Hi there, !
Today Tue 04/01/2014 Mon 03/31/2014 Sun 03/30/2014 Sat 03/29/2014 Fri 03/28/2014 Thu 03/27/2014 Wed 03/26/2014 Archives
Rantburg
533834 articles and 1862381 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 53 articles and 65 comments as of 13:57.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Six Die in Indian Kashmir Militant Strike
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
5 22:12 USN, Ret. [5] 
0 [2] 
0 [6] 
8 21:12 gorb [8] 
0 [1] 
0 [4] 
1 21:44 Zenobia Floger6220 [7] 
0 [2] 
0 [6] 
0 [3] 
0 [5] 
0 [10] 
0 [2] 
0 [4] 
0 [7] 
0 [3] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
6 21:53 Zenobia Floger6220 [10]
0 [4]
3 11:39 Steve White [8]
5 21:01 Omavising Ebbemp9815 [7]
0 [1]
3 21:41 trailing wife [10]
1 19:42 Squinty [13]
0 [5]
0 [7]
1 19:18 Squinty [11]
0 [6]
0 [2]
0 [3]
0 [9]
1 19:29 Squinty [9]
1 12:37 trailing wife [2]
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 [1]
Page 3: Non-WoT
2 22:42 Zenobia Floger6220 [5]
0 [1]
2 12:55 swksvolFF [1]
0 [1]
3 11:38 Steve White [2]
0 [1]
2 11:56 Glenmore [4]
0 [8]
1 11:04 Besoeker [4]
0 [2]
0 [1]
0 [3]
2 15:30 g(r)omgoru [7]
0 [3]
6 11:59 Bright Pebbles [1]
Page 4: Opinion
1 11:16 Besoeker [1]
Page 6: Politix
9 18:52 Chuck [6]
Afghanistan
Ghani Campaigns in Kandahar
[Tolo News] While speaking to supporters in Kandahar province on Friday, presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai promised to bring peace, better schools and reliable electricity to the province.

Ashraf Ghani said he would reconstruct the province's now defunct hydroelectric dam and develop agriculture throughout Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul. The presidential hopeful that added if he is elected he would turn Kandahar into a regional and global transit hub.

Ashraf Ghani spoke about the releasing of Bagram prisoners, which President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
has received criticism over in recent months.

"A few years ago, I promised to release innocent Bagram prisoners and I did," Ashraf Ghani said. "Now, we will release the remaining innocent prisoners."

Deputy Head of Mahaz-e-Millie Said Hamed Gillani also spoke at the event and called Ashraf Ghani's campaign platform the solution for Kandahar's problems.

"Leadership in Afghanistan has always come from Kandahar," Gillani said. "Once again I ask you to vote for Dr. Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002, Ahmadzai was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
Ahmadzai.

Ashraf Ghani's platform includes the attracting Afghan immigrants back to Afghanistan, bolstering national unity among the nation's various ethnic groups and establishing open elections for city mayors.
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
South Sudan troops in disputed Abyei threaten peace: Bashir aide
[Al Ahram] A top aide to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
says the presence of South Sudanese troops in the disputed border area of Abyei threatens peace less than three years after the two countries split.

In an interview with AFP, presidential assistant Ibrahim Ghandour said peace was possible by an April deadline in Sudan's rebellious state of South Kordofan, where conflict has raged since just before partition.

But while being "relatively optimistic" about the prospects for an end to war in South Kordofan, Ghandour said the presence of South Sudanese security forces in Abyei was "not conducive for peace between the two countries and may create problems again".

The UN Security Council has called the situation in UN-patrolled Abyei "highly volatile" and demanded the withdrawal of both South Sudanese security personnel and Sudanese forces guarding a small oil complex.

A February report by UN chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
said there were about 660 South Sudanese soldiers and police, and up to 150 Sudanese oil police in the disputed area.

Abyei had been due to hold a plebiscite on which of the two countries it wished to join. The ballot was to take place alongside the January 2011 referendum in which the south voted to break way.

But the Abyei ballot never happened in the face of deadlock between the two sides over who should be entitled to vote. Five months later, northern troops stormed the territory, beginning a year-long occupation.

The area is home to the settled Ngok Dinka tribe, closely connected to South Sudan, as well as the semi-nomadic Arab Misseriya, who traditionally move back and forth from Sudan grazing their cattle, and who demand a say in the territory's future governance.

Ghandour said Khartoum was trying to avoid a new resort to military action, particularly while South Sudan remains locked in conflict between government troops and forces loyal to its ousted vice president Riek Machar.
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Africa North
Morocco King Attends Prayers Led by Reformed Salafist
[An Nahar] A reformed Moroccan Salafi-jihadist sheikh, placed in durance vile
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
for life over the 2003 Casablanca bombings, led Friday prayers in the king's presence in Tangiers, a first since receiving a royal pardon in 2011.

King Mohammed VI freed scores of Moslem gunnies placed in durance vile
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
in connection with the Casablanca attacks after Arab Spring protests swept the country in 2011, among them four radical Salafist leaders including Mohammed Fizazi.

Rights activists and family members say hundreds more Islamists who have never supported any jihadist ideology remain behind bars.

The king took part in Friday prayers at Fizazi's mosque in Tangiers and spoke to him briefly afterwards, with the symbolic event broadcast live on state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
During his sermon, Fizazi praised the king for strengthening the security and stability of the country, which he said were needed to practise one's faith.

Once considered a leader of Morocco's Salafi-jihadist movement who became radicalized in the late 1990s, he also traveled and preached in Europe, notably at the Al-Quds mosque in Hamburg, which was frequented by key figures in the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Fizazi was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his "ideological" role in the 2003 suicide kabooms, which killed 33 people.

He condemned the Casablanca attacks during his trial and was freed eight years later after distancing himself from the hardline Islamist movement.
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Tanker captain craved rescue from Libya rebels
[The Peninsula] Pak sea captain Mirza Noman Baig knew he was trapped when dozens of fighters armed with rifles boarded his tanker just off a rebel-held port on Libya's coast.

A militia from the country's restive east forced his crew to load oil onto Baig's vessel, the Morning Glory, and demanded they escape the navy before the ship was stormed by US special forces on March 16, according to his account of events.

After their two-week journey, the 38-year-old captain and his crew are now being held at a police facility in a southern area of the Libyan capital.

Authorities plan to send them home after concluding an investigation into the attempted sale of the oil by the rebel militia, who are campaigning for a greater share of petroleum wealth and more eastern autonomy.

"We were in a hostage situation. We had no choice but to follow the orders (of the rebels)," Baig said, in his first interview since docking at Es Sider port, one of three oil export terminals captured by anti-government gunnies.

Baig said the ship's owner, which changed last month, had told him to load oil in Libya after crossing the Suez Canal without informing him that his destination was a rebel port.

"We were drifting away 30 miles off (the coast). The pilot (of the port escort boat) came on board, and the security people came on board," he said.

"We cannot do anything. They had guns," he said. Shipping data confirmed the Morning Glory had circled for days near Es Sider before docking.

"The owner just told me (to go to Libya) but he didn't tell me how the situation was, is this the central part or I don't know. I don't know what the situation is in that area," he said, standing in front of a small cell where he is being held with five other crew members.

He said up to 35 armed rebels had boarded the ship when docking at the port. The rebels have denied that they forced the crew to act at gunpoint.

When the ship left Es Sider after loading crude, and with only three rebels on board, Baig was told to travel away from the Libyan coast, he said. However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
the tanker ran into a firefight with Libyan naval forces before moving into Cypriot waters, according to government officials.

According to Baig, when he asked the Death Eaters or the owner where the ship was heading, "They said they would tell us later."

With his captors busy, he called his wife in Lahore with the ship's satellite phone. She alerted various governments, he said. He also called the police in Cyprus and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
forces, after which US Navy SEALs stormed the ship late at night.

The US commandos later handcuffed the three rebels and escorted the tanker back to 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...
, where it is moored, Libyan officials said.

He said the owner kept saying the final sale of the oil would be arranged, but Baig asserted: "I was telling them that I am not interested. I want my crew to go home. We don't want anything, we don't want any of the oil. You trapped us on this."

Libya's attorney general has issued orders to release and expel the 21 crew members, who come from Pakistain, India, Eritrea
...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age...
, Sri Lanka, Syria and other countries.

Interrupted only by occasional visits from embassy staff, the crew have time to pray in front of their cells, which are open. A gate locks them into the wing where they are staying.

"As far as we are here we don't have any problem but we are just waiting to go home because we are passing from this very tough time," Baig said.

But his crew is still waiting to get back their personal belongings.
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Ghardaia on knife's edge
[MAGHAREBIA] Ghardaia is a scene of destruction and desolation, a fortnight after new ethnic festivities killed three people, injured more than 100 and left the streets in ruins.

A fragile calm has settled on the Saharan city, located 600 kilometres south of Algiers, but it can barely conceal the after-effects of a week of carnage.

The Mozabite and Ibadite communities blame each other for the latest outbreak of violence. Algerian troops hold the peace and residents navigate a city filled with rubble.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Libyans debate monarchy return
[MAGHAREBIA] With bloodshed in Libya continuing unabated, some political elites are floating the idea of a constitutional monarchy to restore order and unite the country.

"The return of the al-Senussi monarchy is now the solution and guarantee for the return of security and stability to Libya," Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdelaziz said Tuesday (March 25th) at the conclusion of Arab foreign ministers' preparatory meeting for the 25th Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
summit.

"Contacts have already been made, and we're in touch with dignitaries and tribal chiefs in Libya, and also with the grandson of King al-Senussi, Prince Mohammed, who lives overseas," the minister added.

He noted that the 1951 constitution was being reviewed, adding that many believed it was one of the best in the region and world.

"Many tribal sheikhs who lived under monarchy and know it prefer such a system of government," he said.

Libyans are mixed over the prospect of a constitutional monarchy.

"I support the demand for the return of the king because it's the positive thing for Libya's condition," said Misrata lawyer Mansour Bourwila, 33.

"It's not strange that some Libyans have fears because they live in a country that just got out of a 42-year-old farce," Bourwila said. "These are natural fears. However... the desired monarchy will be controlled by the constitution and the oversight of parliament and will have specific and defined powers."

In her turn, teacher Hawaa Younes Said, 56, said, "Yes to the return of the prince to govern Cyrenaica so peace and security can prevail... We've had enough of this arbitrary rule in the last three years."

"Monarchy, accompanied by federalism, was and still is the ideal and final solution for the Libyan crisis," 38-year-old petroleum engineer Abderrazek al-Awami told Magharebia.

"If Prince Mohammed Hasan al-Rida al-Senussi can bring us back security and safety, why not?" journalist Saleha al-Mesmari agreed. "The most important thing is to spare the Libyan people these liquidations and bombings and get rid of terrorism."

High-school student Ayman Zidani, 17, is among those who reject the idea of a monarchy.

"It's impossible that one person govern a whole country alone. What we've seen and tried with Qadaffy was enough for Libyans," he said.

Gumhouria Bank employee Mohammed Suleiman agreed. "No to returning backwards. No monarchy and no Qadaffy-style jamahiriya; we want a new, successful rule," he said.

Others say the important thing is security for Libya.

"As far as I'm concerned, I accept even Libyan folklore artist Nadia Astar to rule Libya, as long as we get rid of these liquidations, bombings and concerns in the country," deaders ministry employee Ali al-Houti, 33, told Magharebia.
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Two Masons put together their crania:
To give rein to their megalomania,
With some mules and Martinis
And halal beanie-weenies,
They would rule over Tripolitania.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 03/29/2014 21:44 Comments || Top||


Saadi Qaddafi denies abuse allegations, apologises to Libya people
[Libya Herald] A calm and seemingly un-bruised Saadi Qadaffy appeared on a televised video from Hadba prison yesterday to deny to allegations that he had been ill treated, beaten and tortured.

Former Prime Minister Ali Zeidan
... served as a diplomat for Libya during the 1970s, serving in India under Ambassador Mohammed Magariaf. Both men defected in 1980 and went on to form the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. Zeidan spent nearly three decades in exile in Geneva after the defection. During the revolution Zeidan served as the National Transitional Council's Europe envoy, and is credited as having played a key role in persuading French President Nicolas Sarkozy to support the anti-Qadaffy forces...
had said in an interview this week in The Times of London that he had heard that Saadi was abused and tortured in the prison. He said that prison guards had been prisoners during Qadaffy's era and were suspected of taking Dire Revenge™.

Even before that, there were allegations on social media that Qadaffy's youngest son was being mistreated and tortured, in particular to obtain information as to the whereabouts of money which he supposedly hid before he escaped to Niger.

The video showed him, apparently from his prison cell and in a blue prison uniform, saying that he had been informed of the rumours. Denying them, he touched his body with both hands to indicate that he was in sound condition.

"I was expecting something else but I had found a different situation in which procedures are fair," he said. "If I knew that the situation was good, I would have returned to Libya from the beginning," he said somewhat implausibly.

There was heating in his cell and he could pray as well, he stated.

He apologised to the Libyan people, the revolution and the government, saying he regretted what he had done and asking for forgiveness. He also called on people to disarm and seek reconciliation. He regretted destabilising the country and not being able to do anything to help the country rebuild again.

There was a message for his mother, wife, sister and children, saying he was in good health and in need of nothing.

At the end of the video, Qadaffy's internal security chief Abdullah Mansour, who was in exile in Niger with Saadi but extradited before him and now likewise in Hadba prison, said that he too was fine. He similarly apologised to the Libyans who, he said, had suffered at the hands of the former regime of which he was part.

The media office at Hadba prison had earlier told the Libya Herald that what Zeidan had said was "100-percent untrue" and that international organizations could visit the prison anytime to see the conditions of the prison and prisoners too.
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Egyptians will not accept a corrupt president: El-Sisi
[Al Ahram] Egyptians will not accept a corrupt leader who fails to fulfill their aspirations, presidential hopeful and former army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said in statements to Egyptian daily Al-Watan on Thursday.
Mubarek was clean. Ev'ryone knows that. So was Sadat. Nasser used to return his expense account to the state, he was so honest...
Al-Watan quoted El-Sisi as stating that he refuses to lay down a "fantasty" electoral programme, stressing his platform will be realistic and applicable in the short run and adding that it will have a positive effect on the lives of Egyptians within many aspects.
I somehow doubt we'll see Egyptian women in the streets of Cairo gratefully claiming that Sisi is going to pay their mortgage and car bill...
El-Sisi said the responsibility of ruling is "no picnic" and pledged to be in the people's service, according to Al-Watan.

The former defence minister resigned from the military on Wednesday and announced his presidential bid in army garb in a live address on Egyptian state TV the same day. A video report aired on Thursday, also on state TV, showed El-Sisi meeting with his presidential campaign team in a black suit.
The uniform will be back...
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Arabia
Obama Seeks to Allay Saudi Fears on Iran, Syria
[An Nahar] U.S. President Barack Obama
Because I won...
sought Friday to allay Riyadh's criticism of his policies on Syria and Iran, telling the Saudi king their two countries remain in lockstep on strategic interests.

He also assured King Abdullah that the U.S. "won't accept a bad deal" with Iran, as global powers negotiate a treaty reining in Tehran's controversial nuclear program.

Obama arrived from Italia to meet for some two hours with the monarch of the oil-rich kingdom on a royal estate outside Riyadh on the last leg of a six-day tour.

The U.S. president told the king that "he believes that our strategic interests remain very much aligned" with those of 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...
, a senior U.S. administration official told news hounds.

Earlier, White House officials said discussions would focus on ways to "empower" Syria's moderate opposition.

"One of the main topics of conversation" would be "how do we best empower the moderate opposition inside of Syria politically, militarily as a counterweight to (President Bashar) Assad," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told news hounds on board Air Force One.

Rhodes also said U.S.-Saudi ties have been improving thanks to cooperation on ways to support Syria's opposition.

"Our relationship with the Saudis is in a stronger place today than it was in the fall (autumn) when we had some tactical differences about our Syria policy," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Does Obama have a real friend in real life when he's not pretending to be a leader?
Posted by: Jack Salami || 03/29/2014 10:40 Comments || Top||

#2  ...might be Bo. Though may be confused about who Obama is given the duties of the assigned WH handler.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/29/2014 11:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Who in their right mind could have fears allayed by Zero on any subject whatever?
Posted by: AlanC || 03/29/2014 11:47 Comments || Top||

#4  "Our relationship with the Saudis is in a stronger place today than it was in the fall (autumn) when we had some tactical differences about our Syria policy," he said.

Catch phrase!
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/29/2014 12:16 Comments || Top||

#5  He sayin the soods wanted to go all Crips an shit on the bad boys he wanted Sunday Skool discipline and a mark on the permanent record.
Posted by: Shipman || 03/29/2014 14:19 Comments || Top||

#6  "Does Obama have a real friend in real life when he's not pretending to be a leader?"

No. Next question?
Posted by: Barbara || 03/29/2014 15:28 Comments || Top||

#7  Did he bow to the king again this time?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 03/29/2014 19:39 Comments || Top||

#8  He could allay their fears by abdicating . . . .
Posted by: gorb || 03/29/2014 21:12 Comments || Top||


Mistrust overshadows Obama's Saudi trip
[Al Ahram] US President Barack Obama
Because I won...
meets King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands Abdullah
... Fifth out of 37 sons of King Abdulaziz to ascend to the throne. He is, after his half-brothers Bandar and Musa'id, the third eldest of the living sons of Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. Abdullah's mother is from the Rashid clan, longtime rivals of the Saud. He has 6 sons and 15 daughters and about $20 billion. His youngest son is just seven years old...
Friday as mistrust fuelled by differences over Iran and Syria overshadows a decades-long alliance between their countries.

Obama, who is due to arrive in 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...
late in the afternoon on a flight from Italia, is expected to hold evening talks with the monarch on a royal estate outside Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia has strong reservations about efforts by Washington and other major world powers to negotiate a deal with Iran on its nuclear programme.

It is also disappointed over Obama's 11th-hour decision last year not to take military action against the Syrian regime over chemical weapons attacks.

Saudi analyst Abdel Aziz al-Sagr, who heads the Gulf Research Centre, said Saudi-US relations are "tense due to Washington's stances" on the Middle East, especially Iran.
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
Hefazat plans showdown in Chittagong city
[Dhaka Tribune] The radical Islamist group Hefajat-e-Islam
...a madrassa-based false nose and mustache of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, formed in 2010 to protest against secular education. In 2011 demonstrated violentyly against women's rights and in 2013 held large rallies demanding capital punishment of Shahbag Square protesters and banning women working outside the home...
is planning to flex its muscle in Chittagong city in the name of a two-day Islamic conference scheduled to be held in the first week of April in Laldighi Maidan.

Leaders of the organization at a presser on February 11 announced that it would hold the Resalat Conference on April 3.

Hefazat Organising Secretary Azizul Hoque Islamabadi said they had already gotten approval from the CMP.

However the date of the conference could be deferred by a day or two due to the ongoing ICC World Cup T20.

He also said although there was no cricket match on those days the CMP requested them to defer it by a day or two for the sake of the smooth exit of the foreign guests.

"We have completed all preparations," he said adding that they were expecting participation of more than 50 thousand people at the two-day conference.

A leader of the organization preferring anonymity said they would hold the conference in Chittagong as the government was not allowing them to hold any rally in the city since the incident of Shapla Chattar in Dhaka on May 5, 2013.

"We will ensure huge gathering as it is the first programme in the city after the incident at Shapla Chattar," he added.

Earlier, the Hefazat announced to hold two-day Islamic conference on the Jamaatul Falah Mosque premises in the city on December 12 and 13 but failed to do so as the CMP did not allow them.

The organization announced a dawn-to-dusk hartal
... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ...
in Chittagong on December 15 protesting the decision of the CMP but they later called it off.
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Home Front: WoT
Pentagon To Triple Cyber Staff To Thwart Attacks
[Ynet] Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the Pentagon plans to more than triple its cybersecurity staff in the next few years to defend against computer-based attacks.

Hagel's comments Friday at the National Security Agency headquarters in suburban Washington come as he prepares to visit China next week, where officials are likely to challenge him amid reports of aggressive US cyber spying. The Pentagon has been recruiting outside talent for cybersecurity jobs as well as encouraging people already in the military to train for them and will have some 1,800 professionals by year's end.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  3 more snowdens.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/29/2014 11:58 Comments || Top||

#2  More H1Bs
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/29/2014 14:22 Comments || Top||

#3  More H1Bs

From China, Pakistan, Russia, Iran,...

Americans, Jews, need not apply (don't want to offend the above groups!).

All in the name of diversity and multiculturalism.
Posted by: Heriberto Jusoth8138 || 03/29/2014 15:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Americans, Jews, need not apply (don't want to offend the above groups!).

Indeed, Immediately after 9/11 Persian-American Jews and American Jews from the Arab world volunteered en masse to translate for the CiA, FBI, DoD and so forth. But the Muslim translators informed management that if the Jews came, they would not work. So that was that.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/29/2014 21:50 Comments || Top||

#5  more REMFs at the expense of real warfighters
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/29/2014 22:12 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Resolutions moved against threats to Bilawal
[DAWN] Resolutions condemning the threatening letter received by chairman Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP) from banned Lashkar-e-Jahngvi (LJ) and demanding action against those responsible were moved in the National and Sindh assemblies, DawnNews reported.

PPP's Member of Provincial Assembly Abdul Sattar presented the resolution in the Sindh Assembly condemning the threatening letter received by his party chief.

The resolution was unanimously passed by the assembly.

Speaker Sindh Assembly, Agha Siraj Durrani, said that the situation had become clear after the threats to the PPP chairman and added that action should be taken against those 'terrorists' who had been identified.

Another MPA Irfanullah Khan Marwat belonging to the Pakistain Moslem League - Nawaz (PML-N) said that the threatening letter to Bilawal was an attempt to sabotage the dialogue process between the government and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP).

He further claimed that every time steps were taken for the improvement of the country such conspiring elements became active.

Other resolutions passed during the session were related to the celebration of 'Earth day' and other environmental days.

Meanwhile,
...back at the hanging, Butch continued with his last words, trying not to repeat himself too often......
PML-N's Member of National Assembly, Hamza Shahbaz, answering a question about life threats to Bilwal Bhutto, said "We pray to Allah mighty for safety of every one. However,
some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go...
he said that it would not appropriate to accuse any one without having solid proof."
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel 'no' on prisoners 'slap in face' to peace: Palestinians
[Al Ahram] Israel's refusal to free a final batch of Arab prisoners Saturday is another obstacle to US efforts to broker peace, a bigwig in Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
's Fatah party said.

Under the deal that relaunched peace talks last July, Israel agreed to release 104 Arabs held since before the 1993 Oslo peace accords in exchange for the Paleostinians not pressing their statehood claims at the United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...

The prisoner release was also dependant on progress in the negotiations, of which there has so far been no sign.

Until now, Israel has freed 78 prisoners in three batches but ministers had warned they would block the final release, which had been anticipated for Saturday, if the Paleostinians refused to extend the talks beyond their April 29 deadline.

Jibril Rajub, a member of Fatah's central committee, told AFP Friday "the Israeli government has informed us through the American mediator that it will not abide with its commitment to release the fourth batch of Paleostinian prisoners scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday 29."

"Israel has refused to commit to the names that were agreed upon of prisoners held by Israel since before the 1993 Oslo agreements," Rajub said.

Israeli officials refused to comment, but cabinet ministers have baulked at including Israeli Arabs among the prisoners slated for release.
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority


Southeast Asia
MILF militants eschew gun surrender
A top leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Friday said they would not surrender their firearms despite signing a comprehensive and historic peace agreement with the Philippine government. Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF's chief peace negotiator, said the group would yield their firearms and other weapons to a third party which has yet to be named to be stored.
Only as long as they can get new guns from Shrimp Boy...
Iqbal said, "There is no surrender of firearms to the government. They will be stored. There is also no destruction of firearms but these will be beyond use."

At the same press conference, his government counterpart Professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer agreed there would be no surrender of firearms as she pointed out the accord, officially called the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) was based on dignity. She explained, "That is the risk they (MILF) undertook. The firearms will be under lock and key and put beyond use."

At the same conference, Professor Abud Sayid Lingga, a member of the MILF peace panel, disclosed the front would not be disbanded and would no longer exist as an armed group but as a "social movement."
Posted by: ryuge || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Moro Islamic Liberation Front


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Suleiman Urges Armed Forces Not to be Lenient with Terrorists
[An Nahar] President Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
urged on Friday the Lebanese Armed Forces to confront gunnies and criminals no matter how much sacrifices they make.

In a statement issued by Baabda Palace, Suleiman said: "All terrorist activities that target the members of the army and police won't stop those forces from implementing the decision of the government to preserve security and stability."

The cabinet approved on Thursday a security plan for the northern 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...
and the northern areas of the Bekaa Valley bordering Syria. It instructed the armed forces to seize weapons caches and take all measures to arrest gunnies in Tripoli in addition to kidnappers and assailants involved in car theft in the Bekaa.

Suleiman urged the armed forces to stick to the measures that they are taking in hotspots and "not to be lenient with gunnies and criminals no matter how much sacrifices they make so that they preserve civil peace and security."

The president also said that the army and security forces "should cut the road to those who sought to turn the nation into a hostage to serve gunnies and criminals."
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
26[untagged]
10Arab Spring
2Govt of Pakistan
2Boko Haram
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis
1Govt of Sudan
1Govt of Syria
1Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Moro Islamic Liberation Front
1Palestinian Authority
1Salafists
1Taliban
1TTP
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Ansar al-Sharia

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2014-03-29
  Six Die in Indian Kashmir Militant Strike
Fri 2014-03-28
  'Dangerous Terrorist' Sami al-Atrash Killed in Army Raid in Arsal
Thu 2014-03-27
  Phillipines, MILF sign historic peace agreement
Wed 2014-03-26
  Delhi police arrest chief of Indian Mujahideen
Tue 2014-03-25
  Muslim Brotherhood Activists Burn School In Protest Of Death Sentences
Mon 2014-03-24
  Egypt sentences 528 Morsi supporters to death
Sun 2014-03-23
  Report: Assassination Attempt On Egyptian Army Commander Thwarted
Sat 2014-03-22
  Taliban commander kills self, family in NWA bomb accident
Fri 2014-03-21
  Four Gunmen Killed in Attack on Luxury Kabul Hotel
Thu 2014-03-20
  Syria Says U.S. Closure of Embassy Arbitrary, Illegal
Wed 2014-03-19
  Count Doku titzup
Tue 2014-03-18
  Oil tanker heading back to Libya after capture by US forces
Mon 2014-03-17
  Syrian forces clearing rebels from Yabrud
Sun 2014-03-16
  Boko Haram vs Army: Another 350 killed.
Sat 2014-03-15
  Suicide blast in Peshawar: Death toll rises to 11


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.
18.117.196.184
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (20)    Non-WoT (15)    Opinion (1)    (0)    Politix (1)