he owns and showed him an official document stating they were authorized to do so because Syria is at war. A woman in another area said soldiers moved into a school next to her house.
A U.S. official confirmed there are indications that the Syrian regime is taking steps to move some of its military equipment and bolster protection for defense facilities.
The official, who was not authorized to discuss intelligence matters and spoke on condition of anonymity, said that at this point, the U.S. has the information it needs to maintain a good handle on what the regime is doing to prepare.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#3
Of course, using human shields is itself a war crime. And also a well established Arab tactic.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/04/2013 9:35
Comments ||
Top||
#4
I'm sure the local population count of kiddies has zoomed around potential key targets. Can't wait to see the net [but not MinTruth] distribution of tons of pictures of dead children's bodies in counter to the stuff about gassing kids. The administration will just use Reno's excuse about Waco.
[Al Ahram] Egypt's newly formed constitutional committee marginalises the Islamic current, the Nour Party has complained. So they've figured out the grand plan...
"The formation of the committee is really bad and reflects the domination of the leftist-Nasserist faction," Sherif Taha, spokesperson for Egypt's largest Salafist party, said in a statement on Sunday.
The 50-member committee includes only two Islamists: ex-Moslem Brüderbund leader Kamal El-Helbawy and Nour Party deputy leader Bassam El-Zarqa.
Taha added that his party was still evaluating the situation, stressing that "all options are on the table."
Nour was Egypt's second largest bloc in the now-dissolved 2012 parliament and participated in the controversial Constituent Assembly, which drafted the 2012 constitution.
A week before the 50 nominees were announced, Nour Party spokesperson Nader Bakkar told Ahram Online he was worried about unequal representation on the constitutional committee.
Bakkar explained that his party did not want to stall Egypt's transition process, despite being "underrepresented" in the constitution writing process.
Meanwhile, ...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin... Salafist Call leader Yasser Borhami said the committee was dominated by "enemies of Sharia [Islamic law] and the Islamic project."
He further complained that while the Islamic current had been marginalised from the committee, at least 11 leftists and Nasserists were included.
"A real national dialogue within two months is not possible due to excessive differences on several matters," Borhami added at a press statement on Monday.
Nour had earlier said it would boycott the constitutional committee after Article 219 was removed by the technical committee that amended the constitution before passing it on to the broader committee. The party later retreated, saying the issue could still be debated by the 50-member committee.
Article 219 defined Sharia (Islamic law), which is mentioned in Article 2 as the main source of legislation in Egypt. The article was added by the Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly in 2012. It states: "The principles of Islamic Sharia include its commonly accepted interpretations, its fundamental and jurisprudential rules and its widely considered sources, as stated by the schools of Sunna and Gamaa."
The Salafist party warned that eliminating this article was an attempt to move Egyptians away from their "Islamic identity."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Salafists
#1
FTA: The Salafist party warned that eliminating this article was an attempt to move Egyptians away from their "Islamic identity."
[An Nahar] Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud escaped unhurt Tuesday from an ambush on his heavily armoured convoy claimed by Al-Qaeda linked Islamists, the latest attack targeting the internationally backed leader.
Shabaab gunnies claimed to have ambushed the convoy as it travelled to the port of Merka south of the capital and boasted of destroying vehicles with rocket-propelled grenades.
But officials said that the attack had failed and all in the presidential entourage were safe.
"Gunmen tried to disrupt the president's trip ... but I can confirm the president and his delegation are well and reached their final destination Merka to have meetings with local community," said Somali army official Mohamed Qorey, speaking by telephone from Merka.
The president was travelling in an armoured convoy from the 17,700-strong African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... force (AMISOM) that fights alongside the Somali army against Shabaab gunnies.
"We ambushed a convoy that was escorting the self-appointed Somali president," Shabaab front man Abdulaziz Abu Musab told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The attack took place near the small settlement of Buffow, close to Merka, a former Shabaab stronghold captured one year ago around 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital.
"The presidential convoy was attacked but they have continued after about 15 minutes of heavy gunfire," said Ibrahim Adan, a resident of Buffow.
Diplomatic sources played down the attacks saying it had consisted of little more than a roadside kaboom.
Residents in Merka said Mohamud appeared in the port, greeting officials and residents as he toured the town.
"He was fine and well, meeting the people who had come to see him," said Nasir Abdirahmam, a resident of Merka.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
[SACRAMENTO.CBSLOCAL] A Lodi Police SWAT officer had a Glock 35 with a flashlight in his thigh holster at a children's reading event when a boy managed to pull the trigger and shoot the officer. Musta been some kinda reading event if they had to call in the SWAT team.
"It doesn't have an external safety or anything like that," said Lt. Sierra Brucia with the department. "The gun functioned how it was supposed to. When the trigger was pulled, the gun went off." Ummm... Yazzz... Mingle with children whilst wearing a weapon that doesn't have a safety. That sounds like good policy.
The officer was showing off the department's SWAT truck, vest and other gear at a children's event called Reading Roundup on Aug. 24. Now that I ponder the subject, he said ponderously, it might not even be good policy to use guns that don't have safeties even if the officers aren't showing off in front of kiddies.
"A small child, witnesses tell us was 6 to 8 years old, was able to walk up to the officer and was able to pull the trigger." In the course of twenty years in the Army, I never had a weapon that didn't have a safety. The M16 does. It prevents accidental discharges, or so they told us. Mine never accidentally discharged, so they probably spoke truth. What's more dangerous, that you don't have time to flip a safety off? Con Thien? Or Lonzo barricaded in Mom's house? What kind of artillery support does Lonzo have?
The bullet hit the officer's leg. Holster. Hip. Gun points down. It's gonna be either the leg or the foot or both, unless he was squatting and missed, or leaning over, in which case the kid got it through the nostril.
He was taken to the hospital for a minor injury and released. "It's just a flesh wound, doc!"
"You're right. Point that thing in some other direction, if you don't mind... No, don't lean over. Nurse Rachet's standing right behind you."
The department is investigating the shooting to see if protocols or procedures need to be changed to prevent the same thing from happening again. Here's a suggestion: ditch the firearms that don't have safeties. Failing that, don't bring 'em around kiddies. Failing that, don't keep a round in the chamber.
Officers want to find the child and his parents to piece together what went wrong. Cop showing off equipment. Curious little kiddies. No safety. What could possibly go wrong?
"Hopefully, speaking to the child and the child's parents to find out how they were able to get access to the officer's gun, what the child's intent may have been--we don't know if it was accidental or unintentional." I'm guessing the child was waist high and just wanted to touch it. Living in a gun-free society, he/she/it was probably fascinated. I could be wrong, of course. He could be a hardened felon by age six, trying to do murder.
Police say because the gun was in a holster to accommodate the attached flashlight, the trigger was more accessible. Brilliant. Simply brilliant.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Factory DA trigger pull weight on a Glock is about 5.5 pounds. Of course, it can be tuned to be lighter. How big was this 6-8 year old? I suspect the kid was trying to pull the gun from the holster and was pulling pretty hard.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/04/2013 6:31
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Yet more evidence of how only "qualified professionals" need a gun...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/04/2013 6:33
Comments ||
Top||
#3
No bullet catcher at the bottom of the holster?
#7
Making sure the kiddies are comfortable with the nice SWAT man and his neat toys. It's a wonder that the rest of the squad didn't rush in and shoot up the joint in a panic when "the gun went off".
[An Nahar] President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... voiced on Tuesday his rejection of foreign military intervention in Syria.
He instead called for a reaching a political solution to the unrest in the neighboring country.
He made his remarks during a meeting with the ambassadors of countries who enjoy permanent membership in the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... Security Council, which also included U.N. Special Coordinator for Leb Derek Plumbly, representatives of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , and Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy in Beirut.
The meeting was held in preparation for an international conference on Leb in New York on September 25 on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Y-o-o-kay, but the basic prob remains, i.e. getting the all-or-nothing Assad Regime to the same negotiating table as the all-or-nothing FSA as the all-or-nothing Foreign Militant Groups.
* FYI WAFF > JIHADIS FROM THE CAUCASUS FORM OWN
[independent] GROUP IN SYRIA.
#1
During the Kerry testimony yesterday, I watched a female US Army colonel sitting to the rear and just to the right of Kerry. I suspect she might have been assigned to the State Department's Office of Political Military Affairs, but honestly have no idea for certain. She appeared rather stoic and with the exception of a glance at her phone, stared either down or straight ahead.
As Kerry finished his initial statement regarding "troops on the ground", the colonel shot an immediate glance in the direction of General Dempsey. Could meaning nothing, but at the moment I saw her quick glance I thought....she's reading the reaction of her boss. Dempsey was not in the field of view of the camera, so I could not see his reaction.
Everything I see points to an effort to support the so-called Moderate Syrian Rebel Forces in Syria. A similar kinetic demonstration was used in the early stages of the Afghan war to win the trust of the Northern Alliance and General Rashid Dostum.
I suspect boots are already on the ground, commitments have been made, and we're being Clappered to.
* FREEREPUBLIC > [Guardian.UK] OBAMA HINTS AT LARGER STRATEGY TO TOPPLE ASSAD, EFFECT TO WIN OVER [US] REPUBLICANS.
The Bammer's target is no longer limited to just baby Assad's ChemWar arsenal, but Assad himself???
versus
* POLITICO > SENATORS CRAFT SYRIA COMPROMISE WID 60-DAY DEADLINE, POSSIBLE 30-DAY EXTENSION FORM MILITARY STRIKES.
versus
* OTOH FREEREPUBLIC > [Israeli National News] US AIR FORCE LACKS PREPAREDNESS FOR SYRIA STRIKE.
IOW, POTUS Obama may need the boots after for his Syria strike to succeed, espec iff also now to remove Assad from power [vee so-called "OBAMA DOCTRINE"]???
* TOPIX > [Daily Star.LB] MIDDLE EAST VIEW OF US AS "HESITANT SUPERPOWER" SHARPENS.
N-O-T getting better for the Bammer, but getting worse = STILL DETERIORATING???
* SAME > [Canada.com] US CREDIBILITY KEYED TO MILITARY STRIKE ON SYRIA.
#3
I suppose we should also keep in mind that a so-called 'limited conflict' would obviously be very expensive. With a budget battle looming and new borrowing power needed, hitching the congress to a costly military action [through a vote] might strengthen the regime's case for raising the debt ceiling and additional borrowing. This may be a stretch however, as it's all about the women and children...right ?
#5
This business stinks. Zombies trying for political legacy are we. The left, media , anti war hippies(joke) run the show. Brings to mind this video, man did I ever hate the Johnson era;
[An Nahar] The visiting head of Iranian parliament's foreign policy committee discussed on Tuesday with top Lebanese officials and Hizbullah leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... the latest developments in the region.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who is the chairman of the committee for foreign policy and national security of the Iranian parliament, arrived in Beirut on Monday and went into separate talks with Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... and Premier-designate Tammam Salam.
The state-run National News Agency said that Boroujerdi and his accompanying delegation discussed with Nasrallah on Tuesday the regional developments, mainly in Leb and Syria.
Also Tuesday, the delegation met with President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... , Caretaker Premier Najib Miqati and Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour.
Suleiman discussed with Boroujerdi "the dangers that could result from any foreign military intervention" in Syria, said a Baabda palace statement.
Suleiman reiterated Leb's rejection of military intervention and stressed it was up to the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... to hold responsible the parties that allegedly used chemical weapons in Syria, said the statement.
Boroujerdi said he agreed with Mansour that there was a "U.S. plot against the region's security and stability."
He called for unity to prevent a possible disaster and expressed hope that "U.S. President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... would act wisely and would not rush in his decision on taking a military action against Syria."
"We hope that the U.S. Congress would have the same level of self-restraint and wisdom to prevent acts that threaten the security of the region," he said.
He made similar remarks after visiting Miqati, calling for strong efforts to prevent the crisis from spiraling out of control.
The delegation of Iranian MPs led by Boroujerdi held talks Saturday in Syria with Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... and denounced any possible Western attack on the country over chemical weapons allegations.
But Obama shocked the world on Saturday when he decided to seek support for military action from Congress.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
LEBANON knows that neither ISRAEL nor SYRIA will confine any MilOps agz the other to just the disputed Golan Heights.
That being said ...
* TOPIX > [UPI] STUDY: IRAN BUILDS UP ITS "FOREIGN LEGION" IN SYRIA.
* FREEREPUBLIC > [Al-Monitor] ISLAMIC JIHAD [Palestinian] MAY RESPOND IFF ISRAEL ENTERS SYRIA WAR.
[MAGHAREBIA] The United Nations Special Wrapper Rapporteur on racism began a week-long visit to Mauritania on Monday (September 2nd), ANI reported. Mutuma Ruteere will gather information on challenges to the elimination of racism and discrimination in the country, the UN said.
Ruteere will visit Nouakchott, Rosso and Kaedi to meet with local authorities about laws, policies and measures to fight racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[Al Ahram] Egypt's minister of social solidarity, Ahmed El-Borai, said on Tuesday that the Moslem Brüderbund association, formed in March 2013 by the political group, has no legal standing.
The minister said during a presser on Tuesday that the prosecution had accused the Brotherhood of possessing firearms at its Cairo headquarters.
The ministry, which is responsible for registering non-governmental organizations and associations, sent several letters to the chairman of the Brotherhood NGO requesting explanations but has not received an answer.
"I know there is tension in the Egyptian street and people are attacking me for not taking an order to disband the Moslem Brüderbund association," said El-Borai, who added that the ministry needed a memo from the federation of NGOs in order to disband the association.
"We need to follow the legal path," he said.
El-Borai had previously said that disbanding the Brotherhood association without a court ruling would support allegations by western countries that the current regime in Egypt wants to liquidate the Moslem Brüderbund.
On Monday the board of state commissioners recommended to the Administrative Court that it issue a ruling terminating the Moslem Brüderbund association.
"The Moslem Brüderbund association was not registered as a NGO to do its role in accordance with the law and to serve the nation. It only helped the regime and its ruling party to keep the president in his position," read the report issued by the board.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#1
I'm a California voter. I know how it feels to have no standing.
#2
I switched to "Decline to State" and vote-by-mail recently, EU, rather than waste gas being a party to a party with a death wish. Our local fella, Katcho, is purdy gud. But he'll time out all too soon. I vote more out of habit than anything else.
[MAGHAREBIA] As part of a struggle to improve his name since losing his al-Qaeda command, terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar just released a "greatest hits" video of his freelance work in Mali, Algeria and Niger.
How cute! Only, isn't that the kind of thing that shows up on late night teevee on that other channel after our hero has been reduced to the not-main stage in Las Vegas for a decade or several?
The video sent Sunday (September 1st) to Mauritanian daily ANI shows members of Belmokhtar's "Signed in Blood Brigade" and El Moulethemoune katibat ("Brigade of the Veiled Ones") training for Sahel operations.
Do they dive through flaming hoops? That's awfully popular at the Hamas summer camps... or perhaps rappel down buildings like the Iranian Women's Corp in full and flowing veils?
The 51-minute video marks the first time that Belmokhtar (aka Khaled Abou El Abbès, or "Laaouar") has been seen since the president of Chad reported him as killed in northern Mali.
'E's not dead yet, 'e's just restin'...
On the new video, Belmokhtar is shown giving instructions for the twin suicide boom-mobileings at a military camp in Agadez and a uranium mine in Arlit. The Niger attacks killed at least 20 people.
The MUJAO and al-Mua'qi'oon Biddam -- Laaouar's group -- grabbed credit for the Niger violence, saying the actions were to avenge the February killing of Al-Qaeda brigade commander terrorist Abdelhamid Abou Zeid by international forces in Mali.
Laaouar appears on the tape training fighters for the Niger attacks, dubbed "Sheikh Abdelhamid Abou Zeid's conquest". The video includes photos of Abou Zeid with Belmokhtar, to emphasise their accord.
Going at it alone has not proven successful for the one-eyed terrorist.
The ousted al-Qaeda brigade leader last month joined forces with Mali-based terror group Movement of Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) to create the "Mourabitounes".
Seriously? Over here, we only give names like that to Sixties girl bands. Still, Pashtun warriors love their cosmetics, so who are we to judge?
He publicized the merger by including clips of his fighters as well as those of the MUJAO.
The video shows training and preparations for the 2013 siege at Algeria's In Amenas gas plant, which left dozens of civilian hostages dead. The January attack was a joint operation by the MUJAO and Laaouar's katibat.
The tape also features clips of the gunnies in action in northern Mali last year. Laaouar's "Brigade of the Veiled Ones" and their MUJAO allies are seen engaged in bloody festivities in Gao against the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA).
Didn't all that fighting get them driven into the desert?
For many observers, however, Belmokhtar's video was a failure.
"This latest media production is an attempt by this group to show that it still has the strength and the gear to continue the fight in the Sahel," filmmaker Zine El Abidine Ould Bukhari told Magharebia.
"It is nothing more than a propaganda movie," he added. "This display of military equipment and mental readiness of terrorist elements did not bear fruit in the real field of confrontation, which means that it is mainly promotional material and nothing more."
This is where we point and laugh.
Furthermore, young people are becoming more aware about terror recruiting efforts, so multimedia and propaganda tapes "no longer have the same magnitude of influence on them,", he said.
According to Sahara Media Editor Bashir Ould Babana, Belmokhtar was weakened and his forces divided.
"Therefore Laaouar is seeking to reunite the remaining pieces and trying to rebuild an organization through publicity campaigns and buying weapons," Babana said.
To that end, the terrorist is now in Libya, Mosaique FM reported on Friday.
"Laaouar, who has a network of positive relations with some of the leaders of terrorist organizations in Libya, was accompanied on his trip by Iyad Ag Ghaly, leader of Ansar al-Din," the Tunisian radio station reported.
Laaouar is in Libya looking for weapons, unnamed security sources reportedly told the radio station, in order to conduct terrorist attacks in Tunisia and Algeria.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
#1
The guy cut a multi-media video resume?
Is he gonna post it on Utube?
[Al Ahram] A Cairo court ordered on Tuesday Al-Jazeera ... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS... Mubasher Misr be taken off air. The administrative court ruling also banned Al-Yarmouk, Al-Quds and Ahrar 25, regarded as channels linked to Islamists, off the Egyptian airwaves.
Al-Jazeera Egyptian channel has come under fire as local media and authorities accused it of bias against the popularly-backed overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July, in favour of the Moslem Brüderbund from which he hails. Egyptian officials even said the station posed a threat to national security.
The three other channels were also blamed for one-sided reporting in favour of the Brotherhood and its supporters.
Some analysts, however, do not find any value in the ban. "I don't understand the rationale behind such court orders. They are impossible to implement," Khaled Dawoud, a leading member of the liberal Dostour Party told Ahram Online. "If they ban a channel, other channels will come up and find a country to broadcast from."
Dawoud said he had reservations on the coverage of some of these channels for being "platforms" for the Moslem Brüderbund, yet counselled "we should get accustomed to the broadcasting of views we do not sympathise with and stop blaming the media, as we live in an age of diversity."
Egypt's government had already ordered a ban on the the broadcaster's Egyptian channel last week on allegations it lacked legal permits. The channel, now broadcast from Qatar, later challenged the authorities, publishing an alleged operation license by the Egyptian government.
The Doha-based network said in a statement on Sunday it was concerned over alleged harassment of the channel by the Egyptian authorities, citing "the series of detentions" of its staff and seizure of its equipment.
Police have tossed in the slammer Book 'im, Mahmoud! a correspondent for Al-Jazeera's Arabic channel, Abdullah El-Shami, since 14 August, and a cameraman for its Egyptian affiliate, Mohamed Badr, for over a month. Three foreign news hounds for the Qatari-owned channel were also deported on Sunday after being caught covering political events without the required permits.
The ban comes a day after an Egyptian court ordered the permanent closure of the fiercely anti-liberal Al-Hafez channel.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[Dawn] Malala Yousafzai, the Pak schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban after campaigning for girls' right to an education, said books were "the weapons to defeat terrorism" as she opened a new library in her adopted English city on Tuesday.
The 16-year-old gave a speech before unveiling a stainless steel plaque to mark the opening of Europe's biggest public library, the gleaming new Library of Birmingham.
Malala, who was flown to the central English city for surgery last October after being targeted by a gunman as she travelled to school in Pakistain's northwestern Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... region, said she had challenged herself "that I will read thousands of books and I will power myself with knowledge. Pens and books are the weapons that defeat terrorism."
She added: "There is no greater weapon than knowledge and no greater source of knowledge than the written word."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Maybe she should learn about some of the people who have read the pressure-cooker bomb instructions
[Ynet] An improvised bomb went kaboom! at a cop shoppe in downtown Cairo on Monday, wounding two workers, the state news agency said. ... and if you can't believe the state news agency who can you believe? MENA said three people on a cycle of violence hurled what it called a homemade hand grenade at the cop shoppe.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[WashPost] Al-Qaedas leadership has assigned cells of engineers to find ways to shoot down, jam or remotely hijack U.S. drones, hoping to exploit the technological vulnerabilities of a weapons system that has inflicted huge losses upon the terrorist network, according to top-secret U.S. intelligence documents.
[Al Ahram] Security forces tossed in the calaboose Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! Mostafa Issa, prominent Moslem Brüderbund member and former governor of Minya, on Tuesday, MENA reported.
Issa was taken from in front of the building where his private clinic is located.
Egyptian prosecution ordered Issa's arrest on charges of "inciting violence" during recent conflicts in the Minya governorate.
Following the dispersal of two pro-Morsi sit-ins by security forces on 14 August, the governorate of Minya has witnessed ongoing civil strife, during which dozens have been killed and several buildings, including churches and Coptic houses, were burned, allegedly by Morsi supporters.
On Monday, security forces arrested Saad El-Husseini, former governor of Kafr El-Sheikh, in a house in the fifth settelement district of New Cairo.
These arrests are part of a state crackdown on Moslem Brüderbund leaders and cadres over the last few weeks, which has amounted to the arrest and detention of several hundred members who are awaiting investigation or trial.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[La Belle France24] Mexican police have placed in durance vile Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! the alleged leader of the Juarez narco mob, a 47-year-old man known as "Ugly Betty," authorities said.
Alberto Carrillo Fuentes was tossed in the calaboose Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! by federal police in the western state of Nayarit and he was later questioned by prosecutors, an official from the attorney general's office told AFP on Sunday, on condition of anonymity.
He faces charges of drug trafficking, murder and organized crime. The official declined to provide more details.
Carrillo Fuentes is believed to have taken over the cartel named after Ciudad Juarez, the city bordering Texas, after his brother Vicente "The Viceroy" Carrillo Fuentes turned down the job.
The group was founded by another brother, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, alias "The Lord of the Skies," who died in mysterious circumstances following plastic surgery in 1997.
According to the weekly magazine Proceso, the Juarez gang was in an intense pie fight in several northwestern states against the Sinaloa cartel led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most wanted man.
The two cartels waged a fierce battle for control of Ciudad Juarez in recent years and Guzman is believed to have come out on top.
Carrillo Fuentes's arrest marks the third capture of a high-profile drug lord since July.
Authorities detained Zetas cartel kingpin Miguel Angel Trevino, alias "Z-40," on July 15, followed by Gulf cartel leader Mario Ramirez Trevino on August 17.
[IBTIMES.CO.UK] A rapist faces a nerve-wracking wait to find out if he caught the deadly HIV/Aids virus from his victim. Oh, I just hate those nerve-wracking waits. That's why I so seldom have sex anymore.
Doesn't it take something like six months for antibodies to show up? I don't recall it being the ten to twenty years that it takes symptoms to show...
Richard Thomas, 27, collapsed and had to be admitted to hospital when Manchester police told him about his victim's condition after the attack in July. Oh. Wait. I don't go attacking women in their homes. I don't have any nerve-wracking down time. "Just kidding, Richard! Okay, Sarge, have him do the perp walk now!"
Thomas broke in to the house of the woman, whom he knew, and forced himself on her while she was asleep. The victim, who lives in Leigh, Manchester, had taken a sleeping pill shortly before the attack. She woke up to find him raping her. Lucky me. It's just old age.
Thomas knew the woman had a medical condition but was ignorant of the underlying cause. The Bolton News reported he had been drinking and taking drugs earlier that night.
Winning a Darwin award, the hard way.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
If it turns out he didn't catch it, it's lucky beyond his desserts.
[BOSTONHERALD] The state Supreme Judicial Court will begin hearing arguments this week in an atheist Acton couple's quest to strike the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance their children say in the Acton-Boxboro Regional School District. This type of thing started when I was a young fellow. Getting rid of the "under God" thing was one of Madeline Murray O'Hare's aspirations.
The couple's suit, filed anonymously on behalf of their three children, goes to the SJC tomorrow, with a pair of Washington, D.C., activist organizations taking part in the proceedings. Of course, God eventually struck her dead.
"We feel confident that our arguments are the right ones, and we're certainly hopeful that they're persuasive to the justices," said Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is arguing on behalf of the school district. "We represent some kids that are actually in the Acton-Boxboro School District that would like to keep saying the pledge."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
In the great words of FARK + other around the Net, "OH JEEEEEEEZZZZZ NOT THIS ********** ******* AGAIN"!?
[An Nahar] The United States must "stand up and act" to punish the Syrian regime and cannot resort to isolationism in the face of "slaughter," Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... told politicians Tuesday.
"This is not the time for armchair isolationism. This is not the time to be spectators to a slaughter," Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Isolationism: the concept that it's not always appropriate to go bombing foreigners...
"Neither our country nor our conscience can afford the cost of silence," Kerry said, according to prepared remarks.
Not quite what you said in 2002...
"We have spoken up against unspeakable horror. Now we must stand up and act," he added.
Kerry also pointed out that failure by the United States to take military action against Syria would send a dangerous signal to Iran and Hizbullah.
"Our inaction would surely give them a permission slip for them to at least misinterpret our intention, if not to put it to the test," Kerry told senators.
Hizbullah "militants" in Leb are "hoping that isolationism will prevail" and "North Korea is hoping that ambivalence carries the day," he said.
"They are all listening for our silence."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Hmm... in over a year we still can't get a straight answer about Benghazi in territory that is much more open to our intelligence gathering, yet in Syria, within a matter of days, we have proof positive, not only of a sarin attack, but who did it, and the exact number of casualties (higher even than what the rebels sent us)? Considering most of the dead were buried within 24 hours per custom, how the heck can we know that number? Amazing the level of bull that is being tossed by the administration, and people credulously accepting it given the previous track record. Kerry today would not rule out involvement of ground troops. Ready for another Mogadishu?
How will this further US National Security? And what is the goal, the end-state? How do these strikes achieve that? What are the probable and possible downstream consequences of these actions in Syria and in the region over the next few years?
I have yet to see those questions adequately addressed. That is why oppose our getting involved by putting our military in harm's way to hit Pencilneck. Then there is the problem that the striked may end up helping Al Qaeda and Iran far more than it does the people of Syria or others in the region (especially the Kurds).
#2
One other thing to consider - Obama is always playing politics. His angle here? Use the Syria crisis to either macho-up and cover his earlier error about "red line", or else dump the blood of the Syrian rebels in the GOP's lap if they vote it down. And the press will be willing accomplices either way.
I remember back when we had a free press in the US that reported fairly openly instead of openly partisan and lying by commission and omission like Pravda. I wonder if I will see that again before I die?
#9
Obama today: "First of all, I didn't set a red line," said Obama. "The world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are [inaudble] and passed a treaty forbidding their use, even when countries are engaged in war. Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. Congress set a red line when it indicated that in a piece of legislation entitled the Syria Accountability Act that some of the horrendous things happening on the ground there need to be answered for. So, when I said in a press conference that my calculus about what's happening in Syria would be altered by the use of chemical weapons, which the overwhelming consensus of humanity says is wrong, that wasn't something I just kind of made up. I didn't pluck it out of thin air. There's a reason for it."
#11
Waging limited war is expensive. Of course we'll soon need to raise the national debt limit and borrow more money from China, but we'll be saving untold numbers of Syrian women and children. Did I mention the children ?
#12
This may end up being a very important vote for reasons that have nothing to do with Syria or War.
0 only decided to submit this to Congress when the British Parliament said no thanks. The Tory MPs, who are supposed to be a rubber stamp for the PM voted with their constituents.
Here, the Senate looks like it is lining up with 0. Likewise, the leadership of both parties in the House has lined up with 0. Ultimately it is the rank and file in the House, especially those in competitive districts, who are going to throw a monkey wrench into 0's works. Because they're listening to their constituents.
What could be happening here is a rejection of the elite by the hoi polloi. If so, 2014 could be very interesting. The answer is blowing in the wind.
#13
Limited war would be bad enough but there are no freaking objectives. I guess that makes it easier to walk away and say we're done but it also guarantees the enemy will claim they survived and chased you away making it a victory for Assad and his allies.
Far better to just recind the No Assassinations executive order and let the enemies imaginations run wild for awhile.
#15
180 countries signed the poison gas treaties. If the only one who cares about it is the USA then the treaties are worthless and we should walk away
#17
With the exception of France, the rest of the world has shown zero inclination to send men and equipment to bomb Syria. If we're isolationists, then being isolationist means "being more or less in line with the rest of the world".
#23
Of course it doesn't enter these twits minds, that while you're watching and getting hyper ventilated with Syria, that once America executes basically unilaterally, the Soviets Russian take care of the Georgia 'problem' using the same rationale and unilateral application of force.
[An Nahar] Nelson Mandela's discharge after nearly three months in hospital showed that he had made "progress", South African President Jacob Zuma said Tuesday, adding he is responding to treatment at home.
"I think we feel very good... that he could leave hospital which indicates the progress he has made," Zuma told journalists.
"He remains critical but stable, responding to treatment," said Zuma.
South Africa's first black president spent 86 days, including his 95th birthday in July, in a Pretoria hospital for a recurring respiratory illness.
Army and private ambulances transported him to his Johannesburg home on Sunday, where he will continue to receive intensive care from the same doctors who looked after him in hospital.
But concerns linger about the health of an elderly man who has been in and out of hospital four times in the last year.
In the past few months, the Nobel peace laureate was once said to be on life support and there were unconfirmed reports he had to be resuscitated.
Despite an upbeat mood resulting from his release from hospital, medical experts say he still faces a long and uncertain road to recovery.
"We acknowledge that he is old and that he is not well, but we are very happy that he has gone home," said Zuma.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Critical but stable" sounds more like hospice care than recovery.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is warning that any "punitive" action taken against Syria for an alleged chemical weapons attack last week could unleash more turmoil and bloodshed in that nation's civil war. Wouldn't that be the intention?
Ban also cautioned nations such as the United States and France that may be considering such strikes that they are legal only in self-defense under the U.N. Charter or if approved by the U.N. Security Council. Ban's statement probably gives some Republicans a good reason to support military action He's just another fool. See also, Kerry...
Posted by: lord garth ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Or You have to face the Dreaded Strongly Worded Letter of DOOM!
[QUINNIPIAC.EDU] With 47 percent of black voters and 44 percent of women voters, New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio surges to 43 percent of likely voters in the Democratic primary for mayor, passing the 40 percent cutoff and possibly avoiding a runoff, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
Former City Comptroller and 2009 Democratic nominee William Thompson is at 20 percent, with 18 percent for City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, 7 percent for former U.S. Rep. Anthony Carlos Danger Weiner ...aka Hot Dog Tony, the remarkably offensive sex maniac six-term New York congressman who resigned in 2011, then decided everybody had forgotten by 2013, when he decided to run for mayor of New York City... , 4 percent for Comptroller John Liu, 1 percent for former Council member Sal Albanese and 8 percent undecided.
This compares to results of an August 28 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN- uh-pe-ack) University which showed de Blasio at 36 percent, with 21 percent for Quinn, 20 percent for Thompson, 8 percent for Weiner and 6 percent for Liu.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2013
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Looks like Weiner is sure in a bind.
Is it too late to come from behind?
Will he get back upright,
Though the race isn't tight,
Or will Anthony be disinclined?
His political future's in doubt
For it's looking a lot like a rout
Polls at seven percent
Have him striking his tent
Yes, they've knocked Weiner down (but not out)
In the back, someone started to laugh
(They'd been texted one last photograph),
As the object of odium
Dragged himself to the podium
And regretfully laid off his staff.
I bet he'll keep in touch with his base.
So you've read my limp limericks on Weiner
You could probably write some obscener
Why not give it a shot --
Show the Burg what ya got --
In the vein of lyric misdemeanor?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[BREITBART] At least eight people are dead and more than 25 others were wounded in shootings over Labor Day weekend in Rahm Emanuel's Chicago. The shootings were widespread, from the far south and west sides of the city and spanning north into neighborhoods that see far fewer shooting incidents normally. 
[WEEKLYSTANDARD] "First of all, I didn't set a red line," said Obama. "The world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are [inaudble] and passed a treaty forbidding their use, even when countries are engaged in war. Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. Congress set a red line when it indicated that in a piece of legislation entitled the Syria Accountability Act that some of the horrendous things happening on the ground there need to be answered for. So, when I said in a press conference that my calculus about what's happening in Syria would be altered by the use of chemical weapons, which the overwhelming consensus of humanity says is wrong, that wasn't something I just kind of made up. I didn't pluck it out of thin air. There's a reason for it."
A bomb went off yesterday afternoon in Narathiwat province, injuring a member of a seven-man teacher protection unit. The explosion occurred on a village road in Chanae district as the unit was returning to its base.
Outrage is not a strategy. I thought military action always had to have a purpose behind it so what is the endstate here? Hit, and then hope?
... is good, but could be better. With the popularity of Rantburg, Mayor Fred is needing a new server so Rantburg can be all that it can be, and is....
Posted by: Glaish Pheasing5659 ||
09/04/2013 19:35
[Dawn] 
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Ynet] An Egyptian security official says helicopters have rocketed
[MAGHAREBIA] The daughter of Moamer Qadaffy's former spy chief was 
[An Nahar] Police 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Lindsey Graham
North Korea
[Telegraph] May need the west's support for years. 
[BBC.CO.UK] President 
Joe 
[Washington Post] The $52.6 billion U.S. intelligence arsenal is aimed mainly at unambiguous adversaries, including al-Qaeda, 
[Dawn] Jail authorities in Gilgit Baltistan said extraordinary security measures have been adopted to avoid any untoward incident as eight prisoners were shifted from District Jail Gilgit to District Jail Ghizer in northeast of Pakistain on Tuesday.
[BREITBART] A robbery suspect was apprehended Sunday morning after police say he fled the scene on a moped wearing a ski mask over his helmet. 
Nawaz Sharif
[BUZZFEED] "Secretary Kerry, the American people say no to war. Ban Ki Moon says no to war, the Pope says no to war. We don't want another war," Medea Benjamin of 
[Dawn] Nishtar Colony police on Monday 
[Al Ahram] Egypt's 
[Dawn] An activist of the 
[MAGHAREBIA] A Tunis court on Monday (September 2nd) issued an international arrest warrant for Seif Allah ben Hassine (aka Abou Iyadh), Attounissia reported. The warrant is reportedly related to the Jebel Chaambi violence and weapons caches discovered in Médenine and Douar Hicher.
Michel Aoun
Najib Miqati
[An Nahar] German intelligence said Tuesday that spying on a conversation between a Hizbullah member and an Iranian diplomat provided "an additional clue" that proves Syrian 
[Al Ahram] The army retook control of a strategic town in northwest Syria on Tuesday after 10 days of intense bombing and 
[MAGHAREBIA] The latest 
[BIGSTORY.AP.ORG] As the 
[An Nahar] Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud escaped unhurt Tuesday from an ambush on his heavily armoured convoy claimed by Al-Qaeda linked Islamists, the latest attack targeting the internationally backed leader.
[SACRAMENTO.CBSLOCAL] A Lodi Police SWAT officer had a Glock 35 with a flashlight in his thigh holster at a children's reading event when a boy managed to pull the trigger and shoot the officer.
[MAGHAREBIA] The United Nations Special 
[MAGHAREBIA] As part of a struggle to improve his name since losing his al-Qaeda command, terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar just released a "greatest hits" video of his freelance work in Mali, Algeria and Niger.
"It is nothing more than a propaganda movie," he added. "This display of military equipment and mental readiness of terrorist elements did not bear fruit in the real field of confrontation, which means that it is mainly promotional material and nothing more."
... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means 
[Dawn] Malala Yousafzai, the Pak schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban after campaigning for girls' right to an education, said books were "the weapons to defeat terrorism" as she opened a new library in her adopted English city on Tuesday.
[IBTIMES.CO.UK] A rapist faces a nerve-wracking wait to find out if he caught the deadly HIV/Aids virus from his victim.
[BOSTONHERALD] The state Supreme Judicial Court will begin hearing arguments this week in an atheist Acton couple's quest to strike the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance their children say in the Acton-Boxboro Regional School District.
[An Nahar] The United States must "stand up and act" to punish the Syrian regime and cannot resort to isolationism in the face of "slaughter," Secretary of State 
North Korea
[An Nahar] Nelson Mandela's discharge after nearly three months in hospital showed that he had made "progress", South African President Jacob Zuma said Tuesday, adding he is responding to treatment at home.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is warning that any "punitive" action taken against Syria for an alleged chemical weapons attack last week could unleash more turmoil and bloodshed in that nation's civil war.
