Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Plot to Attack European Cities Uncovered
How many of you have read about this? How many of you realize what this means? ~ Ruby *o*
Al-Qaeda plot to attack European cities uncovered
Play Video AP – Terror plot against Britain, France intercepted
Play Video Video:Terror Level Raised Over Threats ABC News
Play Video Pakistan Video:NATO Gets More Aggressive FOX News
Play Video Pakistan Video:Drones Target Suspected Terror Plot FOX News
AFP/File – A French Army soldier is on patrol as part of France's national security alert system Vigipirate …
by Alice Ritchie Alice Ritchie – 42 mins ago
LONDON (AFP) – Western intelligence agencies have uncovered an Al-Qaeda plot to launch attacks in Britain, France and Germany by Pakistan-based extremists, security sources and media reports said Wednesday.
"The threat is very real," a security official based in Europe told AFP, after British and US media reported that militants were planning simultaneous strikes in London and in cities in France and Germany.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that France and Britain had been targeted, explaining that orders had been given at the highest level of Al-Qaeda to punish Europe, and France in particular.
The BBC and Sky News said commando-style teams of militants planned to seize Western hostages and murder them in a manner similar to the attacks in Mumbai two years ago, but the source could not confirm this.
The official said a bomb was a more likely threat than a rampage such as that seen in the Indian city, where 10 gunmen killed 166 people and injured more than 300 in three luxury hotels, a railway station and restaurants.
US intelligence services learned of the threat through various sources, including the questioning of suspects from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, which was then confirmed by other countries, the European official added.
US broadcasters ABC and CNN earlier reported that the source of the intelligence was a German suspect detained in Afghanistan.
In Washington, a US official told AFP the threat "was credible" but it was not clear when or where it meant to be launched -- and it could take place outside France, Britain and Germany.
ABC reported that the United States was also a possible target and said President Barack Obama had been briefed.
"The threat is, at this point, credible but not specific," said the US official, who asked to remain anonymous.
The official added: "And while no one should dismiss the prospect of a Mumbai-style operation, it's entirely conceivable that other modes of attack are in play."
The BBC described the threat as "one of the most serious Al-Qaeda attack plans in recent years" and said it was inspired by the terror group's fugitive leadership in Pakistan's tribal areas.
Sky News and the Wall Street Journal said a recent surge in US drone attacks in Pakistan's border areas was aimed at eliminating the plot's leaders, and had killed some of them.
Pakistan, however, rejected the notion of a plot on its soil.
"We don't have any credible information from sources that any such planning is taking place or terrorists are planning anything in North Waziristan," military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.
Britain's Home Office refused to comment on the reports of a plot, but a spokeswoman said: "We know we face a real and serious threat from terrorism."
She told AFP there was "no change at all" to the national threat level, which since January has been at "severe", the second highest of five levels, meaning a terror attack is highly likely.
The German government meanwhile said it was aware of Al-Qaeda's "long-term" aim to attack Western targets, but it had not changed its security assessment.
"At the moment there are no concrete indications of any imminent attacks on Germany resulting from this," an interior ministry statement said.
France has been on a heightened state of alert amid warnings of an imminent attack, but a source with links to the intelligence service said these warnings were not linked to the newly reported plot.
French officials also said Wednesday they had no new information on a specific threat, although government sources last week said US intelligence had warned of jihadi cells moving back to Europe from Pakistan.
Al-Qaeda plot to attack European cities uncovered
Play Video AP – Terror plot against Britain, France intercepted
Play Video Video:Terror Level Raised Over Threats ABC News
Play Video Pakistan Video:NATO Gets More Aggressive FOX News
Play Video Pakistan Video:Drones Target Suspected Terror Plot FOX News
AFP/File – A French Army soldier is on patrol as part of France's national security alert system Vigipirate …
by Alice Ritchie Alice Ritchie – 42 mins ago
LONDON (AFP) – Western intelligence agencies have uncovered an Al-Qaeda plot to launch attacks in Britain, France and Germany by Pakistan-based extremists, security sources and media reports said Wednesday.
"The threat is very real," a security official based in Europe told AFP, after British and US media reported that militants were planning simultaneous strikes in London and in cities in France and Germany.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that France and Britain had been targeted, explaining that orders had been given at the highest level of Al-Qaeda to punish Europe, and France in particular.
The BBC and Sky News said commando-style teams of militants planned to seize Western hostages and murder them in a manner similar to the attacks in Mumbai two years ago, but the source could not confirm this.
The official said a bomb was a more likely threat than a rampage such as that seen in the Indian city, where 10 gunmen killed 166 people and injured more than 300 in three luxury hotels, a railway station and restaurants.
US intelligence services learned of the threat through various sources, including the questioning of suspects from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, which was then confirmed by other countries, the European official added.
US broadcasters ABC and CNN earlier reported that the source of the intelligence was a German suspect detained in Afghanistan.
In Washington, a US official told AFP the threat "was credible" but it was not clear when or where it meant to be launched -- and it could take place outside France, Britain and Germany.
ABC reported that the United States was also a possible target and said President Barack Obama had been briefed.
"The threat is, at this point, credible but not specific," said the US official, who asked to remain anonymous.
The official added: "And while no one should dismiss the prospect of a Mumbai-style operation, it's entirely conceivable that other modes of attack are in play."
The BBC described the threat as "one of the most serious Al-Qaeda attack plans in recent years" and said it was inspired by the terror group's fugitive leadership in Pakistan's tribal areas.
Sky News and the Wall Street Journal said a recent surge in US drone attacks in Pakistan's border areas was aimed at eliminating the plot's leaders, and had killed some of them.
Pakistan, however, rejected the notion of a plot on its soil.
"We don't have any credible information from sources that any such planning is taking place or terrorists are planning anything in North Waziristan," military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.
Britain's Home Office refused to comment on the reports of a plot, but a spokeswoman said: "We know we face a real and serious threat from terrorism."
She told AFP there was "no change at all" to the national threat level, which since January has been at "severe", the second highest of five levels, meaning a terror attack is highly likely.
The German government meanwhile said it was aware of Al-Qaeda's "long-term" aim to attack Western targets, but it had not changed its security assessment.
"At the moment there are no concrete indications of any imminent attacks on Germany resulting from this," an interior ministry statement said.
France has been on a heightened state of alert amid warnings of an imminent attack, but a source with links to the intelligence service said these warnings were not linked to the newly reported plot.
French officials also said Wednesday they had no new information on a specific threat, although government sources last week said US intelligence had warned of jihadi cells moving back to Europe from Pakistan.
Comments: = Anonymous said...
How long has this Jihad Cancer been around, that all of a sudden, the world is taken in surprise by their fanatical intent to take over and violently rule in the name of Radical Dark Ages Islam. My family and I are/were Muslims. This is why I write as ANON. We are terrified of what is going on while the naive world just watches. This Jihad Cancer spreads faster than anyone can even imagine.
How long has this Jihad Cancer been around, that all of a sudden, the world is taken in surprise by their fanatical intent to take over and violently rule in the name of Radical Dark Ages Islam. My family and I are/were Muslims. This is why I write as ANON. We are terrified of what is going on while the naive world just watches. This Jihad Cancer spreads faster than anyone can even imagine.
ANON and Family In Undisclosed Countries
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Repost of = Sacrifice Continues With New Names
Norma’s Ark = www.normasark.blogspot.com/
Friday, September 07, 2007
Sacrifice Continues With New Names
A reader asked me to reprint this blog because she lost lost her son in Afghanistan. In her words,
"He was sacrificed by a corrupted and very stupid government. They keep picking wars we cannot win and our children die for nothing!"
How do you feel about Americans fighting in Afghanistan? I will reserve my own feelings and wait to hear from you all. ~ Ruby *o*
Ruby wrote: = Only 15 with two children. How sad to see the triple sacrifice. She is amazingly well-preserved. Today we still do sacrifice and call it.... "warfare, genocide, and other words." Commentary by Dr. InaNorma Yanez
AP - Thu Sep 6, 11:10 AM ETThe mummy 'La Doncella' or 'The Maiden' is seen on display at the High Mountain Archeological Museum (MAAM) in Salta, Argentina, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007. 'The Maiden,' who is on display for the first time since her discovery in 1999, was approximately 15-years-old when she and her two children died as human sacrifices to Gods by the Incas more than 500 years ago on the top of the Llullaillaco volcano. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
COMMENT: = We lost our son in Iraq. Another one of America's idiotic wars. If anything, America's invasion of Iraq screwed up the balance of power in The Middle East. We are so sorry to hear of the woman's loss of her son in Afghanistan. The government uses the excuse that if we do not fight terrorists there it will come here. This is preposterous. It already is coming here. When was the last time America fought a war and won? Is anyone old enough to remember WW 2? Bereaved family in America, and without a job to boot. ANON
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Fidel Latest To Say Communism Doesn't Work
Wouldn't it be nice to see Fidel Castro have a heart to heart with President Obama on this very subject?
Do you believe Obama would listen and take Fidel Castro's sage economic advice? ~ Ruby *o*
By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writer Paul Haven, Associated Press Writer – Thu Sep 9, 6:49 am ET
HAVANA – Cuba's communist economic model has come in for criticism from an unlikely source: Fidel Castro.
The revolutionary leader told a visiting American journalist and a U.S.-Cuba policy expert that the island's state-dominated system is in need of change, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has taken pains to steer clear of local issues since illness forced him to step down as president four years ago.
The fact that things are not working efficiently on this cash-strapped Caribbean island is hardly news. Fidel's brother Raul, the country's president, has said the same thing repeatedly. But the blunt assessment by the father of Cuba's 1959 revolution is sure to raise eyebrows.
Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine, asked Castro if Cuba's economic system was still worth exporting to other countries, and Castro replied: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore," Goldberg wrote Wednesday in a post on his Atlantic blog.
The Cuban government had no immediate comment on Goldberg's account.
Julia Sweig, a Cuba expert at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations who accompanied Goldberg on the trip, confirmed the Cuban leader's comment, which he made at a private lunch last week.
She told The Associated Press she took the remark to be in line with Raul Castro's call for gradual but widespread reform.
"It sounded consistent with the general consensus in the country now, up to and including his brother's position," Sweig said.
In general, she said she found the 84-year-old Castro to be "relaxed, witty, conversational and quite accessible."
"He has a new lease on life, and he is taking advantage of it," Sweig said.
Castro stepped down temporarily in July 2006 due to a serious illness that nearly killed him.
He resigned permanently two years later, but remains head of the Communist Party. After staying almost entirely out of the spotlight for four years, he re-emerged in July and now speaks frequently about international affairs. He has been warning for weeks of the threat of a nuclear war over Iran.
But the ex-president has said very little about Cuba and its politics, perhaps to limit the perception he is stepping on his brother's toes.
Goldberg, who traveled to Cuba at Castro's invitation last week to discuss a recent Atlantic article he wrote about Iran's nuclear program, also reported on Tuesday that Castro questioned his own actions during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, including his recommendation to Soviet leaders that they use nuclear weapons against the United States.
Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba has clung to its communist system.
The state controls well over 90 percent of the economy, paying workers salaries of about $20 a month in return for free health care and education, and nearly free transportation and housing. At least a portion of every citizen's food needs are sold to them through ration books at heavily subsidized prices.
Cuba says much of its suffering is caused by the 48-year-old U.S. trade embargo. The economy has also been slammed by the global economic downturn, a drop in nickel prices and the fallout from three devastating hurricanes that hit in quick succession in 2008. Corruption and inefficiency have exacerbated problems.
As president, Raul Castro has instituted a series of limited economic reforms, and has warned Cubans that they need to start working harder and expecting less from the government. But the president has also made it clear he has no desire to depart from Cuba's socialist system or embrace capitalism.
Fidel Castro's interview with Goldberg is the only one he has given to an American journalist since he left office.
By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writer Paul Haven, Associated Press Writer – Thu Sep 9, 6:49 am ET
HAVANA – Cuba's communist economic model has come in for criticism from an unlikely source: Fidel Castro.
The revolutionary leader told a visiting American journalist and a U.S.-Cuba policy expert that the island's state-dominated system is in need of change, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has taken pains to steer clear of local issues since illness forced him to step down as president four years ago.
The fact that things are not working efficiently on this cash-strapped Caribbean island is hardly news. Fidel's brother Raul, the country's president, has said the same thing repeatedly. But the blunt assessment by the father of Cuba's 1959 revolution is sure to raise eyebrows.
Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine, asked Castro if Cuba's economic system was still worth exporting to other countries, and Castro replied: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore," Goldberg wrote Wednesday in a post on his Atlantic blog.
The Cuban government had no immediate comment on Goldberg's account.
Julia Sweig, a Cuba expert at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations who accompanied Goldberg on the trip, confirmed the Cuban leader's comment, which he made at a private lunch last week.
She told The Associated Press she took the remark to be in line with Raul Castro's call for gradual but widespread reform.
"It sounded consistent with the general consensus in the country now, up to and including his brother's position," Sweig said.
In general, she said she found the 84-year-old Castro to be "relaxed, witty, conversational and quite accessible."
"He has a new lease on life, and he is taking advantage of it," Sweig said.
Castro stepped down temporarily in July 2006 due to a serious illness that nearly killed him.
He resigned permanently two years later, but remains head of the Communist Party. After staying almost entirely out of the spotlight for four years, he re-emerged in July and now speaks frequently about international affairs. He has been warning for weeks of the threat of a nuclear war over Iran.
But the ex-president has said very little about Cuba and its politics, perhaps to limit the perception he is stepping on his brother's toes.
Goldberg, who traveled to Cuba at Castro's invitation last week to discuss a recent Atlantic article he wrote about Iran's nuclear program, also reported on Tuesday that Castro questioned his own actions during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, including his recommendation to Soviet leaders that they use nuclear weapons against the United States.
Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba has clung to its communist system.
The state controls well over 90 percent of the economy, paying workers salaries of about $20 a month in return for free health care and education, and nearly free transportation and housing. At least a portion of every citizen's food needs are sold to them through ration books at heavily subsidized prices.
Cuba says much of its suffering is caused by the 48-year-old U.S. trade embargo. The economy has also been slammed by the global economic downturn, a drop in nickel prices and the fallout from three devastating hurricanes that hit in quick succession in 2008. Corruption and inefficiency have exacerbated problems.
As president, Raul Castro has instituted a series of limited economic reforms, and has warned Cubans that they need to start working harder and expecting less from the government. But the president has also made it clear he has no desire to depart from Cuba's socialist system or embrace capitalism.
Fidel Castro's interview with Goldberg is the only one he has given to an American journalist since he left office.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Castro blasts Ahmadinejad as anti-Semitic
My brother-in-law is in the middle.
Can you believe Castro's last statement? How ironic! Fidel altered and controlled my entire life and destroyed many in my Cuban Family with his bloody, Communist revolution.
Can you believe Castro's last statement? How ironic! Fidel altered and controlled my entire life and destroyed many in my Cuban Family with his bloody, Communist revolution.
Poor Ava Gardner. Fidel greatly influenced her life b/c of her passionate involvement with my Cuban brother-in-law, Jesus Yanez Pelletier. I can still vividly remember her with no make-up, absolutely stunning, and sobbing on my shoulder at The Chateau Madrid night club. She ruined my stage gown. Ava moved heaven and earth to smuggle food/vitamins to my family. RIP beautiful and tragic lady. We never forgot your courage. Ruby *o* Hmmmmmm..... This should be a blog.
Report: Castro blasts Ahmadinejad as anti-Semitic
Reuters – A woman walks past graffiti on a wall that reads "Fidel", which refers to former Cuban leader …
Slideshow:Fidel Castro
By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer Will Weissert, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 25 mins ago
HAVANA – Fidel Castro criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for what he called his anti-Semitic attitudes and questioned his own actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 during interviews with an American journalist he summoned to Havana to discuss fears of global nuclear war.
Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic, blogged on the magazine's website Tuesday that he was on vacation last month when the head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington — which Cuba maintains there instead of an embassy — called to say Castro had read his recent article about Israel and Iran and wanted him to come to Cuba.
Goldberg asked Julia Sweig, a Cuba-U.S. policy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, to accompany him, and the pair spent portions of three days talking with Castro.
Cuba's state-controlled media reported Aug. 31 that Goldberg and Sweig met with Castro and attended the dolphin show at Havana's aquarium, but the blog was the first to reveal details of what they discussed.
Goldberg said their first meeting lasted five hours and featured appearances by Castro's wife, Dalia, his son Antonio, and several bodyguards, two of which held his elbow to steady Castro when he moved.
"His body may be frail, but his mind is acute, his energy level is high," wrote Goldberg, who also noted Castro's self-deprecating humor.
The 84-year-old ex-president wore full military fatigues and an olive-green cap while addressing university students last week, and had previously appeared in public in a military shirt. But Goldberg saw Castro in a red shirt, sweat pants, and black New Balance sneakers.
He said Castro, who himself has been a fierce critic of Israel, "repeatedly returned to his excoriation of anti-Semitism," chiding Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust. Castro said that Iran could further the cause of peace by "acknowledging the 'unique' history of anti-Semitism and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence."
The gray-bearded revolutionary related to Goldberg a story from his childhood that has been detailed by some biographers: that he overheard classmates saying Jews killed Jesus Christ.
"I didn't know what a Jew was. I knew of a bird that was a called a 'Jew,' and so for me the Jews were those birds," Goldberg quoted Castro as telling him. Castro later added, "This is how ignorant the entire population was."
According to Goldberg, Castro said, "I don't think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews. I would say much more than the Muslims."
Castro also said that the Iranian government should understand that the Jews "were expelled from their land, persecuted and mistreated all over the world, as the ones who killed God."
After undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006, giving up Cuba's presidency and dropping out of sight for four years, Castro has begun making near-daily public appearances to warn of a nuclear war pitting the U.S. and Israel against Iran and also featuring a Washington-led attack on North Korea.
"This problem is not going to get resolved, because the Iranians are not going to back down in the face of threats," Castro told Goldberg.
Goldberg also said he revisited the Cuban Missile Crisis with Castro, asking if once "it seemed logical for you to recommend that the Soviets bomb the U.S."
"Does what you recommended still seem logical now?"
Castro's answer surprised him: "After I've seen what I've seen, and knowing what I know now, it wasn't worth it all."
Reuters – A woman walks past graffiti on a wall that reads "Fidel", which refers to former Cuban leader …
Slideshow:Fidel Castro
By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer Will Weissert, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 25 mins ago
HAVANA – Fidel Castro criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for what he called his anti-Semitic attitudes and questioned his own actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 during interviews with an American journalist he summoned to Havana to discuss fears of global nuclear war.
Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic, blogged on the magazine's website Tuesday that he was on vacation last month when the head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington — which Cuba maintains there instead of an embassy — called to say Castro had read his recent article about Israel and Iran and wanted him to come to Cuba.
Goldberg asked Julia Sweig, a Cuba-U.S. policy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, to accompany him, and the pair spent portions of three days talking with Castro.
Cuba's state-controlled media reported Aug. 31 that Goldberg and Sweig met with Castro and attended the dolphin show at Havana's aquarium, but the blog was the first to reveal details of what they discussed.
Goldberg said their first meeting lasted five hours and featured appearances by Castro's wife, Dalia, his son Antonio, and several bodyguards, two of which held his elbow to steady Castro when he moved.
"His body may be frail, but his mind is acute, his energy level is high," wrote Goldberg, who also noted Castro's self-deprecating humor.
The 84-year-old ex-president wore full military fatigues and an olive-green cap while addressing university students last week, and had previously appeared in public in a military shirt. But Goldberg saw Castro in a red shirt, sweat pants, and black New Balance sneakers.
He said Castro, who himself has been a fierce critic of Israel, "repeatedly returned to his excoriation of anti-Semitism," chiding Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust. Castro said that Iran could further the cause of peace by "acknowledging the 'unique' history of anti-Semitism and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence."
The gray-bearded revolutionary related to Goldberg a story from his childhood that has been detailed by some biographers: that he overheard classmates saying Jews killed Jesus Christ.
"I didn't know what a Jew was. I knew of a bird that was a called a 'Jew,' and so for me the Jews were those birds," Goldberg quoted Castro as telling him. Castro later added, "This is how ignorant the entire population was."
According to Goldberg, Castro said, "I don't think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews. I would say much more than the Muslims."
Castro also said that the Iranian government should understand that the Jews "were expelled from their land, persecuted and mistreated all over the world, as the ones who killed God."
After undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006, giving up Cuba's presidency and dropping out of sight for four years, Castro has begun making near-daily public appearances to warn of a nuclear war pitting the U.S. and Israel against Iran and also featuring a Washington-led attack on North Korea.
"This problem is not going to get resolved, because the Iranians are not going to back down in the face of threats," Castro told Goldberg.
Goldberg also said he revisited the Cuban Missile Crisis with Castro, asking if once "it seemed logical for you to recommend that the Soviets bomb the U.S."
"Does what you recommended still seem logical now?"
Castro's answer surprised him: "After I've seen what I've seen, and knowing what I know now, it wasn't worth it all."
