Saudis Stymie Obama plan Mighta choked Artie but it ain't gonna choke Stymie! Maybe he should bow deeper next time.
Saudi officials have expressed skepticism about Obama's attempts to secure concessions from the Arab world in exchange for a commitment from Israel to stop building Jewish homes in the Palestinian-dominated West Bank.Syria - Conference on Supervisors of Palestinian Refugees Affairs
Conference on Supervisors of Palestinian Refugees Affairs in the Arab Hosting Countries condemned Wednesday the Israeli procedures to judaize the Occupied Jerusalem, settlement expansion all over the ancient city, calling on international Security Council and UNESCO to protect al-Aqsa mosque.US makes new gesture to Syria
Concluding its 82nd session, the conference condemned the Israeli settlement presence in the occupied Syrian Golan, stressing its Arabism as a part of Syrian lands, calling on the European Union to pressure Israel to stop settlement and to take immediate procedures to prevent Israeli products from entering the European markets.
On settlement, the conference stressed that the Israeli settlement policy in the Arab and Palestinian lands violates the international law, United Nations' resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention, warning of this aggressive attack against the occupied lands including Jerusalem.
The four – day conference stressed commitment to the right of return and rejection of settlement, calling on the international community to hold Israel responsible for destroying UNRWA headquarters in Gaza Strip and to help stop forced expulsion imposed on Palestinian refugees due to their tough living conditions, Israeli activities and racial separation wall.
On the racial separation wall, the conference indicated to the necessity of cooperating with international, Arab and Islamic non-governmental organizations to implement the advisory opinion of International Court of Justice to stop settlement activities, register what has been damaged and intensify media campaigns on racial separation wall's dangers and its hidden political purposes.
The conference raised its recommendations to the next Arab Foreign Ministers' meeting in September to be the Arab vision that will submit the issue before the UN General Assembly on Palestinian Cause.
Yeah? Well I got a gesture for Syria too. RIGHT HERE.
The Obama administration is trying a new gesture in its effort to engage with Syria, telling the country's leaders it will lean toward granting their requests to import non-sensitive American equipment normally banned by U.S. law.The move falls well short of lifting or even easing sanctions imposed in late 2003 on Syria, which is designated a "state sponsor of terrorism" by the State Department. But the effort aims to show the administration is serious about improving ties with Damascus, officials said Tuesday.Report: Netanyahu freezes Jerusalem construction project
Big mistake.
Israel 'orders criminal probes over Gaza war'
Also, big mistake.
Syria, Turkey and Russia ask Hamas to allow Fatah members to leave Gaza
Several countries are negotiating with Hamas to allow Fatah members in Gaza to leave for the Sixth General Fatah Conference in the West Bank. But tensions between Fatah and Hamas, Palestine’s rival political factions, may make this impossible.“There are serious efforts by Syria, Turkey and Russia to allow members of Fatah from the Gaza Strip to participate in the conference,” sources said, adding that “about 90 out of 450 Fatah conference members are already in the West Bank,” which means the remaining 360 members would need to leave.THE GUARDIAN UK: There can be no Middle East settlement without Hamas
Top Fatah leader back in W. Bank after over 40 years in exileBut the only deal envisaged by the US is one with the unpopular Mahmoud Abbas, whose term as president expired last January. As the Democratic chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, John Kerry, put it recently: "Hamas has already won one election – we cannot allow them to win another."
And far from supporting the Palestinian national unity necessary to make any peace agreement stick, America and its allies are doing everything possible to deepen the split between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah movement. In fact, the US, Britain and the EU make support for the Palestinian Authority (PA) dependent on a continuing security crackdown against Hamas activists in the West Bank – justified as fighting terrorism – which makes reconciliation between the two Palestinian parties ever more far-fetched.
As a result, more than 1,000 political prisoners are reported by human rights groups to be held without trial in PA jails, while extrajudicial killings, torture and raids on Hamas-linked social institutions have become routine by security forces trained and funded by the US and the EU. And heading the effort to build up Abbas's forces that carry out these operations is US Lieutenant-General Keith Dayton – increasingly regarded as the real power in the West Bank – supported by British officials and the Foreign Office-sponsored security firm Libra Advisory Group, fresh from working for the occupation forces in Iraq.
Mohammed Ghneim was one of Fatah's last holdouts in the diaspora. Only three of Fatah's two dozen top leaders refused to return with then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to the Palestinian territories after the 1993 Oslo Accords. At the time, Ghneim said he would leave exile in Tunis only to enter a Palestinian state. Recently he relented. On Wednesday, he was greeted in Ramallah by hundreds of activists. He plans to run for a top post at next week's Fatah convention, the first in 20 years.Israel to allow Syrian, Lebanese Fatah officials to attend Bethlehem meetup
Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said Wednesday that Israel will not prevent senior Fatah official who are based in Lebanon and Syria from attending the movement's upcoming convention in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. Israel will not limit the delegates' movements," said one source. Nevertheless, no decision has been made regarding Fatah officials based in the Gaza Strip.Former PA Minister Hatem Abd Al-Qader: Fatah Should "Reactivate the Option of Resistance"
Hatem Abd Al-Qader: "The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades are still the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. Perhaps, due to local political circumstances, the Brigades' operations have been disrupted. But let me tell you: the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades are out there, and they are ready to respond to the call of the Fatah movement in any future confrontation with Israel.Gaza father held in 'honor killing' of daughter
"The Fatah movement refuses to be transformed into a political party. We will staunchly oppose any attempts to transform Fatah from a national liberation movement into a political party."
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A Gaza man is being held on suspicion he bludgeoned his daughter with an iron chain, cracking her skull in a particularly brutal family "honor killing," two human rights groups said Wednesday, citing police and forensics reports. The assault was triggered by Jawdat Najjar's discovery that his daughter Fadia — a 27-year-old divorced mother of five — owned a cell phone, the groups said. He suspected she used it to speak to a man outside the family, according to the groups' reports.Dr. Mohammed Sultan, who examined the victim, told The Associated Press that her head and face were bloodied, her body covered by bruises and that she suffered internal bleeding.
Cairo answers Jumblatt: “He is Making Advances to Syria and Hezbollah”Walid JumblattThe PSP leader Walid Jumblatt, in his most recent weekly editorial in an-Anbaa, attacked Egypt for having hosted Israeli President Shimon Peres and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a ceremony held last Thursday to commemorate the July 23rd Revolution. His criticism has led to tension with Cairo, which answered him back through their Foreign Ministry Spokesman,Husam Zaki.
Zaki said : “No one should forget that Jumblat, a leader in the March 14 coalition and who had received Egyptian support, said things like this about Egypt, which had received him more than once,"
"We categorically reject any speculation on Egyptian stances or Egyptian history," Zaki said in remarks published by pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on Wednesday. "We are fully aware of the objectives behind Jumblatt’s remarks," he added
Al-Hayat, however, quoted official Egyptian sources in Cairo as saying that Egypt was "not surprised" by Jumbulatt’s statements.
"We are aware that Jumblatt has been undergoing political re-positioning and is making advances to Syria and Hezbollah," the Egyptian official said; adding sarcastically, "Jumblatt is a sectarian leader and his oratory is filled with political slogans, without real convictions behind them."
(Arabic: وليد جنبلاط) (born August 7, 1949) is the current leader of the Progressive Socialist Party "PSP" of Lebanon, and the most prominent leader of the Druze community. He is currently one of the most outspoken anti-Syrian anti-Iranian anti-Israel politicians in Lebanon and is allied with the March 14 Alliance'Al-Qaeda' blog claims bombing as Indonesia hotels re-open
Taliban Holy Warrior Pamphlets
Taliban fighters have been issued with a code of conduct booklet on how to be a good holy warrior. The 13-chapter guide, entitled Taliban 2009 Rules and Regulations, tells its militants to avoid unnecessary suicide bombings and civilian casualties. The booklet issued by Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar in May and several copies have been seized by Nato forces in raids in across Afghanistan this summer.Sikh women in Pakistan forced to wear burqas
Sikhs are being forced to either pay ‘jizya’ for protection or leave. All women, even the elderly, cannot go out alone and have to wear a burqa. Men must wear a beard and a head cap. Hundreds of Sikh and Hindu families have already emigrated. The Taliban in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) have issued an ultimatum against local Hindus and Sikhs: either you pay “jizya”, an Islamic poll tax for religious minorities that is similar to protection money, or you leave. Threats against Sikhs and Hindus are but the latest in a series of warnings against religious minorities in the NWFP, including Christians who have had to pay jizya and submit to Sharia. “We were living under fear: fear of the Taliban, fear of Lashkar-e-Islam and fear of other armed groups,” a Sikh man told the Daily Times.OIC And US Forge Partnership To Eradicate Polio
I ain't lettin the freakin' OIC give me a vaccine, evah. Sorry.
The United States and The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) have forged a partnership within the framework of a global initiative to eradicate Polio, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported Wednesday. A US delegation, which visited Jeddah, recently held talks with OIC officials at its headquarters in the port city.Two Gitmo Detainees Headed to Ireland
The partnership is the outcome of this Jeddah meeting on July 26 between the two sides, which focused on in-depth studies and discussions to follow up the necessary action in conjunction with the initiative that US President Barack Obama announced in an address to the Muslim World, in Cairo on June 4, 2009, on a new global effort of the US with the OIC to eradicate polio.
The US delegation comprised of representatives from the US diplomatic representatives based in Saudi Arabia, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the US Department of Health and Human Services and the USAID. Both the US and OIC agreed at the meeting, to continue cooperation and coordination in specified areas such as advocacy, fund-raising and technical support, said an OIC press release issued in Jeddah on Tuesday.
The Heads of States of the OIC Member States at the Third Extraordinary Islamic Conference held in Makkah in December 2005 decided to take effective measures to eradicate poliomyelitis. The First and Second Conferences of the OIC Health Ministers held in 2007 and 2009 respectively, called on political and religious leaders in the OIC Member States to help create a movement of solidarity for polio eradication and further urged the OIC Member States where poliomyelitis is still prevalent to enhance political commitment; intensify eradication efforts and mobilise national financial resources to meet the shortfalls.
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I would advise them not to mess with the men at the pubs.
Turkey Is Set To Become A Freight Hub For EuropeMore importantly, however, Turkey is set to become a pipeline hub for Europe. The BTC (Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan) and the Nabucco line are among several projects, initially devised to meet Turkish energy demand, that have also drawn growing European interest as a gas supply route from the energy-rich Caspian. Among other plans for the energy corridor are an oil pipeline between Samsun on the Black Sea and Ceyhan, as well as two gas pipelines from Russia, which wants to extend the Blue Stream pipeline to Israel. Turkey receives gas via a pipeline from Iran, while the Shakh-Deniz project, now functioning, is bringing Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian to Turkey.4.8 in Turkey
Iran to release prominent reformist from jail
Iranian protesters to face trial
Iranian exiles killed in Iraq raid
UN's Ban says willing to visit North Korea
GOOOoooOOOD! GO! Sure fire way to make sure we never see you again.
Soros Says: China Will Help World Economy Recover From Recession!
Top Chinese Market Movers
China Development Plans Brazil, Russia, Egypt Offices
Because they are so very very helpful, you see!
China Development Bank Corp., the state-run bank for public works projects, opened its first branch outside the mainland in Hong Kong today and plans offices in Russia, Egypt and Brazil as part of a global expansion push.Report says 13 million abortions a year in ChinaThe offices will start operating in Moscow and Cairo this year and the Rio de Janeiro area next year, Vice President Li Jiping told a press conference. The Beijing-based bank agreed in May to lend $10 billion to Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, helped finance a fund in Africa and extended loans in June to Russia’s development bank.
“Our strategic goal is to become an internationalized bank,” Li told reporters, adding that the Hong Kong branch will cover Asia. “Mainland organizations can effectively go out to the international market through this Hong Kong platform.”
5.9 Quake Rattles Taiwan
Tensions stir Islamist underground in Central AsiaOSH, Kyrgyzstan, July 29 (Reuters) - Sipping tea in a dim, smoke-filled teahouse in the Kyrgyz city of Osh, Rakhmatillo Ibragimov says the goal of his life is to restore Islamic rule in former Soviet Central Asia.FACTBOX- Recent clashes with Islamists in Central Asia
"They call us terrorists. That's because they are afraid of us," he says with a bashful smile that contrasts with the sharpness of his words. "The more they oppress us the stronger we become. We don't want bloodshed. We want justice."
A member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an outlawed Islamist group, he says ideas such as his are beginning to catch on in his native city of Osh in the Ferghana valley -- a cauldron of ethnic and tribal tension in the heart of Central Asia. Its dusty skyline pierced by the occasional minaret, Osh has long been synonymous with a post-Soviet rise of radical Islamism in a largely agrarian, cotton-growing region shared by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
But intense fighting in Afghanistan and rioting involving Muslim Uighurs in China to the east have put a new spin on old threats in an impoverished region lying at the centre of a geopolitical tug of war between Russia and the United States.
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A concise chronology of the most recent attacks
TAJIKISTAN: ZIYOEV ASSOCIATE SLAIN BY GOVERNMENT TROOPS
Pakistan, Tajikistan pledge to fight militantsAn associate of slain opposition commander and ex-cabinet minister, Mirzo Ziyoev, has been shot dead by Tajik government forces. Nemat Azizov died during a gunfight during the early morning hours of July 29, the Asia Plus news agency reported. Azizov and Ziyoev were allegedly part of a terrorist network with links to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
Ziyoev was killed on July 11 during a stand-off between security agents and members of a drugs trafficking gang, according to the official version of events. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Both Azizov and Ziyoev were linked to a string of recent attacks in the Tavildara area near the Afghan border.
TAJIKISTAN: PRESIDENT RAHMON WARNS OF FOOD SHORTAGESZardari spoke bluntly about the deteriorating security situation in the region. "It (terrorism) threatens my brother's country, it threatens my country and it threatens the neighbourhood. So once again I reiterate that we will stand together against this threat of the 21st century," Zardari told reporters.
Tajikistan, which shares a porous 1,600 kilometre (995-mile) border with Afghanistan, has been battling militants suspected of having fled security operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan for three months in its remote eastern mountains. A pair of explosions in the Tajik capital Dushanbe over the weekend further underscored the increasing tension in the Central Asian state as violence continues to spiral upwards in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
And just hours after the meeting between Zardari and Rakhmon, police said they had killed Nemat Azizov, a key member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan -- designated a terrorist organisation by Washington -- near the border with Afghanistan.
Russia wants 2nd base in KyrgyzstanTajik President Imomali Rahmon is calling on families to stockpile food, due to the Central Asian nation’s deepening economic woes. Food shortages are "becoming a serious problem" and stocks lasting two years should be built by those who can afford it, Rahmon said in an address carried by the Khovar state news agency on July 28.
"As a result of the [global financial] crisis, and due to various natural disasters, drought, shortages and other factors, the provision of food in many countries around the world is becoming a serious problem, and according to expert analysis, this process will continue in the future," he said.
WHAT VLAD WANTS VLAD GETS.... And freakin' STAT, to boot, tovarich.
Kyrgyzstan agrees to host second Russian base
The deployment of a Russian military base in southern Kyrgyzstan has been coordinated with Kyrgyz authorities, an aide to the Russian president said on Wednesday.“Rapid response” military base in Kyrgyzstan may be set up within DAYS"Everything has been agreed, in principle," Sergei Prikhodko said on the eve of an informal summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), to be held in Kyrgyzstan on Friday. The post-Soviet CSTO security bloc comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Russia earlier offered to deploy a battalion-sized unit as part of the CSTO rapid reaction force in the Batkenskaya region of Kyrgyzstan. "In essence, this is not a Russian base. These are efforts in line with CSTO plans to set up a joint rapid reaction force," Prikhodko said.
'At least 142 arrested' in Kyrgyzstan protestsIt is expected that units from all CSTO member states – Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – will be assigned to the new base.
“Why was southern Kyrgyzstan chosen as a new base location? This area is the scene of a lot of problems for Central Asia and the Fergana Valley is the pressure point for the region. If Russia and its allies have troops there – they will deal with the situation,” notes political analyst Vladimir Evseev from the Institute of World Economy and International Relations.
Meanwhile, Russia already operates an airbase in the city of Kant, some 20 kilometers from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. As for the American military base at the Kyrgyz airport, Manas, which will be transformed into a transit station for troops and supplies to Afghanistan, Prikhodko said “if the operation of the center is carried out in line with its stated mandate, we will have no formal cause for concern.”
He added, though, that if the mandate is violated, Kyrgyzstan will have to provide explanations to other CSTO members. The US Air Base in Manas was opened in 2001 and has proven to be key to military operations in Afghanistan.
However, several incidents involving personnel from the base, including the shooting of a local resident, have led to strained relations with residents and authorities. In February the Kyrgyz Parliament voted to close the base, however it later reversed its decision.
Kyrgyz police break up election protests
Waving flags and shouting "Justice!," 50 protesters marched through the capital Bishkek but were swiftly intercepted by the police who blocked their path and snatched away their banners.Kyrgyz Green Party Activist Beaten, Threatened
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The opposition said it would stage more protests across the Muslim nation ahead of an informal summit of a Russian-dominated security bloc in Kyrgyzstan Friday, due to be attended by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Kyrgyz Opposition Singer In Hiding After Abduction
Postcards From Out There: Crossing Over from Kyrgzstan to Tajikistan
We saw some dodgy things take place between our driver, the kyrgz border guards and the tajik border guards but we will elaborate further once we are out of central asia...Turkmen gas for Britain Economic meltdown only latest woe for oil-rich Kazakhstan
"Very soon Kazakhstan will face many serious problems, and problems with a catastrophic context that only begin with a slowing and stopping of economic growth," warned Murat T. Laumulin, chief researcher at the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies, a think-tank under the aegis of the office of the country's president.Uzbekistan charges Baptist camp with crimes
Laumulin even pegs the instability, at least partially, on his country's influential neighbors. "This is the new Russian neo-imperialism; it is the reality."
Authorities in Uzbekistan cracked down on Baptists after a government-sponsored news agency ran articles alleging illegal religious activity at a summer camp for children.Forum 18, a Norway-based news service that monitors alleged violations of religious freedom, reported July 28 that Pavel Peichev, head of the Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists of Middle Asia, faces criminal charges of unlawfully teaching children religion and misusing resort facilities. Local Baptists fear huge fines, confiscation of the property, imprisonment or some combination of penalties if Peichev is convicted.
UFO IN OUR BAFFLES, COMRADE CAPTAIN!Unmanned Russian cargo ship docks at space station
He who rules space rules earth
~ Kruschev
Iran, Russia begin joint Caspian maneuvers
Iran and Russia have commenced a joint maritime exercise in northern Iran to enhance the safety of transportation in the Caspian Sea. The two-day maneuver dubbed "Regional Interaction, Key to a Safe and a Clean Caspian Sea" was launched on July 28 in the port city of Bandar Anzali in northern Iran, Mehr News Agency reported.Russia Draws Closer To Latin American Leftists
Russia and Nicaragua have signed an agreement on visa-free travel between the two countries, in Moscow’s latest move to increase its ties in Latin America.Russia signs contracts for oil operations in Cuba
In its online edition, Communist Party newspaper Granma said four oil-related contracts had been signed during a visit on Tuesday by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin to the island that was his country's close ally during the Cold War.Two Policemen Accused Of Torture In Russia
Acting Ingushetian President Meets With Putin
Acting like what for who?
Veteran officer warns of more Caucasus violence
Gennady Zaitsev, who headed the elite Alpha unit at the start of the first Chechen war, said that the Caspian province of Dagestan east of Chechnya is now facing the gravest danger. "Believe me, that hotbed will bring us a lot of trouble," Zaitsev said at a news conference marking the 35th anniversary of Alpha, which was founded by then Soviet KGB chief Yuri Andropov.Russian Commentator On Threats Made by Moldovan Police
More by the same guy on Moldova
A Polarized Moldova Votes, Mindful of West and Russia
Is there some place to place a vote on Glow Ball that is not "polarized" today?
Obama's meeting with Russia's global arms merchant
One of the issues President Barack Hussein Obama made certain he avoided during his recent visit to Russia is Prime Minister Vladmir Putin's propensity to act as arms merchant for nations ruled by despots and thugs.MIND THE GAP: Are You Kidding, Mr. Obama, Mr. Medvedev?
Three months after one of his great goodwill speeches, in Prague last April, in which he promised to work for a world free of nuclear weapons, U.S. President Barack Obama signed with his Russian colleague Dmitry Medvedev, on July 6 in Moscow, an understanding aimed to reduce part of their stockpiles of nuclear weapons within seven years.
Tears of joy must have flooded the faces of most pacifists and good faith people on Earth. No wonder. The U.S. and Russian presidential promises came in moments in which North Korea was challenging once more all the presidents and kings of this planet, with the launch of new missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
National Australia Bank to Buy 80.1% Stake in Goldman SachsDA: Goldman Sachs lawyer caught soliciting 15-year-old
A lawyer for Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs was caught in a sting operation aimed at perverts who solicit young girls for sex, officials said Tuesday. Todd Genger, 33, is accused of trying to lure an underage teen with explicit chat on the Internet and then traveling to Westchester to consummate the cyber-affair. In reality, the "girl" Genger was chasing was an undercover investigator posing as a teen in the chat room, the Westchester County district attorney's office said.Goldman Says Curbing Speculators May Disrupt Markets
They must to control price of oil silly kuffar...
Oil Tumbles While Stocks Sink
Report expected to blame oil price swings on speculators
Firms make case against new trading limits
BlackRock, Goldman, JP Morgan Fund Contracts Pulled by US Pension Agency
The U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. revoked contracts with BlackRock Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. as the former head of the agency is being investigated by Congress over his relationships with money managers.Goldman Sachs cuts net Treasury issuance estimatesThe fund-management contracts, announced in December, were terminated on July 20, Jeffrey Speicher, a spokesman for the Washington-based pension agency, said today in an e-mail. The PBGC, which oversees pension plans of bankrupt companies, selected the three firms to manage $2.5 billion in private- equity and real-estate assets.
Charles E.F. Millard, a Bush administration appointee, took over in December 2007 as head of the agency, which guarantees pensions for 44 million Americans. A May 2009 report by the PBGC’s inspector general alleges that Millard had inappropriate communications with eight of 16 Wall Street firms that bid last year to manage $2.5 billion of the agency’s $48 billion investment portfolio. Millard left the agency in January 2009.
Millard, 52, may have violated “blackout” rules that prohibited him from contacting bidders on three contracts for “strategic partnerships” that were to involve investments in stocks, real estate and private-equity assets, the May report said. The House Education and Labor Committee said at the time it will examine whether any laws were broken.
American Express Buys TARP Warrants for $340 Million
Bernanke May Have to Sacrifice Lending Powers or Independence
The EU has tried to ward off any potential ill feeling in the Balkans after quickly accepting Iceland's accession bidI'll bet.
Soros: In revolutionary times the impossible becomes possible
In Hungary the authorities insisted on having a controlling presence on the foundation's board. We eventually agreed to appoint two chief executives, one nominated by them and one by me.Argentina Faces Cash Shortage After Nationalization
Bolivia says negotiating takeover of power firms
Chevron hires new chief in-house lawyer
Dude is a big "Washington Insider" type from the DoJ - Watch for an outright "coup" or a convenient war of some sort to break out very very soon in Ecuador.
Amnesty International Declares Nicaragua's Abortion Ban Torture
Warlords threaten state-building in Africa
Dr. Danielle Beswick suggested that international agencies should adopt a strategy that emphasises regional and local level governance rather than reinforcing a central government which, historically, has seemed unable to provide basic security, much less development, in border regions.Nigerian Army Kills 100 at Mosque in Fight With Militants
“As long as state-building starts from the fiction that Africa’s states are single sovereign entities, ignoring or trivialising the myriad other actors with significant influence on the ground, democratisation efforts and security reforms will falter and regions such as Kivu will continue to defy incorporation into a global system of states,” she added.
The war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly called Zaire) is the widest interstate war in modern African history. The author’s research: ‘The Challenge of Warlordism to Post-Conflict State-Building: The Case of Laurent Nkunda in Eastern Congo’ is published in Round Table, The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs.
Security forces hunted door-to-door for Islamic militants in northern Nigeria on Thursday after killing more than 100 of them by storming the sect's compound. A top rights group said innocent people were getting executed in the process.
KERRY, LUGAR, MENENDEZ, CORKER INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO REFORM FOREIGN AIDThis legislation puts America's Foreign Aid $$$ under UN GLOWBALL control. I got three words for these assholes. OIL FOR FOOD. Yah just take a look under the republican party bus for Norm Coleman... he can tell you all about it.
"Caux Round Table" MORAL CAPITALISM Alert:Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) and Ranking Member Dick Lugar (R-IN), along with Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Bob Corker (R-TN) today introduced legislation aimed at initiating the foreign aid reform process. Senators James Risch (R-ID) and Ben Cardin (D-MD), also members of the Committee, joined as original cosponsors.
The Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009, S.1524, is an important first step toward comprehensive foreign aid reform. It will ensure that the United States is appropriately equipped to meet the challenges of the 21st century. More importantly, the legislation focuses on increasing the capacity of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to deliver effective and accountable programs and the broader capacity of all our foreign aid programs.
“I believe this legislation will go a long way toward improving our immediate ability to deliver foreign aid in a more accountable, thoughtful and strategic manner,” said Chairman Kerry. “We need cutting edge programs that will push the envelope on ending chronic poverty, combating global climate change, reducing hunger, supporting democracies, and offering alternatives to extremism.”
Global Asset Recovery Initiative to target proceeds of corruption
The Caux Round Table is an international network of business leaders that aims promote ethical behavior, or as it says, "moral capitalism for a better world." Reporter Mary Spicuzza spoke with Stephen B. Young, the global executive director of CRT, about the organization's new initiative to help recover proceeds of public corruption that have been taken from developing nations. This new non-governmental organization, known as the Global Asset Recovery Initiative, is currently in the planning stage. The initiative aims to use civil remedies and asset forfeiture to try to recover assets lost to corruption and return them to developing countries. Below are some excerpts from that conversation.Market Socialism: The debate among Socialists
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DHS - Remarks by Secretary Napolitano at the Council on Foreign Relations
Remember Ferals it is WE who have been defined as terrorists by these people...
But alas the topics that we are discussing are with us and are the challenge of a networked 21st century. And so it is important that the council be apprised of what the Department of Homeland Security is doing to meet those challenges. Now, President Obama has been very forceful about seeing the threat of terrorism in all of its complexity and in bringing all of our resources, not just the federal government, to bear against violent extremism.ACLU's German Reacts to Napolitano's Embrace of Fusion Centers
So today, I will speak candidly about the urgent need to refocus our counter-terror approach to make it a shared endeavor—to make it more layered, networked and resilient—to make it smarter and more adaptive and to make sure that as a country—as a nation—we are at the point where we are in a constant state of preparedness and not a state of fear. The challenge is not just using federal power to protect the country, but also enlisting a much broader societal response to the threats that terrorism poses.
Only the German? Oy! No Irish? No Slav? No Jew?
In her big speech in New York today, Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, praised the so-called “fusion centers” that serve as hubs for intelligence produced by federal agencies to be shared with local and state law enforcement. Fusion centers are a “a critical part of our nation’s homeland security capabilities,” Napolitano said. That’s what worries the American Civil Liberties Union’s Michael German.
It’s too easy to pollute the information bloodstream of the fusion centers, he said. “That’s what we’ve seen out of the fusion centers: erroneous, misleading information,” said German, a former FBI special agent. “There’s a lack of accountability” at the centers that enables poor intelligence to “pollute the entire system that local, state and federal law enforcement is relying on. If that system becomes polluted it’s no longer effective,” and the chances for civil liberties abuses are “greatly expanded.” Like for instance: a fusion center bulletin in Texas earlier this year encouraging police to spy on Muslim organizations and antiwar groups.
Napolitano: Include citizens in homeland security effortThe "terrorists" she wants them to rat out are US, not the Jihadis.... they are HIRING the Jihadis.
Napolitano: Obama's bridge to Arabs, Muslims helps fight terrorism
"Beginning at his inauguration and continuing most recently at his historic speech in Cairo, President Obama has begun a different kind of dialogue with the Muslim and Arab worlds, recognized there is far, far more that unites than divides us," she said at a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. "It starts with the American people, extends to local law enforcement and from there up to the federal government, then finally out beyond our shores."Obama's Homeland Security To Look Like Bush's
BEWARE THE OBAMANABLE BUSHMAN!
CACI gets Homeland Security contract, task order
The work includes supporting efforts to protect national infrastructure through duty desk, watch desk and operation support services for the department's National Protection and Program Directorate.Privacy Group Has Questions About Einstein III
Yeah, me too....
Sensitive Federal Data Posted on File-Sharing NetworksThe Center for Democracy and Technology is asking the Obama administration to provide details about the legal authority for the so-called Einstein intrusion detection system. The fact that Einstein 3 will be able to read e-mail messages raises serious privacy concerns, reports Computerworld. CDT also is concerned about the role of the National Security Agency in the development and operation of Einstein 3. Among other things, CDT wants to know: The private sector's involvement in developing Einstein 2 and 3.What safeguards will be put in place to protect the private information collected.What personally identifiable information will be collected by Einstein 3.
Whether these are KGB style intentional leaks by operatives or sheer idiocy, it makes no difference - the end result is the same.
Report: Locations of All US Nuclear Installations on P2P NetworksThe indiscriminate use of a popular online data-sharing technology has led to the disclosure of sensitive government and personal information -- including FBI surveillance photos of a Mafia hit man, lists of people with HIV, and motorcade routes and safe-house locations for then-first lady Laura Bush, a congressional panel was told on Wednesday.
The information is often exposed inadvertently by people who download the technology to share music or other files, not realizing that the "peer-to-peer" software also makes the contents of their computers available to other users, experts said.
The issue is so pressing that the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), said he would introduce a bill to ban such software from all government and contractor computers and networks.
"The administration should initiate a national campaign to educate consumers about the dangers involved with file-sharing software," he said.
Woman Suspected of Cutting Baby From Murdered Woman's Womb Held on $2M Bail
Corey and a man identified by the New Hampshire Union Leader as Alex Dion, 27, were arrested Wednesday after they were found in the Plymouth, N.H., shelter, according to police in Worcester, Mass. The infant was fully dressed, wearing diapers and seemed to have been fed, Lt. Stephen Vachon of Plymouth Fire and Rescue told the Union Leader.
Oymerta and the Sword of the MouthBuilding a Sacrificial Altar on Tisha B'av
Stone Vessel with Priestly Inscription Uncovered in JerusalemHere is some really exciting news for those who are watching Temple Mount events. Arutz Sheva, a daily news report from Israel, reports that the Temple Institute plans to build an altar on Tisha b’Av – the 9th day of the Jewish month called Av. That is tomorrow, at 5.30 pm on Thursday 30th of July.
The historical location of the altar on the Temple Mount was just to the east of the Dome of the Rock. We reported on this location in a previous post, when we published a section through the Dome of the Rock and the Temple of Herod the Great. Today we publish a plan of the location of the Altar in relation to the Dome of the Rock, which is one of the slides in our latest CD, In Search of Solomon’s Temple
The stones for the Altar were gathered from below the water line of the Dead Sea, wrapped in plastic and transported to Mitzpe Yericho, located some 15 miles east of Jerusalem, as can be seen in this report. According to Yehudah Glick, the Temple Institute director, the altar will be kept small, so that eventually it could be transported to the Temple Mount. According to him this is the “ideal time to begin to build the Temple.” It will be interesting to see when that happens.
A rare 2,000-year-old ritual vessel made of limestone and inscribed with 10 lines of text has been discovered in an excavation near the Zion Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is an unprecedented find, according to Dr. Shimon Gibson, the archaeologist who heads the University of North Carolina team conducting the dig.
SNIP
Although the letters are clearly visible it will take some time before their meaning can be discerned due to the style of the writing. Gibson estimated in his preliminary report that it could take up to six months to translate the inscription. "It is written in a very informal cursive hand and is quite difficult to read," he explained.Initially, Gibson thought the inscription was written solely in Aramaic. However, a group of experts consulting on the matter was not convinced; they say there is a possibility that the text contains the sacred name of G-d and is deliberately cryptic.
Dead Sea Scrolls Almost Identical to Pentateuch, HaftorahsFor the most part, the Torah and Jewish prophetic portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which can be seen at the Royal Ontario Museum, are identical to the traditional Pentateuch and Haftorahs. But their authorship remains a topic of scholarly debate. So said Dr. Martin Abegg, Ben Zion Wacholder Professor of Dead Sea Scrolls Studies at the religious studies department at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC, and co-director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute.The Prohibition of Communicating Lashon Hara
Chapter One
James 3 ~ Taming the Tongue
The 9th of Av's new tears
President Obama's policies toward Israel add fresh pain to a day of lament.VIDEO: Traditional Recital of 'Lamentations' Next to Temple Mount
As part of the national Jewish fast day of Tisha B'Av observed Wednesday night and today (Thursday), Jews around the world hold public recitals of the biblical book of Eicha (Lamentations), authored by Jeremiah the prophet after the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in Babylonian times.Pope's message for 2010 World Peace Day will focus on environment
Koom bah Humbug Mah Lawd. Koom bah Humbug ! Now that he has sold "Moral Capitalism" he must to sell the "Glow Ball Warming" to all proples. Go Comrade Popeski!
The Vatican said the pope intends to discuss the fact that in a globalized world there is a strict connection between protecting the environment and promoting peace. "The use of resources, climate change, the application and use of biotechnologies (and) demographic growth" are all issues that can have repercussions across national borders for generations to come, the statement said.
Army: Depleted Uranium Not a Public RiskIn other news, the Navy intends to declared that water is not wet.
The military says a preliminary study has concluded the public isn't at risk from depleted uranium at the Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island. The Army conducted the study as part of its licensing application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a site-specific environmental radiation monitoring plan. According to the report, only three pieces of the radioactive material have been found at Pohakuloa and it is thought the remainder, if any, likely fell into the cracks in the lava. The presence of depleted uranium at the training area was confirmed by the Army in 2007. After years of denials of using the material in the islands, the Army also said soldiers training in Hawaii fired 714 spotting rounds containing depleted uranium in the 1960s.Army to Test Depleted Uranium for Environmental Radiation Plan
So... why are they testing it if they have already declared it poses no risk?
The Army says it will test soil, water and sediment samples from Schofield Barracks yearly as part of its environmental radiation monitoring plan. The samples will be tested for dangerous levels of depleted uranium, which was used in training rounds at Schofield from 1962 to 1968.EPA to oversee soil cleanup in Navajo community
Depleted uranium rounds were discovered four years ago during excavation work at Schofield.Last year the Army determined the best course of action was to leave the rounds in place.Water and sediment samples will be collected from streams to determine if the depleted uranium is spreading outside the contamination zone.Similar testing will be done at the Pohakuloa training area on the Big Island.
Why bother, it is not dangerous!
~ The Army
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached an agreement with United Nuclear Corp. and its parent company, General Electric Co., to clean up soil near the most badly contaminated former uranium mine on the Navajo Nation. Rain and flash floods carry the radium-contaminated soil from the abandoned Northeast Church Rock Mine near Gallup, N.M., down an arroyo where children play and livestock graze. Long-term exposure to such soil can lead to cataracts, fractured teeth and cancer, according to the EPA.AUSTRALIA: Arms maker behind uranium mine settled fraudulent pricing case
Under the agreement announced this week, United Nuclear will remove 3 to 13 feet of soil from the arroyo and surrounding areas and bring in clean dirt. The company also will regrade a uranium waste pile so that it drains back to the mine instead of where people live."This cleanup will protect human health and the environment," said Keith Takata, Superfund director for the EPA's Pacific Southwest region in San Francisco.
THE arms manufacturer that received approval through an Australian subsidiary for a new uranium mine in central Australia this month was sued for fraudulently hiking uranium prices and manipulating costs at a neighbouring mine. Neal Blue, owner and chairman of General Atomics, was accused in the proceedings of instructing executives at his Australian subsidiary, Heathgate Resources, to prepare false reports for customers, telling them costs at Heathgate’s Beverley uranium mine were higher than anticipated, and production lower.Fiery images as killer volcano that has claimed 36,000 lives stirs once more
The strategy was allegedly calculated to break contracts with US companies buying Australian uranium from Mr Blue’s company at low, fixed prices. According to court documents, the plan was hatched in 2004 when world uranium prices spiralled, as nuclear power came to be seen as a way of achieving greenhouse gas cuts. Those companies that did not agree to allow Heathgate to break its contracts and increase prices were allegedly told Heathgate would file for bankruptcy.
Mr Blue contested the claims and the proceedings were eventually settled. Mr Blue was not available to speak to the Herald, but when questioned about the case by Fortune magazine last year said: ‘‘If you’re a profit-centre manager, you look at what are your contractual obligations. It’s not your obligation to give as much as possible from your company to someone else … It made more sense to, in essence, just pay the fine.’’
The Illinois District Court case was settled last year. One of General Atomics’s customers, Exelon, received $US41 million from the company. It is estimated Mr Blue made $US200 million by breaking the contracts and selling uranium on the spot market as commodity prices rose.
An amateur photographer has captured new images of the re-awakening of the world's most famous volcano. In a breathtaking series Marco Fulle, who specialises in shots of comets, has photographed the Anak Krakatoa against a backdrop of constellations such as the Big Dipper. These stunning pictures show the latest activity during the rebirth of the infamous volcano which holds a long-standing record for causing the highest number of human deaths ever - a staggering 36,000 in 1883.
Tourists told to stay out of Mayon resort
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has urged disaster councils to warn tourists to keep away from the lava front and a resort near rumbling Mayon Volcano, both within the danger zones.Raytheon sensors to examine moon's polar regions
Raytheon on the Moon Mah Proples!
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