Why should France stay when America's president is already committed to leaving? This is one of those hoist with/by his own petard thingies, only the rest of us get to enjoy the sensation, too. Given how often President Obama has demonstrated stereotypical American cowboy ignorance -- remember the speech at the UN about Iran, when he already knew what we only found out later? -- I can't blame President Sarkozy for not trusting the man to get it right this time, for all he seems to be turning into Bush 3.
PARIS - France and the international community should begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in the months ahead to help push Afghanistan towards democracy, a senior French foreign affairs official said on Friday.
That doesn't make a bit of sense. He wants to use Karzai's foot-dragging and bin-Laden's threat (made from beyond the void) to cut and run.
Axel Poniatowski, a member of the ruling UMP party and head of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said Afghan President Hamid Karzai's decision this week to delay the inauguration of parliament was a "bad sign for democracy".
France has about 3,500 troops in Afghanistan, although the U.S.-led war has been largely unpopular in the country. At least 50 French soldiers in Afghanistan have been killed since 2001.
"I am convinced that the beginning of a gradual withdrawal of international troops from the summer of 2011 would keep the pressure on the Afghan authorities by indicating that our commitment is not unlimited," Poniatowski said in a statement.
The presence of French troops in Afghanistan is a factor contributing to a heightened state of vigilance in France against a possible attack by Islamic militants.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden warned on Friday that French President Nicolas Sarkozy's refusal to remove its forces from Afghanistan gave his followers a green light to kill French hostages held around the world. Bin Laden's warning -- his second targeting French policy -- was made in an audio clip broadcast by al-Jazeera television and could not be independently verified.
Foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said France remained committed to the international force in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out that Afghanistan doesn't end. With no foreseeable government and an endless supply of replacements from Pakistan, there is no place to go.
There are only three things left of any interest. The first is to wipe out the poppy trade, maybe with some bio agent. This is the only European interest.
The second is that the Afghan leaders are at least strong enough to keep the Taliban down. And the third is for the US to keep the northern base at Mazar-i-Sharif, to spy on everyone in the region.
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Northerners call him the "vice absent" rather than the vice president of Sudan, because he is hardly seen there, and made separationist rhetoric in the run-up to the referendum.
But with his cowboy hat and thick charcoal beard, Salva Kiir is a respected former rebel commander and devout Christian who has discreetly imposed his leadership on Southern Sudan and led the region to a landslide vote for secession.
The towering 60-year-old president of the autonomous south, with its 8.5 million inhabitants, has led the region since the death of veteran freedom fighter John Garang in 2005.
"Salva," as he is known in the south, has made no secret of his ambition to lead the vast, underdeveloped region to nationhood in the referendum that wrapped up on Saturday, breaking with Garang's long-standing campaign for a new, federal and democratic Sudan.
Hailing from Bahr al-Ghazal, near the flashpoint Abyei border district, Kiir belongs to the Dinka tribe, south Sudan's largest, and preaches at Mass every Sunday at the main Roman Catholic cathedral in Juba.
He took over from the charismatic Garang, with whom he co-founded the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement in 1983, after the latter was killed in a helicopter crash in Uganda shortly after signing the 2005 peace agreement that ended the civil war with the north.
Kiir at once became the group's political and military leader, president of the south and vice-president of Sudan, which led to him working for six years alongside civil-war foe 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. in a government of national unity.
A career military man who is more comfortable speaking in Juba Arabic dialect than in English, Kiir has failed to shake off the shadow of his predecessor, whose legacy is honoured by both southerners and northerners.
"Salva Kiir is not flamboyant. He is not very communicative but he has nevertheless managed to steer the boat successfully to the referendum. He has also to a certain extent managed to rally some of his opponents in the south," an observer said.
Over the past year, Kiir has made peace with his main rivals in order not to let the internal politics of south Sudan undermine the referendum, in which partial preliminary results showed an almost unanimous vote in favour of secession.
But Kiir faces the daunting task of building a country that still lacks basic infrastructure after a devastating 22-year war with Khartoum, and which is divided by historical ethnic rivalries and struggling to re-integrate those displaced by the fighting, which killed an estimated two million people.
If Garang made history as pioneer of the southern rebellion and architect of peace, Kiir is set to become an iconic figure in his own right as father of a newly independent south Sudan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2011 00:05 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] For decades, Tunisians espousing political Islam were banned, jugged and forced underground by their country's autocratic regime.
Now they are seeking a place in government -- raising fears that Islamic radicalism might take root in Tunisia, long seen by the West as a bulwark against terrorism.
With the promise that democracy will replace dictatorship, members of the outlawed Ennahdha party have taken to the streets, joining daily protests aimed at banishing all traces of the former ruling party of ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Such activism by the Islamists -- who want a role for Islam in their country's politics -- is feeding jitters that extremism may be on the rise in Tunisia, long a Westward-looking nation proud of its modern identity. Women enjoy widespread freedoms, Mohammedan headscarves are banned in public buildings and abortions, a deep taboo in most Mohammedan societies, are legal in Tunisia.
Members of Ennahdha, Renaissance in English, say fears of radicalism have no merit.
"The Western media is frightening people, saying that 'the Islamists are rising.' But we are not to be feared," said party front man, Hamadi Jebali.
"We are not the Taliban or al-Qaeda or Ahmadinejad," he said, referring to the Iranian president. "We will submit to the vote of the people when the time comes."
Such a public profile by the Islamist group would have been unthinkable during the rule of Ben Ali, who banned it in 1992, accusing it of conspiring to kill him and establish a Mohammedan fundamentalist state. Group leaders say their confessions were extracted through torture.
Less than a week after Ben Ali decamped to Soddy Arabia, Ennahdha's No. 2 leader has already met with Tunisia's prime minister amid efforts to form a new government. The Islamist party's exiled founder, Rachid Ghanouchi, is waiting to return from London, where he has lived for nearly two decades.
The United States, Tunisia's former colonial ruler La Belle France and other Western powers long supported Ben Ali, in large part because the North African nation was an anchor of stability in a volatile region and a trusted ally in the fight against terrorism.
Already, the regional al-Qaeda spinoff, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, is looking to capitalize on Tunisia's new era, urging Tunisians to train in their camps and "wage the decisive battle against the Jews, the Crusaders and their agents," according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors al-Qaeda communiques.
Tunisia's Western allies have expressed concerns about rising radicalism. A day before Ben Ali decamped, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a stark warning to Arab leaders that they must open economic and political space to the Mideast's exploding youth population if they want to blunt extremism.
Euphoria has swept Tunisia since the flight of Ben Ali, who ruled for 23 years and quashed all opposition.
But for many, the yearning for pluralism born with their "people's revolution" stops with the Islamists. Fears of lost social freedoms or a rise in radicalism pose too great a risk to allow a voice for even a moderate version of political Islam, as Ennahdha says it offers.
"That's the danger. I'm against political Islam," said Habib Jerjir, a leader of the Regional Workers' Union of Tunis.
Like many in this Mediterranean nation, he wants to see the myriad opposition movements that have been banned until now have a place on the political scene -- but not one that combines Islam with politics. "We must block their path," Jerjir said.
Long a tourist haven, Tunisia was put on its secular path by its modern-day founder Habib Bourguiba. He outlawed Mohammedan headscarves in public buildings and introduced a code that freed women from many of the constraints they face in other Arab countries. He famously once went on television during the Mohammedan fasting month of Ramadan suggesting citizens should eat.
Ben Ali, who toppled Bourguiba in a bloodless coup in 1987, initially took a softer approach to the Islamists. Ennahdha won 17 percent of the vote in 1989 legislative elections, with its candidates running as independents. Then, Ben Ali's crackdown began.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2011 00:10 ||
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Tony Blair said he was determined to do whatever it took to disarm Saddam Hussein despite legal concerns, as he returned for a second appearance at Britains inquiry into the Iraq conflict. The former prime minister has been recalled to explain discrepancies in the evidence he gave one year ago when he first attended the inquiry into the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In a written statement submitted to the inquiry, Blair said he had given US President George W. Bush a strong commitment in January 2003 that Britain would do what it took to disarm Saddam, despite the legal concerns.
He conceded he received advice from then attorney general Peter Goldsmith on January 14 and January 30, 2003, suggesting that a further UN resolution was required for military action to be legal, but said this was provisional.
In speaking to President Bush on 31st January 2003 I was not going to go into this continuing legal debate, internal to the UK government, Blair wrote in his statement. I repeated my strong commitment, given publicly and privately to do what it took to disarm Saddam.
He noted that Goldsmith, the governments top legal adviser, changed his mind, adding that if he had not, then the UK could not and would not have participated in the decision to remove Saddam.
Summing up, Blair added: In the end there was a decision that had to be made: on the basis of the information available, to decide whether to join the US coalition and remove Saddam, or to stay out. I decided we should stay in.
That's why he was the prime minister and Goldsmith wasn't. Sovereign nations need not defer to the UN when it is in their better interests not to defer.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Compare wid PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > BUSH SENIOR: WE GOT IRAQ RIGHT[OP Desert Shield,Storm], despite any criticisms + obstacles.
AAAAAWWWWW - Shuckies, "Herbie", NO KUDOS OR HOAGIES TO THAT-MADONNA-FAN-FROM-GUAM that helped Stormin' Norm plan his little end run.
SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has again begun to collect foodstuffs from its residents for military use, as food shortages for its 1.2 million troops have been getting increasingly worse, the Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported Wednesday, citing sources in the communist state.
It is the third time in history that the regime in Pyongyang is known to have requisitioned foodstuffs from the people to feed its military, the broadcaster said, noting the previous two occurred in the mid-to-late 1990s, when millions starved to death, and in July 2002, when an emergency economic management measure was enforced.
"On Jan. 10, the Workers' Party has sent out a written order to plants, companies and labor groups, urging them to donate foodstuffs to the military from Jan. 12," the RFA said, citing the sources.
"In the order, the party stressed that soldiers standing guard over the border are surviving on canned cornmeal porridge and threatened to assess the amount of donations by individual entity," the RFA said, adding the North failed to attain its goal of securing 1.6 million tons in provisions for the military last year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2011 00:50 ||
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I believe during the winter at Valley Forge that Washington ordered his troops to go out and elicit donations from the citizens in the area, and to force them to "donate" if necessary. Of course, Washington's soldiers were only a few thousand I believe.
#3
I also remember that folks did not like it when Redcoats took over their houses for their own use. I don't remember if they were forced out completely or not. I'm sure they took over the nicer houses whenever they could and tromped mud all over everything before leaving. And it wasn't so easy to call in a maid service and Stanley Steemer to clean the place up.
#5
IIRC Washington issued the order because the farmers were not short on supply but rather selling to the highest bidder who happened to be financed out of London.
#6
In situations of such extreme depravity, I wouldn't imagine that the notion of "long pig" is out of the question. It being Asia, a girl child could provide enough sustenance for an entire family to make it through the winter.
#12
Anonymoose,
That's already happened during the 90's. Not so much based on gender as newborns of both sexes. Life in NK is so close to the edge that both starvation and cannibalism is never very far away.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/22/2011 15:21 Comments ||
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#13
Interesting that the PRC is not a supplier.
Indeed. Almost like they want this charade to end. Maybe they're saving aid for reunification, to pull (bribe) a united Korea out of the US sphere of influence and into theirs?
#14
Almost like they want this charade to end. Maybe they're saving aid for reunification, to pull (bribe) a united Korea out of the US sphere of influence and into theirs?
More likely it's a Chinese version of "pit bull training".
#15
Good point, Pappy - but you don't starve the pit bull until it's so weak it can barely fight.
China is on a spending spree, quietly buying up all the allies, resources, and influence it can find. E.g.: an Ethiopian friend of mine runs an agricultural development project which owns several thousand acres of land in Africa. Chinese offered $100 million cash for it. They said no, because the locals would not benefit. But how many people would be principled enough to turn down an offer like that?
Point is, China is finding that, in a cash-poor world, they can buy damn near anything they want. Including, I suspect, the outcome in Korea.
#16
E.g.: an Ethiopian friend of mine runs an agricultural development project which owns several thousand acres of land in Africa. Chinese offered $100 million cash for it. They said no, because the locals would not benefit.
$20K an acre? Stateside, farmland is less than $10K an acre. Here are some Iowa numbers.
#17
"Several" as in 30 or 40, plus a hydroelectric plant and irrigation systems in some stage of construction.
He says China is buying up Africa like mad, then brings in Chinese workers for the labor. It doesn't help anyone who lives there - and isn't meant to. Likewise China's policy regarding Korea.
#18
The same thing happens with Chinese "investment" in Venezuela. They buy the rights to the _oilfield_ they're drilling, they bring in their equipment and personnel in from China, and they don't spend much money on the local economy.
U.S. President Barack Obama is warning the United States may have to redeploy American forces in Asia unless China toughens its stance on North Korea.
Right: the man who bowed to Hu again is 'warning' the Chinese. Did Bambi warn them before or after he secured the deal to keep the panda bears at the zoo?
A senior Obama administration official told The New York Times that Obama delivered that warning to Chinese President Hu Jintao this week during the two leaders' private dinner at the White House, just hours after Hu arrived in the United States.
According to the unidentified U.S. official, Obama said, if Beijing does not help curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions, the United States will have to realign its forces to protect against a possible North Korean strike on American soil.
How about instead we let it be known that we'd reluctantly go along with allowing the ROK to develop long-range missiles? That they can arm with nuclear warheads? That they could sell to Taiwan?
U.S. officials have increasingly been warning that North Korea poses a direct threat to the United States. Obama is said to have raised the issue with Hu twice in recent weeks -- first during a telephone conversation last month, then again at their private White House meeting.
American officials told U.S. news outlets Friday that China appears to be taking the warning seriously. They credit renewed pressure from Beijing for the quick agreement on new high-level military talks between North and South Korea.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"Realign its forces" > IOW, MORE-NOT-LESS
"THEATER/ACCESS DENIAL" headaches for Rising China + PLAN, vee NE Asia + "First Island Chain".
SUB-IOW, CHINA'S DESIRED "FAR-SHORE" OPLANS FOR PLA POWER PROJECTION WILL [mostly] FAIL, at the very least be seriously obstructed in favor of the US-ALLIES.
Lest we fergit, FREEREPUBLIC/NET > CHINA does hold to the MULTILATERALIST/POLAR TENETS OF
"GLOBALISM" + [Post-WOT, post-US] NWO that the US-WEST does, regardless of its official Govt. rhetoric to the contrary.
* WAFF > CHINA'S NEW J-20 IS ALREADY OBSOLETE |[Aviation Week] STEALTHY CHINESE J-20 VULNERABLE.
* YONHAP/TOPIX [yesterday] > NORTH KOREAN PEOPLE ORDERED [once again] TO DONATE FOOD TO MILITARY:REPORT.
* WMF > SHOCK: SOUTH KOREAN WEBSITE CLAIMS THAT THE ROK AIR FORCE [F-15K's wid LR Aerial Refueling]IS FULLY CAPABLE OF ATTACKING AND DESTROYING CHINA'S THREE GORGES DAM, CONTINUED CHINESE SUPPORT FOR NORTH KOREA AGZ SOUTH KOREA DESPITE MILITARY INCIDENTS WILL INDUCE SOUTH KOREA TO PLAN MIL SCENARIOS FOR THREE GORGES AIR, MISSLE STRIKES AGZ CHINA.
They dont care about what US want,a country they consider in decline!
Posted by: Paul D ||
01/22/2011 6:49 Comments ||
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#3
PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > JAPAN FM HINTS AT FORCIBLE TAIWAN REUNIFICATION, by China + PLA.
Between HAINAN ISLAND + TAIWAN, IMO its Taiwan that is more "China's PEARL HARBOR", wid Hainan akin to US NAVY-DOD MILFACS IN SAN FRANCISCO or SAN DIEGO.
HAINAN IS SO ONLY BECUZ TAIWAN IS NOT YET BACK IN CHINA'S FOLD.
* WAFF > YOUTUBE > [Philippines] ASEAN MEMBER TELLS US TO GET OUT OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA, as it belongs to China.
North Korean products are being sold in South Korea labeled as Russian after the South stopped all cross-border trade in May last year. The North is desperate to unblock the flow of hard currency and is pushing for resumption of dialogue over the Kaesong Industrial Complex and lucrative package tours to Mt. Kumgang.
The Unification Ministry has released a list of the top 10 North Korean agricultural and fisheries imports, which show that the South brought in around 310,000 tons between 2006 to 2010. Imports totaled US$677 million tons, which worth $135 million a year. Over the last decade, North Korea also earned more than $500 million from the Mt. Kumgang tours, while the Kaesong Industrial Complex brought in $50 million annually.
Shellfish exports made the most money for the North, totaling 171,533 tons worth $268 million, followed by dried fish ($78.76 million), processed fish products ($76.02 million) and other seafood ($67.42 million).
Before the South halted trade following the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan, most North Korean shellfish was brought into the port city of Sokcho on the east coast. South Korean importers paid in U.S. dollars in Sokcho after signing contracts in the Chinese border town of Dandong with North Korea's official economic cooperation agency.
But since trade was halted, North Korean shellfish has been labeled in Dandong as Chinese in origin and apparently sent to the western port city of Incheon. North Korean fisheries products are also apparently loaded on to Chinese vessels in the West Sea and brought into South Korea. As the pressure to bring in more dollars increases, chances have risen that the North's agricultural and fisheries products are being falsely labeled.
A South Korean businessman who trades with North Korea, said, "Since trade was halted, North Korea has been trying to sell its products to South Korea labeled as Chinese or Russian in origin. This shows just how desperate North Korea is for dollars."
The alternatives would be to sell the goods to China, the North's largest trading partner, but prices have to be slashed and it costs more to transport them. Most of the dollars North Korean makes from selling goods to South Korea appear headed straight for leader Kim Jong-il's coffers and used to prop up his rule. Kim's funds are divided into local and foreign currencies and the latter, raised by selling farm and fish products, account for a key portion. Products such as shellfish and mushrooms that can bring in the most foreign currency are controlled by the Workers Party or the military, making it hard for the money to be used to boost the welfare of the North Korean people.
"North Korea uses a lot of the money it makes from trade to fund its rule, either buying gifts for government officials or building luxury homes," said Cho Myung-chul, a professor at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, who taught economics at Kim Il-sung University in North Korea. "North Korea desperately needs money to win the hearts and minds of the public and gain support for the hereditary transfer of power. That's why it's seeking talks with South Korea, so it can find a way to sell its products."
What happened to the ships full of pallets of American hundred dollar bills that North Korea has been printing for ages?
A pallet of Benjamins doesn't go as far as it used to...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2011 00:00 ||
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Friday, 21.Jan 2011: Copenhagen police will be in place this afternoon to prevent trouble at a multi-party, multi-organisation demonstration against the Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation, which is holding a debate in the premises of the Royal Library later today.
"(Hizb ut-Tahrir) is the most dangerous organisation we have in Denmark. It is important for us to show that we are many who have a different view and that we can be seen when Hizb ut-Tahrir meets," says the Social Democratic co-organiser of the demonstration, Copenhagen Local Counsellor Lars Aslan Rasmussen.
So arrest them, when possible strip them of Danish citizenship and deport them, and throw the rest in jail.
"Hizb ut-Tahrir is different from other extreme organisations by having been found guilty of calling for the killing of Danish Jews, and now they are saying it's OK to kill Danish soldiers. It's OK to be against the war in Afghanistan, but when you produce adverts with pictures of coffins wrapped in the Danish flag, it's violence pornography," Rasmussen says.
See? You've got actual crimes to arrest them for, not merely freedom of speech issues.
He adds that representatives of all political parties will be taking part in the demonstration, as well as other organisations. The Danish Soldiers' Veterans Association will also be taking part. Rasmussen adds that the demonstration is targeted at Hizb ut-Tahrir itself, and not the controversial issue of the organisation being allowed to meet in the Royal Library premises.
The Stop Islamification of Denmark organisation has also urged its members to take part in the demonstration and the Danish Nazis have also used their home page to attack Hizb ut-Tahrir and its meeting in the Royal Library.
"We have said that everyone is welcome. We cannot decide on who is allowed to come and who not, but the theme is that we are against Hizb ut-Tahrir, and not against Muslims. So we will not accept racist slogans. We are as much against Nazis and the far right as we are against Hizb ut-Tahrir," Rasmussen says.
Copenhagen police are preparing for many different views to be represented in the streets.
"It could be a mixture of all sorts, so we are going to be there and in close contact with the organisers," says Inspector Bent Olsen of the Copenhagen Police Operational Planning and Analysis Dept.
The demonstration is to take place from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. opposite Den Sorte Diamant.
CHANTILLY, Virginia -- A US teenager stuck in Kuwait for a month after he was apparently placed on the U.S. government's no-fly list was reunited with his family at a Washington-area airport Friday. Gulet Mohamed, 19, of Alexandria, Virginia, greeted family members at a terminal of Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia. Mohamed said it felt great to be back in the United States and expressed concern for others who may be in the same situation he was in.
"There are probably people out there being tortured like I was, whose voices are not being heard," he said.
Tortured? Prove it.
Mohamed claims he was blindfolded, beaten and tortured while he was detained for nearly a month in Kuwait at the behest of the U.S. authorities.
Prove it. I want photos of his skin, X-rays of his bones, eyewitnesses, documents. Otherwise it's straight out of the al-Qaeda playbook and further proof that he was up to no good while overseas.
His return to the United States was delayed for weeks because U.S. authorities had apparently placed him on the no-fly list. Diane Kelleher, a Justice Department lawyer, refused to confirm in court whether Mohamed is indeed on the no-fly list.
On Friday, Gulet's mother Bella Ali hugged her son and thanked God and everyone who had taken up her son's cause. Gulet's brother, Fatah Mohamed, said his brother "was just trying to get closer to his religion."
Yeah. That's what we're worried about...
"You're not going to find anybody who will say anything bad about Gulet," he said.
You haven't yet asked me...
He added that the biggest concern of his family during his brother's ordeal was that "we knew he was in the hands of people who lack principles and morals."
Al-Qaeda? Yup, I'd believe that...
Mohamed's reunion with his family was delayed by questioning from authorities at customs after he landed Friday morning. Mohamed says the FBI tried to question him without his lawyer present. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said lawyers are not routinely granted access to clients, and described Mohamed as uncooperative.
Until he gets past Customs he doesn't get a lawyer. That's how it works.
Mohamed was born in Somalia but came to the U.S. at age 3 and is a naturalized citizen. In March 2009, Mohamed traveled to Yemen and Somalia, where he still has family, to learn Arabic.
Which he could't learn in northern Virginia, nope, nope ...
He stayed in those countries for just a few months and settled in Kuwait in August 2009, where he should have stayed lived with an uncle.
Mohamed's lawyer, Gadeir Abbas, said it is wrong for the government or anyone else to assume Mohamed was engaged in something nefarious because he traveled to Yemen and Somalia, two terrorist hotspots. For years, he said, Yemen has been a natural place to visit for people of Somali descent who want to learn Arabic.
"Somalis go to Yemen like Americans go to Canada," Abbas said.
Er, no...
Perhaps if we modified it to, "Like Americans go to Canada when they're dodging the draft"...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2011 00:00 ||
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LAHORE: A massive US aid programme that has made Pakistan the world's second-largest recipient of American economic and development assistance is facing serious challenges, people involved in the effort say, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The ambitious civilian-aid programme is intended in part to bolster support for the US in the volatile and strategically vital nation. But a host of problems on the ground are hampering the initiative, the Journal reported.
A push to give more money directly to local organisations and the Pakistani government has been slowed by concerns about the capacity of local groups to properly handle the funds. Some international groups have balked at new requirements, such as prominently displaying US government logos on food shipments, and have pulled out of US government programmes.
Anti-American sentiment in the nation continues to flourish despite the increase in spending, in part because of American drone attacks on tribal regions. A poll of Pakistanis in July by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre showed that two-thirds of respondents considered the US an enemy.
"Drone strikes cannot be justified because civilians are also killed in them, which further aggravates a tense situation," said Bacha Khan, a refugee from Bajaur.
Cancel the cash giveaway and step up the drone attacks. After all, our bad press can't get any worse.
Due to various problems, in the year ended September 30, the US spent only about two-thirds of the roughly $1.2 billion appropriated by Congress.
Goody -- by that much the deficit was less than anticipated.
US officials acknowledge difficulties distributing so much money, but say the shift in direction is needed. "Our goal here is to help the Pakistani government improve its capacity to deliver key public services," says senior State Department official Robin Raphel, US coordinator for economic and development assistance in Pakistan. "The object of the programme is quality, not to push money out of the door."
The US is eager to win support from ordinary Pakistanis to boost its prospects in the war in neighbouring Afghanistan and to counter the rise of extremism in Pakistan itself, a trend that officials say directly threatens America. In 2009, Congress agreed to spend even more in Pakistan, $1.5 billion annually for civilian aid, over five years. The first tranche of that money is being spent in the current fiscal year.
The ramped-up aid programme took shape at a time of instability for the US Agency for International Development, the aid arm of the US government. It lacked an administrator for about a year after Barack Obama took office. Veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke, named a special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan by Obama, died in December after ordering major changes to the way aid is distributed in Pakistan. US officials say his policy changes will continue. When Holbrooke took the job in early 2009, he was frustrated that all of the money the US was pouring into Pakistan hadn't improved America's image. In March 2009, he called a meeting in India of all aid officials involved in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Central Asian republics to outline how things would change.
"He thought everything we were doing was a failure," recalls one participant in the meeting.
So we agreed with Mr. Holbrooke on one thing at least...
Holbrooke decided to shift focus -- to give more aid directly to local organisations and the Pakistani government, and less to foreign non-governmental organisations that handled the bulk in the past. He also decided to publicise projects more aggressively to show ordinary Pakistanis that they are benefitting from US funds.
He started curtailing existing programmes handled by foreign contractors that he viewed as wasting money. Many of them involved less visible and harder-to-measure programmes such as initiatives to improve the justice system or local bureaucracies.
Run by surly European graduate students who drove white Toyota Land Cruisers.
He directed the aid instead to visible infrastructure projects like roads, bridges and dams, especially in the volatile tribal regions that border Afghanistan.
In all, USAID-funded projects involving foreign organisations worth almost $200 million have been scrapped due to the new strategy. Other projects were denied new money. In June 2009, for example, Holbrooke refused requests for an increase in funding from Maryland-based Development Alternatives Inc, a contractor that was running a $46 million, three-year project to help train government workers in the tribal region. US officials say it is difficult for foreigners to monitor projects in the tribal areas because of the security risk of going there.
Any guesses as to whether the now unemployed Euro students are orchestrating the bad press?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2011 00:12 ||
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#1
Anti-American sentiment in the nation continues to flourish despite the increase in spending, in part because of American drone attacks on tribal regions. A poll of Pakistanis in July by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre showed that two-thirds of respondents considered the US an enemy.
Oh, good. Let's throw even more at them and I'm sure they'll be our bestest buddies...
#2
deduct aid money for every anti-US comment seen in the media.
a) it saves money
b) the rest of the populace will beat the shit out of whiny tools like Bacha Khan
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/22/2011 10:12 Comments ||
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[Geo News] Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Friday said that Islamic Charitable Organizations through their noble deeds can help improve the perception about the Mohammedans around the world.
He appreciated the contributions of all the charitable organizations under the umbrella of Mohammedan Charity Forum of UK, during the earthquake of 2005 and the recent devastating floods in Pakistain.
The Prime Minister was talking to a delegation of the Mohammedan Charity Forum from UK, which called on him here at PM House on Friday afternoon.The Prime Minister said that timely assistance and support by charitable organizations within the Mohammedan Charity Forum made significant difference during the floods in different parts of the country.
The natural disasters such as the floods last year are beyond any single country's ability to cope with, he said and added it was a difficult task for the government agencies to reach out to each and every flood affected person in the early days but various NGOs, both local and international helped ease the situation.
The Prime Minister said that it is heartening to note that the Islamic charitable and humanitarian organizations are performing well to serve the cause of humanity in different parts of the world.
He also lauded the contribution of elected representatives of the Mohammedan community in UK and elsewhere both for their community as well as for the country they are living in.
The charitable organizations and the elected representatives of the Mohammedan community serve as a bridge between the country they are living in and the country of their origin, he added.
The members of the Mohammedan Charity Forum of UK appreciated the commitment of the Prime Minister for personally leading the whole relief operation during the devastating floods.
They said that the people of Pakistain had shown great endurance and resilience both at the time of earthquake as well as during the floods of 2010.
They further said that despite facing economic difficulties, the people on the lam are very friendly and hospitable towards various international charitable organizations.
Chairman of Mohammedan Charity Forum Dr. Hanly El-Banna, who belongs to Egypt, while briefing the Prime Minister about the activities of the organizations mentioned that Mohammedans' humanitarian organizations under the forum are working across the globe in 25 countries, where people are suffering on any account including natural disasters. These countries also include a number of non-Mohammedan countries as well.
As regards the floods in Pakistain, he said, the forum had collected over US $ 50 million and is engaged in constructing small family houses, dispensaries and schools in different parts of the country.
The forum coordinates and bridges the gap between charitable organizations like Islamic Relief, Human Appeal, Mohammedan Hands and Human Relief, he said, adding, all these organizations are registered with the Charity Commission of UK which regularly monitors their activities and audit their accounts. It is also the objective of the forum to alleviate poverty and establish educational and health facilities for the poor and vulnerable, he mentioned.
The Secretary General of the Mohammedan Charity Forum also suggested that Pakistain Government may also establish a Charity Commission under a law to regulate the charitable organizations and NGOs. It would help coordinate the humanitarian activities in different areas of the country according to needs of the people.
The delegation included Dr. Hany El-Banna, Chairman Mohammedan Charities Forum UK, Sahibzada Syed Lakht-e-Hassanain, Secretary General, Mohammedan Charities Forum UK, Dr. Nabeel Al-Ramadhani, Trustee, Mohammedan Charities Forum UK and Othman Salim Mahmood Maqbool, Trustee, Mohammedan Charities Forum UK.
The meeting was also attended by Minister for Zakat and Ushr, Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, Minister of State for Finance, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar and Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Lt Gen (Retd) Nadeem Ahmad.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2011 00:11 ||
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#1
Hmmmmmmmm...what are these "perceptions" that need improving that you speak of, Gomez?
#2
Until the Muslims stop dividing the world into believers and non believers which they must destroy/convert will the world have a better perception of Muslims.
As this is part of the Koran i cant see this changing anytime soon.
The us and them attitude is why the muslims have no true friends!
Posted by: Paul D ||
01/22/2011 6:55 Comments ||
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#3
I think the best thing the Muslims could do is stopping the Jihadist within their midst. Barring that giving away everything they have won't change a thing.
When you stop living off the West and non-Muslims to cover for the disasters (man made and natural) at home and the rich Muslims start footing the bill for aid and disaster relief (rather than financing the jihad) of their own, you'll get a start on the image thingy.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/22/2011 19:17 ||
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#1
As per MSM-NET > Radical Islam, among Other, views POTUS BAMMER as a weak US Leader = the former are counting on the US-WEST + UNSC NOT stopping the Nuclearization of IRAN OR ANY OTHER ARAB-MUSLIM STATE.
RADICAL ISLAM > "THE TIME IS NOW" TO MILPOL WEAKEN ISRAEL + ANTI-ISLAMIST, PRO-WEST OR "MODERATE" DEMOCRAC MUSLIM GOVTS IN THE ME + MUSLIM WORLD, during a pereceived "weak" POTUS BAMMER PRESIDENCY [2009-2012/2016].
"ACROSS-THE-BOARD" = MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ESCALATION + EXPANSION OF ISLAMIST-LED/CENTRIC JIHAD, NOT THE OPPOSITE.
Lebanon's rumor mill is at full throttle, sparking panic and spreading a sense of foreboding, as a seemingly insoluble political deadlock that has left the country without government deepens.
A gathering of Hezbollah supporters in many western Beirut neighborhoods on Tuesday sparked rumors of a dry run in preparation for a takeover of the capital. Anonymous mobile telephone text messages and even printed fliers this week have warned citizens to flee the city before all hell breaks loose.
"I got a BlackBerry message yesterday saying that the situation was bad and that we should leave Beirut," said one marketing student at the Lebanese American University. "A lot of my friends got the same message."
Television channels have been feeding the psychosis, flashing any minor incident or loud sound as latest news.
Even the scheduled departure from Lebanon of a Western ambassador this week also sparked rumors she had packed her bags and fled.
"Our nerves are frayed," said a resident of Achrafieh, a Christian quarter in eastern Beirut. "Everyone is jumpy and any rumor sends us into frenzy."
One woman, whose family is loyal to the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, an ally of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah, said she had been called home this week after a relative received a tip-off.
"My brother called me yesterday in complete hysterics," said the 25-year-old, who requested anonymity.
"He said he had gotten news that something was going to happen that afternoon, and I left my office in Hamra (in western Beirut) and went home," she said. "Nothing happened."
Lebanon's rival parties are headed for a showdown Monday, as MPs head to the president's office to appoint a new premier after the Iranian-backed Hezbollah last week toppled the government of pro-Western premier Saad Hariri.
The government's collapse capped a long-running standoff over a UN investigation into the 2005 murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Saad's father.
The deadlock has sparked fears of a repeat of the events of May 2008, when a protracted political crisis spiraled into sectarian fighting that left 100 dead and saw the Hezbollah camp force the closure of the Beirut airport.
Alarmed Lebanese have also begun to throng banks across the country, transferring their savings from the local pound into dollars and withdrawing massive amounts, bank officials said.
A UN official in Beirut said the organization's staff had also been advised to take extra precautions.
"It's incredible how panicked people are, withdrawing money and stocking up on water and food staples," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Is it panic or just good sense based on past experience?
"They have created an atmosphere that is unbearable. The rumor mill is at full steam."
While embassies have not yet sent out travel warnings to their citizens in Lebanon, international students have been advised by some embassies to leave the country before the situation worsens, university officials said.
"Some Arab embassies including Jordan and Saudi Arabia called their students yesterday and advised them to leave the country given the current situation," an American University official said on condition of anonymity. "Up until now, no one has left, but the university has asked all students to stay in their dorms and remain in contact with the dean of students."
Meanwhile, Lebanese across the country are doing their best to carry on with their daily lives. But they cannot shake off the hovering fear that the next round of deadly violence is just around the corner.
"It's obvious that something is going to happen. After so many years, you learn to read the signs. All these feuding politicians are definitely not going to sit down and say a prayer together," said bus driver Hussein Ezzedine.
"There will be a war, and it will be soon. That's what I believe," the 56-year-old said.
#3
IMO POLITICAL ISLAMISM. i.e. "fair-n-benevolent", "democratic", "POWER/GOVT-SHARING" seems to be the priority for now in the MIDDLE EAST + NORTH AFRICA.
Again, towards 2012 IRAN WILL NUCLEARIZE BUT WILL PREFER TO BE ON THE MEDIA + GEOPOL DEFENSIVE FOR A WHILE, i.e. TO NOT BE THE ONE TO INITIATE ANY DE FACTO WAR AGZ THE US-ISRAEL - can't say the same for Starving NUC NORTH KOREA, IMO whose focii is COVERTLY PREVENTING ANY SORT OF CHINESE TAKEOVER OF NORTH KOREA, VIA WAR ANDOR NORMAL ECONOMIC ATTRITION [which ROK = South Korea also shares].
NORTH KOREA-SPECIFIC PRESERVATION OF POWER + STATE SOVEREIGNTY > either RISING CHINA concedes to US MILPOL ENTRENCHMENT IN NE ASIA.e.g. REGIONAL = "JOINT" MISSLE DEFENSE; or the US unilater WITHDRAWS ITS MIL PRESENCE FROM ROK + JAPAN [Taiwan] in deference to NE Asian Allies.
ISTANBUL - Iran gave no sign of making concessions to world powers bent on coaxing it to curb its nuclear programme at talks on Friday, saying it would not discuss suspending sensitive uranium enrichment. The two days of talks in Istanbul are a follow-up to talks last month in Geneva, the first held in more than a year.
Impatient with what some analysts have called Irans zigzag diplomacy, the powers are looking for a clear sign from Tehran that it is ready to engage in a way that helps engender trust, even if there is no substantive progress.
Irans National Security Council issued a statement, quoted by Iranian television, saying the first session of talks on Friday was held in a positive atmosphere. Irans nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is the councils secretary general.
One of Jalilis aides in Istanbul drew a red line round its enrichment activities during the meeting. Uranium enriched to a low degree yields fuel for electricity or, if refined to a very high level, the fissile core of a nuclear bomb.
We will not allow any talks linked to freezing or suspending Irans enrichment activities to be discussed at the meeting in Istanbul, Abolfazl Zohrevand said.
So far this issue has not been discussed, has not been raised or mentioned by the other party, Zohrevand said. Irans nuclear rights cannot be discussed.
But they can be sabotaged...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2011 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.
North Korean products are being sold in South Korea labeled as Russian after the South stopped all cross-border trade in May last year. The North is desperate to unblock the flow of hard currency and is pushing for resumption of dialogue over the Kaesong Industrial Complex and lucrative package tours to Mt. Kumgang. 
ISTANBUL - Iran gave no sign of making concessions to world powers bent on coaxing it to curb its nuclear programme at talks on Friday, saying it would not discuss suspending sensitive uranium enrichment. The two days of talks in Istanbul are a follow-up to talks last month in Geneva, the first held in more than a year.
