Four more ministers resigned from Somalia's Western-backed government yesterday, in a move that may ultimately clear the way for rival Islamists to take ministerial posts. Minister of Minerals and Water Mohamud Salad Nur and three other assistant ministers announced their resignation less than a week after 18 senior officials also quit, dealing a blow to the fragile interim government.
The cabinet originally comprised 42 ministers, eight of whom have quit in the past week.
"This is our decision because this cabinet has failed the reason for which it was established. It has failed to reconcile the Somali people," said Sayeed Hassan Shire, an assistant minister who resigned. The cabinet originally comprised 42 ministers, eight of whom have quit in the past week. But government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said the posts would not stay vacant for long.
"Their positions will be filled immediately, maybe within a week's time," Dinari said. Diplomats say power-sharing with the Islamists is the best way of averting a slide to war in the lawless Horn of Africa country, which has been deprived of effective central rule since warlords ousted the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2006 00:00 ||
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More than 2,000 Saudi Shiite demonstrated in support of Lebanon's Hezbollah in the eastern province of the kingdom, local residents said yesterday. Waving flags of the Syrian- and Iran-backed Shiite movement and posters of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, protestors gathered outside a mosque in the Shiite city of Qatif late Tuesday, several residents said. Protestors chanted "Hezbollah will be victorious," and "death to America and Israel," resident Ali Ammar said.
Protestors chanted 'Hezbollah will be victorious,' and 'death to America and Israel...'
They also shouted "no Sunnis, no Shiites... (only) Islamic unity," in an apparent attempt to quiet sectarian differences which have arisen since Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12 triggering Israel's onslaught against Lebanon.
In the neighbouring town of Amira, hundreds of demonstrators also took to the streets in support of Hezbollah, but carried posters of the the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia along with Nasrallah posters, residents said, requesting anonymity.
The two rallies ended peacefully without any intervention of the security forces, although demonstrations are not common in the ultra-conservative kingdom. The Shiite minority represents some 10 per cent of the native Saudi population of 16.6 million, which is mainly Sunni Muslim. Some 60 per cent of them inhabit the oil-rich eastern province.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Boy, I bet the Sauds and the Wahabbis are just going to love that shiat. The Sunni are more than aware that the Iranians are trying to stimulate their Shiites to make trouble.
#1
Yeah, big Monsoon rains in the area, already depleted food stocks. China is just stopping the flow accross the border. Nothing more, nothing less.
BTW, back from Japan ... can report that:
1) NK is out of the news cycle. Most Japanese youths (under 30 or so) consider NK a threat ... however, most I spoke with are now almost assuredly anti-american in regards to what we have been doing recently. Understand tho, this isn't typical anti-americanism, more they don't understand what has changed.
2) However, they know we've done right in the past, and believe will do so again, so the attitude is more along the lines of 'we know when it comes down to it you'll be the best friend we have, but you could stop pissing off the world so much'
There is meaning behind #2, Japan sits as the only ally to the US in the region and pays a very, very, very high price for it. We should tip our hats to the Japanese, because they are sticking with us even though they don't agree.
In Asia, this is a huge deal, so Japan now faces no friends, and no help, but still says 'America is good, and has been a good friend, we are not happy with things of late, but we know a good friend when we see one'
We should be careful to buffer Asian anger to Japan as much as possible and take a hit for them where we can ... it will pay off big time.
Most of the news was on Lebanon (and internal Japanese stuff, like some floods).
#2
Bombay - thanks for the eyewitness report (unlike the normal nit-witness reports we get from the MSM).
Hope the floods in Japan weren't too serious.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/03/2006 23:00 Comments ||
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#3
what high price does Japan pay?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/03/2006 23:03 Comments ||
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Mainly that every other Asian country believes they are our bitch (I can tell you with full assurance this is not so).
They sacfrice pan-Asia for American alliance. To Asia, this is huge. They side with Gaijin over their own and as much NONE of Asia considers them a friend or a partner to trust.
They are aware of this, and feel a deep pain, DEEP pain, that the other Asian countries have 'turned' on one of their own. Tough to explain, really, unless you've been to Asia. China, Korea and Japan are linked through ages (as well as most of Asia) and the Japanese stand alone saying 'America is a good country, be damned if you don't agree' - In Asia, this type of rocking the boat and standing up against the group is unheard of. And so, they pay the price.
Yet, they stick with us, and take the crap. At this point in history, a very, very honorable thing.
#6
Japan is isolated for what it's barbaric invasions and colonialism until 1945. I knew of no one in Asia that trusted Japan or forgave them for what they did.
Posted by: ed ||
08/03/2006 23:12 Comments ||
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#7
Of course not, only read history to know this. However, what I am saying is a new breed of isolation, Japan is paying big right now to be our friend.
The cost is way more than a visit to a shrine, or the refusal to recognise this or that island.
In a nutshell, being our friend right now is costing them a 1,000 times worse than invading Korea or China a million times over.
#11
I have relatives who lived through Japanese occupation, colonization, executions and slavery. In their eyes, Japan can never make up for the extreme barbarity inflicted on them. The personal hatred is still there. But that doesn't mean they won't take Japanese investment, so it is kept just under the surface. Business is business, though the Chinese find it useful let it erupt now and then to coerce the Japanese.
My personal experience is not as recent. Last time I lived in Japan was 1980. The last I worked with a group Japanese colleagues was 2003. If the Japanese believe relations with America is a liability, then I welcome the opportunity to move US forces to Guam and points east. But I think even the younger Japanese realize should they go it alone with US backup, ever knife in Asia will be sharpened in anticipation of sticking to the Japanese.
Posted by: ed ||
08/03/2006 23:30 Comments ||
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#12
without US backup
Posted by: ed ||
08/03/2006 23:31 Comments ||
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#13
Ok, I am crashing from jet-lag and must assume things at this point because need to sleep.
You speak of the past, the invasions of the past. Just as America has a past, say, certain triangle trade issues.
However, the results of trinagle trade do not dominate contemporary thought here now. Sure a few sensational topics here and there, but day to day life, it just doesn't creep in. Just as Japanese transgressions do not dominate contemporary thought there, except in the extreeme circumstances of an aged view. Same here.
So, in the end, I say there will always be that anger to Japan for that ... just as here, but it fades in the minds of the contemporary.
What is fresh in the minds of the contemporary, i.e. the next gen to lead the country are today's issues which have more to do with pan-Asia and America's recent acts than say invading Korea in 1560's+ under Hideyoshi Toyotomi or 1930's acts against China ---- i.e. there are far more people in Asia now that care about the contemporary world than the near or far past.
Believe me, I know the history and the transgressions of the past by the country. I do not minise the past. But perhaps your relatives are way to close to the situation to frogive. I DO understand. However, we must accept that just as America is not the slave trading nation it once was nor is Japan the the nation, or Feudal nation (right, recall, that many transgressions of the past against the neighbors were more about bringing the locals in line) ... Unless you are into right-of-way discussions or perhaps some tax reparations to certain groups?
Anyway - the simple point, your relatives lived through the worst and will still hold that view. Regardless that Japan has moved on ... same here, same there, same in the Middle East!
And now, they don't want to ditch us, they just don't want to be left explaining us all the time.
#15
The Japanese sure have moved on. They are so far removed that they don't teach their kids even a fraction of the history of that period. But I guarantee you the subject peoples do teach in detail the history of that period. There are plenty of people still alive to regale the young of their personal experience.
So Japanese go into the rest of Asia ignorant of their recent past and what others think of them. Finally, the Jpanese do not need to explain for America. I will proudly put up US behavior past, present, and future with the behavior of any Asian nation.
Posted by: ed ||
08/03/2006 23:58 Comments ||
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#16
Ribbing or not, I just today talked to a relative who lived through the occupation.
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2006 0:00 Comments ||
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SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has been working closely with Iran to develop its long-range ballistic missiles, possibly using Chinese technology, and is building large bases to prepare for their deployment, a South Korean state-run think tank said. Communist North Korea is also building new sites near the Demilitarized Zone border for short-range missiles and is deploying missiles with improved precision that can strike most of Japan, the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) said in a report.
"The development of Taepodong-2 is conducted jointly with Iran, and it is possible China's technology is used in the development of the Taepodong-2 engine," said the IFANS report, which Reuters obtained on Thursday. The collaboration is part of an international network, including Pakistan, that made it possible for the impoverished North to develop and deploy missiles despite scarce resources and limited testing, the study said.
North Korea fired seven missiles on July 5, including the long-range Taepodong-2, which U.S. officials said failed seconds into its flight and fell into waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula. Christopher Hill, the top U.S. envoy to talks on the North's nuclear program, said last month one or more Iranians watched the North's missile launch, deepening concerns about the ties between two countries with troubling nuclear capabilities.
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Posted by: Steve ||
08/03/2006 11:24 ||
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#2
North Korea fired seven missiles on July 5, including the long-range Taepodong-2, which U.S. officials said failed seconds into its flight and fell into waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula.
Rooters doesn't miss any chance to get a dig in, do they? It not like we can definitively say it failed.
#3
I'm not laughing, these two might come up with a Ductapedong missle! We cant be complacent, I mean lil kim has a whole population of slves to draw upon, I am wondering how many PHDs and advanced degreed people he's got ready for this effort. Think about retraining the mass of jihadies to the cause of the Ductapedong missle.
We better not be complacent.......these two are up to something and I've no doubt its the Ductapedong.
#6
North Korea fired seven missiles on July 5, including the long-range Taepodong-2, which U.S. officials said failed seconds into its flight and fell into waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula.
On, no, Raj. You see, the US and Japan only said the missiles failed.
Everyone knows that the evil BusHitler and his Imperial Japanese allies would lie to their own mothers if they actually had mothers (they don;t, of course. How could they being so evil?).
The NorKie missiles actually turned Tokyo Bay into a sea of fire and sent the entire American 7th Fleet to the bottom of the Sea of Japan. NorK troops moved into South Korea peacefully and reunified the two countries and are, even now, dispensing gallons of Dr Kim's Miracle Juice to all the poor starving South Korean children. Why, even the American troops were so happy to see the NorKs coming that they laid flower petals in their paths and handed over their weapons. Meanwhile, in the United States itself, President BusHitler committed suicide inside his bunker along with his long-time mistress Frau Laura, but the news media is telling the world that he's alive and well and that it's Fidel who's ailing (but then again, everyone also knows the Jew-controlled mainstream media lies at the behest of their Jew masters).
GENEVA - Switzerlands supreme court on Thursday cleared the way for legal assistance to German authorities investigating alleged smuggling of material for Libyas nuclear weapons programme in 2001 to 2003. In a ruling released Thursday, the Federal Tribunal rejected an appeal by the owners of a South African company, who had sought to block the transfer of Swiss banking documents to Germany.
The couple, who were not named, were suspected of transferring funds to Swiss bank accounts after being commissioned to make parts for gas centrifuges to enrich uranium, according to the ruling. They had received a one million euro (1.3 million dollars) advance payment in Dubai, the Swiss federal prosecutors office charged.
The case is related to the trial in Germany of a 63 year-old German engineer, Gotthard Lerch, on charges of helping Libyas attempts to develop nuclear weapons. Lerch, who was arrested last year in Switzerland, where he lived, has denied the accusations.
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Posted by: Steve ||
08/03/2006 09:20 ||
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Three years after failing to block the US invasion of Iraq, France has returned to the diplomatic world stage to exploit calm the Lebanon conflict. President Chirac, returning to his favourite role of world statesman, has taken a bold line at the United Nations that conflicts with Washington and London. He is capitalising on the discredit that Iraq caused les Anglo-Saxons and drawing on Frances past as the governing power of Lebanon.
The strategy is risky because France was targeted by Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsors over its intervention in Beirut in the 1980s. One bomb attack in 1983 killed 41 French paratroops in the city. M Chirac is worried that a false step could feed unrest in Frances Muslim-dominated housing estates. But aides to M Chirac are confident that the US will accept the resolution tabled by France at the UN Security Council. It seeks a ceasefire, a political agreement involving Israel, Lebanon and Hezbollah and the deployment of a peacekeeping force.
Washington and London have resisted the demand for an immediate ceasefire and want a military force to compel the disarmament of the Shia Muslim militia. France refused yesterday to take part in a US-inspired meeting to prepare a UN force, saying that it was premature. But Paris expects to contribute thousands of troops and possibly lead the contingent.
If a UN force is agreed, the first French forces would be dispatched from marines aboard a naval flotilla of four ships off Lebanon and Cyprus. French officials say that the dispatch of any French forces must follow a phased timetable. It has to be a real ceasefire, not just a halt in shelling, the Defence Ministry said. France is also insisting that Iran and Syria be involved in the diplomacy.
#2
Once again, Jacques Chirac is supporting his Arab friends, and opposing the US. Chirac is (or should be) well known for kissing a lot of Arab leaders: in 1975, he welcomed Saddam Hussein in Paris with a cheerful "you are my personal friend" (and the next day, he sold him the nuclear plant Osirak); he has met very often with the arch-terrorist Arafat, and when this ugly-faced Arafat died in Paris in November 2004, he ordered his body to be treated with the same respect that the one of a President of the State deserves (trumpets by the French National Guard, Prime Minister Raffarin standing at attention before his coffin, and so on); he has warmly received in Paris Bachar el-Assad in June 2001; in fact, it would be faster to tell which Arab dictator Jacques Chirac hasn't courted and coaxed.
The most telling is that, in 2004, Chirac invited to the Francophonie Summit (that was staged in Beyrouth)... the leader of the Hezbollah, Nasraleh himself! He shook hands with Nasralah, and had this terrorist leader seated at the same table, right next to him...
So, no wonder why Chirac is asking for an immediate ceasefire: he wants to give Hezbollah time to heal its wounds and to rearm before any international force arrives in Lebanon.
Your actions are as ugly as was Arafat face, Mr. Chirac!
#3
Concerning the fact that "M. Chirac is worried that a false step could feed unrest in Frances Muslim-dominated housing estates" (this has been reported in France too), any normal human being (so, not a supporter of the French "Arab policy") will be amazed to see the President of a democratic country modeling his international policy in accordance with the behaviour of muslims gangs, and the policy of a whole country taken hostage by rioters.
#4
"M. Chirac is worried that a false step could feed unrest in Frances Muslim-dominated housing estates"
It's at times like these, I'm reminded of something said around the time of the beginning of the Iraq war;
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that France would face consequences for its opposition to the war in Iraq as senior aides to President George W. Bush met to consider ways to express Washington's anger. Asked in an interview whether Paris would be punished for its anti-war stance, Powell replied bluntly: "Yes." "We have to take a look at the relationship. We have to look at all aspects of our relationship with France in light of this," he told PBS television.
If Chirac is worried about a false step, I'd be keeping an eye out for banana skins. After all his Ambassador to the Court of St. James did call Israel "that shitty little country", and they are rather heavily involved in all this...
I wouldn't be too surprised to find out that those sneaky Joooos wanted some payback ;)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/03/2006 5:03 Comments ||
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#5
Chirac is an arrogant prima donna foppish fool.
#6
Translating "M Chirac is worried that a false step could feed unrest in Frances Muslim-dominated housing estates." from french diplomatic speak into english.
"M Chirac is premptively surrendering to Frances Muslims."
#7
Chirac is president of france. Currently the number one song in france is Coup de Boule (known as the head-butt song). Do you think that Chirac helped inspire this song in that he doesn't know his head from his butt?
#8
How cynical these comments are regarding France/Chirac's motives. I don't believe this is about the world stage nor muslim gangs; France's motivations have never changed since the Phoencians invented money. There are bribes to be had.
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/03/2006 9:15 Comments ||
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#9
I say we have a UNSC vote to strip France of their veto and give it to India.
#10
Right now, the more vetos floating about, the longer Israel will have before it has to bluntly tell the world that this time they aren't stopping until it's done.
#14
Meanwhile, France's rep to the UN now says he's not as hopeful of getting a resolution through the UNSC in the next week or two (see above RB link). Maybe, just maybe, France is now playing along w/ the good cop/bad cop routine and we're ALL giving Israel the time it needs to finish the job???? One can hope.
Posted by: BA ||
08/03/2006 12:36 Comments ||
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#15
Chirac: "As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure".
Rush Limbaugh: "As far as France is concerned, you're right."
PARIS Police have shut down makeshift Muslim prayer rooms at Paris' two main airports after they came under scrutiny following a far-right politician's allegations that Islamists were compromising security. Officials insist there was no threat. But the prayer sites set up by Muslim workers in cloak rooms, depots and other areas at Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports were quietly shuttered. There are three official prayer rooms still open at each airport, just as there are chapels for Christians and synagogues for Jews.
A book published in May by Philippe de Villiers, a presidential hopeful who opposes Muslim immigration, said clandestine prayer rooms honeycombed the corridors beneath airport runways and that Muslims were poised to put the premises under Islamic Sharia law. Villiers claimed to base his book, "The Mosques of Roissy," on intelligence reports. While many saw the book as a publicity grab, it caused a stir and briefly climbed the best seller list.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
This Dingell is another shitfaced sellout to Muslims just like Chirac. Due to the enclaves at Dearborn and Detroit, he has tucked his tail between his legs. People like him are the most disgusting pieces of crap that can be imagined.
#2
John Dingo was on the other side during the Cold War, too. It doesn't have (much) to do with the population of east Dearborn. He'll back any enemy, any time.
The National Security Agency is providing signal intelligence to Israel to monitor whether Syria and Iran are supplying new armaments to Hezbollah as it fires hundreds of missiles into northern Israel, according to a national security official with direct knowledge of the operation.
President Bush has approved the secret program. (Intelligence, including that gathered by the NSA, has been provided to Israel in the past for various purposes.) Inside the administration, neoconservatives on Vice President Dick Cheney's national security staff and Elliott Abrams, the neoconservative senior director for the Near East on the National Security Council, are prime movers behind sharing NSA intelligence with Israel, and they have discussed Syrian and Iranian supply activities as a potential pretext for Israeli bombing of both countries, the source privy to conversations about the program says.
The neoconservatives are described as enthusiastic about the possibility of using NSA intelligence as a lever to widen the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and Israel and Hamas into a four-front war.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/03/2006 19:12 ||
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#1
I hope the NeoCons are successful in drawing in Syria into the fray. It is a festering boil about ready to pop, anyway.
When Syria goes, everything North and NE of Hasakah may split off an join Kurdistan, and the Sunni Arabs will take over from the Alawite Shiites.
#2
Israel, if it is not already planning a "four-front war", would justifiably enter one because of actual Syrian and Iranian activity, not because NSA gave them info on it. Blumenthal is a transparent Bush-basher, and I say that because he is one, not because Captain America gave me useful info on him. The thing Blumenthal leaks most is Dhimmicrat slime.
#4
El Sid needs to be put before a Grand Jury. His conspiracy theories aside, devulging information about intelligence activities and its application is criminal.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/03/2006 20:31 Comments ||
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#5
Sid's got no sources or friends. Like the majority of his career and achievements, it's Bullshit, imbedded in conspiracy
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/03/2006 20:35 Comments ||
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The media's pack mentality against the terrorist prison at Guantanamo was recently demonstrated in a David Ignatius column in the Washington Post, where he noted that President Bush is "obviously tired of taking flak" about the prison and might therefore order it closed. This is what our media are good at-dispensing "flak" for a cause they believe in. In this case, the cause is freeing the prisoners at Guantanamo, or at least getting them transferred to some other place. The preoccupation of our media with this topic borders on the pathological. Why are they so determined to go to bat for suspected terrorists?
The case can actually be made that the U.S. has been too lenient on the prisoners and that they are being treated too nicely.
It goes without saying that reporters don't want to focus on those released from Guantanamo who go on to terrorize or murder again. Consider the case of six French former Guantanamo inmates released by the U.S. and then put on trial in a French court on charges of having "links with a network plotting terrorism attacks," as noted in a Reuters account. Perhaps they should have remained at Guantanamo. Is that something worth taking a look at?
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#1
The agenda behind the attacks on Guantanamo is to build up pressure to force the U.S. to turn these prisoners over to an international tribunal, probably run by the United Nations.
#2
He ended up in a country club prison in Scotland, where he is living in a special wing of the prison with a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, shower, sitting room, an office with a computer and bookshelves, and entertainment center with television.
There is a very good reason for all of this. I'll let you figure it out.
QUETTA, Pakistan -Pakistani forces have nearly crushed an insurgency led by a tribal chieftain in the restive southwest province of Baluchistan, the provincial governor said. Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani said late Wednesday that the government controlled 99 percent of the area around Dera Bugti town, the former stronghold of elderly insurgent leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. The autonomy-seeking rebels say they are fighting for greater political rights and a bigger share of profits from gas-rich Baluchistans natural resources.
In an offensive launched after rockets landed near President Pervez Musharraf on a visit to Baluchistan in December, 84 tribal rebels and 42 Pakistani troops had died, he said. Sixty-two civilians including women and children had also been killed, mostly by rebel landmines, he told reporters in the provincial capital Quetta. Pakistani forces had used helicopters and spy drones and had received US aid to tackle the insurgents, he said. Hundreds of tribal fighters had also surrendered under an amnesty programme while large quantities of ammunition, rockets and landmines had been recovered, he added.
Ghani alleged that the rebels were receiving up to 500 million rupees (eight million dollars) a year from foreign supporters, without specifying who they were. Pakistan in January said it had evidence that its nuclear-armed rival India was involved in the troubles in Baluchistan.
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Posted by: Steve ||
08/03/2006 09:04 ||
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#1
Contrast this with the Pastun areas. Why it's almost as if the Pakistanis want the Taliban running the NWFP.
Posted by: ed ||
08/03/2006 17:42 Comments ||
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KABUL: President Pervez Musharraf accepted on Wednesday an invitation to visit Afghanistan, an Afghan official said. Musharraf was last in Afghanistan in April 2002. Afghan President Hamid Karzai extended the invitation in a telephone call to Musharraf on Wednesday evening during which they discussed "issues relating to the region," presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi said. "The president of Pakistan accepted the invitation and said he would visit Afghanistan at a convenient time," Rahimi said. "At this time, this is of great importance to have good relations and good discussions," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Nice pic. Looks like Gunga Din got a promotion...
France submits a new draft resolution for the UN Security Council.
DEBKAfile summarizes the French draft resolution as calling for:
* An immediate cessation of hostilities in Lebanon under UNIFIL supervision. Because UNIFIL has done such a good job so far
*Respect for the blue line Israeli-Lebanese international border (but no direct demand for Israeli troop withdrawal).
*The return of kidnapped Israeli soldiers.
*The release of Lebanese prisoners. Maybe it means something different in French. This would requre releasing a killer who made a 4-year old watch as her parents were killed, and then was killed by having her head smashed. Yeah, this deal makes sense.
*A demilitarized zone from the Litani River to the blue line.
*Demarcation of Lebanons borders (with Syria too, which would cover the controversial Shaaba Farms site).
*Submission of Israeli maps of minefields in S. Lebanon. "submission" is right.
*Renewal of the Israeli-Lebanese 1949 armistice agreement.
Reference to UN Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1680 requiring Hizballah to be disarmed (without defining how these resolutions should be implemented).
And so, once again, this resolution will be protested by the US and Israel (and hopefully vetoed by the US). And the world will react with outrage that such a "reasonable" resolution was not acceptable. F*** the UN. And Francestan.
#3
Totally predictable. US must not relent. I know Israel can't
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/03/2006 17:49 Comments ||
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#4
Actually its similar to the 7-point plan that came out from the Lebanese over the weekend. The basic differences is the mines, seperating the prisoners into two points and skipping the disarm Hezbollah.
I think its basically worthless without the disarm Hezbollah. I think the prisoner exchange is not a 100% thing either but meant along the lines of a standard armistace where war criminals remain war criminals. at least the non-French one.
U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown may want to stick to reforming his own office and stop criticizing member states, a State Department spokesman said Wednesday.
Malloch Brown was quoted in a British newspaper Wednesday suggesting that he does not think that Hezbollah, the Syrian- and Iranian-backed group currently fighting Israeli Defense Forces, is a terrorist organization.
Hezbollah employs terrorist tactics; it is an organization, however, whose roots historically are completely separate and different from Al Qaeda...
"It's not helpful to couch this war in the language of international terrorism. Hezbollah employs terrorist tactics; it is an organization, however, whose roots historically are completely separate and different from Al Qaeda," he said, according to a transcript of an interview.
"I have to say that some of his comments, as reported today, are really misguided and misplaced. And we are seeing a troubling pattern of a high official of the U.N. who seems to be making it his business to criticize member states and, frankly, with misplaced and misguided criticisms. So I really don't understand the origin of these comments," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
This is not the first time Malloch Brown has made remarks suggesting his dislike for the U.S. government or its policies. Last month, he said the United States relies on the United Nations as a diplomatic tool but doesn't defend it in "Middle America," which remains largely ignorant while it criticizes the world body.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
And calling nazis criminals was unhelpful too.
That's why the UN has waited 60 years to organize its first ceremony dedicated to the Jews exterminated by the nazis.
Maybe, in 60 years, will the UN declare the Hezbollah a terrorsit organization.
#2
I'm thinking about getting a wooden baseball bat and burn the word 'CLUE' into the side and mailing it to Bolton's office -- so he can take it to meeting with these self-important PC clowns.
#6
OK, Malloch the Moron, what exactly do you call an organization that intentionally fires Katyushas from behind civilians, goes to war wearing civilian clothes, commits war crimes left and right including firing undirected weapons into civilian areas 100 times a day, threatens to destroy the legitimate government just as soon as it is finished with the Israelis, hides its equipment and personnel in religious structures and hospitals, uses ambulances as diversions and taxis, stages "massacres" and other news "events", tightly controls and manipulates media coverage of everything, uses UN observation posts for cover, hoodwinks the UN whenever they wish, won't disclose its alliances, uses suicide bombers, and has a charter that threatens Israel with something that smells a lot like genocide?
And what would an organization have to do to be labeled terrorist?
#7
This ponce gets free rent from the turd that is likely behind 76 dollar a barrel oil in a attempt to tank our ecomomy like he has done to many other nations. That is all one need know about this ponce.
#8
ponce, n: someone who procures customers for whores (in England they call a pimp a ponce) [syn: pimp, procurer, panderer, pander, pandar, fancy man]
Malloch the Moron prefers to be called a "middle man".
#9
Yes they are, D *** it, ergo no they aren't > you know, why Saint Bill wants the Dems to be on all sides = no sides of the issues. the way the Founding Fathers were and intended. JOhn Wayne = Jimmy Carter, and don't you America = Amerikans, despicable Fascist Nazi = well-meaning Half-A-Communist, etc. ever forget it.
#11
Well, of course they're not terrorists. I mean, good grief, we don't even have a "definition" of terrorism. Whad'ya expect from us...more strongly worded letters? I've gotta go now and call for a special session (in Turks/Barbados, of course) for us to discuss these important issues....Kofi, are you available, say August 31?
Posted by: Mark Malloch Brown ||
08/03/2006 8:48 Comments ||
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#12
Sure Mark, the 31st would be fine. Be careful about using the term "strongly worded", however.
#13
Indeed, the UN needs to have an extensive debate on this issue -- before there's any discussion of ceasefire; followed by several weeks' review of the relative merits of using round versus square tables for peace talks.
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/03/2006 9:09 Comments ||
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#14
Having Hezspurta hide amongst the civilian population is unhelpful to us killing them too, ya know.
Mook.
I take back what I said about throwing the UN out. They need lined up against the wall of their own building and shot.
#15
Darth, nah, just restrict them to two star restaurants and being driven around in five year old Chevy Cavaliers. They'll haul ass to the next flight out of NY so fast it will make your head spin.
#17
Citizen Joe BA: "Calling Mark Malloch Brown a human is unhelpful"
Posted by: BA ||
08/03/2006 10:23 Comments ||
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#18
If Kofi, the rogue states on the "Human Rights" commission, Oil for Food, failure in Darfur and a hundred other places, incompetence, overt espionage, scams and radical leftism wasn't enough to get the US out of the UN, mabe this piece of shit will provide some impetus.
#22
Its long past time that we throw that collection of terror supporters operating under the name "United Nations" out of OUR country. Malloch Brown is a piece of shit and should never be allowed to enter the US again.
#24
Malloch Brown was quoted in a British newspaper Wednesday suggesting that he does not think that Hezbollah, the Syrian- and Iranian-backed group currently fighting Israeli Defense Forces, is a terrorist organization.
Last month, he said the United States relies on the United Nations as a diplomatic tool but doesn't defend it in "Middle America,"
#27
Make it an OPTIONAL extra for americans to fund the U.N.
I like that idea! At the bottom of your 1040 you could have a box you can check that diverts $0.01 of your taxes to the UN if you think the organization is of value to the world. Perfect!
Shias from southern and central Iraq have begun travelling to Baghdad in answer to Muqtada al-Sadr's call for a "million man march" in support of Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Waving Iraqi flags and chanting "Death to America! Death to Israel", the demonstrators mounted convoys of buses and headed for the capital on Thursday, some of them wearing white shrouds symbolising their readiness to accept martyrdom.
The demonstration is to be held following Friday prayers in the teeming Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, home to some two million people, and comes at a tense time for the capital.
Sahib al-Ameri, general director of the Foundation for God's Martyrs, part of Sadr's movement said: "Thousands of Najaf people have set off for Baghdad as a response to Moqtada al-Sadr's invitation to take part."
Anger over Israeli attacks on Lebanon - which target Hezbollah but have caused widespread civilian casualties - has raised passions in Iraq, where Shia militias have an uneasy relationship with the US-backed government.
US forces have visibly tightened security around Sadr City, a working class Shia district where Sadr's supporters are openly armed.
"Fifteen-hundred of Sadr's followers from Basra have arrived to take part in the demonstration that had been called in Baghdad," said Sadr spokesman Akil al-Bahadli. I wonder what Iran is up to this time?
#2
Shias from southern and central Iraq have begun travelling to Baghdad in answer to Muqtada al-Sadr's call for a "million man march" in support of Lebanon's Hezbollah.
"Fifteen-hundred of Sadr's followers from Basra have arrived to take part in the demonstration that had been called in Baghdad," said Sadr spokesman Akil al-Bahadli.
#4
A couple of AC-130's and the wherewithal and you could solve a lot of Iraq's problems right here.
And we could give Mr. Tooth Decay all the credit...
#5
tu, just like the Million Man March here in the States, eh? Several hundred thousand short of a million, methinks (like 998,500 short of a million).
Posted by: BA ||
08/03/2006 14:27 Comments ||
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#6
Whaling Unomoger7693 = John Q Citizen. Using a different computer and I was assigned the namie thingy.
I would view such marches as a million points of light-that is, as was said earlier a target rich environment.
#7
Tu read my mind exept with such large numbers I was thinking more like a handfull of Cluster bombs. A C-130 couldnt cover enough ground fast enough to get them all before they scattered.
(KUNA) -- The Iraqi government on Wednesday announced a new security plan in Baghdad in order to enhance security and law authority in the city. A press release issued by the Ministry of Interior said that tougher punishments will be enforced for using religious properties to store arms and promote insurgency and sectarian conflicts.
It added that anyone carrying weapons on the street without authorization will be considered as an outlaw and insurgent and will be subject for anti-terror laws, stressing that only members of the security forces in the Ministry of Interior or Ministry of Defense are allowed to carry weapons on the street. The press release urged all Iraqi citizens to cooperate and report any individuals threatening the security and stability in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
We all know what the problem is.....hint: tater
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/03/2006 2:28 Comments ||
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Knesset Member and Opposition leader Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu warned Britons on Thursday that Iran has missiles which can reach London. Speaking on Sky News, the former Prime Minister said that Hizbullah represents a new Fascism and Hitler-ism that threatens the West.
In a separate interview with The Times of London, MK Netanyahu also doubted that a proposed international peacekeeping force in Lebanon can prevent future attacks on Israel by Hizbullah. "The record of multi-national forces so far has been mixed one, he said.
"In Iraq, a dozen nations started out and one by one they fell by the wayside as Islamic terrorists targeted the soldiers of the international force. Ukrainian, Spanish and Japanese mothers asked why should our sons fight and die in Iraq. This is undoubtedly a tactic that Hezbollah and its Iranian patrons will try to replicate here."
#1
In Iraq, a dozen nations started out and one by one they fell by the wayside as Islamic terrorists targeted the soldiers of the international force.
Despite this terrorism threats remain in the world. Terrorism is the scourge of modern times.
Didn't Netanyahu's brother lead and get killed in the Entebbe rescue?
The international force Israel is seeking in southern Lebanon needs to be comprised of some 15,000 troops, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told British newspapers on Wednesday.
"It has to be made up of armies, not of retirees, of real soldiers, not of pensioners who have come to spend leisurely months in south Lebanon, but, rather, an army with combat units that is prepared to implement the UN resolution. I think it has to have about 15,000 soldiers. I think that's more or less what the international community understands," Olmert told the Times and the Telegraph. "Obviously, as I said, we will not pull out and we will not stop shooting until there is an international force that will effectively control the area."
#7
Ain't no way on God's Green Earth anyone (not other than the US, and Rumsfield says we're too busy) will send troops to actually fight.
Some years ago I read a sci fi book wherein one of the chief actors was the Israeli Empire. Seems they kept pushing back the bad guys and annexing the land in order to secure their borders. Eventually they ended up pretty much ruling the world.
Personally, I would welcome our new Israeli overlords.
Posted by: kelly ||
08/03/2006 17:24 Comments ||
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#8
Do I detect a new meme here? The Litani border? Israel's response to offensive action is to push their borders further forward?
Works for me.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/03/2006 17:36 Comments ||
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#9
Cheaper than a wall and you can pump from it too.
#10
Pushing out the borders happened with each war until the Yom Kippur War. That allowed Sadat to sign a peace treaty with Israel and get back the Sinai. Of course, that didn't work out very well for Sadat.
Israel should annex Southern Lebanon and expell all the Muslim Lebanese.
#12
Kelly, *I* remember, as a teenager, reading a Sci-Fi book written as a collection of letters from a budding xenoArchaeologist to her telepath, disabled sister. In one of them, he discussed meeting an israeli telepath, and described him as "-a wanderer after he graduated from college, visiting Beiruit, Damascus, Amman and all those other big Israeli cities."
we may type in "ROFLMAO!", but I actually DID that for fifteen minutes after reading that.
Egypt has resumed its efforts to persuade the Palestinians to release kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who is being held in the Gaza Strip, amid unconfirmed reports that Israel has agreed to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Former Palestinian Authority information minister Nabil Shaath claimed that Israel had expressed its readiness to release some 700 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit.
He said negotiations to resolve the crisis had reached an "advanced stage" as Egyptian diplomats and security officials based in the Gaza Strip resumed their mediation efforts on Tuesday. According to Shaath, who is one of the top Fatah leaders in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians and Israel have agreed on most of the details of the alleged prisoner swap, but were still negotiating about the identity of the prisoners who would be freed. He said that in any case, most of the female prisoners held in Israel would be released.
The Egyptians had suspended their mediation efforts to protest against Hamas's refusal to accept a proposal by President Hosni Mubarak, according to which the soldier would be released in return for guarantees that Israel would release hundreds of prisoners at a later stage. The proposal is aimed at avoiding a situation where Israel would be seen as having succumbed to the demands of the kidnappers.
The Egyptian mediators met with PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who expressed his backing for ending the crisis peacefully. Haniyeh told the Egyptian officials that the crisis could be resolved only after Israel ends its military operations against the Palestinians and agrees to a mutual cease-fire that would be followed by negotiations over a possible prisoner swap. Haniyeh told reporters in Gaza City on Wednesday that Israel was waging an "insane and open war on the Palestinians and Lebanese." This war, he added, extends beyond the release of Shalit and the other two soldiers held by Hizbullah.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
We've been there before.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/03/2006 2:29 Comments ||
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#2
Ok, I give up. Why is Egypt trying to get in the middle of this?
#5
Terrible idea. For many reasons, let the French teach them the art of war. Lebanese Army, as presently constituted, cannot/will not engage Hezbullah...why give them training and arms that will eventually find their way to terrorist hands?
#7
I like the idea. We need intelligence assets in the region and can make sure the UN stays out of it. Training is a far cry from moving troops in, which is not a good idea.
#8
As long as the troops are named George, Michael.
Posted by: ed ||
08/03/2006 18:05 Comments ||
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#9
Don't blame Rummy, this is from President Bush and Condi. They still cling to the notion that there is a Hezbollah-free Lebanese government.
This move ranks right up there with illegal aliens, nominating Myers for the Supreme Court, etc.
George is at times overly idealistic. In reality, the Lebanese PM, president, head of Parliament, and foreign minister are Hezbollah accomplices and Syrian-Iranian proponents.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/03/2006 18:14 Comments ||
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#10
"George is at times overly idealistic"
Or perhaps too trusting. I guess since he's a decent guy with decent motives, he figures 'democratically elected' governments are mostly comprised of the same. Nothing could be further from the truth. Trusting the Lebbies will be a huge blunder. Trust is EARNED THROUGH ACTIONS.
#11
Having the US train foreign troops is always a good idea.
The #1 thing they learn is: DO NOT FIGHT THE US ARMY.
The #2 is that they are military men, men of respect. They should be respected by their countrymen, and they should respect themselves and other military men. That they are better than civilians. This is a great shock to them.
#3 is that they should obey the rules of war. If they play nice, then we play nice. Important if we ever do get into a fight. This lets them know that even if their Imam encourages them to fight like brutish beasts, they had better think twice before doing it.
#4 is that a good military bond is closer than a tribal one. A soldier is a soldier first, and obeys his boss even if he is from another tribe.
This list just goes on and on, and really, truly matters over the long haul. I don't think it is possible to even be around a Marine or Special Forces trainer without having your attitude adjusted.
Of course, with muzzies, I'd agree with ya...you gotta do a whole lot of actions before I even begin to trust (much less verify) ya.
Posted by: BA ||
08/03/2006 20:19 Comments ||
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#14
Moose...I don't usually find reason to disagree with you. And I generally agree with your comments here.
However, do you propose our training the same Lebanese military the the PM has stated will fight side-by-side with Hezbos? The same ones who have been shooting at Israel soldiers?
Sounds to me like a great opportunity for the Hezbo (hmm Lebanese army) to go to school on us.
Once the Hezbos are chased out of southern Lebanon, they don't simply disappear and the world breaks out in splender. No, the Hezbos will overtake northern Lebanon and lob long-range missiles into Israel from there.
They have already overtaken the government (read the Phares interview on P.4) and killed the pro-democracy figures.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/03/2006 20:40 Comments ||
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#15
My God, the next thing you know, they'll ask them to train the German and Japanese military after having to fight them for ..... oh wait. Never mind.
#2
That'll finally break the enviro-maniacs and luddites in Congress and open up all the oil stashed away off shore on the continental shelf and the north slope. I'll party day and night as the future speculators watch their gamble drop like the literal lead balloon. Hope it wipes most of the SOBs out like the crash of 1929.
The world awoke Sunday to the news that an Israeli airstrike killed 57 Lebanese civilians, leading Israel to stop airstrikes for 2 days - but evidence indicates the "massacre" may have been a fraud. The supposed massacre caused a major turnabout in world diplomacy. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suddenly canceled her plans to fly to Beirut, saying "my work towards a ceasefire is really here [in Jerusalem] today." The implication was clearly that the onus was now upon Israel. French President Jacques Chirac condemned Israel's "unjustified action which demonstrates more than ever the need for an immediate ceasefire," Jordan's King Abdullah called it an "ugly crime," and other world leaders echoed these sentiments.
Though Israel emphasized that Hizbullah was to blame for waging its rocket war against Israel from within a civilian population, Foreign Ministry officials repeated their "deep regret at the loss of innocent life in the campaign against Hizbullah," and were forced to promise a "thorough and comprehensive examination." However, the incident may have been all one big fraud, staged by Arab elements for the world media in order to lead precisely to the situation described above.
The central piece of evidence leading to this conclusion is the fact, mentioned by IDF officials from the very beginning, that the building collapsed a full seven hours after the Israel Air Force bombing. Why, then, would the residents inside not have been evacuated in the meantime? As Brig.-Gen. Amir Eshel of the Israeli Air Force told reporters Sunday night, It is difficult for me to believe that they waited eight hours to evacuate it. Without additional evidence, Eshel merely left open the possibility that Hizbullah terrorists, or explosives they left behind, caused the explosion.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
08/03/2006 09:26 ||
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#1
"Americans and Westerners are not used to dealing with carefully orchestrated and large-scale deception of this kind. It is time that it be recognized as a weapon of warfare, and an extremely potent one at that."
And what do you thing the enemy has been doing for years in Iraq? Now that the possibility exists that by playing with the anti-Israeli terrorists in Lebanon rather than the anti-American/Iraqi terrorists in Iraq, you might, just might, alienate your Friends of Israel sponsors, you 'discover' you might be used to further the cause of the enemy? The feigned surprise is rather unbecoming. And an election is coming up in November. How coincidental.
#2
SS1847, I can never figure out why the Left is so incoherent. Constructing an argument is not that hard. My daughter managed it around age 7. So what's with the meme>meme>meme I've made an argument silliness.
#4
Actually, my dear Shong Sheager8147, the argument has been made, loudly and repeatedly, since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 that the reporters and journalists of the mainstream media have been witting or unwitting catspaws of the enemy -- surely you remember the fuss about Dan Rather's little investigative contretemps vis a vis President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard? I find it odd that you've only just become aware of this. But then there is an election coming up in a few months, as you said, so perhaps that explains your current preternatural acuity.
#6
Oh, how horrible that those eeeevil JOOOOOS committed a terrible slaughter in Jenin Kana! We're SO LUCKY that the intrepid, unbiased MSM is right there watching to make certain that the absolute, unvarnished, unequivocal truth gets out to the world--just like they did about Jenin!
/sarcasm off
Posted by: mac ||
08/03/2006 11:36 Comments ||
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#7
So what, no amount of evidence to the contrary will affect the prevailing memes.
#9
Israel taking out a few dozen reporters would cause a stink in newsrooms around the world, but would do wonders for "clearing the air". Robert Fisk can be "victim" #1. Any other nominees?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/03/2006 15:36 Comments ||
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#10
"Robert Fisk can be "victim" #1. Any other nominees?"
#11
I nominate charles enderlin, France 2 teevee channel's permanent envoy to Israel, and msm enabler of the pallywood al durah blood libel which has sowed so much hate in the middle east and elsewhere.
#12
Nope...You guys are all wrong. I read the Daily Kos last night and he insists this another "Dan Rather-gate", and the right wing blogs are trying to cover for Israel. Puts the Rantburgers right up there with UFO-freaks, and other conspiracy nuts.
#13
Well, someone needs to tell MSNBC, because of 11:11 Eastern time, they still had a heartwrenching story of a mother pulling her little girl out of the wreckage, and of course, it's the Jews' fault.
#14
Yuk to that MSNBC story - standard drivel from AP and Al-Reuters and not a single word about the big story circulating around; that those kids might well have been put in that building by the Hizbollocks swine.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/03/2006 19:21 Comments ||
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#15
Christiane - war slut
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/03/2006 20:18 Comments ||
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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbass Fatah faction yesterday renewed warnings that its fighters would retaliate if Israeli forces approached refugee camps during their offensive in Lebanon. If Israeli forces should approach the entrance of our camps, we will react with weapons, Fatahs Lebanon representative Sultan Abul Aynain said from the Rashidiyah camp, south of the port city of Tyre.
Abul Aynain predicted some very difficult times this week as Israel intensifies its offensive before a diplomatic push to bring hostilities to an end. Israel wants to achieve gains in very little time although it could not, since July 12, neutralise Hezbollah fighters and liberate the two captured soldiers, he said.
The Israeli security cabinet gave orders early yesterday for a broadening of Israels ground offensive, launched after the two soldiers were seized in a deadly cross-border raid by the Shiite militants of Hezbollah. A total of 828 people have died in the three-week-old offensive, according to an official toll.
Abul Aynain already warned that Palestinian fighters might join the conflict in a July 24 interview with satellite news channel Al-Arabiya. None of us can be except at the centre of the battle if Israel invades south Lebanon, he said at the time.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2006 00:00 ||
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If Israeli forces should approach the entrance of our camps, we will react with weapons,
Abul Aynain already warned that Palestinian fighters might join the conflict
#2
They've been in 'camps' for how long now?! By the way, if I were them, I'd be less worried about the Israelis and more worried about reconstituted Phalangie groups.
#3
How do the Israelis keep from responding outright laughter by these empty thtreats? Respond with weapons? Sounds like Sultan Abul Aynain wants to become the next Ex-Paleo official.
#5
My G-d, we need to teach these f***ing morons a lesson. We don't need to hit ein-el-hellhole so much as we need to carpet-bomb Damascus and Ramallah. I'd just love to see Abbas' face when one of his underlings reports that 20 B-52's are approaching Ramallah at 48K. Or Asshat's, getting the same information about Damascus. Or even better, Nastyraller hearing that the combined force from three US carriers are approaching Beirut. We COULD screw up the entire middle east and offer Israel to become the 51st state of the US, and watch turbans spin tight enough to squeeze blood from a rock. The Ayrabs need to learn they're not the most important people on the face of this earth, and that if they don't learn to play nice, they'll be eliminated - all at once, or one at a time.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/03/2006 15:42 Comments ||
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#6
:) Op, I wish I had said that. You have good ideas. How do we implement them?
#11
"we will react with weapons"
ROTFLMAO, it's like a Monty Python or Saturday Night Live skit. For some reason I hear it in my head with a French accent.
An Iranian official said on Wednesday the Islamic republic was losing confidence in the international community after the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding it stop sensitive nuclear work. Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie met in Tokyo with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who urged Iran to regain the world's trust.
the Security Council resolution heightens mistrust and strengthens the belief that Western countries are attempting to take away Iran's rights through pressure rather than dialogue...
A Japanese foreign ministry statement quoted the vice president as saying that Iran was "seriously considering" the comprehensive package of incentives drafted largely by European powers for Tehran to back down on the nuclear issue. But Mashaie reportedly said that "the Security Council resolution heightens mistrust and strengthens the belief that Western countries are attempting to take away Iran's rights through pressure rather than dialogue."
Mashaie, who is the head of Iran's Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, is visiting Japan to open a major display of Persian historical relics. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has refused to back down on the nuclear issue or to give a prompt reply to the package of incentives. The UN Security Council voted 14-1 on Monday to demand that Iran give up sensitive nuclear activities including uranium enrichment by August 31 or face possible sanctions.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2006 00:00 ||
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UNITED NATIONS The U.N. announced Wednesday that it was again postponing a meeting of nations that could send peacekeepers to south Lebanon, saying talks about sending troops were pointless before there was progress on peace between Israel and Hezbollah.
I'm confident that by tomorrow we'll be in a position to have discussions in the Council...
Diplomats still claimed substantial progress toward agreement on a peace plan, saying there was general agreement on the elements required for a lasting solution. Those include halting the fighting, disarming Hezbollah, deploying peacekeepers and creating a buffer zone in south Lebanon free of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops. "I'm confident that by tomorrow we'll be in a position to have discussions in the Council on a text which actually takes us forward," Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry said. "Prospects now of adoption soon of a resolution have improved considerably."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2006 00:00 ||
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So how is the Darfur peacekeeping gig going, UN? Haven't seen it on the radar screen for a while.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/03/2006 1:13 Comments ||
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#2
I am stifling a laugh. Israel and Hizb'allah negotating? Get real.
The is no peace with ialamofascists terrorists. If Leabanon wants peace get rid of Hizb'allah it's really quite simple. If not stand by and have your country destroyed and lose it for ever Lebanon.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/03/2006 2:33 Comments ||
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#4
Man, I'm beginning to appreciate having Bolton at the UN more and more. The UN's saying there will be no Peacekeepers unless there's a ceasefire, and Israel (and to lesser extent, Hezbollah too) says there will be no ceasefire until Hezbollah is disarmed. The ultimate good cop/bad cop while the IDF/IAF is taking out Hezzies left and right. Maybe Israel can finish this thing before the UN even agrees to meet to discuss an option on where to eat lunch while discussing peacekeeping proposals, lol!
Posted by: BA ||
08/03/2006 8:41 Comments ||
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#5
What, still no volunteers to be the first in the barrel?
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday criticised the United Nations Security Council and the United States for "preventing a ceasefire in Lebanon", as Israel strikes deeper into Lebanon. "Prevention of a ceasefire in Lebanon is an eternal disgrace, a stain on the United Nations Security Council's men headed by the criminal America," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA. "The US, Britain and some other powers are using their tool, the Zionist regime, to create the Greater Mideast, imposing war to Lebanon. They are partners in Israel's crimes."
It was supposed to have happened by now. Each day lessens chances of running out the clock. Advantage: IDF.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Need that cease fire, do ya?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/03/2006 7:09 Comments ||
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#2
If you flip to bird to the major powers, why shouldn't the major powers flip the bird back. The old Cause -> Effect is still lost on these idiots. What, only you are allowed to play that game? Hahahahahahahaha
BRUSSELS - European governments are reaching out to Hezbollah's foreign backers, Iran and Syria, in an attempt to engage them in a solution to the Lebanon war by recognizing their importance for regional stability. While the United States, Israel's main backer, is unwilling to talk at a senior level to either country - seen as "rogue states" in Washington - European foreign ministers have no such taboo if dialogue can help extinguish fires in the Middle East.
There can be no effective solution without Syria," Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said...
But beyond making Syrian and Iranian leaders feel respected, it is not clear what the Europeans can offer to persuade Damascus or Tehran to lean on Hezbollah guerrillas to stop firing missiles into Israel or accept eventual disarmament. "There can be no effective solution without Syria," Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said after European Union ministers held emergency talks on the crisis Monday.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, a former EU Middle East peace envoy, was due to visit Damascus after talks in Beirut with Lebanese leaders, diplomats said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Go ahead you assclowns, talk to Iran-Syria-Hezbo. See just how meaningless you really are
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/03/2006 2:35 Comments ||
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#2
Can't we all just get along? Euro fools. Why don't you just give the islamofascists france? Maybe that will appease them. Oh, they already have it?
If Hezbollah-run media are to be believed, then 35 Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed or wounded in Ayta a-Shab , militants downed an Israeli helicopter and destroyed a house in which IDF soldiers were hiding, and IDF troops are always hit in the back because they are running away.
It's not clear what incident, if any, the report was referring to... He repeated that an Israeli ship had been hit, but said no pictures were broadcast because visibility was poor...
All these statements are baseless because - despite the impression Hezbollah has made for straight talk - credibility is not its strong suit. Hezbollah's reports have become less and less believable in recent days. On Monday, Al-Manar television - the central component of Hezbollah's well-oiled media empire - reported that the organization had destroyed an Israeli ship off the coast of Tyre, which had some 50 sailors aboard - a charge the IDF dismissed completely.
It's not clear what incident, if any, the report was referring to, and the Arab world has been asking questions. Al-Arabiya television asked Mahmoud Kamati, a member of the Hezbollah political bureau, about the Hezbollah claim and he repeated that an Israeli ship had been hit, but said no pictures were broadcast because visibility was poor.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Didn't Arab news media do this once before in Iraq? Unless they are asking some questions, Arabs are about to get bitten a second time by the same dog.
#6
I actually lay this at the feet of the MSM too. They wouldn't "hype" these numbers unless they know it'll hit the NY Slimes and then the world. Much like the immediate stories of Qana, which said 50-60 Lebanese were killed in that house, when the real number is more like mid-20's and, of that, they were basically ALL kept hostage there by Hezbollah. If it bleeds, it leads, and the MSM never really checks the numbers.
Posted by: BA ||
08/03/2006 8:36 Comments ||
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#7
This actually doesn't surprise me. Notions of honor and face are very tightly intertwined over there, and so Hezbollah has to make these kinds of pronouncements - even when it's clear that they violate reality. Arabs also have a tendency to make sweeping and, to Western ears, ridiculous statements - almost as though by just claiming something it will manifest itself as reality with no additional effort on the Arab's part. It's more what they want it to be than what it actually is.
It's a different way of thinking, one that is very alien to our logical, (generally) reality-based Western minds. It's also very funny once you understand it. Trouble is, the media doesn't - so they report these things as though they're facts (which, ironically enough, almost makes it into reality into today's world - until that pesky thing known as the truth comes along . . .)
Posted by: The Doctor ||
08/03/2006 8:50 Comments ||
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#8
On the flip side, Israel knows what it's losses are, and as they become aware of the outragous disinformation of the enemy, they would naturally suffer boosted morale and even laugh out loud.
So, how can the Hezbs bring joy to the enemy ? Braggadocious bullcrap to cover their misery. This is a tactical error on Hezbs part.
#9
almost as though by just claiming something it will manifest itself as reality with no additional effort on the Arab's part. It's more what they want it to be than what it actually is.
Somebodys been to my Seminar!
Posted by: Tony Robbins ||
08/03/2006 11:52 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Arabs also have a tendency to make sweeping and, to Western ears, ridiculous statements - almost as though by just claiming something it will manifest itself as reality with no additional effort on the Arab's part. It's more what they want it to be than what it actually is.
Leftists indulge in the same behaviour.
In fact, if you sit back and look at the two groups, you'd find LOTS of similarities.
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
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President Chirac, returning to his favourite role of world statesman, has taken a bold line at the United Nations that conflicts with Washington and London. He is capitalising on the discredit that Iraq caused les Anglo-Saxons and drawing on Frances past as the governing power of Lebanon.
PARIS Police have shut down makeshift Muslim prayer rooms at Paris' two main airports after they came under scrutiny following a far-right politician's allegations that Islamists were compromising security. Officials insist there was no threat. But the prayer sites set up by Muslim workers in cloak rooms, depots and other areas at Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports were quietly shuttered. There are three official prayer rooms still open at each airport, just as there are chapels for Christians and synagogues for Jews.
By Cliff Kincaid | August 3, 2006 
KABUL: President Pervez Musharraf accepted on Wednesday an invitation to visit Afghanistan, an Afghan official said. Musharraf was last in Afghanistan in April 2002. Afghan President Hamid Karzai extended the invitation in a telephone call to Musharraf on Wednesday evening during which they discussed "issues relating to the region," presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi said. "The president of Pakistan accepted the invitation and said he would visit Afghanistan at a convenient time," Rahimi said. "At this time, this is of great importance to have good relations and good discussions," he said.
Egypt has resumed its efforts to persuade the Palestinians to release kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who is being held in the Gaza Strip, amid unconfirmed reports that Israel has agreed to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Former Palestinian Authority information minister Nabil Shaath claimed that Israel had expressed its readiness to release some 700 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit. 
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbass Fatah faction yesterday renewed warnings that its fighters would retaliate if Israeli forces approached refugee camps during their offensive in Lebanon. If Israeli forces should approach the entrance of our camps, we will react with weapons, Fatahs Lebanon representative Sultan Abul Aynain said from the Rashidiyah camp, south of the port city of Tyre. 
An Iranian official said on Wednesday the Islamic republic was losing confidence in the international community after the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding it stop sensitive nuclear work. Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie met in Tokyo with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who urged Iran to regain the world's trust.
UNITED NATIONS The U.N. announced Wednesday that it was again postponing a meeting of nations that could send peacekeepers to south Lebanon, saying talks about sending troops were pointless before there was progress on peace between Israel and Hezbollah. 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday criticised the United Nations Security Council and the United States for "preventing a ceasefire in Lebanon", as Israel strikes deeper into Lebanon. "Prevention of a ceasefire in Lebanon is an eternal disgrace, a stain on the United Nations Security Council's men headed by the criminal America," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA. "The US, Britain and some other powers are using their tool, the Zionist regime, to create the Greater Mideast, imposing war to Lebanon. They are partners in Israel's crimes."
BRUSSELS - European governments are reaching out to Hezbollah's foreign backers, Iran and Syria, in an attempt to engage them in a solution to the Lebanon war by recognizing their importance for regional stability. While the United States, Israel's main backer, is unwilling to talk at a senior level to either country - seen as "rogue states" in Washington - European foreign ministers have no such taboo if dialogue can help extinguish fires in the Middle East. 
If Hezbollah-run media are to be believed, then 35 Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed or wounded in Ayta a-Shab , militants downed an Israeli helicopter and destroyed a house in which IDF soldiers were hiding, and IDF troops are always hit in the back because they are running away.
