#3
i approve of retroactive JDAM abortions up through the first 300 trimesters for any and all Jihadists as well as their supporters.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
11/15/2009 1:14 Comments ||
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#4
This should really work with a society with a high death rate for children and a relatively rural society that relies on the children to support the elderly.
"Yeah -- what the peepul need is Islamic oppression!"
(Xinhua) -- An Islamist insurgent group in Somalia on Saturday accused authorities in the semi-autonomous northeastern Somali region of Puntland of being "unIslamic" and of suppressing its people.
Sheikh Hassan Yaqub Ali, spokesman for the Al-Shabaab-appointed Islamist administration in Kismayu, south Somalia, told local Shabelle radio that the region's authorities did not implement Islamic Sharia law and "oppress the people."
Two senior regional officials in Puntland, a lawmaker and a judge, were on Tuesday gunned down in the autonomous state and Al-Shabaab Islamist group was singled out as a possible culprit.
The spokesman attributed the lack of Islamic rule in the state for the growing general insecurity in the region and the recent killing of top regional officials, including the judge who presided over people accused of militancy and having links to Al-Shabaab.
"Any place where there is no Islamic rule you will see insecurity and the suppression of people and that is what is happening in Puntland," the Al-Shabaab spokesman said.
The group's spokesman also accused the region's officials of handing over to Ethiopia the people suspected of opposing the government in Addis Ababa.
The judge has reportedly presided over trials of people suspected of involvement in piracy and others belonging to the Islamist insurgent group of Al-Shabaab, which mainly operates in the south and center of Somalia.
Local authorities said they have arrested three people in connection with the killing of the officials and that security was tightened up in the region which is relatively stable compared with the rest of the war-torn Somalia.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, leader of Sudan's opposition Ummah Party and former prime minister, has asserted that the election of the ruling Sudanese National Congress Party [NCP] led by President Omar al-Bashir in the elections scheduled for next April means the hostile secession of south Sudan.
Al-Mahdi, who is visiting Cairo at present, said in statements to Asharq Al-Awsat that the election of the NCP would carry the hostile spirit in its confrontation with the People's Movement [SPLM] into the future and the situations in Darfur would deteriorate further, there would be polarization in the political forces because the NCP's policy is one of exclusion, and there would also be a confrontation with the international community because the NCP had ended any talk about the International Criminal Court which is backed by the United States, Europe, and more than 106 countries which recognize and deal with it. He added that this means that the Sudanese people would be paying the price for the confrontation with the international community.
Asked about his expectations of the future of the south in view of the growing dispute between the SPLM and NCP, Al-Mahdi said: "I believe southern public opinion would reject unity if it thought that it would be a continuation of what is happening in the south at present, especially as security is deteriorating and there are major tribal conflicts in the south." He added: "But there is the possibility in the south for a new discourse which stresses firstly that unity can be different from its present nature and that the historic southern complaints of injustice might be dealt with by the political forces which believe in democracy and are qualified to make unity attractive. If it becomes evident that the brothers in the south have turned away totally from unity, then these [political forces] are qualified to conclude an agreement which makes the secession brotherly."
As to relations with the NCP at present, Al-Mahdi said"there is a real disagreement between them and us because the NCP represents the notion of extending the salvation and represents legitimacy for the coupist method and for continuing the situations as they are now while we represent something different. We represent democratic legitimacy. There are additionally two different programs. We therefore believe that there are national issues over which there has to be an understanding."
Al-Mahdi went on to say: "The elections commission in Sudan is trying to play a neutral and patriotic role but the political forces have prepared to monitor all the measures to ensure their honesty even though they have found so far illegal conducts and negated them." He pointed out that the period for registering for the elections, which is November, is narrow because it is the harvest month and the month of pilgrimage and feast. All these preoccupations necessitate extending the registration period until the end of December.
But the Sudanese opposition leader considered the current environment in the country unhealthy in view of the cold and overt war between the two ruling partners, the NCP and SPLM, said this confirms there is a bad environment for holding the elections, and pointed out that the NCP's behavior is one of stubbornness and unilateral action and does not want to respond to the others' visions. He added that he has called for a summit meeting of the leaders of the country's main political forces to agree on changing the political environment and holding the elections in the right atmosphere and this can help remove the bitter feelings prevailing at present. He warned that "fixed" elections, like those in several countries, would immediately violent actions to break out, like those which happened in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and many other areas, and said: "The elections' honesty must be ensured so that they do not lead to violent collisions and clashes."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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A leading Islamic clerical establishment in Iran has condemned the indiscriminate killing of Shia civilians by Yemeni government forces.
"News of the unfortunate crackdown against Yemeni Muslims and Shias by the country's government forces... has left the Muslim world in great sorrow," the Society of the Seminary Teachers of Qom said in a Friday night statement.
The Shia establishment also condemned human rights organizations for staying silent about the massacre and indirectly attacked the Saudi Arabian government for launching its own military offensive against northern Yemen.
"The direct interference of certain Arab regimes in the ethnic cleansing of Shia and the silence adopted by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and international human rights establishments about this atrocity leaves room for thought."
The statement warned Islamic countries that "enemy forces are trying to instigate genocide and discord in the Muslim world," urging them to abandon military conflict.
The Society urged the Iranian government and the OIC to employ all diplomatic means to end the bloodshed and asked Shias worldwide to show their objection to the killing of innocent members of their religious community.
Although the conflict goes back several years, the Yemeni military initiated a new wave of violence by launching a major offensive - dubbed Operation Scorched Earth - against local Houthi fighters in the northern province of Sa'adah on August 11.
The government says that the fighters, who are named after their leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, seek to restore the Shia Zaidi imamate system, which was overthrown in a 1962 coup.
The Houthis argue, however, that they are defending their people's rights against the central government's marginalization policies adopted under the influence of Saudi-backed Wahhabi extremists.
The Saudi air force has further complicated the conflict during the past fortnight by a deadly offensive against Houthis, accusing the Shia resistance fighters of killing two Saudi soldiers on the border.
While Riyadh claims that its offensive targeted Houthi positions on 'Saudi territory', the fighters say Yemeni villages were being bombarded.
Shias, who form the clear majority in the north, make up approximately half of Yemen's overall population.
Yemen's Sa'adah province borders the southwestern Saudi province of Asir where Saudi Ismaili Shias live.
According to UN figures, the recent unrest has displaced around 75,000 people, bringing the total count to 175,000 since 2004.
Figures released by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) indicate that the unrest has also directly affected up to 75,000 children.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] At least 20 more Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives of Indian and Pakistani nationalities are in Bangladesh to build a strong militant network here.
Officials investigating the reported LeT plot to attack the Indian and US embassies in Dhaka have also gathered that the Pakistan-based militant group is recruiting cadres from Rohingya refugees in Chittagong.
An investigator requesting anonymity to speak more freely about the ongoing probe shared the information with The Daily Star yesterday.
He said of the 20 LeT operatives, some hail from Kerala and Kashmir of India and some from Pakistan. Most of them work as textile technicians here.
Detectives have also learned they receive financial backing from some contraband medicine traders in the capital's Paltan and Mitford hospital areas.
DB sources said the detained LeT men told interrogators that a Pakistani national posing as a stranded Bihari is involved in Lashkar operations here. He runs a medicine store on Topkhana Road in Paltan and makes regular contributions to the militant campaign.
Mahbubur Rahman, additional deputy commissioner of the Detective Branch (DB) of police, said they have names of some medicine traders suspected to have been providing financial assistance to the LeT men.
He however would not divulge the names for the sake of investigation.
Mahbubur said they have teamed up with other law enforcement agencies to hunt down the still-at-large LeT operatives.
They have also taken measures so none of the militants could slip out of the country.
Meanwhile, a DB team has seized a laptop, electrical circuits and several cellphone sets from the houses of detained LeT operatives Mohammad Ashraf Alia Zahid and Mohammad Monwar Ali.
The seizure was made following up information gleaned from the two arrested with another on Friday.
The three, all Pakistan nationals, were picked up from Tongi and the city's Uttara for suspected links to LeT.
Zahid and Monwar travelled between Bangladesh and Pakistan several times in last two years. They used to present themselves as tourists.
During their stay, they would often seek to have their visas extended. On failure to do so, they would get back to their country.
DB Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam told The Daily Star that they are interrogating the detained LeT men to know whether they have suicide-squad members in Bangladesh.
Sources said the interrogators are quizzing the detainees along that line in view of the reported LeT plans to attack American and Indian embassies.
They said LeT has a history of employing suicide bombers for assaults on highly protective establishments in different countries.
Despite extensive interrogation over the last few days, DB officials have yet to know how many local youths LeT has recruited so far.
Zahid and Monwar have diploma in engineering, and are experts in producing electrical circuits, interrogators said.
The three detained Pakistanis linked to Lashkar were on a two-day remand each in DB custody.
A few months back, DB police arrested three LeT leaders of Indian descent--Mufti Obaidullah, Moulana Mansur and Emdadullah alias Mahbub--in the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Often, as I have passed through the main train station here in the German capital, I have seen the sad, lone figure of a soldier, heavy pack on his back, waiting for a train like the rest of us, but separated from the crowd by the uniform he wears. No one would stop to thank him for his service or to ask whether he had been deployed to Afghanistan.
The loneliness was obvious, but at times I even sensed what I thought might have been fear, at the occasional hostile looks the soldier would receive alongside the impassiveness of the broader masses on the platform, who just tried to pretend he wasnÂ’t there.
In Afghanistan recently, where German troops are engaged in ground combat the likes of which their military hasnÂ’t seen since World War II, I described my impressions of the home front to a group of soldiers from a reconnaissance company.
A staff sergeant, who had been risking his life almost daily outside Kunduz, recalled a trip to Berlin during which he was wearing his uniform at a train stop. He was told to make himself scarce or he would be beaten up.
“It was shocking,” said the sergeant, Marcel B., who, according to German military rules, could not be fully identified. “We’re looked down on. With American soldiers, they tell me how they receive recognition, how people just come up to them and say they’re doing good.” It reminds me of the little known sequel to All Quiet On The Western Front, entitled The Road Back, which shows how Germany neglected and abused its returning World War I veterans. A worthy read.
#1
Someday, there is going to be a huge influx of Europeans applying for visas to escape to America.
No one should be admitted unless they served in their military.
[ADN Kronos] The Libyan man who partly detonated his explosives at an army barracks in the Italian city of Milan in October, apparently had a dossier containing information on Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and other politicians, Italian media reports said on Friday.
According to joint investigations by Italy's anti-terror police and a special branch of the paramilitary police, would-be suicide bomber Mohammed Game had carried out painstaking Internet research on at least 15 politicians who were supposed to be his 'potential targets'.
Game (photo) is said to have created a dossier on Italian defence minister Ignazio La Russa, interior minister Roberto Maroni and minister without portfolio Roberto Calderoli of the anti-immigrant Northern League party and Italy's senate speaker Gianfranco Fini among others.
Reports said Game specifically tried to obtain information about Calderoli's police escort. He also used online applications such as Google Maps and Google Video to obtain information about Calderoli's home in the northern province of Bergamo, near Milan.
According to Italian weekly L'Espresso, police found in Game's laptop computer information on the politicians public and private activities, types of transport and habits.
Calderoli - known for his anti-immigrant and anti-Islam stance - in 2007 proposed a regular "pig day" in which he threatened to take his pet pig for a walk on land in the Northern League stronghold of the Veneto region where mosques were planned.
Pigs are considered unclean in the Muslim and Jewish faiths.
Early in October, an Italian soldier was injured after 35-year-old Game exploded a bomb at the entrance of the 'Santa Barbara' barracks using rudimentary explosives reportedly made of solid nitrate. However, not all of the explosives detonated.
Two other alleged accomplices, an Egyptian and a Libyan, were arrested after the attack.
More than 100 kilogrammes of explosive materials including 40 kilogrammes of ammonium nitrate and other chemicals were seized at an apartment near Game's.
While Game suffered severe injuries to his face and his hand was amputated, no other people were injured in his botched bombing attempt.
Game is still under arrest while recovering at a hospital in Milan.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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An A-Pee article. Click to read the whole thing. Here are a couple of clips from it:
On an eight-day Asia trip, Obama turned his attention home and pleaded for lawmakers to "resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater." He said those who died on the nation's largest Army post deserve justice, not political stagecraft. If W said this, I'd believe it. W did not say this.
Lawmakers, however, already have announced they want their own investigations and were frustrated with what they view as a less-than-forthcoming administration. And our lawmakers ought to know "less-than-forthcoming" when they see it.
#5
Texas Governor Rick Perry said the day after the massacre that Tecas would carry out its own investigation because I am sure that Perry knew immediately that Husseins regime was a jihadist's dream come true.
Posted by: Boss Snomotle8280 ||
11/15/2009 8:51 Comments ||
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#6
Perry is taking the Feds to the woodshed just like NY Police Commissioner Kelly did and is doing to the FBI; namely, proclaiming, "we can't trust you to do the right thing or protect us".
#7
The governor could go for charges in the killing of the civilians. Let DoD explain why they won't allow that since they have a policy of deferring to civilian courts in other cases when its not a uniform on uniform crime. Texas does carry out the death penalty.
#9
IMHO lethal injection on death row in HuntsviLe, TX is inappropriate. A firing squad consisting of the same number of people Hasan shot executing him in a facility large enough to hold the entire 3rd armored division, with the opportunity given to the female officer to fire one more lethal round for grins makes more sense to me...
Posted by: Boss Snomotle8280 ||
11/15/2009 13:43 Comments ||
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#10
to "resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater."
It's obvious he wants to save the 'political theater' for the KSM trial.
#1
Just another reason for the defense attorneys to file for a mistrial or a dismissal.
They will probably request a change of venue to someplace more friendly, like Detroit or Berkeley.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/15/2009 13:12 Comments ||
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#2
The motions to grant bail should be a laugh riot...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/15/2009 22:14 Comments ||
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THE Obama administration is considering relocating some Guantanamo detainees to a mostly vacant prison in the President's home state of Illinois, US media reports. The Thomson Correctional Facility, a maximum-security state prison about 240km west of Chicago, Illinois, has emerged as the administration's "leading option" to house the terror suspects, the Chicago Tribune reported yesterday.
CNN said senior officials from the Defence, Justice and Homeland Security departments would visit the 1600-cell facility tomorrow, along with Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.
The reports came a day after President Barack Obama's administration announced it would try five accused plotters of the September 11, 2001 attacks -- including self-proclaimed mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- in a civil court in New York City, just steps away from the scene of their alleged crime.
In a sharply-worded rebuke of the prison plans, Republican Representative Mark Kirk urged the White House "to put the safety and security of Illinois families first and stop any plan to transfer Al-Qaeda terrorists to our state."
Among the officials planning to visit the detention centre are representatives of the federal Bureau of Prisons, which would purchase the site if chosen and lease a portion of it to the Defence Department to house the Guantanamo detainees, CNN said, citing an administration official.
"If your administration brings Al-Qaeda terrorists to Illinois, our state and the Chicago metropolitan area will become ground zero for jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalisation," Kirk, a Senate candidate, said in a letter to Obama circulated among state lawmakers and officials.
Quinn stressed in a statement that his "first priority is public safety and security, an issue that will definitely be part of any future discussions with federal prison authorities regarding Thomson."
But the move could also bring much-needed funds to this depressed part of Illinois. The Government's purchase of the prison could bring an estimated 2340 to 3250 direct and indirect jobs, with an economic benefit to the region of between $US790 million ($856.46 million) and to $US1.1 billion ($1.19 billion) over four years, according to a preliminary administration analysis cited by the Quad-City Times.
It estimated that the unemployment rate in Carroll County, home to the prison, could be halved.
"It would help the businesses here, and God knows we could use that," Thomson resident Kay Lawton told the Tribune. "It doesn't matter to me who they bring here."
#2
The Government's purchase of the prison could bring an estimated 2340 to 3250 4-5 bazillion direct and indirect jobs created or saved
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/15/2009 6:11 Comments ||
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#3
Nothing says 'impoverished third world rathole where the Constitution does not apply' like the Democratic Party Paradise of Illinois.
Say, there are a lot of unoccupied/unsellable condo's in Chicagos 'South Loop' neighborhood, close to the Federal Courthouse, and Rich Daley can be their neighbor!
Republican Senator John McCain has criticized US President Barack Obama for his handling of the 9/11 trial, saying his decision will harm efforts to combat terrorism.
McCain, Obama's former election rival, warned on Saturday about the mixed signals coming out of the White House and said, "We are at war, and we must bring terrorists to justice in a manner consistent with the horrific acts of war they have committed."
Obama has decided to try the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four other alleged co-plotters in a civilian New York court.
On Friday, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that prosecutors would seek the death penalty against the five men, who are being held at the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Holder said that after a delay of eight years, "those allegedly responsible for the attacks of September 11, 2001 will finally face justice," AFP reported on Saturday.
The announcement, key to President Obama's plans to close Guantanamo by the January 22 deadline, was quickly condemned by some of the families of the nearly 3,000 victims of the 9/11 attacks.
Five more Guantanamo detainees, including Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, accused of plotting the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen that killed 17 US sailors, will be tried before military commissions.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Don't fret, John. It's already been decided. I'd just make sure the rhetorical groundwork has been laid so we can say "I told you so" when reality sets in and they have to start letting these folks go rather than continuing with their trial. The only thing that may make this idea even slightly workable is that the methods and sources and what not will be over nine years old when they finally get their chance to see all the evidence against them.
The father of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl slammed the Obama administration's decision to hold a public trial for admitted 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed -- who boasted of killing his son in Pakistan.
Judea Pearl said he was "sick to the stomach" when he heard that the Justice Department decided to prosecute Mohammed in Manhattan federal court. "I don't want to hear every morning in the papers what KSM did," Pearl told The Post last night. "Danny was killed once. Now he will be killed 10 times a day. Leave him alone."
His son's beheading in 2002 was caught on a gruesome video that shocked the world. "The 21st century saw three shocks," Pearl said. "The first was 9/11. The second was the killing of my son. And the third was the shock today."
The reporter's outraged father, a UCLA professor, said a public trial would allow the admitted mass murderer to "boast about his cruelty" and encourage other terrorists to inflict harm. Pearl said the prosecution of Mohammed should be done in closed session to avoid giving terrorists a platform.
#4
The poet Kenneth Patchen once wrote
"Humanity is a good thing. Perhaps we can arrange the murder of a sizable number of people to save it."
I used to think that was harsh. Now...
#1
is there anyway that maybe we could make their own nukes go off under them
Posted by: chris ||
11/15/2009 11:26 Comments ||
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#2
US officials often tout US-Pakistani intelligence co-operation. But the extent of the financial underpinnings of that relationship have never been publicly disclosed. The CIA payments are a hidden stream in a much broader financial flow; the US has given Pakistan more than $US15 billion ($16 billion) over the past eight years in military and civilian aid.
The ISI has used the covert CIA money for a range of purposes, including the construction of a new headquarters in the capital, Islamabad.
''What we didn't want to happen was for this group of generals in power at the time to just start putting it in their pockets or building mansions in Dubai,'' said a former CIA operative who served in Islamabad.
The scale of the payments shows the extent to which money has fuelled an espionage alliance credited with damaging al-Qaeda but also plagued by distrust.
The complexity of the relationship is reflected in other ways. Officials said the CIA has routinely brought ISI operatives to a secret training facility in North Carolina, even as US intelligence analysts try to assess whether segments of the ISI have worked against the US.
Guess Bambi has preserved jobs in the intelligence sector, with the right hand trying to figure out what the left is doing. Not knowing what we don't know will probably have the US financing our own death by nuke, tho.
[Bangla Daily Star] One of the top leaders of outlawed Gono Bahini Obaidul Islam alias Obaidul Haq alias Lal Bhai was shot dead in India by his rival cadres Friday night.
Leader of the rival faction Azibor alias Azibor chairman claimed responsibility for the killing over telephone. Both Azibor and Obaidul were hiding in West Bengal.
The incident took place at Bagdi village of Karincha in 24 Parganas, West Bengal. Sources said a faction of the outfit led by Ahsanul Haq alias Mandar shot Obaidul on a street around 9:30pm while he was talking on his cellphone. He died on the spot.
The killers shot 5/6 rounds with a 9mm pistol, sources said.
On information, police of Karincha rushed to the spot and took the body to 24 Parganas Sadar Hospital.
Shahabuddin Khan, superintendent of police in Kushtia, yesterday told The Daily Star that they have informed the higher authorities in Dhaka about the matter.
According to the sources, the killing took place over rivalry between two factions of the outfit.
Different sources said Azibor and Obaidul recently came into conflict over the activities of the outfit.
One of Obaidul's family members said his wife was on her way to India to confirm the death.
Obaidul's rival Azibor, 58, is believed to be one of the founders of Gono Bahini. He was worried about Obaidul's recent activities including killing of his (Azibor's) cadres by decapitating.
In last several months, Obaidul oversaw a series of killings of his opponent Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF) cadres. His faction killed at least 11 GMF cadres -- five of them were decapitated -- between June 15 and August 19. Obaidul claimed responsibility for the killings by leaving notes in the name of "Lal Bhai" on the bodies. The group "Lal Bahini" evolved after his name.
The law and order in Kushtia deteriorated so much during June-August that it prompted the inspector general of police (IGP) and Rab director general (DG) to rush to the district on August 20. Rab and police jointly started a drive since then.
Out of 33 alleged cadres of different outlawed parties killed in "shootouts" with Rab and police, 18 were of Gono Bahini. As Azibor blamed Obaidul for such killing of men a conflict arose between them. They then fled to India.
According to sources, Azibor turned down Obaidul's proposal to bury the hatched rivalry between them and decided to kill him.
Another source said in a recent development, Azibor established a link with GMF chief Aminul Islam Mukul in India. This indicates that GMF cadres also took part in the killing mission.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff tells visiting US advisor on National Security that Washington should put an end to drone attacks in his country.
During a meeting on Friday with US advisor on National Security James Jones at Pakistan's army headquarters in Rawalpindi, Gen Ashfaq Kayani said that the drone attacks must be halted immediately.
Pakistan's top commander said that his country has paid a heavy price in the so-called war against terrorism.
Washington says the drone attacks are aimed at killing militants but the indiscriminate raids have killed a large number of civilians in Pakistan's northwest since 2006.
Based on an article published in the Pakistani daily The News in April, only 10 out of the cross-border predator strikes in Pakistan were able to hit their actual targets.
According to independent reports, since August 2008 alone, more than 70 cross-border predator strikes carried out by American drones have resulted in the deaths of 687 Pakistani civilians.
The attacks have sparked outrage among the public.
The retired US general began his visit to Pakistan on Friday to hold talks on different issues with the country's civilian and military leaders including Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
or?
Posted by: chris ||
11/15/2009 11:28 Comments ||
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#2
indiscriminate raids have killed a large number of civilians in Pakistan's northwest since 2006.
obligatory line - macro F4
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/15/2009 11:55 Comments ||
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#3
Fine, we'll quit flying drone attacks. Instead, we'll start running 30-aircraft ARCLIGHT strikes on major Pakistani cities, beginning with Islamabad, followed by Quetta and Peshawar. Deal?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/15/2009 17:12 Comments ||
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#4
Ima drinkin on OP's tab!
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/15/2009 17:18 Comments ||
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#5
Bar's open. Beer's on tap and the pretzels and nuts are out in bowls - steel ones, so as to prevent breakage should things become a bit rowdy.
What they actually want is a micro-state; the Palestinian territories themeslves would be a mini-state.
[Ma'an] Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary-general of the PLO's Central Committee, on Saturday accused Hamas of planning to establish "a state within a state."
He compared Hamas' "aims" to Hizbullah's control of southern Lebanon.
Speaking at a session of the Palestinian National Council in Ramallah, Abed Rabbo said the PLO and Palestinian Authority were threatened by "Hamas' hostage-taking campaigns and attempts to kidnap Palestinian legitimacy."
"Hamas conducted a coup in Gaza and still wants to dominate the Gaza Strip - yet now it's demanding control of the West Bank," he said, while Palestinians in Gaza "are still paying the price of this internal division."
Meanwhile, he said, the Palestinian leadership and people are undergoing "Israel's fierce political attacks, especially against Jerusalem, via their settlements and house demolitions."
Abed Rabbo also announced that the PLO's Central Committee would meet in December, when it would take "all means necessary" to protect the institutions of the PA and presidency, and would "refuse any blackmail deals proposed by Hamas."
Earlier on Saturday, the PNC held a session commemorating the fifth anniversary of the death of late President Yasser Arafat and the Declaration of Independence. The PNC passed the declaration during its 19th session in Algeria on 15 November 1988.
Following that meeting, PNC head Salim Za'noun called on Hamas to "join the Palestinian national project and end rivalry with Fatah and the PA." He also called on the international community to protect the Palestinian people from what he termed ongoing Israeli assaults.
The PNC is the parliament in exile for the Palestine Liberation Organization and theoretically the supreme authority for PLO policy. It has 669 members including all of the members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Its last session was held in Amman.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
They are already in a state of disarray. What more could they want? Denial?
[Al Arabiya Latest] Hamas authorities did an about face on Saturday and dropped a plan to keep schools in the Gaza Strip open on a Palestinian holiday founded by the rival Fatah faction.
An official with Gaza's Education Ministry said schools would shut down on Sunday, designated as an "independence day" for Palestinians, "in order to avoid misinterpretation of the decision to keep it a regular school day."
A ruling issued on Friday to keep the schools open drew criticism from non-Hamas factions in Gaza as well as ordinary people who have been living under the Islamist movement's administration since it seized control from the Western-backed Fatah in the territory in 2007.
Fatah still holds sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and enjoys U.S. recognition, while Hamas is largely isolated in Gaza over its refusal to accept permanent co-existence with the Jewish state. Egypt has been trying to broker factional reconciliation.
Sunday is the anniversary of the symbolic Nov. 15, 1988 declaration of independence by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Arafat, and Fatah, subsequently negotiated interim peace accords with Israel that secured Palestinians some self-rule.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Ma'an -- President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to meet his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo on Wednesday before leaving for Latin America, an official said on Saturday.
Nimir Hammad, the president's political advisor, said Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would discuss asking the UN Security Council to adopt the Arab Peace Initiative.
They will also review the Middle East peace process and inter-Palestinian dialogue, Hammad added.
The Palestinian Authority is mobilizing international support for declaring statehood, chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Saturday. Palestinians will bring the issue to a vote before the United Nations Security Council, which would declare a Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 border with Israel, he explained.
Erekat said he had discussed the idea more than once with the Americans and Europeans, while President Mahmoud Abbas raised the proposal with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Russian officials, who reacted positively. Abbas will seek support from Latin America by the end of the week, Erekat added, and continue to lobby Europe.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
[Ma'an] Palestinian prisoners in Israel's Negev facility have been banned from receiving prisoners for a month, reportedly as a retaliation for a celebration held by the prisoners marking the fifth anniversary of the death of former Palestinian Prime Minister and PLO founder Yasser Arafat.
The anniversary itself events themselves were stymied, detainees reported, as prison guards prevented groups from gathering and stifled attempts at speeches on Friday.
Prisoners reported the incident over the phone to a lawyer working with the Detainees Society, and called on the Red Cross to prevent the collective punishment.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Darn - I was hoping they "marked" a memorial to Arafat the way dogs do....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/15/2009 0:10 Comments ||
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[Ma'an] The National Resistance Brigades, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), rebuffed recent Israeli threats for a new war on Gaza, calling them an expression of Israel's failure to halt projectile fire.
Brigades spokesman Abu Saleem said in a statement that militants would continue firing projectiles at Israeli targets as long as Israel maintains its siege on Gaza and its attacks on the Palestinians.
"No Israeli war will meet its objective" of stopping the projectiles, he said.
Abu Saleem called the recent comments by Israeli military Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi an expression of Israel's "failure of achieving the goal it set out in the first Gaza war," which at one point was to stop the flow of projectiles over the border wall.
The comments from Israeli military personnel and militant leaders came as both sides are being urged to investigate their actions and alleged war crimes committed during last winter's war, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians.
"The Resistance Brigades are fully prepared to defend Palestinians if Israel decides to carry out its threats," he said, urging fighters to take the Israeli threats seriously. "We must respond in a unified way to these Israeli threats... we must face the Israeli threat together and end the internal division weakening us."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Did both of the DFPL members approve this tact?
[Ma'an] Ma'an/Agencies - The Palestinian Authority is mobilizing international support for declaring statehood, chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Saturday. "The idea is clear and understandable," Erekat told the Arabic-language daily newspaper Al-Ayyam. "Now we mobilize."
Palestinians will bring the issue to a vote before the United Nations Security Council, which would declare a Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 border with Israel, he explained. He called the initiative a response to Israel's policies, which would send a clear message that "settlements and other unilateral actions are null and void and do not establish rights or territory."
Erekat said he had discussed the idea more than once with the Americans and Europeans, while President Mahmoud Abbas raised the proposal with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Russian officials, who reacted positively. Abbas will seek support from Latin America by the end of the week, Erekat added, and continue to lobby Europe.
The concept was first proposed by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, he said. "Contacts with the Europeans have been ongoing as well as with Russia and the UN. All Arab countries support the idea and will choose the right time to bring up the issue with the UN Security Council after they consult the other international powers, including Europe and even America."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
Good. The Palestinians can declare "statehood".
The West Bank is a series of islands in a SEA of Israel. You can cut the roads between every single little Palestinian island to the next. Then you can wall the islands in and they can try and spit over the wall. No services from Israel AT ALL. No water , no trucks, no roads open. no food, fook you eat sh8t and die.
See how you like not getting along with your Israeli neighbors and suck your num-num.
Gaza? Let 'em keep digging. Do they have a Navy? Flap your arms and maybe you can fly. You can sit in there and suck each other.
We dont HAVE to let you go in or out through our territory. Wave at the Egyptians, because they learned their lesson real good about Ya Allah and going to war a long time ago. They wont fight for you and damn sure they wont attack Israel again anytime soon.
So if we shut the door on your little State, I hope you like eating rocks... because that's all we let in. Yeah, you declare Statehood. And suck it through a straw when you do.
You want to play? Bring your money, cause we will make you pay about anything we like for every bag of peanuts on the truck.
Iran is going to mass produce a new generation of domestically built air-to-air heat-seeking missiles which can track targets via their infrared emission.
Air Force commander Brigadier General Hassan Shah-Safi told IRNA on Saturday that having been successfully test-fired in different situations, the heat-seeking missiles are now going to be mass produced at the Defense Ministry.
This missile is fired towards the target by a plane and can track the object until it hits it, Shah-Safi said. It has a range of up to 100 kilometers, he added.
According to the top commander, the missile has been tested with a range of more than 40 kilometers, but its range could be modified to increase at higher altitudes.
Shah-Safi said Iran has also produced different kinds of air-to-air missiles, adding that radar-evading planes are being sample produced on a small scale as well.
To advance its defensive capabilities against any possible attack, Iran has so far launched different kinds of missiles.
In June, Iran inaugurated the production line of a domestically-made, supersonic ground-to-air missile system called 'Shahin'.
The system, which has a range of more than 40 kilometers, is capable of targeting fighter jets and helicopters.
Earlier in May, Iran also successfully tested its new solid-fuel Sejjil 2 missile, which is designed to be more accurate and swift than previous Iranian-made models. It has a major deterrence power.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
The intelligence chiefs of the United States, Israel, Egypt and Jordan have held an unprecedented secret meeting to discuss Iran's nuclear program.
The conclave of intelligence chiefs was held in Amman in the first week of November, reported DEBKA an Israeli web site which has close links to the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.
The chief of Jordan's General Intelligence Service, Gen. Muhammad Raqed hosted the meeting, which was attended by senior officials of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Defense Intelligence Agency, Israel's Mossad chief, Meir Dagan and military intelligence head Brig. Amos Yadlin along with Egypt's intelligence minister, Gen. Omar Suleiman.
The report comes as Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told Sky News on November 7 that Tel Aviv's persistent threats to attack Iran are not just a bluff.
Israel and its staunchest ally, the US, continue to insist that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon program, while lacking any evidence to prove their claim.
The reports by International Atomic Energy Agency issued so far -- and even reports released by the United States' main intelligence agencies -- all point to the contrary.
Tehran, an Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)-signatory, has called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction across the globe.
Israel, which has so far refused to sign the NPT, is believed to be the sole possessor of nuclear arms in the Middle East with over 200 ready-to-launch warheads in its stockpile.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
If the Israelis are smart, they won't tell the
Americans a damn thing lest Bambi's "diplomats" pass the info on the Iran. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/15/2009 0:07 Comments ||
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#2
a meeting so secret that everybody knows about it. i am sure the DOS debriefing notes have been fully distributed to all interested parties... for future consideration when the one comes to bow and grovel on his next 'surrender tour'
Posted by: abu do you love ||
11/15/2009 1:19 Comments ||
Top||
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has raised the alarm over Western efforts to project a wrong image of Islam as a religion supporting terrorism.
Larijani, who was speaking to a group of Sunni clerics on Friday, said that the US was seeking to 'propagate' a distorted image of Islam in the Middle East.
"Over the past few years, the US and a number of its allies in the Middle East have been seeking to propagate a fake [interpretation] of Islam and to tarnish its image by linking it with terrorist moves."
"All Islamic sects should make every effort not to fall into US-Zionist trap," Larijani said, adding that any division among different Islamic sects has been brought to the region by the intelligence services of foreign forces who seek to gain a foothold in the region.
Larijani's plea for unity among Muslims comes as on Wednesday the al-Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia urged Sunnis to confront Shias.
In an audio recording posted on the internet, Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman al-Rashid, accused Shias and Iran of trying 'to take over Muslim countries' and 'to annihilate Sunnis'.
The al-Qaeda leader said "their(Shias) threat to Islam and its people is much bigger than that from Jews and Christians.
He also accused Yemeni Shias of rising against Sunnis. "Do you not see and hear the Huthis' aspirations in Yemen and their incursion against Sunnis?"
The Yemeni military launched a major offensive - dubbed Operation Scorched Earth - against Houthi Shias on August 11 in northern Yemen.
The government accuses the fighters, who are named after their leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, of seeking to restore the imamate system, which was overthrown in a 1962 coup.
The Houthis argue, however, that they are defending their people's rights against government marginalization- a policy which they believe has been adopted under pressure from Saudi-backed Wahhabi extremists.
During the past fortnight, Saudi Arabia has managed to aggravate the problem even further by launching air raids in northern Yemen, based on a claim that Houthi fighters have killed two of its soldiers.
While Riyadh insists that it is targeting Houthi positions on 'Saudi territory', the Shia resistance fighters say Yemeni villages are being targeted with deadly phosphorous bombs, which cause massive injuries among the Shia civilian population.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[Iran Press TV Latest] With the delivery of an advanced air defense system to Iran long overdue by Russia, Tehran says it is capable of mass-producing replicas of the controversial Russian-made missile in the near future.
Speaking to Mehr News Agency on Saturday, Head of Iran's Foreign Policy and National Security Commission in Parliament Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Tehran and Russia have a long history of military cooperation and it is crucial that Russia honors its commitments with respect to Iran.
"The Russians should meet their commitment on the delivery of the missile system, which will only be used to defend the country's territory," said the Iranian lawmaker.
He was referring to the Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missile system, which can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 km (75 miles) away, features high jamming immunity and is able to simultaneously engage up to 100 targets.
Boroujerdi went on to warn Russia that "Iran is not a country which would stop short of action in dealing with countries who fail to deliver on their promises."
He said that while the Islamic Republic will be able to mass produce the system in the near future, Russia's commitment to the deal could lay the ground for future cooperation.
The remarks come as Russia and Iran clinched a deal on the sale of S-300 system in December 2007. Unofficial reports claim that the Russian-Iranian contract on the sale of the S-300 missiles is worth $800 million.
The delay on the delivery of the system comes as earlier in September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a secret trip to Moscow during which he is believed to have discussed with Russian leaders measures to hold off on providing the ultramodern anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.
After the media spilled the beans on the controversial visit, Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, refused to deny the reports about the Israeli official's secret trip.
"I am only going to say: to verify the rumor you should go to the source of the rumor," he said. "Our co-operation with Iran is quite legitimate. We are not selling offensive weapons to Iran."
Lavrov described the S-300 system as purely defensive, adding, "As far as the trade of military elements goes, Russia has not violated [its] international obligations."
Despite the remarks by the Russian foreign minister, Russia has yet to deliver the system to Iran and military officials in Moscow are yet to give an explanation about the delay.
Meanwhile, as rumors began to circulate that Moscow had scrapped the deal, deputy director for Russia's federal service for military-technical cooperation Konstantin Biryulin said on Thursday that the matter was still under consideration despite mounting Western pressure over military dealings with Iran.
"The issue of S-300 deliveries is still under discussion," he was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.
Reacting to the delay, a top Iranian military official urged Russia on Friday to honor its military contract with the Tehran government and deliver the promised S-300 surface-to-air missiles.
Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, said that Moscow was now six months late in delivering the S-300 missiles to Tehran.
"Don't the Russian [political and military] strategists consider the geopolitical significance of Iran in ensuring Russia's security," asked Firouzabadi.
Iran says it has opted to acquire the sophisticated S-300 defense system -- which, according to Western experts, would rule out the possibility of an Israeli airstrike on Iranian nuclear sites -- to protect the country in case of any such attack.
Israel has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, including the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz or the country's first atomic power plant, which has been under construction by Russian workers in Bushehr for years, arguing that the country's nuclear activities are an existential threat to Tel Aviv's security.
This is while Tehran says its nuclear program is aimed at the civilian applications of the technology and has called for the removal of weapons of mass destruction from across the globe.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Just wondering ... why so many articles from the Iranian press here? If I want to read Iran's propaganda, I am able to go to their site. I don't mind an occasional article where it makes sense, but dang, this site is plastered with Iranian propaganda lately.
#2
Perhaps you could contribute some news from other sources, cross?
Or you could just continue complaining about the free ice cream....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/15/2009 0:08 Comments ||
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#3
why so many articles from the Iranian press here?
Since the Iranian press is just a tool of the Iranian "government", it gives you an insight into what they are thinking and therefore where they are heading.
If this is their level of rhetoric at their present capacity for confrontation, how do you think they will be actually behaving when they think they have the mother of all bombs in their pocket?
#5
I have tried to add something using that link at the top of the page but it has never seemed to work for me. Also, it seems to let me add a title and a source but no text. I am probably messing something up. The interface isn't exactly intuitive to me.
#9
"Abdul, commence building the S-300s!!"
"Yes, Your Insanity! First, I will need five hundred thousand Estes 'D' model rocket engines...."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/15/2009 5:45 Comments ||
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#10
I made similar comments a couple of weeks ago but my concern is that some of the domestic coverage was stuff I couldn't find anywhere else. So it was more of a poke in the eye of the propagandists which used to be our media.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iranian health officials say mental disorders particularly depression are the second most prevalent disease in the country.
According to the report recently released by the Iranian State Welfare Organization, after trauma, mental and cardiovascular diseases are the second leading disease in the country, affecting some 21.3 percent of the rural population and 20.9 percent of those living in urban areas.
The report stated that some 101,000 Iranians suffer from chronic mental disorders, 67 percent of whom are male. Depression is also reported to be responsible for the highest number of years of life lost for disease in the country.
Officials, however, stress that the number of affected individuals are underestimated in the country, adding that the majority of individuals avoid visiting a psychologist due to cultural taboos.
Latest figures released by the WHO revealed that more than 450 million individuals in the world suffer from mental disorders.
Depression, the most prevalent mental disorder, accounts for some 60 percent of the deaths across the globe. While the condition is considered as the world's fourth leading cause of disability, many believe it will move up to rank second in the near future.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
I thought Islam was by definition a mental disorder.
#3
Second only to Drug Addiction and Prostitution and Moslem endemic Corruption. Islamic Paradise...if you like a fat mullah climbing over your rump at the local madrassa.
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.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, leader of Sudan's opposition Ummah Party and former prime minister, has asserted that the election of the ruling Sudanese National Congress Party [NCP] led by President Omar al-Bashir in the elections scheduled for next April means the hostile secession of south Sudan.
[Bangla Daily Star] At least 20 more Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives of Indian and Pakistani nationalities are in Bangladesh to build a strong militant network here.
