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Iran Nuclear Watch: Ali Larijani – Iran if Threatened Will Obtain NUKES
Ali Larijani, Iran ‘s nuclear negotiator, delivers a speech during a news conference at the Iranian Embassy in Beijing January 5, 2007. Chinese President Hu Jintao urged Iran on Friday to ‘respond seriously’ to a U.N. Security Council resolution which imposes sanctions on Tehran’s trade in sensitive nuclear materials and technology.
Haaretz: Iran: If threatened, we may alter opposition to obtaining nukes
Iranian top nuclear envoy Ali Larijani said in a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao Friday that Iran is committed to peaceful use of nuclear technology.
“We oppose obtaining nuclear weapons and we will peacefully use nuclear technology under the framework of the Nonproliferation Treaty,” he said. “But,” he warned, “if we are threatened, the situation may change.”
Larijani also said Iran’s situation is “totally different” from that of North Korea, which conducted its first atomic test Oct. 9. International talks aimed at Pyongyang’s nuclear disarmament have failed.
“North Korea already has nuclear weapons, we are not after nuclear weapons,” Larijani said. “It is not part of our doctrine, political or national doctrine, to go after nuclear weapons.
But, if THREATENED Iran will just have to dust off the ol’ nuclear weapons and NUKE someone.
What a load……but not a surprise, now is it?
In the meantime, President ahmadinehad was bloviating about the rights of the Iranian people to nuke someone – I mean develop peaceful nuclear power.
In Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that sanctions won’t stop Iran from enriching uranium, state-run television reported.
“Iran will stand up to coercion. … All Iranians stand united to defend their nuclear rights,” state-run TV quoted him as saying.
“Enemies have assumed that they can prevent the progress of the Iranian nation through psychological war and issuing resolutions, but they will be defeated,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying on state-run TV.
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Stay tuned……..Previous:
Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad – Iran Soon to “Push The Button†to Produce Nuclear Fuel
Michael Ramirez on Iran United Nations Sanctions
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Vows to Continue Uranium Enrichment
Iran Nuclear Watch: United Nations Security Council Approves Iran Sanctions
Iran Nuclear Watch: United Nations Poised to Pass Sanctions Despite Iran Threat
Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad MOCKS the United States and EU
Iran Nuclear Watch: British Prime Minister Tony Blair Issues Iran Warning
Iran Nuclear Watch: United States Considering Show Of Force Against Iran
Iran Nuclear Watch: A Military Option Redux
John Hinderaker: Mr. President, If I May Be So Bold…
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Expands Uranium Enrichment – AGAIN
The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.
Technorati Tags: Iran, Ahmadinejad AliLarijani
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John Kerry Watch: “Lonely†Photo a Hoax? No – An Off the Record Conversation
Remember this FLAP?
And that others called Senator John Kerry LONELY.
Well, it turns out that the Senator is NOT lonely and for that Flap apologizes to the Senator.
However, for the “BOTCHED JOKE” Kerry continues to be a self-righteous JERK.
Captain’s Quarters
Previous:Day By Day by Chris Muir December 31, 2006
John Kerry Watch: Ted Kennedy Drops Kerry Presidential Support
John Kerry Watch: The “Republican Attack Machine†Is Out to Get Me!
John Kerry Watch: Schumer Kicks Kerry Out of Leadership Walk Photo Op
John Kerry Watch: “We Support Those Not As Smart as John Kerryâ€
John Kerry Watch: I’m Sorry But…….
John Kerry Watch: Kerry Makes Direct Apology to Troops
John Kerry Watch: Kerry Apologizes for “Botched Jokeâ€
Michael Ramirez on John Kerry – Educate Yourselves or You’ll Get Stuck in Iraq
John Kerry Watch: Kerry WARNS Students – Educate Yourselves or You’ll Get Stuck in Iraq
Technorati Tags: JohnKerry
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Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Recruits Two Veteran GOP Communicators
Matt David (left) and Katie Levinson are top communications staffers on the governor’s campaign. Eric Luse photo courtesy of San Francisco Chronicle
National Journal: Giuliani Staffs A Communications Office
Ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani has recruited two veteran GOP communicators to set up the press shop for his presidential exploratory committee.
Katie Levinson, a former White House aide who was most recently the comm. dir for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election, will be a senior adviser. She’ll be tasked with setting up the campaign’s communications operations. She’ll map out the campaign’s press plan and help hire spokespersons and researchers.
Anthony Carbonetti, a top aide to Giuliani, said in a statement that Levinson’s “experience coupled with her political acumen garnered during her political career in the White House and the RNC are great addition to our talented team.” At the White House, Levinson was the chief liaison between senior White House officials and the broadcast media and was in charge of the surrogate booking operation. At the RNC, the budget for her division — Television and Radio operations — exceeded several million dollars.
Also, Maria Comella will be the Giuliani exploratory committee’s director for regional media. She has experience in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Most recently, Comella served as comm. dir for Ex-Rep. Jim Nussle’s IA GOV campaign. In ’04, she was the NH comm. dir for the Bush-Cheney re-election effort. She’s worked for Gov. George Pataki and the Winston Group and even, at her young age, has Capitol Hill experience.
A well-organized communications shop is desperately needed by the Giuliani campaign. Levinson is a seasoned AND successful operative – part of the “WONDER TEAM” of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s California re-election.
Washington Post: Giuliani Fills Out National Staff
Levinson and Comella join former Republican National Committee political director Mike Duhaime in the Giuliani camp. Giuliani is interviewing for a number of other top-level positions, and one informed source familiar with the process suggested more hirings will be announced next week.
The news about Comella and Levinson is the latest sign that Giuliani is more likely than not to run for president in 2008.
Now, Katie, what role will the blogosphere have in the Giuliani campaign? McCain and Romney both will/already have profound blog operations.
In the meantime, another poll for the Mayor.
Linked to Stop The ACLUStay tuned…….
Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (right) attended a 2002 news conference with California GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon.
Cross-Posted to the Giuliani Blog
Previous:
Rudy Giuliani Watch: The Purloined Presidential Campaign Strategy Book
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Bill Simon Building a Network of California Conservative Support
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Michael Barone – Giuliani is a Front-Runner
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Continues to Lead Clinton, Gore
The Rudy Giuliani Files
Technorati Tags: KatieLevinson, AnthonyCarbonetti, MariaComella, RudyGiuliani
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Somalia Watch: Diplomats Call for Urgent Deployment of Peacekeeping Troops in Somalia
Somalia’s President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed (L) and Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer attend a meeting in Nairobi. The international meeting called for urgent funding for a peacekeeping mission in Somalia which the strife-torn African country’s president said was desperately needed.
Reuters: Peace force proposed for Somalia as Qaeda threatens
Western and African diplomats on Friday called for the urgent deployment of peacekeepers in Somalia as al Qaeda’s deputy leader urged defeated Islamists to launch an Iraq-style insurgency against Ethiopian forces there.
The Islamists took control of much of southern Somalia in June but have now been forced into hiding after being routed from their strongholds by Ethiopian military defending Somalia’s interim government in two weeks of full-scale warfare.
They have vowed to fight on, melting into the hills in Somalia’s remote southern tip where Ethiopian and government forces are hunting hundreds of their fighters.
Nairobi has sent troops to seal its frontier, blocking entry to Somali refugees fleeing the conflict. Many fear the Islamists, who fled a last stronghold on New Year’s Day, will mount a holy war against largely Christian Ethiopia.
The Islamists have been routed now it is time for the United Nations or a consortium of western nations to secure the peace or Ethiopia will be forced to route(meaning hunt down and kill) the remaining Islamists nee insurgents.
Somalia’s former army officers stand guard at a building in the capital Mogadishu January 5, 2007. Western and African diplomats called for the urgent deployment of peacekeepers to Somalia as al Qaeda’s deputy leader urged defeated Islamists to launch an Iraq -style insurgency against Ethiopian forces there.
“You must ambush, mine, raid and (carry out) martyrdom campaigns so that you can wipe them out,” Ayman al-Zawahri, deputy to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said in his message.
“As happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, when the world’s strongest power was defeated by the campaigns of the mujahideen, troops going to heaven, so its slaves shall be defeated on the Muslim lands of Somalia,” he said.
Al-Zawahri’s message, posted on a Web site used by militant Islamist groups, is likely to reinforce Washington’s belief that the Somalia Islamic Courts Council is linked to and even run by an al Qaeda cell, a charge the Islamists have denied.
In Nairobi, the International Contact Group on Somalia, which includes the United States, European and African nations, pushed for a fast deployment of foreign peacekeepers approved by the
United Nations before the war.U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said the security vacuum had to be filled, but played down the significance of the al Qaeda tape.
“I think a lot of bold statements were made by extremists in the Courts, that they were going to kill Somalis, that they were going to stand and fight … and they just ran,” she said.
Easy for al-Zawahri to day since he is hiding in some cave in Pakistan. Make no mistake about it, Ethiopia will not fall prey to an Iraq like insurgency that has stymied the United States.
In the meantime, Somali and Ethiopian troops are preparing to launch a major assault on the last stronghold of Islamic movement militiamen.
Somali troops backed by Ethiopians prepared to launch a major assault Friday on the last stronghold of Islamic movement militiamen. U.S. Navy warships were patrolling off the Somali coast to prevent the militiamen from escaping by sea.
The Somali and Ethiopian force captured a southern town near the Kenyan border Thursday evening. Col. Barre “Hirale” Aden Shire, the Somali defense minister, said Islamic militiamen were dug in with their backs to the sea at Ras Kamboni at the southernmost tip of Somalia.
“Today we will launch a massive assault on the Islamic courts militias. We will use infantry troops and fighter jets,” said Shire, who left for the battle zone on Friday. “They have dug huge trenches around Ras Kamboni but have only two options: to drown in the sea or to fight and die.”
Somali government and Ethiopian troops routed the Council of Islamic Courts militia last week, driving them out of the capital and their strongholds in southern Somalia. The Islamic movement had wanted to rule Somalia by the Quran and some of its leaders had been linked to the al-Qaida terrorist movement.
Former Somali soldiers in different rank uniforms listen to the Transitional Federal Government Prime Minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, unseen in Mogadishu, Somalia, Friday, Jan. 5, 2007. Over the past 15 days, troops of Somalia’s transitional government and Ethiopian forces routed the Islamic movement, which had controlled most of southern Somalia. Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi has said he believes major fighting was over. But the Islamic movement has declared it would keep fighting, raising the specter of an Iraq-style guerrilla war.
Update:
Somalia’s Islamists vow to heed al-Qaida
Islamic fighters hiding in Mogadishu since their movement’s main force was driven from the Somali capital say they will heed al-Qaida’s call for guerrilla attacks and suicide bombings against Ethiopian troops whose intervention was key to the Islamists’ defeat.
“I am committed to die for the sake of my religion and the al-Qaida deputy’s speech only encourages me to go ahead with my holy war,” 18-year-old Sahal Abdi told The Associated Press, referring to an audio message posted on the Internet on Friday.
Troops of Somalia’s transitional government, backed by the Ethiopian military, routed the Islamic militia from much of southern Somalia, ending their six months in power. The group had brought a semblance of stability here but terrified residents with a version of Quranic rule that included public executions and floggings of criminals.
Interviews with militants who fought with the Council of Islamic Courts and went underground when most of their comrades fled Mogadishu last week suggest their movement is fractured and cut off from its leaders but still motivated for battle.
And does anyone REALLY think that Ethiopia will allow the Islamic Court folks an opportunity to organize an insurgency?
NO WAY…….
Stay tuned…….
Ethiopian soldiers patrol Somalia’s port city of Kismayu, January 5, 2007.
Previous:
Somalia Watch: Somalia Offers Islamists Amnesty
Somalia Watch: Mogadishu Retaken by Somali Government Troops
Somalia Watch: A Guide to the Latest Front of the War on Terror
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Cox & Forkum: Madame Speaker
Cox & Forkum: Madame Speaker
Today Rep. Nancy Pelosi made history by becoming the first female Speaker of the House. Yesterday…
[S]he alluded to one of the reasons women have been slow to climb the political ladder, saying federal policy has never recognized women’s need for child care. “This Congress is going to be about children,” she said.
In other words, congress is going to be about expanding socialistic entitlements, and children will be used as the rationalization. But apparently “anti-war” leftists have different priorities: Sheehan, Iraq War Protesters Break Up House Democrats’ Press Conference.
Iraq war protesters broke up a press conference by House Democrats on Wednesday with chants to bring American troops home from Iraq.Chanting “de-escalate, investigate, troops home now,” the protesters disrupted a briefing aimed at outlining priority goals when Democrats take over the House and Senate on Thursday.
Cindy Sheehan, an anti-war activist and mother of a soldier who died in Iraq, led the group to Capitol Hill to warn Democrats that party activists expect them to end the war in Iraq and confront the White House on a change in Iraq strategy.
“We didn’t put you in power to work with the people that have been murdering hundreds of thousands of people since they have been in power,” Sheehan said. “We put you in power to be opposition to them finally and we’re the ones who put them in power.”
Indeed, Speaker Nancy Pelosi will have to nurse her small majority in the House of Representatives while the Howard Dean wing of the Democrat Party attempts to drive the agenda leftward.
Cindy Sheehan and Moveon.org anti-war activists will soon grow tired of Hillary’s attempt to win the presidency by cutting them out of the Iraq War debate.
And ……Hillary and Pelosi both know that the Democrats enjoy a very slim and tenuous majority and in two years they will not have George W. Bush to kick around any longer – they might actually have to govern.
Stay tuned……
Technorati Tags: Cox&Forkum, NancyPelosi, HillaryClinton, CindySheehan
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Day By Day by Chris Muir January 5, 2006