[Tolo News] Military officials in northern Kunduz province have claimed that Talibs raped girls at a hostel after attacking the Kunduz city facility.
The officials also claim that the Lion of Islams, after entering other areas of the city, carried out the same atrocity against female residents and killed some of their victims.
TOLOnews news hound, Wali Arian who has visited the hostel, says snuffies also destroyed the hostel building.
He says that after entering the hostel, the Taliban reportedly raped a number of girls who were there at the time.
Sayed Iqbal Sadat, an army officer, said: "Some girls were remaining here and the residents confirmed that such a thing had happened."
Wali Arian meanwhile says that nothing at the hostel has been left untouched by the Taliban -- not even the girls' religious books.
Some officials say that a number of girls were also killed by snuffies at the hostel.
"We received information from our intelligence sources that girls were killed but we have not seen anybody to confirm it," another army officer Mohammad Safdar Andarabi said.
Army officials believe that a modus operandi of the Taliban is to destroy everything in their wake.
Army commander, Ahmad Habibi, said: "Unfortunately, what the Taliban are doing now are all against the Islamic teachings."
Kunduz city was captured by the Taliban 10 days ago but was later retaken by Afghan cops after they started a large scale clearance operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Russian intelligence estimates some 3,500 bandidosholy warriors loyal to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group are operating in Afghanistan.
Speaking to a security conference in Moscow, a senior Russian diplomat, has said bandidosholy warriors from Russia are also trained by ISIS instructors in Afghanistan.
Zamir Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... ov, President Putin's special representative for Afghanistan, quoted by Russia Today, said "There are several camps operated by [Islamic State, previously ISIS/ISIL, in Afghanistan] that train people from Central Asia and some regions of Russia. They speak Russian there."
He said instructors including Arabs, Paks and even people with US and British citizenship are busy training bandidosholy warriors in those camps.
"The rise of [Islamic State] in Afghanistan is a high-priority threat. Just think about it: [ISIS] showed up in Afghanistan for real just a year ago, and now it has 3,500 fighters plus supporters who may be recruited into the ranks of the myrmidons," Kabulov added.
A Russian General Valery Gerasimov, who heads the Russian General Staff, said overall there are some 50,000 fighters belonging to more than 4,000 myrmidon groups in Afghanistan.
According to gerasimov, Afghan Taliban is by far the strongest myrmidon movement in the country, with some 40,000 fighters in their ranks.
However, women are made to be loved, not understood... Colonel General Igor Sergun, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Russia's military intelligence agency, said Taliban's dominant position is being challenged by Islamic State, which sees Afghanistan as a recruiting ground, a source of income and a foothold for further expansion over Central Asia.
"ISIL [a former name for Islamic State, along with ISIS] uses the worsening of the situation in Afghanistan to strengthen its position," he said, adding that such development poses a real threat to Russia's security.
"We estimate that ISIL gets new troops by bribing field commanders of Taliban, the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan and other radical religious organizations operating on Afghan territory," Sergun said.
This comes as the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... released a report late last month warning that the terror group is making inroads in Afghanistan with the number of sympathizers and followers growing across the country.
According to the report around 70 bandidosholy warriors of the terror group are busy in forming the core of the group's branch in Afghanistan.
The report further added that the group is recruiting followers in at least 25 provinces of Afghanistan with 10 percent of the sympathizers belonging to the Taliban group.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
sunds like Russia want to do a job ala Syria and Iraq in Afghanistan.expect Russian strikes soon mr obana,
[Al Ahram] An Egyptian criminal court ordered that several leading Islamists have their detention renewed for another 45 days, after accepting an appeal by Egypt's High State Security Prosecution against a previous court order which ordered their release.
The High State Security Prosecution had appealed a criminal court's decision to release controversial preacher Mahmoud Shaaban and 10 other defendants being investigated in what is known as the "Salafist Front" case.
The specialised prosecution service also appealed against the release of the head of the Independence Party, Magdi Hussein, and four other leading figures in the former Moslem Brüderbund-led "National Alliance in Support of Legitimacy" case.
The High State Security Prosecution is responsible for investigating cases related to terrorism and national security.
The prosecution accuses the defendants of joining an outlawed group, establishing the National Alliance, and inciting to obstruct governmental institutions.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Salafists
[AA.TR] Women wearing niqab (full Islamic face-veil) will not be allowed to vote in this month's parliamentary election, the electoral commission has said.
Speaking at a presser in Cairo on Thursday, commission front man Omar Marwan said that niqab-wearing voters must remove their outfit or else they will be prevented from voting.
The niqab, which covers a woman's entire body from head to toe, is worn by women of ultraconservative Muslim backgrounds. In Egypt, however, it is only worn by a small minority of women.
Last week, Cairo University, one of Egypt's oldest institutes of higher learning, barred lecturers from wearing the niqab.
Egypt's parliamentary election is scheduled to be held in two phases starting Oct. 18-19. A second round of the vote will be held on Nov. 22-23.
The upcoming parliamentary vote will be the final step of a political "roadmap" imposed by the army in mid-2013 following the ouster of democratically-elected President Mohammed Morsi in a military coup.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[IsraelTimes] Criminal gangs, with suspected ties to Russia, have made several attempts to sell radioactive bomb-making material
Over the pulsating beat at an exclusive nightclub, the arms smuggler made his pitch to a client: 2.5 million euros for enough radioactive cesium to contaminate several city blocks.
It was earlier this year, and the two men were plotting their deal at an unlikely spot: the terrace of Cocos Prive, a dance club and sushi bar in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova.
Continued on Page 49
[ARA] European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... governments have agreed to step up deportations of undocumented Democrats and discussed creating an EU border force among measures to cope with hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria's civil war.
Underlining the havoc brought by chaotic mass treks across Europe's open borders over recent months, the German state of Bavaria threatened to break ranks with Berlin and send back migrants who cross its border with Austria.
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... , whose welcome for refugees has taken a toll on her ratings, insists she will not shut the door. Her deputy said there could be no pulling up of "drawbridges".
Austria's interior minister has warned of possible border "riots".
The dispute between Austria and one of Germany's richest regions, which says over 200,000 migrants entered from Austria in a month, helps explain Ms Merkel's vocal support this week for the expulsion of those not fleeing for their lives and for tighter controls on who enters Europe across the Mediterranean.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
[Ynet] NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... said it was prepared to send troops to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... to defend its ally after violations of Turkish airspace by Russian jets bombing Syria and Britannia scolded Moscow for escalating a civil war that has already killed 250,000 people.
Officials at the US-led alliance are still smarting from Russia's weekend incursions into Turkey's airspace near northern Syria and NATO defence ministers are meeting in Brussels with the agenda likely to be dominated by the Syria crisis.
"NATO is ready and able to defend all allies, including Turkey against any threats," NATO's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told news hounds as he arrived for the meeting.
#1
"NATO is ready and able to defend all allies, including Turkey against any threats," NATO's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told news hounds as he arrived for the meeting.
A man of high principle. Unfortunately, experience with Europeans indicates the likelihood of low practice.
[Al Ahram] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... appealed to its NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... allies on Thursday to shore up missile defences in the country aimed at shooting down Syrian rockets, as Germany said again that it will withdraw its Patriot batteries and the United States was set to do the same.
NATO is now waiting for other nations to plug those gaps.
Days after Russian jets violated Turkey's airspace near Syria, Ankara's NATO envoy urged the U.S.-led alliance to continue to deploy air defence systems, according to two people briefed on talks at a defence ministers meeting in Brussels.
While NATO's secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, said he was prepared to send ground forces to defend Turkey, the situation raised questions about NATO's strategy in the country, which shares a border with both Syria and Iraq.
Germany's defence minister said Berlin would go ahead with plans to switch off its Patriot batteries in Turkey next week and withdraw most of the soldiers operating them before Christmas. All soldiers and materiel are due to be withdrawn by the end of January.
"This decision (to withdraw the Patriots) is right," Ursula von der Leyen said as she arrived for the meeting.
"The question is what danger can be warded off in which way," she said. The comments appeared to suggest that the Turkish air force is capable of intercepting fighter jets.
Backing up that suggestion and acknowledging that there were discussions about ways to reassure Turkey and deter Russia, Stoltenberg told journalists after the morning session: "What we now see is other kinds of challenges. But again, we are discussing with different allies, with Turkey, how and in what format we can support them."
As Russian and U.S. planes fly combat missions over the same country for the first time since World War Two, NATO is eager to avoid any international escalation of the Syrian conflict that has unexpectedly turned the alliance's attention away from Ukraine following Russia's annexation of Crimea last year.
NATO deployed its Patriot missiles in January 2013 in Turkey and Spain now has batteries in place to confront ballistic missiles launched by Syria's Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... .
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
As Russian and U.S. planes fly combat missions over the same country for the first time since World War Two.
Um, Korea? Vietnam? There were Russian pilots in some of those MIGs.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
10/09/2015 13:37 Comments ||
Top||
[Hurriyet Daily News] Despite an apparent divide between the two NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... allies on the role of Kurdish militias fighting jihadists in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... sounded confident that Washington would side with Ankara over any wrongdoing by Russia - including any possible controversy over Kurdish fighters in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's neighbor.
"I don't believe that the U.S. and Russia could be entirely on the same line concerning an issue involving Turkey," Erdogan said, when reminded that both Russia and the U.S. stated they would support the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria in its fight against jihadists from 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 the Levant (ISIL).
"Above all, Turkey is an ally of the U.S. and a member of NATO. So can you imagine that these two states [the U.S. and Russia] would be on the same line in any wrongdoing against Turkey? It's not possible," he said late on Oct. 6, speaking to journalists en route from Brussels to Tokyo.
Both Erdogan and Turkish officials have recently been insisting that the PYD's role supporting the U.S.-led coalition against ISIL does not give the group legitimacy, after a U.S. official said Washington does not consider the People's Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the PYD, a terrorist organization. Ankara continues to stress that the PYD is a terrorist organization because of its close links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has escalated attacks against Turkish security forces since July.
"Everybody should know that the PYD and the PKK have nested [together]. Russia says 'If Iraq invites us, we can also launch air strikes against Daesh there.' But Russia isn't even hitting Daesh in Syria," Erdogan said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"If you like your NATO, you can keep your NATO" Recep.
[FoxNews] Some senior U.S. officials involved in the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal have privately concluded that a key sanctions relief provision -- a concession to Iran that will open the doors to tens of billions of dollars in U.S.-backed commerce with the Islamic regime -- conflicts with existing federal statutes and cannot be implemented without violating those laws, Fox News has learned.
At issue is a passage tucked away in ancillary paperwork attached to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, as the Iran nuclear deal is formally known. Specifically, Section 5.1.2 of Annex II provides that in exchange for Iranian compliance with the terms of the deal, the U.S. "shall...license non-U.S. entities that are owned or controlled by a U.S. person to engage in activities with Iran that are consistent with this JCPOA."
In short, this means that foreign subsidiaries of U.S. parent companies will, under certain conditions, be allowed to do business with Iran. The problem is that the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act (ITRA), signed into law by President Obama in August 2012, was explicit in closing the so-called "foreign sub" loophole.
Indeed, ITRA also stipulated, in Section 218, that when it comes to doing business with Iran, foreign subsidiaries of U.S. parent firms shall in all cases be treated exactly the same as U.S. firms: namely, what is prohibited for U.S. parent firms has to be prohibited for foreign subsidiaries, and what is allowed for foreign subsidiaries has to be allowed for U.S. parent firms.
What's more, ITRA contains language, in Section 605, requiring that the terms spelled out in Section 218 shall remain in effect until the president of the United States certifies two things to Congress: first, that Iran has been removed from the State Department's list of nations that sponsor terrorism, and second, that Iran has ceased the pursuit, acquisition, and development of weapons of mass destruction.
Additional executive orders and statutes signed by President Obama, such as the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, have reaffirmed that all prior federal statutes relating to sanctions on Iran shall remain in full effect.
For example, the review act -- sponsored by Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) and Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Foreign Relations Committee, and signed into law by President Obama in May -- stated that "any measure of statutory sanctions relief" afforded to Iran under the terms of the nuclear deal may only be "taken consistent with existing statutory requirements for such action." The continued presence of Iran on the State Department's terror list means that "existing statutory requirements" that were set forth in ITRA, in 2012, have not been met for Iran to receive the sanctions relief spelled out in the JCPOA.
As the Iran deal is an "executive agreement" and not a treaty -- and has moreover received no vote of ratification from the Congress, explicit or symbolic -- legal analysts inside and outside of the Obama administration have concluded that the JCPOA is vulnerable to challenge in the courts, where federal case law had held that U.S. statutes trump executive agreements in force of law.
Administration sources told Fox News it is the intention of Secretary of State John Kerry, who negotiated the nuclear deal with Iran's foreign minister and five other world powers, that the re-opening of the "foreign sub" loophole by the JCPOA is to be construed as broadly as possible by lawyers for the State Department, the Treasury Department and other agencies involved in the deal's implementation.
But the apparent conflict between the re-opening of the loophole and existing U.S. law leaves the Obama administration with only two options going forward. The first option is to violate ITRA, and allow foreign subsidiaries to be treated differently than U.S. parent firms. The second option is to treat both categories the same, as ITRA mandated -- but still violate the section of ITRA that required Iran's removal from the State Department terror list as a pre-condition of any such licensing.
[DAWN] KARACHI: The Counter-Terrorism Department of police on Wednesday informed an antiterrorism court about 90-day preventive detention of a suspected bad boy for questioning.
The CTD claimed to have nabbed Please don't kill me! Owais Raheel, an engineering and business graduate, on Oct 6 in the Boat Basin area of Clifton for allegedly working for the banned Hizbut Tahrir ...an al-Qaeda recruiting organization banned in most countries. It calls for the reestablishment of the Caliphate... and targeting educated youngsters to use them in what the police described as "illegal activities with a view to implementing "Khilafa'" in the country.
The CTD personnel produced the suspect in the chamber of ATC-III Judge Saleem Raza Baloch and submitted that upon receiving credible information about his involvement in terrorism related offences falling within the ambit of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, the suspect was placed under preventive detention for three months under Section 11-EEEE (1) of the ATA for inquiry.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats grabbed for his rosco... the Pakistain Rangers also informed on Wednesday the same court regarding 90-day preventive custody of three suspects for questioning.
The personnel of the paramilitary force along with their prosecutor produced Shahid, alias Papa, Farooq Qureshi and Sajid, alias Pappu, said to be political activists, before the judge amid tight security.
They submitted that the suspects were picked up within the jurisdiction of the Eidgah and the Mithadar cop shoppes and put under three-month detention for an inquiry under Section 11-EEEE since there was credible information about their involvement in assassination and other offences falling within the ambit of the ATA.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Hizb-ut-Tahrir
#1
'Grilled" for 90 days hmmm? What type of basting sauce are they using, what type of wood for the smoking, apple, mesquite?
[DAWN] It was decided during a meeting at PM House on Thursday that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... will take up the matter of Indian ceasefire violations alongside the Line of Control (LoC) and working boundary with US leadership in his upcoming trip to United States later this month.
Nawaz, while chairing a meeting held to discuss his upcoming trip to US, said "the visit would help in further promoting the bilateral relationship between the two countries".
The meeting focused on deliberations regarding the issues of mutual interest between Pakistain and US, said a statement issued on Thursday.
The prime minister expressed hope that the visit will also provide Pakistain with an opportunity to highlight the matchless sacrifices and huge losses during the war on terror.
"Both sides will discuss bilateral cooperation on a wide range of issues, including the ceasefire violations alongside the LoC and working boundary by India, Pakistain's efforts for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, the regional security situation and the steps to counter ISIS presence in the region," read the statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Russian President Vladimir Putin's bullish entry into the Syrian conflict has worked wonders for his popularity in neighbouring Iraq, where some await "Hajji Putin" like a saviour.
Sitting at his easel in his central Baghdad workshop, painter Mohammed Karim Nihaya touches up a portrait of Putin he copied from the Internet that he had painted over an old painting of GWB.
"I have been waiting for Russia to get involved in the fight against Daesh," he says, referring to the Islamic State group that last year declared a "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria. Gee. It seems a single Iraqi painter bested the sum of the brainpower of 0bean's entire foreign policy team.
"They get results. The United States and its allies on the other hand have been bombing for a year and achieved nothing," the bespectacled artist says.
The US-led coalition has had some successes in helping Iraqi forces reconquer territory lost to IS in 2014 but overall the campaign has also suffered setbacks. A completely vacuous statement. But do continue.
Russian warplanes began bombing targets in Syria on September 30 and on Wednesday Moscow ramped up its air war, unleashing cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea.
Some of them crossed Iraqi airspace and many here, especially among the Shiite majority, would welcome a bit of Russia's firepower on home soil as a much-awaited game-changer.
Only a fraction of Russian air strikes in Syria may have been destined for IS but Mohammed, a young jobless man outside the painter's shop, does not let statistics cloud his enthusiasm.
"We don't want the international coalition, we want only Russia and we will slaughter a sheep to welcome them," he says. So he understands that some collateral damage is better than a lot of killing by ISIS. Again, he bests 0bean's ability to figure it out.
Some Iraqis see Moscow -- which has staunchly backed Damascus and Tehran in recent years -- as a more natural ally than the United States, which occupied the country for eight years.
Putin's patented leadership brand of bare-chested antics and cold determination is a also hit in Iraq, where the cult of the strong leader is alive and well 12 years after Saddam Hussein's ouster.
- 'Putinmania' -
On social media, many have already made him an honorary citizen, with one widely circulated joke even detecting phonetic evidence of Iraqi antecedents in the Russian president's name.
It goes like this: Putin's father was an Iraqi grocer from the Shiite south, near Nasiriyah, who introduced figs ("tin" in Arabic) to local markets and thus became known as "Abu Tin".
After World War II, he moved to the Soviet Union, married "a blonde Russian girl" and named their son Abdulamir. That proved a bit of a mouthful for locals who Russianised it into Vladimir.
The apocryphal nature of the story appears lost on some Facebook users, who have embraced "Putin the Shiite" and even replaced their profile pictures with a portrait of the Russian strongman.
"We should give Putin Iraqi and Syrian citizenship because he loves us more than our own politicians," says Mohammed al-Bahadli, a student walking on a street in the Shiite shrine city of Najaf.
"Muslims bomb us because we are Rafidha," says Saad Abdullah, who owns a convenience store in Najaf, employing a term which means "rejectionists" and is used by IS to refer to Shiites.
"Meanwhile Putin, who is an Orthodox man, is defending us.... Maybe he really is a Shiite and we didn't know about it," he says before flashing a huge smile.
Taxi driver Ali al-Rammahi says Putin is the only reason he hasn't already joined the thousands of Iraqis fleeing the country to knock on Europe's doors.
"I thank Putin because he convinced me to stay in Iraq... Hajji Putin is better than Hussein Obama," he says, using the title given to Muslims who have performed the pilgrimage to Mecca.
"Putinmania" has also gripped some of Iraq's politicians, creating some confusion over Baghdad's stance on a Russian intervention.
Hakim al-Zamili, the head of parliament's defence committee and a leader in a Shiite militia that once fought US forces, has suggested Baghdad has decided to request Russian air strikes.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is supported by the West, has been more equivocal but has not ruled out enlisting Russia's help.
Moscow recently increased its footprint in Iraq by joining a coordination cell set up in Baghdad to pool intelligence on IS fighters with non-coalition members Syria and Iran.
#1
The difference in US vs Russian success (despite the current admins fecklness) is the US tries to be fair to all factions while the Russians aren't shy about picking sides and smashing enemies.
The Shia in question might be more than a little bitter that the US didn't smash the Sunnis when given the chance but instead tried to work with them.
[Rudaw] Hundreds of demonstrators erupted into the streets in cities across the Kurdistan region to protest delayed salaries and the stalemate between Kurdish political parties that has left the regional government without an official president for since July.
At the biggest protest site in Suliamani, Rudaw's Saman Basharty witnessed festivities between the police and protesters who had gathered in front of of the Shary Juan Hotel where the five major Kurdish political parties were holding a meeting.
The meeting, held between representatives of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Change Movement, Kurdistan Islamic Union and the Kurdistan Islamic League, was the latest in a series of unsuccessful attempts to find agreement over the presidency of Masoud Barzani.
Dozens of protesters held demonstrations in Erbil and Halabja. In Erbil, a medical official for Rizgari hospital said doctors who have not been paid would continue to help patients, but stressed that the government needs to know the doctors and other workers need their salaries.
On Tuesday, hundreds of teachers erupted into the streets in Sulaimani and Erbil after declaring a week-long strike earlier this month over delayed salaries. Representatives of the protesting teachers told Rudaw they refused to go back to work before receiving their full salaries, which have been withheld since July.
In response, the Kurdistan Regional Government's finance minister said the teachers would be paid on Monday.
The KRG says the ongoing war with ISIS bully boys, the influx of over 1.3 million refugees and Baghdad's freezing of the KRG budget since February last year have coupled with falling oil prices to contribute to the unprecedented crisis.
Barzani's KDP has asked for an extension to his presidency, citing the war with ISIS and the grinding economic crisis. The iconic Kurdish leader has been president since 2005, an extension would be his second since 2013.
The issue has polarized political parties in the region's already factional parliament.
[RUDAW.NET] Practical ways of protecting minority rights in Kurdistan were discussed at a roundtable hosted by the Erbil-based Middle East Research Institute (MERI) on Thursday.
"Our aim is to bring stability into Kurdistan. That would not be possible without a mechanism to protect individual and human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. . Our research is a step towards rebuilding the state," said MERI president Prof. Dlawar Ala'Aldeen.
He emphasized that the protection of minority rights would be a win-win situation for all people living in Kurdistan, regardless of their ethnic and religious backgrounds.
MERI has proposed its own model for protecting minority rights in the multi-ethnic and multi-religious Kurdistan region. Its research has shown that can be achieved through the creation of two parliamentary councils, one for religious minorities and another for ethnic groups.
MERI's findings are presented in a report titled "Protecting Minorities' Rights in the Kurdistan Region: A Tailor-made Model."
"A council for ethnic minorities will represent Turkmen, Arabs, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Armenians," the report recommends, adding that the second council for religious minorities would protect the rights of "Yezidis, Christians, Kaka'is, Zoroastrians, Mandaneans and Baha'is."
The MERI roundtable was attended by some 40 participants, representing civil society, human rights and minority activists, as well as law experts, members of parliament and representatives of major ethnic and religious minority groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Arm everybody.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
10/09/2015 19:37 Comments ||
Top||
Four Arabs were stabbed in a town in southern Israel on Friday and a Jewish suspect was arrested, police said. The attacks follow a surge in knife violence by Palestinians against Israelis. What? No guns?
The stabbings took place in the town of Dimona and were all were believed to have been carried out by the same suspect, police said.
"As of now there are four stabbings," spokeswoman Luba Samri said, adding that the motive appeared to be "nationalistic".
The first man stabbed was a municipal worker who was moderately wounded by the assailant. Another Arab was stabbed near a school, she said.
Details of the other two stabbings and the condition of the victims were not immediately clear.
The mayor of Dimona, Benny Biton, told Israel Radio the suspect was a resident of the town who was "known to police".
Four Israelis have been killed in stabbings in Jerusalem and a drive-by shooting in the occupied West Bank since last week, and there have been several such attacks by Palestinians within Israel that caused injuries but no fatalities.
Three Palestinians have been shot dead and scores injured in clashes with Israeli security services, triggering fears of a new Palestinian uprising or intifada.
The unrest is largely linked to Muslim agitation over Jewish access to a contested holy site in Jerusalem.
Muslims revere the site as the Noble Sanctuary, home to the al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest shrine in Islam. Jews refer to it as Temple Mount, site of Judaism's ancient temple and the holiest place in the religion.
Israeli authorities have vowed to crack down on the Palestinian attacks while warning citizens against carrying out reprisals against Arabs.
On Thursday, Jerusalem's mayor and mayors in other cities urged residents who have gun licenses to carry their weapons with them, a call that prompted some politicians to warn against vigilantism.
[IsraelTimes] Publicly convening all his security chiefs for the first time since last summer's conflict, PM indicates Israel has entered yet another protracted round of violence
Amid a new terror phase, marked by a surge over recent days in what might be described as Paleostinian "suicide stabbings" -- relentless attacks by lone terrorists, across Israel and in the West Bank -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a presser Thursday night to try to reassure an increasingly worried public.
He didn't announce a raft of new measures, but he and his security chiefs set out several central themes that served to underline that Israel is again on something akin to a war footing:
Continued on Page 49
Some senior U.S. officials involved in the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal have privately concluded that a key sanctions relief provision â a concession to Iran that will open the doors to tens of billions of dollars in U.S.-backed commerce with the Islamic regime â conflicts with existing federal statutes and cannot be implemented without violating those laws, Fox News has learned.
At issue is a passage tucked away in ancillary paperwork attached to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, as the Iran nuclear deal is formally known. Specifically, Section 5.1.2 of Annex II provides that in exchange for Iranian compliance with the terms of the deal, the U.S. "shallâŚlicense non-U.S. entities that are owned or controlled by a U.S. person to engage in activities with Iran that are consistent with this JCPOA."
In short, this means that foreign subsidiaries of U.S. parent companies will, under certain conditions, be allowed to do business with Iran. The problem is that the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act (ITRA), signed into law by President Obama in August 2012, was explicit in closing the so-called "foreign sub" loophole.
Indeed, ITRA also stipulated, in Section 218, that when it comes to doing business with Iran, foreign subsidiaries of U.S. parent firms shall in all cases be treated exactly the same as U.S. firms: namely, what is prohibited for U.S. parent firms has to be prohibited for foreign subsidiaries, and what is allowed for foreign subsidiaries has to be allowed for U.S. parent firms.
What's more, ITRA contains language, in Section 605, requiring that the terms spelled out in Section 218 shall remain in effect until the president of the United States certifies two things to Congress: first, that Iran has been removed from the State Department's list of nations that sponsor terrorism, and second, that Iran has ceased the pursuit, acquisition, and development of weapons of mass destruction.
Additional executive orders and statutes signed by President Obama, such as the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, have reaffirmed that all prior federal statutes relating to sanctions on Iran shall remain in full effect.
For example, the review act â sponsored by Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) and Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Foreign Relations Committee, and signed into law by President Obama in May â stated that "any measure of statutory sanctions relief" afforded to Iran under the terms of the nuclear deal may only be "taken consistent with existing statutory requirements for such action." The continued presence of Iran on the State Department's terror list means that "existing statutory requirements" that were set forth in ITRA, in 2012, have not been met for Iran to receive the sanctions relief spelled out in the JCPOA.
As the Iran deal is an "executive agreement" and not a treaty â and has moreover received no vote of ratification from the Congress, explicit or symbolic â legal analysts inside and outside of the Obama administration have concluded that the JCPOA is vulnerable to challenge in the courts, where federal case law had held that U.S. statutes trump executive agreements in force of law.
Administration sources told Fox News it is the intention of Secretary of State John Kerry, who negotiated the nuclear deal with Iran's foreign minister and five other world powers, that the re-opening of the "foreign sub" loophole by the JCPOA is to be construed as broadly as possible by lawyers for the State Department, the Treasury Department and other agencies involved in the deal's implementation.
But the apparent conflict between the re-opening of the loophole and existing U.S. law leaves the Obama administration with only two options going forward. The first option is to violate ITRA, and allow foreign subsidiaries to be treated differently than U.S. parent firms. The second option is to treat both categories the same, as ITRA mandated â but still violate the section of ITRA that required Iran's removal from the State Department terror list as a pre-condition of any such licensing.
It would also renege on the many promises of senior U.S. officials to keep the broad array of American sanctions on Iran in place. Chris Backemeyer, who served as Iran director for the National Security Council from 2012 to 2014 and is now the State Department's deputy coordinator for sanctions policy, told POLITICO last month "there will be no real sanctions relief of our primary embargoâŚ.We are still going to have sanctions on Iran that prevent most Americans fromâŚengaging in most commercial activities."
Likewise, in a speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy last month, Adam Szubin, the acting under secretary of Treasury for terrorism and financial crimes, described Iran as "the world's foremost sponsor of terrorism" and said existing U.S. sanctions on the regime "will continue to be enforcedâŚ.U.S. investment in Iran will be prohibited across the board."
Nominated to succeed his predecessor at Treasury, Szubin appeared before the Senate Banking Committee for a confirmation hearing the day after his speech to the Washington Institute. At the hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) asked the nominee where the Obama administration finds the "legal underpinnings" for using the JCPOA to re-open the "foreign sub" loophole.
Szubin said the foreign subsidiaries licensed to do business with Iran will have to meet "some very difficult conditions," and he specifically cited ITRA, saying the 2012 law "contains the licensing authority that Treasury would anticipate usingâŚto allow for certain categories of activity for those foreign subsidiaries."
Elsewhere, in documents obtained by Fox News, Szubin has maintained that a different passage of ITRA, Section 601, contains explicit reference to an earlier law â the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, on the books since 1977 â and states that the president "may exercise all authorities" embedded in IEEPA, which includes licensing authority for the president.
However, Section 601 is also explicit on the point that the president must use his authorities from IEEPA to "carry out" the terms and provisions of ITRA itself, including Section 218 â which mandated that, before this form of sanctions relief can be granted, Iran must be removed from the State Department's terror list. Nothing in the Congressional Record indicates that, during debate and passage of ITRA, members of Congress intended for the chief executive to use Section 601 to overturn, rather than "carry out," the key provisions of his own law.
One administration lawyer contacted by Fox News said the re-opening of the loophole reflects circular logic with no valid legal foundation. "It would be Alice-in-Wonderland bootstrapping to say that [Section] 601 gives the president the authority to restore the foreign subsidiary loophole â the exact opposite of what the statute ordered," said the attorney, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations over implementation of the Iran deal.
At the State Department on Thursday, spokesman John Kirby told reporters Secretary Kerry is "confident" that the administration "has the authority to follow through on" the commitment to re-open the foreign subsidiary loophole.
"Under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the president has broad authorities, which have been delegated to the secretary of the Treasury, to license activities under our various sanctions regimes, and the Iran sanctions program is no different," Kirby said.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the G.O.P. presidential candidate who is a Harvard-trained lawyer and ardent critic of the Iran deal, said the re-opening of the loophole fits a pattern of the Obama administration enforcing federal laws selectively.
"It's a problem that the president doesn't have the ability wave a magic wand and make go away," Cruz told Fox News in an interview. "Any U.S. company that follows through on this, that allows their foreign-owned subsidiaries to do business with Iran, will very likely face substantial civil liability, litigation and potentially even criminal prosecution. The obligation to follow federal law doesn't go away simply because we have a lawless president who refuses to acknowledge or follow federal law."
A spokesman for the Senate Banking Committee could not offer any time frame as to when the committee will vote on Szubin's nomination. Sooo.... can we impeach the fucker now or not?
#4
Look here, a treaty overcomes a mere law, right? So this is not a problem.
What's that you say? The Iran agreement is not a treaty because it wasn't ratified by the the Senate? Look, it was signed by John Kerry, and approved by Obama. That's all it takes these days.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/09/2015 9:07 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Except Kerry's signature is optional, nowadays.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/09/2015 12:57 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Don't talk Impeachment. No matter how well deserved it just makes a martyr out of someone.
As Reagan slowly grew in prominence after office as partisan hacks realized what he did, I am confident that Obama will drop as partisan hacks realize the damage he did to the country and the world. Making a martyr of him will delay that eventual reckoning and he'll end up popping up again like Jimmy Carter.
[ALMANAR.LB] Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... will be dealt a severe, historic blow in Yemen, stressing that victory was definite for the Yemeni people.
Sayyed NasrallahIn an interview with the Iranian TV, Al-Ahvaz, on Thursday, Sayyed Nasrallah said Saudi Arabia destroyed Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... and abolished its unity and development. "It's depriving the Yemenis from their own natural wealth so that they'd remain poor and needy to Saudi Arabia. It has also been paying bribes and trying to impose its doctrine on the Yemenis forcefully," his eminence said.
"I'm still confident that Saudi Arabia will be dealt a severe blow in Yemen and victory will be achieved there, but Allah will decide how and when would that happen," the S.G. added.
Rebuffing lies about the dependency of the Yemeni revolution on Iran, Sayyed Nasrallah said: "Saudi Arabia wants others to believe that the Yemeni revolution is dependent on the Islamic Theocratic Republic. This is a big and unfair lie."
On Bahrain, he said the battle of the Bahraini people was a 'historic' one, "and according to the course of events, I believe it's the battle of existence."
Talking about Syria, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that Syria constituted a significant key factor in the axis of resistance and was a big factor in disrupting the US projects, the reason why they wanted to hit and destroy it.
His eminence hailed the steadfastness of the Syrians, saying it formed the basis for any help and solidarity from allies and friends.
"Facts began to unfold before the Syrian people eyes that what's needed wasn't 'democracy' but rather was ISIL's savage and defamed model" that's committing the most horrible crimes against people in the region, Sayyed Nasrallah said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
Has he been seen in public lately?
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/09/2015 12:56 Comments ||
Top||
#2
stressing that victory was definite for the Yemeni people
I guess one could say in the US Civil war, "stressing that victory was definite for the American people".
Maybe it lost something in the translation.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
10/09/2015 13:04 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Hope Saudi and Yemen have a ten year and both lose.
send those hateful Saudi/iranian clerics to the frontlines
Posted by: paul ||
10/09/2015 13:42 Comments ||
Top||
[RUDAW.NET] Kurdish isolation in the world has only deepened as the growing refugee crisis and Russia's military intervention in Syria compel estranged partners The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and the EU to try to patch things up, analysts say.
The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... muted its criticism of Turkey's new war against the Kurdish PKK guerrillas and its bid to sideline the Western-backed Kurdish PYD rebels in Syria when it hosted talks in Brussels on Monday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... .
Instead the talks focused on how the two sides could bridge their differences and cooperate in a way that could ease the refugee crisis in both Turkey and the EU as well as tackle perceived threats from Russia against NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... member Turkey.
"Erdogan gained a lot of sympathy from the Europeans," Joshua Walker, an analyst with the German Marshall Fund, told Rudaw.
"All the statements from the secretary general of NATO (Jens Stoltenberg) and European leaders were that we stand with Turkey against Russian aggression," Walker added.
Stoltenberg told news hounds in Brussels that Russian violations of Turkish airspace in recent days did not appear to be an accident.
The West has also accused Russian warplanes of targeting Western-backed opposition forces rather than 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 other jihadists as Moscow seeks to shore up its ally Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... .
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Missiles launched from a Russian ship in the Caspian Sea reached their targets in Syria and did not crash in Iran, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Thursday.
The Defence Ministry's comment came after U.S. officials said four Russian cruise missiles had crashed in Iran. U.S. officials said the missiles had been fired at Syria from a Russian ship in the Caspian Sea on Wednesday.
A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also told AFP that the missiles landed in Iran on Wednesday. The official was confirming a story first reported by CNN.
Moscow launched its bombing campaign in Syria last week, firing missiles from fighter jets and warships in the Caspian Sea, at targets it says belong to ISIS and other "terrorist" groups.
"Any professional knows that during these operations we always fix the target before and after impact. All our cruise missiles hit their target," ministry front man General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Husband: "I never make mistakes. Once I thought that I had misspoken but after investigation, I had been right along."
Wife: "You mean that you did all those terrible things on purpose?"
[ARA] Russia fired cruise missiles at Syrian targets this week without giving any advanced notice, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Thursday, describing a trend of unpredictable military action that has put the United States and its allies on edge.
"We've seen increasingly unprofessional behavior from Russian forces. They violated Turkish airspace ... They shot cruise missiles from the Caspian sea without warning," Carter said after NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... defense talks in Brussels.
Moscow said on Wednesday its warships fired a barrage of missiles at Syrian targets from the Caspian Sea, passing a distance of almost 1,500 km (900 miles) over Iran and Iraq to reach their targets.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Surprise is kinda sorta the whole point of a cruise missile strike. The Pentagon is too used to seeing their secrets published in the NY Slimes.
[ARA] Russia's military buildup in Syria is "a source of hope" for the country's Christians, the Melkite Greek Catholic archbishop of Aleppo Jean-Clement Jeanbart said on Thursday.
Jeanbart welcomed the Russian military intervention in Syria, saying that the Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... "serves the Christians' cause".
The archbishop said in an interview with Suisse Romande television that the Russian Arclight airstrikes on Islamists "renewed the confidence among Christians in Syria".
Syrian Christians, among other minorities, have suffered suppression during the nearly five-year war, especially at the hands 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.... (ISIS) radical group.
ISIS executed on Wednesday three Christian Assyrians who have been taken as hostages last February after a major offensive by the krazed killer group on Christian areas in Hasakah province in northeastern Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
Russia's electronic spies have become a key part of Moscow's surge into Syria. The signal spooks are searching for targets and following up on air strikes.
On Sept. 30, Russian fighter-bombers and ground attackers began launching aerial attacks across the embattled country. On Oct. 7, the Kremlin announced that four warships in the Caspian Sea had lobbed nearly 30 cruise missiles-which zipped through Iranian and Iraqi airspace to reach their final destinations-as part of the ongoing offensive.
And since the beginning, the Kremlin's spy planes and other intelligence gathering systems appear to have been keeping watch.
"Earlier featured footage of #ISIS vehicles destruction is now confirmed by militants radio talks and other reconnaissance sources," reads the caption of an official Russian Ministry of Defense video showing an Su-24M Fencer carrying out a strike-seen below-uploaded to YouTube on Oct. 5. "Near Kafar Aouid two Su-25 engaged an ISIS field camp, where radio recon proved presence of foreign militants," Russian authorities posted on Twitter the next day.
While Moscow has not identified its reconnaissance platforms, pictures of Russian Il-20M Coots flying over the battlefield have popped up on social media. Based on the Ilyushin Il-18 turboprop airliner, these four-engined planes are rough equivalents to the U.S. Air Force's family of RC-135 aerial spies.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
10/09/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'd say their secret weapon is the will to actually do something.
#2
Unfortunately, we have a bunch of anti-semites leading the charge from the WH. These people seem to also hate America. Moreover, we have a bunch of pro-Palestine and Muslim radicals stirring up campuses as well.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Putin's patented leadership brand of bare-chested antics and cold determination is a also hit in Iraq, where the cult of the strong leader is alive and well 12 years after Saddam Hussein's ouster.
On Thursday, Jerusalem's mayor and mayors in other cities urged residents who have gun licenses to carry their weapons with them, a call that prompted some politicians to warn against vigilantism.
[IsraelTimes] Publicly convening all his security chiefs for the first time since last summer's conflict, PM indicates Israel has entered yet another protracted round of violence
Some senior U.S. officials involved in the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal have privately concluded that a key sanctions relief provision â a concession to Iran that will open the doors to tens of billions of dollars in U.S.-backed commerce with the Islamic regime â conflicts with existing federal statutes and cannot be implemented without violating those laws, Fox News has learned.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
Russia's electronic spies have become a key part of Moscow's surge into Syria. The signal spooks are searching for targets and following up on air strikes.
