A senior member of the ruling Al-Sabah family warned of extremist groups operating under cover in Kuwait, with "sleeper cells" in the security and military agencies, in comments published Tuesday. "Extremist groups here are like fire under ashes. There are sleeper cells ... in the security and military agencies of this country," Sheikh Saud Nasser Al-Sabah said in Al-Seyassah newspaper. "We have warned of this for years and we will uncover more of these cells in the future," said the former information and oil minister. Islamist groups, meanwhile, condemned the shooting calling it a terrorist attack.
"The Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM) strongly condemns the shooting and the killing of two security men ... What happened is an unprecedented terrorist attack in Kuwait," said an ICM statement. Islamist MP Walid Al-Tabtabai said the attack was "rejected by Islamic Sharia (law) and morals ... and those who embrace this terrorist ideology are isolated individuals." Kuwaiti MPs urged their government Tuesday to deal firmly with terrorists, a day after suspected Islamist militants killed two security officers in a gunfight. "This is an unjustified terrorist attack ... The government should firmly fight these terrorists ... who have no political aims," liberal MP Mohammed Al-Saqer, head of parliament's foreign relations committee, told reporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Islamist groups, meanwhile, condemned the shooting calling it a terrorist attack.
Don't pooh-pooh it that quickly. Remember, these guys are the types that don't really need a reason for killing people, so terrorism without political aims is quite possible.
Personnel from the Search and Follow-up Department of the General Immigration Department (GID) who are investigating a forgery case related to the work permits are said to have seized 200 additional forged work visas, Al-Qabas daily. Earlier, securitymen had arrested three Arabs (mandoubs) for allegedly forging 480 work permits during a raid on the company where they worked and seized from the men forged stamps and documents.
Those'd be either Yemenis or Paleos, I'd guess...
It has been reported the suspects took advantage of sponsor's ill health who is believed to be mentally unstable, forged his signature and used his civil ID to get work visas which they later sold for money.
"Hey, Mahmoud! The boss seems to be nutz. Let's forge some work permits!"
"Hokay."
A reliable source said, securitymen armed with a search and arrest warrant raided an office in Al-Rai and arrested nine expatriates for buying work visas from the suspects.
"Youse guyz better have receipts for those visas, or you're in large trouble!"
The 12 persons - three mandoubs and the expats - have been referred to the Public Prosecution. Meanwhile, Director-General of the Search and Follow-Up Department Sheikh Faisal Al-Nawaf said a new system will be soon implemented to avoid forgeries and a plan is underway to issue special IDs for company mandoubs. Plans are also underway to make it mandatory for mandoubs to work for the company by whom they are sponsored.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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First of all, wouldn't you just hate to be a mandoub?
Secondly: the Search and Follow-up Department? Is that next to the Department of Silly Songs?
English language summary of prior days news. Sequence is interesting. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Russia made the headlines in almost all Turkish newspapers yesterday. Erdogan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier on Tuesday to start inter-delegation meetings between Turkey and Russia. Erdogan also was scheduled to meet with Russian business representatives and attend the opening of a Turkish trade center in Moscow. Some 600 Turkish business executives accompanied him to Moscow.
As many other newspapers referred to the meeting between Turkey and Russia with almost the same headline, "Gesture on Cyprus from Moscow," Radikal reported the event more deliberately. It said that Putin criticized the isolation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) but spoke with the pretext of the Russian veto concerning the resolution submitted by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that included a call for easing the isolation on the KKTC. Putin reportedly said, "We do not think that the economic isolation of northern Cypriots is fair." Last April, Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution put forward by the United States and Britain, Cyprus' former colonial power, to encourage Greek and Turkish Cypriots to adopt a U.N. plan to unify the Mediterranean island.
Radikal also said the relationship had been strengthened between Turkey and Russia. Accordingly, Russia will celebrate a year as "Turkish Year" and Turkey will in turn celebrate a "Russian Year."
Yeni Ãafak said the inter-delegation meetings between Turkey and Russia were dominated by the Cyprus issue. Putin said he spoke to Annan earlier on Tuesday. "With regard to our future position, we will support the plan of U.N. Secretary-General Annan to find a solution to the Cyprus dispute," Yeni Ãafak quoted Putin as saying.
[HH] Trade relations between Turkey and Russia:
Speaking during a meeting held at the President Hotel with some 600 Turkish business executives accompanying Erdoðan, Putin said their countries should increase trade to $25 billion a year, Yeni Ãafak reported.
"Yours and my best expectations for the development of economic relations have come true. I agree with the prognosis that trade turnover could reach $25 billion in the near future," Putin said.
Putin said that Tuesday's talks were focused on improving cooperation in energy, transportation, social welfare and the weapons trade.
Milliyet reported that issues such as the problems between Armenia and Turkey and the reconstruction of Iraq were also discussed and that a resolution had been reached. Putin said Russia could act as a mediator between Armenia and Turkey. Erdoðan replied, "We don't want a resentful neighbor [Armenia]," Milliyet reported.
[HH] US doesn't abandon Incirlik base request:
The visit of Gen. John Abizaid, the U.S. officer in charge of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, made the headlines in daily Cumhuriyet. Referring to previous reports, Cumhuriyet said the U.S has not abandoned its request to expand the use of Ãncirlik air base in southern Turkey. The U.S. Air Force currently has refueling aircraft at the base and is reportedly eager to move combat aircraft back to the facility. Warplanes were withdrawn before the Iraq war.
Officials from the Foreign Ministry, however, said Abizaid made no formal request to expand usage of the base. The base continues to be used under a U.N. decision solely for logistical purposes. Cumhuriyet said Turkey rejected the request made by the United States to use the base for operations in Iraq two years ago.
[HH] Turkey demands US act against PKK:
Cumhuriyet said among the issues discussed with Abizaid was that of the struggle against outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants that have been reported to be located mainly at and around the Kandil Mountains, near the Iranian border of northern Iraq. "We, like the Republic of Turkey, recognize the PKK as a terrorist organization. We agree that over time, we must deal with the PKK," Cumhuriyet quoted Abizaid as saying. Abizaid's comments were taken to mean that the United States still doesn't plan to implement concrete measures against the PKK.
In its own interpretation, Radikal said Abizaid had implicitly mentioned that the issue of the struggle against the PKK is related to the availability of Ãncirlik air base. Radikal claims that the U.S. will take action against the PKK after it gets permission to use the base.
Turkey has listed its demands to the United States for action against the PKK, Radikal reported. The list reportedly includes the removal of the PKK's political, logistical and financial connections and sources. Turkey has demands that the United States take action against the Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party (PÃBK) and ban it from participating in the Iraqi elections. The party is said to have been established by the PKK as a branch for northern Iraq.
Turkey Demands, We Request. Somebody needs to tell these guys we've developed a back-up vendor. If they think they can get a better deal from Russia than from the US and UK, they should demand it of Putty during their Russian Year. And how pathetic of Putty to jump in bed with these wackos. Some things never seem to change.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/13/2005 11:00:29 AM ||
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I prefer my Turkey well prepared. Looks like there is plenty of stuffing.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/13/2005 12:27 Comments ||
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Putty playing the Turkey card? Turkey playing the Russian card? Oh my. Time to get the carving knife out.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/13/2005 12:29 Comments ||
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I still have no idea why the Armenians might be resentful of the Turks.....
And I'm sure we'll get right on that PKK problem, too, once Kofi gets to work on that icky Cyprus thing.
#5
What's a Russian year going to be like in Turkey?
1. Kremlin Style goose stepping in front of all public buildings.
2. Repression of all forms or worship. Sorry Tayyip put away the Koran's for 24-7 365.
3. Friday movie marathons of classics like Ivan the Terrible and Stalin: The Lies Behind the Lies.
4. The Play will be changed to A Day In Hollywood and a Night in Ankara.
5. Relations with Israel are diving worse than Louganis' white blood cell count. No change there.
6. Turbans will be replaced with Pile Caps.
7. Turkish Coffee will be replaced with Smirnoff and Stoli.
8. Turks for once in their hideous history cannot act upon their innate urges to slaughter Eastern Orthodox Christians. Greeks and Armenians get a 1 year hiatus.
#7
Unfortunately the chum guys are already trolling the thread... but something's bugging me:
As many other newspapers referred to the meeting between Turkey and Russia with almost the same headline, âGesture on Cyprus from Moscow,â Radikal reported the event more deliberately. It said that Putin criticized the isolation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) but spoke with the pretext of the Russian veto concerning the resolution submitted by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that included a call for easing the isolation on the KKTC. Putin reportedly said, "We do not think that the economic isolation of northern Cypriots is fair."
So what Putin basically said was, he agrees with the UN resolution regarding Cyprus that he just vetoed?
Am I getting that right?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
01/13/2005 15:08 Comments ||
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"Turkish" year and "Russian" year...
You know, with the fall of the Soviet Union, such alliances have become much more easy. Capitalists are no longer scared away by communism, Soviet Union isn't asking other nations to reform their whole of societies and systems of governance before they become one of the group...
Alliances have returned to the game of "you give me what I want, I give you what you want". Loss of Ukraine, gain of Turkey for Russia? Let's hope not.
#4
I would say send him to prison but then he might enjoyed being gang-raped every day. If there is a a way to scam the system, someone is going to do it.
Saraah Olson says she watched as her then-husband, Hisham Diab, and his group transformed local teen Adam Gadahn into an America-hating fanatic who she says is the masked man who promised in an al Qaeda video message released in Pakistan in late October that the "streets of America will run red with blood." "I was just a steppingstone to a green card," Olson said. "I married a terrorist. I married somebody who did not like America, who didn't like Americans." Gadahn, who met Olson's former husband at a local mosque, was "fresh meat," she said. "Someone they could control. Not only that, he's very unassuming-looking, he can do a lot of their tasks." The voice, gestures and rhetoric of the video's "Azzam the American" were all familiar to Olson, especially the phrase "red with blood," which was one of the group's favorite sayings, she said. And over the course of six years, Olson said, some of Osama bin Laden's top deputies would stay with her and her husband, including blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who would later go to prison for life for his role in organizing terrorist plots against the United States. Olson said she repeatedly tried to notify the FBI of her husband's suspicious activities, but that she was never taken seriously. "I'm in hell," Olson remembers thinking after she recognized Abdel-Rahman in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. "I have entered the bowels of hell and I'm going to be here forever. And I've only been married seven months. I've got a terrorist in my house."
Posted by: John Q. Citizen ||
01/13/2005 11:16:40 AM ||
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My sympathy meter is at 0. It took all of seven months to notice this activity? So, for how long did she know Mr Diab before the nuptials? Stepping stone is right...looks like she set herself up. Criminally naive.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
01/13/2005 12:56 Comments ||
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You know what I want to know but no version of this story ever answers?
If her and her poor 4 yr old son converted to islam and had such a rotten experience, being beaten and ill treated, are they still so dumb that they are still muslims or did they revert back to whatever they were before?
It just kind of screams out at me. Whats the end of the story? Or is the MSM too afraid to say that they are are no longer muslims? We all know how hypersenstive to any possible slight muslims are and how aggressively they seethe in public.
#5
hey...I'm perfectly willing to believe that she called the FBI and they ignored her. I have a few stories of my own that you wouldn't believe me if I told you....so don't bother to ask. But the point being that they probably did blow her off. Unless you are telling them something they already know about - they aren't interested...at least that was my experience.
#7
Well, The Monkeys sange, "I am not your steppin' stone" does that count?
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/13/2005 16:52 Comments ||
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Alex, I'll take worthless trivia for $1,000.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/13/2005 16:53 Comments ||
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In just a few months, they were married...Olson and her 4-year-old son from another relationship, Ryan, both converted to Islam....
Self-preserving instinct and an instinct to protect your child should have kicked in at this moment. It's not uncommon for women to have blinders on when they are in love, but Islam? You had to have known the hijab and blows were coming, lady.
...First, she said Diab insisted she wear the hijab, a head scarf worn by certain devout Muslim women, and conform to other strict Islamic customs...And the beatings came next, she said, provoked by what were deemed violations of her husband's strict rules, which including forbidding physical contact with any man. She says he hit her the first time just weeks after their wedding for accidentally bumping into the manager of their apartment building..."You have to listen to me and I am God," she said Diab told her.
It always seems to come down to a God complex with these Muslim fanatics.
Yahoo post of a LA Dog Trainer article A new FBI computer program designed to help agents share information to ward off terrorist attacks may have to be scrapped, the agency has concluded, forcing a further delay in a four-year, half-billion-dollar overhaul of its antiquated computer system. The bureau is so convinced that the software, known as Virtual Case File, will not work as planned that it has taken steps to begin soliciting proposals from outside contractors for new software, officials said. The overhaul of the decrepit computer system was identified as a priority both by the independent commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks and by members of Congress, who found that the FBI's old system prevented agents from sharing information that could have headed off the attacks. Since the attacks, Congress has given the FBI a blank check, allocating billions of dollars in additional funding. So far the overhaul has cost $581 million, and the software problems are expected to set off a debate over how well the bureau has been spending those dollars. The bureau recently commissioned a series of independent studies to determine whether any part of the Virtual Case File software could be salvaged. Any decision to proceed with new software would add tens of millions of dollars to the development costs and render worthless much of a current $170-million contract. Requests for proposals for new software could be sought this spring, the officials said. The bureau is no longer saying when the project, originally scheduled for completion by the end of 2003, might be finished. FBI officials have scheduled a briefing today to discuss what a spokesman said was the "current status of FBI information technology upgrades." There's more, a lot more, at the link.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
01/13/2005 10:19:25 AM ||
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Is this Virtual Case File as opposed to Real Case File. Fund the Virtual Case File with Virtual Money.
#2
Sigh. Not enough specifics offered to comment in hard detail. Once again, however, it can be said that common sense was not common enough. It's easy to blame SAIC, but I'll bet dollars to donuts that they delivered precisely what was requested per the specs. This sort of thing always amazes me as I've been in some pretty massive projects, literally terabytes of data and upwards of a million lines of code in some of them, and I've never seen a project fail.
The problem is the mooks at the FBI. Since the article sez Zalmai Azmi has been the CIO for a year, he apparently inherited this mess, although a goddamned year is a long time and he sure as hell should've known this was a dead duck long before this initial delivery. I would be asking if he's the right guy - he let this drag on and waste a year, whether the money could've been saved or not - the time sure could have.
Unphreakingbelievable. One thing is certain, they will never talk to real programmers and DB wizards about what they should do, they'll talk to titled management twits and salesmen who will spew a lot of puffy airy bloviating blather. And probably repeat much of the stupidity on the next pass.
#3
They could give me lots of money and I'd be happy to write them a case management system. That's kinda what I do, when I'm not doing Rantburg...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2005 11:38 Comments ||
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The key to what happened is the clause, "Congress has given the FBI a blank check". This assures that money will be spent ad infinitum without result.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/13/2005 11:40 Comments ||
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Heck, Rantburg is a virtual case mangement system. We're already hosting the Bangla police blotter, and the VirginDelegator v3.1 seems to be working just fine. As soon as Fred can get the Surprise and Sympathy meters functional, we should be good to go. Congress can direct deposit my checks.
#6
Been-there/done-that on a large corporate project. Middle management sold upper management a bill of goods before we "hands on" types were asked to get involved. Then, after we condemned it, there were months of middle management posturing to save face when it became apparent that the contractor couldn't walk on water and turn water into wine. All was ultimately blamed on the contractor. The truth is that all the middle management and all the contractor sales staff involved should have been fired. It was like the U.N. -- lots of meaningless speeches followed by elegant dining followed by minimal accomplishment. Rinse. Repeat.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/13/2005 11:54 Comments ||
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A Wiki would work just fine....
Most are free and down-loadable with source code included...
#8
He-who-should-not-be-named working for the FBI. I guess it's better than OBL.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/13/2005 12:01 Comments ||
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No surprises here. All working large, complicated systems are grown from smaller working systems. Another sad example of this truth is the failed attempt to re-implement the federal air traffic control system in one fell swoop.
As for the suggestion about using a wiki, that would be a damn decent start.
#10
it has taken steps to begin soliciting proposals from outside contractors for new software
Smells like another "We can write our own program in-house, we don't need to buy one off the shelf" government software fiasco. Been there, done that, warned them of failure, watched it crash and burn.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/13/2005 13:50 Comments ||
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May I suggest.....Pick up an old Cray case...dust it off...place brand new squirrel cage w/ 2 frisky M-F squirrels....add heater & fan...then stop and search all Muslim folks coming into our country.
#17
It's easy to blame SAIC, but I'll bet dollars to donuts that they delivered precisely what was requested per the specs.
Sounds about right -- and the specs were no doubt written by people who don't use the software, would never use the software, but who are "experts" at padding requirements.
A Wikki WOULD be the best place to start. Sadly, it would never happen.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/13/2005 15:17 Comments ||
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Toms points are well and good, but SAIC is one of the premier systems integrators in the country, they should KNOW about all that to begin with and be on the look out. This was a 170 million dollar contract - the Project Manager for SAIC had to be somebody reasonably senior, who should have been on the lookout for this. You hire a firm like that to MANAGE the project, not just to write code.
Nah, I think SAIC does NOT emerge from this smelling like a rose.
#19
This is classic. How many times do we have to reinvent the wheel? Main problem...too much money thrown at it, What Tom says certainly sounds like the scenario. 90% of all bugs are eliminated during review and inspection IF the necessary people are on board. What happened here is the software industry in a nutshell. This crap just fries me.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
01/13/2005 16:25 Comments ||
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What's really, REALLY bad is that SAIC has TWO major database projects it "manages" that are working just peachy-keen. One of them provides theater intelligence information on demand, including everything the FBI file would require. A few simple changes, and voila! Ten to one the FBI didn't know what it wanted, still doesn't know what they want, and have no idea how to get what they want. Some people have absolutely no ability to convert "needs" into "can do". I used to scare the s$$$ out of my last boss by giving him the answer to a "tough" question in less than a minute, after he'd failed to figure it out over several months. He could write code beautifully, but had no three-dimensional thinking ability at all.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/13/2005 18:14 Comments ||
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The FBI during the Louis Freeh (sp) did not embrace computers. It will take awhile to get up on the learning curve for this institution.
#22
"Tom, sounds like you're channeling Dilbert."
Felt like it at the time, too.
"Toms points are well and good, but SAIC is one of the premier systems integrators in the country, they should KNOW about all that to begin with and be on the look out."
The contractor I referred to is a big name too. Believe me, big firms can botch up big projects. In my case, they were overreaching the state of the art and underestimating the complexity of the task -- because none of the sales people or the client middle managers actually had experience with the task. So they were working with an IT manager's concept of how to design, build, and operate a sophisticated chemical plant. Clueless.
This also reminds me of the hospital that suddenly started billing me as if I had no referrals. It turned out that they had just installed a new billing system that was unable to include referral numbers on the bills to the insurance companies. It took them months to straighten out thousands of accounts. Again, both the software writers and the client IT manager were clueless in regard to the basics of the task.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/13/2005 21:47 Comments ||
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What you've described, Tom, is the most fundamental, yet classic, mistake in software design. There are 2 things you have to know, and I mean know inside out - wearing the user's shoes:
1) What do they do now. Look over their shoulders ask questions. Live with the end users for some period of time so you really "get it". You have to know how they work.
2) What do they want it to do? What are the differences between now and that desired end? Is the information they want out actually in the input? If not, can it be inferred or calculated? How should it be presented so that it's useful?
The only people you should have to be pleasing are the actual end users. They know what you need to know. If management presents you with a design that didn't come from them, it's a dead duck out of the box. Screw management, talk to the end users and then follow up with the raw input. What you do in the middle, storage, keying, maintaining raw and massaged data - that's the textbook / cookbook shit that anyone can do. Picking off the right input and presenting the output in a useful form are the real challenges. And nothing beats that first week looking over their shoulders and asking them what's right, what's wrong, what's demanded of them by management, how could it be better, what would the ideal system do, etc.
If you can't get to the end users so you can do it right, walk away - the project will fail and your reputation will be shot. Never accept anyone's word about the system without getting confirmation from the little users. Their asses are on the line everyday - they know their shit. Management's usually so full of shit they can't see straight, except where they can polish up their resumes.
The Arab League appears to have averted a crisis after Algeria withdrew a proposal for reform of the international body to introduce a rotating leadership system.
"Arab League" and "reform" just don't seem to go together, do they?
The organisation's so-called summit follow-up committee met in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss the reforms, in advance of an extraordinary foreign ministers meeting to finalise proposals on Thursday. Removing one of the main sticking points, Algeria took a proposal off the table that would see the job of secretary-general rotate among members, rather than the job always being held by an Egyptian, as is currently the case. "We agreed that the text of the charter (of the Arab League) is sufficient, provided that the secretary-general is elected by member countries following a political consensus on the candidate," Algerian Foreign Minister Abd al-Aziz Bilkhadim said. Following talks with Bilkhadim, league Secretary-General Amr Moussa said "the dossier on the rotation of the post of general secretary is closed and will not be reopened".
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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If it don't work, don't fix it. Or something like that...
The Bush administration, which earlier backed Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the UN oil-for-food scandal, on Tuesday demanded he be held accountable for mismanagement in the programme. "What we have heard, so far, is that there were serious problems inside the UN on the management of this. We're not sure if there were criminal problems, but there were certainly management problems," outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell told Fox News. "And the secretary-general will have to be accountable for those management problems," he added in the television interview taped for broadcast on Wednesday.
UN internal auditors have found management lapses in the now-defunct, $64 billion programme although they found no corruption among individual United Nations officials. The spotlight on Annan has intensified this week after Paul Volcker, the former US Federal Reserve chairman, who is conducting an independent probe of the programme, released more than 50 internal UN reports. While the Bush administration was slower than other major governments to back Annan as the scandal mushroomed last year, it has resisted echoing some calls in Washington for Annan to resign.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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I prefer my Kofi scalding hot and bitter....
Err... I forgot to say well roasted
#2
I honestly thought this mess would be the straw that broke the camels back. I plan on being disappointed.
At any rate, the Congress needs to recognize the UN for the blackhole cluster f*** that it is, get us out of it, and organize a council of democracies.
#5
The Bush administration, which earlier backed Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the UN oil-for-food scandal, on Tuesday demanded he be held accountable for mismanagement in the programme.
These guys need to get their message straight. If Goo-fi is going to be held accountable for known "mismanagement" (their words, not mine), then it doesn't make any sense to throw any support to incompetence, as GWB did not too long ago.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/13/2005 10:56 Comments ||
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#7
I don't want Kofi Annan to resign. Let me say that again - Kofi Annan should not resign, he should not be forced to resign, he should not be ALLOWED to resign.
He needs to be flown from the UN flagpole, just under the flag, by a double-bowline, for 30 days. After that, we'll talk about his "retirement".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/13/2005 18:20 Comments ||
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Found this blogger via Diplomad -- An American Expat in Southeast Asia
1/14/05 post >(I'm not following this closely, so apologies if old news):
Last Friday some interesting developments went into play in Jakarta as two witnesses for the prosecution in the Abu Bakar Ba'asyir trial failed to turn up in court. Afterwards Ba'asyir wearing all white was escorted by two officers to friday prayers outside the compound where he is being held for the first time and was allowed to talk with reporters. Although this was a first, the story seemed to end there and none of the media outside Indonesia even bothered to pick up the story.
Just today things get a bit more interesting as Ba'asyir is allowed to speak and becomes vocal in his opposition to foreign military forces being involved in the humanitarian relief operations. Our sources tell us that Ba'asyir with the help of some high level friends might be offered a deal if he is willing to rein in his mujahidin who are now in Aceh, but Ba'asyir has his own conditions as well, and one of those conditions is that all foreigners including foreign forces leave Indonesia.
Now enter this guy who appears in court today singing like a bird.
[Picture]
This is Mr. Fred Burks a former translator to George W. Bush who for unknown reasons seems to go out of his way in bending over backwards to help the defense team and goes into great detail about a secret meeting on the evening of 16 September 2002 at the residence of Megawati Sukarnoputri between Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce, the Indonesian Expert in the National Security Council (NSC) Ms. Karen Brooks, Mr. Fred Burks and a CIA agent whom Ambassador Boyce introduced as a special envoy to President Bush.
According to Mr. Burks, the CIA agent then informs Megawati that President Bush wants her to arrest Ba'asyir and gives a time deadline that Ba'asyir must be arrested before the APEC Summit Conference in Cabos, Mexico in October 2002. Megawati declines and say that she cannot arrest Ba'asyir or she will face domestic problems because of Ba'asyir's popularity.
Can things get worse? They can if you tell someone the name of a female CIA agent outside the courtroom.I got it in 1, Rantburgers, and so will you.
More on Fred Burk and his betrayal:
"The new secrecy clause of the contract I refused to sign states that interpreters "shall not communicate to any person or organization any information known to them by reason of their performance of services that has not been made public," unless written approval is obtained from our superiors."
The Sydney Morning Herald, January 14, 2005 IMO, this is Page 1/WOT stuff because, if handled right, our natural acts of compassion will erode a reservoir the islamofascists would like to draw upon.
The acting governor of Aceh has asked foreign troops and aid workers to stay and provide "long-term support" for victims of the tsunami despite growing pressure from the Indonesian Government for all foreign troops to leave by the end of March. *snip* His remarks are strongly at odds with those of Indonesia's Vice-President, Jusuf Kalla, who said on Wednesday that foreign forces should leave Indonesia by the end of March, three months after the tsunami struck and killed as many as 130,000 people in Aceh and made at least 300,000 homeless. *snip* Although thousands of bodies still lie in Banda Aceh's streets and work has barely begun on the refugee camps set to house 400,000 people, there are growing calls within the Indonesian Government for an even quicker departure of foreigners. The push to get foreign troops out fast is partly driven by nationalist politicians and the military. But according to some Westerners close to the Government, the deadline and new requirements for aid workers to register and report to authorities are an attempt by Jakarta to regain control over the aid effort.
FWIW, IMO what's going on in Aceh is very complex. At a minimum two main elements, and a host of others, are in play. You've got an aggressively autonomy seeking province in dire need of international aid, and that aid could be used by those forces in Aceh to advance the province's drive toward independence. As I've noted previously (see link), "the politicians of Indonesia are keenly aware that any move toward autonomy on the part of any subculture/people group (including islamofascists) could precipitate a cascade of seditionist autonomy seeking that would result in the very dissolution of the nation. Cohesion is king -- naturally leading to some paranoia and (at times) flat out abusive tactics." So, the central government is going to be more than just a bit wary about how aid is distributed in Aceh. ALSO, as a separate issue, you have the islamofascist elements in Indonesia and in Aceh (a large subset of the Textual Muslimin, 12% of the overall population) that are being shown up by the compassion of the Judeo-Christian West. They want us out of there yesterday. They wish we'd never even shown up in the first place. They'd rather see everybody dead, with the few living being told that the disaster was the wrath of their god for people not being islamofascist enough. The Textual Muslimin faction tends to give the impression that our generosity in Indonesia is going unappreciated, and they love to appeal to the nationalist interests of the rest of the Indonesians -- just like the LLL here likes to talk about "values." HOWEVER, THE TEXTUAL MUSLIMIN ARE JUST A FRACTION OF THE INDONESIAN POPULATION. The majority of Indonesians are going to be very appreciative of the help given by the West, even while wary of 1) events that may undermine national unity, and 2) events reminiscent of colonialism. THIS IS THE WEST'S FINEST HOUR, AND ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS LIVE OUT OUR VALUES, AND IGNORE ALL THE B*!!SH!T. Of course we won't colonize, that's not our nature. Our values mesh well with those of the Abangan and Priyayi, and are not at odds with the Syncretic Muslimin.
More foreign troops are arriving in Aceh, with the Australian supply ship HMAS Kanimbla reaching Banda Aceh yesterday with about 400 troops and earthmoving equipment. Indonesia's Welfare Minister, Alwi Shihab, who is co-ordinating the relief effort, told Al-Jazeera television yesterday that Indonesia expected to have enough infrastructure in place before the end of March. He said some people in Jakarta were worried about having soldiers from so many nations in Aceh. *snip*
#1
cingold: FWIW, IMO whatâs going on in Aceh is very complex.
Actually, I would say it's pretty simple - with the caveat that there are multiple interests involved. The central government doesn't want the West (or anyone else) showing how blase (or incompetent) it is about the damage done to what is - after all - a rebellious (actually, secessionist) province. The provincial government wants help to rebuild the province, even if it means inadvertently filling the coffers of the rebels. The rebels want aid with no strings attached - they can't fight if they're all starving. They want the aid, as long as Western troops aren't part of the package.
And what of the people actually affected? The people actually affected want all the help they can get. Except they will end up with a tiny sliver of the aid, only after the rebels, the central government and the provincial government get their piece of the action.
#2
Aceh fought the Dutch colonialists for 80 years, the bloodiest of Holland's colonial history with 10,000 Dutch deaths and 90,000 Achehnese lost, right until the Japanese seizure of the colony, and then they fought the Japanese just as fiercely. Post war they were quite sure of their independence until the Dutch, without returning, signed Aceh over to the newly formed Indonesian state which was glad to have the oil resources. This outraged the Achehnese who perceived it as a clear violation of their sovereignty and UN resolutions regarding colonies... tensions simmered until the period 1989-1998 when Aceh was declared a Military Operational Area and brutally supressed with military force and martial law by the Indonesian government.
You paint such a bleak picture . . . Is there nothing to be done? //sarcasm off
IMO, if we follow the policies of President Bush, there is much reason to hope millions more can be empowered in their own pursuit of life, liberty and happiness -- "even" in Indonesia in general, and in Aceh. We have the sword for the warring, and our right hand of friendship for the peaceful. Indonesia has shown itself to be a partner and an ally, not an enemy. Disagreements along the way are irrelevant. NO OTHER country in the world, apart from us, has captured, killed or convicted more islamofascists.
#5
If RI catches and releases, how is that different than us? Isn't it all about the evidence? Take for example the recent case of Mamdouh Habib. See prior Rantburg thread. We released this guy because we werenât sure a military tribunal would convict him -- based on the evidence we had -- despite the fact we clearly think he is a very, very bad apple.
The dissolution of Javanese empire (since Indonesia is run by Javanese Muslims) might be a good thing. It would certainly set free the Christian minorities in the Moluccas and the Hindu majority on Bali. Indonesia isn't really meant to be a unitary state - it is merely the remnants of Dutch empire in East Asia. The dissolution of Indonesia would remove a large Muslim state from our list of long term strategic threats.
#10
ZF - if you could wave a magic wand and set up dozens of free republics that way, maybe. But thats not in the cards - if seditionist autonomy spreads, Java will fight hard to keep control, and there will be other fights as well (does a Republic of Sumatra necessarily let Aceh go, forex?) It would make Yugoslavia look like a picnic.
#11
and the odds are excellent that at least SOME of those statelets would end up as failed, in the control of salafist islamists. Then wed have to either assemble some of the other statelets to go in, probably unsuccessfully, or go in ourselves. Yet more overstretch, more alienation of hearts and minds, etc. But oh yeah, all that hearts and minds stuff is for weepy liberals, and all that overstretch is propaganda from the liberal press. Right.
Indonesia is far from perfect, and yeah, they do a fair amount of catch and release, but theyre economizing on US force.
ZF - you read Luttwaks "Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire"?
#14
The central government doesn't want the West (or anyone else) showing how blase (or incompetent) it is about the damage done to what is - after all - a rebellious (actually, secessionist) province
What Zhang said. The central fact of nearly ever third world government is its incompetence in the delivery of basic public goods, related usually to varying degrees of kleptocracy and brutality. This incompetence rises the further one gets from the capital city or economically and ethnically dominant region.
As a result, most such governments seek legitimacy from their miserable citizens through a mixture of (if they're reasonably advanced politically) co-optation of ethnic, union etc leaders; bribery; and demogaguery, usually in the form of foreigner-bashing.
It seems that none of these options is very attractive to the Jakarta leadership. They refuse to co-opt or devolve any power to the Aceh people; they're too greedy (or stupid) to pay them off; and it's crystal clear in the tsunami's aftermath that foreigners are lifesavers, not villains.
So best to boot the foreigners out and get back to stealing from and brutalizing the people.
#15
Aceh is only one of a half-dozen hotspots for the Indonesians. The main island of Borneo is hotly contested by otherwise ineffective natives. Papua New Guinea covets the other half of the island of New Guinea, and most of the native population would rather belong to Papua New Guinea than to Indonesia. There are problems around the island of Timor, and in a half-dozen other flashpoints. If the Indonesian government should fail to meet the needs of the Acehenese, all he$$ could break loose. Not to mention the fact that Indonesia has lost a third or more of two of its most valuable cash crops - coffee and rubber - to the tsunami. Recovering from either will be a 30-40 year project. That doesn't include any mention about the loss of half the ricefields in Aceh, thousands of acres of arable farmland, banana and cocoanut plantations, harbors, and at least one oil export terminal south of Calang. The Indonesian government is in deep doo-doo no matter what it does.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/13/2005 18:41 Comments ||
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#16
While we're discussing Indonesian politics... y'all are aware of the recent anthropological discoveries on Flores, and the ongoing dispute over ownership of the fossils, right?
Does any of the above have any bearing on why some of the authorities in Indonesia seem particularly eager to declare the fossils to be representative of pygmy homo sapiens with some sort of brain disorder rather than a new species, simultaneously with sequestering the fossils away from the joint Indonesian/Australian team that discovered them?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
01/13/2005 18:53 Comments ||
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#18
Cingold: that article left out some details. He made the declaration that the fossils weren't a separate species without having seen then.
THEN he confiscated them from their discoverers.
Is Flores another potential E. Timor, where they don't want outsiders poking around or something?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
01/13/2005 19:33 Comments ||
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#19
They don't like outsiders poking around anywhere. 400+ years of colonial rule, and a huge potential powder keg of cultural diversity, make the government types pretty cagy and paranoid. SBY will be good for the country, IMO.
#20
cingold: 400+ years of colonial rule, and a huge potential powder keg of cultural diversity, make the government types pretty cagy and paranoid.
What makes the government paranoid isn't 400+ years of colonial rule - people in the region massacred each other in wars of annihilation long before the Portuguese or the Dutch ever showed up. The root cause is the fact that the Javanese inherited, rather than earned their empire in the usual way, by conquering it. If the provinces simultaneously rebelled, there is no way the Javanese could continue lording it over the rest of the country. Java itself could break up - it was never unified prior to European rule. As to the word "colonial", it might be better applied to the various kingdoms that contended for power and won. The reason the kingdoms in the Dutch East Indies submitted so rapidly was because Dutch rule was relatively benign, compared that of their neighbors.
By the time of the Renaissance, the islands of Java and Sumatra had already enjoyed a 1,000-year heritage of advanced civilization spanning two major empires.
All but one of the Portuguese holdings in Indonesia was overtaken by the Dutch and the British in the 17th century. . . . In 1824 the London Treaty was signed, giving the Dutch control over all British possessions in Sumatra in return for a Dutch surrender of establishments in India and Singapore. Dutch attempts to subdue the recalcitrant Acehnese resulted in a long drawn out struggle. The Aceh War, which lasted intermittently from 1873 to 1942, was the longest war ever fought by Holland, costing the Dutch more than 10,000 lives. . . . Dutch interest in Indonesia was primarily economic but was marked by frequent and sometimes bloody conflicts particularly in Sumatra and Java. The Dutch were, however, able to achieve control over the spice trade in the East Indies during the 17th Century. During the late 18th and 19th centuries . . . uprisings in Java nearly overthrew Dutch rule and crippled the Dutch economy in Indonesia. This economic difficulty renewed Dutch interest in the cultivation of natural resources in Indonesia. The Dutch instituted a strange tax on all land in Java. This tax was not payable in money or crops but in labor. Thirty-three percent of all labor expended by the Javanese was to be dedicated to the Dutch. This system quickly turned into a system of plantations and forced labor. The latter half of the 19th century was marked by Dutch military suppression of Indonesian laborers. This suppression resulted in the virtual enslavement of most of the Javanese peasant laborers. Because of Dutch oppression, Indonesian nationalism began to grow significantly in the early 20th century.
INDONESIA: Bhinneka Tunggal Ika. The mother of our family maid in Indonesia had such memories of the Dutch that she was terrified of all of us white skinned people. She would literally quake. It was tragic and pathetic. The Dutch were particularly brutal following WW II.
Zhang, I donât think the world is a black and white as you make it out to be.
#23
Question: Indonesia is already a haven for pirates, like Malaysia. If the country breaks up, will the pirate problem improve or get worse?
cingold: you casually use terms like "sycretic muslimin" and "textual muslimin", not to mention "the Abangan and Priyayi", which are not in my vocabulary. Definitions or links, please.
#24
A prior thread hits the four main political/social groups in Indonesia. Here is a link to that thread. About 52% of Indonesians are either Abangan or Priyayi, i.e., nationalists who are either traditionalist or modernist. While certainly culturally distinct from the US, these two groups share many surprisingly similar values. The Syncretic Muslimin (about 27% of the population) are religious, but are also traditionalists, which means NOT islamofascist. Their values, while even more foreign to ours, really aren't in conflict with ours. Itâs the Textual Muslimin (about 12% of the population) that is most influenced by Arabian ideals, and breeds islamofascism.
Only parts of Indonesia are pirate havens. These tend to be rural areas near strategic waterways, like the straits of Malacca. As Indonesia becomes increasingly democratic, the government has increasingly moved to stop the pirating. IMO, if the country were to break up, lawlessness, brutality, and pirating would increase monumentally. Plus, there would be intense inter-provincial aggression. A map helps:
The Aceh War, which lasted intermittently from 1873 to 1942, was the longest war ever fought by Holland, costing the Dutch more than 10,000 lives.
Certainly more benevolent than the Majapahit, which fought pre-modern wars. Dutch professional soldiers fought wars to settle issues between states - custody of natural resources being among these issues. Pre-modern wars were fought on a tribal basis - mass slaughter was the rule, not the exception. For the Dutch to kill 90,000 Acehnese over 70 years doesn't remotely hold a candle to the kinds of killing that the native colonialists were capable of.* The funny thing is that that amounts to just over one thousand Acehnese a year. This is what I hate about some of these historians - they lie with numbers - big time. A long running guerrilla war is made out to be some kind of slaughter. Note that the Javanese understand slaughter - they killed about a million in the 1960's during their war against the Communists (including tens of thousands of ethnic Chinese). It ain't called Oriental cruelty for nothing.
* I understand that to cingold, when native colonialists slaugther their neighbors in large numbers to take their land and enslave their people, it's only brown people killing brown people. When it's the white man conducting operations against brown rulers, taking care to avoid actions against civilians except as limited punitive actions - why, that's racist oppression.
#26
I understand that to cingold, when native colonialists slaugther their neighbors in large numbers to take their land and enslave their people, it's only brown people killing brown people. When it's the white man conducting operations against brown rulers, taking care to avoid actions against civilians except as limited punitive actions - why, that's racist oppression.
Yup, and theres good reason for that. The whites come in and dont just conquer, they go around telling people theyre all superior and everyone else is barbaric. they spread ideas like Christianity, democracy, even socialism. Which some of the locals take seriously. They then hold the whites to the "universal" values the whites taught them. They DONT care much at that point about what their ancestors did hundreds of years ago.
Besides, theres a difference between being oppressed by someone like you, and an outsider. Youre oppressed by someone like you, you think you COULD be on top, its just luck. Not the humiliating notion that youre intrinsically inferior. Theres more to this than material harm - humiliation is REAL.
THE US convened a secret meeting with Indonesia's president Megawati Sukarnoputri in 2002 to pressure her to covertly hand over the militant Islamic preacher Abu Bakar Bashir.
Fred Burks, a disaffected former US State Department interpreter who resigned late last year, told a Jakarta court yesterday that he had translated for Ms Megawati at the meeting in Jakarta.
National Security Agency specialist Karen Brooks and US ambassador in Jakarta Ralph Boyce, accompanied President George W. Bush's secret envoy, whom Mr Burks didn't name, to the meeting.
The testimony illustrates the efforts the US made to corner the market in terrorism intelligence following the September 11 attack, and the importance attached to the then little-known elderly preacher from central Java.
Called by Bashir's defence counsel, Mr Burks testified that he sat in on the meeting to provide instantaneous translation for Ms Megawati.
The special envoy was first introduced to Ms Megawati at the meeting in her private residence, Mr Burks said.
The envoy then explained to Ms Megawati that intelligence from other terrorist operatives suggested Bashir was the puppet-master behind the Christmas Eve bombings of churches across Indonesia in 2000, which killed 19 people.
Indonesia should capture the extremist preacher and give him to the US, Mr Burks recalled the envoy saying during the meeting, which was held just weeks before the Bali bombings.
"Mainly, the request was made with the reason that this preacher was truly evil," Mr Burks said.
The envoy used the term "render" for the nature of the request, which Mr Burks said he translated as secretly arrested and handed over to the nation concerned.
President Megawati, who had met Mr Bush in person in the weeks after the September 11 attacks, declined the request.
"Megawati took a breath, then she said: 'Very sorry, but I cannot fulfil your request'," Mr Burks said.
She allegedly said that unlike another suspect, Omar al Faruq, Bashir was too famous to simply be captured and handed over.
Mr Burks told the court he left the State Department because he had resented the insistence that he sign a security pledge. The prosecution attempted to undermine his testimony by forcing him to admit he had taken the drug ecstasy twice, years before the meeting.
Bashir has been charged with inciting bomb attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, and the Marriott blast in Jakarta last year, which killed 12.
Posted by: tipper ||
01/13/2005 10:22:55 AM ||
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Article from Debka, use salt and pepper freely....
Last Sunday, January 2, US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage performed his last major mission before stepping down in favor of Robert B. Zoellick, whom incoming secretary Condoleezza Rice has picked as her deputy. (Zoellick, currently trade representative in charge US world trade, served as deputy to secretary of state James Baker in the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations.
This mission took Armitage to Damascus with nine American demands.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly's Washington sources published those demands for the first time in its last week's issue: SNIP
1. Start repealing Syria's 40-years old emergency laws.
2. Free all political prisoners from jail.
3. Abolish media censorship.
4. Initiate democratic reform.
5. Speed up economic development
6. Cut down relations with Iran.
7. Announce publicly that the disputed Shebaa Farms at the base of Mt. Hermon are former Syrian territory. This would cut the ground from under the Lebanese terrorist Hizballah's claim that the land is Lebanese and must be "liberated" from Israeli "occupation."
DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources report that the Iran-sponsored Hizballah's attack on an Israeli convoy patrolling the disputed Shebaa Farms sector, killing an Israeli officer, on Palestinian election-day, Sunday, January 9, was addressed as much to President George W. Bush as to the new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas as a foretaste of what it has in store.
8. Hand over to US or Iraqi authorities 55 top officials and military officers of the former Saddam regime, who are confirmed by intelligence to be established in Syria and running the guerrilla war in Iraq out of their homes and offices.
(An address, telephone number and cell phone number were listed beside each name).
But the punchline was in the last demand.
9. Syria had better make sure that none of the Kornet AT-14 anti-tank missiles which it recently purchased in large quantities from East Europe turn up in Iraq. US intelligence has recorded their serial numbers to identify their source. DEBKAfile's military sources add: Because he cannot afford to buy advanced fighter planes and tanks, Assad purchased massive quantities of the "third generation" Kornet AT-14 anti-tank weapons.
Just in case any are found in Iraq, General Casey, commander of US forces in Iraq has already received orders from the commander-in-chief in the White House to pursue military action inside Syria according to his best military judgment.
Number 9 therefore incorporates a tangible threat. The American general has the authority to launch military action against Syria as he sees fit and without delay if Damascus continues to meddle in Iraq's affairs.
DEBKAfile adds:
The Syrian ruler protested to Armitage that he is doing everything he can to hold back the flow of guerrilla fighters and weapons into Iraq. Lies Armitage I told you It's all lies ! We just ordered more stones for the Intifada, We cant afford no Kornets, We swear by Allan ! As proof, he ordered Syria's chief of staff General Ali Habib to establish a forward command center on the Syrian-Iraq border to oversee efforts to control border traffic on the spot. OK Habib, you know which side youre supposed to look at when the trucks with the freedom fighters arrive ?
yes Mr. President !
The fact is that General Habib is one of the few Syrian officers which the Americans have trusted. He commanded the Syrian units dispatched to Saudi Arabia in the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq and made friends with the US commanders and officials conducting the war, including vice president Dick Cheney and the then head of joint chiefs of staff, Colin Powell. However, even Habib's old American buddies do not rule out the possibility that he was posted to the border not to restrain the traffic but to take command of Syrian units posted there and prepare them for the contingency of an American military offensive.
Assad and General Habib are both aware, according to our sources, of the near carte blanche handed down to General Casey to pursue military action against Syria as and when indicated by US military requirements in Iraq.
In this regard, DEBKAfile's military sources note four important points:
1. It will not take place before President Bush is sworn in for his second term on January 20 or Iraq's general election ten days later.
2. The Americans will not start out with a large-scale, orderly military offensive, but rather short in-and-out forays; small US and Iraqi special forces units will cross the border and raid bases housing Iraqi guerrillas or buses carrying them to the border. If these brief raids are ineffective, the Americans will upscale the action.
3. The Allawi government will formally request the United States to consign joint Iraqi-US forces for action against Syrian targets, so placing the US operation under the Baghdad government's aegis. In other words, Iraq will be at war with Syria without issuing a formal declaration.
4. It is fully appreciated in Washington, Baghdad and Jerusalem that intense American military warfare against Syria could provoke a Hizballah backlash against Israel. Damascus may well activate the Lebanese Shiite group to open a second front on Israel's northern border. The Syrian ruler is expected will tolerate a certain level of American low-intensity, low-profile action. But, because of his reluctance to strike back directly at American or Iraqi targets, he will field the Hizballah — and not just for cross-border attacks but to galvanize the terrorist cells it controls and funds in the West Bank and Gaza Strip into a stepped-up offensive against Israeli targets. These Palestinian cells have proliferated over the years, particularly in the Fatah and its branches, encouraged by Yasser Arafat's cooperative pact with the Hizballah which remains in force after his death.
Therefore, the key Middle East happening in the coming weeks will be US military strikes against Syria. The election of Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian Authority chairman, his invitation to the White House, the formation of the Sharon-Peres government coalition - albeit on very shaky legs, and the talk of imminent Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations, will prove to be no more than sideshows of the main event.
#1
Old news. We did this one two days ago:
http://rantburg.com/poparticle.asp?HC=Main&D=2005-01-11&ID=53409
Posted by: Tom ||
01/13/2005 22:16 Comments ||
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#2
Well, guys . . . it looks like I will soon be going to visit Damascus . . . walk in Christs footsteps, make good use of the time to put down a few rabid Islamicists . . . meet new people, visit new places, and blow them up! Let us hope that Syria keeps its head and keeps the AT-14's under heavy lock and key.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
01/13/2005 22:24 Comments ||
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From the Rantburg Diplomacy Desk:
Prime Minister Omar Karameh has launched a scathing attack against the ambassadors of France and the United States, accusing them of meddling in Lebanon's domestic affairs, the press reported Thursday.
"Yar! We're all about sovereignty here in Syria Lite, er...Lebanon."
France and the United States sponsored a UN resolution opposed by Lebanon's Syrian-backed government which calls for an end to foreign interference and the withdrawal of foreign troops, in a clear message to Damascus. "Our national dignity is violated each time we receive one of these ambassadors," Damascus protege Karameh said in remarks the Lebanese press said were clearly directed to the US and French diplomats.
Violating national dignity? Don't make us laugh.
"This interference in our internal affairs is shameful and unacceptable, and there is not one Lebanese who can accept such insolence," he said in a speech at a Sunni Muslim community centre. Karameh lashed out at UN Security Council Resolution 1559 which he branded "a proposal for sedition" that his country would continue to oppose. "We will not stab Syria in the back," he pledged.
"They won't let us have any sharp objects."/td>
US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage made a fresh appeal last week for Syria to end its military presence in Lebanon. Resolution 1559 was a clear message to Damascus, which dominates the political scene in its smaller neighbour and has about 14,000 troops stationed there. Also last week, the US embassy issued a statement that Washington and its allies would closely watch the election contest between the pro- and anti-Syrian camps for the legislative polls due in May.
"While nothing has been released from official sources it's clear from the long hours of the westside Americus 7-11 that something, something big is going on."
"The long line of 3 SUVs rolled up to the pumps at 6:00 a.m. this morning, which is before dawn and it was dark" allowed Spud Hollister, one time Amy Carter oogler.
via No Pasaran: He's a busy little weasel, isn't he? LEFT-WING billionaire and Bush-hater George Soros was not content to spend millions to thwart a Bush victory in last November's presidential election. Now his Open Society Institute in New York is joining forces with pro-Tehran lobbying group to promote the interests and the viewpoint of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In tandem with the American-Iranian Council, an industry-supported group that favors opening trade and diplomatic ties with Iran, the Open Society Institute will host Iran's ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday at the Open Society Institute's offices in New York. The talk by Ambassador Javad Zarif is benignly titled, "The View from Tehran," and can be expected to present the regime's outlook on Iran, Iraq and the War on Terror.
But don't expect a spewing of raw anti-American hate. A propaganda blast e-mailed to me recently from an insider in Tehran shows that Tehran's clerics have understood how to wage the air wars in the best Himmlerian tradition — arguably, better than Soros himself. On Jan. 3, Iranian government spokesman Abdollah Ramenzanzadeh told reporters that Tehran had "not yet decided on a third party" to mediate "negotiations" with the United States. In itself, that was an interesting statement. There are no ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran. However, whenever the regime has felt under pressure from a vigorous U.S. policy, it has dangled the prospect of such negotiations in an attempt to discredit and to weaken the American side.
The analysis being circulated by the Iranian foreign ministry goes on to suggest that Secretary of State Colin Powell has determined that "a future Iraqi government dominated by the Shi'a and influenced by Iran will not be a threat to the United States or its interests," and that "Washington and Tehran have reached an understanding on how Iraq needs to be stabilized." Without any basis in fact, the analysis further states that the United States has concluded that "at its current state of development, the clerical regime's nuclear program does not constitute an immediate threat, and it can always contain Iran through the European Union."...
Posted by: anonymous2u ||
01/13/2005 2:02:28 AM ||
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#1
I gotta go to bed...but I don't need to read this whole thing to know that Soros is out of his league here. Dangerous liason, maybe. But more likely just a mentally ill man (BDS) hitchhiking with thugs.. you're gonna get rolled Soros - not that we really care.
I expect my libby friends to be spewing the same talking points soon. "Iran is not a threat." "You shouldn't collect decomposing bodies" "torture doesn't work." "Cuba is better than the US cause it has great health care." "Americanism is a religion." "WallMart is evil." They are always right on cue....
By the way, if Americanism is a religion, shouldn't I be tax exempt?
#9
"...will host Iranâs ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday at the Open Society Instituteâs offices..."
Whoa, whatta gem that will look like on the ambassador's resume!
Posted by: Tom ||
01/13/2005 9:09 Comments ||
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#10
Has anybody ever determined where Soros got his seed money? I've heard suspicions that he was a product of Soviet bloc intelligence.
#11
Soros promotes the "Anything but Open Society." He is a shadowy figure who has had his hands in many things in many places. Good question as to where he got his "seed" money. Most discussions suggest that he, like Hillary, was extremely gifted at making money in the markets. He made $1 billion overnight hedging in the market. The question still remains: "Where does one get enough money to make $1 billion overnight?" He must have done more than dig deep into the piggy bank. One would think that he would need a fair amount of front money or like Hillary is the smartest woman man in the world.
Some bio information exists at: http://www.mindfully.org/WTO/2003/George-Soros-Statesman2jun03.htm
Interesting, one site and source stated the following:
1997 Attacks the currencies of Thailand and Malaysia. A Thai source said: "We regard George Soros as a kind of Dracula. He sucks blood from the people." [Heather Coffin, Covert Action Quarterly.]
#15
oddly, the Russians claim he is a pro-capitalist, pro-western, antirussian meddler, in Georgia, Ukraine, et al.
And the pres of Malaysia had some nasty words for him.
Soros was a pretty clever currency trader. That no more gives him insight into politics than being a hollywood star, a beer brewer, or a technology magnate. So its to be expected he will be erratic and sometimes idiotic. But hes done a significant amount of good as well.
#16
Seed money - he started working as a fund manager way back in 1956. If youre very smart, that can be far more lucrative than anything Hillary did in her early career. It took him decades to reach the top - he didnt come out of nowhere.
And if he was a front, then for whom? Hardly for the Russkies - like I said, they despise him.
#17
that the idiots over at DU and elsewhere have embraced him just shows what idiots they are, or how hard up for money. Theyre supposed to be against globalization, and Soros has supported globalization, etc. Of course I may be confusing DU with actual leftists, as opposed to just particularly rabid and idiotic democratic partisans - democrat dittoheads, if you will.
#18
Maybe some of RB's British posters know more about this, but wasn't he one of the guys who tried to bring down the pound and nearly bankrupted some pension funds over there? A real sweetheart of a guy.....no wonder the Iranians love him.
#19
DB. Correct. But he can only do that when countries try to overrule the market's assessment of their currency's value.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/13/2005 12:33 Comments ||
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#20
Lib - there are persistent rumors that at least some of the hedge fund money Soros manages is laundered druglord capital. Thus, his persistent interest in drug legalization.
Mike - I think the thing that drives people up the wall is that a "Open Society" dedicated to free societies is hosting a speech by a representative of a government that imprisons journalists and regularly practices judicial murder. But hey, it's the Bush administration that's reminiscent of the National Socialists, right?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/13/2005 12:42 Comments ||
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#21
Well know Jewish billionaire George Soros monicas the mullahs +
"The Hour [Day of Resurrection] will not arrive until you fight the Jews, [until a Jew will hide behind a rock or tree] and the rock and the tree will say: 'Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!'" + RAFSANJANI SAYS MUSLIMS SHOULD USE NUCLEAR WEAPON AGAINST ISRAEL =
Soros supported destruction of the people of which he claims membership.
Posted by: ed ||
01/13/2005 13:01 Comments ||
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#22
btw, does hosting a speech by the Iranian ambassodor mean Soros supports the Iranian regime? geez, that means that the Council on Foreign Relations supports some REALLY bad people, and their enemies at the same time. I think the NYPo is overstepping on this one.
#23
Does the koran and hadiths call for the destruction of the Jews?
Do you believe the Iranian leadership have the goal to destroy the Jews and the state of Israel? What are the mullahs plans for the US and non-muslims in general?
Does Soros, by providing cover for the Iranian theocracy, and seeking to impede the administration's efforts to deny Iran nuclear weapons, provide the mullahs extra time to perfect their manufacturing of nuclear weapons?
Will Iranians nuclear weapons provide stability in the middle east or the spark to destroy it (and much of Europe and other lands within range).
What of Rafsanjani's and other mullahs statements of initiating nuclear war?
Posted by: ed ||
01/13/2005 13:25 Comments ||
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#24
Does the koran and hadiths call for the destruction of the Jews?
Do you believe the Iranian leadership have the goal to destroy the Jews and the state of Israel? What are the mullahs plans for the US and non-muslims in general?
Questions about which reasonable people disagree, and therefore not evidence Soros supports the destruction of the Jews.
Does Soros, by providing cover for the Iranian theocracy, and seeking to impede the administration's efforts to deny Iran nuclear weapons,
IF hes done those things, its NOT demonstrated in the article above.
PLEASE PERFORM SOME SORT OF TREASONOUS ACT. FEW THINGS WOULD MAKE ME (AND THE BRITS WHO LOST BILLIONS IN THE 80S) HAPPIER THAN TO SEE YOU SORRY A** BEHIND BARS FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS, AND YOUR FORTUNE CLAIMED BY THE US GOVERNMENT.
#27
Shipman: not really; I don't have a link handy, but if you check Ginmar's livejournal a couple months back she had a piece on prostitution where there was a thread on how-legalization-turned-out in various countries... and if that's indicative of how legalized drugs would turn out, things aren't going to be as rosy as the legalization advocates say.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
01/13/2005 15:03 Comments ||
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#28
LH: Does the koran and hadiths call for the destruction of the Jews?
Do you believe the Iranian leadership have the goal to destroy the Jews and the state of Israel? What are the mullahs plans for the US and non-muslims in general?
Questions about which reasonable people disagree, and therefore not evidence Soros supports the destruction of the Jews.
I want to hear your opinion, not a deflection from the question. So:
Does the koran and hadiths call for the destruction of the Jews? (Yes, no, essay?)
Do you believe the Iranian leadership have the goal to destroy the Jews and the state of Israel?
...
What of Rafsanjani's and other mullahs statements of initiating nuclear war?
Does Soros, by providing cover for the Iranian theocracy, and seeking to impede the administration's efforts to deny Iran nuclear weapons,
IF hes done those things, its NOT demonstrated in the article above.
By providing a media rich forum for the Irainian theocracy to portray themselves as peaceloving victims instead of the bloody islamic dictatorship that they are, and to obfuscate their quest nuclear weapons, Soros is providing cover to the Iranians. The effect is to provide help for the mullahs to achieve nuclear weapons capability. I do not believe for a minute Soro's is stupid enough to not realize he is throwing a monkey wrench into the US effort to deny nuclear weapons to Iran. Part of his motivation is his opposition to the administration. But most of all, I believe he over estimates his abilities to shape the world into his vision and control the behavior of the mullahs.
Posted by: ed ||
01/13/2005 15:04 Comments ||
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#30
It is interesting that Soros can openly use his billions to launch an attack against the neocons and yet he escapes being denounced as being anti-semetic. So it follows that there'd be the same "blind spot" in the same quarters regarding Soros's "Open Society Institute in New York joining forces with pro-Tehran lobbying group to promote the interests and the viewpoint of the Islamic Republic of Iran."
You raise good points, ed, but I think you've hit what's called a "double standard." If this particular article is not clear enough about Soros's attitude to Israel and to fellow Jews, perhaps the following article will put any "doubts" to rest:
It appeared in www.ita.org and was written by Uriel Heilman.
"In rare Jewish appearance, George Soros
says Jews and Israel cause anti-Semitism" 11/09/04 When asked about anti-Semitism in Europe, Soros, who is Jewish, said European anti-Semitism is the result of the policies of Israel and the United States.
"There is a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. The policies of the Bush administration and the Sharon administration contribute to that," Soros said. "It´s not specifically anti-Semitism, but it does manifest itself in anti- Semitism as well. I´m critical of those policies."
"If we change that direction, then anti-Semitism also will diminish," he said. "I can´t see how one could confront it directly."
That is a point made by Israel´s most vociferous critics, whom some Jewish activists charge with using anti-Zionism as a guise for anti-Semitism.
The billionaire financier said he, too, bears some responsibility for the new anti-Semitism, citing last month´s speech by Malaysia´s outgoing prime minister, Mahathir Mohammad, who said, "Jews rule the world by proxy."
"I´m also very concerned about my own role because the new anti-Semitism holds that the Jews rule the world," said Soros, whose projects and funding have influenced governments and promoted various political causes around the world.
"As an unintended consequence of my actions," he said, "I also contribute to that image."
In the past, Mahathir has singled out Soros and other "Jewish financiers" for financial pressure that Mahathir said has harmed Malaysia´s economy. Though he´s ranked as the 28th richest person in the United States by Forbes magazine â with a fortune valued at $7 billion â Soros has given relatively little money to Jewish causes.
Soros´ first known funding of a Jewish group came in 1997, when his Open Society Institute´s Emma Lazarus Fund gave $1.3 million to the Council of Jewish Federations, and when Soros gave another $1.3 million to the Jewish Fund for Justice, an anti-poverty group.
As much as Jews may not like what Soros has to say â at the Nov. 5 meeting, he called for "regime change" in the United States and talked of funding projects in "Palestine" â they are eager to get Soros involved in giving to Jewish causes. Soros said he has not given much to Jewish or Israel-related causes because Jews take care of their own, so that his financial clout is better directed elsewhere.
#31
I want to hear your opinion, not a deflection from the question
I am NOT defending the Iranian regime, so thats not relevant. And ive posted my opinions, such as they are, on the interpretation of Islamic texts elsewhere. I am denying the logic that A gives X a forum, ergo A supports X. And supports everything X supports. Thats a logic used by the loony left - So and so gave a forum to South Africans (see how old I am :) ) or to the Uzbek leaders, or whomever, ERGO so and so is guilty of all their crimes. Its illogical when used by the left, and when used by the right.
#32
I find it interesting that most of the anti-semetic slurs I hear are cloaked with "anti-zionist" rhetoric. And most of it comes from those who claim to be enlightened liberals. It's perfectly ok to blame all the worlds problems on zionists - Israel, Sharon, etc. It's even becoming ok to blame the Jewish neocon moneymen, but these are not anti-semetic comments. No, no, apparently not.
More troubling is that I often hear jews themselves excusing this...nodding in agreement that the Israelis are to blame because of their genocidal policies.
I find it as disturbing....most disturbing because the left is always looking for a good scapegoat. And even the Zionist line seems to be blurring among the deaniac types...they sort of throw it out there and see if you laugh. If you defend Israel's need to defend itself, it promotes a personal backlash..reminding me of the way that the term n**&*r-lover was used back in the 40's to discredit and silence anyone willing to speak up against bigotry.
#34
Take the word of an Elder of Zion
George is stupid to assume that anti-semitism is caused by the Israelis.
Europe has a long long and bloody history of active anti-semitism centuries before the state of Israel was founded.
Anti-semitism is intimately linked to christianity
for many reasons and this cannot be glossed over by finding a new scapegoat-Israel.
#35
He survived and now his guilt causes him to fan the flames of hatred that killed his family and millions of others. Like some sort of Uncle Tom, he may be Jewish..but not one of those evil Zionists.
It's not if he's done good that matters as much as has he done more harm than good?
#36
Anti-semitism is intimately linked to christianity That's the kind of bullshit comment that fans the flames of antisemitism faster than Hitler could have hoped. Christians have shown more tolerance to the religions of others, including Jews than any other culture in history.
Christians don't blame the Jews for killing Jesus any more than they blame the Romans. It happened. The cultural differences that seperate Christians and Jews are no different than any other minority which defines itself as being distinct within a majority.
#37
and I'll even take that a step further. The same kind of people who blame the anonymous Jews for the world's problems are the exact same kind of people who blame the anonymous Christians or Americans. Same mindset - just different religion or nationality.
#38
2b,
allow me to disagree with you.
how many European catholics have you met ?
I have no intention of fanning any flames I am just making a statement that I believe to be true.
That does not mean that I believe most christians to be anti-semitic, but still to deny a connection between anti-semitism and christianity is basically ignoring of a long strech of human history.
#40
European catholics have you met None. But I have met American catholics and never have I heard anti-semitism from them. It does make sense then, does it not, that it is the European portion of that equation, rather than the catholic one.
It's one thing to say that the Catholic Church has a sordid past in the Holocaust and quite another to say, "Anti-semitism is intimately linked to christianity" I guess that Arab sentiment or budding liberal sentiment is all part of Christianity as well.
I restate my case. The mindset that blames anonymous Christians for the ill in the world is no different than the one that blames the anonymous Jew.
#41
Well said, 2b. David Klinghoffer made similar observations in his 3/14/02 article published in the National Review "Who Jews Blame."
Rabbi Lapin, whose clear thinking I respect greatly, is also perturbed by the misguided hostility that some Jews apparently feel towards Christianity and to the Catholic Church in particular.
"Hitler was made possible by the triumph of scientific naturalism in Europe, not by organized religion," points out Rabbi Daniel Lapin in his valuable new book, America's Real War. "Nazism was, after all, 'National Socialism,' and any form of socialism has intellectual roots in the secular Left, not the religious Right." At great personal peril, recalls Rabbi Lapin, "in Lutheran countries such as Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, devout Christians, and often the church leadership itself, turned the rescuing of Jews into a religious mission.... Many Catholic and Protestant church leaders in Europe realized that Hitler hated God and the church. Many lost their lives. Only a society in which the church had already been weakened could breed Nazism."
#43
2b, stand down. EoZ is correct, so are you, each in your own way. Let me explain:
Modern American Christians, especially the Evangelicals/Charismatics, have come to the conclusion that the Jews are God's first people, and hew to the Bible verse that says something like, "Whosoever harms my people Israel, so shall I harm him." (Not even close to an exact quote, no doubt you or another Rantburger can give us the correct words. Thanks!). That is your point, and it is legitimate, limited to this country and this time though it may be.
However. The history of Christianity, going back to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., has been marked by the Christians striving to differentiate themselves from what was originally the Jewish mainstream. (Remember Paul writing about discussions over whether Pagans had first to convert to Judaism before being baptized as Christians. Paul won, and with the fall of the Temple, and the death of the Jerusalem group led by Jesus' brothers, the Christian Jews faded out of history.) The differentiation accomplished, the Church Fathers began wrestling with the idea of Christianity as the successor and replacement to the Jews in God's Covenant. The sticky point in their logic chain was the stubborn refusal of the Jews either to disappear or convert.
At a loss to explain this, and increasingly numbering former Pagans with no direct knowledge of Judaism, the Church Fathers turned to the one group that had historically written about the Jews: the Greeks. The ancient world saw two philosophies that extended to encompass the world beyond patron gods for a single city or people: Greek philosophy and Judaism. Unfortunately, these two ideas were mutually antagonistic, and the writings of the Greeks were particularly vitriolic. Many of the modern antisemitic canards stem from these ancient writings.
#44
Sorry as a confirmed agnostic I will not stand to have Christians tarred with the brush of anti semitism because some "christians" in Europe practiced it. It is a fact that Jesus was a jew. How can a faith based on the life of Jesus be anti semitic? No true Christian could ever be anti semitic. Jews didn't kill Jesus a Roman governor did. We even know his name.
Sorros is a true turd. Just because he is Jewish doesn't mean crap. He is still a useless greedhead turd.
Anti semitism in Europe is based on politics and nationalism. It has/had almost zero to do with real Christians.
#45
Trailing wife...thanks for trying to smooth the waters and I understand your valid point, but I agree with 2x and SPOD.
If you want to go back to ancient times to tarr the Christians, then it makes sense for the Arabs to still be blaming the Jews for massacres long gone. People are individuals whose actions transcend their religion or race or ancestry. Those who blame their problems on "the blacks, the christians, indians, white men, the jews, gays, blonde chicks" or some group of "someone else" are the bigots - not the individual members of the groups that they choose to blame.
SPOD and 2x said my thoughts better than I can. I will add one more thought, those who allow demagogues to lead them to hate groups of other ones and blame them for the worlds ills are the cause of much of the worlds ills. Instead of looking inward to solve problems - they just look for "other" scapegoats to blame.
The United States warned Russia against selling missiles to Syria amid reports that Moscow was ready to provide Damascus with a sophisticated weapon that could hit any target in Israel. But Russia denied it had any such plans.
"No, no! Certainly not! Say, you guys are still gonna sell us oil drilling equipment, right?"
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington could consider sanctions against Moscow if it went through with reported plans to sell Syria its SS-26 Iskander missile. Secretary of State Colin Powell also raised the reported sale in talks here Wednesday with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, according to a State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity. "The US policy on this is very clear," Boucher said. "We're against the sale of weaponry to Syria, against the sale of lethal military equipment to Syria, which is a state sponsor of terrorism." He said the United States was aware of reports a deal was brewing and "we think those kinds of sales are not appropriate. ... The Russians know about this policy. They know about our views."
Diplospeak for don't cross this line.
The Russian media carried reports of the planned sale as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad prepared to visit Russia on January 24 for talks with President Vladimir Putin. The press accounts said Israel was furious at the prospect of Syria obtaining the missile, an updated version of the Scud used by Iraq in the first Gulf War, that could strike almost anywhere in the Jewish state. However, Ivanov categorically denied any plans for such a sale. "We have no talks with Syria about such missiles," he told reporters here. "There are no negotiations under way with Syria." Meanwhile, Boucher declined to elaborate what action the United States would envision against Moscow if the deal went through. "There are potential sanctions under US law," said the State Department spokesman. "But that would have to be looked at, if and when, such a sale should occur."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/13/2005 12:45:25 AM ||
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Yesterday's comments never touched on it ... but ... what ever happened to the speculation a few years back about eastern Siberia ditching Russia and either joining China or a Manchurian break-away state? To me, with China's star rising, China's economy growing and their trade empire in Siberia this scenario is more fesible than in the past. Anybody with good info on that region?
#2
Siberian resources will always be kept in the Russian sphere, by war if necessary.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/13/2005 10:05 Comments ||
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#3
Israel's Sharon has also advised Russia that selling missiles to Syria will de-stabilize the region. The question is" "Will diplomatic pressure alter the course of Russia selling missiles to Syria (and Iran). Russia is becoming a large pain in the butt in this region.
#5
Don't they have a bunch of gold and diamonds up in Siberia and all kinds of ores? If I remember from my geography class, that area is loaded with resources for commerce.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/13/2005 10:57 Comments ||
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#7
Everything but Russians, who can't get out fast enough. The Chinese will get it through squatters rights. Russians won't do jack for fear of revealing even their reduced military is empty uniforms.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/13/2005 11:04 Comments ||
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#8
Right now Siberia also has lots of NHL hockey players, playing for teams owned by Russian oligarchs. They came for the ca$h and now can't wait to come back to the US & Canada...(via sports talk radio this morning)
#9
Emily - you read/edit RB, AND listen to sports talk - I LOVE YOU!
LOL
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/13/2005 11:19 Comments ||
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#10
They came for the ca$h and now can't wait to come back to the US & Canada..
Even tho I play hockey on a regular basis recreationally and am a big fan of the sport, these jerks can all go phuque themselves. If money is what they wanted, they can go to/stay where it is. Bunch of greedy twats.
#11
Seafarious - if you have a fishing boat you'd better keep that information to yourself. Our little 'ol hearts just wouldn't be able to take it!! :)
(Monitors - ima thinkin we should have a pegged "what a girl!!" meter for Emily)
#13
the thing that got my attention was ' Could the Iskander be designed to destroy deployments of Patriot batteries? If so, marketing it to Syria and Iran would seem to indicate a clear purpose of negating Americaâs own attempts to counter the menace of those countriesâ ballistic missile arsenals.'
#14
The Ruskies are just trying to scam money from the Arabs and Persians and get free beta testing.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/13/2005 14:48 Comments ||
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#15
Boy that you're name thingy is quite entertaining today.
Russia has 1/3 of all the minerals in the world, just no equipment to extract them.
I never knew there was Russian marble until I visited the geological museum in Yekaterinberg.
Posted by: Chinese Unomoger1553 ||
01/13/2005 14:53 Comments ||
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#16
And Russia is also reportedly also now offerring BACKFIRE and BEAR bombers to China, while China itself is reportedly converting older destroyers and other vessel types into APD fast attack troop transports, still buying up Russki heavy-lift aircraft and tac AFV's for its Airborne Forces, and sending underwater surveying teams around the PACRIM disguised as ordinary fishermen or afloat traders. Pro-China posters on military forums are claiming that the USS SAN FRANCISCO SSN sub actually suffered damge vv COLLISIOn WITH A PLAN SUB, NOT AN UW MOUNTAIN, WHERAS PRAVDA > ALLUDING TO A KURSK-STYLE TORPEDO/WEAPONS ACCIDENT!? NO MATTER THE FACTS OR PC, the anti-USA International Leftism-Socialism-Communism-Progressive agendists is desperate for power and Socialist/Commie World Order [SWO/CWO] and OWG - they want SOCIALIST GLOBAL EMPIRE/OWG by any means necessary! Between now and their own 2020 maxima timeline for the USA to be under SOcialism and OWG, IT CAN NO LONGER BE "BUSINESS AS USUAL" FOR ANYONE - the Lefts will NOT accept or tolerate the USA or the GOP-Right NOT
waging war for empire nor being warred against for empire. EITHER WAY IS THEIR PLAN TO WIN AND EMPOWER SOCIALISM IN AMERICA AND THE WORLD! AMERIKA MUST CREATE NEW GLOBAL EMPIRE WHILE NOT BEING ALLOWED TO GOVERN ITS NEW EMPIRE.
The head of press watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned Wednesday that a U.S. decision to brand Lebanese television station Al-Manar a terrorist organization risked turning it into a military target.
And this would be a bad thing because...?
"The American reference sets a dangerous precedent because it risks turning (Al-Manar) into a military target, like Serbian television (attacked by NATO during the Kosovo war in 1999) or Al-Jazeera (Qatar-based news channel) bombarded by the American army in Kabul" during the 2001 Afghan war, said Robert Menard. The U.S. State Department decided in December to label the channel - which is seen as a mouthpiece of the Lebanese resistance group Hizbullah - a terrorist organization. The move followed a decision by a French court which forced Paris-based satellite carrier Eutelsat to stop running Al-Manar after ruling that the station had aired programming that contained anti-Jewish views.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Reporters Without Borders is irrelavant because AL-Manar is a propaganda organ of the Iranian backed and controled Hizbulla. Anyone who would defend them is the enemy of the free flow of the truth thats the real story.
WASHINGTON - Syrian officials have begun returning Iraqi assets that Saddam Husse AP, said the initial figure was $780 million, of which $264 million remains available after satisfying claims from creditors. Additional claims are pending. The embassy said less than $4 million in undisputed funds has been returned to Iraq so far.
In two meetings with Zarate, "Syria has expressed its unlimited willingness to cooperate in this issue" and the US government "has expressed its complete satisfaction with Syrian cooperation. But it seems that what happens in such meetings is different from statements outside doors," said the statement from the embassy's spokesman, Ammar Al-Arsan.
Welcome to the Middle East.
Zarate said Syria has not provided an accounting for the money it says it paid to Syrian creditors. Al-Arsan said Syria has urged Iraqi officials to come to Syria to review the claims already paid and work out "a final and fair solution" for the remaining funds. He said Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, in a Jan. 2 visit to Damascus, said he would encourage the Iraqis to respond soon.
We could always send the 82nd Airborne to pick up the gold.
US officials believe much of the Iraqi money came from Iraqi oil sales to Syria that violated UN sanctions. Al-Arsan said the oil trade with Iraq was legitimate under the oil-for-program, in which Iraq was allowed to steal sell oil to buy guns, palaces and baubbles food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies. US lawmakers and others have questioned whether Saddam Hussein subverted the program to raise billions of dollars illegally.
Some members of Congress suspect that Iraqi money in Syria could be financing Iraqi insurgents fighting the US-led coalition. Zarate said that would be difficult to prove.
I bet it wouldn't.
The administration says Syria is not doing enough to secure its border with Iraq and to prevent former members of Saddam's government from operating in Syria. US officials also have called on Syria to withdraw its 14,000 troops from Lebanon and stop interfering in the country's political process. Syrian officials deny interfering in Lebanon and say there is no proof that insurgents are operating from their country.
Some lawmakers are encouraging President George W. Bush to apply additional penalties to the ones he imposed last year against Syria. "If we wait too much longer to take further action, we will afford the regime in Damascus the time to find ways to offset the impact of the sanctions," said Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, chairwoman of the House International Relations subcommittee on the Middle East.
Any new penalties could involve isolating the state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria, where Iraq had its account. The Treasury Department in May designated the bank a "primary money laundering concern" and proposed rules that would prohibit US banks from dealing with the Syrian bank. Those rules could go into place if the United States remains dissatisfied with Syria's actions, Zarate said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/13/2005 12:00:00 AM ||
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Time to make a forced withdrawal of funds.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/13/2005 12:35 Comments ||
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TEHERAN - Iran warned on Wednesday it would not allow UN nuclear inspectors to "spy" on a suspect military site which the United States claims may be involved in covert nuclear weapons activities.
I think Saddam used the same [cough] logic for his palaces, once upon a time.
It also said it planned to resume soon the enrichment of uranium despite a deal hammered out last year with the European Union under which it agreed to freeze the controversial activity.
Since the deal has run its course and all ...
A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Tehran Wednesday to carry out inspections at the Parchin military facility which Iran had long kept off limits to the UN nuclear watchdog. "We are watchful. We have allowed inspections into our military installations but we will not allow any espionage or the theft of information from our military sites," Hossein Mousavian, the spokesman for Iran's nuclear negotiations team, said in remarks carried by the Mehr news agency. "It is not necessary for the inspectors to enter the installations. They are authorized to take samples outside (the buildings) using their equipment."
"They have tricorders. We have seen tricorders on American TV shows so we know they have them. Let them use their tricorders," he added.
American TV shows also have particle dissembulators. I'd much rather use those.
According to student news agency ISNA, the IAEA team is due to stay in Iran for a week and start taking environmental samples from Parchin on Thursday.
Last week, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei announced that Iran had finally given the green light for his inspectors to probe Parchin. The IAEA has been seeking access to the site since July. Tehran gave permission for inspectors to take so-called environmental samples from fifty miles southeast of the Parchin site southeast of Tehran in order to disprove US allegations of secret weapons-related activities. "To demonstrate that we have nothing to hide and that the Iranian nuclear program is peaceful, we have authorized the agency to take these samples," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Sunday. Environmental sampling involves taking swabs or soil samples to detect the presence of nuclear activity.
Parchin is an example of a so-called "transparency visit" where the IAEA is going beyond its mandate under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to check if nuclear materials have been diverted away from peaceful use. The United States has alleged that the Iranians may be working on testing high-explosive charges with an inert core of depleted uranium at Parchin as a sort of dry test for how a bomb with fissile material would work. Tehran has strongly denied carrying out any nuclear-related work at the site, and insists its nuclear drive is merely aimed at generating electricity.
In addition, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Hasan Rowhani, said that Tehran will soon resume uranium enrichment under the supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog, ISNA reported. "Suspension of enrichment is for a limited period to win the confidence of the international community and to reach an understanding with Europe for fullrelations in the political, economic, security and nuclear fields," he was quoted as saying.
But if you restart, you lose the confidence of the interna ... oh, right.
"Iran will not allow other countries to halt its enrichment program, and we will soon resume uranium enrichment under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency," he said during talks with a visiting Japanese official.
Bet the Israelis know how to make 'em stop.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/13/2005 12:00:00 AM ||
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Well, no one can fault them for inconsistency, eh?
Iranian Motto: When in doubt, dig. When caught, dig. When confronted, dig. When cornered, dig. When challenged, dig. When under attack, dig.
I wonder if this time they will make them glow in the dark (in that Hiroshima sort of way) this time? They certainly have done their level best to earn such an award . . . maybe they could make it look like an 'accident' . . . Oh, hey Moshe, did you forget to lock down that nuke while we were flying over Iran? Must have fallen out the bay doors . . . sorry about that . . . "
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
01/13/2005 8:39 Comments ||
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#3
Soft power for soft heads
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/13/2005 12:15 Comments ||
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#4
If you ain't doin nothing wrong then watching ain't spying ther Ayatollah.
#5
If the Iranians are worrying about the IAEA actually finding something, they have more confidence in the organization's abilities than I do. I'm not sure El Baradei and friends could find their own asses if their rumps were radioactive and they had a Geiger counter in each hand.
#6
The only way the IAEA can find their asses is if they feel above their necks.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/13/2005 14:30 Comments ||
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#7
There is a basically wrong assumption in the post
IAEA are not really interested in carrying out any inspections...
In accordance to European philosophy, it is much better to shove your head in the sand and hope that there will be strong winds on the day the first Iranian nuke hits Paris so that the fallout will hit Berlin also.
EFL Reg Req
The conventional wisdom about the Mideast is ubiquitous in the press, but largely unjustified from an economic perspective. A search of newspaper and magazine stories in 2004 reveals more than 3,338 articles including the words "Middle East" and "war and terrorism"; only 102 stories linking the "Middle East" with "growth" and "recovery" can be found. Yet definitive policies to normalize the Middle East have made regional and global market investors bullish, repatriated capital exported (or that had fled) from the region, and encouraged a sea change in foreign direct investment. The end of Saddam's regime sent a major, unconfused market signal after the West's years of disinterest in the Middle East as a Levantine backwater. Subsequently, every major capital market index in the Middle East has risen.
Regionally, stock markets rose over 30% in 2004 and represent a market capitalization of $470 billion. This has been accompanied by a surge in regional property values and a higher number of tourists. The main Egyptian equity index has increased 165%, while that of Saudi Arabia has gone up by 158%. The Saudi market's stellar performance is especially striking given the great amount of attention paid at the moment to that country's security problems. Israel's leading index has risen by 32%, the benchmark index of Kuwait's exchange by 73%, Jordan's by almost 60%, and that of the United Arab Emirates by 110%. This upsurge in capital investment extends to Iraq. Since June 24, 2004, the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) opened and replaced the old Baghdad Stock Exchange, which was government-run and characterized by corruption and irregularities. The old exchange's trading activity pales in comparison to the ISX's performance so far.
Saddam mortgaged his country's future to fund his tyrannical regime and delusions of regional grandeur. The World Bank estimates that Iraq currently has external debts of around $120 billion owed to other governments. With Iraq's GDP at $34 billion, debt is 350% of GDP. An economic stumbling block to development and reconstruction is a restructuring of that debt. With this in mind, former secretary of state James Baker made the rounds of Iraq's creditors appealing for debt forgiveness with substantial results.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/13/2005 10:06:51 AM ||
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#1
Iraq is an emerging economic power, you just watch.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/13/2005 12:22 Comments ||
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"At the time, we welcomed the initiative of the Arab Doctors' Association, on the understanding that its aim was to support the Jihad warriors and those struggling for the sake of liberating their homeland from the hands of the occupiers who hold many [different] citizenships. [We understood that this support was to have been provided] through capabilities that only doctors have — that is, caring for the sick and saving the lives of the injured.
"But we were surprised later by the fact that the enthusiasm of the Arab Doctors' Association in sending 'volunteer' doctors to those blood-drenched regions was not for carrying out this sublime mission that only doctors [could carry out], but rather, to urge [those volunteer doctors] to fight, [to participate] in the Jihad war, and to manufacture explosives and to blow up places in which there were a number of 'infidels' and scores of innocent civiliansâŠ
"They could not care less that hundreds and thousands of innocent people were killed [in these operations], as long as one or two soldiers from among the invaders and occupiers were killed or injured.
"It suffices to mention in this respect the Egyptian doctor [and bin Laden's deputy] Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who, it must be assumed, took an oath to care for the sick and to save the injured, [but] became the No. 2 terrorist after the No. 1 terrorist Osama bin LadenâŠ"
Posted by: tipper ||
01/13/2005 9:39:43 AM ||
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#1
Arab Rabid Mad Dog Doctor Association...
Er.. How do you say Hypocrates in Arabic ????
Re : Donations to account in Islamic Faysal Bank
The coordinates of the bank should be entered promptly into the target banks of the American special forces as well as of the IAF
A middle school teacher has been suspended with pay while officials investigate a report he told his students that Bedouin Arabs used the Quran as toilet paper. The teacher is on the faculty of Woodworth Middle School in Dearborn, a Detroit suburb of 100,000. About 30,000 Dearborn residents are Arab-American. Bedouins are members of historically nomadic tribes and make up about 10 percent of the population of the Middle East. The Quran is the Muslim holy book.
Bedouins don't use buttwipe...
Parents complained to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Imad Hamad, Michigan director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the teacher should apologize. "I only wonder what was in his mind when he looked into their eyes and stated such an ugly description and such painful words," he said. A closed hearing on the teacher's status was held Tuesday, The Detroit News reported in its Wednesday editions. It said Superintendent John Artis was expected to decide the case this week.
Posted by: tipper ||
01/13/2005 9:16:39 AM ||
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#1
"I only wonder what was in his mind when he looked into their eyes and stated such an ugly description and such painful words"
Probably "I have to go and I wish I had a Koran handy."
#4
..while officials investigate a report he told his students that Bedouin Arabs used the Quran as toilet paper.
That's "anti-Arab"???? Sounds like a simple insult to me.
Imad Hamad, Michigan director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the teacher should apologize. "I only wonder what was in his mind when he looked into their eyes and stated such an ugly description and such painful words," he said.
What's on the minds of Arabs that call Jews "ugly descriptions", such as apes, pigs, and the like?
#5
That's a very strange insult. It doesn't sound so much anti-Arab or anti-Muslim as anti-Bedouin. I have to wonder whether the teacher is, himself, Arab? It's the sort of thing a city slicker snob would say about his country kin - those damned illiteral hillbillies, sitting in their outhouses, wiping their asses with scripture!
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/13/2005 12:22 Comments ||
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#6
The teacher should be suspended for being ignorant.
#7
I am not into political sensitivity, but I do not want this "teacher" running a class with my boys in it. Just damn stupid.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/13/2005 12:32 Comments ||
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#8
What would they use to wipe their behinds? Not alot of vegetation out there in the Sinai or Sahara or Western Iraq. Koran can come in handy, so could the turban.
#9
"What would they use to wipe their behinds? Not alot of vegetation out there in the Sinai or Sahara or Western Iraq. Koran can come in handy, so could the turban."
Muslims do not use toilet paper or any paper at all. They either use their hand (left, I think)or smooth round pebbles.
#10
Dollars to donuts, there's more to this story than is being reported.
/me suspects an anecdote about illiterate Bedouins using sheets of paper for non-sacred purposes, kinda sorta like the old folks used the Sears catalog.
#14
I think their story is that god (through some guy named mohammed) told them specifically how to perform all bodily functions. You'd think god would have more important things to worry about.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
01/13/2005 16:57 Comments ||
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#15
It is definitely the left hand. That is not something you fail to pick up on over there, I assure you.
#18
Yep, it's true. The Arab culture never does anything with the left hand, it is considered "unclean" because of the above observations. It is very offensive to an Arab if you offer or give anything to them with your left hand. I had to be mindful of this all the times I was over there, me being a southpaw and all...
#19
Mr. Wife told me left hand for the bathroom, right hand for eating food out of the common pot. He used to actually sit on his left hand at dinner to make sure he didn't forget -- one doesn't want to give one's host's entire family dysentery on the first visit, does one?
#20
Well I would have to cut off my "evil hand" since I am a left handed one. People sit down at my computer and are baffled at the track ball on the left. They are even more astounded that I play FPS games that way. Remind me not to shake an arabs hand, ever.
Police in Southern Iraq are at least two years away from being a competent security force, according to the British soldiers training them. Endemic corruption, illiteracy and a lack of initiative still hamper operations, while cash for new equipment remains scarce. At the same time, police remain a prime target for insurgent attacks. There is also no coherent justice system, meaning some suspects can remain in prison for minor offences for months on end, without trial and with their fate in the hands of individual station chiefs. Second Lieutenant William Atkins, of the Royal Artillery, said that the Iraqi police he is helping to run in az-Zubayr were still not up to the job. "There are some excellent police officers here, but the truth is we don't have enough of them," he said. "In total there are 900 in the city, but in terms of how many are actually capable and competent for basic work, I'd have to say very few. We are getting there, but very slowly. "The main problem is we train them and they know what they have to do, they just tend not to do it."
Sounds like an age-old problem there.
Lt Atkins cited the case of a suspected insurgent bomb found in the city. The Iraqi force responded, together with the British Army. But instead of sealing off the area around the device and waiting for explosives experts to arrive, Iraqi officers stood right next to it - potentially fatal if it had exploded. "It's simple things like that, which undermine all the training," he said.
"Hey Mahmoud, whatta we do with a bomb incident?"
"Who knows, Achmed, just stand there and keep an eye on it 'til it blows up."
"Hokay."
"We can run through basic drills, but a lot of it goes out of the window when we get a real incident." In one of the main city police stations inspected by the Royal Artillery, Lt Atkins underlined another problem afflicting the justice system. "They have one small cell and they cram as many as 27 prisoners in it. "When we first came up here, there were two men who had been living in that cell for 10 months," he said. "No-one knew what they were in for, or what was supposed to be happening to them. They had just been forgotten."
No one really cared, either.
Although the men were released, police continue to put suspects in the cells without keeping records, often because they cannot read or write and without passing them up to the local courts. "Prisoners come and go. Some are picked up and stay in there a few days and get released because the police decide that's punishment enough," said Lt Atkins. "Others are suspects who get held in there while the alleged crime is investigated." That can take weeks, with the cleared suspect being released without charge or compensation. There is also evidence of widespread, low level corruption among the force. Most recently, officers were issued with new Glock pistols and specialised ammunition for the weapons. Almost immediately, the bullets were turning up on local markets, priced at $2 (756 fils) each, with Iraqi police then demanding they be issued more.
Make 'em like Barney Fife -- only one at a time, and they gotta use it before they get another.
Lt Atkins estimates it will take another two years before the az-Zubayr force will be able to properly police the area. "They have made real progress, but the training will continue and it will take some time before the changes that have been made are firmly rooted and made concrete," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/13/2005 12:29:20 AM ||
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"We can run through basic drills, but a lot of it goes out of the window when we get a real incident."
What's the problem? If I had to make a snap judgement, it sounds suspiciously like the recruits aren't using their brains.
What about the use of returning expats? Can capable Iraqis be recruited from the U.S. that are willing to go back and be the foundation of an eventual capable force? Seems to me that expats would understand what's required and could coach the local recruits accordingly, assuming that the American way of doing things has sufficiently taken hold in their minds.
#2
It is difficult to encourage people to use personal initiative when they have survived for generations by not standing out in a crowd.
Posted by: john ||
01/13/2005 10:04 Comments ||
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#3
This describes the Arab world PERFECTLY - Corrupt, uneducated, unmotivated. This is why they have never been free and will never be free once/if we ever pull out. You have to want and earn freedom, you cant be handed it.
I truely think the Iraq experiment will ultimately fail and another dictator will gain control - its all they know and I really think all they want. Its easier to do what your told rather than thinking for yourself.
The only ones who are worthy of it are the Kurds and they are getting the short end of the stick. I really wish we'd tell Turkey to pound sand and give the Kurds a homeland. I really think they would succeed and we would have a loyal friend in a troubled region.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/13/2005 10:38 Comments ||
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#4
Get some Bangladeshi cops up there. They'll show them how it's done.
#5
Illiteracy is a direct result of Saddam's "Leave All Shia Behind" educational policy.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/13/2005 16:56 Comments ||
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#6
Ah so we go from "everything is just hunky dory, the locals will take over any day now" to "theyll never be free, its the arab mindset". Which is the real problem with "everything is hunky dory".
So it will take two years. So? Lets get serious enough to accept that, and stay the two years, and win.
#7
BAR: What about the use of returning expats? Can capable Iraqis be recruited from the U.S. that are willing to go back and be the foundation of an eventual capable force? Seems to me that expats would understand what's required and could coach the local recruits accordingly, assuming that the American way of doing things has sufficiently taken hold in their minds.
Why would English-speaking expats want to become cops? They'd make a lot more money as go-betweens for investors in Iraq. And if they become cops, they become high-ranking guys because of their language and administrative skills, which doesn't really help with the problem of low-quality grunts.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana joined new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's call for an end to rocket attacks on Israel Wednesday as he toured a Hamas stronghold used as a launchpad by militants. On a visit to Gaza's impoverished Jabaliya camp after talks with Abbas, Solana said he was "moved" by the plight of poverty-stricken residents and said the new leadership would do its utmost to revive the peace process. Stumbling over rubble and viewing razed homes left by Israel's incursions into northern Gaza in a bid to stem rocket attacks last October, he described what he saw as "very dramatic" and later as "very moving" on his first visit to the camp.
"Rockets should not be fired. Point number one. But the amount of destruction is to my mind, now that you see it with your eyes ... disproportionate. Those responsible are not the ones who have been punished," he said. Two children and two teachers from a UN-run school that Solana visited, had been killed in the recent incursion. "You have opened a new page by the electoral process and you can be sure that the new president and the new structures are going to do the utmost to recuperate ... the process of peace," Solana told Palestinian reporters. Aides said he was on a fact-finding mission, to see the situation on the ground in Gaza to meet Palestinian MPs and civil society representatives.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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"He was moved by the poverty-stiken residents"
Why wasn't he moved by the poverty-striken non-muslim or non-Arab Soudanese? And given the zillions the EU is giving to the Paleos, he should have asked how is that the palestinians are still poor (ie who is poceketing the money?). That is what he should have told and done instead of "being moved. Old hypocrite.
Those responsible are not the ones who have been punished In a strange sort of way, he's grasping the problem.
Abbas' positive actions seems too good too be true, and I'm a true believer that too good to be true is a blazing red flag. But maybe Arafat was just such a putz that we find a real leader difficult to imagine.
#3
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana joined new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbasâs call for an end to rocket attacks on Israel Wednesday as he toured a Hamas stronghold used as a launchpad by militants.
So was Solana able to that cesspool without a scratch after calling for something that Paleos don't necessarily agree with?
#4
"...maybe Arafat was just such a putz that we find a real leader difficult to imagine."
If we're having trouble with the concept, the Palestinians must be practically catatonic at trying to grasp the whole notion.
#5
Putz--Good word to describe Arafat. It may also describe Abbas who is practicing Arafat politics as far as I can tell. As the Who said: "New Boss Same as the Old Boss." Putz is one of those great Yiddish words that is rich in meanings. In English it can mean dickhead or screwup. It has many literal translations.
#6
Never misses an opportunity to display irrelevance.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/13/2005 16:28 Comments ||
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#7
"...as he toured a Hamas stronghold... Stumbling over rubble and viewing razed homes..."
Build a wall around them and the deluded think they have a stronghold.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/13/2005 16:34 Comments ||
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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon phoned Mahmoud Abbas yesterday to congratulate him on his election as Palestinian president and offer cooperation, the highest-level contact between the sides in nearly four years. Abbas's predecessor Yasser Arafat last spoke to Sharon by telephone in February 2001 to congratulate him on his election victory. Sharon's office said he spoke with Abbas for 10 minutes and welcomed his landslide election victory on a platform of non-violence. "He wished him success and the two agreed they would talk again soon," it said in a statement. A senior government official quote Sharon as telling Abbas: "I am offering you our cooperation." He said Sharon and Abbas spoke about a meeting in general terms but no date was set.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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âAbu Mazen will try to convince (Hamas) and appeal to Palestinian public opinion to put pressure on the terrorists by explaining that this generation has suffered enough...â
Right idea, wrong agent (Hamas) to do it. Kinda like Bundy preaching against murder. When the Palestinian people reject the terrorists from their homes and protection, then they will have set the foundation for their state. Little problem though-literal religious interpretation of the Quran will keep them in jihad against Israel for all eternity.
#5
Abbas is reportedly reordering the PA cabinet. Most importantly hes firing the pro-Arafat Interior Minister, and replacing him with an Abbas loyalist. This is a switch he tried to make for months, in 2003 when Arafat was alive. So he could take control of PA security services. Arafat stopped the switch. Now it happens within days of the election. First step to cleaning out the security forces. Cant hardly try to disarm Hamas when his own security forces are dominated by Arafat loyalists.
#6
Yeah, there are some sticky issues there. Foxes and chickens mixed together doesn't tend to produce a lot of trust or hope, at least from my point of view.
If Hamas continues to have both a political and a terrorist/suicide wing, and Abbas continues to work with Hamas, I don't see how anyone in the West can press for the Peace Plan. Has there been a change in policy that we are now willing to identify and meet with terrorists as legitimate political partners? That's part of what Hamas is-part poison is still poisonous.
If you argue yes, if you meet with Hamas, why not meet with the Basques? Why not meet the Muslim rebels in Indonesia or with Janjaweed in Sudan or with any other terrorist group-if we work with Hamas through Abbas, doesn't that set a dangerous precedent?
That precedents been made before. The key is what you talk about, and how. Most Israelis have learned from the Arafat experience the difficulties in turning someone into an ex-terrorist - I dont think they will talk directly with Hamas, allow Hamas a role in govt like Arafat had, etc. But if Abbas wants to sign a temporary Hudna (arent ALL hudnas temporary?) with Hamas while he consolidates his position, I cant see Israel objecting, though I hope and expect they will strengthen their own position (militarily and diplomatically) meanwhile. The question then will be whether Abbas is a machiavelli, willing to talk to Hamas now, to turn on them later, or if hes a misguided pacifist, who will NEVER turn on Hamas.
Right now though, he has POLITICAL leverage on Hamas, if not military leverage - after his election Hamas would look bad (with the Pals) to defy him - but not if he attacks them. It makes sense to use that leverage. The question will come up when Abbas has to settle for less than maximal terms with Israel, and Hamas reacts violently - what will Abbas do? Unsatisfying though it is, I think the best Israeli strategy is to wait and see.
#8
Its not really a religious thing with the Palestinians -- the PLO was your typical secular, socialist, national "liberation" terrorist group, the kind the Soviets sponsored so many of. The leadership cadre, including Arafat, were trained in Moscow. The Islamist groups came later, when it became apparent that the PLO wasn't going to achieve the aim of a judenfrei state from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, from Lebanon/Syria to Egypt.
#9
And then you have all the madarassas cranking out Koranite nutcases that we will have to deal with for the next 30 years. Thanks to the the Islamists, we have a whole generation of broken people to deal with. How do you make peace with this type of people? And to make it worse, they are still being cranked out?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/13/2005 22:18 Comments ||
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The Iraqi government will meet pro-boycott parties next week in a bid to persuade them to take part in the national elections at the end of the month, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said yesterday. Zebari said in an interview that an NGO, the Iraqi Committee for Peace and Solidarity, is to host a conference on reconciliation between the government and its opponents in Baghdad on January 16. "All those who want to boycott the elections are invited to express their views," he said.
The interim Iraqi government has come under Arab and international pressure to make greater efforts to engage all Iraqis in the January 30 elections. Some leaders of the Sunni community have called for a boycott, or at least a postponement until the insurgency is contained. It is widely feared that a low turnout on January 30 will undermine the polls' credibility and encourage the insurgency. "We will do our utmost to make the elections comprehensive," Zebari said. "We want everybody to cast his vote. This is an election for all." Zebari named one of the boycott groups invited to the meeting as the Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential body of Sunni clerics.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi said he could accept the policies of US President George W Bush but for the "Iraqi disaster", in an interview with Greek television broadcast Tuesday. "If the catastrophe-disaster in Iraq had not occurred, we could say that he (Bush) is a man with acceptable policies," Qaddafi told the private Star channel. He also condemned British Prime Minister Tony Blair for "finding himself mixed up in Iraq... Otherwise, I would like him a lot... he is leftist, optimistic and dynamic," Qaddafi said he had also warmed to French President Jacques Chirac, who visited Tripoli in November.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#2
2B,
there is no known western weapon system that
can penetrate the amount of medal metal covering
Kaddafi :)
I particularely like the cute green ribbon with the sawblade stuck to it....
#9
Looks like some dipwit took apart an old alarm clock and stuck the gears all over Qaddafi's uniform.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/13/2005 4:31 Comments ||
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#10
Dave,
Shame on you, cant you see that that the man earned some serious decoration ???
For example, the lower one on the cutesey green ribbon is the renowned "Knight of the reptillian Order".
The one with the eagle and the red ribbon is the famous "Crescent of the Vulture Association of the Magreb"
And the one that looks like ther Victoria Cross is actually the emblem of "The Society for Promotion of Ilicit Drug abuse".
Bugtis are getting to be a major irritation, I see...
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said on Wednesday the federal government would take necessary punitive action, including military action, against the renegade tribesmen who attacked gas plants at Sui in Balochistan. The Balochistan government has been asked to review the situation and recommend to the federal government the action required to normalise the situation in the province, Sherpao said at a press conference. He said three officials of the Frontier Constabulary and four civilians had been killed and nine injured in shooting between security personnel and miscreants. He did not say how many tribesmen had been killed or injured. Sherpao said that a purification plant at Sui had been damaged by firing from the miscreants over the last five days. The minister said it could take three months to repairs the plant, which could mean gas load-shedding in many parts of the country. The purification plant was shut down after it started leaking poisonous gas. He said the Sui plant supplied 22 percent of Pakistan's gas.
Sherpao said security agencies had seized 14,000 bullets, 425 rocket launchers and 60 multi-barrel guns which were fired from a Bugti colony and a Muhammadi colony near Sui. The two colonies housed more than 25,000 inhabitants and almost 70 percent had now migrated, he said. He said that the miscreants had occupied towers 10 and 11 of the Sui plant, which were later reoccupied by Frontier Constabulary soldiers after a shootout. Sherpao said the parliamentary committee on Balochistan would present its recommendations to the federal government very soon. Committee members had met Baloch leaders and asked them to suggest solutions to the problems of the province. He said the government did not want to ruin the current dialogue with tribal elders and other Baloch leaders.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Who,the fuck, is financing this Bugti "weapon
orgy" ?....
Who's behind them anyhow ??
#2
In the tribal areas of Pakistan there are gun factories that make pretty decent knockoffs of a wide variety of weapons, and there is a veritable arsenal just across the border in Afghanistan.
Here is an earlier post about the 'Baluchistan Liberation Army'
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
01/13/2005 6:00 Comments ||
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#4
Paskistan for years has had a thriving small arms cottage industry. If you want it you can find some one who can hand make it for you often by hand.
#5
SPOD,
Could I have a hand made double barreled
microminiaturized "Zionist Death Ray" Mark IV
(the one with the coffe-maker included), with a hand carved engraved cherry wood handle, made just for me
in Pakistan ????????
Please say yes.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/13/2005 10:20 Comments ||
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#9
Little flower gardens out front; big ammo dump under the gazebos out back...
all seen with that special greenish sorta mist we remember from our childhood reminding us of certain October nights when the bats came out and carried away our new kittens.
#12
Gazebos in the back yard - Gotta program that into the onboard computer of all A-10s. I'm sure the gunmakers will be truly "holey" after the strafing pass.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/13/2005 17:50 Comments ||
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There is no truth to the announcement by a PPP leader that Benazir Bhutto will be returning to Pakistan next month, sources revealed to Daily Times.
"Nope. Nope. Ain't gonna happen..."
Inquiries by Daily Times from those with knowledge of the PPP chairperson's plans and movements produced the following written response, "No date for her return has been finalised yet. When the date is finalised, it will be announced by her media office. It seems that Khalid Kharal has been misquoted." PPP leader Khalid Kharal was quoted in a report by a news agency (carried by Daily Times on Wednesday) as having said at Toba Tek Singh on Tuesday that Ms Bhutto would return to Pakistan by the end of February. "Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto will be coming back to Pakistan to lead her party workers, activists and supporters by the end of February this year," he was said to have told reporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
like a bad penny, she'll eventually make her way back to stir up trouble
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/13/2005 10:46 Comments ||
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai pledged on Wednesday to ensure delayed parliamentary elections that had been due in April are held as soon as possible. Diplomats with nothing better to do fear a prolonged postponement of the polls could undermine the legitimacy of Afghanistan's new government, appointed by Karzai last month after October elections made him the country's first democratically elected president. "We will make every effort so that this crucial pillar of Afghanistan's government, which is the legislative power, is prepared as soon as possible," Karzai told reporters.
He gave few details but said he would soon appoint the electoral commission needed to oversee the vote. "We are all making serious efforts so that this is prepared. the independent election commission will be formed in the coming days," he said. Afghanistan's constitution provides for a relatively strong presidency and a weaker parliament, but the assembly is to present an important check on presidential powers. Parliamentary elections were to have been held alongside the presidential polls in June last year. While the election for the president was put off until October, the polls for deputies for the national assembly were put back until April due to the slow pace of disarming militias loyal to regional warlords. The April date has already slipped since Karzai has yet to issue a decree defining constituencies and which should be completed at least 120 days before the polls.
While the UN-sponsored body overseeing the disarmament of the militias says it has almost completed the confiscation of heavy weapons, Afghanistan is awash with guns after 25 years of war and powerful warlords still hold considerable sway. Other problems dogging the elections include a shortage of funds, organising refugee voting and registering voters missed on the last electoral roll. Some diplomats say the parliamentary polls could now be delayed until as late as July.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/13/2005 11:44:08 PM ||
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Unidentified tribesmen kidnapped 15 officials of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) including an executive engineer (XEN) and three sub-divisional officers (SDOs) while they were coming back from inspecting the Rainee Canal in Rajanpur district on Wednesday. The kidnappers later freed three employees. WAPDA sources told Daily Times that the inspection team belonged to Lahore WAPDA House's water wing and had arrived in Rajanpur a few days ago to adjust the head remoter at Guddu Barrage near the canal. Rajanpur district administration officials said the men were returning after inspecting the Rainee Canal in official vehicles when at least 24 men with weapons stopped them in Shah Wali Police precincts and kidnapped the entire team.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Personnel from the Search and Follow-up Department of the General Immigration Department (GID) who are investigating a forgery case related to the work permits are said to have seized 200 additional forged work visas, Al-Qabas daily. Earlier, securitymen had arrested three Arabs (mandoubs) for allegedly forging 480 work permits during a raid on the company where they worked and seized from the men forged stamps and documents. 
Prime Minister 
A new FBI computer program designed to help agents share information to ward off terrorist attacks may have to be scrapped, the agency has concluded, forcing a further delay in a four-year, half-billion-dollar overhaul of its antiquated computer system. The bureau is so convinced that the software, known as 
The 
The Bush administration, which earlier backed Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the UN oil-for-food scandal, on Tuesday demanded he be held accountable for mismanagement in the programme. "What we have heard, so far, is that there were serious problems inside the UN on the management of this. We're not sure if there were criminal problems, but there were certainly management problems," outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell told Fox News. "And the secretary-general will have to be accountable for those management problems," he added in the television interview taped for broadcast on Wednesday. 
LEFT-WING billionaire and Bush-hater 
The United States warned Russia against selling missiles to Syria amid reports that Moscow was ready to provide Damascus with a sophisticated weapon that could hit any target in Israel. But Russia denied it had any such plans.
The head of press watchdog 
"The American reference sets a dangerous precedent because it risks turning (Al-Manar) into a military target, like Serbian television (attacked by NATO during the Kosovo war in 1999) or Al-Jazeera (Qatar-based news channel) bombarded by the American army in Kabul" during the 2001 Afghan war, said Robert Menard. The U.S. State Department decided in December to label the channel - which is seen as a mouthpiece of the Lebanese resistance group 
TEHERAN - Iran warned on Wednesday it would not allow UN nuclear inspectors to "spy" on a suspect military site which the United States claims may be involved in covert nuclear weapons activities.
Police in Southern Iraq are at least two years away from being a competent security force, according to the British soldiers training them. Endemic corruption, illiteracy and a lack of initiative still hamper operations, while cash for new equipment remains scarce. At the same time, police remain a prime target for insurgent attacks. There is also no coherent justice system, meaning some suspects can remain in prison for minor offences for months on end, without trial and with their fate in the hands of individual station chiefs. Second Lieutenant William Atkins, of the Royal Artillery, said that the Iraqi police he is helping to run in az-Zubayr were still not up to the job. "There are some excellent police officers here, but the truth is we don't have enough of them," he said. "In total there are 900 in the city, but in terms of how many are actually capable and competent for basic work, I'd have to say very few. We are getting there, but very slowly. "The main problem is we train them and they know what they have to do, they just tend not to do it."
EU foreign policy chief 
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon phoned 
The Iraqi government will meet pro-boycott parties next week in a bid to persuade them to take part in the national elections at the end of the month, Foreign Minister 
Libyan leader 
Interior Minister 
There is no truth to the announcement by a PPP leader that 
Afghan President Hamid Karzai pledged on Wednesday to ensure delayed parliamentary elections that had been due in April are held as soon as possible. Diplomats 
Unidentified tribesmen kidnapped 15 officials of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) including an executive engineer (XEN) and three sub-divisional officers (SDOs) while they were coming back from inspecting the Rainee Canal in Rajanpur district on Wednesday. The kidnappers later freed three employees. WAPDA sources told Daily Times that the inspection team belonged to Lahore WAPDA House's water wing and had arrived in Rajanpur a few days ago to adjust the head remoter at Guddu Barrage near the canal. Rajanpur district administration officials said the men were returning after inspecting the Rainee Canal in official vehicles when at least 24 men with weapons stopped them in Shah Wali Police precincts and kidnapped the entire team.
