[Pak Daily Times] Khartoum's chief Abyei negotiator said the northern government was "open" to negotiations with south Sudan over the contested border region of Abyei and announced talks would resume Saturday (today).
"We are open to negotiations," Al-Dirdiri Mohammed Ahmed, the National Congress Party's chief negotiator on Abyei, told AFP.
Dirdiri said the NCP and the south Sudan People's Liberation Movement would meet in Addis Ababa on Saturday for talks that will also be attended by the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... panel on Sudan and former South African president Thabo Mbeki.
"We hope that we will reach a compromise on a number of points," Dirdiri said, adding that indirect negotiations were already under way between the two sides through the African Union panel on Sudan and the United Nations. ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... The SPLM on Friday said that they too wanted to resume talks but could not confirm their start date. "Definitely there will be more talks between the SPLM and NCP," said Atif Keer, a senior staff member on the team of secretary general Pagan Amum, who heads the SPLM negotiations. "It has not been communicated exactly when the next round will start, but the negotiations will continue," he said. A southern Sudanese minister said Friday meanwhile that more than 150,000 people have decamped violence ravaging the fertile border region and surrounding areas since May 21 when northern troops and tanks overran Abyei. "The situation is terrible -- over 150,000 have decamped Abyei and the areas around," said James Kok Ruea, the south's humanitarian affairs minister.
Southern President Salva Kiir, who is also vice-president for all of Sudan, said on Thursday he was hopeful that a resolution can be found for the final steps of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the 2005 deal that ended over two-decades civil war. "We still believe we will resolve all the CPA provisions by peaceful means," Kiir said. Abyei's future is the most sensitive of a raft of issues that the two sides had been struggling to reach agreement on before the south's full independence in July. The northern troops have deployed as far south as the River Kiir, known in northern Sudan as Bahr al-Arab, which has become the front line between the Sudanese Armed Forces and southern troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Negotiations in lieu of actually resolving the problem, while the attacks continue. Eventually the south will either surrender the disputed region -- whereupon the process will begin again for the next piece -- or they'll drive out the northern oppressors.
[Al Jazeera] Salva Kiir, the South Sudan leader, has called on the Khartoum government to withdraw its troops from the Abyei region but stressed he had no intention of going to war with the North.
"We will not go back to war, it will not happen," Kiir said on Thursday in his first public statement since northern troops took over Abyei last week. "We are committed to peace."
Sudanese forces and South Sudan separatist fighters fought for decades before a 2005 peace deal that also allowed southerners to vote overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum in January.
But Abyei, an oil-rich region lying on the border claimed by both north and south, was exempted from the January referendum amid arguments as to who was eligible to vote.
On Saturday northern troops and tanks overran Abyei town, the main settlement in a fertile border district, sparking an international outcry and forcing thousands to flee.
Four United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... helicopters were shot at and agencies have been looted, a UN spokeswoman said, in what looks like an act by the militias allegedly backed by North Sudan.
More than 10,000 of Abyei's residents - mainly southern supporting Dinka Ngok people - have decamped the fighting across the border into the south, according to the UN. Up to 30,000 more have decamped southern border areas.
"We fought enough. We made peace," said Kiir, who is also the first vice president of united Sudan.
He directly urged Omar al-Bashir, Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president. Omar's peculiar talent lies in starting conflict. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its imminent secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. Sudan's president, to withdraw his troops despite al-Bashir's refusal on Tuesday to do so.
"I am calling upon my president to pull out his forces from Abyei," Kiir said, saying that the conflict sparked by a shooting incident last Thursday was "an over-reaction from my brother in the north".
But Kiir reassured the people of Abyei - who the south believes should be part of their nation-to-be - that northern soldiers would leave.
"The people now occupying [Abyei] are invaders and they will go out," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2011 00:00 ||
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Fill the begging-bowl kuffars or we will have to stop fighting and then where will you be?
THE new rebel administration in Libya has warned it is fast running out of money because countries that promised financial aid have not come through.
Ali Tarhouni, the rebel finance minister, complained that many countries that pledged aid have instead sent a string of businessmen looking for contracts from the oil-rich country.
"They are very vocal in terms of (offering financial) help, but all that we have seen is that they are ... looking for business," Mr Tarhouni said.
He recently returned to Benghazi, the rebel bastion, from a trip overseas to drum up aid that included a visit to Rome where the contact group on Libya promised to set up a fund to speedily help finance the rebel administration.
"I think even our friends do not understand the urgency of the situation. Either they don't understand, or they don't care," he said.
Mr Tarhouni singled out Qatar and Kuwait for their "generous, very generous help", but did not say if those countries had sent money. Qatar is the only Arab nation to send jet fighters to help NATO enforce a UN-designated no-fly zone in Libya.
He also praised France, which was the driving force behind the UN no-fly zone. But "other than that, everybody is just talking", he said. "So far, nothing has come through and I am fast running out of cash."
#1
Moonbeam my favorite. "Is their no limit to the torture an oriental mind can think of" Gunga Din. Ryuge thanks for that post. I wondered what had happened to that fellow. I picked up a hiker at Mt. Washington. He had a collapsible bow and arrow. He said he was afraid a bear would attack him. These people are out there. The fringe.
The Taliban has said they have no plans to attack Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, asserting that it is the only Muslim state possessing such weapons and the terror group aims to take over the country as well as its nukes.
Taliban has stepped-up violent campaign to avenge Osama bin Laden's death has renewed fears that the country's warheads could be vulnerable.
Declaring that "Pakistan is the only Muslim nuclear power state," Taliban Spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said that his group had no intention of changing the fact, Wall Street Journal reported. The Taliban, after all, aim to take over Pakistan and its weapons, he said.
A well coordinated Taliban attack on Pakistan key naval airbase at Karachi had triggered fresh global alarm that radical militant groups operating from the country's restive tribal areas bordering Afghanistan might be out to snatch nuclear weapons.
Seeking to dismiss these concerns, Ehsan claimed that US was using this as an excuse to pressurise Pakistan government and military into fighting Taliban, whom he portrayed as country's true protectors.
"Isn't it a shame for us to have the Islamic bomb, and even then we are bowing down to the pressures of America?" the Taliban spokesman mocked.
WSJ said Ehsan's remarks appeared tailored to appeal to that increasingly nationalist mainstream, where conspiracy theories flourish about American, Indian and Israeli plots to deprive Pakistan of its atomic arsenal.
Pakistan's nuclear capability is cherished here as the guarantor of safety from India's far larger conventional military.
#1
When will people realise that the Taliban are just a proxy/private army for the Islamists in the Pak Army eg.Gul,Beg etc
Posted by: Paul D ||
05/28/2011 13:15 Comments ||
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I figure in about 8-10 years some high powered expensive think tank will come to that conclusion Paul. And It'll only cost about 30 million dollars (and 30 Billion in aid to the Paks)...
GULI BADRAL, Pakistan - In this Pakistani village surrounded by forests and glacial streams just 35 miles from where Osama bin Laden was killed, people become uneasy when asked what goes on up the mountain.
Its where villagers avoid cutting pine trees for firewood - and where they know not to ask questions.
When pressed, they say its a secret training complex for Islamic militants and that the Pakistani army is aware of it. The army denies that it exists.
At least one of the militants appeared motivated to speak out because of anger at the army, which he said is not as supportive as it once was. Before 2001, Kashmiri-focused militant groups had offices across the country where they could openly recruit and allegedly received considerable state funds.
The three militants who spoke to the AP said all the bases in Mansehra were training recruits for jihad in Kashmir, not Afghanistan.
An essential part of that process is religious indoctrination, especially a willingness to kill - and die - for Islam, said Mr. Jamal, who visited Mansehra camps about a decade ago.
The camp near the village of Khatai houses a mosque big enough for 2,500 worshippers as well as dormitories and classrooms, according to one militant, who said his job is to deliver supplies such as boots and jackets to the facility. He said firing exercises take place deeper inside the forest, where the recruits stay in tents.
Recruits may enroll in a four-week course that covers basic military skills, or three-month stints with extensive instruction in guerrilla warfare, according to this militant. He said chosen graduates are sent to the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir for more explosives training.
#1
An essential part of that process is religious indoctrination, especially a willingness to kill - and die - for Islam, said Mr. Jamal, who visited Mansehra camps about a decade ago
How long has Pakistan used religion as a tool to fight/die?
Posted by: Paul D ||
05/28/2011 13:11 Comments ||
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How long has Pakistan used religion as a tool to fight/die?
Wrong question, Paul. It should be "How long has Islam used religion as a tool to fight/die?"
It's been going on for about 1400 years now...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/28/2011 16:20 Comments ||
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Embarrassed by the Osama bin Laden raid and by a series of insurgent attacks on high-security sites, top Pakistani military officials are increasingly concerned that their ranks are penetrated by Islamists who are aiding militants in a campaign against the state. Don't laugh - it's likely some officers had no idea. So you're saying that it's the 95% of the ones who did who make the others look bad...
Those worries have grown especially acute since the killing of bin Laden less than a mile from a prestigious military academy. This week's naval base infiltration by heavily armed insurgents in Karachi -- an attack widely believed to have required inside help -- has only deepened fears, military officials said.
Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, who like the civilian government has publicly expressed anger over the secret U.S. raid, was so shaken by the discovery of bin Laden that he told U.S. officials in a recent meeting that his first priority was "bringing our house in order." I added the bold, but the WaPo made the distinction between public and private anger.
U.S. officials and Pakistani analysts say support by the nation's top military spy agency for insurgent groups, particularly those that attack in India and Afghanistan, is de facto security policy in Pakistan, not a matter of a few rogue elements. But Kayani is under profound pressure, both from a domestic population fed up with the constant insurgent attacks and from critics in the U.S. government, who view the bin Laden hideout as the strongest evidence yet that Pakistan is playing a double game.
U.S. officials say they have no evidence that top Pakistani military or civilian leaders knew about bin Laden's hiding-in-plain-sight redoubt, though they are still examining intelligence gathered during the raid. Some say they doubt Kayani or Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, head of the military's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, had direct knowledge; others find it hard to believe they did not, particularly because Kayani was head of the ISI in 2005, when bin Laden is believed to have taken refuge in Abbottabad. Two words: Plausible deniability. Except it is getting more and more implausible. We need the Bizzaro-world pic...
The senior military official said belief in militant jihad -- long glorified in the national education curriculum -- is prevalent in the rank and file, making screening for it a daunting task that the military has been loath to perform. I swear it was 30 years ago I read about madrassas in the Reader's Digest. But no one (important)reads that magizine!
The ISI is believed to have an entire branch -- known as the "S Wing" -- devoted to relationships with militant organizations. I think they got that wrong. It's "Swing", as in AC-DC, playing both sides.
Some analysts believe the wing operates with relative independence, whether by design or default, that gives top brass plausible deniability when cooperation between the spy service and insurgents comes to light. "Some analysts,", you say? It's WaPo, you expect them to name sources? That would be uncouth... U.S. officials, for example, say they do not believe Pasha or Kayani knew about Pakistani militants' plans to attack Mumbai in 2008. But federal prosecutors have implicated the ISI in a trial underway in Chicago, where the star witness has said he was paid by the spy agency to help arrange the siege. The Agency? Or someone inside the Agency? Or someone who claimed to be inside the Agency? I fear we'll never know.
U.S. officials have emphasized since the bin Laden raid that billions of dollars in U.S. assistance could end if Pakistan is found to have harbored the al-Qaeda leader. Pakistani officials said that pressure has included demands that the military purge Islamists in its ranks and identify agents connected to bin Laden. Yup, we got 'em all this time! Islamist schools? Sure, we have to teach our children!
Some Pakistani officials and soldiers exposing the depth of their paranoia accuse the United States of using the bin Laden raid to embarrass the nation into doing American bidding. This week, talk-show pundits condemned the navy's security lapse at the Karachi base but also brimmed with conspiracy theories about CIA orchestration of the siege. Well, yeah, that's part of the curriculum.
"Any public action on the part of the military at this point will be seen as capitulating to U.S. demands," said Shuja Nawaz, director of the South Asia Center at the Washington-based Atlantic Council. So we're back to cutting off aid. Civil war insues. Turbans get 100 nukes. Use 98, reverse engineer the other two, make a hundred copies. Only 47 work. Obama is re-elected. Then what?
One Pakistani security official said the Karachi attack had prompted the military to begin a "thorough overhauling" of the armed forces. But, he asked: "if someone is helping the militants from inside the forces, why are they doing it? And the answer, to us, is their disdain for the U.S. and anger at Pakistanis cooperating with Americans." Why don't they ask the US Army how they discovered and cast out Major Nidal? Why should we think the Paks can do it?
Wikipedia - In 1947 there were only 189 madrassas in Pakistan. In 2002 the country had 10,000-13,000 unregistered madrassas with an estimated 1.7 to 1.9 million students. A 2008 estimate puts this figure at "over 40,000".
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/28/2011 08:00 ||
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NOW I see anon 1 has posted a similar article from AFP. But this WaPo story has a named writer, not an agency, so I assumed it was an original piece. Perhaps the AFP has taken to plagiariztion of the WaPo?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/28/2011 8:33 Comments ||
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Shouldn't the headline read "Islamists Worried About Pak Military Infiltrators"?
Posted by: Matt ||
05/28/2011 9:19 Comments ||
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NOW I see anon 1 has posted a similar article from AFP.
Different journalists working from the same material, Bobby. Hopefully they bring out diffent perspectives.
Post slaying of Osama bin Laden, the US has drawn up a list of five terrorists, including al-Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al Zawahiri, Mullah Omar and Illyas Kashmiri, on whom it expects Pakistan to provide intelligence immediately and possibly target them in joint operations, according to US officials. "♫♪We're making a list, checking it twice ♪♫..."
The list was discussed during three meetings between Pakistani and US officials in the past two weeks, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's talks with Pakistani leaders in Islamabad yesterday, ABC News quoted the US official as saying.
The list also includes commander Sirajuddin Haqqani, the operating chief of Haqqani network and Atiya Abdel Rahman, the Libyan operations chief of Al Qaeda, who had emerged as a key intermediary between bin Laden and Qaeda's affiliate networks across the world.
The US views the list as a test of whether Pakistan is "serious about fighting terrorists who have long enjoyed safe havens within its borders", the report said.
An American source too confirmed the existence of the list to the Dawn newspaper and said the US softening its position on unilateral action against terrorists found in Pakistan was conditional.
"The message given to Pakistani leaders was loud and clear: you either cooperate with us on these...terrorists or we'll take care of them by ourselves," the source was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Someone at Foggy Bottom has some stones? Most excellent!
Police have escalated investigations into the circulation of an email which claims that the Popular Front of India (PFI) is actively engaged in Love Jihad, promoting conversion of girls from other faiths to Islam.
PFI state general secretary P. Abdul Hameed said that the organization had noticed the email around three months ago.
He said, "We have lodged a complaint with the Kozhikoide Commissioner of Police in March after we came to know about the mail."
"After we lodged the complaint we came to know that somebody has tendered an apology for circulating such a mail," he added. But we stand by our complaint. We suspect a foul play behind the episode."
The message says that those who take initiative in converting girls of other faiths into Islam will be suitably rewarded. It details various amounts to be given for those who convert girls from upper caste, OBC and from various Christian denominations. The contact addresses given are those of the various offices of the PFI.
From NPR. If Dubya was still president NPR would also doubt Binny was dead.
We're on a crowded shopping street in Lahore, Pakistan, alongside the shrine to Data Ganj Baksh, one of the holiest places in the country. The shrine of a Muslim saint, it's a giant rectangle surrounded on all sides by giant white stone arches. This location was bombed last year. So we thought Thursday night, a very busy night at the shrine, would be a good night to ask people about what's happening in Pakistan.
In recent days, there has been bombing after bombing across the country, even an attack on a naval base all apparently in retaliation for the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Zafar Iqbal says he's heard of the latest attacks. He says they're wrecking the economy and the country's defense system.
"Only God can save us," he says in Urdu, "our government can't." God doesn't appear to be all the interested either...
Iqbal, a teacher at a madrassa religious school, says he doesn't often talk about current events in class "because the bad news is too stressful for the students."
"I try to focus on good news," he says.
But when asked what positive things he talks about, he laughs, saying: "I don't discuss because we don't have many positive thing."
And there is one piece of news that he really doesn't believe: It's "doubtful," he says, that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was really killed by U.S. Navy Seals this month.
Nor is Iqbal the only person here who doubts it.
"I don't believe he could be killed by those dogs," Malik Shabir says in Urdu, referring to Americans.
A recent Gallup poll of Pakistanis found that 49 percent do not believe bin Laden was killed in the way the U.S. says. This country embraces conspiracy theories though in all fairness, that could make sense in a country where so many killings go unresolved, and many conspiracy theories turn out to be true.
Lahore is the city where an American named Raymond Davis was arrested this year for killing two Pakistanis. The U.S. eventually admitted he was a CIA contractor. When I visited the Data Ganj Baksh shrine in Lahore on Thursday night, I had trouble getting in with a tape recorder. I'm obviously American, and the guards kept mentioning Davis, as if they suspected me of being a spy.
All this year's events feed into a political culture that runs on conspiracy theories and skepticism. Sorta like the Daily Kos...
"Nothing is of face value," says Faisa Agha. "Nothing is of face value, so I would not believe anything is being told to me."
She's in a coffee shop called Calories with her friend Alina Pasha in another part of the city. Pasha works in a bank while Agha is studying for a master's degree in business.
"If there was an Osama bin Laden at that location ... at that time ... if he was present over there, there is a proper way to go about it," Agha says.
When asked if her choice of words means she isn't sure the al-Qaida chief was where the U.S. said he was, she replies: "Of course not. If he was there, you guys would've been there a lot sooner."
To be clear, Agha is no Islamist nor is she anti-American. In fact, she hopes to study in the U.S. someday. Forget it, sweetie...
"I am not somebody who is against America or against any nation. I'm not into this. I'm not at all into this," she says. "What I want is that I can actually, you know, enjoy life, live happily ... not be afraid about getting killed the moment I get out of my house."
When asked if she's suspicious of what the United States is doing in Pakistan, Agha says: "I'm deeply suspicious of what my own government is doing, honestly." Maybe can consider that visa after all...
Agha's comments come just before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's scheduled visit to Pakistan on Friday. After their meetings, U.S. and Pakistani officials may well spend the coming days making public statements to smooth over their troubled relationship. Whatever they say, we can feel certain many Pakistanis won't believe a word.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2011 00:00 ||
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In Pakistan, Doubts Persist Bin Laden Is Dead
E's not dead, e's pining!
/you guys are slipping :)
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/28/2011 13:20 Comments ||
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Ok. The US govt should say that Bin Laden is not dead, but rather in the wings well with the 12th imam, waiting for their cue to come on stage. How's that? Feel better?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/28/2011 13:44 Comments ||
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Mike, don't look at me, I'm not the genius who thought throwing away the body was a good idea.
#5
I am sure that we can find some Marines to testify to OBL's demise. You know, the ones that were practicing skeet shooting from the carrier deck while the body was being dumped overboard....
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
05/28/2011 20:14 Comments ||
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FTA: Agha says: "I'm deeply suspicious of what my own government is doing, honestly."
I wasn't aware that the Pakistani government was doing anything honestly.
[Dawn] The US Homeland Security chief said on Friday she viewed the banned Pak group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as an equal in danger to the al Qaeda network.
Janet Napolitano, speaking on a trip to New Delhi where she met top Indian security officials, was asked about the threat posed by the group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed.
"It is is one that seeks to harm people and the US perspective is that the LeT is an organisation which is in the same ranks of al Qaeda-related groups," Napolitano told news hounds after day-long talks in New Delhi.
India believes the LeT and the Pak intelligence service staged the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, which severely strained ties between the countries and led to a breakdown in their peace talks.
David Coleman Headley, an American-Pak facing trial in a Chicago court in connection with the attacks in India's financial capital, has admitted to his links with the LeT and Pak intelligence.
The group, founded to fight India's presence in the disputed territory of Pakistain, denied any involvement in the Mumbai carnage.
Napolitano said the US had worked with India on investigations into the Mumbai attacks and would grant Indian Sherlocks further access to Headley, the key government witness in the trial of an alleged accomplice.
"The United States has given India full access to the witness and once the case (trial) is over more access will be given. It is an example of how our two countries operate," she said.
A twice convicted drug pusher, Headley admitted to taking part in the Mumbai plot after prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty or to allow him to be extradited to India, Pakistain or Denmark on related charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2011 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Edmund Randolph ... said on Friday the United States was more committed to Pakistain after the the late Osama bin Laden ... who had a brief but splitting headache... crisis, but asked Islamabad to take decisive steps to defeat al Qaeda.
The top US diplomat affirmed that America had no evidence that anyone in Pakistain at the highest level knew where bin Laden was and she would return to Washington "ever more committed" to the relationship.
Talking to newsmen at the US Embassy in Islamabad after meeting Pakistain's civil and military leadership -- President Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... -- Clinton also said that Pakistain had been "very forthcoming in saying somebody somewhere" was providing support to bin Laden and that a probe was under way.
"This was an especially important visit because we have reached a turning point. Osama bin Laden is dead but al Qaeda and his syndicate of terror remain a serious threat to us both," added Clinton who also met Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha and foreign and interior ministries' representatives.
She maintained that a "tremendous amount of commitment has been shown by the government of Pakistain in the fight against terrorism," as the two countries had moved forward, since US President Barack B.O. Obama took over.
"We both recognise there is still much more work required and it is urgent," she said, and added that the talks discussed in detail how to disarm, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in the region.
Clinton brushed aside suggestions that the meetings had been tense and sought to give Pakistain credit for the sacrifice of thousands of soldiers in military offensives and thousands of civilians in kabooms.
"We will continue to support Pakistain's illusory sovereignty, civilian elected government and its people. (But) America cannot and should not solve Pakistain's problems. That's up to Pakistain. But in solving its problems, Pakistain should understand that anti-Americanism and conspiracy theories will not make problems disappear," averred Clinton.
"We will do our part and we look to the government of Pakistain to take decisive steps in the days ahead," added the top US official.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
What Pakistan worries about if they clean up their jihadi groups the West stop paying aid!
Posted by: Paul D ||
05/28/2011 3:38 Comments ||
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[Pak Daily Times] The United States should pursue a Marshall Plan on the lines of its assistance for European allies after World War II to help bolster Pakistain's economy as key part of the effort to defeat terrorism in the long-term perspective, a senior adviser to President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... advocated on Friday.
MNA Farahnaz Ispahani underscored in an opinion piece in The USA Today that Pakistain is a major victim of terrorism and bringing better economic opportunities to its people can only guarantee enduring success in the two countries' common struggle against terror threat.
"The US, after the second World War, understood that political stability in vulnerable countries like La Belle France, Italia and Greece was intrinsically linked to the viability of their economies. Former president Truman advanced the European Recovery Plan (the Marshall Plan) that brilliantly operationalised this thesis, and by doing so saved Western Europe from communism, she recalled.
The same construct should be applied to Pakistain as we jointly work towards the eradication of terrorism and the rebuilding of a peaceful and stable South and Central Asia."
Ispahani, who is media adviser to President Zardari, regretted that Pakistain is projected by many in the international news media and by some in the US Congress as a purveyor of terrorism but noted that "in cold fact, it remains its chief victim".
"Three thousand Pak troops have been killed (more than all NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... losses in Afghanistan combined). Add to that 2,000 police cut down, the tragedy of 35,000 civilian casualties and the liquidation by beturbanned goons of our country's most popular leader, Benazir Bhutto, and one might understand Pak exasperation. This recent al Qaeda attack on a Pak naval base in Bloody Karachi, killing 10 of our sailors, again demonstrates that Pakistain is the principal target of terrorist rage."
Just as many Americans are expressing frustration with what they see as Pakistain's slow progress in defeating terrorism (most recently underscored by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Walter Q. Gresham ... 's visit to Islamabad), Paks are equally frustrated with the increasingly ugly anti-Pakistain sentiment in the United States, she wrote.
"Most Paks simply do not understand how cutting US economic and military aid to Pakistain advances the fight against terrorism," the member of the National Assembly said.
"How much of our people's blood does it take for Washington to get it?" she said.
British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... said it most succinctly standing next to President B.O. in London earlier this week: "Pakistain has suffered more from terrorism than any country in the world. Their enemy is our enemy. So, far from walking away, we've got to work even more closely with them."
The MNA also drew attention to the slow pace of aid flow under Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act for economic development, health, education, energy and infrastructure, pointing out that only $179 million, according to Senator Dick Lugar, R-Ind., has actually been spent.
"The rest sadly has been bottled up in a bureaucratic quagmire within USAID."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Uh, uh, Debt-ridden, Net so-called "CALIPHORNIA" going Global???
Compare wid WORLD NEWS > WHY GLOBAL INFRASTRUCTURE IS A US$6.0TRILYUHN OPPORTUNITY.
Because in this Age of "Globalism",
"Regionalism", + OWG-NWO, etc. the focii of the US AFL-CIO is to stay Local-Nationalist.
#2
How much money can you dump into a swamp of corruption before people realize that you are throwing money away? Since Pakistan was never properly industrialized a "Marshall Plan" cannot work. LEvel the Madrases and build proper schools and you still have to wait a generation or two (if the educated survive) before anything can happen. You cannot lift a nation from the third world by dumping money on it. Its about mindest and culture, not about busted infrastructure.
#3
There was a lot of physical prep work which lead to the successful implementation, is he suggesting that part as well; try to re-create the plan as accurately as possible and all that.
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The Iraqi cycling team, participating in the Turkish International Cycling Tournament, withdrew due to Israel's participation in the event. You'd hope that the Iraqis would have learned a thing or two about who their real enemies are.
Secretary of Cycling Federation Ahmed Sabri told Aswat al-Iraq that the "team decided to withdraw for administrative reasons related to Israel's participation."
"The Syrian team also withdrew from the tournament," he added.
He elaborated that the Turkish Federation understood the Iraqi decision, and decided to arrange a training site for the Iraqi team for one week, on Turkish account, to enable the Iraqi team to participate in Istanbul's International Tournament due in few days.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Correction: "the team decided to withdraw for administrative reasons related to Israel's participation the inherent laziness Iraqi cyclists and a shortage of Schwinns.
Posted by: American Delight ||
05/28/2011 7:58 Comments ||
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#2
How humiliating it would be if the juices beat Allah's chosen at something. Clearly the Iraqis believe it's a liklihood.
AMMAN - Israel will not gain security by holding on to territory beyond what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called its indefensible 1967 West Bank border, Jordans foreign minister said. It's worked so far...
Netanyahu said this week he was ready to withdraw from parts of the West Bank, captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, to reach peace with Palestinians. But he dismissed a call from U.S. President Barack Obama that the pre-conflict borders should form the basis for talks on creating a Palestinian state.
I have serious reservations about the Israeli prime minister saying these lines are indefensible and we cannot go back to them, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told Reuters in an interview in the Jordanian capital Amman.
It is peace that will bring Israel security ..., not increasing the width of Israel or finding a military solution to defending the borders of Israel. Peace would be great, but the Arabs won't let Israel have peace. So land works.
In a speech to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, Netanyahu also urged Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to tear up last months reconciliation pact with the Islamist Hamas movement, promising to be generous with West Bank land if Abbas would make peace.
Abbas replied that Netanyahu was offering nothing we can build on for peace.
The basis of (a) Palestinian state should be the 1967 lines, with agreed land swaps subject to agreement between the two parties, Judeh said. We in Jordan are not just an observer in this. It is the supreme Jordanian national interest to see this independent Palestinian state established on Palestinian soil. And not on Jordanian soil...
Jordan ruled the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, before the June 1967 war and most of its population are of Palestinian origin. It says the main issues in peace talks Palestinian refugees, borders, security, water supplies and the status of Jerusalem all have an impact on the Hashemite kingdom.
Jordan signed a peace accord with Israel in 1994.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
ION FREEREPUBLIC/NEWSMAX > IRAN ANGLING FOR HELICOPTERS WID [standoff?]NUKE CAPABILITY.
#2
Jordan ruled the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, before the June 1967 war and most of its population are of Palestinian origin
..which is the point ignored by the usual suspects. Where was the Paleo independence and sovereignty issue then? Why did it become a cause celebre only after both Jordan and Egypt [for Gaza] figured out they weren't going to be able to get the land back after the '67 war? /rhet questions.
#3
Jordan should either step up and agree to take the West Bank back (except for West jerusalem) or shut up. At least Israel would then have a target when the Pals acted up.
Israel really blew it when they didn't expel the Palestinians following (a) the War of Independence (b) the 6-day war (c) Yom Kippur war (d) all of the above.
[Iran Press TV] Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi says the recent developments in the region are a prelude for Islam to prevail in the international arena.
"The recent events ... show that the future of the world, including [that of] the US and Europe, belongs to Islam," IRNA quoted Moslehi as saying at a conference in the central Iranian city of Karaj on Thursday.
The intelligence minister pointed to the recent popular revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen and other anti-government uprisings across the Arab world and argued that all of these movements are of Islamic nature, inspired by the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
Moslehi referred to the West's "confusion" over the wave of the Islamic awakening, saying Western countries try to attribute the movements to "non-Islamic" roots.
The recent visits by US President Barack B.O. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Tallyrand ... to different parts of the world, particularly to the Middle Eastern countries, are aimed at "preventing further losses to the US interests in the region," he added.
Moslehi called on regional heads of states, especially Saudi officials, not to follow the US path, because they themselves will eventually "get entangled with the Islamic awakening."
In recent months, a wave of revolutions and anti-government uprisings has swept the Arab world.
In January, a revolution in Tunisia ended the 23-year ruling of former President-for-Life Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. ...who departed by popular demand in January, 2011, precipitating the Arab Spring... In February, another revolution led to the ouster of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... after three decades of authoritarian rule.
Other revolutions have erupted in Libya, Yemen and Bahrain, while more anti-government upheavals have swept Soddy Arabia, Jordan, Oman and Algeria.
Meanwhile, ...back at the hoedown, Bob finally got to dance with Sally... more Arab countries are expected to witness similar revolts.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
World's future belongs to Islam
This is a warning. See below for the last time this sort of thing happened (a metaphorical warning from a movie of all things)
#4
"World's future belongs to Islam" We have have heard that tune before. Islam is like other religions. People bend and shape it to suit their needs. The fascination with the Nazi in the Arab world has a long history. It does find a home with Islam. The control of people and self belief of superiority then lebensborn perhaps?.
#5
That scary, fascist religion, that oppresses women, never produced a citizen who could solve one of the FOUR GREAT MYSTERIES of the universe on her summer internship!!
#8
When the oil under those countries starts to dry up they'll be sitting on Africa v2.
Islamic Culture is not a reciprocal. Reciprocation is the single path to wealth (they swap their oil for western wealth).
When the oil goes they'll be no wealth.
#9
In a way I agree, as the history of Islam is expand or implode, which I think makes OS's movie clip quite appropriate; Fertile Crescent, Egypt of Wheat, can't even feed themselves. I foresee the old standby of extortion and trade route tolling.
#10
...And while I'm at it, has anyone else ever considered that the more a given group says that the future belongs to them, the more willing they are to use violence to overcome the unexpectedly high number of people who disagree with them?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/28/2011 13:24 Comments ||
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#11
#8 When the oil under those countries starts to dry up they'll be sitting on Africa v2.
without the other natural resources that Africa has
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/28/2011 14:22 Comments ||
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#12
Hasn't exactly helped Africa ha it?
You notice most of the time these Middle East countries get westerners to run the oil extraction for them.
While I hold no truck for "peak oil" lunacy I'm quite pleased it's accelerating the rate of development for oil alternatives.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/28/2011 19:43 Comments ||
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#14
Peak oil is sadly not true. Peak cheap oil is. The light sweet crude is running out but they've got just as much heavy thick crude under the desert as they ever did. They are still floating on an ocean of oil, 100 year's worth of world supply. It's just harder to get the thick stuff out.
ANKARA - Syrias President Bashar al-Assad should deliver shock therapy reforms to end bloody protests, Turkeys Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was on Friday quoted as saying. Turkey has failed to persuade Assad to end a crackdown on anti-government protesters and implement reforms despite warm ties between Ankara and Damascus.
Davutoglus words are among the most forceful by a Turkish official, highlighting Turkeys growing concern over a crisis that has sparked world outrage. In comments carried by state-run Anatolian, Davutoglu said he believed it was possible for Syria to end the unrest but that the treatment should feature shock therapy, including reforms on the economy, security, politics and the judiciary.
The comments, made in an interview with a Turkish television channel late on Thursday, were repeated in a separate interview with the New York Times, in which Davutoglu said: Now what (Assad) needs is shock therapy to gain the heart of his people.
Muslim Turkey, a booming economy that has applied for European Union membership, has boosted trade links with Syria and lifted visa restrictions, reflecting a wider policy of close ties with Middle Eastern countries.
But after embracing Assad as a friend, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has found his influence over the Syrian president is limited. Erdogan has warned Assad that unless he undertakes urgent reforms he could be toppled in the same way that protests have ousted autocrats elsewhere in the Middle East this year.
Erdogan has said he doubted Assad was heeding his advice.
Anatolia said Erdogan called Assad on Friday to discuss the situation in Syria, without providing more details.
Worsening unrest in Syria could lead to security concerns in Turkey, given the religious, sectarian mix in the neighbourhood, and could inundate Turkey with Syrian refugees.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2011 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
,
Embarrassed by the Osama bin Laden raid and by a series of insurgent attacks on high-security sites, top Pakistani military officials are increasingly concerned that their ranks are penetrated by Islamists who are aiding militants in a campaign against the state.
U.S. officials, for example, say they do not believe Pasha or Kayani knew about Pakistani militants' plans to attack Mumbai in 2008. But federal prosecutors have implicated the ISI in a trial underway in Chicago, where the star witness has said he was paid by the spy agency to help arrange the siege.
Hillary Clinton
Asif Ali 
David Cameron
