Brownouts lasting from a few hours to whole days ravage the Nile; Morsi orders construction of infrastructure as people protest paying bills
Using what money, the loans from Saudia Arabia for meeting daily expenses?
They'll fix the electrical brownouts every bit as well as Pakistain has, and using the same money...
In an apparent attempt to quell public anger, Egypt's President Momammed Morsi apologized to his people Sunday for power outages that are plaguing the country. "I am sorry for the power cuts. I have the same problem at home and I promise it will be solved as soon as possible," Mosri was reported by Al Arabiya as saying.
Brownouts have left Cairo districts in the dark for a few hours at a time, but the southern governorates of Asyut, Sohag, al-Wadi al-Gadid, Minya, Fayoum, and Beni Suef have all faced outages that last up to an entire day, Al Arabiya reported.
The summer's brownouts have generated a social protest movement that calls on the public not to pay electric bills. "We won't pay," is the name of the Socialist Popular Alliance's campaign, according to Egypt Independent online. The party launched the campaign in the Imbaba neighborhood of Giza, where power cuts can last for two hours per day.
This is the third summer of such power outages, but the first under Egypt's newly--elected Moslem Brüderbund president. Morsi last week ordered the construction of two new power grids in order to meet demand, the Independent reported.
Egypt produces 22,300 megawatts and is facing a 20% shortage of 4,000 megawatts. Causes of the shortages range from insufficient fuel to labor shortages and overconsumption, according to the report.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/06/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#2
Egypt began exporting electricity in about 2006 to Libya and Sudan as a means to get $$$$. They began supplying electricity to Gaza in 2011 or so. The quantities involved aren't much but with the supply demand situation so tight, it might be part of the problem.
However one of the major problems maybe be theft of power from the grid.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/06/2012 10:18 Comments ||
Top||
Tunisian blogger Sofiane Shurabi, an outspoken critic of deposed president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was arrested Sunday for publically drinking alcohol during Ramadan with two friends.
Lawyer Anis Ezzine said Shurabi and a friend were taken into custody on the beach at El Mansoura on Sunday morning for "being drunk in a public place, disturbance of the peace and unacceptable behaviour."
Ezzine said they could face up to seven months in prison.
Khaled Tarouch, a spokesman for Tunisia's Interior ministry, said a young woman was arrested with them and that all three had admitted the charges. He said, "They admitted it. After consultation with the ministry, the three were detained for unacceptable behaviour and drinking alcohol in public."
Earlier, Shurabi made a post on his Facebook page saying that he had been arrested.
Leila Ben Debba, another lawyer, said,"I do not exclude that his arrest was linked to his appeal on Facebook to demonstrate tonight" against the government's policies.
A appeal for a protest in central Tunis is spreading on the Internet, despite an interior ministry warning that such a assemblage has not been authorised.
Given the number of times throughout Muslim history that hosts have murdered those they invited to peace talks, attending might well be unwise.
King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands Abdullah ... Fifth out of 37 sons of King Abdulaziz to ascend to the throne. He is, after his half-brothers Bandar and Musa'id, the third eldest of the living sons of Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. Abdullah's mother is from the Rashid clan, longtime rivals of the Saud. He has 6 sons and 15 daughters and about $20 billion. His youngest son is just seven years old... invited Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad for an extraordinary summit of Mohammedan leaders to be held this month in the holy city of Mecca, state news agency SPA reported Sunday.
The Saudi monarch "sent a written letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inviting him to attend the extraordinary Islamic solidarity meeting which will be held in Mecca" in mid-August, SPA reported.
Tensions have been running high between the Sunni-dominated kingdom and Shiite Iran as both regional powers had taken opposite stances on the uprisings in Bahrain and Syria.
Iran had voiced support to a Shiite-led uprising in Bahrain which Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... had sent troops to crush last year.
In Syria, the kingdom had called for arming rebels against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... -- who belongs to the Alawite minority, an off-shoot of Shiite Islam -- while Iran has been repeatedly accused of sending military aid to the Syrian government. Tehran has denied the claims.
Saudi Arabia last month called for the summit in a bid at "unifying the ranks" of Mohammedans.
Saudi Arabia hosts the headquarters of the 57-member pan-Mohammedan body -- the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation which is based in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
#4
IIRC from earlier this summer this is the proposed summit where the topic will include the merits or demerits of the spreading "Arab/Muslim/
Islamic Springs", + espec the future of the Muslim World in this age of "Globalism".
Good luck to both King Abdullah + Moud, given ..
* WAFF > TURKEY IMPLODING? AS SYRIA WAR ROILS, UNREST AMONG SECTS [ALawites, Kurds] HITS TURKEY.
E.g. pro-Assad Turkish Alawites vs anti-Assad Turkish Sunnis.
Again, iff Pert forecasts about GWCC-induced rises in Earth temperatures prove correct, THE SCENARIO EXISTS WHERE NON-MUSLIM COUNTRIES, CULTURES MAY SELECTIVELY ADOPT CERTAIN HABITS FROM MUSLIM COUNTRIES FOR THE SAKE OF SURVIVAL.
DON'T MAKE TOO MUCH FUN OR BE CRITICAL OF THE MUSLIM BURQUA BECAUSE YOU + SOCIETY MAY BE VOLUNTARILY WEARING IT ONE DAY, GLOBAL JIHAD OR NO GLOBAL JIHAD, AS SPECIFICALLY DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING [future intensification of solar activity].
IOW, don't be getting rid of Grandma or Great-Grandma's "antique/quaint" head shawl just yet.
And once again, Virgina, we learn why our desired future "Globalist" OWG-NWO = SPACE GOVT-ORDER needs a Globally-accepted consensus among Govts, Perts as to resources + everything.
But I digress ...
* SAME > KURDISTAN: NEW FLASHPOINT BETWEEN IRAQ, TURKEY, SYRIA [ + Iran].
* SAME > POSTER THREAD: NEXT TEN YEARS [2022-ASAP after?] TO SEE LIBERATION OF SOUTH MACEDONIA + BALKAN TURKS [to join or partner wid Turkey] AFTER GREEK EU EXIT [Grexit], STATE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE???
When an executive in the US highlighted the risk that staff could face criminal liability for defying sanctions, it is claimed that the group executive director in London said "You f---ing Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we're not going to deal with Iranians."
Throw 'em all in preventive custody until the accountants figure it out. That'll learn 'em.
Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services, has launched an investigation into Standard Chartered Bank for "apparent grave violations of law and regulation".
"For almost ten years, SCB schemed with the Government of Iran and hid from regulators roughly 60,000 secret transactions, involving at least $250 billion, and reaping SCB hundreds of millions of dollars in fees," the statement said.
"SCB's actions left the U.S. financial system vulnerable to terrorists, weapons dealers, drug kingpins and corrupt regimes, and deprived law enforcement investigators of crucial information used to track all manner of criminal activity."
The watchdog has called on the lender to explain the apparent violations and demonstrate why its license to operate in the state of New York should not be revoked.
It should be. But it will be fun for some to hold certain feet to very hot fires in the meantime...
It claims that for nearly a decade the bank moved "at least $250 billion" though its New York branch on behalf of Iranian clients, including the Iranian central bank, that were subject to sanctions and then "covered up" evidence of the deals.
Welcome to Paleostine campaign organizers say fewer activists expected during next fly-in; will arrive in Amman airport and attempt to cross over to Paleostinian Authority by land
Four months after the last "flytilla" to Ben-Gurion airport, organizers of the Welcome to Paleostine campaign are gearing up for another round of fly-ins, scheduled to take place at the end of August.
The next round is slated to begin on August 24, and will be different from previous fly-ins, organizers say.
That's because the previous ones were all complete failures, each in its embarrassingly different way...and before that the Flotillas also didn't accomplish there objective.
The pro-Paleostinian activists will fly into the Jordanian capital of Amman from different countries around the world, but mostly from La Belle France, and will then tour refugee camps before heading to Allenby Crossing, where they will request to pass into the Paleostinian Authority.
At which time they'll be sent packing...
"Last time, the Israeli government correctly claimed that we were provocateurs trying to stir up trouble, and therefore this time we decided to have the activists enter the Paleostinian Authority through the Allenby Crossing -- in order to prove that the people only want to come and express solidarity with the Paleostinians," said Jack Neno, one of the campaign organizers.
According to Neno, the activists, which will bring with them supplies for Paleostinian students, will arrive at the border crossing as a group and declare their affiliation with Welcome to Paleostine campaign.
Bethlehem Governor Abed Al-Fatah Hamayel said that the upcoming flytilla will only include a few hundred activists. "One of the Israelis' claims was that the last fly-in was a provocation. They said that the activists should have entered the Paleostinian territories through Allenby Crossing and not through Ben-Gurion Airport, so we tool their advice," he said.
Neno noted that the decision to bring a small number of activists this time around is meant to help them enter the Paleostinian Authority without creating a fuss. "We hope Israel lets them cross, but if it refuses, we will return with another campaign which will see masses of activists swarm Ben-Gurion airport."
[Dawn] Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Chief Lt Gen Zaheer ul Islam returned to Pakistain on Sunday after his visit to Washington, DawnNews reported.
Hopefully we thoroughly bugged his phone, his laptop, and his beard.
The ISI Chief will submit a detailed report of his US trip to Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... , sources said.
Lieutenant General Zaheer ul-Islam, the new head of the ISI agency, was paying the first visit to Washington in a year by the leader of Pakistain's powerful spy body.
Islam held meeting on Thursday with Central Intelligence Agency director David Petraeus and held "substantive, professional and productive" talks, a senior US official said on condition of anonymity.
ISI Chief had an important policy meeting at the State Department on Thursday with President Barack Obama The Cambridge police acted stupidly... 's special coordinator for Afghanistan and Pakistain, Lt Gen Douglas E. Lute.
US Special Envoy Marc Grossman also attended the meeting. "Both sides stated their positions on various issues," said an official source, "expressing their desire to rebuild this important relationship".
On Wednesday night, Gen Islam had met with CIA deputy director Michael J. Morrell at the residence of Pakistain's Ambassador Sherry Rehman. This was his first meeting with a senior CIA official before the formal talks with Gen Petraeus at the CIA headquarters.
"Both sides are focusing on increasing intelligence cooperation between the United States and Pakistain," said an official source when asked what was discussed in these meetings.
The dinner at Ambassador Rehman's residence also attracted congressional heavyweights including chairs of the Senate Intelligence Committee Dianne Feinstein and the House Intelligence Mike Rogers. Ranking members of the two committees were also present.
Senator John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, the Senate's current foreign policy expert, filling the vacated wingtips of Joe Biden... , who chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, also dropped in for a long pre-dinner conversation, despite a prior engagement.
They also discussed various options for dealing with joint concerns in the war against terror.
There were no discussions on operational details as the two intelligence chiefs were dealing with such details at their closed-door meeting at Langley, the CIA headquarters in Virginia, sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai accepted on Sunday a vote by the country's parliament to dismiss his two top security ministers, but ordered both to remain in their jobs pending replacement, a move aimed at safeguarding fragile stability. The fractious parliament voted on Saturday to remove Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Bismillah Muhammadi after recent insurgent assassinations of senior officials, as well as cross-border fire incidents blamed on Pakistan, an inflammatory issue for many Afghans.
While the ministers remain in place for now, the uncertainty could complicate NATO plans to hand security responsibilities to Afghan forces before the end of 2014, as both positions are crucial to the 11-year war against insurgents as Western countries draw down their military presence. Karzai, who chaired a Sunday meeting of Afghanistan's National Security Council, issued a statement saying replacements of both ministers would be brought in according to the law. Karzai can keep both ministers in their jobs for months if he chooses, and as he previously has done after parliamentary votes to reject his choices.
Those moves may have alienated lawmakers whose cooperation he needs if he is to crack down on widespread corruption within his unpopular government in order to help guarantee up to $16 billion worth of aid promised by his Western backers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[13 views]
Top|| File under:
[Christian Science Monitor] Paks are mounting protests online and in the streets of cities like Lahore and Beautiful Downtown Peshawar over the ill-treatment of Moslems in Myanmar, a situation that Islamist groups here are distorting to raise money and potentially win recruits.
A nice change from their obsession with what it amuses them to call the Hinjoos and, as the rulers of Burma don't care a whit about the outside world, no harm will come of it unless some Pakistanis decide to go jihading in a new direction. In that case, a quick culling of Muslims will be effected, distressing no one but their mothers.
The international community has raised concerns about human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. abuses against Moslem Rohingyas in Myanmar. Clashes in June between Rohingyas and their Buddhist neighbors, the Rakhine, left 78 dead, according to the Myanmar government. A new Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... report calls the number "grossly underestimated" and charges that security forces failed to protect Rohingyas, and in some cases opened fire on them.
But on the streets of Pakistain, the rhetoric runs much hotter with protesters claiming "thousands" of Rohingyas are being slaughtered in western Myanmar (also known as Burma). Online, meanwhile, a series of doctored and misidentified photographs are circulating widely in Pak social media and beyond that purport to show violence against Rohingyas.
Investigations by social media watchdogs, and the respected Pak newspaper Express Tribune, have proven that most of these claims are exaggerated or entirely false.
For example, one photo posted on a Facebook page originating from Pakistain show Buddhists dressed in their traditional red robes standing in the middle of two rows of dead bodies. The caption reads: "Bodies of Moslems killed by Buddhists." In reality, this picture is from an earthquake incident in China in 2010, where Tibetan monks came to help with the rescue efforts.
Islamist groups are exploiting the whipped up sentiments in Pakistain to raise money, ostensibly for the Rohingyas, at a time when political parties are also building up campaign coffers in anticipation of upcoming national elections. One bully boy Islamist group, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, even threatened the Myanmar government, saying it will avenge the blood of Moslems being killed in Myanmar.
Shahzad Ahmad, the Pakistain country director for the global online activism group called Bytes for All, says stories of Moslem victimization around the world are exaggerated in Pakistain by Islamist groups on the Internet.
"They use such campaigns not only to fund themselves but also to gain more political ground and recruit people for their cause. Our research shows that there are many fake photographs being used to propagate [stories of] atrocities against Moslems on many of the Facebook pages which originate from Pakistain," says Mr. Ahmad.
Hundreds of pages in support of the Rohingya have appeared on the Internet over the past few months, he says.
"While there is no denying there are human rights violations in Myanmar against Moslems, such exaggerated online campaigns may attract those who want to promote terror and collaborate with thug groups which operate openly in Pakistain," adds Ahmad.
Among the groups involved in stirring the activism are Jamat-ud-Dawa, Jamat-e-Islami and Jamaat-e-Ulema Islam, three Islamist groups which hold significant street power in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
#1
The Land of Hatred and seething.
Must be the most unhappy nation in the world always looking for jihad/an enemy!
#4
Guess the recruiting has bottom out taking on the white infidels in Afghanistan, time for a new softer target to get fresh cannon fodder blood in the name of Allen.
Malik removed from Islamic University
Reported in monthly Naya Zamana 'anti-liberal' faculty of sharia at the International Islamic University at Islamabad got offended with its rector Fateh Muhammad Malik because of his liberal ideas. Malik is known for having written a number of popular books on Allama Iqbal. Malik got into trouble when in May the University held a culture week and invited the Iranian ambassador and his wife. The sharia faculty protested but Malik was stubborn and additionally insisted that his linkage of the University with universities in Iran was proper. Malik said some people wanted to keep the University Wahhabi. The Islamic University was created by General Zia to breed jihadi intellectuals, the journal said.
Hafiz Saeed serves notices
Monthly Naya Zamana reported that famous religious jihadi leader Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain... had served notices of Rs 10 crore each to columnist Nazeer Naji and journalist Amir Mir for writing that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed had secretly met the American ambassador. Both journalists acknowledged receipt of notices but Nazeer Naji said he did not have Rs 10 crore to pay to Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.
Ahmadis living in Pak hell
Quoted in monthly Naya Zamana a report from the Ahmadi community stated that in 2011 six Ahmadis were killed for their faith while 20 others were assaulted. In educational institutions Ahmadi students were being subjected to targeted attacks to make them quit the campus. Their places of worship were being taken over, 23 of them demolished and 28 sealed by the administration and 16 were under illegal occupation.
Pakistani purity in action.
Will Mira return the plot?
Daily Jinnah reported that filmstar Mira had decided to make up and do sulah with her alleged husband Atique who had said that he would do sulah only if she returned the house she had received from him as a wedding gift but was actually denying receiving it. Mira was said to be thinking of returning the house where now her fresh fiance was actually living. Former putative husband Atique had famously asked a judge to get her medically examined to confirm her claim that she was a virgin.
Nation opposed to Siachen climb-down
According to Jang, 57 percent of the people in Pakistain were opposed to Pak Army climbing down from Siachen unilaterally as recommended by Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... . Only 17 percent favoured unilateral withdrawal while 15 percent wanted the Army permanently stationed on Siachen.
No revolution in Pakistain, please!
Famous Maulana Samiul Haq ...leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as Mullah Sandwich for his habit of having two young boys at a time... told Jinnah that there will be no revolution in Pakistain and there will be no change in Pakistain. Elections will be held and its results will be decided by America. He said Learned Elders of Islam were not affected by America's threats; therefore America should stop threatening him. He said all politicians were working for Americans.
Chief Justice against Punjab laptops
Reported in Jang, Chief Justice of Pakistain Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed that in Punjab Rs 22 billion were spent on laptops whereas many girls students were sitting out in graveyards because their schools had no classrooms. He said this after hearing about a school in Gujranwala whose classes were being held in a graveyard.
Prob'ly safer for the girls than a burnable school building...
Chief Justice being made into hero
Quoted in Express lawyer Fawad Chaudhry stated that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was unnecessarily being presented as a national hero by the media. He said that Musa Gilani and Dr Arsalan were being judged on unequal scales. Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah who is a cousin of the Chief Justice said that the plot against the Supreme Court was hatched by Rehman Malik Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship. and Malik Riaz.
General Chishti supports Chief Justice
Reported in Nawa-e-Waqt famous General (Retd) Faiz Ali Chishti
Who?
spoke on behalf of the organization of retired armymen and said that corrupt elements were hatching conspiracies but the military leadership had unconditionally promised to stand behind the Chief Justice. He said the corrupt were endangered by the activism of the Supreme Court.
And since just about everyone there is corrupt...
PPP blackmailing Chief Justice
PMLN firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... leader Abid Sher told Express that the PPP was trying to blackmail Chief Justice Chaudhry. Kashmala Tariq of Q League said it was a conspiracy hatched by Rehman Malik but PPP leader Basra said Chief Justice did not take notice of his son's lavish life style.
The crying competition in Pakistain
Writing in Express famous Abdul Qadir Hasan observed that many people in Pakistain were accustomed to weeping at critical moments. Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan had cried when he was shown evidence of Dr Arsalan's bribe-taking. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was said to have cried during the Lal Masjid operation. He also cried at the death of Nawab Akbar Bugti.
'I have seen proof of Arslangate!'
Columnist Javed Chaudhry wrote in Express that he had seen proof of Dr Arsalan Iftikhar's corruption with his own eyes. He had been rung by Malik Riaz with whom he had connections going back to 1996 and invited to his house. When he reached Malik's house he saw the car of a famous and senior journalist coming out from the gate.
No doubt that makes more sense in the original Urdu.
Malik Riaz was plotting for a long time
Famous columnist Haroon Rasheed stated in Jang that the journalists were opining that Malik Riaz had attacked the Chief Justice because he was put up to it by the Army which had been insulted by the Chief Justice in Quetta. This was not true because Malik Riaz had first thought of the plot long time ago.
Deaf and Dumb will attack NATO supplies
Reported in Nawa-e-Waqt that the deaf and dumb of Lahore were greatly incensed after hearing
How?
of the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... supplies issue and said that NATO supplies were leading to the killing of humanity which was not acceptable to them and might lead to their issuing forth in the streets and immortalising themselves by attacking the NATO supply routes.
Arsalan wanted to stay in London Marriot
Daily Jinnah quoted Malik Riaz as saying that he had written proof that Arsalan insisted that he wanted to stay in the most expensive hotel called London Marriot. He added that he insisted so much that Bahria was finally forced to agree to pay for the room.
A 'heejra' orgy
According to Express Muzaffargarh in Souh Punjab was shocked to witness a huge gathering of transvestites and local boys falling in love with each other and then marrying heejras. The police looked after the ceremony in a marriage hall and made sure that the rich boys could enjoy the heejra company.
Arsalan Iftikhar and Dina Wadia
Famous columnist Hamid Mir wrote in Jang that famous fathers at times were embarrassed by their offspring. Jinnah was made to feel awkward by his daughter Dina Wadia who converted to Parsi faith
Thus returning down the path trod by her mother, who converted from the Parsi faith when she married Mr. Jinnah.
to marry someone that Jinnah did not approve of and therefore had to dissociate himself from it. Similarly Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had bravely taken suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... notice of his son Arsalan's corruption case and did not favour him. Jamaat Islami had some trouble with the son of its founder Maududi but did not maltreat Farooq Maududi.
[Jerusalem Post] A group of Al-Qaeda prisoners was caught trying to tunnel out of Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, an official said on Sunday, after the snuffies said they would step up their fight against the government.
Iraq's Shi'ite-led government is concerned that Sunni Moslemsnuffies will get a boost from the insurgency in neighboring Syria, where mainly Sunni rebels are battling Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... Jail breaks are common in Iraq and security at prisons was beefed up this week after five snuffies stormed a police counter-terrorism headquarters on Tuesday in an attempt to free Al-Qaeda prisoners. All five were killed in a long shootout.
A front man for the justice ministry, Haider al-Saadi, said in a statement that 11 "dangerous prisoners" at Abu Ghraib dug down three meters and had tunneled along 20 meters using a frying pan and part of a ceiling fan before they were discovered.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/06/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
you know how to get rid of gophers....get a firehose and flood the tunnel
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/06/2012 12:43 Comments ||
Top||
Iran is to move key ministries and state bodies off the worldwide internet next month in an effort to shield them behind a secure computer wall from disruptive cyber attacks like the Stuxnet and Flame viruses.
Probably a smart move, given that they've promised to wipe out those nasty juices...
They still need a way to talk to each other. Stuxnet will find a way...
Reza Taghipour, the country's telecommunications minister, said the step was being taken because sensitive intelligence was vulnerable on the worldwide web, which he said was untrustworthy because it was controlled by "one or two" countries hostile to Iran
.
"The establishment of the national intelligence network will create a situation where the precious intelligence of the country won't be accessible to these powers," Mr Taghipour told a conference on Sunday at Tehran's Amir Kabir University.
He described the move as the first phase of a project to replace the global internet with a domestic intranet system scheduled to be completed within 18 months.
Opponents have previously denounced the plan as a means of stamping out western influence on the internet while further tightening already stringent online surveillance of political activists and regime critics.
While Iranian officials have repeatedly spoken about creating their own alternative to the internet, the latest announcement follows the upheaval wreaked by Stuxnet and Flame, both of which are believed to have been developed jointly by the US and Israel.
Stuxnet, discovered in 2010, caused extensive damage to Iran's uranium enrichment programme, which Iran insists is peaceful despite the west's suspicions that it is designed to produce an atomic bomb.
Flame, detected this year, was an even more sophisticated virus that is believed to have targeted Iran's oil ministry and main export terminal.
Nima Rashedan, an Iranian cyber-security specialist based in the Czech Republic, said the domestic network was unlikely to be effective. "In terms of cyber security, Iran is one of the most backward countries I know," he said. "Because of the dis-functionality of the government, I don't think they will be able to implement it properly.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/06/2012 00:23 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
General Muhammed Ahmed Faris, a military aviator who became the first Syrian in space, fled to Turkey on Sunday after defecting from President Bashar Al Assads regime, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Before crossing into Turkey, Faris visited the headquarters of the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo in a show of solidarity with rebel forces battling Assads troops in Syrias biggest city, it said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
At first I thought it said "Syria's First Astronaut FLIES to Turkey" as though that were a Syrian advance in space exploration.
Posted by: American Delight ||
08/06/2012 5:46 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Before crossing into Turkey, Faris visited the headquarters of the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo in a show of solidarity with rebel forces battling Assad's troops in Syria's biggest city, it said.
To the last drop of blood, boys!
I'll be at the Istanbul Hilton watching it all on CNN International...
The US government has quietly cleared the way for Americans to start donating money to buy weapons for Syria's rebels, even as the White House continues to refuse to arm the forces opposed to Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian Support Group (SSG), a Washington-based organisation with close links to the opposition, has been granted a license by the US Treasury to begin fund-raising on behalf the rebels.
The Syrian Support Group (SSG), a Washington-based organisation with close links to the opposition, has been granted a license by the US Treasury to begin fund-raising on behalf the rebels.
Supporters of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) hailed the move as a "game-changer" in the effort to equip the rebellion with modern weapons capable of matching those of the regime's forces.
Meanwhile, as Mr Assad's troops continued their attack on the strategic city of Aleppo, William Hague described the situation in Syria as "bleak" and conceded there was now little chance of a peaceful resolution to the 17-month crisis.
The Treasury license, seen by The Daily Telegraph, allows the SSG to supply the rebels with "financial, communications, logistical and other services otherwise prohibited" by American sanctions on Syria, although it does not permit the group to directly purchase weapons.
"This is a game-changer in terms of funding and a sign of a gradual policy shift by the US government," said Brian Sayers, the SSG'S Director of Government Relations. "We are optimistic that it will help change the situation on the battlefield in a positive way for the FSA."
By allowing American dollars to flow to the secular FSA, the US may also be trying to counterbalance Islamist elements within the opposition, who are building large-scale fund-raising operations in Qatar and other Sunni Arab nations. Some secular rebels complain that by refusing to provide arms and money, the US has ceded influence to the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist organisation.
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.
Tunisian blogger Sofiane Shurabi, an outspoken critic of deposed president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was arrested Sunday for publically drinking alcohol during Ramadan with two friends.
King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands Abdullah
Mahmoud 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Welcome to Paleostine campaign organizers say fewer activists expected during next fly-in; will arrive in Amman airport and attempt to cross over to Paleostinian Authority by land
Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Chief Lt Gen Zaheer ul Islam returned to Pakistain on Sunday after his visit to Washington, DawnNews reported.
[Christian Science Monitor] Paks are mounting protests online and in the streets of cities like Lahore and 
Malik removed from Islamic University
Nawaz Sharif
[Jerusalem Post] A group of Al-Qaeda prisoners was caught trying to tunnel out of Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, an official said on Sunday, after the 
