[Tolo News] Isaf on Monday said Insurgents have lost the potential to "challenge" Afghan forces and foreign troops in the war amid a dramatic surge in Taliban-led violence.
At a joint presser with NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... Senior Civilian Representative's spokesperson, Dominic Medley, in Kabul Isaf Spokesperson Gen. Josef Blotz said 60 percent of krazed killer-led attacks target civilians, tribal elders, religious leaders and government officials.
General Blotz said this year's statistics indicate an increase in assaults striking civilians, tribal leaders and government officials.
"Insurgents not able to challenge Afghan national security forces and Isaf forces to any significant degree continue to assassinate Afghan patriots and religious leaders," Gen. Blotz told news hounds.
While emphasising on NATO's long-term cooperation to Afghanistan NATO's Senior Civilian Representative Spokesperson Dominic Medley pointed out to the new phase of progress unfolding in the country.
"New phase is taking place in Afghanistan as the country progresses on its road to peace, stability and security and that new phase is the joint strategy with Afghanistan and NATO," Mr Medley said.
Blotz said the man who targeted 201st ANA Corps in Laghman province was an army recruit. But he refused to shed light on the attacker's military rank.
On Saturday 201st ANA Corps in Laghman province was targeted by a jacket wallah, dressed in ANA uniform, and killed 4 Afghan soldiers, 7 foreign troops and hurt eight others.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2011 00:00 ||
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At least ten senior officers will be sent to Benghazi to try to forge the rebels trying to oust Colonel Muammar Gaddafi into a credible fighting force.
Ministers insisted that deploying the military liaison advisory team was not a sign of mission creep, but MPs of all parties said the move showed Britain is being dragged ever deeper into a Libyan civil war.
The announcement came after David Cameron urged Cabinet ministers to draw up new measures to help the rebels break the military deadlock in Libya.
After more than a month of air strikes, the rebels have failed to make significant progress against Col Gaddafi. British commanders have told the Prime Minister that the rebels lack the organisation to challenge the dictators forces.
Mr Cameron, who personally led international efforts to launch the Libyan intervention, is said to be becoming increasingly impatient and anxious about the stalemate.
#1
Ministers insisted that deploying the military liaison advisory team was not a sign of mission creep,
Your Mooslim constituents back home will be most supportive. Not to mention successes in Kenya, other Home Office anti-colonial backed national liberation causes undertaken with startling, long term success include those involving Robert Mugabe and Nelson Mandela. Democracy on the march I always say.
The problem here is, we just can't seem to find a suitable 'head man' and the bloody Yanks no longer wish to participate, at least openly! Could have cured that had we known Sarah's grandson would one day be bloody president. Should have given her the old man's back pay and dole long before we got the Churchill bust back and been done with it.
[Arab News] Gulf troops will stay in Bahrain until its rulers are satisfied that threats from Iran have eased, the island kingdom's foreign minister said Monday.
Bahrain's king declared martial law last month and invited about 1,500 troops from Soddy Arabia and the other Gulf states to help contain a Shiite uprising that Sunni leaders around the oil-rich region believe could open the way for greater influence by Shiite powerhouse Iran.
The country's foreign minister, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, told news hounds that the Gulf force is needed to counter a "sustained campaign" by Iran in Bahrain, the host of the US Navy's 5th Fleet.
"There is an external threat on the whole Gulf," the minister said on the sidelines of an anti-piracy conference in Dubai. He denied the Gulf force is "policing" the majority Shiite nation and emphasized the foreign forces' stated mission is to protect Bahrain's "vital installations against a foreign threat."
Authorities claimed they see Iran's influence in the Shiite opposition that has staged weeks of demonstrations and sit-ins demanding greater political freedoms and equal rights.
Tehran has denounced the deployment of a Saudi-led force to help prop up Bahrain's monarchy and condemned the crackdown.
Hundreds of protesters, opposition leaders and human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... activists have been taken into custody since Bahrain declared emergency rule March 15 attempts to crush the revolt.
Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa on Monday said protesters, who had called for his removal, would be held to account and described the anti-government unrest as a coup attempt.
"Bahrain has witnessed a coup attempt," he said in remarks carried by pro-government media on Monday. "No violators would get away with it. All co-conspirators and abettors must be held accountable."
Weeks of anti-government protests in February and March by the Shiite majority demanded more freedom, an end to discrimination and a constitutional monarchy in the Sunni-ruled country, which is a US ally.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
ION PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER [Cleric] URGES ARMY TO USE, ACTIVATE ALL POTENTIALS + CAPACITIES [Capabilities], including but not limited to its Intellectual + Practical proficiencies, espec as per MILITARY MODERNIZATION.
IOW, "BE ALL YOU CAN BE" FOR THE DEFENSE OF IRAN, THE REVOLUTION, + SHIA ISLAM.
[Arab News] Foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and a delegation of top opposition leaders from Yemen met here Sunday night to discuss ways and means to defuse the worsening political crisis in Yemen.
In the meeting, the GCC and Yemeni leaders discussed a proposal for an early departure of President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... to secure peace and an end to political unrest in the country. They also reviewed a proposal that calls for a timetable for the president to leave office.
"The meeting discussed all related developments in Yemen within the framework of the agreement reached by GCC countries on April 10, when it was decided to involve all factions to find a solution to the political unrest," said a front man of the GCC General Secretariat in Riyadh after the talks.
The Yemeni delegation held talks on all issues with the GCC ministers while seeking details of the plan for Saleh's departure floated by GCC ministerial council earlier this month.
The five-member opposition Common Forum delegation was led by Mohammed Salem Bassandaoua, former foreign minister. Other Yemeni opposition leaders present in the talks included Yasin Saeed Noman, secretary-general of Socialist Party of Yemen; Abdelwahab Al-Ansi, secretary-general of Reform Party; Sultan Al-Atwani, secretary-general of Al-Nasiri party and Hassan Zaid, chief of Al-Haq party.
The Gulf foreign ministers met for the first time with Yemeni opposition members to defuse the crisis. The meeting coincides with the visit of European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who arrived in Riyadh on Sunday night for a two-day visit during which she is to meet King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and other senior Saudi officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] Soddy Arabia's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi said on Sunday the world oil market was oversupplied and the Kingdom had reduced output, sending a the strongest signal yet that OPEC may not boost output in June to quell soaring oil prices.
Consumers have urged the exporters' group to add supply to halt the rally in oil prices that has taken crude to its highest level in 2 1/2 years amid unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, but OPEC members say there is little they can do to bring prices down.
"The market is overbalanced ... Our production in February was 9.125 million barrels per day (bpd), in March it was 8.292 million bpd. In April we don't know yet, probably a little higher than March. The reason I gave you these numbers is to show you that the market is oversupplied," Al-Naimi told news hounds.
Two Saudi-based industry sources told Rooters last week the kingdom had cut production.
Al-Naimi's words, echoed later on Sunday by his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates, are the clearest indications yet that the group is unconvinced there is a need for more oil despite the civil war that has slashed Libyan output and expectations Japanese oil demand will rise as it scrambles to rebuild its earthquake-shattered electricity grid.
"These statements underscore the breadth of the security premium currently in (oil) prices. Overall supplies are sufficient," said John Kilduff of energy hedge fund Again Capital. "As we've seen in the past, however, a well-supplied market is not always a barrier to very high prices."
Al-Naimi declined to comment on the current price of crude.
Oil prices fell early last week after Goldman Sachs warned high prices may be eroding demand, but rebounded on signs of renewed health in the US economy on Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
....Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand there's yer $5/gal by the weekend. As soon as the speculators hear this, they're going to send prices into orbit.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/19/2011 8:34 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The U.S. should organize a food cartel similar to OPEC. Food for oil. Screw the Saudis. They have never been our friend.
When Kim Jong-chol, the second son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, spent 10 leisurely days in Singapore in February going on a luxury shopping spree and attending an Eric Clapton concert, he was apparently joined by a brat pack of children of powerful officials in North Korea.
An official source here said Sunday intelligence information reveals Kim Jong-chol (30) and members of the so-called Ponghwajo or torch group not only visited Singapore, but also went to Macao and Malaysia to gamble and shop.
The Ponghwajo consists of the regime's princelings, not to be confused with the children of early high-ranking officials who fought as revolutionaries along with former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung. These sons of the revolutionaries are now in their 50s and 60s and have recently been tapped to serve in key positions under North Korea's heir apparent Kim Jong-un.
But the Ponghwajo are in their 30s and 40s and are not viewed favorably by the regime's leadership. Though they are often engaged in activities that generate dollar revenues through drug sales, counterfeiting and black market trade, they apparently do not wield much political power.
The group was formed in the early 2000s by O Se-won, the son of Gen. O Kuk-ryol, a senior leader in North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission, and Kim Chol, the son of Kim Won-hong, head of the People's Army Security Command. Its members include Ri Il-hyok, the first son of Ri Chol, former North Korean ambassador to Switzerland and the official in charge of handling Kim Jong-il's secret bank accounts, as well as Kang Tae-seung, the eldest son of First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju and Jo Song-ho, the eldest son of the late Jo Myong-rok, first vice chairman of the National Defense Commission who died last year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/19/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Meanwhile, the people of the "workers paradise" eat bark-soup.
A Pentagon report found insufficient evidence Gen Stanley McChrystal, until June the top US general in Afghanistan, had violated US military policy. It said events narrated in the magazine had not occurred as written. Rolling Stone said it stood by its article.
#3
McChrystal cleared of wrongdoing in Rolling Stone piece
No findings regarding common sense, malice aforethought or bovine logic? Happy to see that Army senior leaders can still "partner" with the likes of Rolling Stone Magazine and not risk the confidence of their superiors in "thier ability to lead."
"This is a violation of Christianity," Rowe said. "This is a violation of Judaism. This is a violation of Hinduism. This is a violation of every major faith in the world."
Except, it isn't. It's an expression of one faith against another. It's an essential element of religious freedom.
The problem isn't with the guy saying provocative things. It's with the animals who can't control themselves.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/19/2011 9:11 Comments ||
Top||
#4
So, It's okay to put a crucifix in urine and call it art and make a painting of the virgin Mary using elephant dung and it's even okay for the Taliban to destroy Hindu statues that were thousands of years old and it's even okay to kill a few Danish cartoonists and writers but burning a Quran is not?....
#5
Terry Jones' planned demonstration at the Islamic Center of America on the Dearborn/Detroit border poses a "likelihood of a riot ensuing, complete with discharge of firearms."
It would not be Pastor Jones who was violent or brought the firearms to the demonstration.
University of Detroit Mercy law professor Larry Dubin said it attempts to balance free speech rights and the public's right to be safe.
Recently, SCOTUS came down on the side of free speech in the Westboro Baptist case.
If muslims are promising violence shouldn't they be footing the bill for extra police protection?
#6
If muslims are promising violence shouldn't they be
getting the baton-thonking and teargas? Apparently they get the heckler's terrorists' veto
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/19/2011 10:06 Comments ||
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#7
Paraphrasing Jones' statement from the MyFoxDETROIT.com video:
'We're not protesting Islam. We're protesting Sharia and Jihad.'
Why is that even controversial? Why is it so commonplace to thoughtlessly vilify Jones to this extent?
Is there any reason to believe that an Islam practising Jihad, Sharia and Dhimmitude could coexist with a free and open Western society?
US policy towards Japan after WW2 was to tolerate Shintoism as a religion and competitor in the free marketplace of ideas. Simultaneously State-Shintoism was abolished as it was a totalitarian, supremacist and aggressive ideology.
A religion that was older than Islam was forced to undergo change for the better, on pain of nuclear strikes. And it was a success!
Why then is Jones cast a villain for peacefully demanding that Islam undertake similar reforms?
#12
FBI, ATF, CIA, DEA, IRS, DHS, DNC, ACORN, ACLU, CBC, NAACP, CAIR, Secret Service, and Department of Agriculture investigations no doubt pending on Jones already. I doubt he will survive.
[Dawn] The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Assembly has approved a resolution against US drone attacks in the tribal regions of the country.
The resolution was presented by by senior minister Bashir Bilour and demands that the US envoy to the country be summoned to the Foreign Office.
The resolution calls for an immediate end to the drone strikes, stating that they violate Pakistain's illusory sovereignty and are counter-productive in fighting militancy. The resolution also demands that US should hand over drone technology to Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Compare wid NEWS KERALA > [UKMoD Report]DRONES TAKING COMBAT SITUATIONS TOWARDS A "TERMINATOR-STYLE" REALITY. UK to ponder the ETHICS, MORALISM + LEGALISM, ETC. OF USING KILLER ROBOTS IN MAJOR WAR, UN-CENTRIC "POLICE ACTIONS", OOTW.
What constitutes "ACCEPTABLE MACHINE BEHAVIOR" as per WarBots.
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: An army force prevented on Monday a delegation from Falluja from entering Mosul to take part in the sits-in, according to a security source.
Iraqi army prevented on Monday evening chieftains and public figures in Falluja from entering Mosul to attend the sits-in in al-Ahrar square, running for the 10th consecutive day, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The delegation contains a bus carrying 40 persons and four vehicles. The vehicles entered the city but the bus was prevented at a checkpoint in Hamam al-Alil district, south of Mosul, the source added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/19/2011 00:00 ||
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Jordan has arrested the brother of an Al Qaeda triple agent who blew himself up in a CIA outpost in Afghanistan in 2009, killing seven CIA employees in what was one of the worst tragedies in the history of the American agency.
A Jordanian security official says the arrested man, Ayman al-Balawi, was detained in a sweep Friday along with 102 other members of the ultraconservative Muslim Salafi sect.
The sweep followed clashes with anti-government protesters in the eastern Jordanian city of Zarqa during which Salafis wounded 83 policemen.
The official said on Tuesday that Ayman al-Balawi is the brother of Humam, the Jordanian physician-turned-bomber who carried out the attack in Afghanistan.
#1
Humam didn't "kill" those seven agency people at FOB Chapman. Stupidity, poor agent tradecraft and political correctness are resposnbile.
Unfortunately, I continue to see and hear reporting of LN's met with an entourage and waved through checkpoints without proper searches. Wouldn't want to inflict cultural profiling or embarrassment upon anyone now would we?
The Ahmadiyah are afraid and it is obvious why. Hardline Islamic groups want the sect to be banned - they say it deviates from the tenets of Islam, and therefore has no place in Indonesian society.
Over the past few months these hardliners have become increasingly vocal in their demands - holding rallies in central Jakarta and airing their views in the media.
But some have taken it even further. In February, a violent mob bludgeoned three Ahmadis to death. Since then, houses and mosques have been attacked and protesters have vowed to escalate the violence if they do not get their way.
And it is not just hardliners who want the Ahmadiyah disbanded.
Continue reading the main story
In TV talk-shows and internet chat-rooms, it is obvious that an increasing number of Indonesians, while not condoning the violence, would like to see an end to the Ahmadiyah in their country.
One man we spoke to, who lived opposite the Ahmadis' mosque in Bogor, said he thought it would be better if they just went away.
Even the local authorities are making life difficult for them.
"In terms of whether the Ahmadiyah should be banned, we're still studying whether it will be the best
- Nasarudin Umar Director General for Islamic Guidance, Religious Ministry
[Arab News] The State Department has been secretly financing opponents of Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad, One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... The Washington Post reported, citing previously undisclosed diplomatic documents provided to the newspaper by the WikiLeaks website.
One wonders why WaPo chose to publicize this little tidbit, which plays right into Pencilneck's attempts to label all dissenters as enemies of the state in thrall to the Zionists and the Great Satan. It's almost as if WaPo has an agenda...
One of the outfits funded by the US is Barada TV, a London-based satellite channel that broadcasts anti-government news into Syria, the Post reported Sunday.
Barada's chief editor, Malik Al-Abdeh, is a cofounder of the Syrian exile group Movement for Justice and Development.
The leaked documents show that the US has provided at least $6 million to Barada TV and other opposition groups inside Syria, the newspaper said.
The B.O. regime has reached out to Assad's regime, hoping to persuade it to change its policies regarding Israel, Leb, Iraq and support for Islamic exemplar groups. In January, the US stationed an ambassador in Damascus, ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... the capital, for the first time in five years.
The Post said it was not clear from the WikiLeaks documents whether the US was still financing Assad's opponents, though they showed funding had been set aside through September 2010.
Syrian activists have been staging protests against Assad's authoritarian regime for more than a month. More than 200 people have been killed as security forces tried to crush the protests.
On Sunday, gunnies opened fire during a funeral for a slain anti-government protester, killing at least three people, according to witnesses and activists. Tens of thousands of Syrians erupted into the streets nationwide despite Assad's promise to end nearly 50 years of emergency rule this week, a key demand of the protesters.
Last week, the State Department said Iran appeared to be helping Syria crack down on protesters, calling it a troubling example of Iranian meddling in the region.
"If Syria's turning to Iran for help, it can't be very serious about real reform," front man Mark Toner told news hounds.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Big Zero's zeal for conquering third world despots and replacing them with "what?" is going to result in Americans being targeted for revenge murders around the world by loyalists to those Obama Hussien is messing with.
Yes, in other words, Obama is endangering the lives of the American people, and should and will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law when he himself is removed from his "throne".
#2
ION WAFF > {ME Expert] ISRAEL WILL BE THE BIGGEST LOSER IN ME REGION AFTER CHANGES.
ARTIC "POINTS" SUMMARY:
> NEXT DECADE = 2012-2022 = "SHIITE DECADE".
Regional "Shiite Awakening" albeit its not clear iff Shia Iran will dominate.
> PALEO STATE successfully established.
> GREATEST RISK AGZ WORLD PEACE = CHAOS IN SAUDI ARABIA, espec as per DOMESTIC, REGIONAL SHIITE + ISLAMIST THREAT TO SUNNI, ROYAL RULE???
> RADICALISM IN ME HAS BEEN UNDERWAY ALREADY FOR TEN YEARS, as complemented by Arab-Muslim rants + anger at US, Israeli policies.
> POPULAR UPRISINGS ["Jasmine"-led] WILL ENGULF ALL OF THE COUNTRIES IN ME WIDOUT EXCEPTION, INCLUD ISRAEL.
> TURKEY WILL BECOME EITHER THE MOST INFLUENTIAL
STATE IN THE REGION, OR ELSE WILL REGRESS BACKWARDS UNTO PRO-EXTREMIST/RADICAL, STATE-LED REPRESSION + MILITARISM [anti-dmeocratic Islamist "Rogue State", prob Nuclear]???
#3
IIUC, these various Perts are all but acknowledging that 2012-2020/2025 time period IS ONLY THE BEGINNING of serious geopol troubles for the US-West???
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.
[Tolo News] Isaf on Monday said Insurgents have lost the potential to "challenge" Afghan forces and foreign troops in the war amid a dramatic surge in Taliban-led violence.
oil prices.
When Kim Jong-chol, the second son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, spent 10 leisurely days in Singapore in February going on a luxury shopping spree and attending an Eric Clapton concert, he was apparently joined by a brat pack of children of powerful officials in North Korea. 
al-Assad,
