#1
I wouldn't be surprised that some of the greatest benefit might be the training in stone carving he is giving others. Basics of artistry can sometimes lead to interesting results.
More than $3 billion in cash has been openly flown out of Kabul International Airport in the past three years, a sum so large that U.S. investigators believe top Afghan officials and their associates are sending billions of diverted U.S. aid and logistics dollars and drug money to financial safe havens abroad.
The cashpacked into suitcases, piled onto pallets and loaded into airplanesis declared and legal to move. But U.S. and Afghan officials say they are targeting the flows in major anticorruption and drug trafficking investigations because of their size relative to Afghanistan's small economy and the murkiness of their origins.
#8
...er...so were billions of dollars of TARP money used in backing unsecured Frannie Mae paper Euro banks bought in the speculation markets. That flew to Europe. From there, who knows.
Top officials in President Hamid Karzai's government have repeatedly derailed corruption investigations of politically connected Afghans, according to U.S. officials who have provided Afghanistan's authorities with wiretapping technology and other assistance in efforts to crack down on endemic graft.
Anyone surprised by this? Anyone? Bueller?
In recent months, the U.S. officials said, Afghan prosecutors and investigators have been ordered to cross names off case files, prevent senior officials from being placed under arrest and disregard evidence against executives of a major financial firm suspected of helping the nation's elite move millions of dollars overseas.
As a result, U.S. advisers sent to Kabul by the Justice Department, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration have come to see Afghanistan's corruption problem in increasingly stark terms.
"Above a certain level, people are being very well protected," said a senior U.S. official involved in the investigations.
#3
We needed to have occupied Afghanistan for a few (hundred) years, so we could put an end to such corruption and to build a decent government with minimum corruption. We didn't, and now we're paying the price. Hanging everyone in the current government would go a long way toward stopping that, but that would require someone with very large stones.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/28/2010 14:23 Comments ||
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#4
wont happen. the guy we have in charge has no stones what so ever.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
06/28/2010 21:30 Comments ||
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LONDON: Talks with the Taliban should begin pretty soon' as part of the exit strategy for international forces in Afghanistan, Britain's army chief said on Sunday, adding that this was his private view'.
If you look at any counter-insurgency campaign throughout history there's always been a point at which you start to negotiate with each other, probably through proxies in the first instance, and I don't know when that will happen,' General David Richards, chief of the general staff, told BBC radio.
Stressing it was purely a private view', he said, I think there's no reason why we shouldn't be looking at that sort of thing pretty soon. But at the same time you have got to continue the work we are doing on both the military, governance and development perspectives to make sure that they (the Taliban) don't think that we are giving up,' he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
How can negotiating with terrorists look, and be held as any thing other than giving up and saying, "Terror wins?" Is he a terrorist himself?
#2
His frame of reference and many others in the UK is based on thier experiences or lack thereof in fighting the terrorism in Northern Ireland. Too bloody lazy to read thier own sad history of the region or study the people, they default to the convenient language of the negociated settlement. The last war they actually won by themselves was against Dutch Reformed farmers and they had to put thousands of families in horrid detention camps to accomplish even that.
#3
An excellent read which will provide keen insights into the disconnect between British forces on the ground, their generals, and Whitehall can be found in Mark Urban's new book entitled Task Force Black. Much on General Stanley McChrystal found there as well.
#4
The last war they actually won by themselves was against Dutch Reformed farmers...
...and the last war the US won by herself was... Panama (more likely the Spanish-American war)? As for the UK, I think you're forgetting the Falklands. Bit of a strange comment to make given the vast majority of conflicts involving the UK and US of late have involved other NATO and UN allies. You shouldn't forget the US dragged her feet on WWII, failing to fight alongside the UK and her commonwealth allies defending western democracy until compelled into it.
If the war in Afghanistan is lost the blame will lie proportionately at the feet of the US involvement. Obama's signalling that the US will start pulling out next year is a de facto admission of defeat at least as much as these comments from Richards. Cameron in fact has recently been saying that he would 'prefer UK troops not to be in Afghanistan longer than 5 years'. Compare that to Obama's 'we'll start pulling out in mid 2011'.
As for a lack of fighting terrorism in Northern Ireland and too bloody lazy to read their own sad history of the region or study the people: WTF? Patent nonsense.
LAHORE: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has met Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the Haqqani terror network, in face-to-face talks, Al Jazeera TV channel reported on Sunday. Haqqani, whose network is believed to be based in Pakistan, is reported to have been accompanied to the meeting earlier in the week by the Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and the head of its intelligence services General Shuja Pasha, Al Jazeera quoted its sources.
Proper escort for a made man ...
Karzai's office, however, denied that any such meeting took place. ISPR spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said he had no knowledge of such a meeting'.
Reporting from Kabul, Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr said reports about Karzai's meeting had fuelled speculation in the Afghan capital that Islamabad was trying to strike a deal in Afghanistan that would safeguard its interests there. With the US planning to start withdrawing troops by July 2011, Karzai may be cozying up to Islamabad,' she said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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LONDON - It is hard to set a timeframe for a withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan, the head of Britain's army said on Sunday, days after Prime Minister David Cameron said he wanted troops home within five years.
I want a pony. Wouldn't it be lovely if we all got what we wanted?
General Richard Dannatt said it was important to exert 'maximum pressure' on the Taleban so they were not able simply to sit out the time until international forces left the country.
Indeed.
The army chief, who once disagreed with former prime minister Gordon Brown on the issue of helicopter numbers, refused to be drawn on whether Cameron's comments were unhelpful.
'I'm not going to say that,' he said.
'I think time is a factor, there are many factors,' he told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme. 'From now on, and we've been doing it for the last little while, we must put maximum pressure on to succeed so that the Taleban don't have that sort of option to say we'll sit them out for five years, 10 years or whatever.'
What an intelligent man the army chief is!
Dannatt said the key factor determining when British troops could come home was pace with which Afghan security forces were able to take over their duties.
'When that happens, that's when we'll get to the crossover and our own troops will be able to start reducing and then start to come home. Whether that happens in three, five or seven years I think is difficult to tell.'
Dannatt said it was important Britain's military effort in Afghanistan had adequate resources and political support. 'What's got to be remembered is these complex and difficult counter-insurgency campaigns always take time,' he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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If you won't talk with the communists in Chapel Hill, who will you talk to?
SEOUL, June 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Sunday repeated its earlier proposal to send a team of inspectors to probe South Korea's allegations that the communist country was behind the March sinking of a southern warship, a proposal already rejected by Seoul.
Denying any role in the sinking, North Korea had proposed that it send a team of inspectors to verify the South Korean conclusion. Seoul had rejected the North's proposal and took the case to the U.N. Security Council.
Separately, the Seoul-based American-led U.N. Command (UNC) conducted its own investigation into the case, after which it proposed that the case be discussed at a Korean Armistice Commission meeting.
On Sunday, North Korea rejected the UNC's proposal, arguing that the body represents the United States and South Korea.
"It is preposterous that they conducted the 'investigation' by using the 'Military Armistice Commission' though it was beyond its mandate and it was more absurd to put the 'result of investigation' on the table of the talks," an unidentified North Korean military representative said in a message reported by the country's news agency, KCNA.
The Military Armistice Commission, set up to oversee the truce that ended the Korean War in 1953, has been in limbo since the early 1990s when North Korea unilaterally withdrew from the body after accusing it of being pro-American.
In the message to the UNC, the North Korean military representative proposed holding working talks with South Korea to discuss its plan to send an on-site inspection team to probe the incident. Seoul had earlier turned it down. If any agreement is made at the working talks, the North Korean representative said, it could lead to higher-level military talks between the two Koreas, according to the KCNA report.
"By origin, our intention was to dispatch our inspection group to South Korea from the very day the authorities linked the case with us and then open north-south high-level military talks to discuss the result of the inspection," the North's military representative said in the report. "If the South Korean authorities respond to our proposal, we will promptly come out for a working contact for the opening of the military talks."
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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TORONTO, June 27 (Yonhap) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao remained non-committal Sunday in blaming North Korea for the deadly sinking of a warship in March at talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, a repetitive stance that drew unusually blunt criticism from the U.S. leader.
Oh noes, Hu is being scolded by Bambi. Guess Hu will have to remind him how many T-bills China owns ...
In a one-on-one summit with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on the sidelines of a G-20 meeting in Toronto, Hu reasserted Beijing disapproves of any act that disrupts peace on the Korean Peninsula but stopped short of directly blaming North Korea, according to Lee's office, Cheong Wa Dae.
"As North Korea's continued provocation poses a grave threat to the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast Asian region, proper international cooperation is necessary to prevent its recurrence," Lee was quoted as saying.
Hu replied, "I fully understand South Korea's position. Let's continue close consultations in the process of responding (to the issue) at the U.N. Security Council."
South Korea has requested that the U.N. Security Council discuss punitive measures against North Korea for its deadly naval attack on the 1,200-ton corvette in March. Forty-six sailors were killed as the Cheonan sank from what a multinational probe concluded was the North's unprovoked torpedo attack.
Hu said China "condemns and opposes any act that destroys the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula," but did not name North Korea, repeating what Beijing usually says when South Korea, Japan and their western allies push for tough sanctions against the impoverished communist ally.
Obama, who met the Chinese leader on Saturday, pressed Beijing to clarify its position on the matter.
"There's a difference between restraint and willful blindness to consistent problems," Obama said at a press conference on the last day of the G-20 summit. "My hope is that President Hu will recognize as well that this is an example of Pyongyang going over the line in ways that just have to be spoken about," he added.
Obama reaffirmed North Korea will be made to pay a price for its provocation. It is critical to "send a clear message to North Korea that this kind of behavior is unacceptable, and that the international community will continue to step up pressure until its makes a decision to follow a path that is consistent with the international norms," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I'll believe Obumble is sincere when a few cruise missiles strike North Korean submarines in port. Anything less is just whistling past the graveyard.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/28/2010 16:32 Comments ||
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PESHAWAR: The government on Sunday launched a process of resettling tens of thousands of tribesmen displaced in a major offensive in South Waziristan last year, officials said. The government has now set up two centres for the registration of people who want to resume normal life in the mountainous region, local administration official Mudassar Riaz Malik said.
More than 40,000 families or some 300,000 people fled their homes during the offensive in the area, which was known to shelter battle-hardened Uzbeks and Arabs with links to al Qaeda. The military is now pursuing insurgents believed to have fled to the other six agencies that make up the FATA. South Waziristan's displaced have mostly been staying with relatives, friends or in rented houses.
The registration centres in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan started working today and the response was good,' Malik told AFP by telephone. The actual resettlement process will begin soon after registration is over, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's civilian nuclear deal with China is in accordance with the international norms and strictly in line with the principles set out by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Foreign Office said on Sunday.
Its deal with North Korea, however, isn't ...
Talking to reporters, FO spokesman Abdul Basit said the Pak-China cooperation in the civilian nuclear technology sector was not a sudden development, as both countries had been running the programme successfully for the last many years and any demand of clarification in this regard was unjustified.
To a question about the Indian prime minister's statement that Pakistan would have to clarify the position regarding the Pak-China nuclear cooperation, he said the cooperation was totally in accordance with our respective international responsibilities.
The programme is purely for peaceful objectives and is according to the safeguards of IAEA,' Basit added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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LAHORE: The Taliban are in the process of reorganising themselves around Peshawar as they are planning to carry out a major attack in the city, but the provincial government will soon take strong action against these militants, a private TV channel quoted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain as saying on Sunday.
Oh, strong action indeed, start shaking in your foot cloths, Mehsud ...
Iftikhar was addressing a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club where Awami National Party KP President Afrasiab Khattak was also present. According to the channel, Iftikhar said, Thousands of terrorists may be gathering in small groups in Orakzai, and in the Mohmand and Khyber agencies'. Referring to the possible threat, he said that the provincial government and the security forces were ready to take immediate action to thwart all such nefarious designs of the militants.
Iftikhar said that North Waziristan could be termed the capital of terrorists' and Peshawar could face the wrath of the Taliban in response to the security forces' operation in North Waziristan. He said the government had wiped out almost all terrorists from the province after the military operations in the Tribal Areas. However, some militants were still present in specific Tribal Areas.
The strategy of the KP government is to force the Taliban to come out of the Tribal Areas and then eliminate them once and for all, he said, according to the channel.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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SHAHBAZ AIRBASE: With the induction of the latest version of the F-16 aircraft into the Pakistani fleet, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has gained the capability to carry out all-weather night-time operations, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman said on Sunday.
Addressing the formal handing-over ceremony of the three Block 52 version F-16 aircraft provided by the US at the newly-developed base near Jacobabad, Qamar said the new aircraft would not only overcome Pakistan's existing limitations of precision night operations, but would also enable the PAF to meet its goals more effectively.
Talking to reporters, he said other countries in the region already had such aircraft in their fleet and the balance of power in the region has been restored now that Pakistan has acquired the latest F-16 jets. As far as the overhauling of PAF's existing F-16 aircraft is concerned, he said that initially, 14 aircraft from the existing PAF fleet would be upgraded with US assistance.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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KOLKATA Alarmed by the steep rise in suspected honour killings, the central government has decided to bring a new bill providing for the prosecution of the entire khap panchayat for ordering violent punishment for young couples marrying against their diktats, a senior minister said on Sunday.
The central government will soon come out with a law against honour killings and a draft has already been prepared, Law and Justice Minister M. Veerappa Moily said on Sunday.
Several incidents of honour killings have been reported recently, which stunned the people. And I am also concerned and worried about the rise of such incidents,' said Moily, after attending the regional meeting with chief justices of the Calcutta, Patna, Orissa and Jharkhand high courts and the law ministers of the four states.
According to Moily, under the new law, members of khap panchayat, who order the killing of the couples who dare to go against the dictates of these panchayats will be treated as accomplices in the crime. Such cases would be tried by fast track courts to provide speedy justice to the victims.
Even the Supreme Court has taken serious note of the so-called honour killings and has sought the response of the central government and eight states including Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. It has directed the authorities to explain the measures being taken to prevent such heinous crime.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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KOLKATA The mystery surrounding the Karachi-bound ship, intercepted on the Hooghly with arms and ammunition used by multi-national troops in a United Nations peacekeeping mission, was resolved on Sunday with the UN authorities confirming the consignment.
The vessel would now set sail for Karachi after unloading here the cargo meant for the Nepal Army.
The customs officials received a communication from the New York-based Movement Control officials of the UN Mission confirming the consignment that included rocket launchers, smoke bombs and anti-aircraft guns, apart from other sophisticated arms and ammunition, police sources said.
The UN has a peace-keeping force in Pakistan?
The letter from the UN office was received in response to queries made by the customs authorities seeking detailed information about the Liberia-registered Aegean Glory, which was brought to the Kolkata dock on Sunday afternoon amid tight security.
Customs sources said the UN letter also apologised for the inconvenience to the authorities and admitted that the confusion was created as the ship did not have proper documentation. The missive also said the authorities here had also not been properly intimated about the consignment by the ship.
Following the letter, it has been decided not to carry out any search operation in the vessel,' the sources said.
Earlier, it was decided that the customs officials will open the container cargo to ascertain its contents and tally the weapons in the container with the list made by the security officials after interrogation of the captain of the ship.
The vessel was slated to unload the military cargo at different ports to return the weapons of the nations that participated in the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) that began in 2003 to contain the conflict arising out of the second Liberian civil war.
The 152.35 metre-long vessel loaded the military cargo at Monrovia port in Liberia, started its journey May 17 and sailed to Port Louis in Mauritius on June 4.
The ship unloaded a part of its military cargo first at St. Louis and then at Cox Bazar port near Chittagong in Bangladesh and then set sail for Kolkata dock to unload some military cargo that belongs to the Nepal Army, state police chief Bhupinder Singh added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
So Turkey turns a flight of exchange officers back, they get a little press in the muzzie news without starting WWIII. Trying to look tough without too many issues. "Turkey" about says it all.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/28/2010 15:15 Comments ||
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#2
Fig Leaf. The flights that count will not ask permission, and the Turkish Military will happen to be on coffee break.
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar ||
06/28/2010 15:49 Comments ||
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#3
IMO by this action TURKEY is being PCORRECT, i.e. showing the Muslim World it is loyal or dedicated, but neutral Muslim state while making KSA = Saudi Arabia responsible for de facto assisting any US-Israel milstrike agz Iran.
Israel Air Force aircraft dropped off large quantities of military gear at a Saudi Arabian military base a week ago, in preparation for a potential attack on Iran, a number of Iranian and Israeli news outlets have reported.
Before you ask, the IDF and the Saoodis each had no comment. So there.
The unconfirmed report, first published by the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars and the Islam Times Web site, claimed that on June 18 and 19, Israeli helicopters unloaded military equipment and built a base just over 8 km. outside the northwestern city of Tabuk, the closest Saudi city to Israel, located just south of Jordan. All civilian flights into and out of the city were said to have been canceled during the Israeli drop-off, and passengers were reportedly compensated by the Saudi authorities and accommodated in nearby hotels.
That makes no sense. Israel, if it had a super-secret deal with the curator of the two holy spots, would be putting its people and stuff in the emptiest part of the Empty Quarter, and not anywhere near where anyone would see it. That's not just to make sure the furriners don't see it, it's especially to ensure that the various holy men don't see it.
The claim follows a report two weeks ago in the London Times Magazine that Saudi Arabia had given Israel permission to fly through a narrow corridor of airspace in northern Saudi Arabia so as to shorten the flight time required for Israeli jets to reach Iran. The Times said that Saudi Arabia had adjusted its missile defense systems to ensure that Israeli jets are not shot down while passing through Saudi airspace on the way to an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
That article never clarified if the Israeli pilots would get the same courtesy on the return leg of the trip ...
Citing an anonymous American defense official, the report claimed that Mossad director Meir Dagan had been in contact with Saudi officials and briefed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on the plans.
#1
"What war wid Iran" > broadly agree, as unlike IRAN KIMMIE stands to risk + lose a lot by staying on IRAN-STYLE "GEOPOL/MILPOL DEFENSIVE", ee STRONGER OR DEEPER ENTRENCHMENT OF CHIN INFLUENCE, CONTROL IN NORTH KOREAN GOVT-SOCIETY, ETC. THAN EVER BEFORE.
IMO Nuclearizing Iran is more likely to wait + "tough it out" agz the US-ISRAEL, than the already-Nuclear DPRK. DPRK IS MORE AT RISK OF SERIOUS, DE FACTO IDEO FAILURE + COLLAPSE THAN ISLAMIST IRAN IS.
#2
If true, this is a very interesting development. If not true, it could just be propaganda to keep the Iranians rattled. Of course they are always mentally rattled.
Dubai police chief Lt.-Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim was eager to comment Sunday on the recent shakeup in the Mossad's leadership. In an interview with the Emirati newspaper Gulf News which was cited by Army Radio, Tamim said that Meir Dagan was pressed to leave his job as Mossad chief because "the Mossad certainly does not accept losers."
I dunno, al-Mabhouh is door-knocker dead and no one has yet proved Mossad did it (if they did, of course), nor has a Mossad agent been arrested. Israel takes crap in the international community on a daily basis anyway so what's a little more?
Tamim was referring to the suspected Mossad hit of senior Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh and the subsequent international fallout generated by the use of stolen identities and forged passports by the alleged members of the assassination team.
Meir Dagan's tenure as head of the Mossad is likely to end in the coming months, reportedly in wake of the international criticism that Israel suffered following the January assassination of Hamas archterrorist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai.
Dagan, a former IDF general, was appointed head of the Mossad in 2002 by then-prime minister Ariel Sharon. During his eight-year tenure, the Mossad has been attributed with assassinating Hizbullah's military chief in Damascus, a top Syrian general in Tartus as well as a number of top Iranian nuclear scientists.
While according to the Channel 2 report Dagan asked for an extension, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement Saturday night saying that Dagan never requested an extension. "The prime minister decided last year to extend the head of the Mossad's tenure by a year. Since then no additional decision has been made," the statement said.
When Sharon appointed him to the post, Dagan decided to focus the Mossad's work on stopping Iran's nuclear program as well as acting against global terrorism. He has been credited with restoring the Mossad's relevance to the global war on terrorism and, according to foreign reports, the Mossad has in recent years succeeded in sabotaging and thereby delaying Iran's nuclear program.
The decision to end Dagan's tenure was reported first Friday night on Channel 2 News, which also claimed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu planned to appoint his successor from within the Mossad's ranks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The Mossad Did It. Chalk up another victory for Tamim, the idiot police chief of Dubai, in his new movie, "It Took 34 Jews".
More than 10,000 marchers participated in first day of procession to Jerusalem. Police estimated that 10,000 marchers participated in the first day of the procession, which began on Sunday at the Shalit family home in Mitzpeh Hila, in the north of the country and is scheduled to end across from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem.
Ministers Eli Yishai and Yaakov Margi of Shas and Michael Eitan of Likud announced on Sunday that they intend to join the protest march by the family of the abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
As reported in Haaretz on Sunday, Netanyahu demanded that the cabinet evince a "firm stance" against the anticipated public pressure generated by the march, in the belief that a tougher stance in the face of Israeli public opinion will compel Hamas to moderate its demands in the prisoner swap negotiations.
The 12-day march, which coincides with the four-year anniversary of Shalit's abduction by Palestinian gunmen, is not expected to persuade the government to offer a more generous proposal to Hamas, which is demanding the release of hundreds of convicted terrorists in exchange for Shalit.
Nonetheless, the protest march did dent the government's unified stance following the announcements by Yishai, Margi, and Eitan. Yishai, the interior minister and Shas chairman, called on fellow Shas MKs and ministers "to support the family with their feet."
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06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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The Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee is set to approve an unprecedented master plan that calls for the expansion of Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, a move largely based on construction on privately owned Arab property.
So much for East Jerusalem being the capital of a Paleo state, not that it was going to be anyway ...
The committee's proposal would codify the municipality's planning policy for the entire city. In essence, Jerusalem would uniformly apply its zoning and construction procedures to both halves of the city. Such a development would probably invite a hail of criticism from the Palestinians, Arab countries and the international community.
The United States has recently communicated its expectation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will prevent any change in the city's status quo pending the conclusion of final-status talks with the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington early next month.
For over a decade, dozens of architects have worked to draw up the latest Jerusalem master plan, meant to replace the one in effect since 1959, eight years before the Six-Day War. While the plan did not attract opposition from the international community and leftist organizations, political developments over the last year - including the spat with the United States over the Ramat Shlomo building project - are likely to touch off renewed diplomatic tensions.
According to a document prepared by Ir Amim, while the plan allows for Palestinian construction in the north and south of the capital, it barely provides for an expansion of Arab construction projects in the center of the city, particularly in the area next to the holy basin. The group added that the plan creates a spate of bureaucratic obstacles for Palestinians who wish to build in the city. Ir Amim warns that the plan is likely to be perceived as an Israeli provocation because most of the Jewish building projects are designated for areas east of the Green Line.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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Back in 1967, there were about 65k Arabs living in the 'greater E Jerusalem' (about 95%+ were moslem).
By 2008, the Palestinian Census counted about 200k (about 99% moslem) in almost the same area (minor expansions had taken place).
There are plenty of places in E Jerusalem for the Palestinians to set up a seat of government
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/28/2010 9:38 Comments ||
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TEL AVIV - The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, on Sunday held talks in Tel Aviv with Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and other members of the military's top brass, officials said.
A US embassy spokesman said Mullen, who was paying a flying visit to Israel, was also meeting Israeli Chief of Staff Gaby Ashkenazi and senior military officials. Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was also to meet Ashkenazi's deputy, Benny Ganz, and navy chief Eliezer Marom for talks on cooperation between the two militaries and on mutual security challenges,' a statement from the military said.
Defence officials quoted by the Jerusalem Post said Mullen's meetings would focus on Iran's nuclear programme and the situation in Syria and Lebanon. They would also discuss the deterioration in relations between Israel and Turkey in the wake of the disastrous May 31 naval raid on a Gaza-bound aid fleet which left nine Turkish activists dead, the paper said.
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06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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Drought-ravaged areas of Syria continue to face catastrophe' with tens of thousands of malnourished people excluded from international relief efforts, according to the head of the United Nation's World Food Programme (WFP) in Damascus.
Muhannad Hadi, who is leading the WFP's emergency response plan in Syria, said 110,000 severely impoverished people would not receive aid, despite UN officers identifying them as needing help.
Describing conditions in drought-hit eastern regions as a nightmare', Mr Hadi said the WFP was unable fulfill its responsibilities to desperately poor communities because of a funding shortfall.
The UN agency has received less than half of the US$22 million (Dh81m) required to support 300,000 vulnerable people this year and, as a result, has carried out drastic cutbacks in its aid programme. Global economic difficulties and lingering political tensions between Syria and the United States, have both been suggested as reasons for donors' unwillingness to give the additional $12.2m.
The WFP began distributing emergency food packages earlier this month in Raqqa, Deir Ezzor and Hasaka, three vast semi-arid provinces in eastern Syria that were once the nation's breadbasket. The aid scheme, the second of its kind here since last year, was originally scheduled to run until August but UN officials now say the need is such that it could be extended until October, if money can be found.
Estimates vary but as many as a million people may have fled the land in Syria's so-called Jazeera region as a result of three consecutive years of crippling drought. Some 160 villages have been abandoned entirely, researchers say, their residents moving to already over-populated urban centres in search of work. Squalid camps of rural migrants have sprung up on the outskirts of Damascus and other cities.
The UN reports that 40,000 families have left the once-lush farming areas, a number likely to amount to more than 300,000 individuals
In addition to handing out packages of basic supplies such as oil, rice, flour and salt, the WFP has provided thousands of pregnant and nursing women with nutritional supplements, in order to prevent growth abnormalities in their children.
Syrian government figures suggest wheat production in 2010 will be cut by half from its 2007 level, forcing the country once self-sufficient in wheat to again rely on expensive imports it can ill afford to pay for.
A recent 2 million (Dh9m) donation from the European Union had come as a crucial lifeline for the aid effort, Mr Hadi said, propped up by a large shipment of dates from Saudi Arabia.
If money is not raised soon, Mr Hadi said, the rural communities in eastern Syria would be faced with an even bigger problem next year.
The Syrian government, weighed down by heavy budget deficits and with dwindling oil revenues, has taken steps to ease the burden on farmers, including providing cut-price seeds, rescheduling loan repayments and drawing up new irrigation blueprints. One large-scale irrigation scheme is being supported by Kuwait.
Earlier this month Abdullah al Dardari, Syria's deputy prime minister for economic affairs, announced plans to increase investment in the Jazeera areas and to build a dam, in an effort to provide long-term solutions to poverty and an over-reliance on apparently unsustainable agriculture.
Critics of the government, including leading Syrian academics, accuse it doing too little, too late to head off the farming crisis.
#2
Oh don't worry 3dc the good ol US willl cough up the money. Even though we have hungry and homeless in our own nation the gov. never misses an oppurtunity too give the cash too a third world dictatoship.
Posted by: chris ||
06/28/2010 12:52 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Just another example of prioritizing Death over Life...
New moon July 12th
As unconfirmed reports of an imminent Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities pick up steam in the Middle Eastern media, a US-based strategic intelligence company has released a chart showing US naval carriers massing near Iranian waters.
The chart, published by Stratfor and obtained by the Zero Hedge financial blog, shows that over the last few weeks a naval carrier -- the USS Harry S Truman -- has been positioned in the north Indian Ocean, not far from the Strait of Hormuz, which leads into the Persian Gulf. The carrier joins the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was already located in the area. The chart is dated June 23, 2010.
Reports of mass movements of Israeli and US naval warships have been circulating through the media for weeks. On June 19, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported that 12 US and Israeli warships were seen moving through the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
And a report from the Associated Press published Saturday evening cited "unconfirmed" reports from Israeli and Iranian media that Saudi Arabia has allowed Israel to use its territory in preparation for an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
"The allegation could not be independently confirmed, and the Saudis deny cooperating with the Israeli military," AP reported.
An article in the Gulf Daily News, largely dismissed by Western observers, did not mention any Saudi involvement but said Israel is preparing to attack Iranian targets from the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia.
The claims that Israel may be preparing for an assault on Iranian nuclear facilities were strengthened this weekend by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who told reporters at the G8 summit in Canada that G8 leaders "believe absolutely" that Israel will "probably" strike Iran.
"Iran is not guaranteeing a peaceful production of nuclear power [so] the members of the G8 are worried and believe absolutely that Israel will probably react preemptively," Berlusconi said, as quoted at Ha'aretz.
#6
The only reason I am even thinking that this story might even be remotely possible is because of Bambie's falling poll numbers and the losses the dhimocrats are gonna take.
He need something to boost his side and I'm cynical enough to believe he would bomb Iran to do it just for the poll numbers.
#7
Bored of all the rhetoric , lets move - Dont care if Bambi is vote carrying - Its a job that needs to be done unfortunatley
Posted by: Bravo two ||
06/28/2010 10:16 Comments ||
Top||
#8
30 years late, but better late than never.
Won't help Chairman Zero in November anymore than bombing aspirin factories wound up helping Clinton. And from a policy perspective, he can be happy about driving up gas prices.
Anyway, it's always a good time to bomb islamists. Good hunting, guys!
The chart, published by Stratfor and obtained by the Zero Hedge financial blog, shows that over the last few weeks a naval carrier -- the USS Harry S Truman -- has been positioned in the north Indian Ocean, not far from the Strait of Hormuz, which leads into the Persian Gulf. The carrier joins the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was already located in the area.
The Navy had already announced that Truman is relieving Eisenhower. That is consistent with the original Eisenhower deployment in January that was to be 6 months.
There is generally a few weeks of overlap when a new carrier battle group is taking over from another.
Reports of mass movements of Israeli and US naval warships have been circulating through the media for weeks. On June 19, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported that 12 US and Israeli warships were seen moving through the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
This was the Truman battle group being made to sound as it is yet more warships. It isn't. This is the same group being reported twice.
And a report from the Associated Press published Saturday evening cited "unconfirmed" reports from Israeli and Iranian media that Saudi Arabia has allowed Israel to use its territory in preparation for an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Which the Saudis then immediately denied ... a denial which WAS confirmed by multiple sources.
"The allegation could not be independently confirmed, and the Saudis deny cooperating with the Israeli military," AP reported.
Which means some reporter simply made it up and ran it up the flagpole to see what kind of reaction it would get in hopes that it would shake a story lose. It didn't.
Someone is trying really hard to create a story out of whole cloth.
* FREEREPUBLIC > THIRD US CARRIER, 4000 MARINES, SHIPS AUGMENT US ARMADA OFF IRAN.
Again, IMO IRAN will prefer to stay on the GEOPOL = MIL OR MILPOL DEFENSIVE while it nuclearizes unto NUCWEAPS STATE 2010-2012, whereas KIMMIE + DPRK, the country whom the MSM-NET + Perts claim or allege is already in possession of several Nucbombs, is at much higher or serious risk of NEAR-TERM IDEO = PARTY + NATIONAL COLLAPSE THAN IRAN IS. NOKOR NEEDS SUPER-MASSIVE LEVELS OF INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE TO STAVE OFF COLLAPSE WHICH IS SEEMINGLY NOT FORTHCOMING EITHER FROM THE US-WEST OR CHINA OR UNO [limited quantities only].
NOKOR's agreement wid China setting up FREE TRADE = SPEC ECON ZONES inside NOKOR is likely to intensify + solidify CHIN = FOREIGN influence + control oer NoKor, NOT reduce it as historically promised by NORTH KOREA'S COMMIES-SOCIALISTS MOVEMENT.
By most accounts, NET MIL FORUM POSTERS/BLOGGERS CLAIM:
* Ordinary NOKORS like CHINA + CHIN INFLUENCE = DESIRE TO BE ALLIED + PART OF CHINA.
* NOKOR is already CHINESE is most things save NAME + LEGAL/INTERNATIONAL FORMAL SOVEREIGNTY.
* CHINA sees Nokor as a HISTORIC CHIN VASSAL/BUFFER STATE + INTENDS TO KEEP IT THAT WAY. Beijing will NOT allow the US-ALLIES to mil defeat or conquer Noth Korea regardless of the merits.
RECENT > Netters are arguing or proposing that ECON-TROUBLED NOKOR SHOULD FORMALLY GIVE UP ITS MILITARY SAVE FOR SOME KIND OF LESSOR, NATIONAL PARAMILITARY POLICE FORCE/CONSTABULARY, + FORMALLY TRANSFER DEFENSE OF NORTH KOREA INCLUDING MUCLEAR DEFENSE-SECURITY TO BEIJING + PLA. Good for Nokor's economy, good for CHINA + REGIONAL SECURITY, STABILITY, ERGO IS ALSO GOOD FOR US-WEST AS PER CONTROL OF NOKOR'S NUCLEAR ARSENAL OR DESIRE FOR ONE. China gets WARM-WATER PACIFIC TRADE, NAVAL PORTS + BETTER COMPARATIVE = GEOPOL ADVANTAGES.
Again, at this time, Kimmie + troubled NoKor is more in need of a "GREAT POWER(S)" MIL CONFRONTATION THAN ISLAMIST IRAN IS. A NEW "CHEONAN"-STYLE LIMITED INCIDENT AGZ SOUTH KOREA ONLY MAY NO LONGER SUFFICE [2010-2012].
#11
Ultimately, it comes down to what mainstream North Koreans desire for Noth Korea = THEIR COUNTRY + ETHNIC HOMELAND, which AFAIK is supposed to be Kimmie's great Personal, National duty as DPRK Head-of-State???
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday called a CIA report that Iran had sufficient uranium to build two bombs "worrying," AFP reported.
Nah, don't worry Dmitry, our vaunted National Intelligence Estimate from 2007 said that Iran shelved its nuke program. No worries, and pay no attention to the rumor that Short Round will give the first nuke to the Chechens ...
"This information has to be checked, but such information is always worrying - and all the more so because the international community does not recognize the Iranian nuclear program as transparent," Medvedev was quoted as saying at the G8 summit.
CIA Director Leon Panetta said Sunday that Iran probably has enough low-enriched uranium for two nuclear weapons, but that it likely would take two years to build the bombs.
Panetta told ABC television's This Week that he is doubtful that recent UN penalties will put an end to Iran's nuclear ambitions. He said the penalties could help to weaken Teheran's government by creating serious economic problems. But he added, "Will it deter them from their ambitions with regards to nuclear capability? Probably not."
Leon might be the only sensible person in Bambi's inner circle.
Even the schizophrenic have their moments of clarity
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
An interesting concept, that is, about Iran sending a package through Azerbaijan and Georgia to Chechnya. Then again, they could probably deliver direct about anywhere on the Caspian coast.
#2
I don't know why this should come as a great surprise to Medvedev if Russia has any kind of intelligence. Iran has indicated its intentions for quite some time now. I'll bet the Israelis have a good handle on Iran's progress--their survival is at stake.
#3
"I don't know why this should come as a great surprise to Medvedev"
It is not that he is suprised. It is that Russo-U.S. relations are going to get cozier than they have been. Medvedev's visits with President Obama last week might mark the beginning of the warming trend, and so Medvedev remarks are possibly meant to build accord, but not necessarily out of surprise.
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.
Top officials in President Hamid Karzai's government have repeatedly derailed corruption investigations of politically connected Afghans, according to U.S. officials who have provided Afghanistan's authorities with wiretapping technology and other assistance in efforts to crack down on endemic graft.
KOLKATA Alarmed by the steep rise in suspected honour killings, the central government has decided to bring a new bill providing for the prosecution of the entire khap panchayat for ordering violent punishment for young couples marrying against their diktats, a senior minister said on Sunday.
More than 10,000 marchers participated in first day of procession to Jerusalem. Police estimated that 10,000 marchers participated in the first day of the procession, which began on Sunday at the Shalit family home in Mitzpeh Hila, in the north of the country and is scheduled to end across from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem.
