#1
The bigger problem is that this event should never even have happened since these brothers had been previously identified but our watchful gov't just stopped watching them.
[Dawn] THERE are still no signs of Bilawal Baby Bhutto Zardari ...Pak dynastic politician, son of Benazir Bhutto and grandon of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. As far as is known, Bilawal has no particular talents other than being pretty and being able to memorize political slogans, but he had the good luck to be born into the right family and he hasn't been assassinated yet... , the new star who was to shine on Pakistain's political horizon. Reports say he is going to give this election a miss, a decision which leaves the PPP to fend for itself, without a leader at the helm. It is not difficult to sympathise with the young man given the predicament he is in. Undoubtedly, for some politicians right now, campaigning during these elections is synonymous with putting their lives on the line. It was pretty much the same point which clinched the issue in favour of the presidency when, in the past, various minds debated among themselves which office Mr Asif Ali Zardari should keep: the party's or the president's? The argument was that someone who is at high risk when he is in public is best left alone in the President House. Similarly, reservations were expressed when the Bhutto scion was being thrust into the PPP's top slot. But that was then. A coronation has since taken place and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as PPP chief should be leading the party. That he has not done so should be an issue of considerable concern to the party and its supporters.
Unfortunately, for the party, no politician of stature appears ready to lead the poll campaign. These include the two former prime ministers, one of whom is campaigning for himself, the other for his family. It is ironic that a party that has governed the country four times should be seeing such a crisis of leadership. Other parties, like the ANP, too have been warned against electioneering but they are trying to stay in the race by making brave, if selective, appearances. True, given the scale of violence in the run-up to the polls, those who are staying away can hardly be advised to throw all caution to the winds and take the plunge. But when the democratic project itself is endangered, surely a more courageous stance from those who believe in it can be expected.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/06/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] MAKE no mistake, 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... is poised on a knife edge, and the May 11 polls are critical to how the insurgency in the province plays out. Allegations have risen to a crescendo that security forces are responding with brute force against those suspected of separatist sympathies. Hundreds of Baloch are missing while around 150 have fallen victim to a 'kill and dump' policy. Of late, the bodies of the missing have been turning up in areas of 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... close to the border with Balochistan. On Thursday, yet another missing activist, Naseebullah Baloch, was found dead in the city, reportedly the 13th such case since March.
With the situation careering towards a point of no return, the only light at the end of the tunnel seems to be the participation in the coming elections of moderate nationalist parties such as the BNP-M and National Party, which boycotted the 2008 elections. The hope is that if these parties succeed in winning a place in the assemblies, they would be more representative of Baloch aspirations and thus in a better position to combate separatist tendencies. Continued excesses against the Baloch will only weaken their attempts and cause further divisions between the proponents of democracy and those who believe that only by taking up arms can the province's many grievances be redressed. While the Supreme Court has been active on the missing persons issue and has probed the alleged role played by intelligence agencies and the FC in the disappearances, far more needs to be done. That the ruinous 'kill and dump' tactic continues to be practised at this extremely sensitive juncture indicates there are quarters that will go to any length to sabotage a political solution to Balochistan's grievances.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/06/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] HE received 17 bullets where only one or two would have sufficed. But the bad boys, calling themselves the Mujahideen-e-Islami, who killed Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali succeeded in conveying their message loud and clear -- they can strike at will, wherever and whenever they wished, irrespective of consequences and 'collateral damage' -- in this case a pedestrian. The FIA's prosecutor general was investigating many high-profile cases, including Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... 's liquidation and the Mumbai case, and had gathered valuable information. He had been receiving threats possibly because of his efficiency that had led to the conviction of many bully boyz and ordinary criminals. On Friday, he was scheduled to submit a charge-sheet against Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... in the Benazir case and was on the way to FIA headquarters when gunnies, whose exact number has not been determined, shot up his car while it was negotiating a U-turn.
This paper has been repeatedly emphasising the need for providing adequate protection to prosecutors, witnesses and judges because they receive threats and often fall victim to violence perpetrated by bully boyz and criminal gangs. In Chaudhry Zulfiqar's case, the liquidation took place at a stone's throw from the FIA building. This shows both the daredevilry of the bully boyz and the inadequacy of the protection provided to a senior FIA official. The world over prosecutors, witnesses and judges operate in an atmosphere of peace. Where the law and order situation is precarious, the state makes special efforts to give security to all. In many South American countries with a high crime rate, governments have drawn up comprehensive plans to give a sense of security to judges and prosecutors.
In Pakistain, however, because of the absence of such measures, the rate of conviction is extremely low, perhaps 5pc. While witnesses are sometimes bribed, quite often they change their story because of threats from bully boyz and criminals.
It is true that the law enforcement apparatus has been overstretched, especially now when the country is in the midst of an election. But the state must revisit and overhaul the security cases involving hardened criminals and motivated bully boyz who have no qualms about shedding blood. The FIA official's killing also shows the failure of the intelligence system. The bully boyz are way ahead of the state, for they knew Chaudhry Zulfiqar's routine and took precise aim when the car had slowed down to make a U-turn. Can the state be as thorough in its ways? Do the plethora of intelligence agencies we have know who these 'Mujahideen-e-Islami' are?
Posted by: Fred ||
05/06/2013 00:00 ||
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[Telegraph] Confirmation that Israeli warplanes have carried out a series of air strikes in Syria against consignments of missiles being shipped to Hizbollah in southern Leb has highlighted Iran's attempts to reinforce its regional allies in anticipation of military conflict with Israel.
As I revealed last month, recent intelligence reports indicate that Iran has revived its efforts to ship weapons to the radical Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement in Gazoo. Following negotiations between members of the Quds force from Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Sudanese government officials and Hamas leaders earlier this year, Iran has chartered a number of Boeing 747 cargo planes to smuggle weapons to Hamas via Sudan.
Under the terms of the agreement, weapons are shipped from Tehran to the Syrian capital Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... , and from Damascus they are sent to Khartoum. Then they are transported by road from Sudan to Gazoo travelling through Egypt and the Sinai Desert.
At the same time it now appears that Iran is also trying to send shipments to weapons to Hizbollah, its proxy militia in southern Leb. Hizbollah and Israel fought an inconclusive war in 2006, and with Syria's Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... , a close ally of Hizbollah, involved in a desperate battle for survival, Iran is anxious to ensure that Hizbollah is fully equipped if the conflict results in renewed hostilities with Israel.
Israel and Iran have issues of their own, with the Jewish state repeatedly warning that it will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. With so much regional tension, Iran has decided that it needs to be fully prepared for conflict with Israel. And what better way to put pressure on the Jewish state than to supply Hamas and Hizbollah, Iran's allies on Israel's southern and northern borders respectively, with fresh supplies of arms.
#1
IIRC WND.com Artic sezzes that Iran has ordered its IRGC Quds/Qods Force to prepare a retaliatory counter-response(s) to Israel's air strikes agz Syria.
* "Sudan to Gazoo travelling through Egypt + the Sinai desert" > How does Israel + IDF/IDAF intend to deal wid Iran-supplied arms covertly coming in thru this route???
JAMES CARVILLE: I think he is the most talented and fearless Republican politician Ive seen in the last 30 years. I further think that hes going to run for president and he is going to create something. Im not sitting here saying hes going to win, and I think Senator DeMint is right. Ive listened to excerpts of his speech in South Carolina. He touches every button, and this guy has no fear. He just keeps plowing ahead. And he is going to be something to watch.
And a lot of Republicans feel this way, George, and you hear this a lot: "If we only got someone who was articulate and was for what we were for, we would win elections. And we get these John McCains and these Mitt Romneys and these squishy guys that cant do anything." Well, theres one thing this guy is not - he aint squishy, not in the least.
As the conversation continued and others on the panel said that other conservatives such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) will likely also run in 2016, Carville added:
CARVILLE: Ted Cruz is going to eat their lunch. That guy, Im telling you, he will out debate. I am just saying, he is a talent. Im not rooting. Im really sincere here. We watch him, he does things, I mean when he started talking about William Travis in South Carolina and the Alamo, this is a guy, and you go, "This guy is something." Now I dont agree with him. I think hes out there. But Im telling you, hes more talented than all of these other guys.
#3
Scooters youre dead wrong on that. Rubio is the amnesty guy. Cruz is not. Please don't spread false information.
the firebrand Texas conservative is launching a carefully calibrated critique of the bill, calling for a focus on consensus items like border security and changes to current law that would help legal immigrants enter the country more quickly all the while attacking the proposed pathway to citizenship for those living here illegally.
Q: But you and Marco Rubio part ways on a pathway to citizenship.
A: I have serious concerns about any legislation that would create a pathway to citizenship for those who are here illegally. I think doing so is inconsistent with the rule of law and is profoundly unfair to the millions of legal immigrants who have followed the rules and waited in line for years and sometimes decades to come here legally.
Additionally, I think if President Obama and [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid insist upon a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally, that will make it far more likely that the whole immigration reform will collapse, and I think that would be very, very unfortunate.
#10
Besoeker, Carville's always been an operative before he's a partisan. He's not a weather vane like Morris, mind you, but his praise of Cruz sounds technical in nature, not ideological.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/06/2013 14:45 Comments ||
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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.
Pervez 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
