[Dawn] The Afghan and Pak governments are seeking peace talks with the Taliban in Soddy Arabia separate from US-brokered talks with the bully boyz in Qatar, officials said Sunday.
The Taliban, ousted from power by a US-led invasion in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, announced earlier this month that they planned to set up a political office in Qatar ahead of talks with Washington.
Taliban negotiators have begun holding preliminary talks with US officials in the Gulf state on plans for peace talks aimed at ending the decade-long war in Afghanistan, a former Taliban official said Sunday.
But Afghan and Taliban officials indicated in response to a BBC report about plans for talks in Soddy Arabia that both Kabul and Islamabad were looking for their own talks with the Death Eaters.
Asked for his response to the BBC report, Afghan foreign ministry front man Janan Mosazai said: "Of course we support any steps towards the Afghan grinding of the peace processor." He refused to comment further.
But a senior Afghan government official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , told AFP: "We will always pursue all roads towards peace in Afghanistan, including contacts with the Taliban that are not limited to the Qatar office."He acknowledged the accuracy of the BBC report but said he did not know of any timetable for the talks in Soddy Arabia to begin.
A member of the Taliban's leadership council, the Pakistain-based Quetta Shura, also backed the report of talks in Soddy Arabia.
"The idea that the Taliban should have a point of contact in Saudi is pushed by the Pakistain and Afghan governments," he said on condition of anonymity.
"This is because they think they have been sidelined. They want some control over peace talks."Supporting this theory, Kabul announced Sunday that Pak Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar would visit Kabul on Wednesday.
Mosazai told a news conference the visit would mark a "new phase" in cooperation between the two countries, adding that Khar would hold talks with Afghan Foreign Minister Zulmai Rasoul and President Hamid 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... .
"Both sides will discuss the fight against terrorism and Pakistain's essential support to the grinding of the peace processor in Afghanistan.
"Pakistain plays a key role in the Afghan grinding of the peace processor and Afghanistan need a sincere effort of our neighbouring country toward peace negotiations,"Mosazai said.
Khar's visit comes after Pakistain made overtures to Afghanistan to resume talks about the Taliban which broke down following the liquidation of Kabul's chief peace envoy, Burhanuddin Rabbani ... the gentlemanly murdered legitimate president of Afghanistan... , in September, officials said.
Karzai accused Pakistain of responsibility for the murder and last month said Islamabad was sabotaging all attempts at negotiations with the Taliban.
The president's initial wariness over being sidelined in the Qatar talks led Washington to dispatch special envoy Marc Grossman to Kabul last week to assure him of a central role for his government in any major negotiations.
And in another effort to soothe Karzai's doubts, a delegation from the Qatar government is expected to visit Kabul to explain its role in the talks, High Peace Council secretary Aminundin Muzaffari told AFP.
"We are expecting a delegation from Qatar to come to Kabul to discuss with us the role of Afghans in peace talks and when and how peace talks in Qatar should happen and proceed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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KABUL - Afghanistan and Pakistan plan to open a second front in negotiations with the Taliban in Saudi Arabia as US-brokered talks get under way in Qatar, officials said Sunday.
The Taliban announced earlier this month that they planned to set up a political office in Qatar ahead of talks with Washington. And Taliban negotiators have begun holding preliminary talks with US officials in the Gulf state on plans for negotiations aimed at ending the decade-long Afghan war, a former Taliban official said Sunday.
But Afghan and Taliban officials indicated in response to a BBC report about plans for talks in Saudi Arabia that both Kabul and Islamabad usually at loggerheads on the issue were looking for their own talks with the Taliban.
Asked for his response to the BBC report, Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai said: Of course we support any steps towards the Afghan peace process. He refused to comment further.
But a senior Afghan government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP the BBC report was accurate, saying: We will always pursue all roads towards peace in Afghanistan, including contacts with the Taliban that are not limited to the Qatar office.
A member of the Talibans leadership council, the Pakistan-based Quetta Shura, also backed the report of talks in Saudi Arabia.
The idea that the Taliban should have a point of contact in Saudi is pushed by the Pakistan and Afghan governments, he said on condition of anonymity. This is because they think they have been sidelined. They want some control over peace talks.
Supporting this theory, Kabul announced Sunday that Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar would visit Kabul on Wednesday, marking what Mosazai called a new phase in cooperation between the two countries. Khar would meet President Hamid Karzai to discuss the fight against terrorism and Pakistans essential support to the peace process in Afghanistan, he said.
Khars visit comes after the always touchy relations between the two countries broke down following the assassination of Kabuls chief peace envoy, Burhanuddin Rabbani, in September. Karzai accused Pakistan of responsibility for the murder and said Islamabad was sabotaging all attempts at negotiations with the Taliban.
The president was wary over being sidelined in the Qatar talks, leading Washington to dispatch special envoy Marc Grossman to Kabul last week to assure him of a central role for his government in any major negotiations. And in another effort to soothe Karzais doubts, a delegation from the Qatar government is expected to visit Kabul to explain its role in the talks, High Peace Council secretary Aminundin Muzaffari told AFP.
Preliminary negotiations between the US and the Taliban are already under way in the Gulf state, a former Taliban official who is now a member of the Afghan government appointed High Peace Council said Sunday.
The actual peace talks have not yet begun they are in the process of trust-building and obviously this will take some time, Mawlavi Qalamuddin, who once led the Talibans feared religious police when the hardline Islamists were in power, told AFP.
One of the trust-building measures demanded by the Taliban is the release of five of its members from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, while Washington wants the insurgents to renounce violence.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
See also CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > THE COMING HOLY CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ - HOW THE FIRING SHOT OF THE SHITTE-SUNNI CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ PRESAGES A MUCH GREATER + BLOODIER REGIONAL SHIITE-SUNNI + ARAB-PERSIAN WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
ARTIC = Among other, the 1980's Iran-Iraq War + now post-911 Pak-Taliban-vs-Islamabad conflict in Pakistan is a part of the above.
CMF BLOGGER/POSTER = opined that the Shiite-Sunni competition + violence is also occurring in INDIA + INDONESIA + SOMALIA + SUDAN + even EUROPE???
[Magharebia] Interim Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki earlier this week condemned verbal and physical attacks against journalists and members of the judiciary by religious cut-thoats.
In a statement issued Monday (January 23rd), the president said the use of violence was "contrary to the values of the revolution", adding that the only venue for disagreement was free expression.
"We express our full solidarity with the media and judicial community," Marzouki said. The president also called on Tunisians to uphold moderation and tolerance while avoiding extremism and violence in order to preserve the unity of the country.
The strong remarks came following an incident outside the Court of First Instance in Tunis, where representatives of Nessma TV were on trial for airing a controversial film that depicted God. Journalist Zied Krichen, professor Hamadi Dimassi and lawyer Sa'ida Garrache were among those targeted by Salafists ...Salafists espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the 7th century. Rather than doing that themselves and letting other people alone they insist everybody do as they say and they try to kill everybody who doesn't... outside the Persepolis trial.
Journalist Salma Jlassi, a member of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) executive office, said that the "voices of freedom will not be silenced, and that journalists will line up to defend freedom and the sanctity of their mission in enlightening the public opinion on the domestic situation, in a responsible and professional manner".
"The extensive use of violence as an approach in dealing with intellects will only serve to highlight the importance of pursuing the path of freedom," she added.
Journalist Karim Latifi told Magharebia that "the violence wave levelled against journalists is without a doubt an attempt to bounce back on the gains of the revolution, as well as an endeavour to steer the media toward a marginal cause, that is originally taken for granted, legally and constitutionally".
"I think the wave of bashing journalists is an alarming sign, especially in the absence of a force that can protect journalists from such threats," commented journalist Asma Elbaccouche. "We all watched the video of abuse and saw there was no sign of security forces. Those who perpetrated the crime were not placed in long-term storage or held accountable."
She added that the incident "only opens the door before Salafists as well as other trends to undertake similar acts, after they dared to use force, whether physical or verbal. The next thing we know, a Salafist will be seen assaulting a girl, by beating or insulting her, for not wearing the Islamic dress, as they put it."
"The revolution took place to institute the law, not to live by the law of the jungle," Elbaccouche said, adding that the attacks should be dealt with by rule of law.
For her part, BBC TV anchor Makki Helel described the Salafist attacks as "immoral and fearful".
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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CAIRO: Polls opened on Sunday in an election for Egypts upper house of parliament, with Islamists seeking to repeat the success they enjoyed in elections for the lower house.
The parliamentary votes, which began in late November, are the first since a popular uprising toppled President Hosni Mubarak last February.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which was banned during his rule, won 47 percent of lower house seats, far more than any other party, and a low turnout on Sunday was blamed by some voters on the feeling that the upper house vote now mattered little. After the lower house election that saw an unprecedented turnout and was hailed as Egypts most democratic since military officers overthrew the king in 1952, some Egyptians knew nothing of the upper house vote.
The powers of the upper house are limited and it cannot block legislation in the lower house. However, its members must be consulted before lower house MPs pass any bill.
Under an interim constitution, both houses are responsible for picking a 100-strong assembly that will write a new constitution to replace the one that helped keep Mubarak in power for three decades.
The Shoura council (upper house) elections are as important as the Peoples Assembly (lower house) elections, said Hussein Ibrahim, a member of the Brotherhoods Freedom and Justice Party and head of its parliamentary bloc.
Certainly the upper house provides salaries and protection for various canoodlers, thugs, bullies and thieves of the Egyptian political class who see which way things are going right now...
Voting for the upper house will be held over two stages ending in the middle of February. Ninety of the 270 seats will be decided in the first round of voting on Sunday and Monday, with run-offs on Feb. 7. Another 90 will be determined by voting on Feb. 14 and 15, with run-offs on Feb. 22.
The remaining 90 will be appointed by Egypts next president, expected to be elected in June according a transition timetable drawn up by the military council to whom Mubarak handed power nearly a year ago.
The elected part of the Shoura council will convene without the appointed seats until presidential elections are held and the new president appoints the other 90 members, an official from the body overseeing the election told Reuters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] The newly formed military commission met Sunday the ambassadors of the five permanent UN Security Council members and directed to free all political prisoners jugged by security services during the anti-regime protests.
During t he meeting, the commission headed by Vice President Abdu Rabu Hadi vowed to follow up the implementation of its directions.
It further affirmed its determination to remove all armed manifestations and take tight actions against any insecurity, banditry or terrorist acts across the state.
The Emirati newspaper, Alkhaleej, quoted a military commission sources as saying that the commission still faces challenges and difficulties in Sana'a and Taiz.
It said all members of the commission agreed to delay the reconstruction of the Yemeni military to post-polls.
Separately, Prime Minister Mohammad Salem Basindiwa has urged to rally support for the early presidential elections to be held on February, 2011.
In a meeting with ambassadors of those countries concerned on following up the implementation of the GCC power transfer deal, Basindiwa discussed preparations carried out by the government to successfully hold the elections.
For its part, the alliance of the Yemeni opposition parties (JMP) called its supporters and followers to vote for Hadi, appreciating, in the meantime, efforts exerted by Hadi to implement the GCC-brokered deal.
Yemen Interior Minister Abdul-Kaher Qahtan has affirmed that the Interior ministry has special plans to protect and secure the presidential elections.
"We are preparing procedures and will do best to successfully hold the early presidential elections due to be held on February 21" he added.
Qahtan further said the ministry would provide a safe environment to hold fair and free elections, pointing out that it would responsibly encounter any attempts to disturb the elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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A talk on sharia and human rights by NSS Council Member Anne Marie Waters' at Queen Mary University of London was cancelled at the last moment because of an Islamist who made serious threats against everyone there.
Ms Waters was due to give a talk on behalf of the One Law for All campaign on 16 January but before it started, a man entered the lecture theatre, stood at the front with a camera and filmed the audience. He then said that he knew who everyone was, where they lived and if he heard anything negative about the Prophet, he would track them down.
The man also filmed students in the foyer and threatened to murder them and their families. On leaving the building, he joined a large group of men, apparently there to support him. Students were told by security to stay in the lecture theatre for their own safety.
The President of Queen Mary's Atheism, Secularism and Humanism Society, who organised the event said: "This event was supposed to be an opportunity for people of different religions and perspectives to debate, at a university that is supposed to be a beacon of free speech and debate.
"Only two complaints had been made to the Union prior to the event, and the majority of the Muslim students at the event were incredibly supportive of it going ahead. These threats were an aggressive assault on freedom of speech and the fact that they led to the cancellation of our talk was severely disappointing for all of the religious and non-religious students in the room who wanted to engage in debate."
The police were contacted about the incident.
You can read Anne Marie Waters' account of the event here.
Also see Maryam Namazie's account here.
In yet another instance of Islamic bullying and threats, skeptical blogger Rhys Morgan decided to show solidarity with the University College London Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society after the controversy it endured after posting a Jesus and Mo cartoon on its Facebook page.
Rhys posted the image on his own blog and was immediately bombarded with threats, menaces and abuse from Islamists who aimed the usual accusations of racism and Islamophobia at him.
Rhys has remained defiant and reasoned in the face of this avalanche of bile and ignorance and the NSS offers its full support to him.
#1
Marie Waters' account is even more depressing than the event itself. It essentially boils down to "how can we stand up for free speech if the government doesn't help us?".
fwiw, they both are, I think, leftists and someone clueless ones at that. ms Waters says, for example, "...The message is very clear don't insult religion.." when its obvious, that only one religion threatens people with death as the penalty for honest discussion.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/30/2012 14:19 Comments ||
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The man committed assault [threat] but did not consummate it with battery. Anyone who'd smacked him one might be charged with simple battery acting out of a perceived self defense, but would certainly get the identification and address from the arrest record of the miscreant.
A couple weeks old but worth noting. If the elites in the luxury apartments of Pyongyang -- and the elite party cadres are the only ones who can live in that housing in the capital -- are shivering, imagine what's happening out in the rural areas. Pudgy has even bigger problems than keeping the military happy.
Many of the residents of luxury apartments in Pyongyang are leaving their homes for the heated homes of relatives or other warmer locations.
An inside source who visited Pyongyang at the end of last month said in a phone interview with the Daily NK today, People previously had no supplies of water so didn't have drinking water and could not go to the bathroom without difficulty, but now that there are heating problems too the people are inevitably leaving their homes. This year, many people are locking their homes and leaving for warmer places.
The source said, When I went to Pyongyang just three years ago, the people still stayed in their apartments even without heat, but now half of them are gone, they went to East Pyongyang where the pre-1980s homes are heated with charcoal briquettes.
The source added, Even until last year, the residents in these apartments spent the whole winter season there with cotton blankets on the floor all day long, filling pint bottles with hot water to warm their blankets when they slept; however, as the situation has gotten worse this year whole families cannot take any more and have chosen to leave their homes behind.
The 20-40 storey apartments on Gwangbok and Tongil Streets, which are boasted of by the North Korean authorities for their modernity, are among those falling into dilapidation.
The source explained, If the rooms had just enough lukewarm water that they wouldn't freeze we could live, but now they are not even able to do that. Nobody knows when heat will come.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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The newest "Peak ---" Crisis is "Peak Trees/Wood/Forests" ...
DPRK prematurely hit, albeit it doesn't seem to show on the Net maps - "Peak Grass" to follow???
SEOUL, Jan. 30 -- North Korea has been preparing for a large military parade for this spring since before the death of its former leader Kim Jong-il, a government official here said Monday.
"North Korea has been practicing a military parade, with troops and equipment on hand, at the Mirim Airbase near Pyongyang," the official said. "This began before the death of Kim Jong-il last year (in December)."
The official added the North's military may be targeting the 100th birthday of the country's founder, Kim Il-sung, on April 15, or the 80th founding anniversary of the military on April 25.
Sources said the rehearsals have mobilized active and reserve troops, and also new armored vehicles and short- and mid-range missiles.
All the usual stuff you see at a commie parade. No word however on whether they'll serve refreshments...
"North Korea stages a parade on national holidays such as the founding anniversary of the military," the official added. "Considering the pace and the size of the rehearsals, the parade will likely be held in April rather than Feb. 16, Kim Jong-il's birthday."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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Strangely enough, I was in the woods this morning, where I chanced upon a bear. He was sitting on a toilet, wearing a mitre and reading L'Observatore Romano...
AN Oslo court found two men guilty today of plotting a terrorist act for a planned attack on the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005.
Norwegian national Mikael Davud, a Norwegian of Chinese Uighur origin considered to be the mastermind behind the plot, was sentenced to seven years behind bars, while Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, an Iraqi Kurd residing in Norway, received a three-and-a-half-year prison term.
The two men, who were arrested in July 2010, had connections with al Qaeda and planned to use explosives at the Jyllands-Posten daily's Copenhagen offices and murder Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist behind the most controversial of the 12 drawings published in September 2005, according to the prosecution.
Westergaard's drawing, which has earned him numerous death threats and an assassination attempt, showed Muhammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb with a lit fuse.
The prosecution had demanded prison sentences of 11 and five years respectively.
A third man arrested at the same time as Davud and Bujak, David Jakobsen - an Uzbek living in Norway - was acquitted of the most serious charges, but sentenced to four months in prison for helping the others to procure the materials needed to create the explosives.
I almost put this in WoT Operations All #Occupy stories go into Fifth Column. Whether they're WoT related or not is up to you...
OAKLAND -- Occupy Oakland protesters broke into City Hall, stole an American flag from the City Council chamber and set it on fire Saturday night... Demonstrators spent the previous day trying to break into a convention center and temporarily occupying City Hall and a YMCA.
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan who two months ago essentially took the Occupy side against her own police force
spoke moments after the City Hall invasion, saying the city would ask for "stay away" orders against many of the protesters who have repeatedly been arrested in Oakland.
"This particular faction of Occupy ... they're very violent and I'm going to be asking for a lot more mutual aid," Quan said. that means having the police in other municipalities help Oakland police
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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Some Perts, Bloggers are arguing that, vee the "Occupy" MOvements, the US is roughly in the 1850's = pre-CIVIL WAR PERIOD???
[GRANNY CLAMPETT IS ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY CATEGORICALLY UNDENIABLY, ....@ETC. FOR THE USA = "UNDEFEATED SOUTHERNERS OF AMERICA" here].
The participants of Pakistain Defense Conference held a rally on Sunday in Multan in which they criticised the government and vowed that they were ready to defend the country. Different parties also said that the masses will protest by surrounding the parliament in case of resumption of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... supplies.
Various political and religious parties stress upon the need not to accept the dictation from other nations with aims to do decisions by ourselves.
The Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... , Munawwar Hassan said that international agencies are involved in terrorism in Pakistain.
"Now, it is time to change the foreign policy and to detach ourselves away from the US," said Hassan.
Former chief of ISI, Hameed Gul said that Pakistain's existence will be in danger if NATO supplies are resume. He said that if India is the most favored nation, then who is poking a dagger in the back of Pakistain via Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... and Afghanistan.
The leader of Awami Moslem League, Sheikh Rasheed said that the genie of corruption in out of control, all the important institutions in the country have been infected by it.
Maulana Samiul Haq also took oath from the participants to lead their lives for the defense of the country if needed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Please note Obama these are SAME people we are fighting in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Paul D ||
01/30/2012 18:19 Comments ||
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The Iranian MOIS holds a parallel view no doubt.
[Dawn] In a rare victory for Pak liberals, a private TV station decided to fire a popular morning show host after she sparked outrage by running around a public park trying to expose young, unmarried couples hanging out, a taboo in this conservative Moslem country.
Pak liberals derided host Maya Khan's behavior on Twitter and Facebook, comparing it to the kind of moral policing practiced by the Taliban, and started an online petition asking Samaa TV to end this "irresponsible programming" and apologize.
The company responded Saturday in a letter sent to news hounds saying it had decided to fire Khan and her team and cancel her show because she refused to issue an unconditional apology for the Jan. 17 program.
Samaa TV's decision marked an unusual victory for Pakistain's beleaguered liberal minority, which has become more marginalized as the country has shifted to the right and whose members have been killed by faceless myrmidons for standing up for what they believe.
Critics of the program also praised the company's decision as a positive example of self-regulation by Pakistain's freewheeling TV industry, which was liberalized in 2000 and has mushroomed from one state-run channel to more than 80 independent ones.
Some shows have been praised for serving the public good by holding powerful officials to account, but many others have been criticized for doing anything that will get ratings, including pandering to populist sentiments at the expense of privacy and sometimes truth.
"Samaa management has set a good example that some others need to follow," said prominent human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. activist and journalist Hussain Naqi.
During the program in question, Khan and around a dozen other men and women chased down young couples in a seaside park in the southern city of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... . Several couples raced away from the group. One young man put on a cycle of violence helmet to hide his identity, while his female friend covered her face with a veil.
Khan finally accosted one couple sitting on a bench and pestered them with questions about whether they were married and whether their parents knew they were there. The man said the couple was engaged and asked Khan to shut off her cameras and microphone. She lied and said they were off.
"What is the difference between this kind of media vigilantism and that demonstrated by the Taliban?" said Mahnaz Rahman, a director at the Aurat Foundation, an organization that fights for women's rights in Pakistain.
Following Khan's program, one headline in a local paper called the host and the other women who appeared on the show "Vigil-aunties," referring to the South Asian term "aunty" for a bossy older woman.
A petition posted online that criticized Khan's behavior as "highly intrusive, invasive and potentially irresponsible" and demanded an official apology attracted more than 5,000 signatures.
Khan reportedly rejected the criticism at first but eventually issued on apology on TV to anyone she may have offended, saying "it was not my objective to make you cry or hurt you."
This fell short of the apology that Khan's bosses demanded, according to a letter written by the chairman of Samaa TV, Zafar Siddiqi. It said Khan and her team would receive termination notices on Jan. 30 and her show would be canceled.
Siddiqi said the company did not "absolve such behavior irrespective of ratings the show was getting."
Scores of Paks on Twitter praised Samaa TV's decision.
"Journalists must never forget the dividing line between public interest & private freedom," tweeted Najam Sethi, a prominent Pak journalist.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
What was this woman doing running around in public without a male family member? She should be stoned, not fired!
[Dawn] The US Embassy in Islamabad has issued a clarification regarding US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.... 's interview where he stated that someone in the Pak government knew where the late Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden is dead.
He took two shots to the head.
That made him frown
and he had to lie down.
Osama bin Laden is dead. was hiding, DawnNews reported on Sunday.
The US embassy stated that the US still believes that Pak officials were unaware about the presence of Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abottabad.
Spokesman for the US Defense Department, George Little said that Panetta's interview was old and the US was uncertain about the presence of Osama in Pakistain at the time of the interview.
The statement by the US embassy further said that Panetta and other US officials are trying sincerely to improve US-Pakistain relations.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Ah, the niceties of diplomacy are so hard to explain to one's children.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/30/2012 7:47 Comments ||
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Bright Pebbles,
It's possible (speculation) that we knew too. All the easier to track the visiting ants back to their home countries. Intelligence gathering trumps justice almost every time. Now whether the Paks knew that we knew is a further speculation, once removed.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/30/2012 16:24 Comments ||
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Bright Pebbles
I am sure the Pak army knew.Not sure re the Civil Govt did.Both dont seem to get on.See memogate.One wants democracy the other Zia Islamism.
Posted by: Paul D ||
01/30/2012 17:06 Comments ||
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I don't think democracy is a desire of either side of Pak gov't. It's just a necessary evil for gaining access to graft & corruption. Just like in the US.
[Dawn] Hearing in the Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... liquidation case took an uncanny twist on Saturday when the defence counsel pointed out that the call data of the Zong cellular company provided by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was not admissible as evidence because the firm launched its business in Pakistain in 2008, whereas the tragedy occurred in 2007.
Naseer Tanoli, counsel for accused Rafaqat Hussain and Husnain Gul, during a cross-examination of prosecution witness Ahmed Faisal, a manager at Zong, told anti-terrorism court judge Shahid Rafique in Adiala jail that the call data of his clients and Nasrullah, an aide to the late Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain leader Baitullah Mehsud, could not be linked with the liquidation because the cellular company did not exist in the country when the incident occurred on Dec 27, 2007.
The FIA produced three more witnesses for cross-examination. Chaudhry Mohmmad Taufique, a judicial magistrate, who recorded confessional statements of the accused, told the court that Rafaqat Hussain, Husnain Gul and Aitzaz Shah had confessed to their crime and signed their statements with their thumb impressions.
The defence counsel did not cross-examine magistrate Taufique and the court, while giving them final opportunity for cross-examining, adjourned the hearing to Feb 4.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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A month after the last American troops left Iraq, the State Department is operating a small fleet of surveillance drones here to help protect the United States Embassy and consulates, as well as American personnel. Some senior Iraqi officials expressed outrage at the program, saying the unarmed aircraft are an affront to Iraqi sovereignty.
The program was described by the departments diplomatic security branch in a little-noticed section of its most recent annual report and outlined in broad terms in a two-page online prospectus for companies that might bid on a contract to manage the program. It foreshadows a possible expansion of unmanned drone operations into the diplomatic arm of the American government; until now they have been mainly the province of the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency.
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Amnesty International has expressed anxiety for the fate of 2 female employees, working in Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi's office in Baghdad who have been detained by Iraqi security forces and were torturee, a BBC report noted on Sunday.
"One of the 2 employees is called Rasha Namir Jaafa al-Hussein, who was arrested from her parent's house in Baghdad's Zayouna district on January 2, without an arrest warrant; the second is called Bassima Salim Qiryaqos, who was detained the same day by a 15-man force, dressed in military uniform, believed to be related to Hashimi's case," the BBC added.
"Amnesty International expresses fear that both arrested employees would face torture and maltreatment, because their arrest charges are related to the arrest warrant against Hashimi," the report pointed out.
Remind me, did AI ever get this worked up when Saddam was in charge there?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqiya MP Khalid al-Alwani announced today that his bloc stopped boycotting the parliamentary session that lasted 43 days. The return to the cabinet meetings was not resolved yet, as he continued.
Iraq is living in real political crisis following the accusations uttered against vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi and the differences between Maliki and his deputy Saleh al-Mutlaq, both leading members of Iraqiyah bloc.
In an attempt to solve pending questions among all parties, President Jalal Talabani proposed making a general national conference, due at the beginning of the next month, to solve these questions, including those between Arbil and Baghdad on oil and gas law and the implementation of Article 140 of the constitution.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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Foreign Policy magazine cites CIA memos from 2007-2008 that the Mossad recruited members of Jundallah terror group to fight against Tehran; U.S. was reportedly furious with Israel and moved to limit joint intelligence programs.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/30/2012 14:59 Comments ||
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This makes a lot of sense. In Iran, there is a popular revulsion of Israel, all created by propaganda and zero exposure. But a lot of Iranians have experience with both Americans and real CIA and military personnel who were once assigned there.
That credibility, plus old Soviet propaganda that the CIA were everywhere and tremendously powerful, gives the CIA a lot of credibility.
Bottom line, it would be a heck of a lot easier to recruit as CIA instead of MOSSAD.
AMMAN - Jordanian police in the southern city of Tafileh fired tear gas on Sunday to disperse angry stone-throwing demonstrators who called on authorities to make good on their promise of jobs, the governor said.
"Scores of unemployed men blocked the main road in the city, throwing stones at government buildings as well as police," Hashem Sehiem told the state-run Petra news agency. "They broke the windows of the municipality building and burned tyres. This promoted police to fire tear gas to break up the protest."
Petra reported "traffic in Tafileh came to a standstill, preventing many people from reaching government buildings, shops and petrol stations."
"The protesters say they met earlier this month with Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh, who promised to create 120 jobs by January 20, but nothing happened," Petra said.
Sehiem said finding the jobs "takes time."
The news agency said the protesters "have been looking for jobs for years, and now they can no longer provide themselves with basic commodities."
While Jordan's official unemployment rate stands at 13 percent, unofficially the rate is closer to 30 percent.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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AMMAN: Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on Sunday made his first official visit to Jordan since the kingdom expelled him more than a decade ago and held talks with King Abdullah. Meshaal was accompanied by Qatars Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. The visit was planned before an uprising erupted in Syria, where Hamas has had its main headquarters outside the Gaza Strip.
Both Hamas and Jordan have denied that the Islamist movement may move its headquarters from Damascus, where many of its Jordanian leadership relocated after being expelled from the kingdom in 1999. The Syrian conflict has forced Hamas to move some of its activists and families out of the country.
The talk about the visit preceded the events in Syria and is not linked, Izzat Risheq, a senior Hamas official, said.
Hamas and Jordanian officials said neither side discussed reopening the Hamas office in Jordan.
Diplomatic and intelligence sources say Meshaal, 55, who has been based in Damascus since 2001, has effectively abandoned those headquarters, where he had seen relative safety following a botched Israeli attempt on his life in the 1990s.
Jordan has indicated it will accommodate families of the Syrian based leadership, many of whom are Jordanian citizens, but would not tolerate political activities on its soil.
Analysts and Islamists say the visit has been given impetus by regional turmoil in which Islamists have made major political gains across the region following the Arab Spring uprisings, notably in Tunisia and Egypt.
Then again, the King understands far better than Andy McCarthy what Islam is. He's also a survivor, and deep down his vision of Islam and his country isn't that much different than Meshaal's. He just wants to be the guy wearing the curly-toed slippers, and he wants most of all to live. The King could be persuaded to be 'moderate', but that's not the way the wind is blowing right now, is it...
Meshaal said he hoped his meeting with the king would be followed by other chapters in a strong relationship.
Hamas is concerned about the security of Jordan and its stability and we respect this, he said.
Abdalla, a US ally whose country was the second Arab state to make peace with Israel in 1994, is central to moribund Middle East peace efforts and seeks to appear as an honest broker with Palestinian factions, although the monarch strongly backs President Mahmoud Abbas.
Meshaal, a Jordanian citizen, was deported to Qatar after a crackdown by security forces on the movement in 1999 amid charges it harmed Jordanian national interests. The crackdown embittered many Jordanians of Palestinian origin, a majority of the population, who saw it as a dangerous precedent in a country where many native Jordanians oppose a larger political role for Palestinians.
Jordanian Prime Minister Awn Khasawnehs steps to co-opt Islamists to the cabinet have drawn the ire of the powerful security and native Jordanian political establishment that regards any comeback by Hamas as a boost to Islamists. Jordanian Islamists, who make up the main political opposition, have been in the forefront of street protests demanding sweeping political reforms.
There are forces that are not pleased with this visit and see themselves losing as a result, said Zaki Bani Irsheid, a leader of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of Jordans Muslim Brotherhood.
So the King continues to ride the tiger...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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A piece over at the American Thinker pointed out that the head of Hamas spoke out "against the rising movement to allow the Palestinian majority to replace the Hashemite monarchy with a democratic regime that would become the Palestinian homeland".
King Abdullah strongly, "supports the Palestinian Authority as well as Palestinian reconciliation".
Seems like they have found some common ground.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/30/2012 14:51 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- Algeria has voiced reservation reserved on article seven of the recent Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... Council's resolution on Syrian crisis which paves the way for taking the Syrian file to the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... Security Council, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Amar Blani said Sunday.
"Since the start of the crisis, Algeria made it clear that it have to be tackled within the vaporous Arab League and Arab intiative," Blani told KUNA in an exclusive statement.
The Algerian official reiterated his country's rejection to any attempt to internationalize the crisis or call for non-Arab intervention in Syria.
"For months, Algeria has clearly expressed its stance considering foreign intervention as a redline that should not be breached," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
There but for the grace of God go thee.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/30/2012 11:06 Comments ||
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TEHRAN: Oil prices could rise as high as $150 a barrel because of the European Union ban on imports of Iranian crude, the countrys deputy oil minister said on Sunday.
Almost reads like a threat, doesn't it...
Although a precise prediction cannot be made on oil prices, it seems we will witness a $120 to $150 oil price per barrel in future, Deputy Oil Ministry Ahmad Qalebani was quoted by IRNA as saying.
Irans Parliament, meanwhile, postponed a vote on a bill requiring the government to immediately halt crude oil sales to Europe. A senior lawmaker said Iran is considering banning all oil exports to the EU for five to 15 years. Emad Hosseini said no draft bill had been drawn up but lawmakers were considering a preemptive ban on oil exports to the EU.
A member of Irans National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said any ban would last at least five years. We will change the threat into an opportunity for Iran and cut Irans oil supplies to the Europeans for five to 15 years, Mohammad Karim Abedi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency on Sunday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/30/2012 00:00 ||
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Oil is fungible and the market will shift around. Besides Iranian MMs need cash flow for their projects for the 12th Imam.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/30/2012 3:22 Comments ||
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There is no upper limit to oil prices, Mullahs or no Mullahs.
#1
"The parade, borne out of a simple conversation between two St. Louis friends a month ago, was the nation's first big welcome-home for veterans of the war since the last troops were withdrawn from Iraq in December."
Isn't this a great country?
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/30/2012 11:45 Comments ||
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I was even on the news in D.C. Saturday evening; a nice piece.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/30/2012 15:19 Comments ||
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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.
KABUL - Afghanistan and Pakistan plan to open a second front in negotiations with the Taliban in Saudi Arabia as US-brokered talks get under way in Qatar, officials said Sunday.
In a rare victory for Pak liberals, a private TV station decided to fire a popular morning show host after she sparked outrage by running around a public park trying to expose young, unmarried couples hanging out, a taboo in this conservative 
The US Embassy in Islamabad has issued a clarification regarding US Defense Secretary 
[Dawn] Hearing in the 
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqiya MP Khalid al-Alwani announced today that his bloc stopped boycotting the parliamentary session that lasted 43 days. The return to the cabinet meetings was not resolved yet, as he continued.
AMMAN - Jordanian police in the southern city of Tafileh fired tear gas on Sunday to disperse angry stone-throwing demonstrators who called on authorities to make good on their promise of jobs, the governor said.
TEHRAN: Oil prices could rise as high as $150 a barrel because of the European Union ban on imports of Iranian crude, the countrys deputy oil minister said on Sunday.
