In most jurisdictions for most people, having your lawyer admit that you took a drug that resulted in your crashing your vehicle would have brought down the gavel already.
Oh well. At least she's leaving the Mexicans alone.
Kerry Kennedy may agree to a plea deal over driving while drugged charges stemming from a 2012 accident so she can continue her extensive human rights work.
Kennedy, 54, is afraid a conviction would bring with it restrictions that would curtail her international travels -- she has visited several dozen countries on humanitarian missions.
The plea deal was previously discussed between her legal team and prosecutors before being shelved, but her attorneys have brought it back to the table with her trial slated to start Monday, according to the New York Daily News. Last review of the evidence convince you to have your client plead out, counselor?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/24/2014 14:28 Comments ||
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#3
Can he add involuntary injury on account of all the people she was going to save but couldn't leave the high capacity flask assault vehicle at home? She is very important, just ask her, so what about 5000 counts?
[BUSINESSWEEK] Zim-bob-we's President Bob Muggsy Mugabe Octogenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case... said incidences of corruption are restricted to just a few individuals as his government embarks on a crackdown on fraud in state-owned organizations.
Managers at the Zim-bob-we Broadcasting Corp., the Zim-bob-we Mining Development Corp., the Premier Service Medical Aid Society and Air Zim-bob-we have this year been the target of reports on fraud and inflated salaries in the Harare-based Herald and Bulawayo-based Chronicle newspapers.
"We want straight forward, honest people who respect government property, private property, property which does not belong to them," Mugabe told thousands of his supporters who attended his 90th birthday celebrations in Marondera, 70 kilometers (44 miles), east of the capital, Harare. "The very few we would have entrusted are the ones who are soiling everyone's name. They are the ones we are looking for."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Mugabe has now had decades to move Zim toward the Swaziland, tribal governance model.
The monarchy of Swaziland is blighted by 70% poverty, mass unemployment, lack of food security and the worlds highest levels of HIV and TB, Swazis are enduring drastic cuts to healthcare that have impacted disastrously on access to anti-retroviral treatment, HIV testing and nearly all forms of specialised health care.
Average life expectancy is about 31 years, due to the combined effects of the HIV pandemic and burgeoning poverty and malnutrition. About 50% of the population of less than 1.5m is under 16 years of age, and an estimated 200,000 young people are classified as orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs), whose social welfare support has recently been cut by some R80-million (US$9,5-million).
[Dhaka Tribune] Two Chhatra League ... the student wing of the Bangla Awami League ... leaders were accused of abducting a college girl in Manikganj sadar upazila yesterday evening.
An abduction case was filed with Manikganj sadar cop shoppe against the two local leaders including two other individuals by the victim's father. The accused were district Chhatra League Organising Secretary Sabbirul Islam alias Sony and district municipal Chhatra League General Secretary Md Liakat Ali.
Sony was nabbed Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! in connection with the case however he claimed that he was not involved with the abduction.
According to the case statement, Liakat was accused of kidnapping the girl and Sony for complicity in the abduction.
Police and family sources said Liakat used to tease the third-year college girl. He once misbehaved with the girl a month back which was later settled locally.
Quoting a friend of the kidnapped girl, the victim's father said her daughter had left home for tuitions on Saturday morning around 7am. Liakat, Sony and two more persons kidnapped her from Gangadharpatti area of the upazila around 7:15am.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Rahmat Ali of the sadar cop shoppe said: "Though the arrestee denied his involvement with the abduction in the primary interrogation, we are still investigating into the matter. Drives are being conducted to rescue the kidnapped girl."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2014 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] The four accused in the Zubair murder case escaped yesterday from the dock shortly after a Dhaka court cancelled their bail and ordered that they be sent to prison.
The escapees are Khandaker Ashikul Islam, alias Ashik, Khan Mohammad Rais, Ishtiaq Mehbub Arup and Mahabub Akram -- all are students of Jahangirnagar University and Chhatra League ... the student wing of the Bangla Awami League ... activists.
Earlier, they obtained a conditional bail from the High Court.
Speedy Trial Tribunal 4 Judge ABM Nizamul Haque recorded 12th prosecution witness Humayun Kabir, then sub-inspector of Gulshan cop shoppe, who conducted the inquest report of the victim, gave deposition and was cross-examined by the defence counsel.
In addition to the four, the court also issued arrest warrants for the two other accused, who were not presented before the court yesterday, and set February 27 for the prosecution witness.
It asked the authorities concerned to send the arrest warrants to Ashulia and local cop shoppes of the accused.
The tribunal cancelled their bail under section 497 (5) of CrPC.
The six accused were alleged to have threatened Zubair's friends who came to observe the trial procedure at the court and assaulted them physically on January 19.
On the day, one of Zubair's friends Nazmul Islam filed a general diary with Kotwali cop shoppe accusing the six.
According to the general diary, the attackers including Khandaker Ashikul Islam Ashik threatened Nazmul with saying: "You are conducting your movement very well, but remember if we are not hanged, a further murder will take place."
On January 23, Public Prosecutor SM Rafiqul Islam applied for cancellation of the bail granted to the six.
Two other accused -- Rashedul Islam and Jahidul Islam -- of the murder case have been absent from their court appearance since January 23, said Defence counsel Jakir Hossain Mollah.
The counsel said the duo might have fled the country.
On January 27 police submitted the investigation report to the court in connection with the GD filed by Nazmul, a student of Jahangirnagar University.
In the report, investigation officer Md Rafiqul Islam, sub-inspector of Kotwali cop shoppe, mentioned that he found the allegations against the six were true.
On February 6, the court issued show cause notice to the six accused asking why their bail should not be cancelled since they threatened the victims' friends and disobeyed the bail condition.
On February 12, the defence counsels on behalf of the four escapees accused of murder submitted written apologies to the court for their action.
About the incident of escaping from the court, Public Prosecutor SM Rafiqul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune the court police hardly took any steps to increase police presence on the court premises yesterday.
"No police were deployed on the court premises, so when the accused heard the bail cancellation order, they bravely ran away from there," he added.
Asked about the escape, Deputy Inspector General SM Mahfuzul Haque Nuruzzaman of Dhaka range told the Dhaka Tribune the four escapees were not under police custody.
The court did not inform police they would be presented before the court yesterday, he added.
Zubair's brother Abdullaha-Al-Mamun said he was afraid because the accused had beat feet from the court.
He said it proved that the accused were cold-blooded murderers and that was why they could run out of the court in broad daylight.
On September 8, 2013, the court framed charges against a total of 13 university students accused in the Zubair murder case.
According to the case statement, honour's final year student Zubair Ahmed of JU English Department departed this vale of tears on January 9, 2012.
Zubair was severely beaten on the campus by activists of a rival faction of Chhatra League, the pro-Awami League students' wing.
JU Deputy Registrar Hamidur Rahman filed the case with Ashulia cop shoppe.
On April 8, 2012, Meer Shain Shah Pervez, the then sub-inspector and also investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet accusing 13 students.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2014 00:00 ||
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Venezuela's Socialist government has warned it will suspend the passports of arrested protesters for five years amid a hardening crackdown on the bloody unrest that has spread nationwide in recent weeks, threatening to consume the volatile oil-rich nation.
I don't think the protesters are planning on leaving, I think they're planning on staying...
Anger erupted among demonstrators in Caracas, as news broke on Friday night of the Interior Ministry resolution that anyone detained for disturbing the peace and the public order or participating in acts of violence would be barred from leaving the country. "We're turning into Cuba", government opponents wailed as they once again took to the streets for the daily protests that have now claimed nine lives nationwide.
This might be your last chance of avoiding Cuba's fate. And, as it turns out, Cuban troops are being brought into your country to ensure that you end up like them.
The country was braced for further clashes on Saturday as government supporters and opponents gathered for large rival rallies in the capital. As the protests began, Ernesto Villegas, the minister of state for the revolutionary transformation of greater Caracas, warned the country was in "a spiral of death and destruction". "We can still stop a civil war," he urged.
Not the way you're behaving you can't. People have finally gotten brave enough to ask the question that brings down every tyrant: "Say, you guys are pretty stupid. Who put you in charge?"
On Friday, President Nicolas Maduro accused US intelligence services of giving the "green light for the overthrow" of the Venezuelan government, which has long sparred with the "empire" to the north. He had already expelled three US diplomats, claiming they had conspired with the students who have formed the core of the protests as part of a "far right" plot similar to that which unseated his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, for 36 hours in 2002. But he also, unusually called for talks with Washington, an indication perhaps of fears he may be losing control of the crisis.
Perhaps he's becoming aware that he could have a Mussolini (or Najibullah) moment...
John Kerry, the foolish US secretary of state, earlier criticised the government's actions to quell the protests. "The government's use of force and judicial intimidation against citizens and political figures ... is unacceptable and will only increase the likelihood of violence," he said in a statement, adding: "This is not how democracies behave."
Noticed that did you Jahwn? What was the first clue, the rubber bullets? Good news though is that since Jahwn has said something, our MSM can now report on Venezuela...
On Thursday, the government ordered paratroopers into the border city of San Cristobal, the birthplace of the protests where protesters have been engaged in fierce battles with security forces. The internet was cut off and residents said they were living in a "war zone", with the town fully occupied by the army and military helicopters and planes flying overhead.
From the fray has emerged Leopoldo Lopez, a key opposition figure who has taken the lead in a hardline protest movement under the slogan "The Exit", meaning Mr Maduro's departure from power. Declared "the face of fascism" by the leftist leader, Mr Lopez is now languishing in a military jail outside Caracas on charges of arson, damage and criminal gatherings, accused of orchestrating protest violence in order to justify a coup d'etat.
On Friday the wealthy 42-year-old Harvard economist urged the protesters not to give up. In a note from prison released through his wife, he said: "To the police, soldiers, prosecutors and judges: do not obey unjust orders, do not become the face of repression.
"To the youth, to the protesters, I ask you to stay firm against violence, and to stay organised and disciplined. This is everyone's struggle."
I hope God protects that man; he's going to be needed.
Mr Lopez and his supporters insist the government is to blame for the protest violence, claiming they are tacitly endorsing radical Chavista armed groups to attack opposition protesters. They also complain of excessive violence by security forces, who have used tear gas, buckshot and water cannon to disperse protesters, and allege that some of those detained have been tortured.
While opposition leaders insist they are not agitating for an overthrow, some of their supporters acknowledge they have lost patience with attempts to unseat the government through the ballot box. They accuse the ruling Socialists of electoral fraud, and note that almost half of the Venezuelan electorate are reliant on state jobs or subsidy programmes, with heavy pressure to vote for the government.
Alberto Delfante, an opposition supporter in Caracas, told the Telegraph: "I don't believe this government will ever surrender democratically. If they become very threatened they could simply announce a dictatorship, what would we do then?
"What we're seeing now is very much like what it looked like in 2002 (the coup d'etat). I'd like to see this government forcibly removed, but we don't know what the reaction of the chavistas would be."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
You guys aren't going to start calling each other fascists and idiots again are you?
Or is that just for Ukraine uprisings?
It is hardly surprising, given the drastically divided nation, that when Vitali Klitschko's pro-European political party ventured to Kerch - a city of the eastern edge of Ukraine in the Crimea region - things did not go entirely according to plan... This is the region that Russia has stated it is willing to go to war over and is deep in the pro-Russia territory... headlines galore are coming out of Ukraine but all that matters now is the Russian response... The same "Western Elites" who allied with Islamists in ME, black supremacists in USA, and transgender fascists throughout the West; have allied with Nazis in Ukraine. I hope they finally overstepped themselves.
#1
Count de Monet: It is said that the people are revolting
King Louis XVI : You said it. They stink on ice.
-- Mel Brooks, History of the World, Part 1
#3
You do realize you are supporting a despotic dictator over people who are asking for free and open elections, and a western democracy, don't you? They viewed the GERMNS (not necessarily the same things as Nazis) to get them out from underneath a genocidal maniac Stalin who had killed millions of them, or are you completely stupid and ignorant of the history of the Ukraine under Stalin? As for the other, please post credible proof of broad support for those other groups by people in the Western Ukraine. I think YOU have over (goose)stepped yourself on this with your continued backing of thugs and dictators in this conflict.
#4
The largely forgotten Holomordor of the Ukrainian people by Russian Communists is still deeply ingrained in their collective memory. A split from Russian influence would not be a surprising goal to me.
The media is so F-ed up and polarized now, it is probably impossible for us to know good guys from bad guys anymore without being there and seeing what is going on first hand.
#6
Old Spook's not a moron, just see things we don't. (And that's Hospitable)
Ummm, sometimes, unavoidably.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/24/2014 14:14 Comments ||
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#7
I'm going to side with Old Spook on this one. Now g(r)omgoru, follow along all the way to #7 please --
1) The Holomordor is as much a historical fact as the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide. I won't get into comparing the body counts; all three were horrific.
2) The Russians have long viewed the Ukrainians as their country-bumpkin cousins who had to be educated and controlled. The Ukrainians, most of them, have long wished to be rid of the Russians.
3) When the Germans rolled into the Ukraine in 1941 the Ukrainians, comparing what they had heard of the Germans with what they knew of Stalin and the commissars, viewed the Germans as liberators. Turns out they were wrong; Hitler had the same designs on them that Stalin had. But the Ukrainians didn't know that at first.
4) Since the 19th century, and especially since the end of WWII, the Russians (and then the Soviets) have sought to Russify the Ukraine for strategic reasons. The transfer of the Cossack/Tartar Crimea to Ukraine was part of this -- the Russians removed the Cossacks and Tartars to Central Asia and joined the Crimea to what then was considered to be "politically reliable" Ukraine.
5) This has led to the current paradox in the Ukraine: the north and west are more Ukrainian, the south and east are more Russian. These two sides simply don't and won't get along.
6) It's the west and north that is revolting against the politicians that the south and east managed to install in the last elections.
7) Finally, and here's the important part for you g(r)omgoru, most of the people who are revolting are NOT neo-Nazis, NOT fascists, and NOT planning to institute a national-socialist regime. They are simply fed up with the Russians and want nothing more to do with them. They want their own country, and they'd like to be Europeans, not Russians.
The Russians, for their part, are using tried-and-true propaganda against the revolution, referring to them as "fascists" and "nazis" and "counter-revolutionaries". They've labeled the Svoboda ("Freedom") party as anti-Semitic, fascist, and xenophobic. This is straight out of Stalin's playbook, and of course gullible westerners (and you) are falling for it.
Always, you'll find a small percentage of Ukrainians who ARE anti-Semitic. You'll also find a few French, a few Brits, and a few Americans (usually on American university campuses) who are also anti-Semitic. You can, if you wish, tar all of us with that brush if it makes you feel better.
But the people leading the way in the Ukraine today are not Nazis, and it's unseemly for you to say that they are. You should know better.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2014 15:21 Comments ||
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#8
I can't speak for g(r)omgoru but if he's pissed off at the Euroweenies I think I can understand it. Do they not send money to Gaza? And, as far as I'm concerned, you can call the Gazookians anything you want. I wouldn't call them to dinner. Is the European Union not just a little overbearing and socialist? Are their immigration policies not ill advised? Are the Brits not wise to keep their distance from it? Speaking of Brits, there's a fellow named Roger Waters, who I used to admire, who advocates a boycott of Israel because the Juice are so mean to the Gazookians. Now Putin is gonna do what Putin is gonna do and Obama can wring his hands about it all he wants. From what I've been reading here I wonder if the best thing might be for eastern and western Ukrainians to seek an amicable divorce. But I think I can understand Putin's concern about NATO forces camping in Ukraine.
#9
So much vitriol here, seemingly unusual for the Burg. EU6305 hints at it, but Spengler has been calling for partition for some years now.
Another bit of history to throw on the pile is the ongoing armed Ukranian revolt against the USSR which lasted for years finally subsiding in the mid-50s. It's overlooked in comparison with Hungary '56 and Czech '68.
Russia (i.e. Putin's) energy leverage may dwindle faster than most expect (hooray Keystone!) so he may not be able to simply force his will. May be worthwhile to negotiate a Black Sea presence and let it wither over time. Russia likely needs China as a customer over all else.
#1
Given the bellicose threats from one of their neighbors *cough*china*cough*, they would be fools not to.
A short, expensive war, I'm guessing. Salami-slicing will get the Chinese only so far and if actual fighting is going to start, it is better for China to do it before their neighbors can build up.
#2
In the first Korean War, Mao's PAVF [People's Army Volunteer Force] had the support of a Soviet logistical base that had little demobilized since the end of WW2 in 1945 - it is well known that Stalin would send cargo-ships + miles-long rail cars full of supplies from Manchuria to China in support of Mao's PAVF.
Be it Stalin, Mao, or even Deng, the defects of the Commie econ model shows up again + again in China's military incidents agz both the USSR in the late 1960's + agz Vietnam in 1979.
BACK THEN, HOWEVER, WARS-N-CULTURAL-REVOLUTION RECOVERING CHINA SAW NO REASON TO BECOME A US OR EVEN SOVIET STYLE GLOBAL SUPERPOWER - NOW IT DOES.
As the World takes its first painful steps towards the colonization of deep space, it will be the "final/last hurrah" of many Govts-States to achieve their national ambitions per thesoon-to-be-obsololete, pre-Globalist aka pre-Space Order.
Iff a shooting war does start, despite the alleged "rust" + tech backwardness of the PLA Maha-Rushian histoire' says China will not stop until either it achieves it goals or it is conquered.
Again, "offensive" China will be waging a war agz a Pert, MSM-Net verified "red-line" busting Obama-led "defensive" Amerika that is already engaging in unilateral = self-imposed geopol retreat.
IMO NOT GOOD NEWS FOR GUAM + PACIFIC ISLES VEE HUGO CHAVEZ'S LAND/ISLAND-SINKING "EARTHQUAKE/
TECTONIC BOMBS".
The good news for Oceania is that 1960's-70's = 1980's MTV OWG BRIC Girl Paula "Trip to Brazil" Abdul can't kick a Coconut iff the same is now underwater thanks to the retreating OWG Mighty USSA = OWG Weak USRoA Global SSR, now can she???
Posted by: ed in texas ||
02/24/2014 7:25 Comments ||
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#6
Kinda like Saddam's bio program, I think that Japan is sitting on all the parts (parts is parts) and as the commercials say it's just "Some Assembly Required."
#7
China is a bad neighbor. O administration is a total wreck. Japan can ally with others bullied by China. This is the work of politicians. The Chinese military does what it is ordered to do. Japan must defend itself. Why is it so difficult to be a good neighbor?. China politicians act like they are surrounded by hostile neighbors. The wall is still standing but has grown around the entire country.
#8
So much for the Beltway/Academic elites belief that integrating China into the modern world economy would suppress several thousand years of imperial chauvinistic nationalism.
#10
I wonder if the Russians won't come to some mutual agreement with the Japanese about the northern islands to counterbalance the Chinese unilateral approach to the south?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/24/2014 14:23 Comments ||
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#13
So it's OK for the Pakis, the NORKs, the Iranians, the Syrians, etc., etc., etc. but NOT the Japanese, huh? Guess it all depends on where they're aimed. I guess the Chicoms are worried that if they start losing in a conventional naval war they can't just lose their temper and threaten to launch a nuke. Bitch, ain't it?
#14
Heck if I was Japan I would have started it the day Obama was first sworn in.
And doubled the effort the day Obama effectively left Iraq to fend for itself.
And doubled it again when... well you get the picture.
#15
I suspect Japan has some kind of missile or bomb that could easily have the warhead changed out. I suspect they also have the plans ready to go for any kind of fission device they would desire to build and assemble such a device in a week or so. Lastly they definately have the fissionable materials after having a nuclear power program for decades.
Personally I wouldn't be surprised if they had a few nukes ready in case, except there are so many anti-nuke folks there one of their might have ratted them out if they did. I don't know.
#16
Frankly, with all the sterling assurances from DC, I'd be suspecting a work-sharing relationship between Japan, South Korea, and maybe an odd one, let's say, Brunei.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
02/24/2014 18:57 Comments ||
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#17
* ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Global Times] US MAY ALREADY SECRETLY RETURNED TO SUBIC BAY IN PHILIPPINES, to MilFacs maintained + kept ready by a "secret foreign company", + is getting ready to ditto return to the former Clark AFB.
FYI calls for India to allow the US to build a base there in order to deter Pak-based MilTerr Groups [also read, CHINA = BANGLA, MYANMAR] will make China more twitchy.
[An Nahar] Waving placards calling for "Mother Russia" to save them, thousands of people rallied Sunday in Ukraine's port city of Sevastopol to denounce the political upheaval in Kiev as fears grow that the country could splinter.
Home to Russia's Black Sea fleet for some 200 years, Sevastopol in Ukraine's autonomous Crimea region is a bastion of pro-Moscow sentiment in the deeply divided ex-Soviet state where mass protests have forced Kremlin-allied president Viktor Yanukovich to flee the capital.
Amid fears that it could become a flashpoint for pro-Russian separatists, the United States, Germany, La Belle France and Poland made appeals Sunday for Ukraine's national integrity to be preserved.
In a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... and German Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... both leaders opposed partition, German officials said.
But among some in Sevastopol anger seems to be rising.
"The fascists have taken power in Kiev!" shouted one speaker to the crowd of roughly 10,000 demonstrators as they waved Russian tricolors and navy banners.
On Sunday the opposition-controlled parliament in Kiev appointed a new interim president a day after voting to oust Yanukovych after months of protests turned into a bloodbath this past week, with scores of people bumped off by police.
While protesters in Kiev have mainly come from the country's pro-Western Ukrainian-speaking population, in Yanukovych's Russian-speaking heartland in the east and in Crimea people have been frosty if not outright hostile to the changes.
"Bandits have taken power in Kiev. I am here to protect my town," said Stanislav Bolotnikovsky, 53.
Russia has condemned the events in Ukraine as a putsch and painted the protesters in Kiev -- where nationalist and rightwing groups make up a hardcore -- as dangerous bully boys.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Time to teach the transgendered fascists of EUrope a lesson!
#2
And still the tools in the media and EU elites can't understand that there is no significant difference between Fascism & Communism, BOTH are merely variations of Socialism.
#4
First of all Russia is daughter of Ukraine. THe heart of the first Rus was in Kiev not in Moscow but then Kiev fell to the Mongols and the heart of Rus went to central Russia where the forests offered better prospectives of resisting the onslaught of the cavalry-heavy Mongolic Army.
Second: Ukarine is not homogeneous. It includes both slavics (Cossacks) and non-slavic (Tatars, Kalmuks)who have little love for Ukranians and often have historically been fiercely loyal to Russia (the close body guards of the tsars were not Grand Russians or even Cossacks but Kalmuks) probably because Russia shielded them from Ukanian encroachements. Finally you have of course Grand Russians (ie "proper" Russians ) living in Ukraine.
Put this togteher, sprinkle with some feeling of unity with Russai between "real" Ukranians and you have at least one third of Ukraine and most of Crimea that will vote for the "Russian" candidate and was not that happy when Ukraine splitted from Russia.
#5
JFM, you're probably right. But, that just makes this another one of those ancient tribal conflicts that most all of the world suffers through continuously (see also Balkans, Ireland, Belgium, etc.).
America was founded on certain principles to refute tribalism and enshrine individualism. The current trend here is to revert to the tribes. 8^(
[An Nahar] Ukraine's new interim president said on Sunday that he was open to dialogue with Russia as long as Moscow respected his country's decision to seek closer ties with the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
"We are ready for a dialogue with Russia... that takes into account Ukraine's European choice, which I hope will be confirmed in (presidential) elections" set for May 25, Oleksandr Turchynov said in a television address.
Given that the Sochi Olympics have ended, I give Vlad about three days to make his move, and the Ukrainians won't like it when he does...
A new era opened in Ukraine Sunday as parliament gave itself three days to form a new government after impeaching a defiant President Viktor Yanukovych and calling early elections following a week of carnage.
Yanukovych's whereabouts remained a mystery amid claims he tried and failed to escape the country and was hiding out in the east, his historic power base, where localized, minor festivities erupted overnight.
But his rule appeared all but finished as journalists combed through his abandoned presidential residence looking for incriminating documents and the opposition-controlled parliament set a Tuesday deadline for the formation of a new government and appointed its own new speaker, Oleksandr Turchynov, as interim president.
On Kiev's Independence Square, where many people were killed this week, life creaked back to normal as onlookers filed through giant, makeshift barricades set up to keep security forces at bay after anti-government protests erupted in November.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
There is the possibility af some hard fighting if Vlad rolls too far west. Ukrainian units there are not inert, and its a lot farther away than were the areas of Georgia and Chechnya were. Plus the police and local armories have gone over to the people in increasing numbers the further west one goes. Then there are the logistical issues, and the issues of scale - Ukraine is larger and far more populated than the previous intervention targets. This would be the largest intervention since Afghanistan, is the Russian army capable and ready for this? And how would the do in the face of hundreds of thousands, like in Kiev? Firing into them would disperse them, but would also trigger far wider and far more intense resistance and attacks on the Russians, who would be seen as invaders.
I don't see success for the Russians unless the restrict their intervention to the closer, more Russian friendly areas in the east.
#2
This would be the largest intervention since Afghanistan, is the Russian army capable and ready for this?
Given the long running stick on Strategy Page about corruption in the Red Russian army and the inability to get real reform moving, any showing along those lines that reveals remarkable incompetence, ineffectiveness, and failure will drop the fear factor of the Bear significantly. Better to have a 'fleet in being' than committing it and finding out that it wasn't that good to begin with.
#4
As OS points out, its one thing to go in one province on your immediate border and another to project a force of adequate size several hundred miles and sustain it beyond a couple of days.
#6
Reminds me of a book I read about the first battle of Grozny in which Soviet draftee tankers without infantry support were slaughtered by Chechyans with swords.
Training is everything. I don't know if the Ukrainians have it or not but they at least have home field defensive advantage and minimal logistics.
Strategy wise I would think Russia would drive for the areas of high Russian ethnic density and hold there. Support with naval and paratroopers as best as possible and hope the shock of tanks and planes keeps the Ukranians cowed. Then negotiate.
#9
According to Youtube video's being spread, Russia is already in the Ukraine. And there are reports that Phone service in the Crimea is down. So go figure, it took less than a day for Russia to roll in.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/24/2014 22:03 Comments ||
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[HOSTED.AP.ORG] With an ally claiming presidential powers Sunday and the whereabouts and legitimacy of the nominal president unclear, newly freed opposition icon Yulia Tymoshenko may feel her chance to take Ukraine's leadership has come. But even among protesters who detest President Viktor Yanukovych, Tymoshenko sparks misgivings.
The former prime minister, who was convicted of abuse of office in a case widely seen as political Dire Revenge™ by her arch-foe Yanukovych, is a polarizing figure in a country staggering from political tensions that went kaboom! into violence. Admired and even adored by many for her flair and fiery ...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob... rhetoric, Tymoshenko is regarded by others as driven by intense ego and tainted with corruption.
Just a day after she left the hospital where she was imprisoned, demonstrators outside the Cabinet of Ministers expressed dismay that she could be Ukraine's next president. One of them held a placard depicting Tymoshenko taking power from Yanukovych and reading, "People didn't die for this."
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02/24/2014 00:00 ||
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KIEV, Ukraine -- The Ukrainian parliament, now dominated by foes of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, took bold measures Sunday to remake the government, sacking ministers, freeing jailed protesters and announcing investigations and detentions of former officials.
By decree, the parliament gave interim presidential authority to the speaker of parliament, Oleksandr Turchynov, himself a leader of the opposition.
But even as demonstrators in Kiev celebrated their victory over the pro-Russian Yanukovych, there were signs of trouble in parts of the Ukraine that still lean more toward Russia than Europe. In the Crimea to the south, men gathered to volunteer for militias to oppose the decrees announced in the capital.
In Kiev, the parliamentarian and former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko urged the thousands of demonstrators in Independence Square to remain where they are in order to protect the advances won by the opposition. Klitschko also said that the self-defense militias organized to defend the barricades at the square against riot police should remain on the streets to provide security. There are no police on the streets right now, Klitschko told reporters. The police will be reorganized, and we will try to do this as fast as possible.
Another member of parliament warned his colleagues that they needed to move quickly to bring security forces back to work, saying that some of the nations vital infrastructure, including nuclear power plants, were unguarded.
Maintaining security wasnt the only issue. Turchynov, the new interim president, said Ukraines pension fund, national currency and banking system were facing immense problems, according to the news group RIA Novosti.
That's part of what brought about the revolution in the first place. The country is broke.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Moscow would delay a planned purchase of $2 billion in Ukrainian eurobonds until Kiev formed a new government. In December, Russia had signed a deal with President Yanukovych promising a $15 billion support package. The move toward Russian aid, and away from a trade agreement with the European Union, was one of the sparks that began three months of protest in Kiev.
The new Ukraine faces the worst of both worlds: a vengeful Moscow and a feckless West...
Independence Square was filled with thousands of Ukrainians Sunday who piled heaps of flowers at makeshift shrines beside photographs of some of the 82 protesters who have been killed by riot police in the recent clashes. In western Ukraine, large crowds assembled to mourn the protesters.
Members of the opposition, which now controls Kiev and the central government, also announced that protesters arrested during demonstrations would be freed immediately, while they also sought to detain and prosecute the dismissed prosecutor general, Viktor Pshonka. The interim interior minister, Arsen Avakov, said the new government would open an inquiry into lethal force used by riot police and security forces during the protests.
Still unknown is whether a defiant Yanukovych and a bitterly divided Ukraine will accept any of parliaments decrees. Leaders of the ousted government, especially those from Ukraines east and south, said they would oppose new measures.
Yanukovych, whose exact whereabouts have been unknown since Friday evening, appeared on television Saturday in a prerecorded interview to say: I am not planning to leave the country. I am the legitimate president, and I am not going to resign.
What we witness now resembles Nazi occupation, Yanukovych said. My car was shot at. But I am not afraid for my life, I am afraid for my country.
Yanukovych said Russian President Vladimir Putin told him that he had spoken with President Obama and promised that we will negotiate.
"What's mine is mine. Now let's talk about what's yours."
But the White House released a statement that praised the constructive work done by the Ukrainian parliament and urged the prompt formation of a broad, technocratic government of national unity.
Boy howdy, that has a stirring ring to it...
On Sunday, U.S. national security adviser Susan E. Rice warned that Russian troop intervention in Ukraine would be a grave mistake.
Who's gonna stop 'em, Ms. Rice?
This is not about the U.S. and Russia, Rice said during a wide-ranging interview on NBCs Meet the Press. This is about whether the people of Ukraine have the opportunity to fulfill their aspirations and be democratic and be part of Europe, which they choose to be.
William Hague, the British foreign secretary, told the BBC on Sunday: We dont know, of course, what Russias next reaction will be.
He noted that Russia had supported a compromise with Yanukovych last week that would have allowed him to stay in power for another 10 months.
We do know that Russia, as well as the United States, has said a few days ago that they would get behind a deal that had been made, that deal has now been overtaken by events and this is the importance of us continuing a dialogue with Russia, Hague said.
The European Unions foreign-policy chief, Catherine Ashton, is scheduled to come to Kiev on Monday.
They're doomed, especially if she brings Carla del Ponte with her...
We have been monitoring the situation very closely, said a senior State Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because conditions remained so fluid. What the United States and our European partners have been advocating for consistently this week is a de-escalation of violence, constitutional change, a coalition government and early elections. The developments we are seeing on the ground are . . . moving us closer to those goals.
Russias Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday that the opposition in Ukraine was pushing new demands, submitting itself to armed extremists and looters whose actions pose a direct threat to the sovereignty and constitutional order of Ukraine, according to Russias Interfax news agency.
The new speaker of parliament, Turchynov, told his fellow deputies Saturday that Yanukovych had attempted to flee the country.
He tried to get on a plane that was bound for the Russian Federation but was stopped by border guards. At the moment, hes hiding somewhere in the Donetsk region, Turchynov said, according to Interfax. The Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine, is home to Yanukovychs Russian-speaking political base.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The main activist group behind Turkey's mass street protests last year plans to file an "unprecedented" class action lawsuit against the government over deaths and injuries, local media reported on Sunday.
Earlier this month, a Turkish court dismissed charges of founding a crime syndicate against members of the Taksim Solidarity Platform, the organizer of the demonstrations that turned violent as police launched a brutal crackdown.
"Our lawyers are planning to file an unprecedented lawsuit in the name of everyone who took part in the resistance... who were killed, injured and lost their eyes as a result of violent police action," Ender Imrek, a member of the group and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) told Hurriyet newspaper.
"We will try the government. They should be prepared for a lawsuit that will set an international precedent and will be taught at schools," he said.
The June 2013 protests started as a small environmentalist movement to save an Istanbul park from being razed and snowballed into a nationwide wave of protests against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi only they haven't dumped him yet... , who critics say has become increasingly authoritarian.
The activist group includes prominent civil society figures who led the protests that left at least seven people dead and some 8,000 others injured, according to the Turkish Medical Association.
"Seven young people died when they were defending a peaceful cause. One of our children is in a coma," said Mucella Yapici, head of the Chamber of Architects and Engineers, another member of the group that had faced charges.
She also referred to a medical bill passed last month that makes it a crime for doctors to provide emergency first aid without a government permit, which critics say could be used to bar doctors treating protesters.
"If doctors in this country are sued for helping people on the streets, it is a crime not to try those who are responsible," Yapici said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the saw mill, Scarface Al had tied Little Nell to the log and was about to turn on the buzz saw... since December Erdogan has been battling a massive corruption scandal implicating his key allies.
His handling of the scandal and retaliatory measures including a law tightening control of the Internet have sparked fresh protests and dented his popularity ahead of important local elections on March 30.
Turkish riot police in Istanbul fired tear gas and water cannon Saturday at around 3,000 people protesting the new Internet curbs.
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02/24/2014 00:00 ||
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Turkey's coast guard rescued 28 Afghan migrants on Sunday as their boat was in danger of sinking in the Aegean Sea, Anadolu Agency reported.
The Coast Guard team told AA that the migrants had sailed from Turkey's Ayvacik District and headed for the Greek island Lesbos. After sailing over a kilometer from the shore, the migrants sent out a distress signal to the Turkish Coast Guard after their boat began take on water.
After being rescued by a coast guard team, the migrants were later turned over to the Ayvacik Repatriation Center.
Turkey has experienced a major increase in the number of migrants attempting to reach Europe from the country's western coast, resulting in the sinking of several vessels.
In August 2013, a speed boat carrying illegal migrants capsized in international waters of Turkey's Aegean Sea, resulting in the death of 24 passengers. In another incident in September, a boat carrying illegal migrants sank in international waters with around 50 passengers onboard. All of the migrants were later recovered by Turkish rescue teams.
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[Jihad Watch] But in a school community where no students and only one teacher outwardly practice Islam, wearing the scarves was a good way to draw curious looks, questions and a few unfriendly comments. Ah yes, unfriendly comments in other words, the whole thing was a lesson in that all-important dogma of our modern world: Muslims are victims, and deserve special accommodation. Next week we're studying African-American discrimination. We'll be coming to school with our faces and hands painted black. I hope no one is offended.
#3
Maybe they might try honor-killing next, or rape. That cute cheerleader is just so much 'uncovered meat' after all.
Read the article:
Here are some victims whom these public school students would be better off studying: Aqsa Parvez, whose Muslim father choked her to death with her hijab after she refused to wear it; and Amina Muse Ali, a Christian woman in Somalia whom Muslims murdered because she wasnt wearing a hijab; and the 40 women who were murdered in Iraq in 2007 for not wearing the hijab; and Alya Al-Safar, whose Muslim cousin threatened to kill her and harm her family because she stopped wearing the hijab in Britain; ...
#8
Nor much or all of anything else Western girls have long taken for granted.
IFF THE SOON-TO-BE-OWG-BIG[GEST]-NOT-JUST-BIGGER- GOVT-EVAR!-BIG GOVT CAN'T CONTROL SHARIA, WHY HAVE THE BIG[GEST] GOVT, LET ALONE BIG OR BIGGER GOVT. - IFF ONE IS GOING TO ARGUE THAT THE BIG[GEST] GOVT C-A-N OR W-I-L-L CONTROL ANYTHING + EVERYTHING, ETC. THEN WHY SHOULD AMERIKA, THE OWG MIGHTY USSA VS OWG WEAK USRoA, BE AFRAID OF A LITTLE THING CALLED SHARIA [aka Muslim-centric/focused "special courts-laws"]???
How is sharia different from Demolefty beloved
> drug courts.
> marriage-divorce courts.
> immigration courts.
"ONE FOR ALL, + ALL FOR ONE", Correct???
What the Demoleft can do + has done for Other, IT CAN DO FOR MUSLIM-AMERIKANS + LEGAL SHARIA LAW IN AMERIKA.
DON'T FEAR THE JIHADI, FEAR HIS LAWYERS + THE ACLU!
[Hub News] DETROIT - In a fiery speech Sunday delivered to 18,000 at Joe Louis Arena, Minister Louis Farrakhan blasted the judicial systems in the U.S. as being biased against African Americans, calling upon the community to set up their own courts.
"We want equal justice under the law," Farrakhan said on the last day of the Nation of Islam's annual convention, held in Detroit this year. "Our people can't take much more. We have to have our own courts."
With Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones sitting behind him, Farrakhan spoke for nearly three hours, reiterating the Nation of Islam's view that the U.S. is a land headed for destruction because it has disobeyed the word of God.
Farrakhan suggested that African Americans rely on the Quran and Bible to help set up their own legal system that would be more fair to African Americans.
"So ... if we retaliate, you can bring out your soldiers. We got some, too."
Farrakhan railed against Christian pastors who endorse gay marriage, which he said contradicts the teachings of Christianity and Islam.
Noting that the Nation of Islam started in Detroit in 1930, Farrakhan said: "I want Detroit to know we're back to stay. This is a great city."
During the past year, Farrakhan has talked about reinvesting in Detroit. Local Nation of Islam members say some are moving to Detroit to invest and help rebuild the city. Sharia by another name, nothing more.
#2
P2k, do you ever get tired or disgusted by having to point out the same thing (it's all about the power) forever? I know I do it just never seems to get anywhere.
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02/24/2014 15:06 Comments ||
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#6
Still surprised they didn't pick a state with a high African American population (or a small state) and promote a migration. Get enough African Americans in the state and you'd have the courts and the cops and all political positions. Oh, and the rest of the country would be able to see how it should be done.
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.
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
[Hub News] DETROIT - In a fiery speech Sunday delivered to 18,000 at Joe Louis Arena, Minister Louis Farrakhan blasted the judicial systems in the U.S. as being biased against African Americans, calling upon the community to set up their own courts.
