An Afghan militant group is willing to "help" U.S. and coalition forces, if they prepare to leave Afghanistan, the group's leader said in a statement given to CNN on Monday.
Afghan warlord and former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is wanted by the Pentagon. "We are ready to help with the United States and ... other coalition forces if foreign troops announce the time frame for the pulling out their troops from Afghanistan," said Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former Afghan prime minister and leader of the pro-Taliban Hizb-e-Islami militant group. "I am sure Afghans will fight U.S. forces and will continue Jihad against them like they fought against Russia before if they don't leave the country," he added.
Hekmatyar did not define what he meant by "help," but is typically understood to mean that the group would stop attacks against coalition forces, stop recruiting members and stop the intimidation of local citizens.
From Geostrategy Direct, subscription.
The main opposition party charged that the South African government has failed to stop companies from engaging in defense exports to Iran, Libya, North Korea and Zimbabwe. "Failed to stop" is a diplomatic way of saying, "enabled."
The South African exports were said to have included long-range glide bombs to Libya and multiple-grenade launchers to Syria.
"There is a concern these glide bombs could be converted to deliver a nuclear, chemical or biological weapon," David Maynier, the so-called shadow defense minister from the Democratic Alliance party, said.
At a news conference in Capetown, South Africa, Maynier said the South African exports to Iran and other countries took place over the last 13 months. He cited South African plans to sell additional equipment and systems to Iran and Syria.
"I have absolute confidence this information is correct," Maynier said on Aug. 2.
The South African government has refused to confirm Maynier's assertion. Over the last decade, South Africa has been suspected of defense relations with several countries deemed by the United States as terrorist sponsors.
Maynier said the government in Pretoria has failed to oversee South Africa's defense export policy. He said the National Conventional Arms Control Committee authorized the sale of weapons to regimes under European Union and United Nations embargo.
"Several dodgy deals appear to have slipped through the cracks," Maynier said. A diplomatic way of putting it.
Maynier, who said he would provide additional details to parliament, asserted that the government committee has approved the delivery of multiple-grenade launchers while examining a proposal to sell sniper rifles to Syria. He said South Africa was also working on a deal to sell Aviator G-suits, worn by fighter-jet pilots, to Iran. To the Insh'Allah Air Force.
Libya has been promised long-range precision guided weapons, Maynier said. He said South Africa was also preparing to deliver multiple-grenade launchers to Tripoli.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Saudi police arrested 113 people attempting to smuggle three tons of hashish and three million captagon tablets into the kingdom, the interior ministry said on Sunday.
That seems like rather a lot. Who stopped protecting the smugglers, and why?
Anti-trafficking forces also seized 10 kilograms (23 pounds) of pure heroin from smugglers as part of the haul from several operations since early June, according to the ministry spokesman and a statement released by Saudi state news agency SPA.
Much of the hashish was captured as it was being smuggled in by boats on the Gulf or overland from the southern border with Yemen. The methamphetamine, locally known as captagon and popular with students and laborers, was often discovered concealed in vehicles and imported equipment, the ministry said. The ministry did not say where the drugs originated.
It said that 113 people, including 57 Saudis, were arrested in these operations for trafficking or trading in drugs. Seizures of illicit drugs have been on the increase since a concerted effort was launched last year.
Fayez bin Abdullah al-Shahri, secretary-general of the National Committee for Combating Drugs, told al-Watan newspaper earlier this week that the government was also raising efforts to help drug addicts and their families.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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The drug problems are caused by western influence, no doubt. Off with their heads. That'll cure them.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/17/2009 12:11 Comments ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] No effective measure was taken by any government to punish the patrons of the outlawed Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) that launched an unprecedented countrywide bomb attack on August 17, 2005.
The law-enforcement agencies during their drives against militancy have so far arrested over 550 JMB militants including many of their top tier leaders. However, no initiative by the law enforcers was ever seen to bring the patrons of these militants to book.
A number of victims in northern Rajshahi region individually filed cases against some alleged patrons of JMB. But no comprehensive effort has been seen from the government to take steps against these alleged patrons. Former BNP minister Aminul Haque has been convicted by a court for patronising JMB and some other BNP leaders have been accused in cases filed by victims in Rajshahi region.
Following the March 2007 execution of JMB kingpins Abdur Rahman, Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai and four others, the government showed its firm stance to detect the outfit's political patrons and take stern action against them. The patrons of JMB would face the same punishment [execution] if they are found guilty, announced the then law adviser of the caretaker government. "The law enforcers are looking for the godfathers. If they are netted and we learn about their roles, they will face the same punishment," he said in March 2007.
It has already been over two years when present Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nur Mohammad said: "We have already tentatively identified the patrons of the organisation [JMB]." The ruling Awami League government also announced to take actions against the militant patrons.
Mysteriously enough, no action has been taken against anyone although names of some former BNP-Jamaat-led ruling alliance's political leaders, lawmakers and ministers surfaced as patrons of JMB in the northern districts. The investigators working at the diktat of the then government high-ups also did not take any move to detect and expose them.
The JMB has meanwhile been trying to regroup to regain its strength. Moreover, the outfit is being united with another banned Islamist outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami's (Huji) Bangladesh chapter despite having some differences of opinion. Sources say under the initiative of present JMB chief Moulana Saidur Rahman and Huji leader Omar the two outfits have recently held several meetings to discuss their unity move.
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Director General Hasan Mahmood Khandaker said they are aware of the latest move by the militants. "We are aware of their present activities and we are after them," said the Rab DG without elaborating.
But sources inside Rab, which is leading the anti-militant drive for last few years, say they did not yet infiltrate into the militant organisations. "If we could plant our sources in the militant outfits, we could have learned their every update soon after the development. And as we couldn't do it yet, we now operate drives based mainly on the information we obtain from the arrested militants," says a Rab official involved in the drive for long.
The sources say both JMB and Huji are divided into various groups due to internal feuds. But yet they have initiated the unity move to take revenge on the government for the execution of six JMB leaders and also the arrest of the leaders and activists of both the organisations. The sources add the JMB and Huji leaders have past relations as executed JMB chief Abdur Rahman formed his outfit in 1998 after defecting from Huji.
Talking to The Daily Star last night, former adviser to the caretaker government and former IGP SM Shajahan said, "It would not be possible to uproot militancy soon until taking measures against their patrons or guardians." He said, "We have significant achievement in anti-militant drive, but militancy is not a small problem. It should not be considered that militancy has been solved after arresting and executing some of their leaders and members."
Shajahan said before the blasts on August 17, 2005 the country had witnessed some other major blasts. "But we saw blame games in the political arena and misleading investigation to divert our eyes from the real focus, which inspired the real culprits.
"It was unexpected and no politics should be on the issue as we need united efforts involving people to solve this serious problem," he continued. "The total picture of the country's militancy problem is not clear yet as we don't know their many things including sources of money, arms, explosives and training. We think executed Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai are top most leaders of JMB, but I think they can have their patrons."
"We are also looking into whether anyone is working behind the scene and as part of the process, we already arrested a number of key persons who might be treated as the masterminds or patrons," the Rab DG said. "If anybody is found involved, we must go for action against them."
Some law enforcers involved with the anti-militant drives believe the "Anti-Terrorism Law", which has already been passed would help take legal steps against the masterminds and patrons. They think earlier there was no adequate law to bring the patrons or masterminds to book.
STATISTICS
Sources say the law-enforcement and intelligence personnel arrested 555 JMB leaders since the August 17 blasts. Of them, 80 were arrested this year. Among the arrested JMB men, 46 are policymakers, 103 ehsar [full-time] members, 10 gaiyeri ehsar members, 17 suicide squad members and 379 are lower level leaders and activists.
The sources say Rab and police detained around 1,500 people suspecting them as JMB men. But after verification, only 555 of them were learned to have had links with JMB. Among the arrestees, six top brass leaders -- Abdur Rahman, Bangla Bhai, Abdul Auwal, Ataur Rahman Sunny, Khalid Saifullah and Iftekhar Hussain Al Mamun -- were executed.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] An elderly woman yesterday alleged that the commanding officer of Rapid Action Battalion-1 sent her a threat to kill her son by putting him in so-called crossfire, in a sequel to a previous enmity. Translation: The head cop told Mom that Sonny was going to meet with a "accidental death", seems like it's happened befoe. The threat, not the death.
Mahmuda Begum, 72, a resident of Darussalam area in the capital, made the allegation against Rab-1 Commanding Officer Maj Sumon Ahmed in a media briefing held at Dhaka Reporters' Unity, seeking government interference to save her son.
She said a few days ago a team of six to seven people identifying themselves as Rab-1 members went to her residence, searched it, and before leaving the house wanted to know where her son Jahidul Islam Pinju, 52, lives. Could have been RaB, could have been imposters.
She alleged as she did not tell them where Pinju lives, they threatened to kill her son in 'crossfire' if she does not hand him over to them. How does "Hand over the boy, or we'll kill him!" make any sense?
She also said later she came to know that Maj Suman and one of his colleagues had sent the Rab team to kill her son in 'crossfire' after picking him up form the house. Mahmuda told reporters that her son is now being forced to live in hideouts in fear of Rab 'crossfire'. Like they'd pick up people and kill them for no apparent reason after a drive looking for an arms cache at 2AM on a deserted street behind a empty train station hiding a group of miscreant cohorts who sense the presence of the police and open fire wildly leaving no traces except the bleeding body of Jahidul who took two round of bullet and a smoking shutter gun. Never happen.
Whew! Now that's impressive breath control.
Maj Sumon however denied the allegation when he was contacted by The Daily Star, and said he did not send any Rab member to Mahmuda's house. "Me? Never!"
Mahmuda alleged that Maj Sumon's brother Maj (retd) Sujan Ahmed had demanded Tk 5 lakh unauthorised toll from her son's friend Kazi Mahinur on August 30, 2007 over the cellphone, and realised Tk 3 lakh from him in two phases. Mahinur is a resident of the capital's Mohammadpur area, she claimed. Translation: Major Sumon's retired brother Major Sujan is supplementing his retirement income by extorting money from one of Jahidul's friends.
When Maj (retd) Sujan went to realise the rest of the extortion money amounting to Tk 2 lakh, Tejgaon police arrested him with a pistol in his possession on September 9 of the same year, and later a case was also filed against him with Mohammadpur police station in this connection the same day, she added. She said as her son was present at the scene, Sujan threatened him saying that someday he will take revenge on him for helping Mahinur, and accordingly after seven months of the incident, two false cases were filed against Pinju with Paltan police station by one of the relatives of Maj Sumon. Translation: Sujan thinks Jahidul ratted him out.
But investigation officers of the two cases submitted final reports in both cases clearing Pinju of the charges, claimed Mahmuda. Local cops didn't go along with the frame of Jahidul
Maj Sumon however said his brother Maj (retd) Sujan in 2007 gave Tk 2.40 lakh to Mahinur who is a close friend of Pinju, for sending Sujan to Malaysia, but Mahinur swindled him of the money and did not send him to the destination. Maj Sumon also said Mahinur and Pinju also collected money from many other persons in the name of sending people abroad, but they sent none. Ah, Mahinur and Jahidul Pinju are human smugglers who are taking the cash but not smuggling anyone. Didn't think they were pure as the driven snow.
He added, on the day of Sujan's arrest, Mahinur and Pinju had asked his brother to meet for receiving the money Mahinur had owed him and on his arrival they detained him and handed him over to police planting a firearm on him. A police investigation later cleared Sujan of the charge, Maj Suman said. Reads like an episode of "The Shield"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] North Korea on Sunday denounced joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises starting Monday, warning that if the two countries threaten the North with nuclear arms, ""It will retaliate against them with nukes."" ""The U.S. imperialists and the Lee Myung Bak group should clearly understand that it is the iron will and resolute stand of the KPA to go into action anytime to mercilessly wipe out the aggressors and this is by no means an empty word,"" the official Korean Central News Agency quoted a spokesman for the Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People"s Army as saying Saturday.
Yes, yes, but what will they do if threatened by conventional arms? Because of that iron will and resolute stand, I mean.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun met Kim Jong-il for luncheon on Sunday after a weeklong wait while the reclusive North Korean leader attended to other business. North Korean Central Broadcasting reported around 9 p.m. Kim "met the chairwoman of Hyundai Group in South Korea."
It added Kim Yang-gun, the chairman of the North's Asia-Pacific Committee and director of the United Front Department of the North Korean Workers' Party, was also present. Kim Yang-gun reportedly fine-tuned the agenda with Hyun last Thursday.
The state-run channel said Hyun "presented a gift" to Kim Jong-il during the meeting, who thanked her. Kim remembered Hyun's predecessors at the Hyundai Group "with deep emotions" and the two engaged in "warm compatriotic talk," it added.
Check the pic at the link: Kimmie really does look like death warmed over ...
Doesn't look like he weighs more than 85 pounds ...
Definite buzzard bait ...
Hyun extended her stay in the North several times to meet Kim. If she returns on Monday, she will have been in the North for a whole week. Specific contents of what the two discussed are not known, but according to the joint press release from Hyundai Group and Asia-Pacific Peace Committee on Monday, North Korea agreed to resume inter-Korean tourism projects and facilitate operation of the joint industrial park.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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That's the same pose he struck with Clinton. Now playing: Weekend at Kimmie's?
From an opinion piece in the Washington Times. The rest is interesting, but this is the key bit of information:
Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC, Charlotte area), a co-founder of the House Anti-Terror Caucus, recently convened a meeting to afford "moderate" Muslims an opportunity to interact with representatives of various federal law enforcement and other agencies responsible for securing this country.
According to Ms. Myrick, some of the officials seemed to discover for the first time that there are practitioners of Islam who do not embrace the seditious tenets of Shariah -- and who were extremely concerned about the government's almost exclusive reliance on those who do.
Fortunately, decisions in federal court in recent weeks may produce some urgently needed policy course-corrections. Judge Lawrence P. Zatkoff in the Eastern District of Michigan recently cleared the way for accelerated and wide-ranging discovery in connection with a suit brought by a Michigan Iraq war veteran, Kevin Murray, against the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve Board.
Mr. Murray is challenging on constitutional separation of church-and-state grounds the practice of a U.S. government-owned company, the insurance conglomerate American International Group Inc., promoting Shariah-compliant products.
It seems likely that the depositions that will now be taken by Mr. Murray's legal team -- securities litigator and Shariah expert David Yerushalmi and attorneys at the Thomas More Law Center, led by its director Richard Thompson -- will shed important light on the federal government's understanding of authoritative Islam's seditious program. It may also reveal the extent to which U.S. officials have, with their failure to comprehend the true nature of the threat we face, acted, either wittingly or unwittingly, in ways that have enabled it to metastasize further.
Whether through the revelations of this lawsuit or through the work of influential legislators like Ms. Myrick, the time has come to recognize that even if we insist we are not at war with Islam, many of the authorities of Islam are at war with us. Only by so doing can we connect with and empower our natural allies in this war -- Muslims who want to enjoy liberty in a Shariah-free America. And only by so doing, do we have a chance of prevailing.
Frank J. Gaffney Jr. is president of the Center for Security Policy, a columnist for The Washington Times and the host of the nationally syndicated Secure Freedom Radio.
#1
How about if we just say that we are at war with all who declare themselves at war with us and who want to kill us?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/17/2009 15:23 Comments ||
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"who do not embrace the seditious tenets of Shariah "
The article seems to imply there are two groups of muslims. WRT Sharia and sedition, there are in fact three.
A. Muslims who comply with Sharia, and read it in a way that justifies sedition, like you know, going to afghanistan to fight americans.
B. Muslims who comply with sharia by not eating pork, praying 5 times a day, etc but who ignore or reintrepret anything that calls for sedition
C. Muslims who dont comply with Sharia, but still consider themselves Muslim ("reform" muslims?)
Surely we should not discriminate against group C. However we should not ignore the existence of group B.
As for AIG, its sounds like someone wrote a mortgage in such a way as to comply with sharia provisions against charging interest (by creating quasi-fictional equity interests) and AIG insured those loans. I dont see how that has anything to do with sedition. I dont see how that implicates church and state - presumably the mortgage as written simply reflects an equity structuring rather than a conventional loan, and makes no explicit reference to sharia. If I make a contract to supply someone with all kinds of meat, but only the meat of animals with cloven hooves that chew their cuds, and make no reference to the laws of kashrut, is enforcement said contract a violation of church and state? I dont think so. Certain people keep coming up with novel legal doctrines that would have made Earl Warren blush in their battle against Islam.
Imagine if Mr Gaffney had written this
"many of the authorities of Judaism, such as the leaders of Kahane Chai, are at war with us. Only by so doing can we connect with and empower our natural allies in this war -- Jews who want to enjoy liberty in a Halacha-free America. "
I think we would all recognize it for the vile trash it is.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
08/17/2009 16:17 Comments ||
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#4
It should be noted that we are missing a bet by not encouraging, or even subtly directing, a "reformation" in Islam, that would afford Muslims a doctrinal ability to distinguish themselves from Wahabbis, Salafists and their violent and Philistine ilk.
The key to this being done is a criticism of the "tafsir", the huge body of commentary and explication of the Koran, which is open to criticism where the Koran itself is not.
This would officially amount to a rejection of the bulk of the cultural traditions that are ascribed to, but not actually in the Koran, that were added later. And this would be an aggressive action, that people who embraced such "corruptions" go against the "enlightening nature" of Islam, and are primitive tribalists.
From there, it goes to outright hypocrisy, such as redefining the obvious. "Here, where Mohammed says to 'Kill the Jews!", what it *means* is that we should not be as violent as them. Kill the violent Jew within each of us. Not actually kill Jewish people."
It is a fraud, of course, but it is also an opportunity for Muslims to escape the onerous and murderous doctrines, yet still call themselves Muslim.
NEW DELHI: Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy on Af-Pak, is finding the going very difficult when it comes to India. For the second time in a month, Holbrooke has had "scheduling" problems in India.
The foreign office has told Holbrooke in very polite diplomatic terms that he cannot walk in and out of India at will. Holbrooke, senior officials said, had a habit of unilaterally deciding when he wanted to come to India and then demanding to see his top foreign policy interlocutors.
Remember folks, he's a diplomat ...
The MEA found it offensive, to say the least. Consequently, Holbrooke has discovered that soon after he announces to the world about his India travel plans, the relevant officials are invariably unavailable.
Holbrooke will be visiting Pakistan and Afghanistan starting on August 15, but will, once again, skip India. And this after having announced three weeks ago that he would be in India in mid-August.
Senior government sources, speaking on background, said Holbrooke's mandate did not include India, so there was little need for him to visit India every time he was in the region. "It sends the wrong signals of hyphenation that we want to avoid," they said.
Holbrooke, said sources, tried hard to come along with secretary of state Hillary Clinton during her maiden visit here last month but was discouraged. Sources said he tried hard to get Clinton to visit Pakistan, but between Clinton and Barack Obama, there was a decision to deal with India without the Pakistan baggage. So that did not happen either, much to Pakistan's chagrin.
Pakistan baggage. I like the sound of that ...
He had announced that he would visit India after Clinton's visit, but that did not happen. Answering questions at a press conference in Washington at the end of July, Holbrooke, however, denied any "complications". "There were no complications. I have three or four people in India who are my main policy interlocutors. All but one of them were going to be out of the country, so..." Then he had said he would be in India in mid-August.
On Wednesday, Holbrooke was once again telling an audience in Washington that his trip to the region involved only Pakistan and Afghanistan, not India. Describing India as a "dominant power" in South Asia, Holbrooke said the Obama administration was keeping New Delhi informed about its policies in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. "The Indians are a major factor in the region. They are a dominant power," he said.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/17/2009 09:58 ||
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#1
I don't like it when folks make an appointment with me and cancel for no particular reason (not even the wrong 'hyphenation', whatever the heck that is). I become a tad more p*ssed each time thereafter.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/17/2009 11:04 Comments ||
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#2
I don't think he makes appointments
Posted by: john frum ||
08/17/2009 11:24 Comments ||
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#3
sounds like he demands an audience at his whim. Real diplos have staff that does the ground work for effective commmunications, exchange of positions, etc.so the bigwigs are merely cementing pre-agreed stances. Holbrooke is a pompous ass, and needs to be set in his place repeatedly, apparently. Amateur hour at the Zero's admin continues
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/17/2009 11:57 Comments ||
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#4
and of course, this continues Obama's policy of treating allies badly while fell*ting America's enemies
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/17/2009 11:58 Comments ||
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#5
Then again, Bambi may be a genius: Holbrooke is a legend in his own mind and was demanding a big role in the new administration. Why sure Rich, we have just the job for you, have at it ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/17/2009 12:15 Comments ||
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Im not convinced that scheduling problems in New Delhi is gutting Holbrooke's career. More important is what he gets out of Pakistan, and if that fails, Obama is in deep yoghurt. I continue to think Holbrooke is still one of the smarter folks on the BHO for pol team. Sounds to me more like a minor Obama snafu - creating lots of special envoys outside the main State hierarchy, and then failing to give them adequate staff. George Mitchell can get away with that in Israel, cause Israelis notoriously dont care about protocol, and they have massive issues of substance to care about. In the land of a thousand castes, protocol matters more, esp for an ex-colony turned great power with perhaps a chip on its shoulder about status.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
08/17/2009 13:20 Comments ||
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#7
Holbrooke, senior officials said, had a habit of unilaterally deciding when he wanted to come to India and then demanding to see his top foreign policy interlocutors.
#8
Besides protocol (and Indian MEA babus are very protocol conscious), there is the matter of substance.
Holbrooke has to offer the Pakistanis something and the Indians do not wish to be the ones paying the price for Pakistani concessions.
The Pakistani have always sought "external balancers" - mediators more powerful than Pakistan who could extract concessions from India in exchange for services from Pakistan.
After the debacle of the UN (where India approached the Security Council in 1947 and found that the interests of Great Powers took precedence) India insists on bilateral dialogue.
They do not welcome Holbrooke's intervention in India-Pak issues.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/17/2009 14:16 Comments ||
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#9
It also doesn't help that Obama appointed Robin Raphael to oversee aid to Pakistan.
The Indians don't trust her. Apparently she suspects RAW (the Indian intelligence service) to be behind the death of her husband, then ambassador to Pakistan, in the plane crash that eneded the rule of dictator Zia Ul Haq.
When the US dithered on an ambassador to India, Raphael took personal charge of affairs involving India and midwifed the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (Kashmiri Separatists). She made statements questioning accession of Jammu and Kashmir state to India. None of this had the approval of higher ups in the administration but the Indians didn't know this and thought this was official US policy.
The Indians will be very wary of Obama's envoys.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/17/2009 14:26 Comments ||
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#10
The Indians will be very wary of Obama's envoys.
Posted by john frum
#11
Holbrooke, senior officials said, had a habit of unilaterally deciding when he wanted to come to India and then demanding to see his top foreign policy interlocutors.
Pure arrogance
He actually acted like he represents the number one power in the world. Hmmmm.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
08/17/2009 16:20 Comments ||
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at #11:
But it didn't get him a meeting... So whatever he felt he was entitled to didn't pan out. So what was the point then?
#13
And then there's the whole Special Envoy appointments Zero made to reduce the power of SecState Hildebeast, and thus all the cookie-pushers at State. Bet they aren't helping Holbrooke and his outdated Rolodex.
#14
#11 LH - how is it that I know if Bolton had done it, you'd call it arrogance and hubris?
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/17/2009 18:24 Comments ||
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He actually acted like he represents the number one power in the world. Hmmmm.
I'm glad to know that American soldiers have fought, suffered, bled, died, or lived with debilitating injuries so that Richard Holbrooke could be a royal jerk to the duly elected and appointed representatives of the only country in the region that HASN'T been a state sponsor of terrorism during the current war.
And of course the Obama administration is deliberately f*cking up the relationship with India that was painstakingly developed under Bush.
It probably doesn't help that Indian Americans are among the most energetic and productive small business owners in the US and that India's emerging industries have developed mutually profitable relationships with US firms.
#17
lotp, now, now. Surely you don't think that Mr. Hopey Changey gives a rat's patootie about businessmen and businesswomen (that evil profit motive must be wiped out at all costs, dontcha know.)
Pashtun literature used to be full of romance and praise for the beauty of nature and prepubescent boys. Now it reflects the death and explosions that have filled the lives of Pakistanis.
The literary trend is the lesser-known victim of the "Talibanization" in Pakistan's northwest. Militants imposed their ultraconservative brand of Islam in and around the Swat Valley until the military ousted them this summer, and they continue to hold sway throughout the tribal regions.
Residents in these areas say their reign is robbing this predominantly Pashtun area of its centuries-old culture and tearing the social fabric, from poetry to dancing to community centers. Even in Swat, where residents displaced by the fighting are making their way home, many entertainers have not come back for fear the Taliban might.
"This is an attempt to Arabize the Pashtun society by attacking their culture and their highly revered institutions," says Said Alam Mehsud, a leader of the Aman Tehreek, a peace movement recently launched in Peshawar. ...
Posted by: ed ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Blue-on-blue within the Orc ranks. 'Sounds good to me.
#2
"This is an attempt to Arabize the Pashtun society by attacking their culture and their highly revered institutions," says Said Alam Mehsud, a leader of the Aman Tehreek, a peace movement recently launched in Peshawar
The Magic Kingdom is the root of all evil in the Sunni world!
Federal Minister for Human Rights Mumtaz Alam Gilani has said the government will review the blasphemy laws, Dunya TV reported on Sunday. According to the channel, Gilani told reporters the ministries of Law, Interior and Human Rights would collectively pen a draft reviewing the blasphemy laws. Earlier, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had hinted at a review of the blasphemy law, and had said that a committee would discuss "laws detrimental to religious harmony" and work on improving them.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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The Defense Ministry is postponing the delivery of cement to the Gaza Strip out of fear that Hamas will get its hands on the material and use it to rebuild its military infrastructure damaged during Operation Cast Lead, officials said on Sunday.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak was reconsidering the delivery of the cement after, according to IDF Southern Command intelligence, cement that was transferred for the renovation of a British War Cemetery in Gaza earlier this month was partially confiscated by Hamas.
The cemetery contains graves of British and other foreign soldiers who were killed in the region during World War I.
"Hamas is in desperate need of cement to rebuild its bunker systems and bases," one official explained. "This is why it is so complicated to transfer cement to Gaza even if it is intended for civilian purposes."
In late July, Barak decided to permit a one-time transfer of more than 300 tons of cement to rebuild a damaged flour mill, a sewage treatment facility and the British cemetery. Israeli representatives had met with representatives from different international organizations that operate in Gaza, such as UNRWA and the World Bank, to coordinate the transfer.
The IDF sources said that Hamas's seizure of part of the cement raised a red flag for additional transfers. It was also, one official said, a "blatant cynical use of humanitarian aid that is meant to be used to help the poor people of Gaza but is instead used by Hamas for its military infrastructure."
Last week, the Gisha: Legal Center for Freedom of Movement NGO issued a report slamming Israel for preventing the reconstruction of Gaza by restricting the supply of cement, water, sanitation and health care and electricity. The shortage of cement has forced many Palestinians to use mud and clay bricks to rebuild damaged structures.
A Jewish-born Israeli has been elected to the governing body of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party.
Uri Davis, 66, an academic who is married to a Palestinian, is an outspoken critic of what he calls Israel's "apartheid policies".
As the only Israeli member of the Revolutionary Council he says he wants to represent non-Arab people who support the Palestinian cause.
He called for an international campaign to boycott Israel to be toughened up.
Dr Davis said his Israeli citizenship made no difference to his election.
"Within the conference itself the welcome was most heartfelt and enthusiastic - the Fatah movement is an open, international movement - membership is not conditional on ethnic origin, it's conditional on agreement with the main part of the Fatah political programme," he told the BBC News website.
Dr Davis said he did not define himself as Jewish but as "a Palestinian Hebrew national of Jewish origin, anti-Zionist, registered as Muslim and a citizen of an apartheid state - the State of Israel".
He was one of around 700 Fatah members competing for 89 open seats in the body, which oversees the group's day-to-day decision making.
Others elected to Fatah's revolutionary council included Fadwa Barghouti, the wife of the senior Fatah figure, Marwan Barghouti, who was jailed by Israel five years ago for the murder of five people.
The old guard of Fatah retained only four of the 18 elected seats. The rest went to younger men.
Ma'an -- President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that unity talks between Fatah and Hamas will continue despite an apparent scheduling conflict.
In a speech in the West Bank city of Ramallah, he said that a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) decision to hold a meeting of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) on 26 and 27 August would not stop the unity talks, which were scheduled for the 25.
Abbas said the PNC meeting "will not change our view of the Palestinian national dialogue because we are determined to continue dialogue."
Abbas did not say whether the dialogue would be rescheduled. The president did say that he had received a letter from Egypt regarding the continuation of talks, but did not divulge its contents.
These comments come just hours after senior Hamas leader Khalid Mash'al said that his group had received no word about the upcoming round of negotiations.
I don't know whether the next round will be held as scheduled or not. We told the Egyptians that we want to solve the current crises before any future sessions are held," Mash'al explained.
Mash'al also said that Hamas was open to the idea of other countries, aside from Egypt, mediating in the ongoing dialogue with Fatah.
The rival movements have been openly in conflict since 2007, when Hamas took full control of the Gaza Strip in a brief armed struggle. Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006.
"We are ready and we have new ideas that we will discuss," Abbas said of the ongoing effort to reconcile the two groups, his first official pronouncement on the unity issue since the end of Fatah's general congress in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, where the group elected new leaders.
"I cannot deny that we are in the midst of a conflict with Hamas," he said.
"We can say that the Fatah movement has succeeded, but it still have to face other challenges, which are legislative and presidential elections that we have called for," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Welcome to the semi-annual Crips-Bloods Peace Conference.
Ma'an -- Egypt and Israel on Sunday jointly operated the Al-Ouja commercial crossing on the Sinai Peninsula for the first transfer of Gaza food aid donated by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's wife, Susan.
The Egyptian Red Crescent Society delivered the aid donated by Mrs. Mubarak, which was transferred over on the occasion of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The package included amounts of rice and flour, all made scarce by an ongoing Israeli and Egyptian siege. Twenty trucks carrying 420 tons of sugar were allowed in, as well.
The Al-Ouja crossing with Israel permits goods shipments from either side ever since an agreement known as the Qualified Industrial Zones was signed in 2004 with US backing. It was an American effort to encourage Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel, starting with Egypt and Jordan.
Meanwhile, the director of a Saudi-based organization called the Custodian of the Two Holy Shrines Campaign told Ma'an it had donated 11 ambulances and seven trucks loaded with medicine and medical equipment.
All that aid entered through the Gaza crossings, according to the director, Sa'd Mhana Al-Suade. He added that more food would cross over through the Al-Ouja crossing in the coming days.
Last week, authorities opened Al-Ouja to deliver a half-million bottles of mineral water to Gaza, an Egyptian official said. Another 500,000 bottles were supposed to have been sent last Wednesday or Thursday.
The Al-Ouja crossing is about 4.5 kilometers from Rafah, but delays have prevented aid from entering Gaza from there in the past.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Ma'an -- The Hizb Ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation) on Sunday condemned Friday's bloodshed in the Gaza Strip as immoral and illegal, according to a statement sent to Ma'an.
The pan-Islamist party, which seeks the establishment of an Islamic caliphate through peaceful means, rejected the declaration by radicals declaring Gaza an "Islamic emirate."
"Killing and fighting will never be a legal means of establishing an Islamic emirate," Hizb Ut-Tahrir insisted, condemning the bloodshed on Thursday that it said was caused by the declaration from Jund Ansar Allah, a group thought to be ideologically aligned with Al-Qaeda.
Most Palestinian groups and parties, including Hamas, are national liberation movements very much opposed to radical organizations such as Al-Qaeda, which seek to instate Islamic rule on what they see as Islamic land.
Hizb Ut-Tahrir's aims are similar to Al-Qaeda's, except that the movement exclusively advocates nonviolent struggle to establish the Islamic nation. The party has a relatively small following since it recognizes neither the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority nor the Hamas-ruled de facto government in the West Bank.
However Hizb Ut-Tahrir is comparatively much more mainstream than the relatively new Jund Ansar Allah, a violent extremist group that boldly took on Hamas' authority with armed members barricading themselves inside a mosque and declaring Gaza's de facto government illegitimate.
The defiance led to an unprecedented crackdown on the part of Hamas and its militant wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, which stormed the mosque late Friday and killed a dozen Jund Ansar Allah loyalists by Saturday morning. Six civilians also died in the operation, as well as six members of Hamas' forces.
Hizb Ut-Tahrir called on both sides to reject violence in the name of any authority, Islamic or secular, saying it would be impossible to declare either under the present Israeli occupation. "Those who rule have sovereignty dependent on what the occupation allows, and thus it is not possible to declare an Islamic emirate in a country under occupation."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Ma'an -- A radical armed group at the center of clashes that left 24 Palestinians dead on Friday insisted on Sunday that Hamas' operation was unwarranted. In a statement, Jund Ansar Allah ("Soldiers for God") called the assault by Hamas' militant wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, "a hasty reaction."
Regarding the declaration its leader made declaring Gaza an "Islamic emirate," Jund Ansar Allah insisted its late leader, Sheikh Abdul-Latif Abu Moussa, had meant no ill will toward the Palestinian people or their government in Gaza. "The announcement came following an agreement... which was submitted to other groups for approval under a clear understanding that forbade assaults on anyone's rights," the statement said.
The group said its members had done nothing warranting the reaction on the part of Hamas and its security forces, insisting that their actions were not directed toward any one particular religious party or vision. "Everyone who says, 'there is no god but God' cannot be accused of infidelity," the group added. The statement went on to say that killing other Palestinians was forbidden. "We belong to the same people, and we fight for the same cause, and it is forbidden to shed blood [amongst ourselves] under any conditions."
Jund Ansar Allah also accused Hamas' security services of obstructing its operations against Israel, providing as an example an attack on the Nahal Oz military base east of Gaza City. The group also said it had nothing to do with an ambiguous explosion during a Dahlan family wedding, as Hamas had claimed, calling such accusations baseless.
Hamas, according to the statement, has been targeting the group for longer than this week. It said Hamas had carried out "a huge incitement campaign" in Gaza and abroad, through its allies in the Muslim Brotherhood. Jund Ansar Allah said it was that hostility that ultimately led to the crackdown in Rafah on Friday night, which ultimately resulted in the deaths of 24 Palestinians, including an estimated six non-combatants.
At least 125 Palestinians were injured in the fighting. According to medical sources in Gaza, about 20 Palestinians were seriously wounded and four were still on life support by Sunday morning. The 24 slain Palestinians included six members of Hamas' forces, 12 Jund Ansar Allah members, and the six non-combatants. At least three young children lost their lives during the battle, presumably among the civilians. Victims from all sides were buried in Rafah on Saturday afternoon.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
This sounds like a pretty serious climbdown.
It will almost certainly be ignored by the 'war never solves anything' clique.
DANI Dwi Permana's father is in jail for stealing, his mother is in Kalimantan looking for a job, and his elder brother works in Jakarta. All alone, life was hard for the 18-year-old, according to close friends of the family and neighbours in Telaga Kahuripan, a village about two hours from Jakarta.
Now, to their shock, Dani is dead. Most shocking is how he died.
Last month, he became Indonesia's youngest suicide bomber when he blew himself up at the JW Marriott Hotel, snuffing out the lives of five innocent people as well.
Madam Ramila Sangaji, 51, the mother of Dani's best friend Wildan Novstatian, said: 'I used to tell my boy Wildan that he should follow Dani because he never fooled around and always said prayers at the mosque five times a day.
'It was a great surprise to me that Dani turned out to be a bomber.'
But the young man might be just one of scores of teenagers recruited by Muslim extremists in Indonesia, a development that is of growing concern to the government.
Left to fend for himself, Dani had become easy prey for a stranger who came to his village one day to preach a message of violence and hate at the local mosque.
Wildan, 18, told The Sunday Times in a phone interview: 'Dani had told me one day that he wanted to become a martyr. I told him that he would die for nothing.'
The itinerant preacher, identified by police as Saifuddin Jailani, held religious study sessions at the village mosque every Saturday night.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
'I used to tell my boy Wildan that he should follow Dani because he never fooled around and always said prayers at the mosque five times a day.
'It was a great surprise to me that Dani turned out to be a bomber.'
Not to us, lady.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/17/2009 8:31 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Look to history, most truly evil bstards wre fervrent church leaders/followers or started their own. (Drink the koolaid now brethren)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/17/2009 22:26 Comments ||
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The representative of Irans supreme leader in the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) said it was necessary to induce wide changes in Irans neighbors to prepare the world for the return of Imam Mehdi, the twelfth imam in the twelver Shiite faith.
According to al-Arabiya, the cleric, Ayatollah Ali Saaeedi did not specify the nature of these changes but he named Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Lebanon as the countries where changes must be made.
Hassan "Stinky" Firouzabadi
Chief of Staff
Tehran, Iran
Dear Irving,
What's the deal? Why haven't you destroyed the world yet? Everything is set up according to plan, and we've been sitting on pins and needles waiting for you to show up already.
All you need to do is take out a few aircraft carrier groups and stop the Joos from launching enough missiles to incinerate Africa, and we can handle the rest.
[Mail and Globe] The West must be held to account for stoking Iran's post-election unrest, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday, as the third mass trial got under way of demonstrators accused of trying to overthrow clerical rule.
The June 12 vote has plunged Iran into its biggest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution, exposing deepening divisions within its ruling elite and also further straining relations with Western governments.
Iran accuses the United States, and Britain in particular, of inciting post-election protests in an attempt to topple the clerical establishment. They deny the charge.
Ahmadinejad, sworn in on August 5 for a second four-year term, said the West should be held accountable.
"This time you clearly interfered in Iran's domestic affairs and you thought you would be able to harm the Islamic nation," the official Irna news agency quoted him as saying on Sunday.
"You should be held accountable for your actions, but we know very well the fuss you created in the world is not a sign of your authority but rather it is a sign of your weakness and downfall," Ahmadinejad said.
Tehran and the West are already at odds over Tehran's nuclear work, which Washington fears is aimed at making bombs but which Iran, the world's fifth biggest oil-producer, says is for peaceful electricity generation.
At Sunday's trial, no prominent moderate politicians were among the 28 accused named by Fars news agency. Iranian media showed pictures of some of them sitting in a courtroom wearing light-coloured prison clothes.
Iran earlier this month held two trials for more than 100 moderates, including senior politicians, for various charges including acting against national security which is punishable by death under Iran's Islamic law
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran has released a French academic from prison, though it's not clear when Clotilde Reiss can return home, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office announced Sunday.
So she's not really out of prison ...
Reiss, 24, is the second French woman facing charges as part of mass trials in Iran who was released on bond.
French authorities are now demanding that Iran drop all charges against Reiss and Nazak Afshar -- an employee of the French embassy in Tehran who was released August 8, the statement from Sarkozy's office said. They were arrested in connection with protests after the June 12 presidential election.
Reiss will stay at the French embassy in Tehran while she awaits her return to France, the statement said. She has spoken with her father and is good health and spirits, it said.
Iranian media reported Reiss admitted to crimes in court Saturday in connection with protests after the presidential election, and asked for clemency. "I shouldn't have participated in the illegal demonstration and shouldn't have sent the pictures, I am regretful," the semi-official Fars news agency has quoted her as saying. "I apologize to the Iranian people and court and I hope the people and the court forgive me."
Human rights groups and Iran's opposition leaders have accused the government of forcing people to make such confessions.
Iranian authorities arrested about 4,000 people amid protests against the controversial election, judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi has said, according to the Iran Labor News Agency. He said 3,700 were released in the first week. But 100 defendants, including Afshar, Reiss, and an Iranian employee of the British embassy, appeared this month in Tehran's Revolutionary Court at a mass show trial on charges related to recent post-election violence.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday he would propose at least three women ministers in his new cabinet following June's disputed election, an unprecedented move in the conservative Islamic state.
It would be the first time a woman would hold such a ministerial position in Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution. One woman minister under the shah's government, Farrokhroo Parsa, was executed after the revolution in 1980.
Ahmadinejad has until Aug. 19 to present a cabinet to parliament for approval but may get a rough ride from the conservatives who dominate the assembly, as well as from his moderate foes who dispute his election victory.
"With the 10th presidential election, we have entered a new era ... conditions changed completely and the government (make-up) will see major changes," Ahmadinejad told state television.
He named two of his proposed female ministers and said at least one more would be added to the list.
The ones he named were Fatemeh Ajorlou, now a member of parliament, as social welfare minister and Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi as health minister.
"At least one more will be added," Ahmadinejad said.
He also said Heydar Moslehi, now an adviser to Ahmadinejad on clerical affairs, would be nominated as new intelligence minister.
Iranian media last month reported that Ahmadinejad had sacked Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei.
Economy Minister Shamseddin Hosseini would retain the post.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2009 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.
[Bangla Daily Star] An elderly woman yesterday alleged that the commanding officer of Rapid Action Battalion-1 sent her a threat to kill her son by putting him in so-called crossfire, in a sequel to a previous enmity.
[Kyodo: Korea] North Korea on Sunday denounced joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises starting Monday, warning that if the two countries threaten the North with nuclear arms, ""It will retaliate against them with nukes."" ""The U.S. imperialists and the Lee Myung Bak group should clearly understand that it is the iron will and resolute stand of the KPA to go into action anytime to mercilessly wipe out the aggressors and this is by no means an empty word,"" the official Korean Central News Agency quoted a spokesman for the Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People"s Army as saying Saturday.
Ma'an -- A radical armed group at the center of clashes that left 24 Palestinians dead on Friday insisted on Sunday that Hamas' operation was unwarranted. In a statement, Jund Ansar Allah ("Soldiers for God") called the assault by Hamas' militant wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, "a hasty reaction."
