[Iran Press TV Latest] NATO Chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has warned the US and its allies that failure in Afghanistan would have a "devastating" effect in the insurgency-hit region.
He seems to say this regularly. Else the same warning is reported yet again. However, the warning is legitimate, which no doubt contributes to his concern.
Speaking in London, the NATO secretary-general said that walking away from the alliance's mission in the war-ravaged country could give free hand to al-Qaeda and Taliban linked militants in the war-ravaged country.
"If we were to walk away, Afghanistan would fall to the Taliban, with devastating effect for the people there - women in particular," the BBC quoted him as saying. The top official said the US-led troops could not afford to abandon their campaign in the insurgency-hit country.
The development comes as foreign forces stationed in the country are locked in a tough battle with insurgents in the troubled southern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan.
Civilians have been one of the main victims of violnce in Afghanistan. They have been killed by both militants' roadside, car and suicidal bomb blasts in their fight agaisnt coalition forces as well as by indiscriminate counterinsurgent attacks and assaults on ill-confirmed militant hideouts. The spiraling civilian casualties have sparked public outrage and constituted a moot point between Kabul and Washington.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
No $hit! Last time we lost about 3000+ citizens.
#2
CHINESE MIL FORUM POSTER > "VICTORY" [Taliban, etal.] will be a CATASTROPHE FOR BOTH CHINA + RUSSIA + ENTIRE CENTRAL ASIAN REGION [IOW, all ASIA]; + US, NATO PULLOUT from Aghanistan = AFPAK will be too dangerous for CHINA, RUSS, + CENASIA.
UK TERROR > approxi 70% is linked or connected to the Taliban, as is UIGHUR SEPARATISM [CHina] + RADICLA UZBEK ISLAMIST GROUP(S). AFTER 9-11, CHIN repor they discovered AL QAEDA MILTERRS in WESTERN CHINA.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Richard Holbrooke, the United States' special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, says some fundamentalists based in Persian Gulf states are financing the Taliban. Who'da ever expected that?
Some official sources in Pakistan estimate the budget for Taliban forces -- stationed on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border -- to be between three and four billion dollars, BBC reported. Holbrooke says such a huge amount of money could not be acquired only through illegal drug trafficking. If they don't have intel saying precisely where in the Persian Gulf the money's coming from I'd like to know what the intelligence community's been doing for the past eight years...
Like which country, or like which bank and account? Would Ambassador Holbrooke say anything before the accounts were frozen?
Ahmed Ghani, the governor of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, also says that it is clear that the money comes from outside of Pakistan because Pakistan does not give the money to the Taliban. Not at the moment, anyway. At least not to all of it...
No, no, of course not. The ISI gives money, and training, and senior liasons. And Pakistani individuals and groups give money, and their sons -- sometimes even of their own free will. Or so I've heard.
After the September 11 attacks in the US, some Persian Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, froze bank accounts that were used to finance fundamentalists but the move was not effective in halting their activity, the BBC report said. It would have only been effective had they wanted to make it so. They were still thinking "strategic depth" until the monster got away. Every time it looks like they might get it back under control they go back to it, at which point the monster starts eating their children again.
Only in 2008, the US-led coalition forces spent over $16 billion on the war in Afghanistan, which shows that the Taliban must be receiving a huge amount of financial support.
I'm confused.Because the Coalition wages war with expensive equipment and highly trained troops instead of masses of cannon fodder, therefore the Taliban must spend an equal amount for reversing the formula?
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
coalition forces spent over $16 billion on the war in Afghanistan, which shows that the Taliban must be receiving a huge amount
Fairness is important. If the coalition gets $16 billion then the Taliban should get $16 billion, and if they don't have it then we should provide it for them. (Position statement that may soon be released by the western 'progressives'.)
#2
Richard Holbrooke, the United States' special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, says some fundamentalists based in Persian Gulf states are financing the Taliban.
How much are we paying this genius each year to come up with news flashes such as this?
#4
Besides producing 93% of the world's opium, the region has lots of gemstones they have been mining. Free trade in illicit goods, arms for drugs, has quite a market(FARC, deodorant in the Maghreb, etc) and plenty of banks to launder the $$$$$$$$$. Holbrooke either wants to deflect attention from the dirty truth or is truly a dipwad puppet, or both.
#5
So why are we pouring more and more money into AfPak w/ the Pakis raking $ off each shipping container and tanker? Instead we should be working to crash the price of oil. But that would require, you know, a sensible domestic energy policy.
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2009 11:17 Comments ||
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#6
Why not make all this revenue subject to US federal tax? That'll chill down any activity and make recovery impossible for Taliban revenues.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/22/2009 11:23 Comments ||
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[Mail and Globe] Spain plans to help Mali fight al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which is active in the desert north of the West African nation, Mali's president's office announced on Tuesday.
"Security cooperation between Spain and Mali will be extended to intelligence in order to step up the pressure on circles that encourage terrorism," said an official statement.
The announcement followed a visit to Bamako by Spain's Interior Minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, and added that Madrid had agreed to finance a police training college in Mali.
Rubalcaba had talks on Monday with Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure, who has also firmed up ties with regional countries, jointly to tackle the threat from AQIM.
According to Mali's army, dozens of people were killed on July 4 during clashes in the Timbuktu region between the army and AQIM fighters.
And on June 17, the Malian army announced that it had killed 26 "Islamist fighters" in the far north of the country.
AQIM, which grew out of an Algerian armed extremist group, has extended its activities beyond Algeria, pressing southwards and occasionally talking Western hostages.
In recent months, AQIM has taken four European tourists and two Canadian diplomats hostage in Mali and neighbouring Niger. All have been released, except for a British tourist, Edwin Dyer, who was executed.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
[Maghrebia] The investigation of an accidental explosion Sunday in Fez uncovered an international drug trafficking operation, MAP reported on Monday (July 20th), citing police sources. A man was seriously injured by an explosion while reportedly trying to fill deodorant spray cans with drugs bound for Avignon, France.
We can't even joke about it being a work accident, because it truly was.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
This is a hard and dangerous proof that "The Rule Of Law" is not working, and needs a thorough cleaning of Liars, Lawmakers who twist the real meaning of "Law" and not rendering "Justice".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/22/2009 14:07 Comments ||
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Islamic punishments, such as the amputation of limbs, will make Britain a safer place, the founder of the country's oldest sharia court told The Times. Sheikh Suhaib Hasan, secretary of the Islamic Sharia Council, said the enforcement of such laws was "something to bring you more peace and security". Hasan, who presides over a sharia court in East London that rules on civil matters such as divorce, emphasised that he neither sought nor expected the implementation of Islamic criminal laws in Britain because it was not a Muslim country. However, he said problems such as 'knife crimes' would be better resolved if harsher punishments were meted out because they worked as a deterrent. Acknowledging the controversy surrounding any notion of support for hardline Islamic law in Britain, he said he was merely expressing his point of view as a devout Muslim.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
Punishing islamics would make Britain even safer.
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2009 11:21 Comments ||
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#4
England needs to return to medieval punishment. Teach these Sharia advocate wussies a thing or two.
The death penalty was used to punish serious offences such as murder, arson, forgery, as well as robbery of goods valued at more than a shilling (5p). In England the method of execution was normally by hanging, right from medieval times to its abolition in 1965.
Trial by battle was introduced into England by the Normans after 1066. In the case from 1249 sketched here, Walter Blowberme, had accused Hamo Stare of a crime. Hamo Stare claimed the right of proving his innocence by trial by combat. However, he lost and was hanged.
Execution by beheading was reserved for those of noble or royal birth who were convicted of treason.
A way to handle common criminals as well as elitist Lords and Ladies (or Congressmen).
[Al Arabiya Latest] A senior member of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's party described Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman as a "racist" and a "fascist" just as the controversial ultra-nationalist was set to begin a landmark Latin America tour. "Lieberman is a racist and a fascist," Valter Pomar, secretary of international relations for Lula's Workers Party (PT), told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in an interview published on Tuesday.
" The Brazilian left is organizing protests against him and against the policy he represents "
Valter Pomar, secretary of international relations
"The Brazilian left is organizing protests against him and against the policy he represents," Pomar was quoted as saying by the English-language daily.
A spokesman for the Brazilian foreign ministry told Haaretz that while everyone is entitled to their opinion, Pomar's statement "certainly does not represent the government's position."
Course not. He's just a big-wig for the President's party ...
Lieberman began a 10-day tour of Latin America on Monday, the first by an Israeli foreign minister in more than 10 years, aimed at curbing Iran's growing influence. He is to meet with Lula, as well as the leaders of Argentina, Peru and Columbia during the trip.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Looked in the mirror lately Lula? And let's not even mention the entrenched Brazilian light-dark racism.
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2009 11:24 Comments ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday expressed concern over growing military cooperation between North Korea and Myanmar, saying it could pose a threat in Southeast Asia. ""It would be destabilizing for the region, it would pose a direct threat to Burma"s neighbors,"" Clinton told reporters after meeting with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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Former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich on Monday said China faces a stark choice over North Korea. In a lecture on the U.S. national security at the Heritage Foundation, Gingrich said if the North continues its brinkmanship, China will have to choose between a nuclear-free North Korea and a nuclear-armed Japan in the not-too-distant future.
He said Tokyo will increase its military capabilities to respond to threat from North Korea and that the U.S. will give whatever support it can. The time is approaching for China to determine if Japan's establishment of a more elaborate missile defense system is really in China's interest, he said.
There's a nice reinforcement to the quiet message Bambi should be sending ...
But he said the Chinese government seems to believe that for the time being a divided Korean Peninsula is more in its interest and to maintain the current situation in which North Korea is rubbing the U.S. up the wrong way.
In the lecture, the hardline conservative also warned of what he claimed was the threat of an "electromagnetic pulse" attack that could knock out all electronic appliances from mainframes to the U.S. power grid. "This is a catastrophic threat waiting to happen and North Korea, China and Russia all understand it and are all working on it," he claimed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"This is a catastrophic threat waiting to happen and North Korea, China and Russia all understand it and are all working on it"
But does BO understand it and is he working on it? Of course there is the standard response to our enemies and that is to apologize to God only-knows for what.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says military cooperation between North Korea and Burma would be very destabilizing for the region, and would pose a direct threat to Burma's neighbors. She says Washington is taking regional concerns about this connection "very seriously."
Is that a 'strongly worded' serious concern?
Clinton addressed the concerns on Tuesday in Bangkok after meeting Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. She will join a regional security conference in Phuket on Wednesday.
North Korea's possible cooperation with Burma made headlines in June, when the U.S. Navy began tracking a North Korean ship believed to be traveling to Burma with suspicious cargo. The ship returned to North Korea without ever docking in Burma.
Clinton says the United States is open to a productive partnership with Burma if the military government ends the mistreatment of jailed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political and minority groups.
And the ruling generals each shoot themselves in the head ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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If true this is spectacularly dumb. The Nork leaders will steal every bit of an aid fund for their own benefit.
South Korea has denied a report in the Financial Times that it has set up a US$40 billion aid fund to entice North Korea back to denuclearization talks. Officials here said the report resulted from a misunderstanding that a campaign pledge by President Lee Myung-bak had been turned into policy.
But oddly, South Korean officials said the article was "not necessarily incorrect from a long-term perspective." One key government official was even more forthcoming. "With South Korea and the United States reaching an understanding on a comprehensive package that envisages putting all issues on the negotiating table, we need to offer North Korea a bunch of carrots if it decides to completely abandon its nuclear program," he said. President Lee's 'Vision 3000: Denuclearization and Openness' concept must form the framework of those incentives. And the FT report appeared just as this idea was gaining traction at the international level, according to the official.
The "Vision 3000" promises to help North Korea boost its per-capita gross national income to $3,000 if it abandons its nuclear program and opens up.
The FT article said South Korea has drawn up a $40 billion aid fund to entice North Korea back to talks, "putting hard figures on previously vague promises of aid." It said the incentives would receive "input from the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and governments."
The source of the article was U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs. According to South Korea's Foreign Ministry and the Financial Services Commission, the South Korean government and Goldman Sachs held a video conference on Friday on the North Korean nuclear standoff and Seoul's plans to deal with the crisis. The government says there was no mention whatsoever of a "$40 billion" plan during that meeting. But a report to investors by Goldman Sachs included the points discussed during that meeting and an attachment detailing Lee's campaign pledge, which created a misunderstanding that the $40 billion plan had been discussed.
The reason the FT report got so much attention here is that Kurt Campbell, the newly-appointed U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific who visited South Korea over the weekend, gained wide coverage here by proposing a "comprehensive package" to deal with North Korea.
A Cheong Wa Dae official said, "South Korea and the United States are discussing a comprehensive package, but it is not as specific as the FT report suggests." But the official added, "As aid to North Korea is discussed, the idea of a $40 billion incentive package for North Korea, expected to be raised through the cooperative efforts of international financial institutions, would eventually be brought up."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Quick, someone check Snopes.
Someone in this big world oughta be dumb enough to try something like this. But the South Koreans?
#2
Morons, the NORK's will simply take whatever's offered, continue on as before, and lie their asses off.
As usual.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/22/2009 8:49 Comments ||
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#3
Why is Goldman Sachs dictating US diplomatic policy? The firm, that failed to foresee the economic crisis and is helping perpetuate it, and many of its former execs have taken control of Treasury, the Federal Reserve, are czars appointed without congressional approval. This is a coup!
Great, great piece (and very long) at WaPo (seriously). Interactive graphics and maps as well. This story does a good job at exposing both the terrible conditions at the Nork labor camps, and the State Department's traditional unwillingness to confront it. Josh Stanton at One Free Korea had a small hand in this.
If State admits to knowing, really knowing about the concentration camps, then the U.S. would have to do something about it, which probably means going to war. Since we aren't prepared to go to war with North Korea...
That's one explanation that's been put forward -- we have to ignore it so as not to be in an awkward position. The other explanation is that with the Norks making all their bellicose threats and exploding their nukes, we don't have the time or attention span to talk about human rights.
Things would be different were we to allow South Korea to slip the leash... and were they ready to accept responsibility for the reunification after. But reunification is expensive. I do not deal well with this particular brand of deadly nonsense, which is why Hillary Clinton has the job and not I.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Could Asia for once solve some of their own problems? And without going into murderous rampages that kill thousands? They act like children who need protection, but Asia by now is a full grown "adult." Ironically, the Chinese will be the first to remind Americans that their culture has been around a lot longer than ours. So that being the case, they can use some of their considerable cultural clout and resources.
Having seen the Korean War Monument in the flesh, and the names of the fifty some thousand of our fallen, it reminds me that viewed in a different light, I would say it is getting a little old and tired for Asia to always play the helpless card. They have plenty of resources thoughout East Asia to take Kimmie out. IMHO if they don't it is firmly on their scorecard. Team Asia needs to get a set of balls or admit they are a bunch of needy, American dollar sucking eunuchs.
#2
If you speak for any length of time with a mainland Chinese national (I married one ), they will remind you that China and Han Chinese culture is one ofthe oldest cultures on the planet, and they are proud of that culture.
They do not flinch about comments about human rights since everything is China is much, much better than it was before 1980 and they believe that things will get yet better over time.
But the main thing Han Chinese are concerned with are the well being of their families, their own persons and their culture in that order, and that is a major reason why you can't shake them when you talk about their own country. They think that the US is just a big basket case as we think China is. ( it's not, but that's what they believe )
Kim Jong Il's daddy was a military commander who fought the Japanese as a communist guerilla and as a Soviet commander during WWII. That carries an incredible weight amongst the Chinese Communist leadership, many of whom had parents or relatives who ought the Japanese; men and women who survived the war of genocide by Japan were a bunch of tough old birds, just like just about every parent or grand parent of many of the regulars here, and they cut a wide swath, including their kids.
But the Chinese know that North Korea is about to fall into the hands of a third, and likely last generation of the Old Man; Chicoms like to take the long view. We may all be dead when it happens, but the leadership in North Korea will change, and the last thing the Chinese want is a western ally on their borders.
#4
I have lived in two Asian countries and am semi-fluent in one Asian language. And I do think East Asian cultures have a great history and a lot to offer. I just don't think it is our job to do the lion's share or even close to a lion's share of military duties there, and get our families and soldiers killed (again).
China and South Korea are getting our services on the cheap and not pulling their weight. I don't want to launch into a very lengthy tirade, but that is what is going on.
Several express disappointment that South Korea is not the nirvana they had anticipated. They enjoy freedom and creature comforts, but feel like second-class citizens.
Yeah, tough life. Food. Freedom. Food. Prosperity. Food. Might as well go back north.
Reporting from Anseong, South Korea -- The soprano in the blue dress sang a sad tune about a sacred mountain. Soon the women brought tissues to their eyes and began sobbing over memories of home. That's when the cameras moved in -- crowding for a better angle, zooming in, panning faces, until many of the defectors ducked their heads in embarrassment and shame.
For the first time, officials on Wednesday allowed outsiders into the Hanawon resettlement center where North Korean defectors are debriefed. The open-house came at a time of increased tensions with North Korea, which in recent months has detonated a nuclear device, launched numerous missiles and amplified the rhetoric directed toward Seoul. Any event having to do with the North becomes an instant news media free-for-all.
The celebration of the center's 10th anniversary was equal parts propaganda ploy, talent show and sob fest. Proud of their efforts to repatriate these lost cousins, South Korea officials produced several North Koreans to show just how fulfilled they were once free of the clutches of leader Kim Jong Il.
These defectors sang! They played piano! They showed off paintings and poetry!
But several later expressed disappointment that South Korea was not the nirvana they had thought. The life they have carved out here is at best bittersweet. While enjoying freedom and creature comforts, many find themselves second-class citizens. They pine for their families and simpler pleasures of home.
"I have memories of the mountains and the rivers of North Korea," said Kim Chu-woong, a 35-year-old concert pianist. "The cigarettes and the alcohol taste different here. Often I get together with friends and we sing the old songs and our eyes get teary."
The wake-up call for this new reality often comes at Hanawon.
About 60% of the defectors are women. Each year, hundreds of refugees spend several months at this leafy center 30 miles south of Seoul. Nearly 90% of the 16,000 defectors in South Korea are Hanawon graduates -- most of whom made their way to South Korea after slipping across the border into China.
They get a crash course in modernity and capitalism, learning how to use a computer and an ATM. But they're also being grilled by intelligence agents trying to weed out spies. Another center prepares defector children for enrollment in South Korean schools.
A 2008 report by a South Korean lawmaker showed that 75% of nearly 600 residents at the center suffered from depression or other mental problems. Many contemplated suicide because of the stress of their escape, the report said.
"They're lonely people," provincial Gov. Kim Moon-soo said of the defectors. "We offer them psychiatric care."
Much, much more hand-wringing at the link, if you can stand it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
If their life in the South is so sad and they are that homesick, let them go home. Heck, give 'em bus fare. And a pair of sneakers for the second half of the trip.
An American man charged with giving Al Qaeda information on the New York transit system and attacking a U.S. military base in Afghanistan has been a secret witness in the fight against terror both here and overseas, authorities revealed Wednesday.
Court papers unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn identified the defendant as Bryant Neal Vinas, nicknamed "Ibrahim" or "Bashir al-Ameriki," who grew up on Long Island.
His identity had been kept secret since his indictment late last year. Court papers show he pleaded guilty in January in a sealed courtroom in Brooklyn and remains in U.S. custody in New York.
Federal prosecutors refused to discuss Vinas' background Wednesday, and no court appearances were scheduled. But a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the case, said Vinas provided critical information that led to a security alert about the New York City subway system last year.
Authorities issued an alert around Thanksgiving last year saying the FBI had received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that Al Qaeda terrorists in late September may have discussed attacking the subway system around the holidays. The origin of that report, the official said, was Vinas.
The official described Vinas as a militant convert who was captured last year in Pakistan.
Prosecutors charged Vinas in a rocket attack on U.S. forces in Afghanistan in September 2008. Court papers allege he also gave "expert advice and assistance ... on the New York transit system and Long Island Railroad."
For five months last year, Vinas received "military-style training" from Al Qaeda, according to court papers.
Also, a defense attorney in a terrorism case in Belgium said prosecutors there traveled to New York earlier this year to interview Vinas. The lawyer said Vinas had provided a statement against the French and Belgium defendants charged with going to Pakistan to volunteer to fight with Al Qaeda.
Vinas' attorney, Len Kamdang, wouldn't comment, other than requesting "the public withhold judgment in this case until all of the facts become available."
A woman who answered a family phone number found in public records said she was the Vinas' mother and had not seen her son since he moved out 10 years ago at age 18.
"He's a stranger to me," she said before hanging up without giving her name.
There was no answer at the door of a family address in Patchogue.
Vinas' Peruvian-born father, Juan, told Newsday in a recent interview that federal agents had interviewed him. He said he didn't know where his son was.
"The FBI asked me all kinds of questions about him, but they don't tell me nothing," he said.
In sealing the courtroom for the January guilty plea, a judge said that a public plea could harm a confidential investigation involving national security.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday stirred Israeli fears that Washington would accept a nuclear armed Iran when she raised the idea of a US "defence umbrella" for Gulf allies.
However, Clinton, during a visit to Thailand for an Asian security conference, said later that she was not announcing a new policy and simply wanted to turn Iran away from pursuing a nuclear weapon.
Clinton told Thai television in Bangkok that President Barack Obama's administration was still open to engage Iran in talks about its nuclear programme but warned that Tehran would not be safer if it obtains a bomb.
"We will still hold the door open" to talks over its nuclear program Clinton said.
"But we also have made it clear that we will take action, as I've said time and time again, crippling action, working to upgrade the defence of our partners in the region," she said.
Her previous references to "crippling action" have referred to sanctions.
"We want Iran to calculate what I think is a fair assessment: that if the US extends a defence umbrella over the region, if we do even more to support the military capacity of those in the Gulf, it is unlikely Iran will be any stronger or safer," Clinton said.
"They won't be able to intimidate and dominate as they apparently believe they can once they have a nuclear weapon."
In Jerusalem, Israeli Intelligence Services Minister Dan Meridor criticised her remarks.
"I heard without enthusiasm the American declarations according to which the United States will defend their allies in the event that Iran uses nuclear weapons, as if they were already resigned to such a possibility," he said.
"This is a mistake," Meridor said. "We cannot act now by assuming that Iran will be able to arm itself with a nuclear weapon, but to prevent such a possibility."
Clinton made her initial comments during a recording for a Thai television show before heading to Asia's largest security forum in the Thai resort island of Phuket, where talks were expected to focus on possible nuclear links between North Korea and Myanmar.
Speaking at a press conference in Phuket later, Clinton suggested her remarks were misunderstood.
"I'm not suggesting a new policy. In fact we all believe that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons is unacceptable, and I've said that many times," she said.
"I'm simply pointing out that Iran needs to understand that it's pursuit of nuclear weapons will not advance its security or achieve its goals of enhancing its power regionally and globally," she said.
"The focus that Iran must have is that it faces the prospect -- if it pursues nuclear weapons -- of sparking an arms race in the region," she said.
"That should affect a calculation of what Iran intends to do and what it believes is in its national security interest because it may render Iran less secure, not more secure," she said.
US lawmakers on Monday stepped up pressure on Obama to ready tough new economic sanctions on Iran in the event Tehran fails to freeze its uranium enrichment programme by late 2009.
Iran, labouring under UN sanctions for its defiance, has rejected the West's charges that it seeks nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian atomic energy program.
Obama has said he wants a diplomatic solution to the standoff but has repeatedly warned that he has not ruled out the use of force.
#1
The world has learned an important lesson over the past several years:
Ignore US hand waiving and go ahead and develop your nuclear weapons. The US won't take any physical measures to stop you as long as you keep them engaged in endless "talks".
A COALITION partner in the Pakistan government has accused the military of staging a "mock war" in the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan while continuing to aid the export of militants over the border into Afghanistan.
The accusation came as Pakistani intelligence officials revealed the country had objected to the expansion of US military operations in southern Afghanistan, for fear the surge would push militants back into Pakistan and exacerbate unrest in its troubled Baluchistan province.
Pakistan officials told The New York Times they did not have enough troops to fight a Taliban insurgency in Baluchistan, as well as the budding separatist movement there, without depleting forces on its eastern border with India. They added it was in the country's national interest to negotiate with the Islamic militants.
The appeal highlights Pakistan's continuing military obsession with India at the expense of a spiralling militant insurgency, both to its west and within its own borders. Just this week, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, in a meeting with Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh handed over a dossier outlining apparent evidence of support by Indian spy operatives for the Baluchi separatists, including arms supply and training in Afghanistan.
The US has long believed top Taliban commanders such as Mullah Omar are being harboured in Pakistan and has expressed repeated frustration at Pakistan's failure to act against them.
Latif Afridi, a senior member of the Awami National Party and a leader of the country's lawyers movement, told The Australian the Pakistani military was not serious about routing terrorists in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and still used the Taliban as a tool with which to obtain regional "strategic steps".
South Waziristan is the base of feared Tehrik-e-Taliban (Pakistan Taliban) commander Baitullah Mehsud, and a known launching pad for Taliban attacks on NATO and US forces in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani military, which has been battling Taliban extremists in the Swat Valley and neighbouring districts within the North West Frontier Province since early May, announced last month it would soon launch a ground operation in Waziristan to eliminate terrorists. While the US has continued a campaign of drone missile attack on known Taliban safe havens in Waziristan, Pakistan's military campaign there has so far been confined to a "softening up" phase of occasional airstrikes against militant targets.
Army liaison officer Lieutenant Colonel Baseer Haider Malik said yesterday the military was committed to its operation in South Waziristan but would pursue it at its own pace and not anyone else's timeframe.
"Of course, whatever is necessary is going to be done," he said.
But Mr Afridi, the ANP secretary in charge of FATA affairs, said the military was being dishonest about its operation there.
"These are mere mock operations in order to convince NATO and the US that Pakistan is serious (about fighting) extremists and that Pakistan is not the mother of extremism," he told The Australian.
"But, in fact, extremists are being protected and promoted with the object of destabilising Afghanistan, to compel America to seek Pakistani support, give them dollars and, ultimately, make Afghanistan a stooge state of Pakistan."
Mr Afridi also cast suspicion on the military failure to apprehend any known leaders of the Swat Taliban, whose march towards the capital, Islamabad, earlier this year forced the military to act. "Unless the principal germs -- who have sown the seeds of extremism -- are eradicated, how can we claim the disease has been eradicated? There should be precise operations and hot pursuit of these leaders (but) I am afraid they're being protected".
The US administration believes Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar and an inner circle of commanders direct the southern Afghanistan insurgency from the Baluchistan capital of the same name with the tacit support of Pakistani authorities. Pakistan insists Mullah Omar is in Afghanistan.
[Geo News] Interior Advisor Reman Malik, strongly condemning the US drone attacks on Pakistan soil, has asked US to end intruding into Pakistan premises. He said the US claimed to be champion of democracy and its words should speak louder than its actions. In a televised interview with a French television channel, Malik was of the view that Pakistani parliament including all four provincial assemblies have denounced US drone attacks on Pakistan soil as the same have resulted in civil causalities in a great numbers. US claimed to be the champion of democracy, so it is incumbent upon it to prove his claim through its actions, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
#1
resulted in civil causalities in a great numbers
Yep, those guys in burkas that got blown up were just misunderstood transvestites going to summer camp.
#2
And as soon as we do, the Pakis will be screaming like the bitches they are that the taliban and AQ are streaming out of their hidey holes and offing the Mighty Pak Army.
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2009 11:33 Comments ||
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India's Maoist guerrillas on Tuesday threatened to kill the country's prime minister and ruling party leader in what analysts said was the most aggressive threat yet from an increasingly lethal and widespread insurgency.
The warning comes a month after the government listed the Communist Party of India (Maoists) as a terrorist group, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared them India's largest internal security threat. The Maoists targeted Singh and Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, and invoked the memory of the 1991 assassination of her husband, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, in a suicide blast blamed on Sri Lanka's now-defeated Tamil Tiger rebels. "Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh have dared to ban the Maoists, little realising that they would meet the fate of Rajiv Gandhi, who was killed by the LTTE (Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam)," a Maoist statement released in Hindi says. India blamed the LTTE for killing Gandhi as revenge after a 1987-1990 Indian peacekeeping mission to Sri Lanka turned sour.
Resign: The statement, issued in the eastern state of Jharkand, also gave local Congress leaders a week to resign or "be taught a lesson". Jharkand police and Congress officials said they were taking the threat seriously, while Singh's office had no comment. Sri Lanka crushed the LTTE in May after a 25-year war, in which the separatists had proved themselves ruthlessly efficient at killing politicians, police and other government officials to inspire fear, a tactic analysts say the Maoists have adopted.
"It is the boldest statement ever issued by them," said Colonel R Hariharan, a Chennai-based security analyst who led military intelligence during India's peacekeeping mission to Sri Lanka. "They are trying to assert themselves and becoming bolder and bolder and trying to get more visibility," he said. Hariharan said the Maoists used to get logistical support and explosives training from the LTTE.
The Maoists have increasingly spread out of their rural eastern strongholds and are active in nearly a third of the country's 630 districts, up from a presence in less than a tenth of them in 2001, government and independent data shows. They carry out hit-and-run attacks on police and extort money from businesses. In the mining state of Chhattisgarh, officials say they extort up to $60 million a year.
Earlier this month, Maoists ambushed and killed at least 29 police officers on patrol in the jungles, and counterinsurgency experts say police officers tackling the Maoists lack the proper training and equipment to be effective.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Maoists threaten to kill Manmohan, Sonia Gandhi
And that's just the Commies in Parliament.
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2009 11:34 Comments ||
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(IsraelNN.com) Heads of the Pikuach Nefesh rabbinical committee have begun collecting the signatures of rabbis in Israel on a letter to United States President Barack Obama. The letter demands that Obama cease talking about ending Jewish construction in Jerusalem and stop pressuring Israel in that direction.
In a reference to the upcoming “nine days” which culminate in Tisha B’Av, the rabbis tell Obama that “during these days, in which the Jewish people mourns the destruction of Jerusalem and marks the disgraceful memory of its destroyers, we are certain that you, Mr. Barack Obama, do not want to enter that disreputable list of those who raise their hand to strike Jerusalem and those who live in it.”
The rabbis note that during his visit to the Middle East, Obama showed “impressive erudition” in the Koran. “As one who is familiar with the Koran, you surely know that the city of Jerusalem is not even mentioned in it once,” they said.
But it is the 29,381st most holy site in all Islam so the Juice have to go ...
“The Arab and Muslim world never recognized Jerusalem as belonging to it,” the letter went on. “On the other hand, all of the world’s nations knew for thousands of years that the Jews pray towards one place only – the holy city of Jerusalem.”
The rabbis added that even putting aside the city’s enormous sanctity and importance for the Jewish people, there is no realpolitik logic behind any concession to the PA. “Since Israel began negotiations, withdrawals and concessions to the Palestinians, the entire world is witness to the justice of the Jewish Law (Halacha) which determines that any such concession will entail another round of bloodshed and deepen mistrust and dangers,” they agreed.
The rabbinical letter ends with a clear request: “If you, Mr. Obama. Wish to leave any chance at all for peace and quiet in the Middle East, take your hands off the Holy City of Jerusalem right now!”
Two hundred and fifty rabbis have signed the appeal, and efforts are being made to collect the signatures of almost every single rabbi in Israel before the letter is sent to Washington.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2009 11:05 ||
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[Jerusalem Post Middle East] Jordanian authorities have started revoking the citizenship of thousands of Palestinians living in Jordan to avoid a situation in which they would be "resettled" permanently in the kingdom, Jordanian and Palestinian officials revealed on Monday.
The new measure has increased tensions between Jordanians and Palestinians, who make up around 70 percent of the kingdom's population. The tensions reached their peak over the weekend when tens of thousands of fans of Jordan's Al-Faisali soccer team chanted slogans condemning Palestinians as traitors and collaborators with Israel. Al-Faisali was playing the rival Wihdat soccer team, made up of Jordanian-Palestinians, in the Jordanian town of Zarqa.
Anti-riot policemen had to interfere to stop the Jordanian fans from lynching the Wihdat team members and their fans, eyewitnesses reported. They said the Jordanian fans of Al-Faisali hurled empty bottles and fireworks at the Palestinian players and their supporters.
Reports in a number of Jordanian newspapers said that the Jordanian fans also chanted anti-Palestinian slogans and cursed Palestine, the PLO, Jerusalem and the Aksa Mosque.
Prince Ali bin Hussein, chairman of Jordan's National Football Association, strongly condemned the racist slurs chanted by the Jordanian fans, saying those responsible would be severely punished.
Baker al-Udwan, director of Al-Faisali team, also condemned the behavior of his team's supporters. He said that a minority of "outcasts" and "corrupt" elements were behind the embarrassing verbal and physical assault on the Palestinian soccer players and their fans.
"We condemn this uncivilized demeanor and welcome any step that would result in the elimination of this tiny group of parasites," he said.
Tarek Khoury, chairman of the Wihdat team, instructed his players to abandon the field as soon as the Jordanian fans started hurling abuse against Palestinians and the Aksa Mosque.
Palestinians said that the confrontation with the Jordanians was yet another indication of increased tensions between the two sides.
"Many Palestinians living in Jordan are convinced that the Jordanian authorities are trying to squeeze them out," said Ismail Jaber, a West Bank lawyer who has been living in the kingdom for nearly 20 years. "There is growing discontent and uncertainty among Palestinians here."
He and other Palestinians said that Jordanians' "hostile" attitude toward them had escalated after the rise to power of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu earlier this year.
Several Jordanian government officials, they said, are convinced that Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman are secretly working toward turning Jordan into a Palestinian state.
As a preemptive measure, the Jordanian authorities recently began revoking the citizenship of thousands of Palestinians, leaving many of them in a state of panic and uncertainty regarding the future.
The Jordanians have justified the latest measure by arguing that it's aimed at avoiding a situation in which the Palestinians would ever be prevented from returning to their original homes inside Israel.
Since 1988, when the late King Hussein cut off his country's administrative and legal ties with the West Bank, the Jordanian authorities have been working toward "disengaging" from the Palestinians under the pretext of preserving their national identity.
That decision, said Jordan's Interior Minister Nayef al-Kadi, was taken at the request of the PLO and the Arab world to consolidate the status of the PLO as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
"Our goal is to prevent Israel from emptying the Palestinian territories of their original inhabitants," the minister explained, confirming that the kingdom had begun revoking the citizenship of Palestinians.
"We should be thanked for taking this measure," he said. "We are fulfilling our national duty because Israel wants to expel the Palestinians from their homeland."
Kadi said that, despite the new policy, Palestinians would be permitted to retain their status as residents of the kingdom by holding "yellow ID cards" that are issued to those who have families and homes in the West Bank.
He said that Palestinians working for the Palestinian Authority or the PLO were among those who have had their Jordanian passports taken from them, in addition to anyone who did not serve in the Jordanian army.
The Jordanian minister said that the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank had been notified of the decision to revoke the Jordanian citizenship of Palestinians.
A PA official in Ramallah expressed deep concern over Jordan's latest move and said that it would only worsen the conditions of Palestinians living in the kingdom. The official said that PA President Mahmoud Abbas raised the issue with King Abdullah II on a number of occasions, but the Jordanians have refused to retract.
Asked by the London-based Al-Hayat daily where the Palestinians should go after they lose their Jordanian passports, the minister replied: "We're not expelling anyone, nor are we revoking the citizenship of Jordanian nationals. We are only correcting the mistake that was created after Jordan's disengagement from the West Bank [in 1988]. We want to highlight the true identity and nationality of every person."
Kadi claimed that the kingdom was seeking, through the new measure, to thwart an Israeli "plot" to transfer more Palestinians to Jordan with the hope of replacing it with a Palestinian state.
"We insist that Jordan is not Palestine, just as Palestine is not Jordan," he stressed. "We will continue to help the Palestinians hold on to their Palestinian identity by pursuing the implementation of the 1988 disengagement plan from the West Bank."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Geez, it's almost like...they don't want their Pali "brothers" around.
#8
Spontaneous pogromic outbursts, yellow badges, revocation of citizenship... Christ, the Paleos really are the Jews of the Arab world. The non-Palestinian Jordanians must really be feeling their grits if they think they can behave this aggressively to a "minority" which is an actual supermajority in the state.
What's this about Palestinians serving in the armed forces? I though the non-Palestinian tribes got their edge by monopolizing their control of the institutions with guns - the army, air force, and police?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/22/2009 8:48 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Population of Jordan is about 6 million of whom, at least half have some 'palestinian' ancestry (depending on how that term is defined). At least a half million people have non citizen work visas or the equivalent.
These 'thousands of Palestinians...' may have received Jordanian citizenship through various programs that allowed the work visa types to convert to citizenship. Or they may be Palestinians with suspected allegiance (i.e., to Hamas or Iran or Syria).
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/22/2009 10:32 Comments ||
Top||
#10
The non-Palestinian Jordanians must really be feeling their grits if they think they can behave this aggressively to a "minority" which is an actual supermajority in the state.
Unlike Americans who've forgotten 911 just a few years ago, the Jordanians haven't forgotten.
[Jerusalem Post Middle East] Israel's mission to the United Nations is pushing - in quiet discussions both in New York and in key capitals in Europe - for the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers to confront Hizbullah supporters in southern Lebanese villages following the illegal entry into Israel by demonstrators over the weekend.
Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev accused a contingent of UNIFIL peacekeepers of cooperating with the group that crossed the border, in a letter on Monday to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Security Council President Ruhakana Rugunda.
Diplomatic sources said Israel was continuing discussions with members of the Security Council on the matter.
In addition to increased accountability by the Lebanese military, Israel is pushing for a change to UNIFIL's rules of engagement to ensure that it can enter villages without needing to coordinate with the Lebanese Armed Forces.
According to UNIFIL's current rules of engagement, the peacekeepers are not allowed to enter villages to search for Hizbullah arms caches without first coordinating the operation with the Lebanese army.
A decision on the renewal of UNIFIL's mandate is scheduled for late this month in the Security Council. In the coming weeks, Israel plans a major diplomatic push to change the force's rules of engagement. If approved by the UN, the new rules would still need to be approved by the Lebanese government. "Everyone has an interest in keeping 1701 alive and kicking," one Israeli diplomat said, referring to the Security Council resolution that ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006. "We want to see an adaptation to the new modus operandi of Hizbullah in the south. It has to be done first and foremost by the Lebanese state, then by UNIFIL."
Of late, member states are starting to accept the severity of the situation and recognize Jerusalem's claims, the diplomat said, adding that Israel was trying to work within the parameters of Resolution 1701, pushing for a more "robust" implementation that addresses Hizbullah's deployment. "The situation in southern Lebanon is not what's described in the reports," the diplomatic source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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[Jerusalem Post Middle East] The UNIFIL troops who have been stationed in southern Lebanon and given a mandate to maintain peace in the region, have in fact done the exact opposite by assisting the small group of Hizbullah supporters in their illegal border crossing into Israel over the weekend, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev charged on Monday.
On Friday, 15 Lebanese civilians crossed illegally into Israel, shouting and waving Hizbullah flags. IDF troops spotted the group, but did not confront them as they were reportedly unarmed and returned to Lebanon minutes later, without incident.
In a letter submitted by the ambassador to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the president of the United Nations Security Council, Shalev accused a contingent of Indian UNIFIL peacekeepers of having done nothing to prevent the demonstrators from crossing the border and even cooperating with the group.
"[The demonstrators] stood opposite the UNIFIL force, [which did nothing,] and worse than that, according to statements made by the organizers of the demonstration, they even cooperated with them," the letter read.
In her complaint, the Israeli ambassador lashed out at Hizbullah for its "grievous violations of Resolution 1701," which included both the border breach, as well as an attack by Lebanese villagers against UNIFIL troops on Saturday who were investigating an explosion last week in a suspected Hizbullah arms depot in southern Lebanon.
Both incidents "demonstrate an escalation and a pattern of behavior in Lebanon, that must be confronted," Shalev wrote in her letter.
Israel submitted a separate complaint to the UN over the mission probing Operation Cast Lead, headed by Judge Richard Goldstone. Israel complained that in gathering testimonies, the mission had met with Hamas ministers.
Meanwhile, a top UN official issued a call for restraint on Monday, saying that both Lebanon and Israel must renew their commitment to UN Resolution 1701 in order for peace in the area to be maintained.
"Any resolution from time to time faces many tests and challenges. There have been some testing incidents in recent days," Michael Williams, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, said. "I take this opportunity to call on all parties to renew their commitment and to exercise the utmost restraint."
He said both the explosion of the suspected Hizbullah weapons depot and the clash between villagers and peacekeepers were "testing incidents" that should not be repeated.
He spoke Monday following a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri.
Williams also called on Israel to end daily flights over Lebanon, which he said were "serious violations" of the cease-fire that ended the Second Lebanon War.
On Saturday, Lebanese villagers prevented UN peacekeepers from searching an abandoned building near the suspected weapons depot, a Lebanese security official said.
The official said dozens of men in Bir e-Salasel surrounded UNIFIL vehicles and ordered the peacekeepers to leave. 14 UNIFIL men were wounded in the incident. When the troops called for backup, the villagers fired at the reinforcements.
The village is close to Khirbat a-Silm, the site of last week's explosion, which is about 15 kilometers from Israel.
Also Monday, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah blasted what he called Israeli aspirations for a new war.
Speaking from an undisclosed location, Nasrallah promised that any Israeli attack against Lebanon would "fail."
"We're hearing things about Israel planning for war against Lebanon," he said, referring to recent Israeli troop maneuvers in the north. "It will fail."
The Hizbullah leader charged that Israel was motivated by a desire to drive the Lebanese from their country.
"This [next war] will be against Lebanon, and its purpose will be [similar to what was done] to the Palestinians in 1948," he said, but added that regardless of the motivation, Israel would never achieve its aim.
"I am saying that our enemy has done everything in its power to harm the resistance, and has failed," Nasrallah said, calling on all Lebanese citizens to "embrace the resistance, and the culture of resistance" as a way of fighting against Israel.
The Hizbullah leader also took aim at the alleged Israeli spy network in the country, lashing out against those Lebanese citizens who "conspired against the resistance."
"In the past few years, we have seen the height of conspiracies against the resistance," he said.
In recent months, Lebanese security forces have detained numerous people accused of being part of a vast Israeli spy ring. Israel has not commented on the arrests.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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A number of US lawmakers are mounting pressure on the Obama administration to slap new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
Republican Senators Jon Kyl and John McCain, Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman, and Democratic Senator Evan Bayh called on President Barack Obama to target the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) with sanctions, should the proposed talks fail to bring about Washington's desired results.
The lawmakers introduced a bill calling for action against Tehran in case it does not accept Obama's offer of direct talks before a late September summit of the Group of 20 (G20), or refuses to halt uranium enrichment within 60 days after that.
"Whether one believes 'engaging' directly with the regime in Tehran will accomplish anything, there is no question that time is of the essence," said Kyl.
"Every day that passes is time that the Iranians use to perfect a nuclear weapon and stockpile nuclear weapons material," he added.
Western powers accuse Tehran of secretly enriching weapons-grade uranium -- an allegation Iran has repeatedly denied. Tehran has asserted that its uranium enrichment is a peaceful drive to produce electricity.
Incoming IAEA Chief, Yukiya Amano, has also said that there is no conclusive evidence to prove that Tehran is enriching weapons-grade uranium.
Lieberman, however, said that he supported Obama's offer of direct talks but added that "the Iranians need to understand that this is a limited time offer."
"The regime must decide to change course, soon, or face severe sanctions for its continued defiance of the international community," said McCain for his part.
"If Iranian officials are unwilling to sit down at the table and negotiate, then Congress is prepared to authorize crippling economic sanctions," said Bayh.
The four lawmakers have introduced the measure as an amendment to an annual defense spending budget bill.
The amendment says the US must adopt tougher economic sanctions on Iran, should Washington fail to push through more embargoes against the country at the UN Security Council.
During a recent summit in Italy, world powers agreed to assess Iran's nuclear cooperation at the upcoming G20 gathering, which is scheduled to be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before the UN General Assembly.
Iran, however, says that the only UN body relevant to its nuclear dossier is the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and it maintains that it has shown exceptional cooperation with international inspectors in clarifying its intentions.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Silly senators. You're still under the impression that Soros bought me this pretty round office to advance America's interests in the world. Silly, silly senators...just be thankful your seniority will make you among the last to be taken into custody for re-education.
Posted by: Barack Vladimir Fidel Hugo al-Hussein Obama ||
07/22/2009 1:20 Comments ||
Top||
#2
No Obama is just the pretty face figurehead. Most of the real decisions are made behind the scenes by Ralm, Soros, and his other advisers.
Why do you think he always has his teleprompter with him? To tell him what to say.
#3
Barry is much too busy slapping medical ponzi schemes sanctions on American voters and taxpayers. All of this overseas noise is mindless clutter to The One. The Chickens have come home to roost! The RICH will pay! Gummit cheese, mules, acreage and free mules for everyone!
#4
I miss government cheese, Besoeker. My grandmother got it from somewhere, and we ended up with these five-pound bricks of dry cheddar when I was a kid. Pretty tasty, actually. The store-bought stuff is always a bit too moist, not crumbly enough.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/22/2009 8:55 Comments ||
Top||
#5
That's easy: get Iran to have a "stimulus package".
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
07/22/2009 10:49 Comments ||
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A senior Iranian parliamentarian says the Leader of the Islamic Revolution has advised the president to reverse his decision in appointing Esfandyar Rahim-Masha'i as his top deputy.
"Without any delay, the removal or acceptance of Masha'i's resignation must be announced by the president," Mohammad-Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard, the first Majlis vice speaker, told the Iranian Students News Agency on Tuesday.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was re-elected for a second four-year term in a disputed presidential vote in June, came under fire from some of his staunchest allies by appointing Masha'i as his vice president.
Aboutorabi-Fard said the viewpoint of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, on the issue had been forwarded to the president in a letter.
"The removal of Rahim-Masha'i from key positions and presidential deputies is the collective decision of the political establishment."
Masha'i, whose daughter is married to Ahmadinejad's son, is a controversial figure in Iran for remarks attributed to him that the Iranian people are friends with Israelis.
Although Iran has 12 vice presidents, only the first vice president can lead Cabinet meetings in the absence of the president.
Shortly before Aboutorabi's remarks, Ahmadinejad's senior adviser said there would be no re-examination of Masha'i's appointment.
"Opposition to his [Masha'i's] appointment does not have compelling reasons behind it to prompt a review of his appointment," Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi said.
While Ahmadinejad does not need Parliament approval for appointing vice presidents, many members of the Majlis have expressed opposition to Masha'i's appointment.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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As Iran's opposition locks horns with the ruling elite over the disputed presidential election, the European Union presidency claims Tehran is faced with "legitimacy" problems. "They, the leaders of Iran, must be concerned with the legitimacy of their regime in the eyes of their own electorate," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said on Tuesday. "As to which conclusions that leads to, that remains to be seen," he told members of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee in Brussels, AFP reported.
He, however, urged the EU to maintain "links and contacts" with Iran as the country resolves its internal crisis.
The June 12 election, which saw incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected with almost two-third of the votes, has been confirmed by the electoral watchdog, the Guardian Council, despite accusations of fraud by the opposition led by defeated candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi. The official announcement of the vote result unleashed unrest in Iran, which the Tehran government blames on foreign "interference."
On Monday, the Association of Combatant Clerics, led by former President Mohammad Khatami, called for a referendum to settle the vote dispute. The proposal was denounced in Principlist circles as a Western plot to create "havoc." Under the Iranian Constitution, only the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, has the authority to call for a referendum.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#2
Which one? The EU that ignores its own ratification rules after their constitution was turned down by a couple of the sovereign nations in Europe in plebiscites or the one's that will not even be given the opportunity to have a vote? Pot meet Kettle.
[Khaleej Times] A top Iranian hardliner on Tuesday denounced a call by leading reformists for a referendum to resolve the nation's deepening political crisis, branding it a Western plot to trigger more "havoc" in the Islamic republic.
The Association of Combatant Clerics, a reformist clerical group led by former president Mohammad Khatami, on Monday urged a referendum to resolve the turmoil gripping Iran since the June 12 disputed presidential election. "They have suggested a yet another Western plot to raise havoc by proposing a referendum," said Hossein Shariatmadari, managing director of the hardline newspaper Kayhan who is appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "The main idea of this plan is to trigger tension. Their proposal is illegal amd impractical," Shariatmadari wrote.
He also said that if the referendum did take place, the result would be "more crushing" for the reformists than the presidential poll which saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected by a landslide.
Khatami's group voiced concern that "public confidence in the system has been damaged" by the election and its aftermath, which exposed deep divisions among Iran's elite in the worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Khatami himself was a strong supporter Iran's main opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi who lost to Ahmadinejad in a vote he charged was marred by widespread fraud.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 00:00 ||
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Iran's police chief accused the opposition on Tuesday of "inciting sedition" after last month's disputed presidential election and said his force would act firmly to uphold the law.
"This group of individuals voices the slogan of law abidance but they themselves do not observe the law ... they are sheer liars," the official IRNA news agency quoted Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam as saying. He accused the opposition of seeking to sow discord in the Islamic Republic, adding that "security forces should ... act firmly in line with the defence of the law". Deputy police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said there were rumours of new "illegal gatherings" in Tehran later on Tuesday but that the security forces would firmly confront any such protests, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.
Ahmadi-Moghaddam did not mention names but his comments were an apparent reference to senior pro-reform figures who say the June 12 vote was rigged in favour of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Defeated election candidates Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi have continued to dispute the official election result, even though Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has endorsed Ahmadinejad's election victory.
"Some people who failed to realize their election goal go on spreading doubt in different ways and then turn that ... into inciting sedition," Ahmadi-Moghaddam said in the northeastern city of Mashhad. The election stirred the most striking internal unrest in Iran since the 1979 revolution and exposed deep rifts in its ruling elite. At least 20 people died in post-election violence. Mousavi and the authorities blame each other for the bloodshed. Riot police and religious Basij militia eventually suppressed June's street demonstrations, but Mousavi has remained defiant.
Clashes erupted between police and reformist protesters for the first time in weeks in Tehran on Friday after former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani declared the Islamic Republic in crisis and said there were doubts about the election result. That statement was a clear challenge to the authority of Khamenei, Iran's most powerful figure. Reformist former president Mohammad Khatami on Monday weighed in, calling for a referendum on the legitimacy of the Ahmadinejad's government.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2009 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.
India's Maoist guerrillas on Tuesday threatened to kill the country's prime minister and ruling party leader in what analysts said was the most aggressive threat yet from an increasingly lethal and widespread insurgency. 
