Go ahead Bob, run with this one will you ?
Former CIA officer Bob Baer said on CNN Sunday evening officials are speculating that Edward Snowden's whistleblowing could be "potential Chinese espionage." Snowden came forward yesterday and identified himself as the leaker of the NSA's massive surveillance operation. Not us mind you, all part of a much, much larger threat.
Snowden revealed he was currently located in Hong Kong. Yes, the meet appears to have taken place at the Mira Hotel. The décor still sucks.
Its [Hong Kong's] not an independent part of China at all. Ive talked to a bunch of people in Washington today, in official positions, and they are looking at this as a potential Chinese espionage case, said Baer. Thanks for the geography lesson Bob, who knew ?
When he was asked if there was a possibility to extradite Snowden, Baer responded, Well never get him in China. Theyre not about to send him to the United States and the CIA is not going to render him, as he said in the tape, is not going to try to grab him there. Exactly! The Sino-Snowden link proves the program must continue.
President Obama recently met with China's Presdent Xi Jinping where they discussed issues of cybersecurity. The famous desert walk.
Baer said, It almost seems to me that this was a pointed affront to the United States on the day the president is meeting the Chinese leader, Baer said, telling us, listen, quit complaining about espionage and getting on the internet and our hacking. You are doing the same thing. And the response might have been.....?
#1
The ever-changing narrative? That has a familiar ring to it. Oh, I remember. There was the pesky video narrative that was responsible for Benghazi. Hillebeast responded: "What difference does it make anyway?" There were the two rogue IRS agents in Cincy. Recently, according to Representative Elijah Cummings, we found that "It was a Republican operative" responsible for the IRS mess. Fast & Furious? It was Bush's fault--And the gun dealers along the border who were supplying 90% of the guns to Mexican drug cartels. The white cop at Harvard who was doing his duty when a black professor's house appeared to be broken into? The black professor was arrested (for getting testy about providing identification). We were told from the WH, it was a racist cop; turns out the police officer had a unblemished record and followed good protocol. And there was Holder's version of the AP and James Rossen scandal. When questioned, it was said "Nothing like that would go on under me"
The truth has been a casualty along the way. And we have had assaults on the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendments.
#4
Baer responded, Well never get him in China. Theyre not about to send him to the United States and the CIA is not going to render him, as he said in the tape, is not going to try to grab him there. Snowden will, I am certain, simply disappear (UP)....
#7
Baby Assad has all but officially/publicly proclaimed total victory agz the Rebs + US-West whom seek to remove him from power.
As things stand, Rising Iran will seemingly succeed in not only having Baby Assad stay in power, but more impor procuring its Nukes as well as its desired military presence in the Eastern Mediterranean.
To paraph Krauthammer + Fox Boyz, POTUS Bammer's foreign policies [espec as per the GWOT] is a complete shambles or failure.
THE REAL WINNER IN SYRIA IS THE OWG ISLAMIST CALIPHATE, FUTURE SUPERPOWER IRAN, NUCLEAR RADICAL ISLAM, + NUCLEAR MILITANCY-TERRORISM.
[An Nahar] Al-Qaeda-linked Death Eaters in Mali remain a threat to all West Africa, U.N. leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... said in a report Sunday in which he also raised concerns about a planned election next month.
But Ban raised no objections to a U.N. peacekeeping force starting to deploy on July 1, even though he said it was poorly equipped and trained.
The U.N. force is to take over security duties from French forces who entered Mali in January to halt an Islamist advance and help the government re-establish its authority over the vast country.
Ban said in the report, obtained by Agence La Belle France Presse, that operations by French and Malian government forces in the north of the country had "weakened" the bully boy groups who took over northern Mali for 10 months and imposed a brutal Islamic law.
"They have lost the tactical advantage and much of the safe haven they had access to for years in northern Mali."
But Ban raised concerns over suicide kabooms and other guerrilla attacks the groups are now staging in Mali and neighboring countries, such as Niger in late May.
The gangs "retain the capability to pose a significant threat" and "still have support networks and recruitment structures in place," he said.
"It is important to remain mindful of the danger posed by armed elements moving to neighboring countries to carry out terrorist attacks and engage in criminal activities."
The U.N. force, to be known as MINUSMA, will eventually have up to 12,600 troops with the core coming from more than 6,000 West African troops already in Mali. French troops will remain in the region to carry out counter-terrorism operations.
Ban raised fears that U.N. peacekeepers could face guerrilla attacks as the Malian army and African troops already have.
He also highlighted the lack of equipment and training among the West African troops already in Mali. The African forces have been given a "grace period" of four months to get up to U.N. standards, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
A judge criticised the tide of extremist material freely available on the internet as he jailed a gang of Islamic fanatics who planned to bomb the English Defence League.
Nicholas Hilliard QC said such radicalising material was not difficult to find or share, which was an issue of continuing significance.
He said its presence was partly to blame for the terrorist plot to attack an EDL rally with homemade bombs, guns and knives.
In the wake of the unconnected Woolwich atrocity, which saw British soldier Lee Rigby allegedly murdered by apparent Islamic extremists, internet companies and providers have been under increasing pressure to do more to curb extremist videos and material online.
Sentencing the Birmingham-based gang for up to 19 and a half years at the Old Bailey, Judge Hilliard said: How was it that you became involved in a crime of this gravity?
At least part of the answer to that question must come in the tide of apparently freely available extremist material in which most of you had immersed yourselves.
Mexico City residents have swapped persona firearms for consumer products in a program political and social leaders have termed a success, according to Mexican news reports.
In a wire dispatch from El Universal that appeared on the website of El Diario de Coahuila, the program called depistolizacion or depistolization has received almost 6,000 firearms and munitions including grenades.
According to data supplied by Secretaria de Seguridad Publica (SSP) Jesus Rodriguez Almeida, 5,641 firearms were turned in of which 3,987 were pistols, 356 were grenades, a bomb, one weapons magazine and 44,495 rounds of ammunition.
The program begun five months ago is set to end this summer.
According to the report, cash and prizes totalling MX $8,030,500 (USD $624,202.73) were passed out. Non cash rewards given out included 16 laptop computers, 1,900 tablets, 251 bicycles and 183 appliances of undisclosed types.
The report quoted Rodriguez Almeida as saying the program was intended to disarm the civilian population in the city's 16 municipalities.
The program had the help of the church and local Catholic parishes were used as collections centers for the firearms. Among the leaders who helped push the program included Distrito Federal president Miguel Angel Mancera, Cardinal Norberto Rivera and Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu.
A second program will start soon, but its time was not specified in news accounts.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
[An Nahar] The pro-secular protests rocking Turkish cities have sent ripples across the Arab world, unnerving Islamist leaders who have long touted Turkey as a successful model of political Islam, analysts say.
Thousands of Turks have joined in mass anti-government demonstrations, defying Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's call to end the worst civil unrest of his decade-long rule.
Turkey's unrest began when police cracked down heavily on a small campaign to save an Istanbul park from demolition, spiraling into nationwide protests against Erdogan and his Islamist-based Justice and Development Party (AKP), seen as increasingly authoritarian.
Across the Mediterranean, Arab Spring countries are keeping a close eye on events.
Islamist-led Egypt and Tunisia "must be worried about the problems faced by Erdogan's Turkey, a supposedly successful model" of political Islam, said Antoine Basbous director of the Gay Paree-based Observatory of Arab countries.
Tunisia and Egypt -- where unprecedented revolts led to the ouster of longtime dictators in 2011 and propelled Islamists to the forefront of politics-- have repeatedly pointed to Turkey as a good example of a moderate Islamist democracy.
The Islamist party Ennahda which won post-revolution polls in Tunisia has openly expressed its admiration for the "Turkish model," while Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi who addressed the AKP's congress in September 2012 lauded Erdogan's party as a "source of inspiration".
But both Arab states have been suffering increasing polarization between Islamists and secularists, with Islamists in power accused of failing to live up to their promise of guaranteeing rights and freedoms.
In Egypt, many are drawing parallels between the anti-AKP protests and the mass rallies scheduled for June 30 against President Morsi on the first anniversary of his assumption of power.
But members of Morsi's Freedom and Justice Party say such parallels are only aimed at pulling the rug from under the Islamist regimes.
"What is going on in Turkey has nothing to do with daily or economic needs. It is intended to promote the idea that Islamic regimes, which have made economic achievements and proved to the world that they can stand in the face of all external challenges, have failed,"Murad Aly, the FJP's media adviser, said in a newspaper interview.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#1
Because it reminds them that Turks are not Arabs?
A great idea. What could possibly go wrong?
A resettlement plan aims to help both the hard-hit Syrian families and the Middle Eastern countries that are straining to support 1.6 million refugees.
Two years into a civil war that shows no signs of ending, the Obama administration is considering resettling refugees who have fled Syria, part of an international effort that could bring thousands of Syrians to American cities and towns.
A resettlement plan under discussion in Washington and other capitals is aimed at relieving pressure on Middle Eastern countries straining to support 1.6 million refugees, as well as assisting hard-hit Syrian families.
The State Department is "ready to consider the idea," an official from the department said, if the administration receives a formal request from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, which is the usual procedure.
The United States usually accepts about half the refugees that the U.N. agency proposes for resettlement. California has historically taken the largest share, but Illinois, Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia are also popular destinations.
U.N. refugee officials, diplomats and nongovernmental relief groups plan to discuss possible resettlement schemes at a high-level meeting this week in Geneva. Germany already has committed to taking 5,000 people.
[Pak Daily Times] Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has said that drone attacks are against the independence and illusory sovereignty of the country. But having the country occupied by foreign Islamists who're conducting a war against the country next door isn't.
To a question regarding the strong protest by the government on the latest drone strike, the information minister said in a Pakistain Radio programme that if the former military ruler had allowed the US government to conduct drone strikes inside the country, it was not legal, as he was not a legitimate ruler.
"We will have to talk with Americans and inform them of our reservations on these strikes, as the people have strong sentiments against these."
He said that political parties, institutions, intelligentsia and the people of Pakistain had become mature now, and they would focus on common issues, inclining terrorism, extremism, energy crisis, shortage of clean water, education, health and other facilities.
He said it was pivotal that the opposition "keeps a close check on treasury to enable it to make policies and programmes for the welfare of the common man".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain ranks second in the list of countries where the largest amount of intelligence was gathered by the United States, according to a report by the Guardian.
The Guardian has acquired top-secret documents about the NSA (National Security Agency) datamining tool, called Boundless Informant that details and even maps by country the voluminous amount of information it collects from computer and telephone networks. According to the report, Iran was the country where the largest amount of intelligence was gathered, with more than 14bn reports in that period, followed by 13.5bn from Pakistain. Jordan, one of America's closest Arab allies, came third with 12.7bn, Egypt fourth with 7.6bn and India fifth with 6.3bn.
The US Security Agency has developed a powerful tool for recording and analysing where its intelligence comes from, raising questions about its repeated assurances to Congress that it cannot keep track of all the surveillance it performs on American communications. The focus of the internal NSA tool is on counting and categorising the records of communications, known as metadata, rather than the content of an email or instant message.
Iran was the country where the largest amount of intelligence was gathered, with more than 14bn reports in that period, followed by 13.5bn from Pakistain. Jordan, one of America's closest Arab allies, came third with 12.7bn, Egypt fourth with 7.6bn and India fifth with 6.3bn.
The Boundless Informant documents show the agency collecting almost three billion pieces of intelligence from US computer networks over a 30-day period ending in March 2013. One document says it is designed to give NSA officials answers to questions like, "What type of coverage do we have on country X" in "near real-time by asking the SIGINT [signals intelligence] infrastructure." An NSA factsheet about the programme, acquired by the Guardian, says: "The tool allows users to select a country on a map and view the metadata volume and select details about the collections against that country." Under the heading "Sample use cases", the factsheet also states the tool shows information including: "How many records (and what type) are collected against a particular country."
A snapshot of the Boundless Informant data, contained in a top secret NSA "global heat map" seen by the Guardian, shows that in March 2013 the agency collected 97bn pieces of intelligence from computer networks worldwide. The heatmap gives each nation a colour code based on how extensively it is subjected to NSA surveillance. The colour scheme ranges from green (least subjected to surveillance) through yellow and orange to red (most surveillance).The disclosure of the internal Boundless Informant system comes amid a struggle between the NSA and its overseers in the Senate over whether it can track the intelligence it collects on American communications. The NSA's position is that it is not technologically feasible to do so.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#2
And with all of this capability, Fort Hood and Benghazi still remain mysteries. Perhaps it is time for the beta testing of PRISM 3.0 and it's fetal bar coding upgrades.
Was it Einstein who said "insanity consists in doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result"
Moves to arm Syrias opposition have been accelerated in the US following a key defeat for the rebels and a major split in the ranks of al-Qaeda-aligned jihadists, Washington officials indicated.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, postponed a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories to hold intensive talks with President Barack Obama on the next steps in the Syria crisis.
Officials told American news outlets that the administration was considering not only arming the rebels directly but even imposing a no-fly zone on the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, was also being updated, one report said, though the Foreign Office refused to confirm this. At the weekend, Mr Hague said he was prepared to put the issue of Britain supplying the rebels to a vote, following pressure from backbench Tory MPs and the Labour party.
A state department spokesman said Mr Obama would this week consider a "wider range of options".
"Conditions on the ground have worsened. That is frankly concerning," she added.
[An Nahar] Hizbullah announced on Sunday that entering the occupied Galilee region in northern Israel is still possible, despite the current Syrian crisis and the party's involvement in it.
"Despite the Syrian crisis and despite political and media pressures, the resistance today is at the highest levels of readiness," declared top Hizbullah official Sheikh Nabil Qaouq during an event commemorating the one-week passing of Hizbullah fighter in Syria Hasan Ali Zahreddine in the southern town of Mais al-Jabal.
He added: "Tens of thousands of Hizbullah fighters in the South are ready at any time to respond to an Israeli attack and emerge victorious from it, creating the Galilee equation that (Hizbullah chief) Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah had promised."
Nasrallah had said in July 2012 that "all options are on the table" regarding a confrontation with Israel, adding that the resistance might one day enter the Galilee region.
Qaouq accused the March 14 alliance, particularly al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... Movement, of "inciting sectarian tensions to besiege the resistance," promising not to allow "American dictations to form the cabinet in Leb."
"Al-Mustaqbal's slogan today is Free Syrian Army first," he said.
"As long as March 14 is betting on the fall of the Syrian regime, the crisis in Leb will continue to exist and as long as it wants to stab the resistance in the back, there won't be stability in the country and the cabinet, if formed, cannot be productive."
The Hizbullah official stressed: "They should stop their losing and conspiratorial bets."
"American dictations are controlling their tools in Leb to put conditions on Hizbullah," Qaouq considered.
"But we will not allow the U.S. to have the upper hand in the cabinet's formation."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[An Nahar] The Lebanese Red Thingy transported on Sunday around 35 Syrians, who were maimed in the Syrian town of Qusayr, state-run National News Agency reported.
The NNA said that the transfer operations kicked off overnight Saturday.
The maimed people were submitted to al-Menyeh Hospital 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... , the news agency added.
The maimed were evacuated as the regime seized the last remaining bully boy bastion in the Qusayr area of central Syria, near the Lebanese border.
Red Thingy Operations Director George Kettaneh later told LBCI that 87 maimed people have been transported from Qusayr to Leb since Friday in cooperation with the Lebanese army.
Dozens of maimed Syrian rebels and civilians have independently made their way across the frontier into Leb after the town of Qusayr, a former rebel stronghold, was taken last Wednesday by Syrian regime forces bolstered by fighters of Hizbullah, security sources said.
Most of them arrived in Arsal, a Sunni majority town in eastern Leb which backs the rebellion in Syria, before they were transported to hospitals in Bekaa, while others landed in the village of al-Qasr in northeast Leb.
Many of those who fled Qusayr have arrived across the border in extremely poor condition, a local municipality official in Arsal told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"Their situation is very bad -- they arrived exhausted. They have nothing. Some came here on foot," said Ahmed al-Hojeiri.
He said a Syrian civilian told him it "took four days to reach Arsal. He was in a state of complete shock. He tried to leave the city with his wife and two children when a shell fell. He lost his family."
Hojeiri said some other Syrian refugees told him "they were eating leaves to survive on the road".
Syrian authorities said on Saturday that government troops had taken control of the entire strategic region of Qusayr, where the U.N. Security Council has called for an "immediate" humanitarian access.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[An Nahar] Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani rejected on Sunday statements attacking Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, considering that this is an "offense to all Mohammedans."
"An attack on the Mufti 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... is an attack on all Mohammedan due to the noble religious status he represents in the Arab and Islamic world," Qabbani said in a released statement, adding that al-Sheikh is a "renowned Islamic and international reference in religious matters."
He noted: "Fools are attacking our top holy mans and people are silent despite insults against their scholars."
"It is not acceptable for any man to offend another because he disagrees with him. So how can we accept offense against the Saudi Mufti?"
"It is a foolish thing to allow disagreements to lead to insults and the demolition of ethics," the Mufti stressed.
Tawheed Movement leader Wiam Wahab called Abdul Aziz on Sunday morning a "handicap," asking him as well as Sunni holy man Youssef al-Qaradawi ...crackpot Egyptian Islamist theologian. He is best known for his program Shariah and Life on Al Jazeera, with an estimated audience of 60 million kindred souls worldwide. He is also well-known for IslamOnline, which occasionally advocates things like slavery and thumping the old lady with a rod no thicker than an inch, and has published more than 120 books, including Islam: The Future Civilization. Joe has long had a prominent role within the intellectual leadership of the Moslem Brüderbund. Some of his views have been controversial in the West, though less so among the rubes of the Mysterious East, and he was refused entry to the United Kingdom in 2008. In 2004, 2,500 Muslim academics from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and from the Palestinian territories condemned Qaradawi, and accused him of giving Islam a bad name.... to "clean their mouths before talking about Hizbullah's resistance."
Saudi Arabia's top holy man on Thursday urged governments and fellow holy mans across the Mohammedan world to punish Hizbullah for its intervention in the Syrian civil war against the mainly Sunni rebels fighting to oust Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... "We urge all politicians and holy mans to take substantial measures against this detestable sectarian group (Hizbullah) and all those backing it," Sheikh said in a speech carried by the official SPA news agency.
Meanwhile, ...back at the mall, Clarissa suddenly spied Mr. Bartlett at the checkout counter. He was buying Grecian Formula!... Qaradawi, who has millions of supporters around the Arab world, particularly in the ranks of the Moslem Brüderbund, said he had been at fault for previously backing Hizbullah and urged Sunni volunteers to join the Syrian rebels.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11123 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[An Nahar] The head of the Jamaa Islamiya political bureau Azzam al-Ayyoubi lashed out at Hizbullah on Sunday, considering that the rebels in Syria and Qusayr are the "real resistance."
"Hizbullah is creating sedition that will lead to its end," Ayyoubi said during a ceremony in the northern region of Akkar.
He pointed out that after the battle of Qusayr "Hizbullah can no longer be called a resistance."
He described the people of Qusayr and the rebels in Syria as the "real resistance that is defying oppressors and invaders."
Ayyoubi slammed Hizbullah chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... , accusing him of "igniting a sectarian war that will not stop at the borders of Syria."
Syrian regime forces backed by elite Hizbullah fighters on Wednesday managed to recapture the strategic town of Qusayr near Leb's border from rebel hands following a fierce assault.
And on Saturday the Eastern Bweida village, the last rebel bastion in the area, was seized by Syrian forces, bringing the entire Qusayr region near the border with Leb back under regime control.
Only 10 kilometers from Leb, Qusayr is strategic for the regime and Hizbullah because of its proximity to the border and because it lies on a route linking Damascus to the the regime's bastion on the Syrian coast.
For the rebels, it was an important conduit from Leb for men and weapons.
"Hizbullah is not longer a supporter of those who are defenseless," Ayyoubi added.
Ayyoubi said that wondered how "Hizbullah pretends to be defending the land against Israel but joined the U.S. and the Jewish state battle against the Takfiri ...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... s."
The official called on the Shiites to reconsider their stance as "the party will only lead the sect further to strife."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[An Nahar] Arab Democratic Party media officer Abdul Latif Saleh announced on Sunday that the party is fully cooperating with the army and will felicitate its deployment 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...
According to the state-run National News Agency, the army will intensify its presence in Syria street, which separates the Tripoli districts of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh, and will set up new checkpoints.
The news agency said that the residents of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen will cooperate with the army to remove the barricades and sandbags from the the rival neighborhoods.
Although Leb has officially adopted a position of neutrality in Syria's war, its people are sharply divided with Hizbullah and its allies backing Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... 's regime and the March 14 alliance the rebellion.
The army urged on Friday "citizens to express their political views on events in Leb and Syria by peaceful and democratic means and not to be driven by groups wanting to use violence as a means to achieve their ends".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11123 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[An Nahar] A leading Iranian conservative holy manal group has endorsed veteran diplomat Ali Akbar Velayati to succeed Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad in the June 14 presidential election, a media report said on Sunday.
The Mehr news agency said a majority of members of the Qom Seminary Scholars Association at a meeting on Saturday gave their support to Velayati, quoting group chief Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a former conservative head of the judiciary.
The association is one of the two leading conservative holy manal groups in the holy city of Qom.
The other, the Combatant Clerics Association, has yet to endorse one of the eight presidential candidates approved by the hardline electoral watchdog Guardians Council.
Velayati, a former foreign minister for 16 years, is currently senior foreign policy adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all key issues in the Islamic republic.
He pledges to repair strained relations with the international community if elected, and to shore up the struggling economy against Western economic sanctions imposed over Tehran's disputed nuclear drive.
Considered a frontrunner in the presidential race, Velayati faces stiff competition from a number of candidates, including Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.
In a live televised debate on Friday, Velayati criticized Jalili's failure to make progress in talks with world powers on Iran's atomic program.
"The current negotiations that are under way are definitely flawed," said Velayati, who says his diplomatic record will allow him to resolve the nuclear issue, by removing the sanctions and preserving Iran's nuclear "rights".
Khamenei warned on Tuesday that the next president should avoid making concessions to the West. But he also insisted he will not throw his weight behind any candidate.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
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.