Shortly after the ship's passengers had helped fend off the attackers and the captain had alerted international warships, the satellite phone on the bridge rang. "You have been attacked, you need help," a man said in broken English. "Give us your coordinates and we will come to you." Captain Pinto thought the call was strange. The man on the other end of the leine didn't want to give the name of his ship, so the captain refused to state the MSC Melody's position. He may have saved the passengers and crew from another pirate attack. How about that? They looked up the ship's phone number in some directory or other.
"The ship had been completely blacked out and made invisible to the pirates," MSC chief Vago says. "But we've become certain in the meantime that the pirates were trying to get the position data so they could attack us again." The captain has said he believes he heard street sounds in the background in the telephone conversation. And Vago says he believes that accomplices back on the mainland were trying to provide the pirates at sea with assistance. Meanwhile, regarding the same incident:
Rolf R. says more than a few passengers are irritated by the captain's posturing, and they in no way view him as a hero. "Many are now asking why the captain first had to be alerted about the shots through the passengers," says R. He is also unwilling to accept claims made by the cruise company that the passengers were never in danger. The shots were "fired at windows located just 50 meters from a group of many hundreds of passengers" attending a classical music concert, he says.
Continued on Page 49
#1
the satellite phone on the bridge rang. "You have been attacked, you need help," a man said in broken English. "Give us your coordinates and we will come to you."
The Somali pirate dirtbag version of a Windoze popup ad alerting me to a virus in my 'puter and offering to scan my system and install security software.
#4
For the curious of mind, the phone system is run by INMARSAT. You can go to http://www.inmarsat.com and check out the ship directory to find the phone numbers.
#6
#4 For the curious of mind, the phone system is run by INMARSAT. You can go to http://www.inmarsat.com and check out the ship directory to find the phone numbers.
Posted by Dreadnought 2009-04-29 16:15||
Hopefully, some forwarding leaning folks at Fort Meade are doing just that. If not, why not?
#8
Its called a BULKHEAD = HULL, which could effectively mask small-caliber gunfire as seemingly "normal" ship engine/oper sounds. DOESN'T EXCUSE THE BOYZ ON LOOKOUT WATCH, THOUGH. The good CAPT may be being PC becuz a board of inquiry, ship's owners, etc. could still blame him as El CAPITANO for NOT HAVING RELIABLE OR PROPERLY TRAINED MEN ON WATCH, IN THESE "TRUUUBLED TYMES".
Evidence is growing that Taliban are filtering out of havens along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and into East Africa, bringing sophisticated terror tactics including suicide attacks.
The alarming shift, according to US military and counterterror officials, fuels worries that Somalia increasingly is on a path to become the next Afghanistan, a sanctuary where Al Qaeda-linked groups could train and plan their attacks against the West.
So far, officials say the number of foreign fighters who had moved from southwest Asia and the Pak-Afghan border region to the Horn of Africa was small, perhaps two to three dozen.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
1. Sounds more like they are expanding out of A'stan rather than moving from it.
2. If they try to expand out of Somalia into, say, Sudan or Zimbabwe, will the Chinese be offended at the intrusion into their de facto colonies? Or will the Talibunnies leave anything Chinese alone and only attack native and Western infidels?
#2
Appears to be something of a pattern. I recommend we stay the hell out of it!
Excerpt from Bitter Harvest:
Ghana was the first British country to be granted indpendence in 1957, and the British government claimed tht this glorious example would prove the success of Britain's colonial power. With a couple of years their Presient Nkrumah had established a one-party dictatorship, half the members of Parliament were imprisoned, the leaders of the opposition had been eliminated, the economy was in ruins, and the President established external multi-million pound personal bank account.
[Bangla Daily Star] An intra-Awami League (AL) clash over possession of a land owned by a local mosque, resulted in an imposition of section 144 in Parbatipur upazila of Dinajpur yesterday.
The section 144, banning gathering of more than four persons in the upazila, was imposed at 4:20pm following the clash that left 10 persons injured, police sources said.
Police said Md Hazarat Ali 75, son of late Md Zahurul Haque of village Mondolpara of Parbatipur Sadar upazila was critically injured and undergoing treatment in Rangpur Medical College Hospital.
According to police and local residents the clash erupted when a faction of the local unit of AL led by Foysal Alam Biggan, President of Parbatipur Upazila Hotel Sramik League also a former Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leader, at 2.00pm descended upon fruit vendors who set up their shops on the disputed piece of land, and drove them away from there.
As the news of the attack spread, another faction of the party led by Md Amzad Hossain, Organisational Secretary of Parbatipur upazila AL, who had the possession of the land and rented it out to the fruit vendors, rushed to the scene with his gang and retaliated.
In the ensuing clash both groups attacked each other with sharp weapons and sticks, creating a panic in the entire upazila headquarters area, which forced all shopkeepers to pull down their shutters.
Biggan and his supporters also set ablaze some roadside shops and looted a number of them during the clash. Later Parbatipur fire fighters doused the fire.
Police arrived at the spot after being informed and charged batons to disperse the clashing goons. Around 4.20pm Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Parbatipur Protab Chandra Biswas imposed section 144 to bring the situation under control.
Police officials quoting witnesses said the two factions of AL have long been clashing over the piece of land owned by the mosque.
Amzad grabbed the land soon after AL came to power this year and rented it out to local fruit traders.
Mosque sources said there are 23 decimals of land owned by the mosque, and Azad faction of AL grabbed 3 decimals.
Around Monday midnight some people damaged a part the boundary wall of Natun Bazar Jamey Mosque sparking tension among the mosque going Muslims and the AL factions.
After the incident the Mosque committee informed State Minister for Forest and Environment Md Mostafizur Rahman Fizar about it, and the state minister instructed the UNO to resolve the problem.
Md Mirza Abdus Salam, the officer-in-charge of Parbatipur police, said the situation was under control last night.
Khalequzzaman Mukul, a member the mosque committee, said the state minister would hold a meeting last night with the two AL factions and the mosque committee to resolve the dispute, but till filing of this report late last night the meeting did not take place.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] At least four Islamist militant outfits including three banned ones are regrouping their cadres in twelve districts in the southwestern region of the country.
As many as forty top ranking leaders along with their 10,000 cadres are working under the cover of different names.
Sources of law enforcment agencies confirmed the attempt of regrouping based on information gleaned from 31 arrested militants of Hizb-ut Towhid in Kushtia last week.
A total of 10 out of 31 arrested Hizb-ut Towhid men are now being interrogated by Kushtia police after Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court placed them on a four-day remand.
Sources said the law enforcers are now trying to hunt down the chiefs of those outfits holed up in different districts.
The outfits operating in the region are Allahr Dal, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami (Huji) and Hizb-ut Towhid.
The militants are mainly active in ten districts of Khulna division -- Kushtia, Meherpur, Jhenidah, Magura, Chuadanga, Jessore, Khulna, Narail, Bagerhat and Satkhira and in two districts of Dhaka division -- Rajbari and Faridpur.
Allahar Dal and Hizb-ut Towhid are active in Kushtia, Meherpur, Jhenidah and Chuadanga, Huji in Jhneidah, Magura and Faridpur and JMB in Satkhira, Narail, Khulna, Jessore and Rajbari.
Of the outfits, Hizb-ut Towhid is more active in several districts of Khulna division with around 1200 trained militants. The outfit has several dens in the division and is recruiting fresh members under supervision of its 10 top ranking leaders.
Police have already extracted names of several leaders of Hizb-ut Towhid. They are Moulana Mahbub, in-charge of Kushtia and Chuadanga; Anisur Rahman, in-charge of Meherpur and Jhenidah and Mejbah Uddin, in-charge of Magura, sources said.
Baiyezid Khan Panni of Tangail is currently leading Hiizb-ut Towhid and considered as Imam to his followers. Panni has written several books to indoctrinate his followers and he also distributes leaflets to preach his followers.
According to police, during interrogation Hizb-ut Towhid men told them Bayezid Khan invited them to take preparation for a 'direct combat' against the man-made rules.
Police said a large number of members and leaders of the organisation are well- trained and motivated. In some areas, the outfit is reportedly operating under the cover of Tablig Jamaat.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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SEOUL, April 27 (Yonhap) -- Monthly trade between South and North Korea fell more than 30 percent on-year in March, as tensions ran high over South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise, government data showed Monday. The two Koreas exchanged goods and services worth US$108.74 million over the last month, down 31.1 percent from $157.9 million in the same period in 2008, the data from the Unification Ministry said.
The Nork trade involves goods from Kaesong; apparently the SKor trade involves food, oil and cognac ...
North Korea sealed the border three times in March, disrupting South Korean production in a joint industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong. Pyongyang imposed the ban in retaliation against a joint military exercise South Korea staged with the United States from March 9 to 20 south of the border. Pyongyang blasted the joint exercise as a rehearsal for a "second Korean War," while the two allies say the annual drill is purely defensive.
More than 100 South Korean firms operate in the Kaesong industrial venture, just an hour's drive from Seoul, joining their capital and technology with North Korea's cheap but skilled labor.
North Korea demanded the South raise wages ...
That money goes into Kimmie's hands, and the people who work get virtually nothing.
... pay fees for land use ...
Not allowed until 2014 according to the current agreement; the Norks just want to squeeze the SKor companies.
... and revise existing contracts for the Kaesong venture ...
Also not allowed but since when did the Norks let a signed agreement stop them?
... during inter-Korean government talks last week, the first official dialogue in more than a year. Seoul is gathering opinion from South Korean firms and plans to respond to the North Korean demand as early as this week.
The SKor companies are nervous; they've invested large sums of money into these ventures and now stand to lose just about all of it.
The joint venture opened in late 2004 as a key outcome of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il who agreed to reduce military tension and boost reconciliatory exchanges.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The SKor companies are nervous
As the saying goes, 'lay down with dogs and you are going to get fleas.'
And I'll bet he's not being treated as well as the two American journalists.
There are no signs that the month-long detention of a South Korean in North Korea will end in the near future. Unification Minister Hyun In-taek warned Tuesday that the detention of the Hyundai Asan employee at the joint Kaesong Industrial Complex, "cannot be separated from future inter-Korean negotiations," but North Korea seems unimpressed.
But the Unification Ministry said Tuesday it was able to make indirect contact with the man, identified only as Yoo, who was arrested on March 30 on charges of criticizing the North Korean regime, and he is still in Kaesong and safe. However, rumor at the Kaesong complex has it that he is no longer there.
"North Korea must understand the seriousness of this issue and show a positive attitude toward its resolution," Hyun said. Since the detention is a potential hazard for any firm and worker at the estate, he said, it is "an issue of the entire Kaesong Industrial Complex." He pointed out that Seoul for a month "was given no explanation why Yoo was detained and why he is being investigated, nor has it been able to see him or offer him legal assistance." "This is a very serious issue," he added.
The State Safety and Security Agency cadres who interrogated Yoo appear to have returned to Pyongyang, a government official said. "Though it is unknown whether the investigation is over or whether they went to the capital for instructions from their seniors, it's ominous that he keeps being held," said Prof. Lee Jo-won, a professor at Chung-Ang University. "If North Korea does not resolve the Yoo question, inter-Korean relations could be in jeopardy because Seoul will find it difficult in light of public sentiment to accommodate the North's demands for pay rises for its workers and higher land-use fees" at the industrial complex.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Demonstrations across the U.S. are to call for the release of two American journalists who face trial on spying charges in North Korea. Euna Lee, a Korean-American, and Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, were seized by North Korean soldiers in March while working on a story about North Korean refugees along the Chinese border. Their families and acquaintances plan a candlelight vigil on Tuesday in front of the headquarters of Current TV, where the two were working, in San Francisco.
Lisa Ling, Laura Ling's sister and herself a TV personality, told reporters, "This has been an incredibly difficult time for us. Please understand that due to the extreme sensitivity of the case, it is vital for our families to stay quiet. Please know however, that when you are out there holding those candles, that we are there with you with fires lit in our hearts."
A regular event dubbed North Korea Freedom Week in Washington, D.C. will also call for their release. Participants will seek to draw international attention the reporters' detention in a rally near the Capitol Building on Tuesday and at a press conference Wednesday by an organization called the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.
International journalists' group Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) will deliver a petition to North Korea's permanent mission to the UN this week. RSF condemned North Korea's treatment of the two as criminals.
RSF's Asian director Vincent Brossel told Radio Free Asia it was clear the two did not commit any crimes that would warrant being put on trial in North Korea. He added it was doubtful whether they would get a fair trial there.
How many people have wandered across a border in recent years? Happens in Texas a few thousand times a day. The Dhimmicrats tell us that such people need to be understood and allowed to do as they wish, and use these crossings as a moral crowbar to beat the rest of us.
Yet two journalists are snared by the Norks and few Dhimmicrats, and virtually no journalists, are saying a word. In particular, the owner of Current TV, Mr. Albert Gore, is mute as a clam.
In part it's because the State Department is telling people to be quiet. Not so that they can do the good work of quiet diplomacy to get the two reporters sprung, but quiet because they have bigger fish to fry. Yes, our State Department will sacrifice innocent citizens in order to pursue a 'greater cause'. We'll pursue 'peace' on the Korean peninsula by pretending that Kimmie is tearing down his nuclear production facilities. We'll give him oil, food, and diplomatic goodies in exchange for lies, lies, and more lies. We'll bow to the Chinese. We'll try not to upset the Russians. We'll smooth things over with the SKors and the Japanese.
I wish I could blame all this on Bambi, but this isn't a new phenomenon. It's just the latest.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
What, these two useful idiots didn't know the Head Useful Idiot only needed them to to advertise Current TV outside of the bay area. They are easily replaced (if they haven't been already).
#3
Supposedly they worked, however indirectly, for Al Gore. Maybe he should go to Korea and negotiate for their release. The resulting blizzard should be just enough to push Kimmie's regime over the edge.
After months of suffering through thrown rocks and threats directed at his squadron during numerous calls to the Rosengård neighbourhood in Malmö, local fire chief Henrik Persson said on Tuesday he is stepping down from his post. "I'm not getting any support from our top management. They don't listen to our requests for a secure working environment," Persson told the Sydsvenskan newspaper.
Persson, who also sits in on the board of Sweden's national firefighters' union, said he will abandon his leadership role at the Jägersro fire station and instead continue work as a rank-and-file firefighter.
Three other firefighters, including another squadron leader from the Jägersro fire station, also said on Tuesday they were quitting in hopes of relocating to other stations, the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper reports.
Firefighters and police officers have long been subject to thrown rocks and threats on calls to the predominantly immigrant neighbourhood, with fire fighters working to introduce measures to make their jobs safer.
But their efforts have been for naught, according to Persson, who feels that he can no longer guarantee the safety of his colleagues. "At a recent meeting a police officer said we need to be ready to have Molotov cocktails thrown at us," he said.
Persson is also upset that the local emergency services authority won't authorize funds to pay for two additional firefighters to be based at the station, which currently has seven firefighters.
On Monday night, yet another small fire broke out in a rubbish collection area located in the Rosengård neighbourhood.
Posted by: mrp ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Wonder what's so unusual about this particular area? They say it's an 'immigrant' neighborhood. Maybe that's a clue. Wonder where these immigrants come from? Neighboring Norway? Italy? Mexico? Hmmm. Could just be a coincidence.
I sure hope it is not racism that has led Persson to go back to the rank and file. He sounds like a whiner. Firefighters should have little problem dealing with Molotov Cocktails. Maybe he's just a Union slacker.
#5
Being a Firefighter myself I would simply call for immediate police escort into the the "affected" area if no officers are available then do not commit any resources. Our protocal now is preservation of life and property which my guys have bravely done both on many occasions. But if we have a gun-weilding maniac shooting at responders we are not obligated to be shot to rescue any victims. It then becomes a police matter - if the Swedes refuse service then maybe something will happen
#8
Let's put the Fire back in Firemen and torch the place. Preferably in December or January.
Posted by: ed ||
04/29/2009 13:40 Comments ||
Top||
#9
A blast in the face of a misguided "immigrant" from a fully charged two and a half inch hose line would go a long way towards solving this problem...
#10
Good stuff Glenmore. It might be that the police won't go there, maybe even under orders as to 'not aggrivate the sensitivities of our guests' or some crap. What I do know, at least about my superiors, is that they are dedicated to their jobs - ominous.
"At a recent meeting a police officer said we need to be ready to have Molotov cocktails thrown at us," he said.
"No, you all are the one's who need to be prepared for Molotovs - our job is to put out fire."
-Sir, they got Molotovs!
*Right. QRF: double check air packs and fix pikes in charge position. Monitor Operator, load ABC foam and commence coverage...Alpha team, brandish axes and hooligan bars and prepare to assist. RO, call the cops and tell them when its safe for them to assist.
It is too bad there isn't a pro-pack type of attachment which would add to the stream dissolvable bath balls of ink and scent at the press of a button. Maybe shut nozzle, pump a load into chamber, then open nozzle and water-shotgun those bath balls. Just an idea, but wtf do I know?
[ADN Kronos] Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik said late on Monday that security forces had gained complete control of the restive Northwest Frontier Province district of Lower Dir, but that Islamic militants were still active in NWFP's Buner district.
Addressing a seminar, Malik categorised the Taliban elements, who were active in Buner and Lower Dir as extremist and said: "We will not tolerate them anymore."
However he added that there had been an attack on border police in the past 24 hours and there had been reports of shops being looted.
Malik stopped short of calling the militants terrorists and said that there are moderate Taliban and extremist Taliban.
"Some of the Taliban were forcing the villagers to join them," he said. He added that all efforts are being made to contain the activities of these extremists who are threatening the villagers about imposing their system by force.
Rehman Malik said a befitting response was being given to the militants who carried out attacks by breaking into paramilitary Frontier Corps camps .
"No one will be allowed to challenge the writ of the government," Malik warned. He said that the announcement has already been made by Pakistan's prime minister and reiterated that if peace was not restored in the region, the controversial Swat Peace agreement signed in February between Taliban-led militants and the NWFP government would be scrapped.
A spokesman for Sufi Muhammad, the cleric who negotiated the Swat peace deal, announced on Monday the Taliban's talks with the NWFP government had been suspended amid the army operations against militants in Lower Dir.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Wow ... that Mighty Pak Army is really something... they can teach the Indians, the British, the Israelis, the Americans all about counterinsurgency.
They cleared Lower Dir of insurgents in ONE DAY.
Why, they ought to be in Iraq, and Indian Kashmir
/sarc off
Posted by: john frum ||
04/29/2009 6:54 Comments ||
Top||
#3
ION BHARAT RAKSHAK [Indian]> PAKISTANI ARMY FEARS DISINTEGRATION [military, National]IFF WAR ORDERED AGZ TALIBAN + BALOCHISTAN SCHOOLS ABANDON PAKISTAN NATIONAL ANTHEM.
Also on BR > SAUDI EX-INTEL CHIEF: PAKISTANI ARMY COUP POSSIBLE IFF GOVT FAILS TO PERFORM
[Pak State deemed broadly NOT at risk as long as PAK ARMY/ARMED FORCES stays INTACT = COHESIVE]; + INDIA FEARS NUCLEAR WEAPONS FALLING INTO HANDS OF TERRORISTS [UNO, NPT, Internat failure to control nuctech proliferation].
The Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) wants to appoint its own clerics as Darul Qaza qazis in Malakand division, a clerics delegation said on Tuesday after a meeting with the TNSM leadership.
"We have discussed the appointments and the peace deal with the TNSM leadership. Appointment of high court judges to Darul Qaza is not acceptable to the TNSM leaders as they want their own ulema [clerics] as qazis," said Maulvi Asad Thanvi, head of the 22-member delegation.
While supporting the TNSM's viewpoint, he said the appointment of high court judges would never achieve the results of Islamic justice, for which the people of Swat rendered sacrifices.
Unable: Asad said the judges of regular courts were unable to give judgements in accordance with sharia. "TNSM has not suspended peace talks with the NWFP government and abides by the peace accord with the government," he said while quoting the TNSM leadership as saying.
He said the TNSM had also said that if the government was serious in talks it should stop the military operation in Dir.
He said if the government was sincere in the timely implementation of Nizam-e-Adl Regulation then it should have established Darul Qaza in Malakand division in consultation with Sufi Muhammad.
The delegation, mostly consisting of clerics from the Wafaqul Madaris, on Monday cancelled its meeting with NWFP Governor Owais Ghani in protest against the Dir operation.
Later, the delegation had left for Swat from Peshawar.
The delegation, before leaving for Swat, also called on NWFP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain and NWFP ANP President Afrasiab Khattak.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Tehrik Taliban Swat spokesman Muslim Khan said Tuesday that peace talks would resume only after establishment of the Darul Qaza in Malakand region. Talking to Geo TV, he denied that Taliban were present in Dir. And said whatever being said in this regard was false. Khan said that the government should have kept its promise about Darul Qaza and appointment of Qazis. He said that Â"Our children rendered sacrifices for the enforcement of Nizam-e-Adl Regulation.Â" Â"If government took one step towards implementation of Sharia laws. We will take 10 steps?Â" he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Hi, my name is Mamood. This is my brother Darul. And this is my other brother Darul.
[Geo News] Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has termed the Talibanisation a conspiracy to break the country, urging the patriotic Pakistanis and national security agencies to stop the soaring Talibanisation. Speaking to party's Zonal Committee in Mirpurkhas on phone from London, he warned that Pakistan would be wiped out from world map if security agencies and people of Pakistan failed to stop the growing threat of Talibanisation. He said that his concerns about Taliban militants are proving right as militants have fully taken over NWFP. Â"I beg to all Pakistanis, particularly people of Punjab to play their role to save Pakistan from split,Â" he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Interior Minister Rehman Malik Tuesday said that there is a threat of reaction from militants in other parts of the country following launch of major military offensive in Buner. Talking to Geo TV, Malik said that the government would launch operation in every area where writ of the state was challenged. He said that tribal or others areas would not be spared from operation against militants. However, the minister said: Â"These are reports of possible reaction of Buner operation. An effective security plan is well in place, but if any terrorist incident takes place any where, we will take stern action against militants.Â" Â"Time for Taliban militants has ended, he said, adding that people have never supported them.Â"
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Awami National Party spokesman Senator Zahid reiterating the government commitment to implement Nizam-e-Adl in letter and spirit said Dar-ul-Qaza would be made functional within a week.
Talking to Geo news, Zahid called on Taliban to support the efforts to ensuring peace in the region instead of creating hurdles.
He said there was no need of carrying weapons after the peace agreement and signing of Nizam-e-Adl Regulation. He questioned how could the government appoint Qazis when there was no writ of the government in the region.
Zahid Khan said Taliban activities had been endorsing viewpoint of the west which was opposing implementation of Nizam-e-Adl in the Malakand division.
Zahid Khan also condemned dispatching of pamphlets to media and issuing warning to stop anti-Taliban propaganda.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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The Pakistan Army did not want to intervene in politics, but there could be a coup if the civilian government did not improve its performance, Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former Saudi intelligence chief, said on Monday. The Mighty Pak Army is much better at intervening in politix than it is at military operations. Now now, they've kept the evil Hindooz at bay ... except for those four times when they didn't.
He said Pakistan could survive the Taliban threat provided its military remains intact. Shouldn't the military be dealing with the Taliban threat? If they are, it looks like they're being out-generaled and out-fought.
The former ambassador to Washington also called for the speedy withdrawal of United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces from Afghanistan, saying that they are "not welcome" there. We should actually be giving a lot less of a spit than we are about whether we're "welcome" there. We should have imposed our constitution and our bill of rights, and killed anybody with a turban. But we were too nice. If there were way fewer mosques and way more titty bars in Afghanistan the country would be a lot better off, and damn their culture.
"As long as the armed forces are intact, the state is not going to be at risk," he told The Washington Times. That statement means squat. He's making the assumption the state and the armed forces are two different things and that the armed forces can't be or won't be soundly beaten by the Talibs.
The prince, who oversaw the funding two decades ago that helped create the Taliban during the fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, downplayed concerns about Pakistan's stability. The former Saudi intelligence chief said the Taliban were not a monolithic organisation and suggested that Islamabad had not found the right way of dealing with them. My advice: 155mm is much more effective than 105mm.
He added that "one of the biggest stumbling blocks" in his work, as intelligence chief until 2001 was the United States protection of sources coming from other countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The Saudis/Pak Army would like nothing better than their trainees the talibunnies being back in charge not only in Afghan but in Pakistan.
We need to realise our true enemies-Saudi religious hierachy,Pak army and Iran mullahs!!!
#2
I believe there are a number of agencies that would like to waterboard Turki. As for his claim that the US does not share resources, the same could be said for Turki, in spades. He certainly knew, and knows now, who are the Gulf principles funding terrorism.
#3
The prince, who oversaw the funding two decades ago that helped create the Taliban during the fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan,
An interestingly bald statement.
there could be a coup if the civilian government did not improve its performance, Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former Saudi intelligence chief, said on Monday.
I believe Mighty Pakistan's nuclear bombs are wholly owned by the Saudis. Is the Mighty Pakistan army a wholly owned Saudi subsidiary as well?
Ummm firing squads vary between 6 and 8
Ten percent of that would be .8 so use a kid
14 to 16 then dismiss him from prosecution as a "Juvenile". That'll work.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/29/2009 17:45 Comments ||
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The Tehreek-e-Nifaaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) has warned of a 'storm' across Pakistan if the Malakand peace deal collapses. "The peace accord has weakened and is shaky," Sufi Muhammad's son Rizwanullah Farooq said by telephone from Swat on Tuesday. "If it breaks, there will be a storm in the whole country." Meanwhile, TNSM spokesman Ameer Izzat Khan said at a press conference that the Taliban had neither destroyed public property in Maidan nor declared war. He said there was no justification for the operation in Maidan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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The NWFP government is all set to establish the Darul Qaza appeals court in Malakand and appoint qazis in the area, Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said on Tuesday, inviting Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Muhammad for talks to implement the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation.
"It's the last opportunity. I request Sufi Muhammad and his companions through this press conference to come forward for consultations with the government as all arrangements for the implementation of the system are complete," said the spokesman while addressing a press conference.
The minister said the TNSM chief had suspended peace talks after a military operation in Dir that he opposed and that government emissaries could not contact him as he had gone to Taimer Gara and refused to talk to them. He said the government believed in dialogue and not in use of force because only dialogue could solve problems.
The minister warned that the provincial government would take strict action against all those challenging the writ of the state, forming a parallel government, endangering the life and property of citizens and patrolling troubled areas with weapons.
"There were some technical problems in the establishment of Darul Qaza and appointment of qazis. We have now done the homework and are fully ready to implement the system after consultations with Sufi Muhammad," said Iftikhar.
The minister said some "non-locals and foreign elements" had reached Buner and Dir and were disrupting peace through subversive activities. Mian Iftikhar defended the presence of the security forces and the police in Buner, Dir, Shangla and Malakand. "The government wants the security forces to stay in Buner and other troubled areas, where their presence is required, and move around freely to maintain peace," he said.
The ANP-led government's spokesman denied that the security forces were carrying out an operation in Buner. "It's not an operation. It's a reaction to attacks by militants," he said. He said the security forces would go back to barracks once complete peace was restored in the troubled areas.
The spokesman said the Nizam-e-Adl had been enforced now and there was no justification for taking up arms. "It's a crime and we'll take strict action against violators," he said. The spokesman requested Interior Minister Rehman Malik not to issue statements before consulting the provincial government.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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KUWAIT CITY - Iraq owes Kuwait 25.5 billion dollars of war reparations for the 1990 occupation of the oil-rich emirate by Saddam Husseins forces, a Kuwaiti official said on Tuesday.
The compensation claims, approved by the United Nations, have yet to be paid by Baghdad, head of Kuwaits Public Authority for Compensation Khaled al-Mudhaf was cited as saying by the KUNA news agency. Iraq is required to put five percent of its oil revenues into a fund created by the UN Security Council to pay reparations for war damage during the seven-month occupation of its neighbour.
The UN fund has received claims worth 368 billion dollars and has so far approved the payment of just over 52 billion dollars, based on figures from the fund and Kuwait. The fund has paid out almost 27 billion dollars to claimants, according to figures up to the end of January posted on the funds website.
How much is the UN keeping for 'services' and 'accounting'?
Following the overthrow of Saddam in a US-led invasion in 2003, Iraq has repeatedly appealed to foreign countries, especially Kuwait, to waive tens of billions of dollars in compensation.
Iraq also owes Kuwait around 16 billion dollars in debt from loans to Saddam Hussein during Baghdads eight-year war with Iran which ended in 1988.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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[Jerusalem Post Middle East] Hundreds of Palestinian patients have been trapped in the Gaza Strip, unable to travel abroad for crucial treatment for cancer and other diseases, because of political infighting between Gaza's Hamas rulers and their Palestinian rivals.
Eight Gazans who were waiting to travel abroad have died since the crisis began in March, when the dispute shut down a medical referral committee that helps sick residents find treatment outside of Gaza, according to the World Health Organization.
Others are hanging on, waiting. Ten-year-old Ribhi Jindiyeh, a lymphoma patient, lies in bed at home, skinny and jaundiced, too weak to move. He underwent chemotherapy last year in an Israeli hospital, and when he returned home in January, he seemed better. But in March, he began urinating blood.
Gaza doctors can't find the problem and give him infusions every two days to keep him alive.
"Nobody here knows why he is losing so much blood, but nobody can refer us to a hospital abroad, either," his mother, Nevine, 38, said.
Another son, 4-year-old Yehia, was diagnosed with lymphoma in March. "I want everybody to help my son - Israel, Fatah, Hamas, whoever," Nevine said. "If they can't help a sick child, who can they help? They should all pack up their bags and go home."
On Monday, there was hope for a resolution. Hamas health minister Basim Naim announced the restoration of the referral committee, which Hamas's rival, Fatah, had controlled but Hamas shut down in March.
The committee would resume coordinating medical treatment abroad. But Hamas has reservations and has asked mediating independent health workers to find new committee members both sides can agree on, said senior health official Yousef Mudalal.
That raises the possibility of a new dispute.
On March 22, Hamas officials took control of the Fatah-run medical committee, which referred about 1,000 patients a month with life-threatening illnesses to Israel and Egypt. Hamas officials said the committee was rife with corruption and needed reform.
In response, the West Bank government, which funds medical treatment for Palestinians abroad, froze most patient transfers.
Rights activists say the political differences are jeopardizing people's lives.
"They are playing with the lives of people and their pain. There's a complete absence of responsibility," said Khalil Shaheen of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.
The Israeli branch of Physicians for Human Rights, working with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, has managed to get 35 patients out of Gaza for treatment since the committee collapsed, said Ran Yarom of PHR. But the groups say they don't have the resources to do the committee's job.
The crisis compounds the challenges facing Gaza's medical system. Hospitals use aging equipment and suffer from low medicine supplies.
And in late January, the West Bank government halted payments for medical care in Israel, saying the treatment was too expensive. Fatah health officials said they would only pay for Gaza residents to obtain cheaper medical care in Egypt.
In Gaza City, 12-year-old Mohammed Zibdeh, a brain cancer patient, waits for a permit to travel, breathing with the assistance of a ventilator device in his throat. Last year, doctors in an Israeli hospital worked to shrink his brain tumor with chemotherapy. Now Zibdeh has constant headaches, and his father, Riyad, 48, fears the tumor is growing back.
"I can't help him, and he might be dying before my own eyes," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
fears the tumor is growing back.
A good chance his fears are correct. If so, the odds of more chemo doing more than delaying death a year or so are slim, I believe. Sounds like a good candidate for 'recruitment' by the wackos for a virgin-collecting mission against the Juice.
#4
TW:
Pardon me. Poor terminology, as there is neither evidence nor likelihood that funding the Paleos will stop with this Congress & Admin. Mostly wishful thinking considering the state of the economy.
[Bangla Daily Star] Sri Lanka barred Sweden's foreign minister Tuesday from entering the island on a humanitarian mission, As Diplomatic Tensions Mounted Over The Conduct Of The War On The Tamil Tigers.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt had been due to travel to the war-torn country this week to press demands for aid workers to be given full access to civilians trapped by heavy fighting between government troops and the rebels.
But a Sri Lankan foreign ministry official indicated that Colombo felt it had already done enough by allowing Britain and France's top diplomats -- David Miliband and Bernard Kouchner -- to visit Wednesday.
"The Swedish minister also wanted to jump on that bandwagon and we said no," the official said.
"Some think they can land up at our airport and expect a red carpet treatment. We are not a colony and neither a bankrupt Third World country. Our main donors are in Asia, not in Europe," the official added.
Bildt said he had been denied a visa and described the snub as "exceedingly strange behaviour." He was recalling the top Swedish diplomat to Colombo.
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said Sri Lanka's government had made a "grave mistake" that will "have repercussions in Europe and will influence the further relations between the Sri Lankan government and the European states."
Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry said Bildt had not made a formal application for a visa and his plan to visit the island had not been discussed when the joint visits of French and British ministers were considered.
"It needs to be understood that in this instance there had been no formal prior consultations with the government of Sri Lanka with regard to the visit of the Swedish Foreign Minister," the foreign ministry statement said.
It added that statements from the EU "seem to be emanating from a unilateral decision made on the part of Sweden and the EU with regard to the said visit."
The row came a day after the United Nations' humanitarian chief John Holmes also saw his requests for greater humanitarian access turned down, despite mounting international concern over civilian casualties.
A UN document circulated among diplomats in Colombo last week said as many as 6,500 civilians may have been killed and another 14,000 wounded in the government's offensive against the separatist rebels so far this year.
The UN also estimates that some 50,000 non-combatants are still trapped in the conflict area, and the world body's rights chief has said both sides in the long-running ethnic war may be guilty of war crimes.
The government maintains that the number of trapped civilians is fewer than 20,000. President Mahinda Rajapakse pledged Monday that air strikes and attacks using heavy-calibre weapons would stop.
But a pro-Tamil Tiger website said government forces continued to pound civilians trapped in the small patch of coastal jungle still held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The military immediately denied the allegation, but did say its troops were advancing.
"We did not shell the area. We have not used heavy weapons against civilian areas even before," military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. "But ground operations to capture territory and rescue civilians will continue."
Officials say the LTTE now controls just six square kilometres (2.5 square miles) of land and is on the brink of defeat after a decades-long campaign for an independent Tamil homeland.
The island's government has for months blocked most aid agencies from working in the war-torn north, and has herded escaping Tamil civilians into overcrowded camps which are guarded by the military.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
ION WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC CHINESE NAVY WARNING:PLAN NOT AFRAID TO FIGHT BACK AGZ MALAYSIAN NAVY FOR EXPULSION OF CHIN FISHING BOAT(S) FROM NANSHA ISLANDS [disputed islands]. CHINA WARNS MALAYSIA ITS SOVEREIGNTY OVER NANSHAS IS INDISPUTABLE.
ALso from WMF/WAFF/PDFs > VIETNAM ORDERS SIX IMPROVED KILO-CLASS ATTACK SUBMARINES [Ladas?]FROM RUSSIA???
[Jerusalem Post Middle East] Turkey's joint military drill with Syria has not only disturbed Jerusalem, it has also riled the Turkish military, a senior Israeli strategic analyst told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
"The Turkish military is not happy about this. It does not like Syria, and views it as a problematic state," said Prof. Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. Inbar added that he was in touch with a number of Turkish army officers.
Tensions between the secular Turkish military and the ruling Islamist AKP party are high following the arrests of more than 200 people, including dozens of senior army officers, over an alleged coup plot to overthrow the government.
Last week, four additional army officers were arrested and an arms cache was seized by the Turkish authorities. "The army has to be very careful with intervention. The investigation into the army coup plot has raised tensions. The army will only get involved if it feels there is a threat to the secular character of the state," Inbar said.
He added that "a joint simulation with Syria will be seen as a marginal event" that would be insufficient to push the army to intervene. "They [Turkey's military leaders] will allow the diplomats to maneuver," he said.
Internationally, however, the drill raised many questions over Turkey's relationship to NATO (of which Turkey is a member), the West and Israel, Inbar said, and represented another milestone in Turkey's journey to move closer to Muslim countries in the region.
"Syria is an ally of Iran. Its army is armed by the Russians. The drill should be raising questions in [NATO headquarter in] Brussels and in Washington. I am sure both Israel and the US are requesting clarifications," he added. "We have to wait to see what the nature of the drill is."
Responding to news of the joint exercise, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday that it was "definitely a disturbing development. But I believe that the strategic relationship between Israel and Turkey will overcome Turkey's necessity to participate in this drill as well."
The Turkish-Syrian drill represents a paradigm shift in relations between Ankara and Damascus. In 1998, Turkey massed troops on its border with Syria and threatened to invade unless Syria ejected PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and closed down PKK training camps within Syria. Facing the might of the Turkish military, Syria backed down and threw out Ocalan. Inbar said Ocalan's capture by Turkish forces in 1999 was "apparently aided by Israeli intelligence."
Relations between Ankara and Damascus were further strained by what Syria views as Turkey's occupation of the Alexandretta province, known to Turks as Hatay.
"We can tell the Syrians: Turkey is occupying a whole section of Syria, and yet Syria is willing to hold joint military drills with Turkey. So there's no reason why Syria can't cooperate with us while we're sitting on the Golan Heights," said Dr. Mordechai Kedar, an expert on Arab political discourse at BESA. "This exercise is not necessarily to our detriment. We certainly have a case to put to the Syrians as a result of it," he said.
Kedar, who served for 25 years in IDF Military Intelligence, added that the exercise came about due to a convergence of Turkish and Syrian interests. "Turkey appears as a regional power, and Syria is willing to play this game to give Turkey that recognition, because it wants to prove that it is Turkey's friend," Kedar said.
Kedar stressed that it was important to pay attention to the type of exercise the countries would be holding. "If they're practicing saving people in the water, that's one thing, but if they're drilling combat against a joint enemy, that's very different. Each drill has a theoretical basis, and the question will be what is the basis in this exercise.
"Israel must ensure that this drill doesn't come at our expense. It doesn't have to do that," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Cant wait till the military overthrow this islamic govt!!!!
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.
The NWFP government is all set to establish the Darul Qaza appeals court in Malakand and appoint qazis in the area, Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said on Tuesday, inviting Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Muhammad for talks to implement the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation.
KUWAIT CITY - Iraq owes Kuwait 25.5 billion dollars of war reparations for the 1990 occupation of the oil-rich emirate by Saddam Husseins forces, a Kuwaiti official said on Tuesday.
