Iran's BS Continues!!!

Iran ex-president's whispered comment on nuclear talks

A sarcastic comment from one of Iran's senior leaders overheard by observers has fuelled suspicions that Iran is using international talks on its nuclear programme to play for time as its expands its stockpile of nuclear material.

Hashemi Rafsanjani, left, a former president, at the Iranian parliament in Tehran on Sunday  Photo: EPA

By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

5:28PM BST 31 May 2012

Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president, questioned the value of talks with world powers in a whispered comment to his successor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during an address to parliament by Saeed Jalili, the chief negotiator.

The comments were published on a regime sponsored website, Baztab News a week after Iranian diplomats held talks in Baghdad with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany.

The group of major trading states offered assistance to Iran in return for the country suspending critical parts of its nuclear programme.

Mr Rafsanjani turned to Mr Ahmadinejad sitting next to him and asked: "Do you really believe in what you are hearing? Do you think we have achieved anything during these talks?"

Mr Jalili had been repeating Iranian claims to have secured major concessions during the talks.

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Baztab News reported that Mr Ahmadinejad nodded enthusiastically and broke into a laugh.
Mr Rafsanjani, who has a reputation as a dove in favour of Iranian engagement with the West, has emerged as a critic of the talks.
Iranian officials claimed to have been shocked by the world powers failure to offer firm pledges on the suspension or removal of sanctions that have crippled its economy.
"We went to Baghdad with some false expectations but I do not believe we have achieved any substantial progress. We are not still in a position to assess the other party's tactics and must wait until we receive the necessary intelligence to plan our next move," he said.
However Western diplomats claim the Baghdad talks achieved an unprecedented engagement with the Iranians on nuclear issues. On that basis, diplomats said it was worth keeping the talks going.
"We've said that all along, that there's a narrow window that remains open for dialogue, for diplomatic solution, but that window's not going to remain open – to belabour the metaphor – forever," said Mark Toner, the State Department spokesman. "What we did have was a substantive discussion of the nuclear issue, which in and of itself is progress, but we're going to look forward to greater progress in Moscow.

Here we come Syria!!

US raises prospect of intervention in Syria

America has raised the possibility of intervening in Syria without United Nations approval and accused Russia of pushing the country into civil war.

Hillary Clinton said the absence of UN support for action in Syria, due mainly to Russia's opposition, 'makes it harder' to respond to the crisis Photo: AFP/GETTY

By Ruth Sherlock, Beirut and Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent

7:42PM BST 31 May 2012

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, bluntly criticised Russia's continued backing for President Bashar al-Assad's regime yesterday. This support was illustrated last night by the disclosure that a Russian cargo ship carrying weapons had docked in Syria last Saturday, one day after the massacre in Houla which claimed at least 108 civilian lives.

Addressing students in Denmark, Mrs Clinton urged Russia to use its influence on Mr Assad to curb the fighting.

"The Syrians are not going to listen to us. They will listen - maybe - to the Russians, so we have to keep pushing them," she said.

Russian officials, added Mrs Clinton, "are telling me they don't want to see a civil war. I have been telling them their policy is going help to contribute to a civil war." Western governments believe that diplomatic cover afforded by the Kremlin has emboldened Mr Assad and encouraged him to resist pressure to negotiate a settlement of the conflict.

Earlier, Susan Rice, the American ambassador to the UN, said that Russia's veto-wielding membership of the Security Council would not necessarily prevent international action. If the violence worsened and the peace plan proposed by Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general, made no progress, some countries would consider whether to bypass Russian and Chinese opposition in the UN.

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"Members of this Council and members of the international community are (then) left with the option only of having to consider whether they're prepared to take actions outside of the Annan plan and the authority of this Council," said Ms Rice.
Leaders of the Free Syrian Army, the rebel movement, issued a statement giving the regime until Friday (today) to obey the Annan plan, or they would formally abandon a ceasefire.
But Mrs Clinton noted the obstacles to any Western military intervention, starting with the probable Russian and Chinese vetoes that would prevent any action from having UN support. "We're nowhere near putting together any type of coalition other than to alleviate the suffering," she said. "We have very strong opposition from Russia and China - but it's primarily from Russia - and that makes it harder to put together an international coalition."
There are growing fears that Syria risks becoming a "failed state" comparable to Iraq during the worst days of its conflict, when different sects battled for power and militant Islamist groups allied to al-Qaeda also rose to the surface.
Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary general, spelled out the dangers, saying: "The massacre of civilians of the sort seen last weekend could plunge Syria into a catastrophic civil war - a civil war from which the country would never recover."
One day after the killings in Houla, a Russian cargo vessel, the Professor Katsman, landed in the Syrian port of Tartous carrying weapons for the regime. Russian arms sales to Mr Assad totalled about $1 billion last year and outstanding contracts are believed to be worth three or four times that total. The Syrian army relies on Russia for most of its tanks, armoured vehicles and heavy weapons.
The UN has deployed 290 observers in the country to monitor a ceasefire called for by the Annan plan. But Mr Ban added: "Let me state plainly: the UN did not deploy in Syria just to bear witness to the slaughter of innocents. We are not there to play the role of passive observer to unspeakable atrocities." Some countries want more observers to be sent, noting that violence falls wherever they are deployed.
However, there is a real risk of Syria's fighting spreading into neighbouring Lebanon. Hizbollah, the Shia extremist group based in south Lebanon, is believed to have brought weapons into the country from Syria, including medium range missiles. The arrival of these arms in Lebanon will raise tensions between Sunni and Shia, already inflamed by the crisis in Syria.
In London, David Cameron convened a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the situation. Britain will consider pushing for "further sanctions", but the possibility of military action was not on the table.

Report: Muslims Stone Christians During Mass in France – Patriot Update

Report: Muslims Stone Christians During Mass in France – Patriot Update

Naked man killed by Police near MacArthur Causeway was ‘eating’ face off victim - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com

Naked man killed by Police near MacArthur Causeway was ‘eating’ face off victim

 

This surveillance video from a camera on the Miami Herald building shows a police officer shooting the suspect, as well as the aftermath, when many more patrol cars arrived.

• Surveillance video of MacArthur Causeway shooting

• Photos

BY DANIELA GUZMAN AND JULIE K. BROWN

jbrown@MiamiHerald.com

It was a scene as creepy as a Hannibal Lecter movie.
One man was shot to death by Miami police, and another man is fighting for his life after he was attacked, and his face allegedly half eaten, by a naked man on the MacArthur Causeway off ramp Saturday, police said.
The horror began about 2 p.m. when a series of gunshots were heard on the ramp, which is along NE 13th Street, just south of The Miami Herald building.
According to police sources, a road ranger saw a naked man chewing on another man’s face and shouted on his loud speaker for him to back away.Meanwhile, a woman also saw the incident and flagged down a police officer who was in the area.
The officer, who has not been identified, approached and, seeing what was happening, also ordered the naked man to back away. When he continued the assault, the officer shot him, police sources said. The attacker failed to stop after being shot, forcing the officer to continue firing. Witnesses said they heard at least a half dozen shots.
Miami police were on the scene, which was just south of The Miami Herald building on Biscayne Boulevard. The naked man who was killed lay face down on the pedestrian walkway just below the newspaper’s two-story parking garage. Police have requested The Herald’s video surveillance tapes.
The other man was transported to the hospital with critical injuries, according to police. Their identities were not released.
The incident, which came as crowds descended upon South Beach for the annual Urban Beach Week hip-hop festival, snarled traffic on the causeway for several hours.
In a text message, Javier Ortiz, spokesman for Miami police’s Fraternal Order of Police, said the officer who fired the fatal shots was “a hero.”
“Based on the information provided, our Miami police officer is a hero and saved a life,’’ he said.
Sergeant Altarr Williams, supervisor of Miami police’s Homicide Unit, said a man doesn’t have to be armed to be dangerous.
“There are other ways to injure people,’’ Williams said. “Some people know martial arts, others are very strong and can kill you with their hands.’’
Investigators believe the victim may have been homeless and laying down when the crazed man pounced.
Police theorize the attacker might have been suffering from "cocaine psychosis," a drug-induced craze that bakes the body internally and often leads the affected to strip naked to try and cool off.
Miami Herald writers Alexandra Leon and Curtis Morgan contributed to this

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/26/2818832/naked-man-shot-killed-on-macarthur.html#storylink=cpy

WTF?? Thanks Russia! At least we know where the rounds were manufactured when we face them...

Russian arms shipment en route to Syria: report

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Analysis & Opinion

• The arms race for human rights
• Don’t forget Iran’s record of deception

Related Topics

• World »
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• United Nations »
• Syria »

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS | Fri May 25, 2012 6:14pm EDT

(Reuters) - A Russian cargo ship loaded with weapons is en route to Syria and due to arrive at a Syrian port this weekend, Al Arabiya television said in a report that Western diplomats in New York described on Friday as credible.
Syria is one of Russia's top weapons customers. The United States and European Union have suggested the U.N. Security Council should impose an arms embargo and other U.N. sanctions on Syria for its 14-month assault on a pro-democracy opposition determined to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
But Russia, with the support of fellow veto power China, has prevented the council from imposing any U.N. sanctions on Syria and has refused to halt arms sales to Damascus.
"Al Arabiya have learned that a Russian cargo ship carrying a large amount of weapons plans to unload its cargo in the Syrian port of Tartus," the broadcaster said on its website on Thursday.
The report said the ship left a Russian port on May 6 and cited a "Western source" as saying that it will dock at Tartus on Saturday.
"The ship is trying to conceal its final destination in a suspicious way," Al Arabiya said.
Western diplomats and officials said the report was credible.
In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he had seen reports of countries supplying arms to the government and rebels. He urged states not to arm either side in the Syrian conflict.
"Those who may contemplate supporting any side with weapons, military training or other military assistance, must reconsider such options to enable a sustained cessation of violence," he said.
Russia has defended its weapons deliveries to Syria in the face of Western criticism, saying government forces need to defend themselves against rebels receiving arms from abroad. [ID:nL5E8GEE2G] Damascus says Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Libya are among the countries helping the rebels.
ARMS FOR ASSAD
One diplomat told Reuters that the vessel, which is called Professor Katsman, is owned by a Maltese firm, which is owned by a Cypriot company that is owned by Russian firm.
Diplomats said the Russian firm might have been acting on behalf of state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, though that was not clear. What is clear, they said, is that the weapons were intended to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a staunch ally whom Moscow continues to support.
"I don't have any information on this ship, but our policy is not to comment on individual shipments, regarding contents or timing," a spokesman for Rosoboronexport, Vyacheslav Davidenko, said in Moscow.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it did not have information that a ship was headed to Tartus with weapons and declined further comment.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland was asked about the Al Arabiya report at her daily briefing in Washington.
"I had not seen that report," she told reporters. "You know how strongly we feel that no country should be delivering weapons to the Assad regime now."
U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has also urged countries not to supply weapons to either side in the conflict. Annan plans to visit Damascus soon, his spokesman said on Friday.
(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Arshad Mohammed and Mark Hosenball in Washington and Thomas Grove and Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Editing by Vicki Allen and Stacey Joyce)

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