[Pak Daily Times] A kaboom at an Afghan university killed two students on Saturday in Kandahar, one of the most troubled places in Afghanistan, police said. One of the dead was also secretary of the police chief of Kandahar province. "The blast took place near the engineering faculty of Kandahar University and has killed two students, one of them my office secretary," police chief General Abdul Razaq said. A second kaboom, which happened after police cordoned off the area, injured three people, including two coppers, he said. Both blasts had been caused by remote-controlled improvised bombs (IEDs). Shortly afterwards, Kandahar's top justice official, Aqil Shah Khan, survived an liquidation attempt in a drive-by shooting, Razaq said. "He was shot at by two cycle of violence riders, but the round hit his hand and he is slightly injured and currently in hospital receiving treatment," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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The United Nations is investigating reports that U.N. peacekeepers stayed in their barracks during recent fighting between forces from northern and southern Sudan in the disputed border region of Abyei, a U.N. official said Saturday. The U.N. peacekeeping department sent its top military advisor, Gen. Babacar Gaye, to Abyei "to determine the circumstances surrounding recent events," spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux said.
The fighting and continued tensions over Abyei -- a fertile land near major oil fields -- have raised fears of renewed civil war only weeks before South Sudan secedes from the north on July 9.
The north's invasion of the Abyei region and takeover of the town of Abyei was precipitated by a May 19 attack on northern and U.N. troops by southern soldiers.
Several U.N. diplomats criticized the peacekeepers from Zambia for failing to carry out their mandate, which includes patrolling and protecting civilians in the oil-rich area. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. A phone call to Zambia's U.N. Mission seeking comment was not answered.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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They want a reinactment for the training video.
[An Nahar] Japan has frozen $4.4 billion in assets belonging to Libyan leader MoammerQadaffy and his entourage under the terms of a U.N. Security Council resolution, a report said Saturday.
The assets included bank savings, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported citing data of the finance ministry, without giving fuller details. A spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on the report.
The U.N. Security Council, with strong support from Arab and African nations, on February 26 unanimously passed sanctions against the Qadaffy regime with the aim of stopping a crackdown on anti-government forces.
In March, Prime Minister Naoto Kan's cabinet approved the sanctions, which included an assets freeze and travel ban against several regime leaders.
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[Pak Daily Times] British and French attack helicopters were used to strike inside Libya for the first time overnight on Saturday, hitting targets in the oil port of Brega as 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 style of the American pants... forces stepped up their air war against Muammar Qadaffy.
A NATO-led military alliance extended its mission to protect civilians in Libya for a further 90 days this week, and La Belle France said it was stepping up military pressure as well as working with those close to Qadaffy to try to persuade him to quit.
"This was the first operational mission flown by British Army Apaches at sea," British Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox said.
"The additional capabilities now being employed by NATO further reinforces the UK's enduring commitment and NATO's determination to ensure that the people of Libya are free to determine their own future."
Military analysts say attack helicopters will allow more precise strikes against pro-Qadaffy forces hiding in built-up areas than the high-flying jets used so far, while reducing the risk of civilian casualties.
But given the vulnerability of helicopters to ground fire, their deployment also increases the risk of Western forces suffering their first casualties of the campaign.
Critics of the war have warned of "mission creep" but NATO has said the use of helicopters would not presage the deployment of ground troops, which Western nations have ruled out.
Now in its fourth month, the Libyan conflict is deadlocked, with rebels unable to break out of their strongholds and advance towards Tripoli, where Qadaffy appears to be entrenched.
The helizaps struck military targets around the eastern town of Brega, location of an oil export terminal.
Rebel forces, who have taken control of the eastern city of Benghazi, swept west through Brega early in the uprising before beating a retreat from near Qadaffy's home town of Sirte in late March. Qadaffy's forces have since dug in around the oil town.
"The Apaches were tasked with precision strikes against a regime radar installation and a military checkpoint, both located around Brega," said Major General Nick Pope, the chief of the Defence Staff's Strategic Communications officer.
"In the same area, Royal Air Force (RAF) ground attack aircraft destroyed another military installation, whilst a separate RAF mission successfully attacked two ammunition bunkers at the large Waddan depot in central Libya."
In the latest diplomatic setback for Qadaffy, China made its first confirmed contact with Libyan rebels this week following a spate of defections by high profile figures including senior oil official and former prime minister Shokri Ghanem.
Libyan rebels and NATO have made Qadaffy's departure a condition for agreeing a ceasefire in the conflict, but he emphatically told visiting South African President Jacob Zuma this week he would not leave Libya.
"He is more and more isolated," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told Europe 1 radio. "There have been more defections around him and we have received messages from his close entourage which has understood that he must leave power."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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Its only a matter of time. He has nowhere to go and nobody wants him. And he cant buy his way out even to Chavez. His own people will kill him and when it happens he wont be ready.
And after that Libya will still not be secure. The Libyans themselves are hardly loved.....by Europeans or by their Moslem neighbors either. No one wants the Libyans themselves..
And after Kadaffy is gone the Libyans will still be killing each other. They dont love one another, it never was a loving place,
and the whole world will just stand around and watch.
There is a lesson in all this. Allah is beneficent and wise. Yeah?
You can always depend on Allah.
Posted by: de Medici ||
06/05/2011 8:00 Comments ||
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Actually, Khadaffi doesn't play the religion card. His more-or-less socialist government has been at war with fundamentalist Islam for decades. 'Allah' really doesn't have part here.
Really, "de medici", you should do some homework instead of throwing the same old tired memes against the wall and hope they stick. They're tired. They're old. They won't.
CAIRO - Angry protesters pelted a police station and torched an armored vehicle overnight following the death of a bus driver who fought a police officer. Security officials said Saturday they were investigating the case, which reignited long-simmering anger toward Egypt's security forces.
Details of Mohammed Nasr's death were murky. Protesters attacked the east Cairo police station where he had been taken Thursday after a confrontation with a police officer in a busy square. Some witnesses told a lawyer investigating the case that Nasr had been beaten at the station.
Outside the Cairo police station late Friday, protesters shouted: "The Interior Ministry has not changed! It is full of thugs!" And you were expecting .. what, exactly?
An interior ministry official said Nasr slapped a police officer
Clearly tempting Darwin...
who asked him to clear out of a busy Cairo square. After being taken to the station, Nasr felt sick After being bounced down elebenteen flights of stairs...
and was taken to a hospital where he died, Apparently pining for the fjords...
the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. "Please don't reveal my identity, they'll kill me!"
However, a hospital employee who refused to give his name said Nasr left the hospital alive. "He was getting better!"
Mohammed Abdel-Aziz, a lawyer who specializes in torture cases and is investigating Nasr's death, said he received contradictory statements about it from witnesses. Some witnesses said Nasr was beaten at the police station, Abdel-Aziz said. Or maybe he died of acute cirrhosis...
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06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] A powerful blast rocks National Security headquarters in Yemen's southern city of Taizz as embattled President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... recovers from the wounds he sustained a day earlier.
The kaboom came on Saturday, one day after an attack on the Yemeni presidential palace left Saleh and six other officials maimed in the capital, Sana'a.
According to the Soddy Arabia's state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
, Saleh is currently in the kingdom for medical treatment. However, The over-used However... some Yemeni sources say that the president is still in Sana'a.
"Saleh is still in Sana'a," a Yemeni official told Rooters on Saturday, adding that, "He had suffered minor wounds to his head and I believe his face."
"I am well, in good health," Saleh said in an audio statement broadcast on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
late Friday.
Saleh blamed "the sons of al-Ahmar," for the attacks and urged "the security forces to purge state institutions of these gangs."
He was referring to Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar -- the leader of the powerful Hashid tribal federation -- who has been fighting a deadly battle with the regime in Sana'a over the past two weeks.
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[Al Jazeera] President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh, ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... Yemen's president, has arrived in Riyadh for medical treatment, a day after he was injured in an attack on his compound, the Saudi royal court said in a statement.
"The Yemeni president has arrived along with officials and citizens who had received different injuries for treatment in Soddy Arabia," the royal court said on Sunday.
Saleh will be treated for wounds received on Friday in a rocket attack on his presidential palace - an assault that marked a major escalation in a conflict building towards full civil war.
Al Jizz has learned he had arrived at King Khalid Air Base in Riyadh and been transferred to a military hospital.
The embattled leader suffered "burns and scratches to the face and chest," an official said after the ruling General People's Congress said he was "lightly maimed in the back of the head."
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising... sources told Al Jizz that vice-president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has taken over as acting president and supreme commander of the armed forces.
The extent of Saleh's injuries has been a matter of intense speculation. When the rocket struck the mosque in his presidential compound and splintered the pulpit, he was surrounded by senior government officials and bodyguards.
Eleven guards died, and five officials standing nearby were seriously maimed and taken to Soddy Arabia.
The president delivered an audio address afterward, his voice labored, with only an old photo shown.
One-week truce
Earlier on Saturday, sources said a powerful Yemeni tribal federation battling Saleh's security forces and forces loyal to him agreed to abide to a Saudi-brokered one-week truce.
Mohammed al-Jendi, the Yemeni deputy minister of information, told Al Jizz that Saleh had been injured but that "his health is fine and there is nothing to be concerned about".
In an audio address delivered on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
late on Friday night, Saleh said the attack was carried out by an "outlaw gang", referring to the Hashed tribal federation led by Sadiq al-Ahmar, a powerful dissident primitive.
Al-Ahmar's fighters have been battling government forces in the capital since a truce crumbled on Tuesday.
Witnesses said sporadic shelling and rocketfire on Saturday rattled the al-Hasaba district of northern Sanaa where al-Ahmar has his base, forcing residents to flee. The area is suffering from water and electricity cuts.
Elsewhere in Yemen, officials said police and military units have withdrawn from the southern city of Taiz after a week of festivities with pro-reform demonstrators that left dozens dead.
"Looting and scenes of chaos are spreading after the withdrawal of security forces and the army from the city," the opposition leader, who asked not to be named, told Rooters news agency.
Tareq al-Shami, a ruling party official, confirmed the government's security forces had pulled back from the city which is about 200km south of the capital.
The UN human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... chief said her office was investigating reports that as many as 50 have been killed in Taiz since Sunday.
Al-Ahmar denial
Abdul Ghani al-Iryani, an independent political analyst in Sanaa, told Al Jizz that it was "quite reasonable to assume" that al-Ahmar's fighters were behind the palace hit on Friday.
"[The rustics] probably wanted him to know that [Saleh] can no longer attack them with impunity, and that they can reach him as he can reach them," al-Iryani said.
But al-Ahmar's office denied responsibility and instead blamed Saleh for the attack, calling it part of his effort to help justify a government escalation of street fighting in the capital.
Ten people were killed and 35 others injured in southern Sanaa on Friday as Yemeni troops shelled the home of Hamid al-Ahmar, the brother of Sadiq al-Ahmar, Hamid's office said on Saturday.
Hamid, a prominent businessman, is a leader of Yemen's biggest opposition party, Al-Islah (reform).
The shelling in Hada neighbourhood also targeted the homes of Sadiq's two other brothers, Hemyar and Mizhij, and that of Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a dissident army general.
The US has condemned Friday's violence, including the attack on the Saleh's palace, and called for him to transfer power.
"We call on all sides to cease hostilities immediately and to pursue an orderly and peaceful process of transferring political power as called for in the GCC-brokered agreement," the White House said, referring to the Gulf Co-operation Council.
Yemen's parliamentary opposition on Saturday called for an "immediate" ceasefire.
The Common Forum alliance condemned what it said was the "the dangerous twist which the festivities have taken in targeting the homes of citizens, the presidential palace, and vital installations".
The alliance of parliamentary opposition groups urged "quick action" from the international community "to save Yemen and its people from falling into [civil] war", in the statement.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wrecked scow, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow... Germany said it had ordered the immediate closure of its embassy in Yemen "because of current developments."
"The embassy team that is still on the ground will leave the country as soon as it is possible and safe," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
Democracy is a much less destructive way to achieve generational turnover of control of the government. But when the society accepts despots, there's no other way to do it.
#4
Worse than Saleh and Mubarak? If it's the Islamists, then yes... And the odds do appear to favor the Islamists. But what Iraq has is not worse than Saddam Hussein, nor the is the current situation in Afghnistn worse than under the Taliban. This gives the rest examples to aspire to.
#7
Go research the hygiene effects of soap and water, rude boy, so much more efficious than three pebbles and losing the use of the left hand.
How does your father justify using the fecal hand to fly his airplane, which requires two hands? How do you justify to him your rudeness to those who extend you hospitality?
[Pak Daily Times] Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... , maimed in an attack in his compound, was reported by al Arabiya television on Saturday to have left for Soddy Arabia, but a Yemeni official and Saudi source denied he had gone.
Any departure by Saleh could make it extremely difficult to him to return to Yemen where he is fighting a four-month uprising against his rule that has brought the impoverished country Arabian Peninsula country to the brink of civil war.
Yemen's state TV said six officials, including the prime minister and the speakers of both houses of parliament, have gone for treatment at hospitals in its Saudi neighbour.
Gulf and global powers, including Soddy Arabia have been pushing Saleh to sign a deal to step down. Leaving the country, even for medical treatment, could be seen as the first step in a transfer of leadership.
There are growing worries that Yemen, already on the brink of financial ruin and home to al Qaeda terrorists, would become a failed state that poses a threat to the world's largest oil exporting region and to global security.
Residents in Sanaa faced new fears after fighting between a powerful tribal federation and Saleh's forces spread to new parts of the divided city on Friday, prompting a fresh exodus of war-weary civilians. "Saleh is still in Sanaa," a Yemeni official said.
"He had suffered minor wounds to his head and I believe his face."
Nearly 200 people have been killed in the past two weeks in urban battles with machine guns, mortars and rocket propelled grenades that caused Sanaa's airport to briefly ground flights twice and shuttered shops.
Intermittent blasts and sporadic firefights punctuated the predawn hours in Sanaa. Roads were clogged when the sun rose by civilians fleeing violence that has engulfed more of the city.
"Bullets are everywhere, kabooms terrified us. There is no chance to stay anymore," said Sanaa resident Ali Ahmed.
Spain said it is evacuating its citizens and diplomats in Yemen and Germany ordered the temporary closure of its embassy, adding to the number of countries shutting the doors on their diplomatic missions in Sanaa due to
the fighting.
On Friday, several Yemeni officials were maimed and seven killed when shells hit a mosque in the presidential palace, state media said. Saleh's forces retaliated by shelling the homes of the leaders of a Hashed tribal federation fighting an urban battle to oust Saleh.
10 people were killed and 35 others were maimed as Yemeni troops shelled the home of Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, an influential tribal figure, his office said on Saturday.
"Ten people were killed and 35 others maimed when Republican Guard troops shelled the home", of Sheikh Hamid on Friday, in an apparent tit-for-tat attack, an aide in his office said.
Sheikh Hamid, a prominent businessman, is a leader of Yemen's biggest opposition party -- the Al-Islah (reform).
The attack with heavy weapons and missiles targeted the home of Sheikh Hamid, who is a brother of powerful tribal chief Sheikh Sadiq al Ahmar, whose men have been locked in festivities with loyalist security forces in northern Sanaa.
The shelling in Hada neighbourhood, in Sanaa's south, also targeted the homes of their two other brothers, Hemyar and Mizhij, and that of dissident General Ali Mohsen al Ahmar.
Saleh, a tenacious political survivor who has clung to power for nearly 33 years, said in an audio address late on Friday that an "outlaw gang" was behind the attack, which he blamed on the Hashed tribe.
The Yemeni official said, "It is not easy for the president. He has lost people close to him and who were sitting next to him when it happened."
Nearly 400 people have been killed since a popular uprising against Saleh began in January, inspired by the movements in Tunisia and Egypt that toppled their long-standing leaders.
The battles are being fought on several fronts, with popular protests in several cities and military units breaking away from Saleh to protect the protesters.
There has also been a nearly weeklong campaign in Zinjibar by locals and Saleh's soldiers to oust al Qaeda Death Eaters who seized the southern coastal city near a shipping lane where about 3 million barrels of oil pass daily.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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SANAA - Saudi Arabia has brokered a fresh truce between a powerful Yemeni tribal federation and forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a Saudi source said on Saturday, and a tribal leader said his followers were abiding by it.
A Saudi-brokered truce agreed a week ago held for only a day before fresh street battles broke out in the capital Sanaa, leading to the most intense fighting there since the uprising against Salehs 32-year role began.
Broadcasters Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, citing Yemeni and Saudi sources, said Saleh was on his way to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment, a day after suffering head wounds in a shelling attack on a mosque in the presidential compound, but Yemens deputy information minsiter denied the reports.
Seven people were killed when what appeared to be rockets hit the presidential palace and several government officials were wounded. Saleh blamed a tribal federation for the assault. The BBC reported that the attack left Saleh with shrapnel near his heart and second-degree burns to his chest and face. It said sources close to the president had told the broadcaster Saleh had a piece of shrapnel almost 7.6 cm long under his heart.
The rocket was devastating. It was a clear assassination attempt against the president, said Abdulla Ali al-Radhi, Yemens ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Salehs forces retaliated by shelling the homes of the leaders of the Hashed tribal federation, which has been engaged in street fights with his forces. Spokesmen for the group said 10 tribesmen were killed and dozens injured while denying responsibility for the palace attack.
A growing number of people in Salehs inner circle feel the attack may have carried out by General Ali Mohsen who has broken from Saleh, sided with the protesters and called the president a madman who is thirsty for more bloodshed.
An expert on Yemen with close ties to Sanaas leadership said: Nobody could have done this with such military precision other than a military man.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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Yemens President Ali Abdullah Saleh is on his way to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment for a sucking chest wound wounds suffered in an attack on his presidential palace, a Saudi official said.
Hes on his way. Hell be arriving tonight. Hes coming for medical treatment. We are the closest country and we have the capabilities, the official, who asked not to be named, said. When asked whether Saleh was stepping down from power, he said: Hes coming for medical treatment. And he won't be going back...
Yemens injured president accepted the offer from King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia to travel there for medical treatment for burns and wounds from a splintered pulpit blown apart in a rebel rocket.
The BBC said Saleh has been left with shrapnel near his heart and second-degree burns to his chest and face. The BBC said it had been informed by sources close to the president that Saleh had a piece of shrapnel almost 7.6cm long under his heart. The sources added that it was unclear whether the Yemeni president would need surgery. A 3 inch piece of shrapnel under his heart? That's a sucking chest wound. Let me guess: yes, he'll need surgery. Real soon now.
The extent of Salehs injuries have been a matter of intense speculation. When the rocket struck the mosque in his presidential compound, he was surrounded by top officials and his bodyguards. Eleven guards died and five of the officials were seriously wounded and taken to Saudi Arabia.
The president delivered an audio address, his voice laboured, but the images shown on Yemeni television on Friday after the attack were old.
Sheikh Mohammed Nagi Al Shayef, a leader of the Saleh-allied Bakeel tribe, said he met the president on Saturday evening at the Defence Ministry compound in the capital. He suffered burns but they were not serious. He was burned on both hands, his face and head, Al Shayef told the Associated Press.
He said Saleh also was hit by jagged pieces of wood that splintered from the mosque pulpit. There were about 200 people in the mosque when the rocket landed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
The description of injuries makes me think the 'surgery' was actually an autopsy.
THE Colombian army has killed the security chief of the Marxist FARC's top commander, in what officials claim is a blow against the guerrillas.
Alirio Rojas Bocanegra, known as "The Grandfather," headed the FARC's Central Block tasked with guarding Alfonso Cano, who took over as leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia after its founder Manuel Marulanda Velez was killed in 2008.
President Juan Manuel Santos praised the military operation that took place in western Colombia, and used tough talk in pledging to make further inroads against the rebel movement he has described as "narco-terrorists."
"We are dealing with FARC central command in a systematic way: They put up a leader, and we take him down," Santos said during a public appearance in Sincelejo, in northern Colombia.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivero, told reporters that the army is "increasingly close to Alfonso Cano, and we are shutting down all fronts of action and mobilisation."
Bocanegra died Friday high up in the mountains at Rioblanco, in an operation that also killed Manuel Cepeda Vargas, also known as "Ruben," the commission chief responsible for FARC propaganda and its radio station, Voices of the Resistance.
The FARC, with an estimated 8000 fighters, is Latin America's largest and longest-fighting insurgency with 47 years of armed struggle.
For a map, click here. For a map of Coahuila click here.
Mexican Army counternarcotics operations in eastern Coahuila state and elsewhere in the state has led to the discovery of several graves containing an unknown number of dead, according to Mexican news accounts.
The greatest concentration of graves and remains are in Guerrero municipality where 37 pits were found with 1,314 human bone fragments. Finds were also made in Parras de la Fuente, San Pedro de las Colonias, Matamoros, and Arteaga municipalities.
Matamoros and San Pedro de las Colonias are near the La Laguna area which includes Torreon, Coahuila and Ciudad Lerdo, Durango, while Guerrero and Parras de la Fuente are near Monclova where a Mexican Army/Marine joint counternarcotics operation was recently concluded.
In Arteaga municipality, which is near Saltillo, the capital of Caohuilas, 18 complete human remains were found, but not yet identified.
The Guerrero gravesite includes the 37 pits in three different areas.
A number of spent cartridge casings as well as personal effects of the victims were found in the areas. Four 55 gallon fuel drums (200 liter) were found with bullet holes leading speculation the barrels were used to incinerate the victims.
The Coahuila state attorney general Jesus Torres Charles, was quoted saying many of the bone fragments were very badly burned and wound be difficult to identify using DNA tests.
Torres Charles would not speculate on the death toll, cautioning such speculation is illegal under Mexican law.
Last Thursday morning the residents of Parral, Chihuahua woke up to find two messages painted on walls announcing the arrival of the Los Zetas cartel in Parral within 15 days.
Already with the reputation as one of the most vicious drug gangs in Mexico, the announcement further stated their alliance with La Linea, the Juarez cartel's armed/enforcement wing.
Such messages, known colloquially as narcopintas, are common in Mexico. For La Linea they are the primary means of mass communication. For all the specter of terror they may imply, the messages are often just bluster.
But events that began with the start of a Mexican Federal counternarcotics campaign last month, and the formal announcement of an alliance between the Gulf Cartel, remnants of La Familia Michoacana and the Sinaloa Cartel, including a formal name for the alliance, suggests Los Zetas move into Parral may really be happening.
On December 17th, 2010 a car bomb was detonated in Zuazua, Nuevo Leon near northern Monterrey, which did some physical damage to a police station and wounded two police officers. What made the bomb unique was that it was the first car bomb detonated in Nuevo Leon. Two other bombs were detonated in neighboring Tamaulipas the previous summer and fall, neither of which did more than damage buildings and cars. To read the Rantburg report on the Zuazua, Nuevo Leon car bomb click here
That evening, a number of Mexican national publications were the recipients of a fax that suggested a formal alliance between the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels and stated that 11 more car bombs were readied if security forces did not deal with Los Zetas.
But only Proceso, the Mexican independent leftist weekly reported on the fax. To read the Rantburg report on the fax indicating the alliance between the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels, click here
At issue were 1,000 hostages allegedly held by Los Zetas. Although the fax emphatically stated that 1,000 hostages were bring held in Nuevo Leon, the parallels between that fax and what we now know about the San Fernando, Tamaulipas mass murders are chilling. To read the Rantburg report on the mass murders in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, click here
At the time, this writer could not credit the report and inasmuch as a number of media outlets may have received the fax, no other news outlet in Mexico reported being the recipient of the message. As reported before informal message such as these are often bluster without much of a basis, but every once in a while they are not.
In late March, 2011, a much more concrete if official indication of an alliance surfaced with an international bust involving Mexican Policia Federal and Ecuadoran Policia Nacional which detained Victor Manuel Felix Felix, the brother in law of Sinaloa drug cartel head Joaquin Loera Guzman, AKA El Chapo.
Felix Felix was not only a top accountant for the Sinaloa cartel; he was head of the Pacifico cartel as well.
Among the documents found in the bust were suggestions that not only was an alliance between the two cartels formalized, but that the Sinaloa cartel was moving some operations to Mexico's east coast. To read the Rantburg reprot on the arrest of Manual Felix Felix, click here
Such an alliance would definitely put a crimp in Los Zetas operations, as Los Zetas compete directly with both cartels for drug shipment routes and growing areas, and in local organized crime operations.
Security for Gulf and Sinaloa cartels operations was probably the main reason for the alliance. On the west coast at least, Los Zetas encountered Sinaloa shooters, and in at least two instances Los Zetas defeated them with deaths well into a double digits. For all the bluster the international press places on how cheap life is in Mexico, at least 40 shooters in two encounters is a heavy blow to any organization. To read a brief overview of the Sonora shootouts, click here
A number of other encounters have taken place as well in the mountains of Mexico's Sierra Madres between Sinaloa cartel shooters and Los Zetas, particularly in remote mountain municipalities where local indigenous Indian populations are forced to grow drugs for Mexican organized crime. To read the Rantburg reprot on the Sierra Madres attacks click here nnd here
None of the above encounters have been officially indicated to be specifically between Los Zetas and the Sinaloa drug cartel, but with the La Familia Michoacana officially out of business, the only competition with the Sinaloa drug cartel in the west are Los Zetas.
Several events have transpired since March which suggests Los Zetas may have suffered setbacks in the general area of Jalisco state and Zacatecas.
Starting May 21st and concluding May 28th Mexican security forces including Mexican Army and Policia Fereal conducted two major counternarcotics offensives which has yielded several large hauls of drugs and guns, including 656 kilograms of marijuana and 4.5 metric tons of chemicals for manufacturing methampetimine. The seizures took place in the Tamazula de Gordiano, Tecalitlan, Zapopan and Ciudad Guzman municipality, except for Zapopan all in the southern region of the state.
But a major shootout in Zacatecas and a large subsequent arrest of drug gang suspects suggest that Los Zetas may not be just fighting the Sinaloa and Gulf cartel for control of the region, but also fighting smaller groups aligned with them such as the Milenio cartel, aligned with Sinaloa and Gulf.
The shooutout in Florencia de Benito Juarez municipality May 18th in far southern Zacatecas has taken an uncharacteristically heavy toll on Los Zetas with 20 dead. With the Los Zetas practice of clearing a shootout of their dead, the death toll could well be higher. That shootout took place May 18th and forced drug gangsters south into Jalisco where the Mexican Army was just preparing their new counternarcotics offensive.
That confrontation in Florencia de Benito Juärez was apparently the first encounter between Los Zetas and the new alliance dubbed Carteles Unidos. Until May 18th the existence of the alliance was only apparent by name in narcopintas placed in Guadalajara over the last several months. It is impossible to know how hard Los Zetas got hit, hut with 20 dead it is easy to surmise they did take a heavy hit.
In another blow to Los Zetas, another shootout took place in San Cristobal de la Barranca municipality in Jaliso May 22nd between Los Zetas and Los Valencias cartel, which is aligned with the Gulf cartel where five men were killed. Following that shootout, 20 Los Zetas operatives were arrested by Jalisco state police.
Since this writer has been covering the Mexican drug war news, one of the constants in Chihuahua state (especially Juarez) drug murders has been the death match between the Sinaloa drug cartel organization in Chihuahua state and the Juarez drug cartel in the form of their armed/enforcement wing La Linea.
Both sides in this conflict are so sensitive to differentiating treatment by state and local officials, they will find some low level government element to kill as a deterrence to further treatment. It seems even in the shooting gallery that Chihuahua has become, drug gangsters expect equal treatment under the law.
So, when the national Los Zetas organization starts to experience pressure from the alliances of other cartels, a countering move makes sense. Allying with the Juarez cartel make a lot of sense. Los Zetas have access through alliances to two of 11 US border crossings (Tijuana and Juarez), control of one (Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas) and are contesting two (Reynosa and Matamoros, Tamaulipas).
The Sinaloa cartel before their new alliance with the Gulf Cartel, had nominal control of one border crossing ( Nogales, Sonora ) and were contesting two (Tijuana, Baja California and Juarez,Chihuahua)
Renewed pressure in Juarez could well cost the Sinaloa gang in the long run if the new move into Parral is true. Parral is one of two main highways from the south into Chihuahua. Los Zetas control of that area will most certainly make business harder for the Sinaloa drug cartel.
WANA: Banned outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) has confirmed the death of its Chief Ilyas Kashmiri in US drone strike in South Waziristan, Geo News reported.
Talking to the British television, the government official has confirmed the killing of Kashmiri on condition of anonymity.
Revealing the names of those killed in US missile attack, he said Mohammed Ibrahim, Farooq Ahmed, Ameer Hamzah, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Nauman, Imran, Abdul Quddos and another person whose name could not be ascertained were killed in the attack.
He also confirmed killing of Ilyas Kashmiri in US drone attack. According to him, he had evidences enough to prove that Kashmiri was no more. He, however, said that the dead bodies were unidentifiable.
I want DNA from the severed head. 'Unidentifiable' raises the specter that he got away...
Where'd they get the funds to pay Rage Boy and his friends? They won't march unless they get paid -- they have families to support, after all.
[Iran Press TV] Thousands of Paks have staged an anti-US demonstration in Bloody Karachi to call for an end to US meddling in the region.
The Jamaat-e-Islami party organized the sit-in demonstration in the country's largest city on Saturday, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported.
The demonstrators called for an end to drone attacks in Pakistain, the US military presence in Afghanistan, and US influence in Pakistain.
"America is dominating and whatever they want gets done. Now the country is going to launch an operation (in) North Wazoo. This sit-in protest is against the US occupation and influence and we want to get free of US slavery," said Mohammad Hussain Mehnati, who is the Jamaat-e-Islami leader in Bloody Karachi.
On Friday, a US missile attack targeting a bad turban compound in the South Waziristan tribal region killed at least eight people.
The strike was the ninth to be reported in Pakistain's tribal areas, which are located close to the Afghan border, since the US attack in the city of Abbottabad that allegedly killed al-Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden ... he's rotten though not quite forgotten... on May 2 (May 1 Washington time).
The Pak parliament recently passed a resolution condemning the US attack in Abbottabad and demanding a review of ties with the US and other Western countries.
The resolution also called for an independent investigation into the attack, which the parliament called a unilateral action and a violation of Pakistain's illusory sovereignty.
The resolution said that if they are not halted, such attacks could have dire consequences for peace and security in the region and the world.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Where'd they get the funds to pay Rage Boy and his friends?
Jamaat-e-Islami has been around for a long, long time - seventy years.
The money is coming from charity boxes outside mosques, donations from shopkeepers, tradesmen, expatriates, etc. I suspect there's also funds coming in from outside the country. JeI has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood; the same donors backing the latter are likely also backing the former to some degree.
Brave, brave Lions of Islam, doing jihad against an unguarded, empty building.
[Pak Daily Times]Unidentified Islamic fascistiblew up a school in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency with explosives on Saturday, taking the total number of destroyed schools to 42 in the last two years. The political authorities of Khyber Agency confirmed that unidentified Islamic fascistiplanted explosives outside the boys' school at Shalober area of Bara and detonated them. As a result, the building of the school was destroyed; however, no casualties were reported in the incident. Soon after the incident, law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and launched search operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Two persons, facing charges of blowing up a levies fort and a cop shoppe in Lower Dir two years ago, were granted bail by the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar High Court on Friday. Separately, a person accused of drug trafficking was denied bail.
In the first case, Justice Dost Mohammad Khan, as a single-judge bench, directed Maulvi Shahzaib and Rasheed Khan to furnish surety bonds of Rs500,000 each, and undertake not to keep contact with any terrorist outfit and to inform police if they wished to move out of the district.
They are being tried in three cases.
In one case the prosecution alleges that the two were among the dozens of beturbanned goons who had attacked Dir Levies Fort at Chakdara on May 8, 2009 and set it on fire. The attackers allegedly also took away a double-cabin vehicle loaded with arms and ammunition with them.
Similarly, they allegedly took part in the attack by beturbanned goons on Ouch Police Station in Lower Dir with explosives and were involved also in planting improvised bombs in the area.
Advocate Mohammad Ajmal, appeared for the petitioners, contended that in these cases the police had charged 'dozens of persons' without any evidence on the basis of source reports. His clients were among those dozens of suspects tossed in the clink and charged, when no recovery was made from them.
Neither they admitted to their presence at the scene of the crimes, he said nor the police put them through identification parade, nor recorded any confessional statements by them.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Security forces killed 26 Death Eaters in the northwestern Pak region of Upper Dir.
Police official Bahadur Khan said the forces of Evil were targeted Saturday when they invaded from Afghanistan's Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral... and opened fire on troops in the Nustrat Darra district.
He said the troops suffered no casualties in the latest fighting.
The situation has been tense in Upper Dir since Wednesday, when about 400 forces of Evil attacked a security post and killed 25 personnel.
Khan said security forces have killed about 100 forces of Evil since then and the situation was under control.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Top al-Qaeda leader and head of Harkatul Jihad al-Islami (HJI), Ilyas Kashmiri, was killed in a US drone strike in South Wazoo on Friday, bigwigs said on Saturday.
"We have received reports of his death. But we are waiting for conclusive evidence to confirm that Kashmiri has been killed with nine other terrorists," a security official, who wished not to be named, told Daily Times.
A hand-written brief statement in Urdu-language from a purported front man of the HJI, distributed in Wana Bazaar on Saturday afternoon, confirmed that Kashmiri was killed.
"Harkatul Jihad al-Islami's 313 Brigade confirms that in Friday's drone attack at 11:15pm our commander-in-chief, Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri, was martyred," the front man, Abu Hamzullah Kasher, said in the statement.
No one has heard of Kasher before and there is no independent confirmation of his claim.
"We heard that those killed were Punjabi and Kashmiri's presence at the site of the attack was talk of the town," a tribal elder with good contacts in the political administration said by phone from Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan. A US drone targeted a group of cut-throats in Ghwakhwa area, 20 kilometres south of Wana, at 11:15pm on Friday night, killing nine cut-throats and wounding four others.
No further details were available to ascertain what the HJI leader and the others were doing there.
"What is confirmed is that he (Kashmiri) was seen two days back at the site of the attack," the officials said. "Testimonies of the injured will clear the situation when they speak out," he added.
Ilyas Kashmiri is believed to having planned the deadly attack on Pakistain Navy's airbase PNS Mehran in Bloody Karachi on May 22. "We will certainly give the US a Dire Revengeful reply," added the HJI front man.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pakistani security forces killed 26 Islamist militants believed to have crossed over from Afghanistan on Saturday in the fourth day of fighting close to the border, police said, highlighting the region's instability along the frontier 10 years after the U.S-led invasion of Afghanistan.
Adding bleach to the gene pool, thinning the herd, increasing the average IQ of the population...
Police officer Bahadur Khan said the insurgents crossed over into Upper Dir from Afghanistan's Kunar province and opened fire on troops. They returned fire, killing 26 of the attackers, he said, adding troops suffered no casualties. It was not possible to independently verify his accounts, and a militant spokesman Friday denied early claims by police of significant casualties.
Upper Dir has seen fighting since Wednesday, when dozens, possibly hundreds, of insurgents attacked a security post and killed 25 personnel and five civilians. The clashes forced many residents to flee. Although militants often target security forces, they have rarely launched such attacks from Afghanistan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
It was not possible to independently verify his accounts
Bodycount math is difficult enough for people trying hard to do it accurately (IOW, our guys.) I simply do not believe ANY of this nonsense from the Pakistanis- they probably got together with the Islamists and had a bake sale.
DIWANIYA / Aswat al-Iraq: An Iraqi Army source has said on Saturday that the Iraqi and the U.S. Armies have boosted their security measures in Diwaniya city, with the participation of helicopters, in the background of the escalation of attacks against the U.S. Army in the city recently.
A joint U.S. Army force and the Iraqi Armys 8th Division, had spread in the streets and entrances of Diwaniya city, in a condensed manner, along with the setting up of inspection points, the said source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
He stressed that the said measures took place after a series of security violations in Diwaniya city, especially the launching of rockets on the American Echo Base, 3 km to the west of Diwaniya, some of which had fallen on houses of citizens and government offices.
Joint operations are taking place now to search for the wanted persons and those accused with launching the rockets, along with the setting up of night caches, he said, pointing out that American helicopters were taking part in the said measures.
Diwaniya, the center of the Province carrying the same name, is 180 km to the south of Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: An Iraqi Civil Defense Colonel has been killed when a group of unknown gunmen opened silencer-gun fire on him in west Baghdad on Saturday, a Baghdad security source said.
"An Officer in the Iraqi Civil Defense Directorate was shot dead by unknown gunmen, using silencer-guns, who attacked him while driving his car in west Baghdad's so-called "Police Tunnel," whilst the attackers escaped to an unknown destination.
Baghdad and a number of other Iraqi cities have witnessed a security deterioration, reflected by attacks against Iraqi Army and police officers, Parliament members, state officials, judges and university professors, by unknown gunmen, using silencer guns, explosive belts and explosives.
Doubts are spreading about the relationship between the armed men with security forces, involved in such incidents, whilst part of the assassinations were charged to have been carried out, being part of political assassinations, according to observers in Baghdad.
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06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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A few hundred or a few tens -- these are not impressive protests. Social networking isn't the magic bullet it's users hoped, it appears.
So the Paleos can't even do a flash mob properly. What a bunch of incompetents...
(Ma'an) -- An estimated 300 Palestinians gathered at the Qalandia checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem were met with tear gas and rubber coated bullets on Sunday, as they marked the 44th anniversary of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
"To Jerusalem we go," read signs held by protesters, who marched to the checkpoint separating the central West Bank from Jerusalem, located on the route of the separation wall, built some 5 kilometers on the Palestinian side of the 1967 border.
"Freedom is a human right," another sign said, held by one of the few men who were able to bypass a heavy Israeli military cordon outside the checkpoint, which severed the crowed in two.
Men trickled into the area in front of the soldiers slowly, and when ten had amassed and tried to form a human chain in front of the checkpoint, soldiers began firing tear gas, sound bombs and rubber-coated bullets on the group. When soldiers in riot gear carrying plastic shields attempted to push the men back, they resisted by sitting on the ground and refusing to move until they were evacuated by force.
Following the initial confrontation, Palestinian youth at the back of the crowed threw stones at soldiers.
At least two protesters were seriously injured, and at least 37 were treated in ambulances for tear-gas inhalation, medics said.
A medic with the Palestinian Red Crescent told Ma'an that 10 had been evacuated by ambulance, saying several had been hit by rubber-coated bullets.
Organizers confirmed the use of stink spray, a noxious water-based chemical spray, used on a crowd near the rear of the protest, while others reported being sprayed by pepper spray in the face by soldiers attempting to remove them from the area.
In the northern Gaza Strip, demonstrators marched from Beit Hanoun toward the Erez crossing, but Hamas police erected checkpoints to stop protesters reaching Israel's border.
Tens of demonstrators who tried to break away and march north clashed with Hamas police, who detained at least a dozen.
Jamal Abu Nahl, of the Palestinian Democratic Union politburo member Jamal Abu Nahl delivered a speech, and told protesters that Palestinians should maintain unity, encourage resistance and oppose compromises with Israel's occupation.
The rallies marked Naksa Day, the anniversary of the Six-Day War of 1967 when Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
(Ma'an) -- Palestinian officials closed the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the terminal's director Ayyoub Abu Sha'ar said.
Closed out of frustration, Abu Sha'ar said the Egyptian authority's 'mechanism' at the terminal was unclear, citing Egypt's decision to close the crossing on Saturday without coordinating with Palestinian officials.
Egypt opened the terminal several hours later than scheduled Saturday without informing Palestinian officials. Several buses of Palestinians were left waiting at the Egyptian gate, and dozens of Palestinians tried to storm the border.
Egyptian security sources said the delay was due to maintenance works underway at the crossing. Egyptian authorities opened the crossing on Saturday afternoon, but only for passengers on foot.
The director of border crossings in Gaza, Salameh Barakeh, said the decision was difficult to implement due to the number of patients, elderly people and children who were traveling among others across the sole Egyptian exit from Gaza.
Abu Sha'ar said consultations were ongoing between Gaza's foreign ministry and the Egyptian government to resolve technical and administrative problems at the terminal. He said the crossing would reopen as soon as the issues were fixed.
Egyptian authorities later reopened the Rafah crossing on Saturday following after angry Palestinian protesters forced open gate; the temporary closure was the first since the crossing reopened last month.
An Egyptian security source said the terminal at Rafah, Gaza's only gateway not controlled by Israel, had been shut for maintenance. Officials in Gaza said they had not been notified beforehand.
Despite reports suggesting the mass rallies planned in Syria and Lebanon to mark "Naksa Day" the 44th anniversary of the Arab "downfall" in the Six Day War were cancelled, some 500 people gathered Sunday on the Syrian side of the northern border. According to reports, around noon, about 150 protesters made their way to the international border fence and began stoning IDF troops and attempting to cut through the fence.
IDF forces called on the demonstrators to cease their progress, before firing warning shots in mid-air. Once those were ignored as well, the troops fired at the lower extremities of several major dissidents inflaming the crowds.
Unconfirmed reports by Syrian media suggest six people, including two teens, were killed and about 100 others injured, allegedly from IDF sniper fire. Red Thingy Cross Ambulances evacuated the injured.
Syrian medical officials told Damascus TV that the Israeli soldiers "are shooting live rounds and aiming for the abdomen, chest and head."
Yup, that generally happens when you attempt to breach a border in a war zone.
The IDF has not confirmed any information about casualties.
Do they need to?
The entire parameter has been declared a restricted military zone. The military is broadcasting warnings in Arabic for the demonstrators who have yet to reach the border-adjacent minefield to stay away from the barbed wire fence.
Around 3pm, and at the request of the Syrian Red Thingy Cross, the IDF agreed to cease fire for a short period of time in order to facilitate the evacuation of the injured.
Nevertheless, Israel warned that should radical elements try to take advantage of the situation and storm the fence, IDF troops will not hesitate to exercise force to stop the border from being breached.
IDF and police forces have increased deployment across all sectors ahead of "Naksa Day." The deployment includes tanks, jeeps and infantry forces. A military source said that "the tension on the border is palpable."
A corresponding rally of about 400 people, mostly Druze and reporters, took place on the Israeli side of the border. Ali Younis, head of the Syrian Prisoners Committee, who was among the protesters, told Syrian television that "the Israeli soldiers are using tear gas and live rounds.
"The terrorist Zionist entity is using savage means against boys, just like they do in the prisons. Despite all of this, our youth is not afraid. The moment of liberation and return to the Golan in close."
The IDF reported that a riot also broke out near the Quneitra Crossing. IDF forces fired warning shots at them as well, reporting hitting several.
Military officials noted that Syrian security forces were doing nothing to stop the demonstrators from trying to cross the border illegally.
Of course not; the 'demonstrators' are useful fools that take attention away from what Pencilneck is doing to murder his own people...
The defense establishment issued adamant warnings saying it will not allow any illegal entry to Israel by protesters. Forces deployed across the northern borders have been issued special crowd-control measures, and are under orders to open fire if all else fails.
IDF Spokesman Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai said that "the Syrian government and military are helpless to stop what is going on. I hope this is not an attempt by the Syrian regime to divert international attention from what in is going on in the country."
The IDF's Spokesperson Unit's Arab Media Liaison Avichai Adrei went on al-Jazeera and said that Israel "wants to see this incident end as soon as possible and all demonstrators retune home safely. We urge them to stop all provocations. The IDF is here to protect Israeli lives."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed "Naksa Day" in Sunday's Cabinet meeting, saying that "Unfortunately, there are radical elements around us that are trying to breach our borders and threaten our citizens.
"We have instructed security forces to exercise restraint, but still secure the borders," he said.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/05/2011 12:13 Comments ||
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#2
Israel should deploy that pain ray (I believe it's called the Active Denial System) we developed at all their border crossings. This is a perfect opportunity IMO.
[Pak Daily Times] Egypt shut its border crossing with Gazoo on Saturday for the first time since opening it on a routine basis last month, and angry Paleostinians stormed the gates in protest, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, officials and witnesses said. The Paleos never fail, do they...
Paleostinian border officials said three buses filled with 180 passengers had waited several hours to cross the border at Rafah and some of those waiting responded by forcing the gate open. "We have not been notified of any reason for the closure, passengers are angry," one of the officials told.
Hamas police escorted the protesters back across the border a short time later, after Egyptian soldiers ordered them to leave. There were no reports of any violence or arrests. The incident came as Paleostinians were said to be planning marches to the Israeli borders from neighbouring Arab countries to mark a June 5 anniversary of Israel's capture of the West Bank and Gazoo in a 1967 war.
An Egyptian security source said the terminal at Rafah, Gazoo's only gateway not controlled by Israel, had been shut for maintenance and may reopen by Sunday. Officials in Gazoo said they had not been notified beforehand.
Egypt had reopened the crossing on a routine basis on May 28, a step that eased conditions for the coastal territory blockaded on its other borders by Israel, which says it needs to ensure Hamas doesn't smuggle in weapons. Border officials of Hamas, the Islamist group that runs the Gazoo Strip, said Egypt had set a maximum of 350 Gazoo residents to be granted entry each day, though a senior Egyptian security official denied any quota had been imposed.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a meeting. It was to be his last... Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... on Saturday cautiously welcomed a French proposal to convene Israeli and Paleostinian negotiators in Gay Paree to try to renew collapsed peace talks.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe this week offered to host talks to discuss ideas for a Paleostinian state raised last month by US President Barack B.O. Obama, aiming to avert a showdown at the United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... in September. "We said that in principle that this initiative is acceptable," Abbas told, two days after his talks with Juppe in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Abbas said the French plan "talks about President B.O.'s vision ...in which he spoke about a (Paleostinian) state with the '67 borders with borders with Israel, Egypt and Jordan." Under the plan discussed with Juppe, "neither side would carry out unilateral actions," Abbas added. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has yet to respond publicly to the French proposal, has rejected any withdrawal to the borders existing before Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 war, insisting such a frontier would be "indefensible."
In a statement after Netanyahu met with Juppe on Saturday the Israeli leader said he asked La Belle France to continue efforts to secure the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held since his capture in a cross-border raid in June 2006.
"I would be lying if I said I was very optimistic. I am slightly optimistic," Juppe said after his talks with Netanyahu. The French proposal calls for Israeli and Paleostinian negotiators to meet this month or by early July with an eye to reviving talks which broke off last year in a dispute on Jewish settlement building in land Paleostinians seek for a state. The Paleostinians plan to unilaterally seek UN recognition of statehood in September - a step Israel strongly opposes fearing it could end up isolated internationally.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Syrian security forces have killed at least three demonstrators in the country's northwest on a day more than 100,000 mourners turned out for the funerals of protesters killed in the city of Hama, rights groups say.
Security forces opened fire to scatter demonstrators in Jesr al-Shoughour on Saturday who were protesting after the funeral of a civilian killed in protests the day before in the nearby village of Has, in Idlib province.
Abu Khaled, a Syrian activist, told Al Jizz that the level of violence in the crackdown on protests was "beyond imagination".
Abu Khaled, who transferred injured protesters from Jesh al-Shoughour to Antakya, a city located 25km away across the border in Turkey, said: "Today we had massacres [...]. It's beyond imagination the Syrian regime used army and intelligence elements and gangs and thugs to hurt the city."
Tanks rolled toward Hama, reaching the outskirts of the city late Saturday hours after a funeral procession through streets lined with shuttered shops and uniformed security forces, witnesses said.
In 1982, the city was the scene of a brutal crackdown that left around 20,000 people dead when the Moslem Brüderbund rose up against the late Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashir al-Assad, the current president.
Funeral attendance
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said more than 100,000 people attended the funerals of at least 53 people killed during the previous day's protests, all but five of them in Hama.
Activists had called Friday's protests over the deaths of dozens of children in anti-government protests, including 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib, who activists say was tortured to death, a charge the authorities deny.
Describing the violence, the London-based independent rights group said security forces shot into a crowd of more than 50,000 people gathered for the biggest rally in the central Syrian city since protests erupted in mid-March.
Elsewhere, two people were killed in Homs, a city 40km from Hama, while another two were killed in nearby Rastan, Abdel Rahman said. One more person was killed as security forces opened fire in Idlib.
Syria's official press said 20 people were killed on Friday, including police, security agents and civilians "by shots fired by gangs".
In Hama, police potted three "saboteurs" as they set a government building alight, state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said, and claimed that 80 security force members were maimed.
State television said on Friday that gangs, taking advantage of a crowd of "nearly 10,000" in Hama, opened fire on civilians and the security forces.
Internet shutdown
One resident of Hama said internet access remained cut off on Saturday, while users elsewhere said online services had been restored after a cut of more than 24 hours.
The US expressed concern at the internet shutdown, warning the Assad government that trying to silence protesters "cannot prevent the transition currently taking place."
"We are deeply concerned by reports that Internet service has been shut down across much of Syria, as have some mobile communication networks," Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Richelieu ... , the US secretary of state, said in a statement.
"We condemn any effort to suppress the Syrian people's exercise of their rights to free expression, assembly, and association."
Separately, in a condemnation of Friday's killings, Alistair Burt, the UK foreign office minister, said: "The Syrian government has shown an abhorrent disregard for human life as ordinary Syrians erupted into the streets in memory of the innocent children who have died during the unrest."
Heightened crackdown
Rights groups say more than 1,100 civilians have been killed and at least 10,000 incarcerated since protests began.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon, the UN chief, has expressed alarm at the heightened crackdown.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights's Abdel Rahman said another 60 people were jugged on Friday during a demonstration in Baniyas.
But among hundreds released since al-Assad announced an amnesty on Tuesday, Ali Abdullah, 61, an opposition figure and writer, walked free on Saturday, the group said.
Also released were Muhannad al-Hasni, a lawyer who heads an unlicensed rights group, and Meshaal al-Tamo, the leader of a banned Kurdish party, the Observatory said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Al Qaeda has released a two-part 100-minute video apparently produced after the death of the late Osama bin Laden ... who doesn't live anywhere anymore... that calls for individual acts of jihad on "enemy soil", a US-based monitoring service said on Friday. Among the several speakers are Ayman al Zawahiri ... Second in command of al-Qaeda, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... , al Qaeda's long-time number two to bin Laden, and American-born Adam Gadahn, who says that Mohammedans living in the West are "perfectly placed to play an important and decisive part in the jihad against the Zionists and Crusaders". Mohammedans living in the United States can easily buy automatic assault weapons at a gun show without any identification or submitting to a background check, Gadahn says, speaking in English, according to a transcript of the first video released by the SITE Monitoring Service. "It's important that we weaken our cowardly enemies' will to fight by targeting influential public figures in Crusader and Zionist government, industry and media," Gadahn says. The video was produced by al Qaeda's media arm, as-Sahab and is titled, "You are only responsible for yourself." It was posted on Web forums on Thursday, and opens with old footage of bin Laden sitting next to al Zawahiri giving a speech that criticises the Western occupation of Mohammedan lands. The al Qaeda leader was killed on May 2 by US commandos who raided his safe house in Abbottabad, Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
The video was produced by al Qaeda's media arm, as-Sahab and is titled, "You are only responsible for yourself."
Oh goody - the libertarian version of Islamic terrorism.
#3
People are capable of being both Muslim and civilized, and they are welcomed to Rantburg conversations. But they are gracious and considerate guests, not mannerless Saudi schoolboys who don't know how to behave among adults.
#1
Seasonal migrant workers aren't the problem. In fact, none of the potentially legal job workers is the problem. The problem is the Central and S. American cartels running gangs in US cities. And that is something that this spineless legislation isn't going to help.
#2
Let me get this straight. We're at real versus bureaucratic manipulated unemployment numbers that are reaching Depression level. We have a large segment of that unemployed native population with low skill sets. Here we have farmers bemoaning a labor shortage. One word. Entitlement.
The problem is the Central and S. American cartels running gangs in US cities
Well, hell yes, you make more money and work less hours pushing drugs. Make note of this for those who want to legalize the crap. What are you going to do with the tens of thousands of low skilled unemployed you're going to create. They certainly don't want to work the fields either. They're just turn to other means to support themselves at other people's expenses. Like a plague, you don't just go out and kill the rats because the fleas will jump to other critters to live, like pets and humans. First you seriously abate the flea population, then kill the rats.
#3
So we either let in anybody that wants to come in, or the food will rot in the fields and we'll all starve?
Boy, I never realized it was so simple!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/05/2011 10:51 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Actually, getting rid of the rats is a great way to get rid of the fleas too. Killing off fleas and then keeping the rats around makes no sense.
Re: drugs, legalizing them does not solve the addiction problem any more than ending (or enacting) prohibition solved the alcoholism problem, but it does take organized crime out of the picture. Most reasonable people would rather have Anheuser Busch in charge than Al Capone. By your logic, Procopious2k, prohibition is preferable because it keeps mobsters employed and out of trouble... which (to be perfectly honest) is just stupid.
#5
SM go back and reread. You reduce the population, you'll never eliminate it, but you avoid the immediate effect of mass transfer when you do kill the rats at one time. Note well ...then kill the rats. Where did you get keeping the rats around?
#6
I'd like to know why farmers think we taxpayers should pay for all their employees and their families benefits including education, medical, hospital, foodstamps, free school breakfasts and lunches, judicial and prison costs etc..etc,..etc.. so farmers can have cheap help.
How has it become that the taxpayers pick up all the expenses that businesses used to pick up?
I and my fellow classmates used to pick strawberries as a kid and were happy to have the money. The local schoolbus driver would pick us up at the regular bus stops in the morning and drive us to the strawberry fields during the summer. Win-win for everyone. No doubt that's illegal nowadays.
#8
Wrong again. What I am is tired of all the rationalizers who refuse to look at the negative consequence of their utopian solutions. Those who extol the virtues of repealing Prohibition ignore the alcohol carnage on the roads who's body count exceeds the carnage we've experienced in war. It's no different than all those who relish their role in ending the war in Vietnam ignoring the million Cambodians annihilated in the third Holocaust of the 20th Century.
BTW, Big Al's decedents are alive and well. He's gotten out the manufacturing business and just moved into distribution paying off those same government officials for 'exclusive' or 'limited' liqueur distribution licenses that just seem to stay in the 'family'.
#10
Anyone advocating legalizing dope is revealing himself to be a scumbag hippie.
Like the Muslims should be deported back to their nightmare country, hippie scum should be expelled to where dope in in practice legal, like Mexico, Afghanistan, Somalia...these are the countries that resulted from dope heads' management....ever seen the shit houses where hippie dopers live?
#13
Not in person, but that shit house in Scarface, wow, didn't need the statue or tiger. Talk about gaudy.
There are a number of drugs out there which amount to little more than wasted time/sloth, there are a lot of drugs out there which change a mindset forever, and there are a lot of drugs which are just evil. All drugs are illegal unless a person meets a certain legal definition of being able to purchase or consumes, unlike going to the store and purchasing an apple.
There will always be drugs. There will always be mobsters.
Places with low tolerance have people drinking lysol and rubbing alcohol. Places with high tolerance have in-and-out heroin clinics. The problem is a moral and sociatil question; is x community able to handle y change.
I myself will find it odd that as a kid I could get beer and smokes but as an adult all I can get is the dankest weed ever issued. A culture is an abstract sum of all of the individuals' behaviors and, better or worse, you cannot argue that there will be no change.
#14
The phony narrative is being peddled by the MSM that we have to have illegals here to do low-paying jobs that Americans will not do. I don't buy that.
#15
#14 - that was my point in posting this article. Much of the article stressed how dangerous, nasty, ugly, messy, sickening, and low-paying this farm work is.
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