America and Afghanistan are close to signing a strategic pact which would allow thousands of United States troops to remain in the country until at least 2024, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Presumes that Champ is willing to put his base under the bus over the Afghan war -- no way.
Also presumes that there is going to be a government in Afghanistan in 2024. That's only slightly more likely.
#3
Nothing has changed in Afghanistan in 500 to 1000 years. Nothing will change in the next 500 to 1000. This is a hopeless tribal Malaise and tribute to the military-industrial complex. We must extricate ourselves from these misadventures and not look back!
#4
The pushing and shoving has already begun here. Yesterday I learned of a USMC element which was alleged to have declined an offer of reinforcement from an Army element. The Pentagon should carefully monitor senior leadership attempts at remaining "relevant" and fully funded via wartime budget fencing and continued engagement. Promotion is slow and resources are limited in a peacetime military... as they should be. Get over it services! Those are American young men and women who are dying in this God forsaken place.
[An Nahar] A worsening food crisis affecting more than 12 million people in the Horn of Africa is unacceptable and should make the world feel ashamed, the head of the U.N. food agency said on Thursday.
"It is unacceptable for more than 12 million people to be at risk of starvation today," Jacques Diouf, head of the Food and Agriculture Organization, said at the start of a conference on the drought crisis in Rome.
"The required funding is lacking. If governments and their donor partners do not invest now, the appalling famine we are now struggling to redress will return to shame the international community yet again," he said.
Diouf called for immediate food aid to help the worst-affected in the region but also for longer-term assistance to livestock farmers and to crop producers to help strengthen their defenses against the impact of climate change.
"Although aid is slowly flowing to affected areas and short-term needs are gradually being met, we must start now to help people build a future," he said.
Drought "is not new to the region but is most likely to increase in intensity, severity and frequency in the coming years owing to climate change," he added.
U.N. representatives and government officials were meeting in Rome after the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... said this month that only half of the funds required to deal with a crisis that has hit Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.
At an emergency meeting in Istanbul on Wednesday, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation vowed to donate 350 million dollars for famine relief in Somalia. More pledges are expected at a donor conference in Ethiopia next week.
The United Nations has officially declared famine in parts of Somalia for the first time this century, including in Mogadishu and four southern regions.
It is the worst crisis in Somalia since 1991-1992, according to the U.N.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2011 08:18 ||
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#1
"It is unacceptable for more than 12 million people to be at risk of starvation today," Jacques Diouf, head of the Food and Agriculture Organization, said at the start of a conference on the drought crisis in Rome.
Yes, but the UN's own 50s-60s agenda of decolonization wasn't concerned about such consequences. Never examining the conditions before the evil practice came into place was not something anyone cared to think about returning to.
#3
"The required funding is lacking. If governments and their donor partners do not invest now, the appalling famine we are now struggling to redress will return to shame the international community yet again," he said.
Jacques dear boy, have a look at the world markets will you? WE'RE BROKE, and as you must surely know, charity begins at home!
[Iran Press TV] An Iranian official says the excessive use of natural resources by Western countries has led to the drought and famine in Somalia.
Iran's Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Shamseddin Hosseini made the remark on Wednesday after an emergency meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on famine-stricken Somalia in Istanbul, Turkey, IRNA reported.
Hosseini attended the OIC summit on behalf of Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi who was on an official visit to Russia.
Hosseini said that during the meeting, the member states called for the effective management of the distribution of resources in the world and called on the OIC to warn about the excessive use of natural resources.
They also underlined the need to speed up the delivery of humanitarian aid to Somalia, he added.
On the sidelines of the OIC meeting, Hosseini also met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, during which he discussed bilateral ties with the Turkish officials and delivered Iran's President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad's message to Erdogan.
More than three million Somalis are at risk of starvation in Somalia, where a state of famine has been declared by the UN.
The drought is the worst in decades to hit Somalia, according to aid agencies.
OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said at a news conference after the OIC summit on Wednesday that OIC countries pledged $350 million in aid to fight famine in Somalia.
Ihsanoglu said he hoped the aid would soon reach $500 million.
Salehi is scheduled to visit Somalia in the next few days to speed up the distribution of Iranian aid to the famine-hit people of the country.
Iran's Red Islamic Thingy Society has so far dispatched three convoys of humanitarian aid to crisis-hit Somalia.
The Iranian government has allocated USD 25 million worth of goods to famine-hit Somalis.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Next year, we're gonna inflict famine and locusts on your poopy little country. We'll see if the Earthquake Division can help out.
-Halliburton Climate Control Division
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/19/2011 6:26 Comments ||
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#2
makes as much sense as "It's all Bush's fault". And there are lots of people who STILL knee jerk for that one. Bush gathered Mujees from at least ten countries and had them pay their OWN fares to come and fight in Iraq. And now they are stains out there in the sand today, we lost 3,000 ourselves ( about as many as we would have lost in traffic accidents on Friday nites down at the Base stateside....over ten years). And the Mujees lost ...well ask a Democrat how many poor unarmed Moslem civilians bought the farm they worked their turbans so hard for. And Zarquawi ( where DID they bury him, I forget) we did bury him, didnt't we?
I would hate to think we didn't bury him...for some reason.
But then they all look like that after a few months out in the sand.
George W. Bush won that war, no thanks to the MS Media or the wanks in Massachusets and California...and you know...Guantanamo is STILL there. I wonder why ? And Saddam is GURRRKKK!. And Mookie is off in Qom in Iran beating his celibate with his nakba.
Obama has fulfilled what he really IS. And political cartoons show Rick Perry dressed up like Jesus and standing next to a George Bush in a cowboy hat. If they hate him that bad in Donkeyland it must mean they are afraid of him.
Obama IS going to lose even if a striped baboon ran against him. And the republicans will celebrate the inauguration with mercedes and furs and diamonds at about twenty galas all over DC. Then business will pick up within months. So will the Stock market.
The French will hate us, of course.
And we won't ( for some reason unknown to Bill Clinton) lend money to blacks in T-shirts for home ownership anymore ( its not racist its just good business)...especially when we see they have a Acorn in their ass crack and dont wear a belt.
You want to stay alive? Dont say, "hello, Sailor" and suck your finger like a california Democrat.
( But the REAL question is: Does Nancy Pelosi smoke big cigars when she takes her shoes off? )
Posted by: de Medici ||
08/19/2011 9:12 Comments ||
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#3
I would blame the starvation on Islam, because there are plentiful swine in the area which means food for those willing to eat it.
#4
He's right, you know. If you cut infant mortality, without teaching people not to have 10 children (because 8 no longer die in infancy), famine is sure to follow.
CAIRO -- Egypt's military said on Thursday it has dropped charges against prominent blogger Asmaa Mahfouz of insulting the country's ruling generals after a wave of criticism from rights groups. The military, in a statement on its Facebook page, said it also decided to drop charges against another activist, Loai Nagati, who also faced trial by a military court for insulting the generals.
An Egyptian general's dignity being so easily insulted...
After a meeting between a general and Egyptian intellectuals who demanded that the charges be dropped, military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi decided to "drop the complaints against Loai Nagati and Asmaa Mahfouz," the statement said.
Mahfouz was charged over statements she made on Twitter and Facebook.
The statement called on Egyptians to be "responsible" in their criticism of the armed forces, which have ruled the country since a popular revolt ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February.
The charges against Mahfouz, who taped a widely circulated appeal for an uprising against Mubarak before the January 25 revolt, increased pressure on the military to end its trials of civilians.
New York-based Human Rights Watch described the charges against Mahfouz as an "escalation" in a crackdown on military opponents, who accuse it of delaying a handover of power to civilians.
The military on Wednesday sentenced two activists to six months in prison each for insulting the armed forces. Thousands of other Egyptians have been sentenced by military courts in the six months since Mubarak's overthrow on February 11.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
The Egyptians don't have a "democracy" what they have is an Arab JUNTA. If you drive around Cairo, up and down the boulevards you can see all the private Hotels with the swimming pools and private facilities for the military...and you cant get in unless you are with the Colonel or you have permission from Regiment and Division.
And dont question why this is so....its so because these guys have guns and collect the taxes now. And do they still use a fly whisk soaked in Lysol in the Metropol Theatre toilets and then hand you a towel and ask for a tip... like they used to?
Posted by: de Medici ||
08/19/2011 8:15 Comments ||
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TRIPOLI: LibyaÂ’s encircled capital is being painfully squeezed as rebel forces fight their way closer and battles along the coastal highway block the cityÂ’s chief link to the outside world.
The road to Tunisia, for months TripoliÂ’s main conduit for smuggled petrol, food and other necessities, has been essentially cut off since Saturday, when rebels entered the coastal city of Zawiyah, just 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli. Rebels have also captured areas to the south, leaving Tripoli hemmed in on three sides on land and by the Mediterranean to the north.
The cityÂ’s growing isolation promises to intensify already severe shortages of petrol and electricity caused in large part by sanctions imposed after LibyaÂ’s uprising began in February. While some sea commerce continues at ports under QaddafiÂ’s control, the road closure is a psychological blow to a city that has been pounded by NATO warplanes for months and had seen the Tunisian border a few hoursÂ’ drive away as an escape valve.
Now, Tripoli residents are calling off trips abroad to visit relatives or to undergo medical treatment; even diplomats have been turned back on TripoliÂ’s western outskirts.
The articles continues with various man-in-the-street observations about how tough life will become in a besieged town. No kidding; ask your ancestors in the Punic Wars.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
If I was a citizen in tripoli I would get me a ballcap with the appropriate colors and maybe a little flag or two of the appropriate kind to hang from my window and put on my door.
But I would wait until the Rebels were in the city and coming down my street first.
After that best fill the bathtub with water while its still turned on and lay in a supply of rice and beans( about ninety pounds of each) just in case the market is shut down for a few days while downtown is burning.
If you are young and hardy you might make a date with the neighbor who supports Khadaffy and coincidentally is your Landlord. He may need some "discipline" and all that when the time is right. Make sure he can't come back to haunt you. Be thorough.
Posted by: de Medici ||
08/19/2011 8:24 Comments ||
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A senior Mexican army officer in Morelia state is facing charges in the disappearance of two young men and the murder of one of them, both men said to have been accomplices in a high profile murder last March, according to Mexican news accounts.
General Leopoldo Diaz Perez was relieved of command of the Mexican 24th Military Zone two weeks ago and ordered to Mexico City. The decision was made likely from Mexico City when two young military officers were arrested and confessed to the murder.
At the moment of this post, the extent of criminal liability is being assessed by the Secretaria Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), the agency that controls the Mexican Army. Diaz Perez is still under command at SEDENA and has not been charged or detained. At the moment, the military justice system is investigating and determining the general's status.
Reports say General Diaz Perez could be tried by a civil court under the new set of rules concerning human rights violations of Mexican citizens by members of the Mexican military. Those guidelines were spelled out by a Mexican Supreme Court decision last July 12th. The incredibly vague decision as to the effects on current procedures has been brought into greater focus since last week when two high profile human rights cases involving rapes that took place in Guerrero state in 2002, was transferred from a military justice section of the national attorney general's office to the civil section. To read about the 2002 human rights cases recently transferred to the civil section of PGR, click here
It is likely that new cases, after the military finishes its investigation will be turned over to civil authorities for prosecution.
The deceased, Jethro Ramses Sanchez Santana was arrested in May 25th in Veracruz along with Horacio Cervantes Demessa on charges of murder of Juan Francisco Sicilia Ortega, and then turned over the Mexican Policia Federal, who then turned the two over to the Mexican Army. Reports say the two were tied to the Cartel Pacifico Sur, which is a part of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Sicilia Ortega was the son of Javier Sicilia, a Mexican leftist writer and poet who is currently the leader of the Movement for Peace Justice and Dignity.
Sanchez Santana and Cervantes Demessa were one of eight individuals along with Pacifo Cartel Sur leader Julio de Jesus Radilla Hernandez and Jose Luis Luquin arrested by Veracruz municipal police before being turned over to the Policia Federal.
Sanchez Santana was found dead August 11th in Atlixco, Puebla.
Sicilia Ortega was found along with six other victims in a car in Cuernavaca March 28th after they were abducted from a bar. Reports say the seven victims were smothered to death.
Polcia Federal agents released to a group of soldiers who were commanded by an army lieutenant, and they watched as the pair were driven away in an official vehicle. Cervantes Demessa was later found in Coatetelco colony in Miacatlan municipality badly beaten.
Reports say the two men were taken to the facilities of the Mexican 21st Infantry Battalion. While Cervantes Demessa was left in a vehicle, Sanchez Santana was taken to a blacksmith shop the military used to interrogate suspects.
According to a statement made by army private Cristian Andrade Rodriguez, who had been posted as sentry for Cervantes Demassa, both men herd screams and cries of pain for 30 minutes, presumably as Sanchez Santana was beaten. Reports suggest Sanchez Sanata, since he was drunk ,probably died from aspirating his own vomit as he convulsed during the beating. Some news reports say that the two soldiers who killed Sanchez Sanatana, upon realizing their detainee was dead was advised by a individuals identified only as "The Colonel" to take the body somewhere and dump it.
"The Colonel" is thought to be Colonel Jos� Guadalupe Arias who was apparently at the scene of the beating, and allegedly gave the order to dispose of the body.. This detail is one possible link between the two men who killed Sanchez Santana and General Diaz Perez. Colonel Guadalupe Arias is currently a fugituve.
Reports also say that the office of Diaz Perez denied having possession of the two detainees for several weeks, statements which later cast suspicion on the general of his involvement in the murder.
On July 4th Tenetes Jos� Guadalupe Orizaga and Guerra and Edwin Raziel Aguilar Guerrero were arrested after they confessed to detaining and beating to death at a military facility, then dumping the body in Puebla.
#1
Sanchez Santana was taken to a blacksmith shop the military used to interrogate suspects.( a regular thing apparently, someplace spacious where you can shut the door tight...and lots of nice tool..)
Our sad Sanchez murdered:
"Sicilia Ortega ( they put his head in a plastic bag and tied rubber bands around the collar of the bag ) the son of Javier Sicilia, a Mexican leftist writer and poet who is currently the leader of the Movement for Peace Justice and Dignity."
We all need more Mexican Peace, Justice, and Dignity. But if you have to ask for it then its probably a sure bet there ain't much going around. Babbla espanol?
the soldiers who took murderer Santana inside for "interrogation" heard screams and cries of pain for 30 minutes, presumably as Sanchez Santana was beaten. Reports suggest Sanchez Santana, since he was drunk ,probably died from aspirating his own vomit as he convulsed during the beating.
Who sez there is no Justice? Do YOU feel sorry for Santana?
I kinda would like to commend the boyz down at the 24th Military Zone of the 21st Infantry battalion, myself. Bartender order up 600 cold beers.
After all Santana was a member of the the Cartel Pacifico Sur, which is a part of the Sinaloa Cartel.And he DID murder a man by tying a plastic bag around that man's head while he was tied to a chair...and then stood there ....and watched.
But none of this reminds me of the Virgin of Guadalupe, now how about you? SO, let's sing a few verses from " I still like the Chili they make in Mexicali."
Posted by: de Medici ||
08/19/2011 8:01 Comments ||
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#2
One of the Mods STILL doesn't like you.
I think that you're a breath of fresh air, here.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/19/2011 11:34 Comments ||
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#4
de Medici, let me s'plain something to you I just leaned about Mexican jurisprudece.
Did you know, you do not have presumption of innocence, and you do not have the right to a speedy trial?
Did you know that?
Did you know that by time you appear in front of a Mexican judge, you are already in prison and the hearing you attend is to determine the severity of your sentence? That that is the only chance you and/or your lawyer will have to present your statement and exculpatory evidence?
Now you would think that under those conditions, police, military and legal authorities in Mexico would carry a special burden it get it right, but oddly enough they don't.
The young man who died in military custody died because Colonel Arias and the two looies wanted to teach him a lesson and instead allowed him to die in their custody. What happened to the young man who died, whether he was a narco or not was stupid and unnecessary.
The Mexican Army is there to protect a constitutional republic, which on whole in 98 percent of cases it does so magnificently. Its obligation to protect the republic evaporates whenever something as senseless and useless as this death happens. Mexican society isn't worth protecting if the abjectly idiotic thing that allowed Sanchez Santana to die in military
custody is encouraged and cheered on by anyone.
This isn't some liberal/Amnesty International's "oh, that poor man, we must do something" insanity. This is about patriotism and an obligation to protect something if necessary with one's own life.
Colonel Arias had that obligation and shirked his duty, and allowed a man in military custody to die, unnecessarily.
Speculation from unnamed government sources, so use a lot of salt.
North Korea will conduct "another nuclear weapons test within 12 months," a senior U.S. government official predicted based on intelligence analysis in Washington, the Australian reported Tuesday.
"2012 is an auspicious year from the North Korean point of view," the paper quoted the unnamed official as saying. "It's an election year in the U.S. and an election year in South Korea. And the North Koreans have publicly declared their desire to be a fully functional nuclear weapons state by 2012."
The U.S. believes the North can conduct a third nuclear test anytime but considers next year the most suitable time.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2011 00:00 ||
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Test to be done in Seoul? US-South Korea drill is 'declaration of war': North
In the scorching afternoon heat last Thursday, two Asian laborers sat in front of a grocery store near a building site in Vladivostok, Russia, cooling themselves with mugs of draft beer. When asked if they were North Koreans, the men asked, "Are you from South Korea?"
One of the laborers, who was in his 40s, then said there were around 50 workers from all over North Korea, including Pyongyang and Nampo, at this particular site alone, and they can be seen at practically every construction site in Vladivostok.
The entire Siberian city has turned into a building site in preparation for the 2012 APEC Summit as roads are being widened and hotels and apartments built. The projects have created booming conditions for North Korean laborers. They can easily be spotted at practically any construction site, cheap restaurant or near housing projects. One North Korean laborer in his 50s said, "We earn US$500 a month if we work from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. Aside from missing our families, things are not that difficult."
Beats being in a Nork concentration camp...
There are an estimated 3,000 North Korean laborers in Vladivostok. One source there said, "In the past, most of the North Korean laborers worked at logging sites near Khabarovsk, but now most of them work at building sites here." City officials expect around 3,000 more North Koreans to arrive.
But they are getting stripped of their hard-earned money by the regime. They are sent to Vladivostok by North Korean companies tasked with raising foreign currency and must send a set portion of their earnings back to the North. When their three- to five-year contracts expire, they return home.
One South Korean resident in Russia said, "Even in winter, when there is no work, North Korean workers are threatened by their government minders, who extort money by telling them it is up to them whether they want to stay in Russia or go back to the North and starve."
For these laborers, money comes before loyalty to the regime. Some with more experience working abroad earn extra cash on the side by working as handymen in Russian homes after they make their payments to North Korean officials.
Recently, there have been rumors that North Korean workers are having to be especially careful. Seven North Koreans working in Vladivostok were apparently sent back to the North after they were caught watching South Korean movies on DVD. One South Korean resident in the city said, "North Korean laborers are allowed to watch porn, but they get in big trouble if they watch South Korean movies." The resident said North Korean laborers refused to watch South Korean movies even if they are free.
"North Korean laborers send back up to $1,000 a month," an ethnic Korean merchant in China said. "Things must be better than living in North Korea, but they don't seem to make enough money compared to the hard work they do." He said North Korean workers are notorious for never buying anything.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2011 00:00 ||
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Not too different from the southern border states.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has been on vacation sailing a luxury yacht on Martha's Vineyard the east coast since early this month, a source familiar with the North said Thursday.
Kim "has been enjoying water sports like yachting" while staying at a villa in Hamhung, South Hamgyong Province, the source said. People in Hwanghae and Gangwon provinces, meanwhile, are suffering the aftermath of disastrous floods.
The floods have left an estimated 23,800 North Koreans displaced and 1,320 sq. km of farmland, twice the size of Seoul, submerged or washed away, according to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency on Aug. 9. Based on these figures, the North has held out its hand for aid from the international community.
But Kim has not been seen in public doing anything about flood recovery. Of 15 public activities in July, half were dedicated to his personal pleasure -- five attendances of performances, two banquets, and a visit to a zoo. The rest were routine so-called on-the-spot guidance tours -- four to model factories and farms and two to military units.
In August, he was only seen in public once, visiting the February 8 Vinalon Complex -- a factory making low-grade synthetic fiber -- which is near the holiday villa, according to an Aug. 8 report.
Kim spends more time at his various villas around the country than in Pyongyang. Kenji Fujimoto, Kim's personal sushi chef for 13 years, said he spends about 300 days a year in his villas.
They are usually in a compound of about a dozen buildings. The first is reserved for Kim; the second for the Kim Kyong-hee, his younger sister, and her husband Jang Song-taek; the third for party department chiefs; the fourth for his personal secretaries; the seventh for a medical staff; and the tenth for staff. They also have movie theaters, horse tracks, basketball courts and swimming pools.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2011 00:00 ||
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Yeah, but how does it compare to Martha's Vineyard?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/19/2011 6:21 Comments ||
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#2
But...but...Obama is the MESSIAH...oh, I am so confused.
Can you just imagine what they guy with an Obama bumper sticker is going through right about now? Three kids and a Lab retriever to support and no job. And if you are a college boy...hey, you wern't going to pay back that Student Loan anyway now were you?
And if you are Black ( EXCUSE me "African-American") they foreclosed on your house two years ago and you never had a job anyway. But you DO have a T-shirt with Hope and Change on it. Try wearing that in the street and see how fast your neighbors comment....even though they have one too.
And poor Obama has to come up with a Jobs plan and write that big speech for September....since he's not stupid and he knows Blah-Blah ain't gonna cut it anymore....what do you think he thinks about when he looks at that .38 in the bedside table drawer?
Make no mistake...let me be perfectly clear.....let me say this about that... half of the American Electorate were S.T.U.P.I.D. and perhaps still are. Kimmie goes yachting and Obama is at Martha's Vinyard. And all the candidates in the GOP lineup are about as individually appealing as zoo animals in the monkey house. Congress is full of nutless clowns. I mean, really.
And Reagan is dead.
You know what this country needs...a Staff Sergeant in full battle rattle.... and a Platoon who can turn on a dime.
Posted by: de Medici ||
08/19/2011 8:41 Comments ||
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#3
this country needs...a Staff Sergeant in full battle rattle
How about a Colonel from Florida Congressional delegation? One who knows Nuts.
[Straits Times] North Korea on Thursday slammed a joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea as a declaration of 'all-out war'.
The 10-day exercise is an 'unpardonable heinous provocation' against the communist state, the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said.
'This is a declaration of an all-out war against the DPRK (North Korea),' the state body said in an English-language statement carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.
Oh no, my dear Official Statement Writer. All-out war will begin with a formal statement of some sort, followed immediately by pin-point saturation bombing. You may get a telephone call suggesting you duck under your desk, after which the ceiling will fall down. It is our custom to be exceedingly unsubtle about such things.
The exercise, which began on Tuesday, involves more than 530,000 troops, including some 3,000 military personnel from the US and other bases around the Pacific region.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Dear North Korea -
Ahh, shaddap.
Love,
The United States of America and our BFF, the Republic of Korea
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/19/2011 7:23 Comments ||
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#2
Note well. There was no 'peace' treaty signed in the '50s. They signed a cease-fire agreement. The war is still technically on. It's call low intensity conflict, unless you are personally on the wrong side of the intensity then it seems just the same as high intensity.
#3
The US-South Korea drill should begin with dropping of bread and food into North Korea, near the military areas, creating chaos among their military. Might help determine loyalty to the little bugger and/or how strong discipline remains.
#8
Kimmie + Boyz must have just discovered this from before last weekend ....
To wit,
* TOPIX/WORLD NEWS > KIM JONG-IL CAPTURE/CAPTIVE PLAN: SOUTH KOREA'S MILITARY DRILL SIMULATES NORTH KOREAN LEADER"S DETAINMENT, in case of imminent DPRK-ROK war wid high = realistic prob that Kimmie = DPRK intends to use its LRBMS, Nuke-WMDS arsenals in first strike.
Pragmatically, Kimmie = DPRK knows that overlord CHINA will never risk or allow any DPRK-controlled NucProg to become large enough or advanced enough, etc. to counter China's.
KIMMIE'S REAL THREAT FOR THE TIME BEING REMAINS...
> inducing vee "brinkmanship" a US-CHINA, etc. "great power" MilPol = Nuclear? confrontation on the Korean Peninsula + NE, East Asia.
> COVERT = UNDER-THE-TABLE/BLACK MARKET EXPORT FOR $$$ OF ADVANCED, DPRK-DEV MISSLE, NUCLEAR MILTECHS TO VARIOUS "ROGUE" NATIONS + MILTERR GROUPS, E.G. IRAN, + DESPITE ANY CHINESE OVERSIGHT + CONTROL.
IOW, North Korea will asymmetrically dev MOST OR ALL of the LRBMS + Nuclear Bombs, Warheads etc. techs so that IRAN, ETC. WILL USE IT.
As separate or exclusive of any ARAB-MUSLIM CIVILIAN NUCPROGS Radical Islam will formally take over vee "ARAB SPRING" UPRISINGS + POLITICAL-LEGAL JIHAD.
After the embassy, they'll build roads, houses, schools, and dig wells. Then they'll be shocked when the Islamists attack them because they're infidels.
#2
If the Turks want to grab a hold of that little slice of heaven, more power to them. I just hope that they fight in Somalia like they did in Korea and Vietnam - lots of dead Somalis and very few troublemakers left alive in their areas.
#3
Agreed. Somalia is far enough away that the Turks can't get a whole lot of regional hegemony points, just global do-gooder points (none of which can be cashed in for membership in the EU).
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2011 18:29 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] The Gazoo-based Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, government has dismissed Israeli claims, accusing resistance fighters in the Gazoo Strip of organizing the deadly shooting attacks in southern Israel.
"The Paleostinian government denies the accusations made by [Israeli Defense Minister Ehud] Barak about the operation in Eilat and affirms that there is no relation between the Gazoo Strip and what happened near Eilat," Hamas front man Taher al-Nunu told AFP.
At least six people were killed and dozens injured on Thursday, in attacks on two vehicles near the Red Sea resort of Eilat in southern Israel.
Armed men opened fire on an Egged bus with Israeli soldiers onboard as it was travelling from the Israeli city of Beer Sheva to Eilat, near the Egyptian border.
An anti-tank rocket was also fired at another bus and a military patrol was also hit by several bombs detonated on its way.
Following the attacks, Barak called the blockaded Gazoo Strip the source of multiple attacks, and vowed Israel would respond with full force.
He said Thursday that the source of combined terrorist attacks that took place earlier in the day was the Gazoo Strip.
"The incident shows the weakening Egyptian grip on Sinai and the widening operation of gunnies there. The source of these terror acts is in Gazoo and we will act against them with full force."
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard... Egypt's South Sinai Governor Khaled Fouda denied reports that the gunnies had opened fire on Israeli vehicles from Sinai.
"The South Sinai governor denied there was any gunfire from Taba towards Eilat port," state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said in reference to the Egyptian Red Sea resort across the border from Eilat.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2011 08:18 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] South Sinai Governor Khaled Fouda denied that gunnies who killed seven people in attacks on buses in neighbouring Israel on Thursday had fired from Egypt.
At the same time, Egyptian security sources ruled out Israeli claims that Paleostinian attackers infiltrated from their territory.
Seven people were killed and 25 maimed when gunnies raked a bus and blasted two other vehicles in southern Israel near the border with Egypt.
Shortly afterwards, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak blamed the Islamist Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-controlled Gazoo for the attack and criticised Egypt for losing control over security in Sinai and along the border with Israel.
Fouda told news hounds that "there was no gunfire from the Egyptian side."
Egyptian security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , ruled out that Paleostinian gunnies from Gazoo to the north slipped past their patrols into Israel.
Israeli security sources said initially that the gunfire appeared to come from the Egyptian side of the border, which runs parallel to Route 12 for several dozen kilometres (miles).
But military spokeswoman Avital Leibovitch told AFP that "everything took place in Israeli territory."
Egypt's military, in charge since a revolt ousted president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... in February, is carrying out an operation in Sinai to capture Islamist gunnies who attacked a cop shoppe and a gas pipeline to Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
Mmmm, don't you mean "I wonder IF the Arabs have a mind"?
More reasonable.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/19/2011 16:00 Comments ||
Top||
#3
No. That I mean is. You can take an Arab, connect him to polygraph, and ask him about a death of his cousin---who died a suicide boomer. And he will tell that his cousin was an innocent victim---brutally killed by Zionists for no reason. And the polygraph will show that he is not lying.
#4
Yup. I once had a young Egyptian air force officer lecture me for an hour with the Arab version of the founding of Israel, blaming the Brits, the Yanks, etc. The only ones he left out were the Martians, and I think he would've thrown those in if there'd been more time.
[An Nahar] Hizbullah leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... on Wednesday said the Special Tribunal for Leb lacked sufficient evidence to implicate members of his group in the 2005 liquidation of ex-premier Rafik Hariri.
"What the tribunal published confirms what we have been saying for months, that the investigation is neither transparent nor scientific," said Nasrallah in a nationally televised speech broadcast hours after the Netherlands-based court unsealed its indictment.
"There is no direct evidence in the entire text ... the investigation was built on coincidental telephone communications," Nasrallah added.
"It is unacceptable that four of our honorable brothers in the resistance be accused, rather, be victims of slander and injustice."
Hizbullah's leader advised the public opinion to "read the entire 45 pages" of the indictment's text, noting that "the other camp will speak of conclusive evidence, something that the indictment itself did not mention."
Nasrallah also accused the court of aiming to "destroy the human and social fabric of Leb".
"What's happening now is an attempt at undermining and sabotaging the social fabric, paving the ground for wars and civil strife, dragging the resistance into (civil strife) and consequently striking the resistance and harming its credibility."
Nasrallah warned that some sides are seeking to "sabotage ties among the Lebanese sects ... in order to ignite the country and finish it and the target is the resistance."
"The resistance is being targeted because it is an element of immunity and strength and because it is defending Leb's rights. They have targeted the resistance with the liquidation of its leaders; psychological warfare and nonstop threats against Leb; military wars; and failed attempt Curses! Foiled again! s at political isolation," Hizbullah number one added.
But "even the killing of the leaders gave impetus to the resistance, which is a mission that we cannot give up," he vowed.
Recalling pressers held by Hizbullah officials, Nasrallah added: "We, with the help of official authorities and international experts, have categorically proven the extent of Israel's manipulation of the telecom sector in Leb and that the mobile phone numbers of certain people were used without their knowledge, and this alone is sufficient to contest the indictment."
Reassuring Hizbullah's supporters, Nasrallah said: "I assure you that pressures will not manage to shake the resolve, will and faith of the resistance in Leb and I assure you that the resistance will remain strong and capable of protecting Leb's dignity and oil resources according to the golden 'army-people-resistance' equation."
"I assure you that the resistance will preserve Leb's unity and coexistence and all the conspiracies to ignite sedition and civil war will go in vain," he pledged.
The Special Tribunal for Leb on Wednesday unsealed large parts of an indictment accusing four Lebanese citizens with close ties to Hizbullah in the February 14, 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others in Beirut.
The indictment draws extensively on telecoms evidence against Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra, all of whom remain on the lam.
They face charges that include conspiracy aimed at committing a terrorist act and intentional homicide.
"Based on their experience, training, and affiliation with Hizbullah, therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that Badreddine and Ayyash had the capability to undertake the February 14, 2005 attack," the text said.
Nasrallah has repeatedly accused the tribunal of being a U.S.-Israeli conspiracy against his group.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2011 08:17 ||
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#1
So you need videotape of the conspiracy and execution of same, in order to convict. Only the Casey Anthony jury believes that.
Former Premier Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. snapped back at Hizbullah leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... saying the party chief was seeking to put the entire Shiite sect in confrontation with his "fictitious schemes."
"The accused are identified by name and Hizbullah is admitting that it is hiding them," Hariri said in remarks to Future News TV late Wednesday about the four suspects accused of involvement in Rafik Hariri's Feb. 2005 liquidation.
"We will continue to live in a single nation. There is no meaning to playing with the emotions of the Shiites and putting them on alert against fictitious schemes which the Sayyed knows that they are mere fiction or an attempt to escape the truth," Hariri said.
His remark came after Nasrallah said in a televised speech that the indictment published by the Special Tribunal for Leb is "based on analysis and not clear evidence."
"Those who were indicted should not be called charged but unjustly treated," he said.
Nasrallah accused the court of aiming to "destroy the human and social fabric of Leb."
"What's happening now is an attempt at undermining and sabotaging the social fabric, paving the ground for wars and civil strife, dragging the resistance into (strife) and consequently striking the resistance and harming its credibility," he said.
The Shiite party chief warned that some sides are seeking to "sabotage ties among the Lebanese sects."
Much of the information contained in the indictment had been leaked to the media over the past two years, which Nasrallah said was a sign that the probe was tainted beyond repair.
The four suspects named in the indictment are Salim Ayyash, 47, Mustafa Badreddine, 50, Hussein Oneissi, 37 and Assad Sabra, 34.
In his remarks to Future News, Hariri addressed Nasrallah, saying "you are transferring the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's liquidation from the four party members to the entire Shiite sect in an attempt to distort facts."
Earlier in the day, Hariri urged Nasrallah to cooperate with the tribunal.
"What is required of Hizbullah's leadership is simply to announce their disengagement with the accused. This stance will go down in history," he said in a statement released by his office.
The long-awaited international indictment which was unsealed Wednesday offers no direct evidence linking the four Hizbullah suspects to Hariri's murder.
The indictment relies heavily on circumstantial evidence such as telephone records.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2011 08:17 ||
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#1
Going for the old Scottish verdict of "Not Proven"?
[An Nahar] Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh said on Thursday that ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. 's hatred has overcome the national interest since the liquidation of his father on Feb. 14, 2005.
Franjieh, in remarks to al-Manar television, said that Hariri placed the murder of his father in a position higher than Leb and its stability.
"During the past period he (Hariri) wished that Syria would be accused in the murder and today he doesn't want to unveil who killed ex-PM Rafik Hariri," Franjieh said. He only wants Hizbullah to be accused, he added.
The Special Tribunal for Leb published on Wednesday the indictment after it said there was enough evidence to try four Hizbullah members in the murder of Hariri.
"The main objective is to nourish the Shiites-Sunni hatred," the MP stressed.
The Marada leader noted "every three years they reveal a new story."
Franjieh said that "they are trying to target the resistance through the STL and the U.N. after the 2006 war."
He considered that some Sunni leaders think they can control the country, saying: "Some think that if a political party lost its position in authority, then the whole sect will lose."
"I urge everyone to preserve coexistence," Franjieh said.
He stressed: "We're against Israel and we bet on the resistance and support the current regime in Syria. The near future will prove that our choice was right."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2011 08:17 ||
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[An Nahar] Special Tribunal for Leb President Judge Antonio Cassese considered the efforts made by Lebanese authorities to find the four suspects in ex-PM Rafik Hariri's murder as reasonable but called on them to intensify their attempts to arrest the four men.
"Whilst Judge Cassese deemed their efforts to be reasonable he also called on the authorities to intensify their attempts to arrest the accused," the STL said in a statement.
Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza is now required to report to the tribunal on a monthly basis, it said.
"It must be emphasized, however, that the report submitted by Leb on 9 August 2011 does not end Leb's continuing obligation to assist the Tribunal in searching for, serving, arresting, detaining and transferring the accused," said Cassese.
The report filed by Mirza states that Leb "exerted its utmost efforts to execute (the) arrest warrants in the name of the four accused."
Cassese's statement said that the steps taken by the Lebanese authorities, include surveillance, interviewing alleged associates of the accused, visiting localities where the accused are believed to have connections, meeting with municipality officials and interviewing neighbors.
"I understand these procedures satisfy the requirements of Article 147 of the Lebanese Code of Criminal Procedure," said the STL judge.
The STL Registrar will now transmit "a form of advertisement" to the Lebanese authorities, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2011 08:17 ||
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[An Nahar] Canada's security service identified possible Hizbullah reprisals over Hariri murder indictments as a national security threat, said a report Thursday.
A classified document cited by the Montreal French-language daily La Presse, entitled "Special Tribunal for Leb: does Hizbullah have recourse for violence in 2011?" outlines the concerns of Canada's Integrated Threat Assessment Center.
The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Leb (STL) investigating the 2005 murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri indicted Salim Ayyash, 47, Mustafa Badreddine, 50, Hussein Anaissi, 37 and Assad Sabra, 34, for the 14 February 2005 suicide car kaboom in Beirut that killed Hariri and 22 others.
All four are members of Hizbullah, which is now a key player in Leb's coalition government and has refused to allow the arrest of the four suspects.
The STL prosecutor in the case, Daniel Bellemare, is Canadian. Two dozen of his compatriots also work for the tribunal.
"Many Lebanese see the STL's investigation as being run by Canadians since it is headed by a Canadian," the said Integrated Threat Assessment Center document penned in March.
It notes that "Canada has considerable interests in Leb" and the Lebanese diaspora in Canada includes Hizbullah sympathizers. As such, it goes on to say, Ottawa must remain vigilant against possible reprisals.
Hizbullah is blacklisted by the Canadian government.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2011 08:17 ||
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#1
Are Canadians cowards? Or will they react to this in an appropriate manner?
#3
This is a UN cocktail party even though it is being run by Canadians. Probably best for the careers involved that they do some CYA by leaking this "classified" document. I'm sure that the Canadian Security Services (!) have a handle on the potential problem - a much better handle than will ever be admitted publicly.
Many Canuckistanians (dual citizenship types - Canada & Lebanon) screamed for help from the Canuckistanian gummint a few years ago and demanded free transportation out of Lebanon and away from the bullies with guns. That gave the gummint spy guys - CSIS - a chance to get much new intelligence about Leb and the personalities involved. Plus the fact that they're clustered together in only a couple of areas of Canuckistan helps with the intel.
[Bangla Daily Star] The leaders of the US, UK, La Belle France, Germany and the EU have all called for Syria's President Assad to step down over his suppression of protesters.
US President Barack B.O. Obama said: "The time has come for President Assad to step aside."
It marks a significant increase in pressure on Assad for sending in his army against the protesters.
Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Tex and his new-found Indian friend were preparing a little surprise for the bandidos... UN Sherlocks say the use of violence in Syria "may amount to crimes against humanity".
In a report to the UN Human Rights Council, the Sherlocks said the UN Security Council should refer the issue to the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ....
'Get out of the way'
In a written statement, Obama said: "The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... is standing in their way. His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing, and slaughtering his own people.
He added: "We have consistently said that President Assad must lead a democratic transition or get out of the way. He has not led. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside."
Obama also announced "unprecedented sanctions to deepen the financial isolation of the Assad regime and further disrupt its ability to finance a campaign of violence against the Syrian people".
The US had already tightened its sanctions against members of Syria's government but had stopped short of demanding Assad step down.
At the same time, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said: "The EU notes the complete loss of [Syrian President] Bashir al-Assad's legitimacy in the eyes of the Syrian people and the necessity for him to step aside."
In a separate statement, the leaders of Britannia, La Belle France and Germany said President Assad should "leave power in the greater interests of Syria and the unity of his people".
'Systematic attacks'
UN Sherlocks released a 22-page report saying that security forces, including snipers, have used deadly force against civilians in attempts to quell months of anti-government protests.
About 2,000 people are believed to have been killed in Syria since March.
The UN's Sherlocks were not allowed in Syria. They interviewed victims and witnesses of the violence, some in Syria, and others in the region.
"The mission found a pattern of human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... violations that constitute widespread or systematic attacks against the civilian population, which may amount to crimes against humanity," the UN Sherlocks said.
The report, released in Geneva, urged the UN Security Council to "consider referring the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court".
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, is to brief the Security Council on the report later on Thursday in a special session.
An emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council will be held on Monday following a request from all 24 members - including Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and Soddy Arabia.
The unrest in Syria began in March following the toppling of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011....
Protests against President Bashir al-Assad's rule have broken out in a succession of cities and the government has responded with force, sending in troops and tanks.
The assaults have escalated since the beginning of the Mohammedan holy month of Ramadan earlier in August.
Troop withdrawals
President Assad has told UN Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... that military operations against protesters have "stopped", a UN front man said.
He was responding to a demand from Mr Ban during a phone call that "all military operations and mass arrests must cease immediately," the UN's Farhan Haq said in a statement.
But reports from inside Syria indicate the violence has continued, despite the highly-publicised troop withdrawal from three trouble-spots in the past couple of weeks - first the central city of Hama, then Deir al-Zour in the east, and now the Ramel district of Latakia on the western coast.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday was mostly quiet in the country except for shooting in Ramel.
Activists said at least 20 people were killed in various parts of the country on Wednesday, including the city of Homs.
An activist there told the News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency that there had been heavy shooting all night until sunrise on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2011 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.
[Iran Press TV] An Iranian official says the excessive use of natural resources by Western countries has led to the drought and famine in Somalia.
Mahmoud 
North Korea
International Criminal Court
President-for-Life Bashir 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
