Nama Hizbullah kembali bergema di dunia Arab dan dunia Islam. Negosiasi berbulan-bulan menyangkut pertukaran tawanan berbuah kemenangan telak bagi Hizbullah. Semua pihak, kawan maupun lawan, mengakui kelihaian Hizbullah memainkan kartu-kartunya selama bernegosiasi dengan Israel.

Sepertinya kata-kata Sayyid Hasan Nashrullah pada tahun April 2000 lampau selalu saja menjadi kenyataan. Dalam pidato menyambut hengkanya pasukan Israel dari Lebanon Selatan, Nashrullah menyatakan, “Masa-masa kekalahan telah berlalu, dan kini tibalah masa kemenangan demi kemenangan.”

Dua tahun silam, tepatnya 12 Juli 2006, Hizbullah menculik dua tentara Israel: Ehud Goldwasser dan Eldad Regev. Beberapa jam setelah operasi penculikan, Sekjen Hizbullah, Sayyid Hasan Nashrullah, menggelar konferensi pers. Dengan tegas dia menyatakan bahwa kedua tentara itu tidak akan bisa pulang kecuali lewat negosiasi tidak langsung. “Saya katakan bahwa dua tentara ini tidak akan kembali kecuali dengan negosiasi tidak langsung. Tak ada kekuatan mana pun di dunia ini yang bisa mengembalikan mereka kecuali negosiasi tidak langsung. Wassalam!”

Saat seorang wartawan menyatakan kemungkinan respons militer Israel atas operasi penculikan itu, Nashrullah tersenyum simpul. “Kita semua tahu bahwa pimpinan Israel sekarang ini adalah wajah-wajah baru. Mulai dari PM sampai pimpinan militer yang ada belum mengenal Lebanon. Mungkin saja mereka berpikir tidak realistis dan berpetualang yang merugikan mereka sendiri. Lebih baik mereka berkonsultasi dengan semua pemimpin Israel yang pernah merasakan pahitnya serangan militer Israel ke Lebanon.”

Tapi Ehud Olmert justru keluar dari sidang kabinet terbatas bidang keamanan dengan ultimatum: “Kedua tawanan itu harus dikembalikan tanpa syarat apapun. Bila para teroris tidak melakukan tuntutan ini dalam 72 jam mendatang, maka kita akan porak-porandakan seluruh infrastruktur mereka.”

Pagi 14 Juli, Olmert kembali menggelar konferensi pers. Nada bicaranya semakin berapi-api. “Saya sudah menginstruksikan seluruh jajaran militer untuk melakukan serangan mematikan ke sarang teroris. Tujuan serangan ini adalah mengembalikan kedua tawanan, menghancurkan infrastruktur militer dan komunikasi Hizbullah dan membunuh pimpinan tertingginya.”

Tak lama setelah itu, pesawat-pesawat tempur Israel memulai serangan membabi buta ke seantero Lebanon selatan. Tak seorang pun bisa menutup mata atas kebrutalan serangan militer Israel. Menurut laporan PBB, bom yang dijatuhkan Israel dalam 33 hari itu menyamai kuantitas bom yang digunakan dalam masa setahun Perang Dunia II. Tapi tokh kita sudah tahu hasil akhir perang itu: kemenangan Hizbullah atas Israel.

Israel terguncang. Kian lama guncangan itu kian terasa berat bagi entitas zionis itu. Dan puncaknya, sebuah komisi khusus yang dibentuk untuk menyelidiki hasil-hasil perang dengan tegas menyimpulkan berbagai kegagalan militer Israel dalam aspek strategis, taktis, logistik, propaganda media dan lain sebagainya.

Hizbullah kembali meminta Israel untuk melakukan negosiasi tidak langsung untuk pertukaran tawanan. Sekjen PBB menunjuk seorang mediator Jerman, Gerhard Conrad, untuk memediasi negosiasi antara Hizbullah dan Israel. Conrad memang orang yang dipilih kedua belah pihak, karena dia memiliki kontak khusus dengan Hizbullah dan dipercaya oleh Israel. Pada pertukaran tawanan antara Hizbullah-Israel tahun 2004 lalu, Conrad berhasil mengukuhkan kredibilitasnya di mata kedua pihak.

Negosiasi berjalan alot dan berlarut-larut lantaran Israel menuntut Hizbullah membiarkan tim Palang Merah Internasional untuk menemui kedua tentara yang diculik tersebut. Berbagai organisasi kemanusiaan internasional juga menekan Hizbullah untuk mengizinkan bagi tim kemanusiaan PMI untuk menjenguk keduanya.

Tapi Hizbullah menolak. Hidup-mati kedua tawanan ini adalah bagian dari poin negosiasi yang terus dikemukakan Hizbullah. Dalam berbagai negosiasi tertutup antara pihak Hizbullah yang dikepalai oleh Wafik Shafa, Kepala Dep. Koordinasi Hizbullah, selalu ada penekanan bahwa nasib kedua tawanan itu bakal semakin menderita bila pihak Israel mengulur-ulur waktu.

Di dalam negeri, keluarga kedua tentara itu terus mendesak pemerintah Olmert untuk menuntaskan krisis tawanan dengan berbagai cara. Akhirnya sebuah keputusan bulat diambil kabinet Israel yang terdiri atas koalisi berbagai partai itu menyetujui kesepakatan pertukaran tawanan antara Hizbullah dan Israel.

Hari-hari setelah kesepakatan diumumkan, media massa Israel masih mengesankan bahwa kedua tawanan itu hidup, sekalipun ada dugaan kuat bahwa keduanya telah mati. Kepastian kematian keduanya telah menusuk hati publik Israel, lantaran harga yang harus mereka bayar sangat tinggi. Apalagi, sejak lama Israel telah menegaskan bahwa Samir Kuntar, pejuang yang dikenai 5 kali masa tahanan seumur hidup plus 87 tahun masa tahanan tambahan itu, tidak akan dilepas dengan harga apapun.

Dalam pidato sambutannya kemarin, Samir Kuntar juga menyatakan bahwa sejumlah pejabat tinggi Israel menyatakan padanya bahwa Allah belum menciptakan orang yang mampu membebaskannya. “Kini, malam ini, saya akan katakan padanya bahwa Allah telah menciptakan ribuan yang jika berkehendak, mereka berbuat segalanya untuk mewujudkannya; jika berkata, mereka jujur; dan jika berjanji, mereka menepati.”

Berbagai tokoh Arab menyambut kemenangan Hizbullah kali ini sebagai yang terbesar, karena hanya Hizbullah yang berhasil menuntaskan kasus tawanan dengan Israel secara meyakinkan. Dibanding kemenangan militer tahun 2006, kemenangan pertukaran tawanan ini memiliki nilai moral, humanitarian, simbolis dan politik yang lebih besar. Hasil ini menunjukkan bahwa Hizbullah bukan hanya mampu bertempur, tapi juga lihai berdiplomasi dan bernegosiasi di pentas global.

Bagi Sayyid Hasan Nashrullah sendiri, hasil ini menunjukkan pada dunia Islam secara khusus dan dunia secara umum bahwa pemimpin yang tulus bisa memenuhi semua janji yang diucapkannya. Allah pasti membantu mereka menepati janji dan tekadnya.(http://musakazhim.wordpress.com/)

Man darf gespannt sein um was für einen Song es sich handelt. Wir bleiben auf jeden Fall am Ball...

Nach vielen Minuten des Wartens stand fest:
Isi gewinnt BigBrother 8!

Mehr zu BigBrother 8 und Infos zu BigBrother9 - gibt es HIER - KLICKEN!

Platz 5 - Mandy
Platz 4 - Tanja

Beide Blondinen müssen nun das Haus verlassen.

Hier klicken und Deinen Wunschnamen sichern - bevor es ein anderer tut.

Wir wünschen viel Spaß!

Was passiert eigentlich mit den "Hausfisch" Dori?

Vielleicht wird RTL2 auf diese spannende Frage noch im Laufe des Tages eingehen.

Eigentlich müsste man Isi das (oder ein anderes) Aquarium inklusive Fisch schenken. Sie hat sich die komplette Staffel über um Dori gekümmert - dann soll sie das Tier auch behalten dürfen.

Vielleicht Kevin? Der Rheinländer geht auf jeden Fall mit weniger raus, als er reinkam. Seine Diät-Challenge gewann er überzeugend.

Oder Marcel? Der "Gute-Laune-Macher" kam besonders häufig gut bei den weiblichen Bewohnern an.

Vielleicht gewinnt auch Isi, das Showgirl ist seit dem 1. Tag im Haus und war nach Rausschmiss-Adrian die erste Bewohnerin überhaupt im Haus.

Außenseiter-Chancen haben auch Mandy und Tanja, die beide - ähnlich wie Marcel - erst später ins Haus kamen.

Wer ist Dein persönlicher BigBrother-Gewinner?

(برای دیدن اندازه بزرگتر روی عکس کلیک کنید)

هر وقت به بن بست رسیدیم و راه برگشتی نبود ، یادمان باشد که راه آسمان باز است . پس باید پرواز را آموخت...

• دوربین رو زیر گل قرار دادم و به صورت ماکرو عکس گرفتم
• با عرض معذرت که نور آفتاب دیده میشه
• یه امضا واسه خودم زدم و امیدوارم که خوشتون بیاد...
• اگه امضا ایراد داشت بهم بگین تا تغییر بدم

موفق باشی

Hier klicken und Deinen Wunschnamen sichern - bevor es ein anderer tut. ;-)

Wir wünschen viel Spaß!

This was an ambitious two week photographic project to follow the route of the Kasbahs from Marrakech in the west to Merzouga in the east of the country. Our intention was to immerse ourselves deep into Moroccan culture by staying in the wonderful ryads and auberges along the route. Time was needed in each location to win over the trust of each of our photographic subjects. Our journey started at the wonderful Ryad El Borj in the Medina of Marrakech. This hotel was chosen because of its great interiors, ideal for shooting portraiture projects. A new blog will appear showcasing this work in the coming weeks.

After a long arduous 8 hour drive through the Atlas mountains we arrived at the Kasbah Ellouze in Tamdaght. The village is close to the legendary UNESCO listed kasbah of Ait Benhaddou made famous in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia. Some amazing characters inhabit Ait Benhaddou and each one has an amzing story to tell. One of the main reasons for visiting Ait Benhaddou was to photograph the village under moonlight. The clear unpolluted desert air would be perfect to photograph the village using purely the light from the moon. The surreal results which are reflective of moonlight in a 1970's film are shown below.

After two days in the windswept valleys of Ait Benhaddou we followed a recommendation from Alistair Sawday's 'Special places to stay in Morocco' and headed for the mysterious fortified pise village of Tinejdad. Built by the nomads of the day the village is a film set grid of alleyways designed as a defence system. Today the village retains an authentic innocence bereft of tourists. A lovely story was told to us by the museum guide of the Kasbah. Every friday afternoon the local unmarried women of the surrounding villages would meet on top of the small hill behind the village to talk and bathe in hot springs. At the end of the day each of the girls would roll down the hill. The direction the women finish up in decides the village they will find their future husband in. What an innocent yet effective way of finding your match! 

Two beautiful moonlit nights in the medieval Maison d'Hote El Khorbat in Tinejdad were followed by another four hour drive through some of the most deserted but beautiful landscape to the romantic sand dune dominated village of Merzouga. Now made famous by the Paris-Dakar rally the villages boast some of the tallest sand dunes anywhere in the world.

Our return journey to Marrakesh took us via the arid desert landscape that runs parallel to the Algerian border and on to the tourist town of Zagora.

From there our route to Marrakech passed the beautiful palm groves that line the valley just outside Zagora and the incongruous 'Gladiator' film set at Ouarzazate studios.  

Morocco is a wonderful country with very friendly welcoming people, more so when you embrace their culture. The country is rich in film set locations and interesting characters. It can be tiring though, especially when you travel with a camera. Even when you think you are alone in the most remote parts of the country someone will appear demanding money for a modelling fee or to show you a sunrise or sunset. Fake 'Berbers' are everywhere but retaining a sense of humour is essential to enjoying a good assignment in Morocco. Its also important to remember that 20p or the equivalent is nothing to us but everything to people who do not belong to a welfare state. Would I go back, yes straight away.

If you have any more questions don't hesitate to contact me at :

simon@simonmccomb.co.uk

or visit my website

simonmccomb.co.uk

Its there in second place in malaysia box office and 11th in UK 13th in USA and 7th for all over world overseas and first in tamil nadu and andhra breaking all the previous records.

The first week collection is said to have crossed 35 crores which would beat Shivajis record of 25 crores.

With Rajnikanth movie Kuselan ready for the roll, it would be again kamal vs rajni again for sure.

But with all the critics comments, we have to accept the fact that Dasavatharam is turning out to be the biggest hit in indian history

Ob er in einer Woche gleich zweimal rausgeschmissen wird, ergibt sich sicherlich nach einen Gespräch mit seiner Freundin Tanya.

Didn't really manage to sell much though but man, sure had great company! Manning the shop were Fidza, Raihana, her sister, her cousin and Hassan and myself.

Several familiar faces dropped by to have a looksee.

Shoutout to Ian, Jean, Lin, Shaikha, Karee, Zaki Dee, Dian and Shahril too.

At the end of the day, it's all about having friends who care. Thank you, guys.

It all started out with Hassan and me setting up a clothes rack. Or something.

Fidza was taking shots and I decided to show that we're serious about this.

And voila! Our lil corner in the Home Club. Notice her glee!

Strong and sturdy! Hassan and I got an A for this "Final Year Project".

Great success!... For a short while. If you notice, Monster Head was just about to eat us.

And here are the lovely ladies who woman the shop.

Well, we gave them too much caffeine too soon.

ZOMG denim pants for ladies for only $15! That's cheaper than GSS-induced prices and, if rumours are true, oil even!

Rai's sister and cousin!

Hassan and I celebrate our successful clothes rack project. He even changed clothes for the occassion.

Probably one of the sweetest couples I've ever met. Cheers :)

Fidza likes my hat more than the tea, apparently.

And we're all happy Ali Babas after it's over.

And check out my new sunglasses /grin :P

[dailymotion id=x5s14t]

Now bringing you the details:

To start with , a prequel :–

Dasavataram is Dr.Kamal Hassan’s much hyped up latest movie, in which he does 10 different characters. The movie had so much hype and media attention that even personalities like M.Karunanidhi, Amitabh Bachan and Jackie Chan were brought in for the audio release. But we should have easily predicted about the content when the movie’s release date was postponed due to a trivial thing like IPL.

Now the battering:

I will try, as much as possible, to not throw away the suspense (as if there were any), at least for those who have already booked tickets to watch this pathetic movie. First things first. Even though the movie starts with 12^th century settings and graphics, you don’t need to be a critic or a nuclear scientist to identify that the sequence has nothing much to do with the whole film ( of course , other than adding to the number of Kamal heads - priest of temple – Kamal#1 , wasting a lot of money on graphics and to show off an irony for the climax.).

Soon after a fight takes over followed by a song in 12^th century and we are suddenly put in 2004, four days before Tsunami hits the seabed of TamilNadu. Our hero, Govind – aka – Kamal#2 , is a bio-tech scientist in US and he is now in a total mess because a bio weapon they developed is about to go into wrong hands. So he takes the packet containing the bio-capsule and due to some unbelievably funny events, he ends up in Chitambaram – TamilNadu – only to be chased by Flecher an ex-CIA-bad-guy (Kamal#3). By this point Kamal#4 ie US President George Bush look alike is introduced (A totally unwanted character who is portrayed as the key behind the development of the bio-weapon technology) . But what I don’t understand is, why would Kamal want to do such stupid guest roles in his own movie? Anyways compared to other make-ups, Kamal#4 is way above par.

Also Mallika Sherawat is introduced by now (only to be killed later tragically) and she would partner Kamal#3 CIA agent till interval. Her role is crisp, to the point and she does it perfectly. ( I guess, Since Kamal takes up 90% of the film shots, the director had to kill Mallika, to give some space for other characters including Asin )

The real mess starts only after we reach India. A funny Telugu police officer comes into picture. No prizes for guesses. You have a decent Kamal#5 - Bal Ram. His jokes are the one’s which I mentioned earlier as pathetic. Still Kamal has done damn good justice to this role. The police Kamal makes sure that he chases all the 3 supposed "terrorists" through out the clock( ie ex-CIA turned criminal, Mallika and Govind ) and the sequences which follows are more like a cartoon - still watchable.

So as the chase for the bio-capsule continues more Kamals (#6) ie Asin’s grandmother takes center stage. Well this was one character Kamal could have avoided. Even though the CIA agent was very close in the race, the “patti” takes the cake for making Kamal look like one of those rubber-chin hanging alien creatures we have seen many times in Star War movies. Still imagining? Let me help you out. Imagine a Kamal face full of so much plaster of paris and makeup, that it is eventually immaterial as to who is inside those sick rubber masks. There you have Kamal#6 (Patti) , Kamal#7 (A very tall guy) and Kamal#8 ( Japanese guy). Well all these characters could have been easily done with, but for the fact that this whole movie was taken with the sole purpose of showing Kamal’s brilliance in 10 different roles. ( Its like touching your nose around the head, just because you want it that way to create a new touch-your-nose record.)

The remaining 2 Kamals are Kamal#9 (an NGO guy who fights against illegal sand mining – good role ) and Kamal#10 , A pop singer sardar where Kamal does a very good job, but again the character being totally out of scope of the movie.

So as the bio-capsule changes hands between the "Patti" , Asin, Govind and CIA, the script beautifully deals with issues like religion, bio-warfare and even illegal sand mining. But eventually the good guys have to win, right? So after many fights and songs the D-day approaches ie 26^th Dec 2004, the day of Tsunami. And as the bio-capsule breaks and the virus starts spreading, the only anti-virus-agent is provided by GOD himself in the form of Tsunami. Confused ?? Well the virus-bomb can be de-activated only by usinga very complex compound named NaCl . (Well that’s the funnies part in the movie). Little did Kamal knew that, nowadays even students of class 7 are taught that common salt is also known as NaCl – and where else to find it in abundance than Sea. ( At this stage I could only think about the movie “Evolution” where shampoo saves the day). At least Kamal could have come up with some other complex stuff like uranium or magnesium which is also found in sea water.

And as everything ends fine, the viewer is left at his own mercy pondering whether he got all the 10 Kamal’s – or oops!! did He miss one ??

My final verdict : Well the movie has a solid theme and some very good acting but lacks the hyped up class and doesn't deliver as per expectations. The animations and graphics are a total waste of money and play detrimental role but again some of the special effects like multiple Kamal's in the same scene fighting with each other are really good. So finally I would say - Do watch the movie , but with less expectations.

]]> http://blogmixer.wordpress.com/?p=869 Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:46:21 +0000 T. http://blogmixer.wordpress.com/?p=869 Wenn von alleine schon keine gute EM-Stimmung im Big Brother Haus aufkommt, dann muss halt ein bisschen nachgeholfen werden. Da ist Bettina – Ex-Bewohnerin aus der sechsten Big Brother-Staffel – genau die richtige. Gestylt und aufgedreht wie man sie kennt, steht die quirlige Blondine plötzlich in der TV-WG. Im ersten Moment sind die Bewohner perplex, doch schon nach wenigen Minuten herrscht ausgelassene Stimmung. Mit regem Interesse erkundigt sich die Ex-Kandidatin nach dem Wohl der Bewohner und erzählt ihnen im Gegenzug, wie es ihr damals ergangen ist. „Ich weiß, wie schlimm es ist, nominiert zu sein. Man ist deprimiert und traurig!“ erklärt sie verständnisvoll. Interessiert lauschen die nominierten Jungs den Erfahrungen und Tipps der Besucherin.

Und siehe da - Marcel scheint es auch daraufhin schon viel besser zu gehen. Unentwegt scherzt er mit der Ex-Kandidatin, die mindestens eine genauso große Klappe wie er hat, herum, trinkt sogar Brüderschaft mit ihr und scheint zum ersten Mal seit Tagen nicht über die Nominierung nachzudenken. Die beiden verstehen sich sogar so gut, dass Bettina in einem Bett mit dem Köthener schläft. Und auch Isi fühlt sich bei der Besucherin gut aufgehoben. Sie heult sich am Abend über ihr Leid mit den Männern aus. „Ich bin so blass. Ständig sagen die Jungs fiese Dinge über mein Äußeres“, beschwert sie sich. „Mach Dir nichts draus. Immerhin stehen Deine Brüste wie eine eins!“ baut Bettina die Gogo-Tänzerin auf. Gut gelaunt genießen die Bewohner den Abend mit ihrem besonderen Gast. Bleibt zu hoffen, dass die Kandidaten noch lange von den schönen Stunden mit der sympathischen Blondine zehren!

Peace out for now!

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/84161

The Penang government is set to ‘prohibit’ the spread of Islam Hadhari (‘progressive’ Islam) and to become the second  Pakatan Rakyat-led state government to do so after Selangor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_Hadhari

For me it is simple.

Just drop out the "Hadhari" word from all the current and existing program and thats it. Why need to stop a good program (if any). Use it wisely. For me nothing is wrong with the program or its activity. Just drop out the "Hadhari" word. Thats it. Many other issue are more important right now.