The United States has lifted sanctions on Libyan air transport, says an official, the latest sign of warming ties between the two former foes.
The move was announced during a high-level US visit to Tripoli, headed by senior state department official Paula Dobriansky, who held talks with Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi.
The official said: "Mrs Dobriansky announced during this meeting that her country had lifted all air transport restrictions imposed on Libya, including the sale of aircraft."
The announcement came two weeks after Libya was formally removed from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism, marking another step in its return to the international fold after years of isolation as a pariah state.
The lifting of US economic sanctions on Libya [has] opened a new era in relations - especially since the Libyan government selected US oil companies: Occidental, Chevron and Amerada Hess in January 2005 to prospect for Libyan oil and modernise its oil facilities. Libya had Africa's biggest oil reserves.
Dobriansky, who also met other Libyan officials, said that the US was ready to co-operate with Libyan companies in other economic and trade fields as well as health and training.
#1
Let's see here. Lift the air embargo and watch carefully. The flights from Iran to the Sudan into Libya and onto Lebanon. But since they took the Beirut airport down today I guess there is no cause for that embargo anymore.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/13/2006 21:32 Comments ||
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#2
saves downing Iranian cargo planes "filled with shiite Iranian pilgrims making their hajj to the 5,432nd holiest place, Shebaa Farms"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 21:40 Comments ||
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Just before the killing Monday of the Chechen guerrilla Shamil Basayev, the pro-Kremlin prime minister of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, was ridiculing the strength of the rebel forces that at one time fielded tens of thousands of men to battle Russian forces in two brutal wars. Basayev, said Kadyrov, had only 20 men. Another leader of the guerrillas, Doku Umarov, has 13 fighters. And, Kadyrov said, there are 60 to 70 foreign mercenaries operating in Chechnya.
Even allowing for exaggeration, Kadyrov's mocking of the insurgents reflects an essential truth. The Chechen separatist movement has been severely weakened. Chechen forces loyal to Moscow, many of them former rebels, now control much of the territory in the republic, which tried to break away from Russia in the early 1990s. The Kremlin has turned much of the governance and policing of Chechnya over to Kadyrov, the son of a former rebel and Chechen president who was assassinated on Basayev's order in 2004. And Kadyrov has coaxed hundreds of fighters out of the hills and into his paramilitary formation, which has been blamed by human rights groups for hundreds of murders and disappearances in a ruthless drive to stamp out extremism.
Chechnya, over the last two years, has been the site of less and less serious fighting. "There is no war there today," Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week. "There are outbreaks of terrorism there but no war. All law enforcement issues, 80 to 90 percent, are dealt with primarily by the law enforcement agencies of the Chechen Republic, which are almost 100 percent manned by Chechen residents."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
This is categorically impossible. We've been told so often that fighting terrorists makes more terrorists that we must, must I tell you, believe it. So many well intentioned peaceniks cannot be so very, very wrong. If there is a military solution to jihadism, then Iraq would not necessarily be the hopeless quagmire we all know it to be. If war can end terrorism, then Bush may not be the worst President ever and the Chimpy McDeathiburton character every right thinking person can plainly see he is.
Therefore, Basayev must still be alive and the Chechen resistance stronger than ever. It's the only possible way to avoid a particularly unpleasant bout of cognitive dissonance.
Does anybody know where I can get some industrial gauge tin foil? I need a bigger hat.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
07/13/2006 1:27 Comments ||
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#2
Try the extra heavy duty Reynolds Wrap.......
As for Basayev......I hope Putin puts his head on a pike in his front yard and takes it to the G-8 with him.
I say its all natural selection.......the dumb one die and the smart ones see the dumb ones die and decide that jihad is NOT the growth industry its all cranked up to be.
Just remember this, the only way to defeat terror is terror. The Chechnyans are using terror (human rights violations to you limp wristed lefties out there) to make the separatists very uncomfortable.
AND BTW why do they continue to call a bunch of Muslim extremist goons "separatists" they were trying to establish an AQ base in Russia and put in a Taliban style government/culture. I think the revelations of what the Taliban did in Afghanistan have done a lot to turn some of the more westernized muslim populations OFF to that Gigg.
On a side note, do you suppose that the IDF's kicking a$$ in Gaza and Southwest Iran(Lebanon)will have the same chilling effect on Hezbollah?
Hamas???
AQ?
Already forced because of lack of funding to reduce assistance to displaced people from war-torn Chechnya, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warned it would have to halt its operation in the devastated republic entirely in three months unless fresh pledges are made soon. "From October, we will have absolutely nothing left to distribute," said Koryun Alaverdyan, WFP's Deputy Country Director in the Russian Federation. "The people we seek to assist are the poorest survivors of the Chechen conflict."
The UN agency, which also because of lack of funding has had to cut back on the number of Chechens it can support, has mobilized only 28 per cent of the $22 million it needs to feed 250,000 people this year. These include 130,000 primary school children in Chechnya and 27,000 Chechens displaced by the conflict, living in the neighbouring Republic of Ingushetia.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Death was not punishment enough for Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, the warlord and terrorist killed in an explosion this week, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday. "For him this is too little - to be just destroyed," Putin told the Canadian broadcaster CTV when asked what he felt when he heard that Russia's most-wanted man, a militant who claimed responsibility for the nation's deadliest terror attacks, had been killed Monday. "I think that no matter what belief he adhered to, he will get his due in the next world for the evil deeds he committed," Putin said in a portion of the interview shown on state-run television.
Questions linger about the circumstances of Basayev's death, which came just days before a weekend summit of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations that Putin is hosting. Russian officials say a special operation culminated in Basayev's death when a dynamite-filled truck exploded close to his car in a village in Ingushetia, a region bordering Chechnya. Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev insisted the explosion was an accident.
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov indicated Wednesday that there was no need for further efforts to identify the remains that authorities say are those of the warlord, whose body was blown apart in the blast. "We have not the slightest doubt that Basayev has been destroyed, which raises the question about the need of conducting identification," Ivanov told a news conference in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Czar Putty wants to also lick Shamil's dead tummy.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:37 Comments ||
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this pic of Basayev is most likely not his death pic, as one of his hands are bandaged with 1st aid instruments in the back ground. It may be from a few years ago...
..that is unless the Russkies caught him alive. ^^^
#5
That pic is from somewhere else. Baseyev was reportedly decapitated from the explosion. I suspect a sympathetic explosion of explsives in the car he was riding. He would have been blown to shit.
Posted by: ed ||
07/13/2006 2:01 Comments ||
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#6
My I suggest sewing his remains into pig skins then your Pooty-poot-ness?
July 13, 2006: Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, in response to the latest ominous missile rattling coming from "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il of North Korea, outraged pacifists world-wide in July by declaring that its pre-emptive strikes on Kim's missile bases would be an act of self-defense. Notice how the last part of that sentence is worded...
While Abe appeared to be discussing such a pre-emption in theory rather than as a realistic response to the launch of ballistic missiles by North Korea into the Sea of Japan, his words were heard in every Asian nation. Abe's remarks were later diluted a bit after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told the press that Japan would "have to think carefully about whether we can really resort to arms before we are attacked because this is also a constitutional issue." But Y'all should consider the warning given.
On the 4th of July (not a coincidence), North Korea had another tantrum and fired seven ballistic missiles, including a Taepodong-2, a model may be able to reach Hawaii and even the west coast of the US. While the Taepodong appeared to have failed catastrophically less than a minute after launch, it did successfully deliver its message: Kim Jong-il is still mad as a hatter and may take as much of the world with him as he can when his dictatorship finally collapses.
Japan has a stronger military than it advertises. In May, 2003, it quietly launched the first or a series of spy satellites into orbit, the better to keep tabs on potential threats like North Korea. Ignoring North Korean threats of "disastrous consequences," Japan successfully launched a rocket carrying two military spy satellites, giving the island nation its own space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability.
Tokyo is also accelerating development of missile defenses, building its commando forces, and working on creating an in-flight refueling capability for its fleet of F-15 aircraft, which would give them the ability to strike North Korea on a large scale.
There is even a suggestion from some in the Japanese government that the country should build nuclear weapons a call that may be heard more loudly now that North Korea is threatening to launch its own nukes at neighboring nations. A second set of satellites was subsequently launched. The four orbit at an average altitude of 500 kilometers, allowing Japan to photograph any part of the world at least once a day. The satellites carry optical- and radar-imaging capabilities, and it would be surprising if they did not also possess at least some electronic-intelligence capabilities.
The Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force has approximately 45,800 sailors, 146 warships, 179 airplanes, and 135 helicopters. Its fleet is divided into four flotillas, each around a 7,200-ton Kongo-class guided missile destroyer with AEGIS-capable surface to air missiles. The Kongos carry the SPY-1D AEGIS radar. The four Escort Flotillas have 2-3 air warfare ships and 5-6 anti-submarine destroyers, plus ASW helicopters. The JMSDF also fields twenty-three other guided missile destroyers, a number of gun-only destroyers and escorts, and 17 modern diesel-electric subs, perfectly suited for warfare in the Sea of Japan.
In possibly confronting North Korea, Japan's Air Self Defense Force has 46,000 airmen and force of over 330 combat aircraft, including F-15J/DJs, F-4E/EJs, F-2A/Bs, and F-1s. That Japan a nation traditionally and strictly limited to a defensive military since 1945 -- has so publicly declared its intention to "get buffed" and not be cowed by a rogue state is an interesting turn of events in an age of asymmetric warfare.
And take it from those who know... Japan can be very effective in preemption when it wants to be. They have probably learnt a few lessons in the past sixty years as well.
Right click on the picture, select properties and copy the address. Paste the adress in the address line of your browser and then increment the numbers pearlharbor_1 to 2, 3, 4... up to 17 to see the pictures.
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/13/2006 9:54 Comments ||
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See what you done Kimmie? Ya pissed Japan off. You gotta be a real asshole to piss off a pacifist nation.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 14:39 Comments ||
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#7
That was a cool video - do they buy *all* their gear from the US? If I hadn't seen the red circle of Japan on the fighters I would have sworn it was a US promo vid!
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/13/2006 15:05 Comments ||
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Not simply 'buy', Tony. The F-15J has japanese avionics and some other systems of their own design, or at least did when I was in the defense business in the late 80s, when the F15-J avionics upgrade was in progress.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 15:18 Comments ||
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#10
Ah thanks for that lotp - very interesting.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/13/2006 16:29 Comments ||
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Remember also that the USs "military industrial complex" has been turning out high-tech gear for over 50 years now. Some parts of the system are "tired", for want of a better word. However, Japan is still fresh as a daisy, and if it went on a serious military build-up, it would be a sight to behold.
Think the Reagan build-up times 10. The stimulus to their economy returned to creating more weapons systems instead of spent on socialistic social programs could have them armed to the teeth in short order.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Japan's draft UN resolution in response to North Korea's missile test firings contained "unacceptable elements", Interfax news agency reported. "Japan through its official representatives has announced that all countries have to vote as Japan wants, and warns that if this does not happen, they are threatened by some kind of negative consequences," he was quoted by Interfax as saying. "I think this is absolutely unacceptable."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Talk is cheap and Moscow is a way long way from where the action is. Seems the Japanese are genuinely pissed off at the NORKs and not in a mood to be shined. I hope we back them fully.
#2
F*ck the Ruskies and ChiComs, time for a coaltion of the willing
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:38 Comments ||
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#3
They don't call it the Useless Security Council for nothing.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/13/2006 7:00 Comments ||
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These discussions are fundamental in the long term to convincing Japan to build up its armed forces in order to counter the growing power of China as well as the NK threat. Every missile launched is another vote in the Diet.
#6
You know Puty, the last time the Russians pissed off the Japanese without the American's knocking at Tokyo's door [in care of LeMay's B-29s], they kicked your kister. And that was about Korea too. Just a reminder.
#7
Actually, CG, the USSR cleaned Japan's clock at Nomonhan in 1939. It was the most important battle you never heard of, since it convinced Japan not to join in with German in June 1941.
#8
Jackel, it cleaned the KMT [Japanese in composition] Army's clock. The Army was operating independent of the civilian government in Tokyo. In 1905, the Army worked for the government, not the other way around.
#9
I'll correct myself, the KMT was Chinese, but the Japanese Army in Manchuria and Mongolia was operating under the guise of the Manchurian puppet government it had set up to justify their actions in that area.
Japan remains firmly behind its U.N. Security Council draft resolution to impose sanctions on North Korea, despite France's proposed compromise this week, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Wednesday. "As far as Japan is concerned, we basically will seek adoption of the resolution," Abe told reporters.
French Ambassador to the U.N. Jean Marc de la Sabliere issued a statement Tuesday saying the Security Council could take a "two-step approach" to North Korea's missile launches last week. France is proposing to first adopt a "very strong" presidential statement and then, depending on developments, discuss a resolution.
France is one of the countries that agreed to the Japan-proposed resolution. Other backers include the U.S., Britain, Greece, Denmark, Slovakia and Peru. France's move appears to be aimed at easing tension between China, which wants a nonbinding U.N. presidential statement on North Korea, and Japan and the U.S., which seek stronger action.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Ah, yes, the ole weasel "two-step"
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:39 Comments ||
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CHINA has batted the North Korean crisis back to Washington, implying that the US should lift financial sanctions against Kim Jong-il's regime. North Korea has been fuming since the US effectively froze $US24 million ($A32 million) in assets last November at the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao yesterday appeared to back the North Korean stance by saying that the US must first resolve the financial dispute with North Korea. "It's affecting the progress of the six-party talks and we hope it will be clarified and resolved as quickly as possible," Mr Liu said. "Specifically how to resolve it is something you will have to ask the American side."
Now we know exactly what's bothering lil' Kim.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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We also know who tugs the strings on little Kimmy
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:41 Comments ||
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Only $24 mil? Bush should have the money transferred to D.C. and hold a bonfire on the Mall...
#4
There are people who seem to believe that China is trying to help Uncle Sam out on North Korea, for one reason or another. One theory is that China doesn't want to be inundated with refugees if North Korea gets into serious trouble. This is really silly. The Chinese approach to refugee relief is minimalist - in fact, it looks a lot like the Chinese approach to domestic unrest - the refugees will have to fend for themselves. Those who make trouble will be shot out of hand. China isn't a tiny country - it can and, throughout history, has absorbed huge numbers of both foreign migrants and conquerors. China already has 2m ethnic Koreans in-country. A few million more won't make much of a difference in a continental-sized nation with a lower population density than Western Europe.
#5
China is only trying to help it's self out and damage the US and Japan if it can along the way. Washington DC needs to wake up to that fact and act accordingly. This crap of looking at China's populaton and seeing consumers of US based goods and services is a pipe dream. It always has been. North Korea's proliferation of missile and nuclear technology is a given if left to the Chinese who will profit by it politically, economiclly, and strategically.
#7
SPOD: This crap of looking at China's populaton and seeing consumers of US based goods and services is a pipe dream. It always has been.
I'm afraid that's wrong. China is a big consumer of American goods. The problem is that much of it doesn't show up in the trade balance. (Where it does show up is in the bottom line of American companies, large and small, that do business in China).
In 2001, Coca Cola racked up $1.2b of sales in China. Its annual sales in 2005 were $23b. And Coke's Chinese sales have grown roughly 20% a year since 2001. Which means its Chinese number is probably 10% of Coke's total 2005 sales. But this is not something that will show up in the trade figures. Because Coca Cola produces its beverages in China.
GM sold 665,000 cars in China in 2005. That's close to 2/3 of all of GM's sales in the Asia Pacific region, which includes Japan, Australia, Thailand, South Korea and Taiwan. This means that for GM, China was bigger than all the other Asian Pacific auto markets combined. Again, this is something that won't show up in the trade figures. Because GM makes its cars in China.
The above is why the relationship with China is going to require some balancing between strategic and commercial interests. On the one hand, it is a large market with huge growth potential, much like pre-war Japan relative to the rest of Asia. On the other hand, it presents a potential strategic threat, just like pre-war Japan, depending on the extent of its territorial ambitions.
#10
$24 Million, that chump change. If ol Kim is hurting to the point that 30 Million means something he is closer to collaps than we thought!I vote NO! Let's use the money to pay for all the wasted plane flights of all the diplomats trying to keep peace with him.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/13/2006 9:48 Comments ||
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#11
It's the principle of the matter. Do you realize how many prostitute-days and bottles of Hennessy X.O. $24,000,000 will buy?
Posted by: Lil Kim ||
07/13/2006 9:58 Comments ||
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#12
I'm sure it isn't the US$24 million that Kim wants, but the ability to use the bank to transfer assets unobserved. Without the Macau bank, he is reduced to barter and large ship-loads of cash.
AUSTRALIA must intervene to stop Israel's war against Lebanon and the Palestinians, a Middle Eastern community leader said.
Israeli warplanes yesterday struck the runways of Beirut international airport in the city's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, forcing its closure, after Hezbollah guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight.
Islamic Friendship Association of Australia Keysar Trad said Australia had a moral obligation to intervene to stop the war against Lebanon and the Palestinian people.
"Australian Muslims, along with the wider community, are greatly disturbed at this escalation and call upon the Australian government to intervene to stop any further acts of war," Mr Trad said in a statement.
"With half a million Lebanese Australians, Australia has a moral obligation to intervene to stop this war."
Several Australians were last night believed to be stranded at Beirut airport as Israeli military forces pounded the Lebanese capital and blockaded the country.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) was trying to contact a group that ABC radio reported had been trapped at the airport when it came under attack.
The Australian embassy in Beirut was also closed as the security situation in the Middle East took a turn for the worse.
DFAT has upgraded its travel warnings, advising Australians against travelling to Lebanon and urging those already there to seek shelter in secure locations and to monitor media reports.
THE latest events in the Middle East are happening because of a Hezbollah incursions, not because of Israeli violations, Prime Minister John Howard said.
Mr Howard said today he was appalled at the loss of life on both sides of the latest conflict but such incidents were fated to continue unless there were some basic understandings.
Israel has blockaded Lebanese ports and struck Beirut airport and two military airbases, expanding reprisals that have killed 53 civilians in Lebanon since Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers a day earlier.
Mr Howard took issue at whether the response to recent incidents was to condemn Israeli actions or not.
"This latest incident started because of the Hezbollah incursion into Israel against all of the resolutions of the United Nations, against all of the understandings now of international law," Mr Howard told ABC radio.
"Do I think it's appalling? Yes. Am I other than totally appalled at the loss of life on both sides? It is terrible.
"Like every other world leader, I would like it to stop.
"But you will never have any kind of lasting settlement in this part of the world until two things are accepted - there is an absolute acceptance of Israel's right to exist in peace and be free of terrorist attacks, and there's an absolute commitment to the emergence of a Palestinian state."
PARIS (AP) - Six former inmates of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, insisted Wednesday on their innocence in closing arguments of their trial in Paris on charges of links to terrorism.
The trial has focused as much on the U.S. prison camp - roundly condemned by France and many other countries - as on the terror charges. Even prosecutor Sonya Djemni-Wagner requested unexpectedly light sentences for the men Tuesday after taking into account their ``arbitrary detention'' at Guantanamo.
You begin to wonder if this is the whole point of the trial ...
``To convict them would be to legitimize Guantanamo,'' defense lawyer Dominique Many said Wednesday. Paul-Albert Iweins, another defense lawyer, called the prison ``a system put in place to attack their dignity and their most sacred values.''
Most sacred values include killing infidels and blowing stuff up ...
Many said the suspects had been attracted to Afghanistan by a religious ``ideal'' well before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. ``There was not a question of terrorism,'' he said.
"Non, non, certainement pas!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Doesn't matter what this scum is guilty of. It's "the world" v. Gitmo
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:43 Comments ||
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LUXEMBOURG: A top European court on Wednesday threw out challenges by two terror suspects to freezes on their assets imposed in a global clampdown on people linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Chafiq Ayadi, a Tunisian national resident in Ireland, and Faraj Hassan, a Libyan national detained in a British jail, had complained that the freezes on their bank accounts and assets infringed their rights and asked for them to be annulled. But the Luxembourg-based European Court of First Instance ruled that European Union authorities had the competence to impose such a sanction to fight terrorism. "Such a measure does not infringe the universally recognised fundamental rights of the human person," the court said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Amazing. They must have spent the money already.
x-CIA agent claims VP, Bush officials plotted to ruin her career
JULY 13--Claiming that Vice President Dick Cheney conspired with presidential adviser Karl Rove and other Bush administration officials to destroy her CIA career, Valerie Plame today filed a federal lawsuit over the leaking of her identity to reporters.
Plame and her husband Joseph Wilson allege that Cheney & Co. outed here as a CIA agent in retaliation for Wilson's criticism of the White House's rationale for invading Iraq, according to a U.S. District Court complaint (a copy of which you can find below). In addition to Cheney and Rove, the lawsuit names Cheney's former top aide, I Lewis "Scooter" Libby as a defendant.
Libby is currently under indictment for lying to a federal grand jury examining the circumstances of the Plame leak. In the federal complaint, which does not specify monetary damages, but seeks compensatory, exemplary, and punitive awards, Plame and Wilson charge that the defendants's actions have led them to "fear for their safety and for the safety of their children." (23 pages)
#2
I thought Novac already said he read that Wilsons wife was a CIA agent in Who's Who in America. Written by Wilson himself?! Wouldn't that kind of let the cat out of the bag?
#6
Both plame and Wilson (stupid wife and idiot husband)need to be hanged from the gates of the Washington Naval Yard, and left there. What a pair of under-the-covers trotskyites and worthless shills. They deserve no sympathy and no "relief". Perhaps we need to reactivate both of them and make them the Ambassador and Second Secretary to Somalia. That might be fitting.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 21:06 Comments ||
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#7
Oohhhh, discovery!!! They can ask Plame on the stand about who sent her hubby and when she lies, sock her a felony perjury conviction.
Never mind what happens on the stand. The document demands that will come LONG before the trial are gonna be amazing. Funding, communications -- it'll either all come out, or the Wilson team's going to be facing a pissed-off judge.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/13/2006 21:23 Comments ||
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OP - nice subtlety :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 21:28 Comments ||
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Assuming the judge isn't a Clintonian asshole...
"Terrorists can do anything they like, 52-year-old businessman Dilip Khadaria said. We are businessmen, we will be going back to work. It wont hamper our business, it wont stop our work."
While the citys top brass were generous in their praise for the man on the street in the aftermath of Tuesdays bloodbath on the rails, many outsiders were in awe of the resilience that put the city back on its feet in no time.
The way Mumbai came back to life after the initial shock within the first few hours has etched a valiant picture in the minds of thousands in and outside the city.
One thing is very clear. Whenever the city faces any calamity it is the courage of the common man that comes to the fore, said ace Bollywood film director Rakesh Roshan.
An email from Jaydeep Patil is all over the internet:
We are Mumbaikers and we live like brothers in times like this. So, do not dare to threaten us with your crackers. The spirit of Mumbai is very strong and can not be harmed.
Mumbai residents displayed their resilient spirit by returning to work yesterday. But many questioned Indias approach to terrorism. We keep priding ourselves on how we bounce back after these blasts and Mumbais spirit, but havent we got it wrong? asked Anshuman Datta, a vegetable seller. Shouldnt we be priding ourselves on our ability to hit back at those responsible?"
Posted by: Mike ||
07/13/2006 07:00 ||
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Glad to see that some people in this world aren't dominated by a fear response.
ISLAMABAD: Differences between Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal President Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman still persist and the formers decision to collect the resignations of Jamaat-e-Islami parliamentarians amounts to distrust in the MMA Supreme Council, an MMA leader said on Wednesday.
Qazi Hussain collected the resignations as JI chief, when he should have taken such a decision as the MMA president, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, MMA deputy secretary general, told reporters here. Qazi Hussain should have asked all MMA legislators to give him their resignations to use against the government, Hafiz Hussain said. During the upcoming meeting of the Supreme Council, we will request both leaders not to make their differences public and resolve them in the Supreme Council.
About the Alliance for the ARDs threat to impeach President Musharraf and move a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Hafiz Hussain said this decision would strengthen military dictatorship. If the ARD goes only for the impeachment of the president, the MMA will support the ARD, he said. He said the ARD leadership had not taken the MMA into confidence on this issue. The MMAs position on this would be decided in the Supreme Council meeting. He said that the ARD had fixed a July 31 deadline to start a protest campaign against the government but had not announced its strategy. He said the MMA had already announced its schedule of protests in major cities. He said the ARD leadership had been invited to participate in these gatherings.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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MUZAFFARABAD: Unofficial results of the elections to the Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Wednesday showed the AJK Muslim Conference (MC) having emerged victorious, although with several cabinet ministers defeated in the polls, AP reported on Wednesday. The MC won 20 of the 41 contested constituencies, said Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Riaz Akhtar Chaudhry, citing unofficial results from polling stations. The commission still has to verify the results, which will be officially announced on Thursday.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Azad Kashmir was trailing with seven seats, the Peoples Muslim League was set to win four seats, independent candidates won six seats, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement two and the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Party one seat, Sheikh said. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) fielded 33 candidates in the elections and all of them lost.
Sheikh said that voting in one constituency (LA-33) had been postponed because of allegations of rigging. PPP AJK President Ishaq Zafar said that there had been some rigging at polling stations outside Muzaffarabad. The results are unclear as there is no clear majority for any party and we could have a hung parliament and a coalition government, he said. The newly elected lawmakers will vote later to fill eight other seats five of them reserved for women in the 49-member Kashmir legislature. The Muslim Conference, which supports Kashmirs merger with Pakistan, currently has 33 seats in the legislature.
Govt rigged AJK elections: MMA
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) on Wednesday claimed that the federal government and agencies have sabotaged the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) elections. MMA Deputy Secretary General Liaqat Baloch demanded that the government declare the elections null and void and form a government in AJK, representing all political parties.
That way the fundos get some seats even though they didn't win any. Cheeze, they're transparent...
#1
Sarna said the situation in Gilgit and Baltistan was even worse where there was no semblance of representation. Elections are never held in this area and residents dont enjoy the basic right to vote, he said.
'cause the population is shia muslim.
Retired Pak army officers and fuedal punjabis have been granted land in Pak Kashmir and habe changed the demographic character of the state.
It is now finally safe enough for Pak to run elections here, though not yet in Gilgit region.
Pak runs tours for internal media of 'camps' where displced 'kashmiris' live.
During one tour an Indian journalist was present. A woman tearfully related a story of sons being killed, of being raped by Indian soldiers.
She said all this is perfect chaste Urdu. When the journalist questioned her in Kashmiri, she did not understand.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 7:01 Comments ||
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Even as the dead are still being counted in India's worst terrorist attack in more than a decade, suspicion has already fallen on Islamic terrorists though not al-Qaeda.
Actually, they're on my Suspicious list, behind Lashkar and Jaish and before the local commies.
India is home to a Muslim insurgency in Kashmir, and earlier in the day militants killed eight people and injured 30 in five separate bomb attacks in the capital, Srinagar. And while no one said those same insurgents carried out Tuesday's rush-hour train attacks in Bombay which police said killed at least 130 people and injured 260 security sources told TIME they suspected a shadowy alliance of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) working with indigenous Indian Muslims from the banned Student Islamic Movemement of India (SIMI).
SIMI's another ISI tool.
SIMI detonated a total of nine bombs in Bombay during the course of 2003, killing close to 80 people and injuring hundreds more. The same loose grouping of Islamic radicals are also suspected of being behind a series of attacks in India in the last year that included three blasts in New Delhi last October that killed 60 and three more in the holy Hindu city of Varanasi in March this year, which killed 20, as well as smaller attacks in Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Ajay Sahni of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi said it was unlikely that there had been any trigger for the attacks. Rather this was an "ongoing war" against Hindu-majority India by South Asian Muslims. "It is a continuous process of preparing for attacks and carrying them out," he said. "When these people are able to bring something to fruition, they do it. The act itself is the objective. It says: 'We're here. And this is what we are going to do to you.'" In a paper published Monday, Institute research fellow Bibhu Prasad Routray warned that SIMI had been stepping up its operations in Bombay and the surrounding state of Maharashtra. He described several "SIMI strongholds" in the state, adding that the "seizure of 30 kilograms of RDX, 17 AK-47s and 50 hand grenades from Aurangabad and Malegaon [two Maharashtran towns] between May 9 and 12 and subsequent arrests of 11 LeT terrorists pointed to linkages between SIMI and the LeT."
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
During partition a large portion of the muslim elite opted for Pakistan. This included a significant proportion of muslim soldiers and officers, the professionals - doctors, lawyers etc, many businessmen.
This has skewed the socio-economic indicators of today's Indian muslims. They are now under-represented in the professions, the army etc, not because of any discrimination, but perhaps because the poorer muslims have not filled the vacancies left when their richer cousins migrated.
This hasn't stopped muslims from rising in the army (several Generals), or the professions, or business - the second richest Indian is Azam Premji, the founder of the Outsourcing IT company Wipro. The grandson of Jinnah is an Indian citizen, a wealthy industrialist in Bombay.
But it must have affected communities when the positive role models (like Musharraf's family) left.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 6:31 Comments ||
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#3
The lack of muslim interest in conventional education, the reliance on madrassas for boys, the non-education of girls, has severly affected their employment chances.
A school leaving certificate is needed for entry to the army for enlisted men. Indian universities are very competitive - it is easier to get into an Ivy league US college than one of the Indian IITs.
This lack of education is not India specific. Statistics from the UK show that muslims are at the bottom of all educational rankings (right below afro-carribean boys). If third generation muslim immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India are all failing at school while their classmates from the same parts of India - but Hindu and Sikh - are topping the class then where is the problem?
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 6:39 Comments ||
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Exclusive information available with NDTV indicates that National Security Advisor told Cabinet Ministers that Pakistan's involvement was definite.
Investigators are searching for two men - Zabiuddin and Mohammad Faiyaz believed to be the masterminds in the attacks. The third suspect Rahil, an expert in forging passports was said to be running a travel agency on Grant Road in Mumbai.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 15:00 Comments ||
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#5
Image released by Indian Police today of a man identified as Sayyad Zabiuddin. Indian authorities named two men as the first suspects in this week's train bombings
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 15:08 Comments ||
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...
US President George W. Bush blamed "terrorists who want to stop the advance of peace", while fellow UN Security Council members Russia and France condemned Israel's "disproportionate" use of force. Russia has some serious stones just opening one of their mouths to condemn ANYBODY for disproportionate force...
"Hezbollah doesn't want there to be peace, the militant arm of Hamas doesn't want there to be peace, and those of us who do want peace will continue to work together to encourage peace," Bush said.
Israeli war planes carried out at least 50 raids across Lebanon on Thursday, including on Beirut airport, a day after the killing of eight Israeli soldiers and the capture of two by Hezbollah guerrillas.
Bush, speaking on a visit to Germany, also urged Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to help pressure Hezbollah to release the Israeli soldiers, adding: "Syria needs to be held to account." Find a DEEP hole, Assad.
...
Russia, France, Britain and Italy criticised Israel for its "disproportionate" use of force.
Moscow, a member of the diplomatic quartet on Middle East peace, also warned against the region slipping back into war.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as warning of a "very dramatic and tragic" outcome to the Middle East violence.
#2
I think so. And I'm all for the disproportionate use of force for Israel. They have had to take so much grief over the years it is time to dish it back out, with intrest.
Posted by: ed ||
07/13/2006 12:07 Comments ||
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#5
I would suggest that Israel start at the border and begin carpet bombing northward until Hezbollah says uncle or nobody is left (either is a positive outcome). This should work in Gaza as well.
#6
Israel has been putting up with this for far too long. They have been under siege for years, when they fight back the EUnicks piss themselves. End their ability to attack.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 14:23 Comments ||
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#8
It may be more dramatic and tragic than you expected. And F*khead in Iran will be on the receiving end. As for France, et al, who the hell gives a shit about your 2 cents worth ?
Iraqi parliament speaker: Jews finance acts of violence in Iraq
By The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's parliament speaker Thursday accused "Jews" of financing acts of violence in Iraq in order to discredit Islamists who control the parliament and government so they can install their "agents" in power.
-- snip --
"Some people say 'we saw you beheading, kidnappings and killing. In the end we even started kidnapping women who are our honor,"' al-Mashhadani said. "These acts are not the work of Iraqis. I am sure that he who does this is a Jew and the son of a Jew."
"I can tell you about these Jewish, Israelis and Zionists who are using Iraqi money and oil to frustrate the Islamic movement in Iraq and come with the agent and cheap project."
"No one deserves to rule Iraq other than Islamists," he said.
#1
This kind of thinking and speaking is common currency throughout the Arab and Muslim world. The only surprise is that a (possibly novice?) AP reporter wrote about it and sent it out into the great big world. Shoot, accusations of being a Jew or descended from Jews have been thrown about in recent Russian and Polish elections, and (if I remember correctly) in French and English elections as well. The rest of the world shrugs at things they consider Americans to be foolishly hypersensitive about.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi troops plan to take over security in the southern city of Samawa following the withdrawal of Japanese troops on Thursday, a security source said on Wednesday. The Japanese troops were first deployed in February 2004. Except for sporadic protests over high rates of unemployment and lack of basic services, Samawa is a relatively secure zone undisturbed by the sectarian violence that has escalated across the rest of Iraq.
Thank you, Japan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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The U.S. ambassador to Iraq has described sectarian violence as the main threat to stability and, warning of the global risk from an Iraqi civil war, said the government must act to curb it within six months.
Zalmay Khalilzad, in a speech in Washington on Tuesday, also cautioned fellow Americans that a hasty withdrawal could plunge Iraq into civil war and insisted U.S. political leaders must not block offers of amnesty to insurgents who have killed American soldiers if hopes of national reconciliation are to succeed.
"A year ago, terrorism and the insurgency against the Coalition and the Iraqi security forces were the principal sources of instability," he said. "Violent sectarianism is now the main challenge ... It is imperative for the new Iraqi government to make major progress in dealing with this challenge in the next six months."
We'd like to see progress in six months. But we don't dare draw a line in the sand. Six months or six more years, what matters is that the militias are brought under control, the Sunnis figure out that violence isn't going to get them back into power, and that the furriner jahadis are run off. Oh, and Tater gets mashed.
Khalilzad cited as reason for Americans to be "strategically optimistic" about Iraq the increased political engagement of the Sunni Arab minority previously dominant under Saddam Hussein and what he called a significant weakening of al Qaeda in Iraq. "At the same time, the terrorists have adapted to this success by exploiting Iraq's sectarian fault line," he said.
"The central goal," he said, of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's reconciliation plan to bridge that divide was to bring Sunni insurgents into politics -- a process that would require former guerrillas to be given amnesty from prosecution.
"Some in the United States reacted negatively to the concept of granting amnesties," Khalilzad said of strong comments by U.S. senators that killers of Americans must be pursued. "We will work with Iraqi leaders to find the right balance between reconciliation and accountability ... There will not be a double standard that grants amnesty to those who killed soldiers in the Coalition but not to those who killed Iraqis."
That's the problem every time you transition from war to peace. At some point you let go of the small stuff and figure out how to make things work, while ensuring that the people who were the worst are punished for that.
Addressing Americans, the ambassador cautioned against pressure in Washington to bring troops home, saying it risked sparking a Sunni-Shi'ite sectarian war across the Middle East's oilfields and an ethnic separatist war involving the Kurds.
"A precipitous Coalition departure could unleash a sectarian civil war, which inevitably would draw neighbouring states into a regional conflagration that would disrupt oil supplies," he said. "It could also result in al Qaeda taking over part of Iraq ... This would make the past challenge of al Qaeda in Afghanistan look like child's play."
The Afghan-born Khalilzad, whom some majority Shi'ite leaders accuse of favouring his fellow Sunni Muslims as he tries to mediate, also said Iraq should curb "excesses" in the process of de-Baathification. Many Sunnis feel they are unfairly barred from office for having worked under Saddam's Baath party regime. Also important for quelling Sunni unrest, he said, would be making good on promises to review the constitution drawn up last year in a process largely boycotted by Sunni leaders.
Iraq's neighbours should help in the process, he added, while Syria and Iran need to stop destabilising the country.
The Syrian contribution might come to a swift and unexpected end in the near future ...
"If Iran persists in its unhelpful actions, the Iraqi government, as well as the United States and other friends of Iraq, will need to consider necessary measures," Khalilzad said.
#2
I'd encourage the Kurds to apply pressue in the N of Iran AND Syria. And find a way to aid the Arab rebels in coastal Iran. Dictatorships are far less resilient when it comes to dealign with geurilla forces.
#7
Zalmay Khalilzad is just hedging his 'bets' on intuitions he knows "W" won't do! The troops are not going to leave Iraq until "W" leaves office with the next President's 'Decree'. If a coastal clearing city destroying storms like Katrina and Rita and others couldn't pull the troops back home in the recovery effort, then anything short of a nuclear detonation on US soil won't bring our guys home either!!!
#9
Let's see, 40 or so per day per side...carry the 3...minus....ah, I'd say about 185 days or so and we'll be down to eleven year olds as head of household. So, let's put a deadline on it.
Six months.
(KUNA) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki vowed Wednesday to track down terrorists and sectarian rebels in Iraq. A government statement issued today said that the Iraqi Prime Minister expressed his condolences to families of the 10 victims of terrorist acts yesterday. A group of civilians were attacked on their way back after burying a family member in the Najaf area graveyard. Al-Maliki said that Iraqi security forces will track down all individuals and groups who spark terrorism and sectarian violence in Iraq and hand them over to court for legal action. He condemned yesterday's incidents against individuals in Al-Dawra south Baghdad, as well and describes it as a gruesome crime.
Al-Maliki stressed that the government is focusing on stopping violence of all kinds, and tracking down all those involved in terrorism in Iraq, pointing out that kidnappings, murders, and attempts of invasion of small areas of the country are unacceptable. The Iraqi Parliament had condemned the acts yesterday and the violent incidents that have been taking place, calling upon security ministers of the government to hold talks with MPs on the recent developments.
Meanwhile in a speech before parliament, Al-Maliki today said that Iraq's security is not only the government's responsibility but also the Parliament and the people's collectively, and the MPs should not stand, watch, and criticize the government without action on their part. He also asserted security of the country takes priority over any financial or economic issues. Al-Maliki stressed that the security scheme executed in Iraq now and its success is his priority, expressing his confidence that Iraqi forces are fully capable of controlling the situation.
Al-Maliki said that the government plans to put together an investment law, pointing out that the Ministerial Council is to address the matter in its meeting tomorrow before presenting it to the Parliament. He added that an international conference is to be held in September to address Iraqi debts and the possibilities of aiding Iraq in re-constructing its infra-structure and continue its development projects. Al-Maliki pointed out that agreements have been made with world organizations to be lenient, cooperative, and considerate of the current political and security situation in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
He ain't no George Washington (who is?), but he does give a shit about a unified country.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 14:26 Comments ||
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The Army has slashed the rate at which young soldiers wash out, allowing it to keep more of the recruits it has struggled to find.
That's due largely to changes in how the Army treats enlistees. Gone are the days when trainees run 'til they drop. Soldiers who need counseling get extra attention, not a screaming drill sergeant.
The attrition rate within the soldier's first six months plummeted from 18.1% in May 2005 to today's rate of 7.6%. Last year the Army, which supplies most of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, missed its recruiting goal of 80,000 soldiers; it's on track to meet this year's goal, also 80,000.
It made sense to change basic training, because the Army relies more on technology skills than brute strength, said Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution. "If you're losing good people with those skills because of lack of physical prowess, that's not a good thing."
Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said the approach began in 2003 and was re-emphasized in 2005, after the Army fell behind its recruiting goals. Soldiers who fail tests are often retrained instead of run out of the Army, he said.
"You'll get guys who have never run a mile," Hilferty said of some recruits. "Rather than throw them out, we said, 'Let's change the training so we don't injure them.' "
The Army's also made training more relevant to today's fight, said Harvey Perritt, a spokesman for the Army's Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Va. Young soldiers spend three weeks in the field compared with three days a few years ago. They get issued an M-16 rifle on their second day, not in the third week as in the past. And they carry it everywhere, from the chow hall to the bathroom.
James Martin, an expert on military culture at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, said the changes make sense but stressed that the Army needs to guard against graduating substandard soldiers.
"Will you have people causing you problems later on?" Martin said. "That would occur if you lowered that standard at the end of training period." We used to joke about the Army "ugly man" program. In peacetime, the Army raises its standards far beyond physical fitness, eliminating many valuable individuals who would otherwise excel at their jobs. In wartime, however, they do not have the luxury of eliminating superior personnel just because they aren't perfect.
#3
James Martin, an expert on military culture at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania
No offence, lotp, tw, db, etc., but why the heck does a girl's school have an expert on military culture on its faculty? Do lot's of the ladies of the Main Line go ROTC?
#4
Martin is a clinical social worker who appears to have done a lot of study of military life issues WRT families and medical care, among other things. He's done a lot a work with DOD on aspects of military training, too.
And don't forget that Bryn Mawr shares classes with Haverford and other mainline schools with male students.
That said, the real surprise isn't that Bryn Mawr has a female student body, but that it's Main Line. ;-)
A retired Army Colonel, Jims military career includes a variety of clinical, research, and management (command), and senior policy assignments. He served three assignments in Europe, including an assignment at Headquarter, 7th Medical Command, and as the Commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Europe, an overseas activity of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Jim was the senior social work officer in the Persian Gulf Theater of Operations during the first Gulf War and edited The Gulf War and Mental Health: A Comprehensive Guide (Praeger, 1996). He served in the Pentagon as the Executive Assistant to the Army Deputy Surgeon General for Medical Research and Development and as the medical liaison to the Armys Director of Science and Technology ...
#6
When the need is there, if you are breathing, can walk and talk, you're in. That's Ok for infantry, but for tanks and missile interception, there needs to be some level of cognizance to properly operate systems. Happily, often times those who may not be top rate physically are often more capable from the mental end.
#7
Looks like they may have "lowered" the physical requirements, but three weeks in the field and a rifle after three days -- sounds like they increased the mental/emotional requirements.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/13/2006 16:20 Comments ||
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#8
And don't forget the reason they may be less physically fit -- those video hands are paying off BIG in all the services. Their minds and their hands function extremely well together, better than their minds and feet maybe!
#9
I remember the Army "fat man" and "anti-smoker" programs. Fat man in particular eliminated dozens of guys I knew who were senior NCOs of high skill level. Several such fires crippled their units because they lost individuals who were gifted logicians, master mechanics, computer jocks back when that was a very rare thing, etc.
One fat NCO in particular had been given a high commendation for keeping a big chunk of Ft Lewis's supply system operational during a major training cycle. Then promptly discharged even though nobody else had a clue.
Within a year, he was pulling down $300k working for a major trucking company, and still fat. Not bad for an ex-E7 in the 1980s.
#12
logisticians. I remember the only one they were afraid to sacrifice to the goddess of P.C. was an NCO who had been a POW in Vietnam twice (escaped, recaptured). He was not only fat, but he was surly, and knew he could get away with damn near anything.
It also helped that he was very, very good at his job, and made it a habit to pull officer's ashes out of the fire by "having it done yesterday."
#13
I've always told my Marines that as long as they run a first class PFT I don't give a rat's ass how they look in uniform or how "fat" they are. Also, any senior SNCO or Officer w/half a cranial pulse can see someone's best effort versus sandbagging. OTOH, I've seen some guys who look like their in shape who are physically weak, much of which goes to lack of mental toughness or self discipline to do what it takes to get ahead. I'd rather have fat boys who can pack their gear then some thin-lanky guys who look good in uniform but can't hack it in the field.
I disagree w/this "coach" or let's not hurt their little feelings. This whole approach the Army is going to is not good but this has been long in coming, they are just now putting a name to it. My Dad (prior 101st LRRP, early to mid-60s) hates today's Army because of this type of *new & improved ideas*.
BTW - I reserve most of this rant for leg outfits. The Rangers/SF lads still seem to maintain the standards from what I've observed.
#14
Each generation of soldier is vastly different from the next, the training needs to flex. Today's troops are much smarter than the recruits of the 70's or 80's. They have a much better grasp of technology than we did. And yup, they need to get into shape and also learn to work outdoors and with weapons. But to say they are not as good as the last generation or as tough is just wrong. They are proving themselves as just as capable as any generation of soldiers ever produced in America.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/13/2006 21:41 Comments ||
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#15
One thing that really impresses me is the American military ethic. On one hand, they are capable of imagining the most horrific things, unlike their forefathers in WWII who were not as worldly. That is, soldiers today fully understand genocide, child slavery, torture and brutality in so many of its forms.
And yet, this knowledge has *not* made them evil or brutal. Knowing of monsters does not make you a monster. If anything, the soldiers of today have a keen eye and extraordinary self-control.
In WWII, faced with a murderous and treacherous enemy, the military responded with a fearsome brutality. But today, they somehow retain their equanimity, and never stoop to the level of their enemy.
It is as if they have transcended acting on hatred.
#16
Lowering standards makes sense in wartime, when the "adventure" component of joining the military goes off the charts. You gotta figure that since less people will be volunteering, thanks to the risk to life and limb, fewer candidates, fit or not, are available to fill vacant slots left by exiting personnel. Short of a draft, or a massive increase in starting salaries ($40,000 per year on top of free housing, food and tax bennies might do it)*, there's no way they're going to get enough highly-fit people to sign up during a time when the odds of getting killed or maimed are about 1 in 50. As long as the pay doesn't make up for the risk of death and the gruelling 12-hours-on, 12-hours-off, 7 days-a-week, can't fraternize with the local women (in Muslim countries), can't drink in-country (in Muslim countries) rules, there will always be a shortage of recruits that meet the military's exacting standards. Again, short of a draft, that is.
* Instead of the occasionally-quoted $30,000 number which already factors in the free housing, food and tax bennies. The real pre-tax dollars on this number amount to about $22,000 per year, which is way lower than the $40,000 number I put up.
Sri Lanka announced the formation of a special unit of 1,000 men on Wednesday to bolster security arrangements in the main city of Colombo amid fears of Tamil Tiger suicide bombings. Defence ministry spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said the army had begun enlisting 1,000 soldiers for the special Colombo security unit from Tuesday and 200 had already signed up.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Iranian arab-parast president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned on Thursday that Tehran could halt UN inspections and quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in retaliation against mounting international pressure on the country.
The threat came the day after world powers referred the crisis over Iran's disputed nuclear drive back to the Security Council -- which could impose sanctions -- after Iran failed to respond to demands it suspend work that could lead to the production of nuclear weapons.
"Up to now the Iranian people have acted within the framework of the NPT and the IAEA," the president played his pathetic 'Theocratic Nationalism', in reference to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency.
"But if they reach the conclusion that Western countries do not have goodwill and sincerity... they (the Iranian people) will revise their policy," he said in comments carried by the website of Iranian state television.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 15:40 ||
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#1
Love the cartoon of ahmadinejad
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 15:53 Comments ||
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#1
In a television program aired on July 11, 2006, Iranian President Ahmadinejad warned Western countries not to support Israel, because "the rage of the Muslim peoples will not be restricted to the boundaries of our region... The waves of the explosion... will reach the corrupt forces [i.e. the Western countries] which support this fake regime." The following is an excerpt from Ahmadinejad's statement on the program: This dumb b*stard doesn't know when to STFU. He is about to become a grease spot.
(KUNA) -- The Lebanese government, which held an extraordinary session called for an urgent UN Security Council session to discuss the Israeli attacks against Lebanon. Minister of Information Ghazi Al-Aridi said that the government had no knowledge of Hezbollah's operation and cannot be held responsible for it or for any incidents on the international borders. The Lebanese government also condemned the Israeli continuous attacks against civilians and vital facilities, calling for holding an urgent Security Council session to discuss and handle such attacks. The government also expressed readiness to negotiate through the UN to handle the incidents on the borders and the reasons behind them.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
government ... cannot be held responsible ... for any incidents on the international borders.
"The whole world will not be able to retrieve the two captured Israeli soldiers except through indirect negotiations that will lead to a swap with our detainees in Israel," Hizbullah's leader declared Wednesday. Speaking at a news conference in Beirut's southern suburbs after the resistance group captured two Israeli soldiers, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said: "It would be a delusion if anyone thinks that they can retrieve the captured Israeli soldiers. These soldiers will not return to Israel until after one means is utilized, which is indirect negotiations, and a swap of the soldiers with the Lebanese and Arab detainees in the Israeli prisons."
They can, however, bomb the living crap out of wherever Nasrallah is...
Nasrallah added: "Of course, Lebanon, our officials ... Syria ... Iran ... are all under heavy pressure from the international community ... to release these soldiers ... But we are used to pressure." He joked: "What do they want us to do? Hand over the soldiers and apologize? What kind of world are they living in?"
Unlike Hassan, we're living in the civilized world.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Lots of black turbans running around, Tater, etc.
Coordinates?
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:55 Comments ||
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#2
Maybe not, but your entire pseudo-country will burn as their samadh.
#3
They're very smug, aren't they?
Persuaded the gloves will never come off, and that they will be able to continue their one-sided "thousand cuts" war for ever.
I really, really hope they will be given a dose of Reality(Tm) someday, something to make all theses f*ckers eat back their satisfied defiance and macho pretending, their illusions a=of adequacy. Faster, please.
#5
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink ............. but you can also make him wish the hell he had drank.
I think there are a lot of us in this world who would sit munching popcorn while the Paleos held their position to the very last man. Who friggin' cares?
#8
Personally I think Isreal should send the Prisoners across the border en masse. Then when the Hezbollah come out to get them/greet them, carpet bomb everything.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/13/2006 11:52 Comments ||
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Lebanese Premier Fouad Siniora's Cabinet distanced itself from Hizbullah's cross-border attack against Israel and said the Lebanese government does not condone it. "The government was not aware of and does not take responsibility for, nor endorses what happened on the international border," Siniora said after an emergency Cabinet meeting.
Can't get away from it, Fod. If they're a legal organization within Leb and a part of the government you either condone what they've done or you've got to condemn it and shut them down. They've set it up for you so there's no middle ground.
Siniora, however, condemned Israeli "aggressive" retaliation and said his government would call for a UN Security Council meeting.
Obfuscate as you will, most states will retaliate for acts of war.
He said Lebanon's government, which is dominated by anti-Syrian factions but also contains two Hizbullah ministers, was willing to mediate a solution to the crisis and urged the Security Council to intervene. "We opposed the phrase that said the government does not condone the operation," said Labor Minister Tarrad Hamade, who is close to Hizbullah.
They either condone it or they don't. If they do condone it, they've got to accept the consequences.
#4
They could start by giving Israel back it's soldiers.
That would get the ball rolling.
Instead of going around the UN trying to find someone to feel sorry for them. What's the UN gonna do anyway? Put sanctions on Israel in 5 years, that they wont enforce anyway?
#5
What? Southern Lebanon? Heh?
You mean the new Northern Israel, CA? Take it, cleanse it, and keep it. Line up some 175mm Long Toms and shell Sidon until it's a mile-deep crater. Make sure Ein-el-hellhole is in line to catch the shorts.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 21:44 Comments ||
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Wednesday's capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbullah and the subsequent explosion of violence triggered a wave of reactions from around the world. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the abductions as an "act of war" and warned that his country's retaliation would be "very painful."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for the release of the two Israeli soldiers, but he also "unreservedly" condemned the Israeli incursion into Lebanese territory that followed. Annan also urged both sides to protect civilians, adding that "the maiming of unarmed civilians is terrorism pure and simple, whatever the cause."
Speaking to reporters following a meeting with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Annan's personal representative for South Lebanon, Geir Pedersen said that "Hizbullah's action escalates the already tense situation ... and is an act of very dangerous proportions; this is not in Lebanon's interest. It highlights again the need for decisions relating to peace and war to be taken by the government and for it to exercise its monopoly on the use of force from its territory."
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Annan also urged both sides to protect civilians, adding that "the maiming of unarmed civilians is terrorism pure and simple, whatever the cause."
Kofi is a useless arse. Civilians are sometimes hurt or killed in war, and that does not make the military terrorists. Without doubt, French civilians were killed on D-Day yet Ike was no terrorist. Civilians died at Vicksburg, yet Grant is not Osama. You would have to actively ignore the entire history of human conflict not to get the difference.
If terrorism is to have any meaning, it is the intentional targeting of non-combatants. That seems a basic notion for such a great statesman to miss. Yet, the larger imperative is always to condemn Israel, or the West generally but mostly Israel, no matter how intellectually vapid one must make oneself appear. The appeal is to prejudice, not reason. It's not like the UN is accountable to anybody anyway.
The UN will remain useless and irrelevent until Kofi Annan is gone. And even then the odds are against it.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
07/13/2006 1:09 Comments ||
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#2
On french teevee there was a clip of kofi speaking at the un, and he said it amounted to "state terrorism"... btw, french teevees are in full eurabian mode IMHO, implicitely blaming Israel as the aggressor, alluding situation was out of controil for Isreal which is under attack on two fronts, giving most of airtime to hizbollah mouthpieces, insisting on lebanese civilian casualties (but glancing on the fact 3 isrealis civilians have been killed in shellings), etc, etc... yesterday, most of the afternoon newsflashes of lci (supposedly a "conservative" channel, by french standards) put the emphasis on the bridge destroyed by the IAF... and yesterday evening a special edition was entirely dedicaced to... you bet it, zinedine zidane's press conference about the WC headbutt... I cringe when I watch that crap.
#3
"the maiming of unarmed civilians is terrorism pure and simple, whatever the cause."
This, from the poster boy of the International Community, which has its heart set on confiscating defensive arms from any and all persons, as this week's reports have exposed.
What a plan for chaos from the Masters of the International Community:
* Remove a citizen's right to bear arms for defense, of country or self, leaving citizens entirely reliant on the good will of their fellow man-and when that fails, reliant on the international agencies like the UN for "protection" in a full-blown war. Ask a few hundred thousand folks in Africa how well the UN has protected them from savagery.
This is a recipe for a lot more dead civilians. Let us not abandon our country's principles.
* Declare that any attack on unarmed civilians is terrorism, thus fuzzing the difference between "insurgents and freedom fighters" who intentionally blow up babies and tourists so they can establish a sharia-based, world-wide caliphate versus the military of an attacked country responding to the attacks, killing known terrorists and incidentally knocking off bystanders and family, who in some cases are innocent, but in some cases are sheltering and protecting monsters in their midst.
Mr. Annan thinks he will stop wars with this approach, but instead, our embrace of such a weakness encourages increased savagery on the part of our enemies. Don't believe it? Watch the predatory behavior of animals.
The shortsightedness of this worldview is stupifying. Mr. Annan is hawking a new plan-if the International Community says that any attack on civilians is terrorism, the shame of it all will decrease attacks on civilians. Does he have even the most minute understanding of human nature?
If humans are attacked, apparently they are not supposed defend themselves, their families or their country-they are instead supposed pray to the Sepulchre of the UN so that they may live to tell the tale.
I don't put my trust in the impulses of such leaders in the International Community. They cannot judge when use of force is necessary and good and when it is wrong. For them it is ALWAYS wrong.
World powers agreed today to send Iran back to the UN Security Council for possible punishment, saying the country has given no sign it means to negotiate seriously over its disputed nuclear programme. The United States and other permanent members of the powerful UN body said Iran has had long enough to say whether it will meet the worlds terms to open bargaining that would give Tehran economic and energy incentives in exchange for giving up suspicious activities. We have no choice but to return to the Security Council and continue the process suspended two months ago, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said after talks in Paris with counterparts from the United States, Britain, Russia, China and Germany.
The meeting came on the day of an informal deadline for Iran to respond to an international package of incentives in exchange for suspending nuclear enrichment. Irans chief negotiator indicated yesterday that his country was in no hurry to respond. The Iranians have given no indication at all that they are prepared to engage seriously on the substance of our proposals, said a statement read by Douste-Blazy. Any real punishment or coercion at the Security Council is a long way off, but the group said it will seek an initial resolution requiring Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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And the wheel goes round and round, where it stops, everybody knows (no where)
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:58 Comments ||
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...In recent years, powerful Muslims in Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere have urged their Sharia courts to restore and enforce traditional penalties for crimes such as apostasy and "blasphemy against the prophet," said Anglican Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali of Rochester, who grew up in a primarily Shiite family in Pakistan.
The bottom line is that penalties other than death are viewed as repugnant to Islam. Judges have little room to maneuver and the whole world is watching.
"The question, of course, is whether in a world such as ours - which is increasingly interconnected - religions have to be accountable not only to themselves and their followers, but to others," said the bishop. "Questions of personal liberty, of life, cannot be left just to circles of believers."
Nevertheless, it may become harder for moderate Muslims and their allies to avoid these questions, even in the safety of the West. Earlier this year, an organization called "Supporters of God's Messenger" sent out an e-mail threatening to kill 30 or more "atheists," "polytheists" and Muslims who cooperate with "worshippers of the cross" and other believers.
Marshall noted that the message called people by name, including Muslims in America, and included information about their home addresses, their children's schools and times when their wives were alone at home.
"Appeasement of such groups will not work," he said. If Western leaders fail to take a stand, "violent Islamists will accept their victory and move on to demand the next part of their agenda - the silencing or death of those who reject or criticize their program, including, especially, Muslims ... If even Western democracies cannot provide the political space for Muslims to debate these critical questions concerning the meaning of Islam, then all hope of an Islamic reform movement will be lost."
#1
Well I guess they are just going to have to show some balls, aren't they? All they have to do is squeal them out and we'll take care of the bad boys anyway. At some point they are going to have to be big boys and flush the potty after they are done.
There are a lot of secular muslims in the west (including many in the US) who realize that the only hope they have for a good life is outside the land-of-submission and away from the religious authorities. However, almost none of them have made the logical jump and admitted to themselves that Islam is the problem.
#3
Exactly #2. There are no moderate Muslims. It's just like the Mafia, if you are "made" you're a life member. The length of your life depends on how you act. These "moderates" say nothing, but continue sending monies, supporting charities "for the children", observing prayers, observing Ramadan, never speaking out, on and on and on. Moderate? Bullshit. Just laying low until their numbers increase. Then they'll be very bellicose and demanding.
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.
Just before the killing Monday of the Chechen guerrilla 
Already forced because of lack of funding to reduce assistance to displaced people from war-torn Chechnya, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warned it would have to halt its operation in the devastated republic entirely in three months unless fresh pledges are made soon. "From October, we will have absolutely nothing left to distribute," said Koryun Alaverdyan, WFP's Deputy Country Director in the Russian Federation. "The people we seek to assist are the poorest survivors of the Chechen conflict."
Death was not punishment enough for Chechen rebel leader 
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Japan's draft UN resolution in response to North Korea's missile test firings contained "unacceptable elements", Interfax news agency reported. "Japan through its official representatives has announced that all countries have to vote as Japan wants, and warns that if this does not happen, they are threatened by some kind of negative consequences," he was quoted by Interfax as saying. "I think this is absolutely unacceptable."
Japan remains firmly behind its U.N. Security Council draft resolution to impose sanctions on North Korea, despite France's proposed compromise this week, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Wednesday. "As far as Japan is concerned, we basically will seek adoption of the resolution," Abe told reporters.
CHINA has batted the North Korean crisis back to Washington, implying that the US should lift financial sanctions against Kim Jong-il's regime. North Korea has been fuming since the US effectively froze $US24 million ($A32 million) in assets last November at the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia.
LUXEMBOURG: A top European court on Wednesday threw out challenges by two terror suspects to freezes on their assets imposed in a global clampdown on people linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Chafiq Ayadi, a Tunisian national resident in Ireland, and Faraj Hassan, a Libyan national detained in a British jail, had complained that the freezes on their bank accounts and assets infringed their rights and asked for them to be annulled. But the Luxembourg-based European Court of First Instance ruled that European Union authorities had the competence to impose such a sanction to fight terrorism. "Such a measure does not infringe the universally recognised fundamental rights of the human person," the court said in a statement.
ISLAMABAD: Differences between 
MUZAFFARABAD: Unofficial results of the elections to the Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Wednesday showed the AJK Muslim Conference (MC) having emerged victorious, although with several cabinet ministers defeated in the polls, AP reported on Wednesday. The MC won 20 of the 41 contested constituencies, said Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Riaz Akhtar Chaudhry, citing unofficial results from polling stations. The commission still has to verify the results, which will be officially announced on Thursday.
Even as the dead are still being counted in India's worst terrorist attack in more than a decade, suspicion has already fallen on Islamic terrorists though not al-Qaeda. 
The U.S. ambassador to Iraq has described sectarian violence as the main threat to stability and, warning of the global risk from an Iraqi civil war, said the government must act to curb it within six months.
(KUNA) -- Iraqi Prime Minister 
"The whole world will not be able to retrieve the two captured Israeli soldiers except through indirect negotiations that will lead to a swap with our detainees in Israel," 
Lebanese Premier 
World powers agreed today to send Iran back to the UN Security Council for possible punishment, saying the country has given no sign it means to negotiate seriously over its disputed nuclear programme. The United States and other permanent members of the powerful UN body said Iran has had long enough to say whether it will meet the worlds terms to open bargaining that would give Tehran economic and energy incentives in exchange for giving up suspicious activities. We have no choice but to return to the Security Council and continue the process suspended two months ago, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said after talks in Paris with counterparts from the United States, Britain, Russia, China and Germany.
