US President Barack Obama has recently announced a major troop buildup in Afghanistan and other NATO members will likewise be supplying more troops. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke with SPIEGEL about the 'warlike' conditions in Afghanistan, how long NATO will stay and whether Russia might come to the alliance's aid. SPIEGEL: Mr. Secretary General, the NATO mission in Afghanistan has not been going well in the last few years. Now US President Barack Obama has announced a new strategy. He is deploying 30,000 additional troops and is calling on allies to make additional sacrifices. Does this signify a new beginning? Rasmussen: No. We aren't starting at zero. I would call it a new approach, a supplement to our mission thus far. We are currently beefing up our efforts on all levels.
US President Barack Obama has recently announced a major troop buildup in Afghanistan and other NATO members will likewise be supplying more troops. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke with SPIEGEL about the 'warlike' conditions in Afghanistan, how long NATO will stay and whether Russia might come to the alliance's aid.
SPIEGEL: Mr. Secretary General, the NATO mission in Afghanistan has not been going well in the last few years. Now US President Barack Obama has announced a new strategy. He is deploying 30,000 additional troops and is calling on allies to make additional sacrifices. Does this signify a new beginning?
Rasmussen: No. We aren't starting at zero. I would call it a new approach, a supplement to our mission thus far. We are currently beefing up our efforts on all levels.
German defense minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has advocated talks with what he called 'moderate' Taliban in an effort to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan. In an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Guttenberg proposed opening up channels for dialog with certain Taliban groups, but warned of the pitfalls of such a strategy. Describing his definition of 'moderate' Taliban, Guttenberg said "there were differences between the groups in Afghanistan, with some, which radically oppose anything western and whose goal it is to fight our culture, and those which are simply immersed in their own, local culture." The defense minister said that he believed "cutting off every form of communication was no longer valid on the whole, although there must be criteria."
In an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Guttenberg proposed opening up channels for dialog with certain Taliban groups, but warned of the pitfalls of such a strategy.
Describing his definition of 'moderate' Taliban, Guttenberg said "there were differences between the groups in Afghanistan, with some, which radically oppose anything western and whose goal it is to fight our culture, and those which are simply immersed in their own, local culture."
The defense minister said that he believed "cutting off every form of communication was no longer valid on the whole, although there must be criteria."
Nato has set up an expert group to contribute to its Strategic Concept, which will be updated next year. Jeroen van der Veer, the recently retired CEO of Shell, was the odd pick for vice chair. "Nato will still be here after we leave Afghanistan," he told NRC Handelsblad.When he left oil giant Shell last summer, after five years as its CEO, Jeroen van der Veer knew as much about Nato as the average newspaper reader, he admits. So his nomination as the Dutch candidate for membership of an expert panel formed to help draft the new Nato's Strategic Concept, the fundamentals of the military alliance, came as a surprise, even to him. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary general of the Nato, had made it clear he wanted a diverse panel, rather than one comprised solely of diplomatic heavyweights, former ministers and professors. Dutch foreign ministry officials knew this and proposed a candidate with such an impressive track record in international business, Rasmussen made him the vice chairman of the committee, second to Madeleine Albright, the former US secretary of state.
When he left oil giant Shell last summer, after five years as its CEO, Jeroen van der Veer knew as much about Nato as the average newspaper reader, he admits. So his nomination as the Dutch candidate for membership of an expert panel formed to help draft the new Nato's Strategic Concept, the fundamentals of the military alliance, came as a surprise, even to him. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary general of the Nato, had made it clear he wanted a diverse panel, rather than one comprised solely of diplomatic heavyweights, former ministers and professors. Dutch foreign ministry officials knew this and proposed a candidate with such an impressive track record in international business, Rasmussen made him the vice chairman of the committee, second to Madeleine Albright, the former US secretary of state.
Jeroen van der Veer, the recently retired CEO of Shell, was the odd pick for vice chair.
Jeroen van der Veer knew as much about Nato as the average newspaper reader, he admits.
Apparently the CEO of Shell didn't know what you know. How do they hire these people?
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, Iran's most senior dissident cleric, has died, official media has reported. Montazeri, 87, was an architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution who fell out with the present leadership. He had been held under house arrest for several years. "Hossein Ali Montazeri passed away in his home last night," the official IRNA news agency said on Sunday. Montazeri lived in the city of Qom, which lies south of Tehran, and was referred to as the spiritual leader of the opposition after the country's recent disputed election. His funeral will be held on Monday and he will be buried in the shrine of Masoumeh, a revered Shia figure, in Qom, his office told AFP. Foreign media are banned from covering the ceremony.
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, Iran's most senior dissident cleric, has died, official media has reported.
Montazeri, 87, was an architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution who fell out with the present leadership.
He had been held under house arrest for several years.
"Hossein Ali Montazeri passed away in his home last night," the official IRNA news agency said on Sunday.
Montazeri lived in the city of Qom, which lies south of Tehran, and was referred to as the spiritual leader of the opposition after the country's recent disputed election.
His funeral will be held on Monday and he will be buried in the shrine of Masoumeh, a revered Shia figure, in Qom, his office told AFP.
Foreign media are banned from covering the ceremony.
One of Iran's most prominent dissident clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri, has died aged 87.Hoseyn Ali Montazeri was a moving spirit in the 1979 revolution which created Iran's Islamic state, and was at one stage set to become its leader. One of Shia Islam's most respected figures, he was also a leading critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The BBC's Jon Leyne says the death comes at a crucial time in a standoff between the government and opposition. Iran's rulers will now fear the opposition may attempt a big turnout for his funeral on Monday and other ceremonies marking his death, especially in the run-up to the Shia Muslim festival of Ashura on 27 December, our correspondent says.
One of Iran's most prominent dissident clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri, has died aged 87.
Hoseyn Ali Montazeri was a moving spirit in the 1979 revolution which created Iran's Islamic state, and was at one stage set to become its leader.
One of Shia Islam's most respected figures, he was also a leading critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The BBC's Jon Leyne says the death comes at a crucial time in a standoff between the government and opposition.
Iran's rulers will now fear the opposition may attempt a big turnout for his funeral on Monday and other ceremonies marking his death, especially in the run-up to the Shia Muslim festival of Ashura on 27 December, our correspondent says.
On my office wall hang photos of yours truly with Pakistan's last four leaders. Two -- Zia ul Haq and Benazir Bhutto -- were murdered. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted in a military coup led by photo number four, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who was deposed by Pakistan's military in a slow-motion coup. Either I'm a jinx, or leading Pakistan is a job with poor career prospects. Now, Washington is finally getting the democracy it has been calling for in Pakistan -- and it's the mother of all backfires. I've not met Pakistan's current president, Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto. But I've written for decades about corruption charges that relentlessly follow him. Zardari, known as "Mr. 10%" from when he was in his wife's government, was in charge of approving government contracts. In 2008, Washington sought to rescue Musharraf's foundering dictatorship by convincing the popular but exiled Benazir Bhutto to front as democratic window-dressing for continued military rule. Her price: Amnesty for a long list of corruption charges against her and her husband.
On my office wall hang photos of yours truly with Pakistan's last four leaders. Two -- Zia ul Haq and Benazir Bhutto -- were murdered. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted in a military coup led by photo number four, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who was deposed by Pakistan's military in a slow-motion coup.
Either I'm a jinx, or leading Pakistan is a job with poor career prospects.
Now, Washington is finally getting the democracy it has been calling for in Pakistan -- and it's the mother of all backfires.
I've not met Pakistan's current president, Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto. But I've written for decades about corruption charges that relentlessly follow him. Zardari, known as "Mr. 10%" from when he was in his wife's government, was in charge of approving government contracts.
In 2008, Washington sought to rescue Musharraf's foundering dictatorship by convincing the popular but exiled Benazir Bhutto to front as democratic window-dressing for continued military rule. Her price: Amnesty for a long list of corruption charges against her and her husband.
Israel has admitted that in the 1990s, its forensic pathologists harvested organs from dead bodies, including Palestinians, without permission of their families. The issue emerged with publication of an interview with the then-head of Israel's Abu Kabir forensic institute, Dr. Jehuda Hiss. The interview was conducted in 2000 by an American academic, who released it because of a huge controversy last summer over an allegation by a Swedish newspaper that Israel was killing Palestinians in order to harvest their organs. Israel hotly denied the charge. Parts of the interview were broadcast on Israel's Channel 2 TV over the weekend. In it, Hiss said, "We started to harvest corneas ... Whatever was done was highly informal. No permission was asked from the family." The Channel 2 report said that in the 1990s, forensic specialists at Abu Kabir harvested skin, corneas, heart valves and bones from the bodies of Israeli soldiers, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and foreign workers, often without permission from relatives. In a response to the TV report, the Israeli military confirmed that the practice took place. "This activity ended a decade ago and does not happen any longer," the military said in a statement quoted by Channel 2.
The issue emerged with publication of an interview with the then-head of Israel's Abu Kabir forensic institute, Dr. Jehuda Hiss. The interview was conducted in 2000 by an American academic, who released it because of a huge controversy last summer over an allegation by a Swedish newspaper that Israel was killing Palestinians in order to harvest their organs. Israel hotly denied the charge.
Parts of the interview were broadcast on Israel's Channel 2 TV over the weekend. In it, Hiss said, "We started to harvest corneas ... Whatever was done was highly informal. No permission was asked from the family."
The Channel 2 report said that in the 1990s, forensic specialists at Abu Kabir harvested skin, corneas, heart valves and bones from the bodies of Israeli soldiers, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and foreign workers, often without permission from relatives.
In a response to the TV report, the Israeli military confirmed that the practice took place. "This activity ended a decade ago and does not happen any longer," the military said in a statement quoted by Channel 2.
fool me once ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
You will have to remove at least one of those qualifiers.
"may" referred to whether the AP story itself was credible. But after rereading it, I see no reason to doubt it, so I can drop that qualifier.
"partly" refers to the fact that there is nothing to suggest that they were actually killing Palestinians for the organs (and nothing to suggest that they were singling out Palestinians[...]).
I just reread the Aftonbladet article, and it did not make these claims.
"Our sons are plundered of their organs" - English translation of the article by Donald Boström | Kultur | Aftonbladet
Palestinians accuse the Israel Defense Forces of taking organs from their victims.Donald Boström writes about an international organ trafficking scandal - and about the time he saw the cut-up dead body of a nineteen-year old Palestinian.
We had some discussion on it in august:
European Tribune - SCF: Sweden-Israel kink that became a crisis
This last week a minor crisis has emerged in the relations between Sweden and Israel. It started with an article in the evening paper Aftonbladet about suspected organ harvesting from Palestinian prisoners in Israel. A bit of to and fro ensued with the Israeli government demanding condemnations the Swedish government would not supply.
This last week a minor crisis has emerged in the relations between Sweden and Israel.
It started with an article in the evening paper Aftonbladet about suspected organ harvesting from Palestinian prisoners in Israel. A bit of to and fro ensued with the Israeli government demanding condemnations the Swedish government would not supply.
The relatives of the dead Palestinians no longer harbored any doubts as to the reasons for the killings,
By a vote of 60-40, the Senate agreed to end debate on a major package of health care amendments--and by doing so, signaled that the Democratic caucus is unified, and ready to pass a far-reaching reform bill straight down party lines.
CNN: -- Democrats won a major victory in their push for health care reform early Monday morning as the Senate voted to end debate on a package of controversial revisions to a sweeping $871 billion bill. The 60 to 40 party-line vote, cast shortly after 1 a.m., kept Senate Democrats on track to pass the bill on Christmas Eve. If it passes, the measure will then have to be merged with a roughly $1 trillion plan passed by House of Representatives in November. The Senate went into recess until noon Monday shortly after the vote. The vote left President Obama on the cusp of claiming victory on his top domestic priority and enacting the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid over four decades ago. (...)The vote was the first of three this week requiring Democrats to win the backing of 60 members -- enough to break a GOP filibuster. Final passage of the measure, in the contrast, will require a bare majority in the 100-member chamber. Many political observers believe Monday's outcome indicates a likely Democratic win on the remaining procedural hurdles and the final vote. (...)The unusual timing of the vote was a consequence of Senate rules, Democrats' determination to pass the bill before adjourning for the holidays, and the GOP's willingness to use every possible legislative tactic to slow the bill's progress. Unanimous Republican opposition has forced Reid to win the support of all 60 members of his traditionally fractious Democratic caucus. Compromises made to win the backing of more conservative members, such as Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, have enraged many liberal Democrats and threatened to undermine support for the bill.
The 60 to 40 party-line vote, cast shortly after 1 a.m., kept Senate Democrats on track to pass the bill on Christmas Eve. If it passes, the measure will then have to be merged with a roughly $1 trillion plan passed by House of Representatives in November. The Senate went into recess until noon Monday shortly after the vote.
The vote left President Obama on the cusp of claiming victory on his top domestic priority and enacting the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid over four decades ago.
(...)The vote was the first of three this week requiring Democrats to win the backing of 60 members -- enough to break a GOP filibuster. Final passage of the measure, in the contrast, will require a bare majority in the 100-member chamber.
Many political observers believe Monday's outcome indicates a likely Democratic win on the remaining procedural hurdles and the final vote.
(...)The unusual timing of the vote was a consequence of Senate rules, Democrats' determination to pass the bill before adjourning for the holidays, and the GOP's willingness to use every possible legislative tactic to slow the bill's progress.
Unanimous Republican opposition has forced Reid to win the support of all 60 members of his traditionally fractious Democratic caucus. Compromises made to win the backing of more conservative members, such as Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, have enraged many liberal Democrats and threatened to undermine support for the bill.
Also, in case any kill-the billers-are reading, please don't be stupid: this is going to help millions of people and save countless lives.
Among other things, they have agreed to subsidize insurance for a family of four making up to roughly $88,000 annually, or 400 percent of the federal poverty level. They have also agreed to create health insurance exchanges designed to make it easier for small businesses, the self-employed and the unemployed to pool resources and purchase less expensive coverage. Both the House plan the Senate bill would eventually limit total out-of-pocket expenses and prevent insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. Insurers would also be barred from charging higher premiums based on a person's gender or medical history. Medicaid would be significantly expanded under both proposals. The House bill would extend coverage to individuals earning up to 150 percent of the poverty line, or roughly $33,000 for a family of four; the Senate plan ensures coverage to those earning up to 133 percent of the poverty level, or just over $29,000 for a family of four.
They have also agreed to create health insurance exchanges designed to make it easier for small businesses, the self-employed and the unemployed to pool resources and purchase less expensive coverage. Both the House plan the Senate bill would eventually limit total out-of-pocket expenses and prevent insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.
Insurers would also be barred from charging higher premiums based on a person's gender or medical history.
Medicaid would be significantly expanded under both proposals. The House bill would extend coverage to individuals earning up to 150 percent of the poverty line, or roughly $33,000 for a family of four; the Senate plan ensures coverage to those earning up to 133 percent of the poverty level, or just over $29,000 for a family of four.
The extra premium for abortion coverage will of course be completely independent of gender.
Talk about showing the "insurance" as being the fraud it is. Insurance premiums have to be based on risks, by definition. Otherwise it's not insurance but something else. Which is just as well. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
The two naked men were stopped by police and received a warning for wearing no helmets on December 7 at Whangamata, a popular New Zealand beach resort on the Coromandel Peninsula, the New Zealand Herald reported Monday.
It was Code Orange. Americans first heard of it at a Sunday press conference in Washington, D.C. Weekend assignment editors sent their crews up Nebraska Avenue to the new Homeland Security offices, where DHS secretary Tom Ridge announced the terror alert. "There's continued discussion," he told reporters, "these are from credible sources--about near-term attacks that could either rival or exceed what we experienced on September 11." The New York Times reported that intelligence sources warned "about some unspecified but spectacular attack." [...] Since 1996 the Al Jazeera news network had been operating in the nation of Qatar, a U.S. ally in the war on terror. Montgomery claimed he had found something sinister disguised in Al Jazeera's broadcast signal that had nothing to do with what was being said on the air: Hidden in the signal were secret bar codes that told terrorists the terms of their next mission, laying out the latitudes and longitudes of targets, sometimes even flight numbers and dates. And he was the only man who had the technology to decrypt this code. [...] The federal government was acting on the Al Jazeera claims without even understanding how Montgomery found his coordinates. "I said, `Give us the algorithms that allowed you to come up with this stuff.' They wouldn't even do that," says the first officer. "And I was screaming, `You gave these people fucking money?'"
[...]
Since 1996 the Al Jazeera news network had been operating in the nation of Qatar, a U.S. ally in the war on terror. Montgomery claimed he had found something sinister disguised in Al Jazeera's broadcast signal that had nothing to do with what was being said on the air: Hidden in the signal were secret bar codes that told terrorists the terms of their next mission, laying out the latitudes and longitudes of targets, sometimes even flight numbers and dates. And he was the only man who had the technology to decrypt this code.
The federal government was acting on the Al Jazeera claims without even understanding how Montgomery found his coordinates. "I said, `Give us the algorithms that allowed you to come up with this stuff.' They wouldn't even do that," says the first officer. "And I was screaming, `You gave these people fucking money?'"
