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Afghanistan
Afghanistan disqualifies 16 from presidential race
Afghanistan’s election commission has disqualified 16 minor candidates from the race for the country’s next president but all the top favorites easily qualified to run in the April vote. The Independent Election Commission said Tuesday the 16 were eliminated because of improper documents and other violations.

IEC chief Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani says they have 20 days to appeal the commission decision.

Nuristani says this leaves 10 in the race, out of 26 candidates who originally applied to contest the election. The 10 include political heavyweights such as Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s brother and several former warlords.
Gee, Karzai's brother managed not to get disqualified. Wonder if this qualifies for the surprise meter?
The April 5 vote could determine the future course of Afghanistan and the level of foreign involvement here after 12 years of war.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan admits 'failure' to reach security deal with US
[Pak Daily Times] Afghanistan and the United States have not yet agreed on several issues in a bilateral security pact, a senior Afghan front man said, raising the prospect that Washington may yet pull out all of its troops next year unless differences are ironed out.

Two years ago, the United States ended its military mission in Iraq with a similar "zero option" outcome after the failure of talks with Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
For almost a year, Washington and Kabul have been seeking to conclude a Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) that will help determine how many US soldiers and bases remain in Afghanistan after most foreign combat troops exit by the end of next year.

US 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 news hounds at the end of a visit to Kabul this month that there was just one issue outstanding - Washington's demand that its troops be immune from Afghan law and tried in the United States instead.

But this request was not even raised in the two days Kerry was in Kabul, said Aimal Faizi, the front man for Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
"A lot of progress has been made on the document, but it is not finalised," Faizi told Rooters in an interview at the presidential palace.

"If we do not reach a final agreement on this draft, it will go to the Loya Jirga and the Afghan people will be able to look at the issues remaining." Faizi said. "If it's unfinished, it means that there are some areas even the two governments have not yet reached an agreement on."

The Loya Jirga, an assembly of tribal elders, is to meet in November to discuss the security agreement.

US President Barack Obama
I am not a dictator!...
's administration however regards the language hammered out during Kerry's visit as final.

"The text that will be presented to the Loya Jirga is what we left Afghanistan with on Saturday (Oct 12)," US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told news hounds last week.

US officials are increasingly impatient to conclude the deal because they need time to implement plans for 2015. Washington wanted it done by the summer and most recently set an Oct 31 deadline, but there is now no chance of a deal until late November.

Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hey, no problem. We'll just be running along a bit sooner. Don't be a stranger.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/23/2013 11:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Someone remind The Cape that a US visa won't be in his bug-out pack.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/23/2013 11:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Failure to achieve a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) is a plus for the administration. It's a one-way ticket out and promise to never return. I'd wager The Cape was secretly paid to contest and bugger the negotiations. It's the Chicago way.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/23/2013 11:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Lets leave and never go back, except with massive airpower if we need to.
Posted by: remoteman || 10/23/2013 13:35 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Sudan summit must block Abyei ballot: Tribal Chief
[Al Ahram] The leaders of Sudan and South Sudan must agree at their summit on Tuesday to block a one-sided referendum in the flashpoint Abyei region, a tribal chief said. Mukhtar Babo Nimir leads the Arab Misseriya pastoralists who move seasonally through Abyei with their cattle.

He told AFP that his group also has the option of holding its own unilateral referendum if the rival Ngok Dinka go ahead with plans for a ballot.

"We are waiting for the results of President Bashir's visit to Juba today," Nimir said as Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
arrived in the South Sudanese capital for talks with his counterpart Salva Kiir.

"If he comes back with a deal for the Dinka to stop the referendum process, which they've started, that will be good," he said.

The Ngok Dinka, closely connected to South Sudan, are permanent residents of oil-producing Abyei.

At a 'People's General Conference' held last Friday, they declared their intention to hold a referendum to resolve the status of Abyei but set no date.

Abyei was meant to vote whether it lies in Sudan or South Sudan in January 2011 -- the same day as Juba voted overwhelmingly to split from the north -- as part of the 2005 peace deal which ended Sudan's two-decades long civil war.

But that vote never happened and Sudanese troops stormed the enclave and occupied it until May 2012. Since then, the impoverished area has been in political limbo.

The United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
, which is the only authority in the area, has previously warned that any unilateral move would risk inflaming tensions in war-ravaged Abyei.

On Monday, the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
reiterated that its own proposal for a referendum this month, to determine whether Abyei belongs with Sudan or South Sudan, is "a fair, equitable and workable solution."

That ballot has been stalled over disagreement about voter eligibility.

After a summit in September, diplomats said Kiir and Bashir seemed to have reached a deal to avoid an immediate official ballot on Abyei.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan

#1  In accordance with the peace agreement that ended the first civil war between North and South Sudan, there was to be a plebiscite held in Abyei in the mid 1970s. The North reneged, and for more than forty years has continued to do so.
Posted by: Spigum Tojo8813 || 10/23/2013 7:46 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt presidency denies negotiations with 'violent' pressure groups
[Al Ahram] Egypt's presidency denied on Tuesday media reports suggesting that the government has made contact with opposing "factions" in order to pull Egypt out of its current political stalemate. According to a Tuesday statement, the presidency has not appealed to "factions that use violence to impose their will, which is in opposition of the will of the Egyptian people," state news agency MENA reported.

The statement appears to refer to several recent media reports alleging negotiations between Egypt's interim authorities and the Muslim Brotherhood, which refuses to acknowledge former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi's popularly-backed military ouster in July.

Since July, Egypt has been deeply polarised between supporters and opponents of the army's intervention. Several reconciliation initiatives proposed by international institutions and local political figures have failed.

Mohamed Ali Bishr, a leading member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, told Al-Jazeera on Sunday that there were no reconciliation initiatives on the table.

Bishr said the group refused a dialogue initiative suggested earlier this month by Islamist lawyer Ahmed Kamal Abul-Magd.

Abul-Magd's initiative proposed that Islamists acknowledge the interim 'revolutionary authority' as a first step towards national dialogue.

The Building and Development Party -- the political wing of the ultraconservative Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya, and one of the parties in the pro-Morsi National Alliance to Support Legitimacy -- said earlier that the group may propose an alternative initiative soon.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which Morsi hails, has thus far refused to participate in the interim authorities' transitional roadmap towards renewed presidential elections. The group has organised near-daily protests calling for Morsi's reinstatement, which have led to frequent clashes with security forces and pro-military protesters.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Al-Warraq church official says police absent during attack
[Al Ahram] The administrative head of the attacked Al-Adra church told prosecautors on Tuesday that police conscripts supposed to be guarding the church were not present during the assault, Al-Ahram's Arabic website reported.
I'm sure it was just a simple matter of a watch captain forgetting to modify the duty roster...
On Sunday, four people were killed and 18 others maimed when two gunnies on a cycle of violence opened fire on a crowd of guests attending a wedding outside the church, located in Cairo's working class neighbourhood of Al-Warraq.

Since the popularly-backed military ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi
...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator...
in July, Egypt has witnessed a surge in sectarian attacks. Islamists, incensed by Morsi's ouster, have accused Christians of orchestrating what they call a coup against the country's first freely elected president.
If that hadn't happened, the Copts would've been blamed for the wheat shortage.
Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II, the leader of Egypt's largest Christian denomination, backed Morsi's ouster, appearing on television alongside army chief Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and other political and religious figures when El-Sisi announced Morsi's removal.

The Maspero Youth Union, a coalition of Coptic activists, cancelled on Tuesday a protest it had called for a day earlier, fearing "infiltrators," Al-Ahram's Arabic website reported.

The group said it met with a government representative and has demanded the removal of interior minister Mohammed Ibrahim for failing to protect Christians. In an earlier statement, the union called for charges against the minister and local security officials for "failing to do their job and protect the church."

"The killing and threatening of Copts in front of the church is the responsibility of the cabinet and of Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi," read the statement issued on the group's Facebook page Monday.

The group also called for the implementation of a security plan to protect other churches from similar attacks.
It might not be a bad idea to take up a collection and hire your own security. But that's not how it works in Egypt.
In an online statement published on 22 August, Human Rights Watch
... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world...
said police and military have failed to intervene in the vast majority of the 42 Egyptian church attacks documented by the international human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
organization.

"A priest in Malawi, a town in Minya governorate south of Minya city, told Human Rights Watch that he called emergency services and police multiple times while mobs burned his church, but no one came. Another Dalga resident said that on 16 August the governor promised to send armoured personnel carriers to protect Copts from ongoing violence, but that none came," the statement read.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Lindsey Graham holds up $60M in aid to Egypt
[Al Ahram] President Barack Obama
Republicans can come along for the ride, but they've got to sit in the back...
's first package of economic aid to Egypt since the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi
...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator...
is hitting a roadblock in Congress, where a key Republican senator is holding up the transfer of $60 million to a program to spur private investment in Egypt's flailing economy, according to U.S. officials and congressional aides.

The B.O. regime decided earlier this month to suspend much of America's annual $1.6 billion in mostly military support to its once ironclad Middle East ally, citing the ruling army's continued crackdown on political opponents since ousting Mohammed Morsi, the popularly elected, Moslem Brüderbund-backed president, in July amid mass protests.

But the administration pledged at the same time to maintain the strategic relationship, and recently sought congressional approval for a chunk of assistance.

The money would go to support the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund, which was established during the height of the Arab Spring when Egyptian protesters toppled long-time leader Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
in 2011. Instead of traditional government-to-government aid, the fund offers low-cost capital to investors to spur private sector growth and more competitive markets in an Egyptian economy rocked by a tourism crash and a sharp decline in foreign investment over the last two-and-a-half years.

But even money with ostensibly capitalist aims is running into problems with U.S. politicians, many of whom have criticized the B.O. regime for not halting all aid to Egypt since the military takeover as demanded by a U.S. coup law, and for lacking a clear strategy to stabilize the Arab world's most populous country.

Standing in the way on this occasion is Sen. Lindsey Graham
... the endangered South Carolina RINO...
, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees foreign assistance. Graham joined fellow party member Sen. John Maverick McCain
... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution...
on a trip to Cairo in August, where they held contentious meetings with Egypt's top military brass after demanding reconciliation with Morsi's Islamist supporters and a faster timetable for the restoration of democracy.

"Senator Graham has placed a hold on these funds and until he sees Egypt moving toward democracy, he will continue to restrict funding," Kevin Bishop, a front man for the senator, said in a statement. "Additionally he believes American taxpayers deserve a much clearer explanation of what exactly is President B.O.'s policy toward Egypt."

In a further sign of politicians' displeasure with Egypt, three Republican senators sent a letter to 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...
on Tuesday, pressing him to speak out against the violence in Egypt and emphasize the need for the interim government to protect minorities and Coptic Christians.

The senators -- Bob Corker, Lamar Alexander and Roy Blunt
...A Missouri political oligarch. As a member of Congress he was reelected six times without significant opposition. He married Roseann Ray in May 1967 and had three children with her: Matt (the former Governor of Missouri), Amy Blunt Mosby and Andrew Blunt, both lawyers and lobbyists. Blunt and Ray divorced after 35 years of marriage. Afterward, he married Abigail Perlman, a lobbyist for Kraft Foods. In April 2006, he and his wife adopted an 18-month old boy from Russia, whom they renamed Alexander Charles Charlie Blunt. He will be either a politician or a lobbyist or both when he grows up.
-- cited recent reports of targeted attacks on Coptic churches and other individuals.

"Egypt's Christian minority and their ability to worship are in danger. The situation warrants a clear U.S. response," the three senators said.

Earlier this month, U.S. officials said they were withholding aid, including 10 Apache helicopters at a cost of more than $500 million, M1A1 tank kits and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The U.S. also is withholding $260 million in cash assistance to the government until "credible progress" is made toward an inclusive government set up through free and fair elections. The U.S. had already suspended the delivery of four F-16 fighter jets and canceled biennial U.S.-Egyptian military exercises.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  At work, Barry Hussein, Huma Abedin and the Muslim Brothers...
Posted by: Herb Gloluger9960 || 10/23/2013 1:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Senator Graham however, never uttered so much as a muffled sigh over the billion or so sent to Pakistan last week.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/23/2013 3:43 Comments || Top||

#3  If the Western political class had, implicitly or explicitly made a deal with the MB where the West would support MB rule in Egypt in exchange for an end to terror attacks, how exactly would events unfold differently?
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 10/23/2013 6:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Great, just fucking great.

The last voice of reason in the Middle East is the Egyptian Military who have put the "Arab Spring" under adult supervision.

SO, much as Congress and the Senate have ALWAYS been counter intuitive in foreign policy matters, much as they denied military aid to South Viet Nam during the second Tet Offensive, they now think it makes perfect sense to strangle the Egyptian military for slamming the door on the fingers of the Moslem Brotherhood?

I have blood running out of my ears trying to figure out the logic of that.

Why in the HELL have we been so late to the game on every damned thing in the region? Wallahee, we had to be drug into the Libyan revolution, kicking and screaming, by the FUCKING FRENCH!! The French for goodness sake! The pansies of Europe became the tough guys on ME policy.

We are one year too late in Syria. McCain, surprisingly, was right. We should have jumped into that mess in Syria A FREAKING YEAR AGO. Now it is too late. We are late. Most of our aid will go to AQ and other related nutjob jihadists who will do grievous harm to western interests with it. A year ago, we could have done a regime change and been out of there without the accumulation of fanatics and untoward misinformed children.

NOW we are trying to kill the last chance of common sense in the ME.

When I was in Libya, the military coup was supported almost universally as the Libyans are scared senseless over the possibilities of the MB taking over in Libya. While everyone mourned and lamented the loss of life in the crackdown on the MB, the Libyans were relieved the Brotherhood was out in Egypt and possibly their influence in Benghazi would diminish.

Unfortunately, no one in fucking Washington spends anytime reading anything, they don't study the issues, they don't talk to real experts, and they do not understand HISTORY or ECONOMICS or cultural differences.

I am just completely aghast at the lack of coherence/rational thought on ME "policy."

We DO NOT HAVE A FOREIGN POLICY.

The Soviets, who invented brinksmanship and hardball diplomacy would negotiate with Kissinger and Baker because they respected their intellect and their resolve. The Russians, the French, hell even the Italians, think Kerry is a joke and they all sure as hell don't know whether to laugh or cry over Obama's incompetence in foreign policy.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 10/23/2013 10:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Oh, don't worry, Bill. I'm sure Putin is willing to step into the void.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 10/23/2013 11:32 Comments || Top||

#6  Oh, don't worry, Bill. I'm sure Putin is willing to step into the void. Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305

See #3, above for details.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/23/2013 11:36 Comments || Top||

#7  We are one year too late in Syria

Closer to two years, actually. But that's just a quibble.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/23/2013 11:55 Comments || Top||

#8  Who is he anyways? Why is he getting involved in things he knows nothing about?

It is better to let Egypt alone for now.
Posted by: newc || 10/23/2013 15:46 Comments || Top||


Egypt offers financial compensation for victims of church attack
[Al Ahram] Giza governor Ali Abdel Rahman said on Tuesday that his administration will offer financial compensation to the victims of the attack against Al-Adra church, or the Church of the Virgin Mary, in Cairo's working class neighbourhood of Al-Warraq.

On Sunday, four people were killed and 18 others maimed when two gunnies on a cycle of violence opened fire on a crowd of guests attending a wedding outside the church.

Abdel Rahman said the families of the dead will receive LE 5000 ($725), whereas each maimed will collect LE 2000 ($290), according to state news agency MENA.

All injured have been transferred to a military hospital south of Cairo, Al-Ahram's Arabic website reported the health ministry as saying.

Following massive protests against his turbulent year in power, Mohammed Morsi
...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator...
was toppled by the army on 3 July, sending the country into a bitter political deadlock.

Islamists, incensed by Morsi's ouster, have accused Christians of orchestrating what they call a coup against the country's first freely elected president.

Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II, the leader of Egypt's largest Christian denomination, backed Morsi's ouster, appearing on television alongside army chief Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and other political and religious figures when El-Sisi announced Morsi's removal.

Coptic Christians, who make up some 10 percent of Egypt's 84 million, have long complained of discrimination and periodic violence by hard boys. But the number of sectarian attacks has surged following a security crackdown on Islamists in mid-August.

Amnesia Amnesty International, a London-based rights group, says that upwards of 200 Christian-owned properties have been attacked and 43 churches torched or seriously damaged across the country, adding that at least four people have been killed.

Most of the vandalism to Coptic homes, monasteries, schools, and shops, however, has occurred outside the capital, making Sunday's attack especially shocking.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Egypt unfreezes assets of ex-PM Qandil
[Al Ahram] A court in Cairo has revoked an asset freeze and travel ban imposed on former prime minister Hisham Qandil. Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat had imposed the restrictions on Qandil, former housing minister Tareq Wafiq and officials at the New Urban Communities Authority after they were accused of squandering public funds worth LE3 billion.

The court maintained the restrictions on the other accused.

Egyptian authorities launched a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood after Morsi's removal on 3 July, arresting hundreds of the group's top and mid-level members

On 23 September, the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters ordered the banning of all Muslim Brotherhood activities.

The court also ordered the interim government to seize the group's funds and establish a panel to administer its frozen assets until appeals are held.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Arabia
Shocking news from Magic Kingdom
The news will come as no shock to the readers of the Belmont Club, nor will it surprise anyone who has been following events in the Middle East. But expect the phrase “unexpected development” anywhere you see the MSM label. Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia has announced it will shift away from the United States:

Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief is vowing that the kingdom will make a “major shift” in relations with the United States to protest perceived American inaction over Syria’s civil war as well as recent U.S. overtures to Iran, a source close to Saudi policy said on Tuesday. …

“The shift away from the U.S. is a major one,” the source close to Saudi policy said. “Saudi doesn’t want to find itself any longer in a situation where it is dependent.”

The story is accompanied by a large photograph showing Prince Bandar shaking hands with Vladimir Putin
"Negotiating with Obama is like playing chess with a pigeon.
The pigeon knocks over all the pieces, shits on the board and
then struts around like it won the game."
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/23/2013 02:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So Putin is going to help the KSA be able to defend itself against the nukes it is helping Iran develop? And when the Persian Gulf oil is inaccessible due to ever-increasing Sunni-Shia war all that Russian oil will be ever-so-much more valuable.
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/23/2013 7:31 Comments || Top||

#2  "Negotiating with Obama is like playing chess with a pigeon" WOW I wish I had said that.

I believe he said it. The quote SOUNDS like Darth Vlad.

If Obama "loses KSA" I guess that means the alternative energy, green energy, wind power, etc., BS that is Obama's energy policy is out the window. THE ONE will have to open the gates and let us "drill baby drill" or does he want EVERYONE in the US except him and Harry Reid unemployed?
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 10/23/2013 10:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Putin probably did not say it, but he should have said it.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/23/2013 11:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Bill - no he wants total control over deciding who gets what 'fair share' of resources.

Be it oil, energy, healthcare, jobs, etc...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/23/2013 11:15 Comments || Top||

#5  C'mon, you guys. You know Baraq Hussein wants everybody riding smelly old buses and rickety trolley cars to work from their cracker box apartments in the city...er...everybody except him and his cronies. He has to have the presidential limousine to take him to the golf course.

But I'm not losing any sleep over the Soddies. They got all butt hurt because we won't join them in their little war against Assad? Tough shit. With friends like them we don't need enemies. Think about it: What difference does it make if we buy our oil from Sunni whack jobs or Shiite whack jobs? They all hate us. They'd all nuke Israel if they they could. And if we're forced into developing our own resources that's a good thing.

The only surprise is the Prince is blaming the Champ. But the Champ was more than willing to help them any way he could. It's the American people who want the Soddies to FOAD.

Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 10/23/2013 11:55 Comments || Top||

#6  I translated it for my mum, and it doesn't sounds all that good in Russian---so Putin probably didn't say it. Unless he was speaking English at the time.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/23/2013 13:18 Comments || Top||

#7  Desperately needs Gomer Pyle graphic.
Posted by: gorb || 10/23/2013 13:34 Comments || Top||

#8  Let the Saudi's get their knickers in a twist for all I care. We are not becoming pals with the Iranians, despite the "overtures" (and yes, said overtures are stupid). But getting deeply involved in Syria was not going to get us anything except wasted money and potentially dead US service personnel. Not worth it.
Posted by: remoteman || 10/23/2013 13:42 Comments || Top||

#9  The Saudis control/run the most extreme intolerant kind of Islam. Why would we want to friends of them unless cheap oil?
Posted by: Pearl Ghibelline2591 || 10/23/2013 14:25 Comments || Top||

#10  Saudis understand politics is the art of telling believable lies to make your opponent all warm and fuzzy.

It's particularly easy if you can tell a lie the victim wants to hear.

Wedding and a new job had my head down for a few days, but I have not forgotten the 'Burg. Bobby
Posted by: Bobby || 10/23/2013 17:19 Comments || Top||

#11  I want to hear the truth from Grom(Mom).
Posted by: Shipman || 10/23/2013 17:30 Comments || Top||


Saudi spy chief says Riyadh to 'shift away from US' over Syria, Iran
[Al Ahram] 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...
's intelligence chief has told European diplomats the kingdom will limit dealings with the United States in protest at Washington's perceived inaction over Syria and its potential thaw with Iran, a source close to Saudi policy said on Tuesday. Prince Bandar bin Sultan told the envoys Washington had failed to act effectively on the Syria crisis and the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict, was growing closer to Tehran and had not backed Saudi support for Bahrain when it crushed an anti-government revolt in 2011, the source said.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Husband 'Prepared' Russian Bomber for Fatal Bus Attack
[An Nahar] The female jacket wallah who killed six people on a bus in southern Russia had been sent on her mission by her husband, a young guerrilla fighter who prepared her boom belt, media reports said Tuesday.
The religion of peace.
Monday's blast in the southern city of Volgograd, which also injured more than 30 people, was the deadliest attack outside the volatile North Caucasus in the past three years.

The attack also raised security fears less than four months before the Winter Olympic Games arrive in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, a prestigious event secured personally for Russia by 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...
Militants want to establish an Islamist state across the North Caucasus.

In July, guerrilla commander Doku Count Doku Umarov
... Self-styled first emir of the Caucasus Emirate. Count Doku has announced that his forces will not target civilians, but qualified that statement by saying there aren't any civilians in Russia...
vowed to resume attacks against civilian targets after a brief hiatus, and to also target the February 7-23 Sochi Games.

Police on Monday identified the Volgograd suicide bomber as 30-year-old Naida Asiyalova, a native of the North Caucasus region of Dagestan
...a formerly inoffensive Caucasus republic currently bedevilled by low-level Islamic insurgency, occasional outbreaks of separatism, ethnic tensions and terrorism, primarily due to its proximity to Chechnya. There are several dozen ethnic groups, most of which speak either Caucasian, Turkic, or Iranian languages. Largest among these ethnic groups are the Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Lezgin, and Laks. While Russers form less than five percent of the population, Russian remains the primary official language and the lingua franca...
.

The mass-circulation Komsomolskaya Pravda daily said Asiyalova was a known figure among the country's Islamist fighters.

The pro-Kremlin Izvestia daily added that she had met her 22-year-old husband Dmitry Sokolov -- an ethnic Russian -- online.

Komsomolskaya Pravda said Asiyalova had introduced her husband to myrmidons, adding that he received the Islamic name Abdulzhabar but was also known under the nickname "Giraffe."

Russian officials said on Tuesday they were now looking for Sokolov in Dagestan as well as Moscow.

Sokolov, who went missing in July 2012, converted to Islam and is believed to have developed an interest in explosives.

The newspaper said that Sokolov is believed to have made Asiyalova's suicide belt.

Russian security services also suspected Sokolov of making explosives that maimed 15 people in two attacks in the Dagestani city of Makhachkala earlier this year, the newspaper said.

The lifenews.ru website, which relies extensively on security services sources, said both Asiyalova and Sokolov were listed on a federal wanted list at the time of the attack.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Emirate of Caucasus

#1  I thought Muslim men only had to put the wife's shoes outside the tent and say "I divorce thee" three times to get out of a marriage. This seems so unnecessary.
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/23/2013 7:33 Comments || Top||

#2  ...Look! He's got one of those cool hats that make it look like a sword is going through your head...!
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 10/23/2013 12:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Hell he's got a cheap madi gra beard too..... He'll is this guy st banards?
Posted by: Shipman || 10/23/2013 17:32 Comments || Top||

#4  "sent on her mission by her husband"

Simple - they obviously know who he is, so kill him and his entire extended family, including parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, children, and pets (though I'd be sad about the pets).

Rinse and repeat as necessary until the jihadi bastards get the message.
Posted by: Barbara || 10/23/2013 17:54 Comments || Top||


Foreign rivals use radical Islam to weaken Russia: Putin
[Pak Daily Times] 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...
accused foreign rivals on Tuesday of using radical Islam to weaken the Russian state, a day after a suicide kaboom blamed on a Moslem woman.

"Some political forces use Islam, the radical currents within it ... to weaken our state and create conflicts on Russian soil that can be managed from abroad," Putin told Moslem holy mans at a meeting in the Russian city of Ufa.

He was speaking about 1,000 km northeast of Volgograd, where the female jacket wallah from Russia's mainly Moslem North Caucasus killed six people on a bus on Monday.

Putin did not say which foreign rivals he was referring to and portrayed Russia as a force for peace in the Middle East at what he said was a time of meddling by other countries. He has often accused countries, including the United States, of trying to interfere in Russia's affairs since he secured a six-year third term as president last year. Speaking after race riots in Moscow this month, Putin also urged the holy mans to help Moslem immigrants adapt to life in Russia to reduce the likelihood of violence.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Even the French
While the BBC reports US intelligence chief James Clapper denying reports that US spies recorded data from as many as 70 million phone calls in France in a single 30-day period, one of the ruling socialist party's leaders in the National Assembly says that "The United States has no allies, only targets or vassals":
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/23/2013 13:27 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hey, it was an extra bonus for using those hundreds of thousands of untraceable credit card donations that came out of Europe to the 2008 Obama campaign.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/23/2013 14:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Angela Merkel is running out of patience, too. It seems her mobile phone was tapped, too. That's what a Presidential Medal of Freedom is worth today.
Posted by: European Conservative || 10/23/2013 20:26 Comments || Top||

#3  We will be lucky to have a vermin ridden bum as an ally after Obama's term.
Posted by: DarthVader || 10/23/2013 22:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Intelligence services are *supposed* to spy on people. But I think they are missing the "don't get caught" part. It's kinda sorta important.
Posted by: SteveS || 10/23/2013 22:28 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Metro Detroit Shias say they were attacked by Salafis at hajj in Saudi Arabia
A group of metro Detroiters visiting Saudi Arabia for the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage, said they were attacked and threatened with death last week by a group of Sunni men from Australia because they are Shias, a minority sect within Islam.

One of the members of the group was strangled until his face turned blue and women in the group were threatened with rape, according to people who witnessed the attack last week. They allege that authorities in Saudi Arabia did not take their complaints seriously and deleted a video one of them had made of the incident.

A U.S. State Department official told the Free Press on Monday: "We are concerned by reports that a group of U.S. citizens was attacked ... at a campsite for Hajj pilgrims located outside of Mecca. We take these reports seriously and are committed to the protection of U.S. citizens traveling and residing abroad."
Time to launch a Crusade? Oh, never mind.... Maybe State can issue a sternly worded warning to would-be hajjis planning trips to SA, telling them the US will not be responsible, etc...
While Shias from metro Detroit have reported being harassed before on hajj, last week's incident was much more extreme and frightening, members of the group told the Free Press.

The Salafis asked one of the Shia men if he was Shia, recalled Seyed Mothafar Al-Qazwini, a nephew of Imam Al-Qazwini. "He responded 'yes.' He was immediately attacked by three men, one grabbing him in a choke hold, the others punching him in the face."

Al-Qazwini said the leader of the Salafis then shouted "Kill them all. Kill the Shia."

Suehaila Amen of Dearborn said the attackers also yelled "Kafir" at the Shias, an insult that means "infidel" or "non-Muslim."

Some of the Sunnis then ran to the women's tents, telling them "if they do not leave in 15 minutes, they will rape them all," Al-Qazwini said.

During the attack, the leader of the attackers referenced a 7th century battle in Karbala, Iraq, where a leader revered by Shias was killed along with many of his family members, said Al-Qazwini. The leader told the Shias, according to Al-Qazwini: "We will make this day like the day of Karbala. We will kill all your men and take your women as captives."
And after that, take on the entire infidel world! Jihad! Derka Derka!
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 10/23/2013 10:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tell it to someone who cares.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 10/23/2013 15:47 Comments || Top||

#2  "Shias from metro Detroit have reported being harassed before on hajj"

Maybe it's not because you're Shia; maybe it's because you're from Detroit.
Posted by: Barbara || 10/23/2013 15:50 Comments || Top||

#3  they should of worn their mecca suicide bomber hat instead of the detroit tigers cap.
Posted by: airandee || 10/23/2013 18:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Didn't know Shiias went on the Haj.
Posted by: Ebbineng Unavique7057 || 10/23/2013 19:16 Comments || Top||

#5  It is a cultural thing, it is not for us to judge what is happening in the Magic Kingdom.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/23/2013 23:58 Comments || Top||


Tamerlan Tsarnaev DID butcher his friend and two others by slitting their throats after 'drug deal gone wrong' claims federal prosecutors
[DailyMail] o Startling revelation is the first time that federal authorities have officially implicated Tamerlan Tsarnaev
...the dead Boston Marathon bomber, run over by his now-jailed younger brother...
in the gruesome 2011 killings

o Brendan Mess, described as Tsarnaev's 'only American friend', Raphael Teken and Erik Weissman were murdered on September 11, 2011 at their home in Waltham, Massachusetts

o The admission by federal prosecutors comes almost six months after Tsarnaev's friend, Ibragim Todashev was shot dead in his Orlando home

o The court documents filed today assert that Todashev told law enforcement that he and Tsarnaev were the killers
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/23/2013 00:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Chechen freedom fighters.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/23/2013 1:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Activities obviously missed by NSA intercepts, Russian intelligence tips provided the CIA, FBI domestic terror sleuths, INS/TSA foreign travel watch lists, etc, etc.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/23/2013 4:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Yeah, Besoeker - makes you wonder just what/who the NSA/CIA/FBI/DEA etc. are really watching (or maybe it's mostly just a system for funneling contracts to cronies, and works just as well as the ACA website.)
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/23/2013 7:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Yes, interesting to ponder which came first; the bureau's release of the Tsarnaev bros. photos to the media and 'Low Information Voters' (nearly before the blast smoke had cleared), or the internal damage assessment.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/23/2013 7:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Compliments on the thorough, in-depth investigation, federal guys, but that train done left the station.
Posted by: SteveS || 10/23/2013 12:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Dopers eyes.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/23/2013 13:45 Comments || Top||

#7  "makes you wonder just what/who the NSA/CIA/FBI/DEA etc. are really watching"

I don't wonder at all, Glenmore - and neither do you. :-(
Posted by: Barbara || 10/23/2013 15:42 Comments || Top||

#8  It was a drug deal gone bad, which is why they left all the drugs and money there... bleah.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 10/23/2013 22:38 Comments || Top||

#9  I mean, if you don't take the money and the valuables, it really is just senseless violence.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 10/23/2013 22:39 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
KP patience running thin over delay in Taliban talks
[Pak Daily Times] Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, on Tuesday, expressed concern
...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended...
over the "continuing inaction" of the federal government in starting "structured talks" with the Taliban as mandated by all the political parties of the country in the all-parties conference (APC).

In a statement issued from his office, the chief minister said the Taliban "continue to point out that there has been no formal offer of talks from the government side and we are also aware of this delay". He went on to add: "Unfortunately, this inaction on the part of the federal government to operationalise the APC resolution and move forward in instituting dialogue is allowing those who wish to sabotage dialogue and peace to indulge in increasing acts of terrorism."

The chief minister stressed the importance of putting in place a structured dialogue so that talks were not conducted through the media, which allowed those opposed to dialogue and peace to spread disinformation. Khattak reminded that the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa along with the provincial government were taking the brunt of the federal government's "vacillation, with increasing acts of terrorism", resulting in the loss of innocent lives.

The call for immediate talks with the Taliban comes after Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Law Minister Israrullah Gandapur was assassinated in a suicide kaboom on October 16, the Eid's first day, in Dera Ismail Khan
... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ...
District. "To expose the opponents of peace the APC-mandated dialogue must begin without delay," the chief minister demanded, adding that the prime minister should move immediately on emergency basis to commence structured talks to give peace a chance. The chief minister also pointed to the recent revelations about the unlawful killing of civilians by the United States through drones. He referred to a BBC news report of last week according to which a UN investigation found that US drone strikes had killed at least 400 civilians in Pakistain, far more than the US has ever acknowledged. "Today, we have the Amnesia Amnesty International report on drone killings stating that the US must be held accountable for killings in Pakistain," Khattak stated, adding that this report once again "vindicates PTI's principled opposition to drones from the start of this unlawful CIA operation". He said the Amnesty report was a damning condemnation of the US drone attacks. "We insist the federal government (should) immediately stop drone attacks," the chief minister concluded.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Kashmir is no integral part of India, says PML-N
[Pak Daily Times] The Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday rejected the "out of box" solution on Kashmire dispute by declaring the UNO resolutions the only "way out" to settle the long standing conflict between Pakistain and India.

PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq addressing a presser categorically stated that implementation of previous UNO resolution would resolve issue and no fresh petition in the world body was required to pressurise India.

He took exception to the statement of Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khursheed who rejected the international mediation on Kashmire dispute by describing the Occupied Kahsmir "integral part" of India.

"Kashmire is no integral part of India. But an internal dispute as per the resolutions of UNO", he stated and rejected the conduct of India to make its integral part through its constitution.

Raja recalled that it was India that took the issue to UNO and also agreed with the 23 resolutions passed unanimously in Security Council. "These resolutions are still relevant and overrule all the arrangements India made to keep Kashmire as its part", he said. He also touched upon the Shimla Accord and Lahore declaration between India and Pakistain and pointed out that both the documents also carried the supremacy of UNO resolutions.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


International-UN-NGOs
U.S. broke international law by killing civilians with drones: rights groups
[REUTERS] Human rights groups on Tuesday accused the United States of breaking international law and perhaps committing war crimes by killing civilians in missile and drone strikes that were intended to hit forces of Evil in Pakistain and Yemen.

Amnesia Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world...
released separate reports detailing the deaths of dozens of civilians in the two countries. They urged the B.O. regime and Congress to investigate, and end a policy of secrecy on the attacks.

"In some of the cases we looked at ... they appear to be war crimes, but really the full picture is for the U.S. authorities to reveal," Mustafa Qadri, Pakistain researcher at Amnesia Amnesty International, said after describing the death of a 68-year-old Pak grandmother in an alleged drone strike.

"We are saying for the U.S. authorities to come clean," he said at a joint news conference with Human Rights Watch.

Responding to the reports, White House front man Jay Carney said B.O. regime officials "take the matter of civilian casualties enormously seriously." He said he could not speak to specific operations, but that U.S. policies met international and domestic legal obligations and the standard of "near certainty" that civilians would not be hit.

U.S. officials have argued that any drone strikes are very carefully targeted and that civilian casualties have been kept to a bare minimum, possibly in the low dozens.

Letta Tayler of Human Rights Watch said her organization had found violations of international law when civilians were "indiscriminately" killed in Yemen.

In a September 2, 2012, attack, the target - an alleged al Qaeda Death Eater, Abd al-Raouf al-Dahab, - was "nowhere in sight" when the United States hit a passenger van and killed 12 people returning from the market, she said.

"Their loved ones found their charred bodies in pieces on the roadside, dusted in flour and sugar that they were bringing home to their families," Tayler told news hounds.

Both the Amnesia Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reports looked at handful of U.S. attacks in Pakistain and Yemen to urge transparency and accountability in U.S. policy.

U.S. drone strikes in Pakistain and Yemen increased dramatically after President Barack Obama
I am not a dictator!...
took office in 2009, and the pilotless aerial vehicles became a key part of the fight against al Qaeda. More recently the number of strikes has slowed.

The United States has also used drones over Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, and Iraq, and this year received approval to base drones in Niger.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe Pakistanis should stop drinking tea?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/23/2013 1:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Obviously this is a racist act. I sense a visit from the IRS in the near future. Could put a ding in that 'non-profit' status undermining that "let's separate the rubes from their money" donation campaign letter.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/23/2013 8:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Sacking a few more general officers must come first P2k.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/23/2013 8:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Well, the definition of "civilian" in an asymmetrical conflict, i.e., a terrorist environment is dicey. One group's civilian is another's enemy combatant.

I am afraid the drone strikes are bad policy. We have proven we can go anywhere and snatch just about anybody we want anytime we want. Killing a HVT instead of snatching and questioning is denying us a significant amount of valuable intelligence.

Nothing beats boots on the ground going through the personal effects of a high value target for finding interesting information.

The drone strikes allow THE ONE to stay above the fray and play omnipotent.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 10/23/2013 10:30 Comments || Top||

#5  "play" being the keyword here
Posted by: European Conservative || 10/23/2013 11:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Don't forget Obama's need to be able to decide who lives another day and who dies. he just loves playing god...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/23/2013 11:18 Comments || Top||

#7  Maybe we should arclight Islamabad until they hand over Zawahiri.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 10/23/2013 12:03 Comments || Top||

#8  Internationl law? Did any Rantburger knoqw of when there elections for a Repentative in that International Congress who approves International Law? Because if by International Law they intend some pact aapproved by such lovely people as The Saudis, the Iranians, Burma's Junta, the Chinese governement and Kim Jong un I am afid I would have to tell them to stuff their International Law in some place I don't want to mention in front of ladies.
Posted by: JFM || 10/23/2013 12:10 Comments || Top||

#9  The drone strikes allow THE ONE to stay above the fray and play omnipotent.

To be fair, the combination of "no casualties" and an endearment for technology has been a political mindset for decades, especially on the leftward side.

It's just that Mr. Obama has been a disappointment to the Left, and now we're seeing the results.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/23/2013 12:26 Comments || Top||

#10  By 'international law' I doubt they mean the Geneva Convention which, as I understand it, states that if an illegal combatant (i.e. terrorist) hides in, behind, and among the civilian population then any resulting civilian deaths are on *their* heads.

Or maybe AmNasty International and Human Rights Abusers Watch have a version with all those 'icky-hold-people-responsible' parts removed.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/23/2013 12:32 Comments || Top||

#11  Maybe we should arclight Islamabad

Drinks!

And if we actually do Islamabad, the next two rounds are on me.
Posted by: SteveS || 10/23/2013 12:55 Comments || Top||

#12  2 rounds? If we ever did arclight Islamabad I foresee a 2 week Rantbender.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/23/2013 13:53 Comments || Top||

#13  Take off and nuke it from orbit - it's the only way to be sure.
Posted by: Barbara || 10/23/2013 15:34 Comments || Top||

#14  This can't be right. Didn't Barry win a Nobel Peace Prize???
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/23/2013 18:23 Comments || Top||

#15  Being a terrorist and a civilian are not mutually exclusive. Just ask Bill Ayers.
Posted by: airandee || 10/23/2013 18:26 Comments || Top||


U.S. Insists Drone Strikes Comply with International Law
[An Nahar] The United States on Tuesday denied its drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistain and elsewhere infringed international law and said it did all it could to avoid civilian casualties.

The comments followed the publication of reports on the U.S. drone war by two human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state...
groups, and came a day before Pak 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...
is expected to bring up concerns about the U.S. tactic at White House talks.

"We are reviewing these reports carefully," White House front man Jay Carney said.

"To the extent these reports claim that the U.S. has acted contrary to international law, we would strongly disagree.

"The administration has repeatedly emphasized the extraordinary care that we take to make sure counterterrorism actions are in accordance with all applicable law."

Carney also said that by deciding to use drone aircraft against terror suspects, rather than sending in troops or using other weapons, Washington was "choosing the course of action least likely to result in the loss of innocent life."

Earlier Amnesia Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world...
unveiled reports detailing civilian casualties in a number of U.S. operations in Pakistain and Yemen.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesia Amnesty International are jointly calling on the U.S. Congress to fully investigate the cases the two organizations have documented as well as other potentially unlawful strikes, and to disclose any evidence of human rights violations to the public. Those responsible for unlawful killings should be appropriately disciplined or prosecuted.

The groups called on Obama to provide a full legal rationale for assassinations in Yemen and elsewhere.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As long as one remembers that, despite all the wishful thinking, international law is based on "might makes right".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/23/2013 1:53 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Abbas consoles family of slain terrorist
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sent a letter of condolence to the family of slain terrorist Mohammed Asi, Israel Radio reported on Wednesday.

Asi, who planned an attack on a Tel Aviv bus a year ago, was killed by IDF forces during an arrest on Tuesday.

"He (Asi) was killed at the hands of gang-members that is the army of the occupation," Abbas wrote in the letter.
One wonders when the, strongly worded protest, from USDS will be received by Israel
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/23/2013 13:31 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Israel Will Be to Blame if Peace Talks Collapse over Borders, Says Abbas
[An Nahar] Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
warned Tuesday Israel would be to blame if ongoing peace talks collapsed over its military control of a border with Jordan.

"We will not accept it, and if they (the talks) collapse, they (Israelis) will be the reason for the collapse, not us," Abbas told the Baltic News Service during a visit to Lithuania, current holder of the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
's rotating presidency.

Israeli daily Maariv reported last week that negotiations almost collapsed in September due to conflicting positions on future borders, particularly where the eastern West Bank adjoins Jordan.

Israel has long stated that it seeks to retain a long-term military presence along the Jordan Valley.

But Paleostinians flatly object to any Israeli military on land that could become the eastern front of a future Paleostinian state.

"They don't have the right to stay in our territories after we signed a peace treaty," Abbas said Tuesday, while stressing that he accepts a future demilitarized Paleostinian state.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  So let's cut to the chase and blame the Juice now. That would save us from hearing about yet another round of stupid-ass, ultimately failed (surprise!) peace talks.
Posted by: SteveS || 10/23/2013 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Uh-huh....
What else you got?
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/23/2013 1:10 Comments || Top||

#3  I can leave with that.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/23/2013 1:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Fook Abbas.
Posted by: Spereting Tingle4064 || 10/23/2013 8:26 Comments || Top||

#5  I can leave with that.

Sigmundian undergarment?
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra || 10/23/2013 15:59 Comments || Top||


Qatar to ease Palestinian debt
Qatar has agreed to provide $150 million in debt relief to the Palestinian Authority, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday as he announced that Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are intensifying.

Speaking after he briefed Arab states about the direct peace negotiations, which resumed on July 29 with a goal of reaching an agreement within nine months, Kerry told reporters that the two sides have increased the pace of their discussions.

He also said that the government of Qatar would offer the debt relief to the donor-dependent Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and faces mounting debt as Western and Gulf aid has dwindled.
I can only hope this means that cash from the West has been drying up...
"The two parties have been engaged now in 13 meetings -- serious meetings. They had three meetings in the last four days," Kerry said. "All the core issues are
Posted by: || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria opposition urged to join 'Geneva II' talks
[BBC.CO.UK] Human rights groups on Tuesday accused the United States of breaking international law and perhaps committing war crimes by killing civilians in missile and drone strikes that were intended to hit bully boyz in Pakistain and Yemen.

Amnesia Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world...
released separate reports detailing the deaths of dozens of civilians in the two countries. They urged the B.O. regime and Congress to investigate, and end a policy of secrecy on the attacks.

"In some of the cases we looked at ... they appear to be war crimes, but really the full picture is for the U.S. authorities to reveal," Mustafa Qadri, Pakistain researcher at Amnesia Amnesty International, said after describing the death of a 68-year-old Pak grandmother in an alleged drone strike.

"We are saying for the U.S. authorities to come clean," he said at a joint news conference with Human Rights Watch.

Responding to the reports, White House front man Jay Carney said B.O. regime officials "take the matter of civilian casualties enormously seriously." He said he could not speak to specific operations, but that U.S. policies met international and domestic legal obligations and the standard of "near certainty" that civilians would not be hit.

U.S. officials have argued that any drone strikes are very carefully targeted and that civilian casualties have been kept to a bare minimum, possibly in the low dozens.

Letta Tayler of Human Rights Watch said her organization had found violations of international law when civilians were "indiscriminately" killed in Yemen.

In a September 2, 2012, attack, the target - an alleged al Qaeda bully boy, Abd al-Raouf al-Dahab, - was "nowhere in sight" when the United States hit a passenger van and killed 12 people returning from the market, she said.

"Their loved ones found their charred bodies in pieces on the roadside, dusted in flour and sugar that they were bringing home to their families," Tayler told news hounds.

Both the Amnesia Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reports looked at handful of U.S. attacks in Pakistain and Yemen to urge transparency and accountability in U.S. policy.

U.S. drone strikes in Pakistain and Yemen increased dramatically after President Barack Obama
I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go...
took office in 2009, and the pilotless aerial vehicles became a key part of the fight against al Qaeda. More recently the number of strikes has slowed.

The United States has also used drones over Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, and Iraq, and this year received approval to base drones in Niger.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Geneva 3.3a is the one worth waiting for. It has vouchers in the jacket.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/23/2013 17:35 Comments || Top||


Iran urges reforms at United Nations
[Al Ahram] Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Tuesday called on the United Nations to undertake reforms to reflect the "growing role of developing countries". "To continue its presence in the international political and economic scene, the United Nations needs to undertake fundamental reforms," said Araqchi, the ISNA news agency reported.

He was speaking at a ceremony in Tehran to mark the 68th anniversary of when the UN charter went into effect, attended by UN Development Programme (UNDP) administrator Helen Clark.

"These reforms must reflect the change in global order, particularly the growing role of developing countries, the right of nations to determine their own fates and to allow (nations) to enjoy new technologies," said Araqchi, whose country holds the presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

Araqchi led negotiations last week in Geneva with world powers over Iran's controversial nuclear ambitions, which have led to several rounds of UN and international sanctions damaging Iran's economy.

Western governments suspect Iran is building a nuclear military capability, a claim vehemently denied by Tehran which rejects the sanctions regime targeting its vital oil income.

"These illegal, inhumane and oppressive sanctions target Iranian citizens ... as well as the country's developing programmes in health, education and its fight against poverty," said Araqchi.

"Imposing such unfair sanctions against developing countries is not only contrary to the UN charter, but also exposes a serious threat to world peace and security," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Never thought I'll agree on anything with Ayatollahs.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/23/2013 1:43 Comments || Top||


Hague: Syria Meeting Agrees Assad Can Have No Role in Future Govt
[An Nahar] Western and Arab powers agreed with Syrian opposition leaders Tuesday that Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
should be excluded from any future government, but urged the rebels to take part in a peace conference in Geneva.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said after a meeting in London that the rebels had to overcome their differences and commit themselves to the talks in the Swiss city that are due to take place in late November.

But a defiant Assad said he was willing to run for re-election in 2014, a move further likely to anger a key rebel group that has so far refused to take part in the Geneva 2 conference if regime figures are present.

Hague told a presser after the meeting of the so-called Friends of Syria that they had agreed a "number of important steps" during a meeting with Ahmad Jarba, the head of the Syrian National Coalition.

"We are as clear as he is that Assad has no role in a peaceful and democratic Syria," Hague said.

U.S. 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...
urged the world to help find a negotiated settlement for Syria, adding that the country itself could disintegrate if more is not done.

"The only alternative to a negotiated settlement is continued if not increased killing," Kerry told news hounds.
Posted by: Fred || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Mice voting to bell the cat?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/23/2013 1:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Overdosed on Heineken, again, did they???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/23/2013 19:48 Comments || Top||


Norway may take bulk of Syria chemical arsenal
Norway says it is considering a request to take the bulk of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile for eventual destruction.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ragnhild Imerslund says the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which are charged with destroying the deadly arsenal, would like the stockpile destroyed in one country outside Syria, and have asked Norway to do that.

Imerslund told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Norway would consider accepting Syria’s chemical precursors and mixed chemicals such as mustard gas, but not chemicals loaded onto weapons such as warheads, which would be very dangerous to handle.

The ministry says that, according to the latest U.N. estimates, Syria has 50 metric tons of mustard gas and some 300-500 metric tons of chemicals needed to make deadly nerve agents.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/23/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Use it on Swedes?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/23/2013 1:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Moved to caves under the old Vemork Hydroelectric heavy water plant. No one will ever think of looking there.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/23/2013 3:56 Comments || Top||

#3  They can sell it to the Swedes -you need the raw materials to make Lutefisk, don't 'cha know.
Posted by: GORT || 10/23/2013 6:13 Comments || Top||


Government
WH Nuke Security Wonk canned for tweets
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/23/2013 08:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He also targeted journalists, including Daily Beast reporter Josh Rogin who broke the story of his firing

The same reporter is probably the one who found him out.

Posted by: Pappy || 10/23/2013 15:42 Comments || Top||

#2  #hiroshima
Posted by: airandee || 10/23/2013 18:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Heh.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/23/2013 22:09 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2013-10-23
  Kenya police officers raid nabs 50 Somali aliens
Tue 2013-10-22
  IDF soldiers kill planner of Tel Aviv bus bombing in a raid
Mon 2013-10-21
  Syria: Exploding truck murders 30 in Hama
Sun 2013-10-20
  Report: 400 arrested in Egyptian operation in Sinai
Sat 2013-10-19
  18 Palestinians Charged in Leb Terrorist Plot
Fri 2013-10-18
  At Least 60 Killed, Hundreds Wounded in Iraq Bombs
Thu 2013-10-17
  Logar Governor Killed By Blast in Mosque
Wed 2013-10-16
  Syria fighting rages on despite Muslim holiday
Tue 2013-10-15
  Boko Haram 'kills 24 Nigerian vigilantes in ambush'
Mon 2013-10-14
  Key Syria opposition group refuses Geneva peace talks
Sun 2013-10-13
  Tunisian Forces Clash with Jihadists
Sat 2013-10-12
  US troops capture a senior Pakistan Taliban leader in Afghanistan
Fri 2013-10-11
  Libya PM 'Freed' after Several Hours Held by Militia, Calls for Calm
Thu 2013-10-10
  Libyan Prime Minister Zeidan kidnapped by gunmen
Wed 2013-10-09
  Egypt Strips Muslim Brotherhood of NGO Status

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