[Tolo News] Isaf's Spokesperson Wednesday dismissed a report claiming foreign troops target houses where people live during an operation in southern Kandahar province.
Several days ago a huge military operation under the name of 'omid' was launched in southern parts of the country in a bid to reduce the Taliban presence in the region.
But a senior Afghan official in a trip to Kandahar to gauge destruction made in the operation said the operation has cost $100 million loss to the people in the province.
While expressing concern about the report, Blotz said fist of all we make sure that there is no civilian living in locations where we want to target in operations.
Josef Blotz, Isaf's Spokesperson, remarked we even make photos of location prior and after the attack for compensation payments.
"We do not attack houses at all, where people still live, in case we have to do something, we have to attack a house only because its staff made home-made explosives, because perhaps it's an IED factory," Blotz said.
A top official in Afghan Defence Ministry said people suffer loss in military operations are paid compensation according to the government strategy.
"Based on policy and President Karzai's decision, losses applied to people during combats should be compensated," Defence Ministry Spokesperson, Gen Zaher Azimi, said.
A delegation led by Mohammad Sidiq Aziz Yar, Advisor in Karzai's Office, said in assessment of damages caused by the operation that a number of houses, fruit trees and gardens have been targeted without any clear reason.
But Isaf announced that their forces have long been spending money to provide farmers with saplings and supplies to forward their farming.
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01/13/2011 00:00 ||
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] In Sudan's Arab-Mohammedan north, the minority Christian community anxiously awaits the outcome of the vote on independence for the south.
President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president. Omar's peculiar talent lies in starting conflict. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its imminent secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. has threatened to reinforce sharia law if the south votes to split from the north.
"Before the referendum, there was a sort of balance in the country between Christians and Mohammedans.
"After secession, we will only form a small minority," said a Christian doctor in Khartoum, asking not to be named.
"I fear that at some point we will be seen as strangers," he added. "Who says they won't ask us to leave?"
The interim constitution adopted under the 2005 peace deal between the predominantly Mohammedan north and the largely Christian south recognises the "multi-ethnic," "multi-cultural" and "multi-religious" character of Sudan.
But it is only valid until July, when south Sudan will declare independence should the vote go that way, as widely expected.
The last census, in 2008, put the number of mostly-Christian southerners living in the north at 520,000. The autonomous government in Juba estimated there to be at least 1.5 million, though many have since returned home.
North Sudan also has a small Coptic community, and Christian groups inhabit the Nuba mountains and Blue Nile state on the border with Ethiopia.
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01/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Unfortunately, I feel fairly sure of the fate awaiting Christians in northern Sudan. You don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows.
[Ennahar] For the first time, and officially, the Libyan External Security Agency has accused the Israeli Mossad of being behind what she described as "attempts to break the territorial unity of Algeria, Libya and Tunisia.
Mossad can break up continents? No wonder Egypt warned Hamas to stop firing missiles over the border fence!
I think it means that the evil Juice plan to break up the territorial designs Qadaffy has on Tunisia and Algeria.
According to the agency, the Amazigh movement activists, backed by foreign intelligence services (Mossad) are leading a plan to break the Maghreb after succeeding in Iraq, Leb, Sudan and Yemen.
In a communiqué of the Libyan agency, published yesterday, of which Ennahar obtained a copy, four people were jugged three days ago, two Libyan national and two Moroccans entered into Libyan territory under supposedly academic, historical, archaeological, cultural research, a cover for their activities.
The two Moroccan nationals were released, the agency said, "in respect for the Moroccan official figures.
The arrest occurred after a surveillance operation, to which four people jugged, Amazigh movement activists, had been submitted.
The Libyan External Security agency directly involves an official Moroccan institution, of being behind the four spies, the twin Libyan brothers Mazigh and Maghris Bouzahar, while the names of the two Moroccans were not cited, nor for whom they work (the Moroccan Royal Institute). These re Asemhar Mahfoud and Ramou Hacen, two researchers from the centre of studies on the history and environment of the Royal Institute of Amazigh culture.
According to data of Ennahar, the two Moroccans spies are part of a destructive project conducted by the Mossad.
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[Ennahar] The Algerian Islamist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who according to the Malian and Nigerian mediators has sponsored the abduction of two Frenchies found dead in Mali, reigns over the smuggling routes of the deep south Sahara, as terrorist, smuggler and thief.
Nicknamed "the elusive" by a former head of French intelligence, he used his knowledge of the desert, and strong tribal and family alliances with local groups to roam at will the "gray area" very hard to control, at the borders of southern Algeria, Chad, Mali, Niger and Mauritania.
Born in June 1972 in Ghardaia, 600 km south of Algiers, he said in a rare interview, broadcast in November 2007 by a jihadi forum, he had been, very young, captivated by the exploits of the Afghan Mujahideen, fighting against the Soviet army.
He joined in 1991, at the age of 19, and trained in Afghan camps of what would later become Al Qaeda, meeting men who had become responsible for the network.
He claims to have fought Russian soldiers, although this can be established independently. Having lost an eye in battle (officially due to shrapnel), he wins one of his many nicknames: "Laouar" (the blind).
He returned to Algeria in 1993, one year after the cancellation by the regime of elections won by the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). His Afghan experience allows him to quickly become one of the commanders of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), in his native region.
He joined in 1998 the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat ... now known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb... (GSPC), born of a split in the GIA, the bloodiest Algerian gangs.
"This is a history of Algerian jihad" explained a few months ago to AFP Louis Caprioli, former assistant director at the DST, from 1998 to 2004 responsible for the fight against terrorism.
"He knew very well the South. From the late 90's, the Sahel has gained an enormous importance because it became the only source of supply of arms and equipment to the Algerian bush, because the roads from Europe have been cut."
To finance these purchases of weapons and equipment, Belmokhtar launches large-scale smuggling of cigarettes, stolen cars, racketeering and illegal migration pathways or drug trafficking.
It links, according to several sources in the region, strong family alliances by marrying several women from several tribes of Tuareg in northern Mali and Niger, with which he is constantly informed of the movements of the forces of order in regions where nothing escapes the men of the desert.
His troops are not numerous, not more than 150 to 200 men divided into small, highly mobile groups. Equipped with powerful 4x4 vehicles, they are fueled by local tribes or secret tanks buried in the desert.
As a result of internal dissension within the GSPC and its transformation into Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), he is replaced as head of the "9th region" (the great southern Algeria) by Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, appointed by the emir of AQIM Abdelmalek Droukdal.
"He fell on northern Mali and moves constantly between the borders to avoid detection," said Louis Caprioli.
There, he enjoyed for years the right to asylum, following his intervention in the happy ending of the abduction of German and Austrian tourists.
"He has been promised to be left alone if he does not engage in hostile action on our soil," told Le Figaro in March 2007, Col. El Hadj Gamou, head of the 1st Military Region of Mali.
This article starring:
ABDELHAMID ABU ZEID
Al-Qaeda in North Africa
ABDELMALEK DRUKDAL
Al-Qaeda in North Africa
MOKHTAR BELMOKHTAR
Al-Qaeda in North Africa
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[Yemen Post] Yemeni President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... accused the Houthi Group of breaching the ceasefire, saying in a phone call with Qatar's Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani on Wednesday that the group is continuing attacks against the people and inflaming insecurity in Saada.
Informed sources said that Saleh also told the Emir that the government is committed to the ceasefire and has already implemented its part within the peace deal being observed by Qatar.
"The group, however, did not stick with the ceasefire terms and the supplementary agreement reached in Qatar in August 2010 for implementing the deal under the Qatari supervision."
The Houthi Group refuses to release civilians in Saada and Amran and to hand the remaining military and public vehicles and equipment seized during the last war on the rebels in the far north. It also continues to build checkpoints and interfere in the duties of the local government," Saleh said.
Praising Qatar's effort to help bring peace to the region, Saleh held the group accountable for its irresponsible acts.
The accusations come amid reports the Qatari mediation has proved a success after the moves of both sides in late December and this month. In December, the government released about 428 Houthi detainees, and this month 40 more detainees were set free as part of the peace deal. In return for the release, the Houthi Group said in December it was giving back military vehicles, eliminating checkpoints and demonstrating full commitment to the ceasefire. A front man for the group told the Yemen Post that the Qatari panel in charge of supervising the ceasefire had been briefed on Houthi commitment.
The moves took place as the Qatari panel arrived in Yemen and held talks with the government and Houthi representatives. The panel was formed in August 2010 when both sides sent delegations to Qatar and agreed to continue the peace deal under Qatari mediation. The ceasefire reached in February 2010 ended a six-year war in the far north that cost the country billions of dollars and thousands of soldiers.
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We can be sure it hit targets painted in exactly the right spots on the floor and ceiling of that reception room in the palace, but beyond that the evidence was too misty to be certain.
[Arab News] Ex-Saudi bully boyJaber Al-Fifi has revealed more details about the failed attempt to assassinate Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs Prince Muhammad bin Naif in August 2009. The would-be assassin, Abdullah Asiri, died in the suicide kaboom.
Al-Fifi said Al-Qaeda was responsible for the liquidation attempt, which aimed to undermine Saudis' faith in a program encouraging Islamic fascistito turn themselves in.
It certainly seems wise, in retrospect, not to stop for a last coffee with the AQAP master bomb maker on the way to surrendering to the authorities...
Al-Fifi told Homomna (Our Concerns), which aired on Saudi Television's Channel 1 on Tuesday night that the details of the operation was revealed to him by the military commander of Al-Qaeda in Yemen,
Known to the rest of the world as Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula, but the Saudis have their little peculiarities on such subjects.
He said the commander told him that the only way to reach Prince Muhammad was by sending in Islamic fascistiwho pretended to give themselves up to the authorities. "If we were accepted and given an audience with the prince, we would detonate the explosives, killing him as well as us," Al-Fifi said.
He said Saudi authorities would then doubt the intentions of any Al-Qaeda member who offered to turn himself in, ultimately discouraging Islamic fascistifrom surrendering.
Al-Fifi said he did not know what was in the explosives belt, but said it must have been highly volatile.
Belt? I thought that master bomb maker put it up his brother's bum. The prince's guards would have notices a bomb belt, surely.
"I believe that the material put into the belt was a very small amount but highly explosive. This was why Asiri was able to get through the detectors at the airport," he said.
Al-Fifi said it was the brother of Asiri who prepared the explosives and the belt. He said the brother was also an Al-Qaeda member and lived in Yemen.
"Asiri was chosen to execute the operation because he was Saudi and the last name in the list of 85 most wanted terrorists," he said.
Al-Fifi said Al-Qaeda was very secretive about such operations and would only talk to those directly involved in executing them.
"The leaders would only speak to the cut-throats about their role in the operation and would not tell them the role of others involved," he said.
He said a Yemeni national was sent on a reconnaissance mission to Soddy Arabia to find out how to enter the Kingdom and get an audience with Prince Muhammad before Asiri was assigned the task of killing the prince.
He did not reveal the name of the Yemeni man, but said he was supposed to go back to Soddy Arabia again to carry out the operation himself.
"There were differences over his suitability and finally (deputy leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) Saeed Al-Shihri chose Asiri to carry out the operation," he said.
Al-Fifi said the explosives were tested on a rock before they were put in the belt around Asiri's waist. "Only 200 grams was used and it completely destroyed the rock," he said.
It sounds impressive to me, but I really haven't a clue about such things. Does Saudi security employ bomb-sniffing dogs... or perhaps trained bees?
Al-Fifi said the Al-Qaeda plotters forgot to put poison in the explosives, which would have killed any injured person within only four seconds.
I'm sure I recall that the heat of the explosion would break down the poison's chemical structure.
He thanked Saudi authorities for allowing him to perform Haj and to see his family. He expressed his worry that people would not forget that he had worked for Al-Qaeda. "I want to meet with people to tell them that I have repented and am no longer a terrorist," he added.
This article starring:
ABDULLAH ASIRI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
JABER AL FIFI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
QASIM AL RIMI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
SAID AL SHIHRI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
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SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited the newly built Nampho Glass Bottle Factory in his first public activity this year, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Wednesday.
Kim's latest field guidance marked his first public appearance since attending a New Year's concert on Dec. 31, along with his heir-apparent Kim Jong-un, in Pyongyang.
"He went round the room dedicated to the history of the factory, products showroom, combined production control room and various other places of the factory to learn in detail about its construction and equipment and production there," the KCNA report said, without mentioning whether Jong-un was on hand.
He looks gaunt even in a puffy down coat, per the pic at the site.
"Watching varieties of bottles being churned out from work sites in an endless stream, he was greatly satisfied to learn that a modern glass bottle factory was successfully built in a brief span of time and started mass production," the report said.
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01/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#5
Serious question for a Rantburg U prof: why is he always wearing sunglasses, even indoors? Is it just a Bono thing, or does he have some kind of medical condition?
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates claims that North Korea will be able to develop an inter-continental ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland within five years. It is rare for a high-ranking U.S. government official to publicly present a time frame for such speculation.
A North Korean ICBM would have to have a maximum range of between 8,000-10,000 km to reach the continental U.S., and no ballistic missiles it has deployed so far have this range. Currently the Musudan mid-range ballistic missile, deployed in 2007, has the longest range of 3,000-4,000 km, making it capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam.
The Taepodong-2 missile, which is under development, is believed to achieve the longest range of an estimated 6,700 km. That would put Alaska within range but not the continental U.S. North Korea conducted two test launches of the missile, but both failed. In July 2006, a Taepodong-2 missile exploded in flight, while in another test launch in April 2009, in which the North claimed it put a satellite into orbit, the three-stage rocket crashed into the Pacific 3,200 km from its launch site.
But although the missile failed to separate and fell short of its target, it was the farthest range achieved by a North Korean missile under development. Some experts say the Taepodong-2 could attain a maximum range of more than 8,000 km if the weight of its warhead is reduced, but there appear to be many obstacles left.
Gates appears to have been prompted by several factors to make his claim. First of all, North Korea has not conducted any missile tests since 2009 but continues to work on long-range missiles by testing engines at its research and development facilities in Musudan-ri and Tongchang-ri. The second factor is North Korea's missile link with Iran. The two countries are believed to have exchanged nuclear and missile technology, and North Korean ICBMs may have been tested in Iran, according to U.S. and South Korean intelligence. North Korea could speed up the development of ICBMs through help from Iran.
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01/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
IN A HEARTBEAT IFF CHINA WILL ALLOW IT. See MUSLIM NUC PAKISTAN + now also IRAN [LRBMS], etc. Third-Party States, espec ala so-called INTER-STATE "FRANCHISING".
Plus of course BLACK MARKET TRANSFERS.
Once again, NORTH KOREA > fears unilateral CHINESE TAKEOVER either directly via MAJOR NEW WAR, or indirectly by select NATURAL FORCES/FACTORS e.g. SINO-DPRK FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS in which most Analysts agree will disproportionately benefit China relative to North Korea.
In short, IMO NORTH KOREA cannot be seen by China as "TOO SUCCESSFUL" in any of its ADVANCED INDIGENOUS MIL, NUCLEAR TESTS. China holds the Korean Peninsula to be an ancient, STRATEGIC ROUTE OF FOREIGN INVASION AGZ CHINA, + has made it clear that anything on occurs on the Korean Peninsula is in its "STRATEGIC/CORE INTERESTS", ESPEC CHIN-SPECIFIC NATIONAL, GEOPOL + NUCLEAR SECURITY, + won't hesitate to militarily intervene on the Peninusla iff its same is threatened.
NORTH KOREA'S TESTS > may be PRE-PLANNED/INTENDED TO "FAIL", at least OVERTLY where relations wid overlord CHINA is concerned.
DPRK LABS + SECRET TEST FACILITIES, WHERE CHINA + WORLD MEDIAS HAVE LITTLE TO NO ACCESS, MAY BE A DIFFERENT ANIMAL ALTOGETHER???
In any case, DEMOCRATIC SOUTH KOREA + has a common interest wid Communist North Korea in preventing any Chinese takeover of North Korea, hence may "tolerate" a LIMITED NORTH KOREAN NUC ARSENAL, espec as complemented by SOUTH KOREA'S OWN NUCLEAR ARMS [+ Other].
#3
This is one of those bad news, good news deals. The bad news being their ability to have a basic delivery capability and warhead. That would mean some big target in order to avoid a miss and do some damage, ie major city. The good news is that that left coast is first in range. /sarc off
#4
What annoys me is that they invariably call San Francisco the big target on the west coast, when it has little or no value. As far as China is concerned, they want Bremerton in Washington and San Diego neutralized, because that would cripple the US Pacific fleet.
Hopefully before they made a major play for Taiwan.
Believe it or not, there are no other suitable friendly deep water ports in the Pacific capable of the full range of aircraft carrier fleet services, repair, refuel and rearm. And by the time the Atlantic fleet could arrive, Taiwan would be over.
North Korea on Wednesday renewed a call for talks about the resumption of package tours to the Mt. Kumgang resort and a meeting about the joint Kaesong Industrial Complex. The call follows an official request on Monday for government and Red Cross talks.
So having sunk a ROK naval ship and fired on the ROK homeland, the Norks want to 'talk'. Trickery, trickery, trickery, just as they've been doing these last twenty years, but this time at least it seems that the South Koreans aren't falling for it.
The North's Guidance Bureau for Comprehensive Development of Scenic Spots, the agency in charge of Mt. Kumgang tours, on Wednesday sent a message to the Unification Ministry proposing talks in Kaesong on Feb. 11 to discuss the resumption of the package tours.
The North's General Bureau for Central Guidance to the Development of the Central Special Zone, which is in charge of the Kaesong industrial park, also proposed to the ministry that the two sides meet there on Feb. 9.
In yet another message to the South on Wednesday, the North Korean director of the inter-Korean economic cooperation council office at the industrial park expressed regret that South Korean staff are not returning to the park and called for normal operations of the council office.
But a ministry spokesman said, "We already clarified our firm position on Monday. We emphasize once again that the North should take responsible steps over its sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan and shelling of Yeonpyeong Island and promise not to launch any more provocations, and then the two governments can hold talks to ascertain how sincere the North is about denuclearization."
Meanwhile, a Red Cross communication channel was reconnected at the truce village of Panmunjom Wednesday eight months after it was cut off.
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After a month-long journey the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson docked at the southern port city of Busan on Tuesday.
The vessel's arrival follows South Korea-U.S. joint naval exercises in November which involved another U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, as tensions soared on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.
The Carl Vinson, which can carry up to 90 aircraft including fighter jets and anti-submarine helicopters, recently completed military drills with Japanese forces in the East China Sea.
While in Busan, the ship's crew will participate in community service projects and other activities with the South Korean Navy. Among the crew members are a number of Korean-American sailors.
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#1
Meanwhile, Bat fans, ION JAPAN-NOT-BUSAN BHARAT RAKSHAK > [Japan Chief Cabinet Secretary YOSHITO]SENGOKU SAYS JAPAN'S FINANCES NEAR "EDGE OF A CLIFF" [Japan Public Debt may be 210% of GDP in 2012 unless something done ASAP].
* WMF > JAPANESE MEDIAS: MIYAKO CHANNEL + OKINAWA ARE T-H-E FRONTLINE OF ANY MAJOR US-CHINA MIL CONFRONTATION IN EAST ASIA + PACIFIC.
[Dawn] Making it clear that the US patience was running out with Pakistain's indecision on military action against bad turbans' hideouts in North Wazoo, Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden ... an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body ... unequivocally told his interlocutors here on Wednesday that the Americans would not wait indefinitely.
Mr Biden, who was here on a day-long visit to Pakistain, held talks with both civilian and military leaders, mainly focused on the endgame in Afghanistan, the existence of bad turban sanctuaries in Pakistain's tribal areas and the radicalisation of Pak society.
The US vice president stayed for about six hours in the federal capital during which he separately met President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani before concluding his visit by calling on Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at the military headquarters where, sources say, most of the substantive discussions about an operation in North Wazoo, reconciliation in Afghanistan and other issues pertaining to the coalition force's operations in Afghanistan were held.
North Wazoo has been a source of friction in relations between the two allies because of the US demand for a military offensive in the region along Pak-Afghan border which Washington says are the launching pad for violence in Afghanistan. But Pak military leadership has been resisting the American pressure by insisting that it was constrained by operations against snuffies in other areas and efforts to consolidate the gains made in the fight against Death Eaters. The army says it will move into North Wazoo at a time of its own choosing.
US difficulties in Afghanistan and its desperation to have a fully cooperative Pakistain were always evident, but they became more obvious after Mr Biden's Kabul visit.
When he departed for Afghanistan, the White House announced: "The primary purpose of the trip is to assess progress towards the transition to Afghan-led security beginning this year." But towards the conclusion of his trip the focus of American timeline had shifted to 2014.
The vice president did not offer any new economic and security package to help shore up the beleaguered government. Sources said he only reiterated his pledge to redouble efforts to get the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (RoZs) legislation adopted by the Congress and help increase Pak-US trade.
Mr Biden, on his second visit to Pakistain, was said to have come here "holding carrots and brandishing sticks". Apart from the commitment on RoZs and trade the only carrot he carried was apparently an increased deference to Pakistain's sensitivities. The few sticks he brandished in his private conversations with Pak leaders were also sensitively wrapped in diplomatic jargon.
The importance that Mr Biden attached to his visit to the army headquarters was evident from the fact that he replied to most of the issues which General Kayani raised in a document he had given to President B.O. on the sidelines of the last round of Strategic Dialogue held in Washington.
In the much-publicised document, whose content hasn't been officially disclosed by either side Gen Kayani had listed the 'complaints of people of Pakistain' against the US, including the transactional nature of its ties with Islamabad, America's inner desire to defang and destabilise Pakistain and its indifference to Pakistain's strategic concerns particularly vis-à-vis India.
During his close to 16-minute presser alongside Prime Minister Gilani, Mr Biden largely focused on the concerns communicated by Gen Kayani, which he described as 'misconceptions about US actions and even more importantly about US intentions with regard to Pakistain'. And as if he wanted to respond to Gen Kayani in his own words, he started his reply to those concerns by saying: "I am not talking about leadership, I am talking about what has been in the public discourse."
He sought to dispel a conception that the US had drawn Pakistain into war. He said violent Orcs and similar vermin were not a threat only to the United States, but also to Pakistain and the entire civilised world. He stressed that Al Qaeda and the Taliban continued to pose a threat to the US and its interests from their sanctuaries in Pakistain's tribal areas.
"They (Al Qaeda) continue to plot attacks against the United States and our interests to this very day and they have, not with your help, but they have found refuge in the most remote portions of your country."
Attempting to make the Paks wake up to the threat the Orcs and similar vermin posed to the country and its people, he cautioned that "societies that tolerate such actions wind up being consumed by those actions."
Mr Biden set the tone for the Islamabad trip by voicing concern in Kabul over Pakistain being too soft with the Taliban.
"It is going to require more pressure on the Taliban from Pak side of the border than we have been able to observe so far," the vice president said in the Afghan capital.
In an apparent reference to the drone attacks and occasional intrusion by Nato jets seen here as a violation of country's illusory sovereignty, he said Washington was working with Islamabad to restore illusory sovereignty violated by Death Eaters.
"I would respectfully suggest that it is the Orcs and similar vermin who violate Pakistain's illusory sovereignty and corrupt its good name. The US is working to restore and strengthen illusory sovereignty in areas where Orcs and similar vermin violated it."
Other 'misgivings' that he tried to dispel included the impression that America disrespected Islam; its (US) policies favoured India and sought to weaken and dismantle Pakistain; and that Americans would abandon the region leaving Pakistain behind to deal with the mess. "We want what you want -- a strong, stable, prosperous and democratic Pakistain at peace with itself and its neighbours, including India. We want that not just for your sake but we wish your success because it's in our own interest, it's in the interest of the entire region and I would argue the entire world."
According to private TV channels, top Foreign Office officials told a group of journalists after Mr Biden's presser that Pakistain hoped there would not be "any new great game pertaining to Afghanistan" after the United States withdrew its troops from there.
The vice president also rejected the notion that the US was inclined to maintaining the transactional nature of its relationship with Pakistain. To support his contention he pointed to the renewed Strategic Dialogue and the $7.5 billion Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act, which he reminded was finalised in "very difficult economic times".
After these clarifications, Mr Biden proceeded directly to the army headquarters without taking questions from journalists, citing schedule limitation.
Officially nothing was said about the all-important meeting at the GHQ except for a customary two-liner from Inter-Services Public Relations: "Mr Joseph R. Biden, United States Vice President called on Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani today. The visiting dignitary remained with him for some time and discussed matters of mutual interest."
But sources insist that Mr Biden was very 'focused, pointed and candid' in his discussions urging the military leadership to give up its ambivalence on the operation in North Wazoo.
Continued on Page 49
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(PTI) In yet another twist in the trial of seven Pak suspects linked to the Mumbai terror attacks, prosecutors have done a U-turn on a proposal to drop a legal move to get Ajmal Kasab and Fahim Ansari declared as "proclaimed offenders" or runaways.
The Federal Investigation Agency has decided to pursue a petition filed in the Lahore High Court to challenge an anti-terrorism court's decision not to declare Kasab and Ansari as runaways.
Prosecutors had recently told the anti-terrorism court, which is conducting the trial of the seven suspects, that they planned to withdraw the petition.
The High Court will take up the FIA's petition tomorrow, an official in the prosecution team said. "We have now decided not to withdraw the appeal," the official, who did not want to be named, told PTI.
This article starring:
AJMAL KASAB
Lashkar-e-Taiba
FAHIM ANSARI
Lashkar-e-Taiba
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(AFP) A summit gathering some of Iraq's top religious leaders in Copenhagen this week is hoped to result in a joint decree condemning violence against Christians, organisers said Wednesday.
"I hope that we will be able to produce a joint Shiite-Sunni fatwa (religious decree) against violence towards Christians," said Canon Andrew White, head of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (FRRME) and vicar of St. George's Church in Baghdad.
"There is a total unity between the Muslims and Christians: we need to do something radical," White told AFP on the sidelines of the three-day closed-door meeting that began Wednesday.
The emergency summit at a heavily guarded Copenhagen hotel, organised by FRRME and the Danish foreign ministry, comes on the heels of a string of attacks on Christians in Iraq, as well as in neighbouring countries.
FRRME, a British non-governmental group, had previously only revealed that eight of Iraq's Muslim and Christian religious leaders would take part, refusing to divulge their identities for safety reasons.
On Wednesday, however, White revealed some of the participants to AFP, pointing out that one of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's top Sunni advisors, Sheikh Abdul Latif Humayem, was at the meeting.
Shiite leader Sheik Abduhaleem al-Zubairi, Younadam Kanna, who represents Iraq's Assyrian community, and Archbishop Avak Asadorian, who is head of the country's Christian Council, were also present, White said.
#2
Stopping the offense is not enough, because Islam is decentralized. The Christians have to learn how to defend themselves.
Since one of the Christian sects is affiliated with the Vatican, the Vatican should offer to credential a volunteer Christian organization that would travel to Iraq to give the Christians security advice.
Most of these people would be prior service military, familiar with Iraq, and the organization would not be a non-profit, but a not-for-profit. Cost to the Vatican would be minimal, mostly diplomatic, and it would save the government of Iraq money and embarrassment.
#3
The Christians have to learn how to defend themselves.
Then the fat would really be in the fire. Unbelievers are not permitted to raise their hands against Mohammedans. Mark Twain remarked upon that in Innocents Abroad, when he sought explanation for a gang of Istanbul boys beating an old Jewish man until he was bloody.
on the WaPo's website (too bad its not in print because it would cause some lefty heads to explode)
Per an opinion poll of E Jerusalem Arabs (both Christian and Moslem)conducted by a former state dept department head,
30% would like to be Paleos post conflict
35% would like to be Israelis post conflict
35% were too scared to have an opinion or couldn't believe there would be such a thing as 'post conflict'
40% would move to become Israelis
54% said if they found themselves in Israel (again post conflict), they would stay
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"Those Paleos are kraaazy"
"aren't you "Palestinian"?"
"Yeah, but...."
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/13/2011 18:49 Comments ||
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[Ma'an] Shin Bet personnel asked an Al-Jazeera news hound to remove her bra during a security check at the entrance to an event in Jerusalem, Israeli media reported Wednesday.
The news hound refused to comply and was not allowed into to the hall where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed foreign media Tuesday night, Ynet news reported.
The journalist reportedly informed Israel's Government Press Office director, Oren Helman, who organized the event, that due to the Shin Bet's demands, Al-Jazeera would not attend the event.
Helman told Ynet that "during the event, we tried to facilitate the quick and easy entrance of foreign news hounds into the hall, and even sent an announcement detailing the hours of admission ahead of time.
"I regret any mishap, but it is solely the responsibility of the Shin Bet," he added.
The Shin Bet responded: "All guests were subjected to a security check in accordance with the customary security procedures in such events. Three female news hounds refused to be examined under these procedures and decided not to attend the event."
Other news hounds, including Turkish correspondents, were allowed in but complained of extremely meticulous security inspections that they claimed were humiliating, according to the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
And unlike our own TSA thugs/goons/idiots/perverts, when she refused they allowed her to depart; if Big Sis and her sh!theaded crew were in charge, that lady would have been thrown to the floor, handcuffed and arrested for (fill in the blank for the charge d'jour)
[Ma'an] The exiled leader of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, said Wednesday that Fatah's move toward ousting former party leader Muhammad Dahlan was good for the Paleostinian cause.
Khaled Mashaal told the Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab Al-Youm that ousting Dahlan is "good for the Paleostinian cause," but President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas "resolves this dispute for his own benefit; he will be marginalized in the end."
"Hamas will recover in the West Bank," the Damascus-based leader predicted, saying he was pessimistic about resolving the years-long state of political disunity. "Reconciliation is now less likely than any time before." Yeah, I'm "based" in Damascus. I could be in Gaza, but...ewww. "You don't think the Zionist drones will find me here, do you?"
"Hamas leaders are pessimistic about achieving reconciliation under the current circumstances, however, they still insist that it is a necessity so they will continue to work to achieve it."
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... Fatah leaders heard the preliminary findings of a committee investigating what the Israeli media said were attempts by Dahlan to engage a private militia in the West Bank.
The two-day meeting, which ended Wednesday in Ramallah, saw Abbas and his top Fatah officials decide to appoint an expanded committee to open a deeper investigation.
Fatah officials remain tight-lipped about the exact nature of the probe. Party members have confirmed that the investigation centers on Dahlan, but have not explained further.
This article starring:
Khaled Mashaal
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] Talks next week between Iran and major powers concerned about its nuclear program could be the "last chance" for the West because Tehran's atomic capability is improving, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Tehran's nuclear ambassador, raised the stakes for the Jan. 21-22 meeting with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, which want assurances that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons.
Once Iran can make its own fuel for a research reactor, which it has said will happen this year, it may not return to negotiations if the talks to be held in Istanbul fail, the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying on Wednesday.
"It might be the last chance because by installing fuel rods produced by Iran in the core of the Tehran Research Reactor, probably parliament will not allow the government to negotiate or send its uranium outside the country and the Istanbul meeting might be the last chance for the West to return to talks."
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has the ultimate say on its nuclear policy and diplomacy.
A similar round of talks concluded in October 2009 with a tentative pact for Iran to export some of its low-enriched uranium in exchange for fuel rods made from higher-enriched, 20 percent uranium to run the reactor which makes medical isotopes.
But that deal, meant as a confidence building step leading to further talks, unraveled when Tehran backed away from the terms, ultimately leading to a new wave of sanctions which some analysts say helped push Tehran back to the negotiating table.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
IIUC, IRAN = will begin IGNORING UNO-LED DEMANDS + SANCTIONS, + proceed unilater steadily forward unto NUCLEAR WEAPONS PRODUCTION UNLESS STOPPED BY AN OUTSIDE FORCE [Newton's Law].
Oh yeah, "2012".
IRAN > "D *** NG IT, WE WERE ONLY PRETENDING TO IGNORE YOU BEFORE [US + UNO], NOW WE WILL IGNORE YOU FOR REAL. D *** THE TORPEDOES, ALL CAMELS FULL AHEAD".
[Arab News] Leb's year-old unity government collapsed Wednesday after Hezbullies ministers and their allies resigned over tensions stemming from a UN-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 liquidation of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The walkout ushers in the country's worst political crisis since 2008 in one of the most volatile corners of the Middle East.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the son of the slain leader, cut short a visit to Washington after meeting with President Barack B.O. Obama. He was heading to Gay Paree where he will meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday, his office in Beirut said.
Hariri planned to hold consultations on his government's collapse while in La Belle France, then would return to Beirut, according to an official in Hariri's delegation.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill... said the B.O. regime was "consulting closely with concerned parties and nations as to the best way forward to preserve the illusory sovereignty, stability and independence of Leb and the needs of the Lebanese people." "We view what happened today as a transparent effort ... to subvert justice and to undermine Leb's illusory sovereignty and independence," she told news hounds in Doha.
The tribunal is widely expected to name members of Hezbullies in upcoming indictments, which many fear could re-ignite sectarian tensions that have plagued the tiny country for decades.
"This Cabinet has become a burden on the Lebanese, unable to do its work," Energy Minister Jibran Bassil said at a news conference announcing the resignations, flanked by the other ministers who are stepping down. "We are giving a chance for another government to take over."
Hezbullies has denounced the tribunal as an "Israeli project" and urged the prime minister to reject any findings by the court even before it announced any indictments.
But the prime minister has refused to break cooperation with the tribunal.
Hariri's office had no immediate comment on the walkout that brought down his government while he was in Washington.
Obama and Hariri reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening Leb's illusory sovereignty and independence during their Wednesday meeting. A White House statement said Obama had commended Hariri for his "steadfast leadership and efforts to reach peace, stability and consensus in Leb under difficult circumstances." "The efforts by the Hezbullies-led coalition to collapse the Lebanese government only demonstrate their own fear and determination to block the government's ability to conduct its business and advance the aspirations of all of the Lebanese people," the statement said.
Labor Minister Butros Harb, who is with the anti-Hezbullies bloc, told news hounds after a meeting of Hariri's supporters that they are open to dialogue but "there will be no compromise over justice and the tribunal." The walkout followed the failure of a diplomatic push by Syria and Soddy Arabia to ease political tensions in Leb.
Ahead of Hezbullies's announcement, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal warned that the prospect of political instability posed "a great danger" for Leb and the region.
"If the resignations materialize, if there is a split... this may lead to a conflict... And this poses a great danger... Leb may face the problems it faced before, and this will affect the countries in the region," he said.
"We wish that those resignations do not happen," he said, speaking at a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, in Ankara .
Davutoglu said Ankara had been in touch with Hariri and Syrian leaders to discuss the situation.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2011 00:00 ||
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[PTI] Julian Assange's lawyer in Britain has accused Swedish authorities of secretly planning to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the United States, in an interview with a German newspaper to appear tomorrow.
Attorney Mark Stephens told the weekly Die Zeit that he believed Swedish officials were cooperating with US authorities with an eye to extraditing Assange as soon as the Americans have built a criminal case against him.
"We are hearing that the Swedish are prepared to drop the rape charges against Julian as soon as the Americans demand his extradition," he said, citing sources in Washington and Stockholm.
Stephens called the Swedish charges against his client a "holding case" to buy time until the United States can prosecute him themselves over WikiLeaks' mass release of classified US documents.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
The Swedes would likely be glad to be rid of him, on the sole condition that the US would not execute him.
No problem. There's a cell in ADX Florence with his name on it. And even though they'll never meet, his little buddy PFC Manning is going there, too.
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.
SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited the newly built Nampho Glass Bottle Factory in his first public activity this year, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Wednesday.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates claims that North Korea will be able to develop an inter-continental ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland within five years. It is rare for a high-ranking U.S. government official to publicly present a time frame for such speculation. 
[Dawn] Making it clear that the US patience was running out with Pakistain's indecision on military action against
[Ma'an] The exiled leader of 
[Arab News] 
[PTI] Julian Assange's lawyer in Britain has accused Swedish authorities of secretly planning to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the United States, in an interview with a German newspaper to appear tomorrow.
