Some of this is true, some of this is PR worthy of a Saigon press briefing...
General John Nicholson, the commander of U.S forces in Afghanistan has said that the Taliban insurgents have failed to achieve their military targets in Afghanistan, referring to offensives on some strategic locations across the nation over the past six months.
He said that the Afghan and foreign forces in Afghanistan should take advantage of the upcoming winter season for regaining those areas under Taliban control.
Nicholson made the remarks during a visit to Ghazni province where he was accompanied by the Afghan Minister of Defense General Abdullah Habibi, Minister of Interior Taj Mohammad Jahed and head of the Afghan intelligence agency-National Directorate of Security (NDS) - Masoom Stanekzai.
"In those six months the Taliban have not accomplished any of their objectives, they tried to take Kunduz three times, they have tried to take Lashkargah twice, they tried to take Trinkot and Farah, they briefly took over Janikhail, but we quickly took it back," said Nicholson.
"We appreciate our security forces who firmly foiled the expansion of Taliban operations, they (Taliban) wanted to extend their infiltration in Paktia and Ghazni, but failed," said Defense Minister Abdullah Habibi.
Meanwhile, Ghazni police Aminullah Amarkhail said that at least half of the Taliban leadership is from Ghazni, and as such the group strives to worsen the security situation in the province.
"Taliban in the first step wanted to takeover Gero district, but Taliban failed to reach their objective," said Mohammad Sharif Yaftali, the commander of 302 Thunder Armyu Corps.
"Nearly half of the Taliban leadership belongs to Ghazni, therefore the group wants to damage security in Ghazni," siaid Aminullah Amarkhail, Ghazni police chief.
In addition, security officials have said that 620 insurgents were killed and more than 300 others were wounded during battles with security forces over the past few months which was a major blow to Taliban's military power.
Ghazni has eighteen districts. The security situation has been fragile in at least four districts in the province including Gero, Andar and Gelan districts.
A major part of the problem is that the people of Kunduz are waiting for the government to protect them...
MPS and members of Kunduz provincial council have said that Taliban insurgents continue to maintain a grip on suburbs in Kunduz city and that another offensive on the city is likely by the militants.
The lawmakers argued that a move to terminate military operations would give the Taliban a chance to regroup and attack the city once again.
Last year the Taliban managed to seize control of Kunduz city for a few days, a takeover that marked an important gain for the group since it was toppled from the power in 2001.
However the Taliban once again launched an offensive on the city earlier in September and took control in some parts of the city.
The onslaught sparked a major outcry among the Afghan political elite and public with many terming poor war leadership as the main reason for the failure to secure the strategic town.
After ten days of fierce fighting, the security forces repelled the group, but the battles left scores of civilians dead and hundreds others wounded while hundreds of families fled.
"The operations must be planned in a very systematic way. There is a need for nighttime operations, offensive operations and siege operations to bring the entire area in Kunduz under control, if we thoroughly asses the geography of Kunduz, we can easily take control of the entire Kunduz," said Mohammad Ayoub Salangi, ex-deputy minister of interior.
"The area which you see belongs to the department of agriculture, on the backside, the opponents can move around easily, all residential homes in the area are under threat," said a member of Kunduz provincial council Amruddin Wali.
Kunduz has nine districts with three of them out of government's control. Taliban control the majority of these three districts.
Besides Kunduz city, the security situation in Kunduz-Baghlan and Kunduz-Khanabad and Takhar highway is also critical.
"The question is that the clearance operations were terminated. Why is time being given to the Taliban to make new arrangements and mobilize?" asked lawmaker Fatima Aziz.
"The decision and direction from the center is that there should not be any opponent in Kunduz and all areas need to be cleared," said Mohammad Masoom Safai, head of Kunduz security department.
Residents and military analysts argue that the Taliban could attack Kunduz in the spring again unless the government takes steps to address the security problems.
[An Nahar] A prominent Sudanese rebel group said on Friday it was suspending peace talks with Khartoum after a rights group accused government forces of using chemical weapons against civilians in war-torn Darfur.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement - North, which is fighting government troops in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, this summer signed a roadmap brokered by African mediators to end conflict in the two states.
But on Friday the SPLM-N said it would suspend talks with Khartoum after Amnesia Amnesty International accused government forces of unleashing chemical weapons on civilians in Darfur state this year, killing up to 250 people.
Urging an investigation into the suspected attacks, the rebel group in a statement announced an "immediate suspension of political engagement with the Sudan government on all political matters, including national dialogue and peace negotiations."
It said Amnesty's report showed a "new dimension to the genocidal war in Sudan, and as such, the people of Sudan, the regional and the international community should take it seriously."
The signing of the roadmap by SPLM-N along with two other rebel groups in August had raised hopes for a permanent ceasefire to be negotiated and humanitarian aid to be delivered in Sudan's three conflict areas.
While SPLM-N is fighting in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, two other rebel groups -- the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army faction headed by Minni Minnawi -- are fighting government forces in Darfur.
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10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Its economy depends on Soddy Arabia, but its single-minded campaign against Islamic State pushes Egypt closer to Russia, Assad and Iran.
Egypt has made fighting Islamic holy warriors its overriding foreign policy objective, a decision that has brought it closer to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... , Russia and Iran, in turn antagonizing its chief financial backer, Soddy Arabia
Continued on Page 49
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... on Thursday urged Yemen’s Houthis to respect a ceasefire and said Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... had a right to be free from rocket attacks like one that he said killed two Saudi civilians.
Speaking after he met Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, Kerry said the two had discussed ways to try to "fix" the US Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, known as JASTA, which grants an exception to the legal principle of sovereign immunity in cases of terrorism on US soil, clearing the way for lawsuits seeking damages from the Saudi government.
Violations
It was earlier reported that Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... militias have committed several ceasefire violations less than a day after it was implemented, targeting civilians. Rights activists based in Yemen's southwestern city of Taiz confirmed to Al Arabiya English, Houthi militias carried out heavy shelling on civilians in the city on Thursday night.
"Moments after the truce Houthi-Saleh militias started shelling Taiz heavily in different areas in eastern and western parts of the city," Mohammed al-Rumim told Al Arabiya English, adding that two civilians were maimed south of the city below Qahira castle.
Sources also confirmed that gunnies hit the city of Marib with ballistic missiles, some of which were intercepted by coalition forces. Coalition forces recorded at least 24 violations to the truce since it began on Thursday. At least 17 of those violations were missile rocket attacks or gun shots that were fired from inside Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... into the Saudi border city of Najran while seven hit Jazan.
A ceasefire took effect in war-ravaged Yemen late on Wednesday under a United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... plan. The UN special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, announced that the cessation of hostilities would take effect "at 23:59 Yemen time (2059 GMT) on 19 October 2016, for an initial period of 72 hours, subject to renewal".
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Around 900 violations have been recorded during Yemen's UN-brokered truce by Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... militias and forces loyal to ousted President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... during the past 24 hours, the coalition said Friday.
The coalition said Houthi rebels and their allies had breached the truce since it took effect at midnight Wednesday. It said the ceasefire violations increased dramatically during the past 24 hours.
"The Coalition Forces stressed that the response to the sources of fire was made in accordance with the approved rules of engagement," read a statement on Saudi Press Agency.
"The Coalition Forces also stressed their commitment to the policy of self-restraint towards these violations."
Violations were committed along the Saudi and Yemeni borders. Rockets and projectiles were fired and sniper weapons were used by the Houthis at Jazan and Najran, it added.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Major General Ahmed Assiri said coalition artillery and aircraft retaliated.
He told Al Arabiya’s sister al-Hadath channel that the Lions of Islam have not stopped the firing since the start of the truce.
"We will respond to each violation. We will be reactive," he said, in statements carried by AFP. "It's so easy. If they stop, we will not fire a bullet."
In one attack, a man and his daughter were maimed in the kingdom's Jazan region, according to Saudi civil defense authorities.
Furthermore, Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi stressed on the legitimate authority's commitment to the truce, despite ongoing attacks by Houthi militias.
During his meeting with UN Special Envoy for Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, Hadi highlighted his keenness to achieve peace, knowing that the war will always lead to the dialogue table.
"We ordered our various field commanders to abide by the truce, despite the registered violations of the rebels in various regions and cities, including Taiz," he said.
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10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Oman has strongly denied No, no! Certainly not! claims that arms were being smuggled through its long border with Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... to Shiite Houthis, saying traffickers were using unmonitored areas of the war-torn nation's coast.
"This is baseless," said the sultanate's foreign ministry in a statement on its website late Thursday. "There are no weapons passing through the sultanate's territory" to Yemen.
The denial came in response to media reports of arms being smuggled through Oman.
Oman, one of the few Arab states which have good relations with Iran, a backer of the Huthis, has used its links to mediate peace talks between the hard boyz and Yemen's U.N.-recognized government.
The foreign ministry said the issue of arms smuggling "has been proven false after being discussed with member states of the (pro-government) Arab coalition, the United States and the United Kingdom."
"Yemeni shores that are close to Oman's coast are not subjected to the control of any government authority in Yemen. Therefore, these shores are open to arms smugglers," it added.
Oman is the only Arab nation in the Gulf that has remained outside the Saudi-led coalition which in March 2015 launched a military campaign against the rebels in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
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[Dhaka Tribune] RAB has said it is looking at evidence pointing to the involvement of New Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (New JMB) in the killing of Italian citizen Tavella Cesare in Gulshan last year.
RAB Director General Benazir Ahmed held a press briefing at BSCIC Bhaban in Kawranbazar on Friday, informing that the paramilitary force has identified the dead terrorist Abdur Rahman as New JMB chief Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch has submitted charges to a Dhaka court in the Tavella murder case accusing BNP Dhaka City Joint Convener MA Qayum, his brother MA Matin and several other men. It did not find terrorist group’s involvement in the crime.
Benazir said documents recovered at Abdur Rahman’s den in Ashulia on October 8 suggest that the group may have been involved in the murder.
However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... RAB was still investigating the matter.
Cesare Tavella, an aid worker and veterinary surgeon, was rubbed out on Road 90, Gulshan 2 in September last year. He had been living alone in Dhaka and worked on food security issues for a Dutch aid organization.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... issued another extradition warrant Thursday for an Iranian ex-foreign minister over the deadly bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994, the government said. Investigating Judge Rodolfo Canicoba asked Baghdad to extradite Ali Akbar Velayati, who is on the Interpol wanted list, since he is currently on Iraqi soil.
He asked Iraq to arrest Velayati "in order to extradite him, after learning via the international press that the accused travelled to Baghdad" on Wednesday, the Argentine justice ministry said in a statement. In July Argentina issued a similar warrant to Singapore and Malaysia after learning Velayati was on a lecture tour to those countries.
Argentine Sherlocks accuse Velayati and four other Iranian former officials, including ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ... the fourth President of Iran. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts until he was eased out in 2011 He continues, for the moment, as Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council. In 2005 he ran for a third term as president, ultimately losing to rival Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was in Khamenei's graces back then. In 1980 Rafsanjani survived an assassination attempt, during which he was seriously injured. He has been described as a centrist and a pragmatic conservative without all that much reason. He is currently being eased out of any position of actual influence or power and may be dead by the end of 2012... , of orchestrating the July 18, 1994 boom-mobileing at the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association in Buenos Aires. The Iranians allegedly ordered the Lebanese holy warrior group Hezbollah to carry out the bombing, the deadliest terror attack in the South American country’s history.
Iran, which denies involvement, has repeatedly rejected Argentine demands for the accused to testify. Velayati rejected the accusations as a lie in an interview last year with Argentine television channel C5N. The lead prosecutor in the case, Alberto Nisman, was found dead last year in mysterious circumstances four days after accusing then-president Cristina Kirchner of conspiring with Iran to shield suspects from prosecution.
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10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Velayati has escaped the law for now some twenty years. He first attracted attention in the early nineteen nineties when he became responsible for liaison with the Sunni-dominated Popular Arab and Islamic Conference, (the 'Terrorist Internationale'), located in the Sudan. His present "lecture tour" is almost certainly in conjunction with work for Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
Because it's an urban city-state that abuts a critical maritime shipping lane, located next to Malaysia and a short air flight from Indonesia and Thailand.
[An Nahar] A Norwegian court on Friday confirmed that conditions have been met to extradite a controversial Iraqi Kurdish holy man to Italia to face terrorism-related charges.
In June, the Oslo District Court had authorized the extradition of the 60-year-old Mullah Krekar, the religious leader of a Kurdish network suspected to be linked to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group.
A refugee in Norway since 1991 but not a citizen, Krekar is accused by Italia of leading the Rawti Shax, a network that has planned to carry out attacks in the West.
Krekar, whose real name is Najmuddin Ahmad Faraj, had appealed the case, which was rejected on Friday by the Oslo appeals court that authorized the extradition of another suspect in the case, Kamil Jalal Fatah.
Krekar's lawyer, Brynjar Meling, told AFP that his client was now going to the Supreme Court.
Meling said his client had merely made an attempt to form a political party in Iraqi Kurdistan. "This has nothing to do with terrorism," he told TV2.
The lawyer has repeatedly accused Norway of using the case as an excuse to get rid of a cumbersome Krekar, who cannot be deported to his country.
Krekar has twice been sentenced to prison in Norway because of threats and inciting violent behavior.
He has been at risk of deportation since 2003 after Norwegian authorities ordered him to be expelled as a threat to national security.
While courts have upheld the ruling, Norwegian law bars him from being deported to Iraq, where he risks the death penalty.
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10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Hundreds of police have taken to the streets of Gay Paree for a third night of demonstrations calling for reinforcements and stiffer penalties following a string of attacks on officers.
Protests also took place in other French cities on Thursday night despite the government's efforts to contain growing anger among police as the issue of safety of law enforcement officers enters the presidential race.
Around 500 officers, most dressed in civilian clothes and some with their faces partly covered, protested near the Eiffel Tower.
"Police officers need recognition," Prime Minister Manuel Valls said earlier Thursday.
"They are loved by the French people, and not only since Charlie," he added, referring to an outpouring of sympathy for police following the attack last year on the Charlie Hebdo ...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe... magazine.
The execution-style killing of a police officer during the assault by two bully boyz became one of the emblematic images of the tragedy, the first in a string of Islamist-inspired attacks that have shocked La Belle France.
"I call for calm and peace and I say to the coppers of La Belle France that they can count on my support, my solidarity, my understanding and my commitment," Valls said.
With security at its highest possible level, officers have been up in arms over attacks on police during patrols in tough suburbs and during street demonstrations.
On October 8, a 28-year-old officer suffered serious burns when he was attacked with a petrol bomb on the outskirts of the capital. He remains in a coma.
Police unions, which have already met with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, are demanding a meeting with President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... and calling for fixed minimum sentences for attacks on the police.
Hollande said early Friday that he planned to meet with police union leaders at the start of next week.
Under French law, police may protest only when off duty, out of uniform and provided they leave their service weapons and vehicles behind.
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The government has decided to recruit 5,000 additional village guards in a bid to combat the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) east and southeast Anatolia, daily Habertürk has reported. At a meeting at the presidential palace in the capital Ankara on Oct. 20, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu told attendees of a meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and 49 NGO representatives and opinion leaders from the region.
In line with the plans, the newly recruited personnel will officially be named “security guards” rather than “permanent guards” or “village guards.”
Ankara has also decided not to take from the new guards a “weapon fee,” worth 4,000 Turkish Liras, which was paid to the state once every five years.
Personnel benefits and social rights of village guards will also be improved, with their retirement age being reduced to 40 or 45, down from the current age of 55. Relatives of retired village guards will also be tenured, according to the new measures.
Retirement at 40 or 45 -- do they think they're California teachers?
Earlier, the gendarmerie general command had decided on Sept. 4 to recruit 1,000 extra village guards under 35 years old as specialist sergeants under the authority of the military. According to the decision, a special team to conduct operations against PKK militants in the east and southeast would be formed with existing village guards.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Yippy's Brownshirts
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/22/2016 13:09 Comments ||
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#3
The hicks in the sticks are reliable
(in any case, poor and more buyable),
Read faces, not novels,
Are aces with shovels...
Those yokels are oh-so-deniable.
[DAWN] MUZAFFARABAD: United Jihad Council (UJC) chairman Syed Salahuddin ...the aging, morbidly obese chief of Hizbul Mujaheddin and the titular head of the United Jihad Council in idyllic Kashmire. Originally owned body and theoretical soul by Jamaat-e-Islami he and his organization are currently controlled by Pakistain's ISI. Salahuddin's hobbies include crocheting doilies shaped like the Taj Mahal, combing his enormous beard, and eating.... on Thursday asked Pakistain to extend "military support" to Kashmiri freedom fighters to help them accomplish their long-cherished goal of freedom from India.
"The festering (Kashmire) issue is not going to resolve through talks or resolutions... Pakistain should militarily support Kashmiris by providing resources to the mujahideen," he said at a presser here.
"If the mujahideen get military support, not only Kashmire will clinch freedom but the map of the subcontinent will also undergo a change," he added.
He, however, declined to elaborate the kind of military support required by the freedom fighters.
"India invaded and Indian Kashmiree at the strength of its military might and military occupation can hardly be brought to end through politics or diplomacy," he maintained.
The UJC chief said that since the killing of Burhan Wani, the mass movement in Kashmire had been on the rise.
Over the past 105 days, the Indian government exercised each and every measure to suppress the unarmed freedom-seeking people, but, ironically, neither did the international community appeared upset over the atrocities nor the world powers tried to rein in the oppressor.
"When the world is paying no heed to us, the only option left with us is the armed struggle," he said.
Along with brutal killings, the India government had also resorted to economic terrorism in Kashmire in a bid to pressure Kashmiris into surrendering their legitimate struggle, he said.
According to him, Indian intelligence agencies and their "touts" were trying to create disunity among the Hurriyat leadership as well as Kashmiri public. He was of the view that the base camp of the freedom movement -- a reference to Azad Kashmire -- should not only send a strong message of solidarity across the divide, but also adopt a forceful, rather aggressive, role in this regard.
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10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Friday denied the Indian claim that Pak forces suffered casualties in firing across the Line of Control (LoC) in the Shakargarh sector.
"Indian claim of hitting or killing any Pak soldier or Ranger with firing at anytime today at LoC is absolutely false," said the statement released from the armed forces media wing.
Earlier today, India's Border Security Force (BSF) claimed they rubbed out seven Pak soldiers in retaliation to a ceasefire violation on the disputed Kashmire border.
BSF alleged Pakistain Rangers targeted Indian positions with sniper fire early Friday, following a failed attempt Curses! Foiled again! by Lions of Islam overnight to enter the Indian side in Hira Nagar near the main city of Jammu in India-held Kashmire.
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[An Nahar] Amnesia Amnesty International Friday protested a "reprehensible" ruling by Pakistain's Supreme Court that said schizophrenia is "not a permanent mental disorder", in a decision that paves the way for execution of a mentally ill man.
Lawyers and rights groups say convicted murderer Imdad Ali, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia while in prison in 2012, cannot be executed as he cannot understand his crime and punishment.
However in a detailed judgment issued Thursday the Supreme Court said schizophrenia was an "imbalance," exacerbated by stress, that could be treated by drugs.
Therefore it was a "recoverable disease" and not a mental disorder, according to the ruling.
As such, it could not be used to delay Ali's death sentence, which now could go ahead as early as next week.
Rights groups slammed the ruling, with Amnesty calling it "a deeply worrying development."
"It is utterly reprehensible if this Supreme Court judgment leads to the execution of Imdad Ali, who has been clearly diagnosed as mentally ill," said Champa Patel, Amnesty's South Asia program director, in a statement.
International laws regarding mental disability are "important safeguards", she added.
Maya Foa, a director of Reprieve, called the ruling "outrageous" and said it flies in the face of accepted medical knowledge -- including in Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Pakistan itself is schizophrenic
Posted by: John Frum ||
10/22/2016 10:09 Comments ||
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Ankara and Baghdad have agreed in principle over the former’s much-debated involvement in a military operation to retake Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said Oct. 21, private broadcaster CNN Türk has reported.
Carter said the details of Ankara’s possible role in the operation had not been shaped yet as they were also awaiting confirmation from Baghdad.
"That will have to obviously be something that the Iraqi government will need to agree to and I think there's agreement there in principle," Carter told reporters travelling with him in Turkey, according to Reuters.
"But now we're down to the practicalities of that ... and that's what we're working through," he said.
Turkey and the United States have reached an agreement in which Turkish warplanes will join an ongoing operation to capture Mosul, Turkey’s Prime Minister, Binali Yıldırım, said on Oct. 18, adding that Turkey’s F-16 Fighting Falcons would be called for duty by the Kuwait-based command center if required.
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#1
ERDOGAN: "Mosul is ours, I'm giving a history lesson"
https://twitter.com/cumhuriyetgzt/status/789810216326094848 …
[An Nahar] Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group fighters may be preparing to use civilians as human shields, or simply kill them, rather than let them be liberated in an Iraqi offensive to retake djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , the U.N. said Friday.
Elite Iraqi troops have been closing in on Mosul, the last jihadist bastion in Iraq, in a long-anticipated offensive.
United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said his office had reports that civilians were being held close to IS fighter positions in Mosul, possibly as a buffer against advancing Iraqi forces.
"There is a grave danger that ISIS fighters will not only use such vulnerable people as human shields but may opt to kill them rather than see them liberated," Zeid said in a statement, using another acronym for IS.
Separately, Zeid said his office had reports that the jihadists forced an estimated 200 families to walk from the nearby Samalia village to Mosul last week.
Another 350 families were forced to Mosul from Najafia, according to the rights office.
Those forced displacements were consistent with IS' "apparent policy of preventing civilians from escaping to areas controlled by the Iraqi security forces," Zeid added.
The U.N. has voiced fears that a million people still trapped inside Mosul could be forced to flee the fighting, sparking a humanitarian emergency.
Speaking to news hounds in Geneva by phone, the U.N.'s humanitarian chief in Baghdad, Lise Grande, said the "working scenario" foresees 200,000 people fleeing Mosul, but she cautioned that the numbers could be higher depending on how the military campaign develops.
So far, just 3,900 people have been displaced from the northern city, U.N. refugee agency front man Adrian Edwards said.
He added that UNHCR was working to build up camps and emergency settlements in the area, as humanitarian agencies try to expand their capacity to help civilians as the fighting intensifies.
Aside from caring for those who manage to flee, Zeid stressed that Iraqi military planning for the U.S.-backed offensive needs to prioritize civilian protection, especially with some of the combat expected to take place in confined urban settings.
"We know ISIS has no regard for human life, which is why it is incumbent upon the Iraqi government to do its utmost to protect civilians," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
UN, nothing can stay hidden from their penetrating intellects.
#3
But we hear almost every evening on the TV news about how those bad Russians and Syrians are bombing those poor civilians in Aleppo. Would that be happening if the US government backed rebels in Aleppo were not using human shields? Except for the actors, exactly what is different between Aleppo and Mosul?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/22/2016 12:11 Comments ||
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#6
I read the headline and wondered "is that a warning or are they granting permission"?
Posted by: Bov Flimbers ||
10/22/2016 15:07 Comments ||
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#7
"Mother, may I...?" we asked the UN.
She smirked as she whipped out a pen.
We went for our checkbook.
She winked. "What the heck...
Do come back when you have some more yen!"
[Iraq Sun] TEL AVIV, Israel - A deal negotiated in secret will see the Israel Navy take delivery of 3 nuclear-enabled submarines over the next decade.
Germany is to provide the Dolphin-class submarines as a result of secret negotiations which have spanned the last few months.
Israel will pay a substantially discounted price of $1.3 billion for the three submarines.
The deal is expected to be finalised in early November.
According to The Jerusalem Post, quoting foreign reports, the israel navy’s Dolphins 'provide Israel with nuclear second-strike capabilities, as they can travel far from Israel’s territorial waters and are reportedly able to carry long-range cruise missiles tipped with nuclear warheads.'
Israel, which orchestrated the drive against Iran becoming a nuclear power, and has bombed emerging nuclear facilities in Iraq and Syria, has itself been developing nuclear weapons since the 1950s. The Dimona nuclear plant in the Negev desert had its origins in 1954, just six years after the birth of Israel. The late Shimon Peres as Director General of the Israeli Defense Ministry was responsible for the development of the facility. A pact with La Belle France was secretly negotiated and hundreds of French scientists were brought in to develop the facility, in absolute secrecy.
To offset the concerns of satellite surveilance, the Jewish state publicly touted the facility as a business park or textile factory. When U.S. President John Kennedy aroused suspicions in 1963, Israel maintained its denials. Kennedy applied so much pressure, David Ben-Gurion resigned as prime minister of Israel just months before Kennedy was assassinated. Some researchers implicate the Israeli inteligence agency Mossad among those considered responsible for the liquidation.
Peres himself was asked point blank by Kennedy if Israel was building a nuclear facility. Summoned to the Oval Room in the White House on a 1963 visit to Washington, the young Peres was asked in his words, '30 rapid-fire questions,' before Kennedy asked: "Are you building a nuclear option?" Peres said he changed the subject.
To this day Israel has neither confirmed or denied publicly it has a nuclear facility. The only official statement on Dimona was made on December 21 1960 when Ben-Gurion, in response to an aricle in Time magazine which spawned a flurry of media coverage, announced to the Knesset his government was building "a 24 megawatt reactor which will serve the needs of industry, agriculture, health, and science," and that it "is designed exclusively for peaceful purposes."
The Israel Navy until last year had a fleet of four Dolphin-class submarines operating out of its naval base at Haifa. A fifth submarine ariived in late December last year after which it was expected to be fitted with Iraeli-built systems which took several months. It is believed it is operational now.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Note this. The first point I noticed was Tel Aviv is not Israel's capital. Then the Dolphin deal was not negotiated in secret.I stopped reading after this because ofspelling mistakes.
#2
Summoned to the Oval Room in the White House on a 1963 visit to Washington, the young Peres was asked in his words, '30 rapid-fire questions,' before Kennedy asked: "Are you building a nuclear option?" Peres said he changed the subject.
"What is the average air speed of a unladen swallow?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/22/2016 8:26 Comments ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iranians media outlets with reformist editorials recently published a story on the release of Hassan Kord Mihin, the criminal mastermind behind the attack on the Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... embassy last January.
Kord Mihin was seen attending an Ashoura ceremony days ago and had delivered a sermon in a Tehran mosque, according to Reforms News website, clearly indictating he was released on bail.
The front man of the Iranian’s judiciary, Ghulam Hussein Mahssani Aijia, announced in March the release of all detainees ‐ at least 154 people ‐accused of the attack on the Saudi Embassy.
Contradicting information published by mainstream Iranian media outlets also indicate Iranian authorities’ efforts in concealing the identities of the Saudi embassy attackers.
Admitting Rowhani complicity
Kord Mihin, a holy man who heads a pressure group close to the Supreme Leadership of Iran, has admitted to planning the attack on the embassy and inciting members of the " The revolutionary heirs of Hezbollah" from Bassij and The Revolutionary Guards to carry out the January 2015 attack. He has also reportedly admitted that the Hassan Rowhani’s government was complicit in the crime, since they authorities did not prevent the attack from happening.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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[8 views]
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#1
That's a pretty stupid question.
The real question is why Iran put him in jail in the first place
[An Nahar] U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... expressed caution on Friday regarding the possibility of electing a new president in Leb in the near future, a day after ex-PM Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. formally endorsed Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... founder MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... for the presidency.
In response to a news hound's question during Washington talks with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled al-Sabah, Kerry hoped there will be progress in Leb but noted that he is not sure about the outcome of Hariri's move.
"This stalemate on the issue of the presidency is hurting Leb and hurts the region and we hope it will move forward," Kerry added.
Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... bloc MP George Adwan later tweeted that Kerry's statements "prove that the presidential juncture is Lebanese par excellence," noting that "his skepticism increases Aoun's chances."
In a speech on Thursday, Hariri described his decision to endorse Aoun as a "major political risk" that he is willing to take for the sake of the country.
Leb has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... , Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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#2
The word cloud should read, "You know, my time to strut upon the world stage, telling a tale of sound and fury, delivered by an idiot, is almost over."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/22/2016 10:31 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] US Secretary of State 
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
[DAWN] MUZAFFARABAD: United Jihad Council (UJC) chairman 
[Iraq Sun] TEL AVIV, Israel - A deal negotiated in secret will see the Israel Navy take delivery of 3 nuclear-enabled submarines over the next decade.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iranians media outlets with reformist editorials recently published a story on the release of Hassan Kord Mihin, the 
[An Nahar] U.S. Secretary of State 
Michel Aoun
