IEDs killed 20 of the 32 of the coalition troops who died in the first weeks of January. Almost all of the bombs were made from nitrate fertilizer. President Hamid Karzai, in a decree issued Friday, banned the use, production, storage or sale of ammonium nitrate, and gave Afghans 30 days to turn over any supplies to authorities. Last year, Pakistan banned the fertilizer in its Northwest Frontier province, a center of Islamist resistance.
NATO estimates that as little as 5% of the nitrate fertilizer entering Afghanistan goes to legitimate use.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Foreign forces in Afghanistan will use unmanned Israeli drones more extensively in the US-led war, an Israeli paper said, citing the regime's desire to be more involved in the war.
No, no, dear journalist! In a democratic country like Israel it's called a government. It's only in a totalitarian country like Iran or North Korea -- or Venezuela -- that it's a regime. But you get points for the propaganda try.
The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday that Germany will become the fifth country whose troops in Afghanistan will operate Israeli drones as of next week.
That doesn't make Israel involved, it just makes Israel a vendor.
A successful vendor. D'you think the drones are sending video to Israel as well as the purchaser?
The German military is expected to take delivery of an undisclosed number of Israeli made surveillance-geared Heron unmanned drones, the newspaper said.
Another Israeli daily, Ha'aretz, wrote in March that Israeli-built drones have been flying in Iraqi and Afghan skies for the last three years.
If the drones haven't been sending images to Israel, too, they've been wasting the opportunity.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
If Israel expects to get into a fight with Iran, you would expect them to have a very large contingent on the ground in Afghanistan, for both infiltration and support activities, including eastern Iran pilot recovery.
#4
g(r)omgoru: That is not a plan, because thinking isn't necessary. As such, *any* alternative plan will beat it. For example:
1) If Israel attacks Iran first, it will not want to initiate with nukes, because tactically they are better in reserve.
2) If Iran attacks Israel first, it doesn't mean the attack will be effective. However, it may very well draw in the US, against Iran, which is very desirable by Israel.
3) If Israel is to go whole hog against Iran, it will likely not be able to limit the attack to Iran, because even with a win, Israel will be somewhat weakened and vulnerable to attack from another country or organization.
4) Iran may not attack directly, but by proxy. This makes retaliation by Israel problematic.
5) The many unknown scenarios and players that could involve themselves, especially France and Russia.
#7
Now, Moose, I didn't say that. What I said there will not be fighting. Not even "shock & awe" style fighting. Iran will just be reduced to harmlessness.
[Maghrebia] The three aid workers held by al-Qaeda in Mali are reportedly faring well, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Thursday (January 21st) on Spanish television channel Cuatro. Speaking at a press conference later in the day, Moratinos called for "maximum discretion" from the media as negotiations to free the hostages proceed.
Albert Vilalta, 35, Alicia Gamez, 35, and Roque Pascual, 50, were abducted in Mauritania last November. They work for a Catalan "solidarity caravan" that transports humanitarian aid to Mauritania, Morocco, Gambia, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"media discretion"
GFL with that one.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/23/2010 16:19 Comments ||
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According to a high-official North Korean, Kim Jong-Il could not visit the Mt. KeumSu Memorial Palace on New Years Day, where the formal chairman Kim Il-Sung is buried, missing out on one of the major new years events in North Korea. It is stated that there was not a single year since 1995 when Kim Jong-Il did not pay a tribute on midnight of new year's day, according to the source. This is a very significant event which implies the exacerbation of Kim's health conditions.
Other high-ranking officials such as Kim Young-nam, Kim Young-il and Oh Kuk-ryul have participated in the tribute that day. Although the total number of people in the tribute was not counted, it is said to be under 30. The source has mentioned that Cho Myung-rok and Kim Young-chun did not join the tribute, and the participation of Chang Sung-taek has not been identified. Also, it is said that Kim Jung-eun has not participated but had a separate tribute.
Kim Jung-il, who has suffered from strokes in 2008 and still struggles with ailing health, has visited the Mt. KeumSu Memorial Palace on January 1st of 2009. Thus, this indicates that his health conditions have become worse compared to that on the spring of the year 2009.
Open News for North Korea has identified that Kim Jong-Il is currently suffering from the medical consequences of the strokes such as depression, kidney dialysis, due to chronic kidney failure and chronic throat illness. The influence of such a complication has led Kim Jong-Il to cut down on his work due to his deteriorating health.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
My interpretation of this is that Kim is or was visiting China. This visit will be announced only after Kim has safely returns to home soil.
Yonhap reported a new deal upgrading Chinese rail access to North Korea this week. (nkeconwatch)
From two weeks ago, a useful primer on the Nork arms industry and how they manage to evade sanctions. Worth it if you want to get up to speed on the topic.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2010 00:00 ||
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You've read about the abuses before but it's good that the SKors are making it public.
South Korea has issued its first report on human rights abuses committed in North Korea's political prison camps. The report by the National Human Rights Commission shows the inhumanity of North Korea's political prison camps, including widespread torture and public executions. Most of the people incarcerated in the North's political prison camps were caught trying to escape to South Korea or for minor political infractions, such as failing to hang up a picture of leader Kim Jong-il. None of them were arrested with a warrant or received a fair trial. The families of inmates have also been imprisoned according to a guilty-by-association system.
The report is South Korea's first assessment of human rights abuses in North Korea and marks a significant shift in the South's approach toward the North. The NHRC plans to translate the report into English and deliver it to the UN Commission on Human Rights and other international organizations to spread awareness of the atrocities being committed in North Korea.
Human rights disappear the moment a person steps inside a concentration camp. Some prison camps do not even allow inmates to marry other inmates. "If an inmate does a good job spying or works hard, he or she is allowed to marry, but only on three to four special days of the year," said a North Korean defector. Even if inmates marry and have children, the camps have no childcare facilities and in some cases babies were found dead while their mothers went out to work. The camps do not provide clothing and shoes to the inmates, only shelter and food. Household items and sanitary pads are unavailable, and this makes living conditions extremely difficult especially for women. Women are often summoned by intelligence officers to their rooms and sexually assaulted there or at the clothes and food products factories in the camps, according to testimony from defectors.
Inmates who complain about conditions spend between a month to a year at detention centers within the camps. Inmates were especially afraid of the extended torture and physical assaults that awaited them there, which often left prisoners dead. Attempts to escape led to the harshest punishments, including execution by firing squad or hanging. When a pregnant inmate suddenly disappears, she was probably secretly executed, say North Koreans who had survived the camps. "I think there were between 20 to 30 public executions at the camps. They would shoot you for 'refusing to convert,'" said one former inmate. Another former inmate said the body of a pregnant woman was discovered with a shovel embedded in her body in 1992, and the location of secret executions is a canyon around 500 m from the prison.
North Korean defectors who were caught in China are subject to terrible assaults and torture. Some female defectors said prison officials used their hands to check whether women were hiding money in their orifices. After the number of defections increased in 2006, there were accounts of inmates bribing prison officials to get lighter sentences or even gain freedom. "Between 60 to 70 percent of defectors caught while heading to South Korea were sent directly to political prisons or summarily executed, while those who were freed had used bribes," said one defector.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2010 00:00 ||
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The judge overseeing the Mohamed Harkat terrorism case said the Ottawa man knew Ahmed Said Khadr and was responsible for specific tasks' for the high-profile Canadian al-Qaida associate. Judge Simon Noel's statement came during cross-examination of a CSIS agent about the spy agency's case against Harkat, an alleged al-Qaida sleeper agent.
Harkat's lawyers who don't have the top-secret classified information CSIS amassed about their client said Harkat and Khadr both worked for different Islamic charity groups in Pakistan in the early 1990s. However, the Federal Court judge in Harkat's security certificate case who has overseen closed-door hearings on the confidential CSIS information said Thursday there's evidence from the secret hearings that links Harkat doing specific tasks' for Khadr and his charity, Human Concern International.
If I could say more...but there's a limit,' said Noel of the information that can't be made public due to national security concerns. Noel said it's now up to Harkat if he decides to respond to it.'
He knew him well enough to be trusted by Mr. Khadr to assume specific tasks,' Noel said of Harkat's connection to Khadr before his arrival in Canada in 1995. Harkat, 41, has denied meeting Khadr before coming to Canada.
During a fourth day of cross-examination of a senior CSIS agent, Harkat's lawyers continued to try to chip away at the spy agency's case against the one-time Ottawa pizza deliveryman. They spent most of Thursday going through allegations found in the public summary of the CSIS report on Harkat, zeroing in on the spy agency's claims that Harkat indicated his loyalties' with the Groupe islamique arme (GIA), an Algerian terrorist group responsible for civilian massacres in the 1990s.
The American Civil Liberties Union has criticised a recommendation that 47 Guantanamo Bay inmates should be held indefinitely without trial.
Justice department officials said the men were too dangerous to release, but could not be tried as evidence against them would not stand up in a US court. Maybe a civilian court is the wrong place for them?
ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said their detention would reduce the camp's closure to a "symbolic gesture".
The White House said the president did not have to accept the recommendation.
It came as the deadline President Barack Obama had set himself on his second day in office for closing the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay passed. I read he now wants to close it this year...
Earlier on Friday, officials said a task force led by the justice department had recommended that while 35 detainees could be prosecuted through trials or military tribunals, 110 could be released either now or at a later date.
The other 47 detainees were considered too dangerous to release, but could not be tried because the evidence against them was too flimsy or was extracted from them by coercion, so would not hold up in court, it concluded.
In a statement, the ACLU said it disputed that any terrorists significant category of such detainees existed, and renewed its call for the closure of the prison.
"If there is credible evidence that these prisoners are dangerous, there is no reason why that evidence could not be introduced against them in criminal trials," said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project.
"The criminal laws, and the material support laws in particular, are broad enough to reach anyone who presents a serious threat, and the federal courts are fully capable of affording defendants fair trials while protecting the government's legitimate interest in protecting information that is properly classified."
Mr Jaffer said evidence that had been "tainted" according to the task force's recommendation, was "not evidence at all". The US justice system, he added, "excludes coerced evidence not only because coercion and torture are illegal, but because coerced evidence is unreliable". Nice bit of legalistic footwork.
"Just as important as closing the prison quickly is closing it right, and that means putting an end to the illegal policy of indefinite detention without charge or trial," said Mr Romero.
#1
Notice the name of the director of the ACLU National Security Project - Jameel Jaffer. Not your typical Amish person, I'll venture. Might even be a cousin to a detainee?
#4
ACLU Challenge. ACLU members and their family must travel to one of two countries that has been targeted by terrorists for 20 years. Country A has the military tribunal approach to terrorist interrogations and country B has the ACLU/Holder Marandizing approach. Please pick the country to travel to. No, No ACLU , no discussion, just select A or B. If you start to argue and not answer, then your honesty is in question.
Pakistan has rejected as "immature" External Affairs Minister S M Krishna's reported remarks that any future terror attack on India could impact bilateral ties, saying it would not be "scared by any threat."
Reacting to Krishna's remarks carried by a magazine, Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit said this was the minister's own thinking and that no country had been as sincere as Pakistan in the fight against terrorism as it was a "real victim" of the menace.
Pakistan would not be scared by any threat, Basit was quoted as saying by state-run APP news agency, describing Krishna's reported remarks as "an immature statement".
Krishna, while reacting to Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani's reported statement that Islamabad could not guarantee against a repeat of 26/11, was quoted by 'India Today' as saying that India has been appreciated for its tolerance and statesmanship in the aftermath of Mumbai strikes, "but any repeat of such attacks will have serious repercussions on bilateral ties."
Basit claimed that India's response has been "lethargic" and "not positive" despite all the cooperation from Pakistan.
The "deadlock between the two countries would only be beneficial for non-state actors," he contended.
Both countries are nuclear powers and "to think about war is equal to suicide", he added.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/23/2010 12:29 ||
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[Dawn] Philippine authorities said Friday they were investigating reports that one of the country's most wanted militants may have been killed by a US missile strike in Pakistan.
Abdul Basit Usman was among several people believed to have been killed on January 14 in a US drone attack that targeted Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud in a remote area of northern Pakistan, according to various media reports.
"If the reports are true then it is good news for us because the killing of Basit Usman means one less terrorist on the street," Lieutenant General Benjamin Dolorfino, military commander in the southwestern Philippines, told AFP.
But he added: "We still have to verify the reports." Dolorfino said Usman was involved in many deadly bombings in the southern Philippines' Mindanao region, where insurgents have waged a decades-old separatist rebellion in which more than 150,000 people have died.
The US government has offered one million-dollar bounty for information leading to Usman's capture, according to its "Rewards for Justice" website.
The website, run by the US State Department, described him as a bomb-making expert with links to the Abu Sayyaf, a Philippines' militant organisation blamed for the nation's worst attacks.
It also said he had links to Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian extremist group that is linked to Al-Qaeda and been blamed for major attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia that killed 202 people.
"US authorities consider Basit to be a threat to US and Filipino citizens and interests. Basit is believed to have orchestrated several bombings that have killed, injured, and maimed many innocent civilians," the website said.
The Philippine military previously said Usman also had links to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the nation's largest Muslim guerrilla group that has led the long-running rebellion in the south.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said it was also looking into the reports Usman had been killed, while reiterating the group's position that it was not involved with him.
"We are trying to verify (those) reports," Kabalu said.
"As far as we know, Usman had links with Jemaah Islamiyah and Al-Qaeda, and could be fighting alongside the Taliban, which has links with Al-Qaeda."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
A simple "thank you" would suffice.
Posted by: ed ||
01/23/2010 12:04 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Pakistan's powerful military has actively worked to undermine efforts by the elected government to improve human rights in the country, the Independent reported on Friday citing a new report. It also tried to destabilize the elected government, and force out President Asif Ali Zardari.
In a critique of the military establishment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the armed forces had opposed efforts to end its intervention in the political and judicial process. It had also resisted attempts to locate some of the scores of people who "disappeared" in the restive province of Baluchistan during the years of General Pervez Musharraf's rule.
"The Pakistani military continues to subvert the political and judicial systems in Pakistan," said Ali Dayan Hassan of HRW as quoted by the Independednt.
"After eight years of disastrous military rule and in spite of the election of a civilian government, the army appears determined to continue calling the shots in order to ensure that it can continue to perpetrate abuses with impunity," he said.
The travails of Baluchistan represent one of Pakistan's darker but seldom-told narratives. General Musharraf's regime responded to a long-active independence movement with swift brutality. A veteran leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti, was assassinated and untold numbers of suspected activists were either jailed without process or else disappeared.
Considered an ally in America's "war on terror", General Musharraf's actions were overlooked or even helped by the West.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"Most states have armies. In Pakistan, the army has a state."
Posted by: john frum ||
01/23/2010 11:51 Comments ||
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The U.S. will appeal a court decision dismissing manslaughter charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security contractors involved in a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday.
Appeals Judge: Appeal denied. Next case, please.
Posted by: ed ||
01/23/2010 10:57 ||
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#1
Biden throws a bone (American contractors) to the Iraqis. After all, what are the lives of 5 Americans when it comes to O's legacy?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/23/2010 11:14 Comments ||
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#2
We are about to enter an extended period where the executive and congress will be at odds with the courts. I'ma bettin' on judges' bruised egos, me...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/23/2010 11:49 Comments ||
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#3
But if you're a Black Panther chasing voters away from the polls you get a pass.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/23/2010 12:04 Comments ||
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#4
Maybe the statute of limitations on that one will cause some cold sweats in 2012...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/23/2010 12:51 Comments ||
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#5
Should not such an announcement have come from the AG?
#7
Maybe the duct tape over Joe's mouth fell off in Baghdad.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/23/2010 15:05 Comments ||
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#8
It will be interesting to see how pranks like this play out now that the court allows corporations to spend all they want on political advertisements, right up to election day.
[Al Arabiya Latest] U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Iraq on Friday to try to mediate in a squabble over a decision to bar candidates from March elections due to suspected links to Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party.
Biden, making his third visit since U.S. troops pulled out of Iraqi urban centers last June, was expected to discuss with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki the move to exclude more than 500 politicians from the vote, which has threatened to reopen sectarian wounds.
The list drawn up by a panel charged with preventing high-ranking Baathists from returning to public life included popular Sunni politician Saleh al-Mutlaq, triggering protests from minority Sunnis who complained that majority Shiites were trying to marginalize them.
The panel's ruling was upheld by Iraq's independent electoral commission but still faces a court challenge.
On Friday, Iraq's government said the disqualified candidates would have to denounce Saddam's regime and its crimes in order to reintegrate into society, without specifically offering reinstatement on ballot papers.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Shouldn't we be avoiding getting into a constitutional squabble in Iraq? And couldn't we have found a better person to send?
The Palestinian Authority (PA) rejects hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's idea of policing eastern borders of a future Palestinian state.
A spokesman for the Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that once the Israeli occupation ends, the Palestinians will not accept anything less than a completely sovereign Palestinian state.
"The Palestinian leadership will not accept the presence of a single Israeli soldier in the Palestinian territories after the end of the occupation," said the spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina, adding that they will not accept that "our land be under Israeli protection."
"We will not accept anything less than a completely sovereign Palestinian state on all the territories with its own borders, resources and airspace," Abu Rudeina said.
He emphasized that Netanyahu's insistence on an Israeli border guard would place more obstacles in the way of restarting peace talks.
The PA announcement comes a day after Netanyahu said Tel Aviv aims to patrol the eastern borders of any future Palestinian state.
This is while the Palestinian side has repeatedly stated that without a complete freeze on illegal settlement constructions, they will not return to the negotiating table.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] On the anniversary of the end of Israel's war on Gaza, Head of Hamas political bureau Khaled Meshaal says Palestinians will never back down from resisting the Israeli occupation.
on Friday, Meshaal highlighted national unity, solidarity among the Muslim community and faith in God as key to what brought about victory for Gazans.
Victory.
Speaking to a large crowd of supporters in the Syrian capital, Damascus, Meshaal saluted the over 1,400 Palestinians who lost their lives during the three-week long Israeli onslaught and tens of thousands of others who were wounded and displaced.
Meshaal acknowledged the Israeli upper hand in military prowess, but assured that Tel Aviv would never be able to defeat the Palestinian nation and their resistance, vowing to fight a fierce battle and defeat Israel, in the event of another war against the Gaza Strip.
Meshaal ruled out dependence on anyone other than the Palestinian nation, saying collaboration with Israel as a "humiliating" act doomed to failure.
"No more funds or weapons from Iran!"
The political chief of Hamas highlighted the need for reconstruction of Gaza and lifting the crippling Israeli-imposed siege on the impoverished population of the coastal sliver. He called on the upcoming Arab League summit, scheduled for March in Libya, to put the issue high on the agenda.
The senior Hamas member vowed that the Islamic Palestinian movement would never back down from resistance against the Israeli occupation.
He said Hamas would never abandon the rights of the Palestinian people and would not back down from its principles in the face of the enemy's efforts to isolate the movement. "We will not change until we have achieved the rights of our refugees outside Palestine and liberation of occupied territories... and we will never recognize the Zionist entity," he stressed.
Meshaal accused Israel of disrupting prisoner exchange talks and assured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit would not be released until Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons are released.
He further warned against Israeli excavations near Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Jerusalem Al-Quds, saying the sanctity -- the second holiest site for the Muslim world -- could collapse any minute and catch the Islamic nation by surprise.
I thought it was the third holiest. One of us is having trouble with that counting thingy.
The Palestinian leader called for solidarity among Palestinians to liberate the West Bank from the Israeli occupation and warned Western-backed diplomatic channels would only benefit Israel and its allies in the United States and US President Barack Obama's administration.
He recalled recent expressions of frustration by Obama and his special envoy to the Middle East with the stalled peace process in the region, asking, "how could a frustrated person bring us liberation and victory?"
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2010 00:00 ||
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A radical Muslim cleric who served time in a British jail for inciting murder and stirring racial hatred has arrived in Jamaica, the second time he was deported to his native country. Abdullah el-Faisal arrived in Kingston by private jet Friday night after he traveled from Burkina Faso to Antigua via Cape Verde, authorities said.
El-Faisal once led a London mosque attended by convicted terrorists, and Britain has said that his teachings heavily influenced one of the bombers in the 2005 transport network attacks in London that killed 52 people.
In 2007, Britain deported him to Jamaica after he spent four years in jail for urging the killing of Americans, Hindus, Jews and Christians.
In 2009, el-Faisal toured several African countries until he was arrested last month in Kenya. Muslim youth demanded his release during a deadly protest Jan. 15 at a downtown Nairobi mosque that led to the arrest of 400 people. The Muslim Human Rights Forum said at least five people were killed when police shot at demonstrators, while the government says only one person died.
Posted by: ed ||
01/23/2010 11:17 ||
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#1
be a shame for him to fall victim to Jamaica's crime wave.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/23/2010 11:37 Comments ||
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#2
Somebody give him some ganga.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/23/2010 11:58 Comments ||
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[Straits Times] THE statement by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad that the Sept 11 attack was 'staged' could not come at a worse time when the nation is facing its own issues, said the Merdeka Centre.
Its director Ibrahim Suffian said Dr Mahathir's statement did not help with the country's image at a time of religious tension. He said Dr Mahathir should know the difference between the fiction of Avatar and the reality of the attack that happened nine years ago.
'Conspiracy theories aside, people actually died in that suicide attack. Dr Mahathir's statement is disrespectful to the victims for it to be described that way, with reference to a Hollywood movie,' he said on Thursday. Mr Ibrahim said that as the founder of the Perdana Global Peace Organisation, Dr Mahathir should know the root causes of terrorism and point out what led him to draw such conclusions.
DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang in a statement said that Dr Mahathir would have created 'an international incident' between Malaysia and the United States if he was still the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Assembly of Mosque Youth (Pemuda Masjid) de facto leader Dr Mohd Nawar Ariffin said more discussions should take place on the allegations made. 'Dr Mahathir is a prominent figure who contributed a lot to the country. Although the statement incites controversy, perhaps it should be taken positively as an encouragement for people to dig out the truth. He is known as an evidence-based person when making statements,' he said. The statement also sparked a chain of reactions on the Internet with many blogging and tweeting on the issue.
On Wednesday, Dr Mahathir said there was strong evidence that the Sept 11 attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 could have been 'staged' as an excuse to mount attacks on the Muslim world.'If they can make Avatar, they can make anything,' Dr Mahathir was quoted as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"'If they can make Avatar, they can make anything,' Dr Mahathir was quoted as saying."
He's got a point there. From what I've heard, Avatar is pretty awful.
#2
A poll among UN general assembly delegates found that the clear majority believe that the US Moon landing was just another Hollywood production. And that was not among the most ignorant and primitive ideas they hold.
It is downright amazing that such fools are able to run nations.
#4
I remember reading a book (here) after 9/11 that held Mahathir up as a model for how tolerant and modern Islam really is. The irony is beyond parody.
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri has expressed concerns over a possible Israeli attack on the country, citing an escalated violation of Lebanese airspace by Israeli aircraft.
Hariri, who arrived in France on Thursday on his first official visit to a Western country since forming his government in 2009, made the remarks in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde.
He said that Israeli aircraft violated the Lebanese airspace 25 times in one single day last week.
"I also mentioned the necessity to end the daily Israeli violations of this resolution (United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701), the escalation of the Israeli threats against Lebanon and its government," Hariri said.
The Lebanese premier said it seems that Israel thinks hitting the southern part of Lebanon does not mean that it has attacked the whole country.
Hariri said when Israel attacked southern Lebanon in 2006 "it damaged the country's infrastructure. I wondered if that should not be considered an attack on the whole country."
Israel launched an attack on Lebanon in 2006, but was met with stern resistance from Hezbollah. The 33-day war resulted in a heavy defeat for Tel Aviv, after the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 called on Israel to withdraw all of its forces from Lebanon.
"Naturally, this topic is part of a wider problem, the one of Israel's refusal to go forward in the [Middle East] peace process, especially with the Palestinians," Hariri was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
But this time there is no Cheddar Revolution loving George to stop Israel from doing iit right.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Tehran on Friday moved to reject a French accusation that it might try to fuel insecurity in southern Lebanon because of an "internal crisis."
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner made the accusation that Iran might try to use Hezbollah to create a conflict with Israel.
Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the "interfering" remarks.
"Kouchner has apparently made the comments under the influence of Israelis," Ramin Mehman-Parast, a spokesman for the ministry, said.
He said such "unwise" approaches by the French would not meet the interests of the national unity government in Lebanon and would solely feed Israeli agenda.
"It is clear to all that the Zionist regime [Israel] is the root cause of threats and occupation. It attacks innocent people ... every day and deprives them of their basic rights," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2010 00:00 ||
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Russia on Friday cautioned world powers against rushing towards sanctions to punish Iran for spurning a U.N.-brokered proposal to send its uranium abroad for processing.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on Tehran to work constructively to allay Western fears over its nuclear program but said world powers should take a sober approach and beware of pushing Iran into a corner.
"If our logic is to punish Iran, or if we take up the posture of the offended... this will not be a sober approach," Lavrov told reporters at a news briefing.
"It is not a simple situation and it is not made any easier by the domestic political situation in Iran," said Lavrov, who added that world powers should not risk undermining the work of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"We must not take any steps that could open up risks to the work of the agency in this country," he said.
Russia, which presents itself as the only major power with real clout in Tehran, is a crucial player in any move towards sanctions as it is a veto-wielding permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
Russia has watered down previous drives for sanctions against Iran, though the Kremlin was deeply troubled last year by Iran's disclosure about a secret nuclear facility in the holy Shiite city of Qom.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
Excerpt: The U.S. military is keeping at least two Navy ships on station in the Persian Gulf, ready to track and possibly intercept missiles, according to the top U.S. general in the region.
Speaking today at the Institute for the Study of War, Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, said two cruisers equipped with the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System are in the Gulf at all times now.'
#1
I suspect the USN is far less inclined to put CVNs in the Gulf these days, because of the likelihood that the Iranians have some advanced anti-ship missiles from Russia that could be fired from land.
#4
Iran's premier strategy is to drive the US out of the Middle East, so Iran can dominate the region. This means to keep the aircraft carrier fleets out. It also means that the CVNs are prime targets. Stationary bases are much easier to hit.
As a theory, though, it's hard to know, because the USN no longer list fleet stations for the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, just "5th Fleet".
When a small team of Navy SEALs set out to capture one of Iraq's most-wanted terrorists in September, they never dreamed it would go so smoothly.
After all, Ahmed Hashim Abed, the suspected mastermind of a 2004 atrocity against U.S. contractors in Fallujah, was holed up in a safe house in Anbar province. Intelligence reports, which identified his location, said he kept a revolver under his pillow.
A helicopter set the SEALs down miles away. They silently approached the house and burst in to surprise a sleeping Abed. He never had a chance to pull the gun that, indeed, lay under his pillow. Subdued after a brief scuffle, he was marched to a landing site, where the helicopter took the SEALs and their captive back to Camp Schweidler.
"It went flawlessly," said a source close to the case. "They expected to get a medal."
This source, and others, recounted to The Washington Times how one of the most successful captures in the war's six years has turned into a nightmare for six SEALs involved in the mission.
Three have been charged with assault in their handling of the prize captive and with making false statements when questioned about the incident. Another three, including the platoon's two officer leaders, are refusing to talk unless granted immunity from prosecution. Their attorney told The Times that they did not see the detainee assaulted or know of any cover-up.
Posted by: ed ||
01/23/2010 10:18 ||
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#1
This case and the appeal of the Blackwater dismissal in another thread show the Obama! administration is determined to fight the war on terror. Pity that they are not on our side.
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.
According to a high-official North Korean, Kim Jong-Il could not visit the Mt. KeumSu Memorial Palace on New Years Day, where the formal chairman Kim Il-Sung is buried, missing out on one of the major new years events in North Korea. It is stated that there was not a single year since 1995 when Kim Jong-Il did not pay a tribute on midnight of new year's day, according to the source. This is a very significant event which implies the exacerbation of Kim's health conditions.
