Mans Role in History-Man Life and Philosophy of Existence

U.S.-Israeli-NATO Attack On Iran: Threat To International Stability

2012-02-03T05:58:00.001-08:00

From: Heikki Sipilä in Finland

U.S.-Israeli-NATO Attack On Iran: Threat To International Stability

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/02/03/65251124.html

Voice of Russia
February 3, 2012

Iran bracing for war?
Ilya Kharlamov
Edited by RR

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"A military conflict [in Iran] may well be in cards, [Professor Sergei Druzhilovsky of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations] says, referring to Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya where the US military practiced military aspects of blitzkrieg and pinpoint attacks. The problem, however, is that unlike Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran has no fifth column, a group of people who are, along with America, ready to topple the regime.

"If these hotheads ignore warnings by Russia, China and other responsible members of the international community and decide on military intervention against Iran, the consequences will be serious. This is fraught with not only a regional conflict but a humanitarian catastrophe in the entire Middle East as well. This is a threat to international stability."

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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday that as of March 2012 Tehran will increase its military spending by more than two-fold. Meanwhile, US strategic bombers have already been deployed in Qatar in a sign that a military operation of Western countries and Israel against Iran may be in cards. Its regional and global repercussions will be unpredictable, experts warn.

The United States and its allies continue to dispatch troops and military hardware to the Gulf region. More servicemen have been deployed to the Omani island of Masirah where a US military base is operating. Additionally, more than 10,000 US soldiers have been [that is, will be] stationed in Israel to test this Middle Eastern country's missile defense system. Another 15,000 US servicemen have been based in Kuwait.

Hundreds of concrete-piercing bombs have been supplied to a US military base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, and two US aircraft carrier battle groups are currently on a mission in the Gulf. They are expected to be strengthened by one more aircraft carrier [USS Enterprise], the Annapolis nuclear-powered submarine and the Momsen destroyer. A US military base in Qatar already sees the stationing of several bombers, cargo planes and long-range drones. In the meantime, France and Britain have also dispatched their troops to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

All this indicates the US' and Israel's readiness to use force against Iran, believes Professor Sergei Druzhilovsky of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

"A military conflict [in Iran] may well be in cards, Druzhilovsky says, referring to Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya where the US military practiced military aspects of blitzkrieg and pinpoint attacks. The problem, however, is that unlike Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran has no fifth column, a group of people who are, along with America, ready to topple the regime. In this regard, pinpoint air strikes on Iran are irrelevant because there is nothing to bomb in the Islamic Republic, and because the main goal is to depose the regime which remains a major irritant both for America and the West as a whole. And the question is whether the Iranian people are ready to fend off an aggression or not," Druzhilovsky concludes.

Meanwhile, an Israeli intelligence agency has alleged that Iran has enough enriched uranium to make at least four atom bombs, and that Tehran's statements on the peaceful nature of its nuclear program are little more than a bluff. Such misinformation is needed to tarnish Iran's political image and justify a military operation against the Islamic Republic, believes Vladimir Sotnikov from the Moscow-based Institute for Oriental Studies. In an interview with the Voice of Russia aired on Friday, he also said that the military operation against Iran is likely.

"The situation is tense, and the beginning of a military operation by Israel or the United States against Iran may be in the offing, Sotnikov says. On the other hand, the start of an active phase of the pre-election campaign in the US may prompt President Obama to decide against getting involved in another military conflict now that such conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are yet to be resolved.

As for Israel, it may well resort to the use of force against Iran, which is believed to be Israel's arch-foe. Meanwhile, harsh sanctions, which were earlier slapped on the Islamic Republic, have already damaged the Iranian economy. If these hotheads ignore warnings by Russia, China and other responsible members of the international community and decide on military intervention against Iran, the consequences will be serious. This is fraught with not only a regional conflict but a humanitarian catastrophe in the entire Middle East as well. This is a threat to international stability," Sotnikov warns.

Economic implications will also be unpredictable because global oil prices are all but sure to skyrocket, analysts say, adding that the EU embargo on Iranian oil will ride roughshod over the interests of both Iran and EU countries.

Although avoiding a new military conflict is still possible, hopes are fading with every passing day. On February 21, a delegation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts is due to arrive in Tehran to discuss Iran's nuclear program. Herman Nackaerts, head of the IAEA delegation, said that the IAEA wants Tehran to elaborate on all contentious issues pertaining to its atomic program. Many remain downbeat about the results of the discussion given a recent report by the IAEA where the UN nuclear watchdog alleged that Iran's nuclear program aims to obtain a nuclear weapon.

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

Use of Blasphemy Law to settle Sectarian Disputes.

2012-02-03T05:30:00.001-08:00

FROM MR AAMIR MUGHAL A RETIRED INTELLIGENCE BUREAU OFFICER

Use of Blasphemy Law to settle Sectarian Disputes.

http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2012/02/use-of-blasphemy-law-to-settle.html

CHAKWAL: A 'blasphemy' accused was sentenced to death and also to 10 years' imprisonment on Monday, sources told Dawn. Soofi Mohammad Ishaq of Talagang town had been facing the charge since 2009. On Monday, an Additional Sessions Judge of Jhelum sentenced him to death and 10 years' imprisonment and fined him Rs200,000. Soofi Mohammad Ishaq was settled in United States where he worked as a cleric. He returned to Talagang in 2009 and was given a warm welcome by hundreds of his disciples. His followers also kissed his feet, but some people objected to the act of "bowing down before Ishaq" and later accused his followers of branding him a prophet. Later, Ishaq's rivals launched a campaign against him and a young man named Asadullah, allegedly at the behest of his Deobandi mentors, lodged a complaint at the Talagang police station. He accused Ishaq of committing blasphemy. Police booked Ishaq under sections 295A and 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code and his case was heard by Chakwal's Additional Sessions Judge Sajid Awan. After completion of hearing, the judge set a date for announcing the judgment, but later he wrote a letter to the Lahore High Court's Rawalpindi bench, informing it that he could not announce the verdict because of security risks. "Judge Sajid Awan pleaded to the LHC that as he is deputed in Chakwal, he cannot announce the verdict because of security risks and, therefore, the case should be referred to another district," said Advocate Chaudhry Mehmood Akhtar, the counsel of the accused. REFERENCE: Cleric sentenced to death in blasphemy caseNabeel Anwar Dhakku January 31, 2012 http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/31/cleric-sentenced-to-death-in-blasphemy-case.html

Use of Blasphemy Law to settle Personal Enmity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOU8KowGsn8

The LHC referred the case to Jhelum's district and sessions judge, who marked the case to his subordinate Additional Sessions Judge Chaudhry Mumtaz Hussain, who announced the verdict on Friday. Informed sources told Dawn that Soofi Ishaq had been appointed Gaddi Nasheen of the shrine of Pir Fazal Shah. This, according to sources, infuriated complainant Asadullah, who belonged to Pir Fazal Shah's family, and he used the opportunity to register the blasphemy case against Ishaq. "My client pleaded to the court that he cannot even think of committing blasphemy." He told the court that he believed that the holy prophet (peace be upon him) was the last Messnger of Allah," Advocate Chaudhry Akhtar Mehmood said. When contacted by Dawn, Asadullah claimed to have seen followers of Ishaq bowing their heads before him and heard them chanting slogans of "Yaa Rasool Allah". When asked why other religious leaders did not move against Ishaq, he said: "I was the first to see the way Ishaq's followers behaved and I recorded it on my camera. And Allah has given me the courage to move against the blasphemer." REFERENCE: Cleric sentenced to death in blasphemy caseNabeel Anwar Dhakku January 31, 2012 http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/31/cleric-sentenced-to-death-in-blasphemy-case.html

Misuse of Blasphemy Law - 1 (Column Kaar - 8th Jan 2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdGXvX7UbeE

Source: Express, 8 January 2010

http://express.com.pk/epaper/PoPupwindow.aspx?newsID=1101159572&Issue=NP_LHE&Date=20110201

Misuse of Blasphemy Law - 2 (Column Kaar - 8th Jan 2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhy8DAUQKnk

"As it was the unanimous demand of the Ulema, Mashaikh and the people, therefore, I have decided to do away with the procedural change in registration of FIR under the blasphemy law" (General Musharraf, Dawn 17.5.2000). How was public opinion determined? No one asked me! Is the reference to ulema and mashaikh to the self-proclaimed ones or men and women of Islamic learning? And did populism prevail over Islam? Why was no attempt made to enter into a debate, or at least a learned Islamic discourse? What was the role of the two ministers (religious affairs and law) who are primarily concerned with this issue? One does not recollect any valuable contribution from these two sources. The sad fact is that deterioration has set in every aspect of national life. The most acute realization of this is felt whenever there is any interaction with the government. There is no substitute for learning and debate, and we are managing to do without either and consequently suffer. The government seems to have decided for all of us that in Pakistan 2000 our exposure to Islam is to be funnelled through the myopic, self-styled 'guides', whose principal contribution has been spreading hatred and attacking the foundations of the state. No attention is being paid to the true learned men and women of Islam, because unlike the camp which propagates violence in achieving their goals, these true Muslims do not make even a feeble attempt to be heard. Pampering this group does not serve the cause of Islam, is contrary to shariat and departs from the methodology adopted by Jinnah and those who devotedly worked for attaining this homeland. There is no substitute for knowledge, dialogue and niyat (intention). Let us learn a lesson from history. My father, Qazi Muhammad Isa, who was principally responsible for bringing Balochistan into the fold of Pakistan, was a member of the Balochistan Law Reform Commission. The other members included Balochistan's governor, Amir-ul-Mulk Mengal, and Mr Fazle Ghani Khan.These gentlemen informed me how my father had handled a potentially explosive situation. The Balochistan Law Reform Commission made visits to a number of different places to gather public opinion. On a visit to a traditional-conservative Pathan area they were accosted by the elders and ulema who demanded the enforcement of shariat and objected to the work of the Commission, which was perceived by them to be anti-shariat. It transpired that the local Pathans had taken strong exception to recording the names of their womenfolk on the recently introduced national identity cards. This according to them was un-Islamic and therefore unacceptable. My father inquired whether the delegation would be kind enough to enlighten him about the names of Islam's first convert and wife of the Prophet (PBUH) and the Prophet's daughter married to Hazrat Ali.Hazrat Khadija and Hazrat Fatima was the prompt answer. Upon hearing this, my father inquired whether the names of these distinguished ladies could be taken if Islam was against this practice. The delegation fell silent and abandoned their objection to the name insertion in the identity cards. They then said "zhumz shariat ghoaru" ('we want shariat') and not "Angrezi qanoon" (English law). My father responded that the Commission could report this desire and wanted the delegation to help them. He suggested that this could be done if the delegation was prepared to abandon certain prevailing but un-Islamic practices. He advised that they should waive accumulated usury which was due to them (Pathans being notorious and usurious moneylenders), stop the cultivation and trade in intoxicants (opium and hashish) and recognize the shares of mothers, widows and daughters in inheritance. (Men divide the ladies' shares among themselves and the revenue records of these and many rural areas of the country, reveal the virtual absence of a female population). The delegation immediately backtracked saying that this was not possible because these were their established tribal practices and had been validated by jirga. On being asked whether they wanted the endorsement of jirga practices contrary to shariat, the delegation beat a hasty retreat never to be seen or heard of again. Knowledge and reason were subsequently to prevail upon superstition and exploitation. The light of enlightenment vanquished the darkness of ignorance. Men of peace achieved this, men who adhered to Quaid's ideals and men who did not command armies. In contrast, an all-powerful government, having been granted by the Supreme Court the power to amend the Constitution, failed to effect, what from a legal perspective was an insignificant amendment in the law. The amendment which the government wanted to bring about was that any report of an offence of blasphemy should in the future be made to the district magistrate and not at the police station. A practice of settling personal vendettas by lodging false reports of offence of blasphemy (Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code) against a person or persons intended to be harmed has developed. The fact that in Pakistan lodging of such FIRs has become matter of frequent occurrence confirms the misuse of this provision of the law. Needless to stress that in a predominantly Muslim country any derogatory or disrespectful remark about the Prophet (PBUH) is unthinkable. Only one bereft of any reason or sense could risk inviting society's wrath and possibly worse by indulging in any such sacrilegious utterances. To check false allegations of blasphemy from being made and Islam wrongly exploited for vendetta or for settling personal scores, which is anathema to a (true) Muslim, it was essential that the power of the police to entertain an FIR be curtailed. In advocating such a change General Musharraf was not acting against the interest of Islam. Undoubtedly, he was well intentioned but perhaps did not have the requisite support from his team to counteract the agitators. Occupying ministerial positions but bereft of vision and knowledge they could only advise an expedient retreat. The action could only encourage the tendency to use religion to harass and persecute one's enemies and rivals. The insistence on retaining the jurisdiction of the police in preference to that of the district magistrate, who is a more senior member of the administration, is incomprehensible. Unless those agitating against the proposed amendment were doing so because they considered police stations more malleable and amenable to pressure and inducement and, therefore, were ideally suited to their questionable purpose and interests. Is our government so out of touch that it does not realize that the poor, the rich, the Muslim, the Christian, the literate, the illiterate, citizens of Pakistan, if they are united in a view, it is that Pakistani police stations are dens of inequity, and not citadels which best preserve Islamic values. The maximum punishment for blasphemy in Pakistan is death, or imprisonment for life, and also fine. There is no discretion for imposing a lesser sentence. The process which may result in the passing of this sentence commences upon the lodging of an FIR in a police station, often on payment of a bribe, and in many cases without a shred of evidence, except the word of a self-described alim. There is no punishment prescribed for lodging a false report. Eminent ulema have over the centuries written copiously on the subject. They have deliberated on whether blasphemy (insulting the Holy Prophet, sabb al-Rasool) without an element of apostasy (repudiation of Islam, sabb Allah, riddah) is an offence in Islam. They have considered the significance of the Prophet (PBUH) not acting against those who renounced Islam and vilified and defamed him. Included among these were Abd Allah b. Abi Sarh, Ikramah b. Abi Jahl, Safwan b. Umayyah, and Hinda, the wife of Abu Sufyan. A writer on the subject states that, "some Jews also addressed the Prophet with the words, 'death be upon you, (al-sam alaykum), but, in none of the reports did the Prophet order any punishment." They have thus determined that the offence is not hadd (ordained by God) but tazir. Imam Abu Hanifah maintained that a dhimmi (non-Muslim) is not liable to the death punishment for the offence of blasphemy. Islam is a religion which stands for peace and insists on justice. God almighty advised the Holy Prophet and early believers to develop their inner resources through patience and resilience. "Quite a number of the people of the Book wish they could turn you back to infidelity after ye have believed - from (their) selfish envy, after the Truth hath become manifest unto them, but forgive and overlook" (surah Al-Baqarah, verse 109). A commentator on this verse says: "It teaches that the success of Islam had naturally made the un-believers insecure and envious, and that under such circumstances a punitive approach would not produce the desired result". "And ye shall certainly hear much that will grieve you, from those who received the Book before you and from those who worship partners besides Allah. But if ye persevere patiently, and guard against evil - then that indeed is a matter of great resolution (the best course with which to determine your affairs)" (surah Al-Imran, verse 186). It is noteworthy that the law in its present form does not consider the question of repentance. Is this Islamic? "The Hanafis and the majority of the Shafis consider blasphemy to be in the same category as apostasy and have ruled that repentance is admissible in both cases. Thus, the blasphemer, like the apostate, is to be asked for repentance on three consecutive days, which will be counted from the time of conviction" (Freedom of Expression in Islam by Dr Mohammad Hashim Kamali). REFERENCE: NEED TO CHECK MISUSE OF BLASPHEMY LAW (28 May 2000) EDITOR'S NOTE: An article entitled "Need to Check Misuse of Blasphemy Law" by Qazi Faez Isa, was published in DAWN, Karachi, on Sunday, May 28, 2000 NEED TO CHECK MISUSE OF BLASPHEMY LAW BY QAZI FAEZ ISA http://ecumene.org/INRFVVP/blasphemy.htm

Misuse of Blasphemy Law - 3 (Column Kaar - 8th Jan 2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldTfFnU2bGM

The blasphemy laws were legislated and subsequently made more strict to ensure protection to the minorities. But some recent incidents have shown that even the Muslims were victimized under the present blasphemy law on the complaint of other fellow Muslims. The most recent example is provided by gory murder of Yusuf Kizab in the Kot Lakhpat Jail by an activist of the banned Sipahe-i-Sahaba. Yusuf had been sentenced to death sentence under the blasphemy laws. The worst example was the suicide of Father John Joseph some four years ago. On the eve of May 6, 1998 Dr Joseph, the Bishop of Faisalabad, committed suicide in front of the Sessions Court, Sahiwal to protest against the death sentence of a Christian Ayub Masih, pronounced by the court under the blasphemy law. The minority communities were never satisfied with the blasphemy law. They have been opposing it since its promulgation. Their protest against it became louder when a mandatory death punishment was incorporated in the Section 295-C of Pakistan Penal Code in 1991. The blasphemy law was enacted by the British to protect the religious sentiments of the Muslim minorities in the subcontinent against the Hindu majority. After the creation of Pakistan as the Muslims were no more a minority, the law should have been abolished. But it was made more stringent: Section 295-A was enacted in 1927 (Pakistan Penal Code). In 1980, Section 298-A was inserted. In 1982, Section 295-B was introduced. In 1986, Section 295-C was legislated. In 1991, life imprisonment was replaced with the mandatory death penalty in the Section 295-C. When the blasphemy laws were not harsh and the Muslims were tolerant towards the non-Muslim minorities, the latter remained mindful of the religious feelings of the former. As they grew intolerant towards the minorities and the capital punishment was incorporated in the law, the cases of blasphemy started occurring more frequently. From 1948-1979, 11 cases of blasphemy were registered. Only three were reported from 1979-1986. Forty-four cases were filed from 1987-1999. In 2000, 52 cases were registered - 43 against the Muslims and nine against the Non-Muslims. This shows, the law is being 'abused' more blatantly by the Muslims against the Muslims to settle their scores. 'Blasphemy' has been made an offence against the state. Anybody can go to a police station and register a case under Section 295-C against any person. The police would immediately register a case and arrest the accused without checking the veracity of the facts. A mohrrar (constable) is academically not competent to judge whether or not the circumstances constitute an act of blasphemy. The greater irony is, the death sentence under S. 295-C to a non-Muslim. This can be challenged in the Supreme Court. Ibne Tamia in his book Asare Mal Maslool has referred to a note of Hazrat Imam Abu Hanifa who says that a non-Muslim cannot be sentenced to death for blasphemy because such a penalty falls in the category of hadd (a sort of maximum punishment). When a Muslim blasphemes against the Holy Prophet, he becomes a murtid (a person who repudiates Islam after embracing it) whose punishment is death. A non-Muslim cannot be a murtid because he is already a kafir (non-Muslim). Therefore, the 'hadd' punishments are not applicable to the non-Muslims. They could be punished only under tazir (non-hadd punishments). The semi-literate mullas argue in the support of the death sentence saying that there is an ijma (consensus) on this issue by the founders of the four Fiqhs. If this plea is correct, then why Imam Abu Hanifa (the great Muslim scholar and the founder of the Hanafi school of thought) holds a contrary opinion? After Jinnah's death, the ruling elite embraced the Machiavellian politics of the colonial rulers and divided the nation on religious, sectarian and linguistic bases. The blasphemy law is an integral part of this baleful politics that has made Pakistan a deeply divided society. History is full of incidents that remind us of the great love, amity, unity, and affinity between the Muslims and the non-Muslims. A Pakistani author Ahmad Salim relates one such incident in his book, Pakistan aur Aqaliyatein. He writes that Ahmadabad was in the grip of Hindu-Muslim riots in 1969. During those days, a small locality, Mimobai that consisted of around 145 houses - 35 belonged to the Muslims and the rest were of the Hindus - had been reduced to ashes. A Sikh namely Kalyan Singh, one of the eye witnesses to this gory event, told the aid workers that an armed mob of furious Hindus came to the non-Muslim elders and asked them to identify the houses of the Muslims so that their (non-Muslims) property is not harmed. But they refused to do that. The mob threatened to set all the houses on fire. Even this could not intimidate them and the frenzied Hindus torched all the houses. Kalyan Singh said: "The Muslims and the non-Muslims had been living together for centuries in Mimobai. They shared each other's happiness and grief. How could we face Bhagwan if we had saved our houses while letting the mob torch the houses of our Muslim brothers, sisters, mothers, uncles!!" REFERENCE: The Impact of The Blasphemy Law by Mohammad Shehzad Copyright © The DAWN Group of Newspapers Issue No.4, September 2002 http://www.sikhspectrum.com/092002/shehzad.htm

Misuse of Blasphemy Law - 4 (Column Kaar - 8th Jan 2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtgXHxtOXTk

Religious holidays in the country are fast becoming marked by violence. Over the weekend, processions celebrating Eid Miladun Nabi in Faisalabad and D.I. Khan were attacked causing death, injuries and mayhem. - Thankfully, the violence was quickly contained and did not rise to the level of terribleness that the country has unfortunately witnessed in recent times. Pakistanis hardly need reminding that the country is in the grip of religious intolerance and violence the war against militancy has touched every corner of the country inflicting a terrible toll, and for a while certain areas were virtually ceded to the militants without a fight. But there is another, more insidious, religious poison that is spreading, largely unnoticed, across the country, and it is not quite as easy to explain as the territorial ambitions of the Taliban. That poison has pit Sunni against Shia, Deobandi against Barelvi, Muslim against religious minorities — and it defies easy categorisation. The only thing its various strands seem to have in common is a hatred for everything that is `different`, where `different` is inevitably judged as an unacceptable deviation and therefore deserving of punishment, even death, in many instances. Reference: Religious violence Dawn Editorial March 1, 2010 http://archives.dawn.com/archives/32519

Deobandis says Barelvis are Kaafir (Apostate) - Part - 1

URL: http://youtu.be/kXWAQ7gbSiY

Deobandis says Barelvis are Kaafir (Apostate) - Part - 2

URL: http://youtu.be/dxPluNViVlk

Invariably — perhaps suggesting where the cure must first begin — a steady diet of dogmatic preaching is to be found wherever such violence occurs. In Faisalabad, the khatib of a local mosque was arrested on charges of inciting people to violence. It will take great political will but such violent elements need to be purged from the mosques and madressahs, for without that it will not be possible to roll back the tide of hate that is threatening to engulf the country. Nor should it be viewed as some-thing that is impossible to do. After all, only a few years ago, processions such as those witnessed on Saturday were low-key and passed off peacefully. What is new is the sense of one-upmanship each group wants to have a bigger and louder affair and is ever keen to rattle or taunt rival groups. In the event, the police and local administrations largely manage to do a good job and keep tensions to a minimum. But that is mere fire-fighting and ends up dealing with only the symptom and not the disease. The infrastructure of hate that has slowly taken hold at the grass-roots level is really what needs to be dismantled. Further delay in initiating that process will only cause the problem to grow in magnitude. Reference: Religious violence Dawn Editorial March 1, 2010 http://archives.dawn.com/archives/32519

Blasphemy Law & Violence - 1 (Reporter - Dawn News Jan 2011)

URL: http://youtu.be/gCP6zi5bZ0k

Blasphemy Law & Violence - 2 (Reporter - Dawn News Jan 2011)

URL: http://youtu.be/ZkgrjVmuNoc

Blasphemy Law & Violence - 3 (Reporter - Dawn News Jan 2011)

URL: http://youtu.be/nAjIjqWpHTA

For English Translation of the above quotes click the links: Saudi Fatwa Against Tableeghi Jamat but Jang Group Promotes Kufr/Shirk/Bida'at.http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2011/08/saudi-fatwa-against-tableeghi-jamat-but.html SAUDI SCHOLARS ISSUED FATWA AGAINST DEOBANDIS - Tablighi Jamaat - Teachings of Shirk in the book - Fazail Amaal - SAUDI (Muslim) FATWA AGAINST THE SCHOLARS (Muslim) OF DEOBAND AND DEOBANDIS (Muslim) - The Necessity For the Imaam To Have Correct Aqeedah Author: Shaikh Badee ud-Deen Shah as-Sindee (Pir Jhanda of Pakistan) Glimpses of some of the beliefs and practices of the Deobandite Hanafis which are not free from great deviations in Aqeedah, Tawheed and Manhaj. An excellent article. Saudi Fatwas against Pakistani Mullahs & Anarchist Mullahs of Pakistan. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2011/01/saudi-fatwas-against-pakistani-mullahs.html

Blasphemy Law & Violence - 4 (Reporter - Dawn News Jan 2011)

URL: http://youtu.be/WjsSs712CSo

Blasphemy Law & Violence - 5 (Reporter - Dawn News Jan 2011)

URL: http://youtu.be/3br0F_DIbok

Mullahs Calling Kafir to others - Samaa TV Discussion 1-2

URL: http://youtu.be/Xkq1I6v2c74

Mullahs Calling Kafir to others - Samaa TV Discussion 2-2

URL: http://youtu.be/tlGfunU50pw

The Idea of Pakistan - Prof Mehdi Hasan (1-2)

URL: http://youtu.be/ILxBkLmeCJ4

The Idea of Pakistan - Prof Mehdi Hasan (2-2)

URL: http://youtu.be/K0Rn1RO4mqE

Barelvi Mullah says Every Pakistani is KAFIR (Apostate)

URL: http://youtu.be/FTANZusPICU

Sentiments were exploited against Salmaan Taseer: Ashrafi - * Pakistan Ulema Council chairman says whosoever declared it was justified to kill Taseer should come on media to prove his claim before nation - Daily Times Monitor - LAHORE: Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) Chairman Allama Tahir Ashrafi has admitted that late Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer was right in his claims regarding the misuse of the blasphemy law against minorities and said that sentiments were exploited against him, a private TV channel reported on Saturday. Ashrafi maintained that there had been several statements of Taseer, in which he had condemned the blasphemy, adding that not only the late governor, but many Ulemas, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leaders had also spoken in similar manner. He pointed out that none of them was a mufti, who decreed that Taseer had turned to be a non-believer, saying that it was the work of a mufti and Darul Iftaa to deliver such edicts. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman and Abul Khair Zubair, a few days back, maintained that no authentic mufti gave an edict of killing Taseer, the channel quoted Ashrafi as saying. The PUC chairman questioned that why the blasphemy law was not implemented when on 12th Rabbiul Awwal of this Islamic year (in 2010), some 750 copies of the holy Quran and several books of Hadith and Tafseer were set on fire by unidentified people at late Allama Ziaul Haq Qasmi's residence in Faisalabad and a footage of this incident was also present.

"After the incident, Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman Sahibzada Fazal Karim sought registration of an FIR under 295-C against Zahid Qasmi, son of late Qasmi. Both the sides, sects 'Deobandi' and 'Barelvi', requested police seeking FIRs against each other, but the issue was resolved later," he recalled and questioned why such a settlement was not counted as blasphemy or profanity, the channel reported. Ashrafi also questioned that the case of Aasia Bibi was in court and "if the high court releases her", the clerics would, then, accept this decision or not. Adding to the same point, he said, "If the clerics accepts her release by the high court, then who would be responsible for Salmaan Taseer's blood." He strongly criticised those who had been providing safety to the murdered the governor, the channel said. Ashrafi further said, "If an accused says that he/she has not committed blasphemy, even Ulema-e-Ahnaf have the capacity to acquit him/her." Salmaan's matter was political, he added. He questioned why this matter gained attention when Fazlur Rehman quitted the coalition. He also said that Mazhar Saeed Kazmi, brother of former religious minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi, was now saying that it was not appropriate to offer the funeral prayers of Salmaan Taseer. "This is so unfortunate. Why Kazmi did not talk such thing when he was enjoying the ministry of religious affairs," he added.

Neither Salmaan Taseer was Rajpal nor Mumtaz Qadri was Ghazi Ilm Din Shaheed, the PUC chairman said and claimed that even the most impious person could not dare to commit blasphemy. Salmaan's statement was on record and he could not even imagine doing so, he maintained. He recalled that Taseer's father MD Taseer was the person who provided a death-bed to Ghazi Ilm Din Shaheed and Syed Ataullah Shah Bukhari called Taseer's mother his sister. He said that the governor could be a bold person, offensive to a maulvi but he could not be a blasphemer. Ashrafi said that the one who declared that it was justified to kill Salmaan Taseer should come on media and prove it in front of the nation. Senior Analyst Syed Mumtaz Shah, who also participated in the TV programme, said that, in 1981, there was a baton-carrying mob, in which two parties were raising different voices on Naara e Risaalat and were harming each other. One was saying Ya Rasool Allah and the other was saying Muhammad-ur Rasool Allah, he said, adding that cases were filed against each other. Renowned Journalist Abbas Athar said that Barelvi ulemas banned offering Salmaan's funeral prayers, adding that they had also remarked on the funerals of Lal Mosque's girls that they were against the state. He questioned that did Mumtaz Qadri, being on duty, showed his loyalty with the state by shooting the governor. He asked that why not his treachery be highlighted. He also said that the biggest problem in the blasphemy law was that "when anyone gets blamed for committing blasphemy then it suddenly becomes a mob's law". He said that whenever it would be exposed there would be money behind the assassin and conspiracy too, adding that Mumtaz Qadri was not alone in it.

Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) member Azam Nazeer Tararr advocate said that everyone was agreed on the punishment of blasphemy, but haste was used while imposing it. He said that an inquiry should be made for complaints against the government officials, adding that "our problem is that the law is handed over to those who don't have any training to bear the public pressure and use to surrender in front of it". He said that according to the constitution, everyone had the right to defend themselves, adding that Article 4 and 9 defended the basic rights of living. He further said that extrajudicial killing was the violation of the constitution and human rights, adding that Taseer's murder was an extrajudicial killing, which could not be justified. He further said that there was a decision of the Lahore High Court (LHC) former chief justice, Khawaja Sharif, present in the light of a Hadith saying that "the Prophet (PBUH) said that 10 guilty ones can be freed but no innocent can be punished on the base of doubt", the channel said. Reference: Sentiments were exploited against Salmaan Taseer: Ashrafi * Pakistan Ulema Council chairman says whosoever declared it was justified to kill Taseer should come on media to prove his claim before nation Daily Times Monitor Sunday, January 09, 2011 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C01%5C09%5Cstory_9-1-2011_pg7_18

--
http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/

Seminar on Punjab book in Lund University, South Sweden

2012-02-03T05:28:00.001-08:00

Dear All,

I just came back after a couple of days at Lund University, one of the oldest universities of Sweden located in the deep south. The occasion was a lecture on my Punjab partition book. The South Asian Studies Network (SASNET) very kindly arranged it. Some 40 people attended which is a very high number for something on subcontinental history.

You would be pleased to note that the book will definitely now be available internationally as an Oxford University Press, Karachi publication from the end of February. No more delays now, it is being printed and that is for certain. The report of the seminar is given below. One can also access it directly through the link given below.

Additionally I am sending a letter to the editor published in the Daily Times that might interest you. Some friends have suggested that I collect some of the columns and publish them as a book.

Best regards,

Ishtiaq

The writer has a PhD from Stockholm University. He is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Stockholm University. He is also Honorary Senior Fellow of the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He can be reached at billumian@gmail.com

Daily Times, Sunday, January 29, 2012

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\01\29\story_29-1-2012_pg3_6

Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed

Sir: Every Sunday I open your daily keenly to read Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed's articles. These days, at least 80 percent of the articles that appear in the newspapers deal only in the 'over-popular', nerve-wracking, never ending and daily serial of the political crises in the country. It will not be wrong to call it a TV serial, as that is where the daily episodes are initially aired giving the dramatic action unfolding, interspersed by breaking news that really breaks up the viewer. This serial vies with WWF wrestling in ethics. There is a lot of drama and intrigue but very little action. Furthermore, there is no dearth of villains in this play; no heroes, though everybody behaves like a hero and indeed some of the players should receive awards for their acting. Unfortunately, the serial appears to be a tragedy. Thus, in this milieu, for a change it is a relief to read something interesting and informative, dealing with subjects that we would have been interested in if we led peaceful lives untrammelled by the developments in the above serial. An article should enhance our knowledge, not merely give us some jaundiced opinion of someone or the other. One of Dr Ishtiaq's articles dealt with Punjabi films, another was on popular music, two on a short history of Pakistan and each one was readable, increased my knowledge and broadened my outlook. Frankly, I feel that probably the greatest article I ever read in a newspaper was Dr Ishtiaq's piece on humanism in Punjabi culture and religion ('The humanist tradition of Punjab', Daily Times, December 18, 2011), which changed my whole attitude towards Sufism and Sikhs. The writer is an author of international repute and a well-known columnist.
IMRAN KURESHI
Lahore

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SASNET seminar on the 1947 Partition and Ethnic Cleansing of Punjab

Last updated: 3 February 2012

Ishtiaq Ahmed, Professor Emeritus at the Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, and Honorary Senior Fellow of the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, held an interesting and highly appreciated SASNET lecture entitled "The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed: Unravelling the 1947 Tragedy through Secret British Reports and First Person Accounts" about the 1947 Partition of Punjab, on Thursday 2 February 2012. The lecture was based on Ishtiaq Ahmed's recent book on the tragic events during and after Partition in the two Punjabs, published by Rupa in 2011 (read a review by Pran Nevile in The Statesman, Delhi, 8 October 2011). The book will get worldwide publication in February 2012 by Oxford University Press.
In his lecture, Prof. Ahmed shedded light on how and why the Punjab, a Muslim majority province of British India with large Hindu and Sikh minorities, was partitioned in 1947. Had India not been partitioned the Punjab would not be partitioned either. However, while the partition of India was a necessary basis for the partition of the Punjab it was not a sufficient basis.

Punjab Census map of 1941 showing Muslim majority districts (green),
non-Muslim majority districst (pink) and princely states (yellow)

What were the factors within Punjabi society and politics that prevented an agreement between Hindu, Muslim and Sikh leaders to keep their province united? Why did it cause the greatest forced migration in history – 10 million – and 500,000 to 800,000 violent deaths as well as at least 90,000 women being abducted by men of enemy religion? Why did more Muslims die than Hindus and Sikhs together, when the evidence shows that organized mass killings were initiated by Muslims?
Answers to such questions were attempted in the light of a theory of ethnic cleansing. Ishtiaq argues that fear of an uncertain future, biased officialdom, uncompromising politicians and availability of arms to ex-servicemen and criminal gangs created an explosive situation. Between March 1947 and mid-August 1947 violent rioting continued and the writ of the British colonial administration increasingly diminished. Once power was transferred to the provincial governments in the Indian and Pakistani Punjab, violence escalated dramatically. The end result was ethnic cleansing on both sides.
Download the full presentation.
The seminar was organised in collaboration with the Lund university Master in International Development and Management programme (LUMID), and attracted an audience of researchers and students from various departments at Lund University as well as interested private persons. It was held at Geocentrum, Sölvegatan.
Professor Catarina Kinnvall, Dept. of Political Science, Lund University, had read the book thoroughly in advance and acted as a brilliant discussant at the seminar.
See the seminar poster.


Seminar audience.	Ishtiaq Ahmed, Catarina Kinnvall, Lars Eklund and Anna Lindberg.

Brigadiers son warns Pakistan Army Chief General Kiani not to act like Mafia Chief

2012-02-03T00:37:00.001-08:00

Brigadiers son warns Pakistan Army Chief General Kiani and Pakistani military intelligence not to act like Mafia Chief

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=12212&Cat=13

Nisar to Kayani You are chief of an army, not a mafia

our correspondent
Friday, February 03, 2012

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Thursday called upon Prime Minister Gilani to rein in the intelligence agencies and alsoasked the chief of the army staff to take steps to protect the image and reputation of the army.

"It is the army of Pakistan, not a mafia. I ask the army chief to protect the image and reputation of the army," Ch Nisar said while speaking on a point of order in the National Assembly in which he condemned the killing of four youths in the custody of an intelligence agency.

Nisar recalled that eleven people were released from a jail on the orders of different courts but were immediately picked up by personnel of intelligence agencies and later, the tortured bodies of four of them were found on a roadside. "If they were guilty of committing any crime they should have been tried in court," he said.

Nisar regretted that the government raises hue and cry when its own interests come under threat but did not take up the issue of four people who were Hufaz-e-Quran and were engaged in the business of printing the holy Quran. "I ask whether a Muslim who offers prayers five times and who is a Hafiz-e-Quran can be a terrorist," he said, adding, it was the duty of the members of the House to raise their voice against such acts.

Ch Nisar also demanded that the head of this particular intelligence agency should be summoned to this House, adding that the acts of intelligence agencies were becoming intolerable. "Keeping silent in this situation will be no less than a crime," he said.

Nisar said the intelligence agency at first refused to accept that the eleven missing persons were in its custody but later admitted to having picked them up. Nisar also called upon all members of the House to come to the Supreme Court at the next date of hearing.

On the 20th amendment, the opposition leader said the government had appointed four retired judges as members of the election commission but their terms and conditions had not been decided for the last eight months and the commission remained incomplete.

Nisar said the opposition parties were ready to give indemnity to the government for its wrongdoings but their demand was an independent election commission and an impartial caretaker set-up to supervise transparent elections. He said it was time to move towards fresh general elections.

On the recent increase in petroleum products, Nisar said in the last 10 years the prices had been increased 100 times, which was a big on the people of Pakistan. "What is this petroleum development levy? It is a jagga tax," he said.

US-Pakistan divergences

2012-02-02T23:57:00.001-08:00

To revive the credibility of the Pakistani interlocutors it has become necessary to use regular institutions such as the Foreign Office and parliament to define the country's foreign and security policies. The current de-institutionalised approach to the formulation of policy is harmful. Read More....

Posted on 3rd February 2012

US-Pakistan divergences
THE US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, has disclosed that Dr Shakil Afridi who ran an anti-polio campaign in Abbottabad succeeded in obtaining DNA samples that led to the discovery of Osama bin Laden and his subsequent death at the hands of US Special Forces during the May 2 raid last year. This statement places in perspective the reasons behind the deterioration of relations between the US and Pakistan. Underlying Bin Laden's death is a raft of more serious questions. One is the report that the government commission constituted to uncover the facts about the May 2 incident has recommended the institution of a case of treason against Dr Afridi by the government. Yet the UN Security Council, vide resolution 1390 of 2002, defined Bin Laden as a proscribed person who was not to be allowed within the territory of any member state. His detection within Pakistan could therefore lead to serious repercussions that could isolate the country further. In October 2008, Gen Petraeus said that "There is no question … that Osama bin Laden is in the tribal areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan". Therefore, Pakistani officials' repeated denials — that they had not known of his whereabouts — is considered by US officials as disingenuous at best. To revive the credibility of the Pakistani interlocutors it has become necessary to use regular institutions such as the Foreign Office and parliament to define the country's foreign and security policies. The current de-institutionalised approach to the formulation of policy is harmful. One can speculate that many of the events that have since transpired between Pakistan and the US, including the tragic episode of Salala and the upheaval caused by 'memogate', are part of this sad interaction between the two countries' national security goals and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships: the breach of trust between the military leaders of the two sides plays a major role in the existing tussle. It has isolated Pakistan in terms of the Afghan peace process. It is possible to conclude, therefore, that it was the breakdown in inter-institutional communications that was responsible for the Salala attack. The Pakistan military believes that excessive and disproportionate force was used and the attack lasted till the last soldier was killed, despite GHQ's communication with Isaf. It may be thus fair to presume that behind the worsening US-Pakistani bilateral relations is the differing negotiating style of the representatives of the two countries. This difference arises out of the different cultural backgrounds of the two nations, the asymmetry of the US-Pakistan relationship and Pakistan's assumption that the US will leave it to pick up the pieces after its own strategic purpose is fulfilled. A recent review regarding the negotiating style of the two nations, Howard and Terresta Schaffer's How Pakistan Negotiates with the United States, throws light on this complex world where national, cultural and realpolitik concerns coincide. Some of their important findings regarding the stance of Pakistani military officers in this matter are: Pakistanis insist that they will not be dictated to by India or the US, yet at the same time demand top-of-the line US military equipment; US civilian negotiators know nothing of military matters; Pakistanis begin negotiations, blame the army's problems on the US and make their American counterparts feel guilty about Pakistan's difficulties. The authors: "When [Pakistani] military officers are leading the government, they also play hardball, insisting that unless all their demands are met disaster of one sort or another will follow." US officials observed that the ISI routinely deceived them, and this led the CIA to develop independent links with the Afghan insurgents. Furthermore, "US negotiators should expect that inconvenient truths will be kept from them", according to the researchers. It is thus clear that the asymmetric relationship, differing styles of negotiation and divergent strategic goals in Afghanistan has caused the US-Pakistan alliance to become dysfunctional. It would be correct to conclude that most of the divergence comes from different outcomes expected in Afghanistan after 2014. Pakistan would like to have in place an Afghan government that is soft towards Pakistan, is Pakhtun-dominated and keeps India marginalised. The US, on the other hand, would want an effective Afghan government that rules the country well and has a strong counterterrorism capacity. The US is not committed to bringing in a Pakhtun-dominated government or one that is pro-Pakistan. Thus, besides the strategic divergence that exists between the US and Pakistan, there is also now a severe trust deficit in terms of statement by Pakistan, particularly after the discovery of Bin Laden and the denial of our alleged role in other occurrences inside Afghanistan. That this relationship is unravelling at this critical juncture as far as Afghanistan is concerned is unfortunate. Although the Pakistani security narrative does not perhaps agree with this view — neither did I, till some time ago — the metrics in Afghanistan don't look too bad from the US perspective. The surge approved by President Obama in 2009 and the night operations against the Taliban ordered by Gen McChrystal and Gen Petraeus have successfully eliminated many of the Taliban mid-level commanders and have forced the top Taliban leadership to accept negotiations in Qatar. However, as the last chapter of the Afghan war unfolds with the spring offensive in the eastern districts alongside Fata, it will cause Pakistan more headaches. It could result in cross-border incursions by Isaf. Ending hostilities is often more difficult than starting a war. This is yet another reason to resolve the crisis between the two nations.

"Muslims in the West: Loyal to Whom?"

2012-02-02T09:46:00.001-08:00

FROM DAVID

A reasonable, rational man.

Logically stated. By our standards. That is the rub.

We look at things the way we do, others look at things differently.

Neither side is right or wrong. Yet, conflict results.

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Muslims in the West: Loyal to Whom?

A briefing by Mark Durie
January 18, 2012

http://www.meforum.org/3167/muslims-west-loyalty

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Mark Durie is a theologian, human rights activist and pastor of an Anglican church. He has published many articles and books on the language and culture of the Acehnese, Christian-Muslim relations and religious freedom. A graduate of the Australian National University and the Australian College of Theology, he has held visiting appointments at the University of Leiden, MIT, UCLA and Stanford, and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1992. On January 18, he spoke to the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia.

Mark Durie began his lecture by noting the inherent friction between Islam and state citizenship as opposed to the Judeo-Christian tradition which encourages its followers to defer to local authority (and by extension state rule), whose prosperity and success will also benefit its subjects. These differences are rooted in Islam's lack of distinction between religion and politics dating back to the Prophet Muhammad, who combined in his personality the offices of head of state, chief justice, supreme military commander, and high priest.

Muhammad stressed that Muslims must live wherever Islam was dominant so as not to become like those under whose rule they live. Given Islam's non-differentiation between the religious and temporal aspects of life one's political identity must influence one's religious identity, and vice versa. Therefore, Muslims living outside the House of Islam risk developing a "conflicted allegiance." "Sovereignty," Durie explained, "only comes from Allah, so Muslims should submit only to authorities who rule by the laws of Allah. There is no concept of non-religious authority that is legitimate."

Having said that, Islam is a pragmatic religion in which necessity may permit that which is forbidden. Hence living outside the House of Islam may be permissible under certain circumstances such as fleeing religious persecution within the Muslim state and proselytizing to non-believers: so long as this does not contribute to the strengthening of the non-Muslim nation or lead to preference of its rule to that of the House of Islam. Such acts are sinful and a Muslim should not serve and identify with any state or nation but the Muslim nation.

More recently, scholars have adjusted their views—or at least conveniently adopted new ones—to facilitate Islamic life outside Muslim lands. So much so that the United States has been defined as being part of the House of Islam because one's ability to practice either radical or liberal Islam in that country is greater than in, say, Egypt.

In response, said Durie, the West "should encourage Muslims to settle down and become full participants, but without legitimizing this theological world view." Some means must be found to encourage young Muslims to be proud of their country, whether or not it is a Muslim state, while firmly rejecting pressures for the institutionalization of Sharia law in Western legal systems. Still, Durie concluded, "freedom of religion is an unchallengeable value in our thinking."

Summary account by Alex Berman

Related Topics: Muslims in the West | Mark Durie This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.

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How Man wastes his life without living it

2012-02-01T21:37:00.001-08:00

THOUGHT PROVOKING!!!

Words to live by!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight, and
and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay
'them'
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening,
whatever. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's
workshop.'

4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person,
who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are
alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets,
keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your
refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable,
improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next
county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every
opportunity. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER : Life is not measured
by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take
our breath away.

And if you don't send this to at least 8 people - who cares?
But if do share this with someone then you show that you care.
We all need to live life to its fullest each day!!

Worry about nothing, pray about everything!!!

BLA kills 15 soldiers near Quetta

2012-02-01T21:35:00.001-08:00

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\02\02\story_2-2-2012_pg1_3

BLA kills 15 soldiers near Quetta

* Militants attack four FC checkposts near Margat coalmine

* Forces launch massive search, recover seven bodies

By Mohammad Zafar

QUETTA: At least 15 personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC) were killed and 12 others were injured when Baloch militants attacked four FC checkposts near Margat coalmines.

The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack and termed the deadly attack a reaction to the killings of grand daughter and great-grand daughter of Nawab Akbar Bugti.

The incident took place late on Tuesday night and exchange of fire lasted for more than five hours. "Assailants armed with sophisticated and small weapons opened fire on security personnel deployed at four FC checkposts. A convoy of the Frontier Corps was sent immediately for aid and it was also attacked with remote-controlled devices," spokesperson of the Frontier Corps said, adding that 15 personnel had died while 12 others were injured.

The bodies and injured were shifted to a hospital in Quetta where the condition of most of the injured is stated to be stable.

"The evidence indicates that this deadly attack was carried out on the directives of Mir Hairbyar Marri who sought asylum in Europe. A stern action will be taken against him," stated a press release issued by the FC.

He said it is not unknown about the causalities the militants suffered when security forces returned fire.

A BLA spokesperson, who introduced himself as Mirak Baloch, while talking to the local media, said that his organisation had carried out the attack. He claimed that over 30 security personnel had died in the ambush.

"It is a reaction to the killings of grand daughter and great-grand-daughter of Nawab Akbar Bugti in Karachi," he told the media from an unspecified location.

Frontier Corps Inspector General Major General Ubaidullah Khan, in his statement, said that FC will take all necessary steps to retain peace in Balochistan. "The elements destabilising the region at the behest of enemy countries will fail to achieve their objective," he said, assuring strong and firm reply to these attacks to retain peace.

Christians 'face deportation' in Saudi Arabia

2012-02-01T10:59:00.001-08:00

Christians 'face deportation' in Saudi Arabia
Aljazeera – 12 hours ago

Dozens of Ethiopian Christians are facing deportation from Saudi
Arabia after authorities raided a private prayer service in Jeddah,
according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The group was reportedly arrested in a private home in Jeddah in
mid-December. Most of the 35 detainees are women, and three of them
told the US-based group that they were strip-searched by police.
HRW said it spoke to three detainees, two women and one man, by
telephone from prison.
One of them said the men were beaten, and also complained of
inadequate medical care and poor sanitation at the jail.
"Two of the women said that officials there forced the women to strip,
and then an officer inserted her finger into each of the women's
genitals, under the pretext of searching for illegal substances hidden
inside their bodies," the report said.

"Officers also kicked and beat the men in Buraiman prison, and
insulted them as 'unbelievers'."
The group now faces possible deportation for "illicit mingling,"
though HRW said Saudi Arabia has no law defining that offence.
Unrelated men and women are forbidden to mingle in public, though they
are generally allowed a degree of freedom in private.
'Intolerant ways'
Saudi Arabia officially bans the public practice of any religion other
than Islam.
The kingdom said in 2006 that it would allow non-Muslims to practice
their religions in private, but the kingdom's notorious religious
police continue to periodically crack down on private services.
The Saudi interior ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
"While King Abdullah sets up an international interfaith dialogue
centre, his police are trampling on the rights of believers of others
faiths," said Christoph Wilcke, a senior Middle East researcher atHRW,
referring to a Saudi-funded "centre for interreligious and
intercultural dialogue" established in Vienna last year.
"The Saudi government needs to change its own intolerant ways before
it can promote religious dialogue abroad."

Anatomy of NATO Attacks on Pakistan

2012-02-01T09:30:00.001-08:00

Stop NATO

Messages In This Digest (19 Messages)

1.

U.S. War Against Iran: More Combat Fatalities Without Benefits From: Rick Rozoff

2.

Obama-Saakashvili Meeting: Iran War Base For Presidential Election S From: Rick Rozoff

3.

Anatomy Of NATO Attack On Pakistan From: Rick Rozoff

4.

Clarity On The War "Of" Terror From: Rick Rozoff

5.

Move To Strike Iran Lacks Justification From: Rick Rozoff

6.

U.S. Backs Indian Proxy In Military Encirclement Of China From: Rick Rozoff

7.

Opposition: Georgia's Future Is Decided In Washington From: Rick Rozoff

8.

Kosovo: Remaining Serb Homes Pillaged, Burned From: Rick Rozoff

9.

Obama-Saakashvili Agreement On Georgia's NATO Integration From: Rick Rozoff

10.

Syrian Troops Thwart Armed Infiltration From Turkey From: Rick Rozoff

11.

Britain To Deploy Destroyer To Falklands/Malvinas From: Rick Rozoff

12.

Pentagon Holds "Interoperability" Exercise Planning In Slovakia From: Rick Rozoff

13.

U.S. Air Forces In Europe: 70 Years Of Bombing And Strafing From: Rick Rozoff

14.

Turkey To Increase Range Of Ballistic Missiles From: Rick Rozoff

15.

Drones: CIA Judge, Jury, Executioner Violating International Law From: Rick Rozoff

16.

Hundreds Of Slaughtered Civilians Not "Huge Number" For Obama From: Rick Rozoff

17.

Former Hague Prosecutor: NATO Thwarted Kosovo Organ Trade Probe From: Rick Rozoff

18.

U.S. Drone Strike Kills 13 In Northwestern Pakistan From: Rick Rozoff

19.

Russia Warns NATO, Gulf States Against Intervention In Syria From: Rick Rozoff

View All Topics | Create New Topic

Messages

1.

U.S. War Against Iran: More Combat Fatalities Without Benefits

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:50 pm (PST)

http://english. ruvr.ru/2012/ 01/31/65019303. html

Voice of Russia
January 31, 2012

US keeps up sabre-rattling show for Iran
Andrei Ptashnikov

News from Washington proves that the US is serious about its plan to carry out a military operation against Iran.

Announcer: Washington has repeatedly threatened Iran on the highest level. US Defense Minister Leon Panetta has also publicly declared that such a development was quite realistic. In his interview for the CBS TV company he said:

"The United States - and the president's made this clear - does not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. That's a red line for us, and it's a red line obviously for the Israelis, so we share a common goal here. If we have to do it we will deal with it. If they proceed and we get intelligence that they are proceeding with developing a nuclear weapon then we will take whatever steps necessary to stop it."

Panetta almost literally repeated US President Barack Obama's message on the situation in the country which he sent to Congress several days ago.

Obama also declared that America would not stop at anything to prevent Iran from creating nuclear weapons. Given all these belligerent declarations, one gets the impression that a military solution to the Iran problem seems most likely to Washington. Israel, a loyal US ally, holds the same view. It seems that even Tehran's readiness to resume talks on its nuclear programme with six international intermediaries is not taken into consideration any more. Tough economic sanctions are being introduced against Iran and more and more US combat ships are patrolling the Persian Gulf.

One would like to hope that all these are only methods of political and economic pressure on Iran and no military actions will follow. But what if they do follow, like in Iraq and Afghanistan?

At that time we also doubted that America would venture on an armed invasion, but it did venture on an invasion, though without any special accomplishments. The same scenario may be repeated this year, especially ahead of the forthcoming presidential election in the US.

It is common knowledge that a short victorious war usually raises the country's leader's popularity to the skies. The current US president needs this badly as his rating is rather low at present. However, a war against Iran is unlikely to be short and victorious. Iran is a much stronger enemy than Iraq or Afghanistan, where the wars have already lasted for 10 years. Incidentally, the US invaded Iraq on the same charges it is using against Iran now. No nuclear weapons have been discovered in Iraq, so Washington has to think again.

Leon Panetta gave a touching detail in his TV interview.

"The toughest thing in this job, frankly, is writing the condolence letters to the parents of those young men and women who are killed in action. But I also say to them, 'Your son or daughter is really a true hero and patriot, because they were willing to give their life for their country. And that means that they'll never be forgotten.' And I hope that's some measure of comfort for them - because, in the end, the only comfort I have is to know that these kids, when they put their lives on the line, are helping America be strong for the future."

We can only say one thing definitely in this respect. America will not grow stronger in the war against Iran and the head of the Pentagon will have to sign many more mournful letters.
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2.

Obama-Saakashvili Meeting: Iran War Base For Presidential Election S

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:50 pm (PST)

http://english. ruvr.ru/2012/ 01/31/65011147. html

Voice of Russia
January 31, 2012

Georgian-American homage
Natalya Kovalenko

====

[A] reason to befriend Tbilisi is a possible military aggression against Iran. In this case, the US could use Georgian territory for the deployment of US aircraft. The US would not even have to ask Georgia, as experience shows that Georgia is a voluntary participant in all US military operations.

If Saakashvili's candidature is approved in Washington he as good as having the presidential post in his pocket already.

====

Talks between the US and Georgian presidents have taken place in Washington. Mikhail Saakashvili did not manage to enumerate definite agreements they reached but called the meeting productive. Experts believe that the presidents talked about a possible attack against Iran and US support for Saakashvili in the presidential election in Georgia in 2013.

Announcer: The Georgian leader had advertised his first official visit to Washington long before the meeting with Obama. He said that American-Georgian relations were achieving a real breakthrough in the fields of security, defence, trade, tourism, energy supplies, science, education, culture, etc. However, his expectations must have been overrated.

The meeting was only a ceremonial event, at least that part of it where journalists were allowed. The presidents exchanged stock phrases about their adherence to the development of relations in the fields of security and strategic partnership. Following the meeting, Obama called Georgia a responsible player in the world arena, promised further US support for Georgia in its bida to join NATO and declared further consolidation of trade relations between the two countries, including a possible free trade agreement.

Speaking frankly, it was hardly worthwhile crossing the Atlantic to hear these generalities but Saakashvili is in no position to decline an invitation from Washington.

President of the Politika Foundation Vyacheslav Nikonov says:

"Georgia is a country that the US has been granting great support to in recent years. If we look at the figures, Georgia always either came second after Israel or third after Israel and Egypt, according to the amount of money invested in its support by the US. Georgia constantly receives US military assistance and American instructors train the Georgian army."

On the other hand, relations between the US and Georgia cooled down in the last couple of years. Washington could not have failed to notice Tbilisi's outrageous violation of human rights and freedoms. However, to stop Saakashvili from impeding Russia's joining the WTO, Washington had to compromise. For this reason, Obama declared that the US appreciated the model of democracy and transparency that Georgia had set up in its region.

Another reason to befriend Tbilisi is a possible military aggression against Iran. In this case, the US could use Georgian territory for the deployment of US aircraft. The US would not even have to ask Georgia, as experience shows that Georgia is a voluntary participant in all US military operations.

Political scientist, St. Petersburg University Professor Valery Ostrovsky says:

"If we take the Afghan war, Georgia takes first place among coalition countries in the number of servicemen sent there as against the percentage of its population. Georgians have died in Afghanistan and Iraq and this policy seems to persist."

On his part, Saakashvili needs support from abroad ahead of the 2013 presidential campaign. He can very well manage the domestic opposition but his position is too shaky to withstand reproaches for violating democratic values on the part of overseas human rights protectors. If Saakashvili's candidature is approved in Washington he as good as having the presidential post in his pocket already.
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3.

Anatomy Of NATO Attack On Pakistan

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:50 pm (PST)

http://pakobserver. net/detailnews. asp?id=138080

Pakistan Observer
January 31, 2012

Review of NATO attack
Asif Haroon Raja*
Edited by RR

It will be recalled that in order to multiply pressure on Pakistan, the western border was deliberately heated up by Pakistan's strategic partners sitting in Kabul.

Between May and September 2011, tens of deadly raids had been conducted by Waliur Rehman- and Maulvi Faqir-led militants based in the safe haven of Kunar and by Fazlullah-led militants based in Nuristan duly backed by the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS), RAAM, the Afghan regime and NATO. Levies employed on border duties and villagers were cruelly killed by militants. Kabul and ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] HQ were repeatedly requested to control cross-border terrorism and to close down the sanctuaries of anti-Pakistan militants in Kunar and Nuristan provinces, but no heed was paid. Perforce, General Headquarters deployed regular troops in Mehmand [Mohmand] and Chitral and cleared the restive areas of the presence of undesirables. The 7 AK Regiment was deployed in the Mehmand Agency closer to the Afghan border. It established several border posts to keep a watch over possible infiltration routes.

Two posts, Volcano and Boulder, were set up ahead of a village in the Mohmand Agency on a barren ridgeline about 8,000 feet in height in a manner that they leaned forward on the forward slope so as to effectively cover the valley running from east to west. The two posts, each comprising about a platoon strength of 34 soldiers, were so deployed as to cover the northwestern and northeastern approaches. Weapons were sighted in a manner as to be able of bringing down an enfilade and spraying fire in the valley. One post covered the exit point of the valley in the west; the second post covered the eastern edge at the entry point. Company HQ with a platoon was in depth. The posts located on a dominating salient enjoyed excellent line of sight and arc of fire. The two posts also acted as the screen for the battalion.

The valley was frequented by TTP [Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan] militants together with Afghan National Army-trained Afghan militants based in Kunar. This route was the shortest and safest from Kunar and led straight to heart of the Mehmand Agency wherefrom the infiltrators had multiple choices to either strike within that tribal agency, or Bajaur, or Upper or Lower Dir. Deeper targets in Malakand, Buner, Swat or even Chitral and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could also be reached via Mehmand.

As a consequence of the deployment of the two posts, several attempts by militants to sneak through the valley were successfully blocked. As a result, cross-border movement had ceased from mid-October onwards. Blockage of the main passageway resulted in the assembling of large numbers of militants belonging to the TTP in Kunar who were getting desperate to enter Pakistan. The Karzai regime, NDS [National Directorate of Security] and Afghan National Army (ANA) were also boiling with anger after attacks on NDS HQ and murder of Prof Rabbani in Kabul and wanted to settle scores.

In order to seek assistance from NATO, NDS and RAW [India's Research and Analysis Wing] passed false information to the CIA that Pakistan-sponsored militants were using the Salala-Kunar route to create unrest in Kunar and other regions of Eastern Afghanistan. It was also conveyed that the two Pakistani posts at Salala were not only providing cover to the infiltrators but also preventing the movement of their fighters into Mehmand. Based on this input, a comprehensive plan was hatched in Kabul to provide covering fire to the batch of over 100 militants and ensure their safe entry. It was also planned to destroy the two posts so as to remove the irritants for good.

As a cover-up, plan, a mockup operation by the ANA was conducted in Kunar province from 25 November onwards. NATO air cover was made part of the operation. The area was well away from the Salala area and deep inside Afghan territory and the Pakistan Army was informed about it in advance. Just before dawn on the night of 25/26th, when all the soldiers were fast asleep except for the sentries on duty, two Apache helicopters suddenly crossed the border and started firing at the two posts indiscriminately. The helicopters remained at a safe distance for fear of being hit by an ack-ack gun or a surface-to-air missile. The helicopters were backed by four other combat helicopters and close air support was provided by F-18s. No sooner had fire came on the posts than a field officer commanding the two posts instantly contacted the ISAF and informed it that Pakistani posts were being attacked and that the fire must cease. But firing continued for one hour.

During this period, the bulk of the infiltrating force along with donkeys laden with ammunition and explosives moved past the valley. By that time, urgent messages had been sent by GHQ on a hotline and the helicopters turned back. When the helicopters went away and the dust settled down, the defenders detected movement in the valley. The stragglers had still not gone past the valley and as such were brought under coordinated fire. On receipt of a distress signal from the militants, the helicopters returned and plastered the two posts with ATGMs [anti-tank guided missiles] with a vengeance for the next thirty minutes. 24 soldiers including one major and one subaltern died and 16 soldiers received serious injuries.

In order to obfuscate the facts NATO has taken urged a plea as an afterthought that the helicopters responded to hostile fire coming from the posts. There was no reason for the defenders to open fire at the helicopters without any provocation. If one agrees with NATO's preposterous contention for argument sake, the fast-moving and highly maneuverable helicopters with anti-armor and anti-aircraft protection could have easily moved away out of range of the weapons deployed on the ground.

If it was unintentional, as claimed by NATO leadership, why couldn't the helicopters equipped with night-fighting capability see a Pakistani flag fluttering on top of a post and soldiers dressed in uniforms, particularly when each flying helicopter/jet/ cargo plane carries marked maps showing the border and border posts? If the helicopters came in response to the call made by the ANA, how come the attackers attacked the static posts atop a ridgeline? In these ten years NATO should have learnt that Taliban never take up static defences and that too on hilltops. They prefer caves and valleys. If the helicopters made a mistake once, why was the mistake repeated? If the map reference of Salala posts was marked wrongly by the Border Coordination Centre, or passed on wrongly by a NATO liaison officer, why did the massacre continue for ninety minutes after NATO HQ was frantically informed on a hotline at multiple levels including GHQ to get the fire stopped
forthwith?

Since the real purpose was to give covering fire to the infiltrators, heads of the troops manning the posts were pinned down to facilitate the unobserved and unhindered movement of infiltrators carrying their extra baggage on donkeys. It would be a sheer underestimation of NATO power to take nearly two hours to destroy posts made of cement blocks and strengthened by sandbags. It was a willful massacre and it didn't end on 26 November. The terrorists that managed to sneak in on that night are now busy carrying out terrorist attacks in Kyhber Pakhtunkwa, Khyber Agency and other nearby areas.

The inquest carried out by ISAF's Brig Stephen Clark apportions equal blame on both sides and wrongfully maintains that the fire was in self-defence. The US accepts several omissions made by the attackers but terms all of them coincidental and affixes partial responsibility on Pakistan. It is inconceivable that the ISAF, with the best technology, was unaware of the existence of two posts. US officials consistently stated that the attack was unintentional before and during the course of inquiry, thereby influencing the investigating team. The US wants the Pakistan Army to accept this factually incorrect report based on half-truths. Mercifully, the Army and the government are on one page. Not only has the report has been rejected, the government has taken bold and appropriate steps to checkmate America's bellicosity and aggressive unilateralism.

*The writer is a retired Brig [brigadier commander] and a defence analyst.
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4.

Clarity On The War "Of" Terror

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:50 pm (PST)

http://www.dailytim es.com.pk/ default.asp? page=2012\02\01\story_ 1-2-2012_ pg3_4

Daily Times
February 1, 2012

Clarity on the war 'of' terror
Isfundiar Kasuri

====

[T]he US chose to make Pakistan its first client state in the region. Since its inception Pakistan has overwhelmingly been the recipient of military aid. As a direct consequence, efforts at democratisation were continuously stymied and whatever civilian leaders emerged did so due to military patronage. Not surprising then that, as in Chile, Venezuela, Panama, Vietnam, the Philippines, Iran, Egypt, Indonesia and a host of other countries the US has intervened in, widespread corruption has manifested itself amongst the nations' past and present cadre of civilian and military leaders.

Across the border in Afghanistan during the 1980s, Reagan and Zia followed through on Kennan's inspirational words and gave birth to a new breed of warriors, one that would not be too enamoured by concepts like democracy and human rights.

It is indeed a strange country where the alien imperial power is on the verge of accepting the futility of continuing these gross violations of international law (acts of murder) but where its so-called 'liberal elite' is hell-bent upon a continuation of these attacks that, for all their alleged pinpoint accuracy, resulted in the deaths of no less than 780 civilians of whom 175 were children.

====

Imran Khan's critics complain that he incorrectly lays the blame for the war on terror's negative effects on Pakistan to its alliance with the US. Firstly, Imran Khan does not believe the US and Pakistan have any sort of an 'alliance'. The more appropriate word to describe the relationship would be one of Pakistani 'subservience' to its imperial overlord.

As George Kennan, the State Department's Head of Policy Planning, wrote in a top secret memo (Policy Planning Study 23) back in 1948, "We have about 50 percent of the world's wealth but only 6.3 percent of its population.. .Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships, which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity... To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and daydreaming. We should cease to talk about vague and...unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standards, and democratisation. The less we are hampered by idealistic slogans (in reality) the better."

In keeping with the strategy suggested by Kennan, a major figure in shaping the post-war world, the US chose to make Pakistan its first client state in the region. Since its inception Pakistan has overwhelmingly been the recipient of military aid. As a direct consequence, efforts at democratisation were continuously stymied and whatever civilian leaders emerged did so due to military patronage. Not surprising then that, as in Chile, Venezuela, Panama, Vietnam, the Philippines, Iran, Egypt, Indonesia and a host of other countries the US has intervened in, widespread corruption has manifested itself amongst the nations' past and present cadre of civilian and military leaders.

Across the border in Afghanistan during the 1980s, Reagan and Zia followed through on Kennan's inspirational words and gave birth to a new breed of warriors, one that would not be too enamoured by concepts like democracy and human rights.

Thirty years later, the Taliban are still in business, thanks to unlimited funding from the US and Saudi Arabia and the logistical support of 'subservient' Pakistan. It is important to note that while Saudi funding and Pakistani 'deep state' support remains in the spotlight, the news that even the Pentagon has acknowledged payoffs by their contractors to Taliban bureaucrats for protection of its convoys (everything from toothpaste to pizzas to assault rifles) to Forward Operating Bases in Kandahar in the hundreds of millions of dollars remains an unimportant fact to most observers. Not to Imran Khan, though, who has consistently referred to this war as one 'of terror'; a war that serves to increasingly radicalise the populations on whom it is being waged.

Imran Khan's clarity on the war of terror was further illustrated when in 2011 the White House itself began to use words like 'negotiations' and phrases like 'political integration' with reference to the Taliban; something Khan had been suggesting since 2004.

He is also opposed to drone strikes. However, it is argued by Pakistan's few supporters of drone strikes that casualties are being exaggerated and that the tribal folks wholeheartedly support the use of WMDs in their own villages. Clearly Colonel David Kilcullen, a leading expert and top US adviser on counterinsurgency, did not have all the facts when back in 2009, he testified before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee that, "...If we want to strengthen our friends and weaken our enemies in Pakistan, bombing Pakistani villages with unmanned drones is totally counter-productive."

Perhaps he had not consulted with the fellow who ran the drone strike campaign on behalf of the Americans for years, Dennis Blair. Oh, wait. After years of having run the programme he called them 'counterproductive' too. That is unless, as Noam Chomsky suggests, your purpose is to foment radicalism and 'shock and awe' terror for Wall Street profits. Putting it even more succinctly, using his superior intellect he arrived at the not so difficult conclusion that "you tend not to like people (US and its Pakistani sycophants) if they bomb your homes...no matter who lives next door".

This truth, while unacceptable to Pakistan's proponents of drone strikes, was perfectly clear to CIA Director Michael Hayden who, according to Bob Woodward's book Obama's Wars, informed the incoming president that the Bush administration understood these drone strikes could never end the terrorist threat in Pakistan. Obama ignored the advice, only to be told later by his own Intelligence Director Dennis Blair that "hatred of America is increasing in Pakistan" because of the strikes.

This is exactly the point Imran Khan was making when he argued in Davos at the World Economic Forum last year that the war on terror is not just a disaster for the US but an even bigger disaster for Pakistan, where "it is causing more radicalisation, more polarisation in society" then ever before.

Pratap Chatterjee, of the London-based Bureau of Investigative Reporting, confirmed that he had personally met with over three dozen family members of drone victims and elders from Waziristan who reject the claim that civilians are not being killed in large numbers. It is indeed a strange country where the alien imperial power is on the verge of accepting the futility of continuing these gross violations of international law (acts of murder) but where its so-called 'liberal elite' is hell-bent upon a continuation of these attacks that, for all their alleged pinpoint accuracy, resulted in the deaths of no less than 780 civilians of whom 175 were children.

While it is fair to be optimistic that the US will have no reason to extend these strikes into Pakistan's major metropolitan areas, one cannot help but be curious about how the 'local dog, foreign bark' brigade will feel regarding 'collateral damage' at their own doorstep. Of course, as stated earlier, even the authentic 'foreign bark' is starting to sound local. In the face of unprecedented unpopularity and gross negligence, Khan's view - that the drone strikes increase radicalisation and that Pakistan's subservience to US interests is detrimental to its own - continues to be legitimised not just by those who always agreed but now by those who have conducted the war itself.
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5.

Move To Strike Iran Lacks Justification

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:50 pm (PST)

http://gulfnews. com/opinions/ columnists/ move-to-strike- iran-lacks- rationale- 1.973011

Gulf News
January 30, 2012

Move to strike Iran lacks rationale
By Adel Safty

====

More than 40 years after the NPT was opened for signature in 1968 and entered into force two years later, it is an indisputable fact that the nuclear powers are no closer today to achieving nuclear disarmament than they were 40 years ago.

The public relations campaign for war against Iran is starting to acquire an eerie resemblance to the one that made the war against Iraq possible. It is fuelled by disregard for international law, a low priority for the role of diplomacy, dismissal of inconvenient facts, and a disturbing accommodation of Israeli militaristic designs in the region. Furthermore, the covert war of subversion inside Iran and the growing sanctions suggest that the undeclared goal in Iran is regime change.

====

Much of the debate taking place in the American and Israeli media on whether to go to war against Iran to put a stop to its development of nuclear weapons justifies sanctions and even war by arguing that Iran breached its international obligations.

Sanctions, in the form of a ban on oil purchases from Iran, were imposed by the European Union. Last week, the leaders of the UK, France, and Germany declared in a joint statement: "Iran has so far had no regard for its international obligations. .."

A nuclear Iran, the argument goes, would be a danger to its neighbour, and a threat to peace.

What exactly are these international obligations? Iran is being accused of developing nuclear weapons in breach of its treaty obligations under The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Iran rejects that accusation.

But an argument can be made that those countries that are harassing Iran with sanctions and threats of war have also failed to meet their international obligations.

The NPT obligates the nuclear weapons states (US, Russia, UK, France and China) to negotiate in good faith an end to the nuclear arms race and a date for achieving complete disarmament. The non-nuclear weapon states who are signatories of the treaty undertook not to acquire or develop nuclear weapons. More than 40 years after the NPT was opened for signature in 1968 and entered into force two years later, it is an indisputable fact that the nuclear powers are no closer today to achieving nuclear disarmament than they were 40 years ago.

And judging by the number of countries that have since achieved nuclear status (Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea) the NPT has also failed in stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

This does not relieve Tehran from its obligations under the treaty and of its responsibility to fulfil these obligations, if indeed it were to be objectively established that Iran is breaching these obligations. At least as long as the NPT maintains a sense of credibility.

But imagine the blow to the credibility of the NPT and indeed to international law in general if the US or Israel or both were to launch a war against Iran to destroy nuclear facilities that are recognised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), ostensibly in the name of enforcing respect for international law.

Even if the IAEA were to establish that Iran had diverted nuclear material to military use, a violation of the NPT treaty, this in itself does not justify war against Iran.

The use of force by the US against a fellow UN member will have to be legally justified. And under international law it can only be justified in two cases: First, when used in self-defence. But the argument of self-defence requires a threat that is imminent and leaving no time for reflection.

No one can convincingly argue that Iran poses an imminent threat to the US. And not even the twisted logic used by the Bush administration to claim that it had a right of pre-emptive defence, can remedy the defect in the self-defence argument.

The second case of justifiable use of force is when resort to force is authorised by the UN Security Council. But such authorisation can only be accorded if it was found that Iran posed a threat to peace because of its pursuit of nuclear weapons. There are many states that have developed nuclear weapons or pursuing the capacity to do it; yet they are not considered a threat to peace.

Indeed, Israel, the leading advocate for war against Iran, is a nuclear power itself that has steadily refused to allow international inspection of its nuclear facilities.

But you would be hard pressed to find someone in the influential American media even suggesting that an Israel armed with nuclear weapons, given its record of repeated assaults against its neighbours, is the real threat to peace in the region.

Still, it is remarkable that the American defence and intelligence establishment has reached the conclusion that war against Iran is impractical and likely to bring about that which it seeks to prevent. Former CIA director General Michael Hayden was recently quoted in the press as saying that during the Bush administration. "When we talked about this in the government, the consensus was that [attacking Iran] would guarantee that which we are trying to prevent — an Iran that will spare nothing to build a nuclear weapon and that would build it in secret."

Nonetheless, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, described as the most militaristic candidate on Iran, continues to advocate an all-out war against Iran including a ground invasion to try to stop it from developing nuclear weapons. Typical of the Santorum logic, his plan for invading Iran would not constitute war against a sovereign country. It would be, he said, an operation designed to "prevent war".

It is worth noting here that Santorum is defending his indefensible logic as part of his overall identification with the hardliners in Israel. In fact, Santorum's recent statement that there were no Palestinians in the West Bank, only Israelis, went beyond the claims of the most dogmatic hardliners in Israel.

The public relations campaign for war against Iran is starting to acquire an eerie resemblance to the one that made the war against Iraq possible. It is fuelled by disregard for international law, a low priority for the role of diplomacy, dismissal of inconvenient facts, and a disturbing accommodation of Israeli militaristic designs in the region. Furthermore, the covert war of subversion inside Iran and the growing sanctions suggest that the undeclared goal in Iran is regime change.

Adel Safty is author of From Camp David to the Gulf (Montreal); Democracy and Governance (Istanbul); Leadership and Democracy (New York); Might Over Right: How the Zionists Took Over Palestine (England).
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6.

U.S. Backs Indian Proxy In Military Encirclement Of China

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:50 pm (PST)

http://rickrozoff. wordpress. com/2012/ 02/01/u-s- backs-indian- proxy-in- military- encirclement- of-china/

India's Military Adventure against China
By Sajjad Shaukat*

====

[T]he Indian government is planning to increase the strength of the Indian Army by almost 100,000 soldiers over the next five years. It would also be the largest increase in deployment along the Chinese border since the aftermath of the 1962 war. It will also focus on Indian islands with the larger view of securing maritime routes crisis-crossing the Indian Ocean.

As regards the Indian military build-up against Beijing, on May 31, 2009, after 43 years, New Delhi re-opened its Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) airbase in northern Ladakh, which overlooks the strategic Karakoram Pass and is only 8 kilometers south of the Chinese border-Aksai China area. New Delhi has also erected more than 10 new helipads and roads on the Sino-Indian frontiers.

With the help of Israel and America, on 26 February 2008 India conducted its first test of a nuclear-capable missile from an undersea platform after completing its project in relation to air, land and sea ballistic systems.

[U]nder the pretext of the China factor, New Delhi and Israel, with the tactical support of the sole superpower, are plotting to block the sea lanes of the Indian Ocean for their joint strategic goals.

====

Although India and China agreed to avoid flare-ups along their border on January 17 this year, yet despite 15 rounds of talks the issue still remains unsettled owing to Indian obstinacy. The countries had fought a bloody war in 1962 over a disputed border.

Indian hegemonic designs to dominate the region can well be judged from its plans to spend huge amounts on a military build-up and purchases of sophisticated arms and weapons from France, Germany, Israel, Russia and the U.S. Indian leaders openly state that India will defend its national interests beyond South Asia. On the one hand, Indian rulers assertively advocate regional peace, but on the other they mislead the world by cunningly projecting their threat perceptions. These are certainly a source of concern, especially for China and Pakistan, which are particular targets of India's duplicity.

In this regard, in November, 2011 the Chinese media hit back at India's proposed military build-up on the border and its recent relationship with East Asian nations such as Japan and Vietnam at the cost of Beijing. In this respect, China's official newspaper People's Daily recently reported: "East China Sea and South China Sea issues continue to expose some countries' envious, jealous and hateful attitude towards China...India has begun to consider Beijing as an opponent." While China's state-run news agency Xinhua warned, "if India intends to antagonise its neighbour by taking China as an imaginary enemy and gets unwisely involved in affairs which fall within others' backyards, it would hold its national strategies as hostage and put at stake its own national interests."

Today, China is India's biggest trading partner with which New Delhi has signed a number of agreements in various fields, but with American support it is playing a double game with Beijing. In this context, in the middle of October, 2011, as part of its second phase of military expansion against China, the Indian government has given the go-ahead for the deployment of BrahMos cruise missiles in Arunachal Pradesh along the Chinese border. With a range of 290 kilometers, these missiles are being deployed to improve India's military reach into the Tibet Autonomous Region. The three BrahMos missile regiments raised so far have also been deployed in the western sector to counter the presumed threat of Pakistan. India's new scheme has coincided with the revival of a propaganda campaign that China has allegedly been deploying troops in Pakistan's areas of Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir and FATA. Both Beijing and Islamabad have denied this false
accusation.

Besides, as part of its military adventure against China, the Indian government is planning to increase the strength of the Indian Army by almost 100,000 soldiers over the next five years. It would also be the largest increase in deployment along the Chinese border since the aftermath of the 1962 war. It will also focus on Indian islands with the larger view of securing maritime routes crisis-crossing the Indian Ocean.

As regards the Indian military build-up against Beijing, on May 31, 2009, after 43 years, New Delhi re-opened its Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) airbase in northern Ladakh, which overlooks the strategic Karakoram Pass and is only 8 kilometers south of the Chinese border-Aksai China area. New Delhi has also erected more than 10 new helipads and roads on the Sino-Indian frontier.

On April 20, 2008 The Times of India had written, "By having a full-fledged airstrip at DBO, India will be able to rush in troops and supplies to the region during emergencies." The paper quoted Western Air Command Chief Air Marshal P K Barbora revealing, "Yes, we also have plans to land our AN-32 transport aircraft at DBO. It is part of Indian Air Force plans to improve air maintenance at the far-flung posts in the region".

In this connection, Defence Ministry planners are working on building additional airfields and increasing troops, raising two new mountain divisions to be deployed along the 4,057-kilometer Line of Actual Control (LAC).

With the help of Israel and America, on 26 February 2008 India conducted its first test of a nuclear-capable missile from an undersea platform after completing its project in relation to air, land and sea ballistic systems.

Notably, Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta had disclosed that New Delhi "will soon float tenders to acquire six submarines." Mehta also accused Beijing, saying, "The Indian Navy would keep a close watch on the movements of Chinese submarines which are operating out of an underground base in the South China Sea" and "wish to enter the Indian Ocean." However, under the pretext of the China factor, New Delhi and Israel, with the tactical support of the sole superpower, are plotting to block the sea lanes of the Indian Ocean for their joint strategic goals.

It is worthy of mention that in October, 2011 India hosted the leaders of Vietnam and Myanmar, highlighting its intentions it is following regarding its 'Look East Policy' as it is building close security and economic relations with these two nations in East and Southeast Asia. In fact, New Delhi designed this policy to establish its influence in the region, while the main aims behind it are to sabotage the interests of Beijing.

During her trip to New Delhi, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on July 20, 2011 urged India to be more assertive in Asia, saying that the country should play more of a leadership role. She explained, "India has the potential to positively shape the future of the Asia-Pacific." Clinton further said, "India should play the role as a US ally in regional forums such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)."

It is noteworthy that on October 15, 2010 Indian Army Chief General VK Singh had openly claimed that China and Pakistan posed a major threat to India's security, while calling for an upgrade of the country's defences. Indian former Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor had also raised similar allegations. So, under the pretext of presumed threats from China and Pakistan, New Delhi, which signed an agreement on civil nuclear technology with the US in 2008, has been acting upon the direction of the latter to counterbalance China and destabilize Pakistan along with Iran.

Particularly, US clandestine aims could be judged from the fact that on November 2, 2011 America agreed to sell India the most expensive — the new - F-35 fighter jets. In a report to the US Congress, the Pentagon said, "We believe US aircraft such as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)...to be the best in the world", referring to the radar-evading F-35 jet.

Unlike India, Pakistan mostly prefers to develop its own arms, equipment and aircraft with the joint cooperation of China. For example, the JF-17/FC-1 is designed as a co-operative venture between Pakistan and China to replace the Chinese A-5C (massively modified MiG-19), F-7P (MiG-21+), and French Mirage 3/5 aircraft. In this connection, defence analysts opine that unlike the US F-35 fighter jet, the JF-17/FC-1 fighter is better due to its quick system of surveillance, reconnaissance and target acquisition.

Nevertheless, recently, India also decided on a major purchase of US F-16 and F-18 fighters. The Pentagon's government-to- government program of foreign military sales to India has included C-17 and C-130 aircraft, radar systems, Harpoon weapons and specialised tactical equipments. Besides acquisition of arms and weapons from other western countries, America, which emerged as a potential military supplier to India, has lifted sanctions on New Delhi in order to import nuclear technology.

In fact, Pakistan's province of Balochistan, where China has invested billion of dollars to develop Gwadar seaport, infuriates both the US and India. With the help of India, the US desires to control Balochistan as an independent state in containing China and restraining Iran. It is due to these reasons that Washington and New Delhi are creating instability in Pakistan by backing Baloch separatists to complete their hidden strategic agenda. In this regard, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) gets logistic support from India, while another separatist group, Jundollah (God's soldiers), is also harming the cordial relationship of Pakistan with China and Iran. In the past few years their militants kidnapped and killed many Chinese and Iranian nationals in Pakistan, while committing other subversive acts in the province and in Iran's province of Sistan-Baluchistan. Tehran directly implicated the American CIA for patronage and funding of that type of
terrorist attack.

It is of particular attention that in May 1998, when India detonated five nuclear tests, the then-Defense Minister George Fernandes declared publicly that "China is India's potential threat No. 1." India, which successfully tested the Agni-111 missile in May of 2007, has been extending its range to target all the big cities of China.

Nonetheless, with the support of the US, India's military adventure against China is likely to destabilse the whole of Asia because of its chain reaction.

*Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@ yahoo.com

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7.

Opposition: Georgia's Future Is Decided In Washington

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:22 pm (PST)

http://rustavi2. com/news/ news_text. php?id_news= 44509&pg= 1&im=main& ct=0&wth=

Rustavi 2
January 31, 2012

Labour Party comments on Obama-Saakashvili meeting

`Georgia`s future is decided in Washington,` the leader of the Georgian Labour Party Shalva Natelashvili announced at a briefing today while commenting on the meeting of the Georgian and U.S. presidents. Natelashvili disapproved of the agreement between Saakashvili and Obama. The opposition leader does not like the agreements on free trade relations and military cooperation with the United States.

`This is the answer to the cynics - why we hold rallies in Washington against the dictatorship - not because we want fun or have spare time, but because, all the misfortune that we face afterwards are planned there,` Natelashvili said.
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8.

Kosovo: Remaining Serb Homes Pillaged, Burned

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:22 pm (PST)

http://www.b92. net/eng/news/ crimes-article. php?yyyy= 2012&mm=01& dd=31&nav_ id=78556

Tanjug News Agency
January 31, 2012

Serb homes robbed, set on fire in Kosovo

GNJILANE: Two houses owned by Serbis in the village of Cernica near Gnjilane were robbed and set on fire last night, it has been confirmed.

A Kosovo police (KPS) spokesperson told Tanjug news agency that nobody was inside the buildings during the incident.

But Ismet Hasani "could not say what caused the fire", adding that it was promptly put out by firemen.

The spokesperson however noted that KPS units investigated the scene "and opened the case".

Local Serb media in that part of the province are reporting that the homes belonged to Ljubiša Spasić and Stanko Stanojević, who currently live and work in Switzerland along with their families.

Cernica resident Srđan Menković said the homes were first robbed, while the fire "most likely came later and was the work of arsonists".

"Almost everything was taken from the houses, they stole everything. It is getting worse by the day, robberies are ever more frequent, while police either cannot or will not do anything about it," said Milenković.

Some 150 Serb families lived in the village prior to the war in 1999, while only about 30 remain today.
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9.

Obama-Saakashvili Agreement On Georgia's NATO Integration

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:22 pm (PST)

http://rustavi2. com/news/ news_text. php?id_news= 44513&pg= 1&im=main& ct=0&wth=

Rustavi 2
January 31, 2012

Prime Minister hails Obama-Saakashvili agreement

Members of the Cabinet of Ministers commented on the meeting of the Georgian and U.S. presidents held in Washington yesterday. The government assembled at the session in the Government`s Chancellery today.

...

Prime Minister Nika Gilauri...hailed the statement by the U.S. president to continue support to Georgia`s defense sector, reinforcement of its defensibility, which is very important for the region.

`The last factor, which should be emphasized, is the support to Georgia`s NATO aspirations. This is particularly notable prior to the Chicago NATO summit, where the support of the United States will be very important,` Nika Gilauri said.
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10.

Syrian Troops Thwart Armed Infiltration From Turkey

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:22 pm (PST)

http://www.plenglis h.com/index. php?option= com_content& task=view& id=473459& Itemid=1

Prensa Latina
January 31, 2012

Syrian Troops Thwart Armed Infiltration from Turkey

Damascus: On Tuesday Syrian troops prevented another infiltration attempt by an armed group from Turkey in the northwestern province of Idleb, the second in three days, according to authorities.

The action took place in the border area of al-Janoudieh, in the context of an offensive against those bands, launched by Army troops in several places, particularly in the province of Hama, in areas of the countryside of Damascus and in Idleb, said the national media quoting official reports.

According to the sources, Army troops killed one of those trying to infiltrate and arrested another while the rest managed to flee back to Turkey, where armed men are being trained in two camps to be infiltrated into Syria, as regional politicians have denounced.

It was also reported that a group of unidentified armed men this morning attacked a bus carrying workers of the Maaret al-Numan spinning mill, also in Idleb. The driver was shot and three passengers were wounded.

Also in Idleb, men wearing masks kidnapped the head of the Palace of Justice executive board as he was heading to his office, while armed men opened fire at people attending a police funeral in Sarakeb and killed two officers and wounded another two.

Idleb province and the city of Homs are currently the worst-hit areas of terrorist violence in the wake of the dismantling of armed groups in the outskirts of Damascus, where they had been operating for the past few weeks.

the SANA news agency reported from Homs that one of those armed bands blew up an oil pipeline in the al-Sutaniya area, causing a big fire that was put under control by firefighters and by turning off fuel pumps.

This is the second such attack after a bomb damaged a gas pipeline between Homs and Banyas, near the town of al-Rabieh in the Tal Kalakh municipality on Monday, causing a spill of 460,000 cubic meters of gas.
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11.

Britain To Deploy Destroyer To Falklands/Malvinas

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:23 pm (PST)

http://www.plenglis h.com/index. php?option= com_content& task=view& id=473325& Itemid=1

Prensa Latina
January 31, 2012

UK Warship to Be Deployed on Falkland Islands



London: After increased tensions with Argentina over the sovereignty of the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands, the United Kingdom will send one of its most modern warships to this archipelago in the coming months, said the Ministry of Defence.

The destroyer HMS Dauntless will be deployed in the coming months in the South Atlantic Ocean to replace the frigate HMS Montrose.

While London called the sending of the ship as "routine measure" of a patrol boat replaced by another, the move exacerbates frictions with Argentina after a verbal escalation between the two states due to controversial British oil exploration in the area.

Argentina's claims are based on the British exploitation of natural resources in the South American platform, whose starting point is the Falkland Islands, seized by the UK in 1833 and the cause of a military confrontation between the two nations in 1982.

UK forces in the South Atlantic archipelago include four modern Typhoon aircraft, an air base with radar, a patrol frigate, and a garrison of 1,700 soldiers, almost equal in number to the local population.
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12.

Pentagon Holds "Interoperability" Exercise Planning In Slovakia

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:38 pm (PST)

http://www.eucom. mil/article/ 23057/combined- endeavor- 2012-planning- begins-in- slovak-republic

U.S. European Command
January 30, 2012

Combined Endeavor 2012 planning begins in Slovak Republic

BRATISLAVA, Slovak Republic: The week-long initial planning conference for exercise Combined Endeavor 2012 (CE12), U.S. European Command's largest communications interoperability exercise, began today with more than 250 participants attending to begin planning.

During the opening ceremony, Robert Ondrejcsak, PhD, State Secretary of the Slovak Republic Ministry of Defence, welcomed national representatives and planners from 35 countries and organizations, while highlighting the exercise's value to the Slovak Republic.

"Slovak Armed Forces have participated in Combined Endeavor since 1995, the very beginning of the exercise. Combined Endeavor exercise was, is and will stay one of the main tools for testing interoperability of our new Computer Information Systems equipment... with our NATO and Partnership for Peace allies. We believe that Combined Endeavor has promoted the development of our CIS capabilities in the right direction."

Combined Endeavor is a EUCOM-sponsored, multinational initiative intended to encourage interoperability and information exchange among nations...

During the IPC, participants will begin developing network architecture that supports the exercise's operational construct and provides pathways for testing interoperable capabilities of the combined systems.

...

CE12 will take place in Grafenwöhr, Germany, Sept. 6-20.
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13.

U.S. Air Forces In Europe: 70 Years Of Bombing And Strafing

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:38 pm (PST)

http://www.usafe. af.mil/news/ story.asp? id=123287633

U.S. Air Forces in Europe
January 27, 2012

U.S. Air Forces in Europe turns 70
By Charles Newell
U.S. Air Forces in Europe History Office

-With the command now marking its seventh decade of active service, USAFE continues to provide combat ready forces, maintains vital access to three continents, and assures friends and allies while building their operational capacity. During 2011, these unique attributes came to the forefront during U.S. support to operations in Libya.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany: Jan. 28, 2012 marks U.S. Air Forces in Europe's 70th birthday. Throughout the year USAFE and Team Ramstein will honor its mission, people and heritage by reminding everyone of USAFE's accomplishments - then and now - from the Second World War, through the Cold War, and in today's expeditionary era.

Born out of necessity during the World War II, the command is the second oldest major command in the Air Force. Throughout its history, USAFE has remained a critical element of U.S. policy, strategy and presence in Europe.

The War Department originally designated the command as Headquarters, Eighth Air Force, Jan. 19, 1942, as United States Strategic Air Forces Europe, from Feb. 22, 1944, and as its current designation, United States Air Forces Europe, on Aug. 7, 1945. Each redesignation represented a change of mission and responsibility; from the buildup of forces and initial operations in the United Kingdom, to the command of daylight strategic bombing, to follow-on operations in Germany after the war.

...

The Cold War era, 1946-1991, witnessed continual modernization and expansion in direct response to the...Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. Soon after the Cold War began, the command directed the Berlin Airlift...and validating the newly created U.S. Air Force. The Korean War, the erection of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban missile crisis, the Vietnam War, and the Soviet war in Afghanistan all challenged USAFE's mission...

[C]ombat readiness in direct support of NATO was USAFE's top priority in those year...

The command fought its second war in 1991 as part of the coalition opposing Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. USAFE provided critical en route support to units deploying to Persian Gulf-hosted forward bases for B-52s and KC-135s, and contributed vital logistics and maintenance support for those deploying forces. The bulk of Joint Task Force Proven Force, which opened a second front against Iraq from Turkey, came primarily from USAFE's ranks. The command deployed 15 percent of its people, 55 percent of its planes, and 33 percent of its munitions to Proven Force to join the fight, where its people fought as an integral part of coalition forces. USAFE pilots accounted for 15 of 33 coalition air-to-air victories before the ceasefire in April 1991.

...

Closer to home, USAFE reached out to the new Central and Eastern European democracies, paving the way for NATO's 1993 "Partnership for Peace" initiative and the acceptance of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic as new members in 1999.

By the mid-1990s, the command was heavily involved in Yugoslavia, which had erupted into civil war in the summer of 1991. USAFE C-130s flew relief supplies into Sarajevo...

When NATO began Operation Deny Flight to enforce a United Nations no-fly zone over Bosnia in April 1993, USAFE was there. Its pilots fired NATO's first shots, downing four Krajina Serb aircraft violating the no-fly zone on Feb. 28, 1994. A year and a half later, USAFE was a mainstay in NATO's Operation Deliberate Force that...enforced a NATO heavy-weapons exclusion zone around Sarajevo...

USAFE, as part of the newly expanded NATO, went to war once again on March 24, 1999 when the alliance launched air attacks on Yugoslavia.. .In the 78-day campaign known as Operation Allied Force, USAFE people and aircraft flew a significant number of the nearly 35,000 sorties that forced Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to ask for a cease-fire, evacuate his forces from Kosovo, and permit an international peacekeeping force into the province...

After the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, USAFE responded to the Global War on Terrorism. The command played a key role in...the initial stages of Operation Enduring Freedom. USAFE people and aircraft also made critical contributions to the campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The command also contributed to Operation Iraqi Freedom, which toppled Saddam Hussein's dictatorship in the spring of 2003.

With the command now marking its seventh decade of active service, USAFE continues to provide combat ready forces, maintains vital access to three continents, and assures friends and allies while building their operational capacity. During 2011, these unique attributes came to the forefront during U.S. support to operations in Libya...USAFE was able to...provide on-hand combat forces as part of a coalition of European and other partner nations...After NATO assumed responsibility for operations in Libya in April 2011, USAFE continued its support.

...

Happy 70th USAFE!
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14.

Turkey To Increase Range Of Ballistic Missiles

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 8:01 pm (PST)

http://www.hurriyet dailynews. com/turkey- aims-to-increase -ballistic- missile-ranges. aspx?pageID= 238&nID=12731& NewsCatID= 345

Hürriyet Daily News
February 1, 2012

Turkey aims to increase ballistic missile ranges

ANKARA: Turkey aims to build ballistic missiles with a range of 2,500 kilometers within the next two years, Turkish officials have said...

Professor Yücel Altınbaşak, head of Turkey's State Scientific Research Institute (TÜBİTAK), recently told reporters that the decision to build the ballistic missiles was made at a recent meeting of the High Board of Technology and in line with a request from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Altınbaşak said TÜBİTAK had already produced and delivered a missile with a range of 500 kilometers to the Turkish military and added that the missile had displayed a mere five-meter deviation from its target in field tests. In the next phase of the program this year, TÜBİTAK will first test the 1,500-kilometer missile before heading for the final goal of 2,500 kilometers.

Altınbaşak said building missiles with a range of 2,500-kilometer was a "realistic target for Turkey."

...

A Middle East political expert said Turkey's decision to produce cruise and ballistic missiles may mark a change in threat and security design perceptions.

"Why would the Turks need these missiles? Where will they use them? Against which threats? It is also intriguing that Turkey, which seeks a modern air force with deterrent firepower, is going along the path many rogue states with no modern air force capabilities have gone," the specialist said.

...
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15.

Drones: CIA Judge, Jury, Executioner Violating International Law

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 31, 2012 8:03 pm (PST)

http://tribune. com.pk/story/ 330198/analysis- the-us-is- acting-over- and-above- the-law/

Express Tribune
February 1, 2012

Analysis: The US is acting over and above the law
By Niaz A Shah

While drone attacks might have some tactical advantage against al Qaeda and its affiliates, as is being argued, they are against the UN Charter, the law of armed conflict and international human rights law.

Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter prohibits the "threat or use of force" against another state. The Charter allows for the use of force in only one form, ie, under Article 42, wherein the Security Council may allow the use of force as an enforcement measure when all peaceful means are exhausted.

There, however, is one exception to this rule: States are allowed to use force in self-defence against an armed attack. This is a temporary right, ie, until the Security Council is activated to respond to an armed attack – an issue of international peace and security.

The US has traditionally relied on the argument of the right of self-defence. However, al Qaeda and its affiliates are non-state actors – hence three conditions must be satisfied before the use of force against them can be justified.

The first condition is that there must be an 'armed attack' against the US which necessitates the use of force in self-defence. The key question here is: What constitutes an armed attack? The severity and scale of damage done by the attack of a non-state actor must be such that it would amount to an armed attack had it been carried out by the regular forces of a state.

The second condition is that there must a link between the non-state actor and the host state. In Nicaragua v. USA, 1986, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) held that the host state must exercise an "effective control" over the non-state actor to trigger the right to use force in self-defence.

The ICJ reaffirmed the test of "effective control" in Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro 2007 (paragraphs 399 and 401). Article 8 of the 2001 International Law Commission's Articles on the Responsibility of States for International Wrongful Acts, reflecting customary law, states that the "conduct of a person or group of persons shall be considered an act of a State under international law if the person or group of persons is in fact acting on the instructions of, or under the direction or control of, that State in carrying out the conduct". The factual link between the host and non-state actor must be established before resorting to use force.

In addition, the host state shall either not be willing or unable to control the non-state actor. Once these two conditions are met, then proportionate use of force is permitted – which is the third condition.

Let us turn to the US claim of self-defence against al Qaeda and its affiliates in Pakistan. First, Pakistan does not have effective control over al Qaeda or its affiliates. On the contrary, al Qaeda and its affiliates, such as the Pakistani Taliban, are banned under the terrorism legislation in Pakistan. The security forces of Pakistan are actively engaged in fighting al Qaeda and its affiliates. Pakistan clearly does not have "effective control" over al Qaeda and its affiliates and their acts cannot be attributed to Pakistan. The argument that the Pakistan is not willing to do enough to suppress armed groups inside its borders is not convincing: Hundreds of Taliban fighters and Pakistani troops are killed in the ongoing armed conflict.

Evidence also suggests that, very often, civilians were killed and property destroyed in access of "concrete and direct military advantage", i.e. violating the customary principle of proportionality. The law of armed conflict allows killing and being killed in the battlefield by combatants – but the CIA, a civilian organ of the state, targets individuals away from the battlefield who they regard either as terrorists or supporters of terrorism. The CIA has virtually become a judge, a jury and an executioner violating international human rights law.

Let there be no doubt: Drone attacks violate the UN Charter, the principle of proportionality and international human rights law.

The author is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Hull, United Kingdom.
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16.

Hundreds Of Slaughtered Civilians Not "Huge Number" For Obama

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Wed Feb 1, 2012 5:38 am (PST)

http://rt.com/ usa/news/ drones-civilian- death-obama- 187/

RT
February 1, 2012

Hundreds of slaughtered civilians isn't a 'huge number' for Obama

On Monday afternoon, Barack Obama became the first president to host a virtual town hall live on the Internet.

While that might be a feat worthy of the record books, President Obama did something else during his address that America has become accustomed to: he lied to the world.

Speaking Monday during a live web-chat hosted by Google, the president took on a series of issues submitted by the American people. Over the span of 45 minutes, President Obama addressed the Stop Online Piracy Act while refusing to side with either end of the argument, admitted to the world that he isn't all that swell of a dancer and took a query from a professional puppeteer. In between ignoring the real issues or offering any sort of solid solution to the nation's biggest problems, the president did put something rather important out for the world to ponder: America's ongoing drone missions aren't really all that bad.

If you ask anyone outside of the Oval Office — or especially America — they might tell you otherwise.

Tackling a question posed on drone strikes, President Obama defended the ongoing missions on Monday, saying they were necessary to target terrorists in a most effective manner. "For us to be able to get them in another way would involve probably a lot more intrusive military action than the ones we're already engaging in," the president said on the topic of drones. While an argument could easily be made that operating drone missions in lieu of putting boots on the ground is best for the US Armed Forces, the president put a lot on the line Monday when he downplayed the result of the strikes.
Those drone attacks, carried out by unmanned aircraft controlled thousands of miles away, don't do a lot of harm, said the president. According to Obama, drones had "not caused a huge number of civilian casualties" and he added that it's "important for everybody to understand that this thing is kept on a very tight leash."

How small is that not-so huge number? If you ask anyone outside of the American intelligence community, they'll tell you it is in the hundreds.
But what's a few hundred civilian deaths, right?

Obama suggested that continuing the drone program would not be detrimental to the safety of foreign citizens, but studies conducted outside of the US say otherwise. Last summer, the UK's Bureau of Investigative Journalism argued that since America began drone strikes, at least 385 civilians had been executed in US-led attacks. Of those statistics, the Bureau added that around half of the dead were children under the age of 18.

If you don't take the word of foreign reporter's, even American intelligence can confirm that the "not a huge number" statistic might be a bit of an exaggeration. One senior US official speaking on condition of anonymity added to CNN last year that CIA drone strikes had taken the lives of 50 civilians in all. As drone strikes go unreported and deaths unaccounted for, the actual number, unfortunately, is probably much higher than what either the CIA or the Bureau of Investigative Journalism can come up with.

In a single strike last March, 26 Pakistanis were killed during a US strike over Pakistan. Once all deaths were accounted for, it was revealed that over a dozen of the deaths in that single raid were suffered by innocent civilians.

When the Bureau of Investigative Journalism released their findings last year, they said that the number of civilians killed in US drone strikes were probably 40 percent higher than what the US was actually reporting. Between 2004 and 2011, they put the estimate of civilian deaths at a figure of 385, but added in the research that the toll could actually come close to tallying 775 casualties.

Which, if you ask President Obama, is not a huge number.

If 775 isn't a huge number, than 56 is practically a fraction. That's the number of children executed by US drones in the first 20 months of the Obama administration.

"Even one child death from drone missiles or suicide bombings is one child death too many," responded Unicef to the news at the time.

In 2009 alone, almost 600 civilians were killed on the ground in Afghanistan, and the United Nations put 60 percent of that figure as a direct result of airstrikes, drone or otherwise. In Pakistan, civilians say they are terrified of the robotic planes and the damage that they have already done. "There was not a single Taliban militant in Pakistan before 9/11 but since we joined this war, we are facing acts of terrorism, bombing and drone strikes," Movement for Justice leader Imran Khan told the press in 2011.

In Libya, where the United States never even engaged in an official war, according to Obama, American troops launched 145 drone strikes in an attempt to oust the regime of Muammar Gaddafi in a matter of months. As with most drone missions, the Department of Defense has not released any official statistics on what casualties were caused by the strikes.

Regardless of what damage a drone strike can have on enemy insurgents, experts say that the toll visited on civilians is several times that of militants. In a 2009 report from the Brookings Institute, Senior Fellow Daniel L Byman wrote that "for every militant killed, 10 or so civilians also died."

In Pakistan where drone strikes have become practically commonplace, civilians are terrified that they will become the next accidental target of American aircraft. Saadullah, a teenage boy who spoke with a BBC reporter last year, lost both of his legs in drone strikes. Three of his relatives, all civilians, have also been killed by American strikes. Asghar Khan, an elder in Islamabad that also spoke to BBC, said three of his relatives were also shot down in airstrikes.

"My brother, my nephew and another relative were killed by a drone in 2008," said Khan. "They were sitting with this sick man when the attack took place. There were no Taliban."

A decade after the US began so-called cooperation with Pakistani intelligence, anti-American sentiments continue to grow as do the number of casualties. "When we intervene in people's countries to chase small cells of bad guys, we end up alienating the whole country and turning them against us," counterterrorism expert David Kilcullen tells the Brookings Institute.
Now as the US puts surveillance drones over the skies of Iraq even after that war has officially ended, yet another country is becoming concerned that drones will drop bombs on their own civilians.

"We hear from time to time that drone aircraft have killed half a village in Pakistan and Afghanistan under the pretext of pursuing terrorists," 37-year-old café owner Hisham Mohammed Salah told the New York Times just this week. "Our fear is that will happen in Iraq under a different pretext."

Under the Pentagon's new revised budget, the US will phase out around 100,000 military staffers while adding droves of drones to its already established arsenal of robotic planes. Will drones soon become the United States' not-so-secret weapon and phase out its Armed Forces personnel entirely? It's not out of the question. After all, a drone strike authorized by Obama last year led to the death of two American citizens with alleged terrorist ties.

Don't worry, though. Obama says these things are kept on a tight leash. Who actually pulls on that is as good of a guess as anyone's, though. In November, the Wall Street Journal wrote that the "signature" strikes that account for most of the CIA's drone missions only end up on the desk of the president after they are carried out. The US must only inform Pakistan of those strikes, by the way, if they believe the death toll will exceed 20.

Which really isn't that big of a number either.
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17.

Former Hague Prosecutor: NATO Thwarted Kosovo Organ Trade Probe

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Wed Feb 1, 2012 5:38 am (PST)

http://www.b92. net/eng/news/ crimes-article. php?yyyy= 2012&mm=02& dd=01&nav_ id=78571

Tanjug News Agency
February 1, 2012

NATO "thwarted" organ trade investigation

BELGRADE: Former Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte has stated that NATO thwarted the investigation into the human organ trafficking in Kosovo.

She added that the real truth could be revealed only in an UN-led probe.

"The international community had to react after the report by (Council of Europe Special Rapporteur) Dick Marty, but the real truth about these allegations could only be revealed in an UN-led probe," Del Ponte told Belgrade-based weekly Nedeljnik.

She added that there was a lack of political will to resolve this case because the situation in Kosovo was still very fragile.

When asked whether she felt responsible for the destruction of evidence from the yellow house late in 2005, Del Ponte said that this was a big mistake and that it was done without previous consultations with her.

"I was really shocked when I learned from the media that the evidence was destroyed. However, I do not feel responsible as I was not authorized to lead the investigation," the former prosecutor was quoted as saying.

Del Ponte said that she knows who ordered the destruction of evidence as she was in constant contact with her successor Serge Brammertz, but that this information should now be investigated by the office of the Hague Tribunal chief prosecutor.

When asked about the fact that she had an insight into the UNMIK confidential report on crimes in the yellow house back in 2004 but the investigation was suspended, Del Ponte said that the prosecution was not able to continue the probe due to numerous obstacles.

"NATO and UNMIK did not allow us to see important files, while Albania did not let us enter its territory and inspect graves," she noted.
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18.

U.S. Drone Strike Kills 13 In Northwestern Pakistan

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Wed Feb 1, 2012 5:53 am (PST)

http://news. xinhuanet. com/english/ world/2012- 02/01/c_13138629 8.htm

Xinhua News Agency
February 1, 2012

13 killed in U.S. drone strike in NW Pakistan


ISLAMABAD: At least 13 people were killed when a U.S. drone launched three missile strikes in the Orakzai region of Pakistan's northwest tribal belt on Wednesday, local media reported.

According to a report by local TV channel Geo, the attack was launched in the wee hours of the morning when a U.S. drone fired three missiles at a militants' hideout in the Darand Shekhan area of the upper Orakzai agency...

Wednesday morning's drone strike came just one day after Foreign Office Spokesperson Abdul Basit stated that drone attacks are unacceptable to the Pakistani government because they are unlawful and counterproductive.

This is the fourth strike of its kind in the northwestern tribal area of Pakistan and the first of its kind in the Orakzai agency since the beginning of 2012. To date, 27 people have been killed and several others injured in 11 missile strikes launched by U.S. drones.
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19.

Russia Warns NATO, Gulf States Against Intervention In Syria

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Wed Feb 1, 2012 9:10 am (PST)

http://news. xinhuanet. com/english/ world/2012- 02/01/c_13138515 7.htm

Xinhua News Agency
February 1, 2012

Russia warns against foreign forces meddling in Syria's internal affairs

====

"We are convinced that in a time of extreme internal political crisis, the role of the international community should not be one of exacerbating conflict nor meddling by the use of economic sanctions or military force."

"We will not stand for any sanctions resolutions or using the council's toolbox so as to fuel conflict or possibly justify any foreign intervention in the future."

The Security Council met on Tuesday afternoon on the current situation in Syria, with the Arab League and Western countries urging the 15-nation council to adopt their joint draft resolution, which demands what they call a "political transition" in the Middle East country.

====


UNITED NATIONS: Russia on Tuesday warned foreign countries against meddling in the internal affairs of Syria, saying that "the Syrian crisis can only be resolved within the Syrian-led political process."

The statement came as Vitaly Churkin, the Russian permanent representative to the United Nations, was addressing an open meeting of the UN Security Council on the current situation in Syria.

"The solution to the crisis can be found only through a Syrian-led, inclusive political process," Churkin said. "If all key players of the international community were to concentrate their efforts on implementing these provisions we are convinced that the crisis would long be a thing of the past. Unfortunately, this hasn't been the case."

"We are convinced that in a time of extreme internal political crisis, the role of the international community should not be one of exacerbating conflict nor meddling by the use of economic sanctions or military force," he said. "No, it should be fostering dialogue so as to seek an optimally effective and smooth resolution with a view to a cessation of violence and establishing a Syrian-led inclusive political process."

"Russia, which has enjoyed close, friendly contacts with the Syrian people and the Arab world from the very beginning, fought to ensure that the Syrian people would be able to decide for themselves without bloodshed and violence and set a course, a format for necessary social, economic, and political reforms," he said.

Russia has asked representatives of the Syrian government and opposition to enter into peace talks in Moscow to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis, which broke out in March 2011.

"We appeal to the Syrian government and all opposition groups to send their representatives to Moscow on an agreed-upon timeline to conduct informal contacts without preconditions, " he said. "This would allow for the Syrian parties to discuss many issues on the national agenda without any limitations, in particular the task of preparing an inter-Syrian dialogue under the LAS (League of Arab States) aegis."

"Moreover, we suggest that in drawing up its decision the council be guided by the principle of non-imposition, " he said. "We will not stand for any sanctions resolutions or using the council's toolbox so as to fuel conflict or possibly justify any foreign intervention in the future."

"But this is not the matter at hand, the council cannot impose the parameters for an internal political settlement," he said. "It simply does not have the mandate to do so under the (UN) Charter."

The Security Council met on Tuesday afternoon on the current situation in Syria, with the Arab League and Western countries urging the 15-nation council to adopt their joint draft resolution, which demands what they call a "political transition" in the Middle East country.

Moscow voiced its strong opposition to the Arab-European draft resolution, which was tabled at the Security Council by Morocco on Friday, saying the draft resolution was not conducive to a proper settlement of the current Syrian political crisis.

The draft resolution, jointly drawn up by Arab states, Britain, France and Germany, wants the Security Council to back an Arab League plan which calls on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power to his deputy so that new elections can be held.

The United States, France, Germany and Britain asked the Security Council to take urgent actions to address the current situation in Syria.

Damascus has accused foreign and terrorist elements of being behind the months-old turmoil in the country.

On Tuesday, Churkin told the Security Council that consensus among the 15 council members is possible and necessary.

"We found some of the elements of our text in it, and this gives rise to hope," he said. "We hope that the council will come to a consensus on the Syrian issue, as that is not only possible but also necessary."
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