Jun
16
Dutch soldiers in Afghanistan have accidentally fired red phosphorus grenades at their comrades. A night patrol had asked for flares to illuminate their surroundings but instead received phosphorus grenades which create a smokescreen.
Correspondent David Poort witnessed the incident:
We left the Combat Outpost (COP), a small advanced base in the Dorafshan Valley north of Karin Towt, at dusk. With night-vision binoculars at the ready, I joined a platoon of Dutch soldiers for a night patrol to one of the nearby villages. The patrol is intended to make clear to the locals that ISAF now also maintains a nighttime presence in the area.
Night patrol in Dorafshan, Uruzgan
During a short tour of the village, the soldiers explained to the local residents that flares would be fired from the base that night. “Many Afghans have seen them before”, one of the soldiers said. “They used to identify them with the bombs which came after. That is not our intention in this case.” Read more
May
11
Pope Benedict XVI begins the second and most difficult leg of his visit to the Middle East today. His appearance in the Holy Land will require a diplomatic high-wire act. “I come as a pilgrim of peace”, the Pope said before departing for the area.
After visiting Jordan, Pope Benedict XVI flies to Tel Aviv on Monday where he will be met by Israeli President Shimon Peres. The Pope’s busy schedule includes a visit to Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Old City of Jerusalem and the Holocaust museum Yad Vashem.
By visiting Israel and the Palestinian areas, the Pope is entering a religious and political minefield. Between his controversial remarks on Islam and his reinstatement of Holocaust denier Richard Williamson, the Pope will have to put his best foot forward if he wants to end his visit successfully. Read more
Apr
23
Torture in the UAE
Filed Under Dubai, UAE | Leave a Comment
Abu Dhabi – The royal family of the United Arab Emirates has been seriously embarrassed by a gruesome film which has appeared on the Internet. The video shows a man being brutally tortured by a brother of the country’s crown prince. While the video is the talk of the town amongst the expatriates living in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the media in the UAE have been reluctant to report on the incident.
The shocking scenes were filmed at a farm just outside the capital Abu Dhabi in November 2004. They show Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, one of the 22 sheikhs in the UAE’s royal family, torturing an Afghani man. Read more
Apr
12
What men!
Filed Under Pakistan, Taliban | Leave a Comment
By Shahab Jafry
Three cheers! Here’s to the fabled bravery of the god-fearing mountain folk that inhibit the long held artificial line separating Pakistan from Afghanistan – the people who turned back Alexander, halted the British colonial rampage, bled the Soviet empire, have NATO wrong-footed and are the unending envy of the international media since 9/11. Of late, as the frenzied petrodollar indoctrination began bearing fruit, they’ve emerged mutated, with not only their faith and passion somewhat changed, but also their intended targets.
Thoroughly dedicating themselves to god’s word and work, they first exhibited the shift in Afghanistan. After bringing up a generation on scripture in an alien language – which they’d bother learning but the time was obviously better spent in action – they took out NGOs, bakeries, churches, doctors, nuns, teachers and every one thing that didn’t mirror themselves. For sure the thousands that honored the compulsory ‘or else’ showing at Taliban’s national day parades in Kabul were thinking, “What bravery, what piety”!
Then when Islamabad dumped the men of god as the “with us or without us” superpower fury came raging, it was only natural for years of chained-recitation teaching to smell treachery, against god and his special chosen men, demanding blood in turn. So the self-styled soldier clerics chanted verses, loaded Kalashnikovs, strapped on bomb-belts and sought martyrdom – small price for annihilating a social setup with men that were evil, women that would bear evil and children that would grow up to be evil, and of course embracing virgins waiting in the heavens. What bravery, what piety! Read more
Apr
2
Where is the Ministry of Silly Walks?
Filed Under Netanyahu | Leave a Comment
A bigger table is needed to seat all 30 ministers, and six deputy ministers of Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government, the largest in Israeli history. This absurd formula is created to appease Netanyahu’s coalition partners. He even had to split the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Science into two ministries to get everyone on board.
Netanyahu also created a new ministry for himself. Apart from being prime minister he will also function as minister of Financial Strategy, while Mr. Yuval Steinitz gets the (separate!) Finance ministry. The one thing missing is a Ministry of Silly Walks.
Below a complete list of ‘who-is-who’ in the new Israeli coalition government. Read more