tagged w/ defectors
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Two high-ranking Libyan air force pilots have who fled to Malta in their aircraft are reported to have told officials they escaped rather than carry out orders to bomb civilians.
The officers defected as Libyan diplomats in several countries and international organisations resigned in protest at the regime's violent response to the deepening crisis. They included Muammar Gaddafi's ambassadors to China, India, Indonesia and Poland, as well as Libya's representative to the Arab League and most, if not all, of its mission at the United Nations.
Omar Jelban, head of the London People's Bureau, flatly denied an al-Jazeera report he too had quit. Jelban was earlier called to the Foreign Office to hear what William Hague, the foreign secretary, called "our absolute condemnation of the use of lethal force against demonstrators".
The two Mirage F1 jets touched down in Malta after the pilots said they urgently needed to refuel and sought emergency clearance to land. The Times of Malta reported on its website the pilots had told officials they flew to the island after being ordered to bomb protesters occupying Libya's second-biggest city of Benghazi.
One report said they had also brought with them two other members of the Libyan armed forces. The pilots – both colonels – said that, after taking off from Okba Ben Nafi base, they flew low through Libyan air space to avoid radar detection.
The pilots were being questioned by Maltese police who were also trying to identify seven other people who landed from Libya in two civilian helicopters shortly before the arrival of the jets. The helicopters took off from Libya without official clearance and a source in Malta said they appeared to have been in haste, with only one of the seven people aboard carrying a passport.
All seven said they were French. The helicopters' passengers said they were working on an oil platform off Benghazi when the violence in Libya erupted.
The two military jets were at Malta international airport near Valletta, away from the commercial area.
A spokesman for Libya's delegation at the UN told Reuters its members had declared their allegiance to Libya's people, not the government. The spokesman, Dia al-Hotmani, said: "The members of the Libyan mission are representing only the Libyan people and not anyone else."
The deputy UN ambassador told the BBC: "All the Libyan people want Gaddafi to go." Other members of the UN mission had said they were resigning to support anti-government protesters: "We are aware that this will put our families back home in danger, but they are in danger anyway," said member Adam Tarbah.
In New Delhi, Ali al-Essawi accused his government of deploying foreign mercenaries against protesters. And three local employees of the Libyan embassy in Sweden said they had quit in protest.
"It would be hypocritical to assist the Libyan government while we see them attacking people in the streets," said Sayed Jalabi.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/21/libya-pilots-flee-to-maltaTwo high-ranking Libyan air force pilots have who fled to Malta in their aircraft are... more
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"Reporting from Beijing —
A North Korean military aircraft crashed into a cornfield in northeastern China about 100 miles from the border, the Chinese government said Wednesday. Analysts believed the flight was a failed defection attempt.
The pilot was killed in the crash Tuesday, according to China's official New China News Agency, which also reported that the government "is in communication on the matter with the North Korean side."
Chinese authorities released little information about the crash in Fushun prefecture, Liaoning province. But photographs, reportedly taken by villagers and widely distributed on Chinese blog sites, show the wreckage with a red star in a blue circle, the insignia of the North Korean air force. North Korea's 1st Air Division, 24th Regiment, is headquartered in Uiju, near the border city of Sinuiju, and pilots frequently train near the Yalu River, which forms the border with China.
The aircraft was identified as a Russian-made MiG fighter, most likely a MiG-21, although early reports had described it as a helicopter.
South Korean analysts said they believed the pilot was attempting to escape his impoverished homeland, possibly heading toward Russia, which is more hospitable to defectors than China. Along the way, he might have run out of fuel and attempted an emergency landing in the fields.
"This couldn't be a training accident; the border is clearly marked," said Kim Chul-woo of the Seoul-based Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. "An attempted defection is the only plausible explanation."
Park Syung Je, a respected military analyst in Seoul, said South Korean intelligence was still trying to determine what happened."
Read the full article (link below):
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-north-korean-plane-20100819,0,6443254.story"Reporting from Beijing —
A North Korean military aircraft crashed into a... more
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This is a video of a man who was born in a concentration camp in North Korea. Where he was tortured, beaten, and starving on a daily basis until he escaped. This kind of thing is going on right now, the video explains better then I ever could.
This is a very graphic video so be warned.This is a video of a man who was born in a concentration camp in North Korea. Where he... more
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Ken Adelman, a prominent conservative who famously predicted a "cakewalk" in Iraq, has become the latest Republican party heavyweight to endorse Barack Obama.
Just a day after Colin Powell, the former Republican Secretary of State, defected to the Democrat cause, Mr Adelman announced that he also intended to vote for Mr Obama.
Mr Adelman, a policy analyst and former official in Ronald Reagan's administration, told the New Yorker writer George Packer that "temperament" and "judgement" were his main reasons for switching sides.
"When the economic crisis broke, I found John McCain bouncing all over the place. In those first few crisis days, he was impetuous, inconsistent and imprudent; ending up just plain weird," he said.
Having worked with President Reagan for seven years, including three crucial summits with President Gorbachev, Mr Adelman said he "concluded that that's no way a president can act under pressure".
In common with General Powell and other sceptical Republicans, Mr Adelman questioned Mr McCain's choice of a running mate.
"That decision showed appalling lack of judgement. Not only is Sarah Palin not close to being acceptable in high office - I would not have hired her for even a mid-level post in the arms control agency," he said.
Choosing the Alaska governor "contradicted" Mr McCain's two main campaign themes - "Country First and experience counts" , he added.
Mr Adelman admitted two years ago that he regretted urging military action in Iraq and had over-estimated the capabilities of the Bush administration.
Some political pundits believe his defection is more significant than that of Mr Powell because Mr Adelman comes from inside the conservative movement.Ken Adelman, a prominent conservative who famously predicted a "cakewalk" in... more
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Adam Yamaguchi meets with North Korean defectors who escaped from North Korea to South Korea.Adam Yamaguchi meets with North Korean defectors who escaped from North Korea to South... more
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