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Monday, July 27, 2009

Obama: US-China relations to shape 21st century

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama, opening U.S. talks with a high-level delegation of Chinese government officials, said Monday that ties between the two countries are "as important as any bilateral relationship in the world."

Saying that Washington and Beijing are in a position to vastly affect life around the world in the 21st century, Obama declared: "I believe that we are poised to make steady progress on some of the most important issues of our times."

He joined Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in launching a dialogue with a team of Chinese officials led by Vice Premier Wang Qishan.

Obama said the two countries need to forge closer ties to address challenges ranging from lifting the global economy out of a deep recession to nuclear proliferation. And he also said he was under "no illusions that the United States and China will agree on every issue" but said closer cooperation in important areas was critical for the world.

Israeli official: No option off table on Iran

By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer

JERUSALEM – Tensions between Israel and the United States over Iran bubbled up in high-level talks Monday in which Defense Minister Ehud Barak bluntly told U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates that "no option" should be ruled out.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office subsequently described the talks as occurring "in a highly positive atmosphere."

But before that, the two sides seemed to differ pointedly over a potential military strike to thwart Tehran's progress on the nuclear front.

The visiting Gates urged patience, but Barak declared: "We clearly believe that no option should be removed from the table. This is our policy; we mean it. We recommend to others to take the same position, but we cannot dictate it to anyone."

While the United States also reserves the right to use force if need be, the Obama administration is playing down that possibility while it tries to draw Iran into talks about its disputed nuclear program and other topics. Gates said Washington still hopes to have an initial answer in the fall about negotiations.

"The timetable the president laid out still seems to be viable and does not significantly raise the risks to anybody," Gates said.

The statement issued from Netanyahu's office acknowledged that "a large part" of the discussion here had been devoted to Iran.

"Secretary Gates stated that the U.S. and Israel see eye-to-eye regarding the Iranian nuclear threat and explained that the U.S. engagement with Tehran will not be open-ended," it said.

The statement added: "Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated the seriousness to which Israel views Iran's nuclear ambitions and the need to utilize all available means to prevent Iran from achieving a nuclear weapons capability."

Iran says it is merely trying to develop nuclear reactors for domestic power generation. Israeli leaders and a significant share of the population fear the U.S. is prizing outreach to Iran over its historic ties to Israel and appears resigned to the idea that Iran will soon be able to build a nuclear weapon.

President Barack Obama says he has accepted no such thing.

The question of how to deal with Iran's rapid advancement toward nuclear proficiency has become one of the most public differences between new administrations in Jerusalem and Washington, despite overall close relations.

Both Barak and Gates said time is short, and Gates stressed that any negotiations would not become cover for Iran to run out the clock while it perfects a nuclear weapon.

"I think we're in full agreement on the negative consequences of Iran obtaining this kind of capability," Gates said. "I think we are also agreed that it is important to take every opportunity to try and persuade the Iranians to reconsider what is actually in their own security interest. We are in the process of doing that."

Gates' brief visit to Israel was partially aimed at dissuading Israel from a pre-emptive attack on Iran's known nuclear sites, although Israel has never announced any specific intention to do that. Barak's no-options-off-the-table comment, uttered three times, seemed to indicate Gates made no visible headway in getting Israel to soften its line.

Obama pledged a new outreach to Iran during last year's presidential campaign. Aides say the recent election-related political upheaval in Iran has complicated, but not derailed, that effort.

Moreover, the United States argues that a strike would upset the fragile security balance in the Middle East, perhaps triggering a new nuclear arms race and leaving everyone, including Israel and Iran, worse off.

On Sunday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton implicitly urged Israel to set aside any plans it might have for attacking Iran, saying she hopes the Jewish state understands the value of American attempts at diplomacy.

Speaking on NBC's "Meet The Press," Clinton also said she would not reveal any specifics of a possible "defense umbrella" to protect Mideast allies against an eventual Iranian bomb.

The umbrella idea, which Clinton offhandedly mentioned last week, has fueled Israel's uncertainty over U.S. policy under Obama even though Clinton later backpedaled.

Iran rejects the idea of U.S. defensive umbrella to protect Washington's regional allies against a nuclear Iran. Foreign ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi told reporters Monday that "there is no need" for a U.S. defensive umbrella, just for Washington to tell Israel to "dismantle its own 200 nuclear warheads."

Britain urges new Afghan govt to defeat Taliban

by Lorne Cook

BRUSSELS (AFP) – British Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned Afghan leaders Monday that their next government must do more to defeat the insurgency and drive a wedge between the Taliban and its backers.

With Britain under pressure over mounting casualties, Miliband sought to reassure Britons about why British troops are on the front-line and called on other NATO countries to carry their share of the burden.

"The biggest shift must now be towards the Afghan state taking more responsibility," he said in a speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels, aimed mainly at the British public.

"Enduring capacity comes through the civilian side, with military support, and our aim in Afghanistan is transition," he said, in an hour-long address and question session focused on civilian, rather than military, efforts.

Afghans go to the polls for provincial and presidential elections on August 20 in a vote seen as a key test of the NATO-led efforts to foster democracy and reconstruction in the strife-torn country.

"I believe we are at an important point in Afghanistan's history and NATO's work there, a testing point," Miliband said. "The elections on August 20th need to be both credible and inclusive."

Ahead of the polls, US and NATO troops have launched major operations in the Taliban heartland near the Pakistan border, but casualties have spiked, undermining support for the alliance's most ambitious operation ever.

Miliband called on the incoming government to weed out hard-line insurgents from those Afghans involved in fighting for money, because they they have no job or who are being coerced.

"We will not force the Taliban to surrender just through force of arms and overwhelming might," he said.

The government with the help of the international community could do so, he said, by "dividing the different groups, by convincing the Afghans that we will not desert them to Taliban retribution, and by building legitimate governance."

"We need to help the Afghan government exploit the opportunity, with a more coherent effort to fragment the various elements of the insurgency, and turn those who can be reconciled to live within the Afghan constitution."

At least 20 British personnel have been killed this month in Operation Panther's Claw in the southern province of Helmund, as international forces seek to take ground from the Taliban and their supporters and hold onto it.

But while Miliband emphasised that the Afghans should do more, he insisted that NATO allies must do their share of the fighting, by sending more troops and equipment and lifting conditions placed on the way forces can operate.

"We will play our part, but we want others to play their part too," he said.

"Burden-sharing is a founding principle of the alliance. It needs to be honoured in practice as well as in theory."

He also sent a message to Afghanistan neighbour Pakistan, noting that any deal with former Taliban on both sides of the border should contain "red lines".

He said any peace deals should only involve former militants who are "prepared to shut out Al-Qaeda, and not use violence against troops or citizens in Afghanistan."

Karzai: Afghans want rules for troops changed

By ROBERT H. REID and KATHY GANNON, Associated Press Writers

KABUL – President Hamid Karzai said Monday he wants new rules governing the conduct of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan and would be willing to talk with Taliban leaders who publicly renounce violence and endorse peace.

But Karzai, acknowledging shaky relations with his international partners in the war on terror, told The Associated Press in an interview that he was not prepared at this time to discuss the key Taliban demand — a timetable for the withdrawal of all foreign troops.

Karzai said the presence of U.S. and international forces was in the Afghan national interest but should be "based on a new contract" that would minimize civilian casualties, limit searches of private homes and restrict detaining Afghans indefinitely without charge.

He also said he wants the U.S.-run prison at Bagram Air Base, where about 600 Afghans are held, re-evaluated and inmates released unless there is evidence linking them to terrorist affiliation. He said arrests are turning ordinary Afghans against U.S. and NATO forces.

Karzai has promised to pursue those demands for changes in the relationship with foreign forces if he wins a second term in the Aug. 20 presidential election. He is considered the leading contender in the 39-candidate field, though he would be forced into a runoff if he fails to win a majority of votes in the first round.

"The Afghan people still want a fundamentally strong relation with the United States," Karzai said. "The Afghan people want a strategic partnership with America" based on fighting Islamic extremism.

But he added that the partnership must ensure "that the partners are not losing their lives, their property, their dignity as a consequence of that partnership."

The 91,000 international troops based in Afghanistan include about 65,000 under NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF. The rest are part of a U.S.-led coalition involved in counterterrorism and training Afghan forces. Both groups operate under different rules, which are kept secret for operational security reasons.

It is widely assumed, however, that the U.S.-led counter-terror command enjoys broader powers to search homes and detain people indefinitely if they are suspected of posing a security threat.

Last month, the new U.S. and NATO commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, issued new orders saying troops may attack insurgents hiding in Afghan houses only if international forces are in imminent danger. The measures were put into effect to quell a storm of criticism from Karzai's government about civilian casualties, which help fuel the Taliban insurgency.

During his interview, Karzai suggested those measures may not be enough to convince most Afghans to accept a long-term international role, which he said was in the interest of the Afghan people.

Karzai said no Afghan mother would weep over a son killed or wounded in the war "but that Afghan mother would very much want her other son, her husband or her daughter to be safe in their homes, to be safe in their communities, not to be bombed, not to be arrested, not to have their homes broken into at night with their front gate blown up by dynamite."

Karzai also said he wanted a dialogue with Taliban members not affiliated with al-Qaida or "in the grips of foreign intelligence agencies" in order to "reintegrate" them into Afghan society. He said those Taliban members must first repent "and announce that publicly."

He did not specify any foreign intelligence agency, but Afghan officials have in the past accused Pakistan of backing the Taliban, which Pakistan denies.

But Karzai also made clear he was not prepared to call for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces, which some key Taliban figures have demanded before they will enter peace talks.

Karzai acknowledged strong differences over the years with the NATO and U.S.-led forces "but I also know and the Afghan people also know that the presence of international troops in Afghanistan is bringing stability to Afghanistan."

"I would advise the Taliban not to ask for the exit of international forces in Afghanistan because that is not in the interest of the Afghan people," he said.

Instead, both sides should work toward a relationship in which foreign troops show greater sensitivity to Afghan culture and the Afghans display "better management of governmental affairs."

Karzai has come under criticism for embracing some of Afghanistan's most notorious warlords, including his vice presidential running mate Mohammad Qasim Fahim, and his defense adviser, Gen. Rashid Dostum, who has been accused of killing hundreds of Taliban prisoners in 2001.

Karzai defended those ties, saying many of those now branded as warlords had received "million and millions of dollars" from the United States for their help in fighting the Taliban in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

Sikhs, Hindus dread Taliban tax in Pakistan

by Sajjad Tarakzai

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – Sitting on a broken chair outside a Sikh temple in a crowded part of Peshawar, Aman Deep Singh is frantic about his future after losing his business in Pakistan's tribal district of Khyber.

When the Taliban gave Sikhs and Hindus an ultimatum -- leave the land of your forefathers or pay an Islamic tax in protection money -- Singh packed up and left his native Tirah valley for Peshawar.

"We were living under fear. Fear of militants, fear of Lashkar-e-Islam and fear of other armed groups," said Singh, his hair swept up in a turban, a long beard touching his abdomen and thick moustache covering his upper lip.

He swapped a general store in the mountains for unemployment in the northwest capital, where he struggles to feed the nine members of his family. Aman Deep is a fake name. He wants his real name hidden for his security.

As light fades to dusk, Sikhs gather for evening prayers at the Joga Singh gurdwara (temple) in a narrow street of Peshawar's Dabgari bazaar. Each man removes his shoes, washes his feet in a small pool of water and covers his head.

"I am not the only one. About 400 Sikh and 57 Hindu families migrated from (the town of) Bara and Tirah," said Singh.

Sikhs and Hindus are tiny communities in Pakistan. In the last year, hundreds have fled their homes after receiving death threats from the Taliban and other militant groups in an increasingly unstable northwest.

After US troops invaded Afghanistan in 2001, Taliban and Al-Qaeda ideologues fled to Pakistan, where they have increasingly focused their campaign and where 2,000 people have perished in bomb attacks over the past two years.

Pakistan launched a major offensive in the northwest this summer, under pressure from the United States, after Taliban fighters made deep territorial inroads.

Militants need an endless supply of funds for their weapons, communications and training.

Kidnapping, drugs and extortion are typical sources of income. Taxation and protection scams are others, and vulnerable non-Muslims are easy prey.

Local Sikhs mostly trade in cloth, and also run grocer, garment and herbal medicine shops. They are people who can afford the 1,000 rupees (12 dollars) per man, per year "jizya" tax.

In the region of Orakzai, the Taliban demanded the tax of adult male Sikhs, forcibly occupying Sikh-owned shops and houses. After two months, the tax spread to Khyber, the legendary tribal region on the main supply line to Afghanistan.

It was there that Lashkar-e-Islam, a Pakistani Islamist group headed by Mangal Bagh, announced Sikhs and Hindus would be free to live anywhere -- as long as they paid jizya.

But threats made the situation increasing tense. Hundreds of Sikh and Hindu families fled to nearby areas, especially Peshawar.

"Minorities in Orakzai and Khyber were warned by some militant groups to become Muslims or leave the area. This was a real threat," Singh said.

"They're running a parallel government. Hindu and Sikh families did not feel safe, in Orakzai, in Bara and in Tirah. We preferred to migrate, at least here we can breathe in peace and feel safe," he said.

The same sentiment was echoed by other shopkeepers from Bara.

"No female Muslim or non-Muslim is allowed out without a male relative. All women, even the elderly, have to wear a burka," said Gulab Khan Afridi, a 38-year-old Muslim.

Gulab Khan said growing a beard and wearing a cap had become compulsory, otherwise Lashkar extremists would dole out beatings or a 200 to 500-rupee fine.

"Can you believe it? A man cannot wear a ring in Bara," he added.

Much like the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Islam acts like police, enforces prayers five times a day and punishes people accused of prostitution and other vices.

Sardar Sahib Singh, a Sikh leader in the district assembly in Peshawar, said his community paid 150,000 rupees (1,825 dollars) a year to Lashkar-e-Islam in protection money.

"Our community is better off. We only pay tax, while Muslims have to work, like being guards in Lashkar trenches," he said. But families are dwindling.

"At first there were 500 Sikh families in Bara, now only 150," he said.

Scholars say only a true Islamic government, no one else, can collect jizya and on condition that those who pay feel safe, but Lashkar-e-Islam insisted the tax was proper payment for services rendered.

"Women, children and the handicapped have been exempted," Misri Gul, a spokesman for the group, told AFP.

"Jizya is according to Islamic sharia. We will provide them protection in exchange for this," he said.

Pakistan probes hardline cleric's Taliban ties

By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Pakistani authorities are investigating whether an Islamist cleric who brokered a failed peace deal with the Taliban in the Swat Valley inappropriately aided the militants, a senior government official said Monday.

Sunday's arrest of Sufi Muhammad indicated the government won't try to strike another peace deal with Taliban fighters in the northwest valley, where the army has waged a three-month offensive.

Investigators may also be trying to pressure the aging cleric for information on the location of Swat Taliban commanders, including his son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah, the chief militant in the valley.

Amir Haider Khan Hoti, the chief minister of North West Frontier Province, said the government hopes to bring formal charges against Muhammad soon.

"We don't even need any further evidence against him," Hoti told reporters in the main northwest city of Peshawar. "What he himself said publicly, that everybody knows. What he had said against constitution, the judiciary, the institutions. The contacts he has had with militants. The way he misled government. The way he facilitated militants. We will formally charge him on these things."

The government relied heavily on Muhammad's contacts with Taliban fighters in striking the February peace deal. But Hoti alleged that Muhammad had misled authorities during the negotiations.

The pact imposed Islamic law in the valley in exchange for an end to two years of fighting — much to the chagrin of the U.S. and other countries who warned the deal effectively ceded the valley to the Islamist militia and created a safe haven for insurgents.

The agreement collapsed in April when the Taliban advanced south out of Swat, triggering the military offensive.

Some 2 million people fled the region, and although hundreds of thousands have returned in the past two weeks as the military operation winds down, sporadic fighting continues.

Muhammad leads a banned pro-Taliban group known as the Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammedi, or the Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law. He was jailed in 2002 but was freed last year after renouncing violence.

Muhammad himself does not control the armed militants in Swat. However, he mobilized thousands of volunteers to go fight in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

The Swat Taliban's ability to re-emerge will depend more on their leaders, including Fazlullah. The army says Fazlullah has been wounded, although the Taliban reportedly deny it. None of the commanders is definitively known to have been captured or killed.

Taiwan, China leaders exchange 1st direct messages

By DEBBY WU, Associated Press Writer

TAIPEI, Taiwan – The presidents of Taiwan and China exchanged direct messages Monday for the first time since the two sides split 60 years ago — the latest sign of their warming relations.

According to a Nationalist Party statement, Chinese President Hu Jintao congratulated Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou on his election Sunday as party chairman, and told Ma he hopes his Chinese Communist Party can work with Ma's Nationalist Party in the best interest of both sides.

"I hope both our parties can continue to promote peaceful development in cross-strait relations, and help bolster mutual trust between the two sides in political affairs," Hu's telegram said. China's state-owned Xinhua News Agency has confirmed that Hu sent the note.

In return, Ma called for both sides to work on peace.

"We should continue efforts to consolidate peace in the Taiwan Strait and rebuild regional stability," Ma said.

Taiwan and China usually communicate through semiofficial channels, with Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation talking with its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait. The Straits Exchange Foundation is partly funded by the Taiwanese government.

While Ma's telegram addressed Hu as the Communist Party's general secretary, Hu simply called the Taiwanese leader "Mr. Ma," in an apparent attempt to avoid touching upon the sensitive Taiwan sovereignty issue.

Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949, but Beijing continues to claim the island as part of its territory. China is determined to bring Taiwan back into its fold, by persuasion if possible, by force if necessary.

Since Ma's election last May, however, relations have improved. Under Ma, the two sides have resumed high-level dialogues and forged closer trade relations.

Ma has helped facilitate direct regular air and sea links and allowed Chinese companies to invest on the island.

Hu and Ma previously exchanged telegrams directly once in 2005, when Ma was elected opposition chairman.

US Navy warns of increased pirate activity

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The U.S. Navy is warning of increased pirate activity off the coast of Somalia due to the advent of weather more favorable to the sea-borne criminals.

The Navy says high seas in the Gulf of Aden had resulted in fewer attacks in recent weeks.

With the monsoon season ending in four to six weeks pirate activity is expected to increase, the Navy said in a statement Monday.

The Navy advised mariners to use a designated corridor when transiting the Gulf of Aden. The corridor is patrolled by 30 warships, supported by aircraft from 16 nations.

Somali pirates carried out hundreds of attacks this year. They currently hold around a dozen ships awaiting ransom payments.

MUST READ~CRITICIZING ISRAEL TO BE ILLEGAL

New Report out ~Today Israeli Zionists are tightening their grip even MORE on our freedom of speech.Israel will use this to take the cause to America next. Very serious stuff to report today, we are loosing our right to free speech against Israel. A Zionist "think tank" in England that has US ties is submitting a report to re-define the term "Anti-Semitism" and make those "new terms" illegal. Sit down, take a deep breath and get ready to be stunned. I came across this recent 38 page PDF publication which is being submitted to the British Government from the European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism (EISCA) the Zionist think-tank which sets out to "monitor" Anti-Semitism in the "World." This will be used against the Government, the Media, Universities and hundreds of Pro-Palestinian organizations, not to mention blogs and any protests the public decide to hold against the Zionist state Military actions in Palestine.

This group has influential power within the British Government, indeed, one Rt Hon Denis MacShane, MP, is the Chairman of the group.

They have just delivered a "new" report In which they are "re-defining" Anti-Semitism to include just about anything one may say to criticize Israel. Such as Anti-Zionism; Holocaust denial and Holocaust related abuse; conspiracy theories; dual loyalty and the blood libel. More importantly, they take this one step further and are now including "Zionism" in this definition.

The report calls for the adoption of this new definition into law, which would then make it a "crime" to discuss or use any of the phrases, terms, arguments, theories or cases covered this new "definition." They want the UK to adopt the EUMC (now the European Agency for Fundamental Rights [FRA]) definition of "anti-Semitism" so as to outlaw the use of the word "Nazi" when referring to Israel, its government, and Zionists. But that is NOT all they are after, there are many more "demands" which are quite shocking indeed, such as any conspiracy theories about Israel and 9-11, Zionism, or the Israeli Lobby in American Politics control in Washington. Additionally they want your Children to be "re-educated when they attend University (Sounds like Nazi’s to me!) They are also calling for media controls as well. Almost all criticism of Israel AND/OR Zionism will be "branded" as Anti-Semitism and illegal, so keep reading. This definition will target all aspects of discussion on the Israel/Palestine conflict, including media, universities, demonstrations, freedom of speech and much more. Here are excerpts of the new "Zionist Big Brother" PDF report:

STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT
The report of the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism drew attention to five themes of antisemitic discourse: anti-Zionism; Holocaust denial and Holocaust related abuse; conspiracy theories; dual loyalty and the blood libel. This report combines them into one overarching theme- playing the Nazi card.

So as we can see, every single aspect of this new form of censorship will now come under one all encompassing heading of "Playing The Nazi Card" So they are effectively lumping hundreds of very real and accurate criticisms against the IDF, the State of Israel, the Gaza Genocide, the Israeli Government and any one critical of Zionism into one little sentence with the word "Nazi" in it. How clever!! Therefore you MUST remember when reading this below that each time they use the phrase "Using the Nazi Card" they are including ALL of this as well: Any criticisms against the IDF, the State of Israel, the Gaza Genocide, the Israeli Government and any one critical of Zionism That is the danger in what they are attempting here folks. With that in mind keep reading:

THE NAZI CARD
In the case of the United Kingdom, the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism recommended that the working definition be "adopted by the government and law enforcement agencies".

When the Nazi card is played against the Israeli State, its leaders, its military practices, or its founding ideology of Zionism, it is clearly antisemitic.

Four different variants of the problem are examined in the report:
- The Nazi card as abuse against Jews.
- The Nazi card as abuse against the collective memory of the Holocaust.
- The Nazi card in the casting of Jews as conspirators and collaborators with the Nazis.
- The Nazi card manifest in discourse about Israel and Zionism.
Each of these variants of the Nazi card has harmful consequences that constitute a significant common denominator and the rationale for why this type of discourse needs to be addressed. (note that Zionism is now included in the Definition)

GAZA PROTESTS:
Placards carrying images of swastikas superimposed on the Star of David and the Israeli flag were commonplace in street-level protests about the recent Israeli military actions and the conflict in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. Allusions between Nazi genocidal practices and the activities of the Israeli state were also drawn in some of the speeches at protest meetings and press commentary on the conflict.

AND THIS WONT BE ALLOWED ANY MORE:

Richard Falk, the then incoming United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, published an article in 2007 titled 'Slouching toward a Palestinian Holocaust’ whereby, for instance, Palestinian territories have been compared to the "Warsaw ghetto", Libya’s deputy UN ambassador, Ibrahim Dabbashi, reportedly drew a comparison between conditions in Gaza and the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. This occasion was not the first time officials associated with the UN had drawn parallels between Israeli military actions and atrocities committed by the Nazis.

UNDERSTANDING AND ADDRESSING ANTISEMITIC DISCOURSE
The project’s aims were to:
● Identify and illuminate the main component parts of antisemitic discourse.
● Include an examination of how criticism of Israel and Zionism can crossover into and become polluted by antisemitism through the expression or assumption of core antisemitic concepts.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF ANTISEMITIC DISCOURSE
This report attempts to shift the focus of analysis of contemporary antisemitism onto new ground: away from labeling and defining the problem to an understanding of the consequences of discourse against Jews, Israel and Zionism.

YOU CANNOT CRITICIZE ZIONISM:

PLAYING THE NAZI CARD AGAINST ISRAEL AND ZIONISM
One of the most challenging components of antisemitic discourse in general, and the discursive theme of the Nazi card in particular, concerns the problem of when the Nazi card is played against Israel and its founding movement, Zionism.

INTRODUCTION: THE NAZI CARD AS ANTISEMITIC DISCOURSE
Playing the Nazi card refers to the use of Nazi or related terms or symbols (Nazism,
Hitler, swastikas, etc.) in reference to Jews, Israel, Zionism or aspects of the Jewish experience.

● It would be timely for the government to commission a rapid evidence assessment into the practical experience of using the criminal law against racist and antisemitic speech in countries where such provisions have been established.

● The Home Office, in consultation with the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Crown Prosecution Service, should prepare and issue guidance for police forces and crown prosecutors about the circumstances in which playing the Nazi card, and other forms of antisemitic discourse, amounts to unlawful incitement to racial hatred.

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES ARE TARGETED:

UNIVERSITIES-RE-EDUCATION OF YOUR CHILDREN:
UK universities and colleges should be encouraged to debate and utilize the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) working definition of antisemitism to inform their race equality and harassment policies.

● In seeking advice from scholars with experience in the matter, the government should commission and promote educational materials for university-level
lectures/seminars/workshops on Holocaust denial which examine how Holocaust denial in its explicit and more subtle manifestations constitutes antisemitic discourse.

● The European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism should produce a model statement that refutes the Nazi card point-by-point so that it can aid and inform those who seek to challenge it.(Soon the Government will be paying for these to be handed out to every kid at University!)

No more talking about AIPAC,the Jewish-Zionist Lobby, it's influence, Jane Harman affair, Israeli spies, all will be considered "anti-Semitic" soon:

JEWISH/ZIONIST LOBBY IN AMERICA
It has been suggested that in recent discourse regarding the alleged role of Zionists or an Israel lobby in Western societies, the language and terms of reference used to depict their alleged actions has sometimes been reminiscent of language and themes similar to those identified by Klug when discussing the traditional depiction of the conduct of the mythical Jew. Zionists and
The Zionist lobby have periodically been depicted as conspirators, controllers of the media, and of wielding undue power and influence over governments. It might therefore be suggested that such sentiment, when echoing traditional antisemitic conspiracy theories but ostensibly targeting Zionists is likewise not grounded in any real sense of 'what they are,’ but has similarly come to reflect a discourse of hatred against Zionists as 'Zionists’.

AND DON'T BE TALKING ABOUT BERNIE MADE-OFF ANYMORE EITHER,MORE HERE:

In addition to such conspiracies that allege Jewish and Israeli hands behind major international calamities have been references to longstanding antisemitic conspiracy theories alleging orchestrated Jewish control of world financial markets.

And they are going after the Media:

THE PRESS AND MEDIA:
The media in Britain have also played a hand in reproducing antisemitic conspiracy theories - even inadvertently. Most famously, the cover of the 14January 2002 edition of the New Statesman used a large glistening golden Star of David piercing a prostate Union Jack and the words 'A kosher conspiracy?...Britain’s pro-Israel lobby’.

The Press Complaints Commission should be encouraged to utilize the EUMC working definition of antisemitism to inform guidance in its Code of Practice

● The National Union of Journalists at national and branch level should be encouraged to debate and utilize the EUMC working definition of antisemitism to inform guidance about how particular discourse can lead to hatred or discrimination against Jews.

● The Press Complaints Commission should be encouraged to utilize the EUMC working definition of antisemitism to inform guidance in its Code of Practice about how particular discourse can lead to hatred or discrimination against Jews.

● When the Nazi card is played as abuse against Jews individually or collectively, it involves a discursive and targeted hurtful act of raw explicit insult and potentially serves as a threat of future violence.

So, How insane is that statement, they are calling for a law to be passed to stop a violent crime that may not take place, or has not taken place yet? So perhaps we should start arresting people who "may" in future commit a crime because of their thoughts and opinions? ZIONIST BIG BROTHER STATE COMING SOON TO YOU

● When the Nazi card is played as abuse against the collective memory of the Holocaust, the offender 'de-Nazifies’ the role of the Nazis and casts Jews as conspirators.

● When the Nazi card is played by casting Jews as conspirators and collaborators with the Nazis, Jews are portrayed as beneficiaries of Nazi genocidal policies.

● When the Nazi card is played against Israel and Zionism, Israel as a state is cast in the role of the Nazis with Palestinians cast as victims of eliminationist policy and practice.

So in the above statements they make it crystal clear, the "Holocaust" excuse will "never" end. In other words, there will never come a time when it can be viewed as a historical event, and there will never come a time when you can be critical of it, or have an opposing opinion of that historical event. Now, to effectively rule that people cannot have their own opinions or questions, no matter how far out, is just another form of Big Brother Control of the masses by Israel world wide. Taking that one step further, what about people who believe that 9-11 was an inside job and that Jews were involved. So, that "form" of thought will also be outlawed as illegal. SEE HERE:

In the aftermath of several recent international terrorist attacks, allegations of Jewish conspiracies spread. Since the events of 9/11, antisemitic conspiracy theories have variously alleged that Jews or Zionists were responsible for the attacks or were aware of the attacks in advance. Together with such allegations has been the suggestion that thousands of Jews were secretly warned not to arrive at work on the day of the 9/11 attacks.

AND THIS WILL ALSO BECOME ILLEGAL AS WELL:

JEWS AS CONSPIRATORS AND COLLABORATORS WITH THE NAZIS
Conspiracy theories about Jews have historically provided the mainstay of antisemitic discourse. New conspiracies are promoted with varying malevolence often in reaction to prevailing social, political and economic calamities. Once given life, the conspiracy theories become part of the everyday ideology and discourse of what it is to be a Jew.

Can't have the truth about the Genocide in Gaza being reported in public, people may find out the truth!AND THEY WILL BE GOING AFTER BOOKS AS WELL, SO WATCH OUT:

In one of the earliest British contributions to the Holocaust-denial literature, Did Six Million Really Die? The Truth at Last,38 published in 1974, Richard Harwood claimed that the "deception" committed by "the Jewish people" had brought an "incalculable benefit" in that the "alleged extent of their persecution quickly aroused sympathy for the Jewish national homeland they had sought for so long".

"The language is significant - 'hoax’, 'swindle’, 'racket’ -
All in themselves implying 'Jew’ through the historical accumulation of antisemitic connotations (money grabbing, Jewing, Shylock, etc.)".41

PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION (also will be illegal)

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and Henry Ford’s The International Jew, are exemplars of such a depiction of the Jew. And more recent conspiracy theories about Jews manifest this malevolent discursive characterization.

AND LASTLY, MORE EXPRESSIONS THAT WILL BECOME ILLEGAL:

● Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective - such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.

LOOKOUT, that sweeping statement covers everything about the Zionist Lobby's control inside America. So, will we see books such as THIS by JOHN MEARSHEIMER and STEPHEN WALT and books like THIS by James Petras becoming illegal under the guise of "Anti-Semitism"?? MORE...

● Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.

● Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.

Don't you love that one? If it was even remotely NOT true we'd not have AIPAC, ZOA, ADL and hundreds of other "lobby" groups controlling America and it's worldwide policies! They advocate for ISRAEL not AMERICA. AIPAC spies and Jane Harman anyone? Sadly there's more:

● Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

● Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.

● Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

Please pass this post on...If you are NOT Angry then you are NOT paying attention. BIG BROTHER is already here, in the name of worldwide Zionism!

Pakistan Consumed By Violence As Taliban Power Grows

The Taliban's power in Pakistan continues to grow and it now has entire towns under its control. Under U.S. pressure, the Pakistani army is fighting the Islamists - with limited success. Pakistani intelligence says the Americans are doing more harm than good.

Back when Qari Zainuddin still believed that he could win this war, he stood in front of his office in the Pakistani town of Dera Ismail Khan, surrounded by masked men, each of them with an AK-47 at the ready. A few white doves cooed as the sun blazed down on the flat brick buildings.

Zainuddin, 26, a powerfully built Taliban commander, was wearing a shimmering, gold-colored cap over his dark hair and a Palestinian scarf wrapped loosely around his shoulders. He was speaking into the microphones of the journalists he had invited.

He wrinkled his brow and said quietly that Baitullah Mehsud was no holy warrior, but just an "ordinary terrorist." A few days earlier Mehsud, who was chosen as the leader of the Pakistani Taliban by an alliance of militant Islamist groups and who has committed the largest number of attacks on civilians, soldiers and security forces in his home country, had ordered his men to kill more than 40 people in a mosque. He wants to bring down the government in Islamabad and transform Pakistan into an emirate, just as the Taliban across the border intend to do in Afghanistan. Now Zainuddin was saying that he and his followers, of which he claimed there were 3,000, were going to "destroy" Mehsud.

Qari Zainuddin was dead two days later. A bodyguard, one of Mehsud's mercenaries who had infiltrated Zainuddin's ranks, shot him in his sleep.

The news of Zainuddin's death spread like wildfire through Pakistan's North West Frontier Province. The implicit message was that the same fate would await anyone who defies Mehsud or even goes as far as to align himself with the Pakistani army.

Aggressive Leadership

The Taliban has become so powerful in Pakistan that it can afford internecine battles for dominance. At the same time, the Pakistani army, fired up by the U.S. government, is waging a war against the religious militants in the rugged, inhospitable and hard-to-control border region in the northwest. Islamabad's military offensive has prompted the Taliban to withdraw, and yet it is also expanding its radius deep into the country's interior, reaching as far as major cities like Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.

Day after day, they attack and kill police officers and soldiers, and day after day suicide bombers blow themselves up in markets and mosques. They have committed 218 attacks in the North West Frontier Province this year alone. The death toll from terrorist attacks in Pakistan is now higher than the number of civilian deaths in the war across the border in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has become synonymous with the threat of terrorism to the world. Americans like Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are urging the government in Islamabad to practice "aggressive leadership," and they want the Pakistani army to crush and kill the extremists on Pakistani soil. The United States sees the prolonged offensive by Pakistani armed forces in the Swat Valley as the prelude to a long and bloody conflict.

The new strategy stems from General David Petraeus, the head of United States Central Command. As he did in Iraq, Petraeus, a cool-headed intellectual, intends to stop the "spiral downward" in the war zone which American strategists are now referring to as AfPak. If Petraeus has his way, the Taliban and al-Qaeda will also be defeated in Pakistan, which they repeatedly use as a safe haven after fighting in Afghanistan. For more than two months, the Pakistani army has been battling a leader of the radical Islamic Taliban in the Swat Valley.

In return, the Taliban is expanding the combat zone, leaving a trail of blood with attacks across the entire country, from Kashmir in the north to Karachi in the south. Pakistan is not collapsing, but it is being consumed by violence and undermined by the fear that anyone, at any time, can fall victim to the next attack.

Maulana Hassan Jan, a religious scholar from Peshawar near the Afghan border, resisted the orgy of violence that is destroying his country. He issued a fatwa against suicide attacks, calling them "un-Islamic". The Taliban killed him. Maulana Sarfraz Naeemi, the prominent director of a Koran school who had also spoken out against the militant extremists, was killed in a suicide bombing.

Keeping the Demons in Check

No other politician has more influence in the religious arena than Maulana Fazal-ur Rehman, the head of the powerful Islamist party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI). He knows Taliban leader Mullah Omar and al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden personally, and it is said that there are no extremists Rehman could not get in contact with if he wanted to.

With his bright orange turban and rotund stomach under his loose-fitting shirt, Rehman looks like a grand vizier in an old painting. He receives visitors in his parliamentary office in Islamabad, with its expansive leather armchairs and red teak furniture.

It's been a long time since there was a government in Pakistan where the JUI was not disproportionately represented. Even though the JUI secured only 2.2 percent of the vote in the last parliamentary election, it has three cabinet ministers in the current administration.

Rehman's power is derived from a network of hundreds of Koran schools run by members of the JUI, where poor children not only learn to read and write, but also learn about the obligation to wage jihad.

Every government has bought itself Rehman's favor with attractive posts and costly gifts, hoping that the popular cleric would keep his demons in check.

If he raised his voice against Baitullah Mehsud, it would have an impact, but he would also be placing himself in danger. Instead, he downplays Mehsud and his forces by portraying them as a couple of hooligans up to mischief in the country's northwest.

Rehman is from Dera Ismail Khan, a city in the mountainous northwest of the country. There, in the tribal areas, the al-Qaeda leadership around the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri are believed to be hiding.

Dera Ismail Khan is the gateway to South Waziristan, the last major crossroads for insurgents and smugglers, traders and nomads before Pakistan's tribal areas, which, though officially under federal administration, have in truth never been under the government's control. Six hours by car from Islamabad, the city of 70,000 lies on the banks of the Indus River, at the intersection of three provinces: Punjab, Baluchistan and the North West Frontier Province.

Destruction of the Old Order

The Taliban routinely flee to Dera Ismail Khan to escape attacks by deadly U.S. drones in South Waziristan. They stroll through the abandoned streets above the Topawala Bazaar, and they sit on woven benches in the few teahouses, eating sohan halwa, a confection made of cornmeal, saffron and pistachios. Injured Taliban fighters from Afghanistan come to the city for medical treatment or to spend a few days recovering from the war.

The Taliban wear long beards and short collars, the ends of their turbans fall to the backs of their knees, and the seams of their trousers end above their ankles. Their dress is believed to reflect what the Prophet Mohammed wore.

The town's residents furtively observe these uninvited guests from the corners of their windows, and they remain in their homes unless going out is absolutely necessary. The women only go out in public wearing a white full-body veil and in the company of a male family member. The Taliban has set fire to CD and DVD businesses whose owners refused to voluntarily close their stores. Very few shops are still open.

Two years ago, the city was a vibrant commercial and cultural center. Canals connected to the Indus River irrigate rice fields and help ensure that local farmers can produce succulent mangoes and sweet dates. The colorful floral wreaths typical of the region are famous well beyond its borders. Mystics once converged on Dera Ismail Khan twice a year for Sufi conferences, and there were music concerts for the flute and dhol, a traditional drum. Weekly wrestling matches were held in Haq Nawaz Park, and on Fridays families would pack baskets of sweets and fruit and have picnics on the banks of the Indus, where the boys would hold swimming races and the girls would cheer them on.

If you want to die, the Pakistanis say today, then go to Dera Ismail Khan. The old order has been destroyed there, and tribal elders are no longer able to keep the peace. In fact, many tribal leaders themselves have become the targets of violent Islamists and criminal gangs.

Dera Ismail Khan has changed since the Americans began, more than a year ago, to regularly fire Hellfire missiles at extremist hideouts in the tribal areas. The attacks ended the tacit ceasefire agreement between the Pakistani government and the militants.

Today, everyone is fighting against everyone else. Baitullah Mehsud's followers toss hand grenades into the cars of rivals as they drive by, and they in turn attack Mehsud's men with roadside bombs. Open exchanges of fire on the street and kidnappings are commonplace. With the exception of a few agents of the Pakistani intelligence agency, hardly anyone is likely to understand which sub-clans of the Mehsuds are currently clashing in Dera Ismail Khan, why the Bhittanis, say, happen to be supporting the army at the moment and why the Gandapurs are trying to remain above the fray.

Local residents hardly even venture out to the mosque anymore, and they avoid funerals for fear of attacks on the families of the dead.

'They Forget Their Fear of Death'

Foreign intelligence agencies consider the region surrounding Dera Ismail Khan to be one of the world's most important -- and most difficult - operations areas. The US forces use spies to discover the whereabouts of the terrorist leaders they are targeting in South and North Waziristan. Ideally, the local agents can even pinpoint the precise locations to provide target information for deadly missiles. It is difficult to infiltrate the ranks of the extremists, while placing a spy in proximity to one of their senior commanders is virtually impossible.

"We have found and killed dozens of tribal members and Afghans," says Khan Jan Mehsud, who introduces himself as a cousin of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. After prolonged negotiations, he agrees to meet in a small village about a 20-minute drive from the city. The air is somewhat cooler by now, as a muezzin calls the faithful to evening prayers. Khan Jan Mehsud is wearing a simple shalwar kameez, an outfit that consists of a loose shirt worn over trousers, and a sand-colored cap. Like Baitullah, Khan Jan Mehsud is from Landidog, a village in South Waziristan. Both men are in their mid-30s.

"The spies are offered so much money that they forget their fear of death," says Khan Jan Mehsud. "But, you know, our brothers, the Arabs, are more experienced than we are. They have figured out how the Americans' technique works, and we have improved our counterespionage." The Taliban, he says, have a number of unmasked agents in their custody who are currently being "questioned." Mehsud leaves no doubt that few will survive this procedure.

Mehsud has a degree in Islamic Studies from Al-Khair University in Dera Ismail Khan and worked in the local administration for several years. When the Americans invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, the Taliban fled across the Pakistani border. At the time, his cousin Baitullah was one of many minor Taliban commanders fighting in Kandahar.

The group has now begun to organize the "legitimate liberation struggle" from South Waziristan, says Khan Jan Mehsud. Since then, he has applied the same care and attention to detail that he once employed when analyzing balance sheets to organizing the resistance movement. He finds accommodations for fighters and couriers, distributes money and organizes supplies of weapons and food.

Teenage Martyrs

Khan Jan Mehsud is only a small cog in a big machine. For the past year-and-a-half, his cousin Baitullah has been the commander of the Taliban in Pakistan, or Tehrik-i-Taliban. According to internal military reports, al-Qaeda is using Mehsud as a bridgehead into the region and, for this reason, provides him with funding. However, the terror is financed from a number of different sources, including the export of drugs, private donors from the Arab world and kidnapping.

For young men in the North West Frontier Province, the Taliban fighters are heroes. They give them weapons and responsibility, good pay, security and status. The Pakistani intelligence agency claims to have proof that India, Pakistan's archenemy, is supporting Mehsud in an effort to weaken the country.

Baitullah Mehsud's deadly strength lies in the many training camps for suicide bombers in South Waziristan. Most of his suicide candidates are teenagers. "Some parents have even dropped off their children at the entrance," claims Khan Jan Mehsud. "The government has allowed itself to be bought with the Americans' dollars, and the martyrs are sacrificing themselves in the fight against the enemies of Islam," he says dispassionately as a servant rolls up the oilcloth on which dinner is served.

"You see, the Americans and their allies are carpet-bombing Afghanistan, occupying the country of our brothers and torturing Muslims in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and Palestine, and in France they forbid our women from wearing the veil. Here they are hunting down Baitullah, who is prepared to die at any second, and yet they, with their high-tech drones, are in the end only murdering civilians. How can a true Muslim remain passive?"

A Beautiful Death

Mohammed Ullah is maybe 14, 15 at the most, when he records his farewell video. He has pale skin and a thin nose, and he and two friends sit, arm-in-arm, on a bench. All three have volunteered as suicide bombers. When the video is complete, they place Mohammed on a pedestal surrounded by bouquets of flowers. One after another, they embrace Mohammed, kiss him and speak a few words. Several masked men, apparently higher-ranking Taliban, are also in attendance. They sing a farewell song - a beautiful song for a beautiful death. Mohammed tries to smile.

Then he poses in front of the camera once again, this time holding a Kalashnikov that is almost as big as he is. A large radio device is inserted in the packed explosive vest. Mohammed reads the last words of his speech, and he says that he, as a "fedai," a martyr, wishes to fulfill the mission of Baitullah Mehsud. The house in the Swat Valley where the farewell ceremony is being held is decorated with chandeliers and furnished with heavy English upholstered furniture.

At dawn, they drive Mohammed Ullah to Charsadda, a city in the west of the North West Frontier Province. His mission is to kill a well-known young politician, Sikandar Sherpao, the 33-year-old son of former Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao, a large landowner who holds liberal views and embodies the old, feudal Pakistan.

The Taliban is intent on destroying the country's traditional order and marginalizing tribal leaders and politicians, landlords and mullahs. It is motivated, not by religion or faith, but by the desire to dominate the region

On April 3, 2009, vigilant policemen noticed Mohammed Ullah in Charsadda and shot him before he could approach the young Sherpao. A few days later, the police found Ullah's farewell video in a car being driven by a team of two other suicide bombers, come to take revenge for Mohammed Ullah.

Everything Is Wrong

How much longer can Pakistan endure? Will there ever be Sufi conferences and floral wreaths in Dera Ismail Khan again?

When asked these questions, the Pakistani intelligence agency officer merely shakes his head. His office in Islamabad is furnished with a glass table and a modern, expensive leather couch. The general, who prefers to remain anonymous, says that everything was wrong - the Americans coming to Afghanistan and Pakistan, the military offensives, "all wrong."

No one knows the Taliban better than the Pakistani intelligence agency. It was the Taliban's mentor for years, and perhaps it still is today. Pakistan has consistently viewed the Taliban as an auxiliary army that gives it influence in Kabul. A weak, dependent Afghanistan is more important to Pakistan than democracy there, or the Americans' goal of decimating the Islamic fundamentalists.

The relationship between the Pakistani intelligence agency, a division of the army, and the U.S. armed forces is quite poor at the moment. They disagree on the strategy and objectives of the war in northwestern Pakistan. The Americans are increasing their combat forces and attacking the Taliban in a major ground offensive in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, they use drones to attack al-Qaeda leaders and the Taliban on Pakistani soil. Their goal is to win the war.

If the Pakistani government and army had its way, it would rather come to terms with the Taliban in the northwest, and work out another deal and a cease-fire. But why?

The intelligence agency general narrows his eyes and leans forward. He says that he wants to tell us a story to make his position clear. It happened in South Waziristan, five years ago, in a village called Kalusha, the epicenter of al-Qaeda operations, as the army was launching a massive offensive in the Pashtun tribal areas. The general fought against, and defeated, Baitullah Mehsud. Then the two men sat down together, the victor and the vanquished. "We treated each other with respect," he says. "But the Americans don't understand that." The general is a Pashtun, like Mehsud.

At that time, says the general, the intelligence agency saw Mehsud as a known quantity, someone whose behavior they could predict. "We would have dealt with him our way, just as we deal with everyone, one way or another," says the officer.

All that, the general says, has changed since the U.S. military turned Mehsud into a "larger-than-life" figure by declaring him their public enemy No. 1 among the Taliban. According to the general, the "America" factor can now be seen everywhere and in all issues. But it is a factor, he says, that only aggravates Pakistan's problems and makes them impossible to solve.
Intellpuke: It would seem that the U.S. could not sow more discord in Pakistan if it were trying to do so, which I don't believe it is. Over the past half century, and perhaps longer, it seems that whenever the U.S. sends in the troops the officers appear to come with an attitude of "we'll show how to do this right"; as if their modern technological weapons and other modern warfare devices also magically made them master strategists.

Sun-tzu, the 6th Century B.C. Chinese general and military strategist who wrote the "Art of War", wrote that, if you think you may have to go to war with someone, the first thing you must do is get to know your enemy. Learn their language and culture, learn everything you can about their society, military and government structures and learn how they think and react to different situations. Once this is done, it is then time to devise your plan for war. I may be wrong, but it appears the U.S. has sidestepped this tenet in its recent military excursions into other nations.

I can't help but wonder how many of the younger Taliban recruits are the result of what the U.S. refers to as "collateral damage"?

Iraq Veterans Find Afghan Enemy Even Bolder

In three combat tours in Anbar Province, Marine Sgt. Jacob Tambunga fought the deadliest insurgents in Iraq.

Yet he says he never encountered an enemy as tenacious as what he saw immediately after arriving at this outpost in Helmand Province in Afghanistan. In his first days here in late June, he fought through three ambushes, each lasting as long as the most sustained fight he saw in Anbar.

Like other Anbar veterans here, Sergeant Tambunga was surprised to discover guerrillas who, if not as lethal, were bolder than those he fought in Iraq.

“They are two totally different worlds,” said Sergeant Tambunga, a squad leader in Company C, First Battalion, Fifth Marines.

“In Iraq, they’d hit you and run,” he said. “But these guys stick around and maneuver on you.”

They also have a keen sense of when to fight and when the odds against them are too great. Three weeks ago, the American military mounted a 4,000-man Marine offensive in Helmand - the largest since President Obama’s troop increase - and so far in many places, American commanders say, they have encountered less resistance than expected.

Yet it is also clear to many Marines and villagers here that Taliban fighters made a calculated decision: to retreat and regroup to fight where and when they choose. And in the view of troops here who fought intensely in the weeks before the offensive began, fierce battles probably lie ahead if they are to clear the Taliban from sanctuaries so far untouched.

“It was straight luck that we didn’t have a lot more guys hit,” said Sgt. Brandon Tritle, another squad leader in Company C, who cited the Taliban’s skill at laying down a base of fire to mount an attack.

“One force will put enough fire down so you have to keep your heads down, then another force will maneuver around to your side to try to kill you,” he said. “That’s the same thing we do.”

In other parts of Helmand the Taliban have been quick to mount counterattacks. Since the offensive began, 10 Marines have been killed, many of them south of Garmser in areas thick with roadside bombs. In addition, British forces in Helmand, who often travel in lightly armored vehicles, have lost 19 men, all but two from bombs.

All told, Western troops have died in greater numbers in Helmand this month than in any other province in Afghanistan over a similar period since the 2001 invasion.

It is unclear whether the level of casualties will remain this high; but the Taliban can ill afford to lose the Helmand River Valley, a strip of land made arable by a network of canals that nourish the nation’s center for poppy growing.

“This is what fuels the insurgency,” said Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, commander of the Marine brigade leading the offensive.

For now, the strategy of the Taliban who used to dominate this village, 15 miles south of the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, is to watch and wait just outside, villagers and Marines here say.

“They all escaped,” said Sardar Gul, a shopkeeper at the Nawa bazaar. Gul and others who reopened stores after the Marines arrived estimate that 300 to 600 Taliban fled to Marjah, 15 miles to the west and not under American control, joining perhaps more than 1,000 fighters.

Marine commanders acknowledge that they could have focused more on cutting off escape routes early in the operation, an issue that often dogged offensives against insurgents in Iraq.

“I wish we had trapped a few more folks,” the commander of First Battalion, Fifth Marines, Lt. Col. William F. McCollough, told the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who visited Nawa. “I expected there to be more fighting.”

When the full battalion arrived in Nawa in early July, the Taliban “knew we were too powerful for them” and left, said Staff Sgt. Michael Placencia, a platoon sergeant in Company C.

He predicted the Taliban would stand and fight if Marines were to assault Marjah, describing them as a “more efficient” foe than the insurgents he saw as a squad leader in Anbar in 2005 and 2006.

“They will come back, and they will try to take this back and pin us down,” said Maj. Rob Gallimore, a British officer who trains Afghan soldiers here. He hopes that the Marines do not spread themselves too thin and that they focus instead on building a deep bond with locals in places they occupy, a classic counterinsurgency tactic.

So Marines are bracing for a fight against guerrillas who, they discovered in June, are surprisingly proficient at tactics the Marines themselves learned in infantry school.

“They’d flank us, and we’d flank them, just like a chess match,” said Sgt. Jason Lynd, another squad leader in Company C.

In June the Marines ended up in sustained firefights the first four times they left their outpost. The Taliban were always over matched - attacking the Marines with only one-third the number of men - but they pressed the fight, laying complex ambushes and then cutting off Marines as they made their way back to base.

One fight began after Marines stopped three vans, which they let go. Fifteen minutes later they took fire from two homes near where they had been pursuing a suspicious man they wanted to question. They cleared both buildings, but were then attacked by gunmen behind the homes, some of whom, the Marines believe, had been in the three vans, a few disguised in burqas.

Somehow, none of the Marines were hit in the secondary ambush. “They tried to suck us in, and their plan worked,” said Sergeant Tritle. “They just missed.”

No Marines were killed in the two weeks they were here in June.

In contrast to Iraqi insurgents, the Taliban do not seem to have access to large artillery shells and other powerful military munitions that Anbar fighters used to kill hundreds of Marines and soldiers. The bombs found so far have been largely homemade with fertilizer, though they have still killed more than 20 British soldiers and United States Marines to the north and south of Nawa.

“If they had better weapons, we’d be in real trouble,” said Lance Cpl. Vazgen Matevosyan.

What the Taliban lack in munitions they make up for in tactics, even practicing “information operations” and disinformation, Marines say. Knowing the Marines listen to their two-way communications, they say, the Taliban describe phony locations of ambushes and bombs.
“They’re not stupid,” said Lance Cpl. Frank Hegel. “You can tell they catch on to things, and they don’t make the same mistake twice.”

Hamas rejects Abbas to visit Gaza

Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement strongman in Gaza Mahmoud al-Zahar on Saturday rejected the visit of western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Gaza Strip, ruled by the movement since June 2007.

"This matter (Abbas's visit to Gaza) is completely rejected for security considerations," al-Zahar told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in an interview on Saturday.

Al-Zahar wondered "how could Abu Mazen return (to Gaza) under such security situation? How could he be received? And what effect this visit would have on people who have their sons, their homes destroyed or their salaries stopped?"

Hamas has been ruling the impoverished coastal enclave since it seized control of it in mid June 2007, following weeks of street-fighting with Abbas's security forces and Fatah party militants. Abbas remained in the West Bank and his forces were routed.

Asked about Hamas conditions to let Gaza Fatah party members travel to the West Bank city of Bethlehem to attend the party's sixth General Assembly, al-Zahar said "Fatah has to pay the invoice for its conference success."

"There are hundreds of Hamas members imprisoned in West Bank jails, so if they (Fatah) want to take one step forward, we will also take one step forward too, until we dismantle this issue," said al-Zahar.

He said "it is unreasonable to detain people for no reason and for no right, confiscate their freedom, torture them and kill them and you (Fatah) want in return to let Gaza members of the conference to travel to attend the conference."

Meanwhile, senior Fatah leaders accused Hamas movement in Gaza for seeking to thwart Fatah movement's sixth General Assembly, which is due to be held in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on August 4.

"Hamas conducts political extortion and tries to obstruct the (Fatah) conference. By announcing so, Hamas emphasizes its policies that are based on ruling out the others and fighting the political pluralism," Hussein al-Sheikh, Fatah secretary general, told Xinhua.

Fatah has not held its general conference for nearly 20 years and Abbas had been struggling until he succeeded in setting August4 as the date for the conference which representatives of every Fatah-affiliated sector would attend. However, the timing of the conference comes at the highest of the Hamas-Fatah split.

Egypt has been mediating between the two rival groups to bridge gaps between them. Seven rounds of bilateral dialogue had been held in Cairo between the two groups since March. But so far they had failed to end their feuds and reach a reconciliation agreement that puts an end to the current rift.

"Hamas movement made lots of concessions in its dialogue with Fatah. We approved to our Egyptian brothers that we really wanted to succeed the reconciliation by presenting our visions for agreeing on everything," al-Zahar told BBC, "But Fatah is still clinging to the international Quartet requirements."

Fatah wants Hamas movement to join a unity government that abides by Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)'s commitments, mainly recognizing Israel and the signed interim agreements and denouncing violence. Hamas completely rejected this.

On Saturday, hundreds of Palestinians marched through Gaza city to demand rival factions of Hamas and Fatah to make concessions to reach a national agreement.

The demonstration was organized by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), which also called for an expansion of the Egyptian-brokered dialogue to involve all factions, not only the Hamas movement and Abbas' Fatah party.

The protestors waved banners calling the Cairo-hosted talks "the dialogue of power-sharing between Hamas and Fatah," signaling an opposition for ignoring the rest of the factions from taking part in the dialogue session.

"Over the past five months, the bilateral dialogue has proved a failure and reach a deadlock," Talal Abu Zarfia, a DFLP official, told Xinhua. "The distance has to be shortened by returning to the comprehensive dialogue," he said.

After the two rival groups' negotiators failed early this month in Cairo to end their differences, Egypt decided to hold another comprehensive round of dialogue on August 25, and will invite the chiefs of all Palestinian factions for signing an agreement.

Al-Zahar claimed that Fatah "wants to strengthen its position in the upcoming dialogue by getting the support of other factions and put pressure on Hamas," stressing that Hamas "say no" to this, and "there are also factions of armed resistance that have completely different views."

Birth of panda in China may help endangered species

BEIJING — For the first time, a giant panda cub has been born in China after being conceived using frozen sperm, officials announced Friday — an innovation scientists hope will help the endangered species avoid extinction.

The new cub’s birth Thursday means breeders will no longer be forced to rely on semen from China’s few virile males, and may even be able to bring in sperm from zoos elsewhere.

That’s key to promoting a healthy panda population because too much inbreeding can lead to birth defects that would further threaten the survival of the species.

The cub, born to You You at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center in Sichuan, is the 10th born at the breeding facility this year. It was You You’s third pregnancy.

Just after dawn, the pinkish, hairless cub emerged, and its mother was shown licking the tiny wiggling creature to clean it on footage broadcast by the state television channel CCTV.

Panda researchers said Friday it was the first successful live birth worldwide using frozen panda sperm.

“We did try before but it failed,” said Huang Yan, a deputy research technician with the China Panda Preservation Research Center.

He declined to provide specifics but said the Wolong team had improved its thawing techniques, making frozen sperm more viable. Sperm samples are deep-frozen using liquid nitrogen, and in the past, only 20 to 30 percent of the sperm survived. But this time the center managed to raise viability to about 80 percent, he said.

Scientists carried out the artificial insemination in March, and You You was found to be pregnant in June during an ultrasound. The sperm from male panda Lu Lu had been frozen for “a number of years,” said Huang.

The sex of the baby panda is not yet clear, so it hasn’t been named, Huang said.

The technique, if it can be replicated, will be a boost for panda conservation efforts, said Matthew Durnin, regional science director in the Asia-Pacific and North Asia for The Nature Conservancy, a U.S.-based conservation organization.

“In the past, they’re limited to using semen from a few virile, reproductive males. If you’re using only one male at a time, you start to get lower and lower diversity. This can help with issues of genetic diversity among your captive population,” he said.

Besides preventing inbreeding, genetically diverse panda populations are generally healthier, meaning they will also have a better chance of thriving if released in the wild, he said.

Dr. Barbara Durrant, a reproductive physiologist at San Diego Zoo, said the success in China opens the way for frozen semen exchanges between zoos. “The ideal situation would be to get semen from every male in captivity and freeze the sperm,” she said.

“Exchanging frozen semen between zoos is definitely in the plan,” she added, noting this means “much less stress for the animals,” than shipping them to other zoos, often thousands of miles away, to mate.

Panda females have only three days a year in which they can conceive — one reason their species is endangered. Ensuring that the male and female pandas are interested and able to mate during that short window is a challenge, and Durrant said some males never succeed at natural breeding.

As a result, artificial insemination has become common practice when breeding captive pandas. In 2006, 34 pandas were born through artificial insemination in China and 30 survived — both record numbers for the endangered species.

The technique has also been used at zoos in the United States, including at the San Diego Zoo, where a female panda, Hua Mei, was born in 1999 using sperm from Shi Shi, a male who was born in the wild in China, said Yadira Galindo, a spokeswoman for the zoo.

Durrant said the zoo has frozen sperm from Shi Shi, who died last year, as well as from its other male, Gao Gao, who was also born in the wild and has sired four offspring naturally. Frozen sperm from pandas born in the wild is especially important to promoting genetic diversity, she said.

Pandas are threatened by loss of habitat, poaching and a low reproduction rate. Females in the wild normally have a cub once every two or three years. The fertility of captive giant pandas is even lower, experts said.

Only about 1,600 pandas live in the wild, mostly in China’s southwestern Sichuan province, which was hit by an earthquake last year that killed nearly 70,000 people. An additional 120 are in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos, and about 20 live in zoos outside China.

With so few pandas left, “every female is important, every male is important,” Durrant said. “It behooves us to have semen from as many males as possible.”

“I think that it is a very important achievement that has to be announced, that has to be celebrated,” said Jose Bernal Stoopen, Mexico City’s general director for zoos and wild life.

Mexico City’s Chapultepec zoo has bred five cubs by natural means. It has also frozen the sperm from two pandas, but three attempts to breed cubs through artificial insemination have so far failed.

Jose Bernal Stoopen, Mexico City’s general director for zoos and wild life, said the “ideal is to be able to breed naturally” but artificial insemination is a great leap forward because it doesn’t require shipping live animals around the world.

“We are very glad that they are developing these techniques, not only for pandas, but for many other species that are in serious danger of extinction,” he said.

Hezbollah chief expects Israeli aggression on Lebanon

Lebanese Shiite armed group Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday he expected an Israeli war on Lebanon in the period between the end of the year and next spring, local New TV reported.

"Israel can not be trusted, and could carry out an aggression between the end of the year and next spring," Nasrallah was quoted as telling a group of Lebanese expatriates who visited him.

Nasrallah revealed that a new method will be used the next time if Israel launches an attack on Lebanon, and this method would be hitting back at Tel Aviv if the southern suburbs of Beirut were hit.

Hezbollah's strongholds in the southern suburbs of Beirut were completely destroyed by Israeli air raids in July 2006 during a devastating 34-day war between the two sides.

Nasrallah stressed that his Shiite armed group does not carry out security operations outside Lebanon.

As the only group which still keeps its weapons aside from the Lebanese army, Hezbollah is listed by the United States as a terrorist organization, and accused of having a military wing which carries out terrorist operations outside Lebanon.

Brotherhood livid over Israeli expansion plans

Abdul Jalil Mustafa | Arab News

AMMAN: The Muslim Brotherhood movement and its political arm, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), on Saturday called for a firm reaction on part of the Jordanian government to remarks by the speaker of the Israeli Knesset Reuven Rivlin backing the expansion of Israel to include territories on the east bank of River Jordan, which are under the sovereignty of the Hashemite Kingdom.

“The government’s delay in responding firmly to such recurrent and dangerous Israeli statements has encouraged Rivlin to speak in such a rude manner about violating our national sovereignty,” IAF executive bureau member Mohammad Zeyoud said in a statement.

“The Zionist entity is implementing a seriously expansionist blueprint based on a racial ideology which is being adopted by a rightist community that has given rise to an extremist leadership,” he said.

Zeyoud said that he was responding to a report by the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, which quoted Rivlin as supporting the idea of the foundation of the state of Israel on both banks of River Jordan as proposed by Ze’ev Jabotinsky, one of the founding fathers of the Zionist movement.

“Jabotinksy’s vision is now valid more than ever in Israel’s history,” Rivlin was quoted as saying in reply to the Israeli President Shimon Peres, who believed that Jabotinsky was “mistaken” in this respect.

Zeyoud also urged the Jordanian Parliament to live up to its responsibilities by initiating a move that leads to the “annulment” of the peace treaty that Jordan signed with Israel in 1994.

Iran's Ahmadinejad sacks two ministers

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday sacked two of his ministers in a dispute over the appointment of the nation's first vice president state media reported. Mehr news agency reported that Information Minister and head of the intelligence service, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei and Culture Minister Mohammad-Hossein Safar Harandi, have been dismissed by the president.

Two further ministers, holding the health and labour portfolios, are reportedly to be dismissed as well, but there is no official confirmation yet.

There had been reports last month that Labour and Social Affairs Minister Mohammad Jahromi would himself quit the cabinet due to differences with the president over Ahmadinejad's decision to appoint Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei as first vice president.

Rahim-Mashaei has become a lightning rod for contention after making remarks that Iran's problems with Israel have nothing to do with the Israeli people or Jews in general. This is a controversial statement in Iran which seems to directly contradict statements made by Ahmadinejad himself.

Rahim-Mashaei, who is the father-in-law to Ahmadinejad's son, stepped down Saturday after Iran's religious leader, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, called on Friday for Ahmadinejad to fire him.

Under Iranian law, Rahim-Mashaei would have served as acting president until Ahmadinejad's inauguration next month.

According to Tehran press reports, Ahmadinejad and the two sacked ministers had a verbal quarrel in a cabinet session earlier this week over the disputed appointment.

The two ministers had reportedly called on the president to give in to the protests and revise the appointment but Ahmadinejad harshly rejected their demand. In protest, Mohseni-Ejei and Safar Harandi left the cabinet session.

Ahmadinejad is scheduled to be sworn in as president on August 5 and introduce his new government members until the end of next month.

The parliament has to approve all minister. Due to the quarrel between Ahmadinejad and the parliament over the acting president, observers expect heated discussions over the new cabinet members as well.

What if the Uighurs were Christian Rather than Muslim?

by Glenn Greenwald

Published on Monday, July 6, 2009 by Salon.com

According to The New York Times this morning, violent clashes between Chinese government forces and Muslim Uighurs — that country’s long-oppressed minority — have left at least 140 people dead and close to 1,000 injured. This incident in Western China highlights an important fact about America’s “War on Terror.”

Just imagine if the Uighurs were a Christian — rather than Muslim — minority, battling against the tyrannical Communist regime in Beijing, resisting various types of persecution, and demanding religious freedom. They would be lionized by America’s Right, as similar Christian minorities, oppressed by tyrannical regimes, automatically are. Episodes like these — where a declared Tyranny like China violently acts against citizens with whom we empathize — are ones about which, in general, the American political class loves to sermonize.

But the Uighurs are Muslim, not Christian, and hostility towards them thus easily outweighs the opportunity they present to undermine the Chinese Government. Rather than support and venerate them, we instead spent this decade declaring them to be “enemy combatants” and locking them up in Guantanamo — despite the fact that they have never evinced any interest in doing anything other than resisting Chinese persecution, and have certainly never taken actions against the U.S. (as even the Bush administration ultimately admitted). Yet even now, both Congress and the administration actively block release into the U.S. even of those Uighurs we wrongfully imprisoned for years, while the Right screams with outrage — and fear — over the administration’s commendable efforts to find a home for them elsewhere.

For all the Serious analysis about the War on Terror, so much of it has been driven by nothing more complex or noble than sheer hostility towards Muslims. Muslims generally — not just Al Qaeda — replaced Communists as our New Enemy and became the new enabling force for our endless state of War and never-ending expansions of executive power. Rather obviously, the Uighurs were swept into the Enemy category solely by virtue of their status as Muslims. What more compelling evidence of that could be imagined than the fact that we imprisoned — and continue to imprison — people at Guantanamo whose only political interest is in resisting oppression by the Chinese government?

Source: MyUmmah.
Link: http://myummah.co.za/site/2009/07/08/what-if-the-uighurs-were-christian-rather-than-muslim/.

India launches first nuclear-powered submarine

NEW DELHI (AFP) – India launched its first nuclear-powered submarine on Sunday, officials said, underlining the military advances made by the rapidly developing nation.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called it a "historic milestone in the country's defence preparedness" as the 6,000-tonne INS Arihant (Destroyer of Enemies) was named in the southern city of Visakhapatnam.

The submarine, the first of five planned, is powered by an 85-megawatt nuclear reactor and can reach 44 kilometres an hour (24 knots) underwater, according to defence officials.

It will be armed with torpedoes and ballistic missiles, and carry a crew of 95 men.

"We don't have any aggressive designs nor do we seek to threaten anyone," the Press Trust of India quoted Singh as saying at the launch.

"We seek an external environment in our region and beyond that is conducive to our peaceful development and protection of our value systems."

India is now part of an exclusive group of nations -- including China, France, the United States, Britain and Russia -- which own nuclear-powered submarines.

The vessel will undergo two years of sea trials in the Bay of Bengal before being commissioned for full service, according to PTI.

India previously leased a Russian-built nuclear submarine, and in 2005 signed contracts worth 2.4 billion euros (three billion dollars) to receive six diesel-electric Franco-Spanish Scorpene submarines.

The launch came as India marked the tenth anniversary of the brief but bloody Kargil conflict with arch-rival Pakistan in the disputed Kashmir region.

More than 1,100 people, mostly Indian and Pakistani soldiers, died in the high-altitude offensive in the spring and summer of 1999 when Pakistan-based infiltrators crossed the icy frontier that separates the two countries.

At a service earlier in New Delhi, Singh paid tribute to the Indian troops who died during the conflict.

"They sacrificed their lives in defense of Indian unity and integrity," he said.

A year before Kargil, India conducted nuclear weapons tests and Pakistan responded with its own tests a few days later.