[RT] The second co-conspirator in a ’dark web’ plot to deal heroin and cocaine in the US has pleaded guilty to distribution charges, following a multi-agency investigation and sting operation in 2016.
Using the code names ’Area51’ and ’DarkApollo,’ two men with residence in Brooklyn, New York, were found to be large-scale distributors of the drugs on the dark web marketplace known as AlphaBay.
Abudullah Almashwali, 31, originally from Yemen, pleaded guilty to distribution of heroin and cocaine and conspiracy charges on Friday, according to a blurb from the US Attorney’s Office. The other conspirator, Chaudhry Ahmad Farooq, 24, is originally from Pakistain.
Clearly both are the kind of immigrant we don't want. Fortunately, that's easily enough remedied under President Trump.
Dark web marketplaces are notoriously difficult to investigate and disrupt as both operators and users employ technology which masks their IP addresses.
In addition, most deal exclusively through digital or cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin which do not require third-party payment processors, avoiding the need to create a digital ’paper trail.’
In combination, these security elements make the process of identifying potential suspects an extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive job for law enforcement.
According to the criminal complaint, the two conspirators accepted orders via AlphaBay, took payment via Bitcoin and then mailed physical parcels of the narcotics through multiple post offices in New York.
In an undercover sting operation, authorities in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, bought heroin from ’Area51.’ Postal records subsequently revealed that Almashwali paid for postage of these two packages, while Farooq had been responsible for sending other narcotics deliveries.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2017 00:00 ||
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...the troubled druggie, Turkish immigrant yoot who was brought to America when his mother married a nice American. Sadly, he brought his olde country attitudes with him, which did not please the local girls or the boys. He stole his step-papa's guns to shoot up the Macy's counter where his ex-girlfriend hadn't been working for ages...
20, who had been awaiting trial for the mass shooting in 2016, was found dead in the Snohomish County Jail on Sunday night.
He had been charged with five counts of aggravated murder, and could have faced the death penalty if found guilty.
Authorities have not yet determined the cause of death.
According to Sherlocks, Cetin shot five shoppers at a Macy's department store after first trying to enter through the backdoor of a nearby cinema.
The shooting spree at the Cascade shopping mall occurred less than three hours after he had sat down for dinner with his stepfather.
Surveillance footage from inside the mall shows the suspect opening fire on four woman and one man as they browsed the store.
Police say Cetin was inside the mall for less than one minute before he fled the store, leaving the .22 calibre rifle, which police say had been stolen from Cetin's stepfather, on a counter in the cosmetics department.
He was tossed in the clink Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! about 30 hours later as he walked near to his apartment in Oak Harbor, Washington, according to local media.
Arcan Cetin, 20, died in an apparent suicide, Skagit County Prosecuting Attorney Rich Weyrich said Monday morning. Cetin appeared to have hanged himself.
At the request of one of his lawyers, Cetin had been held in Snohomish County for about a month, Weyrich said.
The move to Snohomish County came about because Cetin was making statements to other inmates that were "against his best interests," said Skagit County spokeswoman Bronlea Mishler.
Cetin was awaiting results of a second competency evaluation, a hearing for which had been scheduled for next week.
[DAWN] Former Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, 12th 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 an 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... said on Sunday that his successor Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. was a traitor because he allowed the United States to drop the largest non-nuclear bomb on Afghanistan’s soil.
He also pledged to oust US forces from Afghanistan.
In a series of interviews to US and international media outlets, Mr Karzai said that dropping the bomb was a "brutal act against innocent people" and was also a threat to Afghan illusory sovereignty.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Like Obama calling Trump b..., um, well maybe saying Trump does bad things and should be replaced.
[RT] The oil-rich kingdom of 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... has been forced to cancel or restructure economic and infrastructure projects worth billions of dollars, according to a Rooters report, which refers to sources in the government.
The Saudi government has ordered ministries and organizations to review the projects to either scrap or make them more efficient.
Most of the projects go back to the era of lavish government spending buoyed by crude oil prices above $100 per barrel. However, alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk... as current prices are below $55, they are no longer cost-efficient.
Riyadh's Bureau of Capital and Operational Spending Rationalization is now assessing the projects that are under 25 percent complete, the sources told Rooters.
"Some projects could be retendered so they can be executed in partnership with the private sector, possibly through build-operate-transfer (BOT) contracts," one source familiar with the plan told the agency.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
04/18/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
I can't wait to see how low oil prices hosescrew over impact Qatar's ability to finish their soccer stadiums for the 2022 World Cup.
[RT] A three-month old British ’terrorist’ baby was summoned to the US embassy for an interview, after his grandfather accidentally ticked the wrong box on a visa form.
Paul Kenyon was filling out his grandson’s visa waiver form before the family went to Orlando, Florida when he accidentally ticked yes for the question, "Do you seek to engage in or have you ever engaged in terrorist activities, espionage, sabotage, or genocide?"
Kenyon only realized his mistake when the baby was refused a visa.
"I couldn’t believe that they couldn’t see it was a genuine mistake and that a three-month-old baby would be no harm to anyone," Kenyon was quoted as saying.
The baby was brought to the London embassy to meet with officials. The round trip from Cheshire to London and back took about 10 hours, longer than the flight to Florida
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
to meet with officials.
Did the officials change his diaper? The lowest depths of bureaucratic madness still remain unplumbed, but they're getting there.
#3
Given the age we live in, I can't help but wonder if grandpa thought he was being cute when he filled out the form. Stupid Americans, ha ha ha, and all that.
[Ynet] About 8,300 migrants colonists have been rescued from unseaworthy smugglers boats over Easter weekend in the Mediterranean.
A UN refugee agency spokeswoman, Carlotta Sami, tweeted on Monday that "rescuers worked incessantly" over Friday, Saturday and Sunday, to save them. Eight migrants colonists died, including a pregnant woman.
So much easier and much less risky than the land route, or going across the sea from Turkey to Greece.
h/t Instapundit
The White House said President Trump called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to congratulate him on Sunday's referendum that ballooned the Islamist ruler's presidential powers yea, well - as long as he doesn't sabotage fracking, I can live with him.
Some real deep housecleaning needs to be done. I remember how the brass cried that Clark and Subic Bay were absolutely critical to our Pacific defense.
[Hurriyet Daily News] The 24 million Turkish citizens who voted against the constitutional changes have scored a "democratic victory" even though they failed to halt the government’s project, the main opposition leader has said, warning that The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... will be ungovernable with the constitution.
"Despite all the bureaucratic pressure of the state, despite all the state’s financial and bureaucratic resources [used by the government] and despite the ongoing state of emergency, the naysayers claimed a victory for democracy, no matter what they say," Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), said in a phone interview with daily Hurriyet on April 17.
The "no" camp scored 48.6 of the votes while the "yes" side scored 51.4 percent, although the result was marked by controversy.
"Why is it a democratic victory? I will give you an example from our history. We experienced similar conditions before the voting on the Sept. 12 constitution which was drafted by the military junta [in the early 1980s].
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2017 00:00 ||
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[Hurriyet Daily News] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... slammed a recent report by international observers on the April 16 constitutional referendum, calling it "biased" and "unacceptable" on April 17.
"The initial findings in question are a reflection of a biased and prejudiced approach," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement, referring to the observations made by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) monitors.
The foreign ministry said it was "unacceptable" to state that the poll fell short of international standards.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2017 00:00 ||
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[Hurriyet Daily News] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s Supreme Election Board’s (YSK) decision to deem unsealed ballots valid in the referendum had lifted significant assurances and that it was against the law, according to international observers.
Head of the delegations from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) held a presser in Ankara on April 17 to brife their observesations about the referendum process.
"Late changes in counting procedures removed an important safeguard," said Cezar Florin Preda, the head of the PACE delegation, referring to a move by the election authorities to allow voting documents without an official stamp.
"The legal framework... remained inadequate for the holding of a genuinely democratic referendum," the delegations said in a a joint statement.
OSCE/ODIHR Delegation Chair Tana de Zulueta said changes in the vote-counting procedure had lifted significant assurances and that it was against the law.
Some of the OSCE observers were not allowed to invigilate the vote-counting process, the observer said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2017 00:00 ||
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[RT] Turkish opposition figures have called for the results of Sunday’s referendum granting new presidential powers to be annulled, citing unstamped ballots given to voters. The electoral board insists the referendum result is valid, however.
Bulent Tezcan, deputy chairman of the main opposition Republican Peoples' Party (CHP), said Monday that the "only one way to end the discussions about the vote's legitimacy and to put the people at ease... is for the Supreme Electoral Board to cancel the vote."
He who counts the votes...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Police on Sunday opened a hate speech investigation involving two holy mans in connection with the killing of a university student over allegations he committed blasphemy.
The holy mans are accused of attempting to disrupt the funeral of Mashal Khan, who was beaten to death by fellow students after a dormitory debate was followed by accusations of blasphemy being spread across the Abdul Wali Khan University campus in Mardan.
University officials had issued a public notification hours before the murder naming three students being investigated for "blasphemous activities".
Mardan police chief Alam Shinwari said 20 people had been identified as culpable in the killing on the basis of videos taken during the attack, adding that the suspects would be tried by anti-terrorism courts.
Police say they are also investigating the holy mans in Mashal Khan’s hometown of Swabi for attempting to disrupt funeral proceedings and instigate hatred against his family.
"The two holy mans [used]... the mosque loudspeaker for hate speech against the slain student and his family and ... created hurdles for the people and another holy man to participate in the funeral," said a senior Swabi police official. He spoke with Rooters on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted by hardliners.
A local imam had refused to lead Khan’s funeral prayers on Friday, according to Swabi resident Salman Ahmed. A technician who was asked to do so in the holy man’s place was confronted by several people afterwards.
Meanwhile, ...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase... a large number of men and women erupted into the streets in the Zaida town, chanting slogans "Be Gunah, Be Gunah (innocent), Mashal Khan Be Gunah." Relatives and friends, political workers and representatives of civil society groups and the general public participated in the march.
It was probably for the first time in the area that a large number of women, with their heads covered, took part in a mourning procession that turned into a public meeting at a square in the town.
Floral wreaths were placed on the grave of Mashal Khan. People thronged the Hujra of the dear departed, offered Fateha and expressed solidarity with the grieving family.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] A student tossed in the calaboose Please don't kill me! in the Mashal Khan lynching case on Monday has said that the administration of Abdul Wali Khan University asked him to testify against the dear departed.
The accused, Wajahat, admitted that he was part of the mob which lynched the 23-year-old Mardan university student.
His statement comes hours after Abdullah, a student who survived despite being beaten violently, said he was asked to testify that Mashal had committed blasphemy -- a request which he refused.
Suspect Wajahat also claimed in his statement that on April 13 he was called to the chairman’s office by class representative Mudassir Bashir, who asked him to testify against Mashal before the university administration.
"Some 15 to 20 people, including university officials were present at the chairman's office."
"The administration had convened the meeting to decide the case of Mashal Khan and Bashir had called me to be a witness regarding the blasphemous ideas of Mashal Khan," said the accused. Despite senior police officials saying they have found no evidence to suggest Mashal had engaged in activity amounting to blasphemy, Wajahat claims Mashal 'committed blasphemy'.
He also alleged that the security in-charge of the university, Bilal Baksh, said those that step forward to protect Mashal and his supporters would be dealt with "an iron hand".
Baksh, according to Wajahat, further said that he would kill Mashal.
"Hearing this, the congress turned into a violent mob and rushed towards the hostel," said Wajahat.
In the statement, Wajahat has said that if he had known what the administration was conspiring against Mashal, he would have never come to the university on that day.
On April 13, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan student Mashal Khan, 23, was shot and beaten to death by a violent mob on university premises.
The mob had also wanted to burn his body before police intervened, a senior police official had said. He had been accused of blasphemy by fellow students.
Another student, Abdullah, was beaten bloody before police managed to rescue him from his attackers. An eyewitness said he was accused of belonging to the Ahmadi faith and forced to recite verses from the Holy Koran, then beaten savagely even though he repeatedly denied the accusation.
No case had been filed against the two students prior to the incident and police had not been investigating the two on blasphemy charges.
The mob instead seems to have been incited by rumours circulating among the university's student body.
Nonetheless, the university said it would investigate three students, including Mashal and Abdullah, for alleged blasphemous activities and ordered them rusticated and banned from the premises of all campuses of the university
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2017 00:00 ||
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[HINDUSTANTIMES] In the sharpest denouncement yet of Pakistain’s support for terrorism by the Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... administration, United States national security adviser HR McMaster expressed frustration on Sunday with Islamabad’s continued use of "proxies that engage in violence".
"As all of us have hoped for many, many years -- we have hoped that Pak leaders will understand that it is in their interest to go after these groups less selectively than they have in the past," he told ToloNews, an Afghan TV channel.
"The best way to pursue their interests in Afghanistan and elsewhere is through the use of diplomacy, and not through the use of proxies that engage in violence," the national security adviser added in the interview during a visit to Afghanistan.
That "elsewhere" was interpreted among India watchers in the US as the Trump administration’s nod to New Delhi’s concerns about terrorist strikes carried out in India by outfits based in Pakistain such as Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... and Jaish-e-Mohammad ...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat... McMaster goes next to Pakistain and India in the midst of a review of the new administration’s policy for the region that is being closely watched on the subcontinent and among South Asia policy experts and pundits in DC.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2017 00:00 ||
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ISIS members should not be taken prisoner.
Yousef Ali peered through the scope of his Russian-made Dragunov sniper rifle. Through the small hole in the wall of an abandoned hotel, Ali saw the labyrinth of the Old City's narrow streets stretch before him.
Less than 300 yards away, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, prepared for another sneak attack, surrounded by civilian human shields. "The (ISIS fighters) are out there," said the 20-year-old Iraqi federal policeman, taking his eyes off the scope for a moment. "Just behind those buildings."
The police forces have had an important role to play since the start an offensive in October to drive the militants from Mosul, their last major stronghold in Iraq. For the past few months, they've gained a higher profile taking out ISIS positions in western Mosul while creating escape routes for trapped civilians in tight quarters.
The federal police, including their elite SWAT unit called the Emergency Response Division, are the Iraqi forces closest to the Old City. The police and SWAT unit will likely be the first to take the al-Nuri mosque, also known as the Great Mosque, whose capture would spell a symbolic victory over the Islamic State. It was there the head of the militant group declared a "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria after invading in 2014.
Federal police, many of them young and inexperienced, have taken the brunt of the casualties during the latest offensive.
Iraqi snipers
Ali said it had been his dream to become a sniper since he joined police basic training.
After 45 days of basics, he was accepted into sniper training, spending six months becoming acquainted with the specialization under Iraqi and Italian trainers in Baghdad and Fallujah. The training paid off when he was thrust into the Mosul offensive with his M-16 and Dragunov rifles, Ali said.
"Two or three days ago, (ISIS) set some fires to make a smokescreen, then some of them came at us with suicide belts," Ali said. "I killed two of them."
Ali said there is a friendly rivalry among him and his fellow snipers, who brag about how many Islamic State targets they brought down.
"We always hear everything that's going over the radio. So sometimes we'll say, 'Oh, I killed more (ISIS fighters) than you, you better try harder,'" he said. "But we all treat each other as brothers here."
Snipers are useful for more than just taking out militants from a distance. Federal police and SWAT commanders rely on them to get up-to-the-minute intelligence on enemy movements and targets for Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, said Gen. Abdul Rahman, the executive officer of the federal police.
Expanded role for Iraqi forces
In the push toward Mosul, each segment of the Iraqi forces was given a sector to capture. The federal police and SWAT positioning put them squarely on the front lines once Iraqi forces reached the western part of the city.
Unlike the army, police answer to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior. But they act like soldiers with their own fleet of dark blue Humvees, weapons ranging from machine guns to rocket launchers and military training.
There are six regular police divisions, each is comprised of 11,000 personnel. Roughly 60% engage in combat. Three of the divisions are participating in the Mosul offensive. The SWAT team, which has additional urban combat training, counts as the fourth division on the front lines and often spearheads the offensive.
Their progress slowed considerably since entering the city due to hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in the urban battlefield.
"Before we came to Mosul, our plan was to liberate Mosul," said Rahman. "Now it's to keep civilians safe. Now, if we liberate just 100 yards per day, we can minimize civilian casualties, so it's better to do it like that."
The fact that the police are taking a more active role in the battle than regular Iraqi troops boosts morale of many civilians who lost faith in the army. Many regular soldiers dropped their weapons and ran away when the Islamic State swept across Iraq three years ago.
"I can't believe the army is actually helping," said Zeyad Suleiman, a resident of western Mosul. The regular army is holding the northern section, slowly taking some outlying neighborhoods.
Up close with ISIS
Unlike Ali, Muntader Khazem, a sergeant with the SWAT team, regularly has to fight up close with the Islamic State as his unit drives the militants back house by house.
"We are (often) 10 yards away, with (ISIS fighters) shooting at us," said Khazem, 22. "Sometimes we go from the corner of the occupied house. Sometimes from the front or the back. Sometimes two teams attack from two sides at once."
Like all SWAT commandos, Khazem was chosen out of the other federal police recruits and given extra urban warfare training by the U.S.-led coalition.
Close urban combat has an extremely high casualty rate, according to Swedish Army Sgt. Emil Andersson, who was trained in urban combat, now working as a volunteer medic near the front lines. Khazem said he was wounded many times.
"Mortars hit me all over my body, even near my penis," he said. "But even though I get injured, I always return to fight again."
Many others were not as lucky. Khazem said he lost 37 comrades in the fight against ISIS over the past two years.
The biggest challenge is rescuing civilians held hostage by the ISIS militants, he said.
"Our brothers and sisters are being used as human shields. We're going to defend our families," Khazem said. "We give our blood because we need to get our country back."
Posted by: gorb ||
04/18/2017 12:06 ||
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#1
Guy's gotta have a hobby he loves
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/18/2017 20:42 Comments ||
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[REUTERS] 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.... is talking to al Qaeda about a possible alliance as Iraqi troops close in on IS fighters in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , Iraqi Vice President Ayad Allawi said in an interview on Monday.
Allawi said he got the information on Monday from Iraqi and regional contacts knowledgeable about Iraq.
"The discussion has started now," Allawi said. "There are discussions and dialogue between messengers representing Baghdadi and representing Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area assuming he's not dead like Mullah Omar. He lost major face when he ordered the nascent Islamic State to cease and desist and merge with the orthodx al-Qaeda spring, al-Nusra... ," referring to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and Ayman al Zawahiri, the head of al Qaeda.
Islamic State split from al Qaeda in 2014 and the two groups have since waged an acrimonious battle for recruits, funding and the mantle of global jihad. Zawahiri has publicly criticized Islamic State for its brutal methods, which have included beheadings, drownings and immolation.
It is unclear how exactly the two group may work together, Allawi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2017 00:00 ||
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New photos emerged Saturday of a new prototype of Iran's stealth fighter jet, previous models of which were mocked by aviation experts who predicted it "would never fly." Maybe it could somehow taxi with the engine inlet covers on with some magical new Iranian technology, but it would never fly that way.
The updated version of Qaher F-313 stealth fighter jet was unveiled during an exhibition for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, The Aviationist editor David Cenciotti reported. The exhibition showcased the achievements made by Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan within the last two years.
The prototype had the same shape as its 2013 predecessor but featured multiple changes, including a bigger cockpit, non-plexiglass canopy, dual exhaust nozzles, dorsal antenna and FLIR (Forward Looking Infra-Red) turret installed to the nose of the fighter jet.
The F-313 was first unveiled in February 2013, though it was criticized for being too small. The cockpit couldn't accommodate a "normal-sized" pilot and the wings weren't big enough to get it up in the air, according to The Aviationist.
The original version also had a slew of technical errors. The engine was not properly built, putting the back of the aircraft at risk of melting from heat. The craft's air intakes seemed too small, the blog said. Aaaaand the Iranians took all that free advice and fixed things. Next time, keep your yap shut.
Ahmad Vahidi, Iran's defense minister at the time, said Iranian aerospace experts designed the jet to fly at a low altitude, carry weapons and land on short runways, according to DailyMail.com.
Iranian news site Khouz News did publish photos of F-313 appearing to fly over mountains in 2013, but was accused of photoshopping the image, DailyMail.com reported.
It's still unclear if the new prototype would be able to fly. The jet conducted taxi tests on Saturday during the exhibition. Not if they think there are any F-22s around, they won't.
Recent statements released said that the F-313 fighter jet will be "a light close air support aircraft," The Aviationist reported. Not much of a plane, but I'll bet they're closer to getting their turkey to fight than we are.
#5
They just need to replace the skin of this thing with cell phone gorilla glass. Stealth through transparency. It works for Wonder Woman, so its a proven technology for your next prototype.
h/t Jerry Pournelle
...Theodore Postol, a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), issued a series of three reports in response to the White House's finding that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad perpetrated the attack on 4 April.
He concluded that the US government's report does not provide any "concrete" evidence that Assad was responsible, adding it was more likely that the attack was perpetrated by players on the ground.
Postol said: "I have reviewed the [White House's] document carefully, and I believe it can be shown, without doubt, that the document does not provide any evidence whatsoever that the US government has concrete knowledge that the government of Syria was the source of the chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria at roughly 6am to 7am on 4 April, 2017.
"In fact, a main piece of evidence that is cited in the document point to an attack that was executed by individuals on the ground, not from an aircraft, on the morning of 4 April.
...The image Postol refers to is that of a crater containing a shell inside, which is said to have contained the sarin gas.
His analysis of the shell suggests that it could not have been dropped from an airplane as the damage of the casing is inconsistent from an aerial explosion. Instead, Postol said it was more likely that an explosive charge was laid upon the shell containing sarin, before being detonated.
...The implication of Postol's analysis is that it was carried out by anti-government insurgents as Khan Sheikhoun is in militant-controlled territory of Syria.
Postol, formerly a scientific advisor at the Department of Defense (DoD), has previously outlined similar inconsistencies with US intelligence reports. Following the 2013 chemical weapons attack in eastern Ghouta, Postol again said the evidence did not suggest Assad was responsible ‐ a finding that was later corroborated by the United Nations.
...Postol said: "No competent analyst would miss the fact that the alleged sarin canister was forcefully crushed from above, rather than exploded by a munition within it.
"All of these highly amateurish mistakes indicate that this White House report, like the earlier Obama White House Report [from Ghouta in 2013], was not properly vetted by the intelligence community as claimed.
"I have worked with the intelligence community in the past, and I have grave concerns about the politicisation of intelligence that seems to be occurring with more frequency in recent times ‐ but I know that the intelligence community has highly capable analysts in it.
"And if those analysts were properly consulted about the claims in the White House document they would have not approved the document going forward."
[BUSINESSINSIDER] An attorney who represents some of the biggest names in the al Qaeda terror group has revealed that even they are uncomfortable with the rise 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.... and are "disturbed" by the group's behavior.
In an interview with West Point's Combating Terrorism Center, Bernard Kleinman talked at length about his time representing clients such as Ramzi Yusef, one of the perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Wadih el-Hage, who helped with the 1998 East Africa bombings.
Kleinman has also assisted the defense team of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged criminal mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.
According to Kleinman, the al Qaeda operatives he has spoken with believe that ISIS has been corrupting Islam, an interesting claim given that many moderate Moslems would likely level that same charge at al Qaeda. Founded by the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse... , the terror group has carried out liquidations, bombings in Africa, and the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, that have resulted in the death of thousands of innocent people.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2017 00:00 ||
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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.
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...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
[RT] The oil-rich kingdom of 
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[DAWN] A student 
Zawahiri
New photos emerged Saturday of a new prototype of Iran's stealth fighter jet, previous models of which were mocked by aviation experts who predicted it "would never fly." 
