Three years ago, Kim Sengupta interviewed five women who wanted to build a new Afghanistan. Today, three are dead and a fourth has fled ...
Posted by: ed ||
10/03/2008 08:36 ||
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#1
Is Karzai worse than useless? Maybe...
Amajan and Kakar used to work closely with a woman MP in Kandahar, Zarghuna Kakar (no relation). Ms Kakar, 36, has now fled her home after she and her family were attacked in a market. Her husband, Mohammed Nasir, was killed in the attack.
Before the shooting, Ms Kakar had repeatedly pleaded for security. At one point she turned in desperation to Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan President and a prominent figure in Kandahar. "He told me there was nothing he could do," she recalled. "He also said that I should have thought about what may happen before I stood for election. But it was his brother, the Americans and the British who told us that we women should get involved in political life. Of course, now I wish I hadn't. If only I knew what would happen."
The general who commands NATO forces in Afghanistan has called for enlisting tribes to help pacify the country and did not rule out reconciliation with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. General David McKiernan, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), also said that the coalition needs more troops for what he said is an increasingly "tough fight" in eastern and southern Afghanistan. "And until we get to what I call a tipping point where the lead for security can be in the hands of the Afghan Army and the Afghan police, there is going to be a need for the international community to provide military capabilities," he told reporters on Wednesday.
McKiernan has asked for four more US combat brigades, support forces, helicopters and reconnaissance, intelligence and surveillance capabilities. He said that any reconciliation efforts should be led by the Afghan government, but that the military would support it.
Asked whether dealing with the man who harbored Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was beyond the pale, McKiernan said: "I think that's a political decision that will ultimately be made by political leadership."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday that he has asked Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to arrange talks with the Taliban so that Omar and other militia leaders could return home in peace. "Ultimately, the solution in Afghanistan is going to be a political solution not a military solution," said McKiernan, who spoke to reporters at a Pentagon news conference. "We're not going to run out of bad guys there that want to do bad things in Afghanistan," he said. "So the idea that the government of Afghanistan will take on the idea of reconciliation, I think, is [an] approach and we'll be there to provide support within our mandate," he said.
The general's visit to Washington comes as the administration of US President George W. Bush is conducting a wide-ranging strategy review prompted by rising insurgent violence in Afghanistan, allegedly fueled from sanctuaries in Pakistan.
The Afghan National Army is supposed to double in size to 134,000 troops in four years, but McKiernan said he did not know how long it would take to reach a point where international forces can start withdrawing.
Drawing on the US experience in Iraq, however, McKiernan suggested that a rebalancing of power between the central government and the tribes could help provide security at a local level. "And it seems to me that with the lead of the government of Afghanistan engaging those tribes and connecting them to governance, whether it's at the provincial level or the district level, seems to be a smart thing," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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KUALA LUMPUR - Armed Somali pirates attacked four ships, including an Italian crude-oil tanker, in what a maritime piracy watchdog said Friday was a "critical level" of attacks in the Gulf of Aden.
"It is one of the highest number of attacks in a single day in the same area," said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
He said the vessels were attacked on October 1 by Somali pirates armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades in the notorious waterway. "We are warning ships to be on high alert. Pirates are attacking ships almost every day. It is at a critical level now," he told AFP. "Three hijacked vessels were released a few days ago and it now appears this group of Somali pirates are looking for ships to hijack again."
The first attack occurred at 0300 GMT when pirates armed with guns and travelling in speedboats tried to board a United Arab Emirates bulk carrier with 28 crew on board, heading from Europe to Asia. "The master took evasive maneuvers and a coalition helicopter arrived and chased the pirates away," Choong said.
Less than an hour later, a gang armed with rocket-propelled grenades attempted to board a Philippine-owned chemical tanker heading from the Middle East to Asia with 12 crew on board, but was chased away by a warship.
In the third incident pirates targeted a crude-oil Italian tanker but were foiled when the ship's master took evasive action.
The final incident occurred when pirates armed with machine guns forced a Taiwanese container ship with 20 crew members to halt. The ship's captain deployed fire hoses to retaliate and the vessel managed to escape.
Choong said it was not known if the same gang was responsible for all the attacks.
#1
A coalition helicopter chased them away? Why the heck didn't a few hellfires blow them out of the water? And Obama wants NATO and the Europeans to handle the WoT? Something really smells here.
#2
Don't go in those waters without personal protection. I don't get it. The pirates are lightly armed and they are preying on large, insured commercial vessels. It seems like the ship owners would have some Blackware types on board and the insurence companies would require it. It shouldn't take much to sink a little speed board that is only armed with pop guns. What am I missing here?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/03/2008 12:44 Comments ||
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A few shotguns on each ship would probably make good swimmers out of those pirates. They seem to like rubber boats.
#4
Attacking those "small, lightly armed" boats isn't as easy as it sounds. First, you have two moving targets. Unless you have a halfway decent targeting computer, it's hard to hit a small boat in the water (CIWS can manage). Secondly, there are no spare crewmembers on commercial ships these days, so there aren't any available "extra bodies" to man any guns that did exist. Thirdly, no captain wants to be responsible for the death of what may be an extremely important member of his crew.
The most effective means of putting an end to this is to have a half-dozen AC-130s stationed in Djibouti, and have them fly random missions over the Gulf of Aden. They can fly high enough no one can be sure if it's a C-130 or some other type of aircraft, there are enough other C-130s around in that part of the world, and they don't have to be at maximum altitude to fly efficiently. The minute there's a ship's captain screaming about a pirate attack, they can begin to home in on the area. They have the capacity to turn either a small boat or a mother ship into tiny pieces, along with whomever is manning them.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/03/2008 16:30 Comments ||
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Somali pirates on a hijacked cargo ship holding battle tanks and hostages said Thursday that they were ready to battle any commando-style rescue attempt.
The warning came a day after the Somali government gave foreign powers a blank check for using force against the pirates, while U.S. warships continued to circle nearby and a Russian frigate headed toward the standoff.
"Anyone who tries to attack us or deceive us will face bad repercussions," the pirates' spokesman, Sugule Ali, told The Associated Press by satellite telephone from the Ukrainian ship MV Faina.
Ali sounded calm and relaxed despite being surrounded by a half dozen Navy vessels and buzzed by American helicopters.
Navy officials decline to comment on the possible use of force, but they warn the pirates against harming the 20 crew members or trying to unload the ship's cargo of 33 Soviet-designed T-72 tanks and other weapons. They make clear they won't allow the arms to fall into the hands of an al-Qaida-linked Islamic movement that is battling Somalia's government.
Ali said the pirates planned to release the ship with crew and cargo intact after receiving the $20 million ransom they have demanded. They seized it Sept. 25 and are no anchored off the coast of central Somalia.
"We have nothing to do with insurgents or terrorist organizations. We only need money," he said. "We would never reduce the ransom."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#5
i like the idea floated here earlier about SEALS and underwater activity; cut some holes in the hull and watch the thing slowly sink. it would be hard to get to them since there are all those tanks and stuff in the way.
no guns, no explosions, just the "ship slowly sinking in the west as the sun pulls away from the shore" (old Spike Jones line)
#9
How has it been managed in the past. When the special ops team attacks, you don't have a lot of time to run around killing hostages. You can either give up, run, or try to fight. But they will be shooting at you while you are thinking, so think fast. Reality is, some hostages will probably die in a raid, but some might get killed anyway. It is time to disassemble this entire criminal network in Somalia.
With U.S. warships offshore and a Russian missile frigate on the way, Somalia's president, Abdullahi Yusuf, said Wednesday that he welcomed international intervention against Somali pirates roaming a main East-West shipping route.
The hijacking last Thursday of a Ukrainian-operated vessel carrying T-72 tanks and other weapons has galvanized the world's leading navies after more than 60 other pirate attacks this year on ships off Somalia and in the nearby Gulf of Aden.
The defense chiefs of eight European Union countries joined the fight Wednesday, agreeing to move toward creating a maritime security force against piracy, French Defense Minister Hervé Morin said in Paris.
In Somalia, Yusuf urged Somalis to turn against the pirate gangs. "I also call on the international community to act quickly on what is happening in Somali waters as well as onshore," he told reporters in the capital, Mogadishu. "We must do everything we can to stop piracy off the coast of Somalia."
The pirates had imposed an "embargo" against Somalia and other countries by preventing trade and food deliveries, he said.
The pirates are holding the Ukrainian-operated Faina a few miles off eastern Somalia. They have demanded $20 million for the release of the vessel and its crew of 13 Ukrainians, seven Russians and one other Eastern European. The ship's captain died of natural causes shortly after the hijacking, the pirates have said by satellite telephone.
The United States has deployed an unspecified number of warships and aircraft within sight of the Faina, and U.S. Navy officials have said they are intent on ensuring that the pirates do not unload the arms.
Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said Russian commanders hope for a peaceful end to the hijacking, independent and state news agencies reported Wednesday. "Taking forceful measures, for obvious reasons, is an extreme measure, as this could create a threat to the lives of the international crew of the cargo ship," Dygalo was quoted as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The pirates had imposed an "embargo" against Somalia and other countries by preventing trade and food deliveries
Somali Islamist insurgents on Thursday urged pirates holding a Ukrainian ship carrying military hardware to destroy the cargo and the vessel if they are not paid ransom.
As US warships and other navies blockaded the MV Faina off Somalia's Indian Ocean coast, the pirates have insisted on being paid $20 million to release the cargo and the 21-member crew.
"If they do not get the money they are demanding, we call on them to either burn down the ship and its arms or sink it," Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a spokesman for the Shabab movement, said in an interview.
But Robow said his movement, which is gradually gaining ground over interim government troops in southern Somalia, was not linked to the pirates who seized the Belize-flagged freighter last week as it headed for Mombasa in Kenya.
"We have no contacts and links with the pirates and they are in the waters for their own interests," he said. "It is a crime to take commercial ships but hijacking vessels that carry arms for the enemy of God is a different matter," added Robow, whose group nearly stamped out piracy when it ruled southern Somalia last year as part of an Islamist government ousted by Ethiopian and interim government forces in early 2007.
Robow claimed that the 33 Soviet-era T72 battle tanks and other military hardware on the MV Faina belonged to Ethiopian forces, who invaded at the behest of the Somali interim government to oust the Islamists from power.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Wantome help?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/03/2008 2:00 Comments ||
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Robow, whose group nearly stamped out piracy when it ruled southern Somalia last year as part of an Islamist government ousted by Ethiopian and interim government forces in early 2007.
A proposed new U.N. resolution calls on all countries interested in maritime safety to send naval ships and military aircraft to fight piracy on the high seas off the coast of Somalia.
The draft Security Council resolution, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, would also call on ships and planes to use "the necessary means" to stop acts of piracy. It was drafted under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, which means its provisions can be enforced militarily.
The French-drafted resolution was expected to be put to a vote in the Security Council early next week, council diplomats said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
My stategy for dealing with the pirates. Talk first then launch rockets. It's the chatty chatty boom boom method. Should work fine.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/03/2008 1:59 Comments ||
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A UN resolution to the rescue. We're saved!!!!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/03/2008 11:30 Comments ||
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BOGOTÁ, Colombia -- Email messages linking the Colombian Marxist guerilla insurgency (known by its Spanish acronym, FARC) to politicians, union activists and left-wing parties overseas have revealed a network of supporters spanning several continents, and have kept tensions high between Colombia and some of its neighbors.
"The FARC have been less isolated than originally believed, and have wide-ranging political contacts throughout Latin America and elsewhere," Michael Shifter, an analyst with Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Dialogue, wrote by email. While Shifter called the relationships "isolated," he said "the support network did give the FARC a sense that they were seen as legitimate by some in the international community, which in turn contributed to their self-understanding as political actors."
Most of the information comes from laptop computers, external hard drives and flash drives reportedly recovered from a FARC campground located in Ecuador that the Colombians bombed and then searched in March. The attack killed Raul Reyes, the guerrillas' second in command, who acted as the group's foreign minister. Among our contestants...
James Jones, an American academic and aid consultant who has studied Colombia for decades, maintained a friendly correspondence with FARC leaders, advising them on how to obtain international recognition and "internationalize" their cause. Jones also reported to FARC leaders on his meeting with U.S. Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) about Colombia. Both Jones and McGovern's office have said they were only seeking a way to free rebel hostages and resolve Colombia's long conflict.
In an email statement, Jones said he had a "cordial" relationship with the FARC, but that he did not ". . . approve of the way the FARC too often disregard the welfare of the civilian population. And I certainly don't condone hostage-taking." He argued that in order to end the civil war, the guerrillas should not be isolated, and that the trust he had developed with them was what drove Uribe administration to target him. Interesting article.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea threatened Thursday to expel South Koreans from two joint projects in the North if leaflets critical of the communist government keep arriving over the border.
North Korean officials issued the warning during brief military talks with South Korea inside the Demilitarized Zone, the first government-level contact between the two Koreas in more than eight months. The two projects, an industrial park in the northern border town of Kaesong and a resort at scenic Diamond Mountain, have been lucrative sources of cash for impoverished North Korea and prominent symbols of reconciliation on the divided peninsula.
The two Koreas agreed in 2004 to end decades of propaganda involving leaflets, loudspeakers and radio broadcasts. But activists and some North Korean defectors living in the South still send helium balloons into the North carrying leaflets - and sometimes $1 bills - condemning North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and his communist regime.
Military officials accused the South of violating the agreement, warning that it would further deteriorate relations and "may spark off new military clashes," the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported. Col. Lee Sang-cheol, who headed the South Korean delegation told reporters he insisted that Seoul was abiding by the deal but legal restrictions prevent them from stopping activists from sending the leaflets.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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UN court's sentencing of a wartime Bosnian general, Rasim Delic, for crimes committed by Islamic fighters against Serbs illustrates how al-Qaida used the Bosnian war to expand its reach into Europe.
#1
Well, Slow Joe took credit last night for being the FIRST member of Congress to advocate for American intervention in Bosnia. Slow Joe seems to be very comfy with Iranain interests also. Is Slow Joe taking Muzz payoffs ? Did this endear him to Hussein ?
#2
ION RENSE > British Medias are reporting that PAKISTAN IS DEMANDNG A SIMILAR NUCLEAR DEAL FROM THE US AS MADE WID INDIA.
ALso. WAFF.com [April 2008 rehash] > PAKISTAN-BASED LASHKAR EL-ISLAM MILITANT GROUP VOWS TO SPREAD ISLAM ALL OVER THE WORLD. Multi-point hardline Islamist agendum.
A New York appeals court Thursday overturned terrorism convictions for a Yemeni cleric and his personal assistant, saying they did not receive a fair trial.
Sheik Mohammed Ali al-Moayad and Mohammed Mohsen Zayed, were sentenced in 2005 to 75 and 45 years in prison, respectively, after being convicted of conspiring to provide material support and resources to foreign terrorist organizations. They now can have new trials under a different judge.
The lawyer for al-Moayad, Robert Boyle, said, "I'm extremely gratified at the court's decision. I believe it is legally and factually correct. I hope my client, who is elderly and not in good health, will be given the opportunity to return to his family in Yemen."
The three-judge panel was unanimous in its decision, citing evidentiary errors that likely influenced the outcome of the trial. The judges found that certain pieces of evidence presented by prosecutors were prejudicial and had the effect of denying al-Moayad and Zayed a fair trial.
Zayed and al-Moayad were arrested in 2003 in a sting operation that culminated in Germany. The government's case relied largely on secretly videotaped conversations between the defendants and a pair of undercover FBI informants at a Frankfurt hotel in 2003. One of the informants, Mohamed Alanssi, testified that al-Moayad boasted about giving money, weapons and recruits to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The charges were brought in the Eastern District of New York because al-Moayad allegedly collected terrorist funds at the al-Farooq mosque in Brooklyn.
Now that the appeals court has vacated the convictions, prosecutors have the option of appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court if they feel there is a constitutional issue. They can retry the case or move to dismiss.
Al-Moayad, who is in his 60s, is incarcerated at the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, as is Zayed. Boyle said he had called the prison and as of 4 p.m. Thursday was still waiting to speak to his client.
This article starring:
Mohamed Alanssi
Mohammed Mohsen Zayed
Sheik Mohammed Ali al-Moayad
Posted by: ed ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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The judges found that certain pieces of evidence presented by prosecutors were prejudicial ...
A federal judge today sentenced a Dearborn restaurant cook, Mohamad Fouad Abdallah, to 8 months in prison for e-mailing death threats to conservative TV commentator and blogger Debbie Schlussel.
Iraq's presidency agrees on elections law Bidens facts seem to be getting trample by reality.
BAGHDAD (AP) -- A spokesman says Iraq's presidential council has agreed on a law that paves the way for U.S.-backed provincial elections to be held by the end of January.
The spokesman for the panel, Nasser al-Ani, tells The Associated Press that the law has gained unanimous approval from the three-member panel and will be officially signed later Friday. Al-Ani says the panel led by President Jalal Talabani decided to approve the law on Monday but did not sign it due to Islamic holidays.
The move is a breakthrough for U.S. efforts to promote national reconciliation after months of deadlock over power-sharing issues in northern Iraq. Iraqi lawmakers set aside the divisive issues of the oil-rich region around Kirkuk and representation of minorities.
#3
I'm wondering if Katie wasn't used as a set up to lower expectations, though I think it more likely that consultants were trying to make a new and improved Palin and that they backed off after they saw the results.
#4
Questioning Palin on Supreme Court decisions was a set-up by elitest and arrogant liberal lawyers. The average person would also draw a blank on legal decisions, but, after having time to reflect, Palin should get back to Couric on affirmative action and eminent domain.
#5
If the question were turned around and Katie Couric were asked about a significant SCOTUS decision, she wouldn't have a clue. Most people would not. It was a lawyer set-up question provided to Couric. Unfortunately, I don't think the McCain campaign is organized enough to plan such a thing to lower expectations--it was just serendipity.
It seems like Sarah really connected with people who vote. The Drudge on-line poll of over 500,000 people indicated 70% went for Palin over Biden. These people can't all be Conservative Republicans who are voting.
#6
Kelo v. New London would have been a good answer, but other than being "an" answer to most CBS news viewers, I don't know what impact that would have had.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
10/03/2008 17:17 Comments ||
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#7
The Drudge on-line poll of over 500,000 people indicated 70% went for Palin over Biden. These people can't all be Conservative Republicans who are voting.
Yeah, I was under the impression Drudge and its readers were mostly just left of center. The fact McCain won on their poll and now Palin tells me that the independent voters are trending toward them.
Prominent settler leader and extreme right-wing activist Daniela Weiss was detained Thursday for attacking police officers near the settlement of Kedumim, of which she is local council head.
Weiss' clash with the police came following Thursday's evacuation of the illegal West Bank outpost of Shvut Ami by a combined force of police and the Israel Defense Forces.
Witnesses say there was no one in the outpost as the forces vacated it, but that right-wing activists came to the area shortly after and confronted the police.
During the clashes, the activists set a Palestinian-owned olive grove on fire in a nearby Arab village.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Glad to see the Paleos getting a little payback for a change.
#1
Standard procedure: since they only killed infidels and Koran says that no Muslim can be sentenced to death for mudering untermenschen infidels, their sentence will be commuted. An in less than five years they will be amnistiated and walk free.
(AKI) - Israeli security officials claim that Syria has resumed nuclear activities for military purposes.
According to a report on Thursday by pan-Arab daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat, Israeli military officials say that Syria is building a number of nuclear facilities in different locations like Iran.
The sources also claim that North Korea was linked to the project and that experts from Pyongyang visited Syria last month.
"The past year has seen three incidents indicating that Syria's nuclear armament is a red line that must not be crossed," reported the daily, quoting an unnamed Israeli official, in a clear reference to recent assassinations and bombings involving Syria.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's top security advisor Brig. Gen.Mohammed Suleiman was recently killed, while according to one report, Brigadier General George Gharbi and his son were killed during last week's bombing in Damascus that killed 17 people.
Israel believes Suleiman and Gharbi were in charge of Syria's alleged nuclear programme.
The Israeli officials said Israel would not allow Damascus to replicate the Iranian model and would move to halt any attempts to do so.
In September 2007, Israeli warplanes bombed an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor which may have been obtained from North Korea.
The attack, in a remote location in eastern Syria called Deir al-Zur, was believed to have been conducted with US approval.
Syria signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which allows it to enrich its own fuel for civilian nuclear power, with monitoring from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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Syria is blocking distribution of the Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, the paper's Beirut bureau chief Zuhair Qusaybati told AFP on Thursday.
"The censorship authorities at the information ministry in Damascus asked Al-Hayat's bureau in the Syrian capital on Monday to stop sending its issues to the country until further notice," Qusaybati told AFP. He said that no explanation had been given for the decision.
The daily is published in London and printed in a number of Arab capitals including Beirut, Cairo, and Riyadh. In Syria, its distribution has long been subject to advance censorship and a number of issues have been withheld from newsstands because of their contents.
Relations between Damascus and Riyadh have been tense since the February 2005 assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri, a close Saudi ally, in a bombing widely blamed on Syria.
The ban on Al-Hayat's distribution in Syria came hot on the heels of a bomb blast which killed 17 people in Damascus on Saturday, the deadliest attack in the Syrian capital in more than a decade. The Syrian official media have since repeatedly complained that the Saudi authorities did not condemn the bombing more vocally.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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Washington has granted the American Iranian Council (AIC), a non-governmental organization, permission to open an office in Tehran.
Established to improve relations between Iran and the US in 1997, the AIC has been duly licensed to establish an office in Iran. According to the AIC, it is the only US-based conflict resolution NGO to receive authorization to work in Iran.
Permission was granted by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which is responsible for enforcing US economic and trade sanctions against Iran. "The American Iranian Council-Iran will use this great opening to more effectively to advance its mission of promoting dialogue and understanding between the peoples and governments of Iran and the United States at a time of immense promise and peril for their relations," said Hooshang Amirahmadi, AIC founder and president.
This latest development move comes after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said in interviews in recent months that Tehran would be open to relations with the US, if Washington makes a real effort to rectify its position towards Tehran.
"Today, we see new behavior shown by the United States and the officials of the United States. My question is, is such behavior rooted in a new approach?" the Iranian president told NBC in late July. If so, "we will be facing a new situation and the response by the Iranian people will be a positive one," he said, speaking from Tehran.
Washington severed diplomatic ties with Tehran in 1980.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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Iranian FM says the US could restart its diplomatic relations with Iran if Washington changes its foreign policy vis-a- vis the Islamic Republic.
Wait a few months and a President Obama may grant your wish ...
Manouchehr Mottaki acknowledged on Thursday his nation is closely monitoring the US election and is anticipating major changes from the next White House occupant.
The US unilaterally severed ties with Iran in April of 1980, following a failed American hostage rescue effort attempt that went awry in the Iranian desert near Tabas.
Oh yeah, that ...
Earlier The Guardian had reported that the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has formed a group to study the feasibility of reestablishing a diplomatic presence in Tehran after the idea repeatedly cropped up in discussions among US think tanks.
"Whatever candidate becomes the next president of the US, will have no other option than to bring about new developments in American foreign policy," Mottaki told a symposium sponsored by the Asia Society in New York. According to AFP, he said the next US president would have to try to "reach out to other countries around the world, including states in the Middle East."
The Iranian diplomat noted that what would be needed for Iran to consider a rapporcehment would be a clear change in the White House in both word and deed respecting Iran.
He also squarely blamed Washington for the dismal state of bilateral relations. "The behavior shown by US officials in the past decades has not been encouraging, has not prompted Iranian officials to work to improve relations," he noted.
He said his nation would not allow itself to be dictated to by any US leaders, but expressed hope the standoff between Iran and the West over its nuclear development program would soon be resolved.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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Iran's ambassador to the IAEA says there is no technical or legal justification for Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.
Even if there were countries that would provide Iran with power plants and nuclear fuel, we would not be able to trust that they would fully meet their commitment, Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh told Press TV in an exclusive interview.
His remarks came after Western media outlets misquoted him as saying that Iran would consider suspending uranium enrichment if it would receive firm guarantees of nuclear fuel delivery to the country. "A leading Iranian nuclear envoy on Thursday suggested the country could reconsider its uranium enrichment program if it gets cast-iron guarantees of regular international fuel supplies for its nuclear power plants," AFP reported, citing Soltaniyeh as saying after attending a conference in Brussels.
The Iranian official responded, however, in a telephone interview with Press TV, saying that Western countries have not fulfilled their previous promises and agreements and have violated their contractual obligations.
"I reject whatever is reflected otherwise," he continued.
When I was asked about how Tehran would respond if various countries promise to provide guarantees, I repeated two or three times (at the conference in Brussels) that I was talking about the lack of internationally negotiated consensus over supply assurance, he explained.
Former director general of the UN nuclear watchdog Hans Blix, who also attended the conference, reportedly told the Iranian nuclear envoy that Iran has every right to doubt Western guarantees.
According to Soltaniyeh, Blix was well aware that America had failed to fulfill a previous contractual obligation toward Iran by rejecting to provide the country with reactor fuel or compensation.
"Hans Blix said this is further indication that Iran has the right not to trust the West," Soltaniyeh said.
Western powers accuse Iran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), of seeking nuclear weaponry.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
We can only hold Israel off for just so long. If yoy're working on the nuclear project, keep an eye on the sky. So you'll have time for final prayers.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/03/2008 2:04 Comments ||
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The good news for IRAN here is that, as per MEDVEDEV's rant about the end of US dominance-leadership, THE ALLEGED END OF SAID SAME US DOMIN-LEADERSHIP DOES NOT MEAN RUSS OR OTHER GETS TO RULE. Iff anything the global pecking order will be in a STATE OF GEOPOL FLUX.
The Bush Administration, in mid-financial crisis, approves to give more fighter jets to Israel to bully Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas. The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency has agreed the $15.2 billion-sale of 25 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for Israel with an option for another 50, amid speculations that Tel Aviv is preparing for an attack on Iran, DEBKAfile's military sources reported.
The agency claimed it is vital to US national security interests to assist Israel develop "a strong and ready self-defense capability."
The deal was approved after senior Israeli and US officials met in Washington this month and assurances were given that sensitive technologies would not be passed to third parties.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon approved up to $330 million in three separate arms deals for Israel and posted its advanced FBX-band radar system to an Israeli Air Force base in the Negev.
Israel is the first foreign nation to receive the up-to-the-minute Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike stealth fighter, which will replace the older F-16 fighters and enhance its air-to-air and air-to-ground defenses.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
US will arm Israel against Iran, Syria
prediction:
The Pin Head's Head will turn Beet-Red and get more Pointy; ....Shorty will just get Shorter.
Despite opposition from the West and the United States in particular, Syria appears determined to pursue its bid for a seat on the UN atomic watchdog's board, now that Iran is officially out of the running. But in a looming clash at the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) general conference here this week, Afghanistan - a US ally - also announced its candidature on Wednesday.
Diplomats said Kabul enjoys the support of most of the IAEA's 145 member countries.
The matter comes up for discussion on Friday and could be forced to a vote.
Members of the IAEA's 35-strong board of governors are designated and elected each year by the body's highest policy-making body, the General Conference. Decisions are traditionally adopted by consensus, but if no consensus is possible, it goes to a vote. A seat has become free for the so-called Middle East and South Asia (MESA) group with the expiry of Pakistan's one-year term.
Iran had also been seen as a potential candidate, but it pulled out in favor of its staunch regional ally Syria. If MESA cannot agree on a single country, it will be up to the General Conference to vote between the different candidates.
For the US and others, however, Syria would be unacceptable because of current allegations by the US and Israel that it was building a covert nuclear facility at a remote desert site called Al-Kibar until it was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in September 2007.
Damascus has dismissed the charges as "ridiculous" and allowed IAEA experts to inspect the suspected site in June. "Having Syria on the board would be like having a suspected arsonist oversee the fire brigade," one conference participant told AFP on condition of anonymity.
But Syria refuses to withdraw its candidacy, in spite of US-led opposition, saying it has the support of the Arab League.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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The Freedom Tower, centerpiece of the plan to rebuild Manhattan's World Trade Center, will not be completed until 2013, well past the original target date of 2009, the landowning agency for the site said on Thursday.
But the most important parts of the "heart" of the site, the memorial to the nearly 3,000 who perished in the September 11, 2001 attack, will open by the 10th anniversary, New York Gov. David Paterson told reporters. He noted that in June the completion date had slipped as far back as 2015.
The memorial's plaza, waterfalls, displays of victims' names and a gathering area will be finished by 2011, although some of the site might subsequently be open only "intermittently" until it is finished, he added.
Paterson took office in March and after reviewing six years of missed deadlines, ordered the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to come up with realistic estimates, which the agency's new executive director unveiled on Thursday.
The cost of the 1,776-foot (541-meter) Freedom Tower, meant to symbolize the city's revival, will rise to $3.1 billion, partly because it will now have two observation decks instead of one, Executive Director Christopher Ward said.
Other parts of the project are also delayed, including the underground part of a memorial museum and a mass transit hub. Service on a subway that runs through the site will partly be suspended, said Ward, whose agency helps oversee the project.
The delays are the latest hurdles in the reconstruction of the World Trade Center, which has repeatedly stalled due to fights over insurance and wrangles between the major players -- state, city and federal agencies and developer Larry Silverstein, who leased it two months before it was destroyed.
The worsening financial crisis has imperiled many construction projects in the city and around the country. Wall Street's troubles have also hit the city's office market.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
This is simply brilliant. They are going to finish this white elephant right in the teeth of a commercial real estate crash in NYC. They could have completed this back in 2005, if they had hustled.
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.
The general who commands NATO forces in Afghanistan has called for enlisting tribes to help pacify the country and did not rule out reconciliation with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. General David McKiernan, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), also said that the coalition needs more troops for what he said is an increasingly "tough fight" in eastern and southern Afghanistan. "And until we get to what I call a tipping point where the lead for security can be in the hands of the Afghan Army and the Afghan police, there is going to be a need for the international community to provide military capabilities," he told reporters on Wednesday.
With U.S. warships offshore and a Russian missile frigate on the way, Somalia's president, Abdullahi Yusuf, said Wednesday that he welcomed international intervention against Somali pirates roaming a main East-West shipping route. 
A proposed new U.N. resolution calls on all countries interested in maritime safety to send naval ships and military aircraft to fight piracy on the high seas off the coast of Somalia.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea threatened Thursday to expel South Koreans from two joint projects in the North if leaflets critical of the communist government keep arriving over the border.
UN court's sentencing of a wartime Bosnian general, Rasim Delic, for crimes committed by Islamic fighters against Serbs illustrates how al-Qaida used the Bosnian war to expand its reach into Europe.
A New York appeals court Thursday overturned terrorism convictions for a Yemeni cleric and his personal assistant, saying they did not receive a fair trial.
A federal judge today sentenced a Dearborn restaurant cook, Mohamad Fouad Abdallah, to 8 months in prison for e-mailing death threats to conservative TV commentator and blogger Debbie Schlussel.
Iraq's presidency agrees on elections law 
Iran's ambassador to the IAEA says there is no technical or legal justification for Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities. 
