Useful information. I'll have to keep it on file, in case there is a dispute in the neighborhood.
Below are selected prices that are paid to professional assassins on the black market.
In Australia, the median price to hire a hit man is $13,610, with the price going up to $83,000 based on the task.
In Mexico, the cost for a low level assassin is $208, and up to $20,832 for a higher profile target like a police chief. The Juarez drug gang keeps its shooters and lookouts on retainer, paying them a small weekly salary until they are needed.
Buying in bulk?
The prices paid in Argentina are between $3,749 to $5,555 per hit.
Government statistics in Spain state that 40 assassinations take place each year, with prices for the hit ranging between $27 to $69,000.
#2
IIRC STARS-N-STRIPES OP-ED > THE BORDER WID MEXICO IS OUR [US] "THIRD FRONT", after Afghanistan + Iraq despite the fact that it is CARTEL = DRUG, CRIME-VIOLENCE, NOT RADICAL ISLAM [for now]???
#4
pretty obviously they need to unionize and demand health and dental benefits as well as a prevailing wage
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/10/2011 8:16 Comments ||
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#5
The karachi killers at the link draw a salary (retainer?) of $500/yr after converting Pak rupees into dollars.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/10/2011 12:34 Comments ||
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#6
I knew a guy who was offered 30k in the mid-Nineties to kill someone, apparently on the theory that he had a Sicilian last name & thus was obviously mobbed up. (What can I say, central Pennsylvania, they grow 'em pretty parochial in the back-hollers.)
Interestingly enough, murder-for-hire is one of those classic examples of "market failure", as there generally isn't enough information for a reliable and predictable pricing mechanism to allow a properly-clearing market. Which is a *good* thing - it cuts down on the actual occurrence of murder if there isn't a functional market for it. (Let's say my personal example resulted in jail time for the soliciter, eventually. This is what is known as "properly aligned incentives" at work.)
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/10/2011 12:59 Comments ||
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German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Sunday on a surprise trip to Afghanistan. The visit came ahead of a German parliamentary vote in Berlin this month on extending the countrys unpopular mission in war-torn Afghanistan by one year.
Westerwelle, arriving in Kabul following a trip to neighbouring Pakistan, held talks with Karzai, Afghan Foreign Minister Salmai Rassul and National Security Advisor Rangeen Dadfar Spanta. He told Karzai that Germany will continue providing support to strengthen the Afghan national security forces, according to a statement from Karzais office.
It added that Westerwelle said his country supports President Karzais peace initiative with the Taleban.
Westerwelle is due to have a private dinner with figures including General David Petraeus, commander of international forces in Afghanistan, and Mark Sedwill, NATOs senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, late Sunday. He will then end his visit Monday, a German embassy spokesman said.
Germany has some 4,600 troops based mainly in the north of Afghanistan, the third-largest contingent after the United States and Britain in an international force of 140,000.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] A senior Southern leader has urged Khartoum to honour agreements on Abyei after renewed fighting in the oil district on the eve of an independence referendum for the south.
Mr Deng Alor of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, reported festivities in Abyei, confirming reports that calm had returned to the district on Sunday. Several people were killed and others maimed in the festivities.
"If the National Congress (Party of the north) want peace, cooperation and benefits with the south, the way is to cooperate with the SPLM, and to accept the implementation of the agreement on Abyei," Mr Alor said.
Organised militias
He added that militias organised by the NCP had carried out attacks in Abyei and Bentiu, another key oil-producing district on the border.
He was speaking as referendum voting began on Sunday. A vote in Abyei to choose whether it wants unity with the north or south was also part of the 2005 accord and due to coincide with the independence referendum.
But polling there was indefinitely postponed after neither side was able to agree on who should be eligible to participate.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] La Belle France and Frenchies are more than ever threatened in the Sahel by jihadists affiliated with al Qaeda or thugs ready to mount an audacious kidnapping and selling their captives, analysts said, after the abduction and death of two Frenchies in Niger.
Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has not been formally designated by the French authorities as responsible for the kidnapping of two young men, kidnapped Friday night by gunnies in a restaurant in Niamey, but suspected it converge : President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the "barbaric terrorism", while the French army spoke of an "execution" of the hostages by kidnappers called "terrorists."
The two young men were killed during a Franco-Nigerien military operation aimed at releasing them while the kidnappers were trying to reach the Malian border.
This attempted abduction occurs more than three months after the kidnapping, claimed by AQIM, of five French (a Togolese and a Malagasy) mostly working for the French nuclear group Areva and a subcontractor construction group Vinci in northern Niger.
Dominique Thomas, a specialist in jihadi movements in the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Gay Paree, "if it is really a coup of AQIM, and even if it is a subcontract with local bandidos, the goal is to tell Gay Paree: "Your citizens are no longer safe anywhere."
"It is within the scope of psychological warfare that began with La Belle France," he adds.
"The goal is to destabilize the situation further, to prove that throughout the Sahel, even in cities far safer, they can strike. Why not Ouagadougou, now, why not Chad, Nigeria? Even if the kidnapping failed, the two guys died, and they know that the international impact will be very strong."
"This puts Gay Paree in a position even more uncomfortable, this further complicates any negotiations on the fate of the hostages in September: the goal is reached," he said.
Jean-Pierre Filiu, professor at Sciences-Po Gay Paree and author of "Nine Lives of Al-Qaeda" believes, meanwhile, that "it is now certain that Aqim has passed the message to its many partners criminals she was willing to pay a very good price the capture of Frenchies who would be transferred in a second time."
"That's probably what happened in Niamey and the hostages were then en route to a camp of AQIM, before a probable claim in the course of next week," he adds.
Many experts believe that in attacking directly La Belle France, in the Sahel, AQIM completes its joining the global jihad advocated by Osama bin Laden from his hideout in the Afghan-Pakistain border area.
AQIM, jihad movement of Algerian origin, puts Gay Paree in a difficult position by putting forward demands almost deliberately impossible to satisfy.
For the release of hostages held by them since September, AQIM leaders call for the withdrawal of the French army in Afghanistan and return to the head of Al-Qaeda himself to negotiate the fate of the hostages of the desert.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korean and Japanese defense chiefs were due to hold talks Monday aimed at pursuing closer military cooperation, officials here said, amid mounting tension over North Korea's recent provocations.
Hello, Beijing...
Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and his Japanese counterpart Toshimi Kitazawa will hold hour-long talks in Seoul where the two are also expected to exchange views on North Korea's nuclear weapons program and its bombardment of a South Korean island in November last year.
The talks are likely to focus on the prospect of signing two separate agreements to facilitate sharing of military information and cooperation in exchanging military goods and services such as food, fuel and transportation during peacetime operations such as peacekeeping and disaster rescue efforts, Seoul's officials said.
However, Monday's talks are likely to be limited to confirming a common understanding in strengthening military ties between the two neighbors, officials said. South Korea still remains sensitive about deepening military relations, given the bitterness over Tokyo's brutal colonization of the Korean Peninsula in early 20th century.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
IIRC BHARAT RAKSHAK OR INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM [old]> Elite IRANIAN IRGC Members have repor caught in SRI LANKA or MYANMAR as per illegal INTEL-GATHERING ACTIVITIES. to include possibly trying to set up one or more local ISLAMIST CELL???
On the surface it appears to be nominal given that the Iranian personages were captured > IMO THE GREATER LESSON HERE IS THAT IRAN DESIRES INFLUENCE [pro-Islamist?] IN THE INDIAN OCEAN = SOUTH + SOUTHEAST ASIA BEYOND THE CONFINES OF AFPAK [West Asia].
US-VS-CHINA-VS-NUCLEAR-ISLAM/RADICAL-ISLAM for Power + Influence in Asia-Pacific.
The North Korean regime appears to be purging proteges of O Kuk-ryol, a vice chairman of the National Defense Commission who once headed the Workers Party's Operations Department, and leader Kim Jong il's brother-in-law Jang Song-taek, the director of the party Administration Department and a sort of eminence grise in the North. The two wielded near-absolute power during Kim Jong-il's heyday but have kept at a respectful distance since Kim's son Jong-un was established as his heir.
A high-level North Korean source said that nearly 200 senior officials were executed or detained by the State Security Department in early December last year.
Executed, huh? Saves us the trouble, at least...
They include many senior officials of trading companies under the military and the party, such as the head of Sogyong Trading Corporation under the party's Financial and Accounting Department; the head of "No. 54" Trading Company under the Ministry of People's Armed Forces; Pak Jong-su, the chief of a military-run coal trading company; the head of the general bureau of fuel oil; and Ri Jong-ho, the head of Taehung Trading Company.
Ri Chol-su, the head of the Taehung Trading Company's Wonsan branch and a protege of Jang's, jumped to his death during interrogation by the State Security Department on charges of illegally amassing of wealth and espionage. The matter was about to be closed after his suicide but instead it fueled a second-round of purges, with many others arrested on the strength of statements extracted under interrogation.
The purge was conducted with zeal by the senior deputy chief of the State Security Department U Dong-chuk, who discussed details of the plan with Kim father and son.
They do nothing in North Korea without zeal...
Security officers reportedly descended on the homes of senior officials in the early morning and dug out vast stashes of dollars at many of them. Rumor has it that in one of the homes officers found US$1 million. Observers speculate the chances of survival for those arrested are slim.
Kim junior reportedly gave the order to arrest anybody at whose home more than $50,000 was found, saying, "Those who illegally amassed money at a time when the country is in difficulty are traitors."
Except himself and the ones who are (today) still favored...
The fact that most of them are close aides to Jang and O has fueled speculation that Kim Jong-un is specifically targeting the two men. As the most powerful representatives of the old guard, they are considered the biggest obstacles to his assuming control.
Currently, Kim junior is issuing instructions on behalf of his father who is suffering ill health, but the real power is concentrated on Jang. With his health deteriorating since before he collapsed with a stroke in 2008, Kim Jong-il has depended more on his family than the party Politburo to rule. When all work was paralyzed after his collapse, Jang temporarily took over power and was more or less in sole charge.
As a result, it seems that the regime has no choice but to get rid of Jang if it is to hand full power over to Kim Jong-un without a hitch.
A former senior North Korean official who defected to the South said, "Kim Jong-il may be trying to hand over power to his son quickly, but nothing is going on as intended."
He recalled that Kim Il-sung's younger brother Kim Yong-ju, who contributed to establishing Kim Jong-il to the succession, was the first to be purged. "Jang Song-taek knows the story all too well, so it's likely that the wily old fox made thorough preparations for this. He would never sit idly by and let it happen," he added.
This paints a picture of utter confusion in the North Korean regime amid Kim senior's poor health and the power succession.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
If we aren't doing it already, now would be a good time for the Norks to accidentally intercept some communications offering to extract a few key officials that in turn would lead to purging them and anyone loyal to them.
[Iran Press TV] The United States Patriot Act is similar to the legislations carried out by the Nazi Germany in the World War II era, a former CIA officer says.
"The Patriot Act was similar to legislation carried out by the Nazis because essentially it was using terrorism in both cases as an excuse to strip civil liberties that were enjoyed in both countries; in the United States and Germany," Phillip Giraldi said in an interview with Press TV.
"Governments have been willing to use fear, such as fear of terrorism, and fear of the enemy, as a way to get the people lined up in support of government policies. Very often these policies are essentially bad for the people because they take away many of their rights," the former CIA officer said.
He went on to say that the relationship between the American citizens and the US government has changed for the worse since the introduction of the Patriot Act, adding that Americans had not become any safer by their rights being stripped away.
The US Patriot Act and desecration of the constitution has brought a dictatorship surveillance society of phone tapping, hidden cameras and policy brutality in the United States, Giraldi said.
The act, which was hastily adopted six weeks after the 2001 terrorist attacks, allows the US government to spy on its citizens without the need for a court order.
In February 2010, the House of Representatives and the Senate approved the extension of the Bush-era bill and sent it to President B.O. who thereby signed the legislation into law.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The suspect accused of killing six people and wounding Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was described as a disturbed young man who was rejected by the military and frequently disrupted his college class.
The 22-year-old local resident, Jared Lee Loughner, was jugged at the scene on Saturday after allegedly shooting 20 people, six fatally, including a nine-year-old girl and a federal judge.
FBI director Robert Mueller said Loughner will be charged in a federal court later Sunday.
The Tucson neighbors of Loughner said he often kept to himself -- not hostile to anyone but certainly not warming up to anyone, either.
"He was a guy in high school who definitely had his opinions on stuff and didn't seem to care what people thought of him," said Grant Wiens, 22, who told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named he went to high school and had a class at Pima Community College with Loughner.
Loughner was in jug after authorities said he opened fire outside a grocery store as Giffords, a Democrat, met with voters. The rampage killed six people including Arizona's chief federal judge. Giffords was among 13 people maimed.
Authorities said the accused gunman targeted the three-term congresswoman, but an exact motivation was not immediately known. Many questioned whether the nation's polarized political climate had played a role, even as Loughner's political views remained unclear late Saturday.
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik described the gunman as mentally unstable and said he possibly acted with an accomplice.
Lynda Sorenson said she took a math class with Loughner last summer at Pima Community College's Northwest campus and told the Arizona Daily Star he was "obviously very disturbed."
"He disrupted class frequently with nonsensical outbursts," she said.
In a Dec. 15 YouTube video, Loughner describes himself as a U.S. military recruit.
Federal law enforcement officials poured over versions of a MySpace page that belonged to Loughner and over a YouTube video published weeks ago under an account "Classitup10" and linked to him. The MySpace page, which was removed within minutes of the gunman being identified by officials, included a mysterious "Goodbye friends" message published hours before the shooting and exhorted his friends to "Please don't be mad at me."
On his MySpace page, Loughner spoke of how he liked to read and he also wrote repeatedly about literacy, complaining that the rate was especially low in the congressional district where he lived.
"The majority of people, who reside in District-8 are illiterate hilarious. I don't control your English grammar structure, but you control your English grammar structure," he said.
In an interview with The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, Wiens also said Loughner used to speak critically about religion. He also talked about how he liked to smoke pot.
"He wasn't really too keen on religion it seemed like," Wiens told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. "I don't know if floating through life is the right term or whatever, but he was really just into doing his own thing."
Loughner's MySpace profile indicated he attended and graduated from school in northwest Tucson and had taken college classes. He did not say if he was employed.
Tamara Crawley, director of the Marana Unified School District in Tucson, said Loughner attended Mountain View High School in Tucson for three years but withdrew after completing his junior year in 2006. Crawley did not know why Loughner had withdrawn from Mountain View High and it was not clear if he had transferred to another school in the area.
The Army released a statement indicating Loughner was not accepted as a recruit.
In October 2007, Loughner was cited in Pima County for possession of drug paraphernalia, which was dismissed after he completed a diversion program, according to online records.
A year later he was charged with an unknown "local charge" in Marana near Tucson. That charge was also dismissed following the completion of a diversion program in March 2009, the Daily Star reported.
Ryan Miller, 19, was a sophomore at Mountain View when Loughner was a senior. He said Loughner seemed like a normal kid.
"I was in shock," he said, describing his reaction to the shooting. "I didn't know what possessed someone our age to do something like this."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Loughner seemed like a normal kid. Things are not what they seem.
#2
During the last 4 to 6 weeks a major Leftist, Francis Fox Piven has been calling the un-employed young people to violent action...
workers must realize that others have put them in their current, uneasy situation: [T]he out-of-work have to stop blaming themselves for their hard times and turn their anger on the bosses, the bureaucrats or the politicians who are in fact responsible.
Only then, once their rage has been properly stoked, can the angry take action. And when they do, she says, the protesters need targets.
What she is calling for is nothing less than the chaos and violence engulfing Europe, writes Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Ron Radosh on his blog. Disgruntled leftist unionists, students who expect an education without cost, and citizens of social-democratic states cannot accept that the old terms of the social contract they thought would last forever have worn out their welcome. The European welfare-state governments can no longer function with the kind of social programs that now far exceed their nations budgets and hence are moving their countries to the precipice of total collapse.
But violence has always been Pivens preferred method of collapse. In 2004, she admitted as much, saying that violence is condoned as long as it is part of a grand plan...
#8
From #6's cited article The Pima County Sheriffs Department was aware of his violent nature and they failed to act appropriately. This tragedy leads right back to Sherriff Dupnik and all the spin in the world is not going to change that fact.
This has been said in many internet posts every since Sheriff Dummkopf mouthed off on Saturday.
[Pak Daily Times] Terming Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer 'Shaheed-e-Haq' for his outburst against the cut-thoat forces and for protecting the rights of minorities, the minorities observed Sunday as Solidarity Day to pay glowing tribute to the daring services of slain governor for raising voice for their rights.
Under the aegis of Minorities Affairs' Ministry, congregations were held all over the country where special prayers were offered for the salvation of Taseer and for solidarity of the country condemning the killing of Taseer. They also condemned the fanatic forces, which wanted to sabotage the peace of the country and derail the democratic process.
In federal capital, one such gathering was held at Fatima Church, F-8/4, where Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti was the chief guest. Christian community, human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... activists and people from different walks of life participated in the event. On the occasion special prayers were offered for national integrity and prosperity of the country.
A huge gathering of people at the gate of Fatima Church showered rose petals and lit candles in front of a massive portrait of the Late Salmaan Taseer.
"We have gathered here to pay tribute to the daring services of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer for raising voice for the minorities, said an aged woman Nasreen Bibi inside Church while talking to Daily Times. "The governor was a brave person who dedicatedly worked for the rights of opressed and he was the foremost politician who talked about elemination or to amend Blasphemy Laws in the country that are being wrongly used for expolitation of minorities in particular," she said.
Ishaque Masih, a Christian standing at main gate of the church said the killing of governor indeed was a ruthless act and it would create chasm between the liberal and fanatic forces in larger extent. "This would not be helpful for the nation as the country is already facing multiple crisis," he said, adding he has offered special prayers not only for the governor but also for peace and proserity and progress of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Hundreds of Sunni Tehreek (ST) activists on Sunday gathered at Benazir Bhutto Shaheed (BBS) Road and staged protest a demonstration at Liaquat Bagh demanding release of Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the assassin of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer.
Led by Rawalpindi ST Learned Elders of Islam board's chairman Allama Ghufran Mehmood Sialvi, scores of other activists including ST City Convener Allama Attaur Rehman Dhanial, Mufti Sulman Rizvi, Syed Inayatul Haq Shah, Pir Sarkar G, Allama Farooq Chishti, Mufti Khteeb Ahmed al-Azhri, Advocate Raja Shujahur Rehman, Malik Abdul Rahuf, Sahibzada Shahid Mansoor, religious scholars belonging to different schools of thought, Shabaab-e-Milli Pakistain office-bearers and workers and a large number of seminaries' students took part in the protest demonstration.
They were holding ST flags, portraits of Qadri, banners and placards inscribed with slogans in support of Qadri, demanding his release immediately.
While addressing the protestors, Sialvi said ST would provide legal and constitutional support to Qadri and would look after his family members.
"If Qadri is given death sentence, the whole nation will besiege Parliament House," Sialvi warned.
He said the ST was against Death Eaters and terrorism but it demanded shifting Qadri's case from Anti Terrorism Court to other court. "Qadri did not commit any act of terrorism for which he was being presented before ATC," he stated. He mentioned that President and Prime Minister should remove apprehensions of the people by making announcement that blasphemy laws would not be amended. He also demanded Chief Justice of Pakistain Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to provide security to the family members of Qadri.
The ST convener held the erroneous policies of the government responsible for current bad law and order situation in the country. He warned the members of NGOs not to promote western culture in Pakistain and avoid unnecessary interfering into religious matters of Mohammedan. He paid a rich tribute to Rawalpindi District Bar Association (RDBA) members upon showing their willingness to appear before the court on behalf of Qadri during his first appearance.
The ST leaders appealed to the people to gather outside ATC today (Monday) at Rawalpindi at 9am to pay homage to Qadri upon his appearance before the judge.
ST activists' rally on BBS Road not only caused traffic blockage but also triggered massive gridlocks on the adjacent roads including Mareer Hassan, Mareer Chowk, Liaquat Road, College Road, Ganjmandi and City Saddar Road causing problems for commuters and pedestrians.
Police made comprehensive security arrangements to tackle any untoward incident on the occasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] Tens of thousands of demonstrators have marched in Pakistain's largest city in opposition to any change to blasphemy laws and to praise the man charged with murdering the provincial governor who opposed the legislation.
The rally of up to 50,000 people in downtown Bloody Karachi on Sunday was one of the largest demonstrations of support for the laws that make insulting Islam a capital offense. The march was organized before Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer was rubbed out last week by a bodyguard for opposing such laws.
Opposition politician Fazlur Rehman told the crowd that Taseer "was responsible for his own murder" because he had criticized the law. Banners at the event included some supporting Taseer's killer, police commando Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri. "Mumtaz Qadri is not a murderer, he is a hero," said one banner in the national Urdu language. "We are ready to sacrifice our lives for the dignity of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)," read another.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, during a presser in Islamabad on Sunday, said his government had no intention to bring a fresh legislation to amend the blasphemy law.
Activists at the rally, which has been organized by religious groups, called for "jihad" or holy war.
The protest forced the closure of the city's main road and all markets in the teeming southern metropolis.
Controversy over the law flared when former Information Minister Sherry Rehman tabled a private member's bill in November, calling to end the death penalty for blasphemy, after a Christian mother-of-five was sentenced to hang.
Rights activists also say the law encourages extremism in a nation already besieged by Taliban attacks.
Politicians and conservatives have been at loggerheads over whether President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... should pardon Aasia Bibi, the Christian mother who was sentenced to death under the blasphemy law.
Pakistain has yet to execute anyone for blasphemy, but Bibi's case has exposed the deep fault lines in the conservative country. Bibi was jugged in June 2009 after Mohammedan women laborers allegedly refused to drink from a bowl of water she was asked to fetch while out working in the fields.
Days later, the women allegedly complained that she made derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Bibi was set upon by a mob, jugged by police and sentenced on Nov. 8. Most of those convicted of blasphemy in Pakistain have their sentences overturned or commuted on appeal through the courts.
Rights activists and pressure groups say it is the first time that a woman had been sentenced to hang in Pakistain for blasphemy.
Only around three percent of Pakistain's population of 167 million are estimated to be non-Mohammedan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
HUGE KARACHI RALLY SUPPORTS BLASPHEMY LAWS KILLING CHRISTIANS, JEWS, HINDUS, BUDDHISTS AND ANYBODY ELSE WHO DOESN'T SHARE THEIR PARTICULAR VARIETY OF MADNESS
#2
"..Pakistain has yet to execute anyone for blasphemy"
This is true but once a person has been charged they are marked for life. If they end up in prison they are beat up by guards and other prisoners. If they get out of prison and get back to civilian life they are beaten up, lose their jobs, etc.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/10/2011 17:15 Comments ||
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[Arab News] The war on terror is the root cause for the increase in terrorism, injustice and intolerance, said cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan ... who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker... on Sunday. "Some people feel that Islam is under threat and to save Islam people start sacrificing themselves more," said the chief of the Tehrik-e-Insaf party.
He said the liquidation of the governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, was a direct result of religious intolerance. "This intolerance got a flip when Pakistain joined the global war against terrorism. People of Pakistain consider the protection of Islamic laws mandatory for the state of Pakistain," he said.
"There is a sound reason for the blasphemy law, and the real reason for the rising terrorism -- that is being witnessed in Pakistain -- is actually the US-led war against terrorism," he added.
"Even England has a blasphemy law and there is a sound reason for this ... Allama Iqbal proposed a bill in the 1920s in the Punjab legislative assembly which provides punishment for anything being said against any religious personality," he said.
Khan suggested that all political parties need to collectively take a decision on Pakistain's ongoing role in the war on terror to bring an end to the violence that is being witnessed in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, my wife always says that snow shovels cause snow....and washing cars causes rain as do BBQs. So, I guess this makes sense......sort of....in a bizzare Muzzie sort of way?
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
01/10/2011 9:57 Comments ||
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#2
Wel-l-l, see also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PAKISTAN WILL IMPLODE IFF THE US DOES NOT LEAVE AFGHANISTAN | THE CONTINUING US PRESENCE IN AFGHANISTAN IS FUELING EXTREMISM IN NEIGHBORING PAKISTAN.
and
* TOPIX > NAGORNO-KARABKH CONFLICT MAY CAUSE WORLD WAR THREE, RUSSIAN EXPERT SAYS.
ARTIC = Moscow + Washington, DC + Brussels [NATO-EU] have various convergent interests in the pertinent issues surrounding the NK/NGK Conflict between ARMENIA + AZERBAIJAN. WORLD WAR THREE may be induced iff ongoing Peace Talks fail + lines-in-the-sand [Ultimatums?] are finally threatened + drawn, espec iff RUSSIA MIL SIDES WID ARMENIA WHILE THE US-NATO MIL SUPPORT AZERBAIJAN???
#3
OOOPSIES, forgot WAFF > [US Ambassador to PAK CAMERON MUNTER] "THE US HAS THE RIGHT TO INTERFERE [intervene] IN PAKISTAN'S AFFAIRS", espec given the massive levels of $$$ + other econ assistance to PAK by Washington, DC = USA.
ARTIC = the Ambassador's statement is nothing that every other Established or Wannabe Govt-State in World Histoire' hasn't felt, said, andor MilPol acted upon.
THE ONLY REAL "CRIME/HORROR" COMMITTED HERE IS THAT THE AMBASSADOR AS A GOOD DIPLOMAT, POL DIDN'T USE BETTER WORDS TO SAY THE SAME THING, OR DIDN'T HAVE SOMEONE COMPETENT ON HIS STAFF FOR SAME.
[Maghrebia] Libyan leader Moamer Qadaffy met with Arab League chief Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa ... who has been head of the vaporous Arab League since about the time Jerry and Dean split up ... on Friday (January 7th) in preparation for the 2011 Arab Economic and Social summit, PANA reported. The talks focused on the reform of the vaporous Arab League, including the creation of an executive committee of Arab heads of government, the promotion of a peace and security council, as well as setting up a disaster rescue organisation.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
State department botched it and the DOD bleeds. Thats how it usually goes. Someone needs to clean out Foggy Bottom with a flamethrower and then a firehose.
#6
"MISLED by Saddam's cordial manner" > POSSIBLE, BUT IMX I DOUBT IT as based on my own few meetups wid Saddam in my younger days.
IFF ONE ASKED SADDAM THE RIGHT QUESTION(S) HE GAVE SAME HIS ANSWER.
The man made it clear to me that HE + ARAB-MUSLIM GOVTS. IN THE ME DID NOT LIKE OR WERE WARY OF US SUPPORT, INTENTIONS IN THE REGION, ESPEC AS PER ISRAEL + ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICTS.
#7
Someone needs to clean out Foggy Bottom with a flamethrower and then a firehose
Nope, assemble the staff of the State Dept. (including Hillary) in a large conference room. Then bring in Donald Trump to make a two word announcement.
KARBALA / Aswat al-Iraq: Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr arrived in the holy city of Karbala on an unannounced visit on Sunday to perform the rituals of pilgrimage to sacred shrines, according to an official at the Imam al-Hussein Mosque.
Just pushing all the right political buttons...
Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr visited the al-Hussein and al-Abbas Mosques in Karbala today (Jan. 9) amidst tight security measures, Jamal al-Shahrestani told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Sadr also met with the al-Hussein Mosque Secretary General and representative of the top Shiite clerics in Karbala Sheikh Abdulmahdi al-Karbalaie, he said.
The visit is Sadrs first after three years of absence, he said, not giving further information about the nature of the visit.
Sadr, whose Sadrist Movements al-Ahrar (Liberals) parliamentary bloc obtained 40 seats in the current Iraqi parliament, is expected to meet with top figures in his Movement in Karbala.
The al-Shaheed al-Sadrs office had said the Shiite leader arrived at his house in the province of Najaf on January 5, 2011 back from Iran, where he stayed for three and half years. He was last seen in Iraq during a Friday sermon in early June 2007.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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Only speaking for her boss, the Israel-lover, not expressing her own opinion. Because the woman who kissed Mrs. Yasser Arafat would never think such things.
(Apologies for the confusion -- I forgot to highlight the bit above when I posted it.
-- trailing wife at 7:36 pm ET)
[JPOST] - Clinton criticizes e. J'lem Shepherd Hotel demolition: construction of Jewish homes in Sheikh Jarrah gets underway after hotel built by former mufti of J'lem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, is demolished.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton strongly criticized Israel for the demolition of a vacant but historic hotel in an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem, saying that the move undermines US efforts to restart stalled peace talks.
In a statement released from Abu Dhabi, where she was beginning a tour of the Persian Gulf, Clinton said Sunday that the destruction of the Shepherd Hotel to make way for a new Jewish housing development "contradicts the logic" of Israel and the Palestinians negotiating a solution to their differences over Jerusalem, one of the most explosive issues in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. Clinton said the United States is "very concerned" about the demolition.
[Ma'an] The Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine on Sunday held Israeli authorities responsible for the life of party leader Ahmad Sa'adat.
The PFLP Secretary-General and Jamal Abu Al-Haija entered their third week of hunger strike in protest over their treatment by Israeli prison authorities.
Israel has kept both men in solitary confinement for almost two years.
PFLP appealed to the International Red Thingy to visit Sa'adat urgently, and urged human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... organizations to intervene in Israeli violations of international law.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Jerusalem Post] Fearing Israeli retaliation to spate of Kassam and mortar attacks on Negev communities, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, urges Gazoo factions to abide by unofficial cease-fire with Israel, even threatens Paleostinians who launch rockets.
Hamas said on Sunday that it was in contact with other groups in the Gazoo Strip to reduce the recent attacks in the area so as to avoid another war with Israel.
Representatives of the Islamist movement said that they have urged the groups to abide by an unofficial ceasefire and to stop firing rockets and mortars at Israeli communities.
Hamas has even threatened any Paleostinian who launches attacks on Israel.
Ayman Taha, a Hamas official, said that his movement did not want to give Israel an excuse to "wage a new war against the Gazoo Strip."
He warned, however, that Hamas reserved the right to "respond to Israeli crimes, but only within the frame of national consensus."
Paleostinians interpreted his remarks as a sign that Hamas does not believe that any group has the right to independently initiate a confrontation with Israel.
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar was quoted on Sunday as saying that his movement was "only a few steps away from achieving a historic victory" over Israel.
He cautioned, however, that the Paleostinians would pay a very heavy price for such a victory.
"The victory will cost us many of our sons," Zahar told supporters in the Gazoo Strip on the second anniversary of Operation Cast Lead. "But in the next confrontation with the Zionist entity, we will fulfill the dream of our fathers."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Less than a week after the Knesset voted to establish a parliamentary inquiry committee to examine left-wing organizations' activities and funding, MK Yariv Levin (Likud) prepared Sunday to file a bill that would allow the Interior Ministry to expel or prevent the entry of foreign left-wing activists.
Levin is preparing the bill together with Attorney Hila Cohen of the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel. Although it is not clear yet when the bill will be officially filed with the Knesset Secretary, the bill is fully drafted, and Levin is currently recruiting additional co-sponsors for the initiative.
At this early stage, it is not yet clear how much support the initiative will garner, but after the recent vote on MK Fania Kirschenbaum's (Israel Beiteinu) inquiry committee, the bill may enjoy strong tailwinds in its advance through the Knesset.
According to the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, the bill would authorize the Interior Minister "to forbid entrance to Israel or to expel from Israel people defined as enemy agents who harm Israel's security or image."
The bill details specific types of activities defined as harming Israel's security, including denying the existence of the Holocaust, boycotting Israel or Israeli products, and working to hold international court proceedings against Israeli citizens because of activities carried out while serving in Israel's defense organizations. In the bill's current form, the Interior Minister would be authorized to forbid violators from spending time in Israel.
"In each and every generation, there are those who rise up against us to destroy us' and as the State of Israel, the state of the Jewish people, we must act and do everything that we can do to prevent and isolate these phenomena in Israel and in the world," states the bill's introduction.
"Today, there is no legal basis whatsoever that allows the state to act and to express its desire to not give legitimacy to those who act to negate -- through initiatives, organization, funding or practical acts -- the justification for the existence of the State of Israel, and also Israel's actions taken for the defense, the security and the welfare of its citizens," the bill's drafters explained.
Cohen told The Jerusalem Post that the bill "is designed to deal with all kinds of agents who are not citizens, immigrants or qualified to be immigrants" who engage in activities including "fundraising, organizing protests, and incitement." The Interior Minister would be allowed to expel activists already in Israel, or deny entry to those trying to visit Israel, for either a restricted period or permanently.
The bill is an amendment to the current law detailing the parameters for legal presence in Israel. In addition to individuals, organizations would also be allowed to be placed on the list of non-welcome bodies, meaning that the organizations' leaders would all be barred from entering the country.
The legislation also delineates an appeals process by which parties who feel that they have been unfairly blocked from entry may appeal the Interior Minister's decision.
"This bill is critical because such activities have become very common," said Cohen. "At least Israel, if it cannot prevent them from doing what they do overseas, can at least make this statement that Israel will not let people do it within its borders. Israel must say that we are not willing for people to take these actions."
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel criticized the proposal Sunday evening.
"From online reports concerning Levin's planned proposition it seems this is another legislative attempt by the current Knesset to silence critical voices, and falsely label all criticism as illegitimate positions that undermine the very existence of the state," said ACRI Spokeswoman Ronit Sela. "Those familiar with the work of the Interior Ministry know that its unofficial policy to date is to discourage visitors who hold critical views of Israel's policies from attempting to enter the country. Were this harmful procedure to become a law, it would serve as a clear warning sign of the declining state of our democracy by the hands of members of Knesset who disregard democracy's basic values and human rights". ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Soddy Arabia's ambassador to Leb Abdel Aziz Khoja has informed U.S. diplomats in Beirut that Hizbullah believed the Syrians were responsible for Imad Mughniyeh's liquidation in Damascus, according to a leaked cable.
No Syrian official was present at Mughniyeh's funeral in Beirut's southern suburbs the following day. Khoja said Iran was represented by its foreign minister who had come to calm down Hizbullah and keep it from taking action against Syria.
But according to the leaked documents, U.S. reports reveal Syria's hereditary President Bashar Pencilneck Assad ... who used to be referred to in the Egyptian press as the boy president ... 's regime was shocked at the killing of Mughniyeh, a founder member of Hizbullah.
U.S. reports from February 2008, revealed by WikiLeaks, described how Assad's regime was shocked when Imad Mughniyeh was murdered by a bomb planted in his car.
Mughniyeh was wanted by the U.S., Israel, La Belle France and other governments.
"Syrian military intelligence and general intelligence directorate officials are currently engaged in an internecine struggle to blame each other for the breach of security that resulted in Mughniyeh's death," the U.S. embassy cable said.
Khoja said that another rumor was that Syria and Israel had made a deal to allow Mughniyeh to be killed, an Israeli objective.
According to U.S. diplomats, Mughniyeh's murder led to tensions between Syria and Iran, perhaps because Tehran shared Khoja's suspicion of Syrian complicity in the affair.
It took more than a year for Syrian-Iranian relations to improve, with a low-profile visit to Damascus in late 2009 by the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's (IRGC) elite al-Quds force, Qassem Suleimani, described by a Lebanese source as being at "the business end" of Hizbullah's military activities, The Guardian wrote. U.S. officials speculated that Suleimani's long absence was "perhaps a reflection of lingering tensions between Iran and Syria that erupted after the liquidation of Mughniyeh".
It said that both the U.S. and Israel say explicitly that they want to weaken the links between Iran and its main Arab ally, Syria.
Mughniyeh, linked to the kidnappings of western hostages in the 1980s, was a controversial and shadowy figure whose influence reaches beyond the grave.
In 2006, Defense Minister Elias Murr told U.S. diplomats that Mughniyeh was "very active in Beirut", hinting that he was involved in a spate of murders of Lebanese politicians who were hostile to Syria, the Guardian said.
It said that according to Murr, Mughniyeh was working with the IRGC on the one hand and the Syrian intelligence supremo (and President Assad's brother-in-law) Asef Shawkat on the other.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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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 North Korean regime appears to be purging proteges of 
The war on terror is the root cause for the increase in terrorism, injustice and intolerance, said cricketer-turned politician 
