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Yemeni Army's Tochka Strikes Saudi-US Aggression Camp in Marib, Kills 104
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
U.S. and Britain suspend financial aid to Afghanistan Peace Council
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The United States and United Kingdom governments have reportedly suspended financial aid to Afghanistan High Peace Council.

The Afghanistan High Peace Council (AHPC) confirmed Friday that the move by the major donors followed amid ongoing issues within the council, including the leadership of the council that lacks a chairman during the past one year.

AHPC officials said the major donors that have suspended financial aid includes the United States Agency for International Development and the government of the United Kingdom.

A senior member of the council, Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar, confirmed that the donors have suspended financial support to the Highe Peace Council since the beginning of the year.

Qasimyar further added that the main motive behind the suspension of the financial support by the international donors have been the lack of chairman for almost a year and issues within the secretariat of the council.

Without disclosing information on the amount of aid the council was receiving from the two main donors, Qasimyar said the new chairman and secretariat chief are expected to be assigned in coming days.

The current Minister of Foreign Affairs Salahuddin Rabani was previously serving as the chairman of the council while the acting Minister of Defense Masoom Stanikzai was the secretariat chief.

The Afghanistan High Peace Council was formed by the former President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
in mid 2010 to provide a platform for reconciliation talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban group.

Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Afghanistan High Peace Council (AHPC) confirmed Friday that the move by the major donors followed amid ongoing issues within the council, including the leadership of the council that lacks a chairman during the past one year.

Translation: No clue who to direct the graft to.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/06/2016 11:55 Comments || Top||


Over 10,000 ISIS affiliates based in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Report
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Over 10,000 loyalists of 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....
of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group are based in the remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistain, a new project report.

The project by the UK-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) has been launched amid concerns that the loyalists of the terror group have stepped up efforts to expand foothold in the region, including swaths of southern and central Asia under the terror group's so-called Khurasan province.

Funded by the Smith Richardson Foundation, the research project has recently been launched, drawing on interviews with Daesh [Islamic State] members, village elders, members of other Death Eater organizations in the area -- mainly Taliban and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) -- and local-level government officials.

In a commentary, Dr. Antonio Giustozzi, Associate Fellow, RUSI, has written there are around 7,000--8,500 Daesh [Islamic State] members based on Afghan soil and 2,000--3,000 based in Pakistain, citing different sources (Daesh [Islamic State] cadres themselves, Afghan security sources, Pak security sources and Iranian Pasdaran sources).

These figures are inclusive of all active Daesh [Islamic State] members, both fighters and support elements, according to the commentary piece, adding that the loyalists of the terror started popping up in the second half of 2014 all over Afghanistan as a result of commanders of the Taliban, Hizb-i Islami and other gangs switching sides.

As the loyalists of the terror group are struggling to establish strong bases while in a defensive role, they continue to face resistance from the Afghan Taliban as well hard boyz belonging to Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain who seems to be preparing an attack against them, a move that could slow the recruitment of the terror group, according to the research report.

The research report, citing ISIS sources, also revealed that the loyalists of the terror group have been coming under pressure from some of its donors to increase activities in Central Asia, using its well-developed contacts with Central Asian jihadist groups in northern Afghanistan.

"Early findings for the new research project suggest that Daesh [Islamic State] has established a foothold in Afghanistan and is still growing. However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
its advance more closely resembles a hurdle race than a triumphant march. So far, Daesh [Islamic State] has been mainly troubling the Taliban, but it is unlikely that it will remain focused on competing with other Death Eater groups," the commentary piece concludes.

It also adds " In order to establish its jihadist credentials vis-à-vis donors and potential recruits, Daesh [Islamic State] will have to increasingly target the Afghan government, and Russian, Iranian and Western interests. But does it have the ability to hurt these actors? For that, it will need capabilities that it has not yet demonstrated and not just 'numbers' of fighters."

Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa Horn
FBI Team in Somalia to Investigate Mid-Air Explosion
A team of FBI agents has arrived in Somalia to help authorities in the East African nation investigate what caused an explosion this week inside a plane at 11,000 feet. Authorities from Somalia, the United States and other countries believe that a bomb was detonated in mid-air, just after the Hermes Airlines flight departed Mogadishu’s airport for Djibouti, according to sources familiar with the incident.

The A-321 jetliner executed an emergency landing and returned to the airport, but two passengers were hurt, and it’s believed one person may have been sucked out of the plane through a relatively small hole left by the explosion.

It is still unclear how a bomb would have been brought on-board or who could be responsible, but authorities are looking into whether the al Qaeda-linked terrorist group al-Shabab, based in Somalia, or even ISIS may be behind it, sources said.

Many of the passengers on the flight were originally scheduled to be on a Turkish Airlines flight, but the flight was canceled “due to operational reasons” and bad weather, according to Turkish Airlines spokesman Yahya Ustun.

The U.S. government offered Somali authorities any assistance, and the team of FBI agents arrived at the scene Friday, sources said. They are there for one purpose: to help the Somalis with any expertise or other assistance they may need.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab

#1  How much do you have to screw up in order to be assigned to a team going to Somalia?
Posted by: Pappy || 02/06/2016 11:56 Comments || Top||

#2  One day you're digging through Hillary's emails. The next day you're in Somalia digging through a Darwin Award case.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 02/06/2016 15:06 Comments || Top||

#3  I hear the beaches are nice. Mind the sharks, though.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/06/2016 15:15 Comments || Top||

#4  What's there to understand? Terrorist failed to blow up a plane and died in the most idiotic manner possible.

Seriously, who sets of an explosive in a plane that results in only ejecting yourself out? Is this a new sport for Jihadi's? See if they can hit a virgin from 10,000ft?
Posted by: Charles || 02/06/2016 15:51 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Don't be surprised if NATO goes after ISIS in Libya
[Hot Air] It looks like the U.S.-led fight against ISIS is probably moving to Libya. AFP reports there are plenty of people in the Defense Department worried about ISIS' movement into the North African country.

It doesn't appear President Barack Obama is interested in getting militarily involved in Libya, but that doesn't mean the Pentagon isn't pushing him. One thing The New York Times points out is not on the table is "ground troops" (emphasis mine).

The "wary of embarking on an intervention in another Muslim country" line is beyond hilarious (or #headdesk) because Obama's administration has intervened in more countries than George W. Bush's administration. The U.S. has militarily attacked three countries (Iraq, Syria, and Libya) under Obama versus Bush's two (Iraq and Afghanistan). The Afghanistan surge also happened on Obama's watch. The type of military involvement may have been different (random bomb strikes and "advisers" vs. full scale invasion) but the fact all the Left's anti-war activists from 2003 and 2004 don't seem to be so anti-war these days, shows how they're willing to sacrifice their own "principles" if "their guy" is in the White House.

The fact Obama appears a little hesitant on attacking Libya (which it shouldn't have gotten involved in in the first place) could be a sign Obama is hoping it won't become a campaign issue for the Democrats. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee, the GOP candidate could bring up the fact Libya is a mess and remind the people Clinton was the one who pushed for involvement in the first place.
If we do invade this year the Pub nominee should bring it up anyway; if we do invade and it becomes a clusterfarg the Pub nominee has two things to discuss...
If Bernie Sanders is the nominee, the GOP candidate could point out Sanders has no real strategy on ISIS and supports the current Administration's efforts which would just drag things down even more.

This depends on who the GOP nominee is to begin with. The only one who really believed in non-interventionism was Rand Paul, and he dropped out earlier this week.
Cruz, Rubio, Bush and Trump are not classical interventionists, they're more Jacksonians: intervene only if really necessary and then do so with overwhelming force. The sort of intervention that President "Lead from Behind" will stage won't be that, and that will be another point to make in the debates.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/06/2016 06:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Burying the evidence under the rubble?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/06/2016 10:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Forget Libya. NATO should go after ISIS in Germany.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/06/2016 13:52 Comments || Top||


Human rights watch praises Tunisia on judicial reforms
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Human Rights Watch
... During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, HRW received a pledge from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, of which George Soros is Chairman, for general support totaling $100,000,000. The grant is being paid in installments of $10,000,000 over ten years.Through June 30, 2013, HRW had received $30,000,000 towards the fulfillment of the pledge....
has praised Tunisia on judicial reforms which it said amounted to a "significant breakthrough" in protecting the rights of detainees.

Parliament on Tuesday approved amendments to Article 13 of Tunisia's penal code to fall in line with the new constitution adopted two years ago as part of the country's political transition from dictatorship to democracy.

"Provisions to grant suspects the right to a lawyer from the onset of detention, and to shorten the maximum pre-charge detention are included in a revision of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP)," said the New York-based HRW.

"Tunisia's parliament made a significant breakthrough for human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
by approving proposed changes in detainee rights," it said.

"The new law has the potential to close loopholes that led to widespread abuses during the presidency of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali" who was tossed in Tunisia's 2011 revolution, said Amna Guellali, country director for the rights group.

The new law takes effect on July 1.

HRW cautioned, however, that the law still has "several shortcomings" and urged the authorities to "adopt implementing legislation that could close the remaining loopholes."

Such legislation "should clarify that detention begins at the moment of arrest, to preempt alternative interpretations that would delay a detainee's access to a lawyer and presentation to a judge," it said.

Ghazi Mrabet, a lawyer and rights activist, told AFP he welcomed the amendments which he said could put an end to the use of violence against detainees and confessions being extracted under duress.
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Arabia
Carter Welcomes Saudi 'Boots on Ground' Offer in anti-ISIL Campaign
[ALMANAR.LB] The US defense chief welcomed reports on Thursday about 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...
's willingness to deploy troops in Syria, noting that he would discuss the issue with his Saudi counterpart in Brussels next week.

During an interview with the Saudi al-Arabiya TV channel on Thursday, Saudi military front man Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asir
...Leb Salafist holy man with the usual grouch against Shiites. Currently on the run, he seems intent on reigniting the Leb civil war...
i said Riyadh "is ready to participate in any ground operations that the coalition may agree to carry out in Syria".

"That kind of news is very welcome. I look forward to discussing that with the Saudi defense minister next week - and other kinds of contributions that Saudi Arabia can make," Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told news hounds at at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

Carter is going to meet defense ministers of 26 countries, which are part of the US-led coalition countering the so-called '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....
of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
group in Belgian capital Brussels.

The US defense chief acknowledged that the Saudi government has indicated willingness to do more in the fight against ISIL, which western media reports revealed it receives funds from main regional countries including the Saudi.

"I should mention also Saudi Arabia has indicated a willingness to take the lead in marshaling some Muslim-majority countries," he said.

Carter said that the Netherlands also pledged to support anti-ISIL operations in Syria last week, in addition to the Dutch government's existing contributions to the campaign in Iraq.

"You see others stepping up, and the reason why I'm going to Brussels next week is to bring the full weight of the coalition behind accelerating the defeat of ISIL," Carter said.

Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Yep, the KSA has just done so well in Yemen against the JVs JV.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/06/2016 7:41 Comments || Top||


Saudi: Ready to join ground operation in Syria
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The front man for 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...
's military said on Thursday the kingdom was ready to join any ground operation in Syria if required by the U.S.-led coalition, a move welcomed by the White House.

"The kingdom is ready to participate in any ground operations that the coalition (against ISIS) may agree to carry out in Syria," said military front man Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asir
...Leb Salafist holy man with the usual grouch against Shiites. Currently on the run, he seems intent on reigniting the Leb civil war...
i during an interview with Al Arabiya News Channel.

"If there was a consensus from the leadership of the coalition, the kingdom is willing to participate in these efforts because we believe that aerial operations are not the ideal solution and there must be a twin mix of aerial and ground operations," Asiri said.

Since late 2014 Saudi Arabia has been part of a U.S.-led coalition which officially has 65 members and has been bombing 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....
of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group which seized large parts of Syria and Iraq.

Asiri is front man for a separate Saudi-led Arab coalition which, since March, has conducted air strikes and ground operations in Yemen.

That coalition supports the government there in its fight against 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 ...
rebels who seized much of the country and are backed by Iran.

Iran is also one of the main allies of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
, whose regime has been fighting an insurgency for about five years.

Saudi Arabia supports more moderate rebels against Assad's forces.
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia


Britain
'Implosion' in Muslim world fuelling refugee crisis: UK ex-foreign minister
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Civil wars crippling many Muslim states and fuelling a global refugee crisis are driven in part by major struggles within Islam that cannot be ignored, former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Wednesday.

This "implosion" in many Muslim-majority countries has forced people from their homes in "unheard-of" numbers, said Miliband, now head of the New York-based humanitarian group International Rescue Committee.

Miliband spoke at the international affairs think-tank Chatham House in London. He will take part in a major conference on Thursday in the British capital that aims to raise billions of dollars from donors to respond to the Syrian crisis.

"More people are fleeing conflict, they're fleeing conflict significantly in Muslim-majority countries, so the implosion in the Islamic world, in Afghanistan, in the Middle East, is driving it," he said.

Venturing into what he called "tricky territory", he added it would be dishonest not to report that his organization's work was increasingly focused on crises in Muslim-majority countries.

"It seems to me there are big questions, big debates happening within Islam about the reconciliation of Islam to modernity, to democracy, of different segments within the Islamic tradition," he said.

"To pretend that that's not part of the story wouldn't be right," he added, without elaborating.

In several war-torn countries, bad boy Sunni literalists such as the Taliban and 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....
are battling other Muslims who want the faith more adapted to the modern world or belong to a minority sect such as Shi'ism.

Miliband added his analysis did not apply to the whole of the Muslim world, citing Indonesia, the most populous Muslim-majority country, and Bangladesh as two examples of countries that did not fit into the narrative.

"It's not right to pretend that all Muslim-majority countries are undergoing this implosion," he said. "But I think if you look at the story in South Asia over the last 30 years and the story in the Middle East over the last 20 years, then that's part of the story."

Miliband said the Syrian crisis was a long-term issue, with large numbers of refugees likely to be living in Leb, Jordan, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and other countries for many years, and this called for a change in the scale and nature of the response.
Miliband is correct in his diagnosis, just wrong in his prescription. Yes, the Muslim Arab world is collapsing. Syria, Libya, Yemen, Algeria, Egypt and Sudan are shitholes. Iraq and Tunisia are semi-shitholes. The Arabian peninsula has potential to be a mega shithole. There is clearly an implosion as the people come to recognize that their ideology and their leaders have failed.

Miliband is wrong in how to fix this: you don't do so by importing all the problems to Europe in the name of 'compassion'. The shorter-term fix is to keep the refugees in their countries, and to do so by setting up safe spaces for them: camps that are protected by European powers and funded by European money where the refugees can go, protect their families, and catch their breath. The Euros are going to pay anyway whether the refugees are in Germany or Syria. The longer-term fix is to empower the refugees to take their countries away from the evil, crazy, religion-sputtering leaders who run them. That will take work but it's the right direction.

Oh and Mr. Miliband: 'south Asia' has not failed. India is doing reasonably well. Perhaps you're speaking in code?
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


EU Deal 'Irreversible', Insists David Cameron
[NEWS.SKY] David Cameron
... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
has insisted a finalised EU reform deal would be "irreversible" as the UK would have a veto.

He was speaking after the European Parliament President Martin Schulz told Sky News that everything could be reversed, including legally binding decisions. His comments were likely to prove unhelpful to the Prime Minister as he sought to rally support for the proposed reforms.

But during a visit to meet with his counterpart in Copenhagen, Mr Cameron said while it was technically reversible, Britannia would need to agree to it.

Mr Schulz had told Sky News: "Nothing in our lives is irreversible.

"Therefore legally binding decisions are also reversible - nothing is irreversible.
That doesn't make a bit of sense...
"But in politics, when 28 heads of states and governments and the European institutions together on the 19 February agree about a deal, the deal is done."

Mr Cameron has been engaged in a frantic diplomatic efforts in Europe as he seeks to drum up support for the draft deal hammered out with Brussels.
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Refugees Go Clubbing In Russia, Harass Girls, Wake Up In Hospital The Next Morning
[DAILYCALLER] A group of 51 refugees were brutally assaulted outside a night club in Murmansk, Russia, after they groped and molested women at a night club Saturday.

The refugees had previously been ordered to leave Norway for "bad behavior" and tried their luck in Russia. What they didn't realize when they went out clubbing in Murmansk is that Russians have less tolerance when it comes to sexual assault on local women than other European countries.

The refugees allegedly groped and harassed women in a similar manner as the assaults in Cologne
...a lovely city in Germany. They invented perfume there...
on New Year's Eve. A group of male Russian took them aside to "educate" them that "Cologne is 2,500 kilometers south of here."

The refugees tried to flee but were quickly captured by the Russians. They then took them out to the street and gave them a beating they will remember. Police arrived to break up the fight but locals report that they threw a few punches at the refugees before arresting 33 of them. Eighteen refugees were in such bad condition they had to be take to the hospital.
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Karma's a bitch, isn't she?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/06/2016 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Guess the refugees were on the wrong end of the clubbing, so to speak.
Posted by: Raj || 02/06/2016 0:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Someone slip a roofie into their drinks?
Posted by: Steve White || 02/06/2016 9:59 Comments || Top||

#4  I think they misspelled marauders.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/06/2016 11:49 Comments || Top||

#5  horosho
Posted by: Albert Ebbeamble1562 || 02/06/2016 12:32 Comments || Top||

#6  Well shit if even Norway doesn't want them....what did they do, drop them off in Russia, how does that happen?

As said, that isn't the behavior of oppressed refugees, that is the behavior of plunderers.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/06/2016 12:36 Comments || Top||

#7  Next time it will be worse than an ass kicking.

Posted by: DarthVader || 02/06/2016 12:42 Comments || Top||

#8  Good on the ruskies to defend their women! I'm not sure what Putin's been drinking, but if these guys had a round of it before beating these a$$holz, then let's order several kegs and serve it at the white house. (channeling Lincoln's comment on Grant's drinking)
Posted by: ptah || 02/06/2016 14:59 Comments || Top||

#9  This is my favorite part: Police arrived to break up the fight but locals report that they threw a few punches at the refugees before arresting 33 of them.

Over in Europe, the clubbers would have been arrested for some offense against public order rather than being regarded as cultural ambassadors willing to explain local customs and manners to the newcomers.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/06/2016 15:25 Comments || Top||

#10  Shoot, shovel and shut up!
Posted by: Zebulon Check7490 || 02/06/2016 15:35 Comments || Top||

#11  ...a little hard to shovel this time of year in Murmansk and 'spring' is still a long way off. However, they will keep well outside behind the woodshed.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/06/2016 16:29 Comments || Top||

#12  I believe they were the Club-ees, not the Clubb-ers.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/06/2016 16:37 Comments || Top||

#13  In non-dhimmi Russia, town goes out for a night on you.

nothin
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/06/2016 17:05 Comments || Top||

#14  Well I guess thats one way to teach them the meaning of clubbing...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2016 17:42 Comments || Top||

#15  A non feminized cultural response. I'm sure Scandinavian feminists are horrified at seeing their men treated this way
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 02/06/2016 18:59 Comments || Top||

#16  Well the Greenies should be pleased, they're not clubbing baby seals.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/06/2016 20:57 Comments || Top||

#17  In Soviet Russia, clubbing goes to Muslims.
Posted by: Clavimp Snore3460 || 02/06/2016 22:06 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
N. Korea Holds Massive Artillery Drills
North Korea recently held a massive artillery exercise along the frontlines of its West Sea border, a military source said Wednesday. Military authorities here have put troops stationed on islands on the West Sea on high alert amid fears of a North Korean provocation along the Northern Limit Line ahead of its looming rocket launch.

The drills fuel speculation after the North's recent nuclear test that military hardliners have gained the upper hand in internal power struggles there. The source said the North's live-fire artillery exercises "went beyond routine drills."

"We are preparing for a North Korean provocation using South Korean artillery drills as an excuse," the source added.

The military has also spotted North Korean coastal batteries ready to fire live ammunition. They are the same that shelled Yeonpyeong Island in 2010.

North Korea apparently completed an observation post on Ari Island, an uninhabited island 12 km northeast of Yeonpyeong Island. A 20-m steel tower is apparently used to monitor Yeonpyeong and surrounding waters.

Officials here believe the observation post enables North Korea to quickly react to movements by South Korean Marines and Navy vessels stationed on Yeonpyeong Island. The North also apparently stationed four 122-mm multiple rocket launchers on Kal Island 4.5km northwest of Yeonpyeong.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Europe
As children die reaching for Europe's shores, empathy fades
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Five months ago, a 3-year-old Syrian boy's corpse on a Turkish beach galvanized public action for refugees. Now, strikingly similar images are generating little more than a collective shrug.

It's partly about timing, circumstance and the exceptional power of last September's photos of Aylan Kurdi.

But it's also because sensitivities are growing dull. Boats arrive on Europe's shores daily, or sink on the way -- like the one that capsized off The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's coast on Saturday, killing at least 37 people including babies and other young children.

Images from the latest tragedy, including the bodies of children, failed to generate the same level of shock.

Fears -- that refugees will stage bad boy attacks or molest women -- threaten to displace compassion. And Europe has yet to find the magic solution to its migrant dilemma.

"The public seems to be kind of immunized. They don't want to see it anymore," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Some are rebelling against the numbness. Greek soccer players held a sit-in solidarity protest after the latest refugee drownings. Artist Ai Weiwei, wanting kinder migrant policies, re-enacted Aylan's death.

The photos of Aylan weren't the first or last to document the fatal risk that families take to flee Syria's war for something better in Europe. But his lifeless, tidily-dressed body -- first face-down on the sand, later in the arms of a police officer -- captured the collective imagination like no other.

In an era when images are ubiquitous and fleeting, it stood out.

Unusually, he was quickly identified and found to have relatives in Canada, which helped his story go global.

"People react very strongly to individual stories," Fleming said. "It was a single boy on the beach, looking like my son, my little brother, in a sleeping position."
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe, if the "children" who reached European shores, refrained from behaving like beasts...
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/06/2016 4:22 Comments || Top||

#2  The body bags back from Somalia reduced the 'virtue flashing' among the TV viewers back home too.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/06/2016 9:27 Comments || Top||

#3  What, nobody interested in the number 6 dance tonight?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/06/2016 17:08 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Erdogan: Russian claim on Syria 'laughable'
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
on Friday blasted as "laughable" Russia's accusation that The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
was actively preparing to invade Syria.

"I find this Russian statement laughable... rather it is Russia that is currently engaged in an invasion of Syria," Erdogan said, quoted by the state-run Anatolia news agency.

Previously, a senior Turkish government official said on Friday that Turkey is not planning a military incursion into Syria and Russian talk of such action is propaganda.

Erdogan said Russia must be held accountable for the people it has killed in Syria, saying Moscow and Damascus were together responsible for 400,000 deaths there, Dogan News Agency reported on Friday.

Speaking at a joint presser with his Senegal
... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees...
ese counterpart while on a state visit to the West African country, Erdogan also said Russia was engaged in an invasion of Syria and accused it of trying to set up a "boutique state" for its longtime ally President Bashar al Assad.

"Turkey does not have any plans or thoughts of staging a military campaign or ground incursion in Syria," the official told Rooters, adding Russia was stepping up its own military campaign in Syria every day instead of working for a solution.

"Turkey is part of a coalition, is working with its allies, and will continue to do so. As we have repeatedly said, Turkey will not act unilaterally," the official said.

Russia said on Thursday it suspected Turkey was preparing a military incursion into Syria, as a Syrian army source said Aleppo would soon be encircled by government forces with Russian air support.

Turkey in turn accused Moscow of trying to divert attention from its own "crimes" in Syria, and said Aleppo was threatened with a "siege of starvation". It said Turkey had the right to take any measures to protect its security.

In another sign of the spreading international ramifications of the five-year-old Syrian war, 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...
said it was ready to participate in ground operations against ISIS in if the U.S.-led alliance decided to launch them.
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What's the next click up on this ratchet?

Russia v. Turkey feels a lot like Sunni v. Shia, how can we help both lose?
Posted by: AlanC || 02/06/2016 11:16 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm still wondering what the Russian endgame is.

I still think it may be to push Turkey into a confrontation that gives Russia unimpeded access to the Med.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/06/2016 19:03 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
DHS ordered me to scrub records of Muslims with terror ties
PC Officials need to be held to historical and judicial account when the next attack hits. Democrats
Posted by: Frank G || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is something that Congress can and should investigate via hearings. If verified then impeachment of the DHS officials responsible should be initiated.

Congress, do more than take up space.
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 02/06/2016 6:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Another example for the repeal of the Civil Service Act. If they're going to act as agents of one party, they can follow their party out of the door when the other party wins the election.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/06/2016 9:24 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Feds: Dearborn Hts. man supports ISIS, planned attack
Federal authorities are accusing a Dearborn Heights man of supporting Islamic State extremists and planning to "shoot up" a Detroit church.

Khalil Abu-Rayyan, 21, hasn't been charged with terrorism-related crimes but faces federal charges of illegally having a firearm while using a controlled substance.

But a complaint unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court reveals the FBI has been investigating him since May "regarding increasingly violent threats he has made to others about committing acts of terror and martyrdom ‐ including brutal acts against police officers, churchgoers and others ‐ on behalf of the foreign terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and Levant."
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/06/2016 07:41 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraq
Sistani suspends weekly sermons
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraq’s top Shiite cleric said on Friday he would no longer deliver regular weekly sermons about political affairs, which for years have been a source of guidance for Iraqi politicians and his millions of followers.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani did not give a reason for suspending the sermons, which have lately focused on the government’s battle against ISIS militants and anti-corruption efforts.

“It has been decided not to continue this on a weekly basis at the present time, but only as demanded by events,” Sistani’s aide Ahmed al-Safi, who delivered the message, said in a televised speech from the southern shrine city of Kerbala before reciting a prayer.

Sistani, a reclusive octogenarian, enjoys almost mythical status among millions of Shiite followers and wields authority that few Iraqi politicians would openly challenge. His political sermons have ranged over issues such as security, elections and the economy.

He called in June 2014 for Iraqis to take up arms against the Sunni ultra-hardline insurgents of ISIS after they seized nearly a third of the country’s north and west. Tens of thousands of Shiites heeded the call.
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  It's not necessary to hold a regular event. In his position it's too time consuming
Posted by: Newc || 02/06/2016 1:08 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel returns bodies of terrorists who killed officer in Jerusalem
[JEWISHAZ] Israel handed over to the Paleostinian Authority three bodies of Lions of Islam who died in a Jerusalem shootout, in which they killed one soldier.

The bodies of Ahmed Abu al-Ghub, Ahmed Zakarna and Mohammed Kamil from the Jenin area of the West Bank were given to Paleostinian Authority officers this afternoon (Feb. 5), Ynet reported.

The three men, all childhood friends aged 20-21, arrived armed with knives and an automatic machine gun to the Old City in eastern Jerusalem on Wednesday. When one of them stabbed a Border Police officer, the stabber was rubbed out by Hadar Cohen, an 18-year-old woman who had joined the police force as part of her mandatory army service two months ago. One of the Lions of Islam shot Cohen dead before being bumped off by other soldiers, along with his two friends.

The Lions of Islam were all on the list of Paleostinians who are denied access to Israel because they are deemed security risks. Army officials told the NRG news website that they believe the three men entered Israel illegally and are working with the Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet, to retrace their steps.

Cohen was buried yesterday at the Yahud Military Cemetery near Tel Aviv, where Israel Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh called her "a hero, whose actions prevented a much larger tragedy."

Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority


Southeast Asia
Terror Attacks Loom as Indonesian Trio Vie for IS Glory
[AnNahar] A power struggle among three Indonesian-born 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....
forces of Evil in Syria could have a violent ripple effect in Southeast Asia, senior police warn, as a deadly game of one-upmanship threatens to cause more Jakarta-style attacks.

A crackdown in the wake of January's gun and suicide assault on the Indonesian capital has uncovered a complex web of small bad boy cells working at the behest of competing ringleaders in Syria, shedding light on the nature of IS infiltration far from its Middle East heartland.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Aoun to Hezbollah: Together against Terrorism, Israeli Enemy
[ALMANAR.LB] Head of Change and Reform bloc, MP Michel Aoun
...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
, stressed that his party is committed to counter terrorism and the Zionist entity.

On the tenth anniversary of the Memorandum of Understanding between Hezbollah and Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
, the head of Change and Reform bloc praised Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah as a friend stressing that his party is still committed to the memorandum signed between the two sides in February 2006.

"We hold upon our pledges," Aoun told Panorama Today program on al-Manar, stressing that his party is keen to fight both terrorism and the Israeli enemy.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard...
Aoun noted that the two sides must work on building a state in Leb, through activating the role of the Lebanese institutions, stressing that such move could be just by a just electoral system which guarantees proper representation.

For his part, Hezbollah Deputy Chief, Sheikh Naim Qassem
... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies...
, stressed that the alliance between Hezbollah and the FPM is firm and solid as it preserved the Lebanese interest.

He addressed the FPM crowds as saying: "You have seen how this agreement was translated into actions and it was not just through stances. These events (throughout the years) proved the rightfulness of this alliance."

"This alliance was born to last," Sheikh Qassem told Panorama Today on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Group of ex-Terrorists in Homs Join Syrian Army
[ALMANAR.LB] Dozens of Syrians in al-Rastan area in Homs northern countryside fled their homes to escape the terrorists' torture, according to Al-Manar news hound.

Among those locals were gunnies that had fought along with the terrorist groups before they realized the real nature of the takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
hard boyz and decided to join the Syrian army.

The Syrian army organized military drills to prepare the new soldiers to fight the krazed killer groups, the news hound explained.
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


U.N. voices alarm at growing number of child marriages in Iran
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A growing number of maidens of tender years are being forced to marry in Iran, U.N. rights experts warned Thursday, decrying laws permitting sexual intercourse with girls as young as nine.

Following a review of the situation in Iran, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) urged the country to "repeal all legal provisions that authorize, condone or lead to child sexual abuse."

The committee, which is made up of 18 independent experts who monitor the implementation of international children's rights treaties, said it was "seriously concerned" over reports that child marriages in Iran were on the rise.

A growing number of "girls at the age of 10 years or younger ... are subjected to child and forced marriages to much older men," CRC said.

Compounding the problem were laws allowing sex with girls as young as nine, and a lack of criminalization for sexual abuse of even younger children, it said.

The committee also lamented a law obliging wives "to fulfil sexual needs of their husbands at all times," which it stressed "places child brides at risk of sexual violence, including marital rape."

Stressing the devastating effects child marriage can have on the physical and mental health of maidens of tender years, the experts called on Tehran to introduce national laws clearly banning and criminalizing the practice.

The committee also raised a range of other disturbing issues, including the fact that boys in the country are considered criminally responsible at the age of 15, and girls at nine.

This means children down to those ages can be subjected to "sentences involving torture or cruel, degrading treatment of punishment," it said.

Most distressing perhaps is that some crimes committed as a minor in Iran are punishable by death, and that the country occasionally executed children.

"A small number of children have been executed in Iran," committee member Bernard Gastaud told news hounds.

His colleague Benyam Mezmur described the situation as being "of very serious concern."
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Who is the UN to criticize someone's culture?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/06/2016 0:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeah, the UN is only allowed to criticize Western culture.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/06/2016 11:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Ignored is this.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 02/06/2016 13:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Lowering the marriage age was one of the first reforms of the Ayatollah Khomeini
Posted by: John Frum || 02/06/2016 14:51 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2016-02-06
  Yemeni Army's Tochka Strikes Saudi-US Aggression Camp in Marib, Kills 104
Fri 2016-02-05
  6 al Qaeda operatives die in Yemen drone strike
Thu 2016-02-04
  Head of AQAP killed in Yemen drone strikes: residents
Wed 2016-02-03
  Heavy Benghazi fighting as IS counterattacks
Tue 2016-02-02
  86 Dead as Boko Haram Burns Children Alive in Nigeria
Mon 2016-02-01
  50 Feared Killed in Boko Haram Attack in Nigeria
Sun 2016-01-31
  At least 60 killed in terror attack at Shi'ite holy site in Syria
Sat 2016-01-30
  Shibir men held for plotting religious unrest
Fri 2016-01-29
  Man Arrested in Disneyland Paris Hotel with 2 Handguns
Thu 2016-01-28
  Melbourne teen accused of plotting to pack kangaroo with bomb
Wed 2016-01-27
  FBI arrests Milwaukee man accused of planning mass shooting at Masonic temple
Tue 2016-01-26
  Suicide bomb attack kills 28, wounds dozens in Cameroon
Mon 2016-01-25
  Drone strike kills IS-Khorasan commander, five others in Nangarhar
Sun 2016-01-24
  2 Houthi leaders killed in special op
Sat 2016-01-23
  Somali Security Forces End Siege At Beachfront Restaurant; At Least 20 Dead

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