(SomaliNet) Eritrea was on Thursday accused by a United States(US) top diplomat for Africa, of attacking its neighbour Ethiopia through proxies in Somalia. The US envoyÂ’s accusations echoes a statement made by Ethiopian prime minister to his parliament. However, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Jendayi E Frazer, said that both Ethiopia and Eritrea should show restraint to avoid taking Somalia's conflict regional.
On Thursday, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told his parliament that Somalia's Islamic radicals have been parading near the border and if they continued and threatened national security, Ethiopia would have the right to defend itself. The Ethiopian premier said "jihadists," or Muslim militants, from Indonesia, Pakistan, several Arab and African countries were working in Somalia alongside the Islamic movement, which controls much of southern Somalia and has sidelined the country's internationally recognised but weak government.
Ethiopia backs the Somali government, and Ethiopian premier, Meles, accepted it for the first time on Thursday saying he had sent troops to support it. Meles said it was just a few military trainers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/21/2006 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) The Sudanese Defense Minister has requested for a $1 billion arms loan from Moscow through Russian officials, to buy more military airplanes for Sudan, - Russian Daily Friday. The Sudanese minister Abdelrahim Hussein made this request while holding talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday, Oct. 19. The Sudanese official asked Russia to sell military jets and helicopters to Sudan. Moscow has not given any reply yet.
Useful to pound Darfur or re-open the war in the south.
According to the paper, Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir sent a letter to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, asking to give away sell a large consignment of military jets and helicopters to his country. Meanwhile, the Sudanese Defense Minister Abdelrahim Hussein went to Moscow as a special envoy of President Omar el-Bashir.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/21/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Why not CHINA: MANILA TIMES-Other > CHINA'S GRAND AFRICAN STRATEGY!?
#2
The Russian media portrays Putin' follies - Iran, now Sudan - as a realignment parallel to NATO. And the Chinese took over Canadian oil operations that became too hot to handle.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/21/2006 11:24 Comments ||
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#5
Sudan has huge, undeveloped (as yet) oil reserves. Russia will do anything to help keep that oil out of Western hands, including making such large cash give-aways. The Russian people will get screwed once again. Putin = Brezhnev.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/21/2006 13:28 Comments ||
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#6
Old Patriot
The Chinese already have that oil source wrapped up. And they also lack the morals to care about the plight of locals.
A UN official late Friday insisted that Jan Pronk, the UN Special Representative for Sudan, has still not been officially declared persona non grata by the Sudanese Government and despite the Foreign Ministry's complaint earlier today. The media reported yesterday that the Sudanese military had declared Pronk to be persona non grata after posting in his blog last week that the Sudanese Army had suffered two major military defeats in its campaign against the rebels in Darfur.
"Ow! You've dented our Dignity(tm), infidel!".
"As far as the United Nations is aware, he has not been officially made persona non grata," UN spokesman Dujarric told the daily press briefing. He noted that the views of the Sudanese Government are usually expressed through "normal, official channels" and that "there had been nothing on Pronk being declared persona non grata in those channels". He speculated that Pronk was in Khartoum and continues to express the official views of the UN and the UN Mission in Sudan in his official communications.
"We haven't actually *seen* him in a few days, but you know how diplomats get."
Asked whether Pronk was told to stop writing his blog, the Spokesman said that there have been discussions with him concerning it. Asked if Annan shares Pronk's comments, Dujarric emphasized that the views expressed by Pronk in his blog are his "personal views". Dujarric said there are no rules or specific regulations for UN staff members to write blogs, but the UN expects staff members to "exercise proper judgment in what they include".
An Islamic court has banned women from swimming at the main beach in Somalia's capital, the latest step to impose strict religious rule that has sparked fears of an emerging, Taliban-style regime. Sheikh Farah Ali Hussein, chair of a northern Mogadishu Islamic court, said Friday that the ban applies only to the northern Mogadishu Leedo beach, where families usually go on weekends to play and relax. "We stopped women from swimming because it is against the teaching of Islam for women to mingle with men, especially while they are swimming," Hussein said.
Since sweeping to power over much of southern Somalia in June, the Islamists have banned movie viewing, publicly lashed drug users and broke up a wedding celebration because a band was playing and women and men were socializing together. They also have introduced public executions. Somali women usually swim fully clothed, as swimsuits are generally frowned upon. Somali men, however, swim in trunks, at times bare-chested or wearing vests. "They cannot prevent us from our right to swim in the sea. What is wrong with us enjoying ourselves like men? That is clear discrimination," Miriam Isse told The Associated Press as she watched others swimming in the Indian Ocean.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
This really p***s me off.
What was the point of clearing this filth out of Afghanistan when it just resurfaces in Somalia!
We have to take out the weed root, stock and vine.
We need to apply religious Round-Up to Islamofascism and the best place to paint that is Saudi, the homeland and birthplace of this disgusting Wahhabist sect.
If we don't scrap multiculturalism and weed it out I kid you not this will be Sydney, New York and London in 50-100 years.
All over the world, aggresive religious cults root out passive ones.
pakistan and Indonesia used to be peaceful buddhist nations now look at them.
Afghanistan too. The Taliban made sure they bombed those bamiyan buddhas to even remove the trace of Islam's cultural genocide.
#2
worse: US won't want to go to Somalia (black hawk down) until another 9/11 gives justification: to be hatched by Islamofascists who will now use Somalia as a state-funded training paradise.
#4
I'll leave it to Shieldwolf to give the detailed lessons of Black Hawk Down. I'll just say Somalia isn't skeery, it's just full of assholes, lots of assholes, and you need a clear mission, a real plan, control of the battlespace, pack the right gear, have sufficient numbers, and operate under the right command to play there. Short any of those elements and you get good people killed.
#5
You also need the willingness to stack the deaders like cordwood.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2006 4:38 Comments ||
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#6
I've had quite enough of this shit. Kill all the Somalian males over five years of age. Let other nationalities migrate in to fill the void. Check back in a few years. Rinse and repeat if required. Do this in every Islamic utopia hell hole.
#8
What makes you think we don't have special people quietly doing special things in or near Somalia? Not every situation calls for a full frontal invasion.
#10
Well, I didn't want to reveal this, but... Actually, "Ms." TW is a burly heavily tattoed middle-aged ex-spec ops having numerous contacts with people on the ground, and posting between his visits at the range and his frequent brawls in bikers bars... but, shhhhhh, don't tell.
#12
"Ms." TW is a burly heavily tattoed middle-aged ex-spec ops having numerous contacts with people on the ground, and posting between his visits at the range and his frequent brawls in bikers bars
named Jenifer. Go figure....
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/21/2006 9:25 Comments ||
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And occasionally pretending to melt down when when those "she's" fond of shout at one another. That "Ms." TW has that protective colouration thingy down to an art, that's what I say! ;-)
#15
I have no compassion for these twits. The Muzzies have been telling them for several years they intended to have sharia law. They intend this wherever they go. Our problem is that imagining this is so farsical that we tend to ignore their blatherings. They are simple asses, they say exactly what they mean. We have to concentrate and understand that.
CAIRO, Egypt - Muslims are facing cruel and false accusations about their faith but must bear some responsibility for the wrong impressions, PresidentHosni Mubarak said. The Egyptian leader's comments came in a speech Thursday to senior officials and Muslim clerics marking the holy month of Ramadan.
"Shouldn't we Muslims shoulder part of the responsibility of these wrong ideas about Islam? Have we fulfilled our duty in correcting the image of Islam and the Muslims? What did we do to face a terrorism that wears Islam's cloak and targets the lives of the people," Mubarak said in the remarks that were televised live.
Many Muslims are angry about drawings in the West mocking the prophet and about accusations that Islam encourages terrorism. "We don't accept insulting our sanctities in the name of freedom of opinion or press, because disrespecting our beliefs inflames angry emotions, extremism and takes us toward grave paths," Mubarak said. And that just about says it all. You could read that back to him and he still wouldn't get it.
He cautioned against mixing religion and politics in international relations and tying Islam to "blind terrorism that knows no home or religion." Oh yes it does and the apron's strings are choking.
Muslims have strayed from the essence of Islam and need to return to its principles of "forgiveness, righteousness and reform," he said. Heavy on the reform tho', we got that.
Mubarak said the word 'reform' and his lips stayed on?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2006 4:38 Comments ||
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"... because disrespecting our beliefs inflames angry emotions, extremism and takes us toward grave paths
Oops. There's that pesky terrorism-justifying language again. Please let me know when you finally get over yourselves enough to abandon any such attempt at excusing your psychotic murderous impulses.
#4
Actually, he got it right. They are on the paths to their graves. They've suffered no mistreatment yet. Quite the opposite. They've been coddled. Their worst days are ahead of them, on the path to their graves.
Eid Al-Fitr, the celebration marking the end of fasting in Ramadan, will be Monday, according to Khaled ibn Saleh Al-Zaaq, member of Arab Space Science Federation and supervisor of Buraidah Astronomical Observatory. In a statement carried by Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper, Al-Zaaq said it would be impossible to sight the Shawwal crescent today (Saturday) as it will disappear one hour before the sunset. Arab Space Science Federation. Okay, I feel my boggle stirring.
“We can only see the new moon on Monday evening with difficulty as it will be visible for only 36 minutes with a glow of 1.90 percent,” said Al-Zaaq, who is also a member of the Islamic Project to Observe the Crescent. He urged the public not to be confused by seeing celestial bodies on Saturday evening. Islamic Project to Observe the Crescent. Oh yeah, boggle's gettin' stronger.
Ali Manikfan, an Indian expert on moon sighting, also confirmed that Monday would be the first day of Eid. “I have observed the waning phases of the moon in the last days of Ramadan. Yesterday morning I could see the crescent at about 8 a.m. It was about 25 degrees away from the sun. The crescent will be visible today (Saturday) before sunrise. This will be the last visible phase of the moon for Ramadan,” Manikfan said in a statement. Well, that settles it. Sorta. He is just an Indian, after all, not of the Master "Race".
“Sunday morning the crescent will not be seen even though it will rise before the sun. This is the day on which the moon phase is not visible to the earth. Somewhere in the world both the sun and the moon will rise together on Sunday,” said Manikfan, who is a staunch advocate of a unified Islamic calendar. Who sez they're not a Moon Cult?
[He] called upon Muslims all over the world to celebrate Eid Al-Fitr on the same day. He urged the Organization of the Islamic Conference to unify the Islamic calendar. We should all do this on the same day. It's much more, um, impressive 'n stuff.
“Eid Al-Fitr should be celebrated on the first day of the lunar month of Shawwal. Muslims around the world are now celebrating it on three different days due to the lack of a unified calendar,” he told Arab News. Very unimpressive.
Manikfan urged Muslims to adopt modern technological methods to sight crescent. Muzzy Luddites! “Islam is the most advanced and scientific religion. It’s impossible to believe that the Prophet (pbuh) would instruct his followers in this age of science and technology to search for the new moon with their naked eyes when lunar and solar dates can be determined in advance on the basis of scientific calculations,” he said. He hoped that Saudi Arabia would take the lead and prepare a unified Islamic calendar for distribution in all Muslim countries. And now my boggle is fully restored... overflowin', even.
#2
He urged the Organization of the Islamic Conference to unify the Islamic calendar
it helps to have the Eid Bargain Sales at the ammo and acid stores the same weekend
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/21/2006 9:13 Comments ||
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#3
Sorry, Ship. Only "Arab Scientists" of sufficient piety are allowed to participate - and they're always pretty last-minute about the RamaLamaDingDong stuff.
I was so naive on my first tour in '92 that I offered to write programs to generate prayer times and RamaLama dates for the next 20 years to one of the Saudis that seemed sociable. His eyes got big, then he grinned, then he said that it would not be possible. He did not elaborate, but he thought it quite funny that I offered.
#7
Islam is the most advanced scientific religion?!?
The live like sand fleas, the issue a fartwa against anything modern or fun, and they still wipe their ass with their hand. How does that make them the most scientifically advanced religion?
#10
My "Month At-A-Glance" calendar says Eid Al-Fitr is on Monday. I don't know how they knew. They seem to get the 4th of July and Christmas correct too. Every year. Amazing, this calendar science. Just amazing.
#11
And just think, they're planning to launch an Islamic satellite, per articles from a couple of RamLamas ago, so they can be extra certain about Islamic Space Science Stuff.
#14
Hummm... please, do tell, when exactly will the traditional end-of-ramadan riots will begin? The french police is already on high alert, no kidding.
#17
"It’s impossible to believe that the Prophet (pbuh) would instruct his followers . . . when lunar and solar dates can be determined in advance on the basis of scientific calculations.”
Hoo boy, an apostate! Muslim invaders used to burn libraries to the ground, on the basis that all knowledge needed by mankind is in the Koran. If it ain't in there, mankind wasn't meant to have it, so all knowledge external to the the Koran is heretical and evil and should be destroyed.
But who knows, the poo-bahs at Al-Azhar probably have serious debates about whether precision calculations are haram -- along with whether to use leather belts or sacks of oranges to beat their wives.
It was the day that a host of BBC executives and star presenters admitted what critics have been telling them for years: the BBC is dominated by trendy, Left-leaning liberals who are biased against Christianity and in favour of multiculturalism.
A leaked account of an 'impartiality summit' called by BBC chairman Michael Grade, is certain to lead to a new row about the BBC and its reporting on key issues, especially concerning Muslims and the war on terror.
It reveals that executives would let the Bible be thrown into a dustbin on a TV comedy show, but not the Koran, and that they would broadcast an interview with Osama Bin Laden if given the opportunity. Further, it discloses that the BBC's 'diversity tsar', wants Muslim women newsreaders to be allowed to wear veils when on air.
At the secret meeting in London last month, which was hosted by veteran broadcaster Sue Lawley, BBC executives admitted the corporation is dominated by homosexuals and people from ethnic minorities, deliberately promotes multiculturalism, is anti-American, anti-countryside and more sensitive to the feelings of Muslims than Christians.
One veteran BBC executive said: 'There was widespread acknowledgement that we may have gone too far in the direction of political correctness.
'Unfortunately, much of it is so deeply embedded in the BBC's culture, that it is very hard to change it.'
In one of a series of discussions, executives were asked to rule on how they would react if the controversial comedian Sacha Baron Cohen ) known for his offensive characters Ali G and Borat - was a guest on the programme Room 101.
On the show, celebrities are invited to throw their pet hates into a dustbin and it was imagined that Baron Cohen chose some kosher food, the Archbishop of Canterbury, a Bible and the Koran.
Nearly everyone at the summit, including the show's actual producer and the BBC's head of drama, Alan Yentob, agreed they could all be thrown into the bin, except the Koran for fear of offending Muslims.
In a debate on whether the BBC should interview Osama Bin Laden if he approached them, it was decided the Al Qaeda leader would be given a platform to explain his views.
And the BBC's 'diversity tsar', Mary Fitzpatrick, said women newsreaders should be able to wear whatever they wanted while on TV, including veils.
Ms Fitzpatrick spoke out after criticism was raised at the summit of TV newsreader Fiona Bruce, who recently wore on air a necklace with a cross.
The full account of the meeting shows how senior BBC figures queued up to lambast their employer.
Political pundit Andrew Marr said: 'The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities and gay people. It has a liberal bias not so much a party-political bias. It is better expressed as a cultural liberal bias.'
Washington correspondent Justin Webb said that the BBC is so biased against America that deputy director general Mark Byford had secretly agreed to help him to 'correct', it in his reports. Webb added that the BBC treated America with scorn and derision and gave it 'no moral weight'.
Former BBC business editor Jeff Randall said he complained to a 'very senior news executive', about the BBC's pro-multicultural stance but was given the reply: 'The BBC is not neutral in multiculturalism: it believes in it and it promotes it.'
Randall also told how he once wore Union Jack cufflinks to work but was rebuked with: 'You can't do that, that's like the National Front!'
Quoting a George Orwell observation, Randall said that the BBC was full of intellectuals who 'would rather steal from a poor box than stand to attention during God Save The King'.
There was another heated debate when the summit discussed whether the BBC was too sensitive about criticising black families for failing to take responsibility for their children.
Head of news Helen Boaden disclosed that a Radio 4 programme which blamed black youths at a young offenders', institution for bullying white inmates faced the axe until she stepped in.
But Ms Fitzpatrick, who has said that the BBC should not use white reporters in non-white countries, argued it had a duty to 'contextualise' why black youngsters behaved in such a way.
Andrew Marr told The Mail on Sunday last night: 'The BBC must always try to reflect Britain, which is mostly a provincial, middle-of-the-road country. Britain is not a mirror image of the BBC or the people who work for it.'
#1
I have said it before. Employees of the BBC must be treated as part of the terrorist infrastructure and targeted and treated as such. They would rather we all be killed than admit to our humanity here in the USA.
That the public in the UK tolerates the BBC and does not one thing to put it out of business is a reflection of the public in the UK. The UK public supports the BBC.
Simple deduction the UK public hates the USA and it's citizens regardless of all statement to the contrary.
#2
BBC executives admitted the corporation is dominated by homosexuals
As always, the first among Islam's intended victimes are the most obsequious. What is there to explain this lemming-like drive to appease those who seek only to murder you post haste?
Randall said that the BBC was full of intellectuals who 'would rather steal from a poor box than stand to attention during God Save The King'
A perfect summation of these tranzi multicultural terrorist-abetting gits. Both BBC and CNN need to be banned from all frontline war correspondence in the fight against terrorism. They ARE the enemy.
Bosnians expressed Friday overall solidarity with Palestinians by commemorating Quds (Jerusalem) Day. In a joint press release, Bosnian civic organizations stressed the necessity of supporting Palestine's people who have suffered for the past 70 years. They said Bosnians truly recognize the suffering of the Palestinians because they all faced tragedies and hostilities. They urged the international community's immediate interference to ensure implementation of relevant UN resolutions and accords, as well as Israel's withdrawal from Occupied Palestinian Territories as a preliminary step to establish an independent Palestinian state. The groups organized a rally that included displaying documentary films about the suffering of Palestinians. The idea of Quds Day was established by Iran's former leader Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. It takes place every year on last Friday during the month of Ramadhan.
In 1970, Izetbegoviæ published a manifesto entitled The Islamic Declaration, a work which contributed greatly to his later portrayal as an Islamic fundamentalist. He highlighted the decayed state of Islam and called for a religious and political regeneration across the Muslim world, although the book made no reference to Bosnia. In two particularly controversial passages, he declared that "there can be neither peace nor coexistence between the Islamic faith and non-Islamic social and political institutions" and that "the Islamic movement must and can, take over political power as soon as it is morally and numerically so strong that it can not only destroy the existing non-Islamic power, but also to build up a new Islamic one". He promoted the idea of a "united Islamic community" in which non-Muslims would have their rights guaranteed.
And, yet, this wikipedia entry is very sanitized IMHO, he was a muslim SS volunteer during WWII, he received a "Jihad" soody prize, he had both iran and sunni networks involved on his side (and granted citizenship to numerous "Freedom Fighters"),... In short, regardless of the offical mantra, bosnia is an islamic enclave in Europe, just like formerly serbian kosovo, and nothing good will come out of it, when it comes to the WOT and the islamization of western Europe.
CHINA'S People's Liberation Army is pushing the Government to get tough with North Korea after a Chinese spy sold information to Pyongyang that led to the collapse of Beijing's main intelligence network in the Stalinist state.
A well-informed Hong Kong-based Chinese language publication, Asia Week, reported that the co-ordinator of one of China's intelligence networks in North Korea, who was based in the Chinese border city of Yanji, sold key information to the North Koreans for about $400,000.
"As a result, the network was dissolved. Since then, China's intelligence on North Korea has been weak," the report said. This accounts for Chinese intelligence continuing to downplay as unlikely a North Korean nuclear test, even on the eve of this month's underground blast.
The October 9 nuclear test, in defiance of Chinese urging, coupled with the bribery and the shooting of a 19-year-old Chinese border guard by North Korean soldiers a year ago, has helped drive the PLA, the most powerful institution in China after the Communist Party, into pushing the Government to get tough with Pyongyang.
Asia Week said yesterday that elements within the PLA were seeking the amendment of the alliance between China and North Korea formally agreed in 1961.
On Monday, the PLA held a memorial ceremony for Li Liang, who was killed by fire from five North Korean soldiers when he shot at them after they had crossed the border. Border guard Li, in the army's Second Regiment, was attempting to prevent the kidnapping of Chinese intelligence officers at Guangping, a small town on the 1300km frontier.
An officer at Yanbian PLA base later said: "We have designated him as a model soldier." A series of 30 articles about him is being published in the army newspaper.
The officer said the kidnappers eventually escaped without their targets: "North Koreans crossing the border to smuggle, rob or beg are quite common here."
Li Jiehua, the father of the dead soldier, said that he had been told the North Koreans were intending "to kidnap Chinese intelligence agents responsible for North Korean information, who were based in a villa in Guangping".
The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, in Hong Kong, said that China had protested to the North Korean ambassador in Beijing and insisted that Pyongyang hand over those responsible for the shooting.
But North Korea failed to respond and, the centre said, "the relationship between the two armies has deteriorated rapidly".
Incursions and kidnappings by North Korean soldiers have become so common that in the main Chinese border-crossing city of Dandong, people joke: "Don't say anything against North Korea, or you'll find yourself there tomorrow."
Early this year, eight North Korean soldiers attempted to rob the Liangshui coalmine in the Yanbian border area. One was shot dead, three were captured and four escaped. China is building a substantial barbed-wire fence along sections of the border, including a road giving easy access for military vehicles.
Asia Week cited a senior PLA official in Beijing as saying: "North Korea will turn out to be a running dog, and will sell China off at any time, as soon as the US agrees to talk directly with them.' It would instead place a higher priority on deals with the US, Russia and Japan.
The Beijing-aligned Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po reported that after the nuclear test, all leave was cancelled for PLA troops in the Jilin province, which borders North Korea, and anti-chemical warfare training had been stepped up.
After North Korea conducted missile tests in July, the PLA deployed an extra 2000 troops along the border, boosting the force to 7000. Despite the tensions, the official China Daily newspaper reported on Thursday that "life seems to be going on as normal" at Dandong, less than 150km from the nuclear test site.
#1
Article from The Austrailian. Interesting catch, Anonymoose. It would certainly be amusing if the PLA and the Communist Party rulers find themselves at cross purposes...
#4
Sorry folks, this is pure horsefeathers. The White House might as well announce that it has smashed an "intelligence network" better known as the FBI. I'll leave the highly appropriate Chinese Opera comparisons to Zhang Fei.
#6
North Korea is bought, sold and paid for by communist China, lock, stock and barrel. Until I see a state department report verifying it, I can only assume that this article has been ginned up largely as yet another bit of communist hand-wringing for public consumption. This, as China's politburo tries to build ever more plausible deniability for North Korea's evildoings.
When this century closes, communist China will stand as the great failed Stalinist experiment, right down to the famines, bloody purges and mass murders. It will take a long time for these facts to leak through China's tightly controlled media barriers. Likely, not until the politburo's downfall will there ever be any accurate reporting of their crimes against humanity. North Korea ranks amongst the primary contenders of China's wrongs.
#1
"Before November 7, elections" > no surprise here. Ditto for SUNNI-SHIA violence in Iraq. O'REILLY > Amer's enemies want Democrats = RetreatCrats-DefeatCrats-AppeaseCrats-$$$Crats, by any means necessary including killing each other. *DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS IN 2006 = POTUS/CO-POTUS "VEEP" HILLARY in 2008???
The United States will make no change in its standard commitment to extend a nuclear umbrella over South Korea despite reports that Seoul is seeking a more detailed understanding, a senior US defense official said Thursday. Annual US-South Korean defense talks will conclude Friday with a final communique containing the same language on the US commitment that it has every year since 1978, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"We have really no plans to discuss the details of the umbrella either publicly or privately," said the official.
"I can say no more!"
He said the US commitment on nuclear deterrence "simply is a fact. It's a component of our mutual defense treaty. And we're happy to let the statements stand for themselves as they have for the past 30 odd years."
The official said he was addressing the issue because of speculation in South Korea and the region in the wake of North Korea's nuclear test October 9.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in Seoul Thursday to discuss how to respond to North Korea's nuclear test. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld meets here Friday with South Korean Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung in the final session of the annual military talks.
Before the talks began, a South Korean official was reported to have said both sides will try to spell out the US nuclear umbrella pledge in detail. Seoul was considering asking Washington, which withdrew all its nuclear weapons from the peninsula in 1991, to elaborate on what types of tactical nuclear weapons can be provided, the official said.
The US official said the South Koreans had not pressed for a more detailed pledge.
South Korea gave up its quest for nuclear weapons in the 1970s under strong US pressure. The US official said Washington assumed Seoul would stick by its commitment not to pursue its own nuclear weapons capability, which he said was codified in the 1992 agreement on de-nuclearizing the Korean peninsula. "The suggestion has been that the North Koreans have let's say torn the agreement up," the official said.
"The South Korean government continues to state that it is bound by and will continue to adhere to that agreement and considers it to be still in force, which is a very important point of departure for us to engage with the North Koreans in the future," he said.
Rumsfeld warned on Tuesday, however, of the risk of a rapid spread of nuclear weapons to other states if the international community fails to stop North Korea and Iran's nuclear programs. The senior US defense official sought to play down South Korean reports that talks would cover changes in contingency planning to reflect that North Korea has nuclear weapons. He said the alliance was already so close "really means there is nothing new here to be planned, as far as wartime planning goes."
"We're very comfortable with where all of our planning is right now. Our plans are in place. We have total agreement with all of our allies. So this is not an issue of concern," he said.
On another issue, the official said the two sides were still at odds over the timing of a plan to transfer to the South Koreans wartime control of their troops. The US side wants it to happen in 2009, whereas the South Koreans say they will not be ready until 2012. and in the remainder of article South Korea discusses its WORRIES OF A NUCLEAR JAPAN
#1
Shades of Reagan-era FLEXIBLE RESPONSE - the "good" kind of political correctness. Keep your opponent(s) biting their fingers + making secret plans to defect to the West iff they screw up.
(2006-10-21) — North Korean President Kim Jong-Il today reportedly told Chinese diplomats that he regrets his government’s recent detonation of a nuclear device, and he revealed that he had been molested as a child. “President Kim is sorry, and he takes full responsibility for the atomic bomb test,” said an unnamed Chinese source, “but in the spirit of transparency and vulnerability, he wants people to know about the childhood molestation incident.”
The North Korean leader has reportedly checked himself into a rehab center to “heal his inner child and boost his self-esteem,” but a spokesman said he is not ashamed to come out of the closet as a fascist dictator. “A lot people are going to trot out the old myths that fascist dictators are dangerous to society,” said the spokesman. “But short of a few isolated genocides and unprovoked invasions, there’s little evidence to substantiate that claim. It’s time to move past recriminations over the nuclear test, and let bygones be bygones.”
The leader of South Korea's ruling party visited a South-run industrial zone in North Korea on Friday, as Seoul struggles to keep the key symbol of inter-Korean detente alive despite criticism it may help fund Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. "I'm going to visit the Kaesong industrial complex today to let the world clearly know that the Kaesong and the Diamond Mountain projects should continue without being shaken even a bit," Rep. Kim Geun-tae, chairman of the ruling Uri Party, said in a statement ahead of his departure on the one-day trip.
"We've put more than five decades of efforts to open this path and made a lot of sacrifices. If we imagine this path is closed again, people would well know what that would mean," he said, referring to the easing of tension that the economic projects have brought about across the world's most heavily armed border.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2006 00:00 ||
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said Pyongyang didn't plan to carry out any more nuclear tests and expressed regret about the country's first-ever atomic detonation last week, a South Korean news agency reported Friday. North Korea, however, kept up its bellicose rhetoric as more than 100,000 people gathered Friday in Pyongyang's central Kim Il Sung square to "hail the success of the historic nuclear test," according to the North's official media.
Kim told Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan that "we have no plans for additional nuclear tests," Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed diplomatic source in Beijing. Kim also told the Chinese that "he is sorry about the nuclear test," the mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo daily reported, citing a diplomatic source in China. The North Korean leader also raised the possibility the country would return to arms talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I read this as "It's going to take a while to figure out why the first one fizzled."
US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Friday met with his South Korean counterpart and reiterated the United States' commitment to defend South Korea with nuclear weapons. Rumsfeld also asked Seoul to assist the international effort to prevent weapons from being shipped to North Korea.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Don't fergit down TAIWAN ways, to includ still anti-China VIETNAM + PHILIPPINES + WEST/CENTPAC Islands. Whole bunch of States + regional "break out" options for the PLA down there. KOREAN WAR 2 > for me, is just a diversionary albeit bloody HOLDING FRONT meant to contain + divert US-Allied forces. Kimmie and the NORKORS can't prevail unless China or Russia?-China attempt to mil strike northern Japan [ALCAN?] behind the Allies' rear. DON'T SEE KIMMIE-NK ESCAPING DESTRUCTION vv ANY SCENARIO.
A NATO military head is one of a host of international guests expected to observe the largest training exercise in the history of the Czech military, currently under way in south and west Bohemia. Operation "Strong Campaigner," a 12-day training exercise involving both air and ground troops, is designed to prepare a 3,000-person 4th Brigade peacekeeping unit that would be ready for potential deployment by the end of the year, military spokesman Major Zdeněk Kroutil said.
Canadian General Raymond Henault, head of NATO's Military Committee, is scheduled to evaluate the campaign, said Blanka Majkusová, a press official with the Defense Ministry. This arm of NATO is responsible for advising the organization on its defense policies and recommending any military action. Prague-based diplomats from NATO members are also expected to attend "Strong Campaigner," making for a total of about 60 observers, she said.
Since Oct. 9, more than 4,300 Czech soldiers have been engaged in simulated peacekeeping initiatives in a fictional state dubbed "Belarus" "Orangeland," created at military zones near Hradiště and Boletice. In this elaborate scenario, Orangeland has been under the control of a dictator, and is discovered to be developing chemical weapons and harboring terrorist training camps. A European security council has agreed to take military action, and Czech troops are part of the coalition.
During the two-week exercise, ground, gun, search, anti-missile and anti-mine units will patrol Orangeland, searching for weapons and insurgent groups, said Kroutil. The Czech peacekeeping unit is not yet scheduled for specific involvement in any NATO-led missions, but needs to be at the ready should the necessity arise, Kroutil said. "The Army must be able to provide for its political and military ambitions."
"We want to show our guests that the 4th Brigade has fulfilled the reform of military forces," Majkusová said.
#1
A "peacekeeping unit"? The fiction: "A European security council has agreed to take military action, and Czech troops are part of the coalition."?
Um, will they have like guns 'n stuff, or just Blue Helmets and White Flags?
Lawzy, the Czechs aren't a buncha wimps. Wasting them on a Euro-Peacekeeping thingy, even if a fictional exercise. Sheesh. I'll bet they could field a good fighting force.
I think cooption may be the only way to save Eurabia. Perhaps we can 'rent' divisions from various euro countries for advanced training in 'hot' zones. Euros get combat trained units and we get additional manpower.
Another alternative might be to create an American version of the foreign legion wherein any euro citizen can apply and after 4, 6, or 8 years of service will be awarded US citizenship...
There have to be a fair number of euros of military age and perhaps with military training who believe as we do and would be willing to fight to preserve civilization.
Posted by: DanNY ||
10/21/2006 14:34 Comments ||
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#5
This may be a posturing gesture for Putty-Put. Putty is casting a big shadow over the region these days.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/21/2006 19:25 Comments ||
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A year after the Paris riots violence and despair continue to grip the immigrant suburbs
FLAMES lick around a burning car on a tiny telephone screen. Omar, 17, a veteran of France’s suburban riots, replayed the sequence with pride. “It was great. We did lots of them and then we went out and torched more the next day.”
Omar, whose parents immigrated from Mali, was savouring memories of the revolt that erupted 12 months ago from his home, the Chêne Pointu estate in Clichy-sous-Bois, in the eastern outskirts of Paris. “We’re ready for it again. In fact it hasn’t stopped,” he added.
Before next weekÂ’s anniversary of the Clichy riots, the violence and despair on the estates are again to the fore. Despite a promised renaissance, little has changed, and the lid could blow at any moment.
The figures are stark. An average of 112 cars a day have been torched across France so far this year and there have been 15 attacks a day on police and emergency services. Nearly 3,000 police officers have been injured in clashes this year. Officers have been badly injured in four ambushes in the Paris outskirts since September. Some police talk of open war with youths who are bent on more than vandalism.
“The thing that has changed over the past month is that they now want to kill us,” said Bruno Beschizza, the leader of Synergie, a union to which 40 per cent of officers belong. Action Police, a hardline union, said: “We are in a civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists.”
Car-burning has become so routine on the estates that it has been eclipsed in news coverage by the violence against police. Sebastian Roche, a sociologist who has published a book on the riots, said that torching a vehicle had become a standard amusement. “There is an apprenticeship of destruction. Kids learn where the petrol tank is, how to make a petrol bomb,” he told The Times.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior Minister who hopes to win the presidency next May, has once again taken the offensive, staging raids on the no-go areas and promising no mercy for the thugs who reign there.
With polls showing law and order as the top public concern, his presidential chances hang on his image as a tough cop.
M SarkozyÂ’s muscular approach is being challenged not just by Socialist opponents. President Chirac and Dominique de Villepin, his Prime Minister, are waging their own, softer, campaign to undermine the colleague whom they do not want to be president. M de Villepin called in community leaders this week and promised to accelerate hundreds of millions of pounds of measures that were promised last autumn to relieve the plight of the immigrant-dominated suburbs.
Sure thang, work would be good. But you've already fucked that notion up with your socialist paradise. Why doncha try out FDR's CCW ideas? Then they'd really burn your country down.
#2
Lol, check the video in the first message of that "skyblog" (IE "blogs" hosted by a rap radio, hugely popular among the Yooouuuths and the mtv-brainwashed teens, which allow France to claim being the N°1 blogging Nation, by the way...).
#3
I'd still like to know how they can sustain the destruction of 112 autos/day on average. Who pays ? Are the auto companies supporting this in the backround ? Sure makes demand go up. But, again, who pays ? They need to shoot a couple hundred of these punks. They'll catch on eventually.
#4
I'm wondering how much French taxpayers are subsidizing the car replacements, perhaps without being aware of that fact.
If the French don't choose to defend themselves there is literally nothing we can do except to continue to work on things like missile defense and WMD detection, against the day when their nukes are in Islamic hands.
#7
The figures are stark. An average of 112 cars a day have been torched across France so far this year
A quick back-of-the-cocktail-napkin calculation puts this lost value (112 cars/week x 40 weeks x $25K per vehicle) at well over a solid $100,000,000.
I'd still like to know how they can sustain the destruction of 112 autos/day on average. Who pays ?
Like you, SpecOp35, I'd sure like to know as well. This is a huge drain on the economy and our French contributors have already made it clear that insurance policies rarely cover the losses.
I'm hoping that some French activists will load a car with explosives so when the yoots gather 'round for the car-b-que they get peppered with flying auto parts.
France's attempt to triangulate against the United States through an alliance with the Arabs has been its own punishment reward.
#8
Few "trends" are as self-destructive, socially-destructive, obviously inane, and simply mind boggling as the global popularity of gangsta crap.
If the black community ever wants to know why they continue to be societally marginalized, they need look no further than gangsta rap. The glorification of violence, promotion of conspicuous consumption and routinedegradationofwomen positions it as a significant and universally retrograde force in our modern world.
While there is some intelligent rap music being produced, even that material's near total absence of musical complexity make listening to it a jaw-clenching experience at best. This latter category represents such a minor fraction of all rap music that the entire genre is fundamentally without redemption.
That black parents allow this music into their homes, permit their children to watch it on television, condone its emulation in dress or behavior and do not instead propose moral arguments against its intensely negative (lack of) character is a central reason in their continuing role as an underclass in America. That parents of any race permit their children to buy into this distorted world view goes a long way towards explaining the prevailing lack of intelligence and ascendancy of criminal gangs in our inner cities.
Whenever you pause to wonder why modern art and culture in general is so pathetically shallow, look no further than gansta rap for a wealth of explanation.
#9
It's been pointed out time and time again that the best means to guarantee a decent future are education, training, a willingness to work, and refraining from destructive behavior (excessive drinking, drugs, [for women, unwed pregnancy,] and other destructive behavior). Add to that, for the French muslims, the ability to speak well the local language. Of course, there is a deficit of jobs in France due to their social system, but there ARE jobs in other parts of the European community where the more well-educated could be employed. Unfortunately the French muslims are a lot like certain segments of our own soceity - following the rules is too much like giving in to "the man". Here, the OTHER golden rule applies - he who has the gold, makes the rules. You either learn to live with those rules, or you go hungry. Neither the French muslims nor those segments of US society have grasped that yet.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/21/2006 14:53 Comments ||
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#10
You either learn to live with those rules, or you go hungry
Not in the Euro welfare states, you don't. And that's the problem (or one of them, at any rate).
#11
A quick back-of-the-cocktail-napkin calculation puts this lost value (112 cars/week x 40 weeks x $25K per vehicle) at well over a solid $100,000,000.
calculation was maybe a bit to quick - that's 112 cars day x 280 days x $25k = 784,000,000. I think 25k a car is maybe to high, but still, that's a lotta dough.
Here's another nifty calculation: France's population is roughly 1/5 of the U.S.'s. I wonder what european newspapers would be saying if there were 500+ car burnings a day, and 15,000 police injured this year in the U.S.of A.
Not to mention 20 frickin' ambushes with serious injuries in the NYC outskirts since September.
#12
Thank you for the catch, markawarka. Off by a mere 7X, I was.
So, instead, we're looking at almost a solid BILLION DOLLARS of wealth being lost. It's difficult to see this as gooseing France's economy. What I see is a lot of lower income families losing their sole means of transportation and sliding into economic despair. I'm amazed that vigilantes have not gone out and caved in the skulls of these little thugs.
#13
M de Villepin called in community leaders this week and promised to accelerate hundreds of millions of pounds of measures that were promised last autumn to relieve the plight of the immigrant-dominated suburbs
Maybe that's the secret plan. They are going to build an auto plant in their neighborhood.
#14
Note that a discreet sticker on the car showing the owner to be a Muslim gives it protection from burning. In other words, don't imagine that this is a Muslim-on-Muslim thing. It is aimed at the Infidel French.
#15
French vigilantes need to start vandalizing and burning all cars with that "discreet sticker". Until the ummah starts sharing in the pain, there will be no deterrent to continued havoc. The French police and municipal authorities are idiots.
#16
The Paris burbs appear to be a giant training camp for terr wannabes. And for every 100 wannabes, couldn't there be two or three "success stories"? Not to mention senior cell-leader wannabes who can play sandbox with the police responses every night?
Vegas' PD is getting a reputation for excessive force, with more officers using their weapons than ever before. And I'll take it any day of the week.
Posted by: Vegas Matt ||
10/21/2006 19:35 Comments ||
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#3
Actually India's concern is that any vehicle or weapon that used the Galileo system could be tracked by a another Galileo user who has the master codes-ie,China.,or the data could be sold to a third party(cough,Pakistan,cough)by some greedy EU technician. Having an opponent know exactly where every active weapons depot and armored vehicle is would tend to make operations a tad more difficult,not to mention setting oneself up for a preemptive strike. Seems that nobody could assure India that couldn't happen.
Methinks the Euros haven't thought this one through.If Galileo goes operational w/assorted EU militaries,China-as well as France,Germany,Britain,etc-will hold veto power over any use of military force.
Posted by: Stephen ||
10/21/2006 3:42 Comments ||
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#4
How would such tracking work? These systems use receivers at the user's end, they don't transmit. If a military vehicle transmits its location it would use a secure comm system independent of Galileo.
#8
Galileo isn't designed for military use, primarily, but as dogsbody says, for the nanny state to both automate and control many aspects of daily life.
It's interesting that Europeans are willing to surrender this much control over personal information. For toll roads, most European countries originally adopted a system of pre-paid anonymous cards, unlike our Easy Pass system that is based on aerospace transponders which do have an id code embedded in them. When I had some involvement in this arena in the early 90s, it was quite common for Europeans to criticize the Dulles Toll Road outside of DC for its lack of privacy. But Galileo is lack of privacy in spades!
I understand the attractiveness of the Galileo project -- in theory. In theory this gives them a huge leg up on an automated world.
But their projects tend not to work in practice, for a whole variety of reasons, many cultural.
GLONASS is a rather different matter, potentially. Like GPS, GLONASS IIRC has dual bands, one with much higher precision for military use. The Russians never got their full constellation of satellites up and running, though, so by adopting GLONASS India would be helping to remedy that. These wouldn't be "replacement" satellites, but filling out the constellation for initial full capability.
We'll see which way India goes re: strategic partnerships, i.e. whether those in favor of allying with the US will influence decisions, or those who wish to regain / retain close relationships with Moscow.
Duncan Hunter is my congressman - I'm soooo proud. I've held off donating to the RNC but gave to him. SAN DIEGO The chair of the House Armed Services Committee asked the Pentagon today to remove CNN reporters embedded with US combat units. The network televised portions of a video on Wednesday showing insurgent snipers targeting U-S military personnel. Executives said the tape came to the network unexpectedly through contact with an insurgent leader.
Representative Duncan Hunter wrote in his letter that, quote, "CNN has now served as the publicist for an enemy propaganda film featuring the killing of an American soldier." San Diego-area Republicans Darrell Issa and Brian Bilbray also signed the letter. CNN executives defended their decision to air the footage, saying its news value outweighed other concerns.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/21/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
They sanitized the vid before airing it.
I'd say keep CNN on board. They're much easier to keep tabs on than Al-jiz.
Posted by: facta non verba ||
10/21/2006 0:07 Comments ||
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#2
facta non verba, sanitized or not, the only reason CNN showed the film was to try and damage President Bush going into the election. CNN considers itself a "global" news service rather than an American news service and takes special pains to prove it by reporting in an anti-American fashion. The only difference between CNN and al Jazeera is that the CNN women don't wear the hijab (yet). Embedding is a privilege that should be reserved to US media organizations rather than "global" ones.
#3
Good stuff, Duncan, of course we will be treated to the CNN/MSM whine
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/21/2006 1:03 Comments ||
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#4
Now will CNN follow their own 'Baghdad Model' [bribes and puppy dogs/baby ducks story telling] or will they whine and seethe? I don't think Vegas bookies would even bother on that one.
#5
I saw Marvin Kalb interviewed on Fox defending CNN's showing of these videos. Kalb says the American people have a right to see such videos. Of course he always defends whatever CNN does. He and Lou Dodds are idiots--they tend to induce nausea. This policy of CNN is basically a policy of showing "snuff" videos. The policy is designed to turn the American people from the war. The liberal media has always wanted to score a coup in Iraq as did Cronkite during the Vietnam war. CNN is going to get more GIs killed as the result of their cruel policy. This is truly pornographic. Where the hell did they get such videos unless from the enemy. If they were obtained from the enemy then CNN is in bed with the enemy.
#6
This all tracks back to former-Time and current CNN reporter, Michael Ware, who always seems to mine the nuggets from the insurgents through his sophistry.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/21/2006 19:29 Comments ||
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#4
Harman has changed dramatically over the past two years largely to appease Pelosi and her LA constituents.
Frankly, I'm not big on pols who change their stripes in order to remain in power, particularly when she is on the Intel committee. She has no moral compass.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/21/2006 19:34 Comments ||
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#5
And yet, as Glenn Reynolds reports, Pelosi wants to replace her with Alcee Hastings. Considering that ex-Judge Hastings would be slightly less likely to get a security clearence than Bugs Bunny, I'd rather have Harman.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
10/21/2006 23:54 Comments ||
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I corrected this limp piece of crap: The Clinton Legacy: Coddling Lynne Stewart
The sentencing of hyper-liberal lawyer Lynne Stewart to 28 months in prison -- federal guidelines suggest 30 years -- defines the Clinton legacy better than the former president's finger-wagging histrionics to re-write history.
Ms. Stewart, who's represented radicals and mobsters, was convicted in 2005 of helping imprisoned terrorist Sheik Omar-Abdel Rahman communicate with his followers in the Middle East. The blind Muslim cleric plotted to assassinate Egypt's president and to blow up five New York landmarks.
U.S. District Judge John Koeltl rightly concluded her actions constituted "extraordinarily severe criminal conduct" and material support for terrorism that could have caused "lethal consequences."
But after noting her treason did not trigger violence, Judge Koeltl commended Stewart. Being an advocate for life's bottom feeders is a public service, he said.
The judge also cited Stewart's breast cancer and diabetes, conditions that would make it difficult for her in prison. Well, yes it would. But so what?
Stewart is free on bond pending appeal.
President Bill Clinton nominated Koeltl for the district court. And Jo Ann Harris, an assistant attorney general during his presidency, was one of those begging the judge for leniency.
Why anyone questions the Clinton administration's resolve to fight terrorism continues to mystify the serial finger-wagger.
#1
This is the msm/tranzi meme being circulated : "the USA have legalized torture" (for example, that was the Lci news channel's take on the subject, and yesterday the weekly debate included the "Bush has lost the moral war" topic).
Iraq's main Sunni Arab party on Saturday strongly backed a fledgling agreement between Sunni and Shi'ite religious figures aimed at ending sectarian bloodletting.
Adnan al-Dulaimi, the head of the Iraqi Accordance Front, said the edicts signed Friday in the Muslim holy city of Mecca could pull the country back from a potential civil war. He also called for a ceasefire between American forces and insurgent groups during upcoming Id al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
"We praise this step and call upon all Iraqis and the government to respond to this blessed event and support it," said al-Dulaimi, whose party holds 44 seats in the 275-member parliament and several positions in the struggling Shi'ite-led government of Nouri al-Maliki.
Al-Dulaimi's endorsement was echoed by US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who issued a statement urging Iraqis to do "everything possible to stop the killing of the innocent."
"Now is the time for reconciliation and unity," Khalilzad said. Later, al Dulaimi and al Maliki jointly clarified the agreement in more concrete terms, "Both sides agree. We will now only attack Americans. We will kill this Khalilzad clown first."
Later, al Dulaimi [right] and al Maliki [left] jointly clarified the agreement in more concrete terms, "Both sides agree. We will now only attack Americans. We will kill this Khalilzad clown first."
(KUNA) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki on Friday sent a security delegation headed by Minister of State for National Security Shirwan Al-Waili to Amarah, 367 kilometers south of Baghdad, to resolve security issues there as clashes erupted in the city after the assassination of an Iraqi Police brigadier. Spokesperson for the General Commander of the Armed Forces, Brigadier Qassem Al-Mosawi told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the delegation will meet with tribal chieftains, figures in the city, and members of Al-Sadr group to reduce tension and end violence in the city.
Al-Mosawi added that important negotiations are taking place in the city, which will be completed upon the arrival of the delegation. The official noted that two Iraqi Army brigades comprising of 230 soldiers were dispatched to Amarah with British air support to help create stability in the city.
He said that the gunmen who attacked the police station and targeted civilians cannot be identified unless security and stability is maintained in the city. Sources in Amarah told KUNA that shooting in the city came to stop after Shiite Leader Muqtada Al-Sadr called on members of Al-Mahdi Militia to work for tranquility and uphold promotion of any sectarian conflicts. Violent clashes took place between members of Al-Mahdi Militia and the Iraqi Police after the assassination of Brigadier Qassem Al-Tamimi the director of intelligence and three of his aides in Misan region on Wednesday. Five civilians and four militia members were killed in the clashes, while 40 others were wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I rarely agree with the leftist, sewer-rat, Juan Cole, but I think he has correctly assessed the situation in Amarah. If true, he points to a grave miscalculation by Iranian intelligence:
"...Amara is the capital of Maysan province (pop. 770,000). Maysan province in general and Amara in particular support the nationalist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Maysan and its capital are among the places to which the Marsh Arabs were displaced when their swamps dried up, and they are often desperately poor and very tribal, and they seem to have joined the Sadr Movement en masse during the past 3 years.
When the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim controlled the Interior Ministry in 2005 and until May, 2006, it used the ministry's national oversight of local police forces to infiltrate members of SCIRI's paramilitary, the Badr Corps, into the Amara police force. There is a bubbling low-level feud between the Sadrists in Maysan and the SCIRI police.
So recently the Mahdi Army assassinated Qasim al-Tamimi, a police official who was also a member of the Badr Corps. The Badr Corps was formed in Iran and trained by the Revolutionary Guards, and is viewed by many in the Iraqi-nationalist Mahdi Army as the tool of a foreign power.
Then the police arrested or abducted (when militia are in police, how could you tell?) 5 men, including the brother of a Mahdi Army leader in Amara.
Then protests escalated into fighting, and the Mahdi Army took over several police stations and killed or wounded dozens of police/ Badr Corps militiamen.
The Western press is mostly reporting this story backwards, as a pro-Iranian Sadr Movement taking over Amara. In fact, the Sadr Movement already dominated Amara politically, but the (Iranian-trained) Badr Corps had this unnatural niche in the police. It was Badr that had "taken over" the security forces in a largely Sadrist city. The Mahdi Army was attempting to align local politics with local power.
Muqtada al-Sadr, the young spiritual leader of the Sadr Movement and the Mahdi Army, demanded that his men stop fighting and said that he washed his hands of anyone who disobeyed his orders, according to Aljazeera.
Ahmad al-Sharifi, a Sadrist leader, told al-Zaman that the fighting in Amara is one of the consequences of the law on provincial confederacies passed last week by the Iraqi parliament, to which the Sadr Movement was opposed.
Al-Zaman's contacts in the Iraqi intelligence establishment warned that the clashes in Amara could spread to the cities of Basra and Nasiriyah. He said that the Mahdi Army and the Badr Corps in those two cities had announced their mutual dislike of one another, and that they had begun recruiting further militiamen to replenish their ranks..."
-----------------------------
Pro-GWOT pundits need to assess the Arab media much better. Enemies will profit on less than insightful reporting. And we who are not fluent in Arabic, have no choice but to rely on Orientalists.
#2
The Badr Corps was formed in Iran and trained by the Revolutionary Guards, and is viewed by many in the Iraqi-nationalist Mahdi Army as the tool of a foreign power.
#4
if Juan Cole is for a certain outcome, you can trust that he's slanting the facts to have an anti-western/anti-American otcome. Saltlick, please
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/21/2006 9:41 Comments ||
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#5
Cole knows much less than he claims to know, but one area on which he is genuinely knowledgeable is Shia intramural politics in Iraq. This does not mean that you can trust his slant; however he probably has the facts right.
Former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker has warned not to expect a special Iraq panel he co-chairs to come up with a "magic bullet" to solve deepening problems in that country. He said the bipartisan Iraq Study Group appointed by the U.S. Congress to look at alternatives to current policy in Iraq had not decided what to recommend, but he suggested there was no easy way out of the violent conflict.
"I will say one other thing -- there's no magic bullet for the situation in Iraq. It is very, very difficult," Baker said on Tuesday in a speech to the World Affairs Council of Houston. "So anybody who thinks that somehow we're going to come up with something that is going to totally solve the problem is engaging in wishful thinking," he said.
I'm afraid the time for the "magic bullet" has passed. An intel-driven killing campaign against the terrorist infrastructure would do it, but some of the main targets are part of the Iraqi government, to which we're deferring for the moment. To begin implementing the (literal) magic bullets, we'd have to ignore half the government and assassinate the other half. But that would deal with the problem sufficiently to have it cleared up in a year.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
STRATEGYPAGE.com > article = UNO estimates up to 1.6Milyuuhn Iraqis, mostly SUNNI, have fled Iraq since 2003, while 00,000's of Shias, etal. have returned to Iraq. The Shias and anti-Saddamists are engaged in violent bloody revenge for what Saddam did to them. * IS EXCLUSIVE OF RADICAL IRAN'S REGIONAL AMBITIONS. Other articles - covert Iranian INTEL-espionage networks + "sleeper cells" have been discovered in BAHRAIN + KUWAIT, etc.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/21/2006 1:03 Comments ||
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#4
If it comes to splitting the country i hope the Kurds get a homeland.
But that will mean Turkey may invade.
Also, Iran may invade.
That may provoke the Saudis to defend the Sunni minority. We are in the swamp now but I don't think instability in the region is necessarily a bad thing and perhaps we do need a mother of all regional wars there to sort this stuff out once and for all
#10
Baker is cofounder of Baker Botts, an impressive law firm in TX. The firm is big on, you guessed it, oil company clients.
Baker is politically savy and sharp, despite his advanced age. But I wouldn't hang the eventual findings from the Iraq Study Group on Baker. The group has a strong composition.
Moreover, Baker and everyone else on the ISG know that President Bush is the CIC. They can recommend but President Bush makes the call.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/21/2006 19:43 Comments ||
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#11
It will be interesting to see if this group says that the problems in Iraq are being heavily fomented by Iran.
#12
Actually, there is a "magic bullet". Only, it's slightly larger and requires aerial delivery.
Start with one delivered to every MME (Muslim Middle East) capital city and then inquire as to who still wants to continue this jihad bullshit. Any takers zoom to the top of the Christmas list for round two.
AFP.
Tens of thosuands of Muslims were converging on Islam's third-holiest site, the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, to attend the last Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan.
Flocking in from the occupied West Bank and Israel, the worshippers crowded the narrow lanes leading to the mosque in the heart of Jerusalem.
As every Friday in Ramadan, the Israeli authorities allow West Bank men older than 45 and women over 35 into Jerusalem to pray, said Shlomo Dror, spokesman for the coordinator of government activities in the territories.
Many worshippers arrived very early at the Qalandiya checkpoint, between the West Bank political capital of Ramallah and Jerusalem, and another that controls access to the holy city from the south, said AFP journalists.
Very few Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank are normally granted Israeli permits allowing them to travel to occupied and annexed east Jerusalem, the site of the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Like every Friday since Ramadan began, Israeli police were deployed in force in east Jerusalem to prevent any disturbances during and after the prayers.
The Islamic Movement in Israel said tens of thousands of worshippers from Arab districts inside the Jewish state were arriving in Jerusalem ahead of the prayers, due to begin at 0930 GMT.
The last Friday of Ramadan, called the Orphan, attracts a record number of worshippers to the Al-Aqsa mosque each year.
Last Friday, Israeli soldiers dispersed hundreds of Palestinians who demonstrated at the two main checkpoints on the approach to Jerusalem after they were stopped from heading to the prayers.
#1
Assume that the greenhouses were worth only a MILLION dollars. Now, count the BILLIONS of dollars flushed down the Palestinian toilet.
Try to imagine which of those THOUSANDS of MILLIONS were the MILLION dollars spent on those greenhouses.
Now, consider the many different important global projects that could have been accomplished with all those BILLIONS of dollars.
If there was a just one button I could push to exterminate the Palestinians in a single stroke, you would have to stick burning hot needles into my eyeballs to stop me from pushing it. And I would still push that button.
#2
Hate to say it, but really, why is this so shocking?
They have been getting handouts for what, fifty years at least. Every time something got destroyed, whether they did it or the Jews were responsible, someone else came up with the $ to rebuild it. They never had to come up with the cash or had it deducted from other money that they got, and they never ever were told that acting like that was unacceptable for civilized men & women.
So basically now, you have the equivalent of a little rat-dog owned by some dotty old broad who refuses to see that her little Pookie has problems. It stubbornly and repeatedly fouls its house, and can't be left unsupervised for fear it's going to go off and viciously bite a neighborhood kid. No matter what that evil little anklebiter does, the owner still thinks its "cute" and gets it special treats because no one else understands her precious little psycho.
The only difference is that maybe you can put the rat-dog down someday, or have animal control come out and take care of the problem. All you can do with the Palis is contain them so that they can't f#$% up the rest of the neighborhood.
#7
So basically now, you have the equivalent of a little rat-dog owned by some dotty old broad who refuses to see that her little Pookie has problems. It stubbornly and repeatedly fouls its house, and can't be left unsupervised for fear it's going to go off and viciously bite a neighborhood kid. No matter what that evil little anklebiter does, the owner still thinks its "cute" and gets it special treats because no one else understands her precious little psycho.
Swamp Blondie, you've just described to a tee my next door neighbor and her rat-in-a-dog-suit. Except that she isn't elderly and she has turned life in the duplex into living hell. Although the animal doesn't crap indoors, it has "separation anxiety". This translates into two hours of howling, cannoning around the apartment toppling furniture and digging through the front door every time my neighbor leaves this dog-in-a-rat-suit home alone.
Of course, she considers this vivesection candidate to be "so cute" and thinks nothing of tieing it up on the front porch so it can bark, lunge and snap at passersby. A stray Rottweiler turned it into a chew toy and she still persists in leaving the animal out front.
My complaints to her and my landlord have fallen on deaf ears. Despite her leaving this duplex's shared entryway door standing open. Our neighbor hood beat cop even came right up onto the porch and entered her apartment to advise her against this dangerous practice and yet she still persists in doing so. When I chastised her for compromising building security, she threatened me with (essentially false) arrest.
I guess I should think of her as my own private Palestinian, eh?
#8
Every time something got destroyed, whether they did it or the Jews were responsible, someone else came up with the $ to rebuild it. They never had to come up with the cash or had it deducted from other money that they got, and they never ever were told that acting like that was unacceptable for civilized men & women.
#10
This shows that most pet parakeets have more brain power than this unwashed herd. Not only were they left with a golden opportunity to generate money, but they were left with a guaranteed food supply. All they had to do was maintain. Buuut Noooooo. They had to trash it 'cause it was created by Jooooooosss. These are truly useless fools who shouldn't be wasting our air supply.
I hate those damn rats in dog suits, myself. It never ceases to amaze me that I have a hell of a time finding insurance companies or landlords because of my goofy shepherd/rottie mix, but someone with a sociopathic 7 lb bit of fluff gets the red carpet rolled out for them.
#14
I had a similiar situation and fixed it thusly: one live animal trap and bait food; problem animal wandered in, trap shut. 4 days later I let it out. I gave it water; a daily soaking.
No need for a repeat performance.
placing D-con for rat control 'wink, wink' works good also, I am told.
of course all other avenues were exhausted prior to the above.
#15
My parents had a wonderful Norwegian elkhound, a gift they never could have afforded to buy for themselves, from the breeder who was a friend. Well trained, never left their property, protected my mother on more than one occasion when she was home alone.
Neighbors who lived on the acre+ next door had a habit of getting drunk. Dad refused them permission to fish in the pond he kept for the grandkids and friends. The sons of bitches decided to "get even" by tossing Shadow steak laced with dCon. She died with her head in Mom's lap while Mom sobbed broken heartedly.
I would have killed the neighbors by cramming the same thing down their throats with my own hands if I had been in the area at the time.
#16
That is so sad, lotp. I'm sure your mother was as devoted to that animal as it was to her. I refuse to treat animals like humans and try not to value them over human life, but people like those neighbors you mention somehow manage to test my commitment. Too bad there weren't some fast replicating parasitic nematodes your dad could have laced the pond with prior to inviting over those bastards for a day's fishing. Evil shits.
The interior minister of the Hamas-led Palestinian government said Wednesday that efforts were under way, with help from the US, to remove the group from power. "There is American support for whoever wants to topple the government," Palestinian Interior Minister Said Siyam told reporters in Cairo. "Why don't they want Hamas in the government? Is it forbidden (by God)? It came to power through the will of the people and that should be respected. This is a war waged on the government."
On Tuesday, head of Egyptian Intelligence Omar Suleiman told Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal to urge Hamas to relinquish its rule in the Palestinian Authority in order to solve the problems in the Palestinian territories. During a meeting in Damascus, Suleiman proposed that Hamas oversee the government via the PA parliament where the organization has a majority.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2006 00:00 ||
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Criminals kidnap people. Governments don't. Political parties don't.
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar said Friday that the possibility of kidnapping IDF soldiers had not been ruled out by Hamas as a tactic for forcing the release of Palestinian security prisoners currently incarcerated in Israel. Speaking at a Hamas rally in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, Zahar said he demanded that Israel release prisoners in exchange for the release of kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit.
Israel is a "cancer" in the Middle East, Zahar continued, and added that Hamas would never recognize its existence. "Israel is a growth on our land," he said. "It has no historical, religious, or cultural justification, and we will never establish relations with this 'cancer.' We will never recognize Israel - this is a final, non-negotiable decision," Zahar declared.
Zahar's comments echoed those made by Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal a week ago, who reiterated that Hamas would never recognize Israel, but indicated that his organization would consider swapping Shalit in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2006 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
10/21/2006 10:06 Comments ||
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#4
Of course, Israel IS a cancer, it is a "muslim" (read conquered) land now ruled by non-muslims, and even worse, by the archetypal dhimmis the Holy Koran condemns as ennemies of allan and future troops of the djajjal. This is an insult to the "natural" islamic order; even worse, they have pretention over Jerusalem, while this city MUST be ruled by muslims, to prove the superiority of islam over the two precedent Jerusalem-centered religions.
#5
There is no further excuse for the existence of those who claim to be "palestinians". Kill them, exile them, and crush those that might even THINK of supporting their resurgence. They are all Arabs, and worthless to the future existence of humanity. Begin with this utter piece of filth and the barnacle on his nose.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/21/2006 15:28 Comments ||
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On Thursday, in his latest action designed to increase pressure on Hamas, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas with members of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission to discuss the possibility of holding new elections or conducting a referendum in the PA territories. "President Abbas is serious about holding new elections if Hamas continues to stick to its position," a senior PA official told The Jerusalem Post. "He might also consider calling a referendum to see if the people want the Hamas government to remain in power."
Hamas representatives, however, warned Abbas against such moves, saying they would be tantamount to staging a coup against the Hamas-led government. Abbas's meeting with the commission came amid reports that he was also considering the possibility of forming a "technocratic" government consisting of independent figures.
Azzam al-Ahmed, a Fatah legislator and close adviser to Abbas, said the PA chairman would make a final decision on this issue within the next few days. "President Abbas has decided to support the idea of the technocratic government and he will make a decision soon," he said. "All attempts to establish a national unity government have failed and there's no point in continuing the negotiations [with Hamas]."
Hamas dismissed Abbas's idea of holding a referendum or installing a government of independent technocrats, saying it would only aggravate tensions with Fatah. PA Interior Minister Said Siam warned that Hamas would consider any referendum on the fate of the government to be an attempted coup. "We reject making the referendum like a bogeyman to resort to in such situations," he said. "President Mahmoud Abbas has powers, yes, and he can exercise his powers within the legal limits." But, he added, "The situation here is not about powers. The referendum would be a coup against the legitimacy this government enjoyed. There is US support for whoever wants to topple the government."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2006 00:00 ||
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French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie on Friday insisted that the anti-aircraft missiles deployed with the French Unit within the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) will be exclusively used for self-defense if the ongoing Israeli jets violating Lebanese airspace hit the force. She told a press conference that "so far the ground-air missiles are only meant for self protection and self defense and will not be used in different fashion," in reaction to what UNIFIL Commander Alain Pellegrini said the day before that the Force may use those missiles if diplomacy fails to convince Israel to stop those flights.
She insisted that those air violations are "dangerous ... and against Israel's own interest, they are counterproductive. They are dangerous, first because they are considered hostile by the coalition forces, that could lead to retaliation and this would be a very serious incident. On the other hand, these violations make the resolution (1701) more fragile, because some elements could be used as a pretext by some people to retaliate. That's why it is necessary that these violations stop." She noted, however, that she was told by UN officials on the ground that these violations have stopped for the last 48 hours.
#3
The French are clearly taking Hezb'Allah's side here. I suspect this means Israel will have to build/buy a lot more stealthy UAVs for recon with only intermittent violations to test systems and keep the Frog-Hezb alliance on its toes/lull them into tolerance.
Hey France, here's a hint...You actually need to "impose" and "enforce" the sanctions before you can negotiate them away. Carts, horses, you know the drill.
France and its allies are willing to suspend the drive to impose UN Security Council sanctions on Iran if it takes positive steps toward resolving questions over its disputed nuclear program, France's defense minister said Friday. Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said it was "very difficult to talk to Iran" becuase its officials may give the impression they're ready to change their stance, but then reverse themselves. "When the factions are getting close there's a diplomatic step forward by Iran and then on the following day or three days later, when we think we're going to get into the talks once again, they step back and they stiffen on behalf of the Iranian government or president," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2006 00:00 ||
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A spokesperson for Kofi Annan told The Jerusalem Post by phone on Thursday night that contrary to an earlier report, there was no decision to fire on Israeli planes whatsoever. "The French units of UNIFIL have deployed with anti-aircraft batteries. The rules of engagement allow these weapons to be used only in self-defence in case a position is under imminent attack by air, no matter who attacks," the spokesperson clarified in an official statement. "French peacekeeping forces have routinely deployed with such weapons since their peacekeepers were attacked by helicopters in Cote d'Ivoire in November 2004," the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
UN: No decision to fire on IAF planes - Still trying to determine if it would be too obvious
(CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned Europe that it may pay a heavy price for its support of Israel. "You should believe that this regime (Israel) cannot last and has no more benefit to you. What benefit have you got in supporting this regime, except the hatred of the nations?" he said in nationally broadcast speech Friday.
"We have advised the Europeans that the Americans are far away, but you are the neighbors of the nations in this region," he said. "We inform you that the nations are like an ocean that is welling up, and if a storm begins, the dimensions will not stay limited to Palestine, and you may get hurt."
Ahmadinejad's comments came on Jerusalem Day -- when Iranians are officially encouraged to show their support for the Palestinians. These remarks were made a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Iran would "have a price to pay" if it continued down the path of its nuclear ambitions. Olmert was speaking to reporters Thursday on his way home from a three-day trip to Moscow. Israel, along with the United States and other Western powers, rejects Tehran's claim that its nuclear program is peaceful, designed solely to produce energy.
On Friday, Ahmadinejad said there was no justification for the "Zionist regime" -- a term he often uses when referring to Israel -- arguing that it is on the verge of disintegration. "Efforts to stabilize this fake regime, by the grace of God, have completely failed," he said. He also called Israel's leaders a "group of terrorists."
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#1
IOW, ISRAEL = USA = WEST > IFF WE SURRENDER NOW, WE WON'T BE BEHEADED/KILLED RIGHT AWAY. CLINTONISM > mainstream America wants - nay, DEMANDS D *** YOU - to lose or be destroyed anyway, espec after 2008 = HILLARY's ADMIN!?
#4
Even the limp dicks in Europe should pay you no mind Dinnerjacket. Anyone dumb enough to continue living in a Nuclear Test Zone (NTS) should not be dispensing advice, even to pig eaters.
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.
(SomaliNet) Eritrea was on Thursday accused by a United States(US) top diplomat for Africa, of attacking its neighbour Ethiopia through proxies in Somalia. The US envoyÂ’s accusations echoes a statement made by Ethiopian prime minister to his parliament. However, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Jendayi E Frazer, said that both Ethiopia and Eritrea should show restraint to avoid taking Somalia's conflict regional. 
(SomaliNet) The Sudanese Defense Minister has requested for a $1 billion arms loan from Moscow through Russian officials, to buy more military airplanes for Sudan, - Russian Daily Friday. The Sudanese minister 
An Islamic court has banned women from swimming at the main beach in Somalia's capital, the latest step to impose strict religious rule that has sparked fears of an emerging, Taliban-style regime. Sheikh Farah Ali Hussein, chair of a northern Mogadishu Islamic court, said Friday that the ban applies only to the northern Mogadishu Leedo beach, where families usually go on weekends to play and relax. "We stopped women from swimming because it is against the teaching of Islam for women to mingle with men, especially while they are swimming," Hussein said.
CAIRO, Egypt - Muslims are facing cruel and false accusations about their faith but must bear some responsibility for the wrong impressions, PresidentHosni Mubarak said. The Egyptian leader's comments came in a speech Thursday to senior officials and Muslim clerics marking the holy month of Ramadan.
Eid Al-Fitr, the celebration marking the end of fasting in Ramadan, will be Monday, according to Khaled ibn Saleh Al-Zaaq, member of Arab Space Science Federation and supervisor of Buraidah Astronomical Observatory. In a statement carried by Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper, Al-Zaaq said it would be impossible to sight the Shawwal crescent today (Saturday) as it will disappear one hour before the sunset.
The leader of South Korea's ruling party visited a South-run industrial zone in North Korea on Friday, as Seoul struggles to keep the key symbol of inter-Korean detente alive despite criticism it may help fund Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. "I'm going to visit the Kaesong industrial complex today to let the world clearly know that the Kaesong and the Diamond Mountain projects should continue without being shaken even a bit," Rep. Kim Geun-tae, chairman of the ruling Uri Party, said in a statement ahead of his departure on the one-day trip. 
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said Pyongyang didn't plan to carry out any more nuclear tests and expressed regret about the country's first-ever atomic detonation last week, a South Korean news agency reported Friday. North Korea, however, kept up its bellicose rhetoric as more than 100,000 people gathered Friday in Pyongyang's central Kim Il Sung square to "hail the success of the historic nuclear test," according to the North's official media. 
SAN DIEGO The chair of the House Armed Services Committee asked the Pentagon today to remove CNN reporters embedded with US combat units. The network televised portions of a video on Wednesday showing insurgent snipers targeting U-S military personnel. Executives said the tape came to the network unexpectedly through contact with an insurgent leader.
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar said Friday that the possibility of kidnapping IDF soldiers had not been ruled out by Hamas as a tactic for forcing the release of Palestinian security prisoners currently incarcerated in Israel. Speaking at a Hamas rally in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, Zahar said he demanded that Israel release prisoners in exchange for the release of kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit. 
On Thursday, in his latest action designed to increase pressure on Hamas, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas with members of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission to discuss the possibility of holding new elections or conducting a referendum in the PA territories. "President Abbas is serious about holding new elections if Hamas continues to stick to its position," a senior PA official told The Jerusalem Post. "He might also consider calling a referendum to see if the people want the Hamas government to remain in power." 
A spokesperson for Kofi Annan told The Jerusalem Post by phone on Thursday night that contrary to an earlier report, there was no decision to fire on Israeli planes whatsoever. "The French units of UNIFIL have deployed with anti-aircraft batteries. The rules of engagement allow these weapons to be used only in self-defence in case a position is under imminent attack by air, no matter who attacks," the spokesperson clarified in an official statement. "French peacekeeping forces have routinely deployed with such weapons since their peacekeepers were attacked by helicopters in Cote d'Ivoire in November 2004," the statement said.
(CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned Europe that it may pay a heavy price for its support of Israel. "You should believe that this regime (Israel) cannot last and has no more benefit to you. What benefit have you got in supporting this regime, except the hatred of the nations?" he said in nationally broadcast speech Friday.
