MOGADISHU -- Federal Government of Somalia officially announced the sacking of 700 soldiers from various ranks in the military amid anti-Al Shabaab offensives in the southern part of the country, Garowe Online reports.
Somali National Army (SNA) Chief, Gen. Dahir Khalif Elmi (Indho Qarshe) has on Tuesday disclosed at media briefings in Mogadishu the government's decision of firing troops outnumbering 600 over incompetence.
Did you fire the guys who allowed the mortar fire at the presidential palace?
"The sacked soldiers are 700 who failed to carry out their national duties effectively," said Indho Qarshe, noting that they had been calling the soldiers from various ranks including commanders, deputy commanders and captains to join the ongoing military operations.
"Khat traders, private hotels guards and some soldiers who turned deaf ear to our calls of duty were among those who were sacked from the army," he added.
Speaking on Mogadishu-based radio stations, military commanders who were fired in the major shakeup accused the Somali Federal Government of erroneously dismissing them without further considerations.
Meanwhile, Mogadishu residents voiced concern over the removal of 700 soldiers from the army saying the decision will negatively impact them if they aren't positioned in specified bases.
As in, way way away from the residents...
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02/05/2014 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Paul D ||
02/05/2014 6:25 Comments ||
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#3
"Khat traders, private hotels guards and some soldiers who turned deaf ear to our calls of duty were among those who were sacked from the army," he added.
But, but, but I have Khat customers and my hotel girls to look after. Can't you see I need a deferment !
Destroyed or wandered off... But what matters is that the Libyan government no longer has a stash it needs to keep out of the hands of miscreants.
"You furriners can go home now! We don't need you anymore!"
[Ynet] Libya's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday the country's caches of chemical weapons, including bombs and artillery shells filled with mustard gas, have been completely destroyed.
"Libya is totally empty of any presence of chemical weapons ... which could pose a threat to the safety of people, the environment, or neighboring regions," Mohammed Abdel-Aziz said in remarks carried by Libya's state news agency.
[ALLAFRICA] The governments of United States and the United Kingdom have advised the Federal Government to increase its use of non-military approach and regional collaboration to tackle the menace of Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... in parts of Nigeria.
The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle, and the British High Commissioner in Nigeria, Andrew Pocock, disclosed this separately in Lagos and Abuja, where they said the incidences of Boko Haram attacks in parts of the North required new thinking and approaches beyond military diplomacy.
The US Ambassador who was at a media roundtable in Lagos said: "The Federal Government must look at the social and economic conditions that gave rise to the insurgency in the Northern parts of the country.
"The Federal Government must look at why did it start in the first place? What drew people to this organization in the first place? Was it lack of employment opportunity? Was it education system? I am not sure what the reasons might be. Sometimes it is hard to do but we need to ask why is it happening in our country and what can we do better in our country to make sure that this type of thing does not happen again.
Challenge of counter-terrorism
"Part of the challenge of counter-terrorism is that you are fighting an enemy who mixes with the population and one of the most difficult things for the military is to go into a mixed setting like that and figure out who is a terrorist and who are the innocent civilians."
"In my conversation with your government and military, I have expressed these points and I think there is a growing concern over finding an enemy who mixes with the civilian population.
"These are enormously difficult thing to do and that is why we are trying to help the Federal Government."
He also advised Nigeria to strengthen its regional diplomacy.
According to Entwistle,"there is the need for your government to work closely with Cameroun and Chad because these guys cross the borders. The only way to deal with these guys is to collaborate with your neigbours and relevant international organizations."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
The governments of United States and the United Kingdom have advised the Federal Government to increase its use of non-military approach and regional collaboration to tackle the menace of Boko Haram
[DAWN] The UK Independence Party, which wants Britannia to leave the EU, suffered a setback ahead of European elections after a prominent party member confirmed he had spent time in jail for being involved in a kidnapping in Pakistain.
The scandal is the latest to buffet UKIP, which opinion polls show is on course to beat Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... 's Conservative party in May elections for the European Parliament and to split the centre-right vote at a national election in 2015.
BBC TV reported on Monday night that Mujeeb ur Rehman Bhutto, who had previously appeared on television as a UKIP front man, was the former leader of a gang in Pakistain which was behind a high-profile kidnapping in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... in 2004.
"As soon as we were made aware of allegations relating to this report we confronted him and he immediately resigned his membership," UKIP said in a statement on Tuesday.
UKIP has been hit by a series of scandals involving the views and background of its members.
Last month, one of its local councillors in England provoked uproar when he said that recent flooding across Britannia was God's punishment for parliament backing gay marriage.
In August last year, a UKIP politician in the European Parliament caused similar outrage by describing some of the countries Britannia sends aid to as "bongo bongo land".
A spokeswoman for UKIP said Bhutto had not held the post of a formal front man and that he had no responsibilities beyond that of a normal member.
UKIP said Bhutto had previously been a member of the Conservatives and had since rejoined Cameron's party. A Conservative front man said his application to become a member had been rejected.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2014 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] The Austrian Olympic Committee says its Vienna office has received an anonymous letter from Russia containing a kidnap threat against Alpine skier Marlies Schild and skeleton pilot Janine Flock during the Sochi Games.
AOC general secretary Peter Mennel says, "The letter was delivered (Monday) into our mailbox. We have immediately alerted the Federal Criminal Agency, which is investigating the case."
Mennel says he discussed the matter with Flock as they were sharing a flight from Vienna to Sochi on Tuesday, adding that "she is not worried, she trusts in our security measures."
[DAWN] A government ally stirred a controversy over what self-determination should mean for Kashmiris as the National Assembly passed a resolution on Tuesday demanding their association in the future dialogue between Pakistain and India to settle the longstanding dispute.
The house unanimously passed a comprehensive resolution moved by the chairman of its special committee on Kashmire, Maulana Fazlur Rehman Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ... , reiterating Pakistain's traditional stand for a solution of the Kashmire dispute through a UN-mandated plebiscite, ahead of a day of solidarity with the Kashmiri people's struggle to be marked in Pakistain and Azad Kashmire on Wednesday as a national holiday.
But Mahmood Khan Achakzai, leader of the government-allied Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, caused some apparent unease on the treasury benches by sounding a discordant note, saying the internationally recognised right to self-determination should not mean only a choice between India and Pakistain but also a third course like an independent Kashmire.
He said neither those describing Kashmire as the "jugular vein" of Pakistain -- a statement attributed to Pakistain's founder Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah -- nor those calling the state an 'atoot ang', or integral part, of India were Kashmiris, and pleaded that "ask their 'rooh' (soul)" whether they wanted to join Pakistain or India or have an independent state of their own.
But Maulana Fazlur Rehman, speaking after the resolution was passed, insisted that the plan for the partition of then British-ruled subcontinent at independence in 1947 and resolutions passed later by the UN Security Council following the first of the two India-Pakistain wars over Kashmire gave the people of the Himalayan state the only option of choosing to accede to either of the two countries.
The resolution, passed after only some subdued criticism of India, said the house "impresses upon India that since Kashmiris are the original and real party to the Jammu and Kashmire dispute, they should, therefore, be associated in the dialogue process".
It reiterated Pakistain's "full political, moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people's just stand" and condemned what it called "large-scale violations of human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... " in India-held Kashmire.
It demanded that the Indian government withdraw its military forces from cities in the territory, allow a neutral inquiry into unmarked graves found in the area, release all political prisoners, repeal all the laws giving special powers to armed forces stationed there and hold "meaningful, result-oriented and time-bound" talks with Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] As many as 11 coppers, including a DSP and an inspector of the Crime Investigation Agency, helped a gang of hardened criminals involved in dozens of cases of robbery-cum-gang rape and murder to escape from police custody.
The role of the CIA coppers in the gang's escape was detected during an inquiry wherein CIA SP Farooq Hundal interrogated a criminal who had beat feet from police custody but was locked away Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! again.
The inquiry into escape of these outlaws known as 'Oadh gang' from police custody was initiated on the direction of City Police Officer (CPO) Dr Haider Ashraf.
The gang was wanted by police in several cases of murder, robbery and rape during robberies, police sources said.
The sources said the criminals -- Nizam alias Waryam, his brother Irfan Oadh of Samana, Asif alias Ashiq, Arshad and Riasat alias doctor, all residents of Chak 6-JB -- were detained at an outhouse in Sidhupura in the limits of the Ghulam Mohammadabad police from where they escaped on Jan 23. However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... the police later managed to arrest Asif again and interrogated him to know whether the outlaws were helped by any insider in their escape.
The inquiry officer mentioned in his report (available with Dawn) quoting Ashiq that the outlaws had struck a deal with ASI Niaz, Constable Sattar and some other coppers on duty, that the cops would get Rs150,000 for helping the gang members in their escape. He said it was planned that the outlaws would escape along with an official sub-machinegun (SMG) and a cycle of violence so that the incident looked 'genuine'.
The IO noted that the gang members had been interrogated by the coppers for two months at various private places in Samundri, Kur and Bahlak and were finally detained at an outhouse of a lawyer in Sidhupura.
He categorically mentioned that gang had been in the custody of the coppers including CIA DSP Anjum Kamal, Inspector Zafar Iqbal, in charge Makoana CIA Sub-Inspector Ahmed Munil Shah, in charge Madina Town CIA ASI Niaz Ahmed, ASI Ijaz Wahla, Constables Shamshad, Tariq Wahlah, Tahir Javed, Ghazanfar Shah and Abdul Sattar for the last two months, holding all of them responsible for the escape.
The officer noted DSP Kamal was well aware of the gang's arrest and recovery of weapons from the outlaws but withheld the information.
He declared the guilty coppers 'black sheep in police uniform' who earned a bad name for the department.
It was mentioned in the inquiry that CIA SI Ahmed Munil had been arranging the detained criminals meetings with their families that helped them file writ petitions in the courts.
The CPO said a case (76/14) under sections 155-C of the Police Order and 223/ 224 of PPC had been registered against SI Ahmed, ASI Niaz and Constables Sattar, Sakhawat and another policeman was registered with the Ghulam Mohammadabad police.
All negligent coppers have also been suspended from service, he added.
The IO said show-cause notices to the accused ASI and constables had been issued and departmental action was recommended against the DSP and inspector.
SSP (operations) Ghulam Mubashar Maikan is also probing into the issue as the CPO has appointed him inquiry officer to ascertain the facts.
The sources said four of the escaped criminals were still on the lam and raid were being conducted for their arrest.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Bilawal Baby Bhutto Zardari ...Pak dynastic politician, son of Benazir Bhutto and grandon of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. As far as is known, Bilawal has no particular talents other than being pretty and being able to memorize political slogans, but he had the good luck to be born into the right family and he hasn't been assassinated yet... , chairman of the Peoples Party, has launched a scathing attack on his political opponents who he said must stop "making excuses" for Taliban violence.
Bilawal also accused Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... and Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... chief Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... of "letting down the people" by not backing firm military action against the Taliban.
"Perhaps they are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome," he said, referring to cases of hostages who sympathise with or even assist their captors. "There is no reason why the national leaders, the so-called leaders, should not speak out against people who are murdering our citizens, murdering our armed forces and claiming responsibility."
The remarks are likely to further burnish his reputation as both a brash new arrival on the country's political scene, but also the most outspoken politician on the issue of militancy and extremism.
The 25-year-old son of former premier 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... said the government's inaction had been disastrous, emboldening Death Eaters to target civilians, including Malala Yousufzai, the schoolgirl education activist who nearly died in 2012 after being shot in the head by a Taliban assassin. "This is why people like Malala become targets because the politicians, or the so-called leaders of this country, can't find the courage to speak out when a 16-year-old girl could. If we all speak in one voice, they can't kill us all," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Well said young man.
The problem is the Pak army see the Taliban as protecting their Western border.
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/05/2014 7:26 Comments ||
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[Jerusalem Post] Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled on Tuesday the "Katana", an unmanned surface vessel (USV) combat marine system for use guarding Israel's coast and growing offshore investments. katana (kəˈtɑːnə) -- n a long, curved single-edged sword traditionally used by Japanese samurai
As Israel's Exclusive Economic Zone in the eastern Mediterranean is filling up with large-scale natural gas drilling, the navy is working with the government to approve a budget that will add four missile ships, drones, unmanned sea vessels and patrol air craft to protect it. Off-shore oil and gas drilling.... how economically innovative.
The zone, which includes natural gas fields Leviathan and Tamar, is the size of the State of Israel, and it will up be to the navy to defend this vital national asset from terrorist threats and hostile states. To include eco-attacks and shutdowns by "hostile" politicians.
IAI's Katana is a multifunctional vessel and 'marine system' that provides various capabilities such as advanced communications, weapons systems, and varied payloads. The system can also be adapted to existing vessels and has the option of being used as an unmanned surface vessel from a remote control center, or by a live crew.
[Jerusalem Post] Israel has rejected a US proposal to launch an anti-incitement council for the purpose of preventing provocative statements from both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Channel 10 reported on Tuesday.
The proposal was offered by US peace envoy Martin Indyk after many complaints had been made by the Israeli government itself charging the Palestinian Authority with constant hate-mongering and incitement within their educational system and government. Dropping Pre-K hate slogan memorization and Kalashnikov classes would simply be a bridge too far.
Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz rebuffed the request, stating that Israel is not interested in supplying the Palestinian Authority with a cover under which they will simply continue to spread hatred. Palestinian "cover" is the job of the UN. Little if any additional assistance appears to be required.
Channel 10 quoted Steinitz as saying that "the Palestinian Authority knows what it is doing" and that in order to truly resolve the issue, "the incitement in the media under Abu Mazen's [PA President Mahmoud Abbas] jurisdiction must first stop."
The anti-incitement council began soon after the Oslo Accords but has not been in use over the past few years. It is one of the few councils that include both Israel and the Palestinian Authority. A return to doing what obviously failed before but expecting different results ?
[Jerusalem Post] Israel is already facing a third intifada, influential New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman claims in an article published on Wednesday Tom hasn't had an original insight in a couple decades. He wrote a book about the Six Day War that was pretty decent, but since the 90s he's been nothing more than a travel guide with predictable anti-U.S. sentiments glued on. He's perfect for the Times.
Writing from Ramallah, Friedman states, "Being here, it's obvious that a Third Intifada is underway. It's the one that Israel always feared most -- not an intifada with stones or suicide bombers, but one propelled by nonviolent resistance and economic boycott." No mention made of "nonviolent" Qassam rockets.
Friedman contends that the leaders of this uprising are not even Palestinians, saying that this intifada is led "by the European Union in Brussels and other opponents of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank across the globe. Regardless of origin, though, it's becoming a real source of leverage for the Palestinians in their negotiations with Israel." Smart of him to first identify the usual suspects.
The Times columnist points out that US Secretary of State John Kerry already exposed this threat when he recently warned that a campaign to boycott and delegitimize Israel threatens to gain momentum if peace talks fail.
Friedman also noted that Israel is correct to see some boycott campaigners as finding a new guise for anti-Semitism. However, he emphasizes that ignoring foreign trends and opinions by continuing building in the settlements is not the way to go about things. His opinion, not mine, and possibly not yours.
Moreover, Friedman remarks that current calls by Israel for measures of security may be falling on deaf ears as this intifada employs a "strategy of making Israelis feel strategically secure but morally insecure." He brings up how historically when Israel felt its security threatened, the Israeli public felt no regret fighting back as in response to rocket attacks from Gaza after unilateral disengagement. However, in situations where Israel has achieved security, as in after pushing Egypt out of Sinai and surrounding the 'third army' in 1973, Egyptian diplomacy moved Israel to feel morally insecure with its gains. "Morally insecure".....with guilt ridden surrender to follow, the ultimate goal.
Friedman warns, "This incessant trashing of Kerry by Israeli ministers, and their demand that Palestinians halt all "incitement" [terrorism and murdering]
-- but that Israel be free to keep building settlements in their face -- is not winning Israel friends in Europe or America. It is only energizing the boycotters." Where would they be today without their European friends eh ? The moral argument here, as best as Friedman makes it, also convinces most Israelis that it's best to go it alone as much as they can -- if their friends are going to be fickle and desert them, then so be it. Israel will not hand itself over.
#2
Fair point. The folks in the U.S. (like our entire government and "intellectual" class) who think that a third intifada would be more effective than the first two because the Paleos will try a new strategy forget that Israel too is free to try new strategies. Tom Friedman apparently thinks that the Israeli response is written in stone.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/05/2014 10:18 Comments ||
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#3
Wonder how his beloved Chinese Communists would deal with the Paleos? Ask the Uighers
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2014 10:27 Comments ||
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[AnNahar] The failure of peace talks with the Paleostinians would not lead to an increase in violence, the head of Israel's domestic security agency said Tuesday.
"Even if the peace negotiations fail, we are not expecting a third Intifada," or uprising, Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen was cited by army radio as telling the parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee.
Cohen added that while there was a rise in Paleostinian attacks against Israelis in 2013, most were from "individuals as opposed to terrorist organizations" and in part due to "internal problems in the Paleostinian street," according to the Jerusalem Post.
Spokesmen for the committee and the Shin Bet refused to provide a transcript of Cohen's briefing as it was confidential.
Cohen's remarks come as the United States is preparing a framework agreement to set out the end game in the Israeli-Paleostinian negotiations that resumed in July, and to guide the talks forward ahead of their April deadline.
Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... warned in December that he would resort to legal and diplomatic action against Israel through international bodies if peace talks failed to yield results.
And U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said Saturday that Israel was facing a growing campaign of delegitimization which would worsen if negotiations collapsed.
But in an interview with the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... published Sunday, Abbas firmly ruled out a third Intifada.
"I will never return to the armed struggle," he said.
[Jerusalem Post] Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians will likely require more time than previously anticipated, US officials acknowledged to The Jerusalem Post on Monday, as the nine-month deadline for peace talks set last July by US Secretary of State John Kerry is on the verge of expiring in two months.
Kerry and his team have suggested publishing a framework for negotiations going forward that the parties would collectively roll out before the April 29 deadline. But the Americans now view the hard date they originally set to be "artificial" and suggest that even the framework might need a smidgen more time, given some important gaps that still remain. Possibly another five to six months are needed, something just prior to the election.
[Ynet] Ynet talks to journalist Jodi Rudoren of the New York Times about her recent hotly debated interview with Abbas, and shares her thoughts on how the Israeli and Palestinian leaders view the peace process
Not a terribly informative article, but interesting that even as the minuet continues, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas chose to stomp hard on the foot of our beloved president, though he is not only not dancing, but is in the other room playing pinochle.
[Ynet] Previously-posted rocket-prevention forces withdrawn over weekend due to disagreement between Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,' military wing and its politicianship. Forces were redeployed after involvement of Haniyeh, Meshaal
For several days, Hamas forces stationed near the security fence between the Gazoo Strip and Israel to prevent rocket fire on Israel were gone from their posts; behind the scenes, a drama unfolded in the strip.
Last weekend, the rocket prevention forces -- deployed to deter the numerous factions in Gazoo from undoing the relative calm between Israel and Hamas -- withdrew from their positions, returning to their posts on Tuesday morning.
Paleostinian sources said that the matter was not one of tactical indecision, but internal disagreements regarding the proper response to IDF operations. A document obtained by Ynet confirmed that in the end, the moderate elements prevailed.
The affair began Thursday night, when the Israeli Air Force attacked three Gazoo Strip targets belonging to the military wing of Hamas. Some of the targets held large reserves of rockets, which were destroyed in the attack.
The following day, the military wing of Hamas announced a withdrawal of the forces along the security barrier. The forces, numbering around 900 soldiers, were posted two weeks ago to search passing vehicles in order to prevent additional rockets being fired on Israel.
The forces' withdrawal could only have one meaning: Hamas was preparing to launch rockets in response to the IDF attack -- despite the decision of the political wing of Hamas. These insights were published Tuesday morning in the Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat; Paleostinian sources confirmed the events to Ynet.
A security source said that the leadership of the military wing felt that it was losing its popular support in the public, especially given the criticism received by Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... , who had called for shooting rockets towards Israel in response to IDF attacks.
Maintain popular support
He noted that the military leadership of Hamas did not want to be seen as a moderate entity that supports restraint and prevents a military response against Israel -- fearing that such a position would weaken their standing next to Islamic Jihad.
However the intention of the military wing to attack caused a conflict between it and the political wing that required the involvement of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... and the movement's political chief Khaled Meshaal.
The Paleostinian sources said that Haniyeh sided with Meshaal and the two worked together to coax the military leadership away from its decision to respond with rocket fire. The two leaders worried that such a rocket barrage could lead to the collapse of the relative calm, and maybe even to IDF operations within the Gazoo Strip.
The quick involvement of the political echelon bore fruit, and on Tuesday Hamas' Interior Ministry announced, that the forces were redeployed along the security barrier to maintain the peace.
The document was written on Saturday, less than a day after the first withdrawal. The letter is written to Abu Ubaidah al-Jarrah, the commander of the national security forces of Hamas, and emphasizes that aggressive action must be taken against anyone who attempts to launch rockets.
Hamas has already clarified that it is not interested in an escalation on the border. The terrorist organization sent such a message to Israel through Egypt after five rockets were fired at Ashkelon in January. That particular barrage led to a conference meeting of the numerous Paleostinian factions, in which participants were told they must maintain restrain to prevent further Israeli attacks on the Gazoo Strip.
The meeting ended with the understanding that all factions were committed to the restraint tactic, though that very night a rocket was fired from the Strip. Hamas was furious with the launchers, who most likely belonged to Islamic Jihad, and the movement announced that it will aggressively operate against anyone who tries to launch rockets towards Israel.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain ||
02/05/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
The divestment advocacy industry is composed almost entirely of academic lifers.
These are folks who believe that military spending is money that would be in their own paychecks - er, um, funding social justice and fairness - if it weren't going to the military. I've actually had one of these NPR-listening pseudointellectual "educators" try to tell me that 60% of federal government spending in the U.S. is for military purposes, and that if half of that were directed elsewhere we could solve ALL of our problems. (BTW, this individual teaches math in a public school.) Support for Israel is always taken as "military" spending by these types.
These are also folks who believe that since they are educators and therefore obviously so very, very much smarter than everyone else that they should be the most highly paid people on the planet, and the fact that they are not is an indictment of capitalism and entrepreneurialism. A guy who makes millions running a business and employees who are well compensated assembling them? Not fair that those types get more money than awesome teachers. System has to go. Really, underneath it all these folks are motivated by envy, and more than that, it's the most evil type of envy - that sort of envy that pretends it is concern for "fairness" or "social justice" or "the needy".
Yet, how many of them will be willing to discuss the "exploitation" of grad students and adjunct professors? How many of them will be willing to discuss the corrosive effects of tenure?
How many will be willing to discuss the implications of the fact that after a certain point increasing money spent on education in general and teachers' salaries specifically has no measurable positive effect on education outcomes?
A guy starts a business, brings people of disparate religions and cultures together, and turns a profit, and they demonize.
Who are the true evil ones here?
Is it any wonder
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/05/2014 7:08 Comments ||
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#2
This is a great example to verbally beat up these pinheaded academics. This shows they are not out to help the people, they are instead all about punishing Israel .
[Ynet] The Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, Ministry of Interior announced that it has deployed security forces across the Gazoo Strip in order to prevent independent groups from firing rockets at Israel. A security official in the government told AFP two days ago that the forces had returned home in protest of an IDF attack, which took place Thursday evening.
[An Nahar] U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... Tuesday hit out the "brutality" of the Syrian regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... for its sustained barrel bomb campaign.
"Each and every day that the barrel-bombing of Aleppo continues, the Assad regime reminds the world of its true colors," Kerry wrote in a statement.
"It is the latest barbaric act of a regime that has committed organized, wholesale torture, used chemical weapons, and is starving whole communities by blocking delivery of food to Syrian civilians in urgent need."
More than 150 people have been killed in Syria's onetime economic hub and second city over the past four days, in a string of barrel bomb raids and other air strikes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
At least eight people, including five children, were the latest victims killed Tuesday when Syrian army helicopters unleashed a new wave of the bombs which Kerry said were "filled with metal shrapnel and fuel."
The bombs hit a mosque, which the Aleppo media center said was being used as a school.
"Given this horrific legacy, the Syrian people would never accept as legitimate a government including Assad," Kerry said, referring to peace talks due to resume in Geneva next week aimed at installing a transitional government in the war-torn country.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Each and every day that the barrel-bombing of Aleppo continues, the Assad regime reminds the world of its true colors
Somebody who won't just roll over and die just because they're told that it's PC thing to do?
Does that mean we're going to reprehend them? Or just that somebody should reprehend them?
[An Nahar] The United States condemned "in the strongest terms possible" the recent terrorist bombings that targeted the northeastern town of Hermel and Shwaifat, south of Beirut.
"We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and their families. It is reprehensible that the people of Leb have once again been subjected to these acts of terrorism," said State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki.
"The Lebanese people should not have to live in fear as they conduct their daily lives," she said.
"All parties in Leb must exercise restraint and refrain from contributing to the cycle of violence," Psaki told news hounds at the start of her briefing.
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02/05/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Syria's opposition leader met Russia's top diplomat on Tuesday in a bid to persuade Moscow to push its ally Damascus to agree to a transitional government for the war-scarred nation.
Syrian National Coalition chief Ahmad Jarba met Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after an inconclusive 10-day peace conference in Geneva ended on Friday without a commitment from Damascus to attend a new round of negotiations set for February 10.
Washington, a firm backer of the Syrian opposition, and Moscow had pushed the rival sides into direct talks in a bid to calm nearly three years of fighting that has claimed more than 135,000 lives.
But Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... 's delegation and the opposition made no progress in clinching local ceasefires or permission for humanitarian corridors to some of the country's more devastated cities such as Homs.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov indicated on Tuesday that Moscow expected Assad to state firmly his delegation's intentions to resume the Geneva II peace talks next week.
"We have no doubt Damascus will issue orders for the government delegation to continue the negotiations in Geneva," Gatilov said at the start of Jarba's talks with Lavrov.
Jarba stressed that the umbrella opposition group was especially concerned with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem's refusal in Geneva to hold any discussion about a transitional government that could pave the way for Assad's removal from power.
He told news hounds after Tuesday's meeting that Lavrov treated the opposition's stance on Assad with "understanding".
"We told the Russian leaders that we are open to any solutions that ensure Syria's future -- a future that is free of Assad and his war criminals," Jarba said.
"I think that we have entered a new stage of relations with Russia," the opposition leader added.
"We now have good relations... that I hope will continue to develop further."
But Lavrov himself gave no sign that Moscow intended to yield to Jarba's foreign-based opposition alliance and step up its pressure on the regime.
Russia's top diplomat simply told Jarba in opening comments available to news hounds that "today's conversation will be very, very useful in helping clarify approaches that could help advance the Geneva process."
The tense talks came against the backdrop of a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights of renewed barrel kabooms by Syrian army helicopters on the major northern city of Aleppo.
The British-based monitor said similar raids had killed 30 people on Monday and 85 on Saturday -- the day after the Geneva meeting broke up.
The Aleppo Media Center said Tuesday's strikes had killed an undisclosed number of children at a school in the former Syrian commercial capital's Masakan Hanano neighborhood. But monitors said they were unable to immediately confirm the number of casualties from the latest violence.
Jarba earlier said Lavrov had assured him that the Kremlin's position on Assad's role was not set in stone.
But Moscow has sided with its traditional Middle East ally in public and said that Assad's departure from power should not be a precondition for political change.
The Kremlin has also bitterly fought with the opposition's Western and Arab allies over the makeup of the negotiating teams.
Lavrov has repeatedly argued that the talks should be joined by Iran -- a condition rejected by the rebels because of the Islamic republic's close connections to the Assad regime.
But a Russian diplomatic source told Moscow's Kommersant daily that Washington had proposed a compromise that would allow Iran along with Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and Turkey -- two ardent foes of Assad -- to join a separate set of negotiations that would be conducted alongside the Geneva talks.
Kommersant said that U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... had forwarded the proposal to Lavrov during their talks on the sidelines of the weekend Munich Security Conference.
"The Russian side, according to Kommersant sources, broadly approved this idea," the newspaper wrote.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Yokay, I'll say it, JARBA THE NOT-A-HUTT??
NOT-PIZZA-THE-HUTT???
gut nuthin.
srsly, gut nuthin.
EXCEPT FOR ... ...
* TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > [US DNI Chief = El Supremo] CLAPPER: CHEMICAL PACT STRENGTHENED ASSAD.
The Bammer + Russia-China will directly or indirectly support Assad as long as he keeps fighting Al-Qaeda + assorted Hard Boyz - ditto for Bammerika's new BFF II + Assad ally Rising Iran.
Iff Assad can "channel" the Qaeda Boyz towards IRAQ, that will allow Iran to use Iraq's Shia-controlled Govt-Army as proxy agz them, besides also any firepower from Turkey's military.
SecState Jaaawhn's prob would then be to ensure improved, common diplomatic or strategic rapprochement occurs between Turkey + Iran + Iraq, but espec rivals Turkey + Iran, agz the Qaeda Boyz + similar.
[AnNahar] Security Forces are mulling ways to confront an expected mass jailbreak by Islamists in Roumieh prison's bloc B, media reports said on Tuesday.
According to al-Joumhouria newspaper, Islamists in the Roumieh could easily breakout of the facility due to its fragile infrastructure.
Sources considered that putting all Islamist inmates together in one bloc is "dangerous," which facilitates their breakout.
Roumieh, the oldest and largest of Leb's overcrowded prisons, has witnessed sporadic prison breaks in recent years and escalating riots over the past months as inmates living in poor conditions demand better treatment.
The sources expected that Fatah al-Islam A Syrian-incubated al-Qaeda work-alike that they think can be turned off if no longer needed to keep the Lebanon pot stirred. prisoners would flee the prison en mass, in particular in a time when the country is booming with the presence of faceless myrmidons and terrorists.
There are around 190 Fatah al-Islam prisoners at the prison's bloc B.
The inmates were tossed in the calaboose Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! in 2007 on charges of fighting or aiding the Fatah al-Islam fighters in Nahr al-Bared that lies near the northern coastal city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... The sources said that Abou Walid and Abou Suleiman and Ibrahim al-Atrash, who is the uncle of Sheikh Omar al-Atrash, lead Fatah al-Islam prisoners in Roumieh's bloc B.
Sheikh Omar al-Atrash recently confessed to transporting jacket wallahs of different Arab nationalities to the al-Nusra Front in Syria.
The sources said that Fatah al-Islam leaders hold daily closed-circle meetings inside the facility, which drew the attention of the guards who fear that they are plotting a prison break.
However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbek said that the security situation in Roumieh prison is under control.
"Every prisoner seeks to break out of his jail," Charbel told Voice of Leb radio (100.5).
He pointed out that the Islamist prisoners in bloc B have been arrested together.
Powerful blasts have largely targeted areas sympathetic to Hizbullah, which has dispatched fighters to battle alongside the Syrian regime against a Sunni-dominated uprising.
Jihadist groups believed to be linked to those fighting in Syria have grabbed credit for most of the attacks, saying they will continue for as long as Hizbullah battles in Syria.
The kabooms have created a climate of fear in the country, with residents increasingly nervous about unfamiliar cars and certain neighborhoods.
The UN World Food Programme on Tuesday said it was airlifting supplies to northeastern Syria, where raging violence has made it nearly impossible to truck aid in.
WFP started airlifting on Tuesday enough food to feed close to 30,000 displaced people for a month from Iraq to Qamishli in northeast Syria, spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said.
The agency plans to fly in more than 400 tonnes of food and other items, mainly clothes, detergent and soap, supplied by UN childrens agency Unicef and the International Organization for Migration.
The Arab countries are separately supporting the Widows Ammunition Fund, the largest charity by far in Syria. They help both sides...
In December, the WFP airlifted supplies for 62,000 in the northeast who had been deprived of food aid for more than five months.
The WFPs operation is the only airlift currently under way in Syria. Aid agencies have repeatedly sounded the alarm about their inability to supply regular aid by road logistically simpler, but more dangerous to the millions of Syrians who have been driven from their homes over nearly three years of civil war.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/05/2014 00:00 ||
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[DailyBeast] In a closed-door meeting, two senators say, the Secretary of State admitted to them that he no longer believes the administration's approach to the crisis in Syria is working. Peace talks have failed, he conceded, and now it's time to arm the moderate opposition--before local al Qaeda fighters try to attack the United States.
Loyal commenter Besoeker chimes in with this WaPo article and comments:
The Obama administration, masters of the "slow-roll" and strategic failure.
Posted by: Grunter ||
02/05/2014 00:00 ||
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[Fox News] CIA Klingon director John Brennan told a congressional hearing Tuesday that security operators involved in Benghazi rescue efforts were required to re-sign non-disclosure agreements because the documents were being updated.
Brennan was pressed by Rep. Devin Nunes, R.-Calif., of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence about the 2012 Benghazi attack and why the security operators who were involved in rescue efforts that night were asked to re-sign their non-disclosure agreements.
There were a number of contractors whose contracts were being updated, amended, Brennan said.And any time there is an amendment to a contract, there's the requirement for a non-disclosure agreement to be re-signed, which is the case there. Sounds plausible enough. I take it only contract employees were involved? Would it be too much trouble for you to provide copies of the original and renewed contracts. Just the signature pages will do. By the way, what took you so long to explain all of these, seemingly innocent, administrative details ?
#3
No, the NDA's should NOT apply to the Congress, as they have the appropriate security clearances and the 'need to know'.... unless of course POTUS and/or the Klingons decide they [and the American people] do not have a 'need to know.'
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.
[ALLAFRICA] The governments of United States and the United Kingdom have advised the Federal Government to increase its use of non-military approach and regional collaboration to tackle the menace of 
David Cameron
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Nawaz Sharif
[Jerusalem Post] Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians will likely require more time than previously anticipated, US officials acknowledged to The Jerusalem Post on Monday, as the nine-month deadline for peace talks set last July by US Secretary of State John Kerry is on the verge of expiring in two months.
[Ynet] The 
[An Nahar] U.S. Secretary of State 
Perhaps he could make some sort of anti-aircraft statement. 
[An Nahar] Syria's opposition leader met Russia's top diplomat on Tuesday in a bid to persuade Moscow to push its ally Damascus to agree to a transitional government for the war-scarred nation.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[DailyBeast] In a closed-door meeting, two senators say, the Secretary of State admitted to them that he no longer believes the administration's approach to the crisis in Syria is working. Peace talks have failed, he conceded, and now it's time to arm the moderate opposition--before local al Qaeda fighters try to attack the United States.
