[ALMANAR.LB] Kuwait has decided to send ground forces to take part in the Saudi-US war on Yemen, a local newspaper reported Tuesday.
Al-Qabas daily cited an informed source saying Kuwait's cabinet has approved sending the troops to 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... , which is leading a coalition against Yemen, as soon as early next week.
Kuwait's participation in the 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... war has so far been limited to the air force.
No details were provided about the size of the force.
Since March, Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes against Yemen and forces loyal to former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... after they overran large parts of Yemen.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
I guess all the Columbians and Egyptians sent over are dead. Proof SA can't fight.
Imagine, saved by Kuwait.....
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Russia's battered ruble on Tuesday continued its slide on the back of low oil prices, reaching a new 2015 low against the dollar and dropping to below 80 against the euro.
The Russian currency stood on Tuesday at 72.85 against the dollar, down from 72.46 on Monday.
The ruble meanwhile stood at 80.02 against the euro, dropping below 80 for the first time since late August.
The slide in oil prices and Western sanctions over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis have pummeled the oil-dependent Russian economy in recent months.
At his annual presser earlier this month 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... assured the country could weather the headwinds, despite volatility in oil prices.
The ruble lost around half of its value in 2014 but recovered slightly as energy prices stabilized this year, allowing officials to claim the worst of the crisis had passed.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2015 00:00 ||
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the country could weather the headwinds, despite volatility in oil prices
Shogo Watanabe, a lawyer who has been helping refugees seek asylum for years, says the biggest problem is that Japan's immigration policy geared toward keeping people out.
"The immigration bureau's main focus is to prevent undesirable foreigners from entering the country," he said. "So accepting refugees is contrary to their main mission. They have little motivation to accept outsiders." But then, maybe there is something to be said for a homogenous society. More at the link.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/30/2015 00:00 ||
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No one has ever said the Japanese were stupid.
Posted by: chris ||
12/30/2015 5:28 Comments ||
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Some might argue that the etiology of conflict, wars, etc, might be traced to people leaving or moving away from their historic or assigned dwelling places.
[ALMANAR.LB] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... on Tuesday accused the leader of the main Kurdish party Selahattin Demirtas of "treason" over his call for autonomy for the country's Kurdish minority.
In a speech at the weekend, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairman Demirtas said that The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's largest ethnic minority had to decide whether to live in autonomy or "under one man's tyranny".
On Monday, prosecutors opened a criminal investigation against him for crimes against the constitutional order over suggesting Kurds should push for autonomy in their stronghold of the southeast of the country.
"What the co-leader has done is clearly provocation, treason," Erdogan told news hounds Tuesday at Istanbul airport before leaving for Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... "This is the time when the masks have been taken off and the real faces exposed," he said.
The charismatic 42-year-old Demirtas has emerged as Erdogan's key rival over the last year, with many commentators saying he is the only politician to rival the Turkish strongman's rhetorical skills.
Under party rules Demirtas shares the leadership of the HDP with a woman, Figen Yuksekdag.
In an address to HDP politicians in the parliament, Yuksekdag hit back, saying: "If there is a word to describe us, it's not treacherous but loyal. We are loyal to our peoples' struggle."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2015 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] Iraq's Sunni militia group known as Hashd-al-Watani has been receiving monthly wages directly from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... after Baghdad froze payments to the group in August, according to an Iraqi member of parliament.
Shakhawan Abdullah, head of Iraqi parliamentary defense and security committee told Rudaw that Ankara makes monthly payments of 600,000 Iraqi dinars (about $500) to more than 6,000 fighters of the Sunni group in addition to providing them with combat training and armament.
Hashd-al-Watani, which is seen as a counterbalance to the more powerful Iran-backed Shiite militia group known as Hashd-al-Shaabi, was initially established to recruit Sunni fighters willing to take part in a possible assault on 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) in its djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... stronghold.
The Sunni group was until recently funded by the Iraqi government, trying to avert sectarian tensions in a region of mostly underprivileged Sunni populations who have often had hostile attitudes towards government policies in the past.
The government has regularly sent monthly salaries to state employees in Mosul despite the ISIS control, fearing more people would turn to ISIS if Baghdad withheld their wages.
The government, however, removed Mosul's exiled governor Atheel Nujaifi, a Sunni, accusing him of mismanaging the Sunni militia and turning it into his own army.
In early December Ankara sent between 150 and 300 soldiers and 20 tanks to the Bashiqa region of Nineveh province to train the Sunni fighters.
The commander of the Hashd-al-Watani at Bashiqa camp, told Rudaw his troops were now directly funded by Turkey.
General Muhammad Yahya said the number of Turkish military trainers had gone up since they first arrived in late July this year.
"Some five months ago 10 Turkish military trainers arrived at the Bashiqa camp to coach our troops," he said. "But since the start of this month they increased the number to 110 trainers and also deployed an additional troop to protect them,"
Turkish Defense Minister Ismat Yilmaz said last week their forces were there to "train and reorganize defensive military units" in the area.
General Yahya maintained that nearly 10,000 soldiers and coppers have been trained and prepared to recapture the city of Mosul from the ISIS.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2015 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] 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... and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... agreed on the need to set up a "strategic cooperation council" to strengthen military, economic and investment cooperation between the two countries, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Tuesday.
"The meeting produced a desire to set up a high-level strategic cooperation council between the two countries," Jubeir told a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart after talks in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, between Former King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands Abdullah ... Now a dead guy... and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
He said the council will deal with security, military, economic, trade, energy and investment between the two countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
set up a high-level strategic cooperation council
#2
Since Turkey is on ISIS side it looks like one big happy Sunni alliance now. I suspect both Turkey and the Saudi's hope somehow they'll be able to tame ISIS once the Shia are defeated.
The U.S. captured communications from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his aides and swept up the content of private conversations with U.S. lawmakers, giving the Obama administration insight into Israel's lobbying efforts against the international nuclear deal with Iran, according to a new report.
Close call as to who Champ's bigger enemy is: Bibi or House Pubs...
At least Bibi is putting up a fight... The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the National Security Agency (NSA) swept up information that White House officials considered valuable as it sought to counter Netanyahu's vocal opposition to the nuclear deal between Iran, the U.S. and other world leaders.
Netanyahu reportedly remained a top priority for the snooping, according to the report, despite President Obama saying two years ago he would curb eavesdropping on allies.
The Journal also reported that White House officials were worried about the politics of asking for swept-up communications between Israeli officials and members of Congress, allowing the NSA to decide what to share.
"We didn't say, 'Do it,' " a senior U.S. official told the Journal. "We didn't say, 'Don't do it.' "
And everyone understood what was wanted...
NSA snooping allegedly found Netanyahu and his aides leaked details of the negotiations gained through Israeli spying, coordinated talking points with Jewish-American groups against the deal and asked those lawmakers who were undecided on the deal how it could get their vote, according to the report.
The Obama administration decided to shield leaders including French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other North Atlantic Treat Organization (NATO) heads from NSA snooping, according to the report, while it omitted some including Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Obama maintained the monitoring of Netanyahu as it served a "compelling national security purpose," the newspaper reported, citing unnamed current and former U.S. officials.
Netanyahu spoke out against a potentially unsatisfactory nuclear deal during a speech to a joint session of Congress in March. The U.S. and five other world powers reached a deal in July.
The Israeli leader has previously criticized U.S. spying on Israel, which was revealed in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.
Despite promising to curb eavesdropping on foreign leaders, White House had NSA listen in on conversations between Israeli leaders and US politicians, according to Wall Street Journal.
The White House instructed US spies to eavesdrop on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials earlier this year in an effort to counter campaigning against the Iran nuclear deal, despite promising to curtail listening in on foreign leaders, according to a Wall Street Journal report late Tuesday.
The National Security Agency's spying dragnet was cast so wide it caught conversations Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders had with US officials and Jewish American leaders, leading to what one source called an "oh shit moment," when the extent became clear according to the report, which cites several current and former US officials.
Not quite the same as "We didn't say do it, we didn't say don't do it."
Though Obama promised in 2013 to curb American spying on foreign leaders, following revelations of NSA spying on allies leaked by whisteblower Edward Snowden, an official said the idea of stopping tracking Netanyahu was barely entertained.
"Going dark on Bibi? Of course we wouldn't do that," the paper quoted as senior US administration official saying, using a nickname for the prime minister.
According to the report, spying on Jerusalem included "a cyber implant in Israeli networks," giving the NSA access to information in Netanyahu's office.
After concerns were raised that the NSA was spying on conversations between US politicians and Netanyahu or other Israeli officials, the White House told the NSA to decide what info to give out, allowing them to mask the names of US citizens being spied on.
In October, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US spied on the Israeli air bases and secret communications in 2012, fearing an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities was in the works.
According to the report, "[n]erves frayed at the White House" when the US discovered Israeli air activity over Iran, and Washington dispatched an aircraft carrier to the Mideast and also prepared attack aircraft, in case, as one senior American official told the Journal, "all hell broke loose."
At the same time, US intelligence was monitoring Israeli communications to ensure that Jerusalem was unaware of secret backchannel meeting between the US and Iran taking place in Oman, the paper reported.
Convinced Mr. Netanyahu would attack Iran without warning the White House, U.S. spy agencies ramped up their surveillance, with the assent of Democratic and Republican politicians serving on congressional intelligence committees.
By 2013, U.S. intelligence agencies determined Mr. Netanyahu wasn't going to strike Iran. But they had another reason to keep watch. The White House wanted to know if Israel had learned of the secret negotiations. U.S. officials feared Iran would bolt the talks and pursue an atomic bomb if news leaked.
The NSA had, in some cases, spent decades placing electronic implants in networks around the world to collect phone calls, text messages and emails. Removing them or turning them off in the wake of the Snowden revelations would make it difficult, if not impossible, to re-establish access in the future, U.S. intelligence officials warned the White House.
Instead of removing the implants, Mr. Obama decided to shut off the NSA's monitoring of phone numbers and email addresses of certain allied leaders--a move that could be reversed by the president or his successor.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/30/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
So, they get treated like any American citizen.
#2
When the NSA captured conversations between people including retired Prez Jimmy Carter and his buddy Andrew Young with officials of Pakistan's corrupt Bank of Credit and Commerce International, by orders of the White House the material was excised rather than shame the individuals involved. A sense of propriety then existed where, at least with regard to Israel, none exists today.
#5
How bad is this? As of 10 minutes ago it wasn't on the front page of the NYT or WAPO. They're standing by for orders. I haven't checked the sports pages.
It did make the front page of the Guardian, which has amended its position from "American spying evil" to "American spying evil except on Juices."
Posted by: Matt ||
12/30/2015 12:27 Comments ||
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#6
Likely part of the recent Iranian deal; alerting out Iranian partners to potential threats of hostile attack.
h/t Instapundit
A Houston man has been arrested in connection with a suspected arson at a mosque on Christmas Day, but the motive for the crime remains a mystery, with the suspect maintaining he was a regular at the mosque.
[DAWN] Pakistain on Tuesday refused entry to 120 Pak citizens deported by 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... for not having the requisite entry documents but later allowed entry to the deportees on orders of the interior ministry, airport sources said.
A flight from Jeddah carried the deportees to Lahore airport on Tuesday, however, immigration officials refused them entry as the deportees did not have the required documents needed for entry.
It was not clear why Saudi authorities deported the Pak citizens, at least 15 of whom were women.
Sources said immigration authorities wanted to send the deportees back to Jeddah after refusing to process their entry into Pakistain while Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials wanted to detain the deportees, as is the standard procedure.
However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... the deportees were later allowed entry into the country by order of the interior ministry. FIA is now expected to take the deportees into custody.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
They didn't do windows.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/30/2015 21:28 Comments ||
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[DAWN] A meeting of the Council for Islamic Ideology (CII) turned violent when a scuffle broke out between member Maulana Tahir Ashrafi and chairman Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani, DawnNews reported on Tuesday.
Sources at the meeting said participants were discussing the status of Ahmadis under the Constitution when Ashrafi, who is also chairman of the Pakistain Ulema Council, and Sherani entered into an argument that later turned personal.
In a presser later, Ashrafi said Sherani grabbed him by the collar and tore it. "He tore my collar with his own hands, " said Ashrafi. But according to an eye witness, Ashrafi had first lunged at Sherani to grab his collar.
According to Ashrafi, council members -- including himself -- were opposed to the idea of debating the status of Ahmadis because there already existed a consensus on the issue.
"He [Maulana Sherani] wants to make the law on Ahmadis controversial, and push the country towards violence."
Participants in the meeting intervened to defuse the situation and broke up the physical altercation.
However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... Maulana Sherani, talking to news hounds said, "Ahmadis are non-Muslims under the Constitution and there is a unanimous fatwa on that." He said the council had no intention of declaring Ahmadis Muslim.
Sherani said the matter was taken up by the council because the Ahmadi issue has been a bone of contention in society, with new fatwas on the matter appearing every other day.
The CII is a constitutional body that advises the legislature whether or not a certain law is repugnant to Islam, in particular to the Koran and Sunna.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] A lady polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... worker, who claimed that she was raped by four men allegedly for administering anti-polio drops to the children in the area, appeared in DawnNews' programme 'Exposed' and complained about police's alleged cover up of the crime.
In the DawnNews show, the victim repeated her claim that she was threatened by a suspected bad boy Ajab Khan, who was living as a tenant in the victim's house for six months.
The victim said that Khan warned her to give up her job as "it was haram and part of American conspiracy against Muslims". He threatened the victim of dire consequences.
The lady said that few days after this incident, five men barged into her house at midnight and two of them -- in police uniforms - allegedly raped her, while the other three tortured her family.
However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... the FIR says the men took away Rs40,000 from the victim's place and has no mention of rape charges, DawnNews reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
As opposed to - According to International Crisis Group, 78 polio lady health workers have been killed while performing their duties since December 2012, most of them targeted in Karachi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/30/2015 10:10 Comments ||
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#2
Well at least they didn't refuse to pay for her Birth Control - that would be truly despicable!
#4
Off topic, sort of, but Rape groups now tell women to piss themselves to gross out a rapist and get him to stop. Why not teach them to yell I HAVE AIDS or a SCORCHING CASE OF HERPES or something likely to get the rapists attention?
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi planted the national flag in Ramadi on Tuesday after the army retook the city centre from 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) a day earlier, a victory that could help vindicate his strategy for rebuilding the military after stunning defeats.
If the Anbar lovely provincial capital can be fully secured and re-populated, it would be the first major success for the U.S.-trained force that fled 18 months ago as jihadist ISIS bandidosbully boyz surged through northern and western Iraq.
Security forces must still remove explosives planted in streets and buildings and clear out fighters in some densely built-up areas, and much of the infrastructure needs to be rebuilt.
Three mortar rounds landed about 500 meters (0.3 miles) from Abadi's location during his visit, three security sources said. The prime minister was not in danger but was forced to leave the area, they said.
Abadi had arrived in Ramadi by helicopter. He moved through the city with the Anbar governor and top security officials in a convoy of Humvees, crossing a floating bridge used by the armed forces last week to retake the city centre.
He met soldiers at the main government complex captured by counter-terrorism forces on Monday and planted the tri-colour flag outside the building.
He had announced the visit to Ramadi himself on Twitter and declared Thursday a national holiday in celebration.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2015 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Iraqi army will need Kurdish fighters' help to retake djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , the largest city under the control of 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), Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said, with the planned offensive expected to be very challenging.
Mosul, 400 km north of Baghdad, has been designated by the government as the next target for Iraq's armed forces after they retook the western city of Ramadi.
"Mosul needs good planning, preparations, commitment from all the key players," Zebari, a Kurd, said in an interview on Monday in Baghdad.
"Peshmerga is a major force; you cannot do Mosul without Peshmerga," he told Rooters, referring to the armed forces of Iraqi Kurdistan, an autonomous northern region close to Mosul.
The mostly Sunni city had a population of two million before it fell to the murderous Moslems in June 2014 in the first stage of their sweeping advance through northern and western Iraq.
The battle of Mosul would be "very, very challenging", Zebari said. "It will not be an easy operation, for some time they have been strengthening themselves, but it's doable."
Given the extent of the area that needs to be secured around Mosul during the attack, the army may also need to draw, in support roles, on local Sunni forces and possibly the Shiite Popular Mobilisation, he said.
The Mobilisation, known in Arabic as Hashid Shaabi, is a loosely knit coalition of Iran-backed Shi'ite militias set up to fight Islamic State. It was barred from the week-long battle to retake Ramadi to avoid tension with the Sunni population.
The retaking of Ramadi by Iraq's army marked the first major success of the U.S.-trained force that initially fled in the face of Islamic State's advance 18 months ago.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Monday that ISIS would be defeated in 2016 with the army planning to move on Mosul. "We are coming to liberate Mosul and it will be the fatal and final blow to Daesh [Islamic State]," he said in speech praising the army's "victory" in Ramadi.
Retaking Mosul would effectively mark the end of the caliphate proclaimed by Islamic State in adjacent Sunni areas of Iraq and Syria, according to Zebari.
"It's there where His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... declared his caliphate," he said, referring to the group's leader. "It is literally their capital."
The Iraqi Kurdish president, Massoud Barzani ... hereditary head of the Kurdish Democratic Party, maybe a little too close to the Medes and the Persians for most people's tastes... , discussed plans for the liberation of Mosul with Lieutenant General Tom Beckett, Britannia's senior defense adviser, in September, according to Kurdish TV Rudaw.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2015 00:00 ||
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Can they do it without western air power?
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
12/30/2015 0:41 Comments ||
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#2
At last check, the ISIS/ISIL repor still controls roughly 30% of newly "liberated" Ramadi.
#3
I suppose I am the only person who sees an opportunity here to move back toward a unified Iraq. I suppose the dream of the purple finger is comatose, if not dead.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/30/2015 9:20 Comments ||
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#4
We will be willing to help as well in either 12 months, five years or nine years.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/30/2015 21:25 Comments ||
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The Israeli-Indian developed Barak 8 missile system carried out two successful interceptions from an Indian Navy ship over the past day.
Israel Aerospace Industries said that the weapons system successfully hit its target and completed a series of three tests that demonstrate its readiness.
[Ynet] Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,' military wing has published the names of its members who guarded Gilad Shalit during the Israeli soldier's captivity. The guards were Sami el-Hamaida, Abdallah Ali Levad, Hilad abu-Bakra, Mohammed Daoud and Abed el-Rahman el-Mubasher.
El-Mubasher was killed on Sunday when a tunnel collapsed in the Gazoo Strip.
#9
I am concerned for the safety of all Hamas employees. I think we should volunteer to send them all the OSHA inspectors we have in our country to preform an extensive safety stand down that will last no shorter than 12 months. Whether or not the program is successful, we should explore a rationale to add the EPA and IRS to the offer.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/30/2015 21:20 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] Military official says close call 'highly provocative' as missile shot from within 1,500 yards of carrier in Strait of Hormuz
The Iranian navy test fired several rockets near three Western warships including the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier last week, a US military official said Tuesday. Though the rockets were not fired toward any ship, their proximity to the warships -- and several commercial vessels -- sparked concern.
"We look at this firing so close to the ships as highly provocative," said the military official, who was not immediately authorized to be named.
The official confirmed details of an NBC News report that said one rocket was fired from within about 1,500 yards of the USS Truman as it transited the Strait of Hormuz. A French frigate and the USS Bulkeley destroyer were also in the area.
The area is considered one of the world's most important shipping lanes, and has been the source of tensions between Western powers and Iran in the past over threats from Tehran to close the strait.
The incident took place on December 26, shortly after the Iranian navy had announced via radio it was about to conduct a live-fire exercise and warned ships to steer clear. The official said the unguided rockets were fired from an Iranian navy "fast inshore attack craft" that was in Omani waters.
The Western vessels did not need to take evasive action, the official said.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
12/30/2015 0:39 Comments ||
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#2
[NOKOR-VS-USS-GEORGE-WASHINGTON CVN here].
China/PLA ordered, NOKOR-fired.
This is only the beginning.
I have no doubts that Iran = China in SCS = eventually try or claim control of most or all of the Persian Gulf as an Iranian-n-Only-Iranian "lake".
Anti-US US OWG Globalist POTUS Obama has all of 2016 to commit more FP "intentional mistakes"- WHAT HE DOESN'T FINISH OR COMPLETE BY THE TIME HE LEAVES THE WH COME JAN 2017, ANY SIMILAR ANTI-US US OWG GLOBALIST POTUS SUCCESSOR(S?) WILL DO.
IRAN + CHINA + RUSSIA, OTHER? WILL GET THEIR ANTI-US "SPHERE(S) OF INFLUENCE".
* E.G. FREEREPUBLIC > GLOBALIST BERNIE SANDERS VERSUS NATIONALIST DONALD TRUMP.
#4
Aside from Iranian 'bluster', consider:
1) last I checked in American measure 1500 yds~1 mile. That's a fur piece.
2) event was announced
3) unguided 'rocket'
4) fast inshore attack craft~speed boat
5) Unless Harry's crew was asleep, the active defense systems were alerted by and responsive to the launch
6) Unless everybody else was asleep, Harry's counterfire defenses were monitored across the electromagnet and visual spectrum.
All the players, even the passive ones, got a training opportunity.
#5
Sounds as if an actual attack by an Iranian bottle rocket shooter would have aggravated the carriers 1st division most of all - a bunch of repainting would have likely negatively impacted beer-thirty for the Bosun gang.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/30/2015 11:41 Comments ||
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#6
New this sunny Guam AM = New Year's Eve ...
* YAHOO NEWS > [Natinal Interest] UNTHINKABLE: WHAT IF AMERICA "WALKED AWAY" FROM ASIA.
"Guam will capsize" = USN Pearl Harbor Battleship USS "OKLAHOMA", as will other key Pacific islands deemed of use to China + PLA, andor Nuclear Islam = Nuke Caliphate but espec CHINA, in Anti-China/Caliphate "A2/AD" indignation by the NOW DE FACTO "WEAK/DECLINING" RETREATING SUPERPOWER OR CO-SUPERPOWER USA.
THE STRUGGLE FOR GUAM-WESTPAC IS KEY.
Again, CAN THE SUPERPOWER OR CO-SUPERPOWER USA STILL BE SUCH IFF IT UNILATERALLY GIVES UP 1/2 OF THE PACIFIC, + 1/2 OF THE ATLANTIC, ETC. TO OWG GEOPOL RIVALS + WANNABES, EITHER NATION-STATES OR NGOS.
The third-parties local response to the above thus far has been a resounding "NO".
[RUDAW.NET] Iran's foreign ministry denied on Tuesday that his country shipped any enriched uranium to Russia as part of Iran's nuclear deal with the Western powers.
Russian officials reported Monday the procedure of transferring Iran's uranium to Russia was complete.
But Iran's Foreign Ministry front man, Hosein Jaber Ansari denied the Russian reports, saying that his country has only completed the process of withdrawing yellow-cake from Iran to Russia.
There have been multiple contradictory reports in Iranian and Russian media regarding the uranium withdrawal which is the first step in implementing Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
According to Taas news agency Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said that there are plans to complete the withdrawal of enriched uranium from Iran by the end of the year.
US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... welcomed the news of the uranium shipments and hailed it as "a significant step" by Iran towards meeting its commitments.
Iran signed a deal with the P5+1 powers in Vienna last July to cease its uranium enrichment and in return have economic and trade sanctions lifted by the UN and state signatories of the agreement.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2015 00:00 ||
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"No we didn't!"
"I don't know how it got there!"
"It's not ours!"
Are they paying for the Russian reactors with enrichment services?
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is appointing a new commander for its operations in Syria, replacing a senior general who died in October, according to a report from inside Iran by an opposition group.
Following the "large number of IRGC casualties in Syria, especially the death of General Hossein Hamedani, commander of the Iranian regime's forces in Syria, and injury to Commander of the IRGC Quds Force (QF) Qassem Soleimani, Ayatollah Khamenei appointed IRGC Brigadier General Mohammad Jafar Assadi the IRGC commander in Syria," the opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran said.
The opposition council said that the guards's elite "Quds Force" continues "its extensive dispatch of mercenaries to Syria and that Khamenei.. who considers defeat in the war against Syrian people a lethal blow to the entirety of the velayat-e faqih regime [governance by jurists] is getting the Iranian regime and its Revolutionary Guards exceedingly bogged down in the Syrian quagmire."
It added that "Assadi is one of the most veteran commanders in the IRGC and a close associate of Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Guards' commander-in-chief. Assadi has many years of experience of involvement in the affairs of countries in the region. In Syria, he is known as Abu Ahmad."
Assadi "joined the IRGC in March 1980 and was one of the commanders of the war with Iraq.
He was commander of the IRGC in Leb from 2003 to 2007 and then commander of the IRGC Ground Forces from 2008 to 2009" according to the statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2015 00:00 ||
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Assadi has many years of experience of involvement in the affairs of countries in the region.
Assadi joined the IRGC in 1980 and was one of the commanders of the war with Iraq. He was commander of IRGC forces in Lebanon from 2003 to 2007 and commander of the IRGC Ground Forces from 2008 to 2009.
In October 2015 Assadi was appointed commander of Imam Hossein Base, responsible for organizing units tasked with "domestic suppression." Very shortly afterwards he was transferred to Syria.
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.
...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...
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] 
Massoud Barzani
I suppose the dream of the purple finger is comatose, if not dead. 
