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Today: 67 articles and 158 comments as of 10:39.
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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
86 Dead as Boko Haram Burns Children Alive in Nigeria
Today's Headlines
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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Arabia
Saudi-led coalition sets up body to probe actions in Yemen
The Saudi-led coalition striking rebels in Yemen says it is setting up an independent committee to probe the force's actions amid criticism over its military operations in the impoverished nation.

Coalition spokesman Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri was quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency early on Monday as saying the team is tasked with examining military activities in civilian areas.

A separate statement from the Saudi Embassy in Washington says the committee will assess the coalition's rules of engagement involving civilians and will offer "conclusions and recommendations to better respect international and humanitarian law."

A document by a United Nations panel leaked last week urged the UN Security Council to consider creating an international commission to investigate alleged human rights abuses by all sides in the conflict.
Nothing to see. Move along.
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 02/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
Militants get bail and just disappear
[Dhaka Tribune] Law enforcement and intelligence agencies do not have information on the whereabouts of at least 192 bully boyz -- some of them trained explosives experts -- who got bail in the last few years.

As part of the efforts to dig the reason behind the recent spike militancy in the country, law enforcers have been trying to trace these bully boy leaders and activists.

Unofficial sources suggest that many of them have illegally crossed the border and fled to India's West Bengal.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  almost as if it were the plan
Posted by: Frank G || 02/02/2016 10:58 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Hizb ut-Tahrir: National anthem is '€˜forced assimilation'
"The Islamist activist group told its followers yesterday that Muslims should not have to submit to an oppressive campaign of "forced assimilation" such as singing the national anthem­ or pledging support for democratic values in the citizenship oath.

The call came at a conference in Sydney where Muslims were encouraged to make use of printed material which recommends "refusing to partake in any of the government's counter-terror­ism programs and initiatives", and says co-operation with spy agencies "is outright haram (forbidden)"."
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 02/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hizb-ut-Tahrir

#1  Proud thralls of Mohammedan phantom,
Disdaining our contract and anthem
(as these would abase 'em),
Demand we replace 'em
With Allah's perpetual tantrum.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 02/02/2016 5:42 Comments || Top||

#2  I've joined a new religion which I'll thank you not to scoff at:
We worship a Koala and the Wombat is his Prophet.
"Sign here," said they, "The tucker's great!" I think they may have gypped us,
Cuz all there is to eat up here is f*cking eucalyptus.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 02/02/2016 5:47 Comments || Top||

#3  *applause*
Posted by: Pappy || 02/02/2016 11:36 Comments || Top||

#4  I needed that:)
Posted by: Shipman || 02/02/2016 13:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Two styles, two clevernesses, very happy sigh.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/02/2016 14:47 Comments || Top||


Europe
German minister says many Afghan asylum seekers will be deported
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Interior Minister of Germany Thomas de Maiziere has warned that many Afghans seeking asylum in Germany will be deported to Afghanistan, insisting that the majority of the asylum seekers from Afghanistan are seeking better economic prospects.

De Maiziere visited 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....
on Monday to hold talks with the Afghan officials regarding the issue of Afghan asylum seekers as more than 150,000 Afghans have applied for asylum last year.

According to De Maiziere, many asylum seekers from Afghanistan are seeking better economic prospects as they are deceived by the human smugglers who are making large sums of money.

He also added that the asylum seekers whose applications are rejected by the authorities in Germany should return to the areas deemed safe in Afghanistan.

De Maiziere said the current laws of Germany allow the failed asylum seekers to claim for their return flights. "Of course, the security situation in Afghanistan is complicated. But Afghanistan is a big country. There are unsafe and safe areas there," De Maiziere told the local newspaper, DPA.

The considerable growth in the number of asylum seekers forced Germany to launch a campaign in capital Kabul last year in a bid to deter the flow refugees from Afghanistan.

Several posters appeared in the populated parts of the city today, delivering Germany's message in both Dari and Pashto languages.

"You are leaving Afghanistan: Are you certain?" reads the message posted on one of the billboards, while a short statement posted on the Facebook page of the campaign, reads "Do not believe the rumors and false information deliberately spread by human traffickers about the allegedly easy trip and the easy life in Germany. Do not risk your lives by trying to flee to Europe. Human traffickers are criminals who are only interested in money. They don't tell the truth and don't care about human lives."

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

#1  One, two, three, many?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/02/2016 4:15 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Mystery surrounds Muslim cleric in US mountain compound
[YAHOO] The influential Muslim holy man lives quietly on a gated 26-acre compound in the Pocono Mountains, where he prays, works, meets admirers and watches from afar as terrorism accusations that have landed him on The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's most-wanted list unfold in court.

Rarely seen in public, Fethullah Gulen has long been one of Turkey's most important scholars, with multitudes of followers in his native country and around the world. More recently, Turkey's increasingly autocratic president, Recip Erdogan, has accused Gulen of plotting to overthrow the officially secular government from his Pennsylvania idyll some 5,000 miles away.

Gulen's supporters call the charge baseless and, so far, the U.S. has shown little inclination to send him back to Turkey to face a trial that began without him Jan. 6 and is expected to last several months. A second trial, involving accusations that his movement took part in espionage, opened Monday.

If the reclusive leader worries about the possibility of deportation, he hasn't shared it with confidants, they say.

"He said that the United States has a long tradition of democracy and rule of law," said Y. Alp Aslandogan, who sees Gulen about once a week as president of the New York-based Alliance for Shared Values, a group that promotes Gulen's ideas. "They will see that these are politically oriented charges, and they will not allow Erdogan to spread his ambition into the United States."

Justice Department front man Peter Carr declined to comment on Gulen's case.

Gulen's followers run a loosely affiliated global network of charitable foundations, professional associations, businesses and other projects, including about 150 taxpayer-funded charter schools throughout the U.S. But details about Gulen's personal life and his ties to those ventures have long been murky, giving rise to suspicions about his motives.

Some of the U.S. schools have been investigated by the FBI amid allegations of financial mismanagement and visa fraud. One of the most explosive claims, leveled by a lawyer who is representing the Turkish government in a U.S. lawsuit against Gulen, is that the schools are importing Turkish teachers to identify impressionable students and indoctrinate them into Gulen's movement, sometimes called Hizmet, Turkish for "service."

Nobody associated with the U.S. schools has been charged, and there has been no public outcry from parents or students about teachers promoting Islam, Gulen's supporters say. In America, the schools are public and open to students of all faiths.

"Try proselytizing evangelical Christians in the center of Texas. See what happens," Aslandogan said. "Anybody who knows American society and climate today would know that's a ridiculous claim."

In any event, he said, Gulen has nothing to do with the schools' finances or operation.

Trained as a holy man, or prayer leader, Gulen gained notice in Turkey some 50 years ago, promoting a philosophy that blended a mystical form of Islam with staunch advocacy of democracy, education, science and interfaith dialogue. Supporters started 1,000 schools in more than 100 countries. In Turkey, they have run universities, hospitals, charities, a bank and a large media empire with newspapers and radio and TV stations.
Posted by: Fred || 02/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


Home Front: Politix
Here's What America's Longest-Serving General Most Fears
Some pointed parting thoughts from General Kelly.
Gen. John Kelly, commander of U.S. Southern Command, goes "over the side for the last time" with 45 years of perspective on U.S. war-fighting and its future.

"This will sound strange to you," said Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, the U.S. military's longest-serving general. "My greatest fear was that I would be offered another job."

The four-star head of U.S. Southern Command will hand over his final command on Thursday and retire at the end of the month. In an exclusive interview, Kelly reflected with his characteristic off-the-cuff candor on nearly half a century in the military, spanning from the Vietnam War to three tours in Iraq to overseeing the Defense Department detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"I won't be any more or any less honest than I've been in all of my career," he said in Boston brogue. "I've been doing it a long, long time."

Kelly led troops through some of the most violent days of the Iraq War in Anbar province, where the U.S. military once again is helping Iraqi forces oust the Islamic State four years after the war's ostensible end. He had the ear of Defense Secretaries Robert Gates and Leon Panetta as their senior military assistant. Two sons followed him into the Marines -- one, Robert, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010, making the general the highest-ranking officer since 9/11 to lose a child in combat.

When Kelly visited the Walter Reed military hospital and wrote letters to the families of those who had died under his command in Iraq, he said he tried to think of what it'd be like to lose a child, to better empathize. "You can't imagine until it happens," he said Friday in his last briefing at the Pentagon.

For other parents in his situation, he said, "I think the one thing they would ask is that the cause for which their son or daughter fell be carried through to a successful end, whatever that means, as opposed to 'this is getting too costly,' or 'too much of a pain in the ass,' and 'let's just walk away from it.'"
I imagine certain politicians are not going to like this. And at this point there is nothing they can do to punish him for saying it. Score one for the general and common sense.
Later in the press conference, a reporter, citing recent losses in Afghanistan, asked the same question Kelly said these families occasionally ask: "Was it worth it?" He gave the same answer: "Not my question. It's his," he said, referring to his son Robert. "He answered it."

'One Pair of Boots is Boots on the Ground'

"It's almost impossible for any man or woman in uniform to not give his or her honest assessment ... because you can't make a good decision without straight-forward advice," Kelly told Defense One. Kelly says he's never been muzzled from giving that advice during President Barack Obama's administration.

Kelly expressed disagreement with the Obama administration over Guantanamo; the decision to open all combat positions to women, despite the Marines' objection; the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq; and the rhetorical gymnastics officials are using to avoid acknowledging U.S. troops are again in combat in the Middle East, in spite of Obama's pledges.

"If there's a country and it's dangerous and we deploy a U.S. military man or woman, if there's only one there, and they never leave the capital, that is 'boots on the ground,'" Kelly said. "We do a disservice to the sacrifice of these people, particularly if they are killed, when we say there's no boots on the ground."

When Kelly took Southern Command, an area of responsibility from the Southern Cone to Mexico's southern border where much of the action consists of drug interdictions, some observers thought the lower-profile post was intended to sideline the unreserved general.

Yet Kelly explained Friday, "I was given some options. And I was kind of tired of the war." Southern Command would, "allow me to unleash other energies and talents."

For years, Kelly has been asking Congress for more money for SOUTHCOM. In July of 2014, he told Defense One that "near collapse of societies in the hemisphere with the associated drug and [undocumented immigrant] flow" were existential threats. "If the average American doing a little blow on the weekends thinking there is no harm in it knew the harm is it results in countries being destroyed," he said, things may change. As it is, "We don't get very many assets." A number of countries in the region are seeking intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance resources elsewhere, turning to Israel, Russia and China for drones.

The Middle East's wars still touched his region, but Kelly said claims that terrorist groups such as ISIS are taking advantage of the instability to infiltrate either the U.S. or its backyard are divorced from reality. Officials have observed a slight increase in recruits travelling to Syria -- from roughly 100 last year to 150 or so, Kelly estimated -- but he downplayed the danger. His concern now, he said, was ISIS's encouragement for recruits to stay home -- so-called "lone wolf" attacks.

"It seems like the Islamic extremists and terrorists have shifted a lot of their message, and that is, 'Hey, rather than come to Syria, why don't you stay at home and do San Bernardino, or do Boston, or do Fort Hood,'" he said. "Even just a few of these nuts can cause an awful lot of trouble in the Caribbean."

'Gitmo is Gitmo'

Kelly oversees Guantanamo, a divisive issue he alluded to from his Pentagon podium Friday. "I do not do policy -- whether it opens or closes, whether it ever should have opened."

He bristles at reports he and other military officials have stymied the president's push to transfer out detainees and close the detention facility for good.

"It's an insult, frankly, to a serving military officer or a civil servant in this building to be accused of -- whether we agree or disagree with any of the policies, that we would in any way impede the progress," he said. "My only role in transfers is give me a name, give me a country, give me a timeframe, and I will get the person to that country."

Kelly facilitated the infamous swap of five Taliban for captured U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. "I said, 'Is this on the up-and-up?... he said, 'Paperwork will be coming, but it's got to go quick.' So I said, 'As long as I get the paperwork afterwards,'" Kelly recounted. He put the detainees on a plane to Qatar behind the backs of visiting reporters and the families of victims of 9/11. "We never got caught," he grinned.

Kelly said the swap was "unusual," but he never questioned the legality. "I would never assume that anyone, in this building for sure, broke the law," he said.

But the general also undermined key aspects of the administration's argument for why Guantanamo must be closed: that the so-called "worst of the worst" can be held in the U.S., and that its mere existence poses a national security threat by serving as a propaganda tool.

"Bombing the living shit out of ISIS in Iraq and Afghanistan, Syria, that would maybe irritate them more than the fact we have Guantanamo open," he told Defense One. For terrorist groups and rights activists alike, "What tends to bother them is the fact that we're holding them there indefinitely without trial ... it's not the point that it's Gitmo. If we send them, say, to a facility in the U.S., we're still holding them without trial."

Obama administration officials argue that ISIS executing hostages in orange jumpsuits is purposeful stagecraft in protest of Guantanamo. Kelly disagrees, saying, "What I see are animals acting like brutal animals." He pointed out detainees now wear beige. "If they execute these poor sons of guns in orange jumpsuits and we say, 'ah, see, that's a good example of how Gitmo --,' that's full of sh... -- I think it's not accurate."

Kelly said he didn't know whether Guantanamo would be closed in the next year, calling it a "civilian leadership issue." But if it were agreed Guantanamo should be closed, he said, logistically, it wouldn't be hard, and remaining detainees could be held in the U.S.-- "They're not going to escape, for sure." Reiterating he's not a lawyer, he added, if all the issues with moving detainees to U.S. soil had been resolved, "I think it would be done already."

As for critics' argument that detainees transferred to other countries are returning to the fight, Kelly concluded the briefing, "If they go back to the fight, we'll probably kill them. So that's a good thing."

'Man on the Moon'

To Kelly, one of military's biggest evolutions over the past 15 years is a shift to problem solving: a whole-of-government approach to conflict resolution beyond "typical, kinetic-type stuff." As Kelly recounted, the Iraqis would give the example, "'Look, you people put man on the moon ... how come you can't get me electricity?'"

Though this shift is also one championed by Obama, Kelly implicitly criticizes decisions made in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now the war against ISIS.

"When I left Iraq, the training wheels were coming off," he said, and like parents behind a child's bicycle, the U.S. could have stayed closer to Iraqis learning to pedal on their own.

"This war stuff is hard, and it's not for the untrained and unadvised," he said of Iraq now. "We obviously have a whole new war over there."

As for Afghanistan, he also said far more than military power was needed. "If you take the point that we can't let them have safe haven, then you have to do social, economic, military action, political action to prevent that."

"Some of the recommendations might be distasteful or out-of-the-box in terms of some of the policy-makers' thinking," he said. "We know how to do it, but it generally translates to more expensive and longer-term than what maybe the nation hopes for."

The future of warfare requires case-by-case strategy picked from a range of options by policymakers and the public they represent, Kelly said.

"If you want to just go after and try and kill senior leadership of this organization with hopes it eventually just kind of goes away, that's maybe a drone strike option," he said. "Or I can put a million men and women on the ground and we can reconstruct the country and government and everything else. So that's the spectrum, policy maker ... you tell me what you want to do."

Kelly's passionate belief that the military positively impacts the country is as obvious as his bemused resignation toward policy makers and Beltway bureaucracy. He'll return to northern Virginia, but hopes to stay away from Washington.

Someone recently asked what it'd be like no longer being a Marine. "I'll always be a Marine," he said.

"I'd love to find a way to keep giving," he continued. "My fear was of being offered a job that would be kind of a full-time position at a veterans organization or even in the government ... I'd prefer to not be that, to come up the Beltway every day."
Posted by: gorb || 02/02/2016 16:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: babsabtabkazzxvc || 02/02/2016 17:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Carter to unveil military budget, secret mini-drone
[Iran Press TV] The United States 2017 military budget, which includes details of a previously secret mini-drone, is set to be previewed by the Pentagon chief, officials say.

In a speech in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter will elaborate on the budget for fiscal year 2017, which is expected to be $524 billion, AFP reported Monday quoting anonymous officials with the defense department speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
.

The budget is augmented by $59 billion for an "overseas contingency fund" to cover the country's military operations in Afghanistan as well as Syria and Iraq, where the US allegedly targets Daesh [Islamic State] Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
terrorists.

The world's changing "threat environment" will also be discussed during the speech, an official said, referring to the crisis in Ukraine and reunification of Crimea to Russia in 2014.

A big increase is expected in funds for the so-called European Reassurance Initiative, aimed at pushing Moscow out of eastern Europe.

A 35 percent increase, compared to the last year, is also expected for the budget to fight ISIL, which will put the figure at $7 billion.

Some newly declassified technologies, including a small drone capable of flying alongside other units in a sort of swarm, are expected to be unveiled.

The speech will likely introduce an expansion in the US fight against Daesh [Islamic State] in Syria, Iraq, and even Libya.
Posted by: Fred || 02/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  US Navy Drone Swarm
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/02/2016 11:09 Comments || Top||

#2  a swarm of slow, low-performance drones

Skid, are they putting remote piloting gear in the F-35?
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 02/02/2016 11:59 Comments || Top||

#3  US$524.0Bilyuhn or US$528.0Bilyuhn? No big, really, as whats a US$4.0Bilyuhn difference to the US' "official" 103.9% Debt-to-GDP Ratio???

Although I'm sure the Russians have their own Gross + Net US Debt numbers.

* FYI RELATED ABC NEWS > US PENTAGON TO REQUEST US$7.5BILYUHN, A 50.0% HIKE, TO FIGHT AGZ ISIS, but wid an eye on threats from Russia + China.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/02/2016 23:13 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Fazl assails action against seminaries and ulema
[DAWN] Expres­sing 'dissatisfaction' over the law and order situation in the country, the JUI-F criticised the Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

government on Sunday for its alleged action against seminaries and Learned Elders of Islam in the name of operation against terrorism.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami


Email Hillary received shows Maleeha acted as Kayani's messenger
[DAWN] Pakistain's current envoy to the United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
Maleeha Lodhi apparently acted as an informal messenger between the B.O. regime and former army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
, according to an email former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Chateaubriand ...
received from a senior aide.

On Friday, the US State Department released some 1,000 pages of emails of Ms Clinton when she headed the department but sometimes used a private email and a private server to communicate.

In one of the emails, Vali Nasr, then a senior adviser in the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistain, informs Secretary Clinton that Ms Lodhi had shared with him a message from Gen Kayani.

"I got a call from Maleeha Lodhi, who is in London. She gave a message from Kayani," Mr Nasr wrote on January 21, 2011.

But the entire message that Ms Lodhi supposedly shared with Mr Nasr has been edited out.

Ms Lodhi, who has also served as Pakistain's ambassador in the US and Britannia, was not a government official when she supposedly conveyed this message. She was a prominent columnist for Pak and international newspapers. Mr Nasr, a prominent academic, has lived in Pakistain and has many friends in the country.
Posted by: Fred || 02/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  "I got a call from Maleeha Lodhi, who is in London. She gave a message from Kayani," Mr Nasr wrote on January 21, 2011.

Following a brief dustup near the Pakistan Military Academy on May 1, 2011, UBL went to be with the fishes a few hours later. Probably little more than a coincidence.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/02/2016 1:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Be interesting to see the financial transactions.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/02/2016 11:44 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Edward Snowden among Nobel Peace Prize candidate
[Iran Press TV] US whistle-blower and former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden is among the top candidates for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize which is awarded in Oslo, Norway.

"2016 may finally be Edward Snowden's year ... His leaks are now having a positive effect," Kristian Berg Harpviken, head of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo told Rooters, putting him on top of his list of candidates.

In the wake of Snowden's leaks of details of the US government's spy programs, many countries have been reforming laws to restrict surveillance programs, helping human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
, Harpviken said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Anyone can be nominated and at present that is all he has a nomination.
Posted by: BernardZ || 02/02/2016 5:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, Obama and Yassir Arafat got one. So perhaps with a high bar standard like that.....

The Nobel has in the past missed Mengele ( advancement of Medicine )and Idi Amin ( brotherhood of man ), of course, but then they can't reward all the fine examples like Obama and Snowden who are out there.
Perhaps next year.
Posted by: Chereck Glusomp3539 || 02/02/2016 6:53 Comments || Top||

#3  I think that it is a ploy to smoke Snowden out. "Here is your check and are your handcuffs."
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 02/02/2016 16:23 Comments || Top||

#4  The clever guy has a robot he sends in his stead. They can arrest it if they want.
Posted by: gorb || 02/02/2016 22:46 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel bans al-Aqsa Mosque manager from entering site for six months
[Iran Press TV] Israeli security officials have banned the manager of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound from entering the site for six months.

Najih Bakirat has been barred from the location of the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, which lies in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Avshalom Peled, an Israeli police deputy commander, said in a letter to Bakirat that the ban came into effect on January 31.

The manager is not permitted to "enter, stay or be found in the Temple Mount area, or its entrances, unless he is permitted by the deputy district commander," the letter read.

Peled also claimed that the "move is necessary to prevent serious harm to both people and property."

Israeli security officials alleged that Bakirat is a "radical and inciting figure" on the site.

The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, is a flashpoint. In August last year, restrictions were imposed on Paleostinian worshipers visiting the holy site, prompting the fury of the Paleostinians.
Posted by: Fred || 02/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Ashraqat Qatanani's Father: She Practiced Stabbing on Her Last Night
[ALMANAR.LB] She is a beautiful Paleostinian girl with a courageous and fervent spirit. She loved her homeland so she devoted herself for it. She refused to let it be forgotten so she exerted every effort. In her school she played a mobilization role that her friends talked about. She was in control of the radio in her school, and every national poem or statement she read made the audience cry. As for the knife revolt (Intifada) that the Paleostinian youth initiated, she did not only support it, but even considered that "the end of the occupation is near, God willing..."
The heart [urp!] burns bleeds.
"The generation that you labeled as "Oslo generation" has proven to you that it is the son of this land and it will throw you out of this land, restore its dignity, and avenge for its free people..." she added, reassuring to the Zionists that "the response will be harsh on you, just wait to see it and fear the anger of the Paleostinian."

She is Ashraqat Taha Al-Qatanani, or Ashraqat Paleostine (Paleostine shined) as her father named her after her martyrdom. She is the 16-year-old girl who lashed the Zionists with these words to take only a couple of days later a knife from the kitchen of her house and head towards an Israeli checkpoint.

Ashraqat witnessed the occupation's barbarism since she was a child, and had to bear responsibilities at a very early stage. Father of the martyr, Sheikh Taha Al-Qatanani recalled that during one of the occupation soldiers' raids on his house "she was alone with her siblings so she stood up to the soldiers. I later gave her all my papers so she was in charge and looked after her siblings until morning."

She loved the Gazooks and sympathized with them. She was hurt for the burning of martyr Mohammad Abu Khdeir and Dawabsha family alive. So she expressed that on her Facebook page writing: "They burned the infant... damn a people that revolted for burning a murderous pilot but did not revolt for burning an infant... damn you... You are shameful to the religion of Mohammad (PTUI!) and shameful to his morals."

Ashraqat further considered that it was not the Zionists who burned the Paleostinian infant, but the Arabs "since they abandoned the right of Abu Khdeir..."

With all this oppression around her, Ashraqat refused to stay hand folded. She took a brave decision and sacrificed her life for what she loved the most - Paleostine -.

She took a knife from the kitchen of her house and headed toward an Israeli checkpoint to later be executed by an officer there. The story did not end here, for even after her martyrdom, Ashraqat had brave stances that were revealed.

The young Paleostinian martyr left five wills:

- If I was martyred I want my organs to be given to those who needed them.
- Father, if I was martyred don't get mad or cry.
- If the occupation kept my body and bargained over it, don't accept that.
- If I was martyred (know that) I am the daughter of Paleostine, not any organization.
- If I was martyred don't shoot in the air.

This was what actually took place, and as a proud father, Sheikh Taha Al-Qatanani did not give in to any of the occupation's conditions after the latter kept the body of Ashraqat for over a month and bargained over it.
Posted by: Fred || 02/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/02/2016 6:15 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran Warns US: We Have Even More Embarrassing Footage of Your Captured Sailors
The head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy said Monday that if the U.S. seeks to humiliate Iran, the IRGC would release footage of ten U.S. sailors detained last month that is much more embarrassing than images released earlier.

Addressing Iranian lawmakers a day after being awarded a medal by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for the Jan. 12-13 incident in the Persian Gulf, Sardar Fadavi also said his personnel had obtained information from the U.S. sailors' laptops and phones.

"We have extracted extensive information from their laptops and cell phones," the state-owned Tasnim news agency quoted him as saying, adding that the material could be made public.

A U.S. Navy investigation is underway. Earlier, U.S. Central Command said that when Iran released the sailors and boats, "all weapons, ammunition and communication gear are accounted for minus two SIM cards that appear to have been removed from two handheld satellite phones."

In his address in parliament, Fadavi also warned that the IRGC had much more footage of the incident than the material it released earlier -- which showed the sailors kneeling on the deck at gunpoint, later relaxing and eating, and one of them apologizing for unintentionally entering Iranian waters.

Tasnim reported: "If U.S. officials say they are angry with and frustrated by the footage released, they would be 100 times more embarrassed if the IRGC releases other films of the capture, the Iranian commander said."

"Iran does not seek to humiliate any nation, he said, but stressed that if they want to humiliate Iran, the IRGC would publish the footage and make them even more embarrassed and humiliated," the agency added.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Secretary of State John Kerry both declared themselves angry about the images publicized by Iran -- although Kerry also said their release came from the IRGC, not from the foreign ministry.

Kerry spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to ensure the quick release of the sailors and their two patrol boats, and when they were allowed to go some 15 hours after being apprehended, he expressed his "gratitude to the Iranian authorities for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter."

"That this issue was resolved peacefully and efficiently is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure, and strong," he said in a Jan. 13 statement.

Fadavi's visit to parliament saw lawmakers praise him and the personnel involved for detaining the U.S. sailors.

Parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani said the forces had demonstrated the power of the IRGC Navy with their "timely and calculated action" against the "intruding pirates."

Iran's Mehr news agency posted photos of Fadavi being feted by lawmakers, and lawmakers reacting to his address with raised fists.
Posted by: gorb || 02/02/2016 12:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Time to sic SOCOM on some IRGC officers. Oh sorry, already there?
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 02/02/2016 12:35 Comments || Top||

#2  These troops knew CINC did not have their backs. What a horrible, helpless feeling.

Curse Obama. Evil butt nugget.
Posted by: newc || 02/02/2016 14:01 Comments || Top||

#3  The Ex-Sole-Superpower-soon-to-Be-Just-One-of-Many-OWG-Co-Superpowers USA apparently needs to be humiliated + degraded, etc as it unilaterally retreats or falls back around the World, in the name of US-LED ANTI-US OWG-NWO.

So that OWG Co-Superpower Amerika's fellow OWG Co-Superpower siblings Russia, China, + Iran, Other? can rise to MilPol or Geopol PARITY wid the US, albeit "rough", NOT INFERIORITY = SUBSERVIENCE TO THE US.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG!?

Lets ask God, Nostradamus, Madonna, + the Pearl Harbor 1941 USN BB USS "Oklahoma", VPOTUS AL Gore's Vietnam M-16 + Texas-sized Asteroids, shall we???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/02/2016 20:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Apparently Operation Praying Mantis was a one-off.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/02/2016 22:03 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
US military Cdr in Iraq and Syria rejects GOP pledges to 'carpet-bomb' Isis
[Guardian] Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland said 'indiscriminate' bombing suggested by Donald Trump and Ted Cruz goes against army values: 'It matters how you win.'

The US military commander in charge of the Iraq-Syria war has tacitly rebuked pledges by leading Republican presidential contenders to "carpet-bomb" the Islamic State.

Though army Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland did not call out Donald Trump and Ted Cruz by name, he rejected what he called "indiscriminate" bombing as illegal, immoral and un-American.

"We are bound by the laws of armed conflict and at the end of the day it doesn't only matter whether or not you win, it matters how you win," MacFarland told reporters on Monday.

As Iowans were set to caucus in the first presidential contest of 2016, MacFarland said "indiscriminate bombing, where we don't care if we're killing innocents or combatants, is just inconsistent with our values", despite two major White House contenders adopting it as a central proposal against Isis.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Could we just drop F-150s on them instead?
Posted by: gorb || 02/02/2016 0:45 Comments || Top||

#2  I hope this is not the new solution.

ISIS military official killed in armed attack in central Mosul.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/02/2016 6:58 Comments || Top||

#3  When was the last time we declared victory and did not use carpet bombing?
Posted by: Airandee || 02/02/2016 8:42 Comments || Top||

#4  What else is this political hack supposed to say? He wouldn't be where he is without kissing Obama's butt.
I'll bet in 01/2017 he will be working for MSNBC or CNN.
Posted by: jvalentour || 02/02/2016 9:13 Comments || Top||

#5  Not about if you win but how you win.
What an assinine comment.
I thought the whole purpose of going to war was to win.
Posted by: chris || 02/02/2016 11:08 Comments || Top||

#6  Army Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland

Well sure, ... I don't think the Army has many big-wing dumpers.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/02/2016 11:14 Comments || Top||

#7  "Big Wing Dumpers". Took me a minute. That'd be like B-52s, right?
Posted by: Bobby || 02/02/2016 11:34 Comments || Top||

#8  "We are bound by the laws of armed conflict and at the end of the day it doesn't only matter whether or not you win, it matters how you win"

Did anyone ask the General if the intent is to win?
Posted by: Pappy || 02/02/2016 11:47 Comments || Top||

#9  The laws of armed conflict are pretty clear on not protecting forces that purposefully violate them. ISIS burnt a POW alive, General -- why are you extending lawful combatant status to them?

Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/02/2016 12:22 Comments || Top||

#10  Ya know, I'm beginning to think that not using all means available against homo hostis generis should be a war crime.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/02/2016 12:24 Comments || Top||

#11  "We are bound by the laws of armed conflict and at the end of the day it doesn't only matter whether or not you win, it matters how you win"

I'm sure the citizens of Germany and Japan miss the 'kinder gentler' form war. Of course, neither have been seen to want to wage war or annex their neighbors in the last 70 years.

We're back to 'primitive' (posturing) warfare just with modern technology. PR wars that go on and on and on.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/02/2016 12:28 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2016-02-02
  86 Dead as Boko Haram Burns Children Alive in Nigeria
Mon 2016-02-01
  50 Feared Killed in Boko Haram Attack in Nigeria
Sun 2016-01-31
  At least 60 killed in terror attack at Shi'ite holy site in Syria
Sat 2016-01-30
  Shibir men held for plotting religious unrest
Fri 2016-01-29
  Man Arrested in Disneyland Paris Hotel with 2 Handguns
Thu 2016-01-28
  Melbourne teen accused of plotting to pack kangaroo with bomb
Wed 2016-01-27
  FBI arrests Milwaukee man accused of planning mass shooting at Masonic temple
Tue 2016-01-26
  Suicide bomb attack kills 28, wounds dozens in Cameroon
Mon 2016-01-25
  Drone strike kills IS-Khorasan commander, five others in Nangarhar
Sun 2016-01-24
  2 Houthi leaders killed in special op
Sat 2016-01-23
  Somali Security Forces End Siege At Beachfront Restaurant; At Least 20 Dead
Fri 2016-01-22
  Al Qaeda's Emir of Sana'a Banged in Yemen
Thu 2016-01-21
  7 killed, 25 wounded in blast near Russian embassy in Kabul
Wed 2016-01-20
  Terror attack at Pak's Bacha Khan University
Tue 2016-01-19
  Morocco arrests Belgian with links to Paris attacks

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