Saturday - November 30, 2013

camels in mid east with a new desease …. coming to a country near you?

Well now here’s something else these folks will contribute to the world, and maybe introduce to the west as more of them immigrate.

QATAR

There has been three cases found of something called, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in a herd of camels.

Two people have come down and are ill after contact with infected animals. 

MERS is a Sars related virus and has a fatality rate of near 40% since found only last year.

Oh joy. Something else to look forward to from that part of the world.

Now watch.  They’ll blame guess who?

Oh yeah, in other news briefs of a tiny bit of possible interest.

Guess who has now replaced the USA as the Great Satan?  Oh dear guys. We got knocked off our perch. The world is watching.

The sad French are declared the new Great Satan in Iran replacing America, I have read and heard once on radio.

I think we need to talk to someone in authority in Iran about that.

Or maybe not.

Posted by peiper     on 11/30/2013 at 07:34 AM   
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   Tuesday - September 10, 2013

Obama Delays Syria Strike

Breaking news ...

Obama has asked the Senate to DELAY voting on the Syria strike he asked for.

Waffle, waffle, waffle.

Seems the Russkies had some offer in front of the UN (all your WMDs is belong to us), but they have now withdrawn that. So Obobo now wants a delay.

Fox Snooze has Shiela Jackson-Lee on TV now, trying to spew some BS and make some spin.

Obama delays the vote ... that’s a loooong way from him having the moxie to act on his own when that Red Line gets crossed. Which it did. But it didn’t. Which he called for. But he didn’t. So he put things to Congress to vote on. But now he didn’t.  What a waffle wiener.

President Obama, hours before his address to the nation on Syria, found his foreign policy in danger Tuesday of being hijacked by Vladimir Putin and his own Congress.

The president, along with Secretary of State John Kerry, is still pushing for a possible vote in Congress to authorize military force in response to a chemical weapons attack last month. At the same time, his administration is pursuing a diplomatic proposal that would have the Assad regime turn over its chemical weapons to international control.

But one of his top congressional allies, as well as Putin himself, are now calling for Congress to back off the strike vote.

Putin reportedly said Tuesday that the only way the diplomatic option can work is if “we hear that the American side and all those who support the United States in this sense reject the use of force.”

The comment came as Syria’s foreign minister embraced the proposal to turn over chemical weapons. The official said Tuesday that Syria would declare its chemical weapons arsenal and sign the chemical weapons convention.

Earlier in the day, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi also claimed there was no need for a congressional vote.

“It is not necessary for Congress to give the president this authority,” Pelosi said. “We are grateful that he has asked for it but if he sees an opportunity we don’t want the Russians to think that his leverage is diminished because of a vote (that) may or may not succeed within the Congress.”

The push-back from Washington and Moscow poses a challenge for Obama, as he finds himself caught between two very different paths on Syria—a missile strike that potentially drags the U.S. into a bloody civil war, and a diplomatic solution that would likely do little to end that war.

yeah yeah yeah, yadda yadda ya

Posted by Drew458     on 09/10/2013 at 02:16 PM   
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If only the UK and US were this smart. Or tyrannical.

Egyptian authorities will bar 55,000 unlicensed clerics from preaching in mosques in the latest move against sympathisers of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, the minister of religious endowments said on Tuesday.

Egyptian authorities have been cracking down on Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood since the army toppled him on July 3 following mass protests against his rule.

Minister of Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa said the clerics lack licenses to preach and were considered to be fundamentalist and a threat to the Egypt’s security.

The ban will mainly target small unlicensed mosques or random praying areas. The idea is to spread a moderate message of Islam and keep Egyptians away from radical ideas.

“The decision is only meant to legalise the preaching process during Fridays’ mass prayers and make only those authorised to do it, do it, Gomaa told Reuters.

Authorities moved to crush the Brotherhood following the overthrow of Mursi, Egypt’s first democratically leader. More than 2,000 Islamist activists have been arrested and most of the Brotherhood’s leaders, including Mursi, jailed on charges of inciting or taking part in violence. Some have also been accused of terrorism or murder.

Over the same period, more than 1,000 people have been killed in political violence. Most were protesters killed by security forces breaking up pro-Mursi camps in Cairo. About 100 were members of the security forces.

Not that this will work in the long run, but it does show you what you can do when a tyranny runs a police state with no freedom of religion. Minister of religious endowments? Licensed clerics? Not exactly what I’d call freedom. Rather far from. But they are beating up on the Muzzie Bruddahood pretty well, so I’ll just keep that thought to myself for now.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/10/2013 at 12:23 PM   
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   Monday - September 09, 2013

Spring Has Sprung

Three bits of news flying a bit below the radar ...



So much for Obama’s Arab Spring. Libya has become a anarchist hellhole. Thanks ever so much, Barry.

A little under two years ago, Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, urged British businessmen to begin “packing their suitcases” and to fly to Libya to share in the reconstruction of the country and exploit an anticipated boom in natural resources.

Yet now Libya has almost entirely stopped producing oil as the government loses control of much of the country to militia fighters.

Mutinying security men have taken over oil ports on the Mediterranean and are seeking to sell crude oil on the black market. Ali Zeidan, Libya’s Prime Minister, has threatened to “bomb from the air and the sea” any oil tanker trying to pick up the illicit oil from the oil terminal guards, who are mostly former rebels who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi and have been on strike over low pay and alleged government corruption since July.

...

Libyans are increasingly at the mercy of militias which act outside the law. Popular protests against militiamen have been met with gunfire; 31 demonstrators were shot dead and many others wounded as they protested outside the barracks of “the Libyan Shield Brigade” in the eastern capital Benghazi in June.

Though the Nato intervention against Gaddafi was justified as a humanitarian response to the threat that Gaddafi’s tanks would slaughter dissidents in Benghazi, the international community has ignored the escalating violence. The foreign media, which once filled the hotels of Benghazi and Tripoli, have likewise paid little attention to the near collapse of the central government.

Oh, well done.



We paid how much??? A billion? And most of it went to the Dem’s buddy, the guy in charge it now seems like we want to depose? Or nuke, bomb, or send nasty letters to? What’s up with that??

U.S. Spent $1,010,354,195 on Syrian Humanitarian Aid 2012-2013

U.S. taxpayers have spent at least $1,010,354,195 on Syrian humanitarian aid for fiscal years 2012 and 2013, according to official numbers from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

USAID, which was created by President John F. Kennedy, is the federal government’s primary agency in charge of distributing civilian foreign aid.

Last month, President Barack Obama pledged $195 million in additional humanitarian support to Syrians affected by the country’s civil war, tipping U.S. taxpayer spending over the $1 billion threshold.

“To help the many Syrians in need this Eid al-Fitr, the United States is providing an additional $195 million in food aid and other humanitarian aid, bringing our humanitarian contribution to the Syrian people to over $1 billion since the crisis began,” Obama said in a White House statement. “For millions of Americans, Eid is part of a great tapestry of America’s many traditions, and I wish all Muslims a blessed and joyful celebration. Eid Mubarak.”

Hark unto Captain Bullshit, above.

“The vast majority of aid is going to territory controlled by President Bashar al-Assad, and the small amount reaching opposition-held areas is all but invisible,” the New York Times reported.

Humanitarian workers in Syria like Ghassan Hitto, the chief coordinator for the Western-backed Syrian national coalition, say they are frustrated with the poorly-run relief efforts.

“We believe we are owed an explanation over where this money is going, but every time we ask, we can’t get an answer.”

This is how it works in any tin-pot dictatorship we flood with cash. Nearly all of it gets stolen by the leaders, and the rest is used as a weapon against the local opposition. Every. Single. Time. So let’s do it again, harder. Idiots.



That terrible military junta in Egypt ... is kicking the shi-ite out of the Muslim Brotherhood. Ooorah!

Egypt launches Sinai offensive targeting Islamic militant hideouts

Egyptian helicopter gunships and tanks pounded suspected hideouts of Islamic militants in the northern Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, in what officials described as a major new offensive in the insurgent stronghold. Residents who witnessed winding columns of trucks and armoured vehicles pour into the area said the operation was one of the largest there in years.

A security official said “dozens” of insurgent suspects were killed and wounded in the Sinai offensive, which comes two days after a failed suicide bombing targeting the country’s top policeman in Cairo. Smoke could be seen rising from the towns of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweyid, and troops set up a cordon to prevent militants from escaping as others combed the area, he said.

The northern Sinai, which adjoins Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, has long been a haven for militants including al-Qaida-inspired groups. Attacks have spiked in the area since Morsi’s July 3 ouster, prompting the latest army offensive.

In the past, militants used a vast network of underground tunnels linking Egypt with Gaza as a way to escape security crackdowns. However, over the past two months, the military has destroyed more than 80 per cent of them, stemming the flow of weapons, militants and goods into Gaza, a territory under an Israeli-imposed blockade.
...
The government says it is waging a “war on terrorism” against both the Sinai militants and supporters of Morsi, whose Muslim Brotherhood has organized street demonstrations to protest his overthrow and government assaults on protest encampments. Some followers have also staged apparent retaliatory attacks against police stations, churches, and other targets.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/09/2013 at 12:35 PM   
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   Saturday - August 31, 2013

Dodgeball

After shooting his mouth off for weeks over the poison gas in Syria situation, after drawing umpteen red lines in the sand, after being Mr. Tough Guy who was going to Punish His Enemies and Do What Is Right even if he had to Ignore Congress, even if he had to Go It Alone ... Oblameless, now that he’s found out that the UK, France, Germany, and everyone and anyone else out there who can actually drop bombs or shoot off missiles wants no part in this ... now he’s going to let Congress make the decision. You see, that way, if THEY say NO, it ain’t his fault.

What a two-faced chicken shit we have for a pResident.

President Obama announced Saturday that he has concluded the United States should take military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his regime for using chemical weapons on civilians, but will first seek authorization from Congress.

“This menace must be confronted,” Obama said of the Assad regime’s alleged strike, speaking from the Rose Garden.

The announcement, though, sets up a timetable for debate that could drag on for weeks.

Obama said he would wait for Congress to return from recess; members are not scheduled to return until Sept. 9. Yet the president claimed any military response to Syria is “not time sensitive” and would be effective even one month from now.

The decision to seek congressional authorization is a departure from the administration’s decision to intervene in Libya in 2011. Though the president said he thinks he has the authority to order a military strike, he made clear he will ask Congress to vote on the issue.

“I have decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets,” the president said. He added: “I’m also mindful that I’m president of the world’s oldest constitutional democracy.”

So you know what is going to happen: nothing. If it ever even comes to a vote, the civil war in Syria could be over by then. If it does come to a vote, it’s pretty much a guarantee that no authorization will be forthcoming.

So I guess I’ll have to put away Conservative mirror and my collection of old leftist memes I was so ready to reflect back at him ...

“Mr. pResident, why are you rushing us to war?”
“Unilateral! Unilateral!! Unilateral!!!”
“Wrong war for the wrong reason at the wrong time”
“No evidence!!!!”

And as much as I hate to say it, by shirking responsibility, Obama winds up doing the right thing: nothing. Because there is NO way for the USA to win here. No way. We bomb the country, we’re baby killers and the entire pisslamic world rises up in anger, again, as usual, Islamic Rage Boy with a pancake on his head, let’s go burn some nuns in Africa. We take out Asswad, and we’re international assassins run by the CIA and no nation or leader on earth is safe. We blow up the entire Syrian government, and the rebels and their terrorist group wins. We blow up the rebels, and the Syrain government and their terrorist group wins. We arm either side, we’re supporting terrorists. We arm BOTH sides, we’re supporting even more terrorists.

So just walk away.

But Obama, he’s the ultimate pro at this kind of game. He shoots his mouth off, dithers forever, walks away doing nothing (aka “votes present"), AND finds somebody else to blame it on.

Crivens.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/31/2013 at 03:11 PM   
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   Thursday - August 22, 2013

Two From Judea

Currently working my way through Benjamin Netanyahu’s treatise A Durable Peace. Moderately hard slogging, but there’s a wealth of information in there. I was already fairly familiar with the last two centuries of history in the Levant, but Benji puts in a huge amount of detail on the birth of Zionism than I was unaware of. Where his premise goes after that, I’ll have to read through and find out. But I can guess. Meanwhile, here are two from a famous Israeli comic strip guy ...

  

President Bashar Assad’s forces pressed on with a military offensive in eastern Damascus on Thursday, bombing rebel-held suburbs where the opposition said a chemical weapons attack the day before killed over 100 people.

The government has denied allegations it used chemical weapons in artillery barrages on the area known as eastern Ghouta on Wednesday as “absolutely baseless.” The United States, Britain and France have demanded that a team of U.N. experts already in Syria be granted immediate access to investigate the site.

Syrian opposition figures and activists have reported widely varying death tolls from Wednesday’s attack, from 136 to as high as 1,300. But even the most conservative tally would make it the deadliest alleged chemical attack in Syria’s civil war.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had no word on casualties in the Thursday morning bombing of eastern Ghouta. It said Syrian warplanes conducted several air raids on eastern and western suburbs of Damascus, including three that took place within five minutes.

Wednesday’s alleged chemical weapons attack left scores of children dead, their lifeless bodies appearing in amateur videos wrapped in white cloths, their pale skin unmarked by any wounds.

Maybe so, maybe not ... we know just how much credence amateur video journalism is worth from that corner of the world. Nada.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/22/2013 at 08:18 AM   
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   Saturday - August 17, 2013

Sacrosanct Reality Check

Remember how in Gulf War II our troops were never allowed to fire on mosques, even when being fired on from them? How these places were sacrosanct, sanctified holy ground? How ... shee-it, there were even holy CITIES that were pretty much off limits? Day-um, if I believed the TV news back then, I would have thought the name of the place was The Holy City of Kumstain. Or whatever it was called.

Well, guess what happens when it’s muzzie vs. muzzie and the battle moves to a mosque? Yup, you got it in one. They don’t hesitate for a heartbeat, because their culture does not imbue these buildings with the power and respect that the West gives to churches and synagogs. It’s just a building to them. Which is why they’ve been used as weapons caches, terrorist redoubts and planning centers, etc, since the day before forever. Read The Haj. It’s in there. So wise up already.

Security forces storm a Cairo mosque and drag out supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood after hours of peaceful negotiations fail.

Egyptian TV footage showed gunmen firing from inside the minaret of the al Fath mosque in Ramses Square - moments after images emerged of tear gas canisters being thrown at protesters inside the building.

Witnesses said tear gas was fired into the mosque prayer room to flush out protesters, who refused to leave the premises.

Pictures also showed soldiers dragging the supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi out of the building.

The fresh violence flared after hours of negotiations between the two sides - and news that Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem el Beblawi had proposed disbanding the Muslim Brotherhood and that the idea was being considered by the government.

It also emerged that Mohamed al Zawahri - brother of al Qaeda chief Ayman al Zawahri - had been arrested in Egypt for supporting Mr Morsi.

An Egyptian presidential spokesman said the country was facing “war by the forces of extremism” and vowed to “confront terrorism through security measures”.

Hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters had barricaded themselves inside the mosque overnight, which was turned into a makeshift field hospital for the wounded and a morgue for some of those killed in the protests.

Witnesses say that Egyptian security forces have stormed a Cairo mosque after firing tear gas at hundreds of Islamist supporters of the country’s ousted president barricaded inside.

Local journalist Shaimaa Awad told The Associated Press on Saturday that security forces rounded up supporters of former President Mohammed Morsi inside al-Fatah mosque, located in Cairo’s central Ramses Square.

The sound of gunfire could be heard in the background.

Egypt’s official news agency MENA reported that gunmen opened fire on security forces from the mosque’s minaret. Local television stations broadcast live footage of soldiers firing assault rifles at the minaret.

Security forces in armored personnel carriers surrounded the mosque and appeared to be firing automatic weapons from their vehicles. It was not apparent to a reporter on the ground that protestors in the mosque were firing back, contrary to government arguments that supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood were armed and committing terrorist acts that needed to be squashed by state security forces, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The mosque served as a field hospital and morgue following clashes Friday in the area. At least 400 protesters barricaded themselves inside overnight out of fears of being beaten by vigilante mobs or being arrested by authorities.

Police had been earlier negotiating with some protesters inside, promising them safe passage if they left, but they were then reportedly lynched by civilian groups as they fled.

Ah yes, that good old compassionate Islam.

Wake up.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/17/2013 at 09:56 AM   
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   Friday - August 16, 2013

Sounds Like A No Brainer To Me

The other kind of no-brainer. Not the one that’s a dead easy decision. The one that’s caused by having no brain.

As Egypt descends into chaos, President Obama is facing increasing criticism that an “incoherent” policy toward the country—much like U.S. policy toward Syria—is putting U.S. money and influence on the line without a clear end-game.

The Obama administration claims to be staying neutral in the violent confrontation between the military-backed government and Muslim Brotherhood supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. More than 600 people have been killed so far across the country.

“America cannot determine the future of Egypt,” Obama said Thursday, in brief remarks from Martha’s Vineyard, where he’s vacationing, as he appealed for calm and condemned the violence.

Yet the administration is sending mixed signals. While the president directly spoke out against the military-backed government on Thursday—and canceled upcoming joint military exercises—the U.S. has refused to label Morsi’s ouster a coup. That means, under U.S. law, the administration can continue to send $1.5 billion in annual aid to the Egyptian government.

The mixed signals raise concern that the U.S. is simply breeding distrust on both sides.

...

“While President Obama ‘condemns the violence in Egypt,’ his administration continues to send billions of taxpayer dollars to help pay for it,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said in a statement on Thursday.

John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under the George W. Bush administration, called the current policy “completely incoherent.”

“You can’t have your press secretary say ... that this is up for Egyptians to answer, and then try and get in the middle of it,” Bolton said.

Yeah, well, this isn’t exactly something new. Didn’t we hear that same fiddle playing in Iraq? Seems to me we’ve heard it over here any number of times as well.

Yup, when it’s time to choose sides, when it’s time to make a real decision, up or down, friend or foe, black or white, Obama votes “present”. As usual.

Hey, I know what! Let’s send John Effin’ Kerry over there. He’s our Secretary of State. He can solve this, I’m sure. He served in Vietnam you know.

At least 638 people were confirmed killed and nearly 4,000 wounded in Wednesday’s violence, sparked when riot police backed by armored vehicles, snipers and bulldozers smashed the two sit-ins in Cairo where ousted President Mohammed Morsi’s supporters had been camped out for six weeks to demand his reinstatement.

...

President Barack Obama canceled joint U.S.-Egypt military exercises scheduled for next month, although he gave no indication that the U.S. planned to cut off its $1.3 billion in annual military aid to the country. The U.S. administration has avoided declaring Morsi’s ouster a coup, which would force it to suspend the military aid.

“While we want to sustain our relationship with Egypt, our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being killed in the streets and rights are being rolled back,” Obama said, speaking from his weeklong vacation in Massachusetts.

Egypt’s interim government issued a late night statement saying the country is facing “terrorist actions targeting government and vital institutions” by “violent militant groups.” The statement expressed “sadness” for the killings of Egyptians and pledged to work on restoring law and order.

The statement also warned that Obama’s position “while it’s not based on facts can empower the violent militant groups and encourage them in its anti-stability discourse.”

Posted by Drew458     on 08/16/2013 at 07:21 AM   
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   Friday - August 09, 2013

Gee, I wonder …

Scientists have found an intriguing clue that suggests camels might somehow be involved in infecting people in the Middle East with the mysterious MERS virus.

Since the virus was first identified last September, there have been 94 illnesses, including 46 deaths, from MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome, mostly in Saudi Arabia. Aside from several clusters where the virus has likely spread between people, experts have largely been stumped as to how patients got infected.

In a preliminary study published on Friday, European scientists found traces of antibodies against the MERS virus in dromedary, or one-humped, camels, but not the virus itself. Finding antibodies means the camels were at one point infected with MERS or a similar virus before fighting off the infection.

The antibodies were found in all 50 camel blood samples from Oman, compared to 15 of 105 samples from Spanish camels. Animals from Spain, the Netherlands and Chile were tested for comparison to those from Oman. No MERS antibodies were found in tests done in cows, sheep or goats.

In other news, there’s another job opening for a ladder salesman in Oman.

In a study into what kind of animal “reservoir” may be fueling the outbreak in humans, scientists said they had found strong evidence it is widespread among dromedary camels in the Middle East.

...

“There are different types of contact of humans with these animals that could lead to transmission of a virus.”

Experts not involved in the study hailed its findings as a major step towards solving the mystery of, and ultimately controlling, the MERS virus.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/09/2013 at 09:23 AM   
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   Sunday - August 04, 2013

We Lost Their World

The terror threat prompting the U.S. government to close nearly two dozen embassies and consulates Sunday is the most specific, credible threat information in years, CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reports.

Intelligence officers have reporting from a reliable source that a major plot is under way and that the team to carry it out has been selected and is in place, Miller reports.

The threat information has been described as the most specific and credible since the foiled plot to blow up British planes en route to the United States in 2006, Miller reports. The specificity ends there.

What authorities don’t have is the date, the timing or the target of the attack, which is why they have taken such an approach to warning potential targets, Miller reports.

The threat has prompted the U.S. to issue a global travel alert to all Americans for the first time since the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

White House officials said President Obama was briefed Saturday morning on the potential terrorist threat before departing for Camp David, CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues reports.

Even the embassies in Iraq and Afghanistan are closing. Gosh, and I thought we’d rescued one of those countries and had armies in the other one. But hey, let’s run away anyway.

Right. So there is a plot afoot to blow up one or more embassies. But we don’t know when. So better to cut and run now, just in case the plan was for something soon. And when those embassies remain closed for months? Or when the empty buildings get torched? What then, Mr. pResident?


Update: Just for gits and shiggles, I moused over to CNN to see what they had on this sordid tale. And found them hard at work, still perpetuating the Benghazi lie, nearly a year later. Horry Clap.

As a result, an unprecedented 21 embassies and consulates in 17 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia will close on Sunday.

Sunday is also the 27th day of Ramadan and a particularly holy day for the world’s Muslims as it is the “Night of Power,” when the first verses of the Koran were revealed to the Prophet Mohammed.

It is also seen by al Qaeda’s would-be martyrs as a particularly auspicious day to die.
...
Another possible factor in the timing of the al Qaeda alert is that in the past two weeks, massive jailbreaks in Iraq and Libya have released more than a thousand prisoners, some with significant ties to al Qaeda. Very few of those inmates have been recaptured.

Jailbreak in Iraq? Again? Funny, I must have missed this story on the news ... and a Google net and news search doesn’t turn up anything from Big US Media, but hits on a couple stories in the EU press. Guess we weren’t supposed to know about it?

PARIS: Interpol issued a global security alert on Saturday advising its members to increase their vigilance against attacks after a series of prison breaks in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan that the agency is investigating to determine if they were linked.

The Lyon, France-based Interpol said given that al-Qaeda was suspected to be involved in some of the incidents of jailbreak in nine countries, including Pakistan, it was asking its 190 member countries to watch out for information connected to the prison breaks, with an aim to determine whether they were coordinated and also locate the escaped prisoners.
...
Britain said it would close its embassy in Yemen today (Sunday) and tomorrow (Monday).

“We are particularly concerned about the security situation in the final days of Ramazan and into Eid,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

France also plans to close its embassy in Yemen today (Sunday), a spokesman for the foreign ministry said.

Prison breaks took place in Pakistan on July 31 in a Taliban-led operation, and in Iraq at the Abu Ghraib prison overnight on July 22. Some 500 convicts, among them senior al-Qaeda operatives, escaped from Abu Ghraib.

More than 1,100 inmates broke out of a prison on the outskirts of Benghazi on July 27. Interpol also noted that August was the anniversary of several violent attacks over the past years, including in Mumbai and Nairobi.

I’ll say it again ... you can’t keep these guys in local prisons. Ship them off to remote chilly islands in the far deep south Indian Ocean, or just shoot them. How many times has this cycle gone around already? And now, it’s the IED festival at the end of Ramadan, when all the starving camel boys go crazy. Oops, I meant Eid, not IED. Big difference to them, same result to us.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/04/2013 at 08:15 AM   
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   Thursday - July 04, 2013

See What Happens When I Take A Couple Days Off???

didn’t even look at the news or the internet until midnight ... looks like the camels finally saw the bricks in Egypt. Is this good or bad?

[July 3 just before midnight] CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s first democratically elected president was overthrown by the military Wednesday, ousted after just one year in office by the same kind of Arab Spring uprising that brought the Islamist leader to power.

The armed forces announced they would install a temporary civilian government to replace Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, who denounced the action as a “full coup” by the generals. They also suspended the Islamist-drafted constitution and called for new elections.

Millions of anti-Morsi protesters around the country erupted in celebrations after the televised announcement by the army chief. Fireworks burst over crowds in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where men and women danced, shouting, “God is great” and “Long live Egypt.”

Fearing a violent reaction by Morsi’s Islamist supporters, troops and armored vehicles deployed in the streets of Cairo and elsewhere, surrounding Islamist rallies. Clashes erupted in several provincial cities when Islamists opened fire on police, with at least nine people killed, security officials said.

Gehad el-Haddad, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood party, said Morsi was under house arrest at a Presidential Guard facility where he had been residing, and 12 presidential aides also were under house arrest.

The army took control of state media and blacked out TV stations operated by the Muslim Brotherhood. The head of the Brotherhood’s political wing was arrested.

The ouster of Morsi throws Egypt on an uncertain course, with a danger of further confrontation. It came after four days of mass demonstrations even larger than those of the 2011 Arab Spring that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Egyptians were angered that Morsi was giving too much power to his Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists and had failed to tackle the country’s mounting economic woes.

Egyptian military arrest top Muslim Brotherhood figures amid crackdown
An Islamist coalition led by the Muslim Brotherhood is calling on their supporters to peacefully protest the removal of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in a “Friday of Rejection,” after the Egyptian military arrested top Brotherhood figures as part of a major crackdown against the group.

The National Coalition in Support of Legitimacy called on the Egyptian people to “take to the streets and mobilize peacefully” after Friday prayers “to say ‘No’ to military detentions, ‘No’ to the military coup,” according to Reuters.

“We are being headhunted all over the country,” Muslim Brotherhood Spokesman Gehad el-Haddad said Thursday, according to The Guardian. “We are holding a mass rally after Friday prayers to take all peaceful steps necessary to bring down this coup.”

Badie and el-Shater were widely believed by the opposition to be the real power in Egypt during Morsi’s tenure. As of Wednesday night, Badie was last known to be holed up at a tourist resort on the Mediterranean coast near the Libyan border, with security forces surrounding the building.
...
In addition to the two high-ranking leaders, Al-Ahram reported that arrest warrants were issued for 300 other members of the Brotherhood, Reuters reported. Some of the Brotherhood members were reportedly placed in the same prison holding Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s former president ousted in 2011.

Wow, that could add up to ... a LOT of rubber hoses and electrodes. Still, boo hoo. I think?

Authorities in Egypt reportedly rounded up or ordered the arrest of key leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday as the new military-backed president was sworn in promising early, inclusive elections.

Adli Mansour, chief justice of Egypt’s constitutional court until he was promoted to the presidency by the military on Wednesday, defended the removal of Mohamed Morsi – the country’s first elected leader – as a step needed “to correct the path of the glorious revolution” that overthrew longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

“This is the only safe way to a better tomorrow, to more freedom and more justice,” he said in a short televised speech.

But his swearing in coincided with a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood’s top leaders, including Mohamed Badie, the head of the once-banned group who was arrested in the northern town of Marsa Matruh according to news agency reports. However, the Brotherhood’s Twitter page – often a reliable source – claimed neither Mr Badie nor the group’s number two, Khairat al-Shater, were in detention.

Mr Morsi and at least a dozen aides were out of public view and reportedly detained on Wednesday night, shortly after the military ousted him following popular protests.

Egyptian state television said 56 people had been killed and 2,495 injured since the start of the protests on Sunday.

Mr Morsi’s supporters and their Islamist allies appeared not to know how to react to Wednesday’s overthrow of his government.

… Adli Mansour, was sworn in as interim president.  [Mansour, formerly] The chief justice of Egypt’s supreme constitutional court, took his oath of office under an army transition plan during a ceremony that was broadcast live on state television.

Shortly afterwards, officials announced they had arrested the supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group of the deposed president.

Mohammed Badie was arrested on Wednesday night in a coastal city west of Cairo and flown to the capital on a military helicopter.

As the swearing-in ceremony got underway, military jets staged a series of fly-pasts across the capital.  A view shows a fly-past over protesters against ousted Egyptian President Mursi in Tahrir Square in Cairo Another night of celebrations in Tahrir Sqaure

Above Tahrir Square, for days the centre of anti-government protests, Air force planes painted the sky in the colours of the national flag.

“I swear to preserve the system of the republic, and respect the constitution and law, and guard the people’s interests,” Mr Mansour said.

He praised the mass protests, saying they united Egyptians, but also invited the deposed president’s Muslim Brotherhood “to take part in the political life”.

“The most glorious thing about June 30 is that it brought together everyone without discrimination or division,” he continued.  “I offer my greetings to the revolutionary people of Egypt. “I look forward to parliamentary and presidential elections held with the genuine and authentic will of the people.

“The youth had the initiative and the noblest thing about this glorious event is that it was an expression of the nation’s conscience and an embodiment of its hopes and ambitions. It was never a movement seeking to realise special demands or personal interests,” he added.

The ceremony followed the dramatic removal of Mr Morsi by the military, the suspension of the Islamist-drafted constitution and a declaration of fresh presidential and parliamentary elections.

So the military pulled a takeover on the guy who got elected to be Maximum Leader after the last Maximum Leader got tossed, because the new one was handing out way too much power and favoritism to a well known terrorist group, which would effectually minimize the military’s hold on power in the country? Or are the good people in the Eqyptian Army, Western trained, Western educated, Western funded, and perhaps utterly Western politically influenced by, wise enough to see that throwing their personal empty little sandbox to the rabid dogs of jizzlam might not be such a smart idea?

Which way will be better, the military backed “democracy” or the terrorists backed “democracy”? Best for the people of Egypt (some of the poorest, least educated, most gullible fellahs on the planet) and the people of America, who give them huge amounts of free money every year.

Only time will tell.

In the mean time, the other important question is ... what will Zahi Hawass do now? He just barely got his old job and full powers back a few short weeks ago, after slipping out from under the suspicion of the Egyptian “Committee of Public Safety” by showing himself not too attached to the old Mubarak regime and tight with the new Morsi regime. Now he’s going to have to squeeze his camel through the eye of that needle all over again. But let’s face it, he’s the only known face of Egypt right now anywhere in the world that doesn’t have a gun or a protest banner associated with it.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/04/2013 at 10:53 PM   
Filed Under: • FREEDOM • Middle-East • Military • RoPMA •  
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   Friday - June 14, 2013

No no no no no!

Wrong! Wrong!! Heavens to St. Pancake, those rebels are directly aligned with Al Qaeda! Our DECLARED ENEMY. How can arming them be anything other than TREASON???

As the White House appeared poised to send military aid to Syrian rebels, new concerns arose that the weapons will inevitably fall into the hands of terrorist groups who count themselves among hundreds of factions that form the rag-tag Free Syrian Army.

President Obama, seeking to stem a bloody civil war that has now claimed more than 92,000 lives, has authorized food and medicine for the rebels seeking to oust President Bashar Assad, but had stopped short of military aid. But with U.S. officials confirming Assad’s use of chemical weapons against civilians - crossing Obama’s “red line” - the White House strongly indicated that weapons are on the way.

“The president has made the decision to authorize additional assistance, but we’re not going into specifics,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan told FoxNews.com Friday. “The president has been very clear that all options are on the table, with the exception of U.S. troops on the ground. That is not a possibility.”

Initial military aid is expected to consist of small arms and ammunition. That could include a range of weapons, including small arms, assault rifles, shoulder-fired rocket-propelled grenades and other anti-tank missiles which the opposition forces could operate without significant training. But the rebel Free Syrian Army, which now gets light arms from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, said on Friday more light weaponry from the U.S. would be largely “meaningless.” The Syrian Opposition Coalition called for “strategic and decisive” support.

No, it would not be meaningless, but in a broader context. The meaning is that Obama would drag us into HIS SECOND WAR in the Middle East, again backing the wrong side. He did his best to LOSE Iraq, and his mirror image worldview/natural incompetence has screwed up the Afghanistan campaign to no end other than “throw up your hands and go home”. But his actions (along with the EU’s) in Libya led directly to the overthrow in Egypt and the A-Q driven civil war in Mali. And where is Libya today? Is it an open minded peace-love-and-granola-Kumbayah-commune? Hell no. And Egypt? Muslim Brotherhood all the way. Terrorists. The ones who just yesterday were talking about declaring war on their enemies Israel and the USA. Way to go knucklehead.

Arm the Syrian rebels and Syria will declare war on US. Just what we need. And every jihadi hothead in the world will have a fresh excuse to go on a killing rampage.

Stay out of it. Don’t even try to have your puppets sneak things in in the dark. Let Syria burn, because we win either way. Sorry, but that’s the truth. Get involved directly, and we lose either way.

Blowbama gets it wrong, every time. Couldn’t even score the Olympics. This guy is 0 for 10 or worse. Bad. Worse. By design. Whatever he wants is ALWAYS wrong for America. On purpose.

USA! go away!: stay out of Syria. Mind your own business.

PS - Yes, he backed himself into a corner with his “red line” bullshit. So what? He’s got the world’s best spin doctors working for him, and the media is still joyfully on its knees. I’m certain they can spin some nonsense that will let him walk away from this “with dignity”. Like he ever had any to begin with. Not.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/14/2013 at 10:25 AM   
Filed Under: • Middle-East • Obama, The One •  
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   Monday - March 25, 2013

No, Not the Other Guy

Jerusalem, Israel --- March 24, 2013 … Russian media sources have confirmed that Syria President Bashar Assad was shot by an Iranian bodyguard Saturday night.

“The lone assassination pumped several bullets at point blank range into Assad,” said the source. “Assad was rushed to Al-Shami Hospital in Damascus in critical condition. He died on the operating table from heart failure resulting from massive blood loss.”

An Israeli security analyst believes the report to be accurate.

“We can expect to see a photo of a dead Assad within 48 hours. There are many phone cameras in the pockets of those guarding his body. One of those photos would be worth almost a million dollars to the one getting that photo out to the Western media.”

http://www.israelnewsagency.com/basharassadsyriaassassinationdeadiranrussiaarmyusisraelidfnatoturkeyalawitesobamanetanyahu48032413.html

Let’s give it to Thursday. If there is an announcement, there is an announcement. If we continue NOT seeing or hearing from him, then maybe we know. Maybe. Possibly. 

But yeah, if he’s rat bait at this point, with his face in 4 places, some Hassan is going to snap a pic, fly to London, and make a fortune.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/25/2013 at 03:17 PM   
Filed Under: • Middle-East • War On Terror •  
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it’s a different assad.  col. riad al-assad wounded

BBC WORLD NEWS

Syria rebel commander Riad al-Asaad wounded by blast

Col Riad al-Asaad has regularly appeared with rebel fighters on the ground in Syria

read more / source BBC News

A rebel military commander in Syria is reported to have been wounded by a bomb blast in Deir al-Zour province.

Activists said a device exploded next to a car in which Col Riad al-Asaad, long head of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), was travelling in Mayadeen.

There were conflicting reports about his fate, but an FSA spokesman told BBC Arabic that he had lost a leg.

Col Asaad once led the armed rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad, but his position was gradually superseded.

In December, more than 260 leaders of the main FSA units from across Syria agreed at a meeting in Antalya to a unified command structure.

They elected a 30-member Supreme Military Council (SMC), which then chose Gen Salim Idriss as the new chief of staff.

Col Asaad said he had not been invited to the meeting by the foreign powers which organised it, adding: “They want people who obey orders.”

The former Syrian Air Force commander, who defected in July 2011, nevertheless remained a prominent figure in the armed uprising, regularly appearing with rebel fighters on the ground in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, reported that Col Asaad had been conducting a tour of the eastern town of Mayadeen on Sunday night when a bomb exploded near his car, wounding him in the leg.

An FSA spokesman confirmed to BBC Arabic that Col Asaad had lost the leg.

a UK-based activist group

Gee .... what a shame that whole group couldn’t have been standing right on top of that bomb.

Posted by peiper     on 03/25/2013 at 05:43 AM   
Filed Under: • Middle-East • Military • War-Stories •  
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