http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=Northern Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:19:21 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=Northern Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:12:26 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b29_1371621733 10fold A toxic waste spill in Northern Alberta has killed off roughly 42 hectares of boreal forest.... WEBSITE: yahoo.com Source Credit: By Scott Sutherland, Geekquinox Photo credit: belongs to it's respective owner(s) and not to me. Article Link: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/geekqu... Arkansas/Mayflower VIDEO CREDIT: ABC News report (video by Yahoo) I do not take any credit for the content or photos at all. This video is not for profit, it is for educational, informational purposes only. I do not take credit for the content. I read for the visually impaired, and mobile device users. If anyone does not wish to listen to the entire broadcast, please use the link provided. 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No copyright infringement is ever intended http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b29_1371621733 10fold Environmental toxic waste disaster in <span class="highlight">Northern</span> Alberta Environmental toxic waste disaster in Northern Alberta Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:46:12 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f09_1371570198 DieKurden By Ayub Nuri The 65th anniversary of Israel's creation this month is, I think, an appropriate occasion for the people and leaders of Kurdistan to reflect for a moment on the future of their own country. What can we learn from the experience of another small country, which has managed to exist and grow powerful against all the odds and in a hostile environment? Can democracy or freedom alone guarantee the survival of Kurdistan? Are modern airports or the presence of foreign oil companies the best safeguards for this land? No doubt these are important. But are they the key underpinnings that have guaranteed Israel's survival for more than six decades? Israel is a democracy. It believes in human rights, and enjoys advanced technology and trade relations with the world. But these are all achievements. They were built in the secure shadow of a strong army, a powerful air force and an efficient intelligence service. Without powerful armed forces and secure borders, civil rights or economic developments are not achievable, or easy to preserve. Since 1948, the main task of all Israeli leaders has been to ensure that Arab armed forces do not cross their borders or air space, and hostile organizations do not fire rockets into the Jewish state. Only after securing these prerequisites have Israeli leaders focused on advancing democracy and freedoms. In Kurdistan, by talking so much about combating corruption and upholding human rights or civil society -- without first securing our borders and the safety of citizens -- are we leaving ourselves open to destruction? Israel has not survived so long in a hostile environment just by issuing mottos of justice and civil rights. Like Israel, which has enemies at its doorstep, we have to peek no further than our own gates to spot the most immediate threat to our own existence: Our neighbor Iraq. From the day the state of Iraq was created and forever, Baghdad has and will consider Kurdistan as its own. Shiite and Sunni leaders alike are unhappy with Kurdish autonomy. They see the region as stolen land, and would be only too pleased to take it back by force. Iraq itself is under no threat of invasion. Yet, Baghdad buys tanks from America and warplanes from Russia. Its neighbors consider Iraq an Arab and Islamic brother, but every day Iraqi leaders are enlarging the army and strengthening the security forces. This is why Kurdistan needs a strong army and advanced weapons. Israel and Kurdistan are both very small, and prey to the same bitter realities of small nations. The swift Nazi occupation of Belgium during the Second World War, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1991 and Russian tanks rolling into Georgia in 2008 speak of the tragic fate of small countries when hostile neighbors decide to invade. The Kurdistan Region is so small that an army can reach its most populous cities within minutes. It would take a fighter jet just a few seconds to reach its most remote village. So, what has Israel done to compensate for size? The most important step has been perpetual military readiness. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are on alert round the clock, pilots always a few meters from their planes and troops guarding every span of the border like hawks. Last year, radical Islamists killed a number of Egyptian border guards, hijacked their vehicles and tried to infiltrate Israel. But an IDF helicopter, seemingly waiting for just such an eventuality for 65 years, was in the air in an instant, stopping the infiltrators with a deadly rocket. Twice in the past year, unmanned drones were sent from Lebanon to Israel. In both cases, they were shot down while still over Lebanese territory. Also this month, Israel struck and destroyed an arms research center in Damascus and a convoy that was thought to be transporting Iranian weapons to Hezbollah. Meanwhile, since its foundation, Mossad has remorselessly assassinated people in different world capitals who were believed to have killed Israeli citizens, training against Israel, building weapons for Israel's enemies or buying arms on behalf of Israel's neighbors. Israel has been forced to take these steps because it is a very small country, and its neighbors have vowed to one day wipe it off the map. Israel is the only place that the Jewish people consider their true home. It is the only place where they don't stand out for being Jews. It is a place where their hearts are. Theodore Herzl, David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir and Menachem Begin all wanted the same thing: a homeland for the Jews, to save them from perpetual persecution in foreign lands. Can't the same argument be made about the Kurds? Aren't they only happy in their own land? Isn't Kurdistan the only place where the Kurds can live with dignity and without having to conceal their identity? In its wars with the Arabs Israel has always tried to destroy enemy aircraft on the runways, and to annihilate enemy tanks before they could cross the Sinai desert or the Golan Heights. Israeli leaders know very well that once the enemy has crossed the border it is too late. Learning from Israel, the Kurds should monitor the Iraqi army day and night, study its weaponry, get into the minds of its army generals and analyze every move. Because the Kurds are mountain fighters and have very little experience of fighting on open ground, it is important that they learn new tactics. Otherwise, the open planes south of Kirkuk, north of Diyala and outside Mosul, could very well become the cause of Kurdish defeat. This article does not beat the drums of war. It wants only to say that the survival of this tiny Kurdish homeland relies on an army, advanced weapons and well-fed soldiers. For every Iraqi tank the Kurds must possess a weapon, for every Iraqi soldier there must be two Peshmargas and for every one of Baghdad's plans the Kurds must have a counter strategy. Source: Rudaw http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f09_1371570198 DieKurden Israel and Kurdistan: Two Nations, One Geography Israel, Kurdistan, Northern Iraq, Kurdistan Region Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:03:08 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c0c_1371639459 LostRothschild Doesn't Obama have bigger issues? Why is he still trying to stick it to firearm owners and the second amendment? Oh yeah... Gotta head off that prism thing! "responsible gun ownership" = "you can have what I say you can have. And if I don't like it, you can't have it." I'm sure his Idea of this is: turn them all in to the government "responsibly" =============================================================== The White House says President Obama is close to completing a series of executive actions to address gun violence, but they are not a substitute for congressional legislation. In a report issued Tuesday, the administration has "completed or made significant progress" on 21 of 23 executive actions that Obama outlined Jan. 16 as part of a major gun-control initiative. "But Congress must also act," the report says. "Passing common-sense gun safety legislation, including expanding background checks and making gun trafficking a federal crime, remains the single most important step we could take to reduce gun violence." With Obama in Northern Ireland for the G-8 summit, Vice President Biden will discuss the report in a speech Tuesday afternoon. The Senate blocked a background check bill in April, thanks mostly to the votes of Republicans. Obama administration officials and Senate Democrats are trying to revive the bill by pressuring senators who voted against it to reconsider. Gun-control opponents say the proposals are ineffective, and undermine the Second Amendment rights to gun ownership. The Obama administration began pushing for new gun legislation after the Dec. 14 shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 students and six educators. The new White House report listed the executive actions on guns taken by the administration. Among them: Ending a freeze on federal research into the causes of gun violence, reducing barriers that prevent states from submitting certain records to the existing background check system, and easing the ways in which federal law enforcement agencies can trace guns recovered in investigations. The report did not mention two other legislative proposals backed by gun-control supporters: A new ban on assault weapons, and restrictions on the size of ammunition magazines. Neither proposal has sufficient support in Congress as of yet. The White House report says the president's executive actions are designed to address several goals, including improvements to the existing background check system, law enforcement, and school safety, as well as promote responsible gun ownership. Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/theova...rders/2432423/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c0c_1371639459 LostRothschild White House cites progress on gun control 2, 2nd, second, amendment, gun, firearm, rights, constitution, tyranny, freedom Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:45:07 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=58b_1371624010 FatalSystemError this incident resulted in the death of the mother of two kids.. you can see them in this video .. - min: 2:13, 4:17 - at min 2:33 you could see the car this is the second major incident after an underage boy was executed in a public square for "blasphemy".. operation "Northern Storm" by the Syrian Arab Army brought the worst out of these people out. BBC Arabic reported that a large number of insurgents fearing being cut-off and surrounded -like what happened in al Qusair battle- have fled Turkey.. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=58b_1371624010 FatalSystemError [ENG SUB] Jabhat al Nusra terrorize thier supporters in Aleppo as the noose tightens around their necks Syria, terrorist, free, army, syrian, terror, insurgent, FSA, SAA Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:27:33 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=168_1371622082 SvenVonErick Would you give up your car keys, the keys to your home, your bank account, passwords to get into your computer and social accounts, and all that is personal and unique to you to a complete stranger? Well, you have. 100% surveillance means children are subject to being taken away from any parents anytime, any women or any child can be a secret target to be sold or exploited, and that anything that is thought to be privately owned or controlled, is not. The US Government, police, and courts have been infiltrated from the outside. Money stolen from taxpayers is used to buy what can be bought. What isn't taken into possession from the outside by fraud will be taken by police and military force. The elite pulling the strings on the outside have played this same game over and over, over the centuries. This is what government looks like when government is not for the people, and when people are for the government ] NSA whistle blower Thomas Drake weighs in on RT's Breaking the Set Link ] Text with the link: On this episode of Breaking the Set, Abby Martin talks to Thomas Drake, former NSA senior executive and whistleblower, and Jesselyn Raddack, National Security Director for the Government Accountability Project, about whistleblower Edward Snowden, the dangerous climate surrounding classified information in the US, how the full extent of the NSA spying program has yet to be revealed, and how the mantra 'if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear,' is false. Abby then goes over the 2013 G8 summit in Northern Ireland, pointing out the groups' lack of progress in the developing world, and talks to RT correspondent Polina Boiko about the protests at the event. Abby also calls out the UK government's decision to prop up fake storefronts to 'fluff up' the town of Enniskillen, a town that was religiously segregated in the past. BTS wraps up the show with a look at law enforcement's use of facial-recognition technology at mere traffic stops and while taking photo IDs, and how the practice represents another step towards a total surveillance state. - Getting Made in the Cop Mafia ] http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=168_1371622082 SvenVonErick 100% Surveillance means you are owned from the outside UN, US, Agenda 21, OWS, gun, ban, confiscation, Martial Law, Patriot Act, NDAA, Police, State, Brutality, New York, City, Connecticut, Sandyhook, Newtown, Schoolyard, shooting, Boston, Bombing, hoax, domestic, spying, wire, tapping Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:11:16 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fb1_1371610797 Emir-Khattab The Taliban opened an office in Doha, the Qatari capital, on Tuesday to help restart talks and said it wanted a political solution that would bring about a just government and end foreign occupation of Afghanistan. A senior U.S. official said the talks would start in Doha on Thursday, but President Barack Obama cautioned against expectations of quick progress, saying the peace process would not be easy or quick. U.S. officials said the process could take many years and be subject to reversals. "This is an important first step towards reconciliation; although it's a very early step," Obama said after a G8 meeting in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland . "We anticipate there will be a lot of bumps in the road." U.S. officials say they hope the meeting will open the way for the first-ever official peace talks between the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban, which has waged a 12-year campaign to oust him and foreign troops. The Taliban have until now said they would not countenance talks with the government, which they consider a stooge of the United States and other Western states in the NATO coalition fighting in Afghanistan. News of the planned talks comes as the United States and its allies in NATO seek to meet a deadline of December 2014 for an end to foreign combat operations in Afghanistan. This would allow them to withdraw the majority of their troops and wind down an engagement launched after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 that has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives. A senior Afghan official said the Taliban was now willing to consider peace talks with the government, having held secret discussions with government representatives. In opening the Qatar office, the Taliban said it sought a political solution, but said no dates had been agreed for talks. Taliban representative Mohammed Naeem told a news briefing the group wanted good relations with "all of the world countries." "But the Islamic emirate (Taliban) sees the independence of the nation from the current occupation as a national and religious obligation," he said. U.S. officials said that in the talks in Doha, the United States would stick to its insistence that the Taliban break ties with al Qaeda, end violence, and accept the Afghan constitution, including protection for women and minorities. For its part, the Taliban is expected to demand the return of prisoners now at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba - a move many in the U.S. Congress oppose - as well as the departure of all foreign troops. The United States says it hopes to keep a force, of as yet undetermined size, in the country after the end of the NATO combat mission. The talks will be the first U.S. meeting with the Taliban in several years. U.S. officials said the initial meeting was expected to involve an exchange of agendas, followed by another meeting a week or two later to discuss next steps. A U.S. official said he expected the initial meeting would be followed within days by another between the Taliban and the High Peace Council, a structure set up by Karzai to represent Afghanistan in such talks. 'PEACE IS NOT AT HAND' The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the level of trust between the Afghan government and the Taliban remained low, and played down expectations that the talks would quickly lead to peace. "We need to be realistic," said one official. "This is a new development, a potentially significant development. But peace is not at hand." Obama said peace would only come through an Afghanistan-led process, and commended Karzai for taking a courageous step toward peace. He stressed that the U.S. military effort would continue in spite of the peace efforts. "We don't anticipate this process will be easy or quick but we must pursue it in parallel with our military approach. And we in the meantime remain fully committed to our military efforts to defeat al Qaeda and to support the Afghan national security forces," Obama said. Despite the accompanying words of caution, the announcement of the planned talks represents a significant step forward in the peace process, which has struggled to achieve results despite years of attempts. A team of envoys from the Taliban flew to Qatar in early 2012 to open talks with the U.S. government. But the Taliban suspended the talks in March 2012, saying Washington was giving mixed signals on the nascent Afghan reconciliation process. Tiny, gas-rich Qatar has been an enthusiastic supporter of reconciliation efforts in a number of crises affecting the Muslim world including those in Afghanistan, Yemen , Somalia, Lebanon and Darfur, often hosting peace talks on its own soil to try to prove it can punch above its weight in diplomacy. Karzai, speaking on Tuesday as the U.S.-led NATO coalition launched a final phase of transferring responsibility for security to Afghan forces, said his government would send a team to Qatar. But he said the talks should quickly be moved to Afghanistan. "We hope that our brothers the Taliban also understand that the process will move to our country soon," he said. U.S. officials said the goal was to ensure that Afghanistan did not remain a haven for terrorist groups and to defeat al Qaeda, which was given sanctuary by the Taliban in Afghanistan. "One of the things we will want to talk about from the very beginning is how they're going to cut ties with al Qaeda," a U.S. official said. "How quickly, exactly how they're going to do it, how quickly." A senior U.S. official said Pakistan , which has provided sanctuary to the Taliban despite its professed support for the battle against Islamist militancy, had recently been supportive of the peace process. "There has in the past been skepticism about their support, but in recent months I think we've seen evidence that there is genuine support and that they've employed their influence such as it is to encourage the Taliban to engage," he said. A U.S. official said the talks would be conducted on the Taliban side by its political commission, with the authorization of Mullah Omar, and also represent the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network. James Dobbins, the new special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, will lead the U.S. side. The Haqqanis are considered the United States' deadliest foe in Afghanistan and the top U.S. and NATO commander in the country cast doubt on Tuesday over whether it could make peace. "All I've seen of the Haqqani would make it hard for me to believe they were reconcilable," U.S. General Joseph Dunford told Pentagon reporters by phone from Kabul. U.S. officials said they expected detainee exchanges to be discussed in the talks. The United States will ask for the safe return of U.S. Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who has been a prisoner since June 2009, the officials said. He is thought to be being held by Taliban militants in northwestern Pakistan. Give up America, you have no experience in guerrilla warfare. You failed twice in this mission, you can't even fight in the jungles against the Vietnamese and the mountains with the Taliban. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fb1_1371610797 Emir-Khattab US desperately wants to seek peace with Taliban America, Talibans, Afghanistan Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:59:37 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8a1_1371603400 Detroit Iron By JOHN FLESHER FAIRPORT, Mich.- A wooden beam embedded at the bottom of northern Lake Michigan appears to have been there for centuries,underwater archaeologists announced Tuesday, a crucial finding as crews dig toward what they hope is the carcass of a French ship that disappeared while exploring the Great Lakes in the 17th century. Expedition leaders still weren't ready to declare they had found a shipwreck or the long-lost Griffin. The ship, commanded by the French explorer Rene Robert Cavelier de la Salle, was never seen again after setting sail in September 1679 from an island near the entrance of Green Bay, in what is now northern Wisconsin, with a crew of a six and a cargo of furs. But Michel L'Hour, director of France's Department of Underwater Archaeological Research and a shipwreck expert, said the timber appears to be a bowsprit, which is a spur or pole that extends from a vessel's stem. It also seems to be attached to another structure below the lake bed, he said. "All the details could be interpreted as part of a bowsprit and there's no details which contract this hypothesis," said L'Hour, who dove to inspect the beam with two French colleagues Monday and Tuesday. "It's why it's the main hypothesis now. A bowsprit which has been buried in the sediment of the lake for many centuries." Commercial divers overseen by scientists last week began excavating at the base of the wooden beam, hoping to determine whether it is part of the Griffin. Steve Libert, a diver and shipwreck enthusiast who has searched three decades for the Griffin, discovered the timber in 2001 and recently obtained state and federal permits to probe beneath the surface. The beam extends 10.5 feet above the lake bed, and underwater excavators were opening a pit at the base of the post to determine whether it's affixed to anything beneath. In another key development Tuesday, they reported that a probing device had detected a hard surface 18 to 20 feet below the lake bed. It could be a ship's hull or deck. "In essence, we have found a floor under that exposed wooden timber," said Ken Vrana, the project manager. "We have more excavation to do before verifying what that surface is." L'Hour said the French archaeologists drew their conclusion about the beam's age after observing differences between the section above the lake floor and the portion below the surface that the pit has exposed. The aboveground section is narrower because of erosion that must have happened over hundreds of years, he said. Libert said he was excited by the reports and had "no doubt" the beam was part of a ship. But it remained uncertain when the team might be able to positively identify the presumed vessel. "I think that maybe Steve found the Griffin," L'Hour said at a briefing for reporters. "I can't be sure, which is why I'm waiting and waiting and waiting for the proof." Although visibly optimistic, the searchers cautioned against expecting quick resolution of a mystery that has thrown numerous hurdles in Libert's path. After years of research led him to an area near Poverty Island a few miles off Michigan's Upper Peninsula, he literally bumped into the timber during a dive. That touched off years of legal battles between his Great Lakes Exploration Group and the state over access to the presumed shipwreck. When the excavation finally got underway last Friday, divers expected to find an object similar to the Griffin's reputed size a couple of feet below the surface, based on sonar readings. It's now believed to be perhaps 10 times farther down. Libert, who says he has spent more than $1 million on his long quest and put the excavation's price tag at "six figures," scrambled to obtain equipment that can dig deeper and is better able to break through the hard-packed mud. It probably will take another day or two to widen the hole and reach the hard surface, Vrana said. The excavation permits expire Friday, although the group could seek extensions. But with the French team scheduled to leave by then, the divers were working faster in hopes of confirming at least the presence of a shipwreck. State officials and Libert's group agree if the Griffin is found, it will belong to France because it was operating under authority of King Louis XIV. Graham Paul, a French consul general based in Chicago, visited the team over the weekend and said his government would favor attempting to recover the vessel. "It would be a major excavation and very costly," Vrana said. But the wreckage could be in surprisingly good condition after being encased in cold mud for 334 years because it wouldn't have been exposed to oxygen, which causes wood and metals to deteriorate, said Dave Miller, an archaeologist with Great Lakes Exploration Group. "That's the best way of conservation for all the artifacts and for the hull," L'Hour said. "One can't imagine something better than this kind of clay and mud." http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-timber-lake-michigan-centuries-old-150750034.html http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8a1_1371603400 Detroit Iron Scientists: Timber in Lake Michigan centuries old Griffin, Rene Robert Cavelier de la Salle, Green Bay Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:27:45 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=817_1371590727 english-patriot33 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-22959089 Reema Ramzan murder: Man charged over severed head killing A 20-year-old man has been charged with murdering an 18-year-old woman whose head had been severed. Student Reema Ramzan was found dead at an address on Herries Road in Shirecliffe, Sheffield, on 4 June. South Yorkshire Police said Ms Ramzan had suffered a severe knife attack, including the severing of her head. Aras Hussein, of Herries Road, was remanded in custody by Sheffield magistrates to appear at the crown court on Thursday. He has also been charged with assaulting five people at Sheffield's Northern General Hospital, where he was taken following his arrest. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=817_1371590727 english-patriot33 Reema Ramzan murder: Man charged over severed head killing islam, muslims, terrorists, pedophiles, honour killings, get out, Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:34:09 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9ef_1371587286 Muhammad_ibn_Abdullah Two weeks ago in Egypt, a Coptic Christian man named Milad living in Tanta in northern Egypt submitted a formal complaint to authorities, saying that "unknown persons" invited him and his family to renounce Christianity and submit to Islam and convert. "They also snatched at the crucifix he was wearing around his neck, and threatened to kidnap his children and wife if he refused to convert to Islam." The man identified them as members of the Salafi movement in Egypt-as they wore the trademark white robes and long beards. Such incidents-threatening Coptic Christians to convert to Islam and kidnapping their children-are becoming commonplace in post "Arab Spring" Egypt. Some months back, Coptic priests were threatened with death if they did not convert to Islam, and the jihad on Egypt's Christian children is an ongoing phenomenon, most recently resulting in the abduction and slaying of a 6-year-old boy. http://www.raymondibrahim.com/from-the-arab-world/coptic-christians-threatened-to-convert-to-islam/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9ef_1371587286 Muhammad_ibn_Abdullah Coptic Christians Threatened to Convert or be slaughtered... islam, evil, muhammad, quran, allah, jihad, massacre, slaughter, slayings, Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:28:37 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3d0_1371587177 Ruptly President Barack Obama flew in to Berlin's Tegel Airport ahead of a two-day state visit to Berlin - his first visit to the German capital as US head of state. The US president will give a speech at the iconic Brandenburg gate to 4,000 people on Wednesday while his wife, Michelle Obama, will tour some historically significant sites around the city. A motorcade is heading into central Berlin, taking the president to the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Potsdamer Platz where he will stay with his family. Obama, who flew directly from the G8 summit in Northern Ireland, is due to meet with Germany's political leaders on Wednesday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived a little earlier in the day, also direct from the G8 meeting. Obama will dine with German President Joachim Gauck at Schloss Bellevue on Wednesday morning before receiving military honours. He will later meet with Merkel, with the two due to hold a press conferences at 12:30 before convening for a private lunch. Revelations that US intelligence sercvices monitor people's internet activity across the globe are expected to be high on the agenda. Discussions over the Syria are also expected to dominate, with leaders having agreed at the G8 summit to convene a peace summit at some point in the future. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3d0_1371587177 Ruptly Germany: Obama swoops in to Berlin Germany, Berlin, Obama, Merkel, Gauck, president, politics, Brandenburg Gate, Potsdamer Platz, Ritz Carlton, G8, police, security Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:33:21 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c71_1371583621 BekasKhan guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 June 2013 'Peace and reconciliation' milestone comes after US drops request for formal rejection of al-Qaida as precondition to talks Nato soldiers stand with US flag after a security handover ceremony at a military academy outside Kabul on Tuesday. Photograph: Omar Sobhani/ReutersThe US is to open direct talks with Taliban leaders within days, it was revealed on Tuesday, after Washington agreed to drop a series of preconditions that have previously held back negotiations over the future of Afghanistan. In a major milestone in the 12-year-old war, political representatives of the Taliban will shortly meet Afghan and US officials in Doha, the capital of Qatar, to discuss an agenda for what US officials called "peace and reconciliation" before further talks take place with Afghan government representatives soon after. The Taliban, in a statement announcing their plans for peace talks and an office in Qatar, said they would not allow anyone to threaten or harm other countries from Afghan soil - a move senior US administration officials described as an important first step to the Taliban severing ties with al-Qaida. The US has agreed that a formal rejection of al-Qaida by the Taliban leadership would now be a "negotiating aim" rather than a precondition for talks. It will also seek a commitment from the Taliban to end its insurgency in Afghanistan and recognise women's rights in the country. "This is an important first step but it will be a long road," said one senior US official. "We have long said this conflict won't be won on the battlefield, which is why we support the opening of this office." White House officials say they believe the Taliban delegation at the talks represents the movement's leadership, and includes more radical groups such as the Haqqani network. Officials said the US would have a direct role in the talks starting starting this week in Doha, but the substantive negotiations over the future of Afghanistan would then be led by the Afghan government. Speaking later, Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, said: "TheUnited States will be supporting a process that is fundamentally Afghan-led ... We can play a role in talking to the Taliban as well in supporting that peace process - and because we have issues of our own to bring up with them." A Taliban spokesman said the group was opening the Doha office to "reach understanding and initiate talks with countries of the world for the purpose of improving relations with them", and to support a peaceful, political solution to end the "occupation of Afghanistan". The proposal for a Doha office has been on the table since 2011, and several senior Taliban figures have been living in Qatar for many months now, but the group had not publicly embraced plans for peace talks. In Kabul, Afghan president Hamid Karzai said he hoped the opening of the Taliban office would bring the start of talks between the High Peace Council he set up to lead government negotiation efforts, and the insurgents. However the Afghan leader who has long been lukewarm about efforts to set up a Taliban base in Kabul also called for any negotiations to move back to Afghanistan as soon as possible. "We hope that our brothers the Taliban also understand that the process will move to our country soon," he told a news conference in Kabul, although US officials stressed that moving talks to Afghanistan would take time. Karzai also announced that Nato forces had handed official control of nationwide security to Afghan troops on Tuesday. Foreign soldiers will still be fighting on the ground and supporting Afghans with air power, medical evacuation and other key capacities until the end of next year. Barack Obama is understood to have informed G8 leaders of the breakthrough at a dinner at the Northern Ireland summit on Monday night. The deal on talks with the Taliban was partly brokered by Pakistan and the emir of Qatar after "months of diplomatic spadework" also involving Germany, Norway and the UK. In 2011, Hillary Clinton suggested that Taliban leaders would have to renounce violence for a peace process to work. "Over the past two years, we have laid out our unambiguous red lines for reconciliation with the insurgents: they must renounce violence; they must abandon their alliance with al-Qaida; and they must abide by the constitution of Afghanistan," she said. "Those are necessary outcomes of any negotiation. This is the price for reaching a political resolution and bringing an end to the military actions that are targeting their leadership and decimating their ranks." But on Tuesday, that position appeared to have soften somewhat. "We don't expect them to break ties with al-Qaida ," said one of the US officials speaking on an off-the-record conference call. "That is an outcome of the process." He said the expected Taliban statement opposing the use of Afghan soil for foreign attacks was "a first step in distancing them from international terrorism". The Taliban also appeared to have softened on their long-term demand that foreign troops leave before talks can start. Karzai, despite his misgivings about overseas talks and initial opposition to the Qatar office visited the Gulf state twice this year, apparently paving the way for Tuesday's breakthrough. Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who has always said he would prefer talks to take place in Afghanistan, was initially lukewarm about the Qatar plans, but has visited the state twice this year, apparently paving the way for today's breakthrough. Additional reporting by Mokhtar Amiri in Kabul and Spencer Ackerman in Washington http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c71_1371583621 BekasKhan Defeated US to join direct peace talks in Qatar with Taliban over Afghanistan's future Afghanistan Occupation by US NATO Taliban Pakistan terrorist Punjabi ISI Al Qaeda Iran Intel India Haqqani China to Occupy Afghanistan Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:10:55 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c95_1371578836 MrSlave German Courts Begin Ruling According to Sharia Law An encroachment of Islamic law into the German legal system sets a dangerous precedent in Europe. An appeals court in northwestern Germany has decided a contentious divorce case based on Islamic Sharia law. The ruling is the latest in a growing number of court cases in Germany in which judges refer or defer to Islamic law because either the plaintiffs or the defendants are Muslim. Critics say the cases -- especially those in which German law has taken a back seat to Sharia law -- reflect a dangerous encroachment of Islamic law into the German legal system. In the latest case, the Appeals Court in Hamm, a city in German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, ruled on June 2 that whoever marries according to Islamic law in a Muslim country and later seeks a divorce in Germany must abide by the original terms set forth by Sharia law. The case involved a 23-year-old Iranian woman who married a 31-year-old Iranian man in Iran according Sharia law in 2009. The couple later immigrated to the German city of Essen, gave birth to a daughter but then separated in 2011. A lower court in Essen granted the woman a divorce in November 2012 and the husband appealed the decision. The appeals court in Hamm sided with the woman because, according to the German judge, the couple agreed to abide by the principles of Sharia law at the time they were married and thus the case should be decided according to Islamic law, regardless of whether the couple was now living in Germany. The court ruled that the woman was legally entitled to talaq, an Islamic means of obtaining a divorce by reciting the phrase "I divorce you" three times. The court also said the husband had violated the original terms of the Islamic marriage agreement by failing to provide financial support for his wife for a period of six months. The ruling has opened another round in a long-running debate about the role of Islam in German jurisprudence. Supporters of the decision say it is fair and consistent with Article 14 of the Introductory Statute to the Civil Code , which states that the law governing a marriage generally should be the law of the country in which the marriage took place. But critics of the ruling say it should not be the role of German courts to enforce the arcane provisions of Sharia law. In a similar but separate case, the appeals court in Hamm announced in April 2013 that it had overturned a previous decision by a lower court in Dortmund and ordered a 33-year-old Iranian man to pay his estranged 29-year-old wife (also an Iranian) the equivalent of 800 gold coins as part of a divorce settlement. That case revolved around a couple who were married in Iran in 2001, immigrated to Dortmund and later obtained German citizenship. The couple separated in 2007. As part of the marriage agreement, the husband had promised to pay his wife a dower of 800 Bahar Azadi gold coins payable upon demand. The court ordered the husband to pay EUR213,000 ($280,000), the current equivalent value of the coins, in compliance with a marriage contract he signed in accordance with Islamic law, despite the fact that both individuals are now German citizens. In February 2011, Germany's Federal Labor Court in Erfurt ruled that a Muslim supermarket employee was legally entitled to refuse to handle bottles of alcohol on religious grounds. The case in question involved a 47-year-old Turkish man who had been employed at a supermarket in the northern German city of Kiel since 1994. The problem had begun in 2003, when the man was assigned to work in the beverages department, but refused to stock the store's shelves with alcoholic drinks, based on the argument that Islam forbade him from any contact with alcohol. In response, the store manager reassigned the employee to stock milk bottles in the dairy department, but the man complained that he was not accustomed to working in a refrigerated environment, so he frequently called in sick. The man was eventually sent back to work in the beverages department, where the conflict over the alcohol bottles intensified. The employee was eventually fired in March 2008. In a decision that generated considerable controversy in Germany, the court ruled that the supermarket was unjust in firing the employee and was obliged to offer him an alternative position that did not conflict with his religious beliefs. The court rejected the argument set forth by lawyers representing the supermarket that the man should have been able to do his job without a fuss because Sharia law forbids only the drinking of alcohol, not the touching of bottles. The court noted that the employee had become increasingly religious and that any direct or indirect contact with alcohol would have been offensive to him. In another case, in March 2007, Christa Datz-Winter, a judge at the Family Court in Frankfurt, cited the Koran in a divorce case involving a 26-year-old German woman of Moroccan origin who had been repeatedly beaten by her Moroccan husband. Although police had ordered the man to stay away from his estranged wife, he continued to abuse her and at one point threatened to kill her. While not denying the facts, Judge Datz-Winter nevertheless refused to grant the divorce, arguing that a woman who marries a Muslim man should know what she is getting herself into. In her ruling, the judge quoted Sura 4, Verse 34 of the Koran, which justifies "both the husband's right to use corporal punishment against a disobedient wife and the establishment of the husband's superiority over the wife." The ruling generated so much outrage that the judge was removed from the case. In Kassel, the Federal Social Court approved the claim of a second wife for half of her dead Moroccan husband's pension payments, which the man's first wife wanted to keep all to herself. Although polygamy is illegal in Germany, the judge ruled that according to Sharia law, the two wives must share the pension. In Koblenz, the Administrative Appeals Court granted the second wife of an Iraqi living in Germany the right to remain permanently in the country. The court ruled that after five years of a polygamous marriage in Germany, it would be unfair to expect her to return to Iraq. In D"usseldorf, an Appeals Court ordered a Turkish man to repay a EUR30,000 ($40,000) dowry to his former daughter-in-law, in accordance with Sharia law. In Cologne, a judge ruled that an Iranian man must repay his ex-wife's dowry of 600 gold coins, based on the Sharia law followed in Iran. In Munich, a Local Court decided that a German widow was entitled to only one-quarter of the estate left by her deceased husband, who was born in Iran. The other three-quarters of the inheritance should go to relatives in Tehran. The court ruled that because the man did not have German citizenship, Sharia law applies to the division of the inheritance. A growing number of German legal experts are now sounding the alarm about the rise of a parallel Islamic justice system in Germany. In an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt , Mathias Rohe, an expert in Sharia law at the University of Erlangen, discusses the rapid spread of Islamic law in German jurisprudence. He describes Sharia law as a "highly complex system of Islamic religious and legal norms" and warns, "We must be careful that we are not creating parallel structures." According to Joachim Wagner, a German legal expert and former investigative journalist for ARD German public television, Sharia law in Germany is far more widespread than most people realize, and that this "parallel justice system" is undermining the rule of law in Germany. In a 236-page book entitled " Judges Without Law: Islamic Parallel Justice Endangers Our Constitutional State ," Wagner writes that, in addition to the use of Sharia law in German courts, Muslims are also establishing a shadow justice system, with Islamic Sharia courts now operating in all major German cities. Wagner writes that Muslim jurists often seek to settle criminal cases out of court -- without the involvement of German prosecutors or lawyers -- before law enforcement can bring the cases to a German court. Settlements reached by the Muslim mediators often mean perpetrators are able to avoid long prison sentences, while victims receive compensation in line with Sharia law. When cases are tried in German courts, victims are often pressured to make sure their testimony in court does not lead to a conviction, according to Wagner. In an interview with the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, Wagner describes the Islamic shadow justice system in Germany as "very foreign, and for a German lawyer, completely incomprehensible at first. It follows its own rules. The Islamic arbitrators aren't interested in evidence when they deliver a judgment, and unlike in German criminal law, the question of who is at fault doesn't play much of a role." When Der Spiegel asked why it was wrong for two parties to try to resolve a dispute among themselves, Wagner replied: "The problem starts when the arbitrators force the justice system out of the picture, especially in the case of criminal offenses. At that point they undermine the state monopoly on violence. Islamic conflict resolution in particular, as I've experienced it, is often achieved through violence and threats. It's often a dictate of power on the part of the stronger family." Wagner says political correctness is contributing to the rise of Sharia law in Germany. In an interview with the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Wager states: "I've studied 16 recent crime cases here with Muslim citizens involved. In almost 90% of all cases where Muslim arbitrators were commissioned, the perpetrators were acquitted by German courts or the cases were dropped altogether by the prosecution for lack of evidence. It's an alarming finding, and it throws a bad light on our courts." Source: http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/german-courts-ruling-according-sharia-law Here is the report of the newspaper ' Die Welt ' in german http://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article13845521/Scharia-haelt-Einzug-in-deutsche-Gerichtssaele.html Thanks to EP33 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c95_1371578836 MrSlave Sharia law is seeping slowly into the german judical system Islam, Muslims, Sharia, religious fascism, parasites, exploitation of hospitality