Category Archives: International

International, U.S.

Afghan pilot kills U.S. troops, financial troubles might be the cause

“Suddenly, in the middle of the meeting, shooting started. After the shooting started, we saw a number of Afghan army officers and soldiers running out of the building. Some were even throwing themselves out of the windows to get away.”-Colonel Bahader, Afghan Air Corps spokesman

An Afghan pilot shot and killed eight U.S. troops and one U.S. contractor.   Witnesses say the shooting happened after an argument between the pilot and the troops.  The pilot was also killed. Five Afghan soldiers were wounded.

The pilot was a 20 year veteran of the Afghan government forces, and part of a unit that undergoes strict screening for loyalty.  So far no word on what the argument was about.  The brother of the pilot thinks the shooting was a result of stress aggravated by financial problems: “He was 48 years old. He served his country for years. He loved his people and his country. He had no link with Taliban or al-Qaeda. He was under economic pressures and recently he sold his house. He was going through a very difficult period of time in his life.”-Dr. Mohammad Hassan Sahibi, brother of the shooter

 

International, Opinion

Hamas and Fatah to form new Palestinian government, Israel already making threats

In a surprise announcement, officials from West Bank’s Fatah, and Gaza’s Hamas, say they will reconcile and form a new Palestinian government.

Recently Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, of Fatah, lost support after Arab media reports showed that his administration actually worked for Israel.

More recent Arab reports showed that, along with Israel and the United States, the Egyptian government under Hosni Mubarak worked to keep Hamas and Fatah at each others throats.

Now that Mubarak is gone, and because Palestinians have been demonstrating against Fatah, it looks like there could be a unified Palestinian government.

An agreement was signed back in October 2009, but Hamas had concerns, and then Abbas of Fatah (headquartered in West Bank) withheld foreign aid money for Gaza.  It’s being reported that Abbas says he will finally release the foreign aid money for Gaza.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is threatening the alliance of Hamas and Fatah, saying: “You can’t have peace with both Israel and Hamas. Choose peace with Israel.”

Netanyahu’s threats will fall on deaf ears, because in the past few weeks Israeli troops have been terrorizing West Bank Palestinians, after a Jewish settler family was found stabbed to death. The amazing thing is that the Israelis have no proof of who did the murders, they just automatically assumed it was the West Bank Palestinians.  Why?  Because the Israelis admit the land the settlers were on was stolen from local Palestinians and they think the murders were retribution.  Aren’t the Israelis wonderful,  steal your land, then accuse you of murder without any proof, round up hundreds of men and women, torture them, take blood samples for DNA data banks, then use the whole incident to justify taking more of your land!

Hamas is expecting more action from Fatah, such as a release of hundreds of Hamas prisoners locked up in the West Bank, re-opening closed Hamas charities, and the removal of a ban on Hamas activities in the West Bank.

Considering the damaging reports of Fatah’s complicity with Israeli policies, and to save face with the Palestinian people, and the fact that the Israelis are storming all over Fatah controlled West Bank, Fatah will have to give into Hamas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International

Japanese volcano evacuation warnings

A volcano that erupted in January this year, is causing more problems for the people of Miyakonojo, Japan.

The southern island of Kyushu is home to some powerful volcanoes.  In January, 2011, the Shinmoedake volcano threw ash more than 3,000 meters high, covering the Kyushu prefectures.  Now there is another warning.

People in the city of Miyakonojo are being told to prepare to evacuate, due to possible mudslides.  This is not the first time.  Ever since the volcano started spewing ash, heavy rains have created a muddy mess, resulting in periodic evacuations.

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Warning for PlayStation users, 77 million accounts hacked

Sony is warning PlayStation users to monitor their credit card accounts, after a hacker got into 77 million accounts.  Sony says it ”cannot rule out the possibility” that credit card data was hacked.

The incident also includes the music and video service Qriocity.  This could be the worst case of information leaks in Sony’s history.  Sony wants all users of PlayStation and Qriocity to change their passwords and user IDs.

 

 

 

International, Opinion

Europe calling refugees “migrants”, proof that war in Libya not about protecting people

According to international law a refugee is a person who’s been forced to leave their home, due to war or other violence in their home country.  They are supposed to be given certain protections under international law.

The Europeans, along with the United States, were so keen on escalating the violence in North Africa (Libya), yet they don’t want to deal with the flood of refugees that are a natural result of war!  Instead the Europeans are calling the people fleeing the war, “migrants”.  In this way the Europeans don’t have the same legal requirements as they would if they called them refugees.

In fact, the Europeans are scrambling to figure out how to get rid of these refugee/migrants. The Europeans are even going so far as to dismantle one of the corner stones of the European Union, free travel across borders.  The EU is now considering adopting a law that would allow them to close their borders.

How hypocritical is this?  The “Western world” launches a war against North African countries, in the name of supporting freedom and democracy, and then they refuse to help any of the people fleeing the violence!

For those people out their who think the military action of U.S. led NATO is still about “protecting civilians”, please explain why refugees, ooops, I mean migrants are being treated like sh*t by the Europeans.