Radical Muslim group run by Israeli Jews!

The Radical “Muslim” Group That Threatened South Park Creators Was Founded and Run by Joseph Cohen, a Former Israeli Radical Who Used to Live in a Settlement in the West Bank. Fundamentalist Jews who pretend to be Radical Muslims, a growing problem…

American Everyman

Jon Stewart, shame on you. You’re a propaganda spewing puppet and you’re no better than Glenn Beck.

South Park ran an unedited image of Muhammad in 2001 in an episode called “Super Best Friends“… and nothing happened.

In fact, the episode had been on the South Park website for viewing at any time for the past few years (they just removed it)… and nothing happened.

For 4 seasons they had that image in their opening segment for every single show… and nothing happened.

So for years on end no Muslim group, “radical” or otherwise, has threatened Matt and Trey or Comedy Central about the image of Muhammad that has been available for all to see every single day.

All of a sudden last week a group called “Revolution Muslim” threatened violence against Comedy Central if they aired an image of Muhammad which forced Comedy Central to censor the show and now you have even liberals talking about those “radical Muslims” and their threats of violence. Karl Rove couldn’t have done it any better.

Problem is, Revolution Muslim was started and run by a “converted” Israeli settler who studied at an orthodox rabbinical school in Israel before becoming a settler in the occupied territories.

You don’t think a orthadox Israeli settler would have any desire to see progressive Americans start to hate “radical Muslims” do you? You think “Revolution Muslim” helps or hurts the Israeli PR campaign after Operation Cast Lead and the Goldstone Report?

Here’s the research your team should have done before you went out and spun-up the neoconish ”radicalized Muslim” hype for your progressive audience…

“Revolution Muslim” is always there to say just the wrong thing to make Americans hate “Radical Muslims”. They praised the killing of Daniel Pearl with a childish puppet show. They sent “Get Well” wishes to the guy who shot those 13 people at Fort Hood.

Yousef al-Khattab, 41, a radical Muslim in the borough of Queens who runs RevolutionMuslim.com, claims on the site that the soldiers massacred at the Texas base deserved to be massacred, and he insists the victims are in “eternal hellfire.” As for the suspected gunman — Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan — Al-Khattab hails him as a hero. Fox News

You can count on “Revolution Muslim” to say the wrong thing at the right moment to get Americans to hate all those “radical” Muslims.

Israeli Settlers in Hebron

But the only thing is… “Revolution Muslim” (his creative fake “Scary American Terrorist” website) was started and ran by a man named Yousef al-Khattab. Yousef al-Khattab was born Joseph Cohen, in Brooklyn, New York. He was jewish. But not just jewish, he was a settler who went to Palestine to live on the illegal Israeli settlements.

Joseph Cohen isn’t alone though. There is another “radical Muslim” convert from Judaism (the original fake “scary American Terrorist“) who makes sure that “radical” Muslims are hated in America, his name is Adam Pearlman and he went by the “radicalized” Muslim name “Adam Gadahn“. Adam Pearlman is actually the grandson of a member of the board of directors of the Anti-Defamation League (at least he was on the board… Dr. Carl Pearlman died in 1998).

Gadahn grew up on a goat farm in rural Riverside County and moved to Santa Ana to live with his grandparents, the late Dr. Carl Pearlman and his wife, Agnes, in the mid-1990s. It was here that he learned of Islam via the Internet and later fell in with a radical sect at the Islamic Society of Orange County OC Register

And the funny thing is, after all that hate speech and those calls to violence, Cohen never got arrested. Hell, even Fox News knew exactly where he was. Guns, death threats, and all the rest and amazingly Yousef al-Khattab (Joseph Cohen) was never arrested.

A New York City bicycle cabbie who mocked the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl and posted a prayer on the Web calling for the murder of Jews is now sending a ‘Get Well Soon’ message to the suspected Fort Hood gunman, the New York Post reported.

After growing up in a jewish neighborhood in New York and attending a orthodox rabbinical school in Israel, Joseph Cohen went to live in a settlement in the West Bank to help steal Palestinian land from Palestinians.

His story is that he “converted” to Islam after meeting someone in a chat room. You know what “settlers” are like in the occupied territories don’t you Mr. Stewart? Ever see that video of them beating the old Palestinian woman with a baseball bat?

Ever see that video Mr. Stewart? If not, take a look here. This video was released by B’Tselem (an Israeli peace organization).

Al-Khattab has claimed that he has nothing to do with the site anymore but the person he founded it with left prior to all of this earlier this month. al-Khattab claims to have quit the site in late Dec. last year. His partner who started it with him also claims to have quit the site earlier this month. I guess no one wanted to go to jail for issuing death-threats over the internet. But someone did it.

I find it funny that after being born and raised as a jewish person, after attending orthodox rabbinical school in Israel, and after being radical enough to move to occupied territories in Palestine to live as a settler (the most hard-core of Israeli Zionists), ALL OF A SUDDEN Joseph Cohen dropped all of that teaching and suddenly became a “radical Muslim’ after a chat in a chat room. He became a “radical Muslim” then just HAPPENED to move back to the city he lived in before… Brooklyn, N.Y.

Anybody believe that crap? Jon Stewart does. So much so he mocks “radical Muslims” for threatening South Park.

Now, go here and watch Jon Stewart joke and make derogatory comments about the group that threatened the creators of South Park for showing the image of Muhammad on their recent show. Then he thanks all the “other” religions for not behaving like the “Radical Muslims” did when Stewart makes fun of their religion. He then shows clip after clip showing how they have made fun of Jewish people without anyone threatening violence.

Radical Muslim is a COINTELPRO site, run by a “converted” jewish settler pretending to be a “radical Muslim”. He is the ONE Muslim that complained about the South Park episode… an ex-radical Israeli settler, Mr. Stewart… real Muslims haven’t threatened South Park once since 2001 when they FIRST ran an image of the prophet on their show.

From What Really Happened:

Fake Al Qaeda

“The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al Qaida. And any informed intelligence officer knows this. But there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an identified entity representing the ‘devil’ only in order to drive the TV watcher to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the US . . .” — Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook “Ana raicha Al Qaeda” is colloquial for “I’m going to the toilet”. A very common and widespread use of the word “Al-Qaeda” in different Arab countries in the public language is for the toilet bowl. This name comes from the Arabic verb “Qa’ada” which mean “to sit”, pertinently, on the “Toilet Bowl”. In most Arabs homes there are two kinds of toilets: “Al-Qaeda” also called the “Hamam Franji” or foreign toilet, and “Hamam Arabi” or “Arab toilet” which is a hole in the ground. Lest we forget it, the potty used by small children is called “Ma Qa’adia” or “Little Qaeda”. So, if you were forming a terrorist group, would you call yourself, “The Toilet”?

The Phony (Mossad) Al Qaeda Cell in Palestine

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon … said that al-Qaeda militants were operating in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. “We know that they are there. We know that they are in Lebanon, working closely with Hezbollah. We know that they are in the region,” he said. [BBC News – 12/5/2002]

Officials from the Palestinian Authority have accused the Israeli spy agency Mossad of setting up a fake al-Qaeda terrorist cell in Gaza. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said that Israel had set up the mock cell in order to justify attacks in Palestinian areas. [BBC News – 12/8/2002] Mossad agents arrested by the PA for attempting to set up phony ‘al Qaeda’ cells in the Gaza Strip. The full story: larouchepub.com – Mossad Exposed in Phony ‘Palestinian Al-Qaeda’ Caper antiwar.com – By Way of Deception, by Justin Raimondo smh.com.au – Palestinians arrest al-Qaeda ‘poseurs’ Of the MOSSAD, the Israeli intelligence service, the SAMS officers say: “Wildcard. Ruthless and cunning. Has capability to target U.S. forces and make it look like a Palestinian/Arab act.” [Washington Times – 9/10/2001]

Adam Yahiye Gadahn: The Fake Terrorist

Images from official FBI wanted poster for terrorist Adam Yahiye Gadahn

The FBI lists Gadahn’s aliases as Abu Suhayb Al-Amriki, Abu Suhayb, Yihya Majadin Adams, Adam Pearlman, and Yayah.

But Adam Pearlmen is his REAL name! Adam is the grandson of the late Carl K. Pearlman; a prominent Jewish urologist in Orange County. Carl was also a member of the board of directors of the Anti-Defamation League, which was caught spying on Americans for Israel in 1993, much as AIPAC has been caught up in the more recent spy scandal.

Love Your Servitude!

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The Story of Your Enslavement

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THIS VIDEO IS FREAKING BRILLIANT!

Did Global Elite Kill Polish President Kaczynski?

Kurt Nimmo

Damian Thompson, writing for the Daily Telegraph, says there will be plenty of conspiracy theories floating around cyberspace in response to the death of Polish president Lech Kaczynski and a large number of Polish VIPs in a plane crash last week.

“One of the nastier consequences of international disasters is that conspiracy theorists rush to judgment — and I do mean rush,” writes Thompson. “The fact that the president and so many of the Polish elite were on a visit to Russia will feature prominently in the fantastic stories being cooked up in cyberspace right now. And I can say with confidence that they are being cooked up, because Poland, like most East European countries, is obsessed with conspiracies. Russians, Jews, Americans, Freemasons — they will all be blamed. Some stories will be more credible than others.’

He missed one: the international bankster cartel.

Not only did Poland decline to be a victim of the bankster loan sharking operation, Poland’s central bank had the audacity to offer the IMF a loan to “help other countries overcome the effects of the global crisis,” the AFP reported on March 29, 2010.

Poland was the only member of the 27-nation European Union to have experienced growth in 2009 and the IMF forecast that its economy would expand by 2.75 percent this year and by 3.25 percent in 2011.

Poland’s zloty grew by 1.7 percent in 2009, a remarkable feat given that European Union countries contracted by an average of 4.1 percent and no other EU economy grew at all. “Poland avoided eastern Europe’s worst lending binges. Kaczynski frustrated some of his opponents by being in no rush to head towards the euro party,” the Daily Telegraph reports today.

Earlier this month, Czech Central Bank Vice Deputy Mojmir Hampl said the IMF fueled Eastern Europe’s crisis to create a situation that would compel regional states to request the help from the globalist loan sharking operation.

“He said that the institution, which offered emergency funds for Hungary, Lithuania, Ukraine and Romania, misinterpreted some data because they are looking for new clients as the leadership changed,” HotNews reported.

Indeed, the leadership has now changed in Poland and it looks like a pro-euro political leader may replace Kaczynski. “Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-euro Civic Platform party is likely to cement its grip on power in a presidential election that must now be held by June after President Lech Kaczynski died in a plane crash,” reports Bloomberg today.

Kaczynski resisted Tusk’s effort to resist adopting the euro. “Kaczynski, who over the past three years had tried to block government efforts to overhaul Poland’s debt-ridden healthcare and pension systems, was also the last EU leader besides Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic to sign the Lisbon Treaty, and opposed Tusk’s euro adoption goal.”

In addition, Kaczynski placed a euro-skeptic ally in charge of the central bank, Slawomir Skrzypek, who was also killed in the crash.

It looks like Poland may soon join the EU Borg hive with open arms.

Now half the Polish government has died.–How likely is it that this was an accident?

Who gains from the death of so many leading Polish figures?

The main winner is Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk who has wiped out the entire opposition to his pro-euro, pro-IMF, pro-New World Order policies, even though they appear to be some allies sacrificed on the plane, including the pro swine flu vaccine ombudsman.

Nevertheless, the backbone of Polish opposition to the NWO appears to have been killed.

“Among the victims were key members of Poland’s biggest opposition party, Law and Justice, including current and former heads of the party’s parliamentary caucus, Grazyna Gesicka and Przemyslaw Gosiewski as well as the party’s main economic expert Aleksandra Natalli-Swiat, and deputy parliamentary speaker Krzysztof Putra.

The list also includes deputy parliamentary speaker Jerzy Szmajdzinski, who was the presidential candidate of the opposition Left Democratic Alliance. That means the crash killed the presidential candidates of two of Poland’s three largest parties. Kaczynski had already won the endorsement of the opposition Law and Justice party. He was to officially declare his candidacy in May,” reports Bloomberg.

With President Kaczynski out of the way and the two presidential candidates, the next president can appoint the top army leaders and the central bank governor as well as judges – in short replace the entire Polish government with people friendly to the New World Order and Bilderberg agenda.

Tusk’s presidential candidate Komorowski has just said he would set the date of a presidential election which had been due in October forward to June, giving Tusk’s party an added advantage.

Tusk appears to be just a puppet for the NWO, operating across countries, and including Putin, who is supposed to be leading the probe in the crash in Russia.

The bodies of the victims have been taken to Moscow.

There is evidence that many government officials work for the private interests of an international corporate crime syndicate, gearing up for the total destruction of nation states and the US dollar and euro to establish a one world government under the UN flagship.

Poland’s top leaders have defied the NWO by refusing the swine flu vaccination and postponing joining the euro, a “must”, according to IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

They have paid a heavy price.

True, Tusk appeared to support his health minister when she refused to buy the swine flu vaccine last autumn. But even the Austrian Health Minister criticized WHO for declaring a pandemic prematurely – but only after he saw how big the opposition to the vaccines in Austria already was.

Acting skills are vital for leadership, Adolf Hitler said.

By purging Poland of its top leadership and opposition, the NWO has sent out a signal, a clear warning to other government figures not to resist its agenda.

It is less likely that the Polish Health Minister will dare refuse  vaccine the next time WHO declares a pandemic after this incident.

It is less likely that Greece’s central bankers and opposition parties will push for Greece to leave the eurozone or operate a domestic currency in parallel with the euro.

That, anyway, is the calculation of the New World Order.

The murder of the Polish leaders signals the start of a new era of terror and could be the start of a whole series of purges of government officials opposing their agenda.   (read HERE)

Is Kyrgyzstan’s Revolution Ready For Export?

[All the states within the sights of the overlords of the pipeline wars have been primed for revolution in the same manner, with the same likely outcomes, by the same “freedom” loving people at Freedom House.  The alternative press functions as a social engine, revving-up the people’s natural discontent and driving them straight into the halls of government.  In the aftermath, groomed stooges of the overlords are pushed to the front of the protests.  In this set-up, there will be no other potential leaders who are willing to take the risk that comes with the burden of guiding the revolution into a state of true democracy and freedom for all.

Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Russia and all the rest of you unfortunate nations, better cultivate your networks of friends and find your own natural leaders at the grass roots level, to push them to the forefront of the revolutions on your own.

–Before it is too late.]

Is Kyrgyzstan’s Revolution Ready For Export?

Could other Central Asian states see their autocratic leaders tumble the same way Kyrgyzstan’s did?

By Farangis Najibullah

Could the recent political upheaval that brought down Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev have a domino effect on other countries in Central Asia?

It’s a question that is being asked in the region in the wake of Kyrgyzstan’s bloody antigovernment demonstrations earlier this month.

The events have been portrayed as a wake-up call to other Central Asian leaders, lest their citizens follow the example set in neighboring Kyrgyzstan. And there are ample similarities between Kyrgyzstan and its fellow Central Asian states to give credence to the suggestion.

The five Central Asian countries all come under criticism in varying degrees over constraints on political freedoms, government pressure on independent media, and free speech. Nepotism and corruption, two key ingredients behind the Kyrgyz unrest, are common complaints across the region.

In Kyrgyzstan, the wave of discontent over Bakiev’s appointment of his children, siblings, and other relatives to key official posts eventually swept his government away. In an ironic twist, it was virtually the same wave Bakiev himself rode to power five years before, when his predecessor, Askar Akaev, was ousted as a result of the Tulip Revolution.

Family Factor

Elsewhere in Central Asia — with the exception of Turkmenistan, where tribal politics reign — members of presidential families control major businesses, banks, and wield enormous influence in politics.

In Uzbekistan, Gulnara Karimova is often touted as a potential successor to her president father, Islam Karimov. The first daughter enjoys a life of fame as a European-based fashion designer, and riches due to her reputed control of the company Zeromax, which oversees a wide range of oil and gas businesses in Uzbekistan.

Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbaev’s daughter Dinara — next in line to the throne?

In Kazakhstan, President Nursultan Nazarbaev’s second daughter, Dinara Kulibaeva, has immense influence over the resource-rich country’s energy sphere along with her husband, Timur Kulibaev, one of the country’s richest men.

In Tajikistan, Rustam Emomali, President Emomali Rahmon’s eldest son, recently made his political debut by gaining a seat on Dushanbe city council, sparking speculation that he is being groomed for the presidency.

In the weeks leading up to the Kyrgyz uprising, citizens became increasing vocal in expressing their belief that the presidential family was expanding its influence and wealth as a result of corruption, while the rest of the country struggled with poverty.

Such sentiments can also be found among ordinary people throughout Central Asia, who often feel their respective governments leave them to deal with poverty, unemployment, and lack of opportunities on their own.

Lack Of Organized Opposition

Many analyses and commentaries published after the Kyrgyz unrest predicted it wouldn’t be long before people would be demonstrating against their leaders in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and elsewhere in the region.

“The poverty, corruption, and harsh economic conditions that bred resentment in Kyrgyzstan are also present in abundance in neighboring states,” read a passage from an article posted on eurasia.net on April 21. “None of [Central Asian leaders] can rule out turmoil at home.”

But while a number of similar ingredients can be found in Kyrgyzstan and its neighbors, this doesn’t mean they will bring about the same result.

While Kyrgyzstan exhibited signs of a nascent democracy for years — for example, it is the only country in the region in which the opposition has a parliamentary faction — the powers that be in the other Central Asian states have maintained a much tighter grip.

Kazakhstan’s parliament has no members of the opposition.

The parliament in Uzbekistan, for example, is filled by ruling party members and their colleagues from other pro-government groups. Turkmenistan still practices a one-party system. In Kazakhstan, all parliamentary seats belong to the pro-presidential Nur Otan party.

Tajikistan’s opposition Islamic Renaissance Party officially held onto its two parliamentary seats following a February election. But for years, even though one of its two legislators was terminally ill and bed-ridden, it wasn’t allowed to replace him with another candidate.

Tajik political analyst Sabur Vahhob says that, compared to Kyrgyzstan, the other Central Asian states lack strong opposition figures. “There aren’t experienced political [opposition] leaders, capable of gathering people around themselves,” he says. “People need a leader whom they can trust, but we can’t see such personalities yet.”

Loyal Security Teams

In addition, while Bakiev’s government in recent years took steps to clamp down on independent media and imprison opposition leaders, it remained the only country in the region where people enjoyed relative freedom to hold antigovernment protests. Bakiev himself, speaking from exile in Minsk last week, implied he didn’t see anything wrong in demonstrations taking place.

Governments across Central Asia have been criticized for restricting political freedom and persecuting their political opponents.

Perhaps the harshest example in recent years came in Uzbekistan, when a rare public demonstration in the eastern town of Andijon in 2005 was brutally suppressed by government forces who fired into the crowd. The government claims 187 people, including police, were killed in the violence, but rights groups say several hundred protesters were killed. Hundreds fled the country following the crackdown, fearing imprisonment.

A key difference between Bakiev and other Central Asian leaders can be found in the people surrounding them. Most of regional leaders have taken firm control over key ministries — security, defense, and interior — by appointing close allies. Even at the level of middle management in the security and law enforcement agencies, only those most loyal to the presidential office can be found.

Bakiev, on the other hand, placed a sibling in charge of the elite presidential guard, but was at odds with his defense minister and onetime ally, Ismail Isakov, whom he eventually imprisoned.

Nervous Silence

The minimal coverage of Kyrgyz events by state-run media in Central Asia is indicative of the efforts taken in the region to prevent any carryover effect. Official media in all Central Asian countries have downplayed the scope and significance of the Kyrgyz events, while the Turkmen media has completely ignored them.

Uzbekistan’s Islam Karimov — keeping a nervous eye on Kyrgyzstan?

No Central Asian leader has officially recognized the interim government in Bishkek. But that does not mean the events have gone unnoticed by the governments of Central Asia.

When the unrest in Kyrgyz began to unfold, Kazakh President Nazarbaev was vocal in predicting that similar events would not take place in Kazakhstan. According to Nazarbaev, people in his oil-rich country are content with their living standards.

Speaking during the Eurasian Media Forum in Almaty on April 27, Nazarbaev described the situation in Kyrgyzstan as a mere “fight for power.” He added: “It was not a revolution. It was complete banditry.”

‘Preventative Measures’

Others in the region appear to have taken steps designed to ensure a Kyrgyz-like political scenario does not unfold on their territory. Tajikistan appears to be taking the soft approach, while Uzbekistan is reportedly taking a hard line.

In an April 24 address to the nation, Tajik President Rahmon instructed all local government heads to have “open doors” every Saturday to meet with people and listen to their opinions, problems, and complaints.

The Uzbek response has been starkly different. According to RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, law enforcement officials along with neighborhood committees in the southeastern Ferghana Province are asking people to sign “loyalty letters,” promising they will not agitate against the government. Such letters reportedly appeared shortly after the Kyrgyz unrest, and mainly target relatives of dissidents, political activists, and conservative religious people.

If history is any indication, the chances of any export of the revolutionary spirit seen in Kyrgyzstan depend largely on how successful the uprising is at bringing about real democratic change.

The Tulip Revolution five years ago initially brought hope of such change, and was widely welcomed by younger people in Central Asia. But those hopes faded as many expected reforms failed to materialize. This, Kyrgyz say today, merely demonstrated that the 2005 revolution wasn’t about democracy, but simply replaced once corrupt strongman with another.

Likewise, if Kyrgyz hopes once again turn into disenchantment, their neighbors’ criticisms of the “chronic revolutions” in Kyrgyzstan that lead to nothing will only be strengthened.

‘Musharraf to be booked in light of BB report findings’

KARACHI: The government will register a case against former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf in light of the findings of the UN report on the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Secretary General Senator Jahangir Badar said on Wednesday.

The PPP leader was addressing a press conference along with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah at the Chief Minister’s House. Badar said a case would be registered against the people who were responsible for the killing of Benazir Bhutto and two committees had been formed by the prime minister and the inspector general of Punjab Police to look into this matter. The senator said the PPP would unmask the killer of Benazir Bhutto but the party did not want to get revenge from anyone. He told the media that the inquiry into the assassination of the former prime minister would be done according to the aspirations of the people. Earlier, the PPP stalwart inaugurated the membership campaign of the PPP in Sindh. app

A Musharraf Comeback In Pakistan Would Be Like Nixon Returning to Power

Musharraf to form political party: aide

Former president Pervez Musharraf – Reuters (File Photo)

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf is planning to launch a political party in a comeback bid two years after he was unseated in elections, officials said Wednesday.

Musharraf, who has been abroad since ending his nine-year stint in power, could face a criminal trial if he returns home and he is wanted for questioning by the government over the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.

An aide and election official confirmed to AFP that the retired general had applied to register a new political party with the electoral authorities in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

Mohammad Ali Saif, a former cabinet minister and now a legal adviser to Musharraf, said election authorities would hear the application on May 10.

“I have formally applied for a new political party called All Pakistan Muslim League. Pervez Musharraf is the head of this party and we will formally announce it after getting registered,” he told AFP.

Saif, an unofficial spokesman for Musharraf, is active in organising the new political party and said the former president had told him in London that he intended to return to Pakistan and fight a criminal case.

Pakistan police registered a case against Musharraf last August, a precursor to potentially putting the ex-president on trial for detaining judges in 2007 as he attempted to cling onto power.

Musharraf imposed a state of emergency and sacked about 60 judges in November 2007 when the supreme court appeared poised to declare him ineligible to contest a presidential election while in military uniform.

“Musharraf will certainly come. He will face all the charges. These are politically motivated cases with no evidence,” said Saif.

“I am in Punjab to establish our party structure here. We will establish it across Pakistan. I can see a bright future for Musharraf in Pakistan.”

Sabir Hussain Gilani, a spokesman for the election commission of Pakistan, confirmed that the body had received the application.

“They want to register their party as All Pakistan Muslim League but there are two more applications wanting the same name,” he said.

The chief election commissioner has issued notices to all the applicants and will decide on their application next month, the spokesman added.

China to build two nuclear reactors in Pakistan

BEIJING: China has agreed to build two new civilian nuclear reactors in Pakistan, a report said Thursday, amid persistent concerns about the safety of nuclear materials in the restive south Asian state.

Chinese companies will build at least two new 650-megawatt reactors at Chashma in Punjab province, a British daily said.

China began building a reactor at Chashma in 1991 and broke ground on a second one in 2005, which is expected to be completed next year, it said.

A statement posted on the website of the China National Nuclear Corporation on March 1 said financing for two new reactors at Chashma was agreed by the two sides in February.

Bakiev Loyalists Want North/South Division–Setting the Stage for Civil War

Supporters of President Bakiev wants federation

28.04.2010

Supporters of ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev called for the creation of Kyrgyzstan federation, dividing the country on the southern and northern republic. At the same time, a number of Kyrgyz political scientists believed that the idea of switching to the federal system can provoke the destruction of statehood in the presence of large regional differences and the underdeveloped state institutions in Kyrgyzstan.

In an interview with Azattyk Head Protection Committee Kurmanbek Bakiyev – Tolon Dyikanbaev said that his supporters intend to seek a federal system in Kyrgyzstan. The initiators intend to apply a provisional government with such a proposal in the discussion of the draft new Constitution redatsii CD, released earlier this week in the media.

T. Dyikanbaev believes that without resolving this issue, it is impossible to stabilize the situation in Kyrgyzstan. In their vision, Kyrgyzstan should be divided into two democratic republics – South and North, with the delegation that they have equal powers.

However, this idea of a provisional government as a recognized source, greeted without enthusiasm. The Interior Ministry of the CD set up a special group which will focus only on “this direction”, and if necessary, will take adequate measures are taken. On the evils of such ideas expressed and the head of the Kyrgyz special services K. Duishebayev, uglyadev for this initiative, the shadow bakievtsev.

A number of Kyrgyz political scientists believed that the idea of switching to a federal structure could trigger the destruction of statehood in the presence of large regional differences and the underdeveloped state institutions in Kyrgyzstan.

As previously reported Azattyk, the population of southern regions of Kyrgyzstan are campaigning for the office of the country on South Kyrgyz democratic republic. According to the source, supporters handed out residents of Kyrgyzstan razchleneniya Free CD-ROMs, leaflets with appeals and zayavleniyaimi deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiev in which he all the blame for the incident, including blood shed on the square in Bishkek on April 7 confers on members of the opposition.

told Azattyk resident of Osh Tologon Keldibekov, an attempt to adjust the population in the south against the temporal power is almost openly, CDs and leaflets and plant at the door of the tenants in the bazaars and shops. Chapter GSNB K. Duishebayev said it – the handiwork bakievtsev, on all these facts under investigation, and against the separatists would be taken legal action.

US Plans to Withdraw Its Troops But Leave Behind Toxic Mess

Special Contribution
By Matthew Nasuti

US Plans to Withdraw Its Troops But Leave Behind Toxic Mess

The American military presence in Afghanistan consists of fleets of aircraft, helicopters, armored vehicles, weapons, equipment, troops and facilities. Since 2001, they have generated millions of kilograms of hazardous, toxic and radioactive wastes. The Kabul Press asks the simple question:
“What have the Americans done with all that waste?”

The answer is chilling in that virtually all of it appears to have been buried, burned or secretly disposed of into the air, soil, groundwater and surface waters of Afghanistan. While the Americans may begin to withdraw next year, the toxic chemicals they leave behind will continue to pollute for centuries. Any abandoned radioactive waste may stain the Afghan countryside for thousands of years. Afghanistan has been described in the past as the graveyard of foreign armies.

Today, Afghanistan has a different title:
“Afghanistan is the toxic dumping ground for foreign armies.”
The (U.S.) Air Force Times ran an editorial on March 1, 2010, that read: “Stamp Out Burn Pits” We reprint here the first half of that editorial:
“A growing number of military medical professionals believe burn pits are causing a wave of respiratory and other illnesses among troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Found on almost all U.S. bases in the war zones, these open-air trash sites operate 24 hours a day, incinerating trash of all forms — including plastic bottles, paint, petroleum products, unexploded ordinance, hazardous materials, even amputated limbs and medical waste. Their smoke plumes belch dioxin, carbon monoxide and other toxins skyward, producing a toxic fog that hangs over living and working areas. Yet while the Air Force fact sheet flatly states that burn pits “can be harmful to human health and environment and should only be used until more suitable disposal capabilities are established,” the Pentagon line is that burn pits have “no known long-term health effects.”

On April 12, 2010, the Richmond Times-Dispatch carried an article by David Zucchino who investigated the American burn pits in Iraq. He interviewed Army Sgt. 1st Class Francis Jaeger who hauled military waste to the Balad burn pit which was being operated by a civilian contractor for the Pentagon. Jaeger told Zucchino:
“We were told to burn everything – electronics, bloody gauze, the medics’ biohazard bags, surgical gloves, cardboard. It all went up in smoke.”

The Pentagon now admits to operating 84 “official” burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. The number of unofficial burn pits is not known. The Pentagon claims that it is phasing out its burn pits in favor of incinerators and that 27 incinerators are currently operating in Iraq and Afghanistan with 82 more to be added in the near future.

According to a website called the “Burn Pits Action Center,” hundreds of American veterans who came in contact with burn pit smoke have been diagnosed with cancer, neurological diseases, cardiovascular disease, breathing and sleeping problems and various skin rashes. In 2009, they filed more than 30 lawsuits in Federal courts across the United States, naming Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), and its former parent company Halliburton. These companies were named because of their involvement in the LOGCAP (Logistics Civil Augmentation Program) contracts for Iraq and Afghanistan. Several KBR entities either managed or assisted in the management of the American military’s waste in both countries and allegedly operated some or all of the burn pits. Additional lawsuits were filed in 2010, including one in Federal District Court in New Jersey.

The lawsuits reveal that the Pentagon has ignored American and international environmental laws and the results appear to be the widespread release of hazardous pollutants into the air, soil, surface water and groundwater across Afghanistan.

This is a persistent problem that continues today. Unlike Saudi Arabia which insisted that American forces cleanup their pollution after the war to oust Iraq from Kuwait in 1991, or the Government of Canada which likewise insisted on a strict cleanup of American bases on its soil, the Government of Afghanistan has been unable to force the Americans and their allies to repair all the environmental damage that they have caused and continue to cause. Afghanistan does not want to wind up like Vietnam. While American ground combat units withdrew from South Vietnam in 1972, neither Vietnam nor its people have recovered from the long term environmental damage and mutagenic effects that American military operations and their exotic chemicals caused.

Tajikistan Asks Russia To Detain Suspected Islamic Militants

April 29, 2010

KHUJAND, Tajikistan — Tajik officials have asked Russia to detain and deport 41 people suspected of belonging to the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports.

Tajik General Rauf Yusufov, the senior Interior Ministry official in Tajikistan’s northern Sughd Province, said on April 28 that all of the suspects are from Sughd. He said most currently live in or near Moscow and maintain ties with IMU members inside Tajikistan.

Yusufov claimed that the Moscow-based suspects are raising funds to support the IMU in northern Tajikistan. He also alleged that they force Tajik labor migrants in Russia to join the IMU and to pay membership fees.

The IMU is known to have some support in northern Tajikistan, especially in the Isfara district that borders Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The Interior Ministry office in Sughd announced earlier this month that two suspected IMU activists had been deported from Russia.

During the Tajik Civil War (1992-1997), many IMU activists joined the United Tajik Opposition and fought against government forces. After the signing of the 1997 peace agreement ending the conflict, many of those IMU members moved to Afghanistan and joined armed Islamic groups.

Last year the head of the IMU in Isfara, Anvar Qayumov, was detained in Afghanistan and deported to Tajikistan where he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

At least 16 other suspected IMU members were jailed in Tajikistan last year, four of them for life.

ISI Admits Hakeemullah Still Alive

Pakistan Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud is alive, says spy agency

Setback for CIA after Pakistan intelligence official admits drone attack failed to kill the Pakistan Taliban commander

Pakistani Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud speaks to the press in 2008. Mehsud was presumed dead in a US drone strike in January but is now thought to be alive. Photograph: A Majeed/AFP/Getty Images

The Taliban leader in Pakistan, Hakimullah Mehsud, survived an American drone strike in January and is alive and well, a senior official with Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence agency told the Guardian today.

Mehsud was reported to have died in a CIA drone strike in South Waziristan in January but, although Pakistan’s interior minister claimed he had been killed, the death was never confirmed by either US or Pakistani intelligence.

Today the senior intelligence official said he had seen video footage of the missile attack on Mehsud but other intelligence had since confirmed the insurgent leader survived. He declined to elaborate further.

“He is alive,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “He had some wounds but he is basically OK.”

Mehsud’s apparent survival will be a blow to the CIA, which intensified efforts to kill the flamboyant young Taliban leader early this year after heappeared in a video alongside an al-Qaida operative who killed seven American spies at a base in southern Afghanistan in late December.

The failed attack on Mehsud came at the start of an unprecedented onslaught by CIA-controlled unmanned aircraft in the tribal belt. The CIA has carried out 38 attacks so far this year, the official said, compared with 49 in the whole of 2009.

“The US government is under pressure because it is unable to achieve much in Afghanistan. This is one way of hitting their al-Qaida enemies, as they define them,” the official said.

Drone strikes are deeply unpopular in Pakistan because of civilian casualties. The New America Foundation recently reported that between January 2009 and March 2010 the drones killed 690 alleged insurgents and 181 innocent villagers. CIA figures put the civilian tally for the same period at 20.

The Pakistani official estimated the civilian toll was “between the two figures” but insisted that targeting had improved. “For the Americans, this is an effective way of doing things from a distance with little collateral damage. I give full credit to the CIA for this.”

The Washington Post reported this week that the CIA has started usingmore compact drones and smaller missiles in an effort to reduce civilian casualties.

The intelligence official denied reports that the Taliban deputy leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, had been captured in Karachi last January “by accident”.

US intelligence pinpointed Baradar in a housing estate in a well-to-do part of Karachi, he said, but the raid to capture him was entirely Pakistani. “There was no American around,” he said.

Baradar was being jointly interrogated by CIA and ISI agents and had yielded useful information, he said. For example, he claimed to have last met the Taliban leader in Afghanistan, Mullah Muhammad Omar, two years ago.

He also rejected claims that Pakistan had captured Baradar to scupper nascent Afghan peace talks, saying that Baradar had disdained President Hamid Karzai as “not even a real Pashtun”.

In March, Kai Eide, the UN’s former special representative to Afghanistan said he believed Pakistan wanted to prevent talks between the UN, the Afghan government and the Taliban, to retain control of the process.

The senior official said the ISI would be “very, very willing” to play a role in negotiations with the Taliban, but only if called upon by both the Afghan and US governments. For now, he said, Pakistan’s spies are “sitting on the sidelines, watching”.

“There are a number of different efforts and nobody knows what anyone else is doing. It’s a very fragmented effort.” He added that “if it’s meant to confuse the Taliban, it’s working”.

One stumbling block, he said, was the clashing policies of Britain and the US. “The British are more amenable to negotiations and talking,” he said. “The Americans are attempting to create conditions where the Taliban will be forced to come to the table. In my opinion they will never achieve that.”

A western diplomat in Islamabad said British officials were more inclined to talks than their US couterparts, but said policy had not been fixed in either country because “otherwise things would be happening”.

The ISI official denied his agency retains close ties with Jalaluddin Haqqani, an al-Qaida-linked warlord whom America blames for recent mayhem in Afghanistan, including a suicide attack on the Indian embassy.

He admitted the agency had once been close to Haqqani but insisted that recent US allegations came from people who “lived in the past”. He regretted that Pakistan had broken its links with the warlord because “otherwise, resolution of the problems in Afghanistan today would be so much easier for all of us”.

The ISI was heavily criticised in a recent United Nations report into the death of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007. The official described the report as a “sub-standard work with a clear agenda”.

He said: “In the report, statements are made and inferences drawn on condition of anonymity and hearsay. Who in God’s name does that?”

Charmed life

Hakimullah Mehsud’s apparent survival represents a second miraculous escape in the career of a youthful, ruthless militant leader.

The Pakistani government previously reported that the flamboyant tribesman, thought to be about 30 years old, was killed during a leadership struggle last August.

Despite his remarkable good fortune, however, Hakimullah’s days as a Taliban leader may be numbered. According to a senior ISI official, his Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan organisation has been weakened by a sweeping army assault on its South Waziristan stronghold.

Mehsud’s leadership has been challenged by other figures, too, including his rival Wali-ur-Rehman. “He may not be in the leadership position,” the intelligence official said. “His rise was accidental. He was mister nobody, people found it difficult to accept him.”

Mehsud rose to militant fame on the back of his ambition and showy cruelty. He sprang to prominence in 2007 with the humiliating kidnapping of over 200 Pakistani soldiers in South Waziristan.

A year later, he led dozens of ambushes on Nato supply convoys as they passed through the Khyber Pass; in one instance he invited reporters to film him at the wheel of a looted American Humvee.

Hakimullah became Taliban leader in August after a CIA drone killed the Tehrik-i-Taliban founder, Baitullah Mehsud. He also became known for cruelty. In Orakzai tribal agency, which was under his sway, Taliban fighters preyed on minority Sikhs and carried out bloody sectarian attacks on Shias.

Whatever Mehsud’s fate, the Taliban remain a potent force. Yesterday, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a checkpoint on the outskirts of Peshawar, killing five policemen. In North Waziristan, a clash at a checkpoint left four militants dead and injured one soldier.

Six Arrested In UAE for Taliban Funding

Six jailed in United Arab Emirates for funding Taleban

Hugh Tomlinson in Dubai

Five Emiratis and one Afghan convicted of funding the Taleban and supporting terrorism have been jailed for up to four years in the United Arab Emirates.

The Supreme Court in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi ruled that the six men were guilty of channelling money to assist the Taleban campaign in Afghanistan. Two further Emiratis were acquitted of the charges.

The five Emirati men were found to have raised funds which the Afghan defendant, Abdul Wahab Sultan Gulam, was to send to the Taleban. It is not known how much money the group raised, or if it was successfully funnelled to Afghanistan.

The local paper Gulf News reported that two Emirati defendants, Rashid Dawood and Abdullah Hassan, were given an extra year in jail for attempting to set up an Islamist organisation.

The fundamentalist organisation aimed to impose a strict code of Islam, like the Taleban itself. Three Emirati men and one Bangladeshi were attacked for breaching the group’s interpretation of Sharia law.

Mr Dawood was found guilty of assaulting the Bangladeshi man for speaking to a woman on the phone. The man was beaten, stripped naked and photographed on a mobile phone.

The court ruled that the organisation breached civil liberties.

Dawood and Hassan were also found to have downloaded military training videos and circulated news from Islamist websites. However, there was no further evidence the group was planning to launch terrorist attacks itself.

The eight defendants were arrested in October 2008 after raids by federal security forces in Khor Fakkan, a port on the east coast of the country. All eight denied the charges and claimed the evidence against them was uncorroborated. They also said they had been forced to sign confessions.

Wealthy and politically stable, the UAE has had few of the problems with Islamic extremism that have plagued other countries in the region, in particular Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

However, state security forces are believed to have halted several threats by al-Qaeda against Western interests in the country over recent years. There has also been widespread speculation on Islamist websites that the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, could be the target of a terrorist attack.

The country, and Dubai in particular, is well-established as a hub for international money-laundering. A US investigation in 2004 found that much of the $400,000 used to fund the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington passed through banks in the UAE.

The federal government has worked closely with the US Treasury to tighten up financial oversight across the country, though al-Qaeda is still believed to siphon funds through banks in Dubai. There have also been repeated claims that Somali pirates use banks in the emirate and other Gulf states to launder their ransom money, despite denials from the local authorities.

90,000 Okinawans Rally to Demand Closure of US Base

90,000 Okinawans Attend Massive April 25 Rally Demanding Closure of the Futenma U.S. Marine Base & Opposing A “Replacement” Base In Henoko

Massive rally in Okinawa on April 25. 90,000 people attended. Many more intended to join the rally, but were stuck in traffic en route. Okinawa Governor Nakaima addressed the crowd, promising to listen to the protests.

基地を撤去 (Kichi wo tekkyo) means “Remove the bases”

Update: Later on April 25, 0ver 1,200 attended a candle vigil in Tokyo (photos below).

At the solidarity event in Tokyo’s Meiji Park on Sunday evening, candles were lit and 1,200 people formed the letters NO BASE OKINAWA.

Let’s be honest – there is no military threat in the Far East that really requires tens of thousand U.S. soldiers or marines to be based here. The only recent event when the Okinawa marines were useful was when “papa Bush” as he is called in Japan decided to send them to Kuwait in 1991, almost 20 years ago.

And Japan’s tax payers are reluctantly footing a huge part of the bill, as part of deals made in the 1970s by the corrupt Liberal Democratic Party law maker and shadow “king maker” or “most ruthless” “back-room string puller” Shin Kanemaru.

This is what Prime Minister Hatoyama is trying to change: “The 2008 Japanese defense budget allocated ¥146.3 billion for labor costs, ¥36.2 billion for FIP, ¥25.3 billion for utilities, ¥500 million for training relocation, for a total of ¥208.3 billion.” – Wikipedia

Photo The Mainichi

From Satoko Norimatsu of Peace Philosophy Centre Blog:Number: 90,000. With the rallies on the two other islands, 93,700. Not quite reached the goal, but significant.

My husband said: “Governor Nakaima just had a loud voice.”

Nakaima made two main points: elimination of Futenma danger, and reduction of base burden of Okinawans. Both ambiguous terms. He made only one clear point though: permanent use of Futenma could not be tolerated.

People’s New Party’s Shimoji, the only MP who was absent (Even LDP’s Shimajiri was there!!!), could say all those things too and stay politically correct.

But again, any Nakaima is better than No Nakaima.

The three mayors, Iha of Ginowan, Inamine of Nago, and Shimabuku of Uruma, all made powerful and convincing statements, pretty much what they have been saying every day.

Japanese Communist Party’s head Shii was there. He was the only party head present. I am disappointed Social Democratic Party’s Fukushima did not attend.

All 41 municipalities participated: 39 mayors attending and 2 their reps.

The biggest significance was that this was the first all-party rally of this magnitude in Okinawa and Japan.

Two more photos from the Tokyo event at former NHK directorShimura’s blog:

Video from Okinawa Times:

「普天間」を国外・県外へ　県民大会に９万人余

「米軍普天間飛行場の早期閉鎖・返還と、県内移設に反対し国外・県外移設を求める県民大会」が２５日午後３時から、読谷村運動広場で開かれた。県内外から９万人余（主催者発表）が参加し、日米両政府に、県内移設断念と同飛行場の早期閉鎖、返還を訴えた

Eco News from Japan and Asia!

Reports of Egypt Using poison gas tp suffocate Gaza tunnel diggers

Egyptian poison gas suffocates Gaza tunnel diggers

Buenos Aires News.Net
Wednesday 28th April, 2010

Egyptian military forces have killed four Palestinians by pumping poisonous gas into a cross-border tunnel.

The tunnel, that was being used to transport smuggled goods form one side of the border to the other, was sprayed with the poison gas, suffocating the occupants.

The Hamas Interior Ministry later said the gas used to try to clear the tunnel was poisonous. Besides those killed, six people were injured.

Egyptian border security official have not commented on the deaths but Hamas security officials have reported that Egyptian security forces have sprayed gas into tunnels before, without killing people.

Egypt has been under pressure to seal off the hundreds of tunnels which are sometimes used to bring in weapons for Islamic militants, but which are normally used to transport consumer goods.

Pakistan Trapped In Its Own Circular Logic

The root of Pakistan’s problems

—S P Seth

There is an often-heard cliché that there are three dominant elements in Pakistan’s polity: Allah (religion), Army and America — its order varying according to the prevailing situation

For some years now, Pakistan has been getting a lot of international attention but for the wrong reasons. It is fighting the Taliban but without being sure of its strategic rationale. Hence, its on-again off-again deals with the militants, while still keeping up the military pressure, have not borne fruit.

The lack of strategic clarity is at the root of a lot of Pakistan’s problems. Pakistan is a country with great potential. But this potential has been squandered by its leadership, sadly lacking in a coherent vision or blueprint for the country. In other words, Pakistan has been badly served by its leaders.

Because its political leadership failed to develop self-sustaining constitutional processes (a working democracy), it enabled the country’s military leadership to subvert an imperfect political system. Not only that. The army generals even acted like they were the country’s saviours. Indeed, when the political rot reached its stinking worst (with large-scale corruption and a political culture of impunity), the people of Pakistan did believe, at times, that the generals were their best bet.

But, by God, the generals proved as self-aggrandising as the politicians they overthrew or co-opted. In other words, Pakistan went on in circles, with its establishment (political as well as military) forsaking the country’s good for their own gratification. And the process continues.

Some commentators believe that the proposed devolution of political power to the prime minister in cabinet might herald a change. But this is deceptive. The dominance of the army in the country’s political culture, whether directly running the country or in the background, is too much a fact of life in Pakistan.

In the midst of all this, it is the people of Pakistan who are paying a high price, with increasing poverty, high unemployment, loss of social cohesion and so on. The allocation of financial resources, both budgetary and in terms of foreign aid (largely from the US), were disproportionately diverted to the army and even lined the pockets of those entrusted with national good. It is no wonder that the Taliban have become the recruiting ground for many Pakistanis who have lost faith in the country’s leadership and what is left of its governing system.

Two basic requirements for any credible governance are the physical and economic security of the people at a minimal level. And on both of these counts, Pakistan is under terrible strain. In some areas, like the tribal belt and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, militants seem to operate at will. Even Lahore is now prone to random attacks.

The military obviously reacts to such violence with its own operations, which tends to only compound the situation. The military operations in Swat, and now in the tribal belt, are a colossal tragedy in terms of displacement of the civilian population and civilian casualties, whether through US drone operations or the army’s action. And the result of these on-off operational activities is that more and more people are losing confidence in the state’s capacity to deal with the militants. There seems to be a growing sense of helplessness among the people caught in the middle.

The dominance of the army in Pakistan’s national affairs, since almost independence, has had the effect of narrowing the country’s national perspective. As Ahmed Rashid wrote in The New York Review of Books last year: “The army has always defined Pakistan’s national security goals. Currently, it has two strategic interests: first, it seeks to ensure that a balance of terror and power is maintained with respect to India, and the jihadis are seen as part of this strategy.” Rashid goes on: “ Second, the army supports the Afghan Taliban as a hedge against US withdrawal from Afghanistan and also against Indian influence in Kabul, which has grown considerably.”

Indeed, a perceived threat from India has been a constant, which has had the effect of elevating the army’s role in national affairs, and distorting and skewing the country’s national priorities. National security thus came to be seen largely as a function of the army and its weaponry. But a country’s national security is much more than just military hardware. For a country to feel secure and confident, it needs a secure economic base with a blueprint for the future.

This has been sorely lacking, thus making Pakistan subordinate to the strategic objectives of external powers, principally the US. Since the 1950s, it has been tied up, willingly or unwillingly, with the US strategy in our part of the world, first, against the Soviet Union and now as part of the US war against the Taliban and terrorism.

But it is important to note that, by and large, Pakistan joined the Western alliance system for its own strategic reasons: to secure political, military and economic assistance from the US to strengthen its position against a perceived security threat from India. But it did not quite work like that. It never does in a dependency situation. In the bargain, though, it compromised its sovereignty to the policy dictates of the US. This dependence on the US also distorted its internal polity. The often-heard cliché that there are three dominant elements in Pakistan’s polity: Allah (religion), Army and America (its order varying according to the prevailing situation) might be an over-simplification. But, like all clichés, this too has some truth to it.

For instance, the execution of Prime Minister Bhutto in 1979, most likely, would have created a strong reaction from the US. But General Ziaul Haq was on his way to become an important US ally in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. And, in some fundamental ways, Pakistan’s polity took a turn toward an extreme version of Islam, which is haunting the country to this day.

There is a need for a complete rethink of Pakistan’s national ethos, with more emphasis on the needs of people rather than the self-aggrandisement of its leaders. If people can be galvanised into a national movement to redefine the country’s charter, Pakistan will be a reckonable country. It will also channel people’s energies into a constructive enterprise, as against the mayhem being inflicted by the extremists and militants.

It is a tall order. But without a new beginning, Pakistan is likely to keep going in circles until it has no way to reclaim its national identity.

The writer is a senior journalist and academic based in Sydney, Australia

Iran Joins Hands With Egypt To Confront Israeli Nukes At UN

Iran, Egypt ready for battle at U.N. nuclear meeting

Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters)- Iran and Egypt are gearing up for battle against the United States and its allies over Israel and developing countries’ rights to atomic technology at a major meeting on the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to attend the conference, which opens on Monday and runs until May 28. He will be facing off with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who heads the U.S. delegation at the meeting at U.N. headquarters.

Diplomats expect Ahmadinejad to take a defiant stand against the United States and its Western allies, accusing them of trying to deprive developing states of nuclear technology while turning a blind eye toward Israel’s nuclear capability.

The 189 signatories of the landmark 1970 arms control treaty — which is intended to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and calls on those with atomic warheads to abandon them — gather every five years to assess compliance with the pact and progress made toward achieving its goals.

The last NPT review conference in 2005 was widely considered a disaster. After weeks of procedural bickering led by the former U.S. administration, Egypt and Iran, the meeting ended with no agreement on a final declaration.

Analysts and U.N. diplomats hope things will be different this time and that the conference can breathe new life into a treaty that has failed to prevent North Korea from building a nuclear bomb or force Iran to stop uranium enrichment. A Pakistani-led illicit nuclear supply network and slow progress on disarmament have also highlighted the NPT’s weaknesses.

Israel is presumed to have a nuclear arsenal but neither confirms nor denies having one. Like India and Pakistan, it has not signed the NPT and will not participate in the conference.

Ahmadinejad is the highest-ranking official attending the conference. He will travel to New York [ID:nN28144835] as diplomats from the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany are meeting nearly every day in Manhattan to hammer out a draft resolution imposing a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program.

Diplomats say the six are far from agreement as Russia and China push to dilute a U.S-drafted sanctions proposal.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SUCCESS

“A successful conference would add legitimacy to the treaty at a time when its effectiveness is in doubt because of Iran’s and North Korea’s nuclear programs,” David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security, said in testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs.

North Korea withdrew from the treaty in 2003 and tested nuclear devices in 2006 and 2009. Western powers have called for stiffer penalties for nations that withdraw from the pact, making tougher U.N. inspections mandatory, and other steps that would make it difficult for states to develop atomic weapons.

Western envoys say a successful meeting would yield a declaration that hits all three NPT pillars — disarmament, non-proliferation, and peaceful use of nuclear energy.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said the United States and other governments “understand the crucial importance of this conference … and indeed the risk to the viability of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Regime if this conference, following 2005, does not make progress” in all three areas.

Western diplomats said U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration, unlike that of his predecessor George W. Bush, was trying to promote a unanimous agreement at the conference.

This time, diplomats said, it was France that was actively opposing a proposed reaffirmation of disarmament pledges made at an NPT conference in 2000 — despite public statements from Paris that it is committed to disarming.

In 2005, the Bush administration repudiated those pledges that it and the other countries allowed to keep nuclear arms under the NPT — Britain, China, France and Russia — had made in 2000, enraging the 118-nation bloc of non-aligned nations.

Rice said Obama’s April 2009 speech in which he called for a world without nuclear weapons and a new U.S.-Russian arms reduction deal showed “how committed the United States is to the non-proliferation regime and to disarmament.”

Speaking to reporters this week, Egypt’s U.N. Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz praised Obama’s new disarmament moves but said developing nations wanted more. He also said it was important not to focus exclusively on the nuclear threat posed by Iran.

“Success in dealing with Iran will depend to a large extent on how successfully we deal with the establishment of a nuclear-free zone” in the Middle East, Abdelaziz said.

“We refuse the existence of any nuclear weapons … whether it is in Iran or whether it is in Israel,” he said.

Egypt has submitted a working paper to the review conference demanding an international meeting with Israel’s participation that would begin work on a treaty to establish a nuclear-arms-freeze zone in the Middle East.

Diplomats told Reuters that the United States, Russia and the other three permanent U.N. Security Council members were open to the idea and hope to strike a compromise with Cairo.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)