http://forums.immigration.com/ en Sun, 19 May 2013 19:13:38 GMT vBulletin 1 http://forums.immigration.com/images/misc/rss.png http://forums.immigration.com/ http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?557489-Pakistan-poised-for-crucial-election&goto=newpost Sat, 11 May 2013 01:14:38 GMT Pakistan poised for crucial election

Millions of Pakistanis are preparing to cast their votes in national and provincial elections on Saturday.

The vote will mark Pakistan's first transition from one civilian government to another in its 66-year history.

However, the run-up to the election has been marred by violence in which more than 100 people have been killed.

Tens of thousands of troops will be deployed at polling stations after the Pakistani Taliban threatened to carry out suicide attacks.

The Taliban on Friday warned voters to boycott polling stations in order to avoid attacks on the offices of political parties.

The militants have been blamed for numerous attacks throughout the campaign on Pakistan's three most prominent liberal parties.

The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) along with the Karachi-based Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP) have been singled out for attacks by the Taliban.

As a result, the parties have been forced to curtail their election campaigning.

In contrast the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of Nawaz Sharif and the Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) party of Imran Khan have been able to campaign without being specifically targeted by militants.

Election officials say electoral rolls have been refreshed and a text messaging service will provide voting information to individuals in a bid to clamp down on corruption.

In previous elections there have been accusations that candidates and some state institutions rigged the vote by setting up ghost polling stations and creating millions of fake voters on the electoral rolls.

However, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Friday expressed "acute concern" about the the manner in which the violence has "impaired the fairness of the elections almost beyond repair".

It called on all institutions to "stretch themselves to their absolute limit to ensure security of voters, candidates and polling stations on Saturday so that the people can exercise their right to choose their representatives".

The Taliban threat sparked a major security operation leading up to the vote.

More than 600,000 security and army personnel will be deployed to guard against possible attacks on polling day.

On Thursday, the son of former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was abducted during a rally.

Opinion polls indicate there could be a record turnout, higher than the 44% in the last elections in 2008.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22487805 ]]> Social, Political and Legal Matters grape ape http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?557489-Pakistan-poised-for-crucial-election http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?557129-The-CIA-s-pay-to-play-disasters&goto=newpost Sat, 04 May 2013 00:37:18 GMT The CIA's pay-to-play disasters
By Elias Groll
Posted: May 02, 2013

On Monday, the New York Times revealed that the CIA has been funneling tens of millions of dollars to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The monthly cash payments were meant to buy the mercurial leader's loyalty. But, according to the Times, the Langley-approved gravy train did more to fuel corruption in Afghanistan than anything else - the very corruption the U.S. government has been crusading against.

None of this should be surprising. The CIA has a long history of showering cash on friendly heads of state. The agency got its first taste of what a few good suitcase-toting men could accomplish in 1948. As communists threatened to win elections in Italy, the CIA launched a cash-transfer program that delivered large sums to its favored political party, the Christian Democrats. And it worked. The Christian Democrats cruised to victory. However, when the agency tried to reprise its campaign in Italy in 1970, it played an unwitting role in funding a failed neofascist coup and right-wing terrorism.

It's a pattern - blinding success followed by crushing defeat - that has become all too familiar in the agency's history.

When, in 1953, the CIA overthrew Mohammad Mossadegh in Iran, it was regarded as the agency's finest moment. In one fell swoop, the CIA had stymied Soviet influence in the Middle East and secured a vital portion of global oil supplies. It gave the agency the impression that its freewheeling agents could topple governments on a whim, and that American dollars would keep American interests safe. With the coup safely completed, the CIA delivered $1 million in cash to Fazlollah Zahedi, who took over from Mossadegh as prime minister. Cash in hand, Zahedi promptly proceeded to do away with the opposition. And we all know what happened next, in 1979.

As in Tehran, the CIA found in Saigon that toppling a government was far easier than picking up the pieces afterward. After a CIA-backed coup in 1963 overthrew Ngo Dinh Diem, chaos ensued, with one coup unleashing another amid the turmoil. Eventually, Nguyen Van Thieu consolidated power, and the CIA was quick to get behind him, dispensing $725,000 to the South Vietnamese leader between 1968 and 1969. It was yet another losing investment.

When the CIA has had difficulty fomenting coups, it has relied on a far more precise tool - assassination.

Patrice Lumumba, for instance, posed a problem for the Eisenhower administration, which feared that the Congolese leader would create a Cuba in Africa. Eisenhower ordered Lumumba killed, a mission the CIA successfully supported in 1961 via a promising new protege, Mobutu Sese Seko. With Lumumba out of the way and $250,000 in cash, guns, and ammunition from the CIA, Mobutu took control and initiated a rapacious, murderous three-decade rule. Mobutu - who was put on the CIA payroll - proved a reliable Cold War ally for the United States, but he also laid the groundwork for the chaos and violence that has come to define modern-day Congo.

Perhaps one day the CIA will learn from its mistakes.

Elias Groll wrote this for Foreign Policy magazine.


http://articles.philly.com/2013-05-0...tian-democrats ]]> Social, Political and Legal Matters grape ape http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?557129-The-CIA-s-pay-to-play-disasters http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?557128-US-tightens-student-visa-rules-after-Boston-bombing&goto=newpost Sat, 04 May 2013 00:32:43 GMT US tightens student visa rules after Boston bombing The US is tightening its screening of international students, its first security change in response to the Boston Marathon bombings last month. The move comes after a student from Kazakhstan - who did not have a valid visa - was accused by... US tightens student visa rules after Boston bombing

The US is tightening its screening of international students, its first security change in response to the Boston Marathon bombings last month.

The move comes after a student from Kazakhstan - who did not have a valid visa - was accused by police of hiding evidence for one of the bomb suspects.

The Department of Homeland Security has ordered border agents to automatically check the visa status of every student.

Azamat Tazhayakov had returned to the US despite being dismissed from school.

The 19-year-old appeared in court on Wednesday, accused of helping to throw out a backpack belonging to his friend, Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
No second check

Mr Tazhayakov's student visa had been terminated by the time he arrived in New York on 20 January, following his academic dismissal from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth on 4 January.

The Department of Homeland Security will "effective immediately" verify that every international student visa is valid, according to an internal memo obtained by the Associated Press news agency on Friday.

Under the new procedures, border agents will verify a student's visa status before the person arrives in the US, using information provided in flight manifests.

If that information is unavailable, they will manually check the visa status through a US database.

Beforehand, border agents would only verify a student's status in a database, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, when the person was referred to a second officer for additional inspection or questioning.

Mr Tazhayakov was not sent to a second officer when he arrived, because there was no information to indicate he was a national security threat, said Peter Boogaard, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.

Mr Tazhayakov is not implicated in the planning of the attacks, but he and fellow 19-year-old Kazakh, Dias Kadyrbayev, face up to five years in prison if convicted of obstructing the FBI investigation.

According to police, Mr Tazhayakov and Mr Kadyrbayev removed items from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room at the University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth, three days after the blasts, including a backpack filled with fireworks remains.

Mr Tsarnaev, 19, sustained gunshot wounds during the police manhunt days after the bombings, and remains in a prison hospital. He faces a possible death sentence if convicted.

Three people died and more than 260 were wounded after two explosive devices made from pressure cookers detonated near the Boston Marathon finish line on 15 April.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22409193 ]]> Social, Political and Legal Matters grape ape http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?557128-US-tightens-student-visa-rules-after-Boston-bombing http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?556888-Boston-bomb-suspect-moved-FBI-probe-shifts-focus&goto=newpost Sun, 28 Apr 2013 02:54:45 GMT Boston bomb suspect moved; FBI probe shifts focus By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and EILEEN SULLIVAN Associated Press / April 26, 2013 BOSTON (AP) — Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhohkar Tsarnaev was moved from a hospital to a federal prison medical center while FBI agents shifted the focus of... Boston bomb suspect moved; FBI probe shifts focus
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and EILEEN SULLIVAN
Associated Press / April 26, 2013



BOSTON (AP) — Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhohkar Tsarnaev was moved from a hospital to a federal prison medical center while FBI agents shifted the focus of their investigation to how the deadly plot was pulled off and searched for evidence Friday in a landfill near the college he attended.

Tsarnaev, 19, was taken from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he was recovering from a throat wound and other injuries suffered during an attempt to elude police last week, and he was transferred to the Federal Medical Center Devens, about 40 miles from Boston, the U.S. Marshals Service said. The facility, at a former Army base, treats federal prisoners.

‘‘It’s where he should be; he doesn’t need to be here anymore,’’ said Beth Israel patient Linda Zamansky, who thought his absence could reduce stress on bombing victims who have been recovering at the hospital under tight security.

The FBI’s investigation of the April 15 bombing has turned from identification and apprehension of suspects to piecing together details of the plot, including how long the planning took, how it was carried out and whether anyone else knew or was involved.

A federal law enforcement official not authorized to speak on the record about the investigation told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity on Friday that the FBI was gathering evidence regarding ‘‘everything imaginable.’’

FBI agents picked through a landfill near the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Tsarnaev was a sophomore. FBI spokesman Jim Martin would not say what investigators were looking for.

An aerial photo in Friday’s Boston Globe showed a line of more than 20 investigators, all dressed in white overalls and yellow boots, picking over the garbage with shovels or rakes.

Investigators also have continued to interview people who were close to Tsarnaev, including two young men from Kazakhstan who were students with him at UMass Dartmouth.

Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev were jailed by immigration authorities the day after Tsarnaev’s capture. Kadyrbayev’s lawyer, former federal prosecutor Robert Stahl, said the pair, who had partied with Tsarnaev and other students at an off-campus apartment, had nothing to do with the attack and had no idea their friend harbored any violent thoughts.

‘‘These kids are just as shocked and horrified about what happened as everyone else,’’ Stahl said. He said they are being held for violating their student visas by not regularly attending classes and want to return to Kazakhstan as soon as possible.

U.S. officials, meanwhile, said that the bombing suspects’ mother had been added to a federal terrorism database about 18 months before the deadly attack — a disclosure that deepens the mystery around the Tsarnaev family and marks the first time American authorities have acknowledged that Zubeidat Tsarnaeva was under investigation before the tragedy.

The news is certain to fuel questions about whether President Barack Obama’s administration missed opportunities to thwart the marathon bombing, which killed three people and wounded more than 260.

Tsarnaev is charged with joining with his older brother, now dead, in setting off the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. The brothers are ethnic Chechens from Russia who came to the United States about a decade ago with their parents. Investigators have said it appears that the brothers were angry about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Two government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation, said the CIA had Zubeidat Tsarnaeva’s name added to the terror database along with that of her son Tamerlan Tsarnaev after Russia contacted the agency in 2011 with concerns that the two were religious militants.

About six months earlier, the FBI investigated mother and son, also at Russia’s request, one of the officials said. The FBI found no ties to terrorism. Previously U.S. officials had said only that the FBI investigated Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

In an interview from Russia, Tsarnaeva said Friday that she has never been linked to terrorism.

‘‘It’s all lies and hypocrisy,’’ she said from Dagestan. ‘‘I'm sick and tired of all this nonsense that they make up about me and my children. People know me as a regular person, and I've never been mixed up in any criminal intentions, especially any linked to terrorism.’’

Tsarnaeva faces shoplifting charges in the U.S. over the theft of more than $1,624 worth of women’s clothing from a Lord & Taylor department store in Natick in 2012.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas...vFO/story.html ]]> Social, Political and Legal Matters grape ape http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?556888-Boston-bomb-suspect-moved-FBI-probe-shifts-focus http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?556887-North-Korea-to-put-American-citizen-on-trial&goto=newpost Sun, 28 Apr 2013 02:52:51 GMT North Korea to put American citizen on trial North Korea says it is putting an American citizen on trial for allegedly trying to overthrow its government. Korean-American Kenneth Bae, 44, was detained in the north-east city of Rajin last November whilst leading a tour group there. Tensions... North Korea to put American citizen on trial

North Korea says it is putting an American citizen on trial for allegedly trying to overthrow its government.

Korean-American Kenneth Bae, 44, was detained in the north-east city of Rajin last November whilst leading a tour group there.

Tensions between North Korea and the United States have spiralled in recent weeks.

Pyongyang has been threatening nuclear attack in response to United Nation sanctions and joint South Korean-US military drills.

Analysts say this trial is simply more political theatre.

A number of US citizens of Korean descent have run into trouble in North Korea in the past and Pyongyang used their detention to extract visits by high-profile American figures.

In 2009, former US president Bill Clinton flew to Pyongyang to meet then-leader Kim Jong-il before securing the release of two American media workers who had been charged with entering the country illegally.

International diplomacy expert Ralph Cossa says Pyongyang is likely trying to elicit the same response at a time of heightened tension.

"I don't think anyone believes that they're doing this because they really think he's guilty," he said.

"They're doing this because they want to find a way to probably get another high ranking American [to visit].

"Last time they had a couple of Americans on trial they got Bill Clinton to come and save them.

"Maybe they're holding out for Hillary this time, who knows?"

The North's official news agency says Bae has admitted to the charges, which carry a punishment of five to 10 years' hard labour.

"In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK with hostility toward it," KCNA state media reported.

"His crimes were proved by evidence."
'Political pawn'

There are reports in a South Korean newspaper that Pyongyang may have taken issue with some of Bae's photographs, including pictures of homeless children.

Another newspaper reported he may have been carrying footage of North Korea executing defectors and dissidents.

The White House says it is aware of the situation.

Representatives of the Embassy of Sweden, which acts as the protecting power for US citizens in North Korea, visited Bae on Friday.

Former UN ambassador Bill Richardson hopes the trial might help lead to Bae's release.

"Hopefully the conclusion of the legal process for Kenneth Bae will set the stage for a release on humanitarian grounds," he said.

"He should not become a pawn in the current American-North Korean friction."

Mr Richardson delivered a letter regarding Bae to officials during a trip to North Korea in January, but he was unable to meet with him.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-2...-trial/4655648 ]]> Social, Political and Legal Matters grape ape http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?556887-North-Korea-to-put-American-citizen-on-trial