[Ynet] Egyptian military commentator, Hossam Sweilam, a retired Egyptian army general, told Al-Arabiya Thursday that the army had completed its planned concentration of forces in Sinai. According to Sweilam, 30,000 troops are currently stationed in the peninsula.
He added that the Egyptian army had placed in durance vile Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! a squad of senior terrorists, including an assistant to the former doctor of the late Osama bin Laden ... who was laid out deader than a mackerel, right next to the mackerel... . He said that since the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi, approximately 600 Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, soldiers have come through tunnels from Gazoo into Sinai.
#3
Its a nice way to signal that the military is still honoring previous agreements, wants to coordinate, and does not want to get vaporized, and didn't like the pick up game of whack-a-general, they need to find the tunnels they didn't already know about, and an enemy who cross dresses to blend in.
I'd still keep a close eye on them. Could be the quickest easiest way to gain favor with the US Administration is to be a thorn vs. Israel, not as much of a problem if the monies come from KSA et al. Clearing gophers is good, but have the feeling they will want to leave some troops for at least a short while.
Chief of the Egyptian armed forces, Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, will not run for the upcoming presidential election, spokesperson of the armed forces confirmed in a statement Friday evening, Xinhua reported.
"Talking about Sisi's nomination is baseless," Colonel Ahmed Mohamed Ali said, stressing that the defense minister has no intention for such a political competition and he is proud of leading the military institution.
The statement came after local news said earlier that Sisi, like all other citizens, has the right to run for presidency when he retires. The spokesman urged all media outlets to be cautious and accurate when circulating news in such a critical stage.
Perhaps this item from Ynet helped him make that decision:
Egyptian newspaper al-Youm al-Sabaa reported of two attempts on the life of Egyptian Defense Minister General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, since the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi. According to the report, the failed attempt Curses! Foiled again! s were coordinated by Death Eater bad boy groups and the world Moslem Brüderbund movement.
He might as well be president, the hard boyz are going to try to kill him regardless...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2013 00:00 ||
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The British government said on Friday it has revoked five export licences for equipment destined for Egypts military and police in light of recent unrest in the country that has led to the deaths of civilians. Business Secretary Vince Cables department said on Friday that the decision was taken because of the Egyptian authorities recent actions with regard to crowd control.
The five licences covered components for armored personnel carriers, machine guns, and armored fighting infantry vehicles, along with communications equipment for tanks and licences for vehicle antennas and radio equipment.
Cable said the government had not had reports of British equipment being used in Egypts unrest, but took the decision to revoke the licences upon advice from the Foreign Office.
The UK assesses all arms export licences to ensure there is no risk that weapons and other equipment might be used for internal repression.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2013 00:00 ||
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US Secretary of State John Kerry has again refrained from characterising the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi by the military as a coup.
Washington's hesitation to use the term has drawn accusations from the pro-Morsi camp that the US was complicit in the coup. For the White House, it is an on-going and agonising determination that has legal and possibly even security implications.
"This is obviously an extremely complex and difficult situation," said Mr Kerry, speaking in Amman during a news conference with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh.
"The fact is we need to take the time necessary because of the complexity of the situation to evaluate what has taken place," he said.
Mr Kerry, and other American officials, have repeatedly said it was important to take the time to determine what exactly had happened in Egypt - even while prominent US lawmakers like Senator John McCain, analysts, and supporters of Mr Morsi, have said it is clearly a coup.
Under US law, most aid must stop to "any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup d'etat or decree" or toppled in "a coup d'état or decree in which the military plays a decisive role".
The US provides $1.15bn (£756m) of aid a year to Egypt, $1.13bn of it military.
But the ''coup legislation" does not set a deadline, so the administration can use delaying tactics before reaching the legal determination, while it looks into the possibility of allowing aid to continue and hopes that the situation in Egypt improves rapidly.
Mr Kerry expressed concern about instability in Egypt and called for an end to political arrests but said it was too soon to judge how the situation would unfold.
In the build up to the ouster of Mr Morsi, the US was clearly uncomfortable with the prospect of a coup but failed to convince Mr Morsi to compromise with the opposition or push the military to find a different way forward. But Washington had never been comfortable with Mr Morsi as a president either, so it has now come around to accepting the new phase.
William Burns, deputy secretary of state, said on a visit to Cairo earlier this week: "Despite our concerns about the developments of the past two weeks, we believe that the on-going transition is another opportunity... to create a democratic state that protects human rights and the rule of law.
"We hope it will be a chance to learn some of the lessons and correct some of the mistakes of the past two years."
Although almost everyone in Washington agrees the administration of President Barack Obama should say it was a coup, opinions are divided about whether the US should suspend aid or find ways to maintain the flow.
Marwan Muasher, former Jordanian foreign minister and vice-president at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace overseeing Middle East studies, said: ''The US' best strategy now is to call it a coup, to respect US law, but to get a waiver, because it's not necessarily constructive to stop aid to Egypt."
There is no waiver in the ''coup legislation'' but Congress is looking into passing a bill that would allow aid to continue even if a legal determination is reached that Mr Morsi's ouster was a coup. Similar legislation was approved for Pakistan in 2001.
And we see how well that worked out...
"The US has been accused of interfering on this or that side, cutting off aid will further antagonise the Egyptians and will not result in any additional leverage for the US," said Muasher.
When Mr Morsi was in power, his opponents accused the US of being in bed with the Muslim Brotherhood, while American officials repeatedly explained they were simply trying to work with a president who had been democratically elected. Cutting off aid now would only confirm that impression in the anti-Morsi camp.
But Khalil el-Anani, a Durham University scholar who focuses on the Muslim Brotherhood, warned that the US' continued reluctance to describe the events as a coup would also fuel anger towards the US among supporters of the Brotherhood and the wider Middle East - the kind of anger that al-Qaeda would tap into. He urged the US to make aid conditional on progress towards democracy and respect for human rights, including an end to the rounding-up of members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Washington is also concerned that cutting military aid to Egypt could undermine the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. American military aid to Egypt started after the 1979 Camp David accords. Although nothing in the accords mandates the US to provide aid to Egypt, there is an expectation that as long as Egypt abides by the treaty, it can expect aid in return.
Under the Congress Appropriations Act of 2012, US military aid to Egypt was also made conditional on progress in the transition towards a civilian government and general respect for human rights. At the end of last year, Congress put a hold on aid to Egypt because of a clear deterioration in the political transition.
In May, Mr Kerry used a waiver included in the act to lift the restrictions, citing national security interests. These included the need to support Egypt as it increased security in the Sinai or helped secure transit through the Suez canal - among other goals directly tied to US national security - according to Mr Kerry.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Obama lying Again.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/20/2013 11:06 Comments ||
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#2
"Obama lying Again."
The "again" is redundant, RJ.
Just sayin'.
/pedant
Posted by: Barbara ||
07/20/2013 11:46 Comments ||
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In Cairo, tens of thousands assembled outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, scene of a weeks-long sit-in.
Pro-military crowds were also gathering for a rival rally in central Tahrir Square, though in smaller numbers.
The UN's top rights official is pushing Egypt's interim leaders to state why Mr Morsi has been arrested and when he will be put on trial.
Egypt's first freely elected president was ousted on 3 July in what his supporters, many of them members of his Muslim Brotherhood movement, have said was a military coup. He is being held by the army at an undisclosed location.
The spokesman for the UN's High Commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, said she had spoken to Egypt's ambassador on 10 July and had written to Cairo for information on how many people were being held with Mr Morsi and the legal basis for their detention. Ms Pillay also wanted more information on the shooting outside the Republican Guard barracks in Cairo on 8 July in which more than 50 people were killed, said Rupert Coleville.
Mr Coleville said a UN team was waiting for permission to travel to Egypt to help with the investigation.
Brotherhood supporters have staged constant protests demanding Mr Morsi's reinstatement, and the movement's leadership had called for a fresh show of strength on Friday, under the banner "Breaking the Coup".
"I've come out to support legitimacy. Not because of President Morsi, but to support legitimacy," one protester told Reuters. "They stole the vote that I cast in the elections."
Another man, who gave his name as Mohammed, told AFP: "I believe Morsi will return as president, God willing. The people will win in the end."
A spokesman for the Brotherhood, Ahmed Aref, said the turnout had surpassed organisers' expectations.
"This is a peaceful destruction of the coup, and the peaceful will of the people will be achieved and nobody can snatch the will of the people."
A breakaway group of several thousand people attempted to march towards the Republican Guard barracks, where they believe Mr Morsi is being held, but the march was blocked by a cordon of security forces and tanks.
Pro-Morsi protests were also reported in Egypt's second city Alexandria, and in other towns along the Nile Delta.
The army says it removed Mr Morsi from office in response to the weeks of protests against him by people who believed he was becoming too authoritarian and moving Egypt towards a more Islamist style of governance.
Pro-army demonstrations have not been as large since the overthrow but organisers, including the Tamarod youth movement, had called for its supporters to turn out again on Friday in Tahrir Square, raising fears of violence if the two sides met.
The Mena state news agency reported small clashes between rival groups outside the Al Al-Azhar mosque before Friday prayers.
In a televised address on Thursday evening, his first since taking office, Interim President Adly Mansour had said Egypt was at a "critical stage" and warned against stoking unrest.
"Some want us to move towards chaos and we want to move towards stability. Some want a bloody path," he said, in a pre-recorded message aired on state TV. "We will fight a battle for security until the end. We will preserve the revolution."
Military spokesman Col Ahmed Mohammed Ali issued a statement on Thursday warning protesters that "whoever resorts to violence and deviates from peacefulness in Friday's rallies will put his life in danger".
He said violators would be "dealt with decisively according to the law".
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2013 00:00 ||
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Khamis had no other choice than to leave his house in the village of Dalga, near the central Egyptian city of Minya. After an arson attack on his cousin's house and the fatal shooting of another relative, he fled into hiding with his wife and six children. He said they had been singled out for no other reason than being Christians.
"It was a terrible night," recalled Khamis, who agreed to talk to us but did not want to be identified. Khamis is not his real name.
Khamis recounted what happened on the night of 3 July, when the army deposed Islamist former President Mohammed Morsi.
"Angry mobs and thugs rampaged through houses owned by Christians. They started with the house of my cousin, looting and setting it on fire. We weren't taking any chances - we fled the village."
Since Mr Morsi was forced from office, there has been a string of attacks on Christians in different provinces. Local Copts say they have been singled out by radical Islamists, for campaigning against the former president and his Muslim Brotherhood movement.
On 6 July, a priest was shot dead by gunmen in an outdoor market in northern Sinai.
Five days later, the body of a beheaded Christian man was found in the same area, where Islamist militants have launched a string of attacks on security and military posts since Mr Morsi's overthrow.
Arson attacks on Christian houses and shops have also been reported in remote southern villages, where Islamist hardliners hold sway. The violence included a church in Dalga, 350km (220 miles) south of Cairo.
We visited the site and found a burned-out shell, ransacked and blackened by fire.
The church's priest, Father Ayoub Youssef, told us what happened the night Mr Morsi was removed from power.
"They were many people, about 500," he said. "They stormed the church chanting slogans accusing Christians of campaigning against Morsi like 'Shame on you Christians! You traitors conspired against the president. You are doomed!'
"They looted everything - benches, ceiling fans, windows and even toilets. They smashed a statue of the Virgin Mary, before setting the whole building on fire."
Father Ayoub was grateful to Muslim neighbours for saving his life.
"They helped me escape from the roof to their house. Had it not been for them, I would have been lynched," he said.
Egypt's Christian minority, estimated at around 10% of the 85 million population, has felt vulnerable for decades. For a long time they steered clear of politics. But with the recent dramatic changes to the political scene, they have become more active.
The new Coptic Pope, Tawadros II, openly criticised the ousted president, calling him a divisive figure who had set Egyptians against one another. He blessed the president's removal and was in attendance when General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, the defence minister, announced Mr Morsi's removal from office.
Father Ayoub said being politically active or associated with opponents of the former president was not an excuse to take innocent lives.
"If you are attacked because of your political affiliations, I really don't know what the world is coming to," he said.
Normal? As in, that's how humanity, with but a few exceptions, has been the last ten thousand years?
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2013 00:00 ||
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Interior designer Marte Deborah Dalelv was on a business trip in Dubai when she says she was raped. The 24-year-old reported the March attack to the police but found herself charged with having extramarital sex, drinking alcohol, and perjury.
Convicted earlier this week, she says she is appealing against the verdict. The appeal hearing is scheduled for early September.
Describing the sentence as "very harsh", she told the AFP news agency: "I am very nervous and tense. But I hope for the best and I take one day at a time. I just have to get through this."
The case has angered rights groups and the authorities in Norway.
Ms Dalelv says she had been on a night out with colleagues on 6 March when the rape took place. She reported it to the police, who proceeded to confiscate her passport and seize her money. She was charged four days later on three counts, including having sex outside marriage.
Her alleged attacker, she said, received a 13-month sentence for extra-marital sex and alcohol consumption.
The Norwegian government had secured Ms Dalelv's conditional release so, since being charged, she has been living under the protection of the Norwegian Seamans' Centre in Dubai. But she told Norway's NRK News that following her sentencing on Tuesday she was now officially wanted by the Dubai authorities.
"I should have been imprisoned since Tuesday," she said. "But I have been told they are not searching for me."
The sentence has been condemned by Norway's Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide who is quoted as saying that it "flies in the face of our notion of justice" and was "highly problematic from a human rights perspective".
No, really?
The Norwegian authorities are reportedly trying to contact the authorities in Dubai about the situation.
The London-based Emirates Centre for Human Rights called on the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to which Dubai belongs, to quash Ms Dalelv's conviction. It said the UAE's claims that it is attempting to end discrimination against women was undermined by a legal system that "prohibits the achievement of justice for cases of sexual violence against women".
Currently, the law stipulates that, to gain a rape conviction, there must either be a confession or for four adult male witnesses to the crime.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
I am reading some Norwegian girl in her twenties is drinking with a Moslem man? Look down the barrel honey and put our finger on the trigger. And she got raped?
And the Dubai police stood there laughing? Norway?
It IS funny. Some people are too stupid to be let out on the street.
Pam and Debby in short shorts and tie dye halter tops make the tour of downtown Goatville and look at the colorful customs of the local Moslems.
And she is "appealing"? yeah? Bend over, sweetcheeks.
#5
Here's an idea: When in a moslem country (and especially if you're female), DON'T GO OUT DRINKING.
Better idea: Don't go to a moslem country.
I travelled all over Western Europe, and went any place/did anything I damned well pleased. (Obviously, nothing illegal.) Sure, some men acted like idiots, the same way some men here do, and the problem got taken care of the same way.
I decided a long time ago that I wouldn't spend one dime of my hard-earned money in any country where I had to walk around in a sack, or ask permission to breathe, or go outside only if I was accompanied by my non-existent husband.
Sure, one should be respectful of the culture of the country one is visiting (like don't go to church in shorts and flip-flops), but if that culture restricts where and with whom I can go, to whom I can try to talk, etc., - well, there are a LOT of other fascinating countries I can spend my money in.
Posted by: Barbara ||
07/20/2013 9:53 Comments ||
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Al-Rooters
Colombia's FARC rebels said late on Friday they were holding a U.S. soldier captured on June 20, but were willing to release him to a humanitarian commission as they pursue peace talks with the government. without Hoogo, FARC is reeling
The FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, said on its website it had caught the soldier, identified as Kevin Scott Sutay, in a jungle region in the south of the country, describing him as a mine clearance expert from New York who has served in Afghanistan. damn imperialists, clearing mines
"Despite the right we have to hold Kevin Scott as a prisoner of war, we have taken the political decision to free him in the spirit of talks that are advancing in Havana with the Colombian government," the statement said.
It was referring to peace talks in the Cuban capital under way since last November aimed at ending five decades of conflict. I'd wait to see if it's true. 24 hour rule
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/20/2013 10:35 ||
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#1
Keep Him.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/20/2013 14:15 Comments ||
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The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress (link opens in PDF) Thursday of plans to sell 260 AIM-120C-7 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to the Republic of Korea. Including the cost of associated equipment, parts, training, and logistical support, the notified contract could be worth as much as $452 million to principal contractor Raytheon.
That'll make a lot of MiG-19 and -21 drivers very, very unhappy...
South Korea has requested that the U.S. sell it these missiles to arm its KF-16 and F-15K fighter jets, describing the armaments as a "contingency stock" that can be drawn upon if necessary.
Wonder what an AMRAAM does to a Nork biplane?
DSCA justified the sale by noting that "the ROK continues to be an important force for peace, political stability, and economic progress in North East Asia. The proposed sale will provide the ROK with a credible defense capability to deter aggression in the region and ensure interoperability with U.S. forces."
DSCA reassured Congress that selling Korea these missiles "will not alter the basic military balance in the region" nor will there be any "adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale."
#1
Sounds good to me. (Ignore the sequester, Obama does.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/20/2013 14:13 Comments ||
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#2
...The Slammer works, and it works well. Let me tell you an interesting detail (open source, by the by).
The F-22 - and the F-35 - for all their problems two of the stealthiest aircraft on the planet, have the ability to receive datalinks from E-2 and E-3 radar planes, and feed the info directly to the Slammers...and launch them. They can kill with radar guided missiles, without ever using their radars. The only warning the Norks will have is when their planes explode.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/20/2013 16:32 Comments ||
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Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin has asked his U.S. counterpart Chuck Hagel to postpone the transfer of full operational control of Korean troops to Seoul. Kim made the request when he met Hagel in Singapore last month. The handover is scheduled for 2015 and spells the end for Combined Forces Command under U.S. leadership.
Officials from the two sides are discussing the matter further, with a view to the two defense chiefs wrapping up discussions in October.
A senior U.S. Defense Department official told Yonhap News on Tuesday, "I know that has been proposed by the South Korean government, and we are looking at that, working with the South Korean government." The official added that U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have been briefed on the request.
"Kim proposed to the U.S. to pursue the handover of wartime operational control with caution because of worsening tensions after North Koreas third nuclear test," a government official here said.
President Park Geun-hye and chief presidential security advisor Kim Jang-soo both apparently want the handover postponed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Not a good sign.
More bad signs of pending conflict ...
* STARS-N-STRIPES > [PACOM Chief Locklear] "MORE NORTH KOREA PROVOCATIONS LIKELY".
* TOPIX > [Asahi News Network] MANILA: CHINA TURNING SOUTH CHINA SEA INTO ITS "LAKE", SAYS PHILIPPINES.
* SAME > ABE: NO DEALING/COMPROMISE ON DIAOYU ISLANDS.
* GLOBAL TIMES > OPED: JAPAN PM VOWS END TO ARTICLE 9, of Japan's post-WW2 Constitution
* PRAVDA, FREEREPUBLIC > JAPAN GIVES UP ITS REPUTATION FOR MILITARY POWER.
* WAFF > [StrategyPage] THE US NAVY HURRIES [UAV/Drone-led] PREPARATIONS FOR [anti-SLBM, TLCM] WAR AGZ CHINA.
* TIME.COM > CHINA FINDS A GAP IN JAPAN'S MARITIME CHOKEPOINTS.
Le Perouse = Soya Strait/Sakhalin shennanigans + PCorrect post-1945 UNCLOS Legalisms come back to threaten Nipponland.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Phil Star] PHILIPPPINES URGES CHINA: BE A "RESPONSIBLE NATION".
RELATED SAME > CHINA MUST RESPECT [International = UNCLOS] RULE OF LAW - DFA.
* SAME > [Inquirer] PHILIPPINE ARMY TO SHIFT TO [anti-China] TERRITORIAL DEFENSE. PHIL NOLCOM [Northern Luzon Command] CHIEF.
PHIL helping to protect US CVNS, BGS from China's ASBMS + Motherly PLA Airborne???
* SAME > CHINA IN US$5.0BILYUHN DRIVE TO DEVELOP DISPUTED EAST CHINA SEA GAS FIELD, in disputed EEZ/SEZ also claimed by Japan.
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > JAPAN SURVEY SHIPS PREPARE FOR DEPLOYMENT, TENSIONS WID CHINA RISING.
Two Fleets in very very close proximity to each other above one UW/Seafloor Gas Field.
* SAME > KOREAN REUNIFICATION: DON'T BE SURPRISED IFF IT HAPPENS - FORBES.
But first "the China Question", i.e. come circa 2018, will "post-US" wannabe, anti-Containment, anti- First Island Chain Beijing accept a Nuclear DPRK, Nuclear ROK, + Nuclear Nippon wid Strong Military???
Given also the budding Nuclear Islamist-Jihadist = Global Nuclear Jihad threat???
First thingys must come first.
* SAME > CHINA GETS TRICOMALEE PORT - THIRD PORT IN SRI LANKA.
Six people were arrested after overnight violence that erupted in a Paris suburb after police checked the identity of a woman wearing a Muslim veil, French authorities said on Saturday. Dhimmis be hard to train
An obscure little State Department agency whose work is called "critical to the Department's information security posture" has been in a shambles for years, and is still in chaos, according to an audit report by the department's inspector general released yesterday.
As one result of all the bumbling and inaction, the security checks that the agency is supposed to perform and subsequent approvals for use that it is supposed to bestow every three years on 36 of those State Department systems have lapsed entirely, meaning that they are operating, in effect, illegally.
Some of the lapses have gone on for two years; in at least a couple of cases involving information systems that the audit calls "primary general support systems," the lapses have gone on since 2007.
One of the systems that is operating without a current license, known as iPost, was given an award two years ago for "significantly improving the effectiveness of the nation's cyber security." According to the inspector general's report, auditors couldn't find any documentation to back up how the award-winning system was created or maintained, nor any source code for the information it was supposed to track.
Fred and Badanov, we got a job opening for you guys!
There is more -- much more -- concerning the 22-person agency, known as the Office of Information Assurance of the State Department's Bureau of Information Resource Management (IRM/IA), which among other things certifies the security status of more than 170 information systems in the State Department. The report comes at a time of heightened concern about both cyber-security and torrents of information leaks in the U.S. government.
According to the audit report, the agency has statutory responsibility as State's "lead office for information assurance and security." Its top official, currently William Lay, is known as State's Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), who reports up to State's Chief Information Officer, currently Steven C. Taylor.
Despite the agency's august legal status, IRM/IA's staff apparently has no sense of what security functions their unit is actually required to perform, has failed for years to update information security manuals used by thousands of other State Department personnel, and has often left important details about the vulnerability of State's information systems where they can be accessed by people with lower-level security classifications.
The State Department said in a statement that it was taking the report's findings seriously.
"How seriously?"
"Umm, ask Mr. Carney. He'll tell you."
Much of the agency's certification work has apparently been done by outside contractors, often unsupervised, and often performing duties that are supposed to be done only by government employees.
"Who is working on this?"
"Top people."
"Who?"
"Top. People."
Neither contractors nor staffers apparently maintain much documentation about their work, or even about how the contractors are being paid under a $19 million contract that could swell to $60 million in outlying years. As the report puts it tersely, "Management is unable to verify the accuracy of reported costs."
Even the presence of inspectors didn't seem to stir much concern. Though the unnamed CISO said he would reassign responsibilities to fix some of the oversight problems, "no corrective action was taken during the course of the inspection," which lasted for six weeks earlier this year.
In effect, IRM/IA seems to be something of a zombie agency. IRM/IA staffers, according to the inspector general's report, don't show up for inter-departmental meetings, don't participate in their Bureau's strategic planning exercises, don't keep track of important documentation in the security certification process, and can't find a major portion of their budget receipts.
Even the relatively good news that many of the agency's functions have migrated to other parts of the larger Bureau comes with the fact that in some important cases, this occurred because IRM/IA personnel didn't show up for meetings where they shared joint responsibility.
Nor does the agency's management seem to have cared much for a long time about where it is going or what it needs to do to get there. According to the report, the agency "has no mission statement and is not engaged in strategic planning."
In other words, it's much like the rest of our government. We're in the best of hands...
#4
Credit where due, getting this report out seems to be the only thing Secretary of State Kerry has accomplished thus far. As it may be his only accomplishment before turning his responsibilities over to a Republican appointee, it ought to be celebrated.
#5
State's IT Motto: "Yesterday's Technology - Tomorrow."
This doesn't surprise me at all. When you scratch the surface on many things at State, you'll find incompetence, corruption, and general laziness. I've been inside the Matrix and it is not a pretty picture.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
07/20/2013 19:37 Comments ||
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[AnNahar] Israel deployed its Iron Dome missile defense system near the Red Sea resort of Eilat, which is close to the border with Egypt, an army spokeswoman said.
"An Iron Dome battery was deployed this morning in Eilat," the spokeswoman told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"The batteries are deployed in several areas of the country and moved around according to changes in the (security) situation," she added without elaborating.
But Israeli media said the deployment was related to unrest in Egypt, where the army is waging a campaign to drive hard boyz out of the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Eilat.
Ynet news website also pointed out that the deployment came at the height of the tourist season in southern Israel.
Eilat has been the target of attacks in the past. In April the town was struck by rocket fire from the Sinai and debris of a rocket that hit northern Eilat on July 4 were found days later.
Egypt's official news agency MENA on Thursday reported that 10 jihadists had been killed in the Sinai Peninsula in the past two days during the army offensive launched to curtail a surge in violence since Islamist president Mohammed Morsi was ousted on July 3 in a military-led coup.
The Iron Dome deployment also comes hours after two rockets fired from the Gazoo Strip hit southern Israel late on Thursday night, causing no casualties or damage, police said.
Israel and the Palestinians have reached an agreement which establishes the basis for resuming peace talks, the US Secretary of State has announced.
John Kerry was speaking in Jordan, after meetings with both sides earlier. He gave no details of the agreement, but said initial talks would be held in Washington next week.
The last round of direct talks broke down nearly three years ago over the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Mr Kerry told reporters in Amman that the parties had "reached an agreement that establishes a basis for resuming direct final status negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis."
"This is a significant and welcome step forward," he said, but stressed that it was still "in the process of being formalised".
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni will travel to Washington "in the next week or so" to begin initial talks, Mr Kerry said.
In his brief statement, Mr Kerry was able to announce the breakthrough that he had worked towards over six trips to this region: a resumption in direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. However, he gave few clues about how they might succeed.
During the day, Palestinian officials told me that they were seeking "written clear commitments" that negotiations on borders would be based on pre-1967 ceasefire lines. They also sought reassurances about what would happen if they dropped a demand for a freeze on Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Israeli journalists speculated that talks would restart with no preconditions - as their government has demanded. But some also anticipated the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
It could take time before the facts become clear. Mr Kerry is now flying back to the US; in Israel, the Jewish Sabbath has started, and Palestinians are also on their weekend.
Mr Kerry said any details of the agreement which might be reported were "conjecture" and stressed that "the best way to give these negotiations a chance is to keep them private".
He also thanked the Arab League, which on Wednesday gave its backing to his plan for resumed talks, saying this had made an "important difference".
However, the Islamist Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip rejected a return to Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
"Hamas rejects Kerry's announcement of a return to talks and considers the Palestinian Authority's return to negotiations with the occupation to be at odds with the national consensus," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP.
He said that Abbas had "no legitimate right" to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian people.
Ihab al-Ghassin, spokesman for the Hamas government, also told AFP that "whoever negotiates on the part of the people who is not chosen by them, represents only himself. The Palestinian people will not accept this."
And Ynet reports on the Palestinian understanding of the starting point:
Ahmed Majdalani, a Paleostinian leader, said Kerry has proposed holding talks for six to nine months focusing on the key issues of borders and security arrangements.
He said Kerry would endorse the 1967 lines as the starting point of negotiations and assured the Paleostinians that Israel would free some 350 prisoners gradually in the coming months. The prisoners would include some 100 men that Israel convicted of crimes committed before interim peace accords were signed in 1993. Israel has balked at freeing these prisoners in the past because many were convicted in deadly attacks.
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#1
Isn't Kerry just wonderful?
They agree to talk about talking.
A significant and welcome step forward.....
Jimmy Carter will be pleased. Hand me the toilet paper, will 'ya?
It gets ever more interesting in that part of the world.
Do they plan to have diplomatic relations with the temporary autonomous Kurdish government in Iraq and the the temporary autonomous Kurdish government in Turkey?
[AnNahar] Syria's Kurds are planning to create a temporary autonomous government to administer Kurdish regions in the north of the war-torn country, Kurdish officials told Agence La Belle France Presse on Friday.
"We think that the crisis in Syria will not end anytime soon, so we need to create democratic self-rule in western Kurdistan," said Salih Moslem, head of Syria's Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).
Western Kurdistan refers to Kurdish majority areas in northern Syria, including Hassakeh province in the northeast of the country and parts of Aleppo province.
"This has been our project since 2007," added Moslem, stressing nonetheless that the government would be temporary.
"This is provisional," he said. "Once there is a broad agreement on the future of Syria, we will put an end to this autonomy."
Shirzad Izidi, a front man for the People's Council of Western Kurdistan, another Syrian Kurdish group, confirmed the plans to form a temporary government.
"This Kurdish administration will serve as a temporary local government and will take measures to organize elections in Kurdish areas," Izidi told AFP.
"In some respects it will be similar to the experience in (Iraqi) Kurdistan."
Izidi said ideas for the formation of the government and elections were being discussed by various Kurdish parties, and that "there is an idea also to write an interim constitution so that there will be no vacuum".
Kurdish regions of northern Syria have been administered by local Kurdish councils since regime forces withdrew from the areas in the middle of 2012.
The redeployment was seen as a tactical move by the regime, freeing up forces to battle rebels elsewhere, and encouraging the Kurds to avoid allying with the opposition in order to maintain their new-found autonomy.
Since then, the Kurds have walked a fine line, trying to avoid antagonizing either the regime or the rebels, and focusing on maintaining security in Kurdish areas while strengthening control over their own affairs.
Kurds represent about 15 percent of the Syrian population, and are mostly concentrated in the northern part of the country.
Unlike their counterparts in Iraq, Syrian Kurdish leaders have not usually called publicly for a separate state, but in the wake of the uprising that began in March 2011, they have said they hope to maintain their new-found autonomy.
Their focus on their own community, and their ambiguous stance on the uprising, has earned them anger from the mainstream rebels, who view them with suspicion.
Their secular values are also anathema to the hardline jihadists of Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, two al-Qaeda-affiliated groups that have been fighting Kurdish forces in recent weeks.
Earlier this week, Kurdish fighters expelled jihadists from the town of Ras al-Ain and the nearby border crossing with Turkey, and fighting between the groups was continuing elsewhere in Hassakeh province in north-east Syria.
Neighboring Turkey views the PYD, the most prominent Kurdish group in Syria's Kurdish areas, as a branch of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), which it considers a "terrorist group".
On Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned it would "respond immediately" to any violation of its borders by Kurdish fighters, who he said posed "grave dangers".
#1
Syrian Kurds hook up with Iraqi Kurds, the Turks and Iranians are going to get very very very worried. Especially the Turks with their cultural history of abuse and suppression of the Kurds, If we had any brains at all, we would be covertly backing them in Syria and Iran, and pressuring the Turks to give them more autonomy with the implied trheat of "turning a blind eye" to Iraqi Kurds arming up the other 3 groups (Payback for not letting us place the 3rd ID where it needed to be, Turkish bitches)
[AnNahar] EU foreign ministers are likely to put the military wing of Hizbullah on their blacklist of "terror groups," EU diplomatic sources said Friday as the cabinet warned against such a step.
Are likely to is not quite have done...
"There are still some reservations... but we are moving towards a decision on listing Hizbullah's military wing," a senior EU official said ahead of a meeting of all 28 EU foreign ministers on Monday.
The move was justified by Hizbullah's involvement in an attack against Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year and its activities in Cyprus, the official said, but would "not impact current EU policy and engagement with Leb."
The official, who asked not to be named, also stressed that the military wing alone would be targeted and not Hizbullah's political organization.
On Thursday, Leb asked Brussels not to blacklist Hizbullah, saying the party was an "essential component of Lebanese society."
"Please don't destroy us!"
EU sources said Ireland and Malta were still reluctant to blacklist Hizbullah for fear of destabilizing the country,
Their own or Lebanon, one wonders...
but it appeared likely that any holdouts would go along with the majority on Monday.
"We would be surprised if some ministers stood in the way of the EU taking robust action on terrorism," another senior EU official said. "They'll need to think quite carefully before blocking consensus."
Asked if Hizbullah's intervention in support of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... against rebel forces seeking his ouster in Syria had changed opinion, the first bigwig insisted that was "another issue completely."
The decision was "solely driven" by concerns over terrorist actions in Europe, he added.
How they act at home, in Syria, or against Jews around the world is of no moment to the high-minded Europeans. Got it.
Unanimous backing from the 28 EU states is required to place a group or persons on the bloc's terrorist blacklist, making them subject to an asset freeze and travel ban.
The United States, Canada, Australia, Britannia and the Netherlands have all blacklisted Hizbullah as a terror group.
Last July 18, five Israeli tourists and the Bulgarian driver of their bus were killed in a bombing at Burgas airport in the deadliest attack on Israelis abroad since 2004.
"There are clear links to Hizbullah behind this attack," Bulgaria's Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev said Thursday, citing new information from foreign intelligence services.
[AnNahar] A number of women jugged Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! by the Syrian regime were released on Friday, including several whose names are on a list set by the kidnappers of Lebanese pilgrims in Aazaz.
According to the state-run National News agency, the "humanitarian initiative" was to mark the month of Ramadan.
The news agency said that General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim is exerting efforts to press Turkish authorities to cooperate further to end the case.
Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped in Syria's Aleppo region in May 2012 as they were making their way back by land to Leb from pilgrimage in Iran.
Two of the captives have since been released, while the rest remain held in Aazaz.
The abductors have demanded in May the release of 282 women detainees from Syrian prisons in return for the release of the Lebanese.
The families of the pilgrims have mainly held Turkey responsible for their ongoing abduction.
The families of the captives have held Turkey mainly responsible for the ongoing abduction of the men, vowing to target Turkish interests in Leb in order to pressure Ankara to exert efforts to release the pilgrims.
They have held numerous demonstrations near the headquarters of Turkish Airlines in Beirut as part of these actions.
Lots of wishful thinking about a situation that becomes ever more intolerable for all involved, though no requests for ponies. Go read the article if you care about the details, dear Reader.
[AnNahar] Caretaker Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi has ruled out the eruption of civil war in Leb despite the rising security incidents and the deepening polarization over the conflict in Syria.
"We couldn't say that everything's fine but I am not afraid of war either," Qortbawi told An Nahar daily in remarks published on Friday.
"Things will remain under control at the security level," the caretaker minister said despite citing a series of problems facing the Lebanese state, including the Syrian war, the rising number of Syrian refugees and the continued Israeli threat.
Violence linked to Syria's war is increasingly washing across Leb, threatening to unleash large-scale fighting in a deeply fragmented country.
Clashes between pro- and anti-Assad groups in different Lebanese cities have left scores of people dead in recent months.
Asked about the efforts exerted by Premier-designate Tammam Salam to put together a new cabinet, Qortbawi said the obstacles confronting him haven't changed.
He did not provide further details.
But the caretaker minister hoped that the government would be formed swiftly despite the failure to do so since outgoing Premier Najib Miqati resigned in March.
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.
Israel and the Palestinians have reached an agreement which establishes the basis for resuming peace talks, the US Secretary of State has announced.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Violence linked to Syria's war is increasingly washing across 
