Few subjects fail to tickle the interest of Hugo Chävez, Venezuela's voluble president, on Aló Presidente, his weekly television broadcast.
The show, which melds game-show tomfoolery with the political jousting of a medieval court, shows Mr Chävez engaged in everything from cabinet reshuffles and baiting US President George W. Bush to playing with a tortoise and cuddling infants.
But there is one crucial issue that El Comandante Petrolero, as some of the militaristic leader's most radical followers fondly call him, is clearly avoiding: oil.
Hugo Chävez's managers at Petróleos de Venezuela, or Pdvsa, are facing an avalanche of questions about the location of billions of dollars in unaccountable export revenue.
Rafael RamÃÂrez, who is both the energy minister and president of Pdvsa, says Venezuela is producing 3.25m barrels per day of oil, in line with its quota at the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Since a debilitating strike by managers at Pdvsa slashed oil production from the world's fifth-largest oil exporter at the start of 2003, the government has claimed that output has recovered fully.
But today's official production figure contrasts with every other institution that measures oil market data. According to Opec, the Energy Information Administration and the International Energy Agency,Venezuela's output in April was about 2.6m b/d and falling.
Pdvsa's own output has dropped by more than 60 per cent since Mr Chävez came to power in 1998, a trend that analysts say has accelerated in the past year because of poor technical management of oil wells and refineries.
By contrast, for the first time since Venezuela's oil industry was nationalised in the mid 1970s, production from the private sector is rising and could soon surpass Pdvsa's. While officials such as Mr RamÃÂrez and Mr Chävez insist that reports of a gap of 650,000 b/d are part of a media conspiracy, experts are pointing to figures that show a wide shortfall in the country's international accounts as proof of an official "cover-up" over a collapse in production.
Mr Guerra calculates that during all of 2004 and the first quarter of this year, data for which was released this week, Pdvsa has failed to hand over to the central bank $6.8bn from oil exports. Pdvsa is required by law to convert its hard currency earnings into bolivars, the local currency. "If you look at the evolution of the country's balance of payments, of course you have to ask where is the money?" said Mr Guerra. "It's clearly not going to pay off debt or to pay for imports and it's not being converted into bolivars. There is something very irregular going on."
This month, Domingo Maza Zavala, a central bank director, said that $20m per day in oil export revenue was not being deposited.
While lower oil production levels explain in part why the central bank's cash flow figures challenge the official version, economists say there is also a financial shortfall because some money is being diverted elsewhere.
Venezuela's public accounts are not known among Wall Street analysts for their transparency. Pdvsa has failed to present its audited accounts to the US Securities and Exchange Commission since 2003.
A growing share of Venezuela's oil sales is also being allotted via companies that are well known in trading circles, such as Glencore, Trafigura and Arcadia.
But large volumes of oil are also being sold through obscure and unreported "back" channels, rather than through Pdvsa's own trading department, which is run by Asdrúbal Chävez, a cousin of the president.
This month, Pdvsa products were offered on several internet auction sites. Oil industry sources also say oil from Pdvsa is being offered through mechanisms such as parallel contracts.
One report this week suggested that private brokers, supposedly acting on behalf of Pdvsa, are trying to invest the money in instruments offered by US banks on Wall Street.
But analysts also say that an aspect of the financial mismatch is arising because Pdvsa, on orders from Mr Chävez, is diverting money into ad hoc funds that are being used to finance a parallel government budget.
The situation is likely to worsen in the months ahead as Mr Chävez seeks to push through legislation that will place a ceiling on the amount of international reserves that can be held by the central bank.
With a cap set at $20bn, as is expected, and reserves at $28bn, the central bank will have to hand over $8bn into a new fund.
"The amount of money being diverted will expand dramatically if this goes ahead," said Orlando Ochoa, an independent economic consultant based in Caracas. "Chävez will effectively have at his disposal an enormous parallel budget and there will be no controls over its execution."
Posted by: too true ||
05/28/2005 17:40 ||
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#1
The skandal is that there was no money to deposit. The strike cut down production to 2.6 m/bbd during the heigth of the oil bull market. Ven asphalt goes for about 10 bucks a barrel less than real oil.
TOKYO - A top Japanese diplomat expressed regret on Friday for sparking a row with South Korea over his private remarks that Washington no longer trusted Seoul in dealing with North Korea. "I had intended to emphasize the importance of strengthening alliances between Japan and South Korea and between Japan and the United States," the diplomat, Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi, told reporters. "It is regrettable if the remarks have invited a misunderstanding by causing an argument of various forms in South Korea," he added.
Cheez, buddy, you call yourself a diplomat and yet you were speaking the truth?
Yachi, most senior of the career diplomats at the foreign ministry, was quoted as telling South Korean lawmakers that Tokyo was "cautious about sharing intelligence with Seoul" because of Washington's distrust.
He was meeting in Tokyo with a five-member delegation from South Korea's National Assembly defence committee on May 11.
The comments revealed rifts between the allies as they work to resolve the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons drive. With Japan's relations with neighboring South Korea and China already strained, Seoul on Thursday demanded a public apology from Tokyo for Yachi's comment.
But Yachi was also alarmed his remarks were made public although he spoke in a private capacity. "I am embarrassed by the fact that the comments, which were made in an informal exchange of views, have been made known externally," he said.
And now you know five people you can never trust again.
A top Japanese foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was earlier quoted saying by the Asahi Shimbun: "If things like this happen we will no longer be able to hold unofficial talks."
Yachi had reportedly said South Korea was seen shifting toward North Korea, whose main ally is China.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2005 00:00 ||
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"I apologize that you are both distrustful and have loose tongues."
AUSTRALIA could be about to engage an unusual group of frontline recruits to help guard against terrorist attacks at airports - plane spotters.
Frustrated that their hobby has been hindered by increased security at airports and tired of being sneered at as anorak-wearing geeks, plane spotters - or Jetspotters, as the group in Melbourne calls itself - will meet the Australian Federal Police tonight to pitch for a formal role protecting the nation's airports.
The spotters, who spend their weekends recording the registration numbers of planes, taking photos of take-offs and landings and tracking planes across the globe, say they know Australia's airports better than almost anyone and can quickly identify suspicious behaviour.
David Carey, media spokesman for Jetspotters in Melbourne, said the group had about 2000 members across the country, with the largest group based in Sydney. Mr Carey said the AFP realised the potential of the group when a United Airlines flight was turned back to Sydney airport last July after a sick bag was found in the toilets with "BOB" - initially thought to stand for Bomb on Board - written on it. "We knew more about what was going on in the air than the authorities. We had pictures of the plane, everything," Mr Carey said.
Mr Carey said Jetspotter members would be issued with identity cards allowing them access to some no-go areas of Melbourne airport.
Stephen Reeves-Williams of the federal police posted AFP contact details on the group's website last month, encouraging Jetspotters to get in touch. "Our primary role is for the collection, initial analysis, co-ordination and dissemination of aviation-related information and intelligence at each airport," Mr Reeves-Williams wrote. "We are slowly introducing ourselves to other ... stakeholders in the wider airport community."
The Australian Jetspotters plan follows a similar program in England launched last year, where plane enthusiasts at Heathrow were briefed by police, issued with security cards and encouraged to report suspicious activity.
A formal role could also save the Jetspotters from suffering a similar fate to 12 British plane spotters who spent 19 days in jail in 2001 after being accused by Greek authorities of spying while photographing planes in Athens.
An AFP representative will meet with the group at the Hilton Hotel at Melbourne Airport tonight to discuss their proposals. "We are constantly meeting community groups to see what support we can offer one another," a spokeswoman said. "That is why we are meeting with the Jetspotters."
#3
Well, they never struck me as being any more obsessive than serious birders. We used to have them in for tours at Mather AFB; drive them around the base so they could record as many tail numbers as possible. They could actually be very, very effecient at observation and tracking of AC. I think the Austrialian police are being very creative and sensible.
#7
Plane spotting as a hobby grows out of the Royal Observer Corps, a volunteer paramilitary organization that maintained visual observation posts all over the UK during World War 2. They were especially useful for tracking German aircraft that had sneaked in under the radar cover. Plane-spotting was a national obsession during the war, for obvious reasons.
The US set up a similar network, with rather less to do, and this persisted into the 1960s as the Civilian Observer Corps. It was, and still might be, a useful back-up to the Norad radar net.
There is no need, raptor, to denigrate someone else's choice of a leisure time activity. Any such activity you choose, bass fishing or competition lawnmowing for example, can be denigrated in exactly the same manner you have this one. It is a cheap shot, typical of those who, it would seem, have no other way to occupy their time.
I am a champion plane-spotter, one of the best in the world, (though not the most modest) and I also have a very full and rewarding life in many, many other respects. This skill can be very useful to private intelligence activities and ultimately, to government itself.
One of my pet peeves as an Army officer was the miserable state of aircraft identification training in the US forces, a shortcoming that has led to several real tragedies in recent years. The most notorious of these was the destruction of two Army Blackhawk helicopters by AF F-15s over northern Iraq in 1994. 26 US and UN personnel were killed. The engagement happened in clear weather and at easy visual identification range. The F-15 pilots mistook the Blackhawks for Mi-24 Hinds, apparently because of their external stores pylons (which resemble the Hind's). The pilots made a mistake that many 12 year olds would not have.
#8
A few years ago I spotted a Mil MI-8 flying over Lubbock. It was bright red, had Russian civil registration and was apparently on a sales tour. I didn't dare notify the media or send them a picture for fear of incitng the local conspira-loons to their usual displays of ignorance and folly.
In cooperation with a radio ham friend, I also scan FAA frequencies once in a while, though not often. This was how LGF managed to scoop the world when F-16s intercepted Air France Flight 68 over California on the last day of 2002.
My take on the famous black helicopters? They are regular Army machines wandering around in areas where they aren't usually seen. Dark green looks black to sleepy-eyed Art Bell fans.
#9
I wish everyone had some skill that's generally / mostly obsolete, just in case we ever need them back again. I do a little handweaving on a floor loom, but am learning card weaving (belts, decorative trim) and sprang (making nets) which require almost no equipment.
I certainly hope never to *have* to use these skills, because making cloth and belts/handles by hand is timeconsuming. But if I had to, I could make a net which could catch fish or carry a lot of goods, using plants in the woods.
#13
What the hell, it's Saturday. I have a bunch of mil images that you might find interesting, though off-topic. Ignore this post if you're a topic cop. Enjoy if you're not, lol! I hope some of these help fill out your collections.
#14
I did see a "black" helicopter when I lived in Miami. I lived on a fish farm and those pumps do chew up Kilowatts, and a big concrete block building. So one day working the pools, I was treated to a blackhawk flying zero altitude, painted flat black with guys in jumpsuits with cameras ready. Wave at the nice DEA or Customs Agents!
Posted by: bruce ||
05/28/2005 19:49 Comments ||
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cool Sr71 pics!
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/28/2005 19:56 Comments ||
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Heh, 3dc be da man, bro!
What I find most interesting about the SR-71 images are the Goodall Storage shots.
Just think, there's nothing that can touch an SR-71 at altitude and cruise speed. And it has optics to die for if you're into the intel thingy. Nobody else has anything that can compare. Nothing. Not even close. And we have a friggin' fleet of them. And it's OLD shit. 60s-70s technology, so most of ours are in mothballs, as the images show. What - we're flying 2 or 3 at the moment, and one of those is a NASA testbed? And then there's the "Well, if those are in mothballs and old, what did we replace them with?" game. Lol! Time for the "I see Black Helicopters everyday - and they're following me!" stuff, no? Paging Area 51...
Percolate all that for a few nanoseconds and the picture becomes quite clear regards military capabilities. Add it to the pile of other nobody even comes close stuff and the stories we read on the EU Rapid Rape, Loot, and Pillage Reaction Force, etc., sound kinda goofy. Toss in that they'll prolly hafta hitch a ride and it gets even goofier. It would be great, IMHO, if they'd get their act together and do it right. Of course, I'd suggest banning fucking Unions and killing off the socialist some BS programs so they can actually afford it, but then that's the real price they won't pay, isn't it? This RRF is just purdy window-dressing for the masses. Hell, LA SWAT is better equipped and trained, I'd wager.
I read the Tamil Tigers might have some light aircraft story. Written in breathless style with a Jaws soundtrack. Danger! Destabilization! War! A coupla tail-draggers and it's apeshit time. Ooookaaaaay. *snicker* Sheesh. Don't want them to have a couple of Piper Cubs? Well shit, roll out your MiG29's and cluster-fuck the things. Good fucking grief.
Sigh.
Anywho, 3dc takes the trouble to wade into the terribly-done, badly-organized, 47-fickin'-layers-too-deep websites and mines the gold, bubba. As I said, he be da man!
#20
Thanks for the accolades but most of that wading was pre9-11. I used to have a home DSL based webserver with a sub-set (about 2GB) of military photos (good placement in Google too) but after 9-11 to many offshore hits came in (trying to grab the whole thing) and I just shut it down.
I gave some of my better sr-71 and X-plane photos to Gary Powers jr over at The Cold War Museum
Also, sent a copy of most everything to SPoD and traded a few with T.D. Barnes over at Area 51 Special Projects
A really good place to find basic photos is the UseNet group: "alt.binaries.pictures.military"
Post 9-11 the better stuff is on bit-torrent sites. Just google about looking for the right torrents... Music videos done by the troops/wives are nice along with AC-130 and drone stuff.
The Council of Europe is set to fight against anti-Islamism as a priority policy for the first time. Finally! I was getting worried.
Anti-Islamism has been included in the text as a dangerous inclination that has to be fought against upon the insistence of Turkey at the historic summit that 46 Council members attended. Ataturk would be so proud. With Turkey's support again, member states of the Council asked for the encouragement of inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue to develop universal tolerance and reconciliation in the final declaration. (Cue "call to the dairy cows" from the William Tell Overture.)
Even an ordinary Muslim is perceived as a "potential terrorist" in the West following the September 11 attacks in the US as analysts pointed out and the summit decisions will contribute to overcoming this issue. 'Cuz, like, it's our fault 'n stuff.
The 3rd Council of Europe summit has for the first time mentioned "Islamophobia" in the 9th paragraph of the Warsaw Declaration that was accepted on Tuesday, May 17. The Council has reached the following decisions regarding the issue: Condemnation of any kind of intolerance and discrimination based on gender, race and religious beliefs in particular, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, the fight against these within the framework of the Council of Europe and the use of effective mechanisms and rules to combat these problems. In other news, "fight" and "Council of Europe" appeared in the same sentence.
Thus, anti-Islamism as well as anti-Semitism will be dealt with within the framework of legal proceedings. The Council reports will include anti-Islamist movements such as Christianity, secularism, feminism, Judaism, etc. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) will closely monitor these movements. The Commission will record in which country anti-Islamism increases or how it is reflected. Happy trails, Europe. It was fun.
-Rex "my cookies crumbled" Rufus
#3
Beyond the usual appeasement of Islamic immigrants and PC run amok,there is another aspect to this.
The two countries who may vote NO to CONstitution,France and Netherlands,will do so and fear of Islamic immigration is a big reason. Those brilliant minds at the EU figure if they can outlaw Islamophobia,the voters will vote the right way next time.
Posted by: Stephen ||
05/28/2005 16:32 Comments ||
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Reg Required. This is the shape of things to come and wholly a good thing IMHO. It would have happened albeit much more slowly without the WOT. This will spread through buildings, areas and communities and make us all safer. America will launch a "trusted traveller" scheme this summer to spare passengers from long security checks at US airports if they agree to undergo vetting beforehand.
Judge Michael Chertoff, the US homeland security chief, said yesterday that the new programme would seek to make travel to America more convenient. The move comes after growing complaints from travellers delayed for up to four hours while officials verified they were not possible terrorists.
On his first visit to Britain since becoming homeland security secretary in February, Judge Chertoff added that he had urged Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, to ensure that the chips and software used in proposed British biometric passports and identity cards be "compatible" with US systems.
The trusted traveller scheme will be tried out first in the Netherlands, probably in two months' time, then hopefully extended to other countries including Britain. Travellers would volunteer to provide personal details to US authorities, which would be checked with their governments.
In return, they would be issued with travel documents which would contain details of their visa status and perhaps biometric data such as fingerprints, which would speed up passage through airports and borders.
Judge Chertoff added that fast lanes could be created for such trusted travellers, who would be spared the indignity of being pulled out of a queue to be questioned. He emphasised that the scheme was voluntary and was aimed principally at frequent travellers.
"Anything that will cut down delays at airports would certainly be welcome," said Sean Tipton, of the Association of British Travel Agents. "As long as the process was not too onerous it would be of benefit, particularly for families and business travellers."
When even WaPo criticizes Amnesia Int'l, you know it's bad. From Friday's editorial page.
IT'S ALWAYS SAD when a solid, trustworthy institution loses its bearings and joins in the partisan fracas that nowadays passes for political discourse. It's particularly sad when the institution is Amnesty International, which for more than 40 years has been a tough, single-minded defender of political prisoners around the world and a scourge of left- and right-wing dictators alike. True, Amnesty continues to keep track of the world's political prisoners, as it has always done, and its reports remain a vital source of human rights information. But lately the organization has tended to save its most vitriolic condemnations not for the world's dictators but for the United States.
That vitriol reached a new level this week when, at a news conference held to mark the publication of Amnesty's annual report, the organization's secretary general, Irene Khan, called the U.S. detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the "gulag of our times." In her written introduction to the report, Ms. Khan also mentioned only two countries at length: Sudan and the United States, the "unrivalled political, military and economic hyper-power," which "thumbs its nose at the rule of law and human rights."
Like Amnesty, we, too, have written extensively about U.S. prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay, in Afghanistan and in Iraq. We have done so not only because the phenomenon is disturbing in its own right but also because it gives undemocratic regimes around the world an excuse to justify their own use of torture and indefinite detention and because it damages the U.S. government's ability to promote human rights.
Amnesia Int'l has committed a terrible folly: it is indeed folly to compare torture, as practiced by Saddam, by Kimmie and by the Chinese, with sexual humiliation or inappropriate handling of someone's holy book. Everyone here at Rantburg is clear: our armed forces aren't allowed to torture anyone for any reason. But the mistakes and inappropriate behavior committed by a few of our people does not, repeat not, create some moral equivalence between our people and Saddam, Zarq or the Taliban. To think otherwise is to descend into a cess pit, and that's just where AI is today.
But we draw the line at the use of the word "gulag" or at the implication that the United States has somehow become the modern equivalent of Stalin's Soviet Union. Guantanamo Bay is an ad hoc creation, designed to contain captured enemy combatants in wartime. Abuses there -- including new evidence of desecrating the Koran -- have been investigated and discussed by the FBI, the press and, to a still limited extent, the military. The Soviet gulag, by contrast, was a massive forced labor complex consisting of thousands of concentration camps and hundreds of exile villages through which more than 20 million people passed during Stalin's lifetime and whose existence was not acknowledged until after his death. Its modern equivalent is not Guantanamo Bay, but the prisons of Cuba, where Amnesty itself says a new generation of prisoners of conscience reside; or the labor camps of North Korea, which were set up on Stalinist lines; or China's laogai , the true size of which isn't even known; or, until recently, the prisons of Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
Worrying about the use of a word may seem like mere semantics, but it is not. Turning a report on prisoner detention into another excuse for Bush-bashing or America-bashing undermines Amnesty's legitimate criticisms of U.S. policies and weakens the force of its investigations of prison systems in closed societies. It also gives the administration another excuse to dismiss valid objections to its policies as "hysterical."
I have yet to hear the Bush administration dismiss valid objections as hysterical. I've seen them investigate and investigate again. I've seen them court martial soldiers and relieve officers of command. I've seen them grill two and three star generals. I've seen the POTUS and SOD take their lumps in public.
What WaPo misses in their editorial, and what could have made this editorial much clearer -- indeed a breakthrough -- is that AI's langauge was hysterical. Just say it. It was embarrassing and damages AI's past reputation as a standard-bearer for human rights. Say that. And then the administration won't be able to lump you in with them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2005 02:42 ||
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"...a solid, trustworthy institution loses its bearings and joins in the partisan fracas..."
Lol. Solid and trustworthy. Yewbetcha. It's interesting in two areas, IMHO. One, WaPo actually says "Bush-bashing" and "America-bashing". A small surprise there to acknowledge the favorite sport of almost all "International" NGOs and MSM outlets. Two, WaPo seems to be attempting to assert some moral authority, but it's just the pot calling the kettle black. Best I can hope for is a spittin' match where they each trash the other in front of the Kool Aid Krowd. The "gulag" is in the AI management lounge and WaPo editorial conference room. Both are purely partisan players.
#3
Let's all remember that AI has a soft spot for even the most brutal butchers of children and innocents by their unrestrained denouncation of the death penalty in many of our States. Know who they are by their friends.
#10
This using of the word GULag to describe minor problems with treatment works in the left's favor.
They never wanted to admit their beloved USSR even had prison camps let alone an entire bureaucracy maintaining/expanding it. They makes them look like... uhm... communists.
So, folks like Khan. can srceam GULag, knowing full well the extent of the horror and hope that people think: GULag wasn't so bad. Maybe we were lied to about the USSR, which would be a lie Khan and her butt buddies would repeat ad nauseam.
This is why Khan et al need their tootsies held to the fire for saying such things. Failures to do so mean an implicit endorsement of the concept, twisted as it is. It is also why Khan needs to be linked DIRECTLY to the WaPo and Newsweak, unrelentingly.
I find it hilarious that the WaPo is horrified with such things given their out of control news magazine division. Just pee in your pants funny, and it should be said to their face.
#11
I gotta say this and I gotta say this publically"
I used to be a memeber of Amnesty Internation 20 years ago and looking at the organization now is a little like looking at a girlfriend from 20 years ago and thinking: "I used to hose THAT??"
Yeah, I too was a card-carrying member (literally) of AI back before Desert Storm. That seems to be the turning point when that began sliding overtly to the left (and I began regaining my political senses). It's now become a full-blown dive into the worst of anti-American madness. They've, unfortunately, completely lost their bearings and any semblance of impartiality.
#13
I know for a fact the most disgusting and disgraceful excuses for humans that are capable of the most depraved acts of murder and mayhem are locked up down there.
I also know that the civilized world would be done a favor if they were all dragged out and shot.
The fact that this garbage is still alive should make AI happy.
#1
Its easy to dismiss Mahathir as a nut, but he is a very clever man. What is happening is that the spotlight has been turned on Islamic societies and much of what it shows is not good. Muslims have learned that Islam is a formula for a perfect world. So when the failings of muslim countries (and they are many) are exposed they resort to arguing the faults of others are worse and there are (jewish) conspiracies to bring the muslims down. When someone likes Mahathir spouts this nonsense, it shows there is little hope for reform of Islam.
COLOMBO - European truce monitors in Sri Lanka have warned that the "air assets" of separatist Tamil Tiger rebels could re-ignite war on the island and destabilise security in South Asia. The Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said Tiger guerrillas possess an airstrip in the island's north but warned that any move by government forces to bomb it could lead to the resumption of war.
"We have seen the air strip from the air while flying in a Sri Lankan military helicopter," Monitoring Mission chief Hagrup Haukland told the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Sri Lanka on Thursday night. He said his mission, which monitors a truce that started on February 23, 2002, had been denied access by the rebels to verify government charges that they possess at least two light aircraft.
I'll take that as confirmation.
Haukland said an air capability would "mean a hell of a lot" to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He warned that "it not only destabilises Sri Lanka's security but India's security as well".
"If the Tigers fly, it will be a violation of Sri Lankan airspace and also of international law because the air space is a matter only for the Sri Lankan government," he said. "If the (government) air force bombs the air strip, then it will be war. If bombs fall, we pull out."
"Because we're European peacekeepers, so we don't stick out when people start shooting. But we might just send the mighty Uruguayans!"
He said the 60-member Scandinavian truce monitoring team had repeatedly asked the Tigers to allow them access to the island's northern Iranamadu area, where the air strip is located. "We have asked for access and we have been denied," he said. "That alone is a ceasefire violation."
What's the Tamil translation of "up yours"?
He added that he was still hopeful the guerrillas would eventually allow in the monitors, who have no executive powers to enforce the ceasefire and rely on the goodwill of both parties.
India, which once armed and trained the Tigers, warned earlier this month that the Tigers were acquiring aircraft. "We are concerned about the LTTE having built an airstrip and having two aeroplanes, and there's news about more coming," India's Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said.
I hear the Indians are selling MiGs mighty cheap.
New Delhi armed, trained and provided safe haven to the separatists in the mid-1980s but moved to disarm them after its 1987 peace pact with Colombo. The LTTE repudiated the peace plan and ended up fighting Indian troops. The Indian army withdrew after a 32-month deployment that saw 1,200 of their troops killed in clashes against the Tigers.
Since Sri Lanka isn't as important to them as Kashmir.
Since then, India had maintained a hands-off policy towards its southern neighbour. However, Sri Lanka and peace broker Norway have ensured New Delhi is kept fully informed in the current peace process. Diplomats say that any peace deal in Sri Lanka will need India's tacit approval, because New Delhi considers the island of 19.5 million people as part of its sphere of geo-political influence.
Haukland said that, although peace talks had broken down in April 2003, he believed neither party was likely to withdraw from the truce any time soon. "The no-war, no-peace situation can last for a year, two or longer," Haukland said. "There have been ceasefire agreements that went on for longer without peace talks."
The Korean ceasefire, for example.
The monitors have found that the Tigers were responsible for 2,837 truce violations up to April, compared to 129 violations by government forces. Most of the Tigers' violations related to the recruitment of child soldiers.
As if that mitigates anything.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2005 00:00 ||
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I'm sure the Indian Air Force could use some bombing practice...
Posted by: john ||
05/28/2005 14:06 Comments ||
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Tehran, 27 May (AKI) - Hojatolislam Gholam Reza Hasani, a representative of Iran's supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, in Iranian Azerbaijan, has no doubts as to who to vote for in the next presidential elections on 17 June. "You need to vote for Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani," said Hasani. "This way we will finally be able to have for ourselves the atomic bomb to fairly stand up to Israeli weapons," said Hasani.
"Freedom, democracy and stupidities of this type cannot be carried over to any part, and these concepts are out of sync with the principles of Islam," said Hasani, the imam who led Friday prayers in the main city of western Iranian Azerbaijian.
"Islam always spoke with the sword in the hand and I don't see why now we have changed attitudes and talk with the other civilisations."
Posted by: john ||
05/28/2005 19:51 Comments ||
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#3
name an Islamic war victory in the last century, loser
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/28/2005 20:03 Comments ||
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#5
I've read that the sash worn by the late Pakistani dictator General Zia ul Haq was awarded him by Kiing Hussein of Jordan for the part he played in crushing the PLO during Black September.
Posted by: john ||
05/28/2005 21:18 Comments ||
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#6
BERLIN: Iran is very anxious to obtain a nuclear bomb, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said in an interview published on Saturaday, while stating his opposition to any preventive attack on the fellow-Muslim nation.
Asked by Germany's Der Spiegel weekly how to prevent Iran from developing a military nuclear program, Musharraf said, "I do not know. They are very anxious to have the bomb."
But a preventive war against Tehran would lead to "a disaster considering the current state of the world," the Pakistani leader said.
"It would provoke a rebellion in the Muslim world. Why open up new fronts?" he was quoted by the weekly as saying.
Musharraf insisted that Pakistan, which already has nuclear weapons, was against proliferation.
Unlike Pakistan, which said it developed its offensive nuclear programme because it shares a border with nuclear-armed archrival India, "Iran does not have common borders with Israel," he said.
"We were really threatened," Musharraf added.
Posted by: john ||
05/28/2005 21:30 Comments ||
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#7
"And like our brave North Korean brothers, the acquisition of nuclear weapons is far more better for local Socialism than Solyent Green - just because we Mad Mullahs don't eat long pigs/cows doesn't mean you the masses shouldn't. It is the will of Allah and the Prophet that Governments and -Isms never be held accountable or justified to the People".
Lebanon's most eagerly awaited parliamentary election in years kicks off in Beirut tomorrow. The polls, billed as Lebanon's first free elections in more than 30 years, are taking place just one month after the withdrawal of Syrian troops who occupied the country in 1976, shortly after the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war the year before. Tomorrow's ballot, the first in a series of four rounds ending on June 19, looks set to deliver a virtually uncontested victory for the election list of Saad Hariri, son of slain ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, whose assassination last February was the catalyst for uniting Lebanon's disparate political opposition and forcing an end to Syria's presence in the country.
Hariri, who took over his father's political mantle following his assassination, has found himself assured of victory in the Beirut district because most of his political rivals decided not to contest the 19 seats available in the area. Hariri has aligned with maverick opposition figure, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, along with other opposition groups, including the Christian Qornet Shehwan and the right wing Christian Lebanese Forces. Despite being assured of victory in Beirut, Hariri urged his supporters to go out and vote. He said: "Don't feel comfortable about expectations. Out of loyalty to Rafik Hariri I urge everyone to go out and vote."
But while the fate of Beirut's parliamentary seats looks sealed, a fierce electoral battle in Mount Lebanon, which goes to the polls on June 12, is on the cards. Opposition Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, who returned to Lebanon from a 15 year Syrian imposed exile earlier this month is running independently of the rest of Lebanon's opposition parties. But despite his strong antipathy toward Syria, Aoun has allied himself with pro-Syrian Druze politician Talal Arslan, an arch rival of Jumblatt. Jumblatt launched a scarcely veiled attack on Aoun yesterday accusing him of weakening the opposition by his actions. He said: "I wish the opposition didn't have to fight side-battles, but some factions did not want it to stay united and wanted to take over everything."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
funny..out of all the players, I trust Jumblatt the least.
While the Lebanese people are busy with the elections, many officials and politicians are thinking about the post-election phase. Despite fierce competition in Mount Lebanon, the North and the Bekaa after the alliance between opposition forces and FPM leader Michel Aoun failed, many electoral calculations are linked to preparations for the next phase and to the post-election orientations of the authorities. Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's fiery Liberation Day comments Wednesday in Bint Jbeil come in this context.
Nasrallah linked Hizbullah's disarmament with achievement of a peace settlement in the region and asserted the party will fight to the death anyone who thinks about disarming the resistance by force. He urged parties that established contacts with Israel in the past and relied on the U.S. not to do so again, and suggested they reach an understanding with their local partners instead, including Hizbullah.
Nasrallah's speech had a strong impact on political circles busy with the elections. Some circles evaluated the speech from an electoral angle, saying it had a negative affect on the Christian public in Mount Lebanon and prompted them to vote against lists including Hizbullah candidates. Others said Nasrallah's speech has mobilized the hesitant Shiite public to vote for the list including Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt's candidate, former President Amin Gemayel and the LF.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
a peace agreement which he will scuttle at every opportunity? Pretty soon, Lebanon will want hezbollah there as much as they did the PLO
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/28/2005 11:14 Comments ||
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#2
Someone shluld remind them that disarming will be linked to their breathing priviledges.
Pakistan sent some components of old centrifuges to the IAEA to help an investigation into Iran's nuclear program. The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) demanded Pakistan to hand over the components to determine whether contamination found at Iran's nuclear sites had come from Pakistan or any other source, a foreign ministry official said.
"Components of an old and discarded centrifuge, which have no bearing on our national security, they have been sent with our experts to IAEA for their analysis," ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said. ''The IAEA would share the results of the investigation with us," he said, adding that Pakistan is cooperating on a voluntary basis in line with its commitment "to promote nuclear non-proliferation."
The IAEA is actually doing an investigation? I feel faint, I'd best go lie down ...
Jilani also noted that Tehran asked Pakistan to cooperate with the IAEA to clear up the controversy over its nuclear program.
IAEA inspectors could compare the parts with machinery sold to Iran by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb program, who is under virtual house arrest in Islamabad after admitting last year that he passed nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya. The centrifuges components could hold evidence of uranium traces found on equipment in Iran, experts say.
Oh, I see, the IAEA is looking to let Iran off the hook. Hokay, now it makes sense.
Iran, which insists that its nuclear program is strictly for the peaceful generation of electricity, said that the contaminated equipment came from imported machinery and not from enrichment activities in its nuclear facilities.
Iran has been under investigation for more than two years by the UN nuclear watchdog. So far, the IAEA didn't find any evidence that substantiate the U.S. claims that Tehran is secretly developing atomic weapons.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Lol! Oh yeah, I feel much better knowing the PakiWakis are helping the IAEA. Such trust is not easily won, but they've got my full confidence.
#2
"some observers" = shopped around until the agenda background sourcing was covered, lazy journalism (a repetitive phrase)....
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/28/2005 19:41 Comments ||
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#3
Yes, and I am an expert on sexual habits of the Amazon tribe Bororo. I predicted they would have no sex once they get TVs, but they showed me a middle finger, lusty savages!
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/28/2005 19:54 Comments ||
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#5
Oil: Caveat empty Without any press conferences, grand announcements, or hyperbolic advertising campaigns, the Exxon Mobil Corporation, one of the world's largest publicly owned petroleum companies, has quietly joined the ranks of those who are predicting an impending plateau in non-OPEC oil production. Their report, The Outlook for Energy: A 2030 View, forecasts a peak in just five years.
Posted by: john ||
05/28/2005 19:59 Comments ||
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#6
After the first few paragraphs its actually not a bad article and gets it mostly right. The main thing I would add is we can get vehicle fuel from sources other than conventional oil at less than 20$/barrel - in all likleyhood as much as we want for many years. The problem is the risk of cheap oil. It sounds paradoxical but (the risk of) cheap oil prevents us having cheap fuel.
#7
Don't believe the hype. The only place we'll get it in the pants is the military because they never put flexible fuel engines into their designs.
We're the 2nd largest Ethanol producer in the world behind Brazil. We use corn and they use sugar cane to produce it. Using the 85/15 eth/petrol mix it will help extend the "sky is falling" date. Most cars of today can already use the 10/90 eth/petrol mix as well. Plus it's better for the environment. A truckload of pure ethanol overturns and bursts open and you simply pick up the truck and leave, It evaporates quickly and environmentally safe. (Mixed, of course, is another story.)
Also, there is Biodiesel, which has been used in France for the last 20 years for public transportation. It would require about a $1,000 mod to current diesel engines to use. What is it made from? Soy Bean, vegtable oil, and even used cooking oil and when it burns it smells like popcorn or french fries (Mmmmm)
I know I just did the research for a paper on why we should switch to alternatives. It ened up being one saying screw alternative fuels and suck the oil dry. Why? Because the same people that buy $75,000 SUV's and then cry us a river when gas goes up 2 cents a gallon ALWAYS buy the 2 cent cheaper gas. Remember when people started to use ethanol in 78'? When ethanol usage went up oil supply then increased thereby dropping oil prices (along with other factors) and consumers jumped back to the cheaper oil again. So, just suck the oil until it becomes too costly to extract and refine, then we simply move over to alternatives fuels. Plus we'll get to watch as the Middle Eastern countries' economies collapse since their lazy asses never developed technologically like the West did.
As a matter of fact, it's ironic that OPEC's use of oil as a weapon in 73' and 78' helped to get us where we are today with alternative fuels. Thanks Ackmed!
Now let's stop paying those farm subsidies and get thsoe farmers planting soy beans for our 75k SUV's! AND it's a renewable resource too! Sorry Ackmed, your Daddy shouldn't have tried to screw with the US in the first place.
Here are some links if you'd like to read more about it:
#8
These doomsayers live in an idealized production and consumption universe and they just don't grasp the reality. First of all, the only oil there is a potential shortfall of is LSC, "Light, Sweet Crude". But if you want HSC "Heavy, Sour Crude", it's everywhere. But you have to pay extra to refine it. Most of LSC is tied up years in advance by the major economic powers, in long term contracts. Its production rate and price are both guaranteed and don't change day-to-day. Oil in this market is about $35/bbl. So that means that all the hoo-hah takes place in the "spot market", where you sell oil at whatever price you can get for it. If the major powers want "extra" oil, this is where they get it, easily outbidding the third and fourth world, who get all of their oil here. That is, those least able to afford it are those that pay the most for it. If the price goes up too high, the poor countries just can't afford it, and the powers adjust towards economy or alternatives just a little bit and they don't need to buy "extra." And this is why we keep progressing towards "peak oil", but we never get there.
Who set their doomsday clock (isn't that scary!) to three minutes till midnight in 1984, just as Reagan was sealing the fate of the Former soviet union. And they now say it's seven minutes till midnight and we're out of oil. Say good night, Gracy.
Good night Gracy.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/28/2005 21:11 Comments ||
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#11
Just in time for the new OIL STORM minidrama - PEARL HARBOR was the desperate, power-mad Failed Left's PC declaration of war against America, democapitalism, and rightism, then came THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, the Left's PC demand for Global Socialism and OWG now, iff only to save the earth and Clintonian Rightists-for-Socialism, includ Enviromentalism. Global Socialism, Global Regulation, and Global Deficit Spending is good for Armani and the environment. "VICTORY BELONGS TO THOSE WHOM BELIEVE IT THE LONGEST", to paraphrase Alex Baldwin as Colonel Doolittle - the Failed Left is giving America up to the year 2020 to give in to Socialism, vv the CLintons, or else be militarily and radioactively destroyed!?
Jim Lacey writes about the officers who lead our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2005 00:24 ||
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#1
Wow...a reporter goes out with a bunch of asshat brass, and the brass gets pissed off because the soldiers in the field aren't doing things according to the book. This "reporter" can't get his lips unglued from officer ass.
#3
Gromky, this isn't a parade drill. It isn't a game, or a matter of boots not being polished. In this case "according to the book", the colonel wants to reduce the chance of troops getting killed because they aren't set up properly.
I don't know your background, but it appears you've never commanded troops, never been in combat, or had troops under your command wounded or killed.
This may sound a bit off-putting considering that we're just both names at RB, but in this case, would you kindly just shut the fuck up?
#4
gromky: Wow...a reporter goes out with a bunch of asshat brass, and the brass gets pissed off because the soldiers in the field aren't doing things according to the book. This "reporter" can't get his lips unglued from officer ass.
The media's mantra - in line with its bias against higher-ups, especially in the military - is that the grunts know better than the brass. In reality, it's typically the other way around - the brass got where it is by *earning* it, by being more disciplined and smarter than the average grunt. It has been documented that basic issues get troops hurt - not wearing helmets, bunching up on patrol, not observing noise, light or litter discipline, following a repetitive schedule, route and routine while conducting patrols, etc. Beards for Special Forces troopers are one thing, but there's a lot of slackness, borne of either fatigue or habit, that needs to be ironed out to keep casualty numbers low.
And any shortage in training, later in combat, will be paid in blood.
Every good leader knows this. And if your troops are fatigued, you need to give them slack sometimes, other times you need to rachet down to buck them up. Its a judgement call. If they are sloppy becasue of repetitive duty (like the guard post cited), then you rachet down, and remind them the hard way that you expect them to perform to standards. This saves thier lives. If they are burnt because of combat, you loosen up for a while away from the line, with a deadline to get back to the book. THis keeps them from dulling the edge to where they cannot recover.
Seems the officers in this case were doing it that way. The real leadership in the US military comes from the Non-Coms (Sgts and Petty Officers) and guys wearing those railroad tracks (Army/USMC/USAF Captain, Navy Lt). Thats why our military does things few others can at a squad, platoon and company level - across the entire force (not just in spots).
The brass job is to make sure the front-line leaders have the tools and support to get their job done. This was illustrated in the article where it was the fault of the the BN Commander (in the rear with the gear apparently), not the company commander (who was in the field with his troops), to relieve and retrain that checkpoint.
Not saying the butkissing was any real journalism, but it is a view most civilians never have. They think "higher rank" = "more important" the way an editor is more important than his reporters. Doesnt work that way. At the Battalion level, its operations, administration and cultivation (of your leadership at lower ranks). At a company level, its Command and Control - and Ops.
Civilians dont get this which is why you get articles like the one here that seems to overhype the officers a bit.
#6
OS: Not saying the butkissing was any real journalism, but it is a view most civilians never have. They think "higher rank" = "more important" the way an editor is more important than his reporters. Doesnt work that way.
No offense, but it *does* work that way. This is why generals are discouraged from exposing themselves to physical danger - a general is far less dispensable than a light colonel. Generals don't inherit their jobs - Tommy Franks, for example, started out in the ranks - they start out as junior officers who then work their way up.
#7
I agree with everything OS said..but I think people sometimes kid themselves with the idea that the high brass doesn't really matter all that much. Don't kid yourself. It does come from the top. The decisions made at the top affect everything all the way down. When a CO changes - everything changes underneath him for good or for bad, depending on the mood, tone and expectations s/he sets.
#8
You fight like you train. And any shortage in training, later in combat, will be paid in blood.
Yes. Remember that KY national guard unit that rescued the ambushed convoy a few months ago? The young female NCO who joined the senior NCO in clearing out the trench of enemies who were firing RPGs etc.?
When she ran out of ammo she raced back to the nearest vehicle, stuck her hand in without looking and pulled out a replacement clip, then ran back into the trench.
She could do that because she and her senior NCO had drilled that squad, insisted that all vehicles be packed EXACTLY the same way. And the medic who manned the .50 cal gun was effective because those NCOs insisted that EVERY soldier in their unit stay current on skills and meet high standards.
That's what was missing at the checkpoint where the COL chewed ass. If these soldiers were burned out, it should be dealt with via a change in rotation and duties (as OS suggests - AWAY from that post) ... NOT by relaxing standards when they were pulling duty.
Meyers is the real thing, by the way. Easy to under-estimate, not a charismatic "look at me" leader .... but a fighter pilot with over 600 hours of COMBAT flying back in the day.
Posted by: too true ||
05/28/2005 15:01 Comments ||
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MANILA - Some 300 Filipinos employed at a US military camp in Iraq went on strike this week to protest poor working conditions, the foreign ministry said on Friday. The workers, under contract from Prime Projects International and Kellog Brown and Root, are based in Camp Cooke in the province of Taji, the ministry said.
It was not specified what their complaints were, but the ministry said the Filipinos and the agencies that employed them failed to agree on certain demands prompting the strike.
"... and we want double-time for Sundays, and a better health care package, and, um, oh yeah, someone has to kill Zarq."
"Double-time, check, health care, check, Zarq. .. Zarq. ... Zarq. You think we ain't been tryin'?"
"Yeah, well until you get it done, we're on strike!"
The Filipinos were to have been repatriated amid the deadlock, but the Philippine charge d'affaires Ricardo Endaya managed to convince them to enter dialogue and temporarily return to their posts. Despite a travel ban to Iraq, the Philippines is the biggest supplier of manpower for US-led coalition forces, with an estimated 6,000 Filipinos working in various camps.
US-based Kellog manages non-combat related operations of military installations in Iraq, while Prime Projects recruits Filipino workers for them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2005 00:00 ||
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This strikes me as odd, very out of character for Phillipinos. Just guessing that KBR and PPI probably think they can abuse them like they were still back home, under the thumb of some near slaveholder.
#3
Is it not odd that they will only strike in American camps? In Saudi Arabia they work 7 days a week for 12 hours a day and I never heard one of them talk about striking. The living quaters for some of the maids are so horrible that I would not put my dog in it.
.com and others who are familiar with the Aramco houses, might remember the crawl/closet space under the stairs of the 2 storie houses. That was the living quaters of some of the maids who worked for saudis and other muslims.
#5
"This strikes me as odd, very out of character for Phillipinos"
Yeah, and THEN some! But if this report is correct it's just 300 out of an estimated 6000. This is a very localized problem probably due to a single individual. But is it on the management or labor side of the house?
Posted by: Dave ||
05/28/2005 11:28 Comments ||
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#6
You are right... they couldn't strike in the Persian Gulf states. Some of the Pacific Rim nationals or TNCs (third world nationals) I spoke with at Camp Slayer in Baghdad told me that they couldn't even return home because when they arrived in Kuwait for their new jobs, they surrendered their passports until their contract was fulfilled. From Kuwait, they were promised higher wages and better working conditions if they took on temporary jobs up in Iraq. Kuwait Trading Company is just one of many companies in Iraq going for a fast buck by exploiting the situation like their international mentors and brethern. The laborers are expendable... albeit a neccessary evil for the money makers. I have no doubt that the Philipinos striking at Camp Cook were consistently mismanaged and miscommunicated with and it eventually led to this situation. The TNCs are exposed to the same dangers as any other living souls in those camps... but cannot possess or bear firearms or weapons. Their pay is embarrassingly low also. The only lower paying laborers I encountered were the local Iraqi laborers in the camps... roughly in 2003 - 2004 at $ 3.00 - $ 4.00 a day. Their neighbors back in the hood knew where they were headed everyday and resented that they got jobs working for the infidels. How many Assyrian Orthodox & Catholic washwomen have been murdered or attacked for doing our laundry in Iraq? They just wanted to feed their families... no real love for us, just needed to make some money. i heard that even some of these women were offended thru behavior not in-line with acceptable social norms. Their Muslim drivers and escorts were no less offensive and insulting in their own way. The whole meatball on laborers in a war zone is different no matter which side of the meatball you look at it. If the Phillipinos strike, then there must be a reason. I was grateful for their presence and anyone helping us do our jobs better. I never encountered a GI there doing KP, laundry or maintaining the showers and latrines except in smaller tent-like camps with limited resources.
#7
I never encountered a GI there doing KP, laundry or maintaining the showers and latrines except in smaller tent-like camps with limited resources.
Yes - and that's because of the policy instituted under Clinton, which reduced the active duty military to less than minimum needed, while outsourcing all logistical support.
There are pluses to that policy, but downsides as well.
#8
Wonder what you may... but yes, I was there. Laundry service in Iraq was much better than at Camp Udairi in Kuwait. But... this isn't about me. Its not just about the Philipinos or any of the other TCNs. Its about the often taken for granted laborers who set out to work where they can, and those who end up in war zones. The mix of people in jobs, religion, race & nationalities is just amazing and sometimes sad. All these resources drawn together could achieve so much more... but then I am being a silly idealist aren't I?
#9
local Iraqi laborers in the camps... roughly in 2003 - 2004 at $ 3.00 - $ 4.00 a day
Why were the wages for Iraqis working for coalition troops kept so low even though they performed such risky jobs? HU, did the Iraqis tell you how these day labor wages compared to what they might earn during Saddam's rule?
A U.S. rights watchdog has lambasted Egyptian police for inciting the sexual abuse and thrashing of demonstrators during a referendum this week and urged President Hosni Mubarak to investigate the "state-sanctioned brutality." "Plainclothes security agents beat demonstrators, and riot police allowed - and sometimes encouraged - mobs of Mubarak supporters to beat and sexually assault protesters and journalists," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said of Wednesday's crackdown on anti-referendum rallies.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2005 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.
Lebanon's most eagerly awaited parliamentary election in years kicks off in Beirut tomorrow. The polls, billed as Lebanon's first free elections in more than 30 years, are taking place just one month after the withdrawal of Syrian troops who occupied the country in 1976, shortly after the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war the year before. Tomorrow's ballot, the first in a series of four rounds ending on June 19, looks set to deliver a virtually uncontested victory for the election list of 
While the Lebanese people are busy with the elections, many officials and politicians are thinking about the post-election phase. Despite fierce competition in Mount Lebanon, the North and the Bekaa after the alliance between opposition forces and FPM leader 
A U.S. rights watchdog has lambasted Egyptian police for inciting the sexual abuse and thrashing of demonstrators during a referendum this week and urged President 
