DOHA - German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble warned on Tuesday that Gulf countries have become a route for drug trafficking from Afghanistan, which he said produces some 90 percent of world opium. This problem (of opium production in Afghanistan) affects regional security, making Gulf countries first to suffer the consequences. Gulf countries have become a passage for drug trafficking, he said at a conference on border security in Afghanistan held in Doha. Statistics show also that the people of these countries are being harmed by the spread of drugs coming from Afghanistan, he said, adding that 90 percent of opium world produce comes from Afghanistan.
The Afghan government and the international donors on which it depends are determined to do away with the countrys opium crop, which is the main source of income for nearly nine percent of the population. One source of funding for the ousted Taleban militia has been protection money paid by opium poppy farmers, according to experts. In May, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said that drugs produced in Afghanistan were being smuggled through war-torn Iraq and Jordan en route to final destinations in eastern and Western Europe.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2006 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush on Tuesday extended by one year a series of sanctions against Zimbabwe officials, including President Robert Mugabe, deemed to be destroying his country and people undermining democracy.
The decision renews Bushs executive orders of March 2003 and November 2005 freezing the assets of more than 100 people and 30 entities considered to be opposing reforms in Zimbabwe. The crisis constituted by the actions and policies of certain members of the Government of Zimbabwe and other persons to undermine Zimbabwes democratic processes or institutions has not been resolved, Bush said in a statement.
These actions and policies pose a continuing unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States. For these reasons, I have determined that it is necessary to continue this national emergency and to maintain in force the sanctions to respond to this threat, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- A senior Zimbabwean official condemned on Saturday a U.S. decision to impose sanctions on the leadership as part of a "white racist" attack on a government he said was fighting for the interests of its black majority.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/03/08/zimbabwe.sanctions.reut/index.html
The official Zim response no matter the issue, will always headlined by "white racist" this or that. There is no win for the west in Africa. At this point, it should just be ignored and left to it's own outcome.
DUBAI The strongest earthquake possible on the Zagros fault in Iran will have no significant impact on the UAE, an international expert on earthquakes told Khaleej Times yesterday.
Professor Dr Azm Al Homoud, Middle East Representative of the World Agency of Planetary Monitoring and Earthquake Risk Reduction (WAPMERR), said that the distance between the epicentre of earthquakes in Iran, as well as the focal depth of these earthquakes, dissipates a considerable amount of the actual energy before it reaches the UAE.
Crank that sucker up!
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2006 00:00 ||
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Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has been making noises about running the Dutch out of nearby Caribbean islands, areas that the Netherlands have owned for centuries. In response, the Dutch are trying to orchestrate a suitable, and scary, message for Chavez. The Dutch are trying to get the United States to make a port call with an aircraft carrier, and its accompanying warships, at one of their Caribbean islands. This would be part of a series of "messages" that they're sending to Venezuela. An additional "message" is an invitation to the Venezuelans to take part in a navy/marine exercise that the Dutch are going to run in the Caribbean later this year. This will have U.S., British, French, and even Swedish participation, primarily as a way of demonstrating that if Chavez pulls something against the Dutch-owned islands, he may get a bloody nose. Even without the port call, it's unlikely that the United States would just stand by if Venezuela made a move on Dutch Caribbean islands.
Posted by: ed ||
03/01/2006 09:24 ||
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#1
Depending on how much US taxes the Dutch are willing to pay, I'm all for this.
Posted by: Phil ||
03/01/2006 9:31 Comments ||
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#2
The Dutch should also do something multi-lateral at the UN. Oh, and get ofe of the EU carriers to stop by, too.
#3
The Dutch are trying to get the United States to make a port call with an aircraft carrier, and its accompanying warships, at one of their Caribbean islands.
Oh, I get it now. Military action by the US is permissible in defense of Dutch interests. Makes so much sense now!
#4
The Dutch have been mostly helpful and the native Dutch are undergoing a huge attitude adjustment w.r.t muslims. Hopefully some of that new insight will also transfer to leftist dictators. The Dutch also contributing 600 troops to Afghanistan peacekeeping and are sending 1400 more.
Too bad the US mothballed all the battleships. A 9 gun 16" broadside at the 12 mile limit is an attention getter.
Posted by: ed ||
03/01/2006 9:49 Comments ||
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#5
BH - The Netherlands supported OIF, and had a contingent in Iraq (I think theyve withdrawn by now, but im not sure) So im not sure what youre talking about.
In any case, dispute over preemptive action hardly means one shouldnt support defense of an allys territory.
But I dont think Chavez is stupid enough to hand us the opportunity to toss him out like that. "Making noises" is what he does best.
#6
Hell, sell a BB to the Dutch. They can run it as a part time theme cruise line for wannabes and then when it suits them, do a shake down cruise off of Venezula. Iiiii, thar be Maracaibo. Time to hoist the jolly roger and lift an ale in salute to o'Henry Morgan!
#8
If you can't tell the Netherlands (which has shut down nearly all immigration, told imams to learn Dutch within a year and sent troops to Iraq) from Belgium, you might want to think a bit before tossing out comments like "Eurotrash", BH.
#11
..Hell, the Dutch used to HAVE a carrier..long long ago. And if Chavez hasn't figured out yet that we'd be right behind the Dutch in any fight like that (wonders where he was during the Falklands War), then dear Lord, let's put him outta our misery.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/01/2006 12:28 Comments ||
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#12
We weren't precisely behind the English during the Falklands War, Mike. Considerably less hands-on than say, the US in 1940. We weren't neutral, but we didn't do much beyond some supply & support. Check out this telephone transcript, for instance. If the Falklands had been Dutch then, they'd still be Argentine now.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/01/2006 16:39 Comments ||
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#13
I don't know Mitch. I don't think Maggie formally requested. What would have happened if the Dutch invoked the NATO treaty clause? Unlike the Euros today, back then we'd probably have done the deed.
#14
I believe we gave the Brits a lot of Intel (Satellite, NRO, etc) but we were pretty neutral officially. Hard to stick up for the colonizing imperialists, even after 220 years. I think our obligation to provide any assistance through NATO is limited to an attack on the homeland. e. g. I suspect we'd sit out a seizure of Gibraltar by Spain.
#15
D *** It, haven't the Marines invaded and saved the beach babes in Aruba yet; or Haiti?, or Cuba? or ...etc!? Iff this was the turn of the centiry, or even the 1920's, these places would already had been conquered by CHESTY PULLER, ETAL.. or at least PAPPY BOYINGTON, while Congress was still debating the merits iff it was.
Just last summer, a Missoula radio station launched the towns first progressive talk radio program, throwing down the gauntlet to the conservative radio hosts already dominating the airwaves.
Now operators of KNS, 105.9 on the dial, plan to drop the progressive talk radio format this week, citing weak advertising sales. Update: Air America went off the air Tuesday afternoon...
Thank you to the staff, the listeners and the clients for all youve done in the past 17 months...
...I have talked to more BS artists and rich guys who pretend they want to get "involved" and "progressive" venture firms that live in the world of "new media" and think that good old terrestrial radio, the kind that everyone has access to and is free 24/7, is so "over"!
When I finally put together the right banker and the right investors, we were out of time! Im mad at myself for wasting time with the charlatans, the BS artists and the dreamers... Well, gee. What do you expect when your supporters are primarily losers, ne'er-do-wells, scoundrels and hypocrites?
#2
You know i will be sad when they are gone. I like the idea of "progressives" letting it all hang out for the world (and voters) to see. Every time one of their bonehead hosts pops off it marginalizes them just a little bit more. The best part is they think (and they are wrong) that most Americans agree with them. Kind of like the Dems saying "We just need to get our message out." Well guys you got your message out and everyone knows that you are friggin looney. Here in Sacramento Err Amerika has moved three times, each time they got thrown off for low rating and lack of advertising $$$ coming in. Someone needs to tell them that were are a CAPITALISTS society and your message is only as good as someone is willing to pay for it.
#3
Lol, CS. The stupid sheeple just don't get it, lol. It's not the message or the fact that they have no answers to anything (except via our wallets in their "vision" of a US Nanny State), it's just nuancing their vacuous BS correctly so the dummies finally "get it". Then they will win every election until the end of time... Which should be within about 3 years of Prez Billary taking office...
#7
would be nice if taxpayer funding were cut for NPR as well. Make em sink or swim based on the success of their audience sales/ads/support
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2006 22:58 Comments ||
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#8
NPR funding keeps getting cut, more every successive year since the Clinton days. They aren't getting much of their funding from the public sector any more. Unfortunately, Mrs. Kroc (wife of the founder of McDonald's restaurants) gave them a very large check a year or so ago, so they've been sheltered from the audience response to their efforts.
More controversially, the Pentagon hopes to exploit sharks' natural ability to glide quietly through the water, sense delicate electrical gradients and follow chemical trails. By remotely guiding the sharks' movements, they hope to transform the animals into stealth spies, perhaps capable of following vessels without being spotted. The project, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), based in Arlington, Virginia, was presented at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, last week.
Neural implants consist of a series of electrodes that are embedded into the animal's brain, which can then be used to stimulate various functional areas. Biologist Jelle Atema of Boston University and his students are using them to "steer" spiny dogfish in a tank via a phantom odour. As the dogfish swims about, the researchers beam a radio signal from a laptop to an antenna attached to the fish at one end and sticking up out of the water at the other. The electrodes then stimulate either the right or left of the olfactory centre, the area of the brain dedicated to smell. The fish flicks round to the corresponding side in response to the signal, as if it has caught a whiff of an interesting smell: the stronger the signal, the more sharply it turns.
#1
We used stinky bait to lure and catch big cats on the Wabash. It will work here too I tell you, we can train them, it will work, it will work!!!! DARPA sharks are my idea, my fish, my agency. Mine! Mine! Mine!
An earthquake of magnitude 5.9 jolted southern Iran on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The temblor struck at 11:01 local time and was centered in an area about 600 miles southeast of the capital Tehran, the USGS said on its Web site. Theepicenter was about 80 miles from the nearest sizable city Bandar-e Abbas, on Iran's coast. In unrelated news, the government is paying 95% of Halliburton's expense claims.
The earthquake was classified as moderate unlike the people who live there, but such quakes have killed thousands of people in the past in the Iranian countryside where houses are often built of bricks. The head of the Tehran Seismology Center, Mahdi Rezapour, put the magnitude at 5.8.
State television said it was felt in the southern towns of Orzoueih, Kerman, Jiroft, Kahnooj and Baft. The governor of Baft province told state radio the quake caused walls to crack in villages. "No deaths have yet been reported, but the quake has caused cracks in many buildings. The region hit by the quake is where the houses are made of mud brick," said the governor, identified only as Amini.
In February 2005, a 6.4-magnitude temblor rocked the town of Zarand in southern Iran, killing 612 people and injuring more than 1,400. A magnitude-6.6 quake flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam in the same region in December 2003, killing 26,000 people. Cheney Allah is pissed.
The suprise that India and Pakistan pulled off was readying the tests. We knew damn well what they were when we heard the boom. And we knew what that wild scampering sound was that came afterwards- a bunch of CIA analysts explaining why they were asleep on the job. Again.
Wonder when the MadMullahs™ are going to pick up on it?
Or maybe they haven't noticed the hints from their "god" because they really worship themselves.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/01/2006 19:24 Comments ||
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#6
You know, of course, that the uranium bomb dropped in 1945 was so simple it was not even tested? Just drive the two sub-critical masses together and ...
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/01/2006 22:04 Comments ||
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#7
Thanks, Chinter Flarong9283 -- it's always good to hear from an expert.
American Pride: In January, spokesman Nick Inskip of the trade association of Australia's legalized brothels and strip clubs praised the American sailors who that week began several days' shore leave in Brisbane. "[T]he fellows are fantastic customers," he said. "They are so well-mannered... They're very aware that they're representing their country, and that's why they behave so well."
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.
DOHA - German Interior Minister 
WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush on Tuesday extended by one year a series of sanctions against Zimbabwe officials, including President Robert Mugabe, deemed to be 
DUBAI The strongest earthquake possible on the Zagros fault in Iran will have no significant impact on the UAE, an international expert on earthquakes told Khaleej Times yesterday.
American Pride: In January, spokesman Nick Inskip of the trade association of Australia's legalized brothels and strip clubs praised the American sailors who that week began several days' shore leave in Brisbane. "[T]he fellows are fantastic customers," he said. "They are so well-mannered... They're very aware that they're representing their country, and that's why they behave so well."
