Dreams Into Lightning 2

Morning Report: 2013-01-01

Pakistan: Gunmen kill seven charity workers. Fox: 'Gunmen killed five female teachers and two other people on Tuesday in an ambush on a van carrying workers home from their jobs at a community center in northwest Pakistan, officials said. The van was transporting teachers and aid workers from the center in conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Two health workers, one man and one woman, were also killed and the driver was wounded.' BBC has more, with a map. Workers at the center say they suspect its vaccination program is the target of the attacks; last month nine health workers were killed during a national polio vaccination drive.

India: Delhi gangrape protests continue. Hindustan Times: 'The capital on Tuesday continued to witness protests against the Delhi gangrape, with a modest gathering at Jantar Mantar demanding strong law against sexual offences. Some people continued their fast demanding stringent punishment for the culprits involved in the gangrape of the 23-year-old paramedic student, who died last Saturday.' Via Rantburg, The cops stated that after throwing the victim out of the moving bus, the accused had tried to crush her under the bus.

Syria: Fighting continues near Aleppo airport, throughout country. Fierce clashes have erupted near the international airport in Syria's second city of Aleppo, officials say. Syrians woke on New Year's Day toc ountrywide aerial bombardment, while President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels fighting to topple him clashed on the outskirts of the capital.

Saudi Arabia: Women refuse to segregate. A group of conservative man who wanted to attend the “Saudi Elite and Alienation Issues” lecture this week at the Jeddah Literary Club protested against the presence of women in the same room as men and threatened to leave if they were not moved to another room. However, the women refused to move room and insisted on remaining in the main hall to listen to the lecture.

Azerbaijan: Rent hike prices Russian radar out. Strategy Page:

January 1, 2013: Russia has decided to shut down its Daryal type long range missile detection radar in Azerbaijan after the Azerbaijanis demanded that a new lease increase annual rent from $7 million to $300 million. Russia refused to pay and will shut down the Azerbaijan radar and dismantle it. The ten year lease ended on December 24, 2012. This radar went operational in 1983 and was supposed to be one of seven. But the end of the Cold War halted that project and only one other Daryal radar was built (on the north coast of Russia). That one detected missiles coming in over the North Pole from North America. The radar in Azerbaijan covered all of the Middle East and India. Its role will be assumed by a more recent radar design that recently went into service on the Black Sea coast. Russia had offered to upgrade the Azerbaijan radar and pay more rent, but not $293 million more a year more. In addition, Russia has always paid Azerbaijan $5 million a year for electricity and $10 million a year for other services. About 500 Azerbaijanis were employed at the radar station, in addition to 1,100 Russians.

Morning Report: 2012-10-03

Turkey: Syrian artillery kills three. Stratfor: 'Syrian army fired artillery shells that hit the town of Akcakale on the Turkish side of the Turkish-Syrian border Oct. 3, killing at least three people ...' Read the rest at the link.

Lebanon: Blast in Hezbollah stronghold kills three. Reuters reports on Wednesday's explosion in Nabi Sheet, eastern Lebanon.

Mark Steyn: 'Behead all those who insult free speech.' 'Free speech is not in the gift of minor Swedish timeserving hack bureaucrats, either to grant or withdraw. Where is the “respect”, by the way, in “Behead the enemies of Islam”? ...'

Morning Report: 2012-08-21

Ethiopia: PM Meles dies. 'Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has died, Ethiopian state television said on Tuesday. Meles had not been seen in several weeks. The government said in July that he was taking a break to recover from an unspecified condition. State television said Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will be acting prime minister. ...'

Syria: FSA bans torture, prisoner killings. 'The Free Syrian Army issued new orders Aug. 20 forbidding the torture and killing of prisoners following criticism by U.N. investigators, Reuters reported. ...'

Russia / Israel: Gazprom eyes Leviathan. 'Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom is studying opportunities to participate in the development of Israel's Leviathan offshore natural gas field, Bloomberg reported Aug. 20 ...'

Turkey: Gaziantep bombing kills 8. CNN: 'Eight people were killed in a bombing in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, an official in the Interior Ministry said Monday. A spokesman for the Gaziantep governorship said 66 people were wounded in the blast. ...' Bianet - English: 'An explosion that took place near the Karşıyaka Police Station in the southeastern province of Gaziantep killed eight people and injured 61 at around 20:00 on Monday. The blast occured after someone detonated the explosives loaded inside a vehicle, Gaziantep Governor Erdal Ata told the broadcasting station NTV. The victims of the blast were passengers inside a nearby automobile and a minibus, according to reports. Two buses also caught fire in consequence of the explosion ...'

Gaziantep, previously and still informally called Antep; ʻayn tāb [ʕajn tæːb] is a city in southeast Turkey and amongst the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. The city is located 185 kilometres (115 miles) northeast of Adana and 127 kilometres by road north of Aleppo, Syria. The city has two urban districts under its administration, Şahinbey and Şehitkamil. It is the sixth most populous city in Turkey.

USA / terrorism: Hezbollah funds seized. BBC: 'The US authorities say they have seized $150m (£95m) from a bank allegedly linked to a money-laundering scheme of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Last year, US officials accused the Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB) of helping the group launder profits from drug trafficking and other crimes. The funds were allegedly used to ship cars from the US to West Africa, with the proceeds smuggled back to Lebanon. ...'

Analysis: Benjamin Kerstein on Chomsky, NPR. Michael Totten interviews Benjamin Kerstein on Noam Chomsky:

Benjamin Kerstein: There are a couple of main points that should be made. First, Chomsky is an absolutely shameless liar. A master of the argument in bad faith. He will say anything in order to get people to believe him. Even worse, he will say anything in order to shut people up who disagree with him. And I’m not necessarily talking about his public critics. If you've ever seen how he acts with ordinary students who question what he says, it's quite horrifying. He simply abuses them in a manner I can only describe as sadistic. That is, he clearly enjoys doing it. I don't think anyone ought to be allowed to get away with that kind of behavior.

Second, Chomsky is immensely important to the radical left. When it comes to American foreign policy he isn't just influential, he's basically all they have. Almost any argument made about foreign affairs by the radical left can be traced back to him. That wasn't the case when he started out back in the late '60s, but it is now.

Third, he is essentially the last totalitarian. ...

Go read the rest. Now via a Facebook friend here's Kerstein in 2010 on NPR:

Put simply, NPR is for coastal liberals what Rush Limbaugh is for heartland conservatives: a means of relating to the world from within the confines of a specific subculture. The difference, of course, is that Limbaugh’s admirers do not force others to pay for it.

Nor, I imagine, are Limbaugh’s listeners laboring under the same illusion as NPR’s. Most of them probably understand that Limbaugh is giving opinions based on his political point of view, which is, to say the least, well known to his listeners. NPR’s listeners, on the other hand, are quite convinced that they are receiving nothing less than the pure, unvarnished, objective truth from the network. They believe themselves to be smart and informed, and thus the network they love must also be, perhaps by definition, smart and informative. ...

Morning Report: 2012-08-14

Syria: Rebels claim to hold pilot. They say they shot his plane down. Reuters: 'Syria's rebels were jubilant on Tuesday, claiming to have shot down a jet and captured its pilot, an apparent victory against the overwhelmingly superior firepower of President Bashar al-Assad's forces. Video uploaded onto the Internet on Monday showed the jet bursting into flames as it streaked through the sky amid heavy gunfire. The rebels said they had hit it with newly acquired high-caliber anti-aircraft guns. ...'

Syria / China: China hosts Assad regime aide Bouthaina Shaaban. BBC: 'A senior aide to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has flown to China for talks on the crisis, officials say. The Chinese foreign ministry said Bouthaina Shaaban would meet Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi later. The ministry said it was part of its effort to implement the UN's six-point peace plan. ...'

Egypt: Meet the new boss, etc. The Arabist on SCAF: 'I agree with [Accidental Occidental's] take and put it in a different way in a Guardian piece yesterday — i.e. that talk of Morsi's triumph overshadows that generals (just different generals) were still kingmakers. ...'

Morning Report: 2012-08-02

Lebanon: Annan quits as Syrian peace envoy. NOW Lebanon: 'Kofi Annan is quitting as UN-Arab League envoy for Syria after battling to persuade President Bashar al-Assad to accept a peace plan, the UN said Thursday. UN leader Ban Ki-moon announced "with deep regret," that Annan had tendered his resignation, as the Syrian civil war spiraled further out of control. ...'

Iraq: Kurdistan threatens to halt oil exports. Reuters: 'Iraq's Kurdistan region said its planned resumption of oil exports may last only to August 31 if the central government does not pay arrears to foreign companies, meaning the rise in Iraq's overall shipments to world markets could be brief. The semi-autonomous region said on Wednesday it would restart exports this week in a bid to end the payments dispute with Baghdad. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) says the central government has withheld payment of $1.5 billion. Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami gave the end-August deadline in a letter posted on the KRG's website and addressed to oil companies DNO, Genel Energy and Kar Group. ...'

Iraq: Turkish visit to Kurdistan violates sovereignty. Meanwhile, Stratfor reports that a Baghdad spokesman complained that a recent visit to Kirkuk by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu constituted a serious breach of Iraqi government sovereignty.

Morning Report: 2012-08-01

India: Muslim journalist charged in attack on Israeli. 'Nearly five months after an Israeli diplomat's car was bombed in New Delhi, the Delhi Police on Tuesday indicted Indian journalist Syed Mohammad Kazmi of conspiring with foreign elements and others for the terror strike.' Tal Yehoshua-Koren and her Indian driver were wounded in the February 13 attack.

Somalia: Suicide bombers strike as constitution finalized. 'Two suicide bombers attacked a conference in Somalia on Wednesday but failed to stop delegates agreeing a new draft constitution that is meant to help the violence-torn East African country return to stability. One bomber killed six security officers, while the other was shot and killed before he could detonate his bomb, police said. Al Shabaab, Somalia's al Qaeda-linked group, said it was behind the attack and that it had succeeded in killing Somali and African Union troops. ...'

Syria: Agreement on post-regime future to be signed. Stratfor: 'Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the Syrian Kurdish National Council and the Syrian National Council will sign an agreement on the future of Syria after President Bashar al Assad's regime.'

Turkey: Army holds exercise near Syrian border. NOW Lebanon: 'Turkey's military on Wednesday tested its tanks' speed and maneuverability during an exercise in Turkey's southeastern border near Syria, reported the Anatolia news agency. The exercise comes after Turkey sent a convoy of tanks, weapons and ground-to-air missile batteries to the border with Syria, strengthening its defenses there as intensified on the other side of the border. ...'

Morning Report: 2012-07-30

Russia: Scientific mission to arctic region. Russia is increasing its arctic presence by sending a scientific expedition to the arctid Franz Joseph Land archipelago.

Syria: Regime steps up assault on Aleppo. 'Syrian government forces have been continuing their assault with artillery, ground forces and helicopter gunships on rebel-held areas of the second city, Aleppo. Officials said one area, Salah al-Din, had been recaptured, but rebels said the battle there was still going on. ...'

Kazakhstan: Shoot-out in Almaty. 'Kazakh police on Monday killed six members of a criminal gang in a shoot-out in an apartment block in the commercial capital Almaty, prosecutors said, in a fresh sign of surging crime in the oil-rich Central Asian nation. The shoot-out with the armed criminals, who had barricaded themselves in an apartment, broke out in broad daylight in one of Almaty's residential areas after the gunmen refused to lay down their arms ...' No casualties were reported among civilians or security personnel.

USA - New York: Big gulp. New York's mayor continues with his fixation on who drinks how much of what: 'The nanny state is going after moms. Mayor Bloomberg is pushing hospitals to hide their baby formula behind locked doors so more new mothers will breast-feed. Starting Sept. 3, the city will keep tabs on the number of bottles that participating hospitals stock and use — the most restrictive pro-breast-milk program in the nation. ...'

Morning Report: 2012-07-29

Israel: Temple Mount closed to Jews on Tisha b'Av. 'Police closed the Temple Mount to visits by Jews on Sunday, the day when worldwide Jewry marked the fast of Tisha B'Av. The fast was postponed a day because the date fell on the Sabbath, when it is forbidden to fast, except on Yom Kippur. Tisha B'Av, the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av, the date of the destruction of both the First and Second Holy Temples. Jews are commanded to await the rebuilding of the Third Holy Temple, when the Messiah will come and bring world peace. The Temple Mount is the site of both of the Temples and is to be the site of the Third, making it the most sacred place in Judaism. ...' Meanwhile, thousands marched around the walls of Jerusalem.

Syria / Turkey: F-4 not shot down. Strategy Page: 'Did Syria make it all up? One June 22nd Syria announced that it had shot down a low flying Turkish F-4 reconnaissance aircraft while (according to Syria) it was flying 13 kilometers off the Syrian coast. Now that the Turks have recovered the bodies of the pilots and some pieces of the aircraft, there is growing evidence that the aircraft was not hit by gunfire or missiles. The Turks suspect that the F-4 was lost due to pilot error or mechanical failure. ...'

Romania: President facing impeachment, urges boycott. Reuters: 'Romanians voted on Sunday on whether to impeach their unpopular president, Traian Basescu, after a government campaign to remove him that has drawn international criticism of its methods and raised doubts about the country's IMF aid deal. ...'

Morning Report: 2012-07-27

Syria: Aleppo lawmaker defects. NOW Lebanon: 'Syrian lawmaker Ikhlas Badawi, who represents the embattled second city of Aleppo in the assembly elected in widely criticized May polls, has defected and fled to Turkey, the opposition said on Friday. "There were contacts for some time to ensure her a safe place," Samir Nashhar, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council, told AFP. "She arrived [Thursday] in Turkey and she will be going to Qatar, which has agreed to receive her." ...'

Syria: Rebels said to gain ground. Reuters: 'Sixteen months after the uprising against Assad began, the battle between lightly armed rebels and the awesome firepower of the Syrian military - one of the largest standing armies in the Middle East - has become a war of attrition as defections weaken Assad's forces and the rebels' combat skills improve.'

Cyprus: Plot suspect to stand trial. 'A Swedish national of Lebanese descent arrested in Cyprus on suspicion of plotting to attack Israeli tourists in the country will stand trial on September 12, authorities said on Friday. ...'

Morning Report: 2012-07-25

Syria: Assad's future. Yesterday, Morning Report posted thoughts from Michael Totten and Lee Smith. They argued that "the best reason ... to get rid of Assad while we can is the grim prospect of what will happen if he wins" (Totten) and that "it’s time for the administration finally to show a killer instinct" by denying a fugitive regime even the comfort of a rump state (Smith). Today, Daniel P. Goldman, long known as "Spengler", writes at Gatestone citing a second piece from Lee Smith. Smith argues that

... a large part of strategy is prioritizing threats, and right now the major issue in the region is Iran: Anything that weakens the Iranians is a net gain. There is time enough in the Middle East to deal with other threats, which a post-Assad Syria may well become. The most pressing concern is a scenario in which Assad is camped out on the Mediterranean coast, still allied with Iran and serving as a link to Hezbollah. An Alawite statelet is an outcome that the Obama Administration should seek to prevent.

Goldman isn't so sure: "Why not deal with Iran the way we need to deal with Iran (neutralize its WMD capacity with air strikes, commando operations, cyberwar, or whatever it takes), and deal with Syria as Syria? ..." Read the rest at the link.

Iraq: Officials warned of kidnapping attempts. Al-Monitor: 'Representatives from al-Sahwa (“the Awakening”) have called on security officials in the province of Diyala to provide protection to the province’s judges and lawyers, and to strengthen security procedures in government prisons and detention centers. The request came in light of intelligence that was received regarding al-Qaeda’s intention to attack or kidnap judiciary personnel to bargain for the release of detained al-Qaeda leaders. ...' Translated from al-Hayat.

Europe / Terrorism: EU won't blacklist Hezbollah. Michael Totten: 'After a suicide-bomber killed five Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, the Israelis are (again) asking the European Union to blacklist Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Europe (again) refuses to do so. Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, the foreign minister of Cyprus just 30 minutes off Lebanon’s coast, says Europe would consider adding Hezbollah to the list of banned terrorist organization “if there were tangible evidence of Hezbollah engaging in acts of terror.” ...'