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Posted on 04/01/2006 5:00:12 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
He also said the laptop had software capable of modelling the impact
of an attack on a US dam and calculating the damage caused by a
breach. <<<<<
This reminds me of a conversation that skipped and I picked
up on the radio for a few minutes last week, it was some type of Trucker call in, appeared to be All Truckers, but not the one that is always on, which I sometimes turn for a
little bit.
They talked of what they could do and were doing in the Trucker Alert Program that Homeland Security has.
One man said that his partner had spotted 3 mid-east type men taking photographs of the Parker Dam, and reported it.
He said the photos were wrong, not what a tourist would take.
From my memory of when I lived in Wellton, it is thought that if the Parker Dam collapsed, it would take out the area from Parker, Az, to the gulf of Mexico.
It would also take out a lot of electric generators and the
Imperial Dam at Yuma.
I see no reason for there to have been any changes, we also
have a dam at Laughlin, 25 miles from me, that is the Lake Mohave dam.
If Hoover Dam goes, I will have river front property, as my valley is an old channel of the Colorado River, but I am on the slope of the mountains, so will not be touched.
This valley is about 18 miles wide. The water will go down
the middle of it, not coming toward me.
If Hoover Dam went out, it would take all the above Dams with it, as they are all down stream, as the river flows,
200 to 300 miles.
Glad you were able to post these good links, I am lost on
what to post, over 400 new emails today and I haven't touched yesterday.
The Nation, 3 April 2006
Defence to be made stronger (Mubashir Hassan)
LAHORE - Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Sunday pledged to make country's
defence stronger, and at the same time vowed to raise people's living
standard by passing on to them the fruits of development. Addressing a
public gathering at Tehsil Choonian, district Kasur, the PM said
country's defence was strong with its state-of-the art missile and nuclear
capability, and would be made even stronger. Prior to his address, the PM
inaugurated supply of gas to the residents of Choonian Tehsil. Chief
Minister Ch Pervaiz Elahi and MNA, Sardar Talib Hassan Nakai also
addressed the gathering, while State Minister for Housing and MNA from
Choonian, Sardar Asif Nakai presented welcome address.
http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/april-2006/3/index1.php
The complete newsletter can be read at the Pinr site, this is only part of it. The articles are linked from the newsletter, they do not show as links here.
Power and Interest News Report (PINR)
http://www.pinr.com
content@pinr.com
+1 (312) 242-1874
http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,18692391%255E
1702,00.html
UK 'FBI' crime unit launched
From correspondents in London
03apr06
A NEW British national crime-fighting unit modelled on the US Federal
Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) will be launched by the government today with
the aim
of taking on major criminal gangs.
The Serious Organised Crime Agency, which will have a staff of about
5000,
will tackle drug traffickers, people smugglers, global pedophile
networks
and sophisticated fraudsters.
It will have new powers such as the use of evidence from phone tapping,
plea
bargaining for witnesses, and a more sophisticated witness protection
program.
SOCA's chairman Sir Stephen Lander, former head of Britain's domestic
spy
agency MI5, said last year one of its main goals would be to take on
people
smugglers who exploit illegal immigrants, such as the Chinese shellfish
gatherers who drowned in Morecambe Bay in northern England.
It will also focus on those criminals involved in trafficking women,
often
from eastern Europe, into Britain and forcing them to work as
prostitutes.
"Our aim is to disrupt and destabilise criminal gangs and reduce the
harm
they are causing to the UK," Bill Hughes, SOCA's director general said
to
the Sunday Telegraph.
The cost of organised crime in Britain is estimated to be about 40
billion
pounds ($73.23 billion) per year and is rising.
"The drugs market, we think, is worth 7 billion pounds a year. People
smuggling, we have estimated, is worth about 1 billion pounds in the
UK," Mr
Hughes said.
"We want to get these criminals off the streets."
Last month, London police said it was estimated there were 170
organised
criminal gangs made up of over 24 different nationalities working in
the
capital alone.
SOCA's role combines the work previously carried out by the National
Crime
Squad and the National Criminal Intelligence Service as well as some
areas
which immigration and customs officers used to enforce.
Is Europe Threatened by the Wave of Islamism?
â–º www.focus-news.net
http://www.focus-news.net/
â–º Focus
Mar 20 2006 â–º Mar 20. Analyst Alex Alexiev in an interview with FOCUS News Agency
Alex Alexiev was born in Sofia in 1941 in the family of the great Bulgarian journalist and cartoonist Rayko Alexiev, who was killed by the People’s Court. In 1965 Alexiev emigrates to the USA where he wins recognition as one of the best analysts on former Soviet Union. Currently he is an adviser on national Security with the Pentagon and the CIA.
He is also a Vice President for Research with the Center for Security Policy and leads the program on “Islamic Radicalism And International Terrorismâ€.
During nearly 20 years as a senior analyst with the national security division of the Rand Corporation, Alexiev directed numerous research projects for the Department of Defense and other agencies. He is the author of several books and myriad monographs and articles on national security issues.
FOCUS: Mr Alexiev, It‘s good to see you in Bulgaria again. What! brings you here this time?
Alex Alexiev: I’m here for just a few days to see my relatives and a few friends. I organized a conference in Paris last Monday and used the opportunity to spend a few days in the motherland.
FOCUS: What was your conference about?
Alex Alexiev: Like most of the things I do these days, the conference was about radical Islam and, more specifically, Islamism in Europe and France. My think tank in Washington (Center for Security Policy) co-sponsored it with a new French institute (L’Institute Pour la Defense de la Democratie). It took place at the prestigious city hall of the 3rd Arrondissement and was extremely well attended by specialists and media alike.
What was most encouraging was the participation of a great number of moderate Muslims, especially women, who have become one of the main targets of the Islamists and therefore are particularly disturbed by what’s going on in France and Western Europe as a whole.
FOCUS: You call Islamism an ideology, while many people would consider it a religion.
Alex Alexiev: The religion is called Islam. Islamism is a political ideology which is totalitarian in nature and much closer to fascism and communism than to Islam as a religion. This is an essential difference which is not always understood European governments. It is sort of like the difference between society and socialism.
FOCUS: Why do you believe that European governments do not understand what Islamism is if, as you say, it is a fascist-like ideology?
Alex Alexiev: There are a number of reasons for that. First, many governments truly do not understand the problem they have or at l! east its magnitude. Others are paralyzed by political correctness and are afraid to face reality. It’s a phenomenon psychologists call cognitive dissonance, which means that you are afraid to admit something to yourself because it is just very painful to do so. Let me give an example. After the London metro bombings last July, the British government and the media went out of there way to tell the British people that the bombers were just a few misguided individuals, that had been brainwashed by a few extremists imams and how the vast majority of Muslims and Muslim organizations were moderate and outraged by such terrorist acts.
The reality unfortunately is very different. It is probably true that the majority of British Muslims are moderate, but it is also true that a substantial and growing minority has fallen under the sway of Islamic extremists.
In 2004, the British Home Office conducted a survey that confirms that conclusively. According to it, 26% of British Muslims f! eel no loyalty to Britain, 13% approve of terrorism and 1% have “eng d or assisted in terrorist acts at home or abroad†1% equals 16,000 people! More recently, 40% of British Muslims said that they would like to see sharia introduced in the U.K.
FOCUS: These are disturbing figures. How did it come to that in a rich and tolerant country like Great Britain?
Alex Alexiev: There a number of answers to that and it is a process that has taken a long time and I don’t have the space here to answer it in any detail. But very shortly, part of the blame rests with European governments who believed that most Muslims were temporary “guest workers†that were going to go home eventually and did not make any efforts to integrate them at all. Coupled with traditional European xenophobia which is especially strong in countries like France and Germany, this led to the ghettoization of Muslim communities and their growing dependence on social welfare and permanent unemployment alongside a growing criminal economy of narcotics and stolen g! oods. In this atmosphere, the growing resentment of the second and third generation Muslim immigrants against European society and culture has provided a fertile soil for thousands of radical Islamists from the Middle East and as far as South Asia to move in and preach their hateful message against Christian and Jewish “infidels,†and European secular democracy but also Muslim moderates whom they call munafiqin (hypocrites).
And all of this has been made possible by huge sums of Saudi money (that the Saudis themselves admit exceeds $90 billion in the past 35 years or so) spent on fomenting Islamic fascism.
FOCUS: The picture you are painting is indeed disturbing but the numbers of such radical Muslims is still extremely small. Are not exaggerating when you talk about an existential threat to European society?
Alex Alexiev: I wish I was exaggerating but unfortunately I’m not.
The Muslim population in Western Europe currently is about 20 million but it! is growing at more than 50% every decade because of high fertility huge numbers of legal (family reunification, asylum) and illegal immigration.
The native European population, on the other hand, with a TFR (total fertility rate) of 1.5% (children per woman) is declining at about one half percent (or 2.3 million) per year, which to put it mildly is collective suicide on the installment plan.
Moreover, the Muslim population is young (27yrs average) while the natives are old (38yrs average) and ageing rapidly. The bottom line is that in 25 years or less, the under 20 yrs old cohort in most European urban areas will be majority Muslim. If at that time, they are as radicalized as they are today, it is difficult to see how Western Europe can remain a democratic and secular society.
FOCUS: Where does Bulgaria fit in this pessimistic equation?
Alex Alexiev: So far in much better shape, but lately there are some very disturbing trends noticeable. First, I have to say that the Bulgarian Muslims, like those of the rest of the! Balkans and Russia are syncretic and of Sufi origin and have always been very moderate. Recently however there are two trends that give me reason to be very concerned.
First, there is the increasing presence in Bulgaria of radical Wahhabi groups like Al-Waqf al-Islami and many others which have lots of money to buy mosques and imams or build new ones for the express purpose of preaching hatred.
Secondly, and much more importantly right now, is the disturbing trend of the rapid Islamization of Turkey under the government of Erdogan. I don’t have the time in this interview to go into any detail, but what we have in Turkey today is a wholesale assault by Erdogan’s regime on the secular traditions of Turkish society as established by Mustafa Kemal. In virtually all areas of society, be it education, the judiciary system, financial institutions, culture and last but most, the military, Turkish secularism is presently seriously threatened. If Turkey, God forbids, succumbs to ! Islamism, our national security will be seriously challenged.
[a post for research and study]
Id card a 'present' to terrorists and criminals
â–º http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=441172006
â–º Scotsman / by James Kirkup
Mar 21 2006 â–º Mar 21. A national identity card scheme will be a
"present" to terrorists, criminal gangs and foreign spies, one of Britain's
most respected former intelligence agents has told ministers. The
warning from Daphne Park, who served for 30 years as a senior controller for
MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, came as the parliamentary power
struggle over the identity cards bill dragged on.
The House of Lords once again defeated the government last night. Peers
backed a joint Conservative and Liberal Democrat amendment that would
prevent ministers making identity cards compulsory until at least 2011.
It is the fourth time the Lords have sent the bill back to the Commons
in a parliamentary ping-pong game that could go on for months.
At issue is the "voluntary" nature of the proposed card. Labour
ministers insist that the cards will be optional, but also want to create a
rule meaning that anyone renewing a passport after 2008 must also buy an
identity card.
Opponents argue that is "compulsion by stealth" and question Labour's
mandate for the scheme. The Labour manifesto at last year's election
promised the cards would be "voluntary at first".
Baroness Scotland, speaking for the government in the Lords, insisted
that MPs have already voted for the document link and that should stand.
"The Commons did discuss this issue," she said. "This is not compulsion
by stealth as has been suggested."
While ministers have hinted at using the Parliament Act to force the ID
cards bill through the Lords, peers insist they will continue to
resist.
The former MI6 agent will be a key part of that resistance.
Baroness Park, who was made a peer by Margaret Thatcher, passed a
withering verdict on the proposed cards, ridiculing ministers' suggestions
that the system will make people safer. In fact, she said, the complete
opposite is true. "The very creation of such an enormous national
identity register will be a present to terrorists; it will be a splendid
thing for them to disrupt and blow up," she said. "It will also provide
valuable information to organised crime and to the intelligence services
of unfriendly countries. It will be accessible to all of these," she
said.
The warning about the risk of foreign spying comes at a time when MI5,
the domestic security service, has cut its counter-espionage budget,
prompting concerns among MPs who oversee the UK intelligence services.
Baroness Park concluded: "I find it extraordinarily difficult to
believe why anyone would voluntarily and enthusiastically come forward and
say: 'Do let me join this dangerous club'."
Baroness Park is not the first former intelligence officer to question
the value of a national ID card. Dame Stella Rimington, the former head
of MI5, last year said she did not believe the cards would make Britain
any safer from terrorist attack; they would quickly be copied, she
said.
Whereas Dame Stella's background was in combating internal threats,
especially the IRA, Baroness Park has extensive experience of foreign
intelligence operations. Now in her eighties, her career began during the
Second World War, when she volunteered for service and was assigned to
train Resistance fighters who were being parachuted into France in the
run-up to D-Day. When the war ended, she was posted to Berlin where she
was ordered to locate and secure German military scientists before they
fell into the hands of advancing Russian forces. That work brought her
to the attention of MI6, who made extensive use of her services using
the Cold War.
Although she has repeatedly refused invitations to publish her memoirs,
many of Baroness Park's exploits as a spy are in the public domain -
she is something of a living legend in the British intelligence
community. Among her Cold War postings were extensive service in Moscow, running
agents inside the Soviet regime. During the Vietnam war, she was a
covert operative in Hanoi. She is also known to have been in Congo during
the turbulent 1960s, at one point smuggling a defecting official out of
the country in the boot of her car.
[a post for studya and research]
The inspiration behind Uganda's `terror gang'
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/04/03/2003300699
THE OBSERVER , KITGUM, UGANDA
Monday, Apr 03, 2006,Page 6
It was one of the deadliest encounters UN troops had ever engaged in. Guatemalan Special
Forces, operating under UN command in northeastern Congo, made contact with 300 Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA) fighters who had crossed from Uganda into the Garamba National
Park.
Authorized to use maximum force against the warlords and militias, the Guatemalans
closed in for the kill. But the LRA unit laid an ambush. After a fierce gun battle, eight
Guatemalans were dead. The terrorists beheaded the commander and escaped.
How could one of the world's most experienced special forces be outfought by what is
usually described as a cult of half-crazed cannibals whose tactics are murder, rape and
pillage? How could their leader, a dreadlocked psychopath called Joseph Kony with no
military training, lead such a successful army?
The LRA is portrayed as a mindless terror gang, so evil it makes political or military analysis
unnecessary. But the difficult truth is that, although the LRA controls no territory, it has
also been one of the most effective guerrilla armies in Africa.
Supplied until recently by Sudan, it moves quickly and undetected, breaks into small groups
and re-forms.
The LRA grew out of the Holy Spirit Movement, a bizarre cult, led by Alice Lakwena, a priest
who claimed that her fighters were protected from bullets by butter. She was defeated by
the Ugandan army, but Kony, said to be her cousin, took up the cause.
Its origins go back to the defeat of the Okello regime by the army of Ugandan President
Yoweri Museveni in 1986. Tito Okello, a former British army sergeant, was an Acholi, the
ethnic group which formed the backbone of the Ugandan army. The 1986 defeat traumatized
the Acholis, but they did not abandon their fighting skills.
In the 1990s, Sudan gave the LRA refuge and supplied it with weapons in retaliation for
Ugandan support for southern Sudanese rebels. Western governments have pressed Sudan
to end its support, and a new plan is to get the Sudanese to arrest Kony or drive him into
Congo, where the UN could hand him to the International Criminal Court.
Accepted wisdom is that the LRA is a mad cult led by a lunatic: kill Kony and the problem
will go away.
But a young Anglican church worker in Kitgum said: "Kony has a spirit. It is in a sheep
which leads him around and tells him what to do. When the spirit comes into him, his face
changes, his voice changes. It is someone else. You must never look into his eyes. What
we are worried about is this: the spirit was in Lakwena and when she crossed the Nile it
went into her father and then to Kony. If anything happens to Kony, maybe it will leave him
and move to someone else in their clan."
The Acholi live in squalid camps where 1,000 people die each week, according to the WHO.
A separate report last week by 50 charities in northern Uganda said 41 percent of the dead
are children under five.
The official line is that these camps were formed voluntarily to protect the people from the
LRA, but in the past five years the Ugandan army has placed a free-fire zone outside them.
People out after sundown are regarded as rebels. Protected by Britain, which needed
Museveni as a rare African success story, Uganda gets away with it. The camps exist only
because the UN and the charities feed the inmates.
Fly over the once-rich farmland and you see an abandoned landscape with only the ghosts
of fields and the blackened remains of homesteads. Two million people are losing their
self-sufficiency.
Ask people why they are here and they blame Museveni, not the cult.
One said: "The LRA has gone away, why can't we go home?"
They say Museveni is trying to destroy the Acholi and steal their land.
The president proclaims the LRA defeated and the war over, but there is no plan to let
people go home.
Many believe the way to end the war is by negotiation. They say Kony himself could be
brought in and forgiven, citing the example of the hundreds of LRA fighters who have
defected or been captured and rehabilitated.
Geoffrey Ocana, a spokesman for the Forum for Democratic Change in Kitgum, says: "There
is no desire to punish. There have been too many atrocities. Even though people know that
this boy killed their parents or raped their daughter, not one has been touched. They have
been forgiven. That is our way."
Since 2003, a series of ceasefires led by a former Acholi minister, Betty Bigombe, have
come close to making a permanent peace.
But Museveni has abandoned the talks because he wants total victory. Kony never attended
the talks and the LRA used the ceasefires to rearm.
Western policy is to capture Kony and his fellow cult leaders and put them on trial, while
Museveni's aim is a military victory. Kony has no incentive to talk.
This story has been viewed 111 times.
Copyright © 1999-2006 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved.
[a post for study and research, do not have the url, from a news group]
International cooperation against terrorism a must
The biggest obstacle to eradicating terrorism is the differing stances
taken against such people in various countries, says the Turkish chief
of general staff
â–º Turkish Daily News
â–º Sent to Fringe by: Kees Kalkman / VDAmok, Utrecht /
kees@amok.antenna.nl
Mar 24 2006 ► Mar 24. Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Özkök said
on Thursday terrorism is the biggest social disease of the 21st
century, adding that what countries need to do is correctly assess the causes
behind terrorism and confront them with appropriate measures.
Speaking at the Global Terrorism and International Cooperation
symposium hosted by the Center of Excellence Defense Against Terrorism (TMMM),
Özkök started by explaining the function of the TMMM. He said it was
established to provide operational and strategic training to NATO
members and other countries on antiterrorism, noting that the center was
supported by Britain, Bulgaria, Romania and the United States.
Terrorism was based on an ideology of confrontation and was a
calculated mode of violence based on political objectives, he said, noting, For
a terrorist, murder is not an objective but a tool.
At a time when all nations need to join forces against terrorism, I
believe the biggest obstacle to eradicating terrorism is the fact that as
a result of a terrorist act, one country defines an individual as a
freedom fighter while another says he is a traitor. This is what feeds
terrorism
He said all nations were in agreement on the seriousness of the threat
posed by terrorism but noted that disagreements stem from what sorts of
violent acts or threats could be defined as terrorism.
As long as there is no common stance on terrorism, no solution can be
found to eliminate it, said the chief of general staff.
He said between 1936 and 1981, 109 separate definitions of terrorism
were devised. I believe we need to agree on the parameters of terrorism
and antiterrorism. Agreed parameters will lead us to a common
definition.
Özkök said no country should believe that its economic power or
domestic security would guard it against terrorism, noting that no single
nation could win the fight against terrorism.
Full global cooperation is a must against terrorism. In order to fight
against terrorists that target a society, culture or civilization, it
is important not to be silent when another society is targeted.
He said regional organizations such as NATO and the European Union or
global organizations like the United Nations bore serious
responsibilities concerning information and intelligence-sharing and establishing a
proper communication mechanism.
Institutionalized terrorism:
Özkök said terrorism was approaching an institutional structure, with
people joining such terrorist groups not due to their ideological
stances but because of the financial incentives such groups provide.
He said terrorist groups found it easier to recruit in regions with
high employment and poverty, noting that an unemployed person found a new
identity that motivated him or her as a result.
He added that terrorist groups like the outlawed Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) were also involved in drug trafficking, human smuggling and
fraud and that the transfer of proceeds occurring in developed countries
was another example of how the necessary mentality for fighting
terrorism has not yet been established.
Terrorism as a foreign policy tool:
The chief of general staff said it was important to prevent countries
from using terrorism as a foreign policy tool and stated: If a country
uses terrorism in such a way, it should also know its boomerang effect.
Countries that utilize terrorism should never forget the fact that the
day will come when terrorists will bite the hand that feeds them, he
said.
In order to prevent the social group targeted by terrorists from
becoming radicalized, society needs to be convinced of the good intentions of
the state, added Özkök.
Top military personnel from 82 countries attended the symposium, which
concludes today.
[a post for research and study]
Secret Camps Offer Operational Courses in Jihad Tactics
â–º
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2369943
â–º Jamestown Foundation / by Stephen Ulph
Mar 29 2006 â–º Mar 28. An interesting recent posting on the Abu
al-Bokhary jihadi forum (http://www.abualbokhary.net/) provides some useful
insight about the current conditions and the priorities in the training
of mujahideen. The anonymous author of a "Basic Course for Beginners in
Secret Mujahideen Camps," describes a "five day course for first
beginners in jihadist activity." He states that it is derived from practical
experience in a fast-tightening environment, in which "time is against
the brothers, and in which there is the necessity to train by any means
available." This means camps "in secluded places whose existence is
limited to one week." After first detailing the type of equipment,
communications and weaponry to be brought, the posting gives an hour-by-hour
program of events.
DAY ONE of the course is taken up with constructing the camp and
establishing the group dynamics of the 14-member team, apportioning roles and
appointing the amir (commander). The 30-by-10 meter site of the camp is
to contain a mosque, sleeping rooms, latrine and kitchen, for each of
which the details on measurements, location and camouflage are provided.
Time is to be set aside for instilling the importance of discipline,
"the fear of God and obedience to the amir" and of banishing levity,
while each day is to contain time slots both for physical training and
spiritual exercises in the form of readings from the Quran.
On DAY TWO the military training begins in earnest and includes the
following sections:
--Hand weapons: assembly and disassembly of revolvers and Kalashnikovs;
--Training in Islamic law and appropriate Islamic conduct;
--Lessons in night patrols and the use of security measures, such as
passwords.
DAY THREE is made up of lessons that may last from 30 minutes up to one
hour and include the following subjects:
--The concealment of light weapons in clothing: how to conceal a
Kalashnikov in the clothing of two persons and maneuver with these
Kalashnikov parts; practice in throwing the parts from one to another while
moving;
--Assassination techniques: throttling, knife assault, obtaining the
enemy's knife, how and where to deal fatal blows to the body;
--Setting up cells, maneuvering and communications between them;
--Bodyguard duties and the defense of the commander;
--Maneuvering while armed or firing the weapon;
--Map reading, route analysis and distance calculation, and determining
the enemy's armor;
--Rapid trench digging, dugouts behind enemy lines, camouflage;
--Intelligence gathering, the planning and study of targets, and access
and escape.
DAY FOUR is devoted to live-fire exercises. The course lays emphasis on
the use of silencers for training exercises, the importance of
collecting and burying spent cartridges and the restoration of the area to its
pristine state after use. Courses then follow on discreet food
preparation, cooking and storage of food supplies for up to two weeks.
DAY FIVE consists of a performance assessment by the commander and
elaborate measures to disguise the camp's brief existence. An unexpected
feature of this last day is the time given to lessons on the life and
military campaigns of the Prophet Muhammad, on the nature of God and the
Afterlife and the punishments of Hell. A feature of this section, with
no further details offered, is the "instilling of fear in others of Hell
and of God's punishments."
The author finally concludes with the promise to provide more
information subsequently on details of the course. Immediately noticeable from
the posting is the sense of concern that training should to be carried
out under greater levels of secrecy and in ever-shorter timeframes than
before. Some of these camps, the author explains, "have lasted less
than two days, made up of 48- or 72-hour courses." It is also interesting
to note that even under such perilous conditions, elements relating to
doctrine are still retained.
A mosque in Athens?
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=16145
First Published 2006-04-03, Last Updated 2006-04-03 12:36:04
Monastiraki art museum in central Athens is just a proposal
A mosque in Athens?
Greeks wonder whether Muslims can be allowed to pray under Acropolis
in Athens tourist district of Monastiraki.
By Catherine Boitard - ATHENS
A solidly Christian country with a sizeable Muslim community, Greece
has spent years debating the establishment of a mosque somewhere in
its capital - without success.
A new round of debate on the topic opened this week, with Greek
lawmakers discussing whether to reinstate a former mosque in the
Athens tourist district of Monastiraki, currently used as a folk art
museum.
Attributed to new Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis - who was mayor of
Athens until February - the proposal appeared in the Greek press one
day before the Council of Europe issued a report bemoaning the lack of
sanctioned Muslim prayer sites in Greece.
In his report, the council's Human Rights Commissioner Alvaro
Gil-Robles said the Greek authorities had not kept a promise to create
a mosque in the rural Athens district of Peania ahead of the Athens
2004 Olympics, leaving Muslim believers to still "meet in secret, in
locations unsuited to prayer".
"Building a mosque in Peania could take 2-3 years ... but the
Monastiraki (building) is ready to go," said pro-opposition Ta Nea
daily, which broke the story on March 28.
A lively debate has begun, with both proponents and detractors noting
that the proposed site in Monastiraki, built in 1759 during the
Ottoman occupation of Greece, is a stone's throw away from the Greek
Orthodox Church cathedral in the city centre.
"Restoring the functions of a former mosque at the foot of the
Acropolis, and next to churches, would serve as proof of our city's
tolerance," said Marios Begzos, professor of religion philosophy at
Athens University.
"I have no objection to a mosque in Monastiraki as long as Turkey
gives the keys of Haghia Sophia to the Orthodox Ecumenical
Patriarchate," countered conservative MP Stelios Papathemelis,
referring to the iconic church of the old Byzantine capital of
Constantinople (Istanbul) that was turned into a mosque when the
Ottoman Turks captured the city in 1453.
The government insists that no decision has been taken on the issue.
Greece's Muslims currently have no sanctioned prayer sites outside
Thrace, the Greek region closest to the Turkish border that is the
home of a 100,000-strong Muslim community of Turkish origin.
The influential Greek Orthodox Church has made no official comment on
the Monastiraki proposal, though its leader Archbishop Christodoulos
in December expressed support for a mosque in the Athens area.
"It is our desire to create a mosque, but without creating religious
opposition and fanaticism," deputy education minister George Kalos
said recently in parliament.
Greek television stations echoed the sentiment, airing complaints by
local shop owners who said a mosque would threaten the district's
tourist character.
Noting that "dozens of churches are in operation in Istanbul,"
independent liberal deputy Stefanos Manos protested that the
government is happy to hear the views of the Orthodox Church on the
issue, but has not bothered to consult the Muslim community living in
Greece.
"Nobody has asked us anything," confirmed Sudanese community imam
Monir Abdeltrassou.
Questioned by AFP about the Monastiraki proposal, Abdeltrassou said
the former mosque could only provide a "temporary solution" due to its
small size. He added that the whole initiative could have been
intended to placate Muslim states such as Saudi Arabia, which have
spent years lobbying for a mosque in Athens.
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=509422006
Mon 3 Apr 2006
Spain launches search for ship carrying 500 African migrants
HAROLD HECKLE IN MADRID
SPANISH maritime authorities were last night searching for a ship
believed to be carrying hundreds of would-be illegal immigrants from
Africa to the southern Canary Island of El Hierro.
The Spanish Air Force spotted a ship approaching the island from the
south on Saturday, a spokesman for the Civil Guard said.
It was reported a navy patrol boat and air force planes were deployed
in the search. A rescue ship was placed on standby.
Local newspapers Canarias 7 and El Dia reported that the ship could be
carrying more than 500 people and may have begun its voyage in West
Africa.
Canarias 7 said the ship had been spotted by Spanish forces who had
control of its direction, but government authorities would not confirm
that report.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said that, in a separate incident, the
Civil Guard had rescued 35 would-be immigrants from a small, open boat
in the vicinity of El Hierro and were providing them with first aid
aboard a rescue vessel.
On Thursday, interior ministry delegate Jose Segura told journalists
that Spain should brace itself for a "numerous and anarchic" increase
in illegal migrations from Africa.
Thousands of people try to reach Europe through Spain each year, an
increasing number of them coming from Mauritania and
Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. For decades, immigrant boats have
set out from Morocco, sailing north across the Strait of Gibraltar to
the Spanish mainland or westwards to the Canary Islands, off the coast
of north-west Africa.
More than 3,000 migrants have reached the Canary Islands so far this
year.
http://www.westernresistance.com/blog/archives/001873.html
April 03, 2006
Russia: Muslim Chechen Leader in Sex Scandal
Chechen rebels have broadcast a video segment that allegedly shows
devout Muslim Chechen warlord, Ramzan Kadyrov, partying with several
naked women in the sauna, reports The UK's Independent.
The man in the grainy video looks like Kadyrov, but it cannot be
confirmed, and his aides dismissed it as a ``provocation.'' Kadyrov
officially holds the post of Chechen Prime Minister, but in reality he
runs the war-torn republic as his fiefdom.
Kadyrov considers himself a devout Muslim, and so there's no surprise
that Chechen, Russian and international human rights organizations
have accused him and his personal army of killings, extortion,
kidnapping, and torture.
In recent months, Kadyrov has pushed Shariah law on the Chechen
republic, which has been the scene of an Islamic insurgency for over a
decade. Kadyrov, however, seems to be adopting the same program that
the rebels have long promulgated. He has leaned on local media to stop
broadcasting ``immoral'' programs, forced Chechen woman to wear
headscarves, outlawed gambling, called for polygamy to be legalized,
initiated a partial ban on alcohol, and even ordered that women's cell
phones be monitored so that wives would not be in touch with
ex-boyfriends.
Muslim Chechen rebels have carried out some of the most viscous
terrorist attacks in history, including the September 2004 siege of a
school in Beslan that left 360 dead.
[Alert from IPCS.org, this alert is only minutes old..]
The Daily Star, 5 April 2006
WB for more fuel price hike
The World Bank (WB) yesterday urged the government to raise petroleum
prices and enforce a low-cost, transparent financing plan for getting
over the severe power crisis now dogging the country. A WB mission led by
its Senior Economist Sandeep Mahajan in a meeting with Finance Minister
M Saifur Rahman yesterday conveyed the bank's prescription to the
government for getting the fourth tranche of its Development Support Credit
(DSC).
WB Country Director Christine I Wallich was also present in the
meeting. The WB delegation advised the government to formulate and
adopt a least-costly development plan, including a financing strategy, for
the power sector and ensure that all investments are consistent with
the plan, meeting sources said. Bangladesh so far has received about $700
million in three earlier tranches of the DSC and the fourth tranche may
range between $100 million and $150 million, sources said.
Talking to
reporters about the main WB conditions for releasing the DSC-4, Wallich
said the bank is worried about the huge losses Bangladesh Petroleum
Corporation (BPC) is incurring and has re-emphasised the need for raising
fuel prices, at least to the Indian price level.
The Daily Star, 5 April 2006
Saarc home ministers meet in city May 11
Dhaka will host the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(Saarc) home ministers' meet on May 11. The aim of the meeting is to
strengthen co-operation among the member countries to check terrorism and
trafficking of women and children in South Asia region.
Official sources
told The Daily Star yesterday that the ministerial meeting would be
preceded by the Saarc home secretaries meeting on May 10.
[ipcs.org news alert]
IPCS NEWS ALERT
The Asahi Shimbun, 5 April 2006
U.S., North Korea to meet here
Senior officials of the United States and North Korea will attend a
conference in Japan next week that could lead to a resumption of six-way
talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program, sources said Tuesday.
The
officials include Chong Tae Yang, deputy chief of the North Korean Foreign
Ministry's American Bureau, and Christopher Hill, U.S. assistant secretary
of state. Both officials have represented their countries in the
six-party discussions, which have been suspended since November. "It would be
meaningful if the officials of the United States and North Korea talk
(on the sidelines of the conference)," a Japanese government official
said.
The conference, organized by a private entity, will be held in
Tokyo for five days from Sunday. Participants, including officials from
Japan, China, South Korea and Russia, are expected to discuss the
situation in Northeast Asia and other issues.
Crisscross News, 5 April 2006
Japan, U.S. begin base realignment talks, but agreement looks unlikely
WASHINGTON - Japan and the United States began senior working-level
talks Tuesday on the realignment of the U.S. military presence in Japan
amid growing signs that an agreement is unlikely. The two nations have
already failed after several rounds of negotiations to meet their
self-imposed deadline, which came last Friday, to craft an implementation
plan for the broad realignment agreement they reached in October.
At issue
at the three-day talks is sharing the cost for moving 8,000 U.S. Marine
Corps troops from Okinawa to Guam and implementing a new plan for
relocating the Marine's Futemma Air Station within the prefecture, which is
opposed by local communities.
Crisscross News, 5 April 2006
Japan, ASEAN to resume FTA talks
TOKYO - Japan and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations
will resume formal discussions on a free trade agreement next Monday in
Tokyo, breaking an eight-month stalemate, the Foreign Ministry said
Tuesday.
The three-day discussions between Tokyo and the regional bloc,
which launched the FTA talks in April 2005, will be the third of their
kind. The negotiations had been in a stalemate since last August, mainly
due to differences over the way of proceeding with the talks, Japanese
government sources said.
Dawn, 3 April 2006
US to review visa plan for Asians
Washington, April 2: A US programme that recruits mostly highly
educated Asian professionals has come under increasing scrutiny as Americans
debate moves to tighten immigration regulations. Launched in 1990, the
H-1B visa programme allows foreign scientists, engineers and
technologists to be employed for up to six years, at the end of which they must
obtain a permanent residency or return home. While the programme is
popular among key high-tech companies and aimed at bringing in some of the
world?s best brains to help the United States remain competitive, some
politicians and groups concerned about American job security argue that
it may not be working as intended?
http://www.dawn.com/2006/04/03/top17.htm
The Frontier Post, 3 April 2006
Pakistan-US meeting on 5th
Washington, April 2: Joint Working Group meeting of Pakistan and US
will be formally held in Washington on April 5 (Wednesday). The Pakistani
delegation will be headed by Interior Minister. Both the countries will
discuss in length cooperation in various bilateral issues, fight
against terrorism, steps to control human trafficking, security arrangement
in border and other matters in detail during the meeting on April 5.
http://www.thefrontierpost.com/index.php?main=news&tname=top_stories&nid=944
Daily Times, 3 April 2006
Pakistan exports to US up 13.2 percent in 2005
Washington, April 2: Pakistan?s exports to the United States rose 13.2
percent to $3.3 billion in fiscal year 2005, while imports from the US
fell 31.2 percent to $1.2 billion, according to a US report on trade.
The US goods trade deficit with Pakistan was $2 billion in 2005, an
increase of $945 million from $1.1 billion in 2004, says the 2006 National
Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, released by the Office
of the United States Trade Representative on Friday. US foreign direct
investment (FDI) in Pakistan rose from $790 million in 2003 to $991
million in 2004?
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006
[Alerts from ipcs.org]
The Hindu, 5 April, 2006
Narmada becomes a bigger issue
NEW DELHI, April 4:There has been an overwhelming expression of support
for the Narmada Bachao Andolan at the dharna site at Jantar Mantar
where NBA leader Medha Patkar is on an indefinite fast with two others. Two
more persons, Rajabhai and Bhanabhai, joined the hunger strike on
Tuesday. Arundhati RoySaid writer:The Narmada Bachao Andolan has sparked off
something ... suddenly it is the nerve centre of the new wave of
displacements across the board. Wherever there is this huge corporate
interest, the first thing written into that is displacement. So, this whole
issue has become crucial for millions of people. Just in Delhi alone
there is talk of displacing 30 lakh people for the Commonwealth Games.
Whatever happens here is poised to mutate into a situation which may not be
as beautiful as the Narmada Bachao Andolan.According to
environmental-activist Vandana Shiva, the struggle of Narmada Bachao Andolan had
become a bigger issue than of displacement.It is now an issue of wastage of
water for entertainment complexes along the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad. It
has now become an issue of precious water being used for genocidal
agriculture policies. It is whether the people of India would be able to
live in this land or will our land and water become inputs for globally
profitable corporates. It is not just a struggle of last 20 years but a
struggle of the next 20 years.Miloon Kothari, Special Rapporteur on
Adequate Housing on the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, felt that by
continuing to construct the Sardar Sarovar dam without rehabilitating the
people first, the Governments were abrogating their responsibility to
uphold the human rights of their own people.
Hindustan Times, 5 April, 2006
Abducted cops released by Naxals in Orissa
BHUBANESWAR, April 4: Two police officials
abducted by armed Maoists
from Ramagiri Udayagiri town of Orissa's Gajapati district on March 24
were released in a dramatic fashion on Tuesday.The police officials were
released after 11 days of confinement in deep jungles.Superintendent of
R Udayagiri sub-jail Rabinarayan Sethi and officer-in-charge of the
local police station Ranjan Kumar Mallick were handed over to a media team
at an undisclosed place in the district, reports available said.When
contacted, Gajapati district collector Binod Bihari Mohanty said the two
freed policemen had been set free somewhere near Adaba. They were being
taken to Ramagiri Udayagiri town, he added.Both the released men were
in good health and looking forward to rejoining their family members,
the reports said.The Naxalites had put forward five demands, including
according political status to their arrested comrades, before the
Government for releasing the two hostages but apparently set them free on
'humanitarian considerations.
The Times of India, 5 April, 2006
New foreign trade policy to be announced on April 7
AHMEDABAD, April 4: Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath
here on Tuesday said that the new Foreign Trade Policy aiming at
generating more employment opportunities would be announced on April 7.Speaking
at a function here, Kamal Nath said that the reorientation of the
policy effected two years ago has paid off with exports showing
unprecedented growth of 26 percent for two continuous years, and this year it will
touch $ 100 billion.The incremental exports have created at least two
and a half million new jobs in the last couple of years. The spin-off
effects in the economy are positive and have contributed significantly to
the Sensex boom (in stock exchanges) we are witnessing, said the
minister.According to Kamal Nath, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows too
have shown remarkable growth and inviting more FDI has the sole
rationale of accelerating infrastructure development and increasing
employment.Making comparison with China, Kamal Nath pointed out that while the
Chinese economy is driven by mass manufacturing and export,we in India
have our own genius- to grow faster with a convergence on high value
production of goods.
The Times of India, 5 April, 2006
Indo-US nuke deal in Rice cooker
WASHINGTON, April 4: There is no loss of nerve in the Bush
administration over resistance to the US-India nuclear agreement from some American
law-makers and there remains a commitment at the highest levels of the
government to take the deal forward, a senior US administration
official said on Monday.Asking that opposition to the deal from Senators and
Congressmen be seen in perspective in a system where complex forces are
at work, the official, who spoke on background, suggested it was
premature to pronounce the demise of the deal considering the President’s
commitment to the building closer ties with India.The official's comments
came ahead of back-to-back hearings on Wednesday on the subject by the
House International Relations Committee (HIRC) and the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee (SFRC) at which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
will testify.Rice, who will be the sole witness before SFRC, is
expected to be grilled by the leadership of the 18-member committee which has
ten Republicans and eight Democrats. The Republican Chairman of the
Committee Richard Lugar and the Democratic leader Joseph Biden both have
reservations about the deal, as does the Republican chair of the HIRC
Henry Hyde. The case Rice makes before them could well determine its
fate.President Bush is also expected to begin talking about the benefits of
the agreement now that he has returned from Mexico.At some point,
perhaps just ahead of the vote, he will be making direct contact with
law-makers starting with phone calls.In terms of procedure, following
hearings by the SFRC and HIRC, the legislation pertaining to the nuclear deal
will be taken for mark-up where its language will be formalized, with
amendments if any.The two committees will then vote on whether to send
it up to the full House and Senate.
[Alerts from ipcs.org]
The Assam Tribune, 5 April , 2006
Gogoi confident of forming next Govt
GUWAHATI, April 4:Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today claimed that his
party would be able to form the next government in the State and said that
his government fully cooperated with the Election Commission to ensure
free and fair polls. Addressing a Press conference after the completion
of the first phase of polls, Gogoi today thanked the people of Asom for
casting their votes in large numbers and claimed that the Congress
would get comfortable majority in the polls.
For the first time in two
decades, the elections in the State was peaceful, he said.Hitting out
against a vernacular daily, Gogoi said that the paper was working as the
mouthpiece of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). He said that he has lodged a
formal complaint with the Election Commission against the paper. He also
alleged that a section of the media levelled wild and baseless
allegations against him.
The Assam Tribune, 5 April , 2006
Repoll in 5 polling stations today
GUWAHATI, April 4:The Election Commission (EC) today recommended repoll
in five polling stations in four Assembly constituencies out of the 65
where voting was held yesterday. The repolling will beheld tomorrow
from 7 am to 4 pm. The State Election Office also filed a complaint in the
court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Kamrup today against the
AGP and the TDP for holding a press conference on April 2, the election
eve, violating EC guidelines.Asom Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) JP
Prakash said here today that repolling would be held in two polling
stations in 3 Karimganj North constituency and one polling station each in 2
Patharkandi, 117 Lahowal and 121 Chabua constituencies. Polling will
take place from 7 am to 4 pm on Wednesday at polling station numbers 135
and 171 (Karimganj North), 64 (Patharkandi), 105 (Lahowal) and 4
(Chabua).Prakash, who was addressing a press conference at his office, said
overall polling in the first phase of elections was between 68 and 73 per
cent with poll figures still coming in. The highest percentage of
polling (83.47) was recorded in the Palasbari constituency while Guwahati
East recorded the lowest poll percentage (53.94). Polling was by and
large peaceful with no major incident being reported.“We have recommended
repoll in five polling stations and the EC has accepted our
recommendation,” said Prakash. The repoll in polling station number 4 in Chabua has
been ordered after miscreants mishandled the EVM in the middle of
voting and it failed. This polling station had no police picket.
The Sentinal, 5 April , 2006
Gogoi defends Tribunal Order amendment
GUWAHATI, April 4:In the wake of fresh intervention from the Supreme
Court into the amendment to the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964, Asom
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today defended the recent amendment and said
that the move was not disregard to the apex court’s verdict.Talking to
newsmen here today, the Chief Minister refuted the Opposition’s charges
that the Congress Government had negated the apex court’s ruling on the
IM(DT) case by bringing in the amendment to the Foreigners (Tribunal)
Order, 1964. Expressing satisfaction at the peaceful first phase of
Assembly election in the State, he said: “I have never seen such a peaceful
election in the State in my life, and the credit for this goes to the
people of Asom, the Election Commission and obviously, to the State
Government.” He thanked the people of the State for their active
participation in the first phase of poll.He further said that the amendment to
the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order had been done in conformity with the
Supreme Court’s verdict. The apex court, in its ruling, had made it very
clear that the detection of illegal immigrants should be done through the
tribunals, he said, adding that in view of the situation in Asom being
different from the rest of the country, the amendment was necessitated
to protect the genuine citizens from harassment, and to expedite the
disposal of the large number of pending cases.“However, a propaganda
against the amendment is still on,” said Gogoi. He came down heavily on the
comment aired by BJP leader Pramod Mahajan against Prime Minister Dr
Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the issue. He said
that the Prime Minister’s statement had actually reflected the steps
taken by the Government to stop illegal infiltration.
The Sentinal, 5 April , 2006
Missing ULFA cadre: Hearing deferred
GUWAHATI, April 4:The division bench of Chief Justice B Sudershan Reddy
of the Gauhati High Court today postponed the next hearing of the
Shayamali Gogoi case seeking the whereabouts of her husband and ULFA cadre
Prakash Gogoi, who has been missing since the Operation ALL-Clear in
Bhutan, till April 11 next. The ruling came after the Ministry of Defence
(MoD) submitted a sealed envelop with the condition that the envelop
should be opened after a week.
The Sentinal, 5 April , 2006
Mutiny in police quarters
GUWAHATI, April 4:Tension simmered at the Dibrugarh police reserve
today as 550 personnel refused to proceed to their respective destinations
for the second phase of the Assam Assembly polls to be held on Monday,
alleging a “raw deal” from their superiors.The policemen, including 50
havildars and assistant sub-inspectors (ASI), had just completed their
poll duties in various polling stations of Dibrugarh district and were
ordered to move towards Baksa, Karbi Anglong and Udalguri at 8 am this
morning.However, they refused to carry out the orders, alleging that
they had not been given any travel allowance for their journey. “We have
just returned from our respective duties and are very tired. We still
agreed to go because it is duty first for us. But how can we move
without money to such long distances?” one of them questioned.The men in
khaki demanded that superintendent of police Sarat Phukon hear their
grievances in person and waited the entire day for him to turn up. However,
when Phukon did not arrive till late in the afternoon, the policemen
became angry and started raising slogans like Sarat Phukon murdabad.Phukon
had reportedly asked the agitating police personnel to communicate with
the director general of police or inspector general of police for their
“grievances”.Sensing danger, deputy superintendent of police
(headquarters) Biraj Mohan Baruah rushed to the police reserve and “ordered” the
policemen to disburse and proceed towards their respective duties or
face departmental action.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1608606/posts?page=3
Ramzi Yousef, Oklahoma City, and Al Qaeda: Linked
in Documents?
LauraMansfield.com ^ | April 3, 2006
Posted on 04/03/2006 6:23:48 PM MDT by Calpernia
Does an obscure document, hidden among the hundreds of documents
released recently from Iraq and Afghanistan, provide evidence linking
Al Qaeda operative Ramzi Yousef to the Oklahoma City attack on the
MurrahBuilding?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1609686/posts
JAYNA DAVIS on OKC: New email story from her; see
her 8-minute video report with witnesses
Jayna Davis email and her website ^ | 4-5-06 | Jayna Davis/dfu commennts
Posted on 04/05/2006 11:30:54 AM MDT by doug from upland
WATCH JAYNA'S VIDEO NEWS REPORT --- IRAQI CONNECTION
In addition to this video, Jayna has eyewitness, several more than are
on the video, who identify Hussain Al-Hussaini as THE THIRD
TERRORIST. There is an Iraqi connection to the OKC bombing. Bill
Clinton wanted it to be domestic terror, so that is what Janet Reno
gave him. Had Clinton been a real commander in chief, he would have
dealt with the Islamic threat, and we could have avoided 9-11.
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