Weekend 090713

Saturday September 7th 2013

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Egypt army attacks Sinai militants

The Egyptian army has launched a major offensive against militants in Sinai.

Eyewitnesses told the BBC that tanks, armoured vehicles and troops - backed by Apache helicopters - had attacked the militants in towns along the border with the Gaza Strip.
The operation is said to be the biggest of its kind in recent years in Sinai.
Meanwhile Egyptian soldiers have discovered mortars and other explosives on a railway line near the Suez Canal, the state news agency reports.
There have been frequent attacks on pipelines and security forces since the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
On Thursday a powerful explosion targeted Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim as he left his Cairo house for work.
He survived unscathed, but officials say another person died.

EU: all info on Syria gas attack points to Assad

Officials say the European Union has agreed that the Aug. 21 chemical attack outside Damascus appears to have been the work of Syria's regime, but that any potential military attack against it should wait for the U.N. inspectors' report.

EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters that Saturday after a meeting by the bloc's foreign ministers in Lithuania.

France had already said it would wait for the U.N. inspectors' report before deciding to intervene militarily, even though it said the report would only show a chemical attack had taken place, not apportion blame.

Addressing the joint EU position, Fabius said: "It is said that all indications converge toward the fact that the regime is responsible."  

Deter and degrade: US expands target list

Washington: US President Barack Obama has directed the Pentagon to develop an expanded list of potential targets in Syria.
The new planning is a response to intelligence suggesting that President Bashar al-Assad's government has been moving troops and equipment used to employ chemical weapons while Congress debates military action.
Officials said Mr Obama was determined to put more emphasis on the ''degrade'' part of the administration's goal in a military strike against Syria - to ''deter and degrade'' Dr Assad's ability to use chemical weapons.
That means expanding beyond the original list of 50 or so main target sites developed with French forces before Mr Obama delayed action last Saturday.

For the first time, the administration is talking about using US and French aircraft to conduct strikes on specific targets, in addition to ship-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles. There is also a renewed push to get other NATO forces involved.
The strikes would be aimed not at the chemical stockpiles themselves - which would risk a potential catastrophe - but rather the military units that have stored and prepared the weapons and carried out attacks against Syrian rebels, US military officials said on Thursday.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, said other targets would include equipment that Syria uses to protect the chemicals - air defences, long-range missiles and rockets, which can also deliver the weapons.

Thousands Disappear From Huge North Korean Prison Camp

Several thousand inmates at a recently shuttered North Korean labor camp may have disappeared, a report by a human rights group alleges.
The Aug. 27 report by Washington-based group Human Rights In North Korea, or HRNK, says that North Korea's Camp 22, a vast gulag located near the Chinese border and reported to be larger than Los Angeles, was thought to have once held between 30,000 to 50,000 prisoners, most of whom were suspected of being disloyal to the regime or were related to people who had shown disloyalty.
The camp may have closed sometime in 2012 after a series of bad harvests (combined with a currency devaluation in 2009) created a food shortage that caused a "large number of prisoners" to perish, the report says, citing a Radio Free Asia article written by a North Korean reporter who defected from the country.
When Camp 22 shut down, an estimated 7,000-8,000 prisoners were transferred from the gulag's compounds, situated in the remote northern county of Hoeryong, to other labor camps. The report says that trains holding inmates were seen departing the area at night, heading south. Many prisoners are thought to have been moved to Camp 25 near Chongjin City or to North Hamgyeong Province's Camp 16, about which virtually nothing is known.

Media blackout: Syrian rebels gang raped, executed 15-year-old girl

Last month, Syriareport.net reported that a group of so-called 'Syrian rebels' kidnapped a Christian teenager in Al-Qusayr and repeatedly raped her for the next several days.
Elements of Jabhat al-Nusra (Syrian Al Qaeda)al and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) reportedly took part in the atrocity.
Once abducted, the girl identified only as "Miriam," was forced into a temporary marriage with the commander of Jabhat al-Nusra and raped. He then renounced their marriage, only to pass her onto another militant for the same treatment.
One after another, a total of fifteen Islamist rebels "married" the young girl, raped her and renounced the marriage, a process which continued for more than two weeks.
After all had their way with her, the girl was executed.
To date, Syrian Report and the Modern Tokyo Times are the only news outlets to report this story.

Shelling near Syria capital kills 16

BEIRUT: Heavy government shelling of rebel positions near the Syrian capital killed 16 people on Saturday, activists said, as US secretary of state John Kerry lobbied European allies to back Washington's proposed military action against the ruling regime.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the mortar and artillery fire on the Moldokhiya agricultural area south of Damascus killed 14 rebels. A child and another civilian also died in the shelling, it added.

The group also reported heavy fighting between rebels and troops loyal to President Bashar Assad around the Christian village of Maaloula. The rebel advance into the area that began on Monday was reportedly spearheaded by al-Qaida-linked fighters, exacerbating fears among Syrians and religious minorities in particular that Islamic extremists are playing an increasingly important role in the rebellion.

Fighters from the Western-backed Free Syrian Army have also participated in battles around Maaloula, destroying two government checkpoints near the town earlier this week, according to a statement by the main opposition coalition on Friday.

Suspected Islamist militant killed in Yemen attempting to plant explosive

SANAA - A suspected Islamist militant was killed early on Saturday when a bomb he was trying to plant in the car of an intelligence officer in Sanaa exploded in his hands, security sources said.

No one else was hurt by the blast, which jolted some residents out of bed shortly after midnight. Local news websites published photos of the bloodied body of a young man they said was behind the attack.

A government source said the target of the attack was stationed at the Ministry of Higher Education. His predecessor had been shot dead in 2011.

Suspected al-Qaida militants have killed scores of Yemeni intelligence, army and police officers in recent months, often by rigging their cars with explosives or in drive-by shootings using motorbikes.

US-allied Yemen is home to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, one of the most active militant franchises of the network founded by Osama bin Laden. 

Somalia bombs kill at least 15 people at restaurant in Mogadishu

A car bomb and suspected suicide bomber have killed at least 15 people in two explosions at a restaurant in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, local police said.
At least another 20 people were wounded in the bomb attacks on the Village restaurant, Captain Ali Hussein, a senior police official, said on Saturday.
No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts but suspicion will likely fall on the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida affiliate which has carried out a campaign of suicide bombings since African Union forces forced it to withdraw from the city in 2011.
Mohamed Yusuf, a spokesman for the Mogadishu authorities, said: "First a car bomb exploded at the entrance of the restaurant, and when people converged inside a suicide bomber blew up himself."
Isaq Hassan, a car washer who lost a colleague in the blasts, said: "This disaster never comes to an end." Pointing to dead bodies on the ground, he added: "See this, that and this! Life is worthless here."
The restaurant, which was popular with government officials, was owned by a Somali businessman, Ahmed Jama, who had returned to his home country from London to set up the business. Militants, also thought to be from al-Shabaab, had previously targeted the restaurant in November. Only one person was killed in that attack by suicide bombers.

Palestinian Authority takes $148M from US, doles out ‘grants’ to convicted terrorists

The Palestinian Authority is doling out millions of dollars in cash grants to convicted terrorists recently released from Israeli prisons in a program announced the same day as the P.A. accepted $148 million in the latest round of U.S. aid.
The authority announced Aug. 18 it would disburse $15 million in so-called “Dignified Life Grants” to more than 5,000 prisoners who had served more than five years in Israeli lockups, but had been recently released as a show of good faith by the Jewish state to bolster the Middle East peace process, according to Palestinian Media Watch.
The announcement came on the same day the State Department’s Michael Ratney, consulate general of the U.S. in Jerusalem, signed off on $148 million in aid to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, currently in the throes of a budget crisis.

2 men arrested over break-in at Buckingham Palace, police say

Police said Saturday that they arrested two men over a suspected break-in at BuckinghamPalace, a rare — but not unheard-of — breach of royal security. London’s Metropolitan Police said the incident occurred on Monday night after one of the men scaled a fence outside the stately residence. Police did not say where exactly the unidentified man was found, but it did indicate it was in an area of the palace usually open to visitors during the day. 
Various parts of the 775-room building are usually open to the public during the summer, including the State Rooms, the Queen’s Gallery, the Royal Mews, and the Rose Garden.
The Sun newspaper reported the suspect broke into the palace by scaling a 12-foot fence and kicking in a door. The Telegraph is reporting the man evaded three levels of security, and that red-faced officials are conducting an investigation into not only the break-in itself, but also into security procedures that were elevated after a famous 1982 breach.

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House to vote on stopgap budget bill as soon as next week

House Republicans have scheduled a vote next week on a bill to keep the government open past Sept. 30, but are still weighing whether to include instructions to defund President Obama’s signature health initiative.

Other details of the legislation have largely been decided, senior GOP aides said Friday. The measure will probably fund the government through Dec. 15 at current levels, meaning sharp automatic cuts known as the sequester would remain in place.

Canadian PM offers Obama possible climate action to secure Keystone deal

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has written to President Obama to say that he is prepared to work on a joint plan between the two countries to reduce carbon emissions, in an attempt to secure approval of the Keystone XL pipeline project, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Friday.
Harper reportedly wrote to Obama in late August, the Wall Street Journal reports, signaling his willingness to accept carbon-reduction targets proposed by the U.S. and to address concerns raised by the White House about Keystone and its impact on the environment.
The proposed Keystone XL project would carry heavy crude from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast, and has triggered intense opposition from environmentalist groups concerned that it will contribute to climate change. The project is presently under review by the U.S. State Department, and will require final approval from President Obama.
Harper’s letter immediately triggered a strong reaction, with Thomas Pyle, President of the Institute for Energy Research in Washington D.C., slamming the letter in a statement as a “capitulation to the White House political machine that has unnecessarily delayed the project for almost five years.”
Pyle criticized the U.S. government too, saying: "At the end of the day, White House officials are more concerned about cutting a deal with environmental extremists than they are with the Canadian prime minister.”
Meanwhile TransCanada Corp., which proposed the controversial Keystone XL project, released a more hopeful statement:
“Despite three years of misinformation, an overwhelming majority of Americans continue to support Keystone XL because they understand that this is a choice about where to get oil from: a secure, stable and reliable ally in Canada, or continue to import higher-priced, ‘conflict oil’ from the Middle East and Venezuela – where American values and interests are not shared or respected.”
A spokesman for Harper declined to comment on the letter, according to the Wall Street Journal. Reuters reported that the White House has not yet responded to Harper’s letter.

Give Back Your Peace Prize

A Swedish reporter asked President Obama Wednesday, “Could you describe the dilemma to being a Nobel Peace Prize winner and getting ready to attack Syria?”

Military action is, of course, sometimes necessary to maintain peace. Kosovo and World War II are good examples. But the president has not demonstrated that missile attacks in Syria would do anything to achieve peace. Worse, by all accounts, Obama’s “red line” threat was an off-the-cuff remark, not a well thought-out strategy. The U.S. should not attack another country because the president was careless with his words and now wants to protect his personal credibility.

But we don’t even need to look at Syria to conclude that the decent thing would be for Obama to return the prize that he never deserved in the first place.  

There’s the obvious problem of Obama escalating a pointless and failing war in Afghanistan. From 2001 to the end of the Bush presidency in 2009, 625 American troops died because of the war. Under Obama’s watch, more than twice that many, some 1,500 soldiers, have died. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed as well.

But nothing undermines the notion of Obama as a leader for peace more than his five-year Middle East drone war. According to the New America Foundation, since 2004, there have been 361 American drone strikes in Pakistan. Of those, only 48 occurred during the Bush administration.

Bill Clinton offers case for Obamacare: 'We've got to do this'

Opening a new phase of the White House campaign to sell the public on the nation's new healthcare program, former President Clinton sought to clear up confusion about it Wednesday and called on the law’s opponents to help smooth its implementation for the good of their constituents.

“We’ve got to do this,” Clinton said in a speech to several hundred healthcare professionals and doctors in Little Rock, Ark. “The studies show that we are No. 1 by a country mile in the percentage of our income that we devote to healthcare costs, and rank no better than 25th to 33rd in the healthcare outcomes we get. This is the country that pioneered innovation in every other area of our national life; you cannot make me believe that we have to tolerate this from now until the end of eternity.”

At a crucial juncture a few weeks before the Oct. 1 opening of the law's health insurance marketplaces across the country, Clinton scolded Republicans who have voted to repeal the law more than 40 times, arguing that they have not offered “real alternatives.” 

“The benefits of reform can’t be fully realized, and the problems certainly can’t be solved unless both the supporters and the opponents of the original legislation work together to implement it and address the issues that arise whenever you change a system this complex,” he said during Wednesday’s address at the Clinton Presidential Library.

After a dry recitation of the benefits of the law that have already been put in place and the expansion of insurance coverage to come, he argued that “the direst predictions for the adverse consequences have not materialized.” 

G20 Ends Abruptly as Obama Calls Putin a Jackass

ST. PETERSBURG (The Borowitz Report)—Hopes for a positive G20 summit crumbled today as President Obama blurted to Russia’s Vladimir Putin at a joint press appearance, “Everyone here thinks you’re a jackass.”
The press corps appeared stunned by the uncharacteristic outburst from Mr. Obama, who then unleashed a ten-minute tirade at the stone-faced Russian President.
“Look, I’m not just talking about Snowden and Syria,” Mr. Obama said. “What about Pussy Riot? What about your anti-gay laws? Total jackass moves, my friend.”
As Mr. Putin narrowed his eyes in frosty silence, Mr. Obama seemed to warm to his topic.
“If you think I’m the only one who feels this way, you’re kidding yourself,” Mr. Obama said, jabbing his finger in the direction of the Russian President’s face. “Ask Angela Merkel. Ask David Cameron. Ask the Turkish guy. Every last one of them thinks you’re a dick.”
Shortly after Mr. Obama’s volcanic performance, Mr. Putin released a terse official statement, reading, “I should be afraid of this skinny man? I wrestle bears.”
After one day of meetings, the G20 nations voted unanimously on a resolution that said maybe everyone should just go home.

Obama hints he may abandon Syria strike

President Barack Obama hinted Friday that he might not strike Syria if Congress rejects his authorization request.
“I’m not itching for military action… and if there are good ideas that are worth pursuing, then I’m going to be open to them,” he told one reporter who asked if he was seeking alternatives to a missile strike.
“Are we on a fast track to military action as soon as Congress renders its judgment one way or the other?” the reporter asked Obama, during his morning press conference in St. Petersburg, Russia.

John Kerry was one of those dishonorably dismissed from the Navy for collaborating with Viet Cong 

 

SENATOR  JOHN  KERRY'S  DISCHARGE -  THE  JIMMY  CARTER  LEGACY  CONTINUES

"We are positive..."

Words of Captain Donald L. Nelson, JAG corps USN ret:    I was on active duty as a U.S. Navy JAG, when all of this was going on 25 to 30 years ago, and so was Mark F. Sullivan, who at all relevant times was the personal JAG to J. William Middendorf, then the Secretary of the Navy.
We are trying to break this absolutely true story nationwide, i.e., Fox News, C-Span, and hopefully the major networks.   We are positive that John Kerry was one of those dishonorably dismissed from the Navy for collaborating with the Viet Cong after he was released from active duty, but still in the Navy and for a totally unauthorized trip to Paris.  John Kerry later got an "honorable" separation in 1978, some 12 years after joining the Navy, under President Carter's "Amnesty Program" for draft dodgers,  and other malcontents, who fled to Canada and Holland, among other places, to avoid military service to our country.

This is why John Kerry has refused, and continues to refuse, to release all of his Navy records: they reflect that he was Dishonorably Dismissed from the United States Naval Service.  If they do not (which they do) he would have released them to the public.  Again, he has not done so, because he well knows that the truth would kill his challenge to President Bush.   If you would like to talk with me, I may be reached at telephone number (925) 964-0943 in Danville, California, or at DLNelsonSF@msn.com.