An Unprepared Team A Danger To All

A team by the name of Putera 1Malaysia Club went into Somalia with the idea of conducting humanitarian aid mission in a particular war zone area with the famine crisis being the main concern.

Unfortunately, this team was so unprepared and went in a haste without knowing what they are heading into. Not only that they have risked their own lifes unnecessarily but they had to be protected by the security forces that were already busy with the war. And now, they have to worry for a bunch of innocent / naive people from Malaysia who were trying to claim a name by doing something good.

Things didn't went as planned and maybe the plan wasn't a good plan after all.

I'm so sorry to hear about the demise of our Bernama TV's cameraman, cameraman Noramfaizul Mohd Nor, in Somalia while following this bunch of unprepared team.

You have to read some true facts of what has happened prior to and during the so-called humanitarian aid mission leading to the demise of a Malaysian.

Failure to listen cost a life, an article in Star, depicted that a 7 member reconnaissance team of Malaysians arrived earlier to assess the safety situation for the upcoming humanitarian aid mission. The verdict - "Risky".

Was this "Risky" situation looked into or further planning with proper risk management being factored prior to the arrival of the 48 members of the Putera 1Malaysia Club?

Apparently, out of the 48 members, 40% of them were from the media. 18 of them? An experience army team going into the war zone will not allow so many media members to follow them else it may jeopardise their mission as they have to waste resource to save the media members if caught in a crossfire. It could have been more media members if not for the limited seats in the military aircraft. 74 media members were at the airport but only 18 were allowed to follow eventually. I really wonder what sort of briefing notes that had been provided to the media members in preparing them.

You don't send so many media members to cover a war zone story in a particular group. Moreover, this Putera 1Malaysia Club are not trained soldiers or they were carrying any weapons? Were they?

The 7 member reconnaissance team actually reported to Putrajaya first prior to the departure of the 48 members under the umbrella of Putera 1Malaysia Club. Their recommendations stated the following:-

a) that this team should make full preparations and leave after Hari Raya; and
b) concentrate their work and set up a clinic at one selected camp for the refugees.

Even though "Risky" but the team went ahead without listening to the advise as mentioned in items (a) and (b) as above. Outcome?

An international news agency journalist did mention that they have to go through a 3 days intensive training conducted by former commandos before they jump into the war zone. That too, does not guarantee their survival in a war zone.
 
To quote Putera 1Malaysia Club president Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim who asked everyone not to politicised or “cashed-in for cheap publicity" on the death of a Malaysian - you mean to say that people can't ridicule the club for its unpreparedness which caused a Malaysian to die unnecessarily?

The humanitarian aid mission was cut short immediately following the death of a Malaysian journalist. Why cut short the trip? If this team was so gung-ho about the mission, it should have gone ahead with the agenda that had been planned. A death shouldn't have derailed a humanitarian aid mission where its main objective was to save even more lifes.

This Datuk made the following statements to the press:-
a) We are preparing for a second mission but we have to settle several unresolved matters before we make another attempt.
b) The club would not rush into things and would take all necessary precautions and follow closely all standard operating procedures during the next mission.
c) 45 people, including pressmen, had signed for the next trip so far.

My comments on the above:-
a) You mean to say that the club didn't resolve certain issues for the first mission but still went ahead with it?
b) Admitting that this first mission was a rush job and SOP wasn't followed at all?
c) All the best to this 45 persons.

Immediately right after this tragedy, a cabinet minister said that "standard operating procedure should be created to serve as a guideline for all parties." Isn't this a little too late?

The cabinet minister also mentioned that "There should also be a reconnaissance done in these areas to determine the level of security." I think he hasn't been briefed about the 7 member reconnaissance team hahaha.

Worse still, our PM quoted this - "But if you're not prepared to take the risk, then stay home."

This blogpost is not written with selfish intention or any political agenda. It's in the minds of Malaysians who cannot understand why such humanitarian aid mission cannot be handed over to the professionals such as the Médecins Sans Frontières ("MSF") who have been there for years.

I respect the intention and the main objective of this trip but they should have prepared themselves in view of MSF International President Dr Unni Karunakara's experience in Somalia.

Irrespective of whether our journalist was prepared in mindset or knew what he was volunteering for or for the fact that many organisations have/would be contributing aids to the journalist's family, whoever organised the trip should have been more responsible for it as his death could have been avoided.
Tags: Putera 1Malaysia Club, Somalia Famine, Humanitarian Aid Mission, Somalia War Zone, Bernama TV, Noramfaizul Mohd Nor, Médecins Sans Frontières

War Declared On USA

George Bush was sitting in his office wondering whom to invade next when his telephone rang.

'Hello, Mr. Bush!' a heavily accented voice said, 'This is Gurmukh from Phagwara, District Kapurthala, Punjab .. I am ringing to inform you that we are officially declaring the war on you!'

'Well, Gurmukh,' Bush replied, 'This is indeed important news! How big is your army?'

'Right now,' said Gurmukh, after a moment's calculation, 'there is myself, my cousin Sukhdev, my next door neighbor Bhagat, and the entire kabaddi team from the gurudwara. That makes eight.'

Bush paused. 'I must tell you, Gurmukh that I have one million men in my army waiting to move on my command.'

'Arrey O! Main kya..' said Gurmukh. 'I'll have to ring you back!'

Sure enough, the next day, Gurmukh called again.

'Mr. Bush, it is Gurmukh, I'm calling from Phagwara STD, the war is still on! We have managed to acquire some infantry equipment!'

'And what equipment would that be, Gurmukh' Bush asked.

'Well, we have two combines, a donkey and Amrik's tractor.'

Bush sighed. 'I must tell you, Gurmukh, that I have 16,000 tanks and 14,000 armored personnel carriers. Also, I've increased my army to 1-1/2 million since we last spoke.'

'Oh teri....' said Gurmukh. 'I'll have to get back to you.'

Sure enough, Gurmukh rang again the next day.

'Mr. Bush, the war is still on! We have managed to get ourselves airborne..... We've modified Amrik's tractor by adding a couple of shotguns, sticking on some wings and the pind's generator. Four school pass boys from Malpur have joined us as well!'

Bush was silent for a minute and then cleared his throat. 'I must tell you, Gurmukh, that I have 10,000 bombers and 20,000 fighter planes. My military complex is surrounded by laser-guided, surface-to-air missile sites. And since we last spoke, I've increased my army to TWO MILLION!'

'Tera pala hove....' said Gurmuk, 'I'll have to ring you back.'

Sure enough, Gurmukh called again the next day.

'Kiddan, Mr.Bush! I am sorry to tell you that we have had to call off the war.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' said Bush. 'Why the sudden change of heart'

'Well,' said Gurmukh, 'we've all had a long chat over a couple of lassi's, and decided there's no way we can feed two million prisoners of war!'

--------------------------
Now, this is what I call CONFIDENCE!
Tags: Confidence, Humour, Funny, George Bush, Phagwara, Kapurthala, Punjab, Prisoners Of War

Malaysian Warship Battles Somali Pirates

The KD Indera Sakti Malaysian warship went face to face with a small group of Somali pirates at the Gulf of Aden on 17 Dec 2008.

The Royal Malaysian Navy warship despatched two helicopters to save a Chinese ship, MV Zhen Hua 4 which is owned by China Communications Construction Company Ltd, from being hijacked upon receiving distress calls from the International Maritime Bureau. Just a number of shots were fired at the pirates and they flee as fast as possible back to Somalia shore.

Chinese crews were defending against the pirates prior to the arrival of the helicopters. They defended by throwing molotov cocktails at those pirates and when they knew they can't defend anymore, they locked themselves in unpenetratable rooms. By that time the Malaysian helicopters have arrived.

More pictures of the hijacking incident in Mail Online.

The Malaysian warhship do not have enough support and if they do, they would have bomb the pirates out of the face of this earth. United Nations Security Council just approved unanimously that will allow foreign militaries to conduct sea, land and air attacks on the pirates' bases on the Somalia coast. I'm sure other warships will be ready now to chase after those pirates with this UN licence to 'kill'.

Well done our Royal Malaysian Navy. Three cheers to you!
Tags: Royal Malaysian Navy, International Maritime Bureau, MV Zhen Hua 4, China Communications Construction Company Ltd, Somalia, Somali Pirates, KD Indera Sakti, Gulf of Aden, United Nations Security Council

Facebook Used to Track Criminals

Facebook is becoming more useful lately even to the extent of it being used to track down criminals. Not just common criminals but war crimes criminals.

A group of forty organisations formed Wanted For War Crimes who has used Facebook and Google Earth to hunt two war crimes criminals in Sudan. They are Sudan's Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Haroun (they put him to be in charge of the right department or they named the department correctly) and Janjaweed leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman. The Facebook account created is called War Crimes Wanted List.

Althought these two individuals have been charged and indicted by the International Criminal Court, the Sudanese government has rejected the charges by the ICC on these two individuals linking them to the heinous war crimes in Darfur where 200,000 have been killed and millions displaced from homes.

See how powerful is the internet nowadays.
Tags: Facebook, Africa, Sudan, War Crimes, International Criminal Court, ICC, Darfur, War Crimes, Janjaweed, Wanted For War Crimes, War Crimes Wanted List, Ahmed Haroun, Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman

Terrorist List

A Terrorist List has been compiled by the Government Accountablity Office of USA. Go and check it out whether your name has been mentioned.

When we were in Sudan for our work assignment, we did mention that we could be banned from entering USA seeing those Sudan (being sanctioned by USA) immigration stamps in our passport. The USA embassy in Malaysia will require all expired passports and request you to list down places visited for the last 10 years before approving your visa application. And this list could be used to review people applying for their visas.

The Terrorist List's purpose is to assist the relevant authorities on the following:-
* check persons seeking visas
* travellers entering or leaving the country
* domestic airline passengers and persons stopped by state, local or federal law enforcement.

The listing itself grew tremendously i.e. from 158,734 names in June 2004 to 754,960 names by May 2007. It did worry the Homeland Security of USA on the huge increase. How are they to monitor that number of people?

If you found your name listed errorneously, you could write in to get your name off it.

Just make sure that your name won't be listed in the FBI's most wanted terrorists....hehehe
Tags: Government Accountability Office, United States of America, USA, Terrorist, Homeland Security, Federal Bureau Investigation, FBI

Israel Warns of World War III

My my ............ Israel can really predict things and a destructive one indeed. Why does a country need to warn the world about a forthcoming world war unless they themselves are ready for it. It has been published in Israel's national news.

George Bush, President of USA, mentioned about the World War III too at a White House news conference. Stoking the fire???? Are they hinting about something?

The Israel national news said that there will be allignments between certain nations if the World War III starts with the following grouping:-
* Group A - Israel / United States / Britain / France / Germany

* Group B - Iran / Russia / China / Syria / North Korea






They must be really joking. There is even a name for the war - The War of Gog and Magog. The basis of this war was said to be a prophecy as stated in Ezekiel 38:1-6 as follows:-

The word of the Lord came to me; Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him and say: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army - your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. Persia, Cush and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops - the many nations with you.

From this paragraph, people have deduced the following theories:-
1. Hashemite Kingdom Theory: The Islamic Nations will come against Israel either by an Iraqi-led, Jordanian led, or Turkish led coalition. The enemy from the north refers to the areas of Syria, Turkey, and Iraq. These Islamic nations make up the lands occupied by Magog, Gomer, Togarmah, Meshech and Tubal.

2. Caucus Theory: Gog and Magog are the Arab nations in an alliance with the Muslim republics of the former Soviet Union. This theory leaves out most of Russia, and includes only the southern part.

3. All Europe Theory: Gog and Magog are the sons of Japeth thus the originators of the European races. Gog and Magog therefore indicates all of Europe. This is not a widely held theory and I could find little support for it.

4. Russian Theory: The Hebrew word 'rosh' in verse 3 is identified with Russia, 'Tubal' with Tiblisi or Tobolsk and 'Meshech' with Moscow, therefore Gog and Magog refers to Russia. This is one of the most commonly held views and is based on a different interpretation of the Hebrew word Rosh (used as a noun rather than adjective), similarities in the pronunciation of words, and the Greek translation of Rosh referring to a tribe of people found in what is now Russia.

5. Indo-European Theory: Gog and Magog include the nations descending from Japheth: Russia, the Caucasus(Turkey), Iraq, and the Islamic republics of Central Asia. The coalition is an alliance of Arab nations, Muslim republics, Georgia, southern Russia and the Black sea area.
Tags: Israel, USA, World War III, WWIII, George Bush, The War of Gog and Magog, Gog and Magog, Ezekiel 38, Hashemite Kingdom Theory, Caucus Theory, All Europe Theory, Russian Theory, Indo-European Theory, War, Meshech, Tubal, Russia

Hot War

Cold War was over when the communist regime fell across Europe. With USSR disintegrated and most East Europeans' communism regime fell down the drain, the Cold War disappeared silently too.

Lately, the USA was trying to place some of its missles and radar system in Poland and Czech Republic in which Russia took it seriously and said that USA has breached ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) Treaty. Russia stated that those placements were meant to target Russia.

Meanwhile, USA has responded by saying that those interceptor missiles and radar system's placement were meant to counter any future threats from Iran and North Korea.

Very sensitive situation. Was USA's reasons justified? It seems that Russia was not buying it.

On the other hand, in showing that their arms' strength are still powerful, Russia launched a RS-24 missile from the Plesetsk cosmodrome last Tuesday. This missle could be armed with up to 10 warheads and was designed to evade missile defence systems. Wow! Evade? If you don't intend to bomb people in future why a need for a missile that could evade...... and a missile that could fit in 10 warheads???????? This missile could have been planned for few years back when everything was peaceful and their mind was already filled with destruction of another country with just one powerful missile....tsk tsk tsk

The NATO-Russia Council stated that it will continue to to address Russia’s concerns regarding the plans. Concerns on what when Russia was also well prepared?

Ain't this going to be a HOT WAR!!! Must practice my shooting skills with my Counter Strike game. You'll never know when it will come in handy.
Tags: Cold War, USA, Russia, Czech Republic, Poland, NATO-Russia Council, ABM Treaty, RS-24, Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Missile Defence System, Iran, North Korea

Incident at Omdurman, Sudan

Yahoo News! reported that the widespread genocide in Darfur may spread to Khartoum, capital city of Sudan if the government violated the peace agreement signed with the Sudan Liberation Movement ("SLM"), the only armed faction from Darfur region that signed a peace deal with the government.

On Saturday, 24 Mar, 11 people were killed in Omdurman, a town which is about 40 mins from Khartoum, the place where I stay. Hmmmmmmmmmm ........ wondering when I'm going back there again. It was only a small issue on traffic violation that erupted into shootings by the Sudanese authorities or authoritarian???.

SLM leader Minni Minnawi quoted this:-
* state agents had deliberately provoked the incident in what he said was an attempt by the government to sabotage the peace process.
* what happened reveals a will to move from peace to a state of war.

Reading: Deadly gun battle in Sudanese city - Al-Jazeera
Tags: Sudan, Khartoum, Omdurman, Darfur, Sudan Liberation Movement, Minni Minnawi

Expose War Crimes: Criminalise War

Perdana Global Peace Organisation has started the Expose War Crimes: Criminalise War conference cum exhibition at Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur beginning today till 7 Feb 2007.

Following are the speakers for the conference:-
* Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad - former Prime Minister of Malaysia & Honorary President of Perdana Leadership Foundation
* Mr. Denis Halliday - former United Nations Assistant Secretary General
* Mr. Hans-Christof Von Sponeck - former United Nations Assistant SecretaryGeneral
* Professor Francis A Boyle - Professor of law, University of Illinois School of Law
* Professor Dr Michel Chossudovsky - Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa

(Photo sourced from Screenshots)

Tags: War Crimes, Exhibition, Conference, Peace, War, Perdana Global Peace Organisation, Putra World Trade Centre, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Denis Halliday, Hans-Christof Von Sponeck, Francis A Boyle, Dr Michel Chossudovsky

Sanction on North Korea

As North Korea was defiant in their quest for nuclear power and due to failure to agree on certain issues relating to arm, USA has begun their sanction on North Korea.

Guess what was sanctioned????

iPods, fine wines, fast cars, jet skis, jewellery and designer clothes at a start. Why such things? USA is targetting the rich and elite who are mainly linked to the government and the leader himself, Kim Jong-Il, is known to have favoured the imported cognac. (source: BBC News/Asia-Pacific)

Once the rich and elite are dissatisfied, war intelligence officer would think that those rich and elite may wake up from their dreaming state to counter their leader who is leading them to nowhere. Will they succeed?
Tags: North Korea, Nuclear Power, USA, Sanction, Kim Jong-Il, Cognac, Rich, Elite, War

China's Al-Qaeda

Read about the existence of some extremists in the northwestern side of Xinjiang province in China. Apparently on 5 Jan 2007, scores of people were killed and injured when the China's police stormed into their place. A police, from the anti-terrorist front, was killed. Police hunt was still continuing for some who had escaped the police dragnet.

The police has been tailing the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement for some time back. With Xinjiang being located near the international borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, extremists dropping by in Xinjiang was not a surprised. Some facts about Xinjiang:-

* There are 20 million Muslims in China; 8.5 million live in Xinjiang 23,000 of the 30,000 mosques in China are in Xinjiang
* Muslims in China fall into distinct racial groups. The largest, the Hui, are widespread. The next biggest, the Uyghurs, are almost entirely in Xinjiang

Another group being monitored by the police is the East Turkestan Liberation Organization. The Human Rights Watch is of course watching what China is doing in Xinjiang as there were concerns raised in the way China was handling the ethnic people in the combat against terrorism.
more ..........China admits fear of Muslim terror as police kill 18 in mountain battle

Tags: Xinjiang Province, China, Terrorist, Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement, East Turkestan Liberation Organization, Human Rights Watch, Muslim, Uyghur, Hui

Saddam Hussein's Death

All good things will come to an end. To some international community, that's what they perceive of Saddam for his reign as the President of Iraq.

It ended yesterday at dawn and the international community didn't agree with the execution but neither did they agree for what he has done in the past. Todate, the Allied Force has not shown us the WMD to the public. And will this execution calm the situation in Iraq before the sectarian war erupts further. Will the withdrawal of the Allied Force help the situation?

Tags: Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq, WMD, Allied Force, War, Politics

Ethiopia - Somalia War

New have been coming on the Ethiopia - Somalia conflict where Ethiopia has launched strategic airstrikes against Somalia. It's sad to see that news has to link the conflict to religions. Terrible news agencies as such news sells. It mentioned that Ethiopia, a predominant Christian majority country, is waging war against Somalia's Islamic force under the Union of Islamic Courts ("UIC"), an Islamic party. The UIC does not want to work with the interim government and has seized major cities in order to take control of the country where there is still no government since 2004. What a mess!

The next thing that came to my mind is that the conflict is exactly at the south-east of Sudan only. Not far away.

Tags: Ethiopia, Somalia, Conflict, Dispute, War, Union of Islamic Courts, Africa

3 Civil Wars in Middle East

Jordan's King Abdullah has warned that three civil wars could break out in the Middle East crisis anytime unless the international community takes urgent action. He said conflicts in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories could spin out of control.

In Lebanon - tensions between pro- (led by Hezbollah) and anti- (led by March 14 Alliance) Syrian groups.
In Iraq - sectarian conflicts between the Sunni and Shiite.
In Palestine - the Hamas and Fatah (even have their own website) factions are on collision course.

And with Israel added into the picture, it's really hot........click here to see key maps tracing the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from pre-1947.
Tags: War, Civil War, Conflict, Middle East, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, Hezbollah, March 14 Alliance, Sunni, Shiite, Hamas, Fatah

Iran Test-Fires New Missiles

Why USA kept demanding for strict controls on weapons being developed in Iran? Well, the pictures below will tell you why. Iran has been on a mission to obtain the best technologies in getting the best for their missiles. They have been testing it regularly to maximise the effectiveness of it.
New range of missiles were being tested during a war game in a desert near the holy city of Qom, southeast of Tehran, 2 November 2006. Iran also tested the long-range Shahab-3 missile from mobile launch-pad as shown in picture.
"We want to show our deterrent and defensive power to trans-regional enemies, and we hope they will understand the message," the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi. (source: China Daily)
Tags: Iran, War, Missiles, Shahab-3

Nuclear Bomb Test By North Korea

What is the yield of the North Korean nuclear test bomb?
South Korea recorded a tremor of 3.58 Richter scale; the US Geological Services measured 4.2 Richter scale. Based upon these data, South Korea puts the explosion as being equivalent to 550 tons of TNT, or 2.6% of the 1945 Nagasaki atomic bomb. However, Russia estimated the yield to be 5,000-15,000 tons or equivalent to the Hiroshima atomic bomb which killed 240,000 people.
Reuters - UN Council Members Condemn North Korea's Actions
Associated Press - World Leaders Condemn North Korea's Nuke Test
North Korea - Official Homepage
Tags: North Korea, Nuclear, South Korea, USA, TNT, United Nations, UN Security Council

Reserve USA Air Force planes

The US Air Force is keeping lots of its reserve airplanes (at an unknown place to me - do you know where it is?) due to better models released in later years. But these airplanes are not rendered useless, just that too many in stocks........
Tags: US Air Force, Reserve Airplanes