VOA: Washington's Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said the U.S. has provided more than $104 billion to rebuild Afghanistan -- more money than the United States has spent on reconstruction for any one country in history.
When we finished rebuilding Japan we had, well, Japan. First-world and peaceful. What did we get for rebuilding Afghanistan besides green-on-blue murder?
But John Sopko said despite the massive investment, corruption and the narcotics trade are flourishing, and Afghanistan is unable to pay for and maintain projects the U.S. has started.
"The bottom line," Sopko said Friday in remarks at Georgetown University, "it appears we've created a government that the Afghans simply cannot afford."
The US and international donors fund more than 60 percent of Afghanistan's national budget. Even as the deadline for withdrawing all international combat troops from the country nears, Congress has appropriated $16 billion in additional reconstruction money.
Sopko said the United States so far has failed to effectively deal with corruption in Afghanistan.
[ARABNEWS] Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... 's emir said in Germany on Wednesday that his state does not back "terrorist organizations," and Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... said she had no reason to doubt him.
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[ARABNEWS] 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 top religious scholars have pledged their support for the measures Riyadh has taken to defeat the so-called Islamic State (IS) terrorists, and its ban on citizens fighting in overseas conflicts.
The Council of Senior Islamic Scholars issued a statement on Wednesday warning Moslems against joining Lion of Islam groups, saying their "deviant doctrine" has no place in Islam.
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Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
If you're looking at them,
you aren't looking at us.
[CHRON] 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 highest body of religious scholars issued a stern ruling on Wednesday calling terrorism a "heinous crime" and saying perpetrators including Islamic State faceless myrmidons deserve punishment in line with Islamic law.
The Council of Senior Religious Scholars said in its fatwa, or religious edict, that it backs the kingdom's efforts to track down and punish followers of the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2014 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Wednesday commuted to life imprisonment a death sentence for a top Moslem leader convicted of war crimes during the country's war of liberation in 1971.
The decision against Delwar Hossain Sayeedi ...Islamic orator and politician. He was a former Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2008, and is one of the most prominent leaders of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami... , a leader of the main Moslem party, the Jamaat-e-Islami
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Clarabelle for sure. What passes for an Alpha Male in the BanglaDesh Moslem community.
How would you like to have that climb on top of you?
Posted by: Big Thromoth3646 ||
09/18/2014 7:36 Comments ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] Panic has gripped the families of prosecution witnesses Manik Poshari and others in the case against convicted war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayeedi ...Islamic orator and politician. He was a former Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2008, and is one of the most prominent leaders of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami... as they fear further persecution by the Jamaat leader's supporters as the final verdict in the appeals case delivered yesterday.
Dissatisfied with the verdict of "imprisonment until death," they think the lenient judgement did not ensure justice for the victims of atrocities committed by Sayeedi and his men in Pirojpur during the 1971 Liberation War.
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Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#4
Interesting thing is this happened in working class areas where the Labor government is generally elected but like most lefties they loath the working class.
Labor also gets tons of votes from Scotland.
Both might disappear very soon and it might mean the end of socialism in England.
[NATIONALREVIEW] Protesters from anti-war group Code Pink ... a U.S. anti-war group. The group describes itself as a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities. It was founded in 2002 by Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin and of the other usual antiwar suspects. Its website lists hysterical allegations of US war crimes, and states that thousands of civilians were killed in Fallujah in 2004. Maybe it was millions. Benjamin was a 2000 candidate for the U.S. Senate on the Green Party ticket. She lost... stood up during Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday to loudly express opposition to the ongoing aerial campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, repeatedly interrupting senators and panelists and driving Democratic chairman Carl Levin ...Democrat Senator-for-Life from Michigan. He has been in the Senate since 1979. Prior to that he was president of the Detroit city council and Mayor Coleman Young's right-hand man. He is currently the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services... up the wall.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey had just walked into the hearing room when protesters clad in pink and holding anti-war slogans crowded just behind the panel. "No more war!" they chanted, their voices mingling chaotically.
Levin allowed the protesters about a minute to vent before the gavel came down. "The committee will come to order, and we're asking all in the audience now to either take their seats and be quiet, or please leave," the Michigan senator said.
After another exchange, one woman was undeterred, alternating between "no military solution to this" and "no more war!"
"You're acting very warlike yourself," Levin said angrily, asking the protester to leave. She was escorted out by Capitol police.
Twenty minutes later and another interruption prompted a frustrated Levin to rap his gavel. "Thank you, would you please leave!" he shouted. "Would you please leave the room now! Look, we're asking you nicely would you please leave the room!"
"We would ask all of you to avoid these kind of outbursts," he said following another woman's departure. "They're not doing anybody any good, including hearing what this testimony is. And they're not doing you, and whatever your cause is, any good either."
But still more outbursts followed, with one woman telling Senator John Maverick McCain ... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution... , "Senator McCain, you have no authority to speak out on this issue!"
"Will you please be quiet!?" an exasperated Levin said, repeatedly slamming his gavel down. "Please remove the lady from the room."
"I always appreciate special attention from this group, Mr. Chairman," McCain quipped.
"I don't think she voted for you, John," another senator laughed.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Code Pink vs Carl Levin - yet another of those "who do you root for?" conflicts.
#7
I'd love to see them take their tops off and go cavorting on the golf course. I'd love to watch the Secret Service guys trying to cope with that. Just thinking about it makes me smile.
But, but, but I thought the homeland was safe; no intelligence that might reveal a threat? Perhaps we could add an ethnic category to the ATB firearms purchase form, or a simple question or two; are you a jihadist? Do you hate America? Did you vote for the Champ ?
Posted by: Besoeker ||
09/18/2014 10:37 ||
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#1
Get rid of the chicken-shit ROE. If we would make an object lesson of ISIS, a lot of this jihad BS might go away.
#3
getting rid of chicken-shit ROE AND executing a few of those planners should make for an object lesson. They would CERTAINLY reduce the recidivism rate (see Bergdahl swapees).
#3
Hey CAIR count yourselves on the Lucky Side that the "No Fly List" hasn't morphed into the "No Public Transportation List".
Right - No buses, trolleybuses, trams and trains, rapid transit (metro/subways/undergrounds etc.),taxis, ferries or transport between cities dominated by airlines (which is also the No Fly List), coaches, and intercity rail.
So, why don't you guys start cleaning up "your community" instead of bitching about what the civilized world has had to do to respond to the venomous shit coming from you community.
#5
CAIR is one of several branches of the Muslim Brotherhood established long since in the U.S. for the purpose of preparing for the Muslim conquest -- the soft jihad under the law. As i recall, their actual membership is only a small portion of the Muslims in America, and almost all of their funding comes from abroad. Nonetheless, they loudly claim to speak for all American Muslims, and have gained favour from politicians and the government because of that claim.
#9
How many dollars has CAIR passed on to various pols from their Saudi funders?
Given that they're affiliated with the Moslem Brotherhood (which is at odds with the Saudis - but you knew that, right?) their source of funding is more likely Qatar or Turkey.
[DAWN] The Foreign Office sought on Tuesday to allay Kabul's concerns over Punjabi Taliban's statement about stepping up their activities in Afghanistan with the assurance that no-one would be allowed to hurt ties with neighbours.
At the same time, it reminded Afghan authorities of the need to take complimentary counter-terrorism measures on its side of the border to ensure viable peace.
"Pakistain remains committed to disallowing its territory to be used against any country. We will not allow anyone to breach laws in this regard or to undermine our goal of fostering friendly and cooperative relations with neighbouring countries," said a FO statement.
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[DAWN] The head of the team that investigated the high treason charges against retired General Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... , on Tuesday, admitted before a special court that in his capacity as president, he could constitutionally impose a state of emergency. But he maintained that the November 3, 2007 proclamation he issued as chief of army staff was unconstitutional.
During his cross examination, FIA Additional Director General Khalid Qureshi said that in his capacity as president, Gen Musharraf could have imposed emergency following advice from then-Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
He was answering a question, posed to him by Musharraf's counsel Farogh Nasim, asking him whether the general was "empowered on November 3, 2007 to impose emergency while holding dual office of president and chief of army staff (COAS)".
However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... Mr Qureshi stated under oath that the prime minister did not advise Gen Musharraf to impose emergency, adding that Musharraf issued the November 3 proclamation as COAS, not as president.
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09/18/2014 00:00 ||
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[MEDIA.BRISBANETIMES.AU] Iraq's Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, says although US air strikes have been helpful in the fight against Islamic State militants, the deployment of any foreign ground troops in Iraq is 'out of the question'.
Extended interview at the Aay-Pee. al-abaci doesn't want foreign troops, "full stop". Apparently he doesn't have a problem with foreign F16s so long as he gets to select the targets. What he'd really like us to do is to get involved in a ground war in Syria so as to whack the ISIS hard boyz as they retreat.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Of course, he'd not be aware of what the foreign trainers and contractors got up to after hours by way of reviewing what they planned to teach the advanced classes...
[NYDAILYNEWS] The imprisoned former U.S. intelligence analyst known as Chelsea Manning ...formerly Bradley Manning before he decided to become a girl. He, or she or whatever it was, was a misfit Army intel analyst who decided to leak all the secrets he could lay hands on. Currently doing 35 years in Leavenworth and writing editorials for the New York Times.... is offering advice to President B.O.: contain ISIS, don't bomb them. And when Chelsea Manning speaks, by Gum people should listen!
"ISIS cannot be defeated by bombs and bullets -- even as the fight is taken to Syria, even if it is conducted by non-Western forces with air support," Manning, who is serving a 35-year prison sentence for leaking classified intelligence, wrote in a column for The Guardian newspaper. "I believe that only a very focused and consistent strategy of containment can be effective in reducing the growth and effectiveness of ISIS as a threat." How does one "contain" a blood-thirsty enemy without inflicting some sort of physical restraint, like maybe shooting the bastards? Words of Power? Phlogiston? Calling up demons?
(If black magicians can call up demons to do their commands, why can't white magicians call up angels and command them?)
Manning, who used to be known as Bradley but had his name legally changed this year after coming out as a transgender person, goes on to share a detailed four-point strategy to "disrupt the growth of ISIS." Good thing, detailed. Just follow the steps laid out and success will be yours. Or ours. Or somebody's.
Manning draws on his experience as an intelligence analyst in the essay often, suggesting that the U.S. "counter the narrative in online ISIS recruitment videos." Since he used to be an intel analyst he's got experience that's valuable for setting national policy. I was an intel collector and analyst for 27 years, but no doubt Chelsea has a better grasp of the concept than I do.
He also proposes publicly setting "clear, temporary borders in the region " to "discourage ISIS from taking certain territory where humanitarian crises might be created." See, being a dumbass, I'd have said that there were already borders in the area. Some of them are the Sykes-Picot style borders that lay out national states, not that they'd be relevant to a grand strategist like Chelsea. Others are linguistic or cultural borders, like the differences between Kurdistan and the marsh Arabs and the Sunni tribes of western Iraq and the fact that some villages and towns are mostly Turkmen or Yazidis or Assyrian or Chaldean Christian or that sort of thing. Y'might also take note of the fact that the humanitarian crises are the result of Islamic State depredations, not that they depredate where there are humanitarian crises. It's that old cause-effect thing all over again.
Manning recommends creating an international moratorium on ransom payment for hostages, a principle already largely practiced by the U.S., and allowing ISIS to set up a "failed state ... in a contained area and over a long enough period of time to prove itself unpopular and unable to govern." If the U.S. is already doing it, and certain other countries aren't, there's already a "moratorium" on our side that's not being honored by the neighbors. In practice, it's a hard thing to say "No, go ahead and chop his head off, we're not paying." The idea of allowing the Islamic State to just set up in business has several holes in it. One is that Afghanistan was an Islamic State thirteen years ago. It allowed itself to become infested with al-Qaeda and to conduct terror operations worldwide. This Islamic state arrives without even the baggage of the Taliban. Another hole is that humanitarian aspect the little lady or whatever he is was discussing a paragraph or two ago. The locals may not want to be ruled with an iron fist by international terrorists. They shoot people in batches, they crucify people, and they're ordered that all the women in the territory they control be genitally mutilated. Who's going to resurrect the dead, repair the maimed, and give the ladies their sex lives back once the Islamic State does fail? The Soviet Union lasted 75 or 80 years. There's room for a lot of summary executions, a lot of famine and pestilence, and a lot of mayhem directed at the civilized world in that span of time.
The thought just occurred to me, probably not actually suitable for a family publication: If Bradley-Chelsea went ahead and had his/her/its gender "reassigned," and he went to the Islamic State, would his new lady's genitalia need to be mutilated before they let him in? Bet that would hurt.
"This might begin to discredit the leadership and ideology of ISIS for good," he wrote. They're already "discredited." Even salafists are coming out against them. They're a specific strain of takfiri. Unless they're of that mindset even the rubes aren't cheering for the "home team."
"Eventually, if they are properly contained, I believe that ISIS will not be able to sustain itself on rapid growth alone, and will begin to fracture internally. The organization will begin to disintegrate into several smaller, uncoordinated entities -- ultimately failing in their objective of creating a strong state." Good analysis, that. Well, maybe not that good. First of all, "proper containment" lacks a lot of detail in definition. Then there's the question of means: How do they get "contained?" You might require, you know, force to do that. The "internal fracturing" is a feature of revolution, q.v. Thermidor to Bonaparte, Bolsheviki to Stalin, that sort of thing. Given sufficient ruthlessness, the power remains; it's the wielders who change. One thing the turbans have shown is that they're ruthless.
But Manning not only offers his own vision, he criticizes the plans already put in motion by the White House, blasting the strategy to bomb the bloodthirsty jihadist group. Yes, yes. Of course. We're against war and stuff. We will now pause in our analysis while I sing a few verses of "Alice's Restaurant."
There. That's better.
If I wasn't convinced in my heart of hearts, my spleen of spleens, and one or both of my lungs, that You Can Get Anything You Want at Alice's Restaurant (Excepting Alice), I'd suggest that the way to deal with the Islamic State is to bomb it to rubble, bounce the rubble twice, and then send in troops. Any adherent of the Islamic State could expect to be shot on the spot, unless rounded up and shot in batches. That would include the gun toters, the holy men, and the whores who run off to "marry" the bastards for twenty minutes or an hour, overnight cost extra GI. Perhaps we could contract with the Saudis for their state head chopper to assist with the work. The sure knowledge that you're going to be killed, no mercy, no appeal, no spit, would be a pretty good deterrent to enlisting in the jihad.
"When the west fights fire with fire, we feed into a cycle of outrage, recruitment, organizing and even more fighting that goes back decades. This is exactly what happened in Iraq during the height of a civil war in 2006 and 2007, and it can only be expected to occur again," he wrote. Not it isn't. What happened in Iraq was a specific al-Qaeda evolution, masterminded by Zarqawi and aided and abetted by Ibrahim al-Douri, financed by Soddy Arabia and Qatar and the UAE. Recruitment was done by hundreds of holy men of the salafist and Deobandi suasion. The same thing is happening here, with the Frankenstein's monster of the Syrian revolution against Pencilneck lurching into prominence. The difference at this point is that Iran and its proxies are outright against them, the Saudis and the UAE appear to be washing their hands of the bloodthirsty bastards, and even the holy men are starting to look doubtful. The Caliphate's already not all it was cracked up to be.
The long article, penned from inside a Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Army prison (where Manning is serving her sentence) marks the defamed soldier's first time speaking out since she was taken into custody. I thought there'd been a previous effort or two in the New York Times, but maybe I'm mistaken.
Manning was sentenced in August for six Espionage Act violations and 14 other offenses related to leaking more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents in 2009 and 2010. He/she/it was obviously the best judge of whether the material should be kept secret. The fact that it was classified means nothing when opposed to a transgender intel analyst's conscience.
She appears to making taking cues from Edward Snowden, the infamous runaway leaker who also shared confidential documents, who has repeatedly done interviews with the media.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Looks like Ethel came thru with the good stuff.
[Ynet] Under new deal, up to 800 truckloads of construction material will enter Gazoo per day 'to facilitate recovery and reconstruction of Gazoo,' says UN envoy for Mideast grinding of the peace processor.
"Construction material" is concrete and rebar, right? I don't imagine it's Italian marble for the bathroom vanities...
A deal reached on war-battered Gazoo's reconstruction is set to be implemented in the coming months, with the amount of building materials entering the territory expected to quadruple, a UN official said Wednesday, in the first details of the agreement to emerge.
James Rawley, a UN Mideast envoy, said that under a mechanism agreed to by the Paleostinians, Israel and the UN, up to 800 truckloads of construction materials will enter Gazoo per day -- a jump from the 200 or so trucks that enter now, he said.
"This facilitates recovery and reconstruction of Gazoo and we're hoping that this step in the right direction will set the stage for an even more meaningful opening of the crossings," Rawley, the deputy UN envoy for the Mideast grinding of the peace processor, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
The details of the deal are a crucial part of Gazoo's rebuilding after the 50-day war this summer that pulverized parts of the territory, flattening entire neighborhoods and reducing houses to rubble.
Those would be the neighbourhoods hiding the majority of entrances to tunnels leading into Israel, where the majority of rocket launchers were emplaced, strangely enough.
The agreement comes ahead of a donor conference in Egypt next month, where international benefactors will be looking for guarantees that their pledges materialize into actual construction. Paleostinian officials estimate rebuilding Gazoo could cost $6 billion.
The UN says some 18,000 homes were destroyed or severely damaged in the fighting.
Strategy Page has pointed out more than once that Israel damaged or destroyed only 13% of Gazan housing, leaving 5.6% of the population homeless.
More than 2,100 Paleostinians were killed in the war, about three-fourths of them civilians, according to Paleostinian and UN officials.
But half of them Hamas or other jihadis according to the BBC, the New York Times, and the IDF. Odd, that.
On the Israeli side, 66 soldiers and six non-combatants were killed. Israel and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, agreed to a cease-fire last month.
Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gazoo after Hamas overran the territory in 2007. The embargo was meant to isolate the Islamic bad boy Hamas and perhaps loosen its grip on power.
Trade and travel has been severely restricted, and the entry of goods -- including construction materials -- has also been limited. Israel says Hamas has in the past diverted cement and steel imported for schools and homes for military purposes, including to build underground tunnels used in attacks against Israel.
Rawley said the UN will monitor the goods from their point of purchase to the end user in Gazoo, addressing Israeli security concerns that the materials could be used by Hamas bad boys.
The same UN whose schools were filled with Hamas rockets, and which hid entrances to Hamas tunnels? The same schools that teach the Hamas curriculum? Why would anyone think they might be honest brokers in this situation?
He said that building in Gazoo requires Israel to approve some 100 million dollars' worth of projects, something that the new deal does not address, although talks are taking place on the issue.
Earlier Wednesday, the deputy Paleostinian Prime Minister, Mohammed Mustafa, welcomed the deal, but said a greater easing on the movement of goods and people was also needed.
Yes, yes. Someone will get back to you on that, Mr. Deputy Prime Minister.
#1
Because nothing says "UN" quite as well as doubling down on failure.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
09/18/2014 7:15 Comments ||
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#2
Gives new meaning to the phrase, "pounding money down a Rathole."
Posted by: Big Thromoth3646 ||
09/18/2014 7:22 Comments ||
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#3
Don't forget something to reenforce the roof of the tunnels while the cement dries, ladders because they've got to go real deep next time, and of course air pumps... for the schools of course.
[ISRAELNATIONALNEWS] Interior Minister Gideon Saar has instructed the Population, Immigration and Border Authority (PIBA) to allow the registration of a new nationality -- Aramaean -- in the identity cards of Christian citizens who were registered as Arabs until now.
In a letter to PIBA Director Amnon Ben-Ami, Saar wrote that he has "received three opinions according to which the existence of the Aramaean nationality is clear and obvious, as required by the Supreme Court's ruling."
"The conditions required by the ruling for proving the existence of the nationality are present -- including historical heritage, religion, culture, descent and language," he determined.
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Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
I can sympathize with Israeli Christians not wanting to be called arabs.
But since a lot of them speak Arabic, eat hummus and pita and the ululate while dancing, it is a stretch.
Posted by: lord garth ||
09/18/2014 5:57 Comments ||
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#2
But since a lot of them speak Arabic, eat hummus and pita and the ululate while dancing, it is a stretch.
My parents spoke Russian etc..., lord garth. But they weren't Russian.
[IsraelTimes] Jihadists in a Syrian stronghold near Iraq have abandoned some bases and redeployed their forces and armor from other positions, with the US military poised to strike, activists said Wednesday.
The Islamic State has "started to empty out many of their bases and positions in Deir el-Zour province," said Abu Osama, an activist from the eastern region mostly under jihadist control.
Speaking to AFP via the Internet, Abu Osama said all of the Islamic State's known positions in Eshara, a town about 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of Deir el-Zour's lovely provincial capital, had been "shut down."
Abu Osama also said the jihadists had emptied out the former governorate building in Deir el-Zour city, which the Islamic State had turned into its main weapons storage depot in the area.
And in the city of Mayadeen near the Iraqi border, "the Islamic State has pulled out of eight bases, leaving only three open -- the [former] post office, the military intelligence building and the religious court," he told AFP.
"Even the oil fields are being emptied out. The families of the foreign jihadists who had been living in the residential buildings by the fields have been evacuated," he added.
The Islamic State fought a major battle against rival jihadists and rebels earlier this year, taking control of the vast majority of oil-rich Deir el-Zour province and expelling all its rivals.
The Damascus regime still controls parts of Deir el-Zour city, as well as the province's military airport.
The jihadists pulled out amid the threat of expanded US Arclight airstrikes against their positions.
In August, the United States launched Arclight airstrikes targeting Islamic State positions in neighboring Iraq, where the jihadists had spearheaded a lightning offensive beginning in June that saw large swaths of territory fall from government hands.
The United States has since called for a global coalition to fight Islamic State and has threatened strikes on jihadist "safe havens," including those in Syria.
According to an activist in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State's main bastion, the jihadists have maintained their positions.
"The bases have stayed put, though the Islamic State have pulled out their weapons from some of their positions," said Furat al-Wafaa, using a pseudonym for fear of retaliation.
"But inside the city, the Islamic State's presence has been maintained despite the threat," he told AFP via the Internet.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
They can't move the oil fields and refineries. They all should have been put out of commission months ago.
Someone is buying the oil albeit at cut-rate prices. When an illicit tanker docks, it should be put out of commission while the transfer is going on. Sends the message to others not to buy oil from ISIS. This isn't rocket science, folks.
#4
Who could have seen this coming? Th US announces it's going to bomb the crap out of ISIS so ISIS hides. Whatta concept.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/18/2014 10:36 Comments ||
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#5
Oil is trucked to Turkey to pay back Erdogan for his support.
With a jihadi in the White House, NATO backing up ISIS via Turkey and Gaddafi's arsenal shipped as we speak to ISIS subsidiaries in Syria by Ketchup Kerry, thing should get "interesting" soon, including mall bombings in America...there is actually "Ethnic Cleansing" going on in America that the MSM is hiding now but the systematic murder of whites in black ghettos cannot be hidden forever.
Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs of the Middle East have denounced attacks on Christians and called upon the international community to work toward eradicating terrorist groups.
The patriarchs met on Wednesday at the Maronite Catholic patriarchate at Bkerke, north of Beirut, for a special summit to address the crisis in the region. They were later joined by the United Nationsspecial coordinator in Lebanon and the ambassadors of the five permanent member-countries of the UN Security Council.
"The very existence of Christians is at stake in several Arab countries" notably in Iraq, Syria and Egypt "where they have been exposed to heinous crimes, forcing them to flee," the patriarchs said in a statement after the summit and meeting with diplomats.
They lamented the indifference of both Islamic authorities and the international community over attacks against Christians, who have been in the region for 2,000 years.
The indifference of Islamic authorities I understand -- they're opposed to any Christian presence except as slaves or dhimmis. The indifference of the international community I also understand -- they're also opposed to any Christian presence...
“What is painful is the absence of a stance by Islamic authorities, and the international community has not adopted a strict stance either,” the patriarchs said.
“We call for issuing a fatwa that forbids attacks against others,” they said.
“The international community cannot keep silent about the existence of the so-called ISIS,” the patriarchs said, referring to the Islamic State. “They should put an end to all extremist terrorist groups and criminalise aggression against Christians and their properties.”
The prelates' meeting was a follow-up to their first summit earlier this month It also follows a trip by several of them to Irbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdish region, to give moral and spiritual support to the flood of Iraqi minorities driven from the Ninevah Plain by the Islamic State militants. The prelates stressed the need for cutting off the sources of terrorism and called on the world's major powers to deprive extremist groups of resources by compelling countries financing them to stop their support.
Solutions to the Islamic State crisis must involve “dealing with the reasons that produced the miseries in the Middle East,” and harmony must be restored between the components of these countries, they said.
Ponies. Demand ponies...
“The international community must act and eradicate” the Islamic State, the patriarchs said. “This is required from the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council.”
“We must stop using extremists, terrorists and mercenaries and (stop) supporting, financing and arming them,” they said.
They also stressed “the necessity of working to liberate the towns of Ninevah and facilitate the return of the displaced to their homes, in addition to ensuring the security of these towns with local and international guarantees to prevent displacement.”
The patriarchs denounced the “bleeding” that continues in Syria and said the conflict there must be solved by “dialogue and through a political solution.” They criticized the international community for not resolving the April 2013 kidnapping of two Orthodox bishops in Syria.
The prelates applauded the region's Christians, who “are committed to the values of the Gospel and the teachings of Christ” exemplified in their relationships with others, “including their Muslim brothers, who live with them in the same nations.”
As for the threat of the Islamic State in Lebanon, particularly in light of the Islamic militants' incursion into the country near its border with Syria early August, the prelates underscored “the importance of the Lebanese political system that separates between the religion and the state, and which acknowledges religious freedoms.”
“We reject religious extremism in Lebanon. Lebanon is a country for all and not a country where there are different religious emirates,” they said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/18/2014 00:00 ||
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eradication of ISIS
or acknowledges religious freedoms
[ARABNEWS] Leaders from various Arab countries participating in a conference entitled "Arabian Gulf and Regional Challenges, which concluded here on Wednesday, urged nations to unify to help ensure security and stability in the region.
The leaders also denounced all acts of terror in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Libya and on Paleostinian territory by the Israeli government.
Addressing the concluding session, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, assistant minister of petroleum and mineral resources, said that energy security would play a pivotal role in the development and stability of the region.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Then Bush was right. Iran is part of the Axis of Evil.
[Iran Press TV] The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council says the US-led so-called international coalition against the Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... ISIL group is aimed at protecting the Israeli regime.
"The alliance of the ISIL creators for confronting this terrorist group is an effort to forge safe borders for the Zionist regime rather than bring about regional stability and security for the oppressed people of the [Middle East] region," Ali Shamkhani said on Wednesday.
Contradictions, rivalries and divergent objectives among the anti-ISIL coalition are the main factors that will render it inefficient, Shamkhani added.
"If the promotional shows by the United States and its allies in the so-called fight against terrorism had resulted in any decisive outcome in this regard, there would have been no sign of terrorist acts today," he said.
Elsewhere, Shamkhani reaffirmed Iran's commitment to battling terrorism, noting that the Islamic Theocratic Republic will continue to support the Iraqi and Syrian governments in dealing with terrorist ISIL elements.
Shamkhani also noted that Tehran had received a request from Denmark to join the so-called anti-ISIL coalition, but the Islamic Theocratic Republic turned down the appeal.
The request came during a visit by Danish Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard to Iran earlier this month days after a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... summit in Wales, Shamkhani said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2014 00:00 ||
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[JPOST] Without committing ground troops to the cause, a coalition led by the United States against Islamic State gunnies in Iraq and Syria is a "ridiculous" enterprise, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday.
Rouhani made the damning comments to NBC News the same day senior Iranian and US officials met privately in New York over its nuclear program, and as US President Barack Obama I am the change that you seek... , in Florida, recommitted to a campaign against Islamic State exclusively using air force alone.
"I want to be clear," Obama said from MacDill Air Force Base. "The American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission."
Also on Wednesday, the Republican-led House of Representatives voted to approve the president's plan to arm and train vetted Syrian rebels to fight Islamic State until December 11. The Senate is expected to vote swiftly on the measure.
In the NBC interview, Rouhani suggested the US government is cowardly to commit to "unmanned" air power without the combat forces required to eliminate the group, which he agreed is an inhumane terrorist organization.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
do not and will not have a combat mission
It's pre-emptive self-defense.
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.
[CHRON] 
[Pak Daily Times] Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Wednesday commuted to life imprisonment a death sentence for a top 
A victim of Rotherham's child sex abuse scandal confronted a man she says groomed her - but was left shocked when she was the one arrested.
John 
Pervez 
[NYDAILYNEWS] The imprisoned former U.S. intelligence analyst known as 
