A Jewish mother from France locked in a custody battle with a Saudi prince fell to her death from an apartment window in Paris. Candice Cohen-Ahnine died last week, less than a month before she was to see her 11-year-old daughter for the first time in four years.
It is unclear whether Cohen-Ahnine's death was accidental or the result of foul play, "Ummm... Golly, Sarge. I just don't know. I mean, she was prob'ly trying to walk around the balcony on the top of the rail when a gust of wind caught her and blew her clean off."
"Or she might have been tossed off the balcony by a saturnine man about 5'10" tall wearing a cheap, dark suit and sunglasses in the pay of a vicious and unfettered royalty from a country on the Arabian Peninsula..."
"Oh, I dunno, Sarge. That sounds pretty far-fetched."
"True. Those cameras are not to be trusted, mon vieux..."
according to the Daily Telegraph, which reported that French media have suggested Cohen-Ahnine had slipped and fallen to her death "as if she was escaping something dangerous."
A Paris criminal court ruled in January in favor of Cohen-Ahnine's plea to have her daughter, Haya, returned to her. Cohen-Ahnine claimed that Haya has been held captive by the girl's father, Prince Sattam al-Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family, since September 2008. The court also ordered Sattam to pay child support.
Sattam continued to refuse to turn the girl over after the ruling, but had agreed to next month's visit.
Cohen-Ahnine alleged that when she agreed to visit Sattam with her daughter in 2008 after the couple had separated, she was swiftly locked up in a Riyadh palace and separated from Haya. Accused by authorities of being a Muslim who converted to Judaism -- a capital crime in Saudi Arabia -- Cohen-Ahnine was able to escape to the French Embassy and return to France. Haya remained behind and the two reportedly spoke occasionally by phone.
Cohen-Ahnine, 34, met Sattam in London when she was 18. Despite their differences in religion and nationality, the couple continued their relationship, and Haya was born in 2001. But the couple separated in 2006; the prince allegedly said he would have to marry a cousin and could only keep Cohen-Ahnine as a mistress or second wife.
US President Barack Obama has said the use of chemical weapons by Syria would be a "red line" that would change his thinking on intervention in the crisis. He said he had "at this point not ordered military engagement". Valerie drew the line there...
But he added: "There would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons."
President Obama, speaking to reporters at a White House briefing, said the deployment or use of biological weapons would widen the conflict in the region. He said: "It doesn't just include Syria. It would concern allies in the region, including Israel, and it would concern us."
He warned President Bashar al-Assad and "other players on the ground" about the use or movement of such weapons.
He said: "A red line for us is [if] we see a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around, or being utilised. That would change my calculus."
Syria holds the world's fourth-largest stockpile of chemical weapons. Last month a Syrian foreign ministry spokesman said the weapons would never be deployed inside Syria. However, the BBC's Kim Ghattas in Washington says the US has seen unconfirmed reports recently that the Syrian authorities have been moving the country's chemical arms stockpile.
As he said, it would only change his thinking. Line will be redrawn. A few times, maybe more.
Nothing to see here...
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/20/2012 21:21
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#2
Enormous consequences? Not nearly as big as for the people on the ground in Syria who get exposed to mustard gas or nerve agents. How exactly do they plan to clean up that cr**?? That scenario gives whole new meaning to the word MESS in the Middle East.
By the time US forces show up - chem agents would have been released. What exactly are our guys supposed to do? Why should we even risk exposing anyone?? It hardly seems to be worth the risks to our own troops.
President Obama today [Friday, 08/17] ordered that $473 million in "unspent earmarks" be made available to states for other construction projects. Shovel Ready!
"My administration ... which is also shovel-ready...
will continue to do everything we can to put Americans back to work," Obama said in a statement. "We're not going to let politics stand between construction workers and good jobs repairing our roads and bridges."
In a statement, the administration says it has identified $473 million in unspent earmarks between fiscal years 2003 and 2006. Bush wasted the money! left it unspent! Not the Obama adminstration! Spend it all! More than we have! More than we had!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/20/2012
15:54 ||
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#1
If states follow their own contracting law, most of it won't be appearing till after the new year. Of course in less than transparent states much of that will be gathered up through the usual patronage distribution process. Regardless, those parasites party faithful were going to vote dead or aliveoften for the man. Small impact.
WaPo - The violence began to recede after soldiers and federal police began to leave the city. Residents pray that the relative peace is maintained, while thousands of families who fled to Texas to escape the violence wonder whether it is safe to return.
At its most ferocious, when this industrial border city on the Rio Grande seemed consumed by a homicidal mania, the murder rate averaged almost nine per day.
Last month, homicides averaged 1.3 a day, the lowest rate since an internecine drug war between the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels exploded here in 2007.
#3
Last month, homicides averaged 1.3 a day, the lowest rate since an internecine drug war between the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels exploded here in 2007.
July ended Tuesday with 49 homicides, down from 55 homicides in July 2011. This is the first year-over-year decrease in homicides since August 2011, RedEye determined.
"We can't wait" - at leat not until after the election.
President Barack Obama announced Saturday that the Columbia River Crossing will be one of several transportation projects to be expedited by his "We Can't Wait" initiative. The announcement, relayed in a joint statement by the governors of Washington and Oregon, was not accompanied by any specific financial commitment. Another empty promise? Do you think the rubes will figure it out?
"President Obama's announcement today recognizes the importance the crossing has to the region and will help us expedite the needed federal permits," said Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire. "This project will provide thousands of construction jobs, as well as long-term growth in one of the most trade-dependent areas of the United States," she said. "We are committed to taking the necessary steps to begin bridge construction in 2014." If it's so important, why can't you find funds for it? Why shouldn't it wait for the same permitting process that a coal-fired powerplant waits on?
This was not the first high-level show of support for the project. In March, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said his department remains "totally committed" to the Columbia River Crossing. Why, that makes it seem like the announcement by Obama is politically motivated!
"It's going to be a model for multimodal transportation," LaHood said at the time. "It's bistate, bipartisan ... any way you can describe it, it's a great project."
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/20/2012
12:34 ||
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If the United States is going to fulfill its Manifest Destiny and settle the West, we need a way to get the wagons across the Columbia. I say let's go for it. Westward, ho!
#2
From where,thin sir, I don't think Unicorn Poop will quite do it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/20/2012 15:51
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Its true that I-5 needs to be widened between Washington and Oregon.
However, a lot of the cost for this is in upscaling the interchanges. Particularly costly were the upgrades associated with access to Hayden Island and the addition of a light rail line connecting Vancouver and Portland.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/20/2012 20:57
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After several million have been spent onthe design of the I-5 bridge, the Army corps of engineers and theUSCG have determined it is too low to allow existing shipyards to move product. The joint Wa-Or bridge commission thinks that the design is fine and are ignoring the potential loss of jobs. The coast guard has ultimate approval authority and is not incmlined at this time to OK it.
Posted by: USN, ret ||
08/20/2012 21:54
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all that may be as noted accurately above. Nothing he pushes now will have shovels in ground before January (and that's if they already had approved final plans and environmental clearance) and were just waiting for the Skittles-shitting unicorn to fly over and drop $). All this is promises for votes
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2012 22:32
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President Asif Ali Zardari has ordered his Interior Ministry to look into the recent arrest of a young Christian girl accused of violating Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law by desecrating pages from the Koran. This is the 11-year old they're going to put on death row... Eleven year old mentally retarded girl, according to other accounts. That detail is important in understanding exactly how vile a society Pakistan has become.
The case of Ramsha, an 11-year-old girl from an impoverished section of Islamabad, has again cast a spotlight on Pakistan's ingrained struggles with intolerance and with the application of its blasphemy law, which makes it a crime to utter any derogatory remarks or to insult in any way the prophet Muhammad, the Koran or the faith of Islam. (PTUI!)
The law is often exploited If it was truly a law that was 'exploited', that would mean that the law originally had some different purpose. But that isn't the case: the primary, essential purpose of the law is to keep minorities in their place in the Islamic paradise. That's the point.
as a means to settle scores against adversaries or persecute minorities -- particularly Christians and Ahmadis, members of a Muslim sect viewed by most Pakistanis as traitors to Islam because they revere another prophet in addition to Muhammad. It's also handy for indulging in a bit of gratuitous cruelty against resident infidels whether there's land or money involved or not. Lotsa good strokes for a certain kind of ego...
Ramsha, whose last name was not given by authorities, was accused of burning pages from the Koran on Thursday, though authorities are also investigating whether she was simply burning discarded papers she pulled from a trash bin as fuel for cooking, In a modern society, we use electricity or natural gas for cooking...
according to a statement released by Zardari's office. Y'gotta be real careful about burning garbage in Pakistain. There might be Korans in it. Better to let it just pile up and enjoy the pious smell of Islam... News of Ramsha's alleged actions enraged neighbors, Who in Pakistain isn't waiting to fly into an uncontrollable rage at an instant's notice?
who attacked the girl's sister and mother ... who weren't the ones rooting through the garbage...
and set ablaze several Christian homes in the area, ... because the infidels were probably just waiting to flame up a few Korans...
the statement said. Several Christian families fled the neighborhood, fearing further violence. "Quick, Mother! We must flee!"
"What the hell? Not again? It's only Tuesday!" "Blasphemy by anyone cannot be condoned, ... which is why they're eager to toss an 11-year-old girl into the slammer and burn her house down...
but no one will be allowed to misuse the blasphemy law for settling scores," said Zardari's spokesman, Farhatullah Babar. "Certainly not! The blasphemy laws should be reserved as a means of tormenting infidels...
Pakistan's most infamous application of its blasphemy law came in 2010, when Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old Christian mother, was sentenced to death for allegedly making disparaging remarks about the prophet Muhammad and the Koran. You mean that the Koran's a self-contradictory mess? That the Rosicrucians make more sense than al-Azhar's Learned Elders of Islam? That Mohammad was an illiterate sociopath with a liking for little girls? That sorta thing?
Bibi has always denied the allegations and remains on death row. Doesn't matter if she denies that charges. Doesn't matter of there was a camera on her the whole time that disproves the charges. If they let her off death row some Hero of Islam will be obliged to kill her. And if they leave her on death row chances are good some Hero of Islam will kill her. And her "last" name's not Bibi. Bibi means "woman" in Urdu...
In January 2011, Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province who criticized the blasphemy law and championed Bibi's case, was assassinated by one of his bodyguards. Guilty or innocent, it doesn't matter. Try and speak up in favor of laws being applied equitably and you're taking your life into your hands.
That officer, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, said he killed Taseer because of Taseer's opposition to the blasphemy law. Qadri was convicted last October and awaits execution in a Pakistani prison. Even though he's a Brelvi, which is next thing to being a heathen to the professionally pious, he's regarded as a hero and periodic demonstrations demanding he be freed.
Two months after Taseer's murder, gunmen assassinated Shahbaz Bhatti, the country's minority affairs minister and Pakistan's only Christian Cabinet member. ... but, really, it had nothing to do with Islam...
Like Taseer, Bhatti also had openly criticized the blasphemy law and the death sentence that Bibi had received. In civilized countries government retains an at least theoretical monopoly on violence. If somebody needs bumped off that's the state's job, not somebody hanging around a street corner named Chaudry. Islam as a religion puts the obligation to violence on the individual. It's in the Koran. "Fiery" holy men like Qazi and Fazl and Sami and Mullah Fazlullah and likely hundreds of others drone on and on about it. But, honest, Islam is a religion of peace.
Posted by: Admiral Akbar de Calamari ||
08/20/2012
12:26 ||
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Wow ... this country is being put on my top ten list of Places That Really Suck. What are they thinking???
After more than eight years of effort, Oshkosh Truck company, electronics manufacturer Rockwell Collins, and artificial intelligence experts from the University of Parma, Italy have produced a UGV (unmanned ground vehicle), called TerraMax, that works well enough for military use.
The current TerraMax vehicle is basically a six wheeled Oshkosh Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) and weighs over 14 tons. MTVR is a military cargo truck, and the U.S. Marine Corps has been testing the improved TerraMax for use as an unmanned truck. This would reduce the number of personnel needed in a combat zone and reduce the risk to troops operating on highly dangerous roads.
It would appear that, before the end of the decade, there will be robotic vehicles, probably operating in convoys led by a vehicle with a human in it, and perhaps another such vehicle at the rear. But the rest of the vehicles could be autonomous (operating using their own computers and sensors) UGVs. Some of these vehicles could have remotely controlled gun turrets, with the operators back at some base, ready to go into action. A few human gun turret operators could be on duty for several convoys. The U.S. has already developed predictive analysis systems that determine the probability of attacks on convoys and more gun turret operators could be on call, since anyone who has played video games can quickly learn how to operate one of these turrets.
A reminder that our readers might want to check out Race Against the Machine for more on the rapid advances in robotics and intelligent software.
Egypt is preparing to use aircraft and tanks in Sinai for the first time since the 1973 war with Israel in its offensive against militants in the border area, security sources said on Monday.
The plans to step up the operation were being finalised by Egypt's newly appointed Defence Minister General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as he made his first visit to Sinai on Monday following the killing of 16 border guards on August 5.
Egypt blamed the attack on Islamist militants and the conflict is an early test for President Mohamed Mursi - elected in June following the overthrow last year of Hosni Mubarak - to prove he can rein in militants on the border with Israel.
"Al-Sisi will supervise the putting together of final plans to strike terrorist elements using aircraft and mobile rocket launchers for the first time since the beginning of the operation," an Egyptian security source said.
Another security source said the army was planning to attack and besiege al-Halal mountain in central Sinai, using weapons including tanks, where militants were suspected to be hiding.
Disorder has spread in North Sinai, a region with many guns that has felt neglected by the central government, since the overthrow of Mubarak in a popular uprising. Mubarak's government had worked closely with Israel to keep the region under control and Islamist President Mursi has promised to restore stability.
The 1979 peace treaty between both countries limited military presence in the desert peninsula though in recent years Israel agreed to allow Egypt to deploy more forces there to stem weapons smuggling by Palestinian gunmen and other crimes.
After the border attack this month, Egypt launched a joint army-police operation that has raided militant hideouts, arrested their members and seized weapons.
Israeli officials, who say they are in regular contact with Cairo, have encouraged Egypt to take tough action against the gunmen responsible for the assault and have previously allowed the use of helicopters in the operation.
#2
The health care system in this country has become one that has been created by politicians and insurance companies. They have tried to serve to many masters. Access and service are bound to suffer and costs to increase.
Despite having no horses, the water and sewerage department for the city of Detroit employs a horseshoer.
Yet even with a department so bloated that it has a horseshoer and no horses, the local union president said it is "not possible" to eliminate positions.
Union rules have turned the department into a government jobs program, some critics say.
The horseshoer's job description is "to shoe horses and to do general blacksmith work ... and to perform related work as required." The description was last updated in 1967.
The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) has a large debt, rising water prices and inefficient services -- using almost twice the number of employees per gallon as other cities like Chicago.
A recent independent report about the DWSD recommends that the city trim more than 80 percent of the department's workforce. The consultant who wrote the report found 257 jobs description, including a horseshoer. Capitol Confidential sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the department for the salary, benefits and job description of the horseshoer position.
In response to the report, John Riehl, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207, which represents many of the DWSD employees, told the Detroit Free Press that the department needs more workers.
"They don't have enough people as it is right now," Riehl said. "They are just dreaming to think they can operate that plant with less." Sorta like Chicago...
But critics say this is just another example of city departments operating as a jobs program for union employees.
"They have said for years that they don't have enough people," said Roi Chinn, a former city administrator and 2013 mayoral candidate for Detroit. "As the bureaucracy thickens and union power grows, there is always a built in reflex ... to want more.
"Whenever you think you've heard the bad about the city of Detroit, it gets worse."
Chinn said if he was mayor he would sell the water department.
Stephen Henderson, editorial page editor for the Detroit Free Press, wrote last week about the "intolerable waste" in the water department.
"For unions and the whole idea of collective bargaining, this is the kind of report that just makes any sort of future very, very hard to negotiate," Henderson wrote. "It suggests that collective bargaining turns government into a provider of jobs instead of public services."
Daniel Edwards, a construction contracts manager with the DWSD, said the employee was transferred from the Detroit Police Department five years ago. The police department has horses, though the DWSD horseshoer no longer works with animals.
"DWSD has a blacksmith shop in our Central Services Facility," Edwards said. The shop "also ... repairs equipment and works with various metals and welding for the department when needed." The horseshoer now works at the Central Services Facility.
The city pays $29,245 in salary and about $27,000 in benefits for the horseshoer position. So the benefits equal the salary? That's another problem...
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/20/2012 11:03
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Infact, Islam's foundational principles stipulate the sanctity of all life, freedom of choice including religious freedom, the popular selection of rulers, social and economic justice with equality before the law,...
Oh, yeah? Based on the good professor's assertions, there is no Islam anywhere.
Travelers across the vast stretches of the Arabian desert have been known to get lost and in their thirst and exhaustion hallucinate oases with palm trees and flowing water. Western policymakers lost in the vast stretches of madness that define the Mohammedan world are even more wont to hallucinate the oasis of a moderate Islam to take refuge in. Whether youre dying for a drink or a way to reaffirm your reality, a mirage is sometimes the only way you can find it.
Moderate Islam is a mirage, a projection by desperate Westerners of their own values and culture, on an entirely different religion and culture. It is a mirage that many Mohammedans are eager to uphold, in the same way that desert merchants might sell goblets and bowls of sand to passing travelers foolish enough to confuse water with dust. And like travelers who think they are drinking water, when they are actually swallowing sand, it is a deception that will eventually kill the deceived.
When the Western cultural elite look at Islam, they see what they have to see to avoid falling into crisis mode. Like the traveler who would rather choke on sand, than face up to the fact that he is lost in a desert, they would rather keep most things as they are, even at the cost of the extinction of the nations they preside over, than confront the full scope of the threat surrounding them. A threat that they had a hand in nurturing and feeding in the name of goals that seemed to make sense at the time.
#1
Moderate Islam, they say "Allah Ackbar" Before slashing your neck, No improvement.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/20/2012 15:56
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The head of Turkey, Taycip Erdogan, has said that the defining of Moderate Islam is a deadly insult to Islam. According to him there is one and only one Islam.
Don't hear too much about abrogation from the dhimmis in the west do you?
#4
Someone convince the US Military brass in the Pentagon and the paper clip commies at the CIA of that! Funny how the Nazis worked with the same people the smart leaders of Washington are working with today huh?
#5
Well, it used to be that captured VIPs would be skinned alie, stuffed with straw, and hung from the mast for the Christians to see and presumably fear.
Now its power tools, e-mail, digital video with bad sound editing, and standing around on the lawn - though I think I did hear about some good ol' fashioned crucifixtions the other day.
All BMTF Advisors are restricted to their base of operations and will remain in this mode until further information is gathered and disseminated. Please read the below notification from XXXXXX and take appropriate actions to ensure your safety. An advisory will go out when the lockdown is lifted.
For any further direction or questions please notify myself at the number or emails below as XXXXXX is on TDY and XXXXXX is on A/L.
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Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2012 10:46 PM
Subject: Blue on Green attack @ Spin Boldak Police HQ
ALCON,
See attached for information on a Blue On Green shooting involving US military SFAT team 11 assigned to the Spin Boldak Police Headquarters. Limited information at this time. See below synopsis.
Approximately 2205 Hours Advisor NUSS was passed information of a Blue on Green incident at the Spin Boldak, Kandahar Provence, involving US personnel assigned to that location as embedded mentors.
Initial reports of two uniformed ANP or AUP males attacked units of SFAT 11 stationed at the Spin Boldak Police headquarters site at approximately 1915 hrs. Reports of 2 US DOD military personnel KIA, 3 US DOD military personnel WIA. It is reported that one assailant was killed at the scene and one escaped. No other details are available at this time. Unknown of situation upon assault.
The source was given by BMTF Advisor assigned to Weesh / Spin Boldak AO. There were no BMTF Advisors or LA's involved in the incident. Further details will follow.
XXXX XXXXXXX
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Besoeker, there is no link. Is this something that came in your email? Please advise.
-- tw at 9:48 a.m. EDT
Additional from the local SFAT (Security Force Assistance Team) supervisor: The second subject was unable to be located. The suspects were wearing AUP (Afghan Uniformed Police) uniforms with local dress underneath.
#3
Chicago has no money to pay for anything, but underwater mortgages have no value, so they don't need to pay anything for them. It's just a bookkeeping move, taking the debit off the mortgage lenders' books and putting it on the taxpayers books. The banks ought to be paying Chicago to take the mortgages.
#4
When the federal government forces lending agencies into bad practices, sub prime loans, then when it all goes bad does nothing, our local government will act. The sub prime debacle drove prices out the roof. This all needs a reset, it will happen from city to city until the market stabilizes.
The bank threats of not lending in that community is mute. They can't loan 200percent for a house. The local gov will garentee the loan and the houses will again sell. This not much different from taking an abandoned home from the bank.
I wish they would do it in Phoenix....
Posted by: 49 pan ||
08/20/2012 10:52
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#5
There is a genuine problem. House prices were pushed up too high with cheap money, and there is no good mechanism to bring those prices back down.
So long as prices are too high, the market won't recover. Right now the only options are foreclosure, short sale (which the bank has to approve), wait for inflation to catch up or just walk away. All far less than ideal.
Using Kelo to fix it doesn't sit right. Two wrongs don't make a right. I would look instead to the bankruptcy code where the mortgage industry slipped in some language that protects their industry specifically.
#6
It would be better to play by the books at the county treasurers' offices to sheriff sale anyone delinquent beyond a 180 days. However, we're talking Chicago.
Too many people with jobs in the offices who are there by patronage rather than skill.
Meanwhile the banks and paper holding institutions are sitting on their hands waiting for the Treasury/Fed induced inflation to get their books floated back to par.
Too many people looking the other way in the office.
Too many of the people with 'connections' would probably be caught up in the process.
Too many of the 'special interests' groups would probably be caught up in the process.
#8
by what legal principle does Chicago ED these properties if the tax payments are current? They have legal mortgages that are just higher in value owed than the property is worth.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2012 11:40
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#9
..Kelo
That Justice Kennedy court decision that turned upside down the concept of private property.
#11
Da Mare (that's "the mayor" for those who don't speak Chicagoese) recently said he was against the idea, so I wouldn't put much stock in it. Not that I wold be surprised if they did it.
#12
Frank,
I think they are using the rule on abandoned property for this. I believe SanBernardino is doing this as well. We have a ton of abandoned houses in Phoenix. They are turning into crack houses and the crime is growing.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/20/2012 14:46
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#13
So does this mean we can use Kelo to assume control of California, kick out all the illegals and liberals and rewrite the entire state's laws?
#14
Might be a good time for a franchise to come in and buy up a lot of property for a sports arena or stadium. Normally I would approve of a city buying up such land and making parks or whatever but if the city is broke that's just foolishness.
#15
The more Buildings, Homes + Lands the Gubbermint controls, the more Assets it can claim as its own + thus the more it can borrow so that Politicos can once again engage in glorious excessive pork or deficit spending.
D *** NG IT, EXCESSIVELY HIGH DEBT-TO-GDP RATIOS ALA JAPAN + GREECE, ETC. ISN'T GOING TO BE ACHIEVED BY ITSELF, YA KNOW!
A Chinese group that includes major oil company Sinopec is in advanced talks to put up to $1 billion in a Texas clean-energy project, in what would mark one of the biggest investments by Chinese companies in the U.S. power sector. The graphic suggests it's a carbon-capture plan.
China Petrochemical Corp., known as Sinopec, together with Chinese banks are in talks to acquire an equity stake in and provide financing to the roughly $2.5 billion Texas Clean Energy Project, said people familiar with negotiations.
Sinopec is looking to build favor in the U.S. as it aggressively acquires energy reserves and seeks U.S. production expertise, currently through minority stakes and partnerships with Western companies. The company under has already invested billions in U.S. shale-gas fields, for example.
The project has already secured $450 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy, in addition to tax benefits. Tax benefits? For special interest groups? For the CHINESE???
It also has the necessary permits and contracts, including a contract with San Antonio to buy its electricity for 25 years. Aha! here it is!
The Texas plant, located near Odessa, will convert coal into a combustible gas and use it to make electricity, much like a conventional gas-fired plant. In the process, it also will tease out chemicals for resale and carbon dioxide, which will be piped to the western Texas Permian Basin and used for enhanced oil recovery.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/20/2012
07:25 ||
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Sounds like the Chinese are investing in things Bernanke's yield killing photocopier cannot ruin.
Three days of mourning and heightened security have been declared in Ingushetia after the terrorist attack at the funeral of a police officer.
A suicide bomber blew himself up on Sunday at the funeral of policeman Ilez Korigov, killed by gunfire the day before. Eight people died in the terrorist act, including the suicide bomber, and 15 were injured.
Ingushetian authorities have released the name of the alleged perpetrator of the attack: Khamzat Aldiyev, 34, who is on the wanted list as a member of clandestine armed gangs.
The bomb was equivalent to 10 kilograms of TNT. Zurab Geroyev,the republic investigative committee spokesman, said, "The bomb was filled with shrapnel."
"The suicide bomber entered the courtyard of a private house, where policemen had arrived to convey condolences to the relatives of their slain colleague, and blew himself up," he added.
#1
Chicago, Chicago, that toddling town
Chicago, Chicago, I'll show you around, I love it
Bet your bottom dollar, you'll lose the blues in Chicago
Chicago, the town that Billy Sunday couldn't shut down
#2
My younger boy says all his friends are seeing through Barack's smoke and mirrors. They voted for Ron Paul, and will hold their noses for Mitt because no amount of nose-holding is blocking the stink of 4 more years of Obama.
Of course, they all are getting engineering degrees, so that may have something to do with it...
#3
Ptah
Those degrees require MATH! skills.
You can see why state education is a failure, not only is the state the worst provider, it's also got the most to gain from being bad.
#4
I dunno, Ptah...for every young'un majoring in a STEM discipline and cultivating libertarian sensibilities, there are probably ten Ogabe cultists piling up loan debt for a degree in useless nonsense like this.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
08/20/2012 9:47
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#5
The choice of Paul Ryan was inspired -- informed young people are disgusted w/the notion that they are going to be indentured servants to SS and Medicare for which they will never benefit.
That combined with the scales falling from their eyes on what hope and change really looks like: living in mom's basement, huge college debt and no jobs.
Obozo and Slow Joe are toast.
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/20/2012 17:13
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#6
Math!
Heresy! Treason! Denounce your occult knowledge and say with me, 2+2=5.
(Abu, I was watching a game show and the constestant was getting a degree in, if I remember it right, Neo-Retro Sociology Studies - I think it has to do with every once in a while a new fad occurs based mostly on a previous fad)
#7
The problem with a prestigious Bitter Womens Studies program from a prestigious Ivy League institution is that the ciriculum is not designed to "find the cure" for Bitter Women, but rather to create more of them.
Double major in Angry Womens Studies doesn't help the resume either.
#8
I've leaned Republican my whole life but back in the days after College when I faced a grim jobs market I voted for Clinton and that recession was mild by comparison. I suspect a similar calculation is going on in a number of college graduates working in joe-jobs right now.
Facing a stagnant economy and Republican attacks on his Middle East policy, President B.O. appears to be losing some support among Jewish voters in the critical swing state of Florida, according to Jewish political activists and demographers.
Most estimates range from 3 percent to low double digits, but any slippage for Obama will be magnified by the traditionally outsized turnout of this core Democratic constituency. Jews constitute only 3 percent of the states population but cast their ballots in such large numbers that they can account for 7 or 8 percent of the total vote.
A small shift in the Jewish vote can make a difference, said Ira Sheskin, a University of Miami professor who is director of the Jewish Demography Project there. In recent polls, Obama led Willard Mitt Romney ...former governor of Massachussetts, currently the presumptive Publican nominee for president. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field. On the plus side, he isn't President B.O... in Florida overall by an average of only 1.4 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics.
The economy remains the top concern of Jewish voters, according to surveys, but Obamas opposition to Israeli settlements, his contentious relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his reluctance to rattle the saber against Iran are worrying some Jewish supporters. A new wild card is the effect in Florida that Romneys vice presidential choice, Representative Paul Ryan ...U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, serving since 1999. He is a member of the Republican Party. He proposed an alternative to President B.O.'s 2011 budget and made himself the target of both Democrat and Republican verbal pies... of Wisconsin, will have. He has been a leading proponent of privatizing Medicare.
A Gallup poll released last month showed 68 percent support for Obama among Jewish voters nationwide, a sharp drop from his 78 percent showing against Senator John S. McCain four years ago. In March, a poll by the American Jewish Committee pegged the presidents support in a race against Romney at 61 percent.
#1
60%? One has to wonder why the support is so high considering the nearly non-existent support of Israel and the support for its neighbors? However, down from 78% is great. Attrition from various Democratic leaning groups can make the difference. The youth vote is down, the Jewish vote is down, the African-American vote is down slightly and I have a feeling the women's vote is down too (despite the promise of contraceptives and abortions). The women's vote is far more complex than a couple of issues that appeal to young liberal women. Older citizens are starting to get antsy about their future as they get older. Throw in a few unions such as the coal miner's union and the Reagan Democrats that are still out there and we might have a surprise result in November. Ronald Reagan was behind Carter going into the election and it turned out to be a Republican landslide. The misery index was just too high then. Double-digit inflation and double digit unemployment. I think the economic indicators are even worse now--a true unemployment rate of 22-23%, cities in shambles, manufacturing that has gone to China, the destroyed housing economy, high gasoline prices, inflation, and nobody at the helm of the ship of state.
Agriculture and population are Egypt's new tools to combat security woes in the peninsula
Egypt has decided to combat the volatile security situation in Sinai by settling 1 million citizens and developing agriculture in the sparsely populated peninsula, establishment daily Al-Ahram reported Sunday.
They've been doing this kind of thing more or less well since the 1950s, according to a 2008 article in National Geographic, getting water either from the Nile or local underground aquifers. Judge for yourself the odds of success, dear Reader.
Agriculture minister Salah Abdul Momen told the daily that his ministry has developed a detailed five-year plan to turn 1 million acres of arid desert in central Sinai into farmland, at a rate of 200,000 acres per year. The plan includes settling some 1 million Egyptians in the new agricultural regions.
Personally, I think there's a reason the only current inhabitants of the Sinai are Beduin tribes and crazy Israelis (and American military observers -- shhh!), but that is mere suspicion and feeling, not actually knowledge.
The 14.7 million acre (23,000 mi²) peninsula, which Egypt regained through the Camp David peace accords with Israel in 1982, is sparsely populated and economically marginalized. The mountainous center is particularly underdeveloped.
So they can just level those mountains for the farmland they'll need...
The minister told Al-Ahram that in the coming weeks the government will sign contracts with 150 local and foreign investors who will cover the entire cost of development, estimated at 12 billion Egyptian pounds ($2 billion).
Abdul Momen said that 3,500 acres will be distributed to recent university graduates and small farmers, who will each be given 2 greenhouses for agricultural use.
They should perhaps not consult the Gazans on what to do with donated greenhouses...
Just what every university graduate wants: a pair of greenhouses...
Another Egyptian official, irrigation minister Muhammad Bahaa A-Din, told the daily that a new underground water reservoir was discovered in the northern part of the Sinai's western desert, which will supply 320 million cubic meters (84.5 billion gallons) of water yearly, enough to irrigate 70,000 acres during the project's initial stage.
Minister Abdul Momen told Al-Ahram that implementing the project as quickly as possible would help solve Egypt's security concerns.
The initiative comes two weeks after Sinai-based terror groups killed 16 uniformed Egyptian security personnel, who were breaking their Ramadan fast with an evening meal, in an attack on their base near the Gazoo-Israel-Egypt border. The Death Eaters then commandeered an Egyptian Army armored personnel vehicle at the base and smashed across the border into Israel at the Kerem Shalom crossing. A mile or so inside Israel, they were blown up by the Israel Air Force.
#1
First thingys come first - IMO Israel will prob insist that its demand for the withdrawal of Egyptian armor from the Sinai be accomplished first, lest Israel demand 1/2 of the Sinai for Israeli settlement + devlopment, as National Security "collateral" from Egypt.
SUB-IMO, ANOTHER REASON FOR ISRAEL + THE US-WEST TO MISS BABY ASSAD.
#5
Actually there is enough rain in the northern Sinai and southern Sinai mountains that with intense management of runoff the million acre/million population goal is probably achievable.
However, the $1B sum is way low. It would require hundreds of thousands of linear feet of terracing and digging tens of thousands of cisterns and then quite a bit of annual maintenance.
Lots of road and electrical infrastructure would also be needed to be built ($100Ms)and then maintained ($Ms/yr).
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/20/2012 6:12
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#6
Any bets on it ever getting of the ground---even if, as I suspect he will, uncle Sugar gives 'em the money?
#8
this is colonialism to get Egypt into the region.
A similar thought occurred to me, BernardZ This is an Egyptian version of creating facts on the ground -- if there are lots of people there a) it will be harder for the Israelis to drive their tanks through, and b) governing them afterward would be as undesirable for Israel as governing the Gaza Strip...although the illiterate Egyptian peasantry don't seem much good, violence-wise, for anything more than the occasional pogram against local Copts, but perhaps their children could take tutorials from the Gazans, once they learn to read.
#13
Shovel ready project. But are the Egyptians ready to man the shovels.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/20/2012 16:26
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#14
g(r)om, are you suggesting this could be a way to relocate dissidents, then shrug wonder and ask for more money when proper building and water well supplies fail to show up.
#15
Relocate the copts out there you say? There are all dissidents technically. That though would be a catastrophic mistake if they did. They'd practically welcome Isreal with open arms. And say good-bye to the Suez.
Posted by: Charles ||
08/20/2012 19:54
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#16
I agree to just let them go out is probably not in the Egypt government's best idea. However, tightly controlled farming camps with wire and guards, for their own protection from the natives, that would be the uh oh.
On the other side, it would be a way for the Egypt gov to select who they would want, perhaps a reward system for supporters rather than a Sooner Boomer type run.
[Jerusalem Post] Move comes days after two rockets shake the Red Sea resort city, apparently fired from the Sinai Peninsula; IDF spokesmen says deployment is part of national plan to test anti-rocket system around the country.
The remains of a Grad rocket were found on Friday evening, in a mountainous area north of the city of Eilat, the Israel Police said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... an Islamist thug group operating in the Sinai Peninsula said Sinai jihadists had fired rockets at Israel in the last few years. Egypt had repeatedly denied that rockets had ever been fired from Sinai into Israel.
The Salafi Jihadi statement said other jihadist groups, which it did not name, were behind past attacks on Sinai's gas pipeline that delivers gas from Egypt to Israel and Jordan.
Unemployment was supposed to be 6 percent by now. It has averaged 8.2 percent this year so far. Meanwhile real median annual household income has dropped more than 5 percent since June 2009. Nearly 110 million individuals received a welfare benefit in 2011, mostly Medicaid or food stamps.
Welcome to Obama's America: nearly half the population is not represented on a taxable return--almost exactly the same proportion that lives in a household where at least one member receives some type of government benefit. We are becoming the 50--50 nation--half of us paying the taxes, the other half receiving the benefits. MSM is turning on Obama. Now the Democratic Convention is going to get very interesting. That will be the event to watch.
A four page long article with graphs from a former adviser of John McCain in Newsweek, which still has a hard copy version for a little while longer. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the editors' lounge!
#3
The question is, "If they're running that what is it about Obama that they've discovered & documented that they are trying to suppress?" The only reason I can imagine for an MSM rag to turn on Obama is if they've documented beyond a reasonable doubt something about him that we don't already know but which will destroy the progressive cause in America (more so than Obama is doing already that is).
#4
Handwriting. Wall. Seen. They've concluded that Champ is toast, and are trying to salvage as much of their tattered credibility as they can.
First a trickle, then a flood. Preference cascade, engaged.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
08/20/2012 6:56
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#5
Still hard to imagine someone on the right didn't buy Newsweek when it was for sale for $1 and still had some name recognition. Could have turned it into the magazine version of Fox News. Then things like this wouldn't be a shocker.
As it is this is probably a last ditch effort to save the magazine from loss after loss.
#7
It's the once-in-a-century event known as the 'Nazis in Skokie' Move, pioneered by the ACLU.
The move, although repulsive to the initiator and potentially causing a loss to its support base, can be used as a "get out of jail free" card whenever accused of bias and slavishly favoring a particular end of the political spectrum.
#12
I saw this on the news. The impression that was put forth is that Newsweek had to make ammends for the Romney cover the other week. The writer of this piece (Niall Ferguson) is a conservative. Maybe since Nweek has taken such a financial pounding they are trying something different...
#13
I saw this and thought OMG, the stars have realigned; maybe the Mayans were wrong. Finally, there is real hope.
Then I realized it was Niall Ferguson-- a voice of sanity out there in academia. Harvard must be a difficult environment for a guy like Ferguson.
I suppose Obama has gathered enough moss with his record that finally people are starting to realize what this guy is all about about his monumental fraud and failure during the last nearly four years. RBurgers must be a particularly insightful crowd as they sounded the clarion warning bells a long time ago.
#20
In one of those quirky bits of synchronicity our universe is famous for, I was watching a TED talk by Niall Ferguson just the other day. The TEDsters tend to be either hipster douches or People Who Know Stuff. Ferguson is one of the latter.
Ferguson's talk, called The Six Killer Apps of Prosperity, was about the divergence between the West and The Rest and why it happened. Hint: it wasn't evil white guys, colonialism or any of the usual reasons. It is actually just a half-dozen things, that when done together, pretty much guarantee success and prosperity. More hints: none of them are socialism. Personally, I've been fascinated by this topic ever since reading Guns, Germs, and Steel. (hat tip to lotp who wrote a Sunday article on the subject a few weeks back)
As for Newsweek, I can't imagine them doing this as a get out of jail card because the ideas therein are so dangerous - assuming their readers actually read stuff. Maybe it's just a photoshop job?
#23
My first thought was a way to scare the energy back into the liberal base, but seeing how 90% don't make it past the cover and another 8% don't make it past the pre-article funnies what pops on the front would not make good sense, not that it could have been their intention poorly executed. Pappy's make good sense.
I wouldn't trust newspeak with an article of clothing until they start having Ramirez and DBS in the funnies and commentary. It is a sad joke children do weekly news reports for grades based upon that future box of tissue paper.
What does the dog say? Woof, woof.
What does the sheep say? Baa, baa, baa.
What does the cat say? Meow, meow.
What does the Republican say? NoBama, NoBama, NoBama!
[Dawn] THE political stability given to Turkey by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has not served to lessen the intensity of the country's ideological polarisation.
The AKP can justly claim credit for some successes: it has given the country 12 years of stable single-party government; its economic policies have turned Turkey into the world's 17th and Europe's sixth biggest economy, and it has tamed the military the way earlier Islamists led by Necmettin Erbekan had failed to.
In what was an intelligent move, Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly pledged loyalty to secularism and thus removed the raison d'être for the military to seize power when he ousted his mentor Erbekan to grab party leadership.
What the reaction in the army was when the AKP won the election the first time in 2002 is now coming to light as the Ergenekon trial proceeds. On Aug 2, Hilmi Ozkok, a former chief of the general staff, told a court trying hundreds of people -- 40 serving generals among them -- that the army wanted to send to the AKP government a veiled coup warning in the form of a 'memorandum'. (The Turkish word 'muhtira' can also be translated as 'ultimatum'.)
Hilmi found himself vulnerable. The general preceding him as chief of the general staff had opposed his nomination as army chief because he thought Hilmi would not be able to resist fundamentalism. When he finally became CGS, Hilmi sensed unpopularity when he discouraged fellow officers from thinking in terms of a coup. But he was so scared -- he told the court -- that he brought food from home because he feared poisoning.
Much before Hilmi stunned the nation, the army as far back as 2007 staged what came to be known as the 'e-coup' when it warned the government on its website against Abdullah Gul's appointment as president.
The situation since then has improved, with Erdogan having turned the powerful, army-led National Security Council into a consultative body headed by a civilian. But this governmental stability is not reflected in society, because even the diluted secularism of the AKP's philosophy is not acceptable to large segments of Turkish society.
This is a challenge for the AKP, not for the secular elements, because it is his espousal of the apparently incompatible strains in his philosophy that distinguishes Erdogan from Erbekan.
Two minor events need to be noted here. In a south-eastern town, a crowd attacked an Alevi home because its inmates had requested the neighbourhood drummer not to wake them up for sehri because they were going on a holiday the next day. Thedrummer told others, and a crowd gathered and pelted the home with stones, burnt its stable and shouted, "No Alevi and no Kurds in our town".
Also, last month, a security guard shouted at a woman and stopped her from boarding a ferry because she was carrying four sealed bottles of wine. It was Ramazan. The ferry firm later apologised. But the issue -- relevant to Pakistain -- was that the guard defied institutional discipline and acted on his own. On the other side of the ideological spectrum, the generals did not invite Erdogan to a national day reception last year.
Reducing the intensity of this social polarisation by democratic means is Erdogan's main challenge. The trial of Kenan Evren and others responsible for the 1980 coup has been criticised by Erdogan himself. This revanchism could jeopardise Turkey's otherwise commendable move towards democratic consolidation.
Two kabooms struck the Libyan capital of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... on Sunday, one near the Interior Ministry and the second near a women's police academy, a Libyan security officer told a Rooters photographer.
Twin blasts near security force buildings in the Libyan capital early on Sunday killed two people and maimed several more, a security official said.
"Two kabooms struck at dawn, the first near the military academy on Omar al-Mokhtar Avenue, the second near the interior ministry," the security official said.
"There were two dead and several maimed," he added, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... The blast near the interior ministry was a car boom but there were no casualties, the security officer said.
If the information is confirmed by Libyan officials, it would be the first time there have been deaths from blasts in Libya since the overthrow of Muammer Qadaffy in 2011.
Violence has still been a problem despite Libya's peaceful power handover after its elections in July, the first in decades following the end of 42 years of one-man rule under Qadaffy.
Much higher amount of business with Iran that I'd realized.
The family of a senior partner at Deloitte has called for answers after he apparently committed suicide days after the auditing firm was linked to the Standard Chartered Iran dollar trades scandal. Daniel Pirron, a partner in Delloite's key General Counsel's office in New York, was found dead in a car park near his home in Trumbull, Connecticut.
On August 6, Deloitte was accused by the New York Department of Financial Services of aiding Standard Chartered in its "deception" over billions of dollars' worth of trades involving Iran.
Mr Pirron apparently took his own life seven days later.
Daniel Pirron was a detective for the Illinois Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission in Chicago, before moving to work for Deloitte in 1990.
Deloitte denied that Mr Pirron had any involvement in the Standard Chartered matter.
"The loss of our partner, Dan Pirron, is a terrible tragedy and he will be missed dearly by all of his Deloitte friends," a spokesman said.
"Dan was a highly respected member of our office. However, Dan was not involved in any way on our work for Standard Chartered Bank."
Deloitte denies the DFS allegations that have led to Standard Chartered agreeing to pay a fine of $340m.
Germany's highest court issued a ruling allowing the military to be used - in some instances - within the country. The decision is the latest chapter in a debate that stretches back decades into German history.
In 2003 the government enacted an air safety law that explicitly permitted the military to shoot down passenger jets in cases of hijacking and terrorism. The Federal Constitutional Court, however, struck the law down in 2006, deeming it illegal to weigh the lives of the innocent passengers on the plane against the potential victims on the ground in the event of a terrorist attack. The court further ruled that the Bundeswehr could support police action inside Germany but would be limited to using police techniques and equipment. The use of tanks or fighter jets remained prohibited under the judges' ruling.
This, however, was a point where the two chambers of Germany's highest court disagreed. As a result, a plenary session of the Constitutional Court, which has only convened five times in the country's history, was called. After several years of consideration, it issued its ruling on Friday (17.08.2012) that the military could use its weaponry and equipment within Germany during "states of emergency of catastrophic proportions."
While the debate about preventing terrorist attacks is relatively new, the German military's role in operations within the country has been the subject of an on-again, off-again debate for decades. German law strictly separated the roles of the police and the military, making the police responsible for domestic security and the military responsible for defending the country from foreign attack. In the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) the Reichswehr fought against communists, and during the Nazi era, Hitler used the SS paramilitary units against the population to secure power.
In the years after World War Two, Germany's history of misuse of the military meant anyone who considered deploying the Bundeswehr within the country was accused of wanting to open the door to state-sponsored terror. This applied even in the case of having soldiers assist authorities during natural disasters, which the constitution explicitly allows.
Domestic Bundeswehr missions - even after the court's decision this week - will be extremely limited. Shooting down passenger planes is still prohibited, as is using military methods to prevent a demonstration. The court also made clear that a single government minister cannot order an army deployment by insisting that the entire government be involved in deciding on such a mission.
* IIRC FREEREPUBLIC > MUSLIMS [Group] DEMANDS SEPARATE/OWN BREAKAWAY NATION IN NORWAY, NEW 9-11 THREATENED.
Correct me iff I'm wrong, but during the Cold War the USMC + UK Royal Marines were responsible for upholding NATO's anti-Soviet defense mission for the Scandinavian region - AFAIK that hasn't changed.
Egypt is saved! Or not, but at least they will have fewer competitors for the grain going to Chinese pigs.
This year's corn harvest is 40 per cent bigger than that of 2011, officials at the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock said.
The harvest yielded 6.3 million tonnes of corn this year. This is only the second time in 35 years the harvest has been this big.
As well as corn, the country produced 5 million tonnes of wheat, 500,000 tonnes of rice, and 300,000 tonnes of maize.
Ministry officials said that Afghanistan requires 6.7 million tonnes of corn this year so will import 400,000 tonnes of corn from abroad.
Deputy agriculture minister Abdul Ghani Ghoryan said: "We are optimistic about the coming years: Afghanistan will become a good exporter of corn in ten years."
Japan pledged $11 million to the agriculture ministry for buying and distributing modified seeds to Afghan farmers.
The Japanese ambassador to Afghanistan, Reiichiro Takahash, said the project is sign of his country's commitment to Afghanistan. The project will implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Pakistain's Interior Ministry accused the Afghanistan National Directorate of Security (NDS) of planning to launch attacks in Islamabad and Lahore with the help of cut-thoats, Pak media reported.
"The forces of Evil will launch coordinated car kabooms in Islamabad and Lahore. The master mind of this attack, Mohammad Yasin, is an expert in car boomings," a Pak Interior Ministry official told Pakistain's The News.
The claims were rejected by the Afghan National Directorate of Security deputy front man Shafiqullah Taheri.
"We strongly reject this. Unfortunately, Pakistain's military officials are providing false information to their politicians," Taheri said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter awoke groggily, his hand still stuck in the Ming vase... the former Afghan Deputy Minister of Interior, General Abdul Hadi Khaled, believes that NDS is facing its own cut-thoat challenges within Afghanistan and does not have time to plan for any attacks in other countries.
This comes as 8 suicide kaboomers target one of the biggest air bases in Islamabad earlier this month.
[Dawn] ISLAMABAD, Aug 19: Millions of people in the country, who were busy exchanging greetings through SMS, received a rude shock on the eve of Eidul Fitr when mobile phone service in some of the main cities was suspended on the direct orders of the federal government.
Mobile phones in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , Lahore, Multan, Quetta and a number of other cities started to go silent from 8pm onwards, which was the peak period for most people to exchange Eid greetings.
In many areas of violence-prone Bloody Karachi panic gripped the denizens, particularly those whose families were out for last-minute shopping on 'chand raat'. However, ars longa, vita brevis... late in the evening the message started to spread around through television that the problem was not due to any malfunctioning or sabotage, but a result of the government's counter-terrorism measure.
The suspension will continue during Eid prayer hours on Monday.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship. said the action had been taken in view of security concerns of the governments of Punjab and Sindh.
Talking to newsmen, the minister said cellphone service would be suspended all over Punjab at the request of the provincial government.
"The Punjab government has requested us to suspend cellphone service in some parts of the province, but we think it should also made temporarily inoperative in sensitive areas of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... and Sindh because beturbanned goons usually use mobile phones in their acts of terrorism," he said.
The decision was taken at a meeting held at the minister's residence to discuss security concerns of Punjab and Sindh.
"The mobile phone service will be suspended in targeted areas and we believe that people's lives are more precious than cellphone facility," he said.
The minister said the government would take all necessary steps to protect people's lives.
When contacted, a bigwig of the ministry said: "The service will be suspended in specific areas and not throughout the country and its duration will not be more than 2 hours," he said.
He said Bloody Karachi, Lahore and Multan had been declared 'most sensitive' cities on the occasion of Eid.
It is for the first time that such a step has been taken on the occasion of Eid.
Meanwhile, ...back at the mall, Clarissa spent the day shopping for new underwear. Tonight was going to be a special occasion... the Punjab government categorically denied having requested the federal government to block mobile phone service in any part of the province.
PML-N leader Pervez Rashid, who is Punjab government's front man, said the provincial government had not made any such request.
He said if the interior minister knew where and at what time beturbanned goons would strike then they could be set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Book 'im, Mahmoud! before hitting their targets.
"The minister and his team should arrest beturbanned goons instead of suspending phone service which will create problems for people," he said.
Mr Rashid said the federal government usually took such steps which affected people, instead of resolving the real issues.
"The government has failed to overcome the energy crisis but urged people to save electricity and it resorted to long spells of loadshedding.
Similarly, when the sugar crisis erupted it advised people to reduce the use of sweetener," the PML-N leader said.
He said the decision to block cellphone service would not only create inconvenience for people but also spread fear that a terrorism incident could take place in their area.
The Swedes have seen major rises in rape and assaults as immigrants in Malmo and elsewhere refuse to assimilate. Are they finally beginning to draw a line?
In terms of the Biblical plagues, The Land of the Pure is somewhere between boils and the death of the firstborn sons.
[Dawn] THE children of Pakistain face many odds. From malnutrition to exposure to various forms of violence to diseases as debilitating as polio, ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... the younger generation has to contend with a host of extraordinary challenges. For children living on the streets the risks are even greater, and including substance abuse and routine sexual violence. And as a recent report in this paper indicated, the threat of an HIV epidemic amongst street children is an emerging concern. In the civilized world the existence of street children is a concern...
According to health officials in Sindh, six out of 10 drug-using street children registered with a Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... -based NGO were found to be HIV-positive. Seems to be a problem solved by Darwin...
This may reflect a bigger trend. The children had been using contaminated needles or were sexually abused. HIV is prevalent amongst injecting drug users and sex workers in the country. Because street children are exposed to drugs and sexual predators, this creates an extremely vulnerable sub-group likely to be infected with HIV.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pool hall, Peoria Slim had found another sucker. He adjusted his sleeve garters, spit tobacco juice, hitting the spittoon and the wall behind it and picked up his cue... according to recent figures released by the NGO Madadgaar Helpline, over 2,300 children across Pakistain were subjected to different types of violence in the first half of this year. These included cases -- only those reported -- of rape, torture and murder. ... If you're suffering from an ego problem because you have no marketable skills and you live in a country that's a Third World craphole you probably get a transient feeling of being powerful and important whilst buggering a nine-year-old boy or raping a prepubescent girl or pulling the wings off flies...
As in other areas, after devolution it is the provinces' duty to pass laws concerning children's welfare. Passing a law and actually doing something are the same thing, y'see?
But barring a few exceptions, there has been a lack of intent and capacity at the provincial level to pass and implement laws to protect children. First there's the lack of interest. Then there's the fact that the Pak coppers are very deferential to the local maliks and mullahs and nazims and other big turbans. What's a kid here and there, so long as the guy with the big turban's happy? There's way more kids than there are maliks or mullahs.
For example, Bloody Karachi, which observers estimate has a population of thousands of street children, does not have even a single state-operated rehabilitation home for the young ones. Only a few private concerns are making efforts in this regard. The fact is legislation is only a first step. What is needed most is compassion at the societal level for vulnerable children and the realisation that children have inviolable rights; rights that society denies them in a brutal fashion. Even the best laws are useless if not implemented. Until society reforms itself and the state moves beyond rhetoric and takes practical steps for the rehabilitation and welfare of children, we will only be bequeathing misery to the next generation.
At least four non-combatants were killed in a kaboom in western Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... province on Saturday morning. Three coppers were among the 12 people injured in the attack.
The incident happened at about 8:00 am local time in a bazaar in Shindand district, provincial front man Mahuddin Noori said.
The blast happened as dozens of shoppers were out buying treats in advance of the Eid holiday.
"Police have started an investigation into the blast and the injured were taken to a nearby hospital," Mr Noori said.
No group including the Taliban grabbed credit for the blast.
Today's incident comes five days after the most deadly attack in Afghanistan this year in which 29 people, including four coppers, were killed when three jacket wallahs detonated their explosives in crowded areas of Zaranj, the scenic provincial capital of Nimruz. About 110 people were maimed in the attack.
The UN Security Council on Friday condemned the attacks in Afghanistan.
"The members of the Security Council reiterated their serious concern at the threats posed by the Taliban, al-Qaeda and illegal gangs to the local population, national security forces, international military and international assistance efforts in Afghanistan," the statement said.
[Dawn] LAHORE: The criminal mastermind of the Kamra Airbase attack has been set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! . The suspect is believed to have provided financial and logistical support for the airbase attack, DawnNews reported.
The Pak Taliban grabbed credit for the attack at Kamra Airbase on August 16 in which two Pak soldiers died, while nine bad boyz were potted in the counter attack.
Sources also mentioned that a person named Tajammul was also set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock yesterday from Kunarh area who gave residence to the attacker in his home. Shabaz, another close ally and relative of Tajammul, who also set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock, is also believed to be involved in planning the attack.
Security officials also said that four more associates of the attacker were set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock from the areas of Taxila, Qasur, Multan and Lahore. The number of set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock culprits has now reached nine.
Security officials also claimed that the attackers were away from their home for more than two months. Initial investigations revealed that they belonged to a banned outfit and trained at Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... in Afghanistan.
#1
That's good. But the Pakistanis have themselves to blame for the Pakistani Taliban's creation & support. They should put themselves under national arrest.
Posted by: American Delight ||
08/20/2012 6:05
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#2
The guy will end up in some ISI resort area.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/20/2012 21:37
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#3
The US repor now agrees wid Islamabad that Pakistan's nukes were never at risk during the Kamra attack.
As due espec, among other, to steadily increasing "disconnect" between Govt-Political Elites + Mainstream Pakis.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PAKISTANI TALIBAN [aka TTP] THREATEN ATTACKS ON [Pak] MILITARY, vee specially selected "Suicide Bombers Squad" iff Pak Army launches new MilOff in NOrth Waziristan.
* SAME > MULLAH OMAR'S [Muslim holiday]STATEMENT IS "UNMISTAKABLE MESSAGE OF DEATH": ISAF OFFICIAL, for ordinary or peace-loving Afghans + Muslims.
RELATED WORLD NEWS > TALIBAN LEADER MULLAH OMAR TAUNTS US, BRITAIN.
HHHHHMMMMMMMM ....
* SIASAT DAILY > PAKISTANI TALIBAN SEEK "FATWA" AGZ DEMOCRACY, as well as agz Army rule in favor of Sharia + Rule by Islamic Clerics, arguing that Pakistani political leaders whom routinely vote for Secular decisions vee Sharia cannot or should not be called "Muslim".
IMO intehwesting as one way to label Islam is as "FAITH/GOD/THEO-BASED SOCIALISM" Model of Governance.
Fierce anti-Japan protests erupted in more than a dozen Chinese cities after a group of Japanese activists landed on islands at the centre of an increasingly acrimonious territorial dispute.
One banner said: "Even if China is covered with graves, we must kill all Japanese."
The most serious protests appeared to be in Chengdu, where the mob overturned a Japanese-made police car, and in the southern city of Shenzhen, where rioters smashed the windows of Japanese restaurants and businesses.
In one image posted on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, the crowd in Chengdu appeared to be tens of thousands strong. One banner said: "Even if China is covered with graves, we must kill all Japanese."
In another demonstration, an estimated 1,000 people chanted anti-Japanese slogans in the city of Hangzhou and caused damage to Japanese cars and restaurants.
Other disturbances were reported in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang, Harbin and Qingdao.
The demonstrations were sparked after a group of Japanese nationalists landed on Uotsuri island, part of an uninhabited archipelago that is claimed by both nations.
#1
Many China Blogs-Posters want Beijing to use military force to settle its ECS, SCS sovereignty disputes wid Nippon + ASEAN once + forever.
as illustrated, among other, by ...
* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > PEOPLE'S DAILY: ONE DAY, A RECKONING BETWEEN CHINA + JAPAN.
and
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM >[TopSecretWriters.com]
CHINA WILL FORCE CONFONTATION OVER DISPUTED ISLANDS, espec as per the South China Sea = West Philippine Sea.
versus
* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > HK MEDIA: RUSSIA TO SEND PACIFIC FLEET WARSHIPS [Amphibs, Service] TO SOUTH KURILS, JAPAN ATTACKED FROM FRONT [North = Kurils, Sakhalin] AND REAR [South = Okinawa, Daoyus] AS RUSSIA MOVES TO BEGIN NEW CIVILIAN CONTRUCTION, GROUND-SEA-AIR MILITARY BUILDUP IN FORMER JAPANESE "NORTHERN TERRITORIES".
* SAME > US ONCE AGAIN REITERATES THAT DISPUTED DAOYUS [Japan = Senkakus]FALL WITHIN SCOPE OF US-JAPAN SECURITY TREATY.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > SOUTH KOREA-JAPAN DISPUTE [ROK = Dokd,JPN = Takeshima], COULD AFFECT US PLANS ["Pivot"] FOR ASIA, i.e. Asia-Pacific/AsPac.
#2
We should have settled that long ago when in seat. I am not personally a fan of Japanese aggression again even if so soft. But maybe yes - maybe yes Japan gets that Island.
#3
Japan's recent history of militarism vs. China's long history of regional hegemony. It's almost like a power struggle between Hillary C. and Nancy P. It's not a pretty sight and the rest of us just want to be left out of it.
#5
I'd bet the average rioter in Chengdu knows absolutely nothing about the Senkakus. In fact, I'm thinking China's one child policy in which boys were favored over girls has led to an abundance of frustrated young males who are experience an extreme case of nationalism. Very dangerous.
#10
I'd bet the average rioter in Chengdu knows absolutely nothing about the Senkakus. In fact, I'm thinking China's one child policy in which boys were favored over girls has led to an abundance of frustrated young males who are experience an extreme case of nationalism. Very dangerous.
The Fraudian explanations are juvenile. Fraud's drug-addled theory for what drives people was to resort to a combination of Greek mythology and sexual urges. Frankly, to say that's retarded is an insult to retards.
These people aren't sexually-frustrated - they're religious nuts in a country where empire-building, a kind of yellow-skinned mission civilisatrice (pardon my French) (1) has been the state religion for thousands of years and (2) started back when the Gauls and the Britons were running around in animal skins. They have a pre-modern world-view where strong countries bend the weak to their will, and all the rest of that. Think Genghis Khan and the classic line attributed to him: The greatest pleasure is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters. Like it or not, the religious fanaticism of the Chinese masses was such that 1m Chinese died on the battlefields of Korea convincing Truman that the Korea peninsula could not be re-unified - after the Chinese intervention - at a cost acceptable to the UN coalition opposing the Chinese expeditionary force in Korea.
#11
I take it you mean that Freud was a fraud. Having never studied the subject I won't argue. But why would you want to clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters when your own wives and daughters are begging you to stay home and take care of them?
Anyway, whether they were motivated by religion, government provocateurs or Fraudian hangups, the Chinese are doing a lot of sabre rattling lately.
#12
Chinese instigated conflicts over control of various rocks in the sea are pointless when considered from the Mahan perspective of sea control. These rocks are also useless for ports or resupply. Even if they were invested with anti-ship missiles, they are immobile and easily bombarded. So, militarily useless.
Therefore, the Chinese are pushing this issue for either domestic politics or economic advantage. In either case, it is in the interest of the U.S. to diffuse this issue and reduce its ability to produce either outcome the Chinese are looking to achieve for their advantage.
A strategy to do that could be to accept Taiwan as a legitimate proxy in these disputes. If Taiwan and Japan come to an agreement to co-exist in these areas, then Taiwan gets the benefits rather than mainland China, and the people of mainland China are invested in the success of Taiwan in advocating for their issues.
"One country, two systems", is both a shield and a sword. The U.S. should be adept at utilizing both of its aspects.
#13
These rocks are also useless for ports or resupply. Even if they were invested with anti-ship missiles, they are immobile and easily bombarded. So, militarily useless.
I don't know the specific geology of the Senkaku islands, but land reclamation efforts might be a factor. Singapore has added 20 square miles to its land area. It's certainly possible the Chinese could do even better, given their massive financial resources.
#14
CHINA DAILY FORUM > CHINA'S MINIAL DETERRENCE POLICY ["Soft Power/Diplomacy"] IS CAUSING EXTERNAL AGGRESSIONS, by regional foreign Govts-States.
* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > UPHEAVALS IN ASIA-PACIFIC IS BEST TIME FOR CHINA TO IMPROVE AND EXPAND MILITARY.
* SAME > US SCHOLAR: MILITARY DESTRUCTION OF THE JAPAN SDFS [ditto as per Vietnam + PHIL]IN WAR BY THE PLA IS CHINA'S BEST POLICY TO FINALLY SETTLE DISPUTED ISLANDS' ISSUES. JAPAN'S PERSISTENT REFUSAL TO GIVE UP "ACTUAL CONTROL" OF DAOYUS ISLANDS [Japan = Senkakus]. CHINA'S INTERESTS IN EAST AND SOUTH CHINA SEAS, AND "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN", CAN NEVER BE ACHIEVED UNLESS CHINA HAS "ACTUAL CONTROL" OF DISPUTED ISLANDS.
The good news for China is that India's Navy may yet prove to NOT be much of a factor in the SCS, as indic by ...
* BHARAT RAKSHAK > [India] NAVY'S WAVERING DELAY [indigenous = India-built] WARSHIPS BY YEARS.
#15
OOOOPPSIES, forgot TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > USE ICJ SUIT TO EMPHASIZE JAPANESE SOVEREIGNTY, oer disputed Dokdo.
and
* WORLD MIL FORUM > POLL SURVEYS REVEAL THAT OKINAWA NATIVISTS DON'T TRUST JAPAN'S SDFS OR THE US TO SERVE OR PROTECT THEIR INTERESTS.
--------------
All things equal, a country's claim to territory(s) is decided by whom can best defend it agz all comers, present + future.
As per WAFF, CHINA has recently test-fired its new LR MIRV/MIRV ICBM DF-41A which is capable of striking CONUS - JAPAN HAS NO NUCWEAPS + NO STRATEGIC LRBMS TO DETER OR COUNTER CHINA, DESPITE THE WELL-KNOWN PROFICIENCIES OF ITS CONVENTIONAL [read, NOT NUCLEAR = NUKE-ARMED] JSDFS.
To base on an old Mil Adage, REALITY > the Best Mil Plans are usually stopped once the first bullet in anger is fired.
[Jerusalem Post] Two children aged 10 and 11 were lightly injured on Sunday night, after they were hit in the eyes by plastic bullets shot from toy guns during Id al-Fitr celebrations in the northern villages of Nahf and Jadeidi-Makr.
The children were taken to Naharyia hospital for treatment.
[Ma'an] In its annual report on terrorism around the world, the US State Department has defined violence by Israeli settlers towards Paleostinians as terrorism for the first time, Israeli media reported on Saturday.
The 2011 US Country Report cites three suspected "price tag" incidents: vandalism of Jerusalem's Mamilla cemetery, and arson attacks on a Jerusalem and West Bank mosque, Israeli daily Haaretz said.
The report noted that ten other attacks on Paleostinian mosques are believed by Israeli authorities to have been "perpetrated by settlers, up from six such incidents in 2010 and one in 2009."
Price tag refers to the retribution settlers say they will exact for any attempt by the Israeli government to curb settlement in the occupied West Bank.
Meanwhile the US State Department spokeswoman condemned "in the strongest possible terms" an assault south of Bethlehem on Thursday which left a family of five seriously injured after Israeli settlers hurled Molotov cocktails at their car.
"We note that the government of Israel has also condemned this heinous attack and pledged to bring the perpetrators to justice. We look to Israeli law enforcement officials to do so expeditiously," Victoria Nuland said on Friday.
#1
The report noted that ten other attacks on Paleostinian mosques are believed by Israeli authorities to have been "perpetrated by settlers, up from six such incidents in 2010 and one in 2009."
Nearly as many "incidents" during the peiod as gang murders in Chicago in a WEEK END!
Even their nearest Arab brothers, the Moslem Brüderbund ones, loathe and distrust them.
[Ma'an] Paleostinians flying to Egypt over the Eid al-Fitr holiday will not be allowed to enter the country, al-Ahram news site reported Saturday.
Airport authorities informed airlines that Paleostinians will not be allowed to enter Egypt because the Rafah crossing is closed until Wednesday, the Egyptian news site said.
Egypt opened the border crossing on Tuesday for three days but have now closed it for the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Head of the customs authority at Cairo airport Magdi el-Seman said that Paleostinians wanting to return to Gazoo will have to wait until Wednesday, when the border is scheduled to be reopened.
After gunnies killed 16 Egyptian border guards in August, Egypt closed its border with the Gazoo Strip and sealed smuggling tunnels that provide a lifeline to the besieged territory
[Dawn] MIRAMSHAH:At least two beturbanned goons were killed on Sunday in the third drone attack in the past 24 hours in North Wazoo.
Missiles for the third time targeted the Shawal area of North Waziristan, killing two beturbanned goons while officials said that the corpse count could increase.
"At least two beturbanned goons were killed and two others maimed when a US drone fired two missiles at the site of this morning's attack where beturbanned goons were removing the wreckage of their two destroyed vehicles," a security official told AFP.
Another security official confirmed the attack and casualties.
The Shawal district of North Waziristan region is considered a bastion of Taliban and al Qaeda-linked krazed killers.
Earlier today, Pak intelligence officials said missiles fired from unmanned American spy planes hit two vehicles near the Afghan border, killing at least seven krazed killers.
Three intelligence officials said the strike on Sunday came in the Mana area of North Waziristan.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
The officials said the area is dominated by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a commander whose forces often target US troops in Afghanistan, but they did not know whether his men were targeted.
The first strike which targeted a compound had killed at least six beturbanned goons in Shuwedar village in Shawal district on Saturday.
Pakistain had strongly protested the US drone attacks in North Waziristan on Saturday morning.
It was the fourth drone attack since the start of the Moslem fasting month of Ramazan and the second since Pakistain's spymaster, Lieutenant General Zaheer ul-Islam, visited Washington earlier this month.
Islam's talks with his CIA counterpart were also said to have focused on drone strikes.
Attacks by unmanned American aircraft are deeply unpopular in Pakistain, which says they violate its illusory sovereignty and fan anti-US sentiment, but US officials are said to believe the attacks are too important to give up.
The latest attacks were in the same region where a drone strike on June 4 killed 15 krazed killers, including senior al-Qaeda figure Abu Yahya al-Libi.
In protest at US drone attacks, local Taliban and Pak warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur have banned vaccinations in North and South Waziristan, putting 240,000 children in the region at risk.
They have condemned the immunisation campaign as a cover for espionage. In May, a Pak doctor was tossed in the calaboose Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! for 33 years after helping the CIA find the late Osama bin Laden ... who went titzup one dark and stormy night... using a hepatitis vaccination programme as cover.
There has been a dramatic increase in US drone strikes in Pakistain since May, when a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... summit in Chicago could not strike a deal to end a six-month blockade on convoys transporting supplies to coalition forces in Afghanistan.
On July 3 however, Islamabad agreed to end the blockade after the United States apologised for the deaths of 24 Pak soldiers in botched air strikes last November.
#1
it's getting busy out there - pretty soon they're gonna need air traffic controllers just to stop these drones from hitting each other. Hahahahaha!!!
I dunno how much longer Pakistan is going to put up with these drone attacks. Whoever is selecting targets - better get their top priorities done NOW. Pakistan is getting a real weird feeling about it ... like the current Gov't is not going to survive. It's just getting too strange over there.
[Hurriyet Daily News] Suspected members of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) staged simultaneous attacks last night on a cop shoppe and a special security branch office in the southeastern province of Şırnak, injuring one policeman, Anatolian news agency reported.
The maimed officer was taken to Şırnak State Hospital while an operation was launched to apprehend the jihad boys, who used heavy weapons in the attack.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a hurried meeting of his closest advisors. It was to be his last. They discussed the officers's efficiency rating system... a specialist sergeant was maimed yesterday when PKK fighters remotely detonated a landmine in the eastern province of Hakkari, Doğan news agency reported.
The blast occurred at around 11.00 a.m. in the province's Yüksekova district as security forces were conducting an operation to locate possible mines on a road to nearby Dağlıca.
Another group of Orcs and similar vermin also set six trucks on fire on the road between Bitlis and Van provinces after stopping vehicles and checking the ID cards of passengers at around 9 p.m. yesterday, according to reports.
Suicide bomber captured
A jacket wallah was also captured by police in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır yesterday, according to reports.
The prospective female suicide bomber, who is believed to be a suspected member of the PKK, was reportedly preparing an attack and had taken drugs when she was apprehended by police.
The jihad boy, who came to the city from a rural area to launch the attack during the Ramazan bayram holiday, was incarcerated Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! for questioning by police.
One policeman killed
Elsewhere, a policeman tasked with providing security at the Edremit Container Town was killed in an attack by PKK Orcs and similar vermin on Aug. 17 in the eastern province of Van, according to Doğan news agency
.
Militants opened fire from a car and heavily maimed the policeman, Abdurrahman Doğan, who was temporary appointed to the container town which is housing victims of last year's deadly earthquakes in the area.
The policeman was taken to hospital but could not be saved. A funeral for Doğan was held yesterday in the eastern province of Bitlis.
#1
Over at WAFF, some GREECE-TURKEY FORUM POSTERS claim that Ankara = Turkish Army is having serious domestic difficulties controlling roads, urban areas, + gener defeating Kurdish fighters???
#3
gyptian President Muhammad Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, swiftly and unexpectedly replaced the pro-US chiefs of staff of Egypts armed forces, and he also installed pro-Brotherhood journalists as editors of Egypts top newspapers.
Appears Morsi has learned a great deal from watching the Champ.
#5
See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > EGYPTIAN ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSLES REPORTED IN SINAI | [Israel NN] ... ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSLES CAN ONLY BE INTENDED FOR ISRAELI JETS AS SINAI TERRORISTS DON'T HAVE JETS.
Armed gunnies opened fire Sunday morning, the first day of Eid, on worshippers attending a mosque in Afghanistan's eastern Kapisa province, local officials said.
Two gunnies were killed and one other was maimed in return fire from security personnel at the mosque, the media front man for the police 202 Shamshad zone told TOLOnews Sunday.
Local men from Kapisa had gathered for prayer at a mosque in the Mulayan area of Kapisa's Najrab distract on the first of the holy days of Eid when the gunnies opened fire.
None of the worshippers were harmed, but one of the security forces who returned fire was maimed, the front man said.
The front man declined to be named.
No group, including the Taliban, grabbed credit for the gun attack.
A group of about 50 demonstrators from western Myanmar gathered in Rangoon on Sunday to demonstrate against UN assistance for stateless Rohingya Muslims. The ethnic Rakhine convened near the regional parliament building in Rangoon holding banners reading "Stop Creating Conflicts" and "Don't Bring Terrorists To Our Land".
Zaw Aye Maung, a politician representing the mostly Buddhist ethnic group, said, "We're calling for an end to discrimination by the UN against the Rakhine people." He said the rally had official approval.
Fighting between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine state has left about 80 people dead on both sides since June, according to an official estimate, although rights groups fear the real figures are much higher.
Speaking a language similar to one in neighboring Bangladesh, the Rohingya are seen by many Burmese and their government as illegal immigrants. Bangladesh has turned away Rohingya who attempted to flee the violence.
Twenty four political parties in Myanmar have urged the UN to replace its human rights envoy to the country saying he is biased in favor of the Rohingya.
#1
Wow, at least 50 people on earth actually get it! "Stop creating conflicts!" The UN isn't about peace--it's about stirring up nationalist fervor & splintering existing states.
Posted by: American Delight ||
08/20/2012 6:12
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Top||
A senior Taliban leader was captured in a joint Afghan and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... operation in Chahar Bolak district of northern Balkh province on Friday, Isaf said in a statement today.
The commander who was placed in long-term storage Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! acquired weapons, explosives and funds for Orcs and similar vermin in the area, and directed and led attacks against Afghan and coalition forces, according to the statement. He was also responsible for using extortion and other forms of intimidation against Afghan civilians.
The statement added that a joint force also tossed in the calaboose Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! several Orcs and similar vermin during an operation to capture Haqqani-affiliated bully boyz in Baraki Barak district of Pashtun-infested Logar province today. One cut-thoat was killed during the operation after he threatened to attack members of the joint force.
Haqqani-affiliated Orcs and similar vermin are believed to be responsible for directing attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in Pashtun-infested Logar .
During the operation, the security force also discovered a weapons cache that included multiple heavy weapons, ammunition, improvised bomb components, and a large amount of homemade explosive.
An air operation launched by coalition forces in eastern Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... on Saturday killed 52 Death Eaters, including a Taliban capo, a police official said.
Spokesman for the 202 Shamshad police zone said in a statement that the air operation, which took place yesterday in the Chapah Darah district of Kunar, killed the local Taliban capo Atiqullah along with 52 others.
TOLOnews contacted the Kunar police commander and the provincial front man for comment but neither was responding to calls on Sunday.
Greece must remain in the euro to survive according to its finance minister, as the countrys leader prepares for a week of crucial meetings with eurozone leaders which could ultimately determine its fate.
Greece must remain in the euro to survive according to its finance minister, as the countrys leader prepares for a week of crucial meetings with eurozone leaders which could ultimately determine its fate.
Yannis Stournaras said the country must press ahead with the spending cuts demanded by its fellow eurozone members because its membership of the single currency was essential.
We have to stay alive and remain under the umbrella of the euro, because that is the only choice that can protect us from a poverty that we have not experienced, Mr Stournaras said yesterday.
If we dont take the measures ... then our stay in the euro is threatened. We have the most expensive welfare state in the eurozone. We can no longer maintain it with borrowed money.
However, Greece is likely to face more pressure on meeting its targets according to German reports that it will need 14bn of spending cuts over the next two years to meet the demands made by its international lenders, 2.5bn more than originally thought.
The bigger financing gap was the result of setbacks to privatisation plans and an economy even weaker than expected.
#3
We have the most expensive welfare state in the eurozone
Says it all, really. Not to worry though, Germany will look after them. A guilty conscious is a beautiful thing to exploit.
[An Nahar] A suspected al-Qaeda jacket wallahwent kaboom!" early Sunday in southern Yemen killing the commander of a local pro-army militia and wounding six people, a government official told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Two children were among the maimed in the town of Mudiya in the restive southern province of Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... , the official said.
"An Al-Qaeda suicide bomber managed to enter a home used as a base by the Popular Resistance Committees and activated an explosives belt killing the local commander Nasser Ali Mansur and wounding six," he said.
The committees have recently become a target for al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons who were forced to flee Abyan in June following battles led by the army, with the local hard boyz backing them up.
A doctor in Aden told AFP he had helped evacuate three of the maimed from a hospital in the Abyan city of Loden to a bigger facility in Aden "because they are at death's door."
The attack came hours after suspected al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons killed 19 soldiers in a rocket attack and suicide kaboom on Saturday that targeted intelligence headquarters in Aden, the main southern city in Yemen.
Also Sunday, an official told AFP that Yemeni authorities have freed a leading southern separatist days after he was tossed in the clink Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! on his arrival in Aden after spending several years in self-imposed exile.
Former ambassador Ahmed al-Hassani, who has lived in Britannia since 2006 as a political refugee, was tossed in the clink Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! at dawn on Wednesday at the airport after arriving on-board a flight from Beirut.
Hassani was freed overnight Saturday on the express orders of President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, the official said.
Hassani is the secretary general of the Southern Democratic Assembly.
Three foreign soldiers died in the blast from an improvised bomb (IED) in eastern Afghanistan Sunday morning, the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... -led Isaf said in a statement.
The nationality of the soldiers and the exact location of the incident were not disclosed in the statement, as per Isaf protocol.
There was no mention of whether any other soldiers were maimed in the blast.
IED blasts are responsible for around half the deaths of foreign soldiers killed in hostile action in the last five years.
Of the 238 soldiers killed by hostile attacks this year, 108 deaths or 45 percent were IED blasts.
Sunday's losses bring to 306 the total number of foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan in 2012.
Only a quarter of the Armys officers and enlisted soldiers believe the nations largest military branch is headed in the right direction a survey response that is the lowest on record and reflects what some in the service call a crisis in confidence.
The detailed annual survey by a team of independent researchers found that the most common reasons cited for the bleak outlook were ineffective leaders at senior levels, a fear of losing the best and the brightest after a decade of war, and the perception, especially among senior enlisted soldiers, that the Army is too soft and lacks sufficient discipline.
The study, ordered by the Center for Army Leadership at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, also found that one in four troops serving in Afghanistan rated morale either low or very low, part of a steady downward trend over the last five years.
But the most striking finding is widespread disagreement with the statement that the Army is headed in the right direction to prepare for the challenges of the next 10 years.
In 2011, [active duty] agreement to this statement hit an all-time low, according to the survey results, a copy of which were provided to The Boston Globe. Belief that the Army is headed in the right direction is positively related to morale.
In 2010, about 33 percent of those surveyed didnt agree with the statement; the number was 38 percent in 2006.
The apparent lack of confidence poses a new set of challenges to the Army as it undergoes budget cuts and shrinks its ranks. The Armys top officer, General Raymond T. Odierno, says he is taking the findings to heart.
A major concern that the survey identified was whether the Army would be able to keep top-notch leaders as it cuts its ranks, as well as fears it would be stretched too thin to meet unforeseen demands. Junior officers were particularly concerned about retaining good leaders.
The active-duty Army, which is currently about 570,000 strong, is preparing to reduce its ranks by about 90,000 soldiers in the coming years, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down and the Pentagon budget is subject to a government-wide belt-tightening.
At senior level the politicians start to out number the leaders. Hell, the number of managers clearly out number the leaders.
Anyone one want to fill in the blanks?
Number of active divisions in WWII?
Number of general officers in WWII?
Number of active divisions [or equivalent] today?
Number of general officers today?
#3
How about OPTEMPO all out of proportion to the size of the force, a meaningless commitment to wars that will be dismissed as useless in the near future, the waste of national treasure into countries that only suck out our money into their correupt maw and conspire to harm us even as it flows, and a silly force structure that makes conventional forces quasi-MPs, but degrades the preparedness for the main enemy, China, and is ill prepared to fight a force of near comparable strength and capabilities, since everything we face is stolen technology from us. ANd into this, when was the last time, as P2K asks, has there been a led to leader ratio this low? I have friends that are on their 4th deployment in 10 years, and they wonder what's the point?
A kaboom in a graveyard of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province on Sunday morning killed two civilians and injured at least seven more, mainly women and kiddies, a local official said Sunday.
The blast happened in a cemetery of the southern province's main city Lashkar Gah, in the Sufiyan area, as crowds of people arrived to visit the graves of relatives on the first day of Eid, the front man for Helmand police Farid Ahmad Farhang told TOLOnews.
He said that the casualties were mainly women and kiddies.
Helmand hospital officials confirmed the incident and that two were killed, but said that at least 10 others were being treated for injuries.
[Ma'an] Egyptian police and army officers incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... five people, including Paleostinians, in two military operations after dawn on Saturday in the northern Sinai peninsula.
Forces jugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! two Paleostinians who had been under surveillance for some time in the Safa district of Sinai city el-Arish, Egyptian security officials said.
Security officers found quantities of drugs, but no weapons, during the campaign, which took place at dawn on Saturday.
The suspects were transferred to the Security Directorate of North Sinai to complete legal proceedings.
Egyptian forces also incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... a man suspected of firing 15 rocket propelled grenades at Egyptian forces during the storming of a house in Sheikh Zuwaid on Wednesday.
Forces also seized two members of Islamist group Takfir and Jihad during the operation in Bab Sidot village near Rafah.
Three Egyptian coppers and a soldier were maimed when their vehicles came under fire from RPG rockets while returning from Rafah to el-Arish, the officials added.
"The forces were entrapped by gunnies when they were returning from a raid in Rafah ... one armored vehicle was targeted by a rocket," the source said. They could not identify or pursue the attackers, he added.
Egypt has launched a crackdown against suspected Islamist cut-throats in Sinai since an Aug. 5 attack on a military position that killed 16 Egyptian troops, by gunnies Israel killed after they subsequently stormed the Israeli border.
Egypt blamed the border attack on "Islamic myrmidons" and has launched a joint army-police operation that has raided myrmidon hideouts, jugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! their members and seized weapons.
Disorder has been spreading in turbulent North Sinai, a region awash with guns that has felt neglected by the central government since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... last year in a popular uprising. Mubarak's government had worked closely with Israel to keep the border region under control.
A Sinai-based Islamist myrmidon organization, the Salafi Jihadi Group, warned the Egyptian army last week that the crackdown on jihadists in the area would force it to fight back.
A bit of silliness as we wait for the end of Eid week and the beginning of the normal Mid Eastern nonsense. More at the link, in proper alphabetical order.
Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub recently thanked the International Olympic Committee for refusing to hold a minute of silence in memory of the 11 Israeli athletes murdered by PLO terrorists at the Munich Olympic games in 1972, saying that such a commemoration would have been "racism."
This confused me, as the refusal to honor those victims is what seemed to be racist. So I embarked on a lexicographic study of Palestinian English. It turns out that Palestinian activists and their allies have indeed invented a parallel language, which I call Palestinese.
This lexicon is the fruit of my research.
Aboriginal/Native: Any non-Jew, preferably Arab, who has immigrated to Israel/Palestine within the last 150 years or is a remnant of Arab colonial conquests. For example, Yasser Arafat and Edward Said who were both born in Egypt are "Native" Palestinians.
Apartheid: The only system in the Middle East which is democratic and grants Arab citizens full equality under the law, including the right to become a Justice of the Supreme Court, an ambassador, a military officer or a Minister in the Cabinet., i.e. a form of "Racism." Not to be confused with the widespread discrimination and exclusion of Palestinians on ethnic grounds in Lebanon, which is not "Apartheid."
Apartheid Wall: A separation fence erected in response to countless terror attacks in order to protect both Jews and Muslims from suicide bombings as a manifestation of "Zionist Aggression."
Checkpoint: An absolutely gratuitous, cruel and malicious security measure erected in the West Bank in response to years of deadly suicide bombings, to be equated with the worst forms of human torture. Not to be confused with security checkpoints at airports and international borders which, though identical in the inconveniences they cause, are perfectly acceptable.
Civilian: An armed Palestinian terrorist in the act of planning or staging a terror attack who is targeted or killed by Israel.
Concession: The state that should perpetually be inhabited by Israel as part of "Peace."
Collaborator: Any Palestinian who is murdered by Fatah or Hamas for espousing beliefs that fall short of unbending hatred of "Zionists." Not to be confused with "Martyr." E.g., Hamid was thrown off of a building for criticizing Hamas' inadequate maintenance of Gaza's sewer system; he was a "Collaborator."
Compassion: A human weakness to be exploited through lies and fabrications in order to demonize Israel. E.g., "Zionists" kill puppies for fun.
#1
So I embarked on a lexicographic study of Palestinian English. It turns out that Palestinian activists and their allies have indeed invented a parallel language, which I call Palestinese.
A parallel universe also.
Israel is the only democracy in the Mideast. My wife was talking to her cousin in Israel on the phone. He said Israel is a country with 7 million Prime Ministers.
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.
President Asif Ali Zardari has ordered his Interior Ministry to look into the recent arrest of a young Christian girl accused of violating Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law by desecrating pages from the Koran.
News of Ramsha's alleged actions enraged neighbors, 
"Blasphemy by anyone cannot be condoned, 
ALCON
[Jerusalem Post] Move comes days after two rockets shake the Red Sea resort city, apparently fired from the Sinai Peninsula; IDF spokesmen says deployment is part of national plan to test anti-rocket system around the country.
Unemployment was supposed to be 6 percent by now. It has averaged 8.2 percent this year so far. Meanwhile real median annual household income has dropped more than 5 percent since June 2009. Nearly 110 million individuals received a welfare benefit in 2011, mostly Medicaid or food stamps.
[Dawn] THE political stability given to Turkey by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has not served to lessen the intensity of the country's ideological polarisation.
[Dawn] ISLAMABAD, Aug 19: Millions of people in the country, who were busy exchanging greetings through SMS, received a rude shock on the eve of Eidul Fitr when mobile phone service in some of the main cities was suspended on the direct orders of the federal government.
[Dawn] LAHORE: The 
Wazoo
Armed 
A senior Taliban leader was captured in a joint Afghan and 
An air operation launched by coalition forces in eastern 
Three foreign soldiers died in the blast from an improvised 
