Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Friday he is poised to sweep to victory in upcoming presidential elections and return the nation to the world community after years of isolation.
"We are going to be new brooms" for change, he told about 500 party leaders and activists at a party conference to finalize a platform. He will be pitted against long-time ruler President Robert Mugabe, 89, in elections. No date has been set but it is expected to be held around September.
Tsvangirai described his Movement for Democratic Change party as the main champion of a new, reformed constitution accepted by 95 per cent of the vote in a March referendum.
"We have a new constitution, we must definitely have a new government" to open Zimbabwe for business and restore human rights and the rule of law, he said.
The conference, which went into closed session after Tsvangirai's speech, ends on Sunday with the release of an election manifesto. Leaks to local media organizations of its proposals suggest the MDC intends to cut spending on the military, traditionally dominated by Mugabe's ZANU-PF party loyalists, and offer retirement to long-standing military and police commanders. The proposal is fraught with peril since commanders of the security forces are Mugabe loyalists and some have been disrespectful toward Tsvangirai.
It also calls for a full overhaul of chaotic voters' lists and electoral laws the party says have led to vote rigging in the past.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Central African Republic has collapsed into "a state of anarchy" and the UN Security Council must impose sanctions and mandate a neutral security force to restore order, a UN envoy said Wednesday.
UN representative to the strife-torn country Margaret Vogt painted a grim picture with death stalking the streets since rebels ousted President Francois Bozize on March 24.
The country has "collapsed into a state of anarchy," Vogt told the Security Council.
There are "indiscriminate and often assassinations, rampant rapes and assaults on the innocent population, flagrant recruitment of children as soldiers, looting of homes, not just of the rich but even of already struggling citizens," she added.
"We believe that the time is right for the council to consider the imposition of individual sanctions against the architects and perpetrators of these gross violations," Vogt said.
"There is an urgent need to help restore stability in the CAR. This should be done by deploying a neutral security force that would contain the current state of anarchy," she added.
A rebel coalition known as Seleka seized power on March 24, forcing Bozize to flee. But the rebels have since been accused of taking part in a looting and killing spree in the huge mineral-rich country of 4.5 million people.
Vogt said that strip mining of the country's diamond and gold reserves has "exponentially expanded" in areas controlled by Seleka.
While regional leaders set up a peace plan that was accepted by Seleka, Michel Djotodia, who named himself president after the coup, has gone against the accords, Vogt said.
"He continues to run the country by presidential decrees," the envoy said. Channeling Emperor Freddy, is he?
The Seleka leadership "is unable or unwilling, neither to control the ranks of the militia groups nor to rein in local commanders," she added.
The troubles in Central African Republic are now a threat to neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... , Chad and Cameroon, the UN envoy added.
Other African states already have a small force in the country and have promised to boost it to 2,000 troops but Vogt said more is needed.
Central African Republic's interim prime minister Nicolas Tiangaye repeated calls for La Belle France to send an intervention force to the country.
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[An Nahar] Violent festivities between rebels and soldiers in the restive east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... have left 40 people dead, government and military officials said Thursday.
Fighting broke out between Mai-Mai militia and government troops on Wednesday in the town of Beni, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, Colonel Richard Bisamaza said.
Government front man Lambert Mende told a presser that 32 militia fighters were killed as well as eight soldiers.
Bisamaza earlier told Agence La Belle France Presse the Mai Mai -- a generic term for a number of local militia groups -- attacked army buildings to try to free a number of their colleagues who had been locked away Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! and were being held there.
However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... they fled after an hour of exchanging gunfire.
North Kivu lies in unstable eastern DR Congo, and is dominated by armed movements including the M23 rebels, a group the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... suspects of receiving financial support from Rwanda and Uganda. Both countries deny the accusation.
With government attention focused over the past year on battling the M23, other militia such as the Mai Mai -- which come from a force known as Katakatanga seeking the secession of Katanga province -- have been able to proliferate in both North Kivu and neighboring South Kivu province.
DR Congo has ramped up its efforts to tackle these armed movements.
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[Bangla Daily Star] Three youths were beaten to death by a mob over an alleged attempted robbery in Ashulia on the outskirts of Dhaka early yesterday.
It really is a testament to the power of optimism that anyone goes in for a life of crime in Bangladesh.
You have the RAB staging shootouts on one hand and mobs willing to beat miscreants to death on the other, and youts, commies and Purba Banglars will still meet in banana groves and plot to steal stuff...
One of the dead is Sumon Miah, 28, an employee of Ananta Garments at Ashulia. The identities of the two others could not be confirmed till last night.
Sumon was beaten to death by the mob near a bridge at Diakhali village, while the two others died in neighbouring Nishchintapur village around 1:00am when they attempted to rob a car driver, said Habibur Rahman, superintendent of Dhaka district police.
Talking to The Daily Star, car driver Saiful Islam said he had been driving his own car-for-hire for the last five years.
"The robbers obstructed my car by placing bamboos and branches of trees across a road at Diakhali. Sensing danger, I honked for sometime and cried for help. At one stage, some villagers came to my rescue, caught one of the robbers and beat him to death," he mentioned.
A group of villagers, said Saiful, chased down the two others at Nishchintapur village, around 1.5 kilometres off Diakhali.
Police said the mob beat the two to death at Nishchintapur. They also claimed the three youths were professional robbers.
"All the three were professional robbers. Apart from Sumon, the two others are Hafizul Islam and Minhazul Islam. The duo were accused in a robbery case," said Badrul Alam, officer-in-charge of Ashulia Police Station.
A gang of robbers, including the duo, looted the passengers of a vehicle on their way to Parbatipur in Dinajpur, carrying the body of Khadiza, a victim of the Rana Plaza collapse in Savar, he added.
On April 4, a case was filed with Badarganj Police Station in Rangpur in this connection.
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05/17/2013 00:00 ||
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Seventy-years-ago yesterday, the squadron, made up of the RAF's finest, took to the skies on their top-secret mission. Their aim was to destroy three dams in the Ruhr valley which were a vital source of industrial power for Nazi Germany.
Using ingenious bouncing bombs, their daring night-time raid saw two of the three dams breached and the mission was hailed a success.
Those 133 crewmen, led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson of 617 squadron, would become known as the Dambusters - a term still applied to the unit.
The force had to fly across occupied Europe at night, so low that some were killed by power lines, and drop the untried bombs in full view of the enemys guns.
The Mohne and Eder dams collapsed, German industry was thrown into chaos and the Allies enjoyed a huge boost to morale. But it was not without its cost: eight of Gibsons 19 planes and 53 of his 133 men were lost.
The nightclub dancer at the center of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" sex trial told a court on Friday that guests at the media tycoon's parties dressed as nuns, nurses and U.S. President Barack Obama.
Karima El Mahroug, better known by her stage name "Ruby the Heartstealer", spoke as a witness in a trial at which talent scout Lele Mora, television anchor Emilio Fede and former showgirl and regional councilor Nicole Minetti are accused of inducing and aiding prostitution.
Berlusconi is being tried separately for paying for sex with El Mahroug when she was a minor and then abusing office by having her freed from police custody after her arrest for theft.
Her appearance is nevertheless an embarrassment for the 76-year-old billionaire, serving as a reminder of the legal threats the leader of the center-right and key partner in the governing coalition faces.
A verdict in the sex trial is expected in June, and a conviction for tax fraud is moving to a final appeal. Berlusconi says he has never paid for sex, denies any wrongdoing and says judges are politically motivated against him.
[Dawn] Police continue to conduct raids to arrest the Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz candidate Mohammad Hanif Abbasi and one of his close aides who was wanted by the police for the murder of a Pakistain 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.... supporter on the polling day.
A source informed that the police investigating the murder of a PTI supporter, Usman Farooq, 28, had tossed in the calaboose Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! the father of the man who had been spotted in a video footage firing gunshots with both hands. He added that police raids were continuing to arrest him as he is said to be a close aide of former PML-N MNA Hanif Abbasi.
"Video footages, obtained from different sources helped the police to identify the gunman, and they also showed the contesting candidate, Hanif Abbasi, sitting at his election office and passing instructions to his supporters protesting outside," a police brass hat close to the investigation told Dawn requesting anonymity.
He said once the gunman was captured by the police and investigated thoroughly, the other accused, including Mr Abbasi, would be taken into custody and later would be implicated in the murder case.
The police official said, "Although the former MNA is not directly nominated in the murder case, he will be investigated because he is visible in the video footages sitting in his election office and passing instructions to his supporters outside Rehmanabad on Saturday evening."
The election office of Abbasi, located at Ashiyana Center Rehmanabad, had been sealed by the police, who have been conducting raids to arrest the main accused whose name is currently being withheld by the police.
Usman Farooq, who was to be blessed with a baby this month, was killed in a clash between the PTI and PML-N supporters as the latter were celebrating the party's victory.
Police said bullets fired by the gunnies pierced Usman Farooq's forehead, while Bilal Khan, Aqeel Khan, Irfan Akhtar and Waseem Naqvi were also injured.
Besides the murder case registered with the New Town police in connection with election related violence, two other cases involving Hanif Abbasi and his supporters have been registered with the New Town and Waris Khan police. However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... no arrests have been made so far.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the space pirate fleet to attack Zemblonia... a large number of PTI activists, led by senior vice president Mohammad Zubair, staged a protest outside the PML-N office at Rehmanabad on Wednesday, and demanded the caretaker chief minister Punjab and Inspector General of Police Punjab arrest the killers of Usman Farooq.
The protesters warned the authorities concerned that they would stage another demonstration on Friday, if the killers were not arrested.
They also demanded investigation of the PML-N leader who they claimed was sitting at his election office during the violence.
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[Dawn] The recent discovery that political parties had barred women in Lower Dir from voting has turned out to not be an isolated incident. Another agreement has now surfaced, showing that political parties in Upper Dir also mutually agreed to effectively disenfranchise female voters in the region.
The document, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, carries signatures by representatives of the Pakistain 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.... (PTI), Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... (JI), Pakistain Moslem League -- Nawaz (PML-N), Awami National Party (ANP) and the Pakistain People's Party (PPP).
The document authorises Malik Jehanzib Kalorang and Malik Faiz Muhamamd Khan of Dogram to take a decision about women voting on Upper Dir's PK-93 provincial assembly seat. The decision would be binding on all the candidates contesting in the constituency and those 'in violation' would be fined Rs 10 million.
JI candidate Behram Khan won the PK-93 seat in the May 11 poll by gaining 12,894 votes, while Sahibzada Sanaullah of the PPP returned as the runner-up with 9,500 votes.
Earlier, a similar agreement had surfaced from Lower Dir's PK-95 seat where JI candidate Sirajul Haq returned as the winner. Haq is slated to get a ministerial portfolio in a likely deal with the PTI, the leading party in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... province.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pound, the little lost dog backed into the corner and showed its teeth. And what big teeth they were!... the civil society organizations in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa have written to the Chief Election Commissioner to take action against the political parties who had barred women from voting in Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Buner and other parts of the province during the polls.
The organization have asked the ECP to declare the elections null and void and conduct re-polling in the affected constituencies with the guarantee that right to vote is ensured for all women.
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"Federal military commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the President is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances." Posse Comitatus much...? I want to see more than this before reacting.
#4
Apparently, my original comment has filter problems, so I'll post by paragraph to isolate the issue.
The myth of Posse Comitatus is that it was intended to protect civil liberties. When the Donks got control of Congress after the Civil War and part of the fall out of the Hayes-Tilden election, the deal with the Southern states was to remove federal troops from the polling stations to strip blacks of their 15th Amendment rights. It would take nearly a hundred years and the Civil Rights and Voting Acts to fix that. Even then episodes would still invoke the use of federal troops to enforce basic Constitutional rights, be it Little Rock or Oxford.
#5
Art I, Section 8 powers of Congress - To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
Still on the books is The Insurrection Act of 1807. The entire text of the Posse Comitatus Act, as amended in 1956, is as follows:
18 U.S.C. § 1385 - Use of Army and Air Force as posse comitatus
"Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both".
Accordingly, actions taken under the Insurrection Act, as an "Act of Congress", have always been exempt from the Posse Comitatus Act.
#6
For most of the first hundred years of the republic, the military performed constabulary duties in the territories. The original western territories, aka the Northwest Territories was administered by St.Clair who acted both as the civil and military authority. Although his military skills were somewhat lacking.
Andrew Jackson declared martial law in New Orleans in 1815 to organize the fight against the British incursion. The military would again initiate martial law again in the Hawaii territory following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
For those with memories, federal troops were deployed during the riots of 1968 and again in the LA riot of 1992. They are usually employed as backup first to local and state National Guard personnel and operations. Only upon failure of those elements are federal elements moved forward. So, they train and practice as for any contingency operation.
#7
The key to all of it is 'will they follow orders'. They can co-opt senior officers, but the guts of the military are the middle grade officers and NCOs who come from the social strata that the ruling caste hates and fears. They can order, but will they follow?
#10
Diminish the military - drive out the quality guts of the forces through pay & benefit cuts, petty BS directives, and general demotivation. Build up the Homeland Security Forces through increased funding and power - forces answerable to the Party. Any sign of this all happening?
The bell curve remains in place. Some are a little faster, others will never make it. You can make cannon fodder in 60 to 90 days. Just watch the Youtubes from Libya and Syria for examples. It takes two years to make a decent soldier. It take four year to make a good solid soldier. It takes 8 to 12 years to make good solid NCOs and commissioned officers. There are a lot of prior service out there now and more going whose ramp up time to recover diminished skill sets is going to be a heck of a lot shorter than what can be trained in to the New Model services. One just had to sit back and watch the LAPD respond to a couple of their own getting 'offed' to watch how thin even the 'professionalism' is in many long established law enforcement organizations. They're a generation out from having enough to even try with any expectation of success. Then again, the Left has always been 'reality' challenged.
Remember till the Anbar Awakening in Iraq when it became in the local interest of the population to turn on the destructive behaviors of AQ, the entire might of the Coalition was stymied to accomplish the pacification and building process. Given the general thuggery of how the Left employs power and the tools they'd use [see op cit LA, Boston lockdown, etc], they're going to alienate the general population. They do not have enough manpower, and they've been squandering national resources with which to backup, to protect the infrastructure to provide basic services to their power bases in the urban areas. The government was overwhelmed just dealing with disruptions caused by Katrina and Sandy in urban areas. Multiply that by dozens of their blue based urban islands. They have a lot of takers to sustain.
#14
I've always felt the kind of fellow that makes a good soldier is the kind unlikely to be happy with tossing the constitution. Be that ATF or other more Police-like or within the military itself. The political ones might rise to the top for political reasons but they will be leading a bunch of straight shooters. And if you squeeze those folks out of the military they are still out there in civilian life iwth the same outlook.
#15
So, Besoeker, instead of Iron Feliks we get Big Sis? A bit of a come down....
Posted by: Otto Sherert3618 ||
05/17/2013 15:52 Comments ||
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#16
And if you squeeze those folks out of the military they are still out there in civilian life iwth the same outlook... and all their accumulated training.
That last matters, I suspect, if it becomes a matter of putting uniformed training fodder up against retired, seasoned NCOs who've been joining together to play those massive online video game thingies for their own amusement, as OldSpook once mentioned he was wont to do. Apparently there are ways of recognizing strangers with similar skillz in such situations, and it's ever so much fun to wipe the floor with the youngsters who know not the real world applications,
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.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Central African Republic has collapsed into "a state of anarchy" and the UN Security Council must impose sanctions and mandate a neutral security force to restore order, a UN envoy said Wednesday.
Seventy-years-ago yesterday, the squadron, made up of the RAF's finest, took to the skies on their top-secret mission. Their aim was to destroy three dams in the Ruhr valley which were a vital source of industrial power for Nazi Germany.
[Dawn] The recent discovery that political parties had barred women in Lower Dir from voting has turned out to not be an isolated incident. Another agreement has now surfaced, showing that political parties in Upper Dir also mutually agreed to effectively disenfranchise female voters in the region. 
"Federal military commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the President is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances."
