₦airaland Forum

what a waste!

2buff:
My simple point is this: NAGGING cannot, has never, and will never solve anything.
It's a woman thing. Y'all never seem to get it that it doesn't work on males (can't call him a man yet).
It never worked on me, never worked on my dad, and it won't work on something as serious as what this young lad is going through.
If at all, you might actually make things worse.

Whatever that will work though would certainly be based around Giving him the space to make the choice of his next step himself, afterwards he can discuss with you. You can provide guidance, but do not enforce your will. Start talking to him about the expenses he is no doubt incurring from his laying-about or his various sub-par educational schemes.
To complete what her words to him should be is this: "There is nothing more I can tell you that you don't already know regarding this situation. I will not nag you. Not about this. It is your life. When you have something to discuss with us, let us know."
Statements like these pull out the inner man out from your little boy. Nigerian parents lack this skill and instead feel the need to baby their boys to the ground.  Freaking give the boy space to become a man on his own.

What else can you do but pray?
Woman go have fun with your husband and stop having hypertension. Just DON'T NAG.

I agree with this view.  Nagging never works for me either.

Insert Quote
Can you guess the biggest export of britain to Nigeria? ? ? Petroleum Products,
am very sure many people couldn't have guessed that right.

We export crude oil to these countries and yet they export the refined ones back to us
Is this not modern slavery, Robbing Peter and paying Paul. (Bribing a few to get their way and placing this country in perpetual poverty).

It's business mate, nothing personal

Outstrip:
If you choose to be silly and say that I counted every single one of the 150 million people in Nigeria in there when there are people like Okonjo Iweala and many people I know who are succesful and live and work in Nigeria that is your own problem. Generally that is how thing work in Nigeria. You can choose to act like it doesn't. Parents tell you what to do with your life and you are basically trained not to make a decision on your own. Generally there it is frowned upon if you think on your own. It might even have you labeled as the black sheep. That is my point. That is just bad parenting. It is easy parenting and not solution driven. People are just trying to cover this perceived "shame" when the focus is letting him learn his lesson. Anyway make I commot before someone says I am perfect because I have a different opinion. As for being rude I chose to be purposely nasty to you because you chose to be purposely simple. What can I say

What gives you the right to utter so much rubbish? What makes you feel you are better than others and can make better decisions?  Your post is filled with so much filth it stinks to high heavens.

People come here with their real problems not because they want strangers to tell them how they should have lived their lives!. . .not at least if those strangers are humans, who are very capable of making worse decisions.

You come here to teach a mother of seven on how to be a good parent?  can i ask that you shouldn't expose the rest of us to the utter rubbish coming out from your thoughts? Did you read where she mentioned that 3 of her children are graduates and probably very well to do?  or were you suffering from minute shots of dyslexia when you got to that point?  does the fact that one has an unruly child make them a bad parent?  what senseless way to think!

If you don't have suggestions, why not go green? save some space for those who have something sensible to say!

naijababe:
I am may have the most fanciful dreams for him and I certainly will be happier with a son that is successful, however, the one thing that I am certain of is that coddling him will not help him nor achieve whatever lofty dreams I had for him.

I may run from pillar to post if he's 18 and not when he's 24. In life some lessons have to be learned even if it's the hard way

No, cuddling him will not help him, neither will leaving him to his own fate.  Life deals a hard blow, harder than most people think. Life shoves people up or down the rung, any lessons learnt by the time he's at the bottom will usually be useless.  No one, i dare say, including you, will ever be happy to watch this happen, and i dare say any parent will likely continue running from pillar to post till they run out of options. . . .yes, even if the dude is 32!

While I have been responsible for myself since my early 20s, my parents still worry terribly if speaking to them, i mentioned that I'm having cold or flu.  They know that I can take good care of myself, should that stop them from being emotionally disturbed?. . . .how much more on issues dealing with financial independence and sustainability?  please let's be real, 18 or 24, to his parent, he's still their kid and they will still continue to seek the best for him.

I remembered how my dad had threatened to disown unruly children quite a few dozen times. He soon realized during my undergraduate crazy days that diplomacy is usually the best route. no one will realistically ever leave their kids to their own fate, . .well, at least, most people won't.

naijababe:
I bet a lot of us commenting on this thread had fathers that were married at 24. @ OP, he's your child and what you do is up to you; I am a mother and I have a son and I'll tell in very certain terms that if my son tries this he'll become a mechanic or vulcanizer apprentice.

A single kobo of mine will not be spent on sending him back to school to pay all over again for something I've supposedly paid for.

Liar!!

I bet you will not sit down and watch your son fall through the gap.  Not if you've had fancy dreams about him even before you had him.

I bet most people commenting here wouldn't take their own advise were they in the OP's shoes.  While it's easy to threaten a child using statements such as "I will disown you if you try this". . ."I will withdraw you from school and force you to become and apprentice in a low skilled job". . . .all of that is usually just what it is, empty threats, none of which anyone here will ever be happy to do. It's the easiest thing to sound tough, acting tough is a different ball game.

No one wants his child to become a societal misfit, i know i don't.  I will be much happier in my seventies, if my kids are successful leaders in their careers,. . .not them spending their days under the bonnet, in the hot sun, struggling to get by.

Konduga has named Senator Ali Ndume as one of the sponsors of the Boko Haram sect. Ndume and Konduga have been arraigned before an Abuja Chief Magistrate’s Court for criminal intimidation. Konduga got a nine-year jail term. Ndume is in the custody of the State Security Services

It means this guy will be out in 9 years, free to terrorize the country again.

What sort of Justice is this? If petty thieves can be sentenced to death, what moral right does a terrorist have to live?

I once forged my report sheet in high school to show that i attended classes regularly, i was encouraged to do so by my friends, it was the only way they knew, that i could hide all the times i left school to play football, and to them, there was no big deal, their parents never found out.

When i took the results home to my dad, the dude knew instantly from the look i wore on my face that i was up to something dodgy, so he did a careful scrutiny on my result, i should include that my friends were expert at forging documents, he almost could not spot the changes i had made.  But the hunch he had got the better of him, despite being very busy and all he grabbed the phone and booked an appointment with my vice principal, at that point, i knew the die was cast, the dead man's legs clearly remained un-buried.

That week, my dad became a surgeon turned FBI, he got the list of all my friends names and their addresses, and he took the pain to write letters to each of their parents, telling them to warn their kids to stay away from me.  The funny part was i didn't even get beaten, but the cold look i get each time i stare at him across the room was enough to drive me nuts, that look says it all, the dude was clearly disappointed.  Now thinking about it all, I'm sure glad the decisions he took made me the better person i am.


What else are you just finding out about your son?

How many friends does he keep?  Do you know any of his friends?. . .are they responsible?. . .are they from good homes?

How does he react to peer pressure?

Has he ever indicated that he suffers from self esteem issues?

What is his idea of achievement?

You mentioned that he dropped out in year 2, do you know why?. . .was he because he's not interested in pursuing a higher degree?

Despite being his mother and all, does he take your advise seriously?. . .when was the last time he honestly took your advise seriously?

What influence does his older siblings have on him?  is he motivated by their success?

Reporters have to be schooled on the definition of the simplest things.

How anyone could release, for the consumption of thousands, an article fraught with misuse of the word vaccine to mean biological weapons, is totally beyond understanding.

Vaccines are meant to improve immune systems. If an organism's genome has been genetically engineered to cause grave harm to the immune system, it is no longer a vaccine.

That said, ugly trends including unproven "beer-parlour" like news designed to cause sensation within the populace should be treated as an urgent issue. It's becoming disgusting when reporters depend on unproven sources, either imagined or real, as the only evidence before disseminating such news that could result in panic.

we should lower the same flag he fought not to be a part of? yeah right, very smart.

eyo Fun fun fun, eyo ne ne ne

cogitoErgo:
@orikinla, my broda, i hope u ar tnkng straight? If dat soldier had behaved munmun way and try to show his good side and d boy manage to reach and disharm him, i tnk we can imagine wat culd have folowed! If i am a soldier and dere ar 5silly people like dat boy, I wil nt hesitate a bit t cut dem down to save myself and perhaps others.
Please, my broda tnk. The soldiers were initialy shwng dere gud sides by shutng n d air and everybdy was down, then wat entered into d boy?

Shut the fck up!

@Andrew

can you stick to Nigerian pictures only please?

Let's not litter this place with filth.

Insert Quote
My question is one borne out of frustration from having to walk long distances and then climb a large pair of stairs on a scorchingly hot day.

You re just a plain lazy a[i]s[/i]s!

thousands die from drivers who get seizures at zebra crossing/drivers who "just didn't think she will cross the road".  Overhead bridges are meant to prevent these needless deaths, especially on highways where people can easily reach 200km/hr

Faster is nothing compared to being safe.

deboski4u:
am disaaponted that[b] most nairalnder[/b] are educasted [/b]illiterate who cannot differentiate between a suspect and [b]an accuse person. also, most of u doesn't know how security works. the SSS are trying their best, let us encourage them,

I bet you have no idea who the educated illiterates are.

So this person has been found guilty of criminal intimidation, but not felony!

It means, while thousands may have died, either directly through his actions or indirectly through his activities with others, he will now be "severely punished" with a sentence not more than 5 years. . .

The Nigerian Judicial system, simply the best!

The SSS have absolutely no credibility,. . . a complete joke of an organisation which historically has only been useful as a political lapdog---believe them and I'd sell you the bridge my grandad left me in his will!

I remember them arresting Dokpesi and making the loudest noise I've ever heard, about it. . . , they came to courts heavily armed to teeth and told us we can now sleep soundly at night, ----the culprit has been found, and they have a tangible evidence to back their hunt - a text message reportedly saying "Oga, na we do am". . , not funny believe me!

Fast forward 13 months and several bombings after. . . .now they have the real culprit. . .and as expected, they have their evidence. . . .a volunteered statement provided by a "remorseful leader" of a sect who have relentlessly killed/maimed Nigerians in their thousands. . .the same sect who have turned our daily lives to a living nightmare!

If you are not asking what's the catch, then it may be a sign that you are an idio[i]t[/i]!

13 months after, with the same lazy brains working at the SSS. . .using the same outdated technology. . .under the leadership of the same r[i]e[/i]tarded president. . .combating an increasingly relentless violent sect?. . .

If someone is not producing some damming evidence, besides this annoying "he said, they said", then we are simply on that same spot we were 13 months ago, only this time, weaker and likely dumber!

[quote author=ndu_chucks link=topic=807029.msg9612025#msg9612025 date=1321998728]The above is factually correct for the most part. The bolded above has not yet been fully tested in our courts, the supreme court is yet to rule on whether a Nigerian who renounces his citizenship abroad remains a Nigerian citizen despite the legal renunciation. Until this is tested, and we hear from the supreme court on this issue, I remain in disagreement with you on the matter.[/quote]well then, i'd suppose the same argument applies to the bolded part of your post. It's up to the supreme court to decide if the renunciation is legal by the Nigerian constitution!

[quote author=ndu_chucks link=topic=807029.msg9610983#msg9610983 date=1321987022]I completely agree with the above post.

@violent, there are too many holes in your last post. For now, I'll simply agree to disagree with your position.

For the information of readers, let me state here that many years ago, I attended a friend's naturalization ceremony in the USA wherein, passports of the old countries of participants were collected after the said oath was taken - food for thought.[/quote]I'd rather you point out the holes than simply agreeing to disagree.

[quote author=ndu_chucks link=topic=807029.msg9605561#msg9605561 date=1321924247]@violent,

I'm tempted to conclude from your write-up that the Nigerian government can also choose not to recognize your naturalized citizenship since the  Nigerian constitution does not pay allegiance to foreign courts. This conclusion ignores international laws. No?[/quote]International legal system differ from national legal systems in that the former is mainly concerning individual countries and not citizens, international laws are only binding on citizens if national laws delegate jurisdictions to supranational courts such as the European Courts of Human rights or in cases where a citizen of a particular country is involved in either of:  Genocide, War crimes, crimes against humanity or war of aggression! in this case, the International Criminal court

Britain as an example, has delegated jurisdictions on private cases involving its citizen's human right to the European Courts of Human rights.  This meant that an European court can overrule decisions made by the Lord Chief Justice of England.  There's been a recent consultation in Britain to examine whether or not to cut off the powers that have been delegated to the European courts in other to give British Judges the final say on individual rights of its citizen.

Citizenship is an entirely national issue, there are countries who recognize dual citizenship, there are others who don't and in the case where a country's constitution has not delegated it's jurisdiction to a supranational body, it's constitution maintains the final say!

In the eyes of the Nigerian government, you are first and foremost a Nigerian citizen, especially if you are one by birth. . .and since the constitution allows for dual citizenship, the Nigerian government is obliged by[b] its own constitution [/b]to recognize your naturalized citizenship, and not just that, it has laid down procedures for individuals wishing to renounce their citizenship. . . it states clearly that this must be approved by the President and also recorded,. . . . . only then do you cease to be a Nigerian citizen (in the eyes of the Nigerian government, by the Nigerian constitution).

debosky:
Granted it's doesn't have the biggest financial centre, but Canada has a very strong financial industry - when banks everywhere less were hit with major losses, the Canadian institutions were strong. Not everyone comes to London as you think - there are big, vibrant financial institutions with strong links with the US and South America that can provide opportunities.

I think she needs to do more research before anyone can say it's a bad move or not - assess the strength of the program and where its graduates end up working. I know its conventional to favour the prominent schools, but there's merit in examining opportunities at lesser known schools in detail.

I don't know how you define "very strong", but i assume you're talking in terms of global coverage, assets and clientele.  Yes, Canada has very strong financial institutions, but relatively compared on a global scale, it's not even in the top 10 countries.   You are more likely to find global banks with distribution outlets to serve customers in Canada, than you are to find headquarters of world leading prominent financial institutions. Many of those distribution outlets don't always have the scope to take on thousands of young graduates as compared to what may apply in London, New York or Chicago, and for a young aspiring graduate, the kinds of opportunities you may eventually be exposed to are usually very limited to the retail side of the business,  . . .If anyone is interested in working in retail Banking, why not just stay in Nigeria?

I agree that he or she needs to do more research before going forward with the move, and I agree with your second statement that there may be opportunities in examining lesser known schools in detail, but I doubt if hiring managers who may be fraught with responsibilities of sifting through 12,000 applications for 50 roles think of it this way, when they could easily just filter for Oxford or Cambridge.  In the end, these schools are what those companies sell most to their clients.  A sales person from Goldman sachs is more likely to win the wealth management business of a new prospect by telling him that his funds will be managed by "Cambridge grads" than "guys from Queens, Canada".

London South Bank is a crappy university. I dont even know why people cannot be frank lol and not wreck the poor guys life. Use your money to go to a french country or even germany and endure the racism. At least you would be getting quality education. Or at least spend it on ashewo man adn ogogoro.

We tried ooo, the guy sha wan skul for UK by fire by force.

They are not really racist countries if you ask me. I have once lived in both countries and I can tell you that the level of racism in these countries is almost nilpotent. In fact, a German chick arranged a house for me when I missed the person that was to give me the keys to my room. I have a strong opinion of Germany as a country. France too is not bad; blacks are well integrated there and are really doing well.

The fact that someone arranged a house for you does not mean that they don't have a racial prejudice towards you.  As a matter of fact, people with racial tendencies are more likely to have "black friends" and go out "drinking with their black friends"

[quote author=ndu_chucks link=topic=807029.msg9602277#msg9602277 date=1321887206]I admit that I do not have any soft spot for traitors who swear under oath, in the presence of a judge, that they absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to Nigeria, but how does this equate to having a nefarious agenda. Kindly move on if you cannot contradict my points - this shrink methodology of yours is unbecoming. olodo[/quote]The Nigerian constitution does not pay allegiance to foreign courts, neither does it enforce decisions/oaths made in the presence of foreign Judges.

The definition and the powers conferred on a Judge/courts in the United states for example may provide them with an authority that when measured against the Nigerian courts will require the powers of the house of assembly or the senate. So also, renunciation of citizenship may require the approval of a Chief Judge according to the Nigerian constitution while a Judge in the United states may only qualify to be a magistrate when defined in the Nigerian context.

[quote author=ndu_chucks link=topic=807029.msg9597269#msg9597269 date=1321819723]@violent, I’ve  enjoyed your posts so far and agree with the one above. Indeed a criminal who committed a crime in the US cannot be prosecuted in Nigeria and an extradition is necessary for proper prosecution.

Renunciation of citizenship is however not a crime but is a process recognized internationally. Thus if a dual citizen of the USA/Israeli, committed a crime in Nigeria and escaped to Israel where he went through the legal renunciation process to renounce his USA  citizenship, I submit to you that this criminal will no longer qualify for extradition based on any agreement between Nigeria and the USA – assuming no such agreement exists between Nigeria and Israel.  If you renounce your citizenship of any country, that renunciation is recognized internationally, unlike committing a criminal act.

@pokur, indeed there is a process of renouncing your Nigerian citizenship in Nigeria.  That process does not preclude you from going to another country and doing a renunciation. Renunciation is recognized under international law.  BTW no vex if e be like say, I was hard on you in my first post[/quote]Each country has a process of renunciation of citizenship right. 

For example, the U. S. Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) stipulates that anyone wishing to renounce U. S. citizenship must do more than merely claim allegiance to another government. Americans who face prosecution in the United States or who owe back taxes, for example, cannot merely become naturalized citizens of a country that does not have an EXTRADITION agreement with the United States.

Under the terms of INA, anyone who wishes to renounce U. S. citizenship must appear in person before a U. S. consular or diplomatic official and sign an oath of renunciation. This must be done in a foreign country (usually it can be done at a local U. S. Embassy or consulate). Failure to follow these conditions will render the renunciation useless for all practical purposes.

If the Nigerian constitution does not recognize renunciations made/allegiance pledged in foreign courts under foreign constitutions, there would be no basis to "assume" what is not clearly stated in a written constitution.  The constitution operates in a "black or red" fashion, if it is not black, then it must be red, not assumed to be purple..



The black and red part of the constitution states::

28. (1) Subject to the other provisions of this section, a person shall forfeit forthwith his Nigerian citizenship if, not being a citizen of Nigeria by birth, he acquires or retains the citizenship or nationality of a country, other than Nigeria, of which he is not a citizen by birth.

the other part that deals with renunciation states:

Any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation.

(2) The President shall cause the declaration made under subsection (1) of this section to be registered and upon such registration, the person who made the declaration shall cease to be a citizen of Nigeria.

these are the only parts that deals with the way Nigeria recognizes renunciation of citizenship, it doesn't matter what the person has done in the US or Saudi Arabia!

whenever a girlfriend deliberately and apologetically says/does something disrespectful, it means it's time to whip her back in shape, if she can't be tamed, it means it's time to let go!

People should realize that relationships must not always lead to happily ever after. . . you must make her realize  that you wouldn't lose sleep for once nor miss your breakfast  if the relationship breaks up, you must let her know this in your actions.

I personally don't succumb to the idea that people should ever give away their lives and risk going through emotional traumas if a relationship breaks up.  Relationships are meant to "see" if "this will work". . .if it's not working, let the **** go!. . .good riddance i'd say!

Making mistakes when spelling out English words is totally forgiveable, a consistent, deliberate murder of the English language is not!

I donate my family on behalf of #20,000,000. Thank you

she’ll rather die than commit sucide,

Nigeria is our continent

It beggars belief that anyone at all, much less an individual several thousands consider an icon of some sort, could confidently make these statements.  I knew already at the age of two that Nigeria wasn't a continent, I'm surprised the continent's  first lady doesn't!

china and japan are the largest holders of US treasury bills and both countries can decide to sink the US economy by unpegging their currency from  the US dollar and looking for alternative markets to sell their goods to.  there is a real possibility that this could happen because the ongoing depreciation of the dollar is making it more and more unattractive to its main trading partners.

china has actually increased its trade with many african countries and therefore the chances of china deciding to dump the dollar once and for all are looking more and more likely once china does this other countries will follow suit and there will be a blind panic by almost every country with significant dollar holdings to rid themselves of them.

Which world are you living in?

If China dumps the dollar, then China is dead!. . .the concept of too big to fail applies. If you are owing a bank 2 million, then the bank can afford to muscle you around a bit, but if you are owing a bank 1.5 trillion dollars, the value of China's debt, you can be sure of a mutually assured destruction if your bank makes as much as a whimp!

The US lost its triple A rating a few months ago and yet US the US treasury Yield curve is still as upward sloping as ever, wonder why?  ---duh! because investors worldwide still see the US treasuries as a safe haven.

The US may be carrying huge deficits, no doubts, but the truth is millions and thousands of businesses have direct or indirect links with the United states economy.  If the US sneezes, the world catches cold!!!. . .if China sneezes, no one is bothered, we can simply buy our cheap goods and outsource our businesses to India!. . .If the US deliberately defaults on Chinese treasuries and restricts importation of Chinese goods, China will hurt, and badly too!


How much trade is China doing with "several" african countries?  compare this with the number of trades it's currently doing with the US?. .

Standing on a canteen table in down-town Tel Aviv, Israel's spymaster studied the men and women of Mossad.

In the few weeks since taking over Mossad, Meir Dagan knew he already commanded something his recent predecessors never managed. Respect.

Barely raising his voice he spoke.

"When I was fighting in Lebanon, I witnessed the aftermath of a family feud. The patriarch's head had been split open, his brain on the floor. Around him lay his wife and some of his children. All dead. Before I could do anything, one of the murderers scooped up a handful of brain and swallowed it. This is how you will all now operate. Otherwise someone will eat your brain."

His every word held them in thrall - even if they sent a shudder through some of his listeners, hardened as they were.

In the canteen were those who had killed many times already. Killing enemies who could not be brought to trial because they were hidden deep inside Israel's Arab neighbours.

Only Mossad could find and kill them. Rafi Eitan, the legendary former Operations Chief of Mossad told me when we sat together in his living room in a north Tel Aviv suburb:

"I always tried to kill when I could see the whites of a person's eyes. So I could see the fear. Smell it on his breath. Sometimes I used my hands. A knife, or a silenced gun. I never felt a moment's regret over a killing."

Meir Amit, when he had been director of Mossad, later insisted "we are like the official hangman or the doctor on Death Row who administers the lethal injection. Our actions are all endorsed by the State of Israel. When Mossad kills it is not breaking the law. It is fulfilling a sentence sanctioned by the prime minister of the day".

We spoke as he walked me through Mossad's own unique memorial in Tel Aviv to the dead - a concrete maze shaped in the form of a brain. Each name engraved on the concrete was of an agent who had been killed while trying to destroy Israel's enemies.

Some of those agents had one thing in common. Amit had sent them to their deaths.

"We did all we could to protect them. We trained them better than any other secret service. Sometimes, out on a mission, the dice is against you. But there will always be brave men ready to roll the dice," he said.


Dagan, his listeners in the canteen knew, was cast in the same mould. He would protect them with every means he knew - legal or illegal. He would allow them to use proscribed nerve toxins. Dum-dum bullets. Ways of killing that not even the Mafia, the former KGB or China's secret service use. But he would not hesitate to expose them to death - if it was for the greater good of Israel.

That was the deal those in the canteen had accepted when they were recruited. They, too, were ready to roll the dice.

Dagan, only the tenth man to head Mossad and bear the title of memune - "first among equals in Hebrew" - reminded his listeners sat on their plastic-form chairs what Meir Amit had once said. Then Dagan added:

"I am here to tell you those days are back. The dice is ready to roll."

Dagan jumped down from the table and walked out of the canteen in total silence. Only then did the applause start.

Shortly afterwards came the Mombasa massacre of eleven days ago. An explosive-laden land-cruiser drove into the reception area of the island's Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel.

Fifteen people died and 80 were seriously injured. Two shoulder-fired missiles nearly downed an Israeli passenger plane bringing tourists back to Tel Aviv from Kenya. Two hundred and seventy-five barely missed a Lockerbie-style death.

Meir Dagan immediately suspected it was the work of Osama bin-Laden's al-Quaeda and that the missiles had come from Iraq's arsenal.

But to suspect and prove would be the greatest challenge Mossad had faced since the War on Terrorism was launched by President Bush.

"Mossad would not be operating in its own backyard against suicide bombers. It would be working 1,500 miles away in a hostile environment. There would only be lip-service support from the authorities on the ground. Other intelligence services would be trawling through the evidence looking for clues that would fit their agendas. The CIA for a fix on bin-Laden. MI6 for a lead back to a threat to Britain. The same for the Germans," a senior intelligence man in Tel Aviv told me.

But for Meir Dagan it was time to roll the dice. Every person with proven field experience was on a plane to Kenya within an hour of the massacre.

They would sift and search the wreckage, using sophisticated equipment to do so. Detectors that could detect a sliver of metal deep inside a corpse - metal that would show where the explosives came from. And much else.

The team who would "roll the dice" travelled separately - as they always did. They had their own aircraft, their own pilots. They were the men and women of kidon, Mossad's ultra-secret assassination unit.

Their sole job in Mombasa was to find and kill the perpetrators of the massacre: those behind the three bombers who had gone to their deaths laughing. The kidon would kill the planners of the massacre after they had traced them to their lair - wherever it was. It might take months - as it had with avenging the murder of the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. But the kidon would find the men behind the Mombasa outrage and kill them.

They would use a small laboratory of poisons, sealed in vials until the moment came to strike. They had long and short-blade knives. Piano wire to strangle. Explosives no bigger than a throat lozenge capable fo blowing off a person's head. An arsenal of guns: short-barrel pistols, sniper rifles with a mile killing range.

The team chosen to go to Mombasa had local language skills. They could pass for Arabs or for Indian traders. Between them, they spoke Swahili and other dialects. They dressed the part; they looked the part. They also understood the closed language of their world.

They had learned how to memorise fibres - precise physical descriptions of people. Neviof , how to break into an office, a bedroom, or any other given target and plant listening bugs - or a bomb. Masluh, the skill of shaking off a tail.

The women had learned how to use their sex. To be ever ready to sleep with someone to obtain vital information. The link between intelligence work and sexual entrapment is as old as spying itself. Meir Amit had said when he was Mossad's chief:

"Sex is a woman's weapon. Pillow talk is not a problem for her. But it takes a special kind of courage. It is not just sleeping with an enemy. It is to obtain information."

The kidon team had passed the two years course at the Mossad training school at Henzelia, near Tel Aviv. They had been sent to a special camp in the Negev desert. There they had learned to kill.

"They are taught how to use the weapon appropriate for the target. Strangulation with a cheese-cutter if the victim is to be killed at night. A handgun fitted with a silencer. A nerve agent delivered by an aerosol or injection," explained Victor Ostrovsky, a former member of kidon.

Ostrovsky, who today lives in Arizona, will not say who he has killed. But he quit Mossad - saying he could not "stomach the way they did things".

My sources in Mossad say he is "long past his sell-by date. We do things differently now".And, by all accounts, more ruthlessly.

The man known to Mossad as "The Engineer" was a top Hamas bomb-maker. He lived on the West Bank, protected by gunmen.

One day he received a visitor - a distant cousin from Gaza. The young man spoke like so many from that hotbed of Islamic fanaticism.

Over mint tea, the two men spoke far into the evening. Finally, The Engineer invited his guest to stay over. The offer was accepted. The youth asked if he could use The Engineer's mobile phone to call his own family to say they should not worry.

He asked if he could make the call from outside the house to improve reception. The Engineer nodded. The call over, the two men fell asleep on the floor.

Next day, the youth left to return to Gaza. That morning, The Engineer received a call on the mobile. As he put the phone to his mouth and started to speak, his head was blown off.

The youth had been recruited by Mossad to plant a powerful explosive inside the phone. The detonation signal had come from a kidon half a mile away.

No one had seen him arrive. No one saw him go.

Over the past years, Mossad have killed scores of Israel's enemies by such methods.

"We try to never use the same method twice. Our technicians spend all their time devising new ways to kill," a Mossad source told me last week.

Their roll-call of Mission Successful includes; Fathi Shkaki, the leader of Islamic Jihad, and Gerald Bull, the rogue Canadian investor of Saddam's supergun.

The usual composition of a hit team is four. One is the "target locator". His task is to keep tabs on the victim's movements. Another is the "transporter", to get the team safely away from the killing area.

The remaining two men perform the execution. In the case of Gerald Bull they knocked on his front door late in the evening. The ballistic expert had just moved in. He had been assured he was safe by his Iraqi minders. But they had been lured away by some of the kidon back-up team.

These are known as sayanim - the Hebrew word for helpers. Throughout the world there are tens of thousands. Each has been carefully recruited to provide the kind of help that the kidon unit required to kill Bull.

The assassination was simple. Both kidon wore FedEx courier uniforms. One carried a package. The other knocked on the door. When Bull opened it, the package was thrust at him. As he stepped back he was shot - once in the forehead and once in the throat. He flew backwards into the hall. The package was retrieved, the door closed behind the dead Bull. Both men calmly walked away to where the "transporter" was waiting. In hours, the team was back in Tel Aviv.

Preparation for an assassination can take weeks, even months. The hit team, once selected, is moved to a Mossad safe house, one of many in Israel.

Eli Cohen, a former Mossad agent, told me that "a safe house looks like it was furnished from a car boot sale".

It was in one such safe house that the plan to assassinate Saddam Hussein was prepared.

It was elaborate even by Mossad standards. It revolved around killing Saddam during a visit to one of his mistresses.

Mossad agents in Baghdad had discovered that the woman, the widow of a serving Iraqi officer who had died mysteriously, would be driven from the palace to keep a tryst with Saddam in a desert villa outside the city.

Heavily guarded, the villa would be a hard target to hit.

But Mossad believed there was a window of opportunity between the time Saddam would land in his helicopter near the villa and enter its well-protected compound.

The plan to kill Saddam has long been on Mossad's agenda. But previous attempts had failed due to Saddam's obsession with changing his movements at the last moment.

Mossad believed he would not do so this time.

"The woman is irresistible," said a report from one of its Baghdad undercover agents.

Mossad had scouted an air corridor through which it believed a kidon could be flown in below Iraqi radar.

A final rehearsal was held in the Negev desert. Israeli commandos doubled as Saddam and his bodyguards - a party of five.

As they landed close to a replica of the villa, the kidon were in position. They were equipped with specially adapted shoulder-firing missiles. But their weapons were to only fire blanks for the rehearsal.

In a tragic mistake, one of the missiles had been replaced with a live one. It killed the make-believe Saddam and his bodyguards.

The operation was cancelled.

But last week Meir Dagan was said to be considering adapting it to once more try and kill Saddam.

After eleven days investigation, his teams in Mombasa confirmed the massacre had all the hallmarks of being an Iraqi-sponsored act carried out by al-Quaeda.

How and when Mossad will strike against Saddam is, understandably, a closely guarded secret.

But an intelligence sources suggested to me that a successful assassination of Saddam could see the looming threat of war recede.

"With Saddam out of the way there is no reason to invade Iraq. The people themselves will rise," said the source.

Dagan, the Mossad chief who could possible achieve that was born on a train between Russia and Poland. He speaks several languages. He is an action man, working 18 hour days. His private life is simple: he eschews the trappings of power that goes with the job of running MI6 or the CIA. His salary is a fraction of what their directors get. Three months into the job, he is adored by his staff.

In the past years, Mossad has experienced many publicised failures, a loss of morale and, worst of all, growing public criticism among its own people.

All that Meir Dagan is determined to change.

In his open neck shirt and chain store pants and sneakers, Dagan is no James Bond. The only spy fiction he is known to read is John Le Carre - because, he has told friends, he can at least empathise with its hero, Smiley.

Meir Dagan is also an avid reader of history of other intelligence services. It is said he knows more about the CIA and MI6 than many of its current employees.

He constantly reminds his staff that action cannot wait for certainty. That motive and deception are at the centre of their endeavours. That they must create situations which seek to draw fact out of darkness. For him the art of informed conjecture is an essential weapon.

Since Mombasa, Dagan has virtually worked and slept in his office. Its windows look eastwards to the Judean Hills. Beyond are the tribal badlands of Pakistan - where Dagan is convinced Osama bin-Laden is hiding - and the desert of Iraq through which Dagan believes Saddam will try and escape if war starts. The Mossad chief will be waiting.

Meantime, he is preoccupied with the latest news from Mombasa - and all those points east where his kidon team are tracking the planners of the outrage.

Some have gone to the Philippines. Others to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Mossad's scientists and pathologists, as well as field agents, katsas, have combed and bagged the clues from the Paradise hotel disaster area.

Every day an El Al plane has flown northwards to Israel with the evidence despite behind-the-scene protests by the Kenyan intelligence service.

Mossad agents in Nigeria have provided important details on al-Quaeda in that country. Katsas in South Africa have joined colleagues in Mombasa. From Rome, Malta and Cyprus, other Mossad agents sped down through Africa into the country's fierce heat.

Dagan's men are polite to the counter-intelligence officers from the CIA, MI6 and European services.
"But these are Israelis who are dead or injured. This is Mossad's job. And everybody had better remember that," said one Mossad source.

Mossad has made no friends on the ground. They rarely do. That is their style: go it alone. They believe they know more than anyone else in fighting terrorism. And they may be right.

In Tel Aviv, having done all he could for the moment, Meir Dagan waits.

The 57 years-old, battle-hardened hero of past wars in Lebanon, in all those places in the Middle East where the alleys have no names, has earned his reputation as a no-holds barred leader. In those days, with a handgun in his pocket and his dog at his heel, he had led from the front. Twice he had been wounded, so that nowadays he sometimes uses a walking stick. He dislikes doing so. He detests any sign of weakness in himself or in others.

Dagan is a blunt man, proud and imperious and prepared to stand on his record. He crushed the first Intifada in Gaza in 1971. Two years later he fought in the Yom Kippur War.

For him, Mossad, and ultimately Israel, the Mombasa massacre is a test - to show that Mossad is back on centre stage with a vengeance.

No other intelligence service has a better history of operations in Central Africa. In the 1960s Mossad drove out the vaunted Chinese Secret Intelligence Service. It stopped Cuba's Fidel Castro exporting his revolution into Africa. It beat the KGB at its own plans to turn the Congo into its playground. It was a dirty and deadly war.

A terrorist group ambushed a Mossad katsa in the Congo and fed him to the crocodiles. They filmed his last, threshing moments in the water - and sent the footage to the local Mossad station chief. He retaliated by placing a two-pound bomb under the toilet seat of the terrorist leader. It blew the villa apart. Twelve terrorists died.

Mossad built up a relationship with BOSS, the security service of the South African apartheid government. It sent a team to Pretoria to teach BOSS the art of sophisticated methods of interrogation. Israeli instructors showed them the black art of sleep deprivation, hooding, forcing a suspect to stand facing a wall for long hours, and mental tortures such as mock tortures.

"The one certainty is that if the Mombasa killers are caught Mossad won't bother with mock executions," said a Mossad source.
The methods Mossad uses are often outside the law. They have a unit that specialises in burglary - using far more sophisticated means than those employed by the infamous Watergate burglars. Their ineptitude led to the downfall of President Nixon.

They have a special team of scientists working at the Institute for Biological Research in Tel Aviv. They prepare the deadly toxins for the kidon.

Where other intelligence agencies no longer allow their agents to kill, kidon have no such restraint. They remain fully licensed to assassinate in the name of Israel once they have routinely convinced the incumbent prime minister of the need to do so.

Ariel Sharon needs little convincing.

Mossad's assassins routinely witness some of Israel's leading forensic pathologists at work so as to better understand how to make an assassination look like an accident.

They learn how a pinprick or small blemish left on a victim's skin can be a give away. They are shown how to ensure against this.

It makes them probably the most sophisticated lawfully-approved killers in the world.

This morning (Sunday) Meir Dagan, as he has done every day since the Mombasa attack, will awaken from a combat veteran's light sleep. This squat, barrel-chested man will take his customary cold water shower and eat his daily breakfast of natural yogurt, toast spread with honey washed down with several cups of strong black coffee.

Next he will study the latest reports from not only East Africa - but from all those areas where his team of hunters have now moved.

After briefing the prime minister on the scrambler phone that links Dagan to Ariel Sharon, the memune may spend an hour at an easel in the corner of his office - touching up one of the watercolour paintings which are the only known passion in his life.

But like everything else about him, they will remain under lock and key. Just as with his plan to assassinate Saddam Hussein, the first the world will know, if Mossad is successful, will be after it has happened.

http://www.rense.com/general32/ruth.htm

kasiem:
sorry, are u saying that someone can perpetrate crime in a country and then be free if he absconds that country? Why is it that USA traced bin laden to pakistan? Again, why is it that nigeria wanted to trace former USA vp to his country during the halliburton scandal?

In theory, Yes!

If you've killed someone in the US and you've managed to flee back into your country, the Nigerian government will not prosecute you based on a crime committed in the US.  You ve simply broken a law in the US, not in Nigeria!  What the US government will likely do in this case, is to request for the Nigerian government to extradite you based on existing bilateral agreements. It's entirely up to the Nigerian government to choose whether or not to accede to this request.

[quote author=ndu_chucks link=topic=807029.msg9596172#msg9596172 date=1321806175]Stop being unnecessarily emotional.  The truth of tha matter is, you swear under oath in the presence of a judge that you entirely renounce and abjure all allegiances  to Nigeria, as a condition for your U.S. naturalization.  This kind of oath is not required in many other countries. If and when the Nigerian supreme court gets a chance to rule on a case such as the Akala's, many may find out that they lost their Nigerian citizenship long ago.

Only a joker or someone in severe denial will believe that a person who entirely renounces and abjures all allegiances  to Nigeria under oath, before a judge, has not surrendered his/her Nigerian citizenship.  We await the supreme court.[/quote]The Nigerian law is not subjected to American laws, neither does it make provisions for oaths made under foreign constitutions.  If a Nigerian citizen renounces his citizenship, under the Nigerian constitution, in a Nigerian court, approved by a Tribunal or a sitting Judge, only then does he cease to be a Nigerian citizen.

American laws/constitution/oaths are powerless outside America.  A convict in America for instance will have a criminal record ---in America, Once he crosses over the shores into his home country, his records will remain intact!

I believe what the clause will likely imply is that, as long as you take up an American citizenship and you remain in America, your allegiance will be to America and America alone!

Princek12:
Women do not know what they are moved by--all they know is that they are moved by something. One day it could be words; on another day, looks; and on some days, money. Sometimes they are moved by what they can't have. Women are the most confused out of the two sexes, and you will confuse yourself trying to find out what moves women. As a rule of thumb, and when in doubt, we all know that money moves women. That is probably as it simple as it gets.

Even if, for argument sake, looks do move women, there are several holistic factors that make you look the way you are to women. For instance, a guy may be walking on the side of the road or waiting on a BRT bus and look ugly to a woman. Mysteriously, that same guy, wearing the same outfit and looking exactly the same way, may look attractive to that same lady if that same guy was on stage performing in a concert or in a position of authority. Now, how do you explain that? Welcome to the enigma of how women think.

nuff said!