Grand Mufti Of Bosnia Once Again Singles Out Kuwait For Praise

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Kuwaiti media is reporting that Mustafa Ceric, the Grand Mufti of Bosnia, has once again praised Kuwait for he calls the Kuwaiti role in supporting Bosnia and its people. According to a Kuwaiti news agency report:

SARAJEVO, Jan 27 (KUNA) — Head of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina Dr. Mustafa Ceric praised the Kuwaiti role in supporting his country and people. Moralistic and financial aid provided by the Government of Kuwait have left good impact among Bosnian people, Ceric said in a meeting with the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mohammad Khalaf. He added that his discussions with the ambassador dealt with the Kuwaiti assistance, namely contributions to financing construction of the new Islamic headquarters in Sarajevo, which would manage affairs related to scholars and religious teaching. Ceric admired the deep relations between Kuwait and Bosnia and Herzegovina on different levels. For his part, the diplomat expressed gratitude for Ceric, due to his appreciation for the Kuwaiti efforts, noting that the Kuwait’s position on Bosnia and Herzegovina is based on its foreign policy in aiding nations, especially Muslim countries.

Iran Daily Brief January 30, 2012 – Full Report

International Affairs

Ahmadinejad: Western governments targeted Iranian people by imposing sanctions on Iran – Ahmadinejad said, “You (the West)  are the real enemy of people and are putting pressure on them, but the Iranian people are intent on being victorious in this battle and to recover itself in the history… I admonish you to pave the right track and not to make any excuses while the time is ripe for negotiations.” Ahmadinejad added, “Why should one make excuses and avoid negotiation, while he is rational and has something to say. Only the arrogant and oppressors make these excuses… I once again advise you to be friendly to the Iranians, because it is no longer a time of making noises and bullying others in the world.” He downplayed sanctions on Iran saying, “Once about 90% of Iran’s trade was with Europeans, but it is currently about 10%, so, we did not voluntarily cut ties with them, and they will be the real loser from their unilateral sanctions.”

Ahmadinejad: West must wake up from this long dream of defeating Iran, securing Israel – Ahmadinejad said that the Western governments are dreaming of their supremacy of colonial times over the world. “You, the arrogant people, arrange an assembly with some deceived and ignorant people and issue declarations against other nations who are in the canons of humanity and rationality and have a long-standing history and rich culture… Stop these ugly behaviors such as killing some people with some others.” He criticized certain Arab governments lobbying to finance anti-Syria insurgency to topple the legitimate Syrian government and said, “How confident you are, if you will not be omitted after omitting the Syrian government, while you are a monkey playing for Europeans and Americans?…You are serving the Western governments to destroy Syria for oil, but, I advise you to stop this play, because after Syria it will be your own turn to be destroyed. The greed of imperialism has no end.” Ahmadinejad said that regional leaders committed to the West are ruling their nations without holding any elections. He said that some of these regional countries, in a harmony with the U.S. and European governments are also commenting about Iran, while they are agitated and ignorant about the greatness of Iranians… Western governments must wake up from this long dream of defeating Iran with the help of puppet leaders in the region, because this cannot help secure Israel.

Amid violence, Arab League suspends observer mission in Syria

January 29, 2012 — Updated 0415 GMT (1215 HKT)

Arab League suspends Syria mission

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: “This president, he won’t stop,” says an activist
• Opposition activists report at least 98 deaths Saturday
• Syria “regrets” the Arab League move
• The U.N. Security Council is considering a draft resolution on Syria

Damascus, Syria (CNN) — The Arab League has suspended its monitoring mission in Syria because of a sharp spike in violence, the group said Saturday, the same day opposition activists reported at least 98 deaths.

Among those killed by government security forces were three children, one woman and 11 military defectors, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCC), an opposition group that organizes and documents anti-government demonstrations.

Syria “escalated the security situation,” an Arab League statement said. Deaths are up and innocent citizens have been affected by “continuing violence and exchange of assaults and gun firing,” it read.

The decision comes just days after President Bashar al-Assad’s government agreed to a one-month extension of the mission, which began December 26.

Understanding the dynamics of a ‘crime of honour’

 

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dakshana bascaramurty AND colin freeze

From Monday’s Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 3:00AM EST

Last updated Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 7:25AM EST

The murders of four women at the hands of their closest relatives may serve as a wakeup call for wider Canadian society to the social ills that those closer to traditionalist communities have long grappled with.

The convictions of Mohammad Shafia, his wife, Tooba Yahya, and his eldest son, Hamed, on Sunday followed a long trial in which evidence showed that teachers, police and social services saw repeated warning signs that the teenaged daughters of the family were at risk of life-threatening violence.

Germany – Cops ‘quizzed neo-Nazi terror cell woman’ in 2007

Published: 29 Jan 12 12:38 CET

Police questioned a member of a neo-Nazi terror cell just months before the gang killed a policewoman – but asked her about water damage to a flat, having no idea she was connected to a string of shootings, it emerged on Sunday.

In what will be an embarrassing revelation for the authorities, Der Spiegel magazine reported that officers questioned Beate Zschäpe in 2007, but did not realise that her inconsistency could have been connected to anything sinister.
She is considered a crucial member of the self-styled National Socialist Underground (NSU) which claimed responsibility for killing nine small business owners and workers between 2000 and 2006. Eight of the victims were of Turkish origin and one was Greek.
The gang are thought to have shot a policewoman to death and stolen her weapon in 2007, three months after Zschäpe was questioned.

Activists report ‘terrifying massacre’ in Syria

It’s racial cleansing … They are killing people because of their sect,’ one resident of Homs claims

Str  /  AP

Syrian army defectors celebrate after they joined anti-government protesters in Khalidiya, Homs province, on Thursday.

msnbc.com staff and news service reports — updated 15 minutes ago

BEIRUT — Updated at 3:15 a.m. ET: Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, describes the killings of at least 35 people in the city of Homs as a “terrifying massacre.”

Videos posted online from activists showed the bodies of children wrapped in plastic bags lined up next to each other. Another video shows women and children with bloodied faces and clothes and in a house, with the narrator saying an entire family with its children had been “slaughtered.”

The videos could not be independently verified.

Activists report ‘terrifying massacre’ in Syria – - Interactive Map

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http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Interactives/_swf/World/Middle-east-demographics/Mideast-demographics-v3.swf

Turkish state TV airs Holocaust film

By SUZAN FRASER | Associated Press

Cover of Shoah

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) —

An epic French documentary about the mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime has appeared on Turkish television to mark international Holocaust Remembrance Day — the first time the film has been aired on public television in a majority-Muslim country.

State television TRT’s documentary channel showed the first episode of filmmaker Claude Lanzmann‘s “Shoah” late Thursday — the eve of the day of remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust.

The film has been subtitled into Arabic, Farsi and Turkish by the Paris-based Aladdin project as part of its campaign to promote understanding between Jews and Muslims and to fight Holocaust denial.

Last year, a Los Angeles-based Farsi satellite channel broadcast the 9-plus-hour documentary in Iran, where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has questioned historical accounts of the Holocaust and called for Israel‘s destruction.

The film is not the first Holocaust film to be shown on television in Turkey, a secular country that is seeking membership in the European Union. Turkey also has its own Holocaust film: “The Turkish Passport,” which was released last year and tells the true story of Turkish diplomats who saved thousands of Jews by issuing them Turkish passports.

“Shoah” has also been shown to a limited audience at a Turkish film festival.

Nevertheless, it was the first showing of “Shoah” on a public television channel in a Muslim country. The director said he hoped more Muslim countries would follow suit.

Pakistan Security Brief – January 26, 2012

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Interior Minister Rehman Malik says eight suicide bombers are likely in Islamabad; Security is enhanced in Islamabad and Rawalpindi after terror threats; Kidnapped American aid worker is “alive and in good health;” Seven foreigners kidnapped in Pakistan in past six months; Haqqani Network publishes guidelines for militants; Six Frontier Corps soldiers killed by Baloch rebels; Troops kill 20 militants in Kurram Agency; Head of Landi Kotal chapter of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) shot dead; Pakistan offers harsh response to NATO report; Pakistan denies obstructing UN Conference on Disarmament; Thousands of supply trucks crowding Karachi port due to closed NATO supply routes; Pakistan’s Foreign Office says U.S. sanctions do not cover Pak-Iran gas pipeline; Pakistan ranked 151 of 179 countries in 2011 World Press Freedom Index; Lawyers observe a strike over killing of three Shia lawyers; Pakistani prime minister’s former media coordinator sentenced to three years in prison for fraud; Parliamentary Committee on National Security summons Mansoor Ijaz on February 10. 

Militancy

• Over the last four days, four threats have “been received from the Tehrik-e-Taliban [Pakistan (TTP)]– two for Rawalpindi and Islamabad and two for the rest of the country.” On Thursday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik revealed intelligence reports that “eight suicide bombers have entered the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.” According to The News, a “high-level meeting” was held in the Ministry of Interior to address the terrorist threats. Chaired by Malik, the meeting “reviewed law and order and security situation of the federal capital.” The leadership decided to enhance the security of all officials and sensitive federal buildings, as well as to develop a “fresh plan of deployment” for the Ranger units.[1]

• According to McClatchy Newspapers, Warren Weinstein, the 70-year-old American aid contractor who was kidnapped in Pakistan on August 13, is “alive and in good health.” Weinstein is being held in North Waziristan by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Pakistani al Qaeda affiliate. In an interview last week, a ranking Pakistani militant said that Weinstein “is being provided all available medical treatment, including regular checkups by a doctor and the medicines prescribed for him before he was plucked.” According to a security analyst in Islamabad with Pakistani militant contacts, “Weinstein’s captors had no plans to harm him,” but will “use him as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the Pakistani authorities.”[2]

• In the past six months, seven foreigners have been kidnapped in Pakistan, “highlighting the security threat in the country and hampering aid efforts.”  According to The Associated Press, “Islamist militants, separatist rebels or regular criminals are suspected in the abductions, with motives ranging from ransom, publicity or concessions from the U.S. or Pakistani governments such as prisoner releases or a halt to army operations.” Aine Fay, chairman of the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum representing 42 international aid groups operating in Pakistan, expressed her concern for those that have been kidnapped, as well as the “ability of the NGOs to carry out the work.”[3]

For Somalia rescue, look to legacy of Iran

By Dr Andrew Exum Senior fellow, Center for a New American Security

An attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran led to further investment in specialised military teams

Anyone seeking to find the roots of yesterday’s successful rescue mission in Somalia should start by looking in the sands of Iran.

It was only following the disastrous attempt to rescue hostages there in the spring of 1980 that the US military invested in special operations capacities and capabilities that could better respond to contingencies demanding specially selected and highly trained forces.

Monday’s rescue reflects both the lessons learned over three decades as well as capabilities now organic to the US military that were not present during the Carter administration.

The United States was not the first nation to develop direct-action special operations forces capable of performing counter-terror and hostage rescue missions. The United Kingdom, France, Germany and Israel all had counter-terror forces before the United States stood up its first “special missions unit” within the US Army.