[Tolo News] Taliban take advantage of some personal differences among Afghan military commanders, said a senior Afghan military commander in the north Wednesday.
General Weesa, Army Chief Commander in the north, said the differences have worsened security conditions in the north. The general declined to shed light on the differences. "What kind of differences?"
"Personal differences!"
"There are some personal discrepancies, but a number of Taliban benefit from it to make the situation even worse," Gen. Weesa told TOLOnews.
More than 300 bully boyz have surrendered to government forces in northern Afghanistan in the past several weeks, top military officials said.
An increase in violence in once-peaceful north has made Afghan forces launch a couple of operations to take Taliban out of their northern strongholds.
Afghan army, nearly 150,000 in number, is expected to start undertaking responsibility for security in July this year.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... a notorious Taliban capo along with his 12 fighters joined Afghan grinding of the peace processor in northern Jowzjan province.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2011 00:00 ||
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MOMBASA, Kenya (AFP) Somali pirates' use of "mother ships" to attack their prey is complicating foreign navies' efforts to improve safety in the Indian Ocean, a senior anti-piracy commander said Friday.
Somalia's expanding army of pirates are increasingly launching their attacks from large, already hijacked vessels that offer greater physical protection during boarding and whose kidnapped crews act as human shields.
Speaking to reporters in the Kenyan port of Mombasa where his NATO flagship was docked, Commodore Michiel Hijmans said few pirates were still using their rudimentary skiffs to board vessels.
"Pirates have gone high tech and few use speed boats. They have switched to usage of mother ships," said Hijmans, who currently commands NATO's Ocean Shield anti-piracy mission."We cannot attack mother ships without proper planning since most of them have hostages on board," said the Dutch navy commander.
Hijmans also explained that pirates operating on large hijacked vessels were able to extend their area of operation when on the prowl and were no longer confined to their coastal hideouts during monsoon seasons. "The pirates can operate in the sea for long as they load the mother ships with enough food, fuel and militant weapons ready for a hijacking spree," he said. "Pirates are getting smarter every hour... Pirates do not give up unless they cannot board or are threatened. I'm afraid that the war on piracy might not be won until there is a stable government in Somalia," he said.
RiskIntelligence, a security consultancy firm based in Denmark and specialised in maritime threats, said the pirates adopted their game-changing "mother ship" tactics in November 2010. While captured vessels had been used as floating service stations and temporary mother ships in the past, their use became more systematic with the first sortie of the MV Izumi, a Japanese ship captured in October.
"A number of captured merchant vessels were (since) pressed into pirate service on this model," said Dirk Steffen in a briefing for RiskIntelligence released last week. He said the trend brought significant changes to the pirates' modus operandi and listed reduced dependency on seasons and weather conditions, increased range and higher transit speeds.
Steffen also pointed out that pirates would now be attacking their targets from ships of equal size, thus modifying the military rapport de force. "When utilising a captured merchant vessel in an attack, pirates eliminate the small boat disadvantage," he said. Pirates will be able to fire from bridge level, enjoy the same stable firing platform as their target's embarked security and use heavier weaponry, the analyst said.
While the increased use of mother ships is generally expected to make naval patrols and shipboard defence less effective, Steffen argued that anti-piracy monitoring would locate them more easily."It is generally known which mother ships are at sea at any given time... The merchant vessel-based pirate action groups will be impossible to miss for alert and well-briefed crews," he said.
#1
As soon as the ship leaves port, send a chopper. Have a guy hang out of the chopper and paint "PIRATE SHIP" on both sides of the bow and on the stern. Problem solved.
Somali pirates have seized a Mongolian-flagged bulk carrier off the coast of Oman, the European Union Naval Force for Somalia (EU Navfor) said on Thursday. The pirates hijacked MV Hoang Son Sun about 520 nautical miles southeast of the port of Muscat.
"The 22,835-tonne bulk carrier, which is Mongolian flagged and Vietnamese-owned, has a crew of 24 Vietnamese nationals. No further details of the attack are known at this stage," EU Navfor said in an online statement. Better call the Mongolian Navy! Anyone have their 1-800 number handy?
EU Navfor reported the ship was not registered with the Maritime Security Centre for the Horn of Africa, and had not reported to the UK Maritime Trade Operation. Both help vessels keep contact with a flotilla of warships patrolling the lucrative waters linking Europe with Asia.
EU Navfor said Somali pirates were currently holding 30 vessels and at least 724 crew hostage off the shores of the anarchic Horn of Africa nation. Three other vessels escaped attack in the area between the Gulf of Oman and the Gulf of Aden since Wednesday.
To facilitate the conveniences of international shipowners, MSR is based in Singapore, which offers efficient telecommunications, financial and legal services easily and accessibly.
#3
Is there an official Mongolian Merchant Marine patch?
I seriously have to apologize: my mother got into the special ed. biz long before PC changed the vocabulary, and I read that as Mongoloid Merchant Marine. Really, I am sorry, even if the thought of a landlocked marine corp. ... anyway, sorry again.
I guess the shoe throwing thing got old...
Earlier this week, three other Egyptians set themselves on fire in an apparent suicide bid matched by several other people across the Arab world to copy a Tunisian whose self-immolation sparked a revolution.
One of them, Ahmed Hashem al-Sayyed, a 25-year-old who turned himself into a human fireball on the roof of his house in the northern city of Alexandria on Tuesday, died in hospital later in the day.
Another man said to be a lawyer in his 40s set himself alight outside government headquarters in Cairo, an official reported. He was slightly injured and taken to hospital.
And on Monday, a man poured fuel on himself and set himself on fire on a busy street in front of the People's Assembly.
The U.S. Navy on Wednesday recovered the body of a female U.S. sailor who had been reported missing from the guided missile destroyer USS Halsey a day earlier, according to a Navy official.
The sailor, whose name has not been made public, was spotted by a helicopter involved in the search and rescue operation, and recovered by a rescue swimmer, said Lt. Frederick Martin, spokesman for the Navy's 5th Fleet. Her body was spotted about 75 miles east of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. The Halsey had been operating in the Gulf of Oman at the time of the sailor's disappearance.
Helicopters, fighter jets and other aircraft from four ships were used during the search, according to a Navy news release.
Officials began the search when the sailor failed to report for duty Tuesday.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/20/2011 9:58 Comments ||
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#3
From what I hear, it's not at all uncommon for the Navy to lose sailors overboard, and they don't particularly spend a lot of time looking for them.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/20/2011 14:35 Comments ||
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#5
There are all kinds of ways you can get washed overboard or fall overboard. The problem is that if nobody sees you go, they need to backtrack along the ship's track. Of course, you will be drifting, so they need to take that into account. A helicopter is a huge help because it can search a wide area quickly, and pick you up if it finds you.
I don't know what the guidelines are on how much time they spend looking for someone in peacetime. The fact that they used several aircraft, including jets, says that they spent a considerable amount of effort looking for this sailor.
Things are different during an active war. There was an incident I read in Flags of our Fathers, the story of all of the flag raisers on Iwo Jima. A man fell overboard, and the ships didn't even slow down to try to pick him up.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/20/2011 20:22 Comments ||
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Gromky; in my 26 years on 11 different CVs, we lost several men overboard; stopped and recovered every one. One was particularly gruesome, an AB trainee stood up at the end of Catapult #1 just as an S-3 was launched. It was dark and his trainer did not notice he was gone. We stopped flight ops and the plane guard helos started searching; recovered what parts of his body were still floating and turned them over to his family. It wasn't very pretty.
Another night a guy fell in and the only helo we had that was close to being 'up' that night ( don't ask but Murphy goes to sea also, and that night Mr. Goodwrench was off) had no engine fire protection system operational; my CO came in an told me to get a crew for it and he took off to recover the guy.
So don't tell me the Navy doesn't try to find these folks.
South Korean officials say they have tentatively accepted a North Korean proposal to hold high-level military talks. The meetings would be the first known talks between the two countries since tensions flared over a deadly North Korean military attack on a South Korean island in November.
A South Korean official said the proposal for talks on "pending issues" was sent Thursday to South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin from his counterpart in the North, Kim Yong Chun.
A South Korean defense ministry spokesman told VOA the government is willing to attend such a meeting and will review the offer "carefully and positively." A unification ministry spokesman said the government has made a basic decision to attend the talks, but that no details can yet be announced.
South Korea had rejected a series of previous offers for talks from the North as "insincere" propaganda efforts, though none is believed to have come at such a high level.
Earlier Thursday, a senior South Korean official said the South is still looking for the North to apologize for two attacks last year that killed a total of 50 people. The official, who spoke to reporters on the condition he not be identified, said the South understands that it may be too difficult for Pyongyang to apologize publicly for the attacks. But, he said, it is "up to them" to figure out "what kind of apology and remarks" they must make to clear the way for a resumption of inter-Korean dialogue.
The official also said his government will provide no money or economic assistance to North Korea until it agrees to an end state of its nuclear programs and meets clear time targets.
The senior official said an apology from North Korea is more important to the South at this point than a promise not to attack the South again. He said the South has made it very clear through a series of military exercises that it will retaliate militarily to another attack. He said this is the "strongest and most effective way" to prevent new provocations.
#2
SOUTH KOREA > is repor bracing for a new NOKOR "SURPRISE ATTACK" = NEW MIL INCIDENT? despite its acceptance.
* TOPIX > [NYT]US WARNING TO CHINA SENDS RIPPLES TO THE TWO KOREAS.
ARTIC = POTUS BAMMER warned HU that iff China fails to effec rein in North Korea, the US MAY HAVE TO RESPOND BY RE-ALIGNING/DEPLOYNG NEW US MILFORS, MILSYS TO NE ASIA REGION IN ORDER TO DETER OR DEFEAT ANY POTENTIAL NORTH KOREAN ATTACK AGZ US SOIL.
Not fast enough for me. Let's pray it doesn't turn out to be a bloody mess when it does, but that may be too much to hope for.
Chun Young-woo, the presidential secretary for foreign affairs and national security, reflected government views when he said Friday that North Korean regime would face "a short cut to its demise," experts believe. Chun was speaking in an interview with the U.S.' PBS. Why does the government believe that the regime is on its last legs?
According to government data, the South gave the North a total of US$6.96 billion during the decade of the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations. The figure covers aid in rice and fertilizers and cash provided under inter-Korean economic cooperation projects. It is 3.7 times the aid China gave North Korea during the same period and equivalent to 90 percent of the North's entire exports of $7.7 billion.
"The North saw an annual trade deficit with China of between $700 million and $800 million, which it covered with aid and trade from the South," a government official said. Last year the North exported some $1 billion to China and imported about $1.8 billion.
But under the Lee Myung-bak administration the North has received no aid from the South in the past three years, in contrast to 2.7 million tons of grains and 2.56 million tons of fertilizers a year under the previous administrations. The aid was worth $3.2 billion.
Pyongyang used to earn some $300 million a year through trade with Seoul, mainly from fishery products and sand,
Sand?
Needed to make concrete.
Ah. They actually build things in South Korea.
but trade was stopped after the North sank the Navy corvette Cheonan in March last year. The only hard currency the North earns now from the South is $50 million a year in wages for the joint Kaesong Industrial Complex.
As the North resumed nuclear armament and military provocations, aid from the international community also dried up. Radio Free Asia, quoting an official of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reported in December that international aid to the North in 2010 was about $20.6 million, a mere 35 percent of the $58.75 million that flowed there in 2009.
North Korea's domestic economy is a mess. Grain production this year is estimated to reach 3.8-3.9 million tons, which is 200,000-300,000 tons less than last year, the Institute for National Security and Strategy under the National Intelligence Service said. The food situation in the North is directly linked to public support for the regime. During the spring lean season last year, the North nearly coped with the food shortage by diverting rice from military storage, which according to a senior government official may not be feasible this year.
In addition, the North Korean regime is strained by leader Kim Jong-il's ill health and the spread of waves of capitalism through South Korean drama. "Even if it won't collapse right away, the North may face a situation where it may have to agree to the South's demands in inter-Korean dialogue," said a government source.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/20/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Clearly the Artic is wrong becuz, IIRC ala NET > HUMAN FECES SELLING LIKE HOTCAKES IN NORTH KOREA.
[STATE FARM INSURANCE "OKAY-Y-Y" TV COMMERCIALS here].
North Korea began building centrifuges to enrich uranium in the late 1990s, a high-ranking North Korean defector said Tuesday. "There is a factory in Huichon, Jagang Province that builds centrifuges," the defector said.
There are fears that centrifuges manufactured in Huichon could have been moved to the nearby Yongbyon nuclear facility north of Pyongyang. Huichon is just 57 km from Yongbyon and the two cities are connected by road and railway.
In November North Korea took U.S. nuclear expert Siegfried Hecker to a facility in Yongbyon that contained around a thousand centrifuges. U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials believe that the centrifuges were made elsewhere.
Huichon also houses a cluster of factories that produce precision machinery and electrical components that are crucial to manufacturing centrifuges. According to the Unification Ministry, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited Huichon seven times last year to inspect power plants and factories there. Recently, North Korea has mobilized troops from Kim's own guard corps and is going all out to build a hydroelectric power plant there.
A North Korean source said, "It takes a considerable amount of electricity to operate centrifuges. There are suspicions that North Korea wants to turn Huichon into a uranium enrichment center after completing the hydroelectric plant." The senior defector said North Korea is incapable of producing the engines that are a crucial component of centrifuges and had to import them from Japan, France and Russia.
Turning to the North's existing nuclear weapons, the defector said their efficiency still needs to be improved, so North Korea will try to boost its nuclear capability by conducting a third nuclear test. "There is almost no chance that North Korea will start a war at this point," he added. "High-ranking North Korean military commanders know their country is incapable of sustaining a war."
He also said there appears to be considerable discontent in North Korea about the transfer of power to Kim's son Jong-un. After Kim junior was appointed as successor, security officers reportedly raided the homes of high-ranking officials and dug out vast stashes of dollars, and many proteges of Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law Jang Song-taek and O Kuk-ryol, a vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, are believed to have been arrested.
The defector said claims that former leader Kim Il-sung's last wish was to denuclearize his country are "nonsense." He said there was a heated debate in 1986, when the Yongbyon nuclear facility was almost completed, whether to use it for power generation or weapons development. "At that time, Kim Il-sung issued a lengthy command ordering it to be used to develop nuclear weapons," the defector said. "All the scientists who wanted to use the facility for power generation were fired."
On the North's missile program, the defector said North Korea's Scud B and C missiles, which have a range of 300-500 km, were developed based on two Russian missiles smuggled in from Egypt during the 1960s. At the time, the North provided one of the two missiles to China, and as a gesture of gratitude Beijing in turn offered technical assistance to the North in the 1990s in order to boost the performance of the weapons. He added that Swedish builder and mining equipment maker Atlas Copco helped North Korea build a large cave in Ryanggang Province that came under suspicion in 1999 for housing an underground nuclear facility.
Regarding North Korea's attack against the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan, the defector said it was "probably the result of years of preparation" after naval clashes on the West Sea in 1999 and 2002. He said the skirmish in 1999 killed around 20 North Korean sailors, wounded around 70, sank one vessel and destroyed seven more.
In 2002, six South Korean sailors died, but some dozen North Korean sailors were killed and 15 wounded, and one of the North's vessels was completely destroyed. "When it realized it could not beat South Korea with ships, North Korea turned to torpedoes to plan a surprise attack," the defector said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/20/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
See also PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > [StrategyPage] SOUTH KOREA'S [new]SECRET SOSUS SYSTEM, to detect DPRK Submarines.
IMO ARTIC also read, MORE "ACCESS DENIAL" HEADACHES IN NE ASIA + EAST CHINA SEA FOR CHINA + PLAN.
* SAME > TAIWAN'S UNSATISFYING BALLISTIC MISSLE TEST.
Could be a de facto test failure, but IMO could also be TAIWAN = NORTH KOREA = does not desire to appear as being "TOO SUCCESSFUL" in China's eyes at this critical, potentially decisive time period/juncture in NE Asia.
* TOPIX/BHARAT RAKSHAK/PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > SOUTH KOREA WANTS OBAMA TO GET SERIOUS. US = POTUS BAMMER needs to talk tough, be tough on North Korea's behavior, as oppos to current ROK-perceived OBAMA "HOT AIR" = SWEET NUTHINS agz same.
#2
The Japanese probably feel like total idiots now, but then again they don't seem to have much problem with selling sensitive technology to thugs. Unless they get caught, that is.
After Kim junior was appointed as successor, security officers reportedly raided the homes of high-ranking officials and dug out vast stashes of dollars, and many proteges of Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law Jang Song-taek and O Kuk-ryol, a vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, are believed to have been arrested.
Go ahead, finish the sentence . . . .
Regarding North Korea's attack against the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan, the defector said it was "probably the result of years of preparation" after naval clashes on the West Sea in 1999 and 2002. He said the skirmish in 1999 killed around 20 North Korean sailors, wounded around 70, sank one vessel and destroyed seven more.
Suggests to me that the only role Li'l Kim may well have played in this incident was to receive recognition for it.
So who would have been crucified had it gone wrong?
#3
WMF > DEFENSEWATCH: JAPAN TO DEPLOY PATRIOT-III'S ON OKINAWA.
and
* SAME > JAPANESE DEFENSE MINSTER: JAPAN'S SECURITY SITUATION IS BECOMING VERY TENSE, JSDF MILITARY EXERCISES FOCUSING ON THE RE-CONQUEST OF SOUTHWEST ISLANDS IS GOOD FOR JSDF TROOPS' MORALE + PSYCHOLOGICAL READINESS AS PER CHANGES IN MILITARY MISSIONS.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il recently inspected what is believed to be the regime's main missile facility located in the northwestern part of South Pyongan Province.
According to Japan's Sankei Shimbun, citing U.S. intelligence agencies, the facility produces engines for tanks and missiles, as well as torpedoes like the one used to attack the South Korean warship Cheonan.
Analysts say Kim's move is aimed at delivering a threatening message to its neighbors and the U.S. ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's trip to Washington this week.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/20/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] More than 1,400 illegal Algerian immigrants were expelled from Spain in 2010, according to figures released by the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during a visit to Madrid by one of its bigwigs, reported Wednesday the press in Algiers.
According to the Department, the Secretary of State for the Algerian community abroad, Halim Benatallah, has discussed this issue and the granting of visas to Algerians during a one-day visit in Madrid on Monday.
According to the Algerian agency APS, the two countries agreed to initiate discussions for the facilitation of visa.
Mr. Benatallah and Spanish State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Antonio Yanez-Barnuevo Garcia wished to expand bilateral cooperation to movement of people and agreed that Algiers and Madrid will engage "soon" for talks on a facilitation visas grant", said the ministry who was quoted by the Algerian APS.
The daily El Watan said that Mr. Benatallah had not addressed in depth "the conditions of detention or illegal residence of Algerians which remain deplorable", according to several surveys by the European Federation of Algerian Associations (FEAA), based in Spain.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2011 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The United Nations refugee agency voiced concern over reports that Sweden planned to send about 25 Iraqis back to Baghdad on Wednesday, saying that a number of those scheduled to be deported belong to religious and ethnic groups that have been targeted in recent attacks.
Translation: they're Sunni dead-enders who have been causing trouble in Malmo but who are correctly in fear of their lives if they return to a land where the Shi'a thugs are in charge.
The spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Melissa Fleming, told reporters in Geneva that those reportedly targeted for repatriation "have profiles that would warrant protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention or the European Union's Qualifications Directive."
I wasn't aware that the Refugee Convention protected thugs and troublemakers...
Thugs and troublemakers are a special class. Naturally, they're protected.
"UNHCR was troubled that its advice, including on the situation of minorities in Iraq, was not sufficiently taken into account by Sweden when reviewing negative decisions that were made in 2008 and 2009," Fleming said, adding that the agency believed that the Swedish authorities had not adequately taken into account the recent deterioration in the situation of minorities in Iraq.
The UNHCR didn't offer to do anything, but they're troubled that the Swedes won't take their advice.
They're troubled that the Swedes don't join them in doing nothing, which is what one is supposed to do whenever threatened by thugs and troublemakers.
UNHCR has frequently appealed for countries to ensure that asylum applicants originating from Iraq's central governorates of Baghdad, Diala, Ninewa and Salah al-Din, as well as Kirkuk province, benefit from international protection by being granted refugee status.
Fleming said that the agency understood that many of those being returned came from those identified areas.
I'm comfortably certain that the Swedes wouldn't be turning these folks back into the tender mercies of the Iraqi police unless the jokers had caused some significant amount of trouble. The over-civilized world tends to inertia unless perturbed. Too bad the UNHCR didn't bother to look into that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/20/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The Supreme Court on Wednesday took personal notice of the tax evasion scandal of containers being supplied through Afghan transit trade for the Nato forces.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court ordered to send notices to the involved officers in the corruption scandal.
The case was heard by a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
According to a report of Federal tax ombudsman being presented in the court, around 7500 containers did not cross the Afghan border during the last four years. And with the involvement of some customer officials all the goods were smuggled inside Pakistain. As a result national treasury had incurred losses of around Rs 37 billion.
It is also stated in the report that it is just a hint towards a big scandal and after doing further investigation there are chances of revealing more corruption.
The court ordered to send notices to Chairman Federal Board of Revenue, member customs, custom collectors of Bloody Karachi port, port Qasim, Quetta and Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Secretary Finance, Secretary Trade, DG customs intelligence and DG NLC that were present during the period January 1, 2007 to December 24, 2010.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Speaking to media representatives in Islamabad on Wednesday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ruled out talks with Islamic fascistiand said the government will not make any compromises on Pakistain's illusory sovereignty.
He said talks will only be conducted with those Islamic fascistiwho surrender to the government.
He further said that Pakistain was under threat from "terrorism and extremism" and that the security situation was taking a heavy toll on the country's economy.
Prime Minister Gilani said the government enjoyed the support of a range of national and politicians in its war against terrorism.
Responding to a question regarding the security situation in Bloody Karachi, Gilani said the Pakistain People's Party (PPP) enjoys strong ties with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP).
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2011 00:00 ||
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ANBAR / Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces on Wednesday imposed a ban on vehicles and bikes in Falluja as of 6:00pm until further notice during the important match between Iraq and North Korea in Asian Cup, a police source said.
Oh -- it's soccer. The headline sounded like a very strange wargame. Will Kim Jong Il be coaching long-distance again?
"Policemen patrolled the city of Falluja and announced via loudspeakers the vehicle ban starting from 6:00pm until further notice because of the football match between Iraq and North Korea as part of the Group C of the Asian Cup of Nations, currently in Doha," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
"Security authorities informed citizens not to celebrate by shooting in the air in case Iraq beat Korea," the source added.
Army and police forces have intensified their deployment in the city as a precautionary measure.
Update: Iraq beat the Norks, 1-0. Just in case you care.
Perhaps this time Kim Jong Un was coaching instead. He hasn't his father's experience.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/20/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
How could he? Jong-Il invented the game over 3000 years ago.
AMMAN Jordans opposition on Wednesday urged constitutional amendments to curb the kings power in naming government heads, arguing the premiership should go to the leader of the majority in parliament.
We want constitutional amendments that would limit the kings power in appointing whoever he wants to head a government without any constitutional restriction, said Zaki Bani Rsheid, a head of the powerful Islamic Action Front (IAF).
Oh great, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Just what we need right now.
The leader of the majority in parliament should become prime minister, or get elected directly by the people, he told AFP.
Under the constitution, the king names and dismisses prime ministers.
Bani Rsheid said the IAF, the political arm of Jordans Muslim Brotherhood, had prepared a thorough study of the required amendments in the constitution, which was adopted in 1952.
"It ain't Islamic enough for us! We need a caliph and an emir! Down with the King!"
The IAF on Tuesday demanded the dissolution of parliament and removal of Prime Minister Samir Rifais government on allegations of fraud in Jordans November election.
The elections were marred by fraud. We have evidence of the use of tens of thousands of fake identity cards during the electoral process, said IAF secretary general Hamzeh Mansur.
Bani Rsheid said the IAF wanted a transitional government which should hold new, free and transparent elections on the basis of a law that is just and democratic.
The IAF boycotted the November vote in protest at the electoral laws under-representation of urban areas where Islamists are strong.
Bani Rsheid said the Islamists planned to organise a nationwide demonstration alongside leftist parties and trade unions to call for political reforms as well as limiting hikes in commodity prices.
Poverty levels are running at 25 percent in the desert kingdom, whose capital Amman is the most expensive city in the Arab world, according to several independent studies.
Unemployment is running at about 14 percent in the country of six million people, 70 percent of them under 30. But other estimates put the jobless figure at 30 percent, while the monthly minimum wage is 211 dollars a month.
Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets of the kingdom over the weekend to protest soaring prices and unemployment, despite a 169-million-dollar plan to improve their living conditions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/20/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Dramatic increases in cancer cases, sterility and abnormal births in south of the West Bank is said to be linked to a uranium leak at the Dimona nuclear power plant. "Doctor! The readings are off the charts!"
In villages located in the south of the West Bank, cancer cases, sterility and mental disorders have surged, particularly in the Avaria village, which has a population of over 35,000 people. International scientists have investigated the anomaly to find out the reason is behind it. "Ungh! What do you make of this, Professor?"
"Hmmm... Strange. Never seen anything like it before...!"
"During the past 20 years, there has been a sharp increase in Thyroid disorders, sterility, abnormal births and cancer cases," Mahmoud Sa'adeh, of the 10,000 strong International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, said in an interview with Press TV. "One case was an 11-year-old boy who developed heart cancer. This disease happens to one out of one hundred million people so is extremely rare. The boy died recently," he said. "There was another young fellow who started growing feathers..."
The group, with the help of Al-Khalil (Hebron) University, has studied the possible impacts of Israel's Dimona reactor, located in the Negev desert some 30km away from Avaria village. "Ahah! What's this?"
"Doctor! Look out! You're... You're growing gill slits!"
"Why so I am! And that probably explains my sudden urge to go for a swim!"
Governor of al-Khalil Kamel Hemed said, "Last year we killed over 2,000 dogs in our region. They were not behaving normally and were very aggressive and huge in size." "How huge were they, Kamel?"
"We're talkin' several city blocks apiece!"
"We do not own the needed technologies to investigate the matter and we are also banned from traveling to the border areas. We have asked international organizations to intervene", he added. "Help me! Help me!"
Uranium in the area has been tested at ten times the permitted concentration by Al-Khalil University. The elements of thorium and cesium follow the same pattern of results. Cesium only emerges from nuclear kabooms or nuclear activities and is 12 to 30 times the permitted concentration in five local villages of Paleostine. "Doctor! We're running low on cesium!"
"Oh, well. Just set off another bomb! Do it over by the Paleostinian side of the fence so we don't get any on us! Do it at night, and that way they won't notice it!""
"The nuclear waste from Dimona power plant is buried under Paleostinian state land and in some cases under Israeli settlements. In a nearby settlement, there are at least 20 cancer cases. They are too afraid to speak out. "If they do their lips fall off and their tendrils go all flaccid!"
"Every person over there gets around USD 20,000 dollars a month from the Israeli government in order to stay silent," Sa'adeh said. "Those bastards are rolling in money!"
"Israel pays USD11 per barrel to bury waste in this way. It would cost them over USD 5,000 per barrel if it was lawfully disposed of in other countries like Mauritania or Somalia," he added. "Got another barrel of sludge here, chief!"
"Oh, just bury it over there under the Paleostinians!"
"Hokay. That'll be eleven bucks!"
"Can you take a check?"
It has also been observed that the surrounding area currently has an unbalanced ecological system where reptiles and plants are almost gone, replaced by an increase in cockroaches, scorpions and other insects known to be able to resist radiation. "Some of them are over sixty feet long!"
The Israeli government is believed to be fully aware of the situation as in 2004 it started to deliver radiation tablets to Bedouins of the desert. "Here y'ar, Abu! Just take two of these and you'll be fine!"
"My youngest daughter! She glows at night!"
"Well, lots of people's daughters glow in the dark!" "Sure. You've heard the saying, 'Horses sweat, men perspire, daughters glow', right?"
"Shut up, Avi, that's not helpful!"
It was out of the Dimona plant in 1986 that whistleblower and nuclear scientist Mordechai Vanunu came to tell the world that Israel had secret nuclear weapons programs. "I seen 'em! Oh, Gawd! They was big 'uns!""
The international community has for decades turned a blind eye to the issue, but scientists are now concerned that the Israeli program risks creating a second Chernobyl catastrophe. Israel refuses to allow IAEA inspectors to enter the facility. "Piss off. Go inspect someplace else."
The nuclear reactor has become very old after 48 years, with experts warning of leakage into some Israeli and Paleostinian territories, reaching Jordan, Syria, Egypt and going as far as Libya. "Back off, youse guys, or the reactor gets it!"
This article starring:
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[22 views]
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#1
The inline comments are awesome!
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/20/2011 7:43 Comments ||
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#2
strange illness clusters and mental disorders? Paleo culture! "I'm my own uncle and son"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/20/2011 20:54 Comments ||
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#3
Savagely funny in-line! This post should be electroplated and enshrined in the Rantburg Hall of Mockery. Excuse me now, 'cause I think I wet myself laughing.
#4
A version of these blimps have been deployed along the U.S-Mex. border for years. At the slightest breeze the one I'm familiar with is lowered so as not to be destroyed during a storm.
[Straits Times] THE Philippine government has agreed to release a dozen Maoist leaders to lay the ground for negotiations next month to help end a long-running communist insurgency, an official said.
Alexander Padilla, head of the government's peace panel, said his team met with members of the National Democratic Front (NDF) in Oslo this week and agreed to launch formal talks to end the conflict that has killed 40,000 people.
'We promised to work for the release of rebel leaders involved in the peace talks as a sign of goodwill,' he said in a statement.
Since July 2010, the rebels have been demanding release of a dozen Maoist leaders whom they said served as consultants in the negotiations. The NDF says the government is holding more than 300 political prisoners.
The two sides will observe a ceasefire during the talks that will run from Feb 15-21, Mr Padilla said.
The Maoists want the administration to adopt their social and economic agenda including land redistribution, nationalisation of industry, and a ban on mining.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
The young Iranian man who "admitted" on Iranian TV last Tuesday, Jan. 11 that he had acted for the Israeli Mossad in the murder of Iranian nuclear scientist Massoud Ali-Mohammadi is revealed in real life by debkafile's Iranian sources as a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' secret reserve death squad of brawny sportsmen used to cut down opponents of the regime and break up protest rallies.
debkafile's Iranian sources had uncovered the real Majid Jamali Fashi - a champion kick boxer, a professional terminator and an ardent fan of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As a sportsman, his face is familiar to people in Iran from the media and the Internet. Until late 2009, he represented his country in international kick-boxing contests.
Are any Rantburgers followers of kick-boxing, who could verify this claim? Here is the Iran PressTV video of the man confessing on-screen.
Iranian intelligence minister Heidar Moslehi must have realized that putting him on national TV as a Mossad spy to support his boast that Iranian agents had penetrated the Mossad networks he claimed were spread across the country would open more than one can of worms.
If Majid had really been recruited by Mossad, this would have been a feather in the cap of the Israeli spy service -- not Tehran. It would have told the television audience that Mossad's tentacles had not only reached into Iran's nuclear program but also the elite clandestine ranks of the Revolutionary Guards, the IRGC. So why make it the subject of a boast?
Majid Jamali Fash's real persona is disclosed here by our Iranian sources: He was born in Tehran in 1978 and after completing his military service with the IRGC, took up kick boxing while continuing to serve the Guards as a reservist. He and hundreds of his fellow champion sportsmen belong to a unit which is regularly called up for undercover work such as liquidating enemies of the regime and breaking the heads, arms and legs of regime opponents.
In the summer of 2009, the young sportsman was employed in the brutal break-up of the mass street rallies protesting the rigged election which gave Ahmadinejad his second term.
Tehran's practice of employing national sporting talent as IRGC hatchet men in "crowd control" has drawn angry protests from the international federations of Taekwondo, Judo, Karate, Kung fu and other martial arts.
Because of his fame, Iranian audiences found it hard to revise their view of Jamali-Fashi as a Mossad agent.
Many decided his performance was faked by Iranian intelligence. However, opposition circles did believe in his role as assassin of Prof. Mohammadi, though not in the service of Israel but his IRGC masters because the late professor supported the opposition's cause.
#1
Martial artists are something unto themselves, and have their own rules about life and things. While they are willing to train government thugs and soldiers up to a point, this doesn't mean that they let them in their fraternity; nor does it mean that they will teach them mastery in the art.
A lot of this can be attributed to the efforts of governments in past to wipe them out. It didn't work, and they went underground. Even at the worst part of the Stalin years in the Soviet Union, martial artists were still training. Those that were caught were killed.
But whoever taught these guys top skills is in dutch in their fraternity, and at the next opportunity, they will probably take him out. Could be an African, American, Korean, South American, Australian, Chinese, who knows?
[An Nahar] President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad on Wednesday warned Iran's arch foes Israel, the United States and some European nations to stop their "sedition" in Leb or the Lebanese people would "chop" their hands.
"You are on a rough downhill path that will take you into a deep valley and your actions show that your decline is on a fast track," Ahmadinejad, referring to the U.S., Israel and unspecified European nations, told a cheering crowd in the city of Yazd in a speech broadcast live on state television.
"With these actions, you are damaging your reputation. Stop your interference.
"If you don't stop your sedition (in Leb), then the Lebanese nation and regional countries will cut your nasty, plotting hand," said the president.
Iran, like Hizbullah, accuses the international tribunal of being influenced by the U.S. and Israel. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has already dismissed the much-anticipated findings of the court.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
ION TOPIX > IRAN: TUNISIA ON WAY TO BEING ISLAMIC STATE.
I guess its safe to say Iran desires same for LEBANON.
* TOPIX/WORLD NEWS > SENIOR OFFICIAL: ISRAELI ATTACK ON HEZBOLLAH [Lebanon] MAY BRING WAR WITH SYRIA.
* BHARAT RAKSHAK > [Guardian.UK] IS TUNISIA THE FIRST DOMINO TO FALL?
and
SAME > [Robert Fisk] THE BLOODY TRUTH ABOUT TUNISIA: BLOODSHED, TEARS, BUT NO DEMOCRACY. BLOODY TURMOIL WON'T NECESSARILY PRESAGE THE DAWN OF DMEOCRACY.
[An Nahar] A leading Hizbullah source stated on Wednesday that Tuesday's actions took place after the party received information that the some March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... supporters, specifically Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... supporters, were going to mobilize in Beirut in a show of support to Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
It revealed to Akhbar al-Yawm news agency that supporters from Tripoli were also heading to Beirut to demonstrate their support and the indictment in the investigation into the liquidation of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Tuesday's action was a "preemptive step to prevent any action by the Mustaqbal supporters and to thwart any street tensions," it explained. Mmmm... Right. To thwart any street tensions we should assemble a large number of hard boyz on the streets to ostentatiously crack their knuckles and make faces at passers-by. That always works well.
"The most important aspect of the action was drawing the security forces and the army to the street where they prevented the gatherings that the other camp was planning and whose backers were already on the ground," they added. "Once the real soldiers chased us away we knew we'd done our job!"
The source stressed that the unarmed Hizbullah members withdrew from the street before the deployment of the security forces. "Brothers! It is the security forces! Run away with the knowledge of a job well done!"
It refuted allegations that the action was a maneuver by Hizbullah to confront the indictment. "No, no! Certainly not!"
Furthermore, it confirmed Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri's ... the Hizbullah sock puppet ... statements that AMAL members did not take part in the action, by explaining that the purpose of the deployment was to assert that the Special Tribunal for Leb is an American-Israeli court directed specifically against Hizbullah.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[14 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
"PREEMPTION" seems to be the GOOD POLITICIAN'S TERM/WORD-OF-CHOICE for 2011-2012/2015.
D *** NG IT, IS THERE NO MORE LOVE FOR 1990's "GRAVITAS"???
You have a friend request from...Ismail Haniyeh.
LONDON (Ma'an) -- The Facebook page of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has been removed, a Hamas-affilited website reported Thursday. Likes: Goats, donkeys
Dislikes: Joooos, Infidels
More than 10,000 people "liked" the site, the Palestinian Information Centre reported.
"Israel was suspected to be behind the move," the website reported without elaborating. I knew that...
Facebook was recently accused of removing a similar page for Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah. Likes: Goats, donkeys
Dislikes: Joooos, Infidels
#1
When my granddaughter was born, before she left the hospital, I happened to be talking to a nurse. There is, she said, an ethnic group which has a significantly higher than average number of challenged newborns. They take a look at the kid and leave him or her at the hospital. I figured she'd said enough and didn't press her for details.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/20/2011 9:56 Comments ||
Top||
#2
And because they're swept under the rug they probably don't think they have a problem.
#3
Now if my wife is my grandmother, then I'm her grandchild
And every time I think of it, it nearly drives me wild
For now I have become the strangest case I ever saw
As husband of my grandmother, I am my own grandpa
#4
Israel now includes genetic testing in their standard health service package. They expect to see a significant drop in Bedouin child mortality as a result.
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.
[Tolo News] Taliban take advantage of some personal differences among Afghan military commanders, said a senior Afghan military commander in the north Wednesday. 
[Ennahar] More than 1,400 illegal Algerian immigrants were expelled from Spain in 2010, according to figures released by the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during a visit to Madrid by one of its 
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The United Nations refugee agency voiced concern over reports that Sweden planned to send about 25 Iraqis back to Baghdad on Wednesday, saying that a number of those scheduled to be deported belong to religious and ethnic groups that have been targeted in recent attacks.
Dramatic increases in cancer cases, sterility and abnormal births in south of the West Bank is said to be linked to a uranium leak at the Dimona nuclear power plant.
A leading Hizbullah source stated on Wednesday that Tuesday's actions took place after the party received information that the some 
