(Sh. M. Network) --The prime minister of Somalia Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, announced Tuesday that his government is set to form the national naval forces in a bid to secure the overall security of the country's territorial waters.
"Somali government wants to establish well-trained maritime forces that will be in charged to patrol the coast and put a stop to the foreign countries and companies from taking Somalia's resources illegitimately," said Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, while speaking news hounds in the capital.
Finally, Somali premier Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said he asked the international community in several conferences he attended for help as to realize and succeed the ongoing efforts that Somali wishes to build high-quality Somali marine forces, speed boasts and warships to secure the country's coast and make it more reliable and protected.
Since the collapsed of the central government in 1990, there has been no central authority to enforce and regulate Somalia's waterways, especially the fishing area along its coast, which is said to be the most extensive coast on the continent.
In the last 20 years there has been rampant illegal fishing and the dumping of toxic waste off the coast of Somalia
Posted by: Fred ||
08/02/2012 00:00 ||
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The debate over a letter allegedly sent to President Shimon Peres of Israel from President Mohamed Morsi has recently emerged...Journalists have traced the letters path from a fax machine at the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv to the Israeli Presidents office, published confirmation of receipt from the Israelis, but vehement denials from Cairo and the Muslim Brotherhood...There can only be three possibilities to this story:
1. A rogue instigator fabricated the letter to create a diplomatic kerfuffle.
2. A member of the Egyptian diplomatic corps responded on President Morsis behalf.
3. Morsi ordered the letter written, or wrote it himself, but later denied sending it.
While conspiracy theorists would love to latch onto possibility #1, the other two remain the most likely culprits. If one takes President Morsi at his word, possibility #2 highlights a level of miscommunication within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that at worst is disconcerting, but not catastrophic. One can understand that, in the midst of a cabinet reshuffle and a highly dynamic political environment, certain details may fall through the cracks (as unlikely as that may be in Egypt-Israel relations). Were the issue more serious than a courteous reply, one could imagine a potential fiasco but this incident certainly isnt cause for concern.
The last possibility is the most likely, and truly the most troubling.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/02/2012 10:25 ||
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CAIRO: Egypts Prime Minister Hisham Qandil has selected a new government in which the finance and foreign ministers from the outgoing Cabinet will retain their posts, state television reported yesterday.
Qandil was meeting with the ministers, including Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr and Finance Minister Mumtaz Al-Said, a day before he was to formally unveil the Cabinet, the Nile News channel reported. A military official told AFP that army commander Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who served as Hosni Mubaraks defense minister and then ruled the country after the dictators overthrow, will be defense minister.
The premier selected Ahmed Gamal Al-Din, a former deputy interior minister, as his new interior minister, the report said.
Last week President Muhammad Mursi chose Qandil, irrigation minister in the outgoing Cabinet, to select a new Cabinet that would carry out an ambitious plan to quickly restore security and improve the economy. The military, which retains legislative powers after a court disbanded the Islamist-dominated parliament in June, just before Mursi took office, retains control of the budget in line with the countrys interim constitution.
It was also expected to have a say in the appointment of the foreign minister and finance minister, whose budget was fiercely opposed by the parliament dominated by Mursis Muslim Brotherhood.
Qandil had said he wanted a government of technocrats selected on the basis of their competence.
Except for the defense, foreign and finance ministers...
Two of men whose appointments have been publicized Education Minister Mostafa Mosad and Housing Minister Tareq Wafiq belong to the Muslim Brotherhoods Freedom and Justice Party, a party spokesman told AFP.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] Secretary-General of the Yemeni Socialist Party Yaseen Saeed Noaman cautioned against insecurity in the southern governorate of Aden and Taiz, pointing out that supporters of the former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... seek to stir up turmoil in these major cities.
In an interview with Hadith Al-Madinah Newspaper, Noaman said that the Joint Meeting Parties approved supporting of Taiz governor and help him remove all armed manifestations.
Taiz has been a source of pro-democracy uprising that ended 33-year rule of the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Security forces often responded with deadly force.
He stressed that there is calculated plans to plunge Aden and Taiz into violence and break down the political settlement, singling out that security situation in Taiz are tense.
He said that some forces seek to punish Taiz because it rebelled against the former regime, calling all people to stand against attempts of destabilizing Taiz.
He affirmed that President Abdurabu Mansour Hadi ...the second and possibly the last president of Yemen, successor to former President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh... faces complicated issues, asserting that he managed to realize many things.
Yemen witnesses a state of insecurity in Sana'a and other major cities. On Tuesday, gunnies affiliated to the former president carried out an attack against the Interior Ministry in which a number of its guards were killed and maimed.
The gunnies loyal to Saleh remained in control of the building hours after they stormed it. They also controlled nearby streets.
Witnesses said the headquarters of the ministry was looted, with people walking out with computer sets and furniture with little interference from security.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/02/2012 00:00 ||
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China asked Seoul to make sure that South Koreans stop engaging in "organized activities" there to help North Koreans escape if South Korean activist Kim Young-hwan was to be released. Kim was tortured during his 114 days in Chinese detention for helping North Korean refugees.
A senior diplomatic source here on Wednesday said China attempted to make Kim's release contingent on South Korea putting a stop to activists' help for North Korean defectors in the three northeastern Chinese provinces.
"China threatened not to release Kim unless Seoul promises to stop organized assistance for North Korean defectors, but the South Korean government declined," the source added. A senior South Korean government official confirmed the story.
China is worried about the activities of South Korean NGOs helping North Koreans in the provinces adjacent to North Korea. Chinese police fear that North Koreans could escape en masse if organized assistance increases.
Rather like what happened with East Germany...
There is also speculation that the North Korean regime has asked Beijing for help.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/02/2012 00:00 ||
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The U.S. government has left North Korea off its annual list of state sponsors of terrorism for the fourth consecutive year.
Continuing our series of gutless moves...
In the Country Reports on Terrorism 2011, the State Department said Pyongyang is not reported to have sponsored any terrorist acts since the bombing of a South Korean commercial airliner in 1987. The report, however, re-certifies the North as a country that does not fully cooperate with U.S. counterterrorism efforts under the Arms Export and Control Act.
The OECD's Financial Action Task Force, which expressed concerns over Pyongyang's lack of regulation on money laundering and terrorist financing, said the North's financial system is murky and its compliance with international standards difficult to measure.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/02/2012 00:00 ||
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(Ynet) Bulgarian police have released a computer-generated image of the suicide kaboomer involved in the bombing in Bulgaria that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver two weeks ago.
A police statement on Wednesday said they came up with the image of the dark-haired man after reconstructing the face of the suspected bomber, whose head is being held at a morgue.
(Ynet) Worshipers find two pig heads at entrance to mosques in French town of Montauban where Islamist gunman killed two paratroopers in March
Moslems attending morning prayers Wednesday were confronted by two pigs' heads in the entrance to their mosque in a French town where an Islamist gunman killed two paratroopers in March.
The incident in Montauban was described as a "racist provocation" by a watchdog which monitors anti-Islamic actions in La Belle France and as an "odious and blasphemous act" by the Montauban mayor, Brigitte Bareges.
It was the first of its kind in the southern Tarn-et-Garonne region but officials refused to speculate on a possible link to the March tragedy.
The paratroopers killed in March were two of the seven victims of Mohamed Merah, who also rubbed out three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and another soldier in nearby Toulouse ...lies on the banks of the River Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in La Belle France... before being killed himself in a police siege of his apartment.
Hajii Mohamed, the imam at the mosque, told AFP the people who had left the pigs' heads had also spilled a large amount of blood on the floor of the entrance to the mosque, which is located in a town house that has been converted to a place of worship.
"It is contemptible," the imam told AFP. "To attack a religion like this, I don't know what is happening. People lose their heads, especially during Ramadan."
Abdallah Zekri, the chairman of La Belle France's Islamophobia ...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do... Observatory, said Wednesday's outrage occurred against the background of an increase in anti-Moslem actions in the first half of 2012.
"For this to occur during the holy month of Ramadan, it's unspeakable," he said. "It is racist provocation."
Wednesday's incident also came hot on the heels of a controversy over the treatment of four young Moslems who were sacked for observing the Ramadan daytime fast while looking after children on a summer camp.
The town council which had dismissed the four instructors reacted to an outcry over the issue on Tuesday by announcing that it would no longer enforce a requirement for summer camp workers to eat and drink in the middle of the day.
French authorities have also been at odds with the biggest Islamic community in Europe over legislation which bans women from wearing full veils while recent elections have been marked by debate over the use of halal methods of animal slaughter.
Does this mean Christianity is also a race? Meaning all the attacks against it from the left would be 'racist'. And sawing off heads of christians which Islamists love to do is a 'hate crime'.
#5
there's a lot of social resentment in France to migrants (legal and illegal) who have come from North Africa. the population of these migrants is enormous in some of France's towns and cities, and traditional French families see it as a threat to their way of life. Some of that angst is boiling over right now - in the curent incidents.
(Ynet) New Delhi police filed charges against Mohammedan journalist Moahmmad Kazmi for involvement in the planning of a February terrorist attack which maimed Tal Yehoshua-Koren, the wife of an Israeli diplomat.
The Times of India reported that New Delhi police asked five countries for legal assistance in the case including Israel and Iran. (Ynet)
ISLAMABAD: The Interpol headquarters on Wednesday rejected Pakistan's request to issue a red warrant against former president and army chief General (r) Pervez Musharraf in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case.
The Interpol rejected the request on the grounds that Pakistani authorities and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had sent insufficient documentation for the purpose of issuing a red warrant. The Interpol said it could not issue a red warrant based on the evidences and documentation presented.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/02/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm hovering dangerously close to actually having respect for a decision taken by a trans-national bureaucracy. <> The moment passed...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/02/2012 10:43 Comments ||
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India overturned its ban yesterday on foreign investment from neighboring Pakistan, the commerce ministry said, in a move designed to build goodwill amid a renewed push for a peace settlement.
Wonder when the reverse will be permitted...
"The government of India has reviewed the policy... and decided to permit a citizen of Pakistan or an entity incorporated in Pakistan to make investments in India," said a statement from the ministry.
A ban on investments in defense, space and atomic energy will remain and all propositions must be notified to the Indian government.
The decision to accept foreign direct investment from Pakistan was taken in April this year when the trade ministers of the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals met in New Delhi. They also discussed ways to ease visa curbs on business travel and the possibility of allowing banks from both countries to open cross-border branches.
The improved relations between the rivals stem from Pakistan's decision to grant India "Most Favoured Nation (MFN)" status by year end, meaning Indian exports will be treated the same as those from other nations.
In further progress, the neighbors opened a second trading gate in April along their heavily militarized border, boosting the number of trucks able to cross daily to 600 from 150.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/02/2012 00:00 ||
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(JTA) -- White House officials agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assessment that sanctions have not set back Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program, but counseled patience.
"We completely agree with the prime minister's assessment that Iran has failed to make that choice and that is absolutely a disappointment," Jay Carney, the White House front man, said Wednesday.
Netanyahu, meeting Sunday with Willard Mitt Romney ...former governor of Massachussetts, currently the presumptive Publican nominee for president. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field. On the plus side, he isn't President B.O... , the presumptive Republican nominee, expressed skepticism about the sanctions.
"We have to be honest and say that all the diplomacy and sanctions and diplomacy so far have not set back the Iranian program by one iota, he told Romney.
The B.O. regime has for months been making the case to Netanyahu that he should delay any plans to strike Iran until it exhausts peaceful options.
Asked about Netanyahu's comments in a call Tuesday with news hounds, Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, also agreed with the Israeli leader.
"We continue to be dissatisfied, as Prime Minister Netanyahu is, with Irans continued failure to live up to its international obligations," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/02/2012 09:34 ||
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#1
"We have to be honest and say that all the diplomacy and sanctions and diplomacy so far have not set back the Iranian program by one iota,"
"But we are going to continue doing the same thing as we have been. Dammit man, there's funds to raise and cans to kick. We don't have time for this international stuff."
I do like the " diplomacy and sanctions and diplomacy" bit. Very Monty Pythonish.
"Gentlemen, he may look like an idiot, and he may talk like an idiot, and he may act like an idiot, but don't let that fool you - he really IS an idiot."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/02/2012 17:23 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"We are at the point where Kuwaitis search Afghanis and Pakistanis rectums first, before their luggage."
The Kuwaiti border broomstick brigade
Posted by: European Conservative ||
08/02/2012 17:37 Comments ||
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BANGKOK: Myanmar security forces opened fire on Rohingya Muslims, committed rape and stood by as rival mobs attacked each other during a recent wave of sectarian violence, a rights watchdog said yesterday.
Myanmar might be the next battleground state after Somalia and Yemen...
The authorities failed to protect both Muslims and Buddhists and then "unleashed a campaign of violence and mass roundups against the Rohingya", New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report.
The violence which erupted in June in Rakhine state between Buddhists and Rohingya has left about 80 people dead from both sides, based on official figures an estimate that HRW said appeared "grossly underestimated".
Hundreds of Rohingya men and boys have been rounded up and remain incommunicado in the western region of the country formerly known as Burma, it said.
Members of both Muslim and Buddhist communities committed horrific acts of violence with reports of beheadings, stabbings, shootings and widespread arson in Rakhine, also known as Arakan state, the report added. "What is remarkable is that if the atrocities that we saw in Arakan had happened before the government reform process had started, the international reaction would have been swift and strong," said HRW Asia deputy director Phil Robertson.
"But the international community appears to be blinded by a romantic narrative of sweeping change in Burma, signing new trade deals and lifting sanctions even while the abuses continue," he told a news conference.
The report, based on dozens of witness interviews, said that the events in Rakhine "demonstrate that state-sponsored persecution and discrimination persist" despite the government's pledge to end ethnic unrest. Police and paramilitary forces "opened fire on Rohingya with live ammunition", it added.
Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless, and they are viewed by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities. Myanmar's government considers the estimated 800,000 Rohingya in the country to be foreigners while many citizens see them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and view them with hostility. President Thein Sein in July told the United Nations that refugee camps or deportation was the "solution" for the Rohingya.
HRW also criticized Bangladesh for turning away "hundreds and perhaps thousands of asylum seekers" fleeing the recent deadly unrest in Myanmar.
The violence, along with fighting in northern Kachin state, has cast a shadow over widely praised reforms by Thein Sein over the past year, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to Parliament.
Myanmar's government this week rejected accusations of abuse by security forces in Rakhine, after the UN raised fears of a crackdown on Muslims. Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin told reporters on Monday that the government had exercised "maximum restraint" in bringing an end to the violence.
Fears about the situation have spread across the Islamic world, with threats of violent reprisals against Myanmar from extremists from Pakistan to Indonesia.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/02/2012 00:00 ||
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The Iranian currency rial continued losing its value and today traded at 20,016 rials per dollar at currency markets, falling below the psychological barrier of 20,000 r/d.
Rial first hit the 20,000 mark in January, but recovered after the central bank devaluated the official exchange rate to 12,260 r/d and raised the interest rate on bank deposits to 21 percent. Since the new oil sanctions went into effect in July, however, the currency has continually lost its value, and now is trading at more than 20,000 rials per dollar. In August 2011, rial was traded at 11,700 r/d, losing its value against dollar by 71 percent within the last 12 months.
In a speech published on his website Thursday, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the ultimate goal of world forces must be the annihilation of Israel.
Speaking to ambassadors from Islamic countries ahead of 'Qods Day' ('Jerusalem Day'), an annual Iranian anti-Zionist event established in 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini and which falls this year on August 17, Ahmadinejad said that a "horrible Zionist current" had been managing world affairs for "about 400 years."
An odd time frame. What happened four centuries ago?
It was Zionists, he said, who were "behind the scene of the world's main powers, media, monetary and banking centers."
#3
"In a speech published on his website Thursday, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the ultimate goal of world forces must be the annihilation of Israel."
That's very interesting timing ... because the annhilation of Ahmadinejad can't be that far away now.
#1
If true it would be a reversal of the Iraq policy. Set up one of our bastards to run the place so US military doesn't have to be involved in peacekeeping.
Personally I don't think we should get involved at all except prepared to cover the Iraq/Israeli borders in case. Let Turkey enjoy the fruits of the neighborhood, perhaps they'll see wisdom in returning to an alliance with Israel.
US President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing US support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar Assad and his government, US sources familiar with the matter said.
Brilliant. Why are we reading about this now, other than the dog has a tail to be wagged?
Obama's order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence "finding," broadly permits the CIA and other US agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.
This and other developments signal a shift toward growing, albeit still circumscribed, support for Assad's armed opponents - a shift that intensified following last month's failure of the UN Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against the Damascus government.
Thus we demonstrate again, as we did under Bush, Clinton and Reagan, that UNSC support is nice to have but not essential when we feel we have to get something done. In this one way at least Obama is acting just like an American.
The White House is for now apparently stopping short of giving the rebels lethal weapons, even as some US allies do just that.
The Emirates and the Saudis can pass the guns and ammo. If we provide intel, comm gear, etc that will be just as valuable. Then we need the Turks to provide, ahem, 'direction', so as to squash the rebels that aren't particularly inclined to us...
But US and European officials have said that there have been noticeable improvements in the coherence and effectiveness of Syrian rebel groups in the past few weeks. That represents a significant change in assessments of the rebels by Western officials, who previously characterized Assad's opponents as a disorganized, almost chaotic, rabble.
Precisely when Obama signed the secret intelligence authorization, an action not previously reported, could not be determined.
Nor should we be told now...
The full extent of clandestine support that agencies like the CIA might be providing also is unclear.
Nor do we need to know...
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined comment.
#1
"Obama's order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence "finding," broadly permits the CIA and other US agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad."
The Daily Telegraph
By Peter Foster in Washington 9:58PM BST 16 Jul 2012
Barack Obamas US government has warned its western allies and Syrias opposition groups that it can do nothing to intervene in the countrys crisis until after Novembers presidential election, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
...
The Obama administration has also made clear to its allies that it will not intervene, a message that was carried to London last week by Tom Donilon, the White House National Security Adviser, who made a low-profile stop en route to Israel.
#4
Obama has stood idly by for 16 months, offering excuses for doing nothing, now if something happens, he needs to pretend he has done something. So now we are presented with a deniable *secret* order.
Obama has stood idly by for 16 months, offering excuses for doing nothing, now if something happens, he needs to pretend he has done something. So now we are presented with a deniable *secret* order.
#9
That represents a significant change in assessments of the rebels by Western officials...
So a couple weeks back the O-Team's big commitment to the effort was "Assessment of Opposition". And lookie here...a super secret order is leaked 'bout unity of Vision. Damn...it's if The One himself is on the ground.
#2
Just different tribes of Orcs is all. They may hate each other - but they hate us far more and would have no problems dropping their hatred for each other to work together to kill us.
That is how these 'Islamic groups who hate each other' can become allies in their pursuit of murdering non-muslims.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/02/2012 14:02 Comments ||
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#4
Tolo News spoke with a "former" Talib who says tis is impossible. However it must be asked, if he is no longer a member, how would he know?
It is impossible for the Taliban to open an office in Iran and Pakistan, former Taliban member, Sayed Akbar Agha, told TOLOnews on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal quoted senior Afghan and western officials saying that Iran has allowed the Taliban to open an office in the eastern city of Zahedan to expand options for retaliation if its nuclear facilities come under attack.
Zahedan is near the Pakistan and Afghanistan borders and on an easy transit route from Pakistani city of Quetta where many Taliban leaders are based. The office is meant to allow Iran to coordinate with the Taliban against the U.S., the officials said.
"This is absolutely impossible. The Taliban would not open an office in Iran because the Afghan people will blame them for any Iranian intervention or attacks. I strongly reject this," Agha said.
Mohammad Dehqani, a spokesman for Iranian embassy in Afghanistan, denied the allegations, telling TOLOnews during a phone interview that "foreign governments are trying to create regional conflict for their own benefit."
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.
[Yemen Post] Secretary-General of the Yemeni Socialist Party Yaseen Saeed Noaman cautioned against insecurity in the southern governorate of Aden and Taiz, pointing out that supporters of the former president 
(Ynet) New Delhi police filed charges against 
ISLAMABAD: The Interpol headquarters on Wednesday rejected Pakistan's request to issue a red warrant against former president and army chief General (r) Pervez Musharraf in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case. 
(JTA) -- White House officials agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assessment that sanctions have not set back Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program, but counseled patience.
US President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing US support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar Assad and his government, US sources familiar with the matter said.
