Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
VEVAK learned its methodology from the Soviet KGB and many of the Islamist revolutionaries who supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini actually studied at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba Friendship University, the Oxford of terrorism. Documented Iranian alumni include the current Supreme Leader (the faqih) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, under whose Velayat-e Faqih (Rule of the Islamic Jurisprudent) apparatus it has traditionally operated. Its current head is Cabinet Minister Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ezhei, a graduate of Qom's Haqqani School, noted for its extremist position advocating violence against enemies and strict clerical control of society and government. The Ministry is very well funded and its charge, like that of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (the Pasdaran) is to guard the revolutionary Islamic Iranian regime at all costs and under all contingencies.
From the KGB playbook, VEVAK learned the art of disinformation. It's not so difficult to learn: tell the truth 80% of the time and lie 20%. Depending on how well a VEVAK agent wants to cover his/her tracks, the ratio may go up to 90/10, but it never drops below the 80/20 mark as such would risk suspicion and possible detection. The regime in Teheran has gone to great lengths to place its agents in locations around the world. Many of these operatives have been educated in the West, including the U.K. and the United States. Iranian government agencies such as embassies, consulates, Islamic cultural centers, and airline offices regularly provide cover for the work of VEVAK agents who dress well and are clean shaven, and move comfortably within our society. In this country, because of the severance of diplomatic relations, the principal site of VEVAK activities begins at the offices of Iran's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.
Teheran has worked diligently to place its operatives in important think tanks and government agencies in the West. Some of its personnel have been recruited while in prison through torture or more often through bribery, or a combination of both. Others are Islamist revolutionaries that have been set up to look like dissidents - often having been arrested and imprisoned, but released for “medical reasons”. The clue to detecting the fake “dissident” is to read carefully what he/she writes, and to ask why this vocal “dissident” was released from prison when other real dissidents have not been released, indeed have been grievously tortured and executed. Other agents have been placed in this country for over twenty-five years to slowly go through the system and rise to positions of academic prominence due to their knowledge of Farsi and Shia Islam or Islamist fundamentalism.
One of the usual tactics of VEVAK is to co-opt academia to its purposes. Using various forms of bribery, academics are bought to defend the Islamic Republic or slander its enemies. Another method is to assign bright students to train for academic posts as specialists in Iranian or Middle East affairs. Once established, such individuals are often consulted by our government as it tries to get a better idea of how it should deal with Iran. These academics then are in a position to skew the information, suggesting the utility of extended dialogue and negotiation, or the danger and futility of confronting a strong Iran or its proxies such as Hizballah (Hezbollah). These academics serve to shield the regime from an aggressive American or Western policy, and thereby buy more time for the regime to attain its goals, especially in regards to its nuclear weaponry and missile programs.
MOIS likes to use the media, especially electronic media, to its advantage. One of VEVAK's favorite tricks is setting up web sites that look like they are opposition sites but which are actually controlled by the regime. These sites often will be multilingual, including Farsi, German, Arabic French, and English. Some are crafted carefully and are very subtle in how they skew their information (e.g., Iran-Interlink, set up and run by Massoud Khodabandeh and his wife Ann Singleton from Leeds, England); others are less subtle, simply providing the regime's point of view on facts and events in the news (e.g., www.mujahedeen.com or www.mojahedin.ws). This latter group is aimed at the more gullible in our open society and unfortunately such a market exists. However, if one begins to do one's homework, asking careful questions, the material on these fake sites generally does not add up.
Let's examine a few examples of VEVAK's work in the United States. In late October, 2005, VEVAK sent three of its agents to Washington to stage a press event in which the principal Iranian resistance movement, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), was to be slandered. Veteran VEVAK agent Karim Haqi flew from Amsterdam to Canada where he was joined by VEVAK's Ottawa agents Amir-Hossein Kord Rostami and Mahin (Parvin-Mahrokh) Haji, and the three flew from Toronto to Washington. Fortunately the resistance had been tracking these three, informed the FBI of their presence in Washington, and when the three tried to hold a press conference, the resistance had people assigned to ask pointed questions of them so that they ended the interview prematurely and fled back to Canada.
Abolghasem Bayyenet is a member of the Iranian government. He serves as a trade expert for the Ministry of Commerce. But his background of study and service in the Foreign Ministry indicates that Bayyenet is more than just an economist or a suave and savvy businessman. In an article published in Global Politician on April 23, 2006, entitled “Is Regime Change Possible in Iran?”, Bayyenet leads his audience to think that he is a neutral observer, concerned lest the United States make an error in its assessment of Iran similar to the errors of intelligence and judgment that led to our 2003 invasion of Iraq, with its less than successful outcome. However, his carefully crafted bottom line is that the people of Iran are not going to support regime change and that hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually has achieved greater popularity than his predecessors because of his concern for the problems of the poor and his fight for economic and social justice. To the naive, Bayyenet makes Ahmadinejad sound positively saintly. Conveniently overlooked is the occurrence of over four thousand acts of protest, strikes, anti-regime rallies, riots, and even political assassinations by the people of Iran against the government in the year since Ahmadinejad assumed office. So too, the following facts are ignored: the sizeable flight of capital, the increase in unemployment, and the rising two-figure rate of inflation, all within this last year. Bayyenet is a regime apologist, and when one is familiar with the facts, his arguments ring very hollow. However, his English skills are excellent, and so the naОve might be beguiled by his commentary.
Mohsen Sazegara is VEVAK's “reformed revolutionary”. A student supporter of Khomeini before the 1979 revolution, Sazegara joined the “imam” on his return from exile and served in the government for a decade before supposedly growing disillusioned.
He formed several reformist newspapers but ran afoul of the hardliners in 2003 and was arrested and imprisoned by VEVAK. Following “hunger strikes”, Sazegara was released for health reasons and permitted to seek treatment abroad. Although critical of the government and particularly of Ahmadinejad and KhameneМ, Sazegara is yet more critical of opposition groups, leaving the impression that he favors internal regime change but sees no one to lead such a movement for the foreseeable future. His bottom line: no one is capable of doing what needs to be done, so we must bide our time. Very slick, but his shadow shows his likely remaining ties to the MOIS.
http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/article_27144.shtml
The terrorist is about to win the world, I fear that what happens this year will be final.
After 2007, if the world does not fight back, then there will be many countries that wear the same shoes as the Chechen does.
The Englishman, is already seeing what it looks like to be taken over.
Yesterday's afternoon service, attended by WND, was preceded by a sermon delivered by a prominent local sheik, who shouted into a loudspeaker, "Islam will dominate the world.". <<<
That message is in so many articles today, that it is difficult to find one without it.
A year ago, Davey and I had to hunt to find the words in print, to use in starting the WT thread.
The symptoms seem to indicate Litvinenko encountered a cloud of Polonium-220, ingesting some and inhaling some. The ingested amount caused the symptoms assoiated with the vomiting, but I am of the mind the mucus membrame damage was from inhalation. If Litvinenko was exposed by a cloud of material that he ingested and inhaled, I would say that would really be a sign this was an accident in handling and not an assassination attempt. Assassins would want to control the material to make sure it only hit its intended target. That is why I think the salt form that could be added to a drink is the form an assassin would use, and prepare well before bringing the material into the UK. <<<
First, thank you for keeping an eye on this blog.
The above made me think of all we learned about aerosol applied Anthrax.
We know they have perfected the Anthrax in the air, that is also why there are several town in the U.S. with air testing machines, manned by the gov.
I wish I could have downloaded the article of about 4 years ago, of the man who when arrested, had his van set up, so he could drive down a street and release something in the air.
Something to kill you.
Did you note the number of drive by shootings in America in the last week, I think they said 10 in Las Vegas in less than a week.
If we had the count on one page, we would make a connection and it would not be to 'gangs'.
http://www.google.com/search?q=IRK&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
I read the comments, the initials IRK go all over the place, but have a connection to Russia, there is a website IRK.ru or something like that.
From the timers and nails, I would not be looking for a bunch of teenagers, out for a party time.
Further, the issue of security in the Straits is not addressed. While security can be discussed in the forum to be set up under the mechanism, the focus of discussions will be on safety and environmental protection.
Moreover, direct user state assistance in enhancing security in the Straits continues to be unwelcome by the Straits states. This will disappoint India, Japan and the United States which have repeatedly offered such assistance<<<<
Thank you for the map in 1098, it is large enough for me to see. For some reason, it would not allow me to type a reply.
On the Somali report, the Palestine folks also said that they did not follow Zawahiri's orders, there should be a post on it above yours, as I am fairly sure that I posted at least one of them.
If all the groups start to deny Zawahiri, then, we may see a turn, but I doubt it.
The denial is so hidden that the average jihadi will not ever see it.
"Islamic forces have promised to wage an Iraq-style guerrilla war if defeated. ""
The ever present jihad response.
NEVADA - Nugget's shuttle van stolen from airport recovered near Galena area
http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061231/NEWS01/612310356/1002/NEWS
The above from post 1100:
These shuttle vans, are in the hundreds in Las Vegas, all clearly marked, some simple Chevie passenger vans, all the way up the line to fancy.
They are used for every type of passenger, that you can think of, and are always allowed to pull up close to any building.
Some haul employees to the parking lot, that will not be near the casino, others of course to the airport.
But if I were staying in the hotel at the casino, I could ask for one to take me to another casino, to a meeting, to go shopping, all types of places and again, it will deliver the passenger, right to the door.
In the areas near the Nevada casinos, we see them every day, all over the place.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1761099/posts
Survivors Found at Indonesia Crash Site
Posted on 01/01/2007 6:14:37 PM PST by Lunatic Fringe
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) Airline says 12 people survived Indonesian jetliner crash.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1761079/posts
Hundreds of cars torched overnight ["French Fry Alert!]
Mercury ^ | 1/1/07 | Reuters
Posted on 01/01/2007 4:58:33 PM PST by melt
VANDALS set fire to about 400 cars overnight and police said they arrested more than 250 people, as violence marred France's New Year celebrations.
However, a police spokesman said there were fewer problems than in 2005, when youths attacked trains in the Paris region and southeast of the country.
25,000 police were on duty throughout the country during the night, including 4500 in Paris, where the authorities banned fireworks and firecrackers.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Farewell, Mr. Annan
By Shlomo Shamir
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/807830.html
NEW YORK - Kofi Annan had the best of intentions, but not enough to turn him into a true hero who made a difference in the end. This summary of the term of the United Nations secretary general, who officially finishes his term today, appears in the book by The New York Times journalist James Traub about Annan. In "The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American World Power," Traub describes Annan as a chivalrous figure who was gifted with charisma and the art of expression, but was unable to confront the subterfuge and intrigues of a world that prefers its own selfish interests.
As opposed to several previous secretaries general, "Annan will be remembered in the UN, for good or for bad," said a veteran Western ambassador at the UN yesterday. "He was the SG during one of the stormiest periods in the history of the organization, which was characterized by regional wars and armed conflicts, and exposed the UN and the SG to challenges and goals never dreamed of by Annan's predecessors."
However, even his fans admit that Annan did not excel in dramatic achievements. The ambassador of a Middle Eastern country said that, "the admiration for him is mainly for his aristocratic and restrained presence in the midst of difficult events and horrors that took place in recent years in various places in the world, and some of which still continue."
And the fact is that the list of the ongoing crises and bloody conflicts that Annan is leaving behind to be dealt with by his successor, South Korean Ban Ki-moon, is long and frightening: Darfur, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Cyprus, Sri Lanka, Israel and the Palestinians. In all of them Annan failed consistently and humiliatingly in his attempts to turn himself into a dependable and influential factor. The horrible memories of Rwanda, Srebrenica and Kosovo are deeply etched in the annals of his era.
His greatest diplomatic failure was his inability to promote his plan to unify Cyprus, an initiative in which he invested a great deal of time and energy. The inability of his organization to stop the massacre of civilians in Darfur will also be credited in no small measure to Annan: "The secretary general represents 192 clients, each of which has conflicting interests," said a veteran diplomat known for his close ties with Annan, in an effort to defend him. "One of his great mistakes was that he tried to please everyone," said a Western ambassador. "He did not demonstrate firmness with Iran, and his meeting in Tehran with [President] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a mistake."
Nor did Annan succeed in carrying out the reforms he formulated to streamline the mechanisms of the international organization and improve its functioning. The failure has been explained due to the opposition of many member nations, which feared that the reforms would erode their status and reduce their areas of activity within the context of the organization. But Annan will be remembered as someone who wanted to refresh the organization, yet failed.
At his last press conference with UN correspondents last week, he pleaded with them: "Please, don't remember the oil-for-food affair as the affair that characterized my term." But the exposure of corruption in the UN program that followed the first Gulf War, a program whose purpose was to enable the export of oil from Iraq in exchange for food and drugs - and included the revelation that Annan's son had channeled money into his own pocket - in effect marked the end of Annan's diplomatic career.
Annan's defenders in the UN Secretariat claim that during his term he succeeded in making concern for the fate of people all over the world a No. 1 priority. "Annan propelled hardships such as poverty, AIDS, the abuse of women and ignorance to the forefront of the international arena, and that demanded great efforts on his part," said a veteran member of the secretariat.
Israel's UN delegation believes that the hostility toward the outgoing SG, which is shared by many people in Israel, is not justified. "At several junctions Annan revealed tough stances toward Israel and stained his Middle East record," said one senior member of the delegation. "He made critical and outspoken declarations that later turned out to be mistakes, such as blaming Israel for the deliberate killing of the four UNIFIL soldiers, and statements condemning Israel that he voiced during the second Lebanon war. But in general Annan was fair toward Israel, and worked to increase its involvement in the international organization."
The delegation has reservations about Annan's view of the conflict with the Palestinians as a source of tension in the world, but praised him for the fact that in his last speech in the UN Security Council, he condemned the anti-Israel resolutions passed in the UN General Assembly, which in his words "did not lead to any improvement in the situation of the Palestinians."
The Jewish people reserve a warm place in their hearts for Annan. He was the first secretary general who initiated an international discussion in the UN about anti-Semitism, and later declared the day of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as International Holocaust Day.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1761129/posts
Bombs blamed on ousted leader's supporters
Times Online ^ | 01-01-07
Posted on 01/01/2007 8:11:06 PM PST by mfnorman
A spate of bombings in Bangkok has raised fears of a violent campaign against the military Government. Worried about the damage that the New Year’s Eve explosions in the Thai capital will cause the tourist trade and business confidence, politicians and army chiefs went on television to deny that al-Qaeda sympathisers were behind the attacks that killed three and wounded thirty-eight, including two Britons.
The authorities blamed supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister, who was overthrown by an army coup in September. They claim that Mr Thaksin, who lives in exile in London, and his wealthy backers are trying to prevent the Government from seizing back billions of dollars earned through allegedly corrupt business deals.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
'Post' contributor target of terror plot
The Jerusalem Post
Dec. 31, 2006
'Post' contributor target of terror plot
by Greer Fay Cashman
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467633436&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Isi Leibler, a frequent contributor to the Op-Ed pages of The
Jerusalem Post discovered on Sunday night that he had been one of
the targets of a Palestinian assassination plot in 1975.
According to intelligence documents released on Sunday,
terrorists planned to kill pro-Israel politician Bob Hawke (who
was to become prime minister in 1983), then Israeli ambassador
Michael Elizur, Leibler and journalist Sam Lipski.
Leibler learned of the plot from his son Jonathan, a
Ra'anana-based lawyer who came across it by chance when surfing
the Internet.
"I knew that there were pressures against me, but I did not know
that I was a target for assassination," Isi Leibler told the Post.
Leibler said found it rather surrealistic to be looking back in
the context of Australia 30 years ago, while living now in
Jerusalem and facing an even more menacing, existential threat,
he said.
Liebler, who settled here eight years ago, said he would write to
the Australian authorities, to ask for an explanation as to why
he was not told at the time. He also intends to learn as much
about the foiled assassination as he can.
Lipski, who while working in Washington as the correspondent for
the national daily The Australian, also wrote for the Post and
maintained an association with the paper long after he stopped
being a regular contributor.
Like Leibler, Lipski was unaware he had been a target, although
he did suspect that someone might have been out to get him.
Lipski, who is now CEO of the Pratt Foundation, told the
Melbourne daily The Age that he was surprised that ASIO - the
Australian Security Intelligence Organization - had not told him
at the time. But he said the Jewish community had been given
general warnings about the possibility of high-profile figures
being sent parcel bombs.
"I did look over my shoulder for a while," he said. "I hope they
at least sent a police car down the street from time to time."
The information came to light with the release of 1976 Australian
cabinet documents, which had been classified for 30 years.
The details were in a secret ASIO report that had been presented
to the cabinet of prime minister Malcolm Fraser. The report
described the terrorist threat to Australia at a time when
Palestinian groups were hijacking aircraft and carrying out
attacks aimed at Jewish institutions in Europe and the Middle East.
ASIO identified a key figure in the plan as Munif Mohammed
(Ahmed) Abu Rish, who came to Australia in 1974 claiming to be a
journalist and indicated he would return in 1975 to plan the
ambassador's assassination. The terrorists were reportedly given
fake passports by Palestinians living in Australia.
Abu Rish was apparently diverted on to other tasks by the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine and did not return. He was
reportedly killed mistakenly in 1993 by the IDF in Gaza.
ASIO became concerned about potential Palestinian terrorist
activity in Australia long before 1976. As far back as 1972, 15
letter bombs addressed to Israeli diplomats and members of the
Jewish community were intercepted in Australian post offices.
Based on its intelligence sources, ASIO believed that the letter
bombs had been sent by the Black September terrorist wing of
Fatah, some of whose members entered Australia at various times
in the early 1970s.
The main clue to date that anything had been seriously amiss can
be found in Hawke's biography. Although there is no specific
mention of the assassination plot, there is a reference to the
distress he suffered in 1973 when he was telephoned by a man
claiming to be from Black September who threatened the lives of
his children.
The report in The Age refers to Hawke's address to the Zionist
Federation in Sydney in January 1974, when he broke down while
urging an end to the government's policy of neutrality in the
Middle East conflict. "I know that if we allow the bell to be
tolled for Israel, it will have tolled for me, for us all," he said.
While Lipski pursued a high-profile career in both the electronic
and print media, working for the Jewish as well as the general
press, Leibler became the president of Victorian Jewish Board of
Deputies and later president of the Executive Council of
Australian Jewry.
In both capacities, Leibler had close contacts with influential
politicians, especially Hawke, both when Hawke headed the
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and later when he
became prime minister. Although Hawke was already well-disposed
toward Israel, it is possible that Leibler, Lipski and other
members of the Jewish community had something to do with
enhancing his ardently pro-Israel attitude.
Passengers thrown off Goa flight
A plane travelling to Goa from the UK had to make an emergency landing when a group of passengers started to cause a disturbance on board.
The Monarch Airlines flight from Manchester had to divert to Budapest, where five men were told to disembark.
The plane, flight number 4502, landed safely in Goa at 0730 GMT, an airline spokesman said.
One of the men is believed to have been taken to hospital in Budapest and the other four re-boarded the plane.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said it had had no contact with the five on Sunday afternoon.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/6221419.stm
Published: 2006/12/31 16:14:36 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Man stable after machete attack
A man is recovering in hospital after being attacked with a machete in Greater Manchester.
The 34-year-old suffered serious head injuries following the attack which happened on Briscoe Lane in Newton Heath, Manchester, early on Monday.
Police were called to the address at 0300 GMT following reports of a disturbance involving around 15 people.
The man is in a stable condition. Police are appealing for witnesses to get in touch.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/6222563.stm
Published: 2007/01/01 12:20:54 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Venezuela inquiry into child porn
Venezuelan police are trying to find those responsible for distributing thousands of child pornographic videos filmed in schools across the capital.
Thousands of copies have been seized by the authorities from street traders in Caracas since Wednesday.
The videos, apparently filmed on mobile phones, showed 12- to 14-year-olds performing lewd acts, police said.
A video of post-mortem examinations performed on young people is also reported to have been found.
Few details are available but some of these films are thought to have originated in the United States, others in South America.
Shock
Officials from the mayor's office in Caracas said the authorities believed the images of children had been sent by e-mail, edited electronically and then put on discs and distributed to street sellers.
They have been sold on the streets, alongside many other pirated copies of pornographic videos, for about $2 each.
One woman is reported to have died of a heart attack after seeing her daughter in one of the videos.
The youngsters have been identified as being from 14 different schools in the Caracas area.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6217245.stm
Published: 2006/12/29 18:33:29 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Crowd protests at India murders
Angry crowds, protesting against the disappearance and murder of several children, have been fighting with police in the Noida suburb of Delhi.
The skulls of 17 people - most of them children - and other human remains have been found in a drain in the area.
A local businessman and his servant have been arrested and charged with multiple rape, murder and abduction.
Five senior police officers have been suspended, accused of ignoring people's fears over missing children.
Groups of protesters pelted police with stones while TV footage showed a female protester being hit by a policewoman.
The two women were filmed hitting and clawing each other, and pulling at each other's hair.
The enraged mob attacked several other police personnel, hurling stones at them.
Several policemen picked up the stones which were thrown at them and hurled them back at the mob.
They also used batons to chase away the crowd.
Emotions are running very high in an area where dozens of children have disappeared over the last two years.
Angry parents and other residents say the police ignored their concerns and allowed the crimes to continue for two years.
'Negligence'
On Sunday, local residents forced their way into the house where the accused businessman lived.
They hurled bricks and vandalised the building, where diggers have uncovered human skeletons in the back garden and plastic bags containing body parts in the front drain.
A total of 17 skulls have been discovered. Many of the victims are believed to have been sexually assaulted before being killed.
Police said they began digging around the house on Friday after a domestic servant who worked there admitted that he had raped and killed several children.
The children were reported to have been lured to the house with promises of sweets while the women were offered jobs.
Neighbours are reported to have contacted the police after smelling a foul stench coming from the drain outside the house.
The search for more remains continues. Local people say that almost 40 children have disappeared during recent months.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/6222289.stm
Published: 2007/01/01 12:04:07 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Top Indian Maoist 'is shot dead'
Police in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh say they have killed a senior leader of a banned Maoist group.
Chandramouli, alias Devanna, one of the most wanted Maoist leaders, carried a reward of one million rupees (£11,500) on his head.
He is the second member of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-M) leadership council to be killed in the state this year, police say.
More than 200 people have been killed in Maoist-related violence this year.
There has been no comment from the Maoists.
Senior police official JG Murali said that Chandramouli and his wife were shot dead in a clash with a special security team, the Greyhound force, in Visakhapatnam district on Wednesday night.
The Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and landless in India. They are active across a number of states.
Earlier this year India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the Maoists as the single greatest threat to the country's internal security.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/6213801.stm
Published: 2006/12/28 10:16:04 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Four arrested over group attack
Four people have been arrested after an attack which left a man with serious facial injuries.
Officers said the victim was walking alone in Denmark Villas, Hove, just before midnight on Saturday when he was attacked by a group of youths.
Police said members of the public gave the man first aid. They want to speak to people who were there at the time.
Sussex Police also said it was thought the group may have been causing problems in the area before the attack.
"We would like to hear from anyone who might have been affected by their anti-social behaviour," a spokesman said.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/6222237.stm
Published: 2007/01/01 10:21:27 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Weblog
The Middle East and Islam Dominate U.S. Public Life
It's about as official as can be: in the words of an Associated Press end-of-year story, "Events in the Mideast shaped much of how we [Americans] viewed 2006."
As voted by AP members, only one of the top 10 news stories of 2006 (#5, Congressional scandals) had nothing to do with the Middle East. Five of them were entirely Middle Eastern or Muslim in content (#1 Iraq; #6 Saddam Hussein convicted and executed, #7 the still-unnamed Lebanon war during the summer, #9 the London airliner plot, #10 the disaster in Darfur). Four of them were in substantial part Middle Eastern or Muslim (#2 the U.S. elections, #3 nuclear standoffs with North Korea and Iran, #4 illegal immigration, #7 Donald Rumsfeld resigns as secretary of defense).
Comments: (1) This domination of the news is not a sudden thing but has been building over decades; though less dramatic the case, I recall the Middle East having an outsized media presence when I entered the field in 1969 – and that was before several Arab-Israeli wars, the 1973-74 oil crisis the Iranian revolution, the Kuwait war, and other mega-events.
(2) This prominence does not mean that the Middle East and Muslims are more important than other regions and peoples, but that they are more in ferment. Little breaking news came out of the Soviet Union in its time or China today, but endless twists and turns take place in – and are reported prominently from – Gaza or Iraq. (December 31, 2006)
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Islamists in the Hospital Ward
A number of incidents are showing the deep incompatibility of radical Islam with modern medicine. Here are a trio to get this blog going, with more examples to be listed, in reverse chronological order, as they occur:
A typical anti-bacterial gel found in UK hospitals.
Muslim visitors refuse anti-bacterial gel: British hospitals offer dispensers with anti-bacterial gel outside wards so that visitors can be sure not to bring in such infections as MRSA and PVL. But the gel contains alcohol, prompting some Muslims to refuse to use the hand cleansers on religious grounds. A National Health Service employee, Theresa Poupa told in December 2006 of her experience visiting a sick relative at the London Chest Hospital:
I could not believe it - the signs are large enough and clear enough but they just took no notice and walked straight onto the ward. I was there almost every day for three weeks and I saw it repeated dozens and dozens of times. When I raised the matter with the nursing staff they just shrugged and said that Muslims were refusing to use the gel because it contained alcohol. They said they couldn't force visitors to use the gel and I understand that — but I was astonished that anyone who didn't wash their hands was allowed onto a ward. I know the dangers that bugs like MRSA can cause. They kill hundreds of patients a year.
Male refused treatment by female doctors: A 17-year-old male shepherd from Konya, Turkey, referred to only as "A.G.," arrived at the Konya Testing Hospital complaining of swollen testicles. He was sent to get ultrasound tests, but two headscarved (i.e., Islamist) female radiology doctors refused him service. Not receiving proper attention, A.G. later had one of his testicles removed by operation. The case has provoked much attention. The hospital's head of urology, Celal Tutuncu, portrayed the case as very "black and white," and said that action would be taken. Members of the opposition CHP party raised the case in parliament in December 2006. A CHP lawyer, Atilla Kart, noted that "This is the destruction wrought by religious references spilling over into public administration."
Male relatives preventing female patients from being treated by male doctors: So rampant is the problem in France of Muslim husbands preventing their wives and other female relatives from being treated by male doctors (for example, women in labor have not had epidurals because the anesthetist was a man) that Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin reportedly planned in February 2004 to propose legislation to stop this from happening (how he plans to do this is not explained). (December 29, 2006)
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Mosque in Cordoba, Church in Damascus
Spain's Islamic Board wrote a letter to Pope Benedict XVI to be allowed to pray in Cordoba Cathedral, on the grounds that the building was originally a mosque before being transformed into a church in the thirteenth century. "What we wanted was not to take over that holy place," reads the Islamic Board's letter, "but to create in it, together with you and other faiths, an ecumenical space unique in the world which would have been of great significance in bringing peace to humanity."
The Islamic Board took this initiative after senior Catholic clergy announced they "did not recommend" this step and indeed declared themselves unprepared to permit the cathedral's shared use with any other faith. On an operational level, security guards in the cathedral are said often to prevent Muslims from praying inside the medieval mosque that surrounds its church structure.
The Islamic Board's general secretary, Mansur Escudero, complained that some in the Church feel threatened by Spain's growing Muslim population. "There are reactionary elements within the Catholic Church, and when they hear about the construction of a mosque, or Muslim teachings in state schools, or about veils, they see it as a sign we are growing and they oppose it."
Comment: The Muslim demand is all very reasonable – but only if Muslims permit reciprocal rights to Christians. For example, the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus is built over a Byzantine church and to this day contains a shrine said to contain the head of John the Baptist; Christians should be granted leave to pray there. Or the grandest church of Byzantium, Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, for centuries a mosque and now a museum – it too should be made available for Christian services. The Vatican has made reciprocity the cornerstone of its relations with Muslims, and this looks like a simple place to start implementing that policy.
St John's Shrine, which is inside the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus.
(December 26, 2006)
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Is the Hatay Problem Solved?
Ever since the French government ceded the Alexandretta province of Syria to Turkey in 1939, its control by Ankara has been a sore, obstructing the two countries' relations and at times exacerbating crises between them, most recently in 1998.
Hatay, a province of Turkey since 1939. Alexandretta (or Iskanderun) is its capital.
It therefore came as a bombshell to read yesterday an article by Yoav Stern, "Turkey singing a new tune," in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz that the 66-year-old problem has been solved, and all the more so as the news comes bye-the-bye in an article about Turkish-Israeli relations.
The question asked by Channel 2's analyst for Arab affairs, Ehud Ya'ari, brought a satisfied smile to the face of Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom at the joint press conference held last Tuesday in Jerusalem with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. Ya'ari asked the most interesting question at the press conference, which touched on the territorial conflict between Syria and Turkey. "Can Syria's recognition last month of full Turkish sovereignty over the Hatay province be seen as a precedent for the case of the Golan Heights?" Ya'ari asked.
Everyone waited suspense fully for an answer from Gul, who immediately perceived a trap. He answered with diplomatic finesse, without batting an eyelid: "The two cases are not similar, there is no territorial disagreement between Turkey and Syria, and in the second case, the United Nations determined that the territory is occupied."
The question illustrates the way in which Turkey's relations with Syria resemble Israeli-Syrian relations. On the territorial level, there is a long-standing conflict between the two countries, which was finally resolved last month, away from the eyes of the media. The conflict involved a region known as the Hatay province in Turkey and Alexandretta in Syria. Conquered in 1938 by the Turkish army, the Turks view it as an inseparable part of their country. The Syrians view it as a part of their homeland that was torn away with the consent of the French during the Mandate period, before the Syrians achieved independence. The Syrians point to the Arab residents of the region to bolster their claim.
Ever since Syrian independence in 1946, the area has been a source of constant tension. Until last month. Turkey and Syria spent a year and a half preparing a free-trade agreement between the two countries. Two Syrian prime ministers and the president - Mohammed Mustafa Mero, Naji al-Otari and Bashar Assad - visited Ankara. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan paid a return visit last month and finally signed an agreement in Damascus.
Even more surprisingly, this Ha'aretz article was cited today as a source of information on the agreement by the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet, implying that the Turkish press knew nothing of this major accord, apparently signed on December 22.
Looking back on the coverage of that summit meeting, one finds just hints of such a deal. Here is Burak Akýncý's account for Agence France-Presse, dated December 22 and titled "Turkey, Syria sign free-trade accord amid warming ties on Erdogan visit."
Former foes Turkey and Syria signed a free-trade accord and said they had agreed to put their differences behind them during a visit Wednesday by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan, at the start of a two-day mission, and his Syrian counterpart Mohammed Naji Otri signed the deal, which had been under negotiation for several years. …
A Turkish diplomatic source said Damascus lifted its reservations to signing the trade deal "after a certain accord" was reached on Turkey's sovereignty in the southern province of Hatay, formerly Alexandretta, on which Syria had claims.
Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan and Syrian president Bashshar al-Asad, getting along.
This all very elusive. Two questions come to mind: (1) How can such a major development not be reported on? One imagines that the Syrian regime is not exactly eager to have the news reported on, while the Turk leadership is willing to keep quiet about its victory, if that is the price it must pay. (2) Where exactly do things stand on Hatay? Has Bashar Assad given up Syrian claims in perpetuity, or something lesser? Has the claim been removed from schoolbooks, government maps, political rhetoric, and so on?
Comment: If the Syrians really have abandoned this claim, it was foreshadowed already four years ago. Here is Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara, quoted in an Agence France-Presse report from February 5, 2001 (not online):
Asked about Damascus' claims over the southern Turkish province of Hatay, which is often shown as Syrian territory on Syrian maps, Shara said that "maybe several years" were needed to settle the problem. "Issues that seem sensitive today, could be easily resolved in the future when the bilateral climate reaches a level at which they will not pose difficulties," the Syrian minister said. "It is wrong to give priorities to such issues now becuase this could harm cooperation in other fields ... In the end they will be resolved, but we should not push more than we have to."
(January 10, 2005)
Jan. 24, 2005 update: Ehud Ya'ari, cited above, has fleshed out the picture in his Jerusalem Report column dated today, "Syrian Overture" (not online):
For years I've made it a rule to read every article that political columnist Rosanna Boumunsef writes in An-Nahar, Lebanon's most important daily. She knows what she's talking about and writes with precision.
So too with her column of December 28, following the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Syria. She quotes Lebanese Druse leader Walid Jumblatt, who of late has become the most vocal spokesman for opponents of Syrian rule in his country: "Syria has gotten over its Alexandretta complex," Jumblatt asserted, "and agreed to having Europe on its border." In other words, Syria has given up its 65-year-old claim to the sanjak (province) of Alexandretta (Iskanderun) on the Mediterranean coast, realizing that with Turkey due to join the European Union, there is no chance whatsoever of returning the province to Arab rule.
Alexandretta was given up by Syria's mandatory ruler, France, in 1939 and annexed by Turkey, which renamed the province Hatay. Turkish settlement in the region totally changed the demographic balance, reducing the relative size of the Arab minority. A year ago Syrian leader Bashar al-Asad visited Ankara for the first time, and he carefully avoided saying a word about the contested territory. Since then there's been a rapid rapprochement between the two countries, which as recently as 1998 were on the verge of war because of Syria's support for the Kurdish rebellion led by the PKK. Recently, when Erdogan visited Damascus in turn, an agreement was signed on jointly building a dam on the Orontes River on the border between Alexandretta and Syria - putting an official seal on Syria's acceptance of the loss of the sanjak.
Boumunsef quotes Asad as saying in private conversations with several of his guests that he is proud of his success at establishing warm ties with Turkey "despite the sharp territorial dispute." Asad added that "in this framework, Syria can reach peace with Israel as well." What did he mean by that? It's not clear, but Boumunsef cautiously asks, "Is the meaning of these statements that flexibility is possible in dealing with other issues, similar to his pragmatic approach to Alexandretta?"
That is: Could it be that one day Syria will deal with the Golan Heights as it is now dealing with Alexandretta?
Let's stress: Syria has not signed on to any concession concerning Alexandretta. In principle, it maintains its claim to sovereignty there. But one official commentator, Imad Shu'eibi, head of the Center for Strategic Studies in Damascus, has made clear that in fact it's been decided to "put off for coming generations" the dream of Syrian Alexandretta, and to not let the dispute prevent cooperation in other areas.
The Syrians have a very hard time explaining in public their surrender to the Turks. They are also signaling that the Golan is different. Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Shara has even made a point of correcting the impression that Asad is ready for negotiations "without preconditions," and has explained that insisting on a return to the June 4, 1967 lines is not a "condition" but a "legitimate necessity."
But one cannot avoid concluding from the Alexandretta business that Syria does not regard its borders as eternally sacred. And not only has it accepted the loss of Alexandretta, but in a border agreement signed last month with Jordan, Damascus adopted another principle: Demography can result in border corrections. Syria got Jordan's assent to annexing land along the Yarmuk River where Syrian peasants settled after the Syrian invasion of Jordan in Black September, 1970, and in exchange gave up land to Jordan in other areas.
Asad's pragmatic flexibility on borders may indicate that wider strategic concerns are getting preference over the old slogans about holding on to "every grain of sand" and the oaths never to forget "usurped" land. So there is reason to see whether the young president is willing to consider cautiously a change in Syria's stance toward Israel without demanding that withdrawal from the Golan be the first, immediate, topic on the agenda.
Ya'ari then goes on the consider the implications of the the Hatay recognition for the Golan Heights and Israel.
May 28, 2005 update: In a news item on a Syrian missile that malfunctioned and exploded in southern Hatay, Agence France-Presse gives a little background on Hatay: Syria and Turkey, it writes, "share a long border, and Hatay, which is claimed by Syria, is at its western end." Reiterating this point, AFP notes that, "Despite the improved ties between the two countries, two sticking points remain: the waters of the Euphrates River, which has its source in Turkey, and the status of Hatay."
Comment: Either Agence France-Presse has forgotten its own reporting (see its December 22, 2004 coverage from Damascus, quoted above) or the Syrians still are claiming Hatay. Which is it?
Dec. 22, 2006 update: Two years after the signing of this accord, the Syrian tourism ministry still shows a map that claims Hatay as an integral part of the Syrian Arab Republic.
Map on the Syrian Ministry of Tourism website. (This identical map appears whether one uses the English, French, or Arabic versions of the website.)
Comment: Is Damascus playing the same game with Ankara that the Arabs do all the time with Jerusalem, that is, sign an agreement and then ignore it?
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http://www.danielpipes.org/
Terror suspect's wife released
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20999213-5006506,00.html
Terror suspect's wife released
The wife of fugitive terror mastermind Noordin Top was released today
from
an Indonesian jail after being given nine months' remission on her
sentence
for harbouring him, reports said.
Munfiatun, 31, was arrested in 2004 and sentenced to three years in
Sukun
women's prison in Malang, East Java.
She was released early after the government granted her nine months'
remission, the official Antara news agency reported.
She was picked up by family members and friends, including M Achwan, a
member of the Indonesian Mujahedin Council (MMI) chaired by hardline
Muslim
cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.
Bashir himself was last month cleared by the Supreme Court of any role
in
the 2002 Bali bombings. He was released in June after serving 26 months
in
jail.
"Thank God that I had been freed," Munfiatun said.
Munfiatun, who married Noordin in July 2004, was also accused of
falsifying
data to obtain her certificate of marriage to Southeast Asia's most
wanted
man.
MetroTV showed pictures of her in a flowing black robe while still in
prison.
She was said to have been a devout Muslim and taught religion to fellow
inmates during her jail term.
Noordin and fellow Malaysian Azahari Husin, who was killed during a
police
raid in November 2006, were key members of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah
Islamiah extremist network, blamed for a series of terrorist attacks
including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88
Australians.
The pair are believed to have masterminded triple suicide bombings on
Bali
in 2005 which killed 20 people, including four Australians.
Military aircraft lands in Halifax after gear indicated non ...
ChronicleHerald.ca - Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada
... a US military plane to make an unscheduled landing Saturday at
Halifax
International Airport after a flight indicator warned the crew about a
fire
on board. ...
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/550180.html
See all stories on this topic:
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Plane crash in Hillsboro kills pilot
The Register-Guard - Eugene,OR,USA
... Wilson had radioed to the Hillsboro Airport control tower that he
was
having engine ... the mud and flipped over on its top,'' Washington
County
Fire District No. ...
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/12/31/b2.or.planecrash2.1231.p1.php?section=nation_world
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The day news wouldn't stop
Statesman Journal - Salem,OR,USA
... in early, hoping to craft an online version of the story for people
heading up to Portland International Airport. ... The McMahan's
furniture
store was on fire. ...
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061231/NEWS/612310313/1001
Airport blast delays under-fire Cassano
Haveeru Daily - Male ,Maldives
... coach, Italian international striker Antonio Cassano missed
training
Saturday after he was caught in the chaos of the bombing at Barajas
airport, Spanish media ...
http://www.haveeru.com.mv/?page=engdetails&id=13227
US jet lands on false alarm
Canada.com - Hamilton,Ontario,Canada
... V twin-engine jet with 15 people on board landed shortly before 4
pm
local time after an alarm indicated there was a fire, said airport
spokesman Peter Spurway ...
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=b165fb6d-7c41-4e6d-be47-2f82c0ac16da&k=30839
Pilot killed in single-engine plane crash at Gillespie Field
San Diego Union Tribune - United States
... Gasoline leaked from the fuel tanks, prompting firefighters to
douse
the fuselage with foam to prevent a fire, Zech said. The airport was
closed
for 45 minutes ...
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20061231-1520-bn31plane.html
See all stories on this topic:
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1 dead in plane crash
Macomb Daily - Mount Clemens,MI,USA
... wooded area in northern Macomb County as he attempted to land at
Romeo
Airport. ... was pronounced dead at the scene even as Washington
Township
fire crews worked ...
http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/010107/loc_20070101003.shtml
4 die in W. Charlotte plane crash
Charlotte Observer - Charlotte,NC,USA
... Brisley said the control tower at Charlotte-Douglas International
Airport notified fire officials of a crash at 11:30 am The plane,
registered to Shelby real ...
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/16359241.htm
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