- this is from al alam news
I've only posted the beginning of the preamble
Geneva, 24 November 2013
Joint Plan of Action
Preamble
The goal for these negotiations is to reach a mutually-agreed long-term comprehensive solution that would ensure Iran's nuclear programme will be exclusively peaceful. Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek or develop any nuclear weapons.
This comprehensive solution would build on these initial measures and result in a final step for a period to be agreed upon and the resolution of concerns. This comprehensive solution would enable Iran to fully enjoy its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes under the relevant articles of the NPT in conformity with its obligations therein. This comprehensive solution would involve a mutually defined enrichment programme with practical limits and transparency measures to ensure the peaceful nature of the programme. This comprehensive solution would constitute an integrated whole where nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. This comprehensive solution would involve a reciprocal, step-by-step process, and would produce the comprehensive lifting of all UN Security Council sanctions, as well as multilateral and national sanctions related
to Iran's nuclear programme. The inspection situation is not as weak as I feared; however, the sanctions relief is far more than I thought Iran deserved
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/24/2013
13:23 ||
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#1
[A]lthough the headline rate of pay for reservists is marginally lower than regular soldiers, the true cost of sending them into action greatly increases when training for battle-readiness is taken into consideration.The study found that over a 10-year period it would cost £2,910 a week to deploy a reservist, more than double the £1,258 for a regular soldier.
Logic dictates that, the better a reservist is trained, the lower the level of casualties of both the reservists and regulars, and lower the level of material losses.
Considering the lack of consideration for the former (and the latter not thought about at all,) one assumes that logic has taken a very long furlough.
#2
Notice if you will, the cost and lengthy time required of training raw recruits is not mentioned. No mention made as well of the number of experienced veterans retained in the Territorials.
#3
If those who count beans used logic, they'd eventually figure out that the growing cost of military aircraft versus the defense budget would project a point where the military could only afford one aircraft which could be shared on alternating days between the air force and navy, with leap day given to the marines.
Note to bean counters - it's better to error and have a ton too much ablative material on your reentry shield than a pound too little.
#4
I doubt the Marines would ever accept an aircraft adopted by Army or USAF P2k. But to Marine's credit, they can probably pay for any aircraft they want by continuing to avoid the Army and USAF Uniform Board fiascos.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2013 17:09
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The scam is that all of these extra costs were preventable. The prior Tory government slashed training for the Territorials "in order to save costs." I remember wondering what that hell they thought the units would be good for.
All they have to do is train the Territorials to the old Cold War standard, and the problem will disappear.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/24/2013 18:08
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They can't be idiots of the year: the year ain't over yet...
As if paranormal investigators didn't have a hard enough time already, what with never being able to prove the existence of ghosts on any of their tv shows, now a group of them have destroyed a rich piece of Louisiana history by setting fire to a 160 year old plantation. Everyone knows the way to make ghosts appear is by setting fir to the building.
The suspects told authorities that they snuck into the Lebeau Plantation in order to investigate claims that the building was haunted. I seen the ghosts my own self!
Unfortunately for everyone, many news outlets reported that these ghost hunters had more in common with Shaggy and Scooby than with Fred and Velma, because instead of actually solving any mysteries they just got wrecked on cheap weed and cheaper beer. Cheep weed exists? Who knew?
Then they accidentally set fire to the building. Hey, Vern. You see what I see? No, gimmie some more of that cheep weed. Now I see it.
By the time police showed up to the plantation at around 2am, the building was fully engulfed in flames. All 7 men were arrested and charged with arson, burglary and criminal damage over $50,000.
Put them in an electric chair on trickle charge for a couple of days.
This is devastating loss to the community," Fire Chief Thomas Stone said. "It's a fire chief's worst nightmare."
Fortunately, there were no casualties in the blaze, aside from the enjoyment of a historical location by future generations."
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/24/2013
10:53 ||
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#1
G-d damn them. I don't have the heart to read more now, but if they aren't hipster carpetbagger muthabastids I'll eat a hi-hat. On the bright side, one can imagine prompt poetic justice in a sane parallel universe.
#2
The idiot of the years is the US taxpayer. These guys don't even rate to the stupidity we the voting taxpayer are allowing to happen in this country. But like those dopers looking for ghosts, we are getting what we deserved. Now we have to hope we can survive the change.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/24/2013 16:28
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Feed them to the 'gators.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
11/24/2013 16:59
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Are you sure it was not chief Thomas Stone dressed as a ghost who set the fire? It is always the first person shaggy and scooby meet that is the real villain.
#5
#2 These guys don't even rate to the stupidity we the voting taxpayer are allowing to happen in this country.
When you're right, you're right. I'd still like to strap these cats to an unlit bonfire and let 'em sweat for a while, before drowning them in the freezing river. I like rickety old buildings.
The idiot of the week/month/year should be a group portrait of all of the useful idiots that agreed to that ghastly agreement with the mullahs in Iran.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
11/24/2013 20:08
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[NY Post] People are puzzled: Why would Barack Obama have lied about how wonderfully everything was going to go with ObamaCare when officials in his administration knew perfectly well that disaster was going to strike? Puzzled? Some people are puzzled possibly, others however, not so much.
In one sense, the answer is simple: At the time, just before Oct. 1, Republicans were insisting ObamaCare be delayed or defunded. The president and his team werent going to give the enemy the satisfaction of agreeing or the potent ammunition that would have come from a rueful admission the system wasnt ready. And yes, they do see anyone who disagrees with them as "the enemy".
Today, a bipartisan agreement to delay ObamaCare seems like it would have been a pretty good deal. It didnt look that way at all in the last two weeks of September. A massive tax raise and government money grab just prior to an election is never seen as "a good deal" by a politician, regardless of the party.
But theres a deeper reason he and his people lied: They did it because they could. They did it because nearly five years in the White House had given Obama and his team confidence they would not face the music and they could finesse the problems until they got fixed. Yes, "they could" simply because the party of Urban America, Holder, and big Government have successfully destroyed the rule of law and the Congress of the people. Angry white man's law, polite rules and ethics of western society, they must go. The needs of the collective and the village are far more important. Think tribal community organizer and you'll gain a full appreciation. The Champ will indeed eventually "move away form the scandal" just like he has all the rest. The first American president of his kind cannot and will not fail, revisionist history will not permit it. As Oprah has opined, re-education is futile and all who oppose him must be led away to the gulags.
#2
Truly he does not care that it fails. He has hurt the middle class. That was his goal. The only people hurt from this are the people that were actually paying for insurance. Now the working class will not be covered and eventually dependent on the government for help. This is a win/win for him.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/24/2013 16:21
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Karma has a way of coming around and biting you. You don't achieve your aims, whatever they are, by duplicity, lying and subterfuge without paying a price down the road.
#4
Iff the DemoLeft didn't remove POTUS Clinton for admitting that he was POTUS twice by election fraud, + don't impeach or remove the Bammer for knowingly + PUBLICLY lying about Obamacare, WHY SHOULD THESE POLS CARE IFF RADICAL MUSLIM JIHADIS EXPLODE A NUKE(S) OR OTHER WMDS IN AMERIKAN CITIES, OR THE MOTHERLY PLA AIRBORNE WALK DOWN EN MASSE OVER A BURNING WASHINGTON D.C AS PER SO MANY "RED DAWN II" POSTERS???
Syrian activists say at least 24 rebels have died in battle for a military base near a northern opposition-held city but that government troops have managed to hold on to it.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assads government launched an assault on the base northeast of the city of Raqqa on Wednesday. Rami Abdurrahman, the Observatory chief, says sporadic clashes are still underway on Friday for the complex, known as Base 17, and that at least 24 fighters have been killed in battle.
In February, Raqqa was the first city to fall entirely under rebel control since Syrias crisis erupted in March 2011.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2013
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#2
Obama is very good at bending over. Lots of pictures of him bowing ( deeply ). What a guy, he's almost ( dare I say it ) Messianic ?
Grovel and wag your tail if you agree.
#5
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal offers up the view the view of an experienced negotiator from the Middle East -- that U.S. President Barack Obama is outmatched by the Islamic Republic of Iran Theres no confidence in the Obama administration doing the right thing with Iran
I'd tend to agree with the Prince. But then again, Obama did say to Putin he would have more flexibility after the 2012 elections. Horse face Kerry is selling the deal to the U.S. on "Disgrace the Nation" now.
#7
Alwaleed suggested that it may ultimately be the Iranian leadership itself that saves the day, by rejecting a compromise offer it sees as unacceptably tough -- but one that Irans Israeli and Arab adversaries see as unacceptably accommodating.
Narcissism breeds predictability. In terms of negotiation, President Obamas definition of success has always been and will always be 'everyone gets something but no one gets everything they want'. At first glance that may seem reasonable until one recognizes his true objective. And that is to appear to be doing something while avoiding any difficult decisions that could possibly damage him personally in the future. And everyone knows it.
#8
Someone (magician guy The Amazing Randi?) once said smart people were easier to fool since they think they can't be tricked. And of course, con men have long known that one ingredient for a successful con is a mark who wants to believe.
[Dawn] Unknown persons set ablaze a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... container near 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... 's Dasht area in the outskirts of Quetta on Saturday.
Police sources said that cycle of violence-riding-gunnies opened fire near Quetta's Sibi road on the Chaman-bound truck carrying a NATO container from Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
Although there were no human casualties in the incident but the container caught fire as a result of the firing.
By the time fire brigade, rescue and security teams reached the spot the container had completely burnt down.
Paperwork was started but nothing else was done against unknown persons as police began investigations into the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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MOGADISHU -- Federal Government of Somalias Minister of Justice Abdullahi Abyan Nur has declared that a dispute among Somali National Army (SNA) divisions in Lower Shabelle region of southern Somalia degenerated into deadly battle this week, Garowe Online reports.
Speaking to the media in Mogadishu Minister Nur, a member of reconciliation committee that was deployed in the region said the government launched investigations into the incident in an effort to resolve the recurring clan conflicts.
We succeeded to relocate [Somali Government Forces] to their previous positions and following collected reports we are planning to identify the group who is responsible for the fighting, Nur told reporters on Thursday.
The justice minister alongside a ministerial delegation including Interior and National Security Minister Abdikarin Hussein Guled and Defence Minister Abdihakin Haji Mohamud Fiqi Wednesday toured K.50 area, about 50km west of Mogadishu where the fighting had taken place for two days.
On Sunday afternoon, heavy battle broke out between local militiamen and Somali Government forces reportedly led by Gen. Mohamed Roble Jimale Gobale, a close associate of former warlord Yusuf Mohamed Siyad Indhaade leaving over dozen dead according to witnesses.
Lower Shabelle region has been a spot for armed confrontations between Somali Government forces along clan loyalties. On July 24, Somali Government troops belonging to Biyamal and Habar Gedir clans fought each other over regional influence.
The UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea said in a confidential report in July that the 3rd Brigade of the Somali National Army (SNA) whose composition is mainly drawn from Habar Gedir sub-clan of Hawiye controls the Afgoye-Marka area of Lower Shabelle region.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2013
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[Dawn] The United States and Pakistain agreed on Friday to continue a strong defence partnership and bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation even after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan next year.
In a joint statement issued after the 22nd meeting of the US-Pakistain Defence Consultative Group, the United States also recognised Pakistain's support for "promoting reconciliation", a reference to Islamabad's efforts for encouraging talks between Taliban leaders and Afghan officials.
Both agreed that Pakistain-US defence partnership was vital to regional and international security and that it should continue to endure and grow in the years ahead. "Both delegations welcomed continued efforts to strengthen bilateral cooperation based on mutual interests and trust. Both delegations acknowledged that bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation has been critical to weakening violent bully boyz and agreed that it will continue after 2014," the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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#1
IOW, the US will continue to give the the Pak military money, and the Pak military will continue to use it to fund groups that attack US interests.
[Al Ahram] The 50-Member Committee tasked with finalising Egypt's new constitution is in the final days of its work. The committee is expected to put the new constitution to a final vote among its members at the end of this week, or early next week.
According to Mohammed Salmawy, the official media spokesperson of the committee, the committee is expected to finish its task by 3 December -- or few days ahead of this deadline.
Salmawy told Ahram Online that the committee has drafted most of the constitution's articles. "The number of the new constitution's articles is expected to stand at 242 articles, with six articles more than the constitution drafted by an Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly last year and 31 articles more than the 1971 Constitution (whose total articles stood at 211)," said Salmawy.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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[Al Ahram] Israeli soldiers met the demonstrators with hot lead in the West Bank north of Ramallah on Saturday, wounding four of them, Paleostinian medical sources said.
The shooting happened near a refugee camp at Jalazon during a protest against stone-throwing attacks by Israeli settlers on Paleostinian vehicles, the sources said. What's the Hebrew word for "intifada?"
Paleostinian security sources, meanwhile, said that three Paleostinians have been tossed in the slammer Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! by Israeli forces near the security barrier separating the Jewish state from the Gazoo Strip.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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Iran is planning to construct two new nuclear power plants in the near future, the Fars News Agency quoted a senior Iranian nuclear official as saying Saturday.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has put construction of the second and third (nuclear) power stations on its agenda due to the governments programs and the emphasis laid by the President (Hassan Rouhani), Fars quoted AEOI Deputy Chief Hossein Khalfi as saying. Iran currently has one such operational nuclear power plant at Bushehr.
The announcement came as Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers were negotiating a deal in Geneva that would see Tehran curb its controversial nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Iranian officials said in April that they planned to build more nuclear reactors at the Bushehr site, which is located in a highly seismic area on Iran's Gulf coast and began operations in 2011 after decades of delays.
Seismic zone and Russian design and Iranian construction. What could go wrong?
The Bushehr site is capable of holding six power reactors and Tehran has identified 16 sites elsewhere in the country suitable for other atomic plants.
The Bushehr reactor is not suspected of serving a military function, however Iran's Gulf neighbors have expressed safety concerns over the plant's location in an area prone to earthquakes.
No military function except for the plutonium that's diverted...
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2013
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[Al Ahram] Gunmen killed 12 people in a raid on a northeastern Nigerian village on Saturday, the police said, in a region where troops are battling an Islamist Death Eater insurgency.
The attack was in a part of Borno state regularly targeted by Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... , an Islamist sect that has killed thousands in the last four years.
"About 30 fully gunnies in three Hilux vehicles and cycle of violences stormed the Sandiya village and started chanting Allahu Akbar (God is greatest), before opening fire on the helpless," local resident Modu Judum told Rooters.
State Commissioner of Police Tanko Lawal confirmed 12 people were killed in the attack, houses were set ablaze and vehicles were stolen. He did not say who the attackers were.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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[Yemen Post] A senior Interior Ministry official confirmed to the Yemen Post that UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar escaped an liquidation attempt Friday evening while his convoy was on Shurta St. of the capital Sanaa.
A top National Dialogue official and Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is "God is Great, Death to America", Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews" ... spokesperson Hasan Al-Hamran confirmed the attack on the UN envoy and the NDC secretary general to Yemen Post.
The official said that National Dialogue Conference (NDC) Secretary General Dr Ahmed Ben Mubarak was with the UN envoy at the time of the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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[An Nahar] Pakistain rustics were negotiating on Saturday to release seven 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... workers who were kidnapped earlier this week by a hard boy group from the northwestern Khyber tribal district, officials said.
Authorities said the workers were kidnapped on Thursday from the Bara area by Lashkar-e-Islam, the hard boy group in the country's Khyber tribal district, while carrying out a polio vaccination campaign.
Two government officials in Khyber said the workers included four teachers of a private school, a male nurse and two volunteers.
"Tribal jirga has started negotiations with Lashkar-e-Islam people. We are hopeful for the early release of polio workers," a senior government official in Bara told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The second official said the abduction occurred in broad daylight when the workers were busy vaccinating the children.
"Now the jirga is requesting them to release the kidnapped workers," the second official said.
Pakistain is one of only three countries in the world where polio is still endemic, but efforts to stamp out the crippling disease have been hit by repeated attacks on health teams.
Militant groups in the restive country have rejected vaccination as a Western plot against Mohammedans and banned teams from giving out polio drops in some areas which has hampered efforts to vaccinate children against polio.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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[Dawn] The editor of a top Indian investigative news magazine faced police questioning Saturday over allegations that he sexually assaulted a young woman colleague in a case that has snowballed into a major scandal.
The allegations hit the headlines due to the prominence of Tarun Tejpal, 50, the founder and editor of the magazine, Tehelka, known for its hard-hitting probes into sexual violence against women, corruption and other lawbreaking.
Police in the holiday state of Goa, where the woman was allegedly assaulted twice by Tejpal, began an inquiry Friday into the incident.
A four-member team of Goa police arrived in New Delhi on Saturday "to collect evidence and question the concerned persons", a Delhi police official told AFP.
"We will fully cooperate with the Goa team," the official said on condition of anonymity.
The preliminary enquiry, also known as a First Information Report, allows police to gather evidence in a case and take a suspect into custody for questioning.
Tejpal announced Wednesday he was quitting his editorial functions at Tehelka for six months after the woman's complaint was leaked to the media.
In the written complaint, of which AFP has a copy, the woman said she had known Tejpal since she was a child and described him as a "father figure".
She said the alleged assault took place inside a lift at a hotel where the magazine held a conference last month billed as India's premier intellectual event.
The woman also alleged that when she protested, Tejpal told her "this was the easiest way for you to keep your job".
In Panjim, the director general of Goa police Kishen Kumar said officers had obtained CCTV footage from the venue and were analysing it.
He would not comment on media reports that Tejpal's arrest was imminent.
In a statement sent to AFP on Friday, Tejpal offered to cooperate with police, saying he would present "all the facts of this incident" to them.
Tejpal, who has since hired a top lawyer to represent him, told The Economic Times in a report published Saturday the incident was "consensual" and "fleeting".
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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[Tolo News] The Ministry of Interior (MoI) in a statement on Friday said 12 Talibs were killed in several coordinated operations conducted by Afghan and coalitions forces around the country.
Three other hard boyz were maimed and eight other were tossed in the calaboose Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! during the operations.
"In past 24 hours, Afghan National Police conducted several anti-terrorism joint operations with Afghan National Army and NDS to clean some of the areas from forces of Evil and enemies of peace and stability of Afghanistan," read the MoI's statement.
The operations were conducted in Kabul, Balkh, Kandahar, Maidan Wardak, Pashtun-infested Logar, Nimroz and Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... provinces.
Light and heavy rounds ammunition was confiscated.
The forces were also said to have defused two anti-vehicle mines placed by enemies of Afghanistan for destructive activities in Helmand province.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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[Dawn] The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) grabbed credit Saturday for twin kabooms in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... overnight that killed at least seven people and maimed at least 28 others.
Shahidullah Shahid, a front man for umbrella group TTP, told AFP that the attacks in Karachi were carried out in Dire Revenge™ for violence in Rawalpindi on November 15.
He said the attacks were aimed at Shias in Karachi, and vowed further violence.
"It was to avenge the Rawalpindi incident, we will carry out more such attacks to avenge the killing of Sunnis," Shahid told AFP by telephone from some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location.
Fighting erupted in the garrison-city of Rawalpindi, which neighbours the capital Islamabad, earlier this month when a procession by Shia Musselmens to mark the most important day of the mourning month of Muharram coincided with a sermon at a nearby Sunni mosque.
The groups clashed with each other, TV cameramen and security forces.
Officials said 11 people were killed and more than 60 injured while a Sunni mosque and seminary and an adjacent cloth market were burnt, with Sunni groups blaming Shia protesters.
Thousands of people in major cities across the country, including Karachi, protested amid high security on Friday after Sunni groups called for demonstrations against the Rawalpindi violence.
The kabooms overnight in Karachi Friday took place within minutes of each other in the city's bustling, predominantly Shia neighbourhood of Ancholi.
Karachi, a city of 18 million people which contributes 42 per cent of Pakistain's GDP, is rife with murder and kidnappings and has been plagued with sectarian, ethnic, and political violence for years.
The TTP has been behind hundreds of bomb and gun attacks that have fanned instability in Pakistain, killing more than 6,500 soldiers, police and civilians since 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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[Dawn] Khan Wasey, the front man for Frontier Crops told Dawn.com that security forces conducted an operation in Bakhtiarabad area of Sibi and killed two members of an outlawed organization.
"The forces conducted a raid upon receiving an intelligence report", he said adding that "Major bid of terror is foiled"
Wasey said the forces recovered an explosive-laden cycle of violence from the possession of forces of Evil who were planning to detonate the explosives in Sibi to carry out a major terror act targeting government officials.
Sibi and adjoining districts are considered to be the sensitive districts.
Militants have been targeting the security forces and vital national installations since more than ten years ago.
This operation has come two days after more than one dozen people were killed in a series of kabooms and assassinations in Quetta and other parts 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...
The incidents prompted the Balochistan government to tighten security in Quetta and all troubled parts of the province.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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[An Nahar] Angolan police fired tear gas Saturday at hundreds of demonstrators who were protesting in the capital Luanda against the killing of two young opposition activists, an Agence La Belle France Presse journalist witnessed.
The demonstrators, some wearing T-shirts with the slogan "stop kidnappings and torture", were marching towards the Angolan capital's center when police moved in to disperse the crowd.
Opposition party Unita called the hartal rally over the deaths of two activists, who disappeared in May 2012 while organizing an anti-government protest.
After months of silence, Angola justice said last week that it had identified four suspects who had allegedly kidnapped and killed the two young men.
But information circulating on social networks claimed links to Angolan secret services.
Ruling party MPLA has condemned Unita's protest call, saying the opposition was seeking to create "chaos and anarchy".
Separately, another opposition party, Casa said that one of its activists was killed early Saturday by presidential security forces after he was tossed in the slammer Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! for putting up posters backing young activists in Luanda.
"About 60 gunnies working with him are still held by police and we are trying to obtain their release," said Casa president Abel Chivukuvuku.
Police were not immediately available for comment.
In the past two years, young Angolans have become increasingly critical of President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, who was last year re-elected for a further five years after 33 years at the head of the oil-rich nation.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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[Al Ahram] Lebanese authorities have identified the second jacket wallah who attacked the Iranian embassy in Beirut this week as a Paleostinian man with ties to a runaway Lebanese Islamist holy man, a security source said on Saturday.
Lebanese authorities had identified the first suicide bomber a day earlier as a Lebanese man with ties to hardline Sunni Musselmen groups.
The source said the second bomber, who lived in southern Leb, was a follower of Ahmed Al-Assir, a firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... Sunni Musselmenholy man whose Death Eater supporters fought a two-day battle with the Lebanese army in June after barricading themselves in a mosque in the southern port city of Sidon.
Assir, a staunch supporter of the revolt in neighbouring Syria, was known for fiery ...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob... sectarian and anti-Iranian rhetoric. He was not found when the army stormed the mosque and has been missing ever since.
Last Tuesday, twin blasts at the embassy killed 23 people, including the Iranian cultural attache, and maimed 146 others. A Lebanese group linked to Al-Qaeda, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, claimed the bombings and threatened more attacks if Iran did not end its involvement in the 2-1/2-year-old Syrian conflict.
Lebanese authorities took the second bomber's father into custody for questioning, the security source said, after discovering that the bomber had ties to Assir.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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North Korea has developed an improved missile with a range of 180-300 km based on the Chinese Silkworm ground-to-ship missile.
"Since 2003, the North has kept testing the new KN-01 ground-to-ship missile," a government source here said Thursday. "It has now completed an improved version and deployed such missiles in South Hwanghae Province."
Until recently the KN-01 was believed to have a range of 160 km, meaning the North has managed to nearly double the range, making it easier to target South Korean ships in the West Sea.
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11/24/2013
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Of course the design engineering has been fed back to the Chinese, if it didn't come from them in the first place.
[An Nahar] Hizbullah official Sheikh Nabil Qaouq urged on Saturday the March 14 camp to realize the dangerousness of "Israeli takfir ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... i terrorism" and lift their protection off Syrian gunnies in Leb.
He remarked: "The other camp should demand the withdrawal of Syrian gunnies from Leb before demanding the pull out of Hizbullah from Syria."
The withdrawal is a positive step towards saving Leb, he added.
He also criticized the political pressure and meddling whenever the army arrests a Syrian gunman or members of al-Qaeda.
"These demands are a real violation of Leb's illusory sovereignty and security and contradict the other camp's calls for keeping the country away from regional disputes," Qaouq said.
Addressing Tuesday's bombing near the Iranian embassy in Beirut's Bir Hassan neighborhood, he remarked: "Some Lebanese sides' justification of this crime at a time when it was internationally condemned places them in the same camp as the takfiris and terrorists."
"Leb has entered a new phase in light of the Bir Hassan bombing," he warned.
"The terrorist takfiris and Israelis have grown desperate after their failure in Syria and they now seek to cause chaos in Leb," explained the Hizbullah official.
He warned Lebanese powers of exploiting the Bir Hassan bombing "because this phase cannot support statements of incitement, but it requires a united national stance aimed at confronting the takfiri terrorist threat that is targeting the whole of Leb."
Twenty-five people were killed and over 145 maimed in twin bombings near the Iranian embassy in the Hizbullah stronghold of Bir Hassan.
An al-Qaeda-affiliated group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, grabbed credit for the attack, saying it is aimed at pressuring Hizbullah to withdraw its fighters from Syria.
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[Yemen Post] Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi hailed Yemen's progress against al-Qaeda, explaining that following months of a relentless nationwide anti-terror campaign, terror bully boyz had started to emigrate toward greener pasture: Syria and Egypt, where insecurity is on the rise.
He noted, ""It's worth mentioning that al-Qaeda is becoming less active in Yemen thanks to the efforts of Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and other Persian Gulf countries in comparison with 2011 and 2012 when al Qaeda members managed to occupy 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... province and even create their own government there."
According to President Hadi, Yemen armed forces would have managed since 2011 to considerably reduced al-Qaeda's traction in the impoverished nation and thus limits its ability to do harm. He noted that the southern province of Abyan, which until 2012 was plagued by terror-related violence, had now been cleared from all al-Qaeda operatives, thanks to a clever alliance of government forces and local tribes.
"As a result of the operation against al-Qaeda, terrorist group members have begun leaving Yemen for other unstable countries such as Syria, Egypt, Maghreb countries and other regions," he emphasized.
Making a point to underscore Yemen' success, President Hadi warned that keeping terror bully boyz at bay will require a global effort. He called on the international community to cooperate more actively on the ground and not simply assume that Yemen will act a barrier for the region.
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[An Nahar] The foreign minister of the Central African Republic on Saturday rejected international warnings that his impoverished, strife-torn country could be headed for genocide. "No, no, certainly not!"
World alarm has grown over the violence wracking the mineral-rich country since a March coup, with the United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... , the United States and former colonial ruler La Belle France all recently cautioning the situation could degenerate into genocide.
But Foreign Minister Leonie Banga Bothy told local radio that the statements were not helping the situation in the country and could have a perverse effect.
"We can't speak of a genocide of an ethnic or social group," he said. "Such statements on an international level can lead people to believe there is an imminent danger and to arm themselves to prepare for this genocide. And that is not what we want.
"The security situation is worrying in certain regions of our country and in several areas of the capital. But a lot of bold and positive measures have been taken. And we hope that in the face of some of the results, we will be able to stabilize the situation in our country.
"To speak of pre-genocide or of genocide, I think this will have perverse effects on the population, which has already suffered a great deal and which at the moment does not need any additional paranoia."
The sprawling country of five million people with a history of coups and rebellions has been beset by strife since the Seleka rebel coalition ousted president Francois Bozize in March and put the country's first Mohammedan leader, President Michel Djotodia, in power in the mostly-Christian country.
The transitional government has little control over the rest of the country where gangs -- the remnants of successive rebellions, mutinies and insurgencies -- hold sway over a people facing atrocities, food shortages and the collapse of health care.
In parts of the country, fighting has broken out between mainly Mohammedan former rebels who seized power in March and militia groups set up to protect Christian communities, which make up about 80 percent of the population. Both churches and mosques have been razed to the ground.
In Bangui, killings have been blamed on ex-rebels of the Seleka coalition led by Djotodia before he dissolved it.
Violence in the city culminated on November 17 with the murder of a leading judge, who was bumped off by former Seleka forces, provoking festivities in which two civilians died.
To curb the unrest, Djotodia on Friday said he was re-instating a curfew in Bangui from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am and on Saturday evening, security forces could be seen on the major intersections of the capital.
The U.N. Security Council plans to vote in early December on a resolution that would allow the CAR's neighbors, the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... and La Belle France to intervene.
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[Libya Herald] More than two thousand gathered in the Abu Harida square to remember the dead of Gharghour massacre and celebrate the thus-far limited pullouts from Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... by armed formations.
There was much chanting in support of the police and national army and against the continued presence of the brigades.
The head of Tripoli Local Council, Sadat Elbadri, who has emerged as a central figure in the drive to clear Tripoli of all militias, gave a speech in which he called for the strike and civil disobedience to continue until the last armed formation leaves the capital.
Elbadri had said that the protest 'was more of a celebration'. However it actually turned into an anti-Zeidan demo, as the organisers and most of the crowd chanted against the prime minister.
Sadat Elbadri came to the podium to amidst shouts of "Zeidan the coward, Sadat is in the square". He had to stop his speech several times because of more chanting by the crowd.
"This is the square that will write the history of Libya" he said, "We are fighting not for the security of Tripoli but for all Libya. This is a message for all the armed formations to leave now. It is the time to build a state and its institutions. The civil disobedience will continue until each and every armed formation is out of the capital".
Elbadri's call to continue the strike bring him into direct confrontation with Zeidan, who just yesterday announced that people should return to work on Sunday and that no local entity had the right to announce the closure of work.
Elbadri also said that the TLC was closely monitoring the movements and withdrawal of brigades, to confirm if the evacuations were real or just for public show. He also thanked the countries that offered to treat the injured of Gharghour tragedy. Elbadri said, "Italia, Britannia, Turkey, Tunis, Greece and Egypt have all offered to treat our injured."
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[Dawn] WHEN we read about Hakeemullah Mehsud's death by drone, some accounts of his final moments mentioned that he was at the gate of his lavish mansion in North Wazoo.
Nobody speculated on how this house was paid for, but my guess would be that the money came from Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... : over the years, the city has become a giant ATM for the Taliban. Instead of plastic cards, however, these snuffies use Kalashnikovs.
To be fair, several political parties protect criminals who have also fastened their hooks into the city like ticks sucking an animal's blood. The result of this free-for-all is a traumatised population living in constant fear.
Hardly anybody I know in Karachi has gone untouched by the daily violence and crime that wrack the city. People use routine evasive measures to try and lessen their risk when they step out of their doors. But all too often, criminals break into houses with impunity. Life and property are at constant risk.
Many keep two wallets and two mobile phones when they leave their homes. One (less valuable) set is to offer gunnies when being mugged. I, too, usually leave my credit cards at home: there have been many horror stories about people being driven from one ATM to the next, pulling out as much cash as possible at gunpoint.
And when it's not the constant danger of a random hold-up at gunpoint, it's the regular payment of bhatta, or protection money, so many businessmen are forced to pay. How pervasive this has become became evident when I stopped to buy flowers the other evening from my local florist.
This is a tiny operation run from a wooden platform on a street corner, so it can hardly be considered a target for gangsters. Nevertheless, the owner said he was forced to pay Rs100 a day. And the nearby shopkeepers were regularly shaken down too.
At the other end of the criminal spectrum, I was told of the kidnapping of a highly successful Karachi industrialist recently. He and his driver were stopped on their way back from his factory in the evening by gunnies, forced into a pickup, and driven blindfolded for a few miles. They were kept there for a couple of days before the driver was released at a distance from the hideout.
The industrialist -- who doesn't want to be identified for obvious reasons -- was then forced into a sack and driven for three days and nights. He describes most of his journey as being over smooth roads, with stretches of unpaved surfaces.
The vehicle was not stopped at the many checkpoints close to the border, but when he emerged from the sack, he was on Afghan territory.
The kidnap victim was kept chained and blindfolded most of the time for over a month; every now and then, he was casually beaten by passing guards.
After weeks of this treatment, his captors negotiated his ransom. Again, he is reluctant to disclose the amount, although it ran into several crores, or tens of millions.
He was then forced into a vehicle and driven far away before being made to walk several miles. Here, his captors called the Karachi number he gave them so he could tell his wife the amount she needed to raise, and the details of the drop-off.
After the call, the mobile phone was destroyed. Significantly, the only thing these kidnappers -- who he was sure were members of the Taliban -- seemed to fear were American drones.
After the money was paid, the businessman was taken back to Karachi the same way he had been driven to Afghanistan. Again, the vehicle went unchallenged. He was dropped at a remote place outside the city from where he made his way home.
Clearly, the Taliban see the value of returning their victims once the ransom has been paid.
In view of Karachi's rising tide of violent crime, I recently asked a very senior police officer of the Sindh government if he had any cure for this plague. He said the crisis could be resolved if three conditions were met.
Firstly, the political interference had to stop. Officers were transferred on whim: if one annoyed a politician, or if some favourite wanted a job, police officials were moved around, irrespective of merit or experience.
While registering a case in a cop shoppe a few years ago, I noticed that the board carrying names and tenures of officers in charge showed that several incumbents had been transferred within three months of taking over.
Next, around 5,000 coppers had been recruited over the last few years either because of their political connections, or because they had paid bribes. Most of these recruits were incompetent, but because of service rules, they couldn't be thrown out without lengthy administrative proceedings.
Finally, and most importantly, the police needed the judiciary's support in fighting crime. Currently, many criminals were either given bail or released on flimsy grounds. Hundreds had been rejugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! for other crimes. Cases took years to reach a conclusion. Witnesses were either too frightened to come forward, or were reluctant to be called to testify again and again as hearings were repeatedly postponed literally for years on end.
Given these handicaps the police are being forced to work under, it is easy to see why crime is so out of control in Karachi. While our police force is widely seen as ineffective, we need to understand the underlying reasons for its impotence in tackling the city's crime wave. Morale and training are issues that need to be improved urgently. When I look at the living and working conditions of our supposed guardians, I can hardly blame them for their poor performance and corruption.
Ultimately, we get the policing we are willing to pay for. Above all, our politicians and our judges will have to cooperate, and support our police if we want a safer city.
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#1
He said the crisis could be resolved if three conditions were met.
1. Beat them early
2. Beat them often
3. Beat their neighbors
Rebels captured the Al Omar field in the eastern Deir El Zour province along the border with Iraq. Rebel battalions led by Al Qaeda-linked fighters seized the largest oil field in eastern Syria on Saturday, activists said, cutting off President Bashar Al Assads access to almost all local crude reserves.
Rami Abdurrahman, who is director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says fighters from Jabhat Al Nusra captured the Al Omar field in the eastern Deir El Zour province along the border with Iraq on Saturday, ousting government troops during an overnight battle.
There was no immediate comment from the government. Losing the Al Omar oil field would mean Assads forces would be almost completely reliant on imported oil in their fight to end the countrys 2-1/2-year revolt.
Activists linked to the Nusra Front said its fighters stormed and captured the field, as well as several tanks and a weapons cache.
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[Dawn] Members of an Afghan grand assembly debating a crucial security pact with the United States voiced concern Saturday at President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... 's insistence it will not be signed until after April's election to choose his successor.
Kabul and Washington have agreed a joint draft of the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), governing the presence of US troops in Afghanistan after 2014, which is being debated by the "loya jirga", a gathering of about 2,500 chieftains, tribal elders and politicians.
But in his opening statement on Thursday, Karzai told the meeting that the painstakingly negotiated deal would not be signed until after next year's presidential election, sparking a strong response from Washington, which wants it signed by the end of this year.
US officials warned that failure to sign the pact, which governs the conditions of any post-war American counter-terrorism and training mission in Afghanistan, could jeopardise crucial aid to the war-torn country.
The White House has said it needs a swift decision to start planning the movement of any US troops, and warned that President Barack Obama I am the change that you seek... had not yet decided whether or not to keep American forces in Afghanistan.
"Karzai doesn't have the right to say this, he is making a mistake," said Sebghatullah Mujadidi, the head of the jirga.
"They (the Americans) have accepted all the conditions set out by him and us. It would hurt Afghanistan if he does not accept it," he added.
Amir Mohammad Akhnudzada, a delegate from the volatile southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province, said: "I think President Karzai should respect the decision of the Afghan elders, and all the delegates want this Bilateral Security Agreement signed as soon as possible."
Earlier, Karzai's front man Aimal Faizy told AFP that the president would explain the reasons for his stance in his closing speech to the jirga planned for Sunday.
On the penultimate day of the four-day jirga on Saturday, delegates debated the legal jurisdiction for US troops who remain in Afghanistan after 2014.
A draft text released by Kabul Wednesday appeared to show Karzai had bowed to a US demand that American troops would not be tried in local courts if they are accused of crimes.
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For a map, click here. For a map of Michoacan state, click here Excelsior now says that the total is 42. Also updated with corrected count of detainees
By Chris Covert.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Another four bodies were found in the La Barca, Jalisco mass grave Friday bringing the death toll to 37, according to Mexican news reports.
As of Sunday evening, according to Excelsior news daily, the death toll in La Barca is at 42.
According to an El Universal wire service report featured on the website of El Diario de Coahuila news daily, all but two of the dead were men. Mexican Procuraduria General de la Republica (PGR) or attorney general Jesus Murillo Karam, was quoted saying that 31 bodies have been examined, but none of them are the two PGR ministerial agents who went missing two weeks ago.
The grave was found after police detained 20 individuals of a kidnapping ring, including local police agents almost two weeks ago. Information from the raid led investigators to the La Barca site. Apparently the gravesite extends over an area which straddles the Michoacan and Jalisco state borders, and include Villa Hermosa municipality in Michoacan, as well as La Barca municipality.
Michoacan is currently one of Mexico's most violent states, as drug cartels have reacted with violence to indigenous self defense groups, which were formed stop encroachment on Indian land considered sacred.
Meanwhile in Tancitaro municipality, a Mexican Army road patrol exchanged gunfire with suspected members of Los Caballeros Templarios drug cartel Friday. The Proceso wire service report did not detail casualties in this latest encounter.
Armed suspects were caught at around 1600 hrs. According to the wire report, the encounter was the third in Tancitaro municipality since November 16th, when self defense groups, colloquially known as autodefensa took control of Tepalcatepec and Buenavista Tomatlan municipalities.
The report also mentions a separate shooting involving drug cartel shooters taking place in November 19th in Tancitaro municipality near the village of Zirimbo. In that incident, cartel shooters fired their weapons on a residence. Casualties in that shooting were not detailed in the wire report.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
[Al Ahram] Twin suicide kabooms at a Shiite mosque in north Iraq were the deadliest in attacks nationwide that killed 15 people Saturday, amid a surge in bloodshed authorities have failed to quell.
The violence, which has killed more than 200 people in the past week alone, has forced Iraq to appeal for international help in combating militancy just months ahead of its first general election in four years.
Officials have also voiced concern over a resurgent Al-Qaeda emboldened by the civil war in neighbouring Syria which has provided the jihadist network's front groups in Iraq with increased room to plan operations.
Attacks on Saturday struck mostly in the north, although Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... was also hit.
The deadliest violence was in Tuz Khurmatu, where a suicide boom-mobileing followed by a suicide kaboom targeting a Shiite mosque killed at least 10 people and maimed 45, according to a police colonel and town mayor Shallal Abdul.
The initial blast was at 5:30 pm (1430 GMT) near the Imam Ali mosque, which is in the middle of a crowded market and near offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party of ailing Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
Shortly afterwards, a jacket wallahwent kaboom! at the entrance to the mosque.
"I am sure the attack was carried out by Al-Qaeda," said Abdul.
"There is major destruction and damage in the area, because it (the mosque) is located in the centre of a market."
Tuz Khurmatu, an ethnically mixed town, lies in the middle of a tract of disputed territory that Iraq's Kurds want to incorporate into their autonomous northern region over the objections of the central government.
Militant groups often exploit poor communication between the two sides' security forces in order to carry out attacks, and Tuz Khurmatu is frequently hit by violence.
Unrest in Storied Baghdad and two cities in the north -- Tal Afar, which is mostly Shiite Turkmen, and Sunni Arab Tikrit -- left five other people dead, officials said.
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[Tolo News] A day after TOLOnews reported about a recording of a phone conversation between Jabhe Wahdat Millie front man Wahid Muzhda and a leader of the Afghan Taliban, Muzhda Saturday confirmed that the conversation took place, but maintained his dialogue with the Death Eaters began in coordination with the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit...
On Friday, Muzhda denied involvement in any talks with Taliban leadership, despite a recording having been delivered to media by an Afghan security officials who asked not to be named. Based on the recording, it would appear Muzhda was plotting to rile-up support against the Kabul-Washington security pact in coordination with the Taliban, who have condemned the accord.
This all comes as the Loya Jirga is convened in Kabul in which 2,500 leaders form around the country discuss the Kabul-Washington Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) in preparation to making a recommendation to the National Assembly and President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... on how to proceed.
The phone conversation between Muzhda and an unidentified Taliban leader included talk about fraudulently writing denunciations of the BSA in the name of the Afghan Ambassador to the U.S., organizing rallies against the BSA in public areas and coordinating the Taliban's public statement in opposition to the accord.
"I confirm the phone call and it is my own voice," Muzhda told TOLOnews on Saturday. "These calls with the Taliban in Qatar and here were in some instances in coordination with the United Nations. I have said this, especially addressing concerns of the United Nations in regards to civilian casualties and things like that."
TOLOnews was unable to get a statement to corroborate those claims from the UN office in Kabul.
The revelations of Muzhda's phone call conversation with the Taliban, and apparent collaboration with them, received harsh criticisms from Afghan officials and the public.
Before the recording was delivered to media, last Saturday, National Security Advisor Dr. Rangin Dadfur Spanta had spoke to the Lower House and reported that the National Directorate of Security (NDS) had tapped a phone call and overheard such a conversation, though he did not give Muzhda's name. At the time, Spanta said he wish had been able to arrest the person on the call and put them on trial as a traitor.
Muzhda clearly falls on the anti-BSA side of the contentious debate that has consumed Afghanistan in recent weeks. Many say the BSA is essential to Afghanistan's future stability and progress, while others, like the Taliban, have suggested it would perpetuate the myrmidon conflict and make Kabul kowtow to Washington.
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[Dawn] Thousands of demonstrators staged a protest against US drone strikes blocking a main road in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. on Saturday and threatened to continue their demonstration until the attacks ended, whereas the provincial secretary information of the PTI announced the party would block NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... supply routes.
Continued on Page 49
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CAIRO Egypt downgraded diplomatic relations Saturday with Turkey and expelled its ambassador from Cairo, a sharp escalation in tensions between the two countries that mounted after a military coup ousted the country's Islamist president this summer.
By George this is getting serious. The Turks have been trying to be the "third way" of Islam -- not Salafist and not Shi'a. Erdogan has been buffing his anti-Jooo credentials, and has been playing nice with both Morsi and Iran while playing tough with Syria, and now getting frosty with the Egyptian generals.
In a quick reaction, Turkey reciprocated by declaring the Egyptian ambassador "persona non grata" and downgrading relations with Egypt to the same level. Egypt's ambassador hadn't been in the country since August over the turmoil.
Saturday's decisions, which fall short of closing diplomatic missions in the two countries, are a dramatic reversal of the warming relations between the two countries over the past year.
Egypt's interim government vehemently has protested remarks by Turkish leaders criticizing the popularly backed military coup that toppled Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. The decision Saturday followed another critical comment by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday.
Perhaps Erdogan is just worried about the precedent...
Speaking to reporters in the Black Sea coastal city of Trabzon, Erdogan appeared unfazed by the diplomatic snub. He said there would be no shift in his position toward Egypt's new rulers.
"I will never have respect for those who come to power through coups," Erdogan said Saturday.
"Did you generals at home HEAR that?"
Egypt's Foreign Ministry said it considered the Turkish envoy "persona non grata" and asked him to leave the country. The ministry said it will scale back its diplomatic relations with Turkey to the level of charge d'affaires.
"This (Turkish) leadership has persisted in its unacceptable and unjustified positions by trying to turn the international community against Egyptian interests and ... by making statements that can only be described as an offense to the popular will," the Foreign Ministry statement said.
A Turkish ministry statement said Egypt's interim government, "which came to power in exceptional circumstances," was responsible for the deteriorating relations.
"The deep-rooted ties and bonds of brotherhood between the people of Turkey and Egypt will remain," the statement said. "We hope that stability and democracy in Egypt is restored as soon as possible and that relations between the two countries are normalized."
Turkish President Abdullah Gul told reporters that he hoped the two country's relations "will be restored soon." Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he believed ties would be restored "once a government elected by the will of the people" comes to power in Egypt.
Since Egypt's 2011 uprising against Morsi's predecessor, autocrat Hosni Mubarak, Turkey sought to strengthen ties with the country's new political order. The Turkish president was the first to visit Egypt after the fall of Mubarak in February 2011. Trade between the two countries increased by about 27 percent in the following year to $3.8 billion in the first nine months of 2012. Turkey also increased its investment in Egypt and currently has some 26 development projects in Egypt.
Turkey's Islamic-rooted ruling party strongly backed toppled Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi a leading figure in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood as an example for the Arab world of a democratically elected Islamist leader. Turkey criticized his popularly backed July 3 overthrow by Egypt's military, while also criticizing the West for what it deemed as a weak response to the coup.
Turkey and Egypt previously recalled their ambassadors in August after Turkey condemned the ouster and a subsequent bloody crackdown on pro-Morsi protests. Turkey's ambassador returned weeks later, but Egypt declined to return its envoy to Ankara.
Saturday's decision comes after Erdogan renewed his criticism of Egypt's new leaders, dismissing the trial of Morsi on charges of inciting murder of his opponents while in office and describing the situation in Egypt as a "humanitarian drama." He had previously called for the trial of Egypt's new leaders for the crackdown.
At a speech Saturday, Erdogan made the four-finger gesture that refers to a sit-in near a mosque in Cairo where a bloody security crackdown killed hundreds of Morsi supporters in a show of solidarity with Islamists.
Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour has said that Turkey should have relations with "Egypt and its people and not with leaders of a certain group."
We could have relations with the Turkish people and not with Erdogan...
Egyptian officials and media have repeatedly accused Muslim Brotherhood leaders of meeting in Turkey to plan protests and other ways to undermine the new government in Cairo.
On Saturday, the independent Egyptian daily newspaper al-Watan reported on its front page that the international members of the Muslim Brotherhood continued "their plotting" against Egypt in a meeting in Istanbul. The paper was referring to a human rights conference in which participants said they will take legal actions against Egypt's new leaders for what it said were "massacres" against supporters of Morsi.
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[An Nahar] Syrian warplanes on Saturday fired several rockets on the border town of Arsal in the eastern mountain belt without causing any injuries.
"A Syrian military aircraft shelled the Wadi Hmayyed area in Arsal without causing any injuries," Future television reported.
Meanwhile, ...back at the saw mill, Scarface Al had tied Little Nell to the log and was about to turn on the buzz saw... LBCI television said a Syrian helicopter fired three rockets on the center of Arsal, without reporting any injuries.
Since the eruption of the neighboring country's war, Arsal has repeatedly been targeted with Syrian rockets.
On Tuesday, a Syrian warplane shelled the uninhabited Aqabat al- Mobayyideh region in Arsal.
And two men were killed on Monday in a mine blast in Syria, where they had planned to join the fight against the regime.
The men from Arsal were headed to Qara, a rebel-held Syrian town near the frontier where loyalist troops have launched a major offensive in recent days.
Arsal has a long shared border with Syria, stretching along much of Damascus province and part of Homs province.
Smugglers have long taken their goods across the mostly non-existent border, and since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in March 2011, weapons and fighters have moved across the border too.
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11/24/2013
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[Libya Herald] The International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... has rejected an appeal by Abdullah Senussi to have proceedings against him in Libya suspended. While the case against Qadaffy's spy chief, who faces charges of murder, conspiracy to murder and human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... crimes, is set to continue in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , the ICC is still considering an appeal to have his case brought before them at the Hague.
The decision ends the request to the ICC by Senussi's lawyers in October asking it to order a halt to Tripoli court proceedings while the the international court considered its main case against him. They claimed there was a danger he could be convicted and executed in Libya before the ICC ruled on the appeal.
The ICC explained yesterday, however, that the appeal for suspension of the trial in Libya would not be necessary. They explained that the domestic case would not obstruct the international court or interfere with the situation which existed prior to the case being brought in Libya. The court also ruled that evidence of the conditions of Senussi's treatment while in jail in Tripoli was not relevant.
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11/24/2013
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[Bangla Daily Star] Activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... clashed with cops, vandalised vehicles and blasted crude bombs at the capital's Merul Badda yesterday.
About 100 Shibir men brought out a procession in the area around 8:15am as part of the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... 's countrywide demonstrations protesting oppression on religious minorities throughout the country.
As the law enforcers obstructed them, unruly protesters went berserk, vandalised several vehicles and blasted two cocktails, said Badda police.
Cops fired teargas shells and rubber bullets to disperse the troublemakers. A police was injured in the clash.
Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Livia had made her point with her knee to Jane's stomach... in a statement yesterday, Jamaat acting secretary general Rafiqul Islam Khan said, "Awami League activists attacked the homes of religious minorities and passed the blame on us. No one could prove such a charge against us."
Jamaat is the parent organization of Islami Chhatra Shibir.
However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... witnesses, police and newsmen have found Jamaat-Shibir men guilty of launching attacks on religious minorities. National dailies have recently reported many such incidents.
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11/24/2013
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[Tolo News] After President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... caught U.S. officials off-guard on Thursday when he said the Kabul-Washington security pact would not be signed until after the April elections, there remains no resolution to the timeline debate. While U.S. officials have said the agreement needs to be finalized before the end of the year, Karzai has refuted those assertions and reemphasized his preconditions for the pact to be sealed.
According to officials in Karzai's office, in a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... , Karzai maintained that there was no timeline for signing the agreement. He was reported to have repeated once again that if the Loya Jirga approves the BSA, it would not be signed until after the April elections.
"There are no timelines from the government of Afghanistan's side," Deputy Spokesperson for President Karzai Adela Raz said.
According to procedure, whatever whatever decision the Loya Jirga makes, which it is expected to share on Sunday, both house of the Afghan National Assembly would have to approve the accord before it could be signed by Karzai.
U.S. officials were caught off-guard when Karzai said the agreement wouldn't be signed until after the elections earlier this week. They have urged Afghan officials to reconsider that stance as they argue plans for residual troop forces and other logistics must be worked out before the spring, as the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... combat mission draws to an end in December of 2014.
The U.S. would be expected to keep some 10,000-15,000 troops in Afghanistan post-2014 for training, advising and assisting the Afghan forces as well as maintaining a counterterrorism initiative against groups like al-Qaeda, if the BSA is signed
According to Raz, Karzai also spoke to Secretary Kerry about his continued preconditions for the agreement to be finalized between the two nations.
"There are preconditions that the United States should consider; support of the grinding of the peace processor, end to operations in the houses of Afghans, transparent elections and peace and stability in Afghanistan," she said.
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11/24/2013
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[Libya Herald] Stability in Libya and continued US engagement in Libya is "absolutely essential" to the US, a senior US government official has said.
"It is in our national security interest to ensure Libya becomes a stable and democratic partner capable of addressing regional security challenges and advancing our shared interests," said US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Richard Schmierer, told a US Senate committee on Thursday.
He was speaking at a meeting of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs which was discussing the political, economic and security situation in Africa.
"We sometimes pay a little less attention to [North Africa] than I think we should," commented Senator Tim Kaine, Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs.
US politicians' emphasis on security was evident in the panels' composition and discussion, with Libya a key area of focus.
A major concern was how best to address the growing power of the militias over official security institutions, allowing what panellists agreed was a climate of instability that fostered increased terrorist activity in Libya and the region. Thomas Joscelyn, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that it was, "clear that it's part of Al Qaeda's plan in Libya to co-opt and work with certain of these militias".
Responding to rumours after the 6 October raid by US special forces on Libyan soil that tossed in the slammer Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! alleged Al-Qaeda member Nazih Abdul-Hamid Al-Ruqai (also known as Abu Anas Al-Libi), Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for African Affairs Amanda Dory reaffirmed that an international peacekeeping force in Libya was "not the approach that we are supporting". The US instead looked to fulfil Libyan requests to train a general purpose force as the core of a new Libyan Army.
The US is committed to training from 5,000 to 8,000 soldiers and the UK and Italia an additional 2,000 each.
Frederic Wehrey, Senior Associate in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, cautioned that a general-purpose force would only be effective if it had a clearly defined mission, effective civilian oversight, non-partisan, inclusive, and professional composition with members free of a criminal background and past human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... abuses, and was combined with concurrent programs to reintegrate former revolutionary fighters into civilian life.
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11/24/2013
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#1
I think the correct term for this is "can of worms."
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/24/2013 11:45
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#2
My connections in Libya believe it is a can of worms because the central government has been too soft and too indecisive on major issues, i.e., militias. Most of the "men on the street" in Libya do not want the Moslem Brotherhood or any of the fanatics desirous of an Islamic paradise in Libya. Most of the crap being thrown about is not true Sharia but the uninformed ill-educated babbling of the deluded. Libyans are afraid of that.
Since most Libyans practice a rather mild and pure form of Islam, relying mostly on the Quran and not so much on the Haditha, Libya could be the voice of reason in the ME. If something doesn't happen to solve the near anarchy in the country, it is ripe for some big ego with an armed following to reinstitute a dictatorship.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
11/24/2013 11:52
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#3
it is ripe for some big ego with an armed following to reinstitute a dictatorship
As long as whatever little book he waves around is red rather than green, the White House will be satisfied.
[Al Ahram] Egypt's public prosecutor imposed a media ban Saturday on coverage of certain cases, including those involving espionage charges against deposed president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... and the killing of Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Mabrouk.
The ban also includes the sectarian attack in Al-Warraq that killed four in October and the death of Police General Nabil Farag during festivities with gangs in Giza on 7 October.
Morsi, who faces a separate trial for inciting violence against protesters, is accused of collaborating with Paleostinian Islamist group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, to orchestrate his escape from Wadi Al-Natroun prison during the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... in 2011, destroying police records and killing security personnel.
Colonel Mabrouk was responsible for investigating espionage charges against the ousted president as well as a number of jihadist cells. He was rubbed out near his home on 17 November. Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, a jihadist group inspired by Al-Qaeda, grabbed credit for the attack.
On Friday, a high-ranking government source told Al-Ahram's Arabic website that following Mabrouk's death, the government has increased pressure on the Minister of Interior Mohammed Ibrahim to speed up investigations into security breaches. The source claims Ibrahim was given a deadline of January.
Police and military personnel have been targeted by gangs following the ouster of Morsi in July and the deadly dispersal of a large pro-Morsi camp in August, during which hundreds of protesters were killed.
A failed liquidation attempt on Ibrahim was carried out in September when a boom-mobilewent kaboom! near his convoy. Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis also grabbed credit for this attack.
On 31 October, Egypt's 50-member committee, which is currently amending the suspended 2012 constitution, initially approved an article prohibiting the censorship of official media - including state-owned newspapers, TV, and radio, except in conditions of war or public mobilisation.
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11/24/2013
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[Libya Herald] Derna is tense this evening after the murder last night of a prominent local official as he left a mosque. After his funeral today at the town's Al-Sahaba mosque, there were a large demonstrations protesting the presence of militias and demanding that the police and army take back control of the city.
There was anger too over a bomb kaboom at around 4.30 am today outside the Oum El-Mominee girl's school which also houses the local 60-Committee election office. It is not known of the elections or the school was the target.
Fawzi Al-Zuwki, the secretary of Derna's Shura Council (council of elders), was bumped off as he left Al-Sahaba mosque the last night and later died at Al-Hareesh hospital. He had recently given an interview in which he condemned the deteriorating security in the city.
For their part Death Eaters have claimed maintained that some decisions made by the Shura Council were un-Islamic.
Zuwki's murder is the latest in a growing list of terrorist liquidations and bombings in Derna.
The demonstration was peaceful and continued until sundown. There was no attempt to enter any of the militia bases in the town. One person taking part, told the Libya Herald that when the crowd passed militia positions, they deliberately ignored them. Reports that the vehicle of one Islamist commander was attacked have not been confirmed.
Two nights ago, at around 11 pm, members of the militia calling itself the Army of the Islamic State of Libya, led by 28-year-old Yusef Bin Tahir, set up road blocks at a central roundabout and at entry points into Derna.
This evening there were reports that power had been cut in several parts of the city. Two days ago, a parcel bomb severely damaged the thermal power plant five kilometres to the west of the town, injuring five volunteer guards. The blast happened at 6 am and it was not until 14 hours later that the damage was repaired. Thereafter, power engineers went on strike briefly in protest at the absence of state security in Derna and the presence of militias.
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11/24/2013
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[Al Ahram] Gunmen on Saturday rubbed out a former member of Moamer Qadaffy's security services in eastern Libya, in the latest violence to hit the region, an official said.
Unidentified men with assault rifles bumped off Fares Al-Zarruk in a busy street in the centre of Derna, a town that has been hit by mounting deadly unrest, the security official said.
Zarruk was struck down in his prime and his attackers fled, the official told AFP.
Since last Saturday a judge, a tribal chief and two traffic coppers have been killed in Derna near Libya's second city Benghazi, the epicentre of the 2011 uprising that toppled Qadaffy's regime.
Most of the violence is blamed on Islamists whose influence has grown since the revolt in which Qadaffy was also killed. Some of them rose from the ranks of rebels who helped overthrow and kill the veteran dictator.
Since the end of the uprising the ex-rebels have banded into militias, carving their own fiefdoms in a country awash with weapons looted from Qadaffy's arsenal. The government has struggled to stamp its authority and repeatedly called the ex-rebels to lay down their weapons or integrate into the armed forces, to no avail.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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#1
Another 'plumber's facets are always dripping' moment. Oftentimes it's far better to simply let it go, move away, and find a new line of work.
[Dawn] Chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) Altaf Hussain said on Saturday that if the government and armed forces of Pakistain failed to stop terrorism then citizens would be justified to declare jihad in order to defend themselves, DawnNews reported.
During a telephonic address to party's workers, Rabita Committee members, and other leaders at the Nine Zero headquarters of the MQM, Altaf said that the government could neither stop drone attacks nor could it instruct for it.
Talking about the blasts in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... 's Ancholi area a day earlier, he said that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) had claimed the credit for the attack and yet no Taliban sympathiser protested against the kabooms.
He further appealed to the government and all political and religious parties to declare the proscribed TTP, its direct and indirect supporters, and sympathisers as enemies of humanity worse than beasts.
Altaf Hussain also appealed to the prime minister, federal ministers, political and religious parties to shun the politics of deceit and to inform the people of facts.
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11/24/2013
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[Dawn] Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ) chief Maulana Mohammad Ahmed Ludhianvi has been in Islamabad for the last a couple of days on the request of the government to handle the security situation after the Ashura violence in Rawalpindi.
The government has also sought his help in holding peace talks with Taliban, it has been learnt.
Sources in the police and the capital administration told Dawn that the ASWJ chief had been staying in Sector I-8/3 and Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... Company for the last one week.
The I-8/3 sector is one of the most vigilance-mounted areas of the city as some of the houses are being used for the accommodation of intelligence and security personnel.
According to the sources, police commandos were deployed at the house where Maulana Ludhianvi was staying.
Besides, the ASWJ activists were also keeping a watch on passersby and the neighbours.
Officials from different cop shoppes, including Ramna and Aabpara, were guarding the house and patrolling the area, the sources added.
A senior police officer, when contacted, told Dawn that there was no restriction on the movement of Ludhianvi in Islamabad.
He denied that police security was being provided to him.
However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... the sources said Maulana Ludhianvi had been brought to the city and was being facilitated by the government departments, including the police and the capital territory administration, to get his support in maintaining peace.
"He has good links with the local Learned Elders of Islam, religious personalities and the administrations of seminaries," officials in the police and capital administration told Dawn on the condition of anonymity.
They said the maulana was requested to help the government in making Friday's protest peaceful.
There are 305 seminaries in the capital city in which over 29,000 students are studying.
The officials said Maulana Ludhianvi used his influence and links in the local seminaries and got assurances from their administrations that they would remain peaceful during the protest. They said some officials also met the ASWJ chief in the I-8 house on a number of occasions to discuss the issue regarding negotiations with Taliban.
When contacted, Maulana Ludhianvi confirmed that he had arrived in Islamabad on the request of the government officials to maintain peace in the twin cities.
"The officials sought my cooperation to maintain peace in the country," he added.
About the help sought by the government in the negotiation with the Taliban, he said: "If the government seeks our help and give us the responsibility we will try to fulfil it."
However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... he said after the killing of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain chief Hakeemullah Mehsud in a drone attack, it had become difficult to negotiate with the Taliban.
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11/24/2013
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[Al Ahram] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday his government would never respect military-installed rulers, in remarks made after Egypt's expulsion of Ankara's ambassador.
"I will never respect those who come to power after coups," Erdogan told reporters.
Egypt announced earlier that it was downgrading its diplomatic relations with Ankara, and expelled the Turkish ambassador over Erdogan's "provocative" criticism of Cairo, in the latest escalation of tensions between the two countries.
In return, Ankara declared the Egyptian ambassador "persona non grata" and downgraded diplomatic relations to the level of charge d'affaires.
Both Turkey and Egypt had recalled their respective envoys in August for consultations, but while the Turkish ambassador eventually returned to Cairo in September, Egyptian Abderahman Salah El-Din stayed home.
The August 14 police and military crackdown on supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi sparked a storm of international condemnation and strained relations between Turkey and Egypt.
Erdogan, a supporter of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, angered Egypt's new rulers after calling the July ouster of Morsi an "unacceptable coup."
The Turkish premier said Saturday his government backed democracy movements in the world, adding: "We never respect those who do not respect the people's sovereign rights."
After the spat with Cairo, Erdogan flashed the "Rabaa" salute during a rally in the northern Turkish city of Trabzon early on Saturday.
He has often used the gesture during his ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) rallies to show solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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#4
I'm thinking China wouldn't dare do this if we had a strong president with his eye on the ball, a president who hadn't weakened the US both financially and morally. What does Obama do about it? He sends Carolyn Kennedy to be Ambassador to Japan. Sickening.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/24/2013 10:44
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#6
His-own "Red Line"-busting, OBAMA-IS-A-HELLUVA-LOUSY-PRO-US-NATIONALIST-BUT-ONE-HELLUVA-OUTSTANDING-ANTI-US-GLOBALIST = BE PREPARED OR READY TO SEE THE US [Sssshhh ... CCCCC covertly intentionally] GIVE UP EAST ASIA + 1/2 OF THE PACIFIC TO [fellow OWG "Co-Superpower"] CHINA.
The Bad Econ, Sequester, Shutdown + post-Shutdown [Debt Ceiling] US can no longer econ afford to intervene or wage war - OWG AMERIKA = 1945 POST-ATOMIC BOMBINGS JAPAN + EMPEROR HIROHITO = THE NATION HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO "ACCEPT THE UNACCEPTABLE, BEAR THE UNBEARABLE, TOLERATE THE INTOLERABLE ...".
Becuz, ya know, 1945 JAPAN = 1940 VICHY FRANCE = PROUDLY SURRENDERING SINCE ... ...
To avoid war = SAVE WHATS LEFT OF TRADITIONAL PRE-OWG NATIONALISM + SOVEREIGNTY, Caroline Kennedy must work to come up wid a diplomatic solution/compromise that is mutually acceptable + permanent, not just one that only TEMPORARILY DELAYS MIL CONFLICT in the name of 2014 or espec the 2016 POTUS Elex.
Again, "post-US", "Mahanist" = OWG "Co-Superpower" CHINA wants "strategic access" into far Pacific = overseas "sole" Milbases for the PLA. China wants or desires ...
> Immediate or very-near-term sovereign reunification wid TAIWAN, AKA CHINA'S EQUIVALENT OF PEARL HARBOR/HAWAII [USPACOM].
> Desires the Senkakus/Diaoyus to protect its future TAIWAN Mil Hub. Think Midway, Wake Island, Palmyra, French Frigate Shoals in EASTPAC as per Pearl Harbor
> Safe to say China will likely also demand the demilitarization of US-JSDF on Okinawa + Yonaguni, + possibly US forces in Guam or both Guam + Hawaii.
#8
Lest we fergit, MSM-NET = China wants both Guam + Hawaii, iff it can take or get 'em; + 1/2 of CONUS-NORAM for "living space". It would like the US to fall back or be contained to Hawaii + EASTPAC, US West Coast come 2020.
IOW, subjectively speaking China taking over 1/2 of the Pacific, e.g. GUAM-WESTPAC, is poten ONLY THE BEGINNING OF A BIGGER OR LARGER STRATEGIC "LONG MARCH".
"GREAT GAME" > Ally, Enemy, or Non-Aligned, iff the US = any "great power" can't or won't defend its interests + territories, etc. some other Nation-State(s) will rise + voluntarily or forcibly take it for their own.
Don't get me wrong - I like many many things about the Chinese people, their history + culture, etc. + Other in Asia, BUT SUCH WILL NOT DETER OR PREVENT THE SO-CALLED "GREAT GAME" FROM OCCURRING REGARDLESS OF THE MERITS.
Lest we fergit II, + as ilustrated by the new interim deal between the P5+1 + Iran, THE US-VS-CHINA ONLY COMPETITION IN ASIA-PACIFIC [World?] HAS NOW DEVOL INTO THE US-VS-CHINA-VS-NUCLEAR-ISLAM.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [SMH] CHINA THREATENS MILITARY ACTION OVER DISPUTED EAST CHINA SEA ISLANDS.
* WAFF > [NYT] PLA AIR FORCE [PLAAF] CONDUCTS FIRST PATROL IN AIR DEFENSE IDENTIFICATION ZONE NEAR JAPAN.
* SAME > JAPAN REJECTS CHINA'S CLAIM TO AIR RIGHTS OVER DISPUTED ISLAND.
versus
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [WSWS.org] AMERICAN THINK-TANK ENVISAGES [US-Allies] BLOCKADING CHINA WID MISSLES, i.e. Land-based LR ASBMS/ASMS in forward-deployed East Asian staging areas stretching in arc from Japan + ROK to the PHIL + Malaysia-Indonesia.
[An Nahar] DNA samples from the father of Moein Abu Dahr and the relatives of Adnan Mohammed confirmed that they are the jacket wallahs who targeted the Iranian Embassy ...You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy!... in Beirut in an attack that killed at least 23 people.
The army command issued a communique confirming that the test on Adnan Abu Dahr showed that human remains at the scene of the attacks belonged to his son, Mouein.
"The DNA testing was carried out from samples taken from the father of Moein and proved that he is involved in the suicide kaboom," General Prosecutor Samir Hammoud told Voice of Leb radio (93.3).
State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr also confirmed the reports in comments to the state-run National News Agency.
Later during the day, the NNA reported that the second suspect in the attack was identified as Adnan Moussa Mohammed and his father is in army custody to carry out DNA tests.
Adnan Mohammed is a Paleostinian from the Ein el-Hellhole Paleostinian refugee camp and a staunch supporter of Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir ...Leb Salafist holy man with the usual grouch against Shiites. Currently on the run, he seems intent on reigniting the Leb civil war...
After the photograph of Adnan was distributed the army intelligence directorate received several calls identifying him and his father, Moussa, claimed the picture showed his son. The army did not specify what crimes Mohammed was wanted for.
But on Saturday evening, the army issued a communique confirming that human remains found at the scene of the kabooms in Bir Hassan belonged to Adnan Moussa Mohammed.
Mohammed's uncle said in comments to LBCI the family is in a state of "shock," denouncing the attack.
"We repudiate him," the uncle said. "Please don't kill us too!"
LBCI also reported that security forces are pursuing other al-Asir supporters to question them over the involvement in the blasts and other future attacks.
Moein Abu Dahr hails from the southern port city of Sidon and is close to al-Asir, and had warned of "Dire Revenge" three days before the Bir Hassan blasts.
Al-Asir's hard-line supporters battled Lebanese soldiers in June.
On Thursday, after the photograph of one of the dangerous desperados was distributed, Adnan Abu Dahr came to the intelligence directorate and claimed the picture showed his son.
Moein Abu Dahr had promised al-Asir on his page on the social networking website Facebook that he will take Dire Revenge.
"They let you down Sheikh, but we will retaliate," he wrote.
And a day before the Bir Hassan bombings, Abu Dahr took to Facebook to say that heaven "has opened its doors to receive him."
In a related matter, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant posted a picture of Abu Dahr on Twitter, commenting that he's "the suicide bomber that attacked the Iranian embassy," without mentioning Beirut in the caption.
Later on Friday evening, the Abu Dahr family "strongly" condemned in a released statement the deadly kabooms.
"We are deeply saddened that one of our relatives is accused of being behind the Bir Hassan kabooms," the statement posted on several Sidon-based websites said.
"We condemn this awful crime and we do not have enough words to describe it, offering our condolences to the families of the victims," the statement added.
Fake identity cards used by the suicide attackers behind the blasts in Beirut's Bir Hassan neighborhood were made public on Thursday.
At least 23 people were killed and more than 145 others were maimed in a twin suicide kaboom that took place on Tuesday morning near the Iranian Embassy in the neighborhood of Bir Hassan in Beirut's southern suburbs.
A security official said the first suicide attacker was on a cycle of violence that carried two kilograms of explosives. He went kaboom! at the large black main gate of the Iranian mission, damaging the three-story facility.
Less than two minutes later, the second suicide attacker driving a car rigged with 50 kilograms of explosives struck about 10 meters away, the official said.
An al-Qaeda-linked group, the Lebanese Abdullah Azzam Brigades, grabbed credit for the attack Tuesday. They said it was payback for the military support that Iran and Hizbullah provide against the mainly Sunni rebels fighting the government of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes...
The Syrian conflict, in its third year, also has become a confrontation between regional powers. It has exacerbated tensions between Leb's Sunnis and Shiites as well. The embassy bombing was one of the deadliest in a series of attacks targeting Hizbullah its strongholds in Leb in recent months.
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11/24/2013
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[Dawn] SUDDENLY this week it dawned on me just why Malala Yousafzai has so many enemies and detractors in Pakistain.
As she received the European Union's ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... prestigious Sakharov human rights
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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#1
The problem is that Pakistan is a $h!thole run by a bunch of Muslim fanatics that are threatened by education and independent thinking. The Muslim leaders and the jihadi-bot madrasses are financed by people like the Saudis. Eliminate Saudi financing and the religious leaders and you may have a chance to save Pakistan. This is a big nasty project. It will involve rounding up and eliminating the so called religious leaders.
Malala has a tough choice. If she stays in Pakistan, some nutcase or suicide bomber will take her out. She should leave and make something of her life. There is nothing for her in Pakistan without some help in excising the cancer that ravages through the society.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/24/2013 1:53
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#5
Agreed, Skidmark. I have been harping on this for years. Too many past and present presidents have been too palzy walzy with the Saudis. We are fighting the jihadists with one hand tied behind our backs.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/24/2013 12:53
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[Al Ahram] Egyptian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim claimed Saturday that Egypt's Moslem Brüderbund was behind past major attacks targeting police personnel in the country. Ibrahim gave names of several alleged perpetrators identified and enjugged Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! by security forces following the attacks, amid increased pressure on speeding up investigations into ongoing security breaches.
"The Moslem Brüderbund, with the support and funding from the international Moslem Brüderbund organization, has mobilised krazed killer terrorist elements, including ones from Al-Qaeda organization and the Gazoo Strip, to carry out a series of terrorist attacks following the 30 June revolution," Ibrahim said at a news conference Saturday afternoon.
Ibrahim went on to add that among the apprehended "terrorist cells" was an Al-Qaeda affiliated group, adding that some of its members allegedly took part in the two sit-ins supporting deposed Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... , which security forces forcibly dispersed in August.
He also announced that another 33-member "terrorist cell" was responsible for the liquidation of Mohammed Mabrouk, a senior officer in the National Security apparatus who was in charge of investigating espionage charges against Morsi. Mabrouk was rubbed out near his home this week.
Ibrahim also declared that the interior ministry had captured those responsible for the killing of 25 conscripts in the Sinai Peninsula 20 August, the highest rate of casualties in one incident across the uptake in bad turban attacks in the restive region.
Ibrahim also announced that the ministry arrested a three-member "terrorist cell" allegedly responsible for the failed attempt Curses! Foiled again! on his own life in September.
Back in mid-August, Ibrahim gave the green light to the raids by police to clear Islamist-led protest sites in Cairo and Giza that left hundreds dead and thousands injured.
Numerous cop shoppes were attacked across the country in the immediate aftermath of the bloody crackdown on pro-Morsi sit-ins. More than 100 members of the security forces were killed in ensuing violence.
The restive Sinai Peninsula, bordering Israel and the Paleostinian Gazoo Strip, has witnessed a pronounced spike in bad turban attacks on police personnel and property following the crackdown on Morsi supporters.
The most recent attack targeted an army convoy carrying off-duty soldiers on the road between Al-Arish and Rafah on Wednesday, killing 11 and injuring 37.
Egypt's army previously announced it had killed around 100 bad turbans, including imported muscle, in operations against increased militancy in the region.
Egypt's elected Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, himself a leader in the Moslem Brüderbund, was ousted by the military 3 July following mass protests against his rule.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[An Nahar] U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... will Sunday head to London from Geneva where he is currently involved in talks with Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, a front man said.
Kerry will "travel to London on November 24" for talks with British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, Jen Psaki said Saturday.
With the Libyan premier, Kerry will discuss the security situation and political reforms in the country, which has been roiled by strife since Muammar Qadaffy ...a reminder that a single man with an idea can change an entire nation, usually for the worse... was tossed in 2011.
Kerry arrived in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... on Saturday morning along with other foreign ministers amid growing hopes for a landmark nuclear deal between six world powers and Iran.
The ministers had made the trip after negotiators from both sides reported following three days of meetings that progress had been made towards reaching an accord.
Since their arrival however, officials have indicated that there are still differences preventing the signing of a deal limiting Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Hague is also currently in Geneva along with foreign ministers from China, Russia, La Belle France and Germany.
News about Kerry's departure coincided with comments from Tehran's lead negotiator Abbas Araqchi that the talks were "difficult" and that Iran was not sure that a deal would be reached on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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#1
For some reason, I'm reminded of the Henny Youngman joke: Take our Secretary of State, PLEASE.
GENEVA -- Iran and six major powers agreed early Sunday on an historic deal that freezes key parts of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for temporary relief on some economic sanctions, diplomats confirmed.
Freezes 'parts' of their development: which parts, the parts the Iranians have already figured a way around?
The deal was reached after four days of marathon bargaining and an 11th-hour intervention by U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry and other foreign ministers from Europe, Russia and China. the sources said. The agreement, sealed at 3 a.m. signing ceremony in Geneva's Palace of Nations, requires Iran to halt or scale back parts of it nuclear infrastructure, the first such pause in more than a decade.
"We have reached an agreement," Michael Mann, spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a Twitter posting.
"We have reached an agreement," echoed Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a separate posting.
Negotiations had run into the late evening, with the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia the European Union and the United States huddled in a hotel conference room. Several of the diplomats met earlier in the day with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who told reporters that the parties remained divided on key details of the six-month trial deal.
The talks had remained snarled despite the last-minute intervention of Kerry, who flew to Geneva for the second time in two weeks to try to break the impasse. The Obama administration has been seeking to quickly finalize an agreement in the face of threats by Congress to impose additional economic sanctions on Iran.
The marathon discussions with Iran were described by Western diplomats as "very difficult" and "intense," and several officials had sought to lower expectations that a resolution could be reached before Sunday, when Kerry and the other foreign ministers were due to depart.
Kerry, Zarif and the lead E.U. negotiator, Catherine Ashton, met late Saturday, but the session ended with no announcement of progress. Instead, Iran's deputy foreign minister hardened his country's position.
Although "98 percent" of the deal was done, Iran said it could not accept any agreement that does not recognize what it calls its uranium enrichment rights, Abbas Araghchi told reporters.
In other words, the "deal" is meaningless: the core is Iran's plan to enrich uranium to the point that it can build bombs. That's what all this is about. The Mad Mullahs won't give that away, ever.
"Any agreement without recognizing Iran's right to enrich, practically and verbally, will be unacceptable for Tehran," Araghchi said, according to Reuters.
Araghchi and Zarif have insisted that the deal hinges on international recognition of Iran's right to enrich uranium, a matter of deep national pride.
And of killing Jooooz...
The proposed deal offered to Iran would reportedly allow limited uranium enrichment, although under tight restrictions and heavy international monitoring. But Western officials have balked at recognizing a legal "right" to uranium enrichment, hoping instead to craft language in the final agreement that acknowledges the right of all countries to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Zarif appeared to endorse that approach publicly last week.
The sides also continued to haggle over details of the limited sanctions relief to be offered to Iran in return for scaling back its nuclear program, diplomats said. The relief would reportedly include freeing up a small portion of Iran's overseas currency accounts and easing other trade restrictions.
The most painful sanction, affecting Iran's oil and banking sectors, would remain until the end of the deal's first phase, depending on Iran's willingness to accept permanent curbs on its nuclear program, Western officials said.
Still another obstacle is Iran's partially completed heavy-water reactor in the city of Arak. Western powers are pushing for a freeze on construction of the reactor's core, which could, if completed, give Iran a pathway toward obtaining plutonium for nuclear weapons.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2013
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#1
As long as the fracking oil boom in the US and a few other countries continues, the price of oil will probably remain below $100/barrel and as long as that happens, Iran will have considerable financial problems, with or without sanctions.
Financial problems are one thing, we have them too. However, the sanctions are probably hurting the mullah owned businesses in Iran. How much is unknown by anyone in the west but they must be hurting if Iran is at the table at all.
It is painful to think that the advantages we have from the sanctions will be traded for very little but if that little includes enough inspection activity to improve targeting, that might make the pain less.
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/24/2013 0:27
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#2
You have now witnessed a "Lord Neville Chamberlain Moment" in world "diplomatic" history, regarding the rise of a hostile Islamic nation, anxious to become a Nuclear power.
Negotiations had run into the late evening, with the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia the European Union and the United States
Forgotten are the chants of Death to America, November 4, 1979 - About 500 Iranian "students" seize control of the U.S. embassy in Tehran and take 90 people hostage including 66 Americans working in the embassy.
Have the American "foreign ministers" forgotten this "little piece of American history" ?
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/24/2013 0:29
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#3
The only way we will know for sure if Iran's nuclear program is peaceful or not is when Tel Aviv and maybe a few other Israeli cities disappear under mushroom clouds.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/24/2013 0:32
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#4
So Israel has been sold out for some takqia promises by some psychopathic despots masquerading as religious leaders. This will result in the glazing over of Tel Aviv. Teheran and a whole lot more. For shame. And what will the Senate do? Will they ratify this sellout treaty? My heart is sick.
The only reassuring thing is that Israel will do what it must do to survive.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/24/2013 0:55
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#6
Unfinished business from the Carter and Reagan years, little more. Sadly, it now very much impacts the only democracy and hope for mankind in the region.
#8
Yes g(r)om, "assumption" appears to still be holding it's own as the mother of all disasters. Decades of so-called nation building in the Muslim world has left us penniless and confused. Well, some of us at least.
#10
Between this and the news story that Iran is building two more nuke sites it's clear to me that Iran is good to it's word.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
11/24/2013 5:42
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#11
Targeting is nice. We seem to be GIVING them a great deal of money as well.
I can't help but feel anything "negotiated " by Kerry is suspect. I wouldn't trust Kerry to tie his shoes without help.
I don't really know WHY we negotiated with Iran. I liked it better when we had them down and were strangling them blue . I found it enjoyable that they had to pay 37,000 rials for a loaf of bread.
A good rule to follow is when you get them down keep kicking them in the head and neck...harder. There is no substitute for dead.
#13
Smartest man in the world, Harvard educated foreign student lawyer and constitutional expert is now 'spiking ball' this morning on Fox News. Terms of reference are not "containment" but rather prevention. Words do matter.
If you like your nuclear program, you can keep it...period !
#15
P5+1 powers signed the treaty: United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, and France, plus Germany. Israel and the Saudis are not on the lis in the list--a couple of major players most greatly affected by this treaty. Are we to believe a group of Shi'a mullahs who believe institutionalized lying (taqiyya and kitman) is acceptable to achieve your ends? By the way it sounds like Champ also. We will be dealing with the threat of nuclear mushroom clouds (or actual clouds) in the future.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/24/2013 10:39
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#17
Another signature achievement for Obama's legacy.
And for you visitors, that IS cynical sarcasm.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/24/2013 11:18
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#18
Comparing this "deal" to Munich is an insult to Neville Chamberlain. At least Chamberlain had to worry about Hitler having at least parity if not real superiority in military and economic power. Here, starting from a position of enormous military and economic superiority, Champ and John Fn Kerry have sold out a gallant ally for magic beans. Chamberlain would have been disturbed, and Churchill's response would have been both memorable and unprintable.
Posted by: Matt ||
11/24/2013 11:27
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#20
This is nothing more than Obama showing contempt for Israel and his desire for leveling the playing field between Islam and the West. He is strategically trying to dismantle the wests control of the world and give it to Islam.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/24/2013 11:54
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#21
The Cynicismeter says that The Won and his media stooges were desperate for anything, absolutely anything, that could get the Obamacare debacle and the Clay-Footed Messiah's cratering poll numbers off the front pages.
Plus I couldn't help but notice that the basset-faced lady with bad British dental work who runs the EU's foreign policy shop had a sheaf of papers in her hand at the announcement ceremony. Wonder if there's a shot anywhere of her waving the papers a la Chamberlain?
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
11/24/2013 11:59
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#22
Besoeker: it was obvious when Champ took office, and from the jokers at CIA who wrote the national intelligence brief before that, that it would be all about "containment". We've been sending the message for quite a while that Iran could have a nuke if it wanted. They want.
So Iran will in the near future have a nuke. They have a delivery system today. They will need to miniaturize the nuke to fit the rocket. They will need some guidance system work. But in the near future they will have a serviceable IRBM.
And they have an enemies list that's longer than just Israel.
This will not end well.
Should have posted this with the Chamberlain pic.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2013 12:16
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#23
They will need to miniaturize the nuke to fit the rocket.
That sounds like work. Can't we just put one on a shrimp boat and send it up the Houston Ship Channel? We may be pretending otherwise, but Israel is not the only party with skin in the game.
#25
Have the American "foreign ministers" forgotten this "little piece of American history" ?
They're still the same people they were back in the mid-70's when they helped sell about 25 million people in SE Asia into communist servitude and/or time in work-to-death camps.
#26
I suspect Israel now will take matters into their own hands, Nation Survival Mode. I also would not be surprised to see military action before the end of the year.
"In a video clip now gaining fresh attention as the international community seeks to assess his credibility, Irans President Hassan Rouhani bragged on Iranian state television just four months ago that he and the regime utterly flouted a 2003 agreement with the IAEA in which it promised to suspend all uranium enrichment and certain other nuclear activities.
Rouhani, who was being interviewed by Irans state IRIB TV (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) on May 27, less than three weeks before he won the June 14 presidential elections, was provoked by the interviewers assertion that, as Irans chief nuclear negotiator in 2003-5, everything was suspended on the nuclear program under his watch.
Smiling but evidently highly irritated by the suggestion, Rouhani called it a lie that only the illiterate would believe, and said that whoever is talking to you in your earpiece was feeding false information. He proceeded to detail how Iran, in fact, had flagrantly breached the October 2003 Tehran Declaration, which he said was supposed to outline how everything should be suspended.
Although Iran issued a joint statement with visiting EU ministers in October 2003 setting out its pledged obligations under the Tehran Declaration, in practice, Rouhani said in the interview, We did not let that happen!"
#35
One difference between old Neville Chamberlain and Mr. O in negotiations, is that Neville was at least making an effort to rearm (example aircraft production - British production doubled from 1,440 aircraft in 1935 to 2,830 in 1938, and then increased another five-fold to over 15,000 in 1940 - the result of the re-armament measures put in place from 1935 on) whereas the 'smartest man in the world' is gutting cutting the military.
#38
Snowy: approval of a treaty requires consent of the Senate, per Article II, section 2 of the Constitution:
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur;
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2013 17:17
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#39
The United States has enough nuclear weapons to destroy all life on earth 19 times over. Russia has enough nuclear weapons to destroy all life on earth 27 times over. Pakistan, India, China, North Korea, and it is rumored that Israel also have nuclear weapons equivalent to many megatons of TNT.
All the above countries have one thing in common. Their peoples would rather live than die.
Iranian Mullahs and their Islamic followers would rather die than live and they especially love taking out as many infidels as possible on their way to hell.
#40
So the success is the agreement, not the content. Sounds par. So if the Senate is allowed to vote on this and turns it down, Obama has managed to not only piss of Israel KSA et al but show himself with even less power.
Did Kerry even ask for our drone back? Look at the bright side, with Kerry involved there is still a good chance this will get screwed up. Not good enough more me to not open the good stuff and see if Denver can win before the Mid East explodes. But a chance.
Finalized at 3am in Geneva. Why not primetime if so proud of this? Waiting for halftime to finsh? Are the additional sanctions threatened by Congress the very sanction just promised away a la tricky lawyer talk?
#41
Obama is gutting every program to fund what he knows will be a gigantic expenditure if and when ObumbleCare is actually in operation. The cost of that program alone will be more than George W's last Federal Budget.
I read "To Lose a Battle, France 1940" by Alistair Horne. There are a number of uncomfortable, well neigh, frightening parallels between the politics and personalities of the French Government between 1936 and 1940 and our current political climate.
As for a threat to Israel, only a complete madman would nuke Israel as the fallout would decimate most of Jordan, Northern Iraq, and Southwestern Iran. I am convinced the end game for Iran is to load the sucker in an ISO container and ship it to Long Beach. A nuke does not have to be inside the radiation detection zone of LA harbor for the detonation of a nuclear device to destroy most of Los Angeles county and northern Orange County. And with the winter time weather patterns a nuke in Long Beach would require evacuation of most of Arizona, New Mexico and North Texas.
The end game is not Israel, it is us...the evil Shaitan, even the nuts in power in Iran do not want to kill millions of fellow Muslims to destroy Israel with a nuke.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
11/24/2013 17:56
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#42
#37 Once again the World waits with bated breath: can the detested Jew once again pull a hat out of a rabbit?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru
g(r)omguru, the mystical Mesmer,
Mumbled Yiddish as Bunny blew klezmer:
The music went silent
And every eye widened,
As he drew Flopsy out of his fezmer!
"Aww, that trick never works."
In back of the band, a menorah
Shone as g(r)omguru read from the Torah.
Coney Island was still...
Hair on end, such a thrill:
His angora coughed up a fedora!
#44
..would require evacuation of most of Arizona, New Mexico and North Texas.
We already nuked New Mexico in 1945. Didn't require much in evacuation. Those of us who lived down wind of the open air nuke testing in the 50s and early 60s seemed to have survived well enough. It's a nuke, not even an good size asteroid. Get a grip on the level of destruction.
#47
As a dialectic Politician, OBAMA THE PCORRECT "PRO-US", "NATIONALIST" > Rising Shia Iran is now our new BFF agz Al-Qaeda, etc. in Syria + ME, the US-Allies are giving it six months to see how it will behave agz the Qaeda Boyz.
OTOH, OBAMA THE ANTI-US MARXIST GLOBALIST > Rising Shia Iran needs Nukes because it is SSSSHHHHH .... CCCCCCC our future OWG Global "Co-Superpower" in the Muslim ME. ALONG THE SAME SCOPE, GLOBALIST AMERIKA + OUR 1990'S CLINTONIAN SACRED NATIONAL COMMUNISM-SOCIALISM, I.E. "AMERICA-N-ONLY-AMERIKA NEEDS TO BE RESTRAINED + CONTROLLED", NEEDS TO PREPARE TO LOSE 1/2 OF THE PACIFIC TO OUR OTHER OWG GLOBAL CO-SUPERPOWER RISING CHINA.
To include possibly the loss of Hawaii to China, or in altern the DE-MILITARIZATION OF HAWAII.
GOOD POLITICIANS/PCORRECTNESS = THE ABOVE WILL BE ACOMPLISHED WID THE [seeming] APPROVAL OF THE AMERIKAN PEOPLE.
* "STAR WARS" PREQUELS > QUEEN PADME AMYGDALA = "SO THIS IS HOW DEMOCRACY/FREEDOM ENDS - WID APPLAUSE[ + Celebration]".
EYES WIDE OPEN, NOT EYES WIDE SHUT.
Pray to God that neither the soon-to-be-Nukulaar Hard Boyz andor "post-US", "Mahanist" China sees Amerika's actions in the name of OWG Globalism as de facto "strategic weakness" on the part of the US inspiring third-party MilPol take-over from the US.
MAHA-RUSHIAN HISTOIRE' + "THE GREAT GAME" AKA SUSTITUTION OF WEALTH + NATIONS BY ONE WID ANOTHER(S) SAYS IT IS MORE LIKELY THAT SUCH COVERT INTENTIONAL OR DELIBERATE US GLOBALIST UNILATERAL ACTIONS WIL BE INTERPRETED AS WEAKNESS - MORESO GIVEN THE PENCHANT OF US POL LEADERS THUS FAR TO REFRAIN FROM EXPLAINING ANYTHING TO THE AMERICAN = AMERIKAN MAINSTREAM = VOTERS + CONSTITUENTS.
* FYI FREEREPUBLIC > [Various = Yahoo News] US CRITICIZES NEW CHINA [Air Defense] ZONE, VOWS TO DEFEND JAPAN.
Ah yes - "Red lines".
Beijing would once again like to remind the friendly Amerikan Media-TV audience at this time that they have Nukes + US-hitting LRBMS aka ICBMS, IRBMS, etc. that Libya + Egypt + Assad + now Iran do NOT have [yet?], + that whole "200.0Milyuhn-man Army of the Apocalypse" thingy.
The agreement between the 6 parties and Iran does not require US Senate approval. This is because legislation permitted the President to execute trade sanctions and the President did execute such sanctions. S 65 in the 113th and H 568 in the 112th give the Pres direction and authority but don't constrain.
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/24/2013 19:35
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#50
The Nukes that hit Hiroshima and the early tests in New Mexico were small compared to the nukes today which are a 1000 times larger.
#52
Well, let's put it this way about destruction, none of the nukes in New Mexico were high yield. A nuke from the Iranians could be as high as a megaton, about 1000 times greater than anything tested in New Mexico or Nevada. The destruction would be an arch of about 50 miles in radius.
And besides, you need to reread my post, I was talking about the FALLOUT plume from a dirty bomb being propelled by winter time winds and the Jetstream across the southwest.
I know whence I am talking, perchance you have your prefix five also and can refute the extent of the fallout?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
11/24/2013 20:04
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#54
I have my handy dandy Nuclear Bomb Effects circular slide rule calculator; unfortunately they don't make them any more, but try this ON LINE CALCULATOR for effects of nuclear weapons on your favorite target.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/24/2013 23:11
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[An Nahar] Several people were maimed on Saturday evening in separate security-related incidents in the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , several media reports said.
In the first incident, the state-run National News Agency said unknown assailants fired gunshots at two citizens in the Souq al-Arid area in Tripoli, wounding them in the legs.
The injured men were transferred to a northern hospital for treatment.
"Security forces deployed in the region and launched a probe in this matter," the NNA said.
Radio Voice of Leb (93.3) identified the injured men as Naim Raghda and Ali Anan, noting that they were admitted to Al-Salam Hospital.
The same source said the army brought reinforcement and is prosecuting the attackers in the Old Serail region.
Meanwhile, ...back at the comedy club, Boogie sadly admitted that he was a better peeping Tom than he was a comedian... Rifaat Mahfoud was also maimed in the leg in a gun shooting incident nearby City Complex in Tripoli, and was transferred to a northern hospital for treatment.
VDL remarked that the army cordoned off the City Complex and seized the security cameras' tapes to try to identify the shooter.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and as a result of these incidents, telephoned caretaker Interior Minister urging the adoption of strict measures to prosecute the attackers, arrest them and penalize them.
In a separate incident also in the northern city, the NNA said a group of men riding a Kia car hurled three bombs in front of Abu Youness Maqsoud coffee shop in al-Jadeed street.
Two of the bombs detonated and lightly injured four people that were transferred to a hospital in the region.
The maimed men according to the NNA are Ziad Merheb, Wissam Dilati, Ahmed Kilani and Fawaz Nabulsi.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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Syrian Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar's car came under fire Saturday near the coastal area of Tartous, Syrian activists and state media reported, but he was not in the vehicle at the time of the ambush, dpa reported.
Syria's state television said Haidar's driver was killed.
An eye specialist by training, Haider is the leader of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, one of the Damascus-based opposition parties tolerated by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He was appointed minister in 2012.
Haider's son was killed last year when his car was ambushed by rebels in the central province of Homs.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2013
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[Bangla Daily Star] The Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... has called a daylong hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... (shutdown) in Chittagong district for tomorrow protesting killing of a union-level leader in Sitakunda on Wednesday and an activists in Mirsarai early today.
The ongoing primary terminal examinations however will remain out of the hartal purview, reports our Chittagong correspondent quoting Mohammad Ullah, publicity secretary of the Jamaat's port city unit.
The dawn-to-dusk hartal will begin at 6:00am Sunday, the Jamaat leader said adding that the decision was taken at a meeting in the party city office chaired by ANM Shamsul Islam, politician of Chittagong-14 (Satkania-Lohagara) constituency.
Hours into the hartal announcement, Jamaat-Shibir activists brought out a brisk procession in the city's Momin Road area in support of the shutdown around 5:00pm, blasting two crude bombs and burning tyres on the road.
On information, police chased the activists away and picked up nine people from the spot in connection with the blasts, reports our correspondent quoting Mirza Sayem Chowdhury, assistant commissioner of Kotwali zone of police.
Earlier on Wednesday, body of Aminul Islam, general secretary of the Jamaat's Barabkunda union unit, was found after he went missing three days ago.
His body was found lying beside a roadside in Ponthichila area of the upazila. His head bore marks of bullet injuries.
Meanwhile, ...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had escaped from his bonds and overwhelmed his guard using the bludgeon the faithful Filomena had smuggled to him in the loaf of bread... Jashim Uddin, 27, a Jamaat activist of Shayerkhali union in Mirsarai upazila, died early today, five hours after unknown myrmidons attacked him.
The activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League ... the student wing of the Bangla Awami League ... (BCL), the student wing of ruling Awami League, are responsible for the attack, alleged Nurul Kabir, Jamaat secretary of Mirsarai upazila unit.
Nurul Mostafa, chairman of Shayerkhali union and also the AL president of the union unit, however denied the allegation.
Three days ago, activists of Jamaat and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... , went on a rampage on Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Sitakunda upazila after the body of Aminul was found.
They torched three vehicles and vandalised around five vehicles on the highway.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2013
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[Tolo News] The Chairman of the Loya Jirga being convened in Kabul this week in order to discuss the Kabul-Washington security pact, Sebghatullah Mujadadi, has criticized the recent statements of President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... about delaying the signing of the pact until after the April elections.
Mujadadi has maintained that officials in Washington have accepted all the demands of Kabul and Karzai doesn't have the right to delay the signing of the pact.
Just two days ago, Karzai caught U.S. negotiators off-guard by telling the Loya Jirga that the BSA, even if approved by the gathering, would not be signed until after the spring Presidential and Provincial Council elections.
U.S. officials have said the agreement must be signed before the end of the year.
According to Mujadadi, delaying the finalization of the agreement would only hurt Afghanistan.
"Karzai doesn't have the right the say this," Mujadadi said. "I say he is making a mistake because they have accepted all the wishes that Mr. Karzai had and we had. If they [Karzai] delays it, it would hurt Afghanistan and we won't accept that."
The Loya Jirga has brought together some 2,500 leaders from around the country to deliberate the BSA over the course of four days. Although the recommendation gathering concludes with must ultimately be voted on by the two chambers of Parliament before being signed, the thought is that how the Jirga decides is likely how the government will proceed.
A number of Loya Jirga members on Saturday spoke out in favor of the BSA and emphasized the need to sign it soon.
"The next President that will come after elections has his own programs to address," a Jirga participants from Daykundi province named Bostan Ali Ferozian said. "The other thing is that this Advisory Loya Jirga was held during the period of President Karzai and could be signed in the next month."
U.S. officials have said the importance of signing the agreement sooner rather than later is that they must coordinate with other 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... allies the logistics of residual troop forces as the December 2014 deadline for the current mandate draws ever nearer.
"What has been said in regards to the delay in signing of this agreement is dangerous, this agreement must be signed soon between the two countries," another Jirga participant from Kabul province named Amruddin Haq Panah said.
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11/24/2013
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[An Nahar] Armed snuffies on Saturday laid siege to a village in northern Kenya where they also seized three police posts, amid a territorial dispute between local communities, Kenyan authorities said.
"Armed snuffies believed to be from the Pokot community are holding three police camps hostage in Lorokon village, Turkana county," said the National Disaster Operations Center in a tweet.
"The siege follows a border dispute between the Pokot and Turkana communities," it said. "Police officers and reservists (are) combating the bandidos in Turkana, but there is heavy resistance."
The regional governor told the Kenyan press agency (KNA) that the village was facing a humanitarian crisis after having been besieged for four days by "armed criminals".
"More than 900 people, mostly women and kiddies, cannot go out to look for water and food because they are surrounded by gunnies," Josphat Nanok was quoted as saying.
Kenya's interior ministry said in a tweet that it was handling the siege and has imposed a curfew in the area.
The war-like Turkana and Pokot tribes often clash, mostly over cattle rustling.
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11/24/2013
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[Al Ahram] Air strikes around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo killed at least 40 people on Saturday, most of them civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The pro-opposition monitoring group said there were at least six strikes on the outskirts of Aleppo and nearby towns. Dozens of people were maimed, it said.
"Some of the strikes in the neighbourhood of Tareeq al-Bab appeared to be targeting rebel headquarters but instead the rockets fell in a busy street and caused heavy civilian casualties," Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Observatory, said by telephone.
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11/24/2013
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#1
There must be some way we can put this to Music.
All to be sung to soulful Arab instruments ( like the fagbut, the camelhorn and the sand flute )...and humming verses from the suras in the bass section.
[Al Ahram] Egypt has jugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! 39 people, including a US citizen, accused of torching a tram during a protest against the overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... , judicial sources said Saturday.
The accused, who were placed in 15-day preventive detention, were members of Morsi's Moslem Brüderbund movement, the sources said, adding that they were also accused of rioting and attacking coppers on Friday during protests in Cairo.
On Friday the interior ministry said students linked to the Moslem Brüderbund had torched a tram carriage in Cairo's eastern district of Heliopolis.
Sources said Saturday that one of the detainees had a US passport, but it was unclear if he held other citizenship.
Islamist backers of Morsi have regularly staged protests against the country's new military-installed authorities since his 3 July ouster.
On Friday, a young boy and a man were killed as supporters and opponents of Morsi clashed in several parts of Egypt, including in Cairo, officials said.
The confrontations came as pro-Morsi groups called for a week of anti-military protests under the slogan "Massacre of the Century" -- a reference to the violent dispersal of two pro-Morsi protest camps on 14 August in which hundreds of people, mainly Morsi supporters, were killed.
Authorities have launched a sweeping crackdown on Islamists in recent months, arresting some 2,000 people, including most of the top leadership of the Moslem Brüderbund, the country's oldest and most well-organised Islamist movement.
Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, is himself in jug on charges of inciting violence during festivities outside the presidential palace in December 2012.
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11/24/2013
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[An Nahar] Egypt's interior minister on Saturday announced the arrest of dozens of "extremists" and accused the Moslem Brüderbund of deposed president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... of financing radical Islamists linked to al-Qaeda.
Mohammed Ibrahim told news hounds security forces had locked away Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! more than 50 members of "extremist groups" with ties to the network founded by the late Osama bin Laden ... who used to be alive but now he's not... and now led by his Egyptian successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
The minister said the suspects were connected with attacks on police and soldiers that have multiplied and killed more than 100 people since the army deposed Morsi on July 3.
The Brotherhood "supports and massively finances from abroad numerous radical gunnies in several groups" that have since the summer "launched a series of terrorist acts seeking to sow terror", Ibrahim said.
He said some of those held had been pardoned of offences during Morsi's year-long rule, and that others were linked to jihadist groups Ansar Beit al-Maqdis in the Sinai and the Libya-based Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Tunisia and Yemen, with the Tunisian version currently most active...
Ibrahim said that among them was Mohammed al-Zawahiri, brother of the al-Qaeda chief, who was placed in durance vile Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! in August after being freed in the 2011 revolt that ousted Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
Ibrahim said some of the arrests came after a failed attempt Curses! Foiled again! on his own life on September 5 when a jacket wallah attacked his convoy in Cairo.
He said others were detained after an August 19 attack killed 25 police in the Sinai -- the deadliest in years in the arid desert peninsula.
Yet more included men accused of the murders of several coppers, among them the November 17 killing of Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Mabruk.
Mabruk, an officer involved in the crackdown against Islamists and the Brotherhood, was rubbed out in Cairo.
Ibrahim also fired off a new warning to pro-Morsi demonstrators, who have called for a week of anti-military protests under the banner "The Massacre of the Century".
The slogan refers to the August 14 crackdown by security forces on Morsi supporters in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Square where at least 627 people died.
"As of now, any demonstration that is not peaceful or that blocks roads will be met with force, whatever losses are incurred by either side," he warned.
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11/24/2013
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[Libya Herald] An Iraqi professor working in Derna was kidnapped when his taxi was stopped by another vehicle.
Hamid Khalf, who teaches at the Derna Higher Institute of Work Studies was grabbed as he was being driven to work this morning from his home in Shara Al-Bahar. The vehicle that was used to intercept his taxi was described as a "Chevrolet taxi". He has been living in Libya since 1998 and previously taught at Omar Mukhtar University in Beida. According to social media, in August he was assaulted and robbed of his car and valuables.
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11/24/2013
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[Dawn] Nine protesters, including a woman, were maimed when a policeman opened fire on a protest rally in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , which was part of demonstrations staged across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... and Fata on Friday to condemn the Rawalpindi violence.
Wafaq-ul-Madaris had given call for the protests.
Police said that the firing incident took place in Wakho Pul area in limits of Bana Mani cop shoppe.
The injured were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital. They were identified as Sharifa Bibi, Sajid, Takbir, Tariq, Najeebullah, Abdur Rehman, Zakirullah, Amjad Ali and Muner.
A hospital source said one of the injured was at death's door.
"We were coming in a procession and as we crossed Ghazi checkpost a policeman opened fire on us from behind with his official rifle," Najeebullah of Bahadur Kili told Dawn at the LRH.
Peshawar deputy commissioner Syed Zaheer-ul-Islam told mediapersons that the police constable, Syed Ali Badshah of Bana Mani cop shoppe, had been nabbed Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! and charged in a case under terrorism act. He said the overall situation in the district remained peaceful.
Police had blocked all the entry points towards Shoba Chowk where all the processions were to be converged.
Speakers condemned the Rawalpindi tragedy and criticised the government for failing to protect the lives and properties of people.
They demanded arrest of all those involved in the tragedy. They also asked the government to compensate the victims' families and take action against the officials who failed to maintain law and order on such sensitive occasions.
Similarly, the speakers also condemned drone strike at a seminary and asked the government to sever ties with the United States.
On the day, all the shopping centres remained closed and traffic was routed to GT Road and no one was allowed to participate in the rallies from the cantonment side. Owing to traffic problems the people were seen marching towards their destinations.
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11/24/2013
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[Dawn] An anti-terrorism court here on Friday acquitted 11 activists of Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... -F including one of its candidates in general elections in a case of storming and ransacking courts in Charsadda district during an electoral dispute over recounting of votes.
The court presided over by Anwer Hussain Khan pronounced that the prosecution could not prove its case against the 11 suspects including Mufti Gohar Shah, who was a candidate for the provincial assembly seat PK-20, Charsadda, in the May 11, 2013, general elections.
Mufti Gohar Shah was prime accused in the case and had remained absconder for several months. Earlier, 17 other activists of the party were acquitted in the same case.
Mufti Gohar Shah had lost to a candidate of Qaumi Watan Party, Khalid Khan, on the said seat with a margin of 1,169 votes and he had alleged rigging in the polls. He had submitted an application to the returning officer concerned for recounting of votes and on the day of recounting he and his supporters staged a demonstration and later on allegedly stormed the tehsil courts at Tanghi.
The accused persons had allegedly ransacked courtrooms and pelted stones on the building. An FIR was registered against them at Tanghi cop shoppe under section 7 of the Anti Terrorism Act and several sections of Pakistain Penal Code.
The counsel appearing for the accused persons contended that they were falsely implicated in the case. He contended that there was no evidence on record to prove that Mufti Gohar had instigated the persons who had attacked the building. He added that the offence was carried out by a mob in which it could not be identified as to who had participated in the illegal act.
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11/24/2013
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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.
[Dawn] Unknown persons set ablaze a 
[Al Ahram] Gunmen killed 12 people in a raid on a northeastern Nigerian village on Saturday, the police said, in a region where troops are battling an Islamist
North Korea has developed an improved missile with a range of 180-300 km based on the Chinese Silkworm ground-to-ship missile.
[Yemen Post] Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi hailed Yemen's progress against al-Qaeda, explaining that following months of a relentless nationwide anti-terror campaign, terror 
Wazoo
[Al Ahram] Twin 
International Criminal Court
[Libya Herald] Stability in Libya and continued US engagement in Libya is "absolutely essential" to the US, a senior US government official has said.
[Al Ahram] Gunmen on Saturday 
[Al Ahram] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday his government would never respect military-installed rulers, in remarks made after Egypt's expulsion of Ankara's ambassador.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Al Ahram] Egyptian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim claimed Saturday that Egypt's 
GENEVA -- Iran and six major powers agreed early Sunday on an historic deal that freezes key parts of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for temporary relief on some economic sanctions, diplomats confirmed.
Najib Miqati
[Al Ahram] Air strikes around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo killed at least 40 people on Saturday, most of them civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The pro-opposition monitoring group said there were at least six strikes on the outskirts of Aleppo and nearby towns. Dozens of people were 
Zawahiri
