The Libyan government on Sunday renewed its offer to hold a vote on whether Muammar Gaddafi should stay in power, a proposal unlikely to interest Gaddafi's opponents but which could widen differences inside NATO.
As if that would be difficult to accomplish...
Pressure is growing from some quarters within the alliance to find a political solution, three months into a military campaign which is costing NATO members billions of dollars, has killed civilians, and has so far failed to topple Gaddafi.
So double-down or walk away: and I think we know the preferred option for lots of European leaders...
Moussa Ibrahim, a spokesman for Gaddafi's administration, told reporters in Tripoli the government was proposing a period of national dialogue and an election overseen by the United Nations and the African Union.
"If the Libyan people decide Gaddafi should leave he will leave. If the people decide he should stay he will stay," Ibrahim said.
But he said Gaddafi -- who has run the oil-producing country since taking over in a military coup in 1969 -- would not go into exile whatever happened. "Gaddafi is not leaving anywhere, he is staying in this country," Ibrahim said.
The idea of holding an election was first raised earlier this month by one of Gaddafi's nastiest sons, Saif al-Islam.
[Bangla Daily Star] Hundreds of supporters of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... clashed with his foes in central Cairo on Friday and dozens were maimed, the official MENA news agency reported.
A small gathering of pro-Mubarak demonstrators swelled into an 800-strong protest by early evening to demand the immediate release of the former president who is in jug on charges of killing anti-regime protesters.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2011 00:00 ||
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Hugo Chávez extended stay in a Cuban hospital is because he is in critical condition, according to a report in El Nuevo Herald.
The Venezuelan president, who was last seen in public June 9 and last heard from on June 12, on a phone call with Venezuelan state television, was said to have been treated for a pelvic abscess in Cuba.
During the call Chávez said that medical tests showed no sign of any "malignant" illness. Which means the tests did...
The Miami newspaper cited U.S. intelligence officials who wished to remain anonymous.
Chávez silence has led to chatter and speculation in Venezuela that the socialist leader is actually suffering from prostate cancer. Intelligence officials could not confirm a diagnosis of prostate cancer but Chávez family did go to Cuba in the last 72 hours, according to wire service EFE.
Chávez daughter Rosinés and his mother Marisabel Rodríguez "urgently" left the country and headed to Cuba in a Venezuelan air force plane. Just to see the sights of Havana, of course...
Cuba's state media website, Cubadebate, released photos on June 17 that showed Chávez posing with Fidel and Raul Castro in his hospital room. Chávez smiled for the camera in a track suit, while a frail-looking Fidel clutched Chávez arm. Was it Fidel's cast-off track suit?
Before the report that Chávez was in critical condition, his brother sought to reassure Venezuela that he was recovering well.
"In response to all the rumors, I can give faith that the president is recovering in a satisfactory manner," Adan Chávez, who is a state governor, told state television Wednesday. "The president is a strong man."
Adan Chávez added that "it's not clear" when his younger brother would return home, but said the president is expected to leave Cuba within 10 to 12 days. Perhaps feet-first...
Possibly to stave off rumors of bad health, Chávez personal Twitter account went active on Friday, for the first time in 20 days. "I'm here with you during the hard battles every day! Until victory always! We are winning! And we shall win!" he tweeted in Spanish.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2011 00:00 ||
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#5
..yes, I hope we have a medevac awaiting Mikey Moore to ship his fat ass to Havana General when the time comes for some of that superior medical care he crowed about.
#9
"medical tests showed no sign of any "malignant" illness"
Oogo is a malignant illness.
Posted by: Barbara ||
06/26/2011 11:31 Comments ||
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#10
Top tier of Cuban Medicine as advertised, pretty good, lower not so much, no aspirin. It's not the EMBARGO either, Canada and most of Europe have the ability to manufacture asprin and ur... stuff for wymens and such.
Posted by: S ||
06/26/2011 12:18 Comments ||
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#11
If the US imposes an embargo on an island nation, but every other nation on the planet can ignore the embargo, is it an embargo?
#12
Exactly, it's not. Cuba has the means to import and export every item in their inventory. But the EMBARGO gets the blame for their suck air economy.
Remove the excuse.
Posted by: S ||
06/26/2011 12:22 Comments ||
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#13
The only good commie is a...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/26/2011 13:20 Comments ||
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#14
Well President bambi had better clear his calendar - I'm sure this is one state funeral he won't want to miss.
U.S. President Barack Obama has extended sanctions against North Korea for another year citing Pyongyang's continuing threat to stability on the Korean Peninsula.
Good. Now add the Norks back to the list of terrorist nations, stop all this nonsense of food aid to a terrorist nation, and put some heat on the Chinese to curb their dog.
The national emergency in relation to North Korea was declared by the Bush administration in 2008 under the National Emergencies Act. The Obama administration has not only kept extending the emergency, but also imposed tougher sanctions on Pyongyang in April, including a ban on direct and indirect imports of North Korean goods.
"The existence and the risk of proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula, and the actions and policies of the Government of North Korea that destabilize the Korean Peninsula and imperil U.S. Armed Forces, allies, and trading partners in the region, continue to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," Obama said in a message to the U.S. Congress on Thursday.
"For these reasons, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency with respect to these threats and maintain in force the measures taken to deal with that national emergency," he said.
North Korea is banned from conducting nuclear or ballistic missile tests under UN Resolution 1718, adopted after Pyongyang's first nuclear test on October 9, 2006.
However, the country carried out a second nuclear test on May 25, 2009, followed by a series of short-range missile launches, and has threatened to build up its nuclear arsenal to counter what it calls hostile U.S. policies.
Why not a complete, comprehensive set of sanctions?
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2011 00:00 ||
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China has said this past week it will no longer stand by the DPRK iff it engages in any new unilater mil provocations agz the ROK, but Kimmie + Regime know that, be that as it may, China won't tolerate a post-collapse or post-war DPRK occupied by US-ROK-Allied forces.
Doesn't help the DPRK though, as that by accounts the SINO-DPRK FTAS will only expand China's influence + domination oer the DPRK, not lessen it.
Lest we fergit, the DPRK = NORCOMS [Kimmie + Boyz] has historically promoted as their own the precepts of not only "ASIA FOR ASIANS", BUT ALSO "KOREA FOR KOREANS" + "NORTH KOREA FOR NORTH KOREAN/KOREANS", NOT CHINA ANDOR "WHITEY" = [foreign devils]US + EUROPEANS includ RUSSIA, OR OTHER NON-ETHNICS.
IMO this is why he wants to visit Medvedev = Russia - to counter Beijing's control, Kimmie + Regime for time being must continue their kowtow to China while "minimally/sufficiently" increasingly the foreign/international influence in the DPRK. JUST ENUFF TO APPEASE CHINA WHILE ALSO MINIMIZING?CONTAINING ITS DOMINATION VEE KIM FAMILY RULE + NORTH KOREAN SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
D *** NG IT, KIMMIE CAN'T DO THAT - CHINA BLOGGERS CLAIM THAT CHINA + DPRK LOVE EACH OTHER!
A U.S. congressman is seeking legislation that would ban senior Chinese officials and their families from entering the U.S. if they have been involved in repatriating North Korean defectors to the North.
Rep. Chris Smith, the chairman of the human rights subcommittee of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, introduced a "China Democracy Promotion Act " early this month.
Co-sponsored by reps. Frank Wolf, Dana Rohrabacher, and Dan Burton, the bill would ban entry of senior Chinese officials or other individuals involved in human rights violations. It specifically targets those who have "participated in the trafficking of North Korean refugees or the forcible return to North Korea of such refugees, knowing that such refugees will be persecuted upon their return."
It would also bar anyone who gains through their senior position in the Chinese government, significant financial benefit from policies or actions like human rights abuses or corruption, that impede the transition to democracy in China; participated in the imposition of China's coercive birth control policy; took part in the violent repression or any other form of persecution of Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, or other ethnic minorities; and is a member of any branch of the security or law enforcement services of China who participated in any form of violent repression, imprisonment, and torture of leaders of religious groups, human rights and democratic advocates, workers and independent journalists.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2011 00:00 ||
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How about the sheriff of Pima County AZ while you're at it. Jose Guerena could not be reached for comment.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev may meet next week in Vladivostok, PrimaMedia, a news agency for Russia's Far East, said Thursday.
Out of cash again?
Medvedev "will visit Vladivostok between June 29 and July 1 to inspect preparations for the APEC Summit there next year and there is the possibility of a summit with North Korean leader Kim during the visit," PrimaMedia reported. "This has been confirmed by several sources."
If the summit takes place, it would be the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries in nine years. Kim and Putin also met in Pyongyang in July of 2000, in Moscow in August 2001 and in Vladivostok in August of 2002 to discuss economic cooperation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2011 00:00 ||
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looking for a new sugar daddy since China's disassociating?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/26/2011 10:47 Comments ||
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#2
Could be. If so makes things a little more crazy, Uncle Joe promised air support all over the penisula which kinda gave Mao a WTF? moment, the young PRC wanted nothing to do with the festivities.
Posted by: S ||
06/26/2011 12:21 Comments ||
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#3
TOPIX > [Australia BC] NORTH KOREAN CHILDREN STARVING [+ becom orphaned], ARMY STARVING: EXCLUSIVE.
ARTIC = Many Kiddies are suffering due to losing their Parents to starvation andor gulags, Many DPRK Soldiers are malnourished + demanding bribes.
Pyongyang unable to adequately feed its soldiers despite food being sold in open markets???
[Dawn] Vowing not to let the cut-throats succeed, President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... on Saturday called for collective global efforts to counter the growing threat of terrorism.
Addressing the international conference on the "Global Fight Against Terrorism," President Zardari called for addressing the root causes and of fighting the "mindset" by giving people hope.
President Zardari pointed that law enforcement measures help to contain the problem temporarily and said long term solutions must address political, economic and social aspects of the problem.
"The way to permanently defeat militancy is to remove the fear and instability on which it thrives," he said.
President Zardari said the way to defeat terrorism was to provide jobs, education and healthcare for all.
"The way to win this war is to give hope to our people in the future," he said and warned that violence begets violence.
"All must avoid senseless use of force...ensure respect for the rule of law and due process."
He said respect for illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity of states must be the basic principle of the fight against terrorism.
He said Pakistain supports the idea of a counter narrative to win the battle for hearts and minds. It is only by defeating the cut-throats on the ideological front that victory could be achieved, he said.
President Zardari, who is in Tehran on a two-day visit for the conference, said Pakistain has suffered US 67 billion dollars in material losses, besides a loss of 35,000 people including 5,000 law enforcement personnel.
"We cannot allow cut-throats to prevail," President Zardari said.
He termed terrorism a mindset that promotes violence and intolerance.
"It is the disease of the mind that preaches intolerance and violence. Terrorists violate both human and divine values by inflicting death and destruction on fellow human beings. They have no religion," Zardari added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2011 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Al-Iraqiya Bloc MP Haidar al-Mulla demanded that Iran should counter-attack terrorism through terminating its support of armed groups in Iraq.
"If Iran is serious in countering terrorism, it should stop its intervention and support of armed groups in Iraq," Mulla told Aswat al-Iraq. "The discussion of Ashraf camp with this regime is a big mistake and unacceptable."
President Jalal Talabani announced that "a resolution was adopted to close Ashraf camp at the end of this year, taking into consideration human rights aspects."
This came during a conference presently being held in Tehran between Iraq, Iran, and the International Red Thingy Cross.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2011 00:00 ||
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JERUSALEM - Israels government will discuss the broadening of economic sanctions against Iran when it meets on Sunday, weeks after an Israeli firm was named in alleged illegal trade with Tehran.
The government of Israel will on Sunday debate the expansion of economic sanctions against Iran, this is in the wake of the recommendations of the governmental committee set up for this purpose, a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office said.
It said that on the table would be a package of economic sanctions including a range of administrative and regulatory measures which will put Israel, with other states, at the head of the international effort in everything concerning sanctions against Iran.
Israels Ofer Brothers Group owns a major international shipping business which is under investigation after being blacklisted by Washington last month for alleged trade with Tehran.
According to the US State Department, Ofer Brothers and its alleged subsidiary, the Singapore-based Tanker Pacific, were involved in selling a tanker to an Iranian firm under sanctions last September. But the firm has consistently denied any wrongdoing, saying it had no ties to Tanker Pacific and that the State Department had made an unfortunate mistake.
My guess is that the Ofer Brothers were very useful to Mossad, and that the latter is quietly unhappy that an avenue to get agents into Iran has been compromised.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The presidents of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistain agreed on Saturday to join forces in combating militancy as they attended a counterterrorism summit in Tehran.
The joint statement by the three neighbours also came hot on the heels of an announcement by US President Barack B.O. Obama that Washington will withdraw 33,000 of its 99,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of next summer.
"All sides stressed their commitment to efforts aimed at eliminating extremism, militancy, terrorism, as well as rejecting foreign interference, which is in blatant opposition to the spirit of Islam, the peaceful cultural traditions of the region and its peoples' interests," the statement said.
"All sides agreed to continue meeting at foreign, interior, security and economy ministers' level to prepare a roadmap for the next summit due to be held in Islamabad before the end of 2011," added the statement carried by Iran's official IRNA news agency.
Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... and his Iranian and Pak counterparts Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad and Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... held three-way talks on Friday ahead of a six-nation counterterrorism conference on Saturday.
The three leaders discussed "ways of battling terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking," IRNA said.
In his speech at the opening session of the two-day summit, Karzai said that despite his government's efforts, militancy was on the rise both in his country and in the region.
"Unfortunately, despite all the achievements in the fields of education, infrastructure and reconstruction, not only has Afghanistan not yet achieved peace and security, but terrorism is expanding and threatening more than ever Afghanistan and the region," the Afghan leader said.
President Zardari said: "Terrorists violate both human and divine values by inflicting death and destruction on fellow human beings. They have no religion."
He said attacks had resulted in the deaths of 35,000 people in Pakistain, 5,000 of them law enforcement personnel, and material damage totalling $67 billion.
In his speech to the opening session, Ahmadinejad again accused the United States of using the September 11, 2001 attacks as a "pretext" for sending troops to the region.
"In light of the way it was approached and exploited, September 11 is very much like the Holocaust," the Iranian leader charged.
"The American government used the attacks as a pretext to occupy two countries, and kill, injure and displace people in the region," he added.
"If the black box of the Holocaust and September 11 is opened, many of the realities will come to light. But unfortunately despite worldwide demand, the American government has not allowed it."
Ahmadinejad has repeatedly courted controversy by questioning the accepted version of both the September 11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States, and the Holocaust.
He has dubbed 9/11 a "big lie" and a "suspect affair" similar to the Nazi Holocaust, which he dismissed as a "myth" shortly after coming to power in 2005, triggering an international outcry.
In his message to the counterterrorism conference, which was also attended by the leaders of Iraq, Sudan and Tajikistan, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also spoke out against what he charged was Western abuse of the terrorist threat.
"The diabolical calculation of the dominating powers is to exploit terrorism as a tool to gain their illegitimate aims and they have used it in their plans," he said in the message which was read out to the conference.
"In their view, terrorism is whatever threatens their interests. They consider those who are fighting for their legitimate right against occupiers as gunnies but do not consider their mercenaries and malicious groups who harm innocent people as terrorists."
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the next conference of the six nations would be held in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... next year, and a permanent secretariat would be opened in Tehran.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan to 'jointly combat terrorism'
What did they do, declare a three way war?
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
06/26/2011 8:47 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Iran's supreme leader on Saturday accused the United States of supporting terrorism, pointing to American drone strikes in Pakistain and Afghanistan that he said have killed scores of civilians.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said a country whose military forces are responsible for such deaths can't lecture the world about fighting terror.
Strong anti-US salvos are heard regularly from Iran's leadership. Saturday's statement by Khamenei revealed the differences between Iran and the US on the issue of who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter.
"The US and the European governments that follow it describe Paleostinian combatant groups who fight for the liberation of their land as terrorists," Khamenei said in a written message to an international conference on combating terrorism that opened Saturday in Tehran.
At the same time, Khamenei said, Israeli military strikes that hit civilians or liquidations of Paleostinians by Israeli security agents are not condemned by the West as acts of terrorism.
Iranian leaders say Paleostinian groups and the Lebanese Hezbullies are fighting to liberate occupied lands. Iran openly praises groups such as Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Mohammedan Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, which have grabbed credit for suicide kabooms and other attacks.
Khamenei said Iran was a victim of what he called US "terrorism" for the 1988 downing of an Iranian passenger plane by the warship USS Vincennes, which killed all 290 people aboard. The US Defense Department said at the time that the crew mistook the plane for a hostile aircraft, which Iran rejects.
Later Saturday, Khamenei warned visiting Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... that the United States is seeking to set up permanent bases in Afghanistan.
"Americans are after setting up permanent bases in Afghanistan. This is a dangerous issue. As long as American troops are based in Afghanistan, there will be no real security," state TV quoted Khamenei as saying.
The United States has said it will have all its fighting forces out of Afghanistan by 2014 and that the security of Afghanistan will be turned over to Afghan forces. The US has not asked for any bases or centers to remain under its control.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Terrorism is when Khamenei wakes up with a pig's head in his bed, to find all his bodyguards bound and gagged and unconscious, his male secretary naked and tied across his desk, and then Khamenei realizes that his toenails have been painted bright pink.
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.
Hugo Chávez extended stay in a Cuban hospital is because he is in critical condition, according to a report in 
Asif Ali 
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Al-Iraqiya Bloc MP Haidar al-Mulla demanded that Iran should counter-attack terrorism through terminating its support of armed groups in Iraq. 
