tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59044205648124808382024-03-13T00:19:32.319-07:00Typical White PersonJohn Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.comBlogger183125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-91584372484688975962009-02-19T15:13:00.001-08:002009-02-19T15:13:51.310-08:00New AG Holder Calls Whites Cowards<span xmlns=''><p>We can't have a conversation about race because of the built-in damage done by the Democrat Party. Imagine trying to converse sincerely with a person who is filled with hate and rage because they realize how deficient they are compared to the person across the table from them.<br /></p><p>We say things like, "I'm tired of affirmative action for people who still hate my race", and are told by the pc police that "that isn't being productive".<br /></p><p>So where can the conversation go from there? We have sincere feelings about harmony and right behavior, but are constantly told to stifle.<br /></p><p>Do you know how hard it is to have a sincere conversation with all of the double standards that stand between us? Blacks have had so many rules bent for them in the American society that the rest of us don't know where to begin.<br /></p><p>You see, when white people have a family member that gets pregnant at 14, we have the emotions of shame and regret that dominate our conversations: "How could you have done that, Debbie? We taught you better than that", and so on, so forth.<br /></p><p>The sincere emotions that we express with our own kind are seen as racist and intolerant if we were to expect the same to be said to an African American. We have been told for a couple of generations now that our emotions and expectations out of ourselves is "living in a white world", by the leaders of the African American community.<br /></p><p>Well, when you tell people like us whites something like that, we're actually <em>embarrassed</em>. We look hard at ourselves and try to correct what came from the black accuser. We don't suddenly get our back up at a person and try to "flip the script" on them. We actually try to self-improve, and avoid that kind of sentiment from coming up again.<br /></p><p>So the conversation dies there.<br /></p><p>Meanwhile, we try to teach our young the same principles that another segment of our population doesn't take as seriously. Years go by, kids grow up to become the next generation, and the problem continues to grow.<br /></p><p>Today, African Americans commit 70% illegitimacy in their community. Whites are at 29% here in America.<br /></p><p>It's hard to have a conversation on the weekends when every effort you've made to be good to the African American community is thrown back in your face as "racism". <br /></p><p>If we let you go to your own schools for an education, we're told that we're racists because we graduate more people than your schools do.<br /></p><p>If we force bussing and desegregation to have your black children next to our white children in school, you call us racists because our white kids do better.<br /></p><p>If we dumb down the class curriculum so that your black children can finally keep up academically, you say we're racists because they still fail the SAT exams for college entrance.<br /></p><p>If we dumb down the SAT so that you can score better, you say that we're racists because the colleges try to teach us about "dead white men".<br /></p><p>If we dumb down the college experience so that you can feel more comfortable, you call us "racists" because there aren't as many scientists, doctors, and engineers who are black.<br /></p><p>Whites aren't cowards because we don't seek you out on the weekends. We're simply exhausted with trying to keep up with your latest accusation.</p></span>John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-6184325644564297912009-01-19T14:01:00.001-08:002009-01-19T14:10:07.826-08:00Cold War 21: Russian Civil Rights Lawyer And An Investigative Reporter Accompanying Him Are Murdered In Moscow<div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQpWf5es-K9pwIqfHQsy1mH-Z5L3Igpf6R8P5VXZieW19zyfFN-HhvT796U3HhzgnjkwZiLP9Vv1exSxIss6Yq5hDuGvb9QElaWo_zXhVcCE4exdlGAXP8sfHVR88GjdCzhoederxNaW6P/s1600-h/stanislav_markelov2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293128811744926610" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 275px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 221px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQpWf5es-K9pwIqfHQsy1mH-Z5L3Igpf6R8P5VXZieW19zyfFN-HhvT796U3HhzgnjkwZiLP9Vv1exSxIss6Yq5hDuGvb9QElaWo_zXhVcCE4exdlGAXP8sfHVR88GjdCzhoederxNaW6P/s400/stanislav_markelov2.jpg" border="0" /></a> <em><span style="font-size:85%;">Attorney Stanislav Markelov</span></em><br /><br />MOSCOW – A Russian human rights lawyer renowned for his work on abuses in Chechnya was shot to death Monday by a masked gunman who followed him from a news conference, officials said. A young journalist who tried to intervene also was gunned down.<br /><br />The broad-daylight shootings of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova prompted grief and outrage in a country where lawyers and journalists who challenge the official version of justice are frequently targeted.<br /><br />Markelov had fought the early release of a Russian colonel whose killing of a Chechen woman in 2000 put names and faces on the gruesome rights abuses in the war-wracked region. His death Monday angered many Chechens, already upset by the release of last week of the military officer.<br /><br />Colleagues drew comparisons with the 2006 killing of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya — a client of Markelov's and a fellow enemy of rights abuses in Chechnya and across former President Vladimir Putin's Russia.<br /><br />"This is a horrible, frightening crime," said Tatyana Lokshina of the Human Rights Watch.<br /><br />Prominent rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva called the shooting "a disgrace for Russia," the Interfax news agency reported.<br /><br />Markelov, 34, was shot near a building where he had just held a news conference, about half a mile (1 kilometer) from the Kremlin, said Viktoria Tsyplenkova, a spokeswoman for the Investigative Committee of the Moscow prosecutor's office.<br /><br />Markelov was shot in the back of the head at close range by an attacker who followed him after the news conference, wore a stocking-style mask and had a silencer on his gun — clear signs of a planned killing, state-run RIA-Novosti news agency reported, citing an unidentified law enforcement official. Police also reportedly said there were several witnesses.<br /><br />Anastasia Baburova, a freelance journalist in her mid-20s who had worked for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta newspaper, was shot when she tried to intervene after Markelov was attacked, said Andrei Lipsky, a deputy editor. Another Novaya Gazeta editor, Sergei Sokolov, later said she died on an operating table.<br /><br />Markelov, who represented the family of the 18-year-old Chechen woman killed by Col. Yuri Budanov in 2000, had told reporters he was considering filing an international court appeal against Budanov's early release, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.<br /><br />The colonel was freed last week with more than a year left in his murder sentence.<br /><br />Budanov was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to 10 years — including time served — for strangling Heda Kungayeva. He admitted killing her, saying he believed she was a rebel sniper in the Kremlin's war against Chechen insurgents.<br /><br />Budanov's case was closely watched as a test of authorities' determination to punish rights abuses in Chechnya. But he was held up as a hero by racist nationalist groups, some of whose members held rallies to support him during court hearings.<br /><br />Kungayeva's father Visa Kungayev, who has taken refuge in Norway with his family, said Markelov told him when they spoke Friday that he had been threatened with death if he refused to drop the case, the Interfax news agency reported.<br /><br />Budanov's release drew criticism from rights activists and lawyers, who pointed out that inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes but considered Kremlin foes — such as former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky — have been refused early release.<br /><br />Defense lawyers who represent whistleblowers, Kremlin foes and Russians who claim abuse at the hands of authorities sometimes find themselves targeted, and Politkovskaya is one of more than a dozen journalists killed in Russia since Putin, now prime minister, began his 8-year presidency in 2000.<br /><br />"Stanislav Markelov is yet another victim — very possibly murdered for his professional and courageous work to defend human rights," Nicola Duckworth, regional program director at Amnesty International, said in a statement.<br /><br />Markelov had represented Politkovskaya, who wrote extensively about human rights violations in Chechnya. He also had represented activists who have battled abuses the Russia's military and a Chechen woman who was a victim in a 2002 hostage-taking attack on a Moscow theater.<br /><br />"He was always on the front line," said Alexander Cherkasov of the human rights organization Memorial.<br /><br />Cherkasov said Markelov was instrumental in another case involving alleged atrocities by the Russian military in Chechnya — the 2005 conviction of a police officer, Sergei Lapin, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for the torture and "disappearance" of a young Chechen man.<br /><br />Markelov spent months trying to persuade authorities to prosecute Lapin for allegedly threatening Politkovskaya's life. On April 16, 2004, Markelov was riding home on the Moscow subway when five young men accosted him and beat him unconscious, he told a journalist later that year.<br /><br />He said one of his attackers shouted "You asked for this!"<br /><br />When he awoke, his cell phone and papers on the Politkovskaya case were gone, although his wallet and cash were untouched. When he tried to report the attack, he said, police accused him of faking his injuries.<br /><br />A Chechen parliament deputy, Isa Khadzhimuratov, said Monday he believes Markelov's killing was likely connected to the Budanov case. "Like a real patriot, Markelov decided to restore justice and protect the interests of his clients," Khadzhimuratov said.<br /><br />One of Markelov's last clients was Mokhamadsalakh Masayev, who alleged in 2006 he was held in a secret prison in Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov's home village and subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment. Masayev was abducted in Chechnya in August; his whereabouts remain unknown.<br /><br />"For victims of human rights abuses in Chechnya he was a hero," Lokshina said.<br /><br />Markelov also represented the victims of a 2004 police sweep in the Ural Mountains city of Blagoveshchensk, where hundreds of residents were beaten by police. He has defended anti-fascist movements and has been threatened by nationalist groups as a result, according to Russian media and activists.<br /><br />Since the late 1990s, the Federal Security Service often has tried to question Markelov as a witness to prevent him from participating in trials as a lawyer, Cherkasov said.<br /><br />"When one needed a bold journalist, one called Politkovskaya, when one needed a bold lawyer, one called Markelov," said Kremlin critic and rights activist Lev Ponomaryov. (<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090119/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_lawyer_killed">source</a>)</div>John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-80802617743693295012009-01-19T01:38:00.001-08:002009-01-19T01:46:12.951-08:00ISLAMOFILE 011809: al Qaeda Camp In Africa Mishandles Plague Bacteria Meant To Deploy Against US and UK People<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkPYom42B7F0HBmXxBS_DCEGD3m6-CpgKPoW6w3eW1Lobc1t8nVdDmCtk5-61MjjwSVx2Dm-_5ZrlQW3M5a0aJY2p8oyZlPLjQf6UjrJOFDNmmMEgVUUdWO5wn9XIEUnOrjOmRXBnDdmVy/s1600-h/Plague+bacteria.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292937557578258018" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 382px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 304px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkPYom42B7F0HBmXxBS_DCEGD3m6-CpgKPoW6w3eW1Lobc1t8nVdDmCtk5-61MjjwSVx2Dm-_5ZrlQW3M5a0aJY2p8oyZlPLjQf6UjrJOFDNmmMEgVUUdWO5wn9XIEUnOrjOmRXBnDdmVy/s400/Plague+bacteria.jpg" border="0" /></a> <em><span style="font-size:85%;">Plague bacteria.</span></em> </div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="center"></div>At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages.<br /><br />The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside.<br /><br />The victim was a terrorist in AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest and most powerful al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East.<br /><br />It trains Muslim fighters to kill British and US troops.<br /><br />Now al-Qaeda chiefs fear the plague has been passed to other terror cells — or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.<br /><br />One security source said: “This is the deadliest weapon yet in the war against terror. Most of the terrorists do not have the basic medical supplies needed to treat the disease.<br /><br />“It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda.”<br /><br />Black Death comes in various forms.<br /><br />Bubonic Plague is spread by bites from infected rat fleas. Symptoms include boils in the groin, neck and armpits. In Pneumonic Plague, airborn bacteria spread like flu.<br /><br />It can be in the body for more than a week — highly contagious but not revealing tell-tale symptoms.<br /><br />The al-Qaeda epidemic began in the cave hideouts of AQLIM in Tizi Ouzou province, 150km east of the capital Algiers. The group, led by wanted terror boss Abdelmalek Droudkal, was forced to turn its shelters in the Yakouren forest into mass graves and flee.<br /><br />The extremists supporting madman Osama bin Laden went to Bejaia and Jijel provinces —hoping the plague did not go with them.<br /><br />A source said: “The emirs (leaders) fear surviving terrorists will surrender to escape a horrible death.”<br /><br />AQLIM boss Droudkal claims to command around 1,000 insurgents. Training camps are also based in Morocco, Tunisia and Nigeria.<br /><br />AQLIM bombed the UN headquarters in Algiers in 2007, killing 41. Attacks across Algeria last year killed at least 70 people.<br /><br />In an interview last July, Droudkal boasted his cell was in constant contact with other al-Qaeda “brothers”. (<a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2146286.ece">source</a>)John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-25767920020339887632009-01-18T14:12:00.001-08:002009-01-18T14:19:15.691-08:00Cold War 21: Putin Warns Us On The Eve Of Obama's Innauguration: Curb Your Enthusiasm<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQFP6ksS3K1aLWEBABGUKS3-X91vXFpRMNddFHkRsoYIBD30t-N6Ld9yKe5N9fzzg1xwImLsr-8rU3binZh4lWbXqfAGANR-JnZwTzwt09_v3T5YuCNgz0eq7et7sz3J53dznyWjXkDEB/s1600-h/vladimir_putin_01.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292761503659796098" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 264px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQFP6ksS3K1aLWEBABGUKS3-X91vXFpRMNddFHkRsoYIBD30t-N6Ld9yKe5N9fzzg1xwImLsr-8rU3binZh4lWbXqfAGANR-JnZwTzwt09_v3T5YuCNgz0eq7et7sz3J53dznyWjXkDEB/s400/vladimir_putin_01.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br />Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he had noted "positive signals" about US president-elect Barack Obama but cautioned against "big expectations."<br />"We have watched an election campaign with great attention and we have heard and seen the positive signals which have been directed at us," Putin told German newspaper editors and journalists in Dresden, Germany.<br /><br />He singled out Obama's stance on the US missile defence plan in Europe and US apparent readiness to wait on a NATO membership for countries like Georgia and Ukraine, which Russia considers its sphere of influence.<br /><br />"We have heard and are fully in agreement that we have a lot in common when it comes to the solution of problems related to limiting the arms race," he said.<br /><br />"We have a lot of common problems that we can really only jointly solve. The same goes for the problems in the Middle East, with Iran, the problems of non-proliferation in general."<br /><br />But he also warned of the danger of raising expectations too high.<br /><br />"I am deeply convinced that the biggest disappointments are born out of big expectations," he added.<br /><br />He refrained from making any promises or predictions, saying Russia would be waiting for the pledges Obama had made during his campaign to be be realized.<br /><br />"One needs to see what will happen in practice," Putin said. "We will see when we get there," he said. (<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.add76e7f75eeb22745e153a5e69e64d5.461&show_article=1">source</a>)John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-29368932415975970082009-01-18T11:24:00.001-08:002009-01-18T12:23:26.543-08:00Gaza Unrest Draws To A Close<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv8irPTGVnclTQtvv-fdc5vBPuMCcdYvftz9T0_PdOwwutOT4oo_oroCbthnsydTHMg0x0TePtM5_sAd7x-1ZyzaHcqSPXt__dUXsqmYlAjr0msOx2TJUX9abQIklqL-uAMQFkOdMVu6Pp/s1600-h/An+Israeli+soldier+covers+his+ears+as+a+mobile+artillery+unit+fires+a+shell+towards+Gaza+in+the+early+morning+near+the+Gaza+border+during+Israels+offensive+January+17+2009+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292724922534709522" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 284px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv8irPTGVnclTQtvv-fdc5vBPuMCcdYvftz9T0_PdOwwutOT4oo_oroCbthnsydTHMg0x0TePtM5_sAd7x-1ZyzaHcqSPXt__dUXsqmYlAjr0msOx2TJUX9abQIklqL-uAMQFkOdMVu6Pp/s400/An+Israeli+soldier+covers+his+ears+as+a+mobile+artillery+unit+fires+a+shell+towards+Gaza+in+the+early+morning+near+the+Gaza+border+during+Israels+offensive+January+17+2009+2.jpg" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:85%;">An Israeli soldier covers his ears as a mobile artillery unit fires a shell towards Gaza in the early morning near the Gaza border during Israels offensive January 17 2009.</span></em><br /><br />GAZA (Reuters) - Israel called off its three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, saying Hamas was "badly beaten," but the Islamist group vowed to fight on in a war that has killed 1,200 Palestinians in the coastal enclave.<br /><br />Within minutes of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announcing that a unilateral ceasefire would start three hours later at 2 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Sunday, several missiles struck southern Israel.<br /><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292726937230444818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKbyycviGMQvZFQEWI8_J85pgM6_FxysSXCOgLWuebxN8JOCqn3IBA39yKPre8dR7AGEDhTXhV35tS7Bo5oBjAMfw0fzRGz-DGemBu0icCKOKRiR8FL-QZM115pY_ynI3-TBICLpIGjD0B/s400/An+ultra-Orthodox+Jew+stands+near+the+site+where+a+rocket+fired+by+Palestinian+militants+in+Gaza+landed+in+the+port+city+of+Ashdod+January+16+2009.jpg" border="0" /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">An ultra-Orthodox Jew stands near the site where a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza landed in the port city of Ashdod January 16, 2009. </span></em><br /><br />"Conditions have been created whereby the goals set at the launch of the operation have been more than fully achieved," Olmert said in a televised address from army headquarters.<br /><br />He said Hamas's ability to fire rockets at southern Israeli towns also had been severely limited.<br /><br />Olmert also cited what he described as internationally-backed understandings with Egypt, the Gaza Strip's southern neighbor, on preventing Hamas, which has smuggled in rockets through tunnels under the border, from rearming.<br /><br />After 22 days of war that has killed hundreds of civilians, many of Gaza's 1.5 million people are desperate for a respite. </div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292728876788914002" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 277px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiOAJlf3jBWiIdDB8fEnxFJJLwl4OtGD0CAoVuKeHPgFPZBd8QVHtM7kF8uFPMOdfPAN2zNySmqxPUFtK74Ibf1KRXgLFHmLFmsfNyWREUSgQg2tx3ix2oze6EYrYtA2dI6j4JzzhE0wqn/s400/Gaza+011009+d.jpg" border="0" /><br />But Hamas officials said that until Israeli forces withdrew from the territory and agreed to end a long blockade that has crippled Gaza's economy, they would not hold their fire.<br /><br />"A unilateral ceasefire does not mean ending the aggression and ending the siege," spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said. "These constitute acts of war so this won't mean an end to resistance."<br /><br />But Olmert said the troops would remain in place and hit back if the Palestinians tried to fight on: "If our enemies decide the blows they've been dealt are not sufficient and they are interested in continuing the fight, Israel will be prepared for such and feel free to continue to react with force."<br /><br />U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hailed the ceasefire but also urged Israel to pull out its forces from Gaza rapidly.<br /><br />EGYPTIAN DIPLOMACY<br /><br />Olmert said the ceasefire plan responded to an appeal from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has been at the spearhead of international diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.<br /><br />But Olmert, who will be stepping down soon after a February 10 election, Israel chose to shun a negotiated accord with Hamas and to simply hold its fire, denying the Islamists, who are committed to the destruction of the Jewish state, the deal they sought on easing Israel's punitive blockade on the territory.<br /><br />Hamas's Barhoum called it "an attempt to pre-empt the Egyptian efforts ... that seek to achieve a withdrawal of the occupying forces, an end to the siege and a ceasefire."<br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292729490030437138" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 291px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpfYuyl7YS5wA8BjHSHYhBd0c2zZbjABuFbHhq0sqP7CvjsSy_Te_nBYLGJe7TA-b42X7Gzilt16mMkldZYSgX4uUv8fPhdITD9inEWj0UQwbcG-wPzKQJ9-VMHLtcjTf1XwpeRolM8Wu/s400/Israel's+Prime+Minister+Ehud+Olmert+makes+a+statement+following+a+meeting+of+Israel%27s+security+cabinet+in+Tel+Aviv+January+17+2009.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>Olmert indicated he expected an end to combat: "The campaign has proven Israel's power and strengthened its deterrence."<br /><br />He also said he would work with Mubarak to tighten security on Gaza's Egyptian border -- a key goal of Israel which wants to prevent Hamas rearming through smuggling tunnels.<br /><br />Despite the lack of any clear deal at this stage, Mubarak invited a pack of European leaders to a short-notice summit on Sunday that is meant to come up with ways to bolster the truce in Gaza and to ease the plight of the civilian population crammed into the 45-km (28-mile) sliver of coast. (<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5053R720090117?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0">source</a>)</p>John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-69793777849781935032009-01-15T01:14:00.000-08:002009-01-18T12:25:42.380-08:00Islamofile 011409: Gaza Response Continues--Iranian Ship Destined To Hamas Is Discovered By IDF<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpoimO02Llik37jWVT7r6ZndjptpTfForjlgiIhxwyyVklgsIoMV5ECYqm3k2hbCAfPS5DjypEH-6KOxLdq75B3S9wGw2KEHD7ixAuGIBGTstz1XnEdJ7viEiOLsdcnnwfPO6k5LbvqOQ1/s1600-h/Fire+caused+by+Israeli+military+attacks+are+seen+against+the+Gaza+City+skyline.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291448211283662754" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 258px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpoimO02Llik37jWVT7r6ZndjptpTfForjlgiIhxwyyVklgsIoMV5ECYqm3k2hbCAfPS5DjypEH-6KOxLdq75B3S9wGw2KEHD7ixAuGIBGTstz1XnEdJ7viEiOLsdcnnwfPO6k5LbvqOQ1/s400/Fire+caused+by+Israeli+military+attacks+are+seen+against+the+Gaza+City+skyline.jpg" border="0" /></a> <em><span style="font-size:85%;">Fires erupt as the Israeli military response to Hamas' attack is seen against the Gaza City skyline. </span></em><br /><br />The Navy is closely tracking an Iranian ship that has attempted several times to breach the naval blockade imposed on Gaza and transport humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.<br /><br />On Tuesday, the boat docked in Port Said, Egypt, but the Egyptians refused to allow it to unload its cargo and at midnight Wednesday the boat tried sailing into Gaza.<br /><br />A Navy Sa'ar 4.5-class missile ship intercepted the Iranian boat and transmitted a clear message on Channel 16 - the international communication line for ships - that it would not allow the boat to dock in Gaza.<br /><br />On Wednesday morning, when it was 30 miles off the Gaza coast, the Iranian boat again tried to move toward the Strip, and the Navy again intercepted it. It then returned to el-Arish, Egypt, and two Egyptian boats prevented it from docking there.<br /><br />Since that time, the boat has been sitting 30 miles off the coast of Gaza and is being closely tracked by the Israeli navy. Israel and the Egyptians have been coordinating all activity regarding the Iranian boat.<br /><br />The head of the humanitarian aid group sponsoring the ship, Ahmad Navabi, said in comments aired on Iranian television Wednesday that the Israeli navy approached the cargo ship, Shahed, about 20 miles off the coast of Gaza at dawn Wednesday, and ordered it to turn back.<br /><br />An Israeli warship approached our cargo ship and warned us not to approach Gaza. We could see the lights at Gaza coast. We were forced to change route toward an Egyptian port," Navabi said.<br /><br />Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that Iran had stepped up diplomatic efforts to push for an end to the Israeli assault on Gaza, state television reported.<br /><br />"In the short term, the most important measures are to end (the Israeli) assault on Gaza, end the Gaza blockade and recognize the rights of the Gaza people," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.<br /><br />This is the first Iranian boat to try to reach Gaza during the blockade. On December 30, a boat carrying activists and medical supplies to Gaza was turned back after an altercation with the Israeli navy. Israeli officials said the boat tried to outmaneuver an Israeli navy ship and crashed into it, lightly damaging both vessels. (<a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231917085424&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">source</a>)John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-24855738606272282392009-01-10T10:36:00.000-08:002009-01-10T10:40:14.010-08:00Gaza Response Continues<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguffbj5wTEIYF-OiKN0haaYzWXbhv77TkBaWpzLYY62vY7Sbs5MA_vHD5GD_23pT-n88KyFCuz82Vr6limi3eJbJ6OmhHCccz85IHiqaP1JMm3SJS7ic2ncMf9CLahb3gqch6A36PJD-k8/s1600-h/Gaza+011009.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289735938056708626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguffbj5wTEIYF-OiKN0haaYzWXbhv77TkBaWpzLYY62vY7Sbs5MA_vHD5GD_23pT-n88KyFCuz82Vr6limi3eJbJ6OmhHCccz85IHiqaP1JMm3SJS7ic2ncMf9CLahb3gqch6A36PJD-k8/s400/Gaza+011009.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israeli forces pounded rocket-launching sites and smuggling tunnels in Gaza Saturday and planes dropped leaflets warning of an escalation in attacks, as Palestinian militants fired at least 10 more rockets at Israel.<br /><br />Egypt hosted talks aimed at ending the violence.<br /><br />Flames and smoke rose over Gaza City amid the heavy fighting. The Israeli threat to launch a "new phase" in its two-week-old offensive that has already killed more than 800 Palestinians came in defiance of international calls for a cease-fire.<br /><br />"The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) will escalate the operation in the Gaza Strip," the leaflets said in Arabic. "The IDF is not working against the people of Gaza but against Hamas and the terrorists only. Stay safe by following our orders."<br /><br />The leaflets urged Gaza residents not to help Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, and to stay away from its members.<br /><br />Israel launched the offensive on Dec. 27 to halt years of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. A week later, ground troops moved in.<br /><br />The dropping of the leaflets appeared to be partly a psychological tactic. Israeli defense officials say they are prepared for a third stage of the offensive, in which ground troops would push much further into Gaza, but are still waiting for approval from the government.<br /><br />The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified information, said the army also has a fourth stage planned that calls for a full reoccupation of Gaza and toppling of Hamas.<br /><br />The Israeli military said more than 15 militants were killed in overnight fighting. It said aircraft attacked more than 40 targets including 10 rocket-launching sites, weapons-storage facilities, smuggling tunnels, an anti-aircraft missile launcher and gunmen.<br /><br />In the day's bloodiest incident, an Israeli tank shell killed nine people in a garden outside a home in the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya. Separately, a woman was killed by tank fire in the nearby town of Beit Lahiya.<br /><br />Israel has come under international criticism for the rising number of civilian casualties. Paramedics said the nine people killed in the garden were from the same clan and included two children and two women.<br /><br />"Residents brought them to the hospital in a civilian car. They put them all in the trunk because their bodies were mangled," said hospital administrator Adham Hakim.<br /><br />The Israeli army had no immediate comment, but has repeatedly accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields and launching attacks from schools, mosques and homes. Earlier this week, an Israeli attack outside a U.N. school killed nearly 40 people. Both Israel and Palestinian witnesses said militants carried out an attack from the area moments earlier.<br /><br />Palestinian medical officials say roughly half of the more than 800 Palestinians who have been killed were civilians. Thirteen Israelis have been killed. Five soldiers were lightly wounded in Saturday's fighting.<br /><br />Israel and Hamas ignored a U.N. resolution passed Thursday calling for an immediate and durable cease-fire that would lead to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.<br /><br />Israel has dismissed the Security Council resolution as impractical, while Hamas, whose government in Gaza is not recognized internationally, is angry it was not consulted in the diplomatic efforts.<br /><br />In Cairo, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority president urged both Israel and Hamas to agree to an Egypt-brokered truce Saturday.<br /><br />After meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Mahmoud Abbas stressed that there was no time to waste in ending the bloodshed in Gaza, home to 1.4 million people.<br /><br />"If any party does not accept it (the truce), regrettably it will be the one bearing the responsibility, and if Israel doesn't want to accept, it will take the responsibility of perpetuating a waterfall of blood," Abbas said.<br /><br />Hamas officials from both Gaza and Syria are also in Cairo for separate talks with Egyptian officials on a truce. Israeli officials visited Cairo earlier this week.<br /><br />Hamas and Abbas's Fatah party, which dominates the West Bank, are fierce political rivals, but the president still claims authority over Gaza. Hamas violently took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.<br /><br />Palestinian security officials said some of the heaviest fighting Saturday occurred on the strategic coastal road north of Gaza City, home to 400,000 Palestinians. Israeli forces moved to within about 1 mile of the city before pulling back slightly.<br /><br />While Israel has largely taken control of the road, militants operate from hidden positions in the area. The road is often used to fire rockets into Israel or attack Israeli navy boats off the Mediterranean coast.<br /><br />At least 10 rockets landed in Israel on Saturday, the army said. One rocket hit an apartment building in the southern city of Ashkelon, lightly wounding two people and causing extensive damage to the structure.<br /><br />The offensive has caused extensive damage throughout Gaza. The United Nations estimates two-thirds of Gaza's 1.4 million people are without electricity, and half don't have running water.<br /><br />The Israeli military announced a three-hour halt to operations in Gaza on Saturday to let besieged residents leave their homes and stock up supplies. Medics use the lull to rescue casualties, and aid groups also rush through food distribution.<br /><br />But for the second straight day, there were reports of continued fighting during the lulls.<br /><br />Israel has called for the 3-hour breaks in fighting for the past four days. But aid groups say it isn't enough time to do their work.<br /><br />Salam Kanaan of Save the Children said that in previous lulls, the agency distributed food to 9,500 people - far short of the 150,000 people it serves.<br /><br />U.N. official Adnan Abu Hasna said the Palestinian refugee agency would distribute aid to about 40,000 people, half of them holed up in U.N. schools that have been transformed into shelters.<br /><br />All deliveries were coming from supplies already in Gaza. U.N. officials said a halt on aid shipments into Gaza through Israeli-controlled border crossings remained in effect. The ban was imposed Thursday after a U.N. truck driver was shot and killed by Israel. It was unclear when the deliveries will resume.<br /><br />"As each day goes by, and for each moment that the cease-fire demanded by the Security Council is not observed, the crisis continues," said U.N. spokesman Chris Gunness.<br /><br />U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by phone on Friday and told the prime minister that he was disappointed the violence was continuing in disregard of the resolution, according to Ban's office.<br /><br />Israel says any cease-fire must include assurances that Hamas will halt attacks and end the smuggling of weapons into Gaza through the porous Egyptian border.<br /><br />Hamas has said it won't accept any cease-fire deal that does not include the full opening of Gaza's border crossings. The U.N. resolution emphasized the need to open all crossings, which Israel and Egypt have kept sealed since Hamas militants forcibly seized control of the territory 18 months ago.<br /><br />Israeli leaders oppose that step because it would allow Hamas to strengthen its hold on Gaza. (<a href="http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090110/D95KB8C80.html">source</a>)John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-62512099406826881412009-01-04T23:02:00.000-08:002009-01-04T23:06:26.580-08:00ISLAMOFILE 010409: Iranian Commander Wants To Cut Off Oil To Israeli Supporters<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRs7xs3DX6BqslWqurxRbaEaYxbjLKiCStZpOJ7sIsBKPpqLj_4cMVyEOqEurHxseoB5cb0fIlWbi5L_ixn8LGcm1-FqewxYiCOn2oe224oowJZ_kT9efIjw8vrR8ugzHVKBrxmzrmaLlx/s1600-h/iranian+flag.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287701649198078706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRs7xs3DX6BqslWqurxRbaEaYxbjLKiCStZpOJ7sIsBKPpqLj_4cMVyEOqEurHxseoB5cb0fIlWbi5L_ixn8LGcm1-FqewxYiCOn2oe224oowJZ_kT9efIjw8vrR8ugzHVKBrxmzrmaLlx/s400/iranian+flag.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>TEHRAN, Jan 4 (Reuters) - An Iranian military commander called on Islamic countries to cut oil exports to Israel's supporters in response to the Jewish state's offensive in Gaza, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.<br /><br />IRNA said commander Bagherzadeh described oil as "one of the powerful elements of pressure" on the Jewish state's Western backers in the "unequal war" faced by Palestinians in the coastal strip.<br /><br />"Pointing at Westerners' dependence on the Islamic countries' oil and energy resources, he (Bagherzadeh) called for cutting the export of crude oil to the Zionist regime's supporters the world over," IRNA said, referring to Israel.<br /><br />IRNA gave only the commander's last name but it may have been referring to Mirfeysal Bagherzadeh, a brigadier-general of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards. There was no immediate comment from other Iranian officials.<br /><br />Iran, which often rails against the United States and Israel, is the world's fourth-largest oil producer and a leading member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Top exporter Saudi Arabia is a U.S. ally.<br /><br />Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants battled in Gaza on Sunday after Israeli troops and tanks invaded the coastal enclave in the most serious fighting in the conflict in decades.<br /><br />Israel's attacks on Gaza have sparked repeated protests in Iran, an Islamic state which does not recognise Israel.<br /><br />In 1973, Arab countries directed an oil embargo at Israel's supporters in the Arab-Israeli war, causing the first oil shock. Primarily the United States but also Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal and South Africa were affected. The price of oil quadrupled to almost $12 a barrel and inflation infected the economies of other industrialised countries.<br /><br />Crude is now trading at about $46 after plunging by some $100 since July on the global financial crisis and a weakening world economy.<br /><br />IRNA, which did not provide direct supporting quotes, said Bagherzadeh was speaking about the measures Islamic countries could take in response to Israel's attacks on Gaza.<br /><br />"Among the tactics the world of Islam can use to help the innocent Palestinian people, Bagherzadeh called oil one of the powerful elements of pressure on the Zionists' European and American supporters in the unequal war," IRNA said.<br /><br />Bagherzadeh is the director of Iran's Foundation for the Preservation of Works and Publications of Sacred Defence Values, IRNA said.<br /><br />Iran is embroiled in a row with the West over its nuclear programme and has in the past threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic transport route for global oil supplies, if it is attacked by the United States or Israel. (<a href="http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnDAH452978.html">source</a>)John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-80020000490525222512009-01-03T16:46:00.000-08:002009-01-03T16:54:03.564-08:00Cold War 21: The Ukrainian Campaign: Medvedev Accuses Ukraine Of Stealing Gas<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVEUiL9w829scNeO_vJeZb-EPdhzVuUJdNfHiHp60U5rwT10wtWKs8SSdpH9DMIenpYJPCW46k50dTzI8d1o93Rr4DT50sYNRMAS1yn8lYr04nit-C124xafBse5wRTtfF892Dz3kl5k1h/s1600-h/Map+of+European+Gas+Resources.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287235173049210866" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 252px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVEUiL9w829scNeO_vJeZb-EPdhzVuUJdNfHiHp60U5rwT10wtWKs8SSdpH9DMIenpYJPCW46k50dTzI8d1o93Rr4DT50sYNRMAS1yn8lYr04nit-C124xafBse5wRTtfF892Dz3kl5k1h/s400/Map+of+European+Gas+Resources.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br />Russia has accused Ukraine of stealing gas amid growing fears that Britain and the rest of Europe could be left in the cold.<br /><br />Coming a day after Moscow cut off all gas supplies to its neighbour, the latest blow in the bitter stand-off between the ex-Soviet countries further raised the possibility of price hikes and shortages in the UK.<br /><br />Russia’s monopoly Gazprom claimed Ukraine was siphoning off gas meant for other European countries. </div><div> </div><div></div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287234000058268338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 237px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 344px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZhbM1NjSOtEhfA9yRvuvFnGKigTufQTKiaSWVmfq_7U7K1kv4SbX7PKEUutWLO0_p_dKbEL3l0WSsS9Wcat4aXtYoJG1elm0cZlas0n-JgqDpNYDb0su53Wv5Zh7NOLcalQEpzlnrG9O/s400/Russian+gas+well.jpg" border="0" /><br />The accusation suggested the Kremlin was in no mood for a compromise, in a re-run of the 2006 dispute that led to supply shortages across the EU.<br /><br />Last night, Ukraine’s state gas company Naftogaz insisted it was not interfering with Russian gas transported through its pipelines, saying it was only diverting a small amount to maintain pressure.<br /><br />But Russia refused to back down and said it was increasing exports via alternative routes, including Belarus.<br /><br />‘The Ukrainian side openly admits it is stealing gas and is not ashamed of this,’ said Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov.<br /><br />Britain has not yet felt any disruption to supplies since Russia’s breakdown in price talks with Ukraine led to the cut-off on Thursday.<br /><br />But every day the row goes on, it raises the spectre of shortages in Britain, which began the new year shivering in sub-zero temperatures<br /><br />Blaming Gordon Brown for leaving the country vulnerable to brinkmanship and power plays by foreign governments, the Conservatives have warned that the UK has only enough gas in storage to keep the country running for 15 days.<br /><br />In comparison, France could last 122 days, they said.<br /><br />Tory energy spokesman Greg Clark said: ' As a result of ten years of government inaction, Britain is one of the most vulnerable countries in Europe to turbulence in gas supply.'<br /><br />Russia supplies around a quarter of all the gas used in Europe and about 90% of it usually flows through pipelines across Ukraine.<br /><br />Although Russia maintains the cut-off will not disrupt shipments to Europe, energy experts have warned that any pipeline problems in Ukraine could have the same serious knock-on effects that hit gas supplies two years ago.<br /><br />Since then, many European governments have been reducing their dependence on Russian gas.<br /><br />But Britain’s reliance has quadrupled, with Gazprom providing 16% of our gas in 2007.<br />The EU is refusing to step in unless supplies start to suffer and has restricted its involvement to a strongly worded warning to the warring neighbours not to jeopardise supplies to European customers.<br /><br />The row, however, raises new doubts about Moscow's reliability as an energy supplier and fuels suspicion in the West - already running high since Russia's war with Georgia last August - that the Kremlin bullies its pro-Western neighbours.<br /><br />Russia denies politics are behind the dispute and says it is about prices and debts, but Moscow and Kiev have clashed over a drive by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to take his country into the NATO alliance.<br /><br />If talks do resume between Naftogaz and Gazprom, the gulf between their negotiating positions is wide.<br /><br />Alexei Miller, CEO of Gazprom, said he wanted Ukraine to pay $418 per 1,000 cubic metres (tcm) of gas, compared with the $179.5 Kiev paid in 2008. Ukraine says the most it can afford to pay is $235.<br /><br />Gazprom charges about $500/tcm to customers in the EU, though that is likely to fall by up to half this year. Gas prices track oil and crude has plummeted in value.<br /><br />Naftogaz said it guaranteed uninterrupted supplies of Russian gas to Europe and that it was drawing the fuel from underground stockpiles to meet its own needs.<br /><br />Temperatures in Kiev yesterday were about 8 degrees Celsius below zero. (<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1103790/Russia-accuses-Ukraine-stealing-gas-raising-fears-UK-Europe-left-cold.html">source</a>)</div>John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-15853300921410841122009-01-03T16:38:00.000-08:002009-01-03T16:44:47.308-08:00Cold War 21: The Ukrainian Campaign: Gas Shut-Off<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMsSUeIUBGDc1l_7GYKlQ6DTQA_0_J8EAVE9aCG4v0D-XYnh6QzFbqkBaZltIdw7XGLmqpcGVziRGOvtyk_ecQne7UjIc45TVJqtV1ZI-ERRLGOrcI9qTKZy0NpkiLWughwGb1c9Dy1Cli/s1600-h/medvedev_rtr_0308.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287232991294043842" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMsSUeIUBGDc1l_7GYKlQ6DTQA_0_J8EAVE9aCG4v0D-XYnh6QzFbqkBaZltIdw7XGLmqpcGVziRGOvtyk_ecQne7UjIc45TVJqtV1ZI-ERRLGOrcI9qTKZy0NpkiLWughwGb1c9Dy1Cli/s400/medvedev_rtr_0308.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br />MOSCOW/KIEV, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Russia was preparing to turn off gas deliveries to neighbouring Ukraine on Thursday, raising the spectre of disruptions to European Union supplies.<br /><br />European states are anxious to avoid a repeat of what happened in January 2006 when, during a similar row, Moscow cut off supplies to Ukraine, causing a brief fall in gas supplies passing through Ukraine on the way to the rest of Europe.<br /><br />Moscow says it will honour its contracts to supply European customers with gas, and these have enough reserves to manage without Russian supplies for days, but not weeks.<br /><br />Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko also gave assurances to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso that there would be no disruptions to supplies to the EU, the European Commission said in a brief statement.<br /><br />Pipelines that cross Ukraine carry about one-fifth of the EU's gas needs. A new cut-off could tarnish Russia's reputation as a reliable energy supplier and further undermine Ukraine's crisis-battered economy.<br /><br />Alexei Miller, head of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM), said talks with Ukrainian officials had failed to settle a dispute over $2 billion in unpaid gas bills and the price at which Ukraine will buy Russian gas next year.<br /><br />"From 10 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Jan. 1, Gazprom will completely, 100 percent, cease gas supplies to consumers in Ukraine," Miller told a news conference at the company's headquarters in Moscow late on Wednesday.<br /><br />Miller, a close ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, said Ukraine should take full responsibility for causing the crisis.<br /><br />Russia says the cut-off does not apply to shipments to Europe, but there could be a knock-on effect if it causes a drop in pressure in the transit pipelines or if Kiev halts flows to Europe to use them as a bargaining chip.<br /><br />Germany's E.ON (EONGn.DE) and BASF (BASF.DE) and Italy's ENI (ENI.MI) are among the biggest customers for Russian gas.<br /><br />However, EU states are less vulnerable to supply disruptions than they were three years ago.<br /><br />Economic recession and a mild start to winter have reduced demand and left enough heating fuel in Western European storage sites to last a few days without much Russian gas, though analysts say a cut of more than a week would cause problems.<br /><br />"Consumers (in Germany) need not worry," a spokesman for Germany's BDEW energy and water association was quoted as saying in Der Spiegel's online edition. "The tanks are quite full."<br /><br />Countries in eastern and central Europe are likely to feel any disruption first because they are closer to the potential bottleneck in Ukraine.<br /><br />Russia's 2006 dispute with Ukraine prompted calls for the EU to reduce reliance on Russian gas, but Gazprom forecasts that the EU will come to rely on Russia for as much as one-third of its gas by 2015, up from about a quarter now.<br /><br />The reliability of energy supplies from Russia will top the agenda of EU ministers meeting in the Czech Republic next week.<br /><br />Putin called Barroso on Wednesday, before the talks broke down, to explain possible consequences of the row for the 27-nation EU, Barroso's office said.<br /><br /><br />CUT-OFF LOOMS<br /><br />Russia says the row is purely commercial, but it has in the past been accused of using energy to blackmail its neighbours. It has been fiercely critical of the drive by Ukraine's pro-Western leaders to join NATO.<br /><br />Putin launched a scathing attack on Ukraine on Wednesday.<br /><br />He said its leaders had snubbed an offer to buy gas in 2009 at a below-market price of $250 per 1,000 cubic metres, he alleged they would block Russian gas supplies to Europe, and said they had brought Ukraine to the verge of economic collapse.<br /><br />"The situation in Ukraine is aggravated by the fact that a fight between different clans is having a negative impact on the economy," Putin said at a televised meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev.<br /><br />That appeared to be a reference to the bitter rivalry between Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Tymoshenko.<br /><br />Some Western analysts say Moscow may be trying to undermine Yushchenko's presidency in favour of Tymoshenko, who it sees as a less awkward partner. Kremlin officials say there is no reason why Russia should subsidise Ukraine with cheap gas.<br /><br />Both Moscow and Kiev have much at stake. Ukraine's hryvnia currency suffered steep falls last month despite a loan from the International Monetary Fund, and the row with Russia could further hurt investor confidence.<br /><br />Russia -- already viewed with suspicion in the West after its war with Georgia in August -- has also been hit hard by the global crisis and does not want to forfeit its lucrative position as Europe's biggest gas supplier.John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-81894483782029905782009-01-03T16:34:00.000-08:002009-01-03T16:37:01.718-08:00Cold War 21: Russia Warns Of Tough Times Ahead<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieL5kKcL1ZZ8SrQEhQqKQlKNibh8PJsER0v3sxuFby5DZVfArx0KZ4Jwmbw4TNlgkpEg3rZ0v7pr-_ArudhrIAAQ3eomFbbZqNtaL_QtJplMXIVBSS8Dqzqjj20SF1_mApYTUDAMwc2dB-/s1600-h/Medvedev+w+Putin+re+financial+crisis+12+08.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287230882531221298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 279px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 345px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieL5kKcL1ZZ8SrQEhQqKQlKNibh8PJsER0v3sxuFby5DZVfArx0KZ4Jwmbw4TNlgkpEg3rZ0v7pr-_ArudhrIAAQ3eomFbbZqNtaL_QtJplMXIVBSS8Dqzqjj20SF1_mApYTUDAMwc2dB-/s400/Medvedev+w+Putin+re+financial+crisis+12+08.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><div>Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in his New Year address praised Russians for weathering last year's economic hardships, urging them to take heart as hard times are unlikely to be over.<br />"This year our country went through dramatic trials, but overcame them with confidence and dignity thanks to you, its people. I am convinced that whatever hardships lie ahead, we will be able to weather them," Medvedev said.<br /><br />"Numbers on the calendar may change, but love, friendship, loyalty, compassion and mercy remain our support for all time, and give us strength not only to overcome difficulties, but to rise to new heights," the Russian leader said.<br /><br />The global economic crisis threatened Russia's newly-found prosperity, as the surging stock market suffered losses of at least one trillion dollars and the ruble plunged to a three year low against the dollar, with the interior ministry warning of possible social unrest.<br /><br />Russia's war with Georgia in August over the breakaway region of South Ossetia saw Moscow's relations with the West plunge to a low unseen since the days of Communist rule. (<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081231231345.l7bg1pg7&show_article=1">source</a>)</div>John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-33941027403981851072009-01-03T16:12:00.000-08:002009-01-03T16:22:27.963-08:00Christmas In Israel, Dec 25, 2008<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzs8-slcWmf4j_LEMJWvIvaSJCQyPLBG6RAXuisI0_2KN77Ph_r8NTfbMyPpOwO9hcKaSsx80NG2Fu75nSzFENfGvm9L8jqN6aAN02NnNdTPhziAdZs8Upjt94EoVCDZZcDbM5Sgbp4_Bz/s1600-h/A+rocket+fired+by+Palestinian+militants+intended+for+a+target+in+Israel+accidentally+hit+a+building+in+Gaza+City,+Wednesday,+Dec.+24,+2008.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287226209358078914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 399px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 279px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzs8-slcWmf4j_LEMJWvIvaSJCQyPLBG6RAXuisI0_2KN77Ph_r8NTfbMyPpOwO9hcKaSsx80NG2Fu75nSzFENfGvm9L8jqN6aAN02NnNdTPhziAdZs8Upjt94EoVCDZZcDbM5Sgbp4_Bz/s400/A+rocket+fired+by+Palestinian+militants+intended+for+a+target+in+Israel+accidentally+hit+a+building+in+Gaza+City,+Wednesday,+Dec.+24,+2008.jpg" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:85%;">A Palestinian man inspects the damage where a rocket fired by Palestinian militants intended for a target in Israel accidentally hit a building in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008. Palestinian Iyad Dremly, who works for the Palestinian Center for Conflict Resolution, was injured in the explosion, Palestinian sources said.<br /></span></em><div></div><br />JERUSALEM – Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip bombarded southern Israel with dozens of mortars and rockets on Wednesday, sowing panic and despair there and burdening diplomatic efforts to revive an expired truce.<br /><br />No Israelis were injured in the barrages. The attacks took a steeper toll in Gaza as explosives apparently misfired, wounding three civilians and killing two militants. One of the injured civilians works for a conflict resolution center.<br /><br />Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, said the bombardment came in retaliation for the deaths of three fighters in a clash with Israeli troops late Tuesday. Israel said the militants were planting explosives along the Gaza border fence.<br /><br />About 60 rockets and mortars pelted southern Israel by midafternoon Wednesday, the military said. No injuries were reported, but a factory, a home and other structures were damaged. Rockets reached as far as Beit Hagdi, a small community about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Gaza City, the military said.<br /><br />"We heard the alarm and the whistling as it approached, and then we heard a big explosion," said Benny Gueta, whose windows were shattered by a projectile in Ashkelon, 17 kilometers (11 miles) from the Gaza border.<br /><br />"We can't live this way," Gueta told Israel Radio.<br /><br />A rocket slammed directly into a house in the small community of Tkuma seconds after a father rushed his children from the living room into a bomb shelter.<br /><br />The living room wall had a gaping hole and was sprayed with shrapnel. Toys lay covered in rubble and dust. A crib was pocked by shrapnel and filled with pieces of concrete.<br /><br />In Gaza, meanwhile, health officials said Iyad Dremly, a Palestinian attorney who works for the Palestinian Center for Conflict Resolution, was badly wounded in an explosion that ripped through his two-story apartment building in Gaza City.<br /><br />Militants were firing rockets and mortars from the area, but the military said it did not carry out any attacks on Gaza, suggesting the blast was caused by misfired explosives.<br /><br />Two other civilians were hurt when a rocket landed on another house several miles to the north in Beit Lahiya, the health officials reported. Before dawn, two militants were killed in southern Gaza by an explosive they were preparing, Hamas reported.<br /><br />Before the violence escalated, Israel had agreed to open cargo crossings with Gaza on Wednesday to allow in a limited amount of food, medicines and fuel, including supplies from Egypt. But military spokesman Peter Lerner said the passages would remain closed in light of the militant barrages.<br /><br />Israel has maintained a strict blockade of Gaza since the June 19 cease-fire began unraveling six weeks ago, allowing in only small quantities of essential goods. Egypt has also sealed its border crossing with the territory, which is Gaza's main gateway to the outside world.<br /><br />The sanctions have deepened the destitution in Gaza, home to 1.4 million Palestinians who are confined to their tiny coastal strip. Gazans have worked around the blockade by bringing in goods through tunnels dug under the Gaza-Egypt border.<br /><br />Amid the violence, both sides have expressed willingness to consider reviving the truce that lapsed on Friday. Egypt, which mediated the original cease-fire, is leading the diplomatic push to renew it, and on Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.<br /><br />Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Wednesday's violence "unfortunate and difficult" and encouraged a renewal of the truce.<br /><br />"Our people are facing attacks and blockade, we are making all efforts for a full truce and for the security situation to calm down," he said.<br /><br />Alongside talk of restoring the truce, Israel is preparing for a large-scale military campaign against Gaza militants.<br /><br />Israeli leaders have approved such an operation, but are reluctant to press ahead with a campaign likely to exact heavy casualties on both sides. Past incursions have not halted the barrages, and defense and political officials fear anything short of a reoccupation of Gaza would fail to achieve the desired results.<br /><br />Israel left Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation, though it still controls its border crossings.<br /><br />Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said Israeli patience was running thin: "Our position is clear, quiet will be met with quiet but attacks against our civilians will be met by Israeli action to defend our people." (<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081224/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians">source</a>)John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-79588282340445203462009-01-03T15:45:00.000-08:002009-01-03T16:12:31.393-08:00Christmas In Israel, Dec 24, 2008<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYMEnpJIoiFyK4xcCqpWlD-NcVHCW3ucrWk_wxYjznPhP6RIHeriFq21Ystw08c9N6sea4olOE4vLV2xg0xUhTqkn-JVGkD2ZH65_PSvvhLRta1DDUprQMnlOTCARwrnqrl2PPePBKhdzk/s1600-h/Palestinian+children+light+candles+in+the+Church+of+the+Nativity+in+the+West+Bank+town+of+Bethlehem+December+24+2008.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287224295158644194" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 269px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYMEnpJIoiFyK4xcCqpWlD-NcVHCW3ucrWk_wxYjznPhP6RIHeriFq21Ystw08c9N6sea4olOE4vLV2xg0xUhTqkn-JVGkD2ZH65_PSvvhLRta1DDUprQMnlOTCARwrnqrl2PPePBKhdzk/s400/Palestinian+children+light+candles+in+the+Church+of+the+Nativity+in+the+West+Bank+town+of+Bethlehem+December+24+2008.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br />BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - Thousands of Christian pilgrims gathered in Bethlehem's Manger Square on Wednesday to celebrate Christmas under the protection of security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.<br /><br />About 500 security men arrived from the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Jericho to provide security for the holiday. Similar deployments have taken place across the West Bank over the past year with U.S. backing.<br /><br />"We expect about 40,000 visitors in Bethlehem this week," said Khouloud Daibes-Abu Dayyeh, the Palestinian Authority's minister of tourism.<br /><br />The estimate includes Christians from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Israel and the rest of the world. About 900 from Gaza applied for Israeli permission to go to the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, but only 300 got it.<br /><br />"It's better to spend Christmas in Bethlehem because we are close to the church. It's important to visit where Jesus was born," said 58-year-old Italian tourist Messimo Silzestri beneath a giant Christmas tree and decorations in Manger Square.<br /><br />While Gaza teeters on the brink of a major crisis following the end of a six-month truce between Israel and Hamas Islamists in control of the strip, a decline in violence in the West Bank has tempted back tourists who no longer fear gunbattles in the streets.<br /><br />Israel attributes this partly to the barrier it is building in and around the occupied West Bank. For Bethlehem, the barrier takes the form of a daunting concrete wall 4 meters (13 feet) high with watchtowers.<br /><br />MUCH-NEEDED REVENUE<br /><br />Tourism collapsed here when a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began in 2000. But this Christmas, the Palestinian tourism minister says, hotel occupancy is rising.<br /><br />"The increase in security and easier movement means we have our largest numbers, and we are making great efforts to restore tourist activity," she told Reuters in Ramallah.<br /><br />"The numbers themselves are not as important as the length of stay," she added. The direct contribution of tourism to the Palestinian economy is reckoned at about $480 million a year.<br /><br />Palestinians say the Israeli barrier is a major obstacle to peace that cripples trade and turns off foreign tourists.<br /><br />Many visitors see the wall between Jerusalem and Bethlehem as an ugly scar defiling a Christian holy site.<br /><br />"Going to the checkpoint and the barrier is really crazy. But being here, it is totally worth it," said 20-year-old Emma Serienni who was on her first visit from the United States.<br /><br />Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Tuesday said the Jewish state must press on with plans to complete the barrier around key parts of Jerusalem, which could be divided in a future deal to create a Palestinian state.<br /><br />There is little prospect of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the time Pope Benedict visits Bethlehem in mid-May 2009. (<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4BN2A620081224?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0">source</a>)John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-38955282517558355202009-01-03T15:35:00.001-08:002009-01-03T15:41:39.877-08:00Chavez To Venezuelans: No Mall, Bad Shoppers! 12.22.08<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh23AiuJMeO82wsRHdLUOOySg_WFVkpke-LasWAER70T0AIGG3IV7GHCrwtfmARQ_kBod7pRHY7rQDUfO067Y1nSI24RgA1MhezgQPYh5z02mh3B9omJITaKfZ9qXtgMv-XNUsdk04tinJL/s1600-h/Hugo+Chavez+91908.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287215426933825330" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 292px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh23AiuJMeO82wsRHdLUOOySg_WFVkpke-LasWAER70T0AIGG3IV7GHCrwtfmARQ_kBod7pRHY7rQDUfO067Y1nSI24RgA1MhezgQPYh5z02mh3B9omJITaKfZ9qXtgMv-XNUsdk04tinJL/s400/Hugo+Chavez+91908.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br />CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez ordered construction halted on a major shopping mall in Caracas on Sunday, saying the government will expropriate the unfinished building.<br /><br />The Venezuelan leader said it would be out of line with his government's socialist vision to allow the new Sambil mall to take up precious urban real estate -- and that unbridled consumerism isn't his idea of progress either.<br /><br />Chavez said the mall, scheduled to open in La Candelaria district in downtown Caracas next year, would severely clog an area that already is so crowded "not a soul fits."<br /><br />The hulking concrete and brick structure takes up an entire city block and according to the Sambil Web site was to include 273 shops.<br /><br />"We're going to expropriate that and turn it into a hospital -- I don't know -- a school, a university," Chavez said to applause during his Sunday television and radio program, "Hello, President."<br /><br />Constructora Sambil, the company building the mall, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It operates Sambil malls in cities across Venezuela, including another vast shopping center in Caracas.<br /><br />"How are we going to create socialism turning over vital public spaces to Sambil?" said Chavez, who has nationalized Venezuela's largest phone company, electric utilities and oil fields.<br /><br />The president also has urged Venezuelans to shed their materialism and their taste for designer clothes, sport utility vehicles, Scotch whisky and plastic surgery.<br /><br />Chavez often urges Venezuelans to rethink their values, and the timing of his announcement appeared to be no accident -- just as Christmas shoppers packed malls elsewhere in Caracas.<br /><br />He didn't preach against the buying frenzy in general, but did say at another point in his speech that "Christ was a socialist."<br /><br />Consumerism has flourished in Venezuela in recent years, with the economy awash with cash and windfall oil earnings rolling in. Malls are often packed, and new shopping centers have been sprouting up quickly.<br /><br />The president did not say how much the government might pay the mall's owners in compensation. (<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Chavez-says-mall-to-be-apf-13888690.html">source</a>)John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-81118822002509124442009-01-03T13:28:00.000-08:002009-01-03T13:32:11.991-08:00COLD WAR 21: Russia Sends Warships To Cuba 12.15.08<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkPleuyh_iSDrmy7gFMYvXNvjg_BjXEdMWfQ14eKDk1_c158uhc1oq2ZgE84Lowng268Hknf4NCIC9rM8dUE7jICxhuBRl1MMfyr6FeptEYUah_kr0hokHVgzdO2sqWlAOXGUn_2mjUjo2/s1600-h/Russian+cruiser+at+dock.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287183437547951010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 192px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkPleuyh_iSDrmy7gFMYvXNvjg_BjXEdMWfQ14eKDk1_c158uhc1oq2ZgE84Lowng268Hknf4NCIC9rM8dUE7jICxhuBRl1MMfyr6FeptEYUah_kr0hokHVgzdO2sqWlAOXGUn_2mjUjo2/s320/Russian+cruiser+at+dock.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Russia said on Monday it was sending a group of warships to Soviet-era ally Cuba in its latest defiant naval move around US waters, part of a drive to revive old Cold War ties with Latin America.<br /><br />The warships will visit Havana on December 19-23, the navy said, continuing a tour that has already taken in US foes Venezuela and Nicaragua and seen the ships pass through the Panama Canal for the first time since World War II.<br /><br />"This will be the first visit to Cuba by Russian warships since the Soviet era," the Russian naval headquarters said in a statement.<br /><br />The destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and two other ships already held exercises with Venezuela's navy in the Caribbean Sea last month.<br /><br />The naval manoeuvres close to US waters are seen as a riposte to Washington's own moves in Russia's Soviet-era sphere of influence, including in the Black Sea.<br /><br />US officials have said they see no military threat from Russia's naval manoeuvres but continue to keep a close eye on the situation.<br /><br />The naval visit to Cuba, scene of a dramatic 1962 stand-off between Moscow and Washington over nuclear missiles, comes as tensions over US missile defence plans in eastern Europe have prompted talk of a renewed Cold War among some analysts.<br /><br /><br />Last month Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made a tour of Latin America where he visited Cuba and Venezuela and met former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, part of efforts to revive what he called "privileged relations" from Soviet times.<br /><br />Last week he also received Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner, another Latin American critic of the United States.<br /><br />Nicaragua's leftist President Daniel Ortega is to visit Moscow on Thursday, after he risked Washington's wrath this summer by following Russia in recognizing two Moscow-backed rebel regions of Georgia as independent.<br /><br />The Russian moves in Central and Latin America follow heightened tensions over Russia's military onslaught in Georgia, a close US ally.<br /><br />Russia strongly objected to US naval deployments off Georgia's Black Sea coast, accusing the United States of covertly rearming Georgia, a charge Washington denied.<br /><br />On Monday the Russian navy avoided direct reference to the United States, saying that visits to Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela signified "long-term prospects for developing cooperation among these countries' navies in the interest of building stability and trust on the world's oceans."<br /><br />During the Cuba visit, residents will be welcomed aboard the Russian ships and Russian officers will lay flowers at a memorial to Cuban campaigner for independence and critic of US expansionism Jose Marti, the navy said.<br /><br />Last week the navy said it was sending ships from its Pacific Fleet to join ships from the Northern Fleet for exercises with India's navy and in parallel would continue anti-piracy operations off Somalia.<br /><br />Despite the growing Russian assertiveness, defence experts have said Russia's navy remains severely weakened following years of post-Soviet neglect.<br /><br />That impression was reinforced by the inadvertent fatal poisoning last month of 20 people aboard a Russian nuclear-powered submarine that was undergoing tests off the Pacific coast. (<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081215151217.gl11u87v&show_article=1">source</a>) </div>John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-8313576767922070472009-01-03T13:11:00.001-08:002009-01-03T13:20:18.052-08:0012.07.08 Greece Erupts<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnDNTWgsurAn4YBNOCXrOK-RosAB-Iei_M_Rf77deNkvdi1IaVdXGRC6FYxsoYW1u7oY31-9hp9g7saXtirXG8lQ3gSXAV6sYz0h4lAyk_7CwtEznndQVOwex-vPPzwRBxVfiYbFyHzkoK/s1600-h/Greece_Riot_Emporiki+Bank_120708.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287178293422884082" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 242px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnDNTWgsurAn4YBNOCXrOK-RosAB-Iei_M_Rf77deNkvdi1IaVdXGRC6FYxsoYW1u7oY31-9hp9g7saXtirXG8lQ3gSXAV6sYz0h4lAyk_7CwtEznndQVOwex-vPPzwRBxVfiYbFyHzkoK/s320/Greece_Riot_Emporiki+Bank_120708.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />ATHENS, Greece (AP) - The fatal police shooting of a teenager has set off Greece's worst rioting in years, with hooded youths rampaging through Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki over the weekend.<br /><br />Gangs smashed stores, torched cars and erected burning barricades in the streets of the Greek capital and the country's second largest city in a dramatic eruption of a long-tolerated self-styled anarchist movement.<br /><br />Rioting began in several cities within hours of the death of a 15-year-old who was shot Saturday night in Exarchia, a downtown Athens district of bars, music clubs and restaurants that is seen as the anarchists' home base. Soon dozens of stores, banks and cars were ablaze. Police said 24 policemen were injured, and one remained in hospital on Sunday morning.<br /><br />The violence was the most severe since rioting in 1999 during a visit to Greece of then U.S. President Bill Clinton. The last time a teenager was killed in a police shooting - during a demonstration in 1985 - it sparked weeks of frequent rioting.<br /><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287178495891016786" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 253px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDvoGIDjFhGbbjb2KtqEYMZUswZUMF4CM0UjVT0LLqg2_taiNcyc1t3_ZeIK9lZ2e_tUZJZVLsIoO_7WtoUuZRjS2QF2882P9gcpEL07wVsLEPRZMEnu7CnadvXygsBt7YdCY6DVf61Kek/s320/Greece_Riot_police+throw+stones.jpg" border="0" /></div><br /><br />The circumstances surrounding Saturday's shooting were unclear, and Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos has promised a thorough investigation and the punishment of anyone found responsible.<br /><br />"It is inconceivable for there not to be punishment when a person loses their life, particularly when it is a child," he said. "The taking of life is something that is not excusable in a democracy."<br /><br />Police said the two officers involved claimed they were attacked by a group of youths, and that three gunshots and a stun grenade were fired in response.<br /><br />The two officers have been suspended, arrested and charged, one with premeditated manslaughter and the illegal use of a weapon, and the other as an accomplice. They are to appear before a court Wednesday. The Exarchia precinct police chief has been suspended.<br /><br />A blurry video shot by a bystander from a nearby balcony that purportedly shows the incident has been shown on local television and posted on the Internet. Two sounds that could be gunshots can be heard, but the image is too blurry and distant to show the sequence of events clearly.<br /><br />Pavlopoulos and Deputy Interior Minister Panagiotis Chinofotis submitted their resignations after Saturday's rioting, but they were not accepted by the prime minister.<br /><br />The violence died down Sunday morning, only to begin again as afternoon demonstrations in Athens and Thessaloniki to protest the boy's death degenerated into running battles between Molotov cocktail-throwing youths and riot police firing tear gas.<br /><br />In Thessaloniki, protesters attacked City Hall, two police precincts, several shops and a bank, as well Greek television channel vehicles.<br /><br />Dozens of stores in central Athens went up in flames or saw their storefronts smashed. At least two buildings were destroyed by fire, as was a Ford car dealership. Streets were littered with jagged chunks of paving stones and rocks thrown at riot police, as well as shattered glass from storefronts and banks.<br /><br />"I understand the anger (for the teenager's death) and the right to demonstrate it," Pavlopoulos said Sunday night. "What is inconceivable is the raw violence that undermines social peace and turns against the property of innocent people."<br /><br />As darkness fell, groups of youths, some masked and others wearing motorcycle helmets, used trash cans and overturned cars to erect burning barricades in the streets around the Athens Polytechnic. Clouds of tear gas hung in the air, sending passers-by rushing for cover. Other curious onlookers peeped out from street corners, using mobile phones to snap pictures.<br /><br />Local media reported several people sought treatment for breathing problems, but no serious injuries were reported.<br /><br />Greece has seen frequent and sometimes violent demonstrations in recent months against the increasingly unpopular conservative government of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and his economic reforms. Karamanlis has also seen his popularity plummet due to a land scandal that has put the opposition Socialists consistently ahead in opinion polls.<br /><br />Violence often breaks out during demonstrations in Greece between riot police and anarchists, who also attack banks, high-end shops, diplomatic vehicles and foreign car dealerships in late-night fire-bombings that rarely cause injuries.<br /><br />The self-styled anarchist movement partly has its roots in the resistance to the military dictatorship that ruled Greece from 1967-74. The youths often take refuge inside university buildings or campuses, from which police are barred under Greek law.<br /><br />The youths, who often march in demonstrations under the red and black anarchist banner, espouse general anti-capitalist and antiestablishment principles, and have long-running animosity toward the police as well as the media.<br /><br />Full details of how much damage was caused in the two days of rioting were not immediately available. (<a href="http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081207/D94U2D480.html">source</a>)John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-19790832067076912892008-12-02T15:48:00.000-08:002008-12-02T16:27:00.375-08:00ISLAMOFILE 120208: Obama Is Warned Of Nuclear-Enabled Iran In His First Year<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7OKWSZzHEzpADad9aFXUNSLGYwtKXSx-4ZcovKwyvVTTbDJXq4LFhCyuRYpiUmR1zBMX3EJ8lyYL9ER9vvM5G6EKiW1JuvdKLjG-sMiv8GixR8K7SOx_z_X9B8MKQqzVDbJ6m0T8oBu6j/s1600-h/obama.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275353636570246082" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 154px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7OKWSZzHEzpADad9aFXUNSLGYwtKXSx-4ZcovKwyvVTTbDJXq4LFhCyuRYpiUmR1zBMX3EJ8lyYL9ER9vvM5G6EKiW1JuvdKLjG-sMiv8GixR8K7SOx_z_X9B8MKQqzVDbJ6m0T8oBu6j/s320/obama.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Iran poses the greatest foreign policy challenge to the new president with Tehran on course to produce a nuclear bomb in the first year of an Obama administration, an unprecedented coalition of top think tanks warned yesterday.<br /><br />Barack Obama must follow through on his promises of direct talks with Tehran and engage the Middle East region as a whole if he is to halt a looming crisis that could be revisited on the United States, the experts warned.<br /><br />“Diplomacy is not guaranteed to work: it is not,” Richard Hass, one of the authors said. “But the other options – military action or living with an Iranian weapon are sufficiently unattractive for it to warrant serious commitment.”<br /><br />The warnings came in a report called “Restoring the Balance,” a Middle East strategy for the incoming president drafted by the Council for Foreign Relations and the Brookings Institution. Gary Samore, one of the authors, said the level of alarm over the “hornet’s nest” facing the new president in the Middle East, and the need for the swift adoption of previously untested approach, had inspired the unprecedented decision to write policy for him. “New administrations can choose new policies but they can’t choose next contexts,” Mr. Samore said. “This is what they inherit.”<br /><br />The report paints a grim picture of the problems in the region but asserts that Mr. Obama is still in a strong position to exploit the positives. For the first time since the Iranian revolution, the leadership in Tehran has endorsed the idea of talking directly with Washington, as Mr. Obama has suggested. Falling oil prices also provide a new opportunity, restricting Iran’s means to sponsor terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah that act as its proxy in the region.<br /><br />The new administration, however, must not fall into the trap of treating Iran in isolation to the rest of the Middle East, as the previous administration did, but deal with it as part of a larger jigsaw within the region.<br /><br />Syria, which has shown tentative signs of a desire for better relations with the West, and has held negotiations with Israel through Turkish interlocutors, could be the idea test case for a new diplomatic approach. “Syria is a natural candidate for direct contact,” Mr. Hass said, as part of “a greater embrace of diplomacy with out preconditions” that should be extended to Iran.<br /><br />The report laid blame for much of the crisis squarely with the Bush administration, whose war in Iraq fuelled Iran’s ascendancy as a regional power. But the authors warned against an “ABB” – anything but Bush – approach, urging Mr. Obama to build on some of the changes in direction over the last two years. “Change for sake of change is not a good idea,” Mr. Hass said. “Great powers have to be predictable.”<br /><br />Mr. Obama must also team up with Arab countries for an urgent push to resolve the stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, they said. Efforts by the Quartet – created “by mistake over vodkas at the Russian ambassador’s house,” according to Mr. Indyk, who was present, were necessarily limited because of the lack of Arab representation. “Time is not working in favour of a resolution,” he warned, noting the hardening of Israeli public opinion. “There is a real danger that support for a two-state resolution will falter.” (<a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5275647.ece">source</a>)John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-64957164943269073502008-12-02T15:40:00.000-08:002008-12-02T15:47:38.476-08:00Cold War 21: Russia Announces New System To Avoid US Missile Shield<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2l6X1GuKZX-K4yoQHyRkoZrtx_TJ8Kl57OFqZo7wRwuvDJM8ExIePxcBVHmXWpZ6dRF-Iw8g763QmkYJyR03XQVmvGVERooUirVwEA818ZBWf2xNh-J4c_wAIh2kPPWBlB9SeC90e0eM/s1600-h/Col.-Gen.+Nikolai+Solovtsov+With+Medvedev.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275343356073844466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2l6X1GuKZX-K4yoQHyRkoZrtx_TJ8Kl57OFqZo7wRwuvDJM8ExIePxcBVHmXWpZ6dRF-Iw8g763QmkYJyR03XQVmvGVERooUirVwEA818ZBWf2xNh-J4c_wAIh2kPPWBlB9SeC90e0eM/s320/Col.-Gen.+Nikolai+Solovtsov+With+Medvedev.jpg" border="0" /></a> <em><span style="font-size:85%;">Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov with President Medvedev.</span></em><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsK9NhZ-IFMJyAi8xbaLRxDat1NggkvasQKitTxEHOaK2R9taaQlI4prwPahUvMyejIVAOvswnLL56IBmGCnee0fkeoZygSK4Gy6G-UuJGpZwm3O0prOpya84TGp2gwktXiYTkLKzHsER/s1600-h/medvedev_rtr_0308.jpg"></a><br /><br /><div>MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's military is planning to upgrade its missiles to allow them to evade American weapons in space and penetrate any prospective missile shield, a Russian general said Monday.<br />In comments to the Interfax news agency, Russia's Strategic Missile Forces chief, Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, as saying that Russia's intercontinental ballistic missiles will be modernized to protect them from space-based components of the U.S. missile defense system.<br /><br />The upgrade will make the missiles' warheads capable of flying "outside the range" of the space-based system, Solovtsov was quoted as saying.<br /><br />He didn't elaborate, but Russian officials have previously boasted about prospective new warheads capable of making sharp maneuvers to dodge missile defense systems.<br /><br />Solovtsov also reportedly said the military will commission new RS-24 missiles equipped with state-of-the-art systems to help penetrate a missile shield. He did not specify that Moscow intended to penetrate a U.S. missile shield, but the Kremlin has fiercely opposed the U.S. plan to deploy a battery of 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a related radar in the Czech Republic.<br /><br />Russia has criticized U.S. plans for space-based weapons, saying they could trigger a new arms race. Washington has resisted efforts by Russia and China to negotiate a global ban on weapons in space.<br /><br />Reflecting Russia's suspicions about U.S. intentions, Solovtsov alleged Monday that the U.S. is considering the scenario of a first nuclear strike that would destroy most Russian missiles. A few surviving Russian weapons launched in retaliation could then be destroyed by the U.S. missile defense system.<br /><br />Solovtsov said the concept was not feasible.<br /><br />"The Americans will never be able to implement this scenario, because Russian strategic nuclear forces, including the Strategic Missile Forces, will be capable of delivering a strike of retribution under any course of developments," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.<br /><br />U.S. officials have said repeatedly that the prospective missile defense system isn't intended to be used against Russia. But Russian leaders have dismissed U.S. claims that the sites in Poland and the Czech Republic are intended to counter a missile threat from Iran, saying they will threaten Russia's nuclear forces.<br /><br />The day after Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. presidential election, President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia will respond to the U.S. plans by deploying short-range missiles in its westernmost Kaliningrad region near Poland.<br /><br />Medvedev and his predecessor and mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, then took a step back, saying that Russia will only make the move if the U.S. deploys the missile defense in Europe. They expressed hope that the new U.S. administration will scrap the plan.<br /><br />Although windfall oil revenues allowed the Kremlin to boost military budgets, Russian arms makers have had trouble producing new weapons because of the loss of key technologies and the exodus of qualified workers. The prospective Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile for nuclear submarines, for example, has failed repeatedly over the years.<br /><br />However, officials said a Bulava test last week was a success, and Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Monday the test program was to be completed next year. He said the missile has already been ordered into serial production. (<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D94Q3BL00&show_article=1">source</a>)</div></div>John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-65794959056697206692008-12-02T14:30:00.000-08:002008-12-02T15:29:26.625-08:00ISLAMOFILE 113008: As Pakistani-Indian Tensions Rise To "War Levels", Rice Visits<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIVmIE41NRSwXuOBinMDsmOQa1QBu9JYdD1sXV_prRR3byH1jYmvUPf_dHjt2W6xTbDd6OXASgeKN7_rmFM5FvoZX25jqwQdE_wXmpxNZpvI9sS056FJ9VNs-B1h9wwJlCmz439oaFrdd0/s1600-h/Pakistani-Indian_bordertroopswww.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275338732940619314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 281px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIVmIE41NRSwXuOBinMDsmOQa1QBu9JYdD1sXV_prRR3byH1jYmvUPf_dHjt2W6xTbDd6OXASgeKN7_rmFM5FvoZX25jqwQdE_wXmpxNZpvI9sS056FJ9VNs-B1h9wwJlCmz439oaFrdd0/s320/Pakistani-Indian_bordertroopswww.jpg" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Pakistani-Indian border.</span></em><br /><div></div><br /><div>MUMBAI (Reuters) - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has appealed to India not to punish his country for last week's attacks in Mumbai, saying militants have the power to precipitate a war in the region, the Financial Times reported on Monday.<br /><br />Zardari, whose wife Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by Islamist militants last year, warned that provocation by rogue "non-state actors" posed the danger of a return to war between the nuclear-armed neighbors.<br /><br />"Even if the militants are linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, who do you think we are fighting?" asked Zardari in an interview with the Financial Times.<br /><br />"We live in troubled times where non-state actors have taken us to war before, whether it is the case of those who perpetrated (the) 9/11 (attacks on the United States) or contributed to the escalation of the situation in Iraq," said Zardari.<br /><br />"Now, events in Mumbai tell us that there are ongoing efforts to carry out copycat attacks by militants. We must all stand together to fight out this menace."<br /><br />The Mumbai assaults that killed nearly 200 people bore the hallmarks of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based group blamed for previous attacks in India.<br /><br />Indian officials have said most, perhaps all, of the 10 Islamist attackers who held Mumbai hostage with frenzied attacks using assault rifles and grenades came from Pakistan, a Muslim nation carved out of Hindu-majority India in 1947.<br /><br />The fallout from the three-day rampage in Mumbai, India's commercial center, has threatened to unravel India's improving ties with Pakistan and prompted the resignation of India's security minister.<br /><br />RICE VISIT<br /><br />The White House said on Sunday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to India on Wednesday, as analysts warned the United States could get ensnared in the row and it may prove to be a setback in the war on Islamic radicals on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.<br /><br />"Secretary Rice's visit to India is a further demonstration of the United States' commitment to stand in solidarity with the people of India as we all work together to hold these extremists accountable," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.<br /><br />Rice will arrive in New Delhi on Wednesday after attending a NATO meeting in London on Tuesday.<br />New Delhi has said it was raising security to a "war level" and had no doubt of a Pakistani link to the attacks, which unleashed anger at home over the intelligence failure and the delayed response to the violence that paralyzed India's financial capital.<br /><br />Officials in Islamabad have warned any escalation would force it to divert troops to the Indian border and away from a U.S.-led anti-militant campaign on the Afghan frontier.<br /><br />Zardari has vowed to crack down if given proof.<br /><br />But security officials in Islamabad said Pakistan would move troops from its western border with Afghanistan, where forces are battling al Qaeda and Taliban fighters as part of the U.S.-led campaign against militancy, to the Indian border if tension escalated.<br /><br />"It's part of the usual blackmail of the United States that Pakistan does to take more interest in India-Pakistan issues," said B. Raman, a former head of Indian intelligence agency RAW.<br /><br />"They think this kind of argument will make the United States sit up and take notice of their sensitivities and do something about it," he added, referring to warming ties between Washington and New Delhi, including a nuclear accord.<br /><br />Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday he would boost and overhaul the nation's counterterrorism capabilities, an announcement which came after Federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil resigned over the attacks. (<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4AP75S20081201?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true">source</a>)</div>John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-37936799516423800802008-12-02T14:22:00.000-08:002008-12-02T14:24:54.394-08:00US On Iraqi Presence, According To President Elect Obama: We're Out in 16 Months, But Not Really<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsOTpF2bV-IIVJSTe3Lv5YcpUSv2YeFoOGvbJTnFUd2l1w14BPxI9KF980jIK1HADaWFcMR9x7k2NZgKedNec_rgvb-RNGHIQpJQ-03lNQgfCGjhqGZajmO3G6YtkDSj028WIDAqcqv72a/s1600-h/obama-sideglance550.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 186px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsOTpF2bV-IIVJSTe3Lv5YcpUSv2YeFoOGvbJTnFUd2l1w14BPxI9KF980jIK1HADaWFcMR9x7k2NZgKedNec_rgvb-RNGHIQpJQ-03lNQgfCGjhqGZajmO3G6YtkDSj028WIDAqcqv72a/s320/obama-sideglance550.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275322303270719266" /></a><br /><br />CHICAGO (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama said on Monday he believed U.S. combat troops should leave Iraq within 16 months of his taking office but he would listen to advice from military commanders.<br /><br />"I believe that 16 months is the right timeframe but, as I've said consistently, I will listen to the recommendations of my commanders," Obama said after unveiling his nominees for top national security posts.<br /><br />Obama said a new security pact between Iraq and the United States already put the United States on a "glide path" to pulling out of Iraq. He also noted that a "residual" U.S. force may need to remain in Iraq longer than combat troops. (<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE4B05IW20081201">source</a>)John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-39591217289136753802008-12-02T14:11:00.000-08:002008-12-02T14:18:08.750-08:00ISLAMOFILE 120108: Mumbai Massacre Causes Indian Leaders To ResignA second top Indian politician offered to resign on Monday as the Indian government came under intense pressure over its handling of the Mumbai attacks, which claimed at least 192 lives in a rampage by a team of well-organised terrorists.<br /><br />Vilasrao Deshmukh, Maharashtra state chief minister and a member of the ruling Congress party, said on Monday he had offered to resign following the terror attacks. (<a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e1fe5274-bf14-11dd-ae63-0000779fd18c,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fe1fe5274-bf14-11dd-ae63-0000779fd18c.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.drudgereportarchives.com%2Fdsp%2Flinks_recap.htm">source</a>)John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-29185916020714312812008-12-02T14:00:00.000-08:002008-12-02T14:08:29.282-08:00Somali Pirates Now Hijack A Luxury Cruise Liner<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2imMPtcfp6H1Q4tRDE_rr9jubkKQBhyphenhyphenih6FKRs6Rvme-3fmgiN1ynULljo4Xha7ste9SRiocoDsMTErhJmnC9Eu3ow2Dwfbe-bJheZMGHw6sPrFgPNDPp5JWeCImIGwocdGaJEsGkcIgi/s1600-h/nautica_1124183c.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275317537411866674" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2imMPtcfp6H1Q4tRDE_rr9jubkKQBhyphenhyphenih6FKRs6Rvme-3fmgiN1ynULljo4Xha7ste9SRiocoDsMTErhJmnC9Eu3ow2Dwfbe-bJheZMGHw6sPrFgPNDPp5JWeCImIGwocdGaJEsGkcIgi/s320/nautica_1124183c.jpg" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:85%;">The Oceania Nautica was attacked by pirates on Sunday morning.</span></em> <br /><br />A luxury cruise ship carrying dozens of British passengers has been attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia, en route to Oman.<br /><br />The Oceania Nautica was fired at during its 32-day voyage from Rome to Singapore.<br /><br />The ship – carrying 690 passengers and 386 crew – was approached yesterday by two small skiffs which fired several shots.<br /><br />No one on board was hurt and Nautica's captain Jurica Brajcic was able to take evasive action and outrun the two boats.<br /><br />"One of the skiffs did manage to close the range to 300 yards and fired eight rifle shots in the direction of the vessel before trailing off," said a statement by Oceania. "No one aboard Nautica was harmed and no damage was sustained."<br /><br />29 Britons are on board the cruise ship, which is due to arrive in Oman today. Passengers paid an average of £15,000 for the cruise.<br /><br />Last week's capture of the 330-metre Sirius Star, containing two million barrels of oil, was the largest of nearly 100 vessels to be attacked off the coast of Somalia this year.<br /><br />However, the interception of a cruise ship is far less common. The Gulf of Aden is regularly crossed by cruise ships and the waters are patrolled by anti-piracy forces.<br /><br />The last such incident involving a cruise ship occurred in November 2005 when the liner Seabourn Spirit was fired upon with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, injuring one crew member.<br /><br />A spokeswoman for the Passenger Shipping Association - which represents Oceania Cruises - described the incident as a rarity, and maintained that cruising was a safe way to travel.<br /><br />"Safety is of utmost importance to all cruise companies," she said.<br /><br />"Each ship must follow security standards and procedures to ensure the well-being of passengers and staff, and they liase with national security and intelligence agencies."<br /><br />The size of cruise ships means that it can be difficult to board them from smaller vessels. When threatened, some liners possess long-range acoustic devices (LRAD), which emit high frequency noise, to deter potential attackers.(<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/3538744/Pirates-attack-cruise-ship-off-Somali-coast.html">source</a>)John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-15268562200621478682008-12-02T13:33:00.000-08:002008-12-02T13:59:09.548-08:00ISLAMOFILE 120108: Mumbai May Have Five More Terrorists At Large<p><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FIRENppqxQw&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FIRENppqxQw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Indian Black Cat Commando Rhys Blakely in Mumbai</span></em><br /><br />At least five terrorist gunmen might have escaped the carnage in Mumbai and could strike again, it emerged yesterday as a video surfaced showing the capture of the gang’s sole known surviving member.<br /><br />The prospect of more killers added to public anger at the Indian Government’s lax handling of the worst terror strike to hit the country in 15 years.<br /><br />The security forces claimed that only ten militants – nine of whom were killed and one caught alive – were behind the coordinated attacks that claimed nearly 200 lives. Rakesh Maria, a joint commissioner of police, said: “Their plan was just to cause maximum damage and return with hostages protecting themselves.”<br /><br />However, a hijacked Indian fishing boat used by the gunmen had equipment for 15 men on board when it was discovered adrift – suggesting that several gunmen could still be at large.<br /><br />“Fifteen winter jackets were found, fifteen toothbrushes,” a police source said. “That more terrorists are loose is possible.”<br /><br />Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only gunman to be caught alive, said during police questioning that 24 men were trained in camps in Pakistan for the mission, according to a leaked account of his police interrogation.<br /><br />He has since claimed, apparently, that only ten made the final trip to Mumbai, including him. Police are continuing to question the 21-year-old, who has said that he and his accomplices planned to kill 5,000 people.<br /><br />Security experts say that a force of ten heavily armed men could carry out an operation on the scale of the Mumbai strike only if they received extensive training and local support.<br /><br />Investigators believe that at least five or six additional people were immediately involved in preparing for the attacks by organising logistics and carrying out reconnaissance.<br /><br />Grainy mobile phone footage broadcast yesterday by Sky Television sheds little light on the militants’ methods, but it documents the capture of the “baby-faced gunman”.<br /><br />It shows Kasab’s last stand: a small crowd is seen shouting and beating a man lying on the ground in a Mumbai street as police officers, blowing whistles and waving long sticks, try to restore order.<br /><br />Police say that Kasab arrived with the other militants in two dinghies that moored on the seafront by the Gateway of India, near the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. The militants then commandeered several cars and set off towards ten different sites across the city.<br /><br />Kasab and one other gunman, Abu Ismail, headed straight for Chhat-rapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai’s main railway station, where they opened fire with AK47s, killing dozens. It was there that he was photographed, holding his AK47 in one hand, in an image that has been seen around the world.<br /><br />“They were right there,” recalled Sebastian D’Souza, the man who took the photograph, pointing to the spot on the platform where he first saw the gunmen. “They never raised their guns, they were very cool. They just kept firing from their hips,” he told Sky News.<br /><br />“I saw lots of people shot dead, just lying there, nobody caring for them,” he said. “If somebody had engaged them in some crossfire . . . ” But no one did, so Kasab and his accomplice moved on to Cama hospital, according to Mumbai police.<br /><br />There he and Abu Ismail shot dead three of India’s top police officers who were rushing to the scene in a vehicle. The terrorists continued on their shooting spree, firing shots in the air at the Metro Cinema until their vehicle suffered a puncture.<br /><br />Kasab and Abu Ismail then stole a golden Skoda Laura and were driving it towards Chowpatty beach, a popular evening destination for families in south Mumbai, when they were intercepted by a police team.<br /><br />Abu Ismail was killed in the shoot-out, while Kasab was shot in his hand, according to police. It was then that he was attacked by the mob as shown in the mobile phone footage.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JMa8v4ItepA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JMa8v4ItepA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Initially he pretended to be dead, and was being taken to hospital when a police officer realised that he was breathing, according to Indian media reports. They said that when he reached hospital he told staff there: “I don’t want to die.” Later, after a police interrogation, he reportedly said: “Now I don’t want to live.” (<a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5265938.ece">source</a>) </p>John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-74967767050651137292008-11-30T14:50:00.000-08:002008-11-30T15:11:57.502-08:00ISLAMOFILE 113008: Surviving Victim Of The Mumbai Massacre Recounts What He Saw<p><object id="WNVideoCanvasDEFAULTdivWNVideoCanvas" height="296" width="526"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="wmode" value="windowless"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><param name="movie" value="http://video.chicagotribune.com/global/video/flash/widgets/WNVideoCanvas.swf"><br /> <embed src="http://video.chicagotribune.com/global/video/flash/widgets/WNVideoCanvas.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="windowless" width="526" height="296" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="isShowIcon=true&affiliate=CTRIB&affiliateNumber=420&backgroundAlphas=100,100,100,100&backgroundColors=eeeeee,eeeeee,eeeeee,eeeeee&backgroundRatios=0,25,130,255&backgroundRotation=270&borderAlpha=100&borderColor=aaaaaa&borderWidth=1&clipId=3187496&playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDobject&closecaptionPaneLabelText=&closePaneLabelText=&commercialHeadlinePrefix=Commercial&controlsBackgroundAlphas=100,100&controlsBackgroundColors=eeeeee,eeeeee&controlsBackgroundRatios=0,255&controlsBackgroundRotation=270&controlsBorderColor=212121&controlsBottomPadding=8&controlsButtonLeftBorderColor=c7c7c7&controlsButtonRightBorderColor=656464&controlsHeight=40&controlsOffFaceColor=828282&controlsOverFaceColor=454444&controlsSidePadding=8&defaultStyle=flatlight&disableTransport=false&domId=WNVideoCanvasDEFAULTdivWNVideoCanvas&emailErrorBorderColor=ae1a01&emailErrorMessageFaceColor=ae1a01&emailFormFieldAlphas=80&emailFormFieldColors=dddee0&emailFormFieldRatios=0&emailFormFieldRotation=90&emailInputFaceColor=454444&emailMessageLabelText=&emailPaneLabelText=&emailSentConfirmationMessage=&errorMessage=&fullScreenControlType=none&hasBevel=false&hasBorder=true&hasBottomBorder=true&hasFullScreen=true&hasLeftBorder=true&hasRightBorder=true&hasTopBorder=true&helpPage=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/broadband/stv-video-trouble-flash,0,5351482.htmlstory&hostDomain=video.chicagotribune.com&idKey=DEFAULT&imgPath=http://ctrib.images.worldnow.com/images/static/video/flash/&invalidRecipientFieldMessage=&invalidSenderFieldMessage=&isAutoStart=&isMute=&landingPage=http://www.chicagotribune.com/video/&loadingMessage=&offFaceColor=828282&overFaceColor=454444&overlayBackgroundAlphas=92&overlayBackgroundColors=b6b6b5&overlayBackgroundRatios=0&overlayBackgroundRotation=90&overlayOffFaceColor=454444&overlayOverFaceColor=ffffff&pauseButtonText=&playAtActualSize=0&playButtonText=&playerHeight=296&playerWidth=526&recipientEmailLabelText=&sendEmailButtonText=&senderEmailLabelText=&senderNameLabelText=&shareListItemHighlightBorderColor=ffffff&shareListItemOffFaceColor=828282&shareListItemShadowBorderColor=b1b0b0&shareListListItemOverFaceColor=828282&sidePadding=3&smoothingMode=auto&staticImgPath=http://ctrib.images.worldnow.com&summaryGraphicMessage=&summaryGraphicScaleStyle=stretchToFit&summaryPaneLabelText=&tabBackgroundAlphas=100,100&tabBackgroundColors=e6e6e6,e6e6e6&tabBackgroundOverAlphas=100,100&tabBackgroundOverColors=eeeeee,eeeeee&tabBackgroundOverRatios=0,100&tabBackgroundRatios=75,255&tabBackgroundRotation=90&tabBackgroundSelectedAlphas=100&tabBackgroundSelectedBorderAlpha=100&tabBackgroundSelectedBorderColor=aaaaaa&tabBackgroundSelectedBorderWidth=1&tabBackgroundSelectedColors=eeeeee&tabBackgroundSelectedHasBevel=false&tabBackgroundSelectedHasBorder=true&tabBackgroundSelectedHasDropShadow=false&tabBackgroundSelectedRatios=0&tabBorderAlpha=100&tabBorderColor=aaaaaa&tabBorderWidth=1&tabFontSize=10&tabHasBevel=false&tabHasBorder=true&tabHasDropShadow=false&tabHeight=26&tabLeftBorderColor=e5e5e5&tabOffFaceColor=828282&tabOverBorderAlpha=100&tabOverBorderWidth=1&tabOverFaceColor=454444&tabOverHasBevel=false&tabOverHasBorder=true&tabRightBorderColor=868686&tabShadowColor=333333&topPadding=3&videoSliderBackgroundColor=cccccc&videoSliderKnobBackgroundAlphas=100,100&videoSliderKnobBackgroundColors=cccccc,cccccc&videoSliderKnobBackgroundRatios=0,255&videoSliderKnobBackgroundRotation=90&videoSliderKnobBorderColor=959495&videoSliderKnobOffFaceColor=444444&videoSliderKnobOverFaceColor=212121&videoSliderKnobShadowColor=5a5a5a&videoSliderLoadIndicatorColor=828282&videoSliderProgressIndicatorColor=454444&volumeSliderOffColor=cccccc&volumeSliderOverColor=828282&"></embed></object><br /></p><p>MUMBAI, India (AP) _ The only gunman captured after a 60-hour terrorist siege of Mumbai said he belonged to a Pakistani militant group with links to the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, a senior police officer said Sunday.<br /><br />The gunman was one of 10 who paralyzed the city in an attack that killed at least 174 people and revealed the weakness of India's security apparatus. India's top law enforcement official resigned, bowing to growing criticism that the attackers appeared better trained, better coordinated and better armed than police.<br /><br />The announcement blaming militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, threatened to escalate tensions between India and Pakistan. However, Indian officials have been cautious about accusing Pakistan's government of complicity.<br /><br />A U.S. counterterrorism official had said some "signatures of the attack" were consistent with Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammed, another group that has operated in Kashmir. Both are reported to be linked to al-Qaida.<br />Lashkar, long seen as a creation of the Pakistani intelligence service to help fight India in disputed Kashmir, was banned in Pakistan in 2002 under pressure from the U.S., a year after Washington and Britain listed it a terrorist group. It is since believed to have emerged under another name, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, though that group has denied links to the Mumbai attack.<br /><br />Authorities were still removing bodies from the bullet and grenade scarred Taj Mahal hotel, a day after commandos finally ended the violence that began Wednesday night.<br /><br />As more details of the response to the attack emerged, a picture formed of woefully unprepared security forces. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised to strengthen maritime and air security and look into creating a new federal investigative agency — even as some analysts doubted fundamental change was possible.<br /><br />"These guys could do it next week again in Mumbai and our responses would be exactly the same," said Ajai Sahni, head of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management who has close ties to India's police and intelligence.<br /><br />Joint Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria said the only known surviving gunman, Ajmal Qasab, told police he was trained at a Lashkar-e-Taiba camp in Pakistan.<br /><br />"Lashkar-e-Taiba is behind the terrorist acts in the city," he said.<br /><br />A spokesman for Pakistani President Asif Zardari's spokesman dismissed the claim.<br /><br />"We have demanded evidence of the complicity of any Pakistani group. No evidence has yet been provided," said spokesman Farhatullah Babar.<br /><br />In the first wave of the attacks, two young gunmen armed with assault rifles blithely ignored more than 60 police officers patrolling the city's main train station and sprayed bullets into the crowd.<br /><br />Bapu Thombre, assistant commissioner with the Mumbai railway police, said the police were armed mainly with batons or World War I-era rifles and spread out across the station.<br /><br />"They are not trained to respond to major attacks," he said.<br /><br />The gunmen continued their rampage outside the station. They eventually ambushed a police van, killed five officers inside — including the city's counterterrorism chief — and hijacked the vehicle as two wounded officers lay bleeding in the back seat.<br /><br />"The way Mumbai police handled the situation, they were not combat ready," said Jimmy Katrak, a security consultant. "You don't need the Indian army to neutralize eight to nine people."<br /><br />Constable Arun Jadhav, one of the wounded policemen, said the men laughed when they noticed the dead officers wore bulletproof vests.<br /><br />With no SWAT team in this city of 18 million, authorities called in the only unit in the country trained to deal with such crises. But the National Security Guards, which largely devotes its resources to protecting top officials, is based outside of New Delhi and it took the commandos nearly 10 hours to reach the scene.<br /><br />That gave the gunmen time to consolidate control over two luxury hotels and a Jewish center, said Sahni.<br />As the siege at dragged on, local police improperly strapped on ill-fitting bulletproof vests. Few had two-way radios to communicate.<br /><br />Even the commandos lacked the proper equipment, including night vision goggles and thermal sensors that would have allowed them to locate the hostages and gunmen inside the buildings, Sahni said.<br /><br />Security forces announced they had killed four gunmen and ended the siege at the mammoth Taj Mahal hotel on Thursday night, only to have fighting erupt there again the next day. Only on Saturday morning did they actually kill the last remaining gunmen.<br /><br />At the Jewish center, commandos rappelled from a helicopter onto the roof and slowly descended the narrow, five-story building in a 10-hour shooting and grenade battle with the two gunmen inside.<br />From his home in Israel, Assaf Hefetz, a former Israeli police commissioner who created the country's police anti-terror unit three decades ago, watched the slow-motion operation in disbelief.<br /><br />The commandos should have swarmed the building in a massive, coordinated attack that would have overwhelmed the gunmen and ended the standoff in seconds, he said.<br /><br />"You have to come from the roof and all the windows and all the doors and create other entrances by demolition charges," he said.<br /><br />The slow pace of the operations made it appear that the commandos' main goal was to stay safe, Hefetz said.<br /><br />"You have to take the chance and the danger that your people can be hurt and some of them will be killed, but do it much faster and ensure the operation will be finished (quickly)," Hefetz said.<br /><br />J. K. Dutt, director-general of the commando unit, defended their tactics.<br /><br />"We have conducted the operation in the way we are trained and in the way we like to do it," he said.<br /><br />Singh promised to expand the commando force and set up new bases for it around the country. He called a rare meeting of leaders from the country's main political parties, hours after the resignation of Home Minister Shivraj Patil.<br /><br />"In the face of this national threat and in the aftermath of this national tragedy, all of us from different political parties must rise above narrow political considerations and stand united," he said.<br /><br />President George W. Bush told Singh in a telephone call that "out of this tragedy can come an opportunity to hold these extremists accountable and demonstrate the world's shared commitment to combat terrorism," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a statement.<br /><br />Among the foreigners killed in the coordinated shooting rampage in India's financial capital were six Americans. The dead also included Germans, Canadians, Israelis and nationals from Britain, Italy, Japan, China, Thailand, Australia and Singapore.<br /><br />Sahni called for an overhaul of the nation's police force — the first line of defense against a future attack — providing better weapons, better equipment and real training.<br /><br />R.R. Patil, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra state where Mumbai is located, said the government was "taking all action to ensure that this will never take place again." (<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-as-india-shooting,0,7915423.story?page=1">source</a>) </p>John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904420564812480838.post-44076163613528683402008-11-30T13:28:00.000-08:002008-11-30T13:33:17.846-08:00Cold War 21: Russian Communists Admit That The World Economic Crisis Is Good For Them<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5bXDGvRMsD7N677omfszcHmQug5ZINawbCoAjtU_8h3WJd-ilwl6usSGiV1ros4PZKPo96-LXzOQQYLePJcU_RYuQk8dH3s4uxh_tUuylXpiN1FLpSVyMGGYosbl3OcjRB0OuxEotnWeb/s1600-h/Russian+Communist+Party+leader+Gennady+Zyuganov.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274566606900120866" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 241px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5bXDGvRMsD7N677omfszcHmQug5ZINawbCoAjtU_8h3WJd-ilwl6usSGiV1ros4PZKPo96-LXzOQQYLePJcU_RYuQk8dH3s4uxh_tUuylXpiN1FLpSVyMGGYosbl3OcjRB0OuxEotnWeb/s320/Russian+Communist+Party+leader+Gennady+Zyuganov.jpg" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:85%;"> Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov greets the audience during Party's annual congress in Moscow, November 29, 2008.<br /></span></em><br />MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Communists expect the global financial crisis will cause social unrest and help them challenge for power, the party's leader said on Saturday.<br /><br />Gennady Zyuganov told the party's annual congress the Communists should make maximum use of the growing public discontent caused by the economic downturn to try to restore their political strength.<br /><br />"The wind of history is blowing in our sails again ... At this time of crisis the world of imperialism is starting to die. We are standing on the threshold of political and social shifts," Zyuganov said in a 2-hour speech opening the congress.<br /><br />Russia's Communists ruled the Soviet Union for eight decades and remained a major opposition force for several years after the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991.<br /><br />But the party has since lost much of its authority and many analysts say it is too weak to seriously challenge for power.<br /><br />The Russian authorities are trying to minimise the impact of the financial crisis by promising billions of dollars of state aid. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has pledged higher social payments to the needy and lower taxes for business.<br /><br />"The authorities are clearly not coping with managing the country ... A mass social protest is brewing and it is hard to predict now when and in what shape it will explode," Zyuganov said.<br /><br />The Kremlin has acknowledged the crisis will lead to a rise in popular discontent, challenging the massive popularity that Putin secured in eight years as president and handed on to his successor, Dmitry Medvedev.<br /><br />Medvedev has ordered police to stamp out any social unrest arising from the crisis and Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev has said higher unemployment could lead to a rise in crime.<br /><br />"We should secure the support of society well before the political crisis comes ... We have to squeeze everything we can from this situation," Zyuganov said.<br /><br />Zyuganov trailed far behind Medvedev at the presidential election in March and his party's contingent in parliament is dwarfed by the pro-Kremlin majority.<br /><br />Many Russians associate Communist rule with empty shelves in the shops and endless queues.<br /><br />Russia has been among the biggest losers from the global financial crisis. The benchmark RTS stock exchange has fallen about 70 percent since peaks in May, and the rouble has been hit by tumbling prices for oil, Russia's main export.<br /><br />The impact on ordinary people so far has been limited, partly because share ownership is not widespread and few people have private pensions. But firms in some sectors have started laying off staff.<br /><br />Russia's liberal opposition movement, Solidarity, also predicts that the fallout from the economic crisis will force Putin and Medvedev from power by 2012. (<a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-36782520081129?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0">source</a>)John Galthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18042200053913123386noreply@blogger.com0