KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday gave a lukewarm response to Pakistans invitation to visit Islamabad, setting conditions for any high-level talks designed to mend increasingly frosty relations.
Pakistan on Sunday sent its top diplomat to offer further assistance to Afghanistans efforts to reach a deal with Taliban insurgents to end 12 years of war. Foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz held talks with Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul and met Karzai to deliver in person the invitation from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif already extended twice by telephone.
On Monday the presidents office said Karzai accepted the invitation in principle. But he said a high-ranking delegation could visit Pakistan only when the agenda is specified, initial preparations have been made and a serious and effective struggle against terrorism and the peace process are on the top of the agenda.
The West considers Pakistans support vital to achieving lasting peace in Afghanistan. But relations between the neighbours are mired in mutual distrust and accusations over Taliban and other militancy which plagues both countries.
Aziz is the most senior member of Pakistans new government to visit Afghanistan at a time when relations between Kabul and Islamabad have been worsening. International efforts to start talks with the Taliban are in disarray after the disastrous opening of a liaison office for the insurgents in Qatar. A furious Karzai slammed it as an unofficial embassy for a Taliban government-in-exile.
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07/23/2013 00:00 ||
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In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, General Sir David Richards said that if you want to have the material impact on the Syrian regimes calculations that some people seek then ground targets would have to be hit.
The Chief of the Defence Staff also warns that the Government needs to clarify its political objective in Syria before a coherent military plan for dealing with the Assad regime can be recommended.
Last month, David Cameron and Barack Obama indicated that they would look at military measures after evidence emerged showing that the Syrian regime was using chemical weapons against its citizens.
However, in recent days, the Prime Ministers enthusiasm for further intervention appears to have waned following private warnings from Sir David and Sir John Sawers, the head of MI6, about the implications of being drawn further into the Syrian civil war.
Sir David today steps down as the countrys most senior military officer and in an interview with this newspaper he sets out his concerns about the complexity of the situation in Syria.
There is a lack of international consensus on how to take this forward, he said. We are trying to cohere the opposition groups, but they are difficult to cohere because there are many different dimensions to them.
So it is work in progress, so I am very clear in my military advice to the government that we need to understand what the political objective is before we can sensibly recommend what military effort and forces should be applied to it.
He added: That is something we debate a lot, from the Prime Minister downwards. We also need to do this with our allies. Allies have different views on the way ahead. Understandably there is a great reluctance to see Western boots on the ground in a place like Syria.
The chief of the defence staff also warns that simply introducing a no-fly zone on its own would not prove effective and that other military measures would be required.
Sir David, 61, said: If you wanted to have the material impact on the Syrian regimes calculations that some people seek, a no fly zone per se is insufficient.
You have to be able, as we did successfully in Libya, to hit ground targets.
You have to establish a ground control zone. You have to take out their air defences. You also have to make sure they cant manoeuvre which means you have to take out their tanks, and their armoured personnel carriers and all the other things that are actually doing the damage.
If you want to have the material effect that people seek you have to be able to hit ground targets and so you would be going to war if that is what you want to do.
He added: That is rightly a huge and important decision. There are many arguments for doing to but there are many arguments for not doing so too.
The countrys most senior military officer described the situation as highly complex and suggested that the focus of Government action was also on ensuring the conflict did not spread to neighbouring countries.
We are looking at Syria much more from a regional perspective and making sure that as awful as things are there it doesnt spread materially to other countries like Lebanon and Jordan, he said.
Sir David, who today ends a military career spanning more than 40 years, also speaks of his pride of what has been achieved in Afghanistan ahead of the withdrawal of combat troops next year. He said it had been a good war and that members of the military who have died in the conflict should be very proud of what they have achieved.
I see myself as a moral soldier, he said. I do not associate the military with wars and bloodshed in a narrow sense. I actually associate the military with doing good, with bringing down tyrants, with releasing peoples ambitions for their children.
Most people feel better as a result of what the British and their allies have done. Only history will determine the success or otherwise of some of these ventures. But it is military force that has enabled these things to happen - and we only do as our democratically-elected government asks of us.
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07/23/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
See also DEMOCRATIC UNDERGOUND > [AP] TOP US MILITARY LEADER SAYS NO-FLY ZONE ON SYRIA COULD COSTS BILYUHNS A MONTH, + wid no guarantee or certainty of final outcome.
Bilyuhns + Dilyuhns + Silyuhns + ....
* REALTED RUSSIA TODAY > TOP US MILITARY ADVISER WARNS OF MASSIVE COST, LIMITED OPTIONS OF SYRIA INVOLVEMENT.
* SAME > ISLAMIC MILITANTS FROM RUSSIA'S CAUCASUS FLOCK TO JOIN SYRIAN REBELS, OFFICIAL SAYS.
* WORLD NEWS > US INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL SAYS SYRIA WAR COULD LAST [many more] MONTHS OR YEARS.
"Quagmire"???
VERSUS
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > TTP [Pak Taliban] IN SYRIA, MIDDLE EAST NOW TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER AFPAK REGION? | [Pakistan Today] TTP SETS UP IN SYRIA.
Well, ya know, becuz once again the TTP in Syria say they are in or are waging a GLOBAL/WORLDWIDE JIHAD - YOU KNOW, AFPAK!
There you go - its clear as day.
* FYI SAME > LeT, IM [Indian Mujahideen, + also JuD] TRY OPERATING TERRORISM FRONT ALONG BANGLA-MYANMAR BORDER, INTEL INPUTS TO SAY - TIMES OF INDIA.
#2
Its too bad there isn't a neighboring country we would be able to launch operations from.
Besides, are we going to shoot down a, uhem, passenger plane with commercial markings?
What happens when Russia or Iran says its, uhem, advisors got zapped (whether it really happened or not)?
Gonna park a fleet off the coast of Syria/Cyprus, is it going to hinder Israel's resource development? And talk about a PR move, what happens if the paleos do another blockade run, gonna stop them?
What happens if an aircraft crew goes down, going to go them, and then what?
The Panamanian government has found all the parts of two Soviet-era MiG-21 fighter jets on a North Korean ship coming from Cuba, Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli told reporters Sunday.
The jet parts were found in containers while cargo was being unloaded from the ship, with their fuselage, wings and engines separated. Cuba earlier listed them in an inventory of the shipment, which it said was being sent for repair under a "legitimate contract."
About 10,000 MiG-21s were produced in the Soviet Union and some 3,000 others in China and India. The model remains in use in only a few poor countries like Cambodia, Cuba and North Korea and is too superannuated to find parts.
The 10,000 tons of raw sugar in which the arms shipment was concealed may have been intended as payment for the repair work, international security experts speculate.
And it made a dandy cover...
"Upgrading, servicing and repairing, that's what the North Koreans do," said Hugh Griffiths, an arms trafficking expert at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. "It is military equipment prohibited under UN sanctions, so whether payment is made in the form of barter trade or foreign currency, it still constitutes a violation."
The North is said to have more than 150 MiG-21 fighter jets and sometimes receives weapons parts, as well as daily necessities as payment for repairs. But the business is waning because other countries can increasingly stop and search North Korean ships suspected of carrying illegal arms in accordance with a resolution the UN Security Council adopted in March. Panama too searched the ship under the same resolution.
Transport of weapons to North Korea for repairs also violates the UN resolution, a UN official said.
The UN is sending a five-man fact-finding team to Panama to investigate how the ship is linked to the illegal trade. Their investigation will begin on Aug. 5 after Panama wraps up its own inspection of the ship and unloading of cargo. The UN will then determine whether the North has violated the UNSC resolution and whether the UN should impose additional sanctions.
You'd think the answer would be obvious, and it is, but it's also obvious that Panama has marvelous hookers restaurants, and therefor the UN must inspect them...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
The Panamanian government has found all the parts of two Soviet-era MiG-21 fighter jets on a North Korean ship coming from Cuba,
No wonder they "Demanded" their ship back.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/23/2013 17:03 Comments ||
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#2
I found a submarine once in a box of cereal. I wonder if these MiGs run on baking soda?
Kim Kyong-hui, North Korean leader Fat Boy Kim Jong-un's aunt and a key figure behind the throne, has not been seen in public for 80 days.
Pic at the link. Skinny old crow...
The 67-year old has not disappeared from public view for such a long time before since she resurfaced in June 2009, an informed source said. She is said to be suffering a variety of diseases. She was last seen on May 12 alongside Kim Jong-un, his wife Ri Sol-ju, and Jang Song-taek, her husband and eminence grise behind the regime. They were watching a song-and-dance performance in Pyongyang.
But there was no sign of her at the rather more important memorial event at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on July 8 on the 19th anniversary of nation founder Kim Il-sung's death.
Jang's public activities have also been drastically curtailed over the same period. He has been seen in public only three times since his wife's last public appearance on May 12. This caused some speculation that the couple may have fallen victim to a purge, but it is more likely that his absence is related to his wife's deteriorating health.
"Even Ri Sol-ju has appeared in public only twice since May," the source added. "There is an intelligence report that she is nursing Kim Kyong-hui."
The rumors are likely to be fueled if she fails to attend massive celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Korean War armistice this Saturday.
Kim Kyong-hui has a history of depression and alcoholism, which got worse in the mid-2000s because of her discord with her husband and their daughter Jang Kum-song's suicide in 2006. Even after her comeback as the head of the Workers Party's Light Industry Department after treatment and rehabilitation in June 2009, she reportedly suffered from lower back pain, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes.
She appears to have aged fast after her brother, former leader Kim Jong-il, died in December 2011.
Kimmie's sister? Likely no better than him. The world will be better without that entire family.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
She looks like The Kim's too. (NOT a compliment)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/23/2013 17:01 Comments ||
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North Korean leader Suet Face Kim Jong-un's younger sister Yeo-jong has been appointed head of ceremonies in the Workers Party, Radio Free Asia reported Friday citing an unnamed source.
The source told RFA that several officials who attended ceremonies since the death of former leader Kim Jong-il said Yeo-jong was personally organizing ceremonies involving her brother. "It's widely whispered in the party that you have to get on Kim Yeo-jong's good side if you want to invite Fat Boy Kim Jong-un to your ceremony," the source said.
Kim Yeo-jong belongs to the Organization and Guidance Department within the party, which has the power to promote and vet officials in the party, government and military and is considered its inner sanctum.
Her post is usually held by a close confidant of the North Korean leader.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
A little graft soothes all.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/23/2013 17:02 Comments ||
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[Ynet] Unanimous decision by 28-nation bloc to put Shiite movement on terror list reached due to its involvement in Syrian civil war, attacks on European soil, including bombing of Israeli tourist bus in Burgas. Dutch FM: Good that EU has decided to call Hezbollah what it is.
The blacklisting would mean imposing visa bans on individuals and asset freezes on organizations associated with the group. But the implementation would be complicated since officials would have to unravel the links between the different wings within Hezbollah's organizational network and see who could be targeted for belonging to the military wing.
[AnNahar] U.S. authorities plan to hold long-delayed hearings for dozens of detainees held at Guantanamo to decide if they still pose a threat to the United States, the Pentagon said Monday.
President Barack Obama I am not a dictator!... had ordered the review boards back in March, 2011 but it has taken more than two years for U.S. government agencies to finally carry out the plan, prompting criticism from rights groups.
The move follows renewed pledges from Obama to close the controversial Guantanamo jail, despite opposition from some members of Congress, and comes against the backdrop of a hunger strike by dozens of detainees.
The review hearings will apply to 71 of the 166 men held at the prison at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, front man Lieutenant Colonel Todd Breasseale said.
Most of that group have been designated as too dangerous to release but have not been charged with any crime as there is not enough permissible evidence to allow a trial.
The "periodic review boards" will not examine whether the detainees are being held lawfully at Guantanamo, but only whether the inmates still constitute a security threat to America that merits continued detention, Breasseale said in a statement.
The boards will "determine whether continued detention is warranted for certain detainees to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States," he said.
In each case before the board there will be a "hearing, at which the detainee or his representatives will be able to present information and argument in his favor," he said.
The Pentagon has begun notifying detainees about the boards but officials did not say when the panels would start holding hearings or whether journalists would be allowed to follow the proceedings.
"No boards have yet convened and will only begin once all the reasonable conditions have been set," Breasseale said.
He added that the number of detainees to appear before the reviews boards is "subject to change."
The new boards will include bigwigs from the departments of Defense, Justice, State and Homeland Security, as well as intelligence officials and officers from the U.S. military's Joint Staff.
Authorities at Guantanamo previously had held reviews, called combat status review trial hearings, that assessed if a detainee was correctly identified and whether he qualified as an "enemy combatant."
But the planned hearings announced by the Pentagon are a new step, allowing detainees to argue against accusations that labeled them a security threat.
In the wake of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Washington opened the Guantanamo prison to hold suspected bully boyz captured on the battlefield by American forces or handed over by other governments.
More than half of the detainees have been cleared for release and face no charges in the United States. Most of them are Yemenis tossed in the clink Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! years ago but U.S. authorities had feared they would be recruited to krazed killer groups if returned to their home country.
As part of his renewed bid to shutter the prison, Obama has promised to lift a moratorium on transferring the Yemeni detainees back to their homeland.
[TheHill] In a letter to Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin ...Democrat Senator-for-Life from Michigan. He has been in the Senate since 1979. Prior to that he was president of the Detroit city council and Mayor Coleman Young's right-hand man. He is currently the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services... (D-Mich.), Dempsey also warned that a no-fly zone risks U.S. forces deploying into Syria if U.S. aircraft are shot down.
Dempsey's letter, which lays out the costs and benefits to a range of military options, expresses skepticism over U.S. military intervention helping to end the two-year civil war and what might come afterward.
"We must anticipate and be prepared for the unintended consequences of our action," Dempsey wrote. "Should the regime's institutions collapse in the absence of a viable opposition, we could inadvertently empower forces of Evil or unleash the very chemical weapons we seek to control."
#1
If Champ decides to 'wag the dog' and get involved in Syria, Dempsey will be under the bus with the rest. Even though I generally disagree with Dempsey and Odierno, Dempsey is correct in this regard.
#7
I hope your assessment is accurate Pappy. I'm coming from the angle of Champ's need for distraction. Perhaps I am being overly optimistic, but I have a feeling that the IRS scandal is gaining a momentum that could soon lead to a level of High Crimes and Misdemeanors.
#8
See WAFF > ASSAD-PKK DEAL: "DYD" [Democratic Union Party] TO SUPPORT ASSAD, SYRIA KURDISH ZONE TO BE AUTONOMOUS.
Methinks the Bammer knows the FSA Rebs are all but absolutely defeated inside Syria - by supporting third-party, CONTRA-style anti-Assad insurgency from Syria's neighbors or even from remianing FSA-held enclaves inside Syria, the Bammer will have justification for calling for the formal establishment of a larger KAR outside of Iraq but now incorporat the Kurdish enclaves or regions inside Syria - the FSA can thus still oppose + fight Assad but must first recognize Kurd-specific, territorial sovereign rights to a secure homeland???
#9
I have a feeling that the IRS scandal is gaining a momentum that could soon lead to a level of High Crimes and Misdemeanors
If a distraction occurs, it'll be domestic-based. Syria is a non-starter. If there's a foreign angle, it'll 'advantageously' tie to something politically domestic.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US [JCS Chair Gen. Dempsey]OFFERS FIVE MILITARY OPTIONS TO CONTROL THE CONFLICT IN SYRIA, from training of Rebs vee US Advisors in safe areas to using US SPECOPS + 000's of US Ground Troops to forcibly takeover = attack? + secure Syria's WMDS, espec CHEMWAR.
* WAFF > PKK TO ESTABLISH JOINT COMMAND IN FOUR COUNTRIES, i.e. Turkey, Iraq, Iran, + Syria
* RELATED SAME =[Defence-point.GR] KURDS: DECISION TO TO CLEAN OUT ISLAMISTS FROM SYRIA, wid focii in Syria.
Proposed Kurd State = Kurdistan slowly but most assuredly becom a reality???
ARISE, OWG SALADIN, ARISE.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > ALAWITES PREPARING TO ESTABLISH AN "ALAWITE-ONLY" STATE IN HOMS, wid intent to connect to surrounding Alawite-controlled or majority regions includ to Syria's coasts [read, TRADE PORTS].
FYI as per FREEREPUBLIC, both the US + Russia have announced they will be arming opposite sides in the Syria conflict - Russia already has been arming Assad but now will expand its support.
KARACHI: Leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Haider Abbas Rizvi has said that Imran Khan is hatching a conspiracy against Altaf Hussain and MQM by putting baseless allegations.
While addressing a press conference, he said that PTI chief is using the murder of Zahra Shahid as a tool to gain political mileage and label allegations without any proof, adding that both Khan and PTI had hurt sentiments of millions of MQM supporters. He said that Khan showed political immaturity by accusing MQM of murdering Zahra Shahid.
Rizvi added that a politically motivated campaign was launched on social media against the MQM and its chief following the murder of Zahra Shahid, who, he said was sidelined by her party. He also criticized PTI for not maintaining peace in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), which it had promised during the election campaign. The MQM leader added that neither Imran nor any of the PTI leaders condemned the killing of their party lawmakers at the hands of militants.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2013 00:00 ||
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That's that, then. The Second Smartest Man In The Room has created a legacy of nothing for all his posturing.
[Ynet] Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... told Jordanian newspaper Al Rai that "any agreement reached with the Israelis will be brought to a referendum." He added: "We were close to an agreement with Ehud Olmert, but he stumbled in the political arena, and then came Benjamin Netanyahu and the grinding of the peace processor stalled."
According to him, "the Unites States is serious in formulating a solution to the Paleostinian issue, through introducing a Paleostinian state within the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital."
[Ynet] Sarit Michaeli says Border Guard officers fired rubber bullet at her during Nabi Salah protest, causing her light wounds
Darwin is not active enough in that part of the world.
B'Tselem spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli was injured Friday by a rubber bullet fired at her by Border Guard officers during a demonstration in Nabi Salah, according to her.
Michaeli, who had been documenting the protest, sustained light wounds to her thigh and was taken to the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv. She is due to be discharged on Monday.
Michaeli claims that the officers were acting against orders by firing at her during a weekly protest that often leads to festivities between Paleostinians protesters and security forces.
According to her, the forces fired at her after most of the protesters had been dispersed and despite the fact she had not taken part in the hurling of stones and was standing near the area of the protest.
After the protesters were dispersed, several youths began to hurl stones at security forces, Michaeli claimed. "A group of about nine Border Guard officers and soldiers stormed down the village's main road at a group of protesters that was running away from them. I was standing on the side and at one point one of the officers fired a rubber bullet at me," she said.
According to Michaeli, the officer was running while he fired at her, and did so at a distance of no more than 20 meters. "I am not entirely sure why he fired at me. None of those standing near me was hurling stones."
The B'Tselem spokeswoman stressed that she is undeterred and will carry on documenting protests. "We believe it is very important that we document these events and this case just proves it," she said.
The Border Guard said in response, "An initial examination suggests that crowd dispersal means were employed during a violent protest that involved veiled men and other youths who hurled stones at the forces. Nevertheless, the incident will be examined and lessons will be drawn, if need be."
US Secretary of State John Kerrys plan to restart peace talks will include the release of 82 terrorists all of whom have blood on their hands and are serving life sentences it emerged during a meeting of the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee on Monday. The statement was made by attorney Ami Palmor, head of the pardons department of the Justice Ministry.
This is a very bad idea, even if one implants chips in their heads...
The 82 prisoners in question are all Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza who were sentenced for their crimes before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
Likud MK Miri Regev called the meeting following reports about the push for a prisoner release, of which she said, Murderers must not be used as a tool in negotiations.
That does seem to be the usual way of doing business there...
Col. Yuval Biton of the research branch of Prisons Service presented figures to the committee reading that of the 5,120 security prisoners in Israel, 3,533 have been convicted, 1,589 are imprisoned without bail, and 138 are being held under administrative detention.
Of those, 2,550 are from Fatah, around 1,500 are from Hamas, and the rest are from Islamic Jihad and other organizations, he added.
Biton said of the prisoners that 4,269 are from the West Bank, with around 400 from the Gaza Strip, 200 from within the Green Line, a similar amount from east Jerusalem and a few dozen from abroad. There are 550 prisoners serving life sentences, and of these, 349 are identified with Fatah, 114 with Hamas, 60 with Islamic Jihad, and 27 are otherwise affiliated.
The security prisoners who were jailed for life before the Oslo Accords and are not from inside the Green Line include a number of men involved in some of the grisliest acts of terror in Israeli history. They include two terrorists involved in the Molotov cocktail attack on a bus traveling from Beit Shean to Jerusalem in October 1988, killing Rachel Weiss and three of her children, as well as IDF soldier David Delarosa who died trying to save the family.
Other terrorists include two Gaza men who stabbed to death David Dadi and his friend Chaim Weitzman after breaking into Dadis apartment in Ramle. The two men cut off their victims ears as a keepsake of the crime.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Keeping seriously bad prisoners like those, or the ones at Abu Graib, for extended lengths of time is just asking for trouble. Do like was done with Saddam.
The Arab League said on Sunday it supported the Palestinian stance on the announcement of resumed peace talks with Israel, but that it was skeptical of Israeli intentions.
Bet that totally flummoxed you...
The League is forming a political support network for the Palestinian side in case it accepts to go to the negotiations with the Israeli side, Mohammed Sabih, Deputy Secretary-General for Palestinian affairs and occupied Arab territories, told reporters.
The Arab League had its doubts about Israels position on the resumption of peace talks, Sabih said.
Many in the Israeli government do not want an Arab peace initiative.
Many in the Arab governments also do not want an Arab peace initiative...
Sabih added that the Arab League was monitoring Israels stance so the talks were not simply negotiations for the sake of negotiations, going round in a vicious circle.
This could be the last chance to revive the stalled peace process, he noted.
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07/23/2013 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Russia and Syria are discussing the possibility of Moscow extending a loan to Damascus to help Syria's civil war battered economy, a top Syrian official said Monday.
Visiting Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil said that the issue was discussed at talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Damascus hoped for an agreement by the end of the year.
"We discussed it, although it is still early to talk in concrete figures," Jamil said, quoted by Russian news agencies.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... 's regime is in urgent need of new sources of cash to make ends meet as it battles rebels in a conflict that has lasted over two years and according to activists has killed over 100,000 people.
The last figures for inflation in Syria, published in December 2012, put it at 55.2 percent.
The violence in Syria has pushed more than 1.7 million people abroad, and more than four million others are displaced inside their country.
It has also brought international sanctions against Syria, which are aimed at putting pressure on the regime in Damascus, but have had knock-on economic impacts that effect all Syrians.
On the macro level, Syria faces a massive economic crisis, experts say.
Investments and tourism stand at practically zero, and oil production -- a major source of foreign currency for Syria -- has plummeted by 95 percent.
Foreign trade alone fell by over 97 percent in 2012, and the World Bank says Syria's GDP dropped by 30 percent last year, and anticipates another 10 percent drop in 2013.
But the Syrian regime has had some help from allies. Iran has extended lines of credit worth $4 billion to help prop up the government, which insists the economy is coping.
[AnNahar] A Syrian rebel group which has proclaimed loyalty to al-Qaeda posted an audio recording attributed to its leader on Monday in which he promised a fightback.
Julani's speech, entitled: "The Coming Days are Better Than Those of the Past," were his first since April 10, SITE Intelligence, which monitored the posting, said.
In it, Julani warned other Islamist rebel groups in Syria against the dangers of accepting support from Arab or Western governments.
"I warn against letting the Levant be dragged into such a game in which victories are kidnapped, blood is wasted and sacrifices go in vain," he said.
In Julani's last public intervention in April, he spoke out against the al-Qaeda leadership in neighboring Iraq for its attempt to steamroller a merger between jihadists in the two countries.
He made no reference in his latest speech to the controversy, which sparked a split among al-Qaeda loyalists inside Syria between Al-Nusra and the rival al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria.
Both groups are blacklisted as terrorist organizations by Washington.
#1
Why do we want to get involved in Syria.I am siding with Assad atm and his killing of jihadis who are a bigger threat to the West than Syria ever have been.
I know we want Syria to break ties with Iran but shouldn't we in the West or Israel deal with Iran alone and let Assad and the jihadis kill each other.
In Syria Assad looked after the religious minorities the jihadis wont.
Posted by: Paul D ||
07/23/2013 7:57 Comments ||
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[AnNahar] Ambassador Angelina Eichhorst, Head of the Delegation of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... to Leb, held talks Monday evening with President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... , following the decision taken by the EU to blacklist the military wing of Hizbullah.
"The EU is sending an important political message: acts of terrorism are unacceptable irrespective of the perpetrators," Eichhorst said, according to a blurb issued by the EU delegation.
She added that this decision "does not prevent the continuation of dialogue with all political parties in Leb and will not affect the EU's financial support to Leb including humanitarian assistance," noting that "it will be reviewed on a six monthly basis."
Eichhorst reiterated the European Union's "commitment to support President Suleiman's call on the politicians to reconvene the National Dialogue and to discuss a national defense strategy."
The EU "also supports the efforts of Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam to form a new government," Eichhorst added.
[AnNahar] Al-Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani on Monday hit out at Hizbullah for its intervention in the Syrian conflict.
In an audio recording entitled: "The Coming Days are Better Than Those of the Past," the Nusra leader warned "Shiites in Leb not to allow Hizbullah to drag them into a proxy war in Syria on behalf of its Iranian backers."
"I warn those who claim Shiism in Leb about letting Iran drag you into a war that you can't bear," SITE Intelligence, which monitored the posting quoted him as saying.
"I say that abandoning Hizbullah and disowning it will save you from woes and disasters that you would do without."
Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi expressed regret over the European Union move in including military wing of the Lebanese Hezbollah in its so called terrorist list, IRNA reported.
Salehi said the decision which was made under the pressure of certian influential members of the EU is in contradiction with all legal and political criteria. Salehi called the action surprising and unacceptable, adding that calling a resistance group, which is fighting against aggression and occupation and has a lawful presence with popular support in the Lebanese territory, as a terrorist, indicated weak logic of the move.
He went on to say that the EU foreign ministers think that they will affect regional developments with this move, adding that the EU, because of its lack of correct analysis of the crises, has taken a wrong approach and demonstrated a dual standard policy.
Salehi pointed out that Iran strongly denounce this decision of the EU foreign ministers and believes that such a move will not change nature of their popular campaign. He underlined that the EU move is certainly in direction of illegitimate interests of Israel and pressures of its supporters in Europe.
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07/23/2013 00:00 ||
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Syrias Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil was to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow Monday, seeking ways of ending the 28-month Syrian conflict after clashes with rebels left dozens dead.
Jamil was headed to Moscow for talks due to start at 0700 GMT. The move comes as Russia and the United States seek to convene an international conference on Syria but amid differences over its parameters. The Syrian government has expressed its willingness to participate in such a meeting as it seeks to subdue the rebels.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[ChristianScienceMonitor] The number of Al Qaeda affiliates has expanded, as have their geographic scope, but the terror network has become more diffuse and decentralized, the RAND study found.
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.
Kim Kyong-hui, North Korean leader 
KARACHI: Leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Haider Abbas Rizvi has said that Imran Khan is hatching a conspiracy against Altaf Hussain and MQM by putting baseless allegations.
The Arab League said on Sunday it supported the Palestinian stance on the announcement of resumed peace talks with Israel, but that it was skeptical of Israeli intentions.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi expressed regret over the European Union move in including military wing of the Lebanese Hezbollah in its so called terrorist list, IRNA reported.
