Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he will stand down two months from now, saying his family is being hurt by corruption allegations against him. Vowing to prove his innocence, he told reporters he would leave as soon as his Kadima party chooses a new leader at its internal election on 17 September.
Mr Olmert had been under pressure to resign over a police inquiry into allegedly illegal election donations. Several Kadima ministers in the ruling coalition are bidding to replace him.
"I am proud to be the prime minister of a country that investigates its prime ministers," Mr Olmert said. "The prime minister is not above the law, but he is in no way below it."
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#1
It's probably still on, but won't take place until the new moon in November. IIRC, that's about the right time to do it, whether Olmert was PM or not.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/30/2008 14:47 Comments ||
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#2
The first good new moon after the US presidential elections is around November 25-30th.
What really runs things in Afghanistan are the drug gangs. They pull more strings than the Taliban, and have more firepower. The drug gangs use the Taliban to distract the armed foreigners who, if they wanted to, could shut down much of the drug business. So could the Afghan government, but too many officials have a financial interest in leaving the heroin production alone. The drugs have brought unprecedented prosperity to those in positions of power. The few hundred people who run the drug business are also getting rich, but not insanely so. Most of the money is spread around to insure that heroin production and exporting is not interfered with.
Meanwhile, the Taliban are mainly all about getting themselves killed. The Taliban have to operate in large groups (a hundred or more gunmen) in order to be able to intimidate locals into working with them. But groups this large can be detected by NATO air and electronic reconnaissance. When the Taliban get too close to a town or major road, out come the smart bombs and ground troops. Great slaughter follows, with dozens of dead Taliban, plus others captured. The prisoners increasingly tell the same story (recruited in Pakistani religious schools for holy war, or brought into Pakistan by al Qaeda to fight infidel invaders.)
The Afghan media is bribed to play up real or imagined stories of foreign troops killing Afghan civilians. Afghan troops and police kill far more civilians, but that's not news, because that's been going on forever. The important things is that the Taliban and drug gangs will pay journalists for "foreigner kills Afghans" stories, with a bonus if the Western press picks it up (and they do grab some of the better done fabrications).
Posted by: ed ||
07/30/2008 09:54 ||
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What I said years ago:
Go after the opium production. Buy off the farmers with cash (pay them what they would make off opium to instead grow food), burn ALL the poppy crops in place (defoliate). Anyone fighting, in addition to getting the crops and farm demolished, will get their ground seeded with defoliants that will prevent growth of any crop for years.
Basically lay down the law and let them know if they resist, they will die.
As for the politicians who are owned by the drug lords? Have them tried quickly and promptly executed by the clean ones.
#2
As for the politicians who are owned by the drug lords? Have them tried quickly and promptly executed by the clean ones.
OS, I doubt you could find ten non-corrupt politicians in all of Afghanistan, and those ten (if they exist) are targeted for replacement by bought men.
We rebuilt the Afghan government too quickly. We should STILL be occupying the country, and telling its citizens what to do. Afghanistan is a continuing cesspool of corruption, and it's going to take ten years or more to develop a government that would be even mildly responsible. In the meantime, a couple of ARCLIGHT strikes down through the poppy fields would get the attention of the growers.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/30/2008 14:52 Comments ||
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#3
So where do you find an Afghan equal to Presidente Uribe? Many of the rural population don't like being narco producers. They need leadership that has Uribe's q ualities, seems to me.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/30/2008 18:12 Comments ||
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#4
Should have implemented biomassfuel plants years ago to address two needs, those of traditional agrarian growers and some sort of domestic fuel production.
#5
I am sure there is a smut or virus in our inventory to cause some fatal plant disease in poppies.
I doubt there is the political will in Washington to ever use such a weapon. The Sierra Club types and the organized crime types both having the potential of being very upset.
(Xinhua) -- A senior official of the Cairo-based Arab League (AL) on Tuesday welcomed the efforts of the Sudanese government exerted to solve the crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, the Egyptian MENA news agency reported.
"In light of the plan approved by the Sudanese government, I can say that the Sudanese government is now moving along a good path (to find a settlement to the crisis)," said Samir Hosni, head of the Africa Department of the pan-Arab organization.
Hosni's remarks came amid the current dispute between Sudan and the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor, who called for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for alleged war crimes in Darfur.
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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( Xinhua) -- Mohamed Omar Habeeb, mayor of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, was dismissed from his post Tuesday in a decree issued by the Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, government spokesman said. Habeeb, also known as Mohamed Dheere, has been mayor of Mogadishu and the governor of Banadir region since 2007 after he was appointed by the former prime minister Ali Gedi.
Abdi Haji Goobdoon, spokesman for Somali transitional government, told reporters that the prime minster, after meeting with his cabinet, decided "to relieve the Mayor and Governor of his duties."
He said the mayor was fired because of the continuous insecurity in the capital and the lack of competence in his administration. Mohamed Dheere has been accused of heavy-handedness during his tenure.
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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If this "computer nerd" is good enough to hack into so many our supposedly secure computers, put him to work designing better (more secure) systems. Employ him in the WOT. Have him work off his sentence by doing something useful.
#3
If he had been Muslim he would have got 2 million pounds of taxpayer funded Legal Aid in his quest to avoid extradition. BTW this POS will be arriving on your shores on the 15th November.
(Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) condemned the Japanese authorities' claim to Tok Islet as "robber act," the official news agency KCNA reported Tuesday.
A spokesman for the History Society of the DPRK said Tuesday that "this clearly proves that the moves of Japan to grab Tok Islet, part of inviolable territory of Korea, have reached the phase of its implementation."
"The Korean people will never allow Japan to realize its anachronistic ambition for overseas aggression but mete out a resolute and merciless punishment to it in case it violates the sovereignty and dignity of the DPRK even a bit," it added. The islet is called Tok in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese. Both nations claimed the islet part of their territory.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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Hmmm: "Minuscule island (or rocks) lost in Japan Sea between Japanese Oki island and Korean Ullungdo island. Though owing no trees and no waters, it has become the subject of a bitter political dispute between Japan and South Korea. It has been under de facto control of Korean army since 1952. Its total surface is 0.2 km2."
So why are the Norks chiming in at this late date?
Anyhow, paragraph 3 clearly indicates they put a top-notch ranter on the job.
Visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that Pakistan expects from United States a similar kind of nuclear deal that Washington has made with India.
And a pony
There should be no discrimination. If they want to give such nuclear status to India, we expect the same for Pakistan, Gilani said in a conversation with Richard N. Haass, the President of Council on Foreign Relations at a meeting jointly organized with the Middle East Institute here.
A white one, with ribbons in his mane
Gilani also spoke at length on a variety of issues, including terrorism and extremism, Pak-US relations, economy and the scope of democracy in the country. He said his government wanted to have cordial relations with all neighbours, including India and Afghanistan, as this would ensure peace in Asia.
On his terms, of course ...
With India, we want to resolve all issues, including the core issue of Kashmir, he said when asked about that relationship. According to The News and the Dawn newspapers, Gilani also said that his government was striving for the autonomy of the Constitution and the independence of judiciary and added that only political reconciliation could help meet the several challenges before the administration.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john frum ||
07/30/2008 15:01 ||
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"There should be no discrimination."
Bad behavior gets no consequences?
"He said his government wanted to have cordial relations with all neighbours, including India"
That's why Pakistan is firing mortars across the border today?
"only political reconciliation could help meet the several challenges before the administration"
Sounds hopeless.
"He described Islam as a religion of peace"
It's hopeless.
"He added, however, that Pakistan wanted better cooperation with the United States to share intelligence about foreign militants."
Note: "foreign" militants. He's in denial about his "domestic" militants.
I'm sure Obama will talk to him and everything will be okay.
Pakistan's military Wednesday rejected a "malicious" report that a top CIA official visiting this month confronted Islamabad over ties between the country's intelligence service and militants. The New York Times said agency deputy director Stephen Kappes highlighted alleged ties between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and those responsible for the surge of violence across the border in Afghanistan.
"We reject this report. This is unfounded, baseless and malicious," chief Pakistani military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.
Paks might be right -- after all, it was only in the New York Times.
"I would like to emphasise here that ISI is a premier intelligence agency which has caught or apprehended maximum Al-Qaeda operatives including those who were linked with criminals and responsible for attacking the US mainland on September 11, 2001," Abbas said.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/30/2008 11:15 ||
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#1
Not just the Times. Toronto Globe and Mail...
After years of excusing rumours of Pakistani involvement as being the work of rogue agents or retired intelligence officials acting on their own, Western leaders have become increasingly blunt with Pakistan in private conversations about the ISI's role in the Afghan war.
Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Pakistan this month and confronted his counterparts in a meeting that one diplomat described as stormy. "He lost his temper," the diplomat said.
#2
"It was a very pointed message saying, 'Look, we know there's a connection, not just with Haqqani but also with the other bad guys and ISI, and we think you could do more and we want you to do more about it," a senior US official told the Times.
And 'more' WE COULD DO as well. Anger, whining and carping will change nothing with this buggers. Now soundly verified, exploit, exploit, exploit, exploit.
Gill on the Hill cant get over it. Hes been telling all and sundry about the frightening experience hes recently had. It has to do with the day Uncle Sams Admiral came to see him in Isloo. Lest we forget, the Admiral is Uncle Sams absolute top dog in the hierarchy, you cant get more senior than him in the military so when he spoke it was for all Uncle Sams services. A fly on the wall told us General Crown was also there, holding Gills hand. The fly says the Admiral started by saying that that was a very naughty thing to have done with the Lalas consulates in Afghanistan. Gill poor thing apparently stammered, w-w-what do you mean? at which point the Admiral pointed at General Crown and said ask him. Gill asked for proof. The Admiral apparently pulled it out of his briefcase. There were a few other similar exchanges, with the blame being placed firmly on our side or rogue elements not in your control as the Admiral put it. He went on to deliver some more tough talk whereupon, as Gill confessed to a friend, he paled to a ghost white, rung fuk ho gya. Gill also confessed as much to the Frontier wallahs who are writhing in helpless agony at the Taliban advance in their direction. Dont tell us said one ANP leader to Gill, we cant live in Peshawar. One stalwart has actually sold up his house, sent his children abroad and is moving to Isloo.
Gill on the Hill is the PM Gillani
General Crown is General Taj (the ISI Chief)
Posted by: john frum ||
07/30/2008 13:56 Comments ||
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#6
I'm not surprised. The Pakistanis don't believe we'll last through the long haul, and nothing they do will get us to retaliate. They should be proven very, very wrong. Wiping out Islamabad/Rawalpindi in an old-fashioned bombing raid (massed bombers, lots of iron bombs, firebombs, and cluster munitions) would go a long way toward putting the fear of God into these people. They need to KNOW, deep in their soul, that stirring the ant's nest of the United States will result in the worst possible stinging they'll ever get. Right now, they're laughing at us. If Oramabamadingdong gets elected president, we'll lose ALL respect in South Asia. Our politicians have created an abominable mess, and it's going to cost us plenty to clean it up.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/30/2008 15:18 Comments ||
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#7
Seen in another blog: And just like how the US looked the other way when Turkey took some action into Kurdistan - the Pakistani military will have to not only ignore the Taliban - but US forces in hot pursuit.
#8
Paks might be right -- after all, it was only in the New York Times.
NPR had a long interview yesterday (?) with a reporter whose beat is Pakistan and Afghanistan. The gentleman said there are some 200 (or perhaps it was 2000, I wasn't yet paying close attention at that point) CIA people in Pakistan, based in Army cantonments, where they collect information from various instruments and people. Apparently every single one is terribly frustrated that the Pakistanis consistently refuse to act on actionable intelligence, and those few times they do act they somehow manage to come up empty. The good admiral was not just shouting DoD frustrations.
NPR has been having some surprising reports lately.
WASHINGTON -- A top Central Intelligence Agency official traveled secretly to Islamabad this month to confront Pakistan's most senior officials with new information about ties between the country's powerful spy service and militants operating in Pakistan's tribal areas, according to American military and intelligence officials. The CIA emissary presented evidence showing that members of the spy service had deepened their ties with some militant groups that were responsible for a surge of violence in Afghanistan, possibly including the suicide bombing this month of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, the officials said.
The decision to confront Pakistan with what the officials described as a new CIA assessment of the spy service's activities seemed to be the bluntest American warning to Pakistan since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks about the ties between the spy service and Islamic militants. The CIA assessment specifically points to links between members of the spy service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, and the militant network led by Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, which American officials believe maintains close ties to senior figures of Al Qaeda in Pakistan's tribal areas.
The CIA has depended heavily on the ISI for information about militants in Pakistan, despite longstanding concerns about divided loyalties within the Pakistani spy service, which had close relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11 attacks. That ISI officers have maintained important ties to anti-American militants has been the subject of previous reports in The New York Times. But the CIA and the Bush administration have generally sought to avoid criticism of Pakistan, which they regard as a crucial ally in the fight against terrorism.
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Bush administration officials have responded with skepticism to an appeal by visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani for increased intelligence cooperation, which he said would help his country attack militant groups and terrorist encampments near its border with Afghanistan. "The problem from our perspective has not been an absence of information going into the Pakistani government," said one Bush administration official familiar with discussions this week between the two governments. "It's an absence of action."
Both governments stressed that their meetings have been cordial, and public statements underlined a shared commitment to counterterrorism. President Bush, in an appearance with Gillani after a White House meeting Monday, twice noted U.S. respect for Pakistani sovereignty. In an interview yesterday, Gillani emphasized Pakistan's desire "to maintain excellent relations with the United States."
That's the polite chit-chat part. They always do that.
But beneath the surface pleasantries and what the administration official called "a desire to make this a nonconfrontational meeting," there was little indication that tensions over their respective contributions to the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban had eased.
Because Bush is smart enough to watch the hands, not the lips.
The differences were illustrated Monday when a U.S. missile, believed to have been fired by a CIA-operated Predator drone, killed seven people in Pakistan hours before Bush and Gillani met. U.S. officials said they thought the target, al-Qaeda operative Abu Khabab al-Masri, was killed, although U.S. and Pakistani officials said yesterday they were still seeking confirmation.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
ABU KHABAB AL MASRI
al-Qaeda
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas
Posted by: john frum ||
07/30/2008 09:13 ||
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#1
Gilani accuses us of violating Pakistan's sovereignty, wants more gadgets, and meets with Obama, who pledges as president, would authorize action with firm intelligence...wonder how much that "firm intelligence" from ISI is gonna cost us? How many Predators is Osama worth?
#3
Gilani should have to defend Pakistan as a "sovereignty slut" letting Uzbeks, Chechechens, Arabs, and Maddrasah Morons, have their way with her without cost
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/30/2008 20:47 Comments ||
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#4
or Chechens...sorry, I sneezed
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/30/2008 20:48 Comments ||
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Following fatal explosions in India's IT and pharmaceutical hubs, it is now the capital's turn to steel itself for terror. Thousands of extra police officers are pouring into New Delhi neighbourhoods and the streets are being sown with surveillance cameras. They are joining a battery of bomb-sniffing dogs and metal detectors crowding public markets, as part of the city's hastily erected anti-terrorism plan. All this, for an enemy few know any details about - except for its deadly resolve.
A pro-Islamic group called the Indian Mujahideen has taken responsibility for the serial blasts which took place over a two-day span in Bangalore and Ahmedabad last week, claiming more than 50 lives. While only two people died in the Bangalore blasts, the low-intensity bombs rattled the southern city, which is home to 40 per cent of the country's IT and software industry. The next day's attack seemed similarly calculated for chaos, with 17 bombs ringing out within a 70-minute span in Ahmedabad - the largest city in the state of Gujarat, and a vital nexus of the pharmaceutical industry. The carnage could have taken an even more tragic turn yesterday, had police not discovered and defused 18 bombs in the western city of Surat, where 92 per cent of the world's diamonds are cut and polished. The Indian Mujahideen's bloody trail goes further back than last week's attacks, with the group also taking credit for the May bombings in the tourist-heavy city of Jaipur, which killed 80 people.
"Our intelligence bureau is really one of the best intelligence services in terms of knowing what is happening," said Bharat Karnad, a security analyst with the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research. "So if they haven't gotten on to knowing what the Indian Mujahideen is, the fact is, it's not there. It's obviously a cover. The question is: Who is behind it?"
Continued on Page 49
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat has described as "disgusting" the terrorist attack on the government civil hospital here during Saturday's serial bomb blasts. Talking to journalists after a CPI(M) delegation visited some of the blast-hit areas and injured persons in hospitals, she said it was "unthinkable" that the terrorists should strike at institutions like hospitals. Even in world wars, no country ever made hospitals their target of attack.
Strongly condemning the "inhuman act," Ms. Karat hoped that the Centre would make all efforts to bust the terrorist network and inflict severe punishment on the "Satans."
All-India Anti-Terrorist Front chairman M.S. Bitta, who also visited the blast-hit areas and the civil hospital, expressed confidence that the terrorists would be caught and the guilty punished in due course.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Looks like some "Human Rights" activists got the bum rush when they tried to visit the wounded in hospital.
when a prominent Mumbai-based civil right activist who has been fighting for justice for the victims of the 2002 riots and an actor arrived at the civil hospital in Ahmedabad over the weekend to meet the wounded, family and friends of the victims hounded them out of the place. They called the civil rights activist "a mouth piece of the terrorists".
Posted by: john frum ||
07/30/2008 8:03 Comments ||
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#2
They called the civil rights activist "a mouth piece of the terrorists"
Good on em , say it how it is . Now if only we'd adopt this policy , the world would be a lot more enjoyable
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, referring to US threats of unilateral action inside Pakistan, told CNN in an interview on Monday that "Americans are a little impatient," adding, "In the future I think we'll have more co-operation on the intelligence side [while] we'll do the job ourselves."
Gilani said the insurgents in the FATA are better armed with sophisticated weapons than Pakistani forces, adding that Pakistan lacks such sophisticated weaponry.
FM, jamming: Gilani said the war being fought was not an ordinary war but a guerrilla war. He said the insurgents had FM communications and they sent messages which Pakistan did not have the ability to deal with, implying that Pakistan would need jamming equipment to come to grips with those clandestine radio stations.
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
US being impatient...
After all, it's only been, what, seven years or so. These things take time, you know.
"...we'll do the job ourselves."
Yeah, right. The next time will be the first time.
#2
Ya just got the F-16's--bomb the dang FM stations!W had better put the Paki's on the schedule this fall, maybe a blitz from all directions when Iran's number comes up. India and the Israeli's should be quite helpful.
Meeting a key Pentagon demand, Pakistan's military is planning to move a major unit of its regular army into the Tribal Areas, Pakistani commanders have told US military officials, according to report by the Los Angeles Times (LAT).
Whoa! What brought that on? The Tribal Areas are so peaceful and well-behaved...
The army unit would supplement the Frontier Corps, a senior US military officer said. A fully trained and equipped army unit would represent a change -- long sought by US officials -- in Islamabad's stance toward the troubled region.
Right. Rather than using the Boy Scouts they'll be using the Mighty Pak Army. Tremble, ye turbans!
However, the LAT report goes on, US officials also question how effective or long-lasting the Pakistani push is likely to be.
My somewhat educated guess would be somewhere between zip and squat, but I'm not sure what the margin of error would be.
"I think they are sincere in addressing what we have identified as the problem, but I am not sure they have wrapped their minds or their enthusiasm over what it will actually take," the officer said.
"In fact, I think they'd rather be in Philadelphia."
"They are answering our request, but not in a way that will produce an enduring solution," he added.
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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Pakistani soldiers foiled an attempt by Indian troops to set up a forward post on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control (LoC), a military statement has said. "Indian soldiers wanted to establish a forward post in the area on the Pakistani side of the LoC, which was objected to by our soldiers," the statement said. "On Pakistan's objection, Indian troops opened indiscriminate and unprovoked fire. The Indian fire was immediately responded to."
Indian troops: "After the firefight, the Indian soldiers were forced to flee from the area leaving behind their weapons. The evidence will be shown to the Indians during the flag meeting," it said. Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas condemned "the unprovoked firing by the Indian troops and strongly denied the report of any casualty on the Pakistani side." An earlier statement said the military "refuted the Indian Army's claim that Pakistani troops had crossed 200 metres on the Indian side of the LoC".
Casualties: Pakistan also denied Indian media reports that any of its troops were killed in the fierce overnight gun battle in the disputed region. "With such things, circumstances can become tense and they would not help the confidence-building measures. Such things should not happen and communication channels should remain open," Abbas told Geo News on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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While the governments in Washington and Islamabad seek ways to deepen co-operation, their general mood of mistrust can undermine those efforts, according to a commentary.
Amit Pandya of the Stimson Centre writes that prominent Pakistanis gathered at a meeting arranged by the centre recently expressed anger and a sense of alienation vis-à-vis the United States. "There was an almost unanimous sense that the US, up to the most senior levels of policy-making, evinced no understanding of Pakistani conditions and limitations, and that our demand that 'Pakistan must do more' is misplaced." A retired government official said, "If things go on as they are I will have no choice but to consider myself a Taliban, and I will not be alone among Pakistanis like me." Many believe that the US has a simplistic and binary sense of the opposition of "terrorists" and political stability; and that this has led to adoption of policies that have exacerbated the sources of recruitment by armed insurgents.
Distraction: According to Pandya, Pakistani opinions vary about the value of negotiations with armed groups, some calling themselves Taliban and others identified by various degrees of puritan and extremist religio-political agendas, in the North West Frontier Province and in the Tribal Areas. Some Pakistanis believe that it is futile to negotiate with any armed groups, others that a segment of insurgent groups is implacable, yet others believe that negotiations need to be a key part of a strategy of political stabilisation and of the restoration of politics over military instruments of governance. Pakistanis think Washington misses or misunderstands the complex continuities of political affiliation and clan loyalty between those involved in armed activity and those involved in politics. The US obsession with defeat of armed insurgents on the frontier, in this view, is a distraction from the pressing need for political stabilisation of the new government, and the need to allow that government to respond to the parlous economic situation of the country. There is also a sense that the US, over the past year of turmoil, did not support the Pakistani aspiration for an independent judiciary and the rule of law, as embodied in the widely popular "lawyers' movement". There is more than passing reference among Pakistanis to the fact that the armed insurgencies on the frontier also reflect a breakdown of the rule of law, and emulation by armed groups of a more widespread contempt for the rule of law observed throughout the society, particularly among the country's rulers, Pandya writes.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
13% male literacy in NWFP ...
%3 female.
Nation as a whole: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 49.9%
male: 63%
female: 36% (2005 est.)
A 15-member ulema peace jirga on Tuesday held talks with the administration at the office of the District Coordination Officer (DCO) to broker a peace agreement between the local Taliban and the administration. The jirga discussed the government demands and its own stand. Mufti Inamullah, a jirga member, said that it was unanimously decided at the meeting that the government demands and the jirga proceedings would not be made public. However, he said the peace jirga would leave for an undisclosed location on Wednesday (today) morning to exchange views with the Taliban over the government demands. Mufti Inam said the jirga would then meet the administration to discuss the Taliban demands with the officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- The 15th Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) opened here on Tuesday with an inaugural speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "The world is on the verge of change," Ahmadinejad said in his speech. "It is facing frustrating challenges." Big powers are root of many problems, said Ahmadinejad, adding that poverty is a result of wrong policy of big powers.
He accused big powers of trying to keep a monopoly on technology, saying that nuclear powers are blocking peaceful nuclear work of other states. He said that the NAM which has the capacity for peace and justice can establish an arbitration council and can defend countries against invasion and discrimination. The NAM potentials can be tapped to serve global development, Ahmadinejad added.
Representatives from 118 members, 15 observer members and 8 international and regional organizations including 60 foreign ministers attended the conference at the Conference Hall of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The conference is expected to review the developments and implementation of decisions made in the 14th NAM Summit in Havana in 2006, evaluate the latest international developments, particularly those related to the issues of interests for NAM member states, and also assess the achievements made so far in the process of revitalization and strengthening of the NAM since the holding of the last summit.
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD (AP) -- Loyalists within Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia network call it the "martyrs' list," and it's long and growing: At least three dozen senior members killed in slayings or fighting since last summer and nearly 60 others detained.
The internal document -- obtained by The Associated Press -- offers a rare look at how the top echelon of the Mahdi Army militia is assessing the sustained blows to its once-mighty shadow state and the challenges to its absentee leader al-Sadr, who is holed up in Iran.
It also underscores the twin pressures on al-Sadr's followers.
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Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC ||
07/30/2008 04:00 ||
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#1
Ali tried to be a sniper from a hotel room
Mahmoud's bomb factory became his own tomb
Jameel jumped in front of an M-1 tank
And Abudl got shot in the jugular vein
And Abudl, I miss you more than all the others
And I salute you brother
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died
Posted by: Mike ||
07/30/2008 6:05 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD - A major pilgrimage of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites to a Baghdad shrine passed peacefully on Tuesday, a day after three female suicide bombers killed 35 people among crowds of pilgrims. The annual pilgrimage to the Kadhamiya shrine is one of the most important events in the Shi'ite religious calendar.
Authorities lifted a vehicle curfew in the capital, imposed for the commemoration of the death of Imam al-Kadham, one of Shi'ite Islam's 12 imams.
"I congratulate the millions of people and the mourning processions which took place with the utmost organisation, showing great coordination with the armed forces," said a statement from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office.
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Posted by: Steve White ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States will provide Israel with a radar system used to detect and track missile and rocket attacks, a senior Pentagon official told CNN Tuesday. The official said the U.S. assistance will include an agreement to facilitate the sharing of U.S. "early warning" launch data and technical and financial help developing defenses against shorter range rockets and mortars. The technology is called X-band frequency, which has microwave range and provides for ultra-high very precise resolution. It is able to distinguish between real missiles, decoys and debris.
The technology would be running before "the new [U.S.] administration arrives" in January, Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak said, according to Israel's Haaretz newspaper.
The plan for assistance was announced after Barak met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday. At Tuesday's Pentagon briefing, spokesman Geoff Morrell said, "What we are committed to is exploring additional defensive capabilities for Israel."
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Posted by: Steve White ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
As long as they hook it up to counter battery fire that can respond in a minute or less, I think it's a great idea.
Failing that, just get a fix on the approximate city where the missiles came from and start a rolling barrage.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/30/2008 0:17 Comments ||
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#2
so...for free, then? I'm no anti-semite, but I just can't understand why we keep giving them hightech stuff for free. It's not like they're broke, either.
#6
US X-Band radar for early Iranian missile detection, but no US involvement in any Israeli attack
DEBKAfile Special Report
July 30, 2008, 11:06 AM (GMT+02:00)
US FBX radar
The United States agreed to link Israel up to two advanced missile detection systems against potential attack by a nuclear-armed Iran, Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday night, July 30, at the end of his Washington talks. But US officials made it clear that, while prepared to help Israel defend itself against Iranian missile retaliation, they are determined not to be involved in any Israeli attack on Irans nuclear sites.
DEBKAfiles military sources report that Washington would deliver within six months before the new US administration arrives in January, a powerful forward-based X-band FBX-T radar. Increased access to its Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites, which spot missile launches, would take longer.
By putting a time frame around delivery, the Bush administration holds off a possible Israeli attack on Iran for as long as possible.
Baraks talks with Vice President Dick Cheney, defense secretary Robert Gates and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice ended in agreement for Washington to deliver:
1.The transportable FBX-T radar system built by Raytheon Co. which, by providing early and accurate target-tracing and signature data, enlarges the effective battle space of missile interceptors. US officials say it can track an object the size of a baseball from about 4,700 km, and can be launched from air, sea or land.
It would allow the Israeli Arrow anti-missile system to engage an incoming Iranian Shehab-3 ballistic missile about halfway through its estimated 11-minute flight. This would give a potentially targeted Israeli population five minutes to prepare for an Iranian missile hit. This would make up for the deficiency of Arrows Green Pine radar, which can detect a missile launch in Iran only after it enters the atmosphere on its way to its Israeli target.
2. Increased access to the US Defense Support System (DSP) satellites, which spot missile launches, would help Israel cover the first 5.5 minutes of a Shehab is firing.
Bush and more specifically Bob Gates have now deserted Israel to handle the Iranian nuke threat alone.
Thats fine as Bush doesn't owe us anything and is committed to his political survival and American interests in Iraq.
I hope Bush (and Bob) would not bitch when we either nuke the hell out of Iran contrary to American interests or take other steps which would not exactly vibe with short term interests of the US.
Anyhow- after Iran has 8-12 nukes (which seems to be perfectly acceptable to Dubia and Bob), the next Iranian step (after nuking Tel Aviv) would be to smuggle five 10 KIiloton nuclear suitcases into NY Boston LA, SF and Philadelphia and hold Bush or his Dhimicrat successor in the testicles for extreme consessions to Islam. (such a step would never be traced back to Iran because it would be done by Al Kaida cells under top secrecy like the iranians have used Hizballa against the US and Israel in the past). Neverthless- by the time the true Americans wake up, the American economy would be over the edge for the next 20 years (or forever - taking into account that Europistan, China and Russia are hiding around the corner and praying for weakening of American hegemony so to the benefit of their own economies and power). Just imagine 10 million nuclear casualties simultaneously - taken of the most technologically saavy and highly skilled and Five American cities.
My advice:
1) Sell your stock and buy gold.
2) Buy a few acres in New Zealand.
3) Learn Arabic
4) Get a copy of the Koran - it may become a good investment in the near future
5) Get Burkas for your daughters.
6) Prepare to die (My name is Inigo Montoya....)
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
07/30/2008 11:11 Comments ||
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#8
Well, one can only hope that that this new tech, protects the Zionist party from destruction... These kinds of military moves are just the ticket for shaking of neo cold war reactions from China and Russia.
Posted by: mac g only ||
07/30/2008 11:21 Comments ||
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#9
I think Elder is right. Bush is whimping out on Iran and letting Israel hold the wall. If BO wins, then Israel stands alone.
Maybe I will vote for that jerk McCain after all.
#10
Elder, Tehran and several other middle eastern cities would be smoking holes in the ground should a nuke or any sort ever go off in this country, paticularly if it were a "non-traceable" AQ nuke. You are naive if you believe otherwise. Rather huge supposition that they could smuggle the nukes in here in the first place.
(Xinhua) -- Syria must make a strategic choice between peace and isolation, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday evening.
Olmert made the remarks to graduates of a security course at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, adding that Israeli and Syrian negotiators are now conducting the fourth round of indirect peace talks in Turkey.
The peace process will eventually reach a point where Syria has to choose "between the Iranian grip, partnership in the axis of evil and international isolation, or peace, economic prosperity and a place among the family of nations," Olmert was quoted by local daily The Jerusalem Post as saying.
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- The Islamic Hamas movement warned Tuesday that it would wage a new Intifada, or uprising, against Israel and Palestinian security forces in the West Bank if arrests against Hamas activists continued.
Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said in a statement sent to reporters that "Hamas warns of a new Intifada against the occupation and its supplementary tools in the West Bank if the arrests continue."
Collar a little tight, Sami?
He accused Palestinian security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of cooperating with the Israeli army for carrying out "mass arrests and awful crimes against Hamas movement's activists in the West Bank."
(Xinhua) -- Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah Member of Parliament (MP) Ali Ammar lashed out at U.S ambassador to Lebanon Michele Sison, calling her "Israel's ambassador," local Daily Star reported Tuesday.
"All ambassadors sent by the U.S. administration to Beirut are Israeli puppets," Ammar said on behalf of his party.
Hezbollah MP's comment came in respond to remarks by Sison in front of U.S. congress foreign affairs committee saying that she is concerned about the (Hezbollah) party's surveillance of Beirut international airport, and the party's private telecommunication network.
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah Member of Parliament (MP) Ali Ammar lashed out at U.S ambassador to Lebanon Michele Sison, calling her "Israel's ambassador," local Daily Star reported Tuesday.
All together now let's say, Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww to poor poor poor Ali Ammar Lebanese (MP) He just can't handle the pressure...LOL!!!(!)
~:)
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
07/30/2008 0:48 Comments ||
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#2
And believe you me - the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah MP knows what its like to be a puppet (of Iran).
According to the daily newspaper "As-Safir", Hezbollah has been restructuring, especially since the 2006 July War by ameliorating its different sectors and conducting a process of self-examination.
In fact, Hezbollah has already established a new section dealing with the relations with the Arab states as well as with its parties headed by the party's politburo member Hassan Ezzeddine. This department would be separated from Hezbollah's international relations department headed by Nawwaf Moussawi.
Likewise, the party is preparing the draft of a memorandum, under the presidency of head of the party's politburo Ibrahim Amin, which will determine its "political vision regarding different local, regional, and international matters." Hezbollah has, in fact, decided to strengthen its central political relations department, as reported also by As-Safir on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stated today that the leaders of March 14 majority are "determined to bolster the alliance ... in order to attain all our aims." He denied allegations about differences with PSP leader Walid Jumblatt, saying "they aim at poisoning the atmosphere."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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Daily Star newspaper quoted today Senior Shiite Cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in an interview with Kuwaiti Ad-Dar newspaper saying on Monday that he rejects the notion of a Shiite project that differs from that of their Sunnite brethren. "We are looking forward to one Islamic project that engulfs big Islamic issues," he added.
Fadlallah explained that a 'Sunnite-Shiite' strife, in the full sense of the word, did not occur in Lebanon. "But there are leaders who want to build their leaderships on a sectarian basis in addition to some Arab countries that encourage and finance such desire," he added.
Fadlallah said that the visit to Najaf of Future Movement leader Saad Hariri cannot have a "big influence as it moves through economics and not politics."
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2008 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
(Xinhua) -- A senior official of the Cairo-based Arab League (AL) on Tuesday welcomed the efforts of the Sudanese government exerted to solve the crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, the Egyptian MENA news agency reported. 
( Xinhua) -- Mohamed Omar Habeeb, mayor of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, was dismissed from his post Tuesday in a decree issued by the Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, government spokesman said. Habeeb, also known as Mohamed Dheere, has been mayor of Mogadishu and the governor of Banadir region since 2007 after he was appointed by the former prime minister Ali Gedi. 
A Briton accused of hacking into top secret military computers has lost a Law Lords appeal against being extradited to stand trial in the US.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, referring to US threats of unilateral action inside Pakistan, told CNN in an interview on Monday that "Americans are a little impatient," adding, "In the future I think we'll have more co-operation on the intelligence side [while] we'll do the job ourselves."
Meeting a key Pentagon demand, Pakistan's military is planning to move a major unit of its regular army into the Tribal Areas, Pakistani commanders have told US military officials, according to report by the Los Angeles Times (LAT). 
Pakistani soldiers foiled an attempt by Indian troops to set up a forward post on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control (LoC), a military statement has said. "Indian soldiers wanted to establish a forward post in the area on the Pakistani side of the LoC, which was objected to by our soldiers," the statement said. "On Pakistan's objection, Indian troops opened indiscriminate and unprovoked fire. The Indian fire was immediately responded to."
While the governments in Washington and Islamabad seek ways to deepen co-operation, their general mood of mistrust can undermine those efforts, according to a commentary.
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Loyalists within Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia network call it the "martyrs' list," and it's long and growing: At least three dozen senior members killed in slayings or fighting since last summer and nearly 60 others detained.
(Xinhua) -- The Islamic Hamas movement warned Tuesday that it would wage a new Intifada, or uprising, against Israel and Palestinian security forces in the West Bank if arrests against Hamas activists continued. 
Daily Star newspaper quoted today Senior Shiite Cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in an interview with Kuwaiti Ad-Dar newspaper saying on Monday that he rejects the notion of a Shiite project that differs from that of their Sunnite brethren. "We are looking forward to one Islamic project that engulfs big Islamic issues," he added.
