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China Hints at Lenient Sentence Against Corrupt Ex-police Chief


CBC News
Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:12 UTC
Wang Lijun
© The Associated Press
Wang Lijun
Trial of Wang Lijun in Chengdu city's intermediate court concludes without verdict

China signalled Tuesday it will be lenient with an ex-police chief enmeshed in a political scandal roiling the country's leadership, saying he co-operated with investigators who brought down a top Chinese politician's wife for the murder of a British businessman.

Wang Lijun's trial in Chengdu city's Intermediate Court concluded Tuesday without a verdict after two half-day sessions that were closed to the foreign media. Afterward, a court spokesman summarized the proceedings for reporters, saying Wang initially covered up the murder of Briton Neil Heywood.

But, the spokesman said, Wang later turned himself in and provided information to investigators that led to a murder conviction against Heywood's business associate Gu Kailai, the wife of Chongqing Communist Party chief Bo Xilai. She received a suspended death sentence.

The proceedings bring Chinese leaders a step closer to resolving the scandal that exposed seamy infighting and buffeted a delicate transfer of power to new leaders expected to take place next month.
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Bomb

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Predicts Israeli Attack on Iran on September 25th-26th

Dominique de Kevelioc de Bailleul
Market Daily News
Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:08 UTC
Israel atacaría por sorpresa
© RT
Speaking with Infowars' Alex Jones, former Assistant Deputy Secretary of State Dr. Steve Pieczenik says Israel plans to attack Iran before the U.S. elections of Nov. 6., and, that an attack on Iran will assuredly kickoff WWIII, according to him.

Moreover, Pieczenik, a man whose career inspired the character Jack Ryan of the Tom Clancy book series, says the 'October Surprise' will not take place in October. Instead, the big surprise will come earlier, in late September.

Dr. Pieczenik says the specific date of the strike on Iran is Sept. 25th or 26th, Yom Kippur - the Jewish holiday, which commences in the year 2012 at sundown on the 25th, and ends at nightfall, the following day.

"It [an Israeli attack on Iran] could be earlier than October, because we have Yom Kippur. And I predicted on your radio show, and I predicted to our national security people, privately, that Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu would start something on Rosh Hashanah," says Pieczenick.

"This [prediction] was over a year ago, and I said it on your radio show. He was as predictable as a clock, and the Israelis will be very predictable, on Yom Kippur," he adds.

Pieczenik says it's clear to him that Israeli prime minister Bibi Netanyahu has already planned to attack Iran and has been desperately trying to enlist the U.S. to back him up. But, with or without U.S. direct help, Pieczenik is certain that Israel will attack Iran.

Comment: We don't usually publish predictions as specific as this one because they have a tendency to be wrong. However, this one is interesting because of Pieczenik's background, as well as his comments on 9-11 and on the killing of the American ambassador in Libya. His biography appears on his website:
Dr. Steve Pieczenik is a critically acclaimed author of psycho-political thrillers and the co-creator of the New York Times best-selling "Tom Clancy's Op-Center" and "Tom Clancy's Net Force" book series. He is also one of the world's most experienced international crisis managers and hostage negotiators. His novels are based on his twenty years experience in resolving international crises for five U.S. administrations.

Dr. Pieczenik received his B.A. from Cornell University,trained in Psychiatry at Harvard and has both an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College and a Ph.D. in International Relations from M.I.T.

He was the first psychiatrist ever to receive a PhD. focusing on international relations, and is the only psychiatrist to ever have served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. He served four presidents as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Bush Sr. and was a Senior Policy Planner under president Reagan. Dr. Pieczenik worked directly with, and reported directly to, Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, Cyrus Vance, George Schultz and James Baker, as well as the respective White Houses. Dr. Pieczenik was drafted into the Vietnam War. He was assigned in the Public Health Services with the rank of Navy Captain (0-6) to run three psychiatric wards at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C., including a ward where serial killers were housed. He was subsequently offered a promotion to Rear Admiral (0-7), which he refused on the grounds that he felt honored enough to serve his country, did not want to take a pension and wished to return to civilian life to follow his passions as a physician, entrepreneur and novelist.

Dr. Pieczenik was the principal International Crisis Manager and Hostage Negotiator under Secretaries Kissinger and Vance. During this time he developed conflict resolution techniques that were instrumental in saving over five hundred hostages in different terrorist episodes, including the Hanafi Moslem Siege in Washington, DC, the TWA Croatian Hijacking, the Aldo Moro Kidnapping, the JRA Hijacking, the PLO Hijacking, and many other incidents involving terrorists such as Idi Amin, Muammar Quaddafi, Carlos, FARC, Abu Nidal and Saddam Hussein. Based on these experiences, Dr. Pieczenik, along with other senior officials at the State Department developed the mandate to create Delta Force and other quick-strike special forces units that could be used in future hostage situations and international crises. Dr. Pieczenik resigned over President Carter's handling of the Iran Hostage siege. He was recruited by Dr. Richard Solomon to the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, CA to develop the strategy and tactics using the principals of psychological warfare to dismantle the Soviet Union without the use of military force.

He was subsequently recruited into the Reagan Policy Planning Staff at the State Department. While at the State Department, Dr. Pieczenik was tasked with creating and implementing regime change in Panama to overthrow General Manuel Noriega. As a result, General Noriega repeatedly accused Dr. Pieczenik in the Panamanian newspaper, La Critica, of being an "assassin" and neutralizing several of Noriega's associates. This is a charge Dr. Pieczenik neither confirms nor denies.

Dr. Pieczenik helped develop negotiation strategies for major U.S.- Soviet arms control summits under the Reagan administration. He was also involved in advising senior officials on important psycho-political dynamics and conflict mediation strategies for President Carter's successful Camp David Peace Conference. In 1991, Dr. Pieczenik was a chief architect of the Cambodian Peace Conference in Paris.

He has worked with Dr. Richard Solomon to develop the theoretical basis for the Chinese Negotiating Behavioral Strategy, a classic in transcultural negotiations.

Dr. Pieczenik continues to volunteer his time and expertise as a consultant to the Department of Defense. He does not accept any remuneration for his services. He felt honored to work for his country that adopted him as a refugee and saved his family from extermination in the Holocaust. He has made it his life-long commitment to work to protect and preserve America's liberties and freedoms, even when it meant going against the president of the United States and the very organizations with which he was working. To this day he still strongly believes in the integrity of the Office of the Presidency and the Republic, both of which must be bereft of corruption, deception, betrayal, collusion and crony capitalism by any and all parties, including financial, political, medical, pharmaceutical and academic special interests. His basic belief is that no one person is indispensable to the viability of State.

Dr. Pieczenik has started several successful companies, employing his methodologies in various industries, including investment banking, publishing, television/film and medicine. He has been directly involved as an Angel Investor with starting twenty-eight companies.


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Handcuffs

Judge rules Police can now enforce Arizona immigration law SB 1070


ABC15.com
Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:49 UTC
Image
© ABC15
A judge has ruled that police in Arizona can immediately start enforcing the most contentious section of the state's immigration law, marking the first time officers can carry out a requirement that officers, while enforcing other laws, question the immigration status of those suspected of being in the country illegally.

The decision on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton is the latest milestone in a two-year legal battle over the requirement. It culminated in a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that upheld the provision on the grounds that it doesn't conflict with federal law.

Opponents who call the requirement the "show me your papers" provision responded to the Supreme Court decision by asking Bolton to block the requirement on different grounds, arguing that it would lead to systematic racial profiling and unreasonably long detentions of Latinos if it's enforced.

Other less controversial parts of the law have been in effect since July 2010, such as minor changes to the state's 2005 immigrant smuggling law and a ban on state and local government agencies from restricting the enforcement of federal immigration law. But those provisions have gotten little, if any, use since they were put into effect.
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Radar

Iran Launches Overhauled Heavy Submarine


Fars News Agency
Tue, 18 Sep 2012 01:47 UTC
Image
© Fars News Agency
The Iranian Navy officially launched a heavy submarine after the subsurface vessel was overhauled by the country's experts.

Tareq 901 submarine was launched in Iran's Southern port city of Bandar Abbas on Tuesday at the order of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution and Commander in Chief Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

In May, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari lauded Iranian experts' success in repairing heavy submarines, saying their outstanding capabilities and mastery of the hi-tech used in naval vessels display the failure of enemy sanctions and pressures.

He said the submarine, called Tareq, is now fully ready to be dispatched to the high seas.

He pointed to the Supreme Leader's recent alarming remarks that enemies are trying to display Iranians as an incapable nation, and said, "Today we show that 'We Can', and that our ability is way beyond the enemy's imaginations."

Last year, the Iranian Navy's Tareq-class submarine, 'Younus', managed to set a new record in sailing the international waters and high seas for 68 days.

Iran's Younus submarine, sailing alongside warships of the 14th fleet of the Iranian Navy, returned home in early June 2011 following an over two-month-long mission in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The deployment of the Iranian submarine in the Red Sea was the first such operation by the country's Navy in far-off waters.
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Boat

Iran's Navy Launches Radar-Evading Missile Destroyer


Fars News Agency
Tue, 18 Sep 2012 02:19 UTC
Image
© Fars News Agency
Iran on Tuesday launched a home-made missile destroyer at the order of the Commander in Chief, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Sahand (IRI Sahand) missile destroyer was officially launched by the Iranian Navy in Iran's Southern port city of Bandar Abbas minutes ago.

Also today, the Iranian navy launched a heave submarine, named Tareq, after the subsurface vessel was overhauled by the country's experts.

In June 2012, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said the country plans to build new vessels and submarines in a bid to further boost its naval capabilities.

"New surface and subsurface vessels will join the Islamic Republic of Iran's Navy fleet in the near future," Sayyari told FNA at the time, adding that the Navy is due to build new vessels.
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Rocket

War Games: U.S. and Japan agree to deploy second missile defense shield


BBC News
Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:52 UTC
The US and Japan have agreed to set up a second missile defence system on Japanese soil in an effort to counter the ballistic missile threat from North Korea, officials say. US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta made the announcement in Tokyo with Japan's defence minister. But the exact location of the system has not yet been determined.

While both sides insist the system is not aimed at China, analysts say the decision is bound to a
Image

Mr Panetta (R) met with Mr Morimoto in Tokyo
nger Beijing. Mr Panetta's trip comes amid fresh tensions between Japan and China over disputed islands known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan, after Japan sealed a deal to buy three of the islands.

Japan and the US have worked on a joint missile defence system over the years. This new system would enable Japanese ships to cover other parts of the region, officials say.

"[It] will enhance the alliance's ability to defend Japan, our forward deployed forces and the US homeland from a ballistic missile threat posed by North Korea," Mr Panetta said.

In April, North Korea conducted a failed long-range rocket launch that it said was an attempt to put a satellite into orbit. Critics said the launch was a disguised test of missile technology, banned under UN resolutions.
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Stormtrooper

Saber-Rattling: U.S. Defense Secretary warns Japan-China territorial spat could lead to war


Inquirer News
Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:48 UTC
Image
© AP/Larry Downing, Pool
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, left, listens to a question from U.S. military personnel stationed at Yokota in Japan Monday, September 17, 2012.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called for diplomatic efforts to resolve a worsening territorial spat between Japan and China on Monday, the day after warning disputes could draw East Asia into war.

Speaking after meetings in Tokyo with senior Japanese figures, Panetta urged "calm and restraint on all sides" in a row over disputed islands that has rapidly escalated in the last week into sometimes violent protests in China.

"Obviously we're concerned by the demonstrations and the conflict over the Senkaku islands," Panetta said, referring to the Japanese-administered archipelago that China claims and calls Diaoyu.

"It is extremely important that diplomatic means on both sides be used to try to constructively resolve these issues," he said, adding a resolution of the dispute has to be based on "clear principles" and international law.

"It's in everybody's interest for Japan and China to maintain good relations and to find a way to avoid further escalation," said Panetta, pounding the podium for emphasis.

Panetta arrived in Tokyo on Sunday evening after days of anti-Japanese protests had rocked cities across China, with diplomatic missions being targeted in some instances.
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Syringe

Cattle Call: U.S. Plans Trial Distribution of Anthrax Vaccine in Early 2013

Diane Barnes
Global Security Newswire via Yahoo News
Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:54 UTC
The United States could move forward early next year with a planned trial initiative to offer anthrax vaccine to select nonmilitary emergency personnel, a senior Homeland Security Department official told lawmakers last week.

The plan, details of which were reported by Global Security Newswire in April, would give participating state and local emergency personnel the option of accepting a course of anthrax vaccination doses from the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile of medical countermeasures. The project would examine the potential to more widely distribute the countermeasure to first responders on a voluntary basis.

The department is putting the "final touches" on preparations for "soliciting groups who would be interested in participating in this pilot project," Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Alexander Garza said on Thursday at a joint hearing convened by two House Homeland Security subcommittees.

Garza said that the department was still fielding questions on the project from state agencies, local offices, and nongovernmental groups. Homeland Security was working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recruit two federal offices and two state offices in the trial initiative, according to earlier reporting.
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Stormtrooper

50 US Troops Deployed in Sana'a, Yemen


Press TV
Mon, 17 Sep 2012 05:39 UTC
The Yemeni government says the United States has deployed 50 Marines in Sana'a to boost security at the US Embassy in response to the recent violent upheavals over an anti-Islam movie.
Image

Yemeni riot police stand guard during a demo at a crossroad leading to the US Embassy in Sana’a.
"We would not accept any foreign forces, but the unit in the US Embassy is an exceptional case," the government said in a statement issued late on Sunday.

The statement added that the Marines will leave the country as soon as the security situation improves.

On Friday, the Pentagon announced that it had sent Marines to Yemen after demonstrators stormed the US Embassy in Sana'a in protest over an anti-Islam film made in the US.
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Bomb

Propaganda Alert! 9 Foreign Civilians Among 12 Killed in Kabul Bus Bombing

Eltaf Najafizada
Bloomberg Businessweek
Tue, 18 Sep 2012 03:35 UTC
Image
© Agence France-Presse/Getty Images/Massoud Hossaini
Afghanistan investigators inspect the site of a suicide attack in Kabul on September 18, 2012. NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said a bomber struck on the main highway leading to the airport and that there were no military casualties.
A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a minivan near the airport in Afghanistan's capital Kabul today, killing nine foreign civilians and three Afghans, according to police.

The Hizb-e-Islami, a militant group led by warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and allied to the Taliban, carried out the attack in retaliation for an anti-Islam video that has triggered deadly protests across the Muslim world, Zubair Siddiqi, a spokesman for Hizb-e-Islami, said by phone. He said the bombing was carried out by a 22-year-old woman named Fatema.

General Mohammad Zahir, the head of Kabul police's crime investigation department, confirmed in a phone interview that foreigners had been the target of the attack. Those who died worked at the international airport, Associated Press reported, citing Zahir. Ayub Salangi, Kabul's police chief, said the dead may include citizens of South Africa, France and Russia.

Militants have threatened to step up their attacks in Afghanistan after the movie that ridicules the Prophet Muhammad was posted to the Internet. Hizb-e-Islami's fighters are mainly based in Afghanistan's northeast. Its chief, Hekmatyar, is a former Afghan prime minister and Mujahideen leader during the country's civil wars of the 1990s when he helped end the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan with support from Pakistan.
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