(AKI) - The US Department of Defense has rejected idiotic controversial claims that the American military dropped a five-kilotonne nuclear bomb in southern Iraq during the first Gulf War in 1991.
Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder, a media spokesman for the department, told Adnkronos International (AKI) that the US used "only conventional weapons" during the Gulf War. Ryder was responding to claims made by a delusional US veteran, and irresponsibly aired on Italian television, that a small five-kilotonne nuclear bomb was dropped in a deserted area outside the southern city of Basra, on the border of Iran.
"The US maintains a number of munitions that have an explosive capability of 5000 pounds (2300 kilogrammes) and larger," Ryder told AKI in a written statement. "It is not possible for us to confirm the exact incident that you are referring to, but I can tell you that only conventional munitions were used during the Gulf War in 1991."
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
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Kinda reminds me of the wild claims from a couple years ago, by an (italian as well) antiwar ngo that the US had used white phosporous as a terror weapon during the first fallujah battle (proof being pics of bodies with the flesh supposedly "charred" while clothes remained intact, an attribute non-sensically attributed to phosphorus-based incendiary weapons), as well as micro-nukes (proof being night pics of mushrooming explosions). The first claim at least was propagated by french teevee in one popular infoshow.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai reshuffled his Cabinet on Saturday, replacing the interior minister amid concerns over increasing violence in the country.
The former education minister, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, replaced Zarar Ahmad Muqbil as interior minister. Muqbil, who had served as interior minister since 2004, was appointed minister of refugees and repatriation, Karzai's office said in a statement.
"The president has ordered the reshuffle to speed up government affairs and effectiveness," the statement said.
The reshuffle also included the ministers of education, agriculture and parliamentary affairs.
Ghulam Farouq Wardak, the former minister of parliamentary affairs, was appointed education minister, while Mohammad Asif Rahimi was named agriculture minister.
Assadullah Khalid, former governor of the southern province of Kandahar, was appointed minister for parliamentary affairs
From Information Dissemination blogsite. There has been some good info on piracy here, esp. around Somalia.
The presence of naval warships could be having a psychological effect on the pirates who hijacked the MV Faina. It is unclear if in the past the US Navy, or any foreign Navy, has so visibly waved the flag in the face of pirates who hijacked a ship for any length of time. Our guess would be this is an uncommon event, perhaps even a first, and certainly the presence of the Iwo Jima ESG sitting off the bow of a hijacked ship has given the pirates some cause for concern.
For the first time I can recall, the pirates have issued an ultimatum regarding a hijacked ship. Lets be clear, this is counter to the culture of Somalian piracy observed in the past, and could be a lot of smoke and mirrors.
"The negotiations with the owner of the ship have totally collapsed. The owners are changing their mind from time to time, maybe because they are being advised by somebody that they can resolve the matter militarily," Sugule Ali told AFP from the ship.
"Given the situation, we are on alert and preparing ourselves for any eventuality, including military against us," he added.
"Therefore, we have given the ship's owner three days to respond positively to the negotiations, otherwise we will take some action that we will not reveal now," Ali added.
It is unclear when the 3 days ends, probably Monday. The 3 days doesn't come in a vacuum, according to media reports the Russian frigate in route to Somalia will be in port in Tripoli until Monday. The Russian ship is widely reported to have special forces operators capable of taking action against pirates.
This might be the first time we have the ship owner threatening the pirates with military action to retake the ship. If that is true, we have already ventured into unknown territory and it is hard to predict the behavior of the pirates. There are no cases of pirates blowing themselves up, nor blowing up the ship hijacked. However, there are also no cases of pirates hijacking a ship with expensive military cargo.
This is just one more strange twist in what continues to be a very strange story. The destination of the 33 T-72 tanks the ship is carrying remains unclear. Kenya claims the tanks are intended for Kenya, not the Sudan, but something is very odd if that is true. If Kenya bought the tanks, why are they absent the negotiation process? One would think the cost of 33 T-72s is enough to encourage their participation in that process, if the tanks were really intended for Kenya.
Deadlines are made to be broken in pirate negotiations, so it is very unlikely any action by coalition forces will be taken due to a deadline. But...
The US Navy deserves a lot of credit here. If this is the event at sea happening in the world today, off a small coastal town of Somalia, then consider for a moment the advantage of a forward deployed naval force. While not confirmed, it is believed the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) and USS Monterey (CG 61) are making their way up the east coast of Africa, while the USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), USS San Antonio (LPD 17), USS Carter Hall (LSD 50), USS Vella Gulf (CG 72), USS Roosevelt (DDG 80), USS Ramage (DDG 61), and USS Howard (DDG 83) are all thought to be in the area.
Seriously, that is the most powerful air, land, and sea combination anywhere in Africa. With that said, it's the submarine the pirates can't see that should have them worried. The USS Florida (SSGN 728) is thought to be in that region, among other submarines usually deployed. Between the MEU snipers and the various SOF options, threats by pirates could provoke an unhealthy response.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/11/2008 14:39 ||
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I love that last line:
Between the MEU snipers and the various SOF options, threats by pirates could provoke an unhealthy response.
#2
Good golly - wouldn't one of the named USN vessels, with half the crew ashore on leave, have something in the area of 10-20x firepower of all the pirates of Puntland?
Aside from simply blocking and holding for the soviet ship, what are we practicing or doing recon for?
Sounds like a classic making lemonade from a situation full of lemons.
(AKI) - A top United Nations peacekeeping official met with a Sudanese rebel leader in a bid to bring peace to the war-torn region.
Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy met in El-Fasher, North Darfur, with Minni Minawi, leader of the Sudan Liberation Army, one of the rebel factions that have been fighting Government forces and allied Janjaweed militiamen for the past five years.
The UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur or UNAMID gave no details of Le Roy's talks with Minnawi, who met with Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha last month, announcing they were turning a new page in their commitment to full implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement, and the formation of a joint military committee to ensure an end to all hostilities.
Le Roy is on his first official visit to Sudan's Darfur region, where the world body is slated to field its largest mission in an effort to stem a conflict that has already killed some 300,000 people directly or from resulting disease and malnutrition, and uprooted than 2.7 million others.
The SLA signed the Darfur Peace Agreement with the Government two years ago but other rebel factions have yet to do so.
In August the military chief of UNAMID, General Martin Luther Agwai warned that the splintered rebel movements must unite at the negotiating table if there is to be a lasting solution to the conflict.
UNAMID was deployed at the beginning of 2008 and will become the largest UN peacekeeping operation with some 26,000 personnel at full strength.
Le Roy has already visited Southern Sudan where the Organisation is fielding a separate operation -- the 10,000-strong UN Mission in Sudan monitoring a 2005 peace agreement that ended the 21-year-long north-south civil war, which killed at least 2 million people and displaced 4.5 million others.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) Kenya is set to begin training up to 10,000 Somali troops. Kenyas Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula told African ambassadors meeting at the Serena Hotel that the training of the military, paramilitary and police officers will be carried out according to local training programmes.
The Kenyan government is keen to see the Somali government stand on its two feet, but insists that the recruitment of the trainees will have to be done fairly across Somalia.
Boy howdy, this is going to go well ...
Foreign Affairs Wetangula says Kenya will now extend military and police training to the Somalis.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
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In other news.... herd of Arangatangs take delivery of Peterbilt.
When Indonesia's health minister stopped sending bird flu viruses to a research laboratory in the U.S. for fear Washington could use them to make biological weapons, Defense Secretary Robert Gates laughed and called it "the nuttiest thing" he'd ever heard.
Yet deep inside an 86-page supplement to United States export regulations is a single sentence that bars U.S. exports of vaccines for avian bird flu and dozens of other viruses to five countries designated "state sponsors of terrorism."
The reason: Fear that they will be used for biological warfare.
The policies were initially put in place amid biosecurity fears in the mid-1990s and then bolstered after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and subsequent anthrax letter mailings.
Under this little-known policy, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Syria and Sudan may not get the vaccines unless they apply for special export licenses, which would be given or refused according to the discretion and timing of the U.S. Three of those nations Iran, Cuba and Sudan also are subject to a ban on all human pandemic influenza vaccines as part of a general U.S. embargo.
The regulations, which cover vaccines for everything from Dengue fever to the Ebola virus, have raised concern within the medical and scientific communities. Although they were quietly put in place more than a decade ago, they could now be more relevant because of recent concerns about bird flu. Officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they were not even aware of the policies until contacted by The Associated Press last month and privately expressed alarm.
They make "no scientific sense," said Peter Palese, chairman of the microbiology department at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He said the bird flu vaccine, for example, can be used to contain outbreaks in poultry before they mutate to a form spread more easily between people.
"The more vaccines out there, the better," he said. "It's a matter of protecting ourselves, really, so the bird flu virus doesn't take hold in these countries and spread."
U.S. Commerce Assistant Secretary Christopher Wall declined to elaborate on the precise threat posed by vaccines for chickens infected with avian influenza, except to say there are "valid security concerns" that they "do not fall into the wrong hands."
"Legitimate public health and scientific research is not adversely affected by these controls," he said.
But some experts say the idea of using vaccines for bioweapons is far-fetched, and that in a health emergency, it is unclear how quickly authorities could cut through the current red tape to get the vaccines distributed.
Under normal circumstances it would take at least six weeks to approve export licenses for any vaccine on the list, said Thomas Monath, who formerly headed a CIA advisory group on ways to counter biological attacks. All such decisions would follow negotiations at a "very high level" of government.
Note the "under normal circumstances".
That could makes it harder to contain an outbreak of bird flu among chickens in, say, North Korea, which is in the region hardest hit by the virus. Sudan and Iran already have recorded cases of the virus in poultry and Syria is surrounded by affected countries. Cuba, like all nations, is vulnerable because the disease is delivered by migratory birds.
Kumanan Wilson, whose research at the University of Toronto focuses on policymaking in areas of health protection, said it would be ironic if the bird flu virus morphed into a more dangerous form in one of those countries.
"That would pose a much graver threat to the public than the theoretical risk that the vaccine could be used for biological warfare," he said.
The danger of biological warfare use depends on the specific virus or bacteria. But most experts agree that bird flu vaccines cannot be genetically altered to create weapons because they contain an inactivated virus that cannot be resuscitated.
It's also unlikely they would be used to create a resistant strain of the virus as part of efforts to wreak havoc within global poultry stocks. If enemy states wanted to do that, they could make their own vaccines or turn to a less hostile country like China, said Ian Ramshaw, an expert on vaccine immunology and biosecurity at The Australian National University in Canberra.
"I can think of no scientific reason how a terrorist organization could use such a vaccine for malicious intent," he said. "I personally think it's a rather silly attitude and the U.S. is probably going overboard as it has in the past with many of its bioterrorism initiatives."
Meanwhile, bioethicists say limiting vaccines could also raise moral questions of whether some countries should be denied because of decisions based on foreign policy.
#1
This comes under the heading of the "3 rationales" rule, and important concept in modern strategic policy.
That is, an extraordinary policy like this is never reliant on just a single major rationale, such as the one named, that providing vaccine could provide assistance to bioterrorism.
A very good reason for this is because most people will assume that there are only single rationales for major policy decisions, for example, invading Iraq for "blood for oil". In retrospect, you see the naivete.
However, if you have three very good rationales (as a minimum) for a major policy decision, even if the obvious one is negated, you still have two very good backup reasons.
So the big question, since this assumed reason is obviously wrong, what are the other three reasons?
#3
Oh, please. Just preventing the ability to vaccinate their bioweapons scientists against the agents that they will be starting with is enough to justify this policy. And if they have to send their bioweapons scientists out of the country or procure stocks from other places, then that gives everyone an opportunity to observe their behaviors.
Contagious bioweapons deployed against their own people is an emerging doomsday device for this century's failed dictators. Making every step along the way hard for them is worthwhile.
ISLAMABAD: Iran has agreed to provide Pakistan with crude oil on deferred payment for three months, Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Friday.
Qureshi was addressing a joint press conference after talks with Iranian FM Manouchehr Mottaki. Qureshi said under Iranian law, crude oil could be imported on a deferred payment for a maximum of three months and Mottaki had said his government would consider extending the period.
The two FMs also agreed to proceed bilaterally with the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project. "Both countries have expressed the desire to finalise this very important project of the pipeline bilaterally, and the third party can join when it is ready," Mottaki said.
Qureshi said, "Iran is willing to undertake the IPI project bilaterally. We will also welcome India as it (IPI) will promote regional economic co-operation." Pakistan also welcomed the proposal of purchasing 1,000 Megawatts of electricity from Iran to help overcome electricity shortage.
Qureshi said the two sides had also agreed to increase political consultations to help solve the Afghanistan problem.
Pakistan also expressed the desire to increase rice export to Iran.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/11/2008 08:33 ||
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Iran to give oil to Pakistan on deferred payment
Proof positive of their insanity.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/11/2008 13:27 Comments ||
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Iran feeds black hole in hopes that it will fill up and go away.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/11/2008 13:56 Comments ||
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Which also applies to us in the US. Congress makes 1 trillion dollar bailout in vain attempt to fill financial black hole of its own making.
/pontification
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/11/2008 13:59 Comments ||
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"/pontification"
It ain't potification if it's the goddam truth, AP.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/11/2008 14:01 Comments ||
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The two FMs also agreed to proceed bilaterally with the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project.
Bilaterally? Leaving out India?
Good luck with that economic venture.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/11/2008 14:22 Comments ||
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The television advertisement that debuted this week starts with a simple scene: A mother is waiting on a street corner for her child to get out of school. It looks like any other sunny day in any one of Pakistan's major cities.
Then the car bomb explodes.
The grisly scene is followed by a simple message delivered by a series of glamorous-looking Pakistani celebrities, including movie stars, singers and artists: "We are not terrorists."
A year ago, a major ad campaign focused on the threat of terrorism in Pakistan would have been unthinkable. Pakistanis remain deeply divided over whether the war against Islamist extremism should be fought by Pakistan alone, with U.S. assistance or not at all.
But in the midst of a seemingly unending series of suicide bomb attacks across the country, the public debate over terrorism appears to be taking on a new sense of urgency.
On Thursday, Pakistani lawmakers met for a second day with the country's top security officials in a rare, closed-door parliamentary session devoted to the violence that has gripped the country. The unusual move follows a sharp rise in the number of U.S. missile strikes on alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives in northwestern Pakistan, near the Afghan border.
Two missiles, believed to have been fired by a U.S. Predator drone, crashed into houses in Pakistan's remote tribal areas Thursday evening and killed at least six, Pakistani officials said. Officials in Washington, while not officially acknowledging a U.S. role, said the attacks are needed to combat insurgents whom the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to target.
But the strikes have inflamed tensions locally and have drawn rebukes from Pakistan's fledgling civilian government.
"We really have to define the enemy. I'm seeing a divergence in the enemies of the U.S. and the enemies of Pakistan," said opposition lawmaker Dastigir Khan. "The U.S. is not hitting the targets that Pakistan thinks need to be hit. There might be some sort of overlap, but mostly the U.S. enemies are different from Pakistan's. Pakistan is focused on these homegrown Taliban, whereas the U.S. has different targets in mind."
The rugged, ungoverned borderland between Afghanistan and Pakistan is a haven for Islamist insurgents from around the world. U.S. officials believe the area to be the hiding place of al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, among others.
A short drive away, in Islamabad, security for Pakistan's capital has never been tighter.
For several days, military helicopters have patrolled above the Parliament building. Police checkpoints have multiplied across the city, and barricades can be seen at nearly every major intersection. As if to punctuate the city's vulnerability, a suicide bomber bearing boxes of candy unleashed a powerful explosion in front of a police complex that housed members of the city's anti-terrorism squad only hours before Thursday's parliamentary session. Four people were injured in the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
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President Asif Ali Zardari has agreed to an ANP request for the appointment of a new governor in the NWFP and a retired bureaucrat is likely to replace Owais Ghani, a source close to the provincial government said. "The president has agreed to appoint a new governor with whom the Frontier government can work in good atmosphere," a source from the ANP said on Friday. He said the new governor would be a retired bureaucrat "acceptable to both the civil and military establishment". "We hope the new governor will be appointed in a few weeks time from now." The ANP-led government in Peshawar "is not comfortable" with the present governor, and there should be someone at Governor's House who "understands the needs of the provincial government", the source said. Media reports said ANP NWFP President Afrasiab Khattak was being nominated for the office, but the source said such reports were 'unfounded'.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
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(APP) A fact-finding commission, which the U.N. is in process of setting up, will not investigate the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a world body's spokesperson has said. "It will not be a criminal investigation," Spokesperson Michele Montas said while responding to repoters' questions seeking clarification of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's remarks at his press conference on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
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(PTI) Pakistan today said it has not authorised the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan to conduct strikes against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in the restive tribal belt, dismissing reported comments attributed to President Asif Ali Zardari in this regard. "We have a very clear policy the government of Pakistan has not given permission for attacks inside Pakistan's territory," Foreign Office Spokesman Mohammed Sadiq told reporters here. Well, I, for one, am surprised the Pak govt would admit such a thing. That means that we, the U.S.A. are stomping their vaunted sovreignty with impunity because the bad guys we're killing are more important than their prickly pride. Mr. Ten Percent made more sense, claiming we're coordinating with the Paks and banging the bad guyz because the Paks don't have their own drones. He's lying through his anus, of course, and everybody knows it, but he's left with a lot more face than the foreign office.
He denied comments attributed to President Zardari during his interview to a US newspaper about permitting such raids. "No, no! We would never... Ow! Mr. President! Somebody kicked me!"
Sadiq said there was no agreement between Pakistan and coalition forces for joint patrolling or carrying out attacks within Pakistani territory. "President Zardari never said that Pakistan has agreed to any attacks by the US drones," he said. "No, no! Certainly -- Ouch! -- not!"
The spokesman's comments came a day after a US drone fired two missiles at a suspected Taliban hideout in North Waziristan tribal agency, killing nine persons, including several foreign militants. Since September, there have been a series of missile strikes in Pakistan's tribal region, which the US considers a safe haven for Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters. "Really, all of them have been coordinated with our officers!"
"No, they haven't, Mr. President!... Ow!"
"Mahmoud, shoot him."
"Sorry, Your Presidency. I can't. The Washington Post sez we've renounced violence... Ow!"
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
US to Pakland: We're done with your shit. Don't make us riled, or you'll find out what D&D really is.
#4
I don't have a problem with Ban's position, in theory. But he fails utterly to note that upholding detainee's rights may in some cases be in tension with the rights and security of the societies they are attempting to corrode and destroy.
The challenge is how to defeat a large and growing decentralized terror threat, funded by states but not wearing their uniforms, while still retaining our souls, integrity and personal freedoms more or less intact.
#5
The souls of our ancestors were fine and their methods of killing their enemies efficient and final. That's why they survived long enough to eventually have you and me.
Posted by: ed ||
10/11/2008 9:37 Comments ||
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DIALA/Aswat al-Iraq: An Interior Ministry official on Sunday said about 3000 displaced families returned to their native districts in Diala.
About 3000 forcibly relocated families return to their native district in Diala after imposing security and providing military, social and tribal preparations in the province, Maj.General Abdelkarim Khalaf, the director of Interior Ministrys national Command, told Aswat al-Iraq. The Interior official pointed out Iraqi security forces thwarted four operations targeting returning families through writing threat graffiti on house walls.
Scores of al-Qaeda network operatives were captured in Diala and brought to courts for admitting involvement in killing and kidnapping operations against civilians, he added.
Diala, has been the scene of major security operation dubbed as Basheer al-Kheer (Promise of God) to crack down on gunmen and to assert the rule of law in the volatile province of Diala.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
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NAJAF, Iraq - Hundreds of supporters of Iraq's anti-American Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gathered on Friday to bury a Sadrist lawmaker, assassinated a day earlier in a bomb attack.
In the Baghdad district of Sadr City men cried and shouted slogans as they carried and walked alongside Saleh al-Ugaili's coffin, draped in the Iraqi flag, before it was taken to a cemetery in the holy southern Shia city of Najaf. "God is the greatest, America is the enemy of God," chanted mourners in Najaf after Friday prayers.
Ugaili died on Thursday when a blast struck his car in the Habibiya district of eastern Baghdad. It was not clear who was behind the attack, but some mourners blamed the United States. Sadrists are vehemently opposed to the U.S. presence in Iraq.
"We condemn this attack and face our accusations towards the occupying forces. We consider it the side that gains from this and the one side that has aims and interests in targeting Sadrists," Sadrist member of parliament Naseer al-Isawi said.
Top U.S. officials have condemned Ugaili's killing.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's prime minister said Friday that the country's most influential Shiite cleric will leave the decision on the future of U.S. troops to the government and parliamenta step that could remove a major obstacle to a deal. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, journeyed Friday to the Shiite holy city of Najaf to brief Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani about the progress in talks with the U.S. on a security agreement governing operations of American forces starting next year.
After a 2 1/2-hour meeting, al-Maliki told reporters that the Iranian-born cleric would not oppose the security deal if it is approved by the country's democratic institutionsincluding parliament, which must ratify the pact.
"He does not want anything forced or imposed on the Iraqi people," al-Maliki said. "Rather he wants it to be done through the institutions. If the government and the parliament approve this, then (al-Sistani) will be convinced that is what the Iraqi people have decided."
Al-Sistani's office had no comment.
He didn't need to.
However, it would be politically untenable for al-Maliki to accept a deal and send it to parliament for ratification if al-Sistani spoke out publicly against it.
American and Iraqi officials have said they are close to an agreement that would replace the U.N. mandate for U.S. forces in Iraq; the mandate expires Dec. 31. But the most contentious issuelegal jurisdiction and immunity for U.S. troops under Iraqi lawremains unresolved.
Al-Maliki said the U.S. had made major concessions, including agreeing to pull U.S. forces back to their bases by the end of June and to a full withdrawal by Dec. 31, 2011. President Bush had steadfastly refused for years to set a timetable for a troop withdrawal, saying that should depend on security conditions on the ground. Iraqi politicians say they cannot sell the deal to their war-weary public without a timeline for the end of the U.S. presence.
However, one senior U.S. official, close to the talks, confirmed Friday that the Americans had agreed to the June and 2011 dates. The official said the United States still believes that security conditions should determine the withdrawal schedule but that Washington can live with the language in the draft deal.
Iraqi officials have said the U.S. departure could be delayed if the government asks the U.S. to stay.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
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Lebanon's government said on Friday it planned to complain to the United Nations about Israeli threats to destroy Lebanese villages if they are used to fire missiles on Israel. Because the ability to fire missiles on Juden without fear of retribution is a basic Human Right!
Speaking after a late Friday Cabinet meeting, Information Minister Tarek Mitri said the recent Israeli threats should be taken seriously. He said Prime Minister Fuad Saniora will write to the United Nations on the subject.
#1
When the Lebs make the Hezb bastards take down their 40,000 rocket arsenal it will be time to talk to Israel about "Israeli threats." Until such time, I hope Israel is preparing to use nuclear weapons on Hezb in Leb. Preferably dirty ones, so no one will even consider living between the Litani and the Israeli border for at least one hundred years. If Hezb is stupid enough to start some trouble, I hope Lipni is tough enough to end it--and ALL of them--permanently.
Leb, and the Leb "government" (I use the term loosely) are worthless oxygen thieves. They'll deserve no consideration whatsoever until they demonstrate they can bring Hezb to heel. If they can't do it, they can suffer the same consequences as Hezb.
(AKI) - The United States military has recently built a new military base in Jordan where Iraqi and Palestinian Authority security personnel will be trained, according to pan-Arab daily Al-Quds al-Arabi.
The base is very large and besides training Iraqi soldiers in anti-insurgency warfare, it reportedly contains a simulated refugee camp to train Palestinian Authority forces, an unnamed Palestinian source told the daily.
Between 500 and 600 armed forces personnel are expected to take part in special anti-militant courses and could be deployed as soon as Israel agrees to handover security in the West Bank town of Jenin to the Palestinian Authority.
The training should take place in the desert west of the Jordanian capital, Amman, and the trainers are expected to include senior military officials from the Jordanian and US armies.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
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I'm confused. Why do we keep training Palestinians?
#2
Because the non-elected US officialdom (and a large part of the elected one) is just as much an enemy of the Israeli People as they are of their own, TW?
#3
Smells like a Congolisa Rice and King Ab deal. Common sense and a bit of history would tell one to stay the hell away from that part of the world, save Israel. Have we not shed enough blood and treasury for those backward bastards? The Iraqi government is wasting no time in flipping us off. Like the most in that region, they are nothing more than currs that possess the amazing ability bite you as you feed them.
#4
Note that the base is 'large', is 'already built' , is in the western Jordanian desert near Iraq and will train Palestinians to deal with Jenin when Israel turns over security there.
#6
Note that the base is 'large', is 'already built'
I saw that, lotp. It goes nicely with the training we've started with the Lebanese army, I suspect. November 5th would be a nice day for something to happen... if anybody in a decision-making capacity happens to want to consult my wishes.
Whoa! Really? I wonder why he sez that? But he's an expert, so he must know what he's talking about...
(AKI) - A nuclear Iran would severely alter the balance of power in the region, the head of a leading Middle East think-tank has told Adnkronos International (AKI).
"With only one atomic bomb in its arsenal, it (Iran) would become an insurmountable regional power, a fact that would not contribute to the stability and security of our region," Sami al-Faraj, president of the Kuwait Centre for Strategic Studies told AKI.
"Kuwait is much closer geographically to Iran, than other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, making Iran's nuclear programme a reason to worry," he said, referring to a six-nation security and economic organisation established by Gulf states during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.
Al-Faraj was speaking at a summit entitled "Preventing nuclear proliferation in the Middle East" organised by Italy's Institute for the Study of Foreign Policy (ISPI) and the Italian Foreign Ministry.
"The difficulties the United States has had in restoring stability to Iraq, have favoured Iran, which along with its nuclear programme intends to establish itself as the sole regional power," he stated.
For al-Faraj, the political aspects of the Iranian nuclear programme are much more dangerous than its military aspects. "For Iran, nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction are cards to play in the dangerous end-game for control of the Greater Middle East - from North Africa to Central Asia," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
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Sounds alarming, but after seven years of collecting articles, I don't have a real high opinion of experts' opinions.
(AKI) - Iran may have the capacity to produce up to 60 nuclear bombs within two years, a leading US non -proliferation expert has told Adnkronos International. Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Washington-based Nonproliferation Policy Education Center (NPEC), was taking part in a summit , "Preventing nuclear proliferation in the Middle East", organised by Italy's Institute for the Study of Foreign Policy (ISPI) and the Italian Foreign Ministry in Milan.
In an interview with AKI, Sokolski raised the alarm about Iran's intentions, claiming that it would have sufficient plutonium after the opening of the Bushehr plant to construct from 30 to 60 bombs.
The nuclear facility at Bushehr is being built under an agreement between the Russian and Iranian governments for 800 million dollars and is expected to begin production in early 2009.
Sokolski said Iran was putting in place the necessary technology and knowledge to recover the new plant's waste using a chemical process that does not need complex installation or specific structures. "Plutonium that could be used to make atomic bombs," he told AKI. "The fuel for Bushehr will be supplied by the Russians who also said they would dispose of the waste products from it."
But he said few people know that this waste will remain in Iran for two years before being taken away. "In this time frame the Iranians, with an excuse to analyse the waste, can transfer it to a chemical factory and extract the plutonium," he said.
He said in the first 18 months the plant would use between 22 to 25 tonnes of fuel, from which 300 kilogrammes of plutonium could be recovered from the waste to make from 30 to 60 bombs.
Henry Sokolski heads the nonprofit organisation founded in 1994 to promote a better understanding of strategic weapons proliferation issues among policy-makers, scholars and the media. He also serves as an adjunct professor at the Institute of World Politics in Washington and is a member of the Congressional Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, to which he was appointed in May 2008.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
MOSCOW (AP) Russia's Foreign Ministry suggested Thursday that Moscow would not sell advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, a possibility that has alarmed Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he discussed Russian weapons sales during a visit to Moscow this week. Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko was asked by reporters Thursday whether Russia had promised Israel it would not sell weapons such as S-300s. "We have declared more than once at the very highest political level that we do not intend to supply those types of armaments to countries located in regions that are, to put it mildly, uneasy," he said. "This is not in the interests of our country's policy or the interests of preserving stability in one region or another of the world."
He said Russia would make decisions on selling weapons systems based on "both preserving the balance of power in the given region, and taking into account the need to provide stability and security in the region."
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
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Tehran, Iran, Oct. 10 - Iran said on Friday that India would in 2009 become its top Asian buyer of oil, ahead of China and Japan.
We are negotiating with a few Indian companies to sell crude oil in 2009, said Ali-Asghar Arshi, a senior official in the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). Currently the leading customers of Iran's crude oil in Asia are Japan, China and India but next year the top ranking will change to India, China and Japan said Arshi who is the NIOC's Managing Director for International Affairs.
Arshi said that Tehran does not currently sell crude oil to Latin American countries, but has recently participated in bids to sell crude to Chile and Uruguay. Iran's top European customers for crude oil are Italy, France, Belgium, Greece, and Spain, according to state media.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2008 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.
(AKI) - The US Department of Defense has rejected 
President Asif Ali Zardari has agreed to an ANP request for the appointment of a new governor in the NWFP and a retired bureaucrat is likely to replace Owais Ghani, a source close to the provincial government said. "The president has agreed to appoint a new governor with whom the Frontier government can work in good atmosphere," a source from the ANP said on Friday. He said the new governor would be a retired bureaucrat "acceptable to both the civil and military establishment". "We hope the new governor will be appointed in a few weeks time from now." The ANP-led government in Peshawar "is not comfortable" with the present governor, and there should be someone at Governor's House who "understands the needs of the provincial government", the source said. Media reports said ANP NWFP President Afrasiab Khattak was being nominated for the office, but the source said such reports were 'unfounded'.
(APP) A fact-finding commission, which the U.N. is in process of setting up, will not investigate the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a world body's spokesperson has said. "It will not be a criminal investigation," Spokesperson Michele Montas said while responding to repoters' questions seeking clarification of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's remarks at his press conference on Tuesday.
MOSCOW (AP) Russia's Foreign Ministry suggested Thursday that Moscow would not sell advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, a possibility that has alarmed Israel.
