Intelligence sources have warned that Al Shabaab is using the western part of the country as a new recruitment frontier. And the Government is responding to these increased terror threats by tightening security laws, enhancing operations and institutional capacity to combat terrorism.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) alerted President Uhuru Kenyatta that the terror group has added Rift Valley, Nyanza and Western to its traditional Coastal and Northern Kenya regions as new “fertile grounds for recruitment”.
The report adds a chilling disclosure that while the Kenyan Al Qaeda cell earlier consisted of mostly foreigners, “more recently Kenyan locals are joining the terrorist cell”. And terrorist recruiters are targeting university and secondary school students as well as prisons to breed terrorists ready for deployment.
“This radicalisation of the youth has led to frequent unrests in learning institutions and to several Kenyan youths being recruited as fighters,” the State of National Security Annual Report to Parliament partly reads.
The aggressive campaign is part of the group’s strategy to enhance its overall terror threat to the country.
According to the report, technological advances have enhanced terrorists’ mobility and made them lethal as they are now able to easily facilitate the spread of extremist ideologies and propaganda on their activities.
But the Government has enhanced intelligence collection and sharing both locally and internationally, as well as enhanced and sustained security vigilance across the country. “Intelligence has pointed out that Al Shabaab operatives and “Amniyat” (intelligence wing of Al Shabaab) are keenly looking for fertile grounds to recruit, radicalise and possibly attack targets within the country,” the report partly reads.
According to intelligence sources, local grievances such as marginalisation are being exploited by Al Shabaab to infiltrate and recruit. Unemployment is one of the pull-and-push factors that have seen some Kenyan youths join terror groups in Syria and other countries, says the report. The terrorists are also using social media to recruit, indoctrinate, gain sympathy and stir inter-religious animosity, the report adds.
“The radicals have developed an elaborate propaganda network which includes use of electronic media (videos and CDs) and mass media, and are more pronounced on social media to… justify their actions, intimidate moderate clerics and incite inter-religious animosity to derail the Government’s counter-radicalisation efforts,” the report says.
Other new techniques being employed by the terror group to drive its agenda include deploying Kenyan returnees and radicalised youth to execute terror activities. Linked to this is the alarming report that more Kenyans are joining terror groups for training, and later are being used to attack the country.
The report also warns that the terrorists are using the tactic of fomenting and exploiting inter-religious and ethnic conflicts among communities. It said the terror group is also sponsoring well-calculated programmes to indoctrinate Kenyan Muslims with extremist ideologies through madrassas.
The militiamen are also going for soft targets such as malls, churches, learning institutions and settlements inhabited by non-Muslims.
The intelligence report warns that terror groups are now targeting university and secondary school goers to create a pool of radicalised youth, who could be easily deployed for “terrorism mission… and the ultimate goal of creating an Islamic caliphate”.
“A protracted state of instability, long porous borders and coastline has made Somalia a safe haven for international terrorists recruitment, training and launch pad for conducting operations across the region,” observes the 42-page report.
Al Shabaab has waged a campaign of terror against Kenya that has claimed hundreds of lives. The deadliest were on Garissa University College in which 148, mostly students, were killed last year and Westgate Mall in Nairobi that saw the killing of 67 people in 2013.
Kenya went into Somalia in November 2011 under the Operation Linda Nchi, in hot pursuit of Somalia elements who had violated its territory by kidnapping tourists and aid workers inside Kenya.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The foreign ministers of La Belle France and Germany made an unannounced visit to Libya on Saturday in a show of support for the new unity government.
World powers see the Government of National Accord as a crucial partner in tackling turbans behind a string of deadly attacks in Libya as well as human traffickers exploiting the country’s turmoil.
La Belle France’s Jean-Marc Ayrault and Germany’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier flew into the capital for talks with the UN-backed unity cabinet at the naval base where it has set up operations.
Steinmeier described the visit as a signal that the international community is united behind the GNA.
"The way to peace and stability is through the implementation of the peace agreement and the government of national unity," he said in remarks released by his ministry.
It is the latest in a flurry of visits by European diplomats who had been absent since 2014 when EU member states closed their Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... embassies as fighting shook the North African nation.
Their return was prompted by the arrival of UN-backed prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj by sea two weeks ago with a naval escort, after a rival Tripoli authority shut the airspace to try to keep him out.
"La Belle France was one of the first countries to back Sarraj, and the time has come to give a new impetus to that support," a French diplomat said.
The visit comes two days before a crucial vote by the country’s recognised parliament on whether to endorse the GNA, and ahead of talks in Luxembourg next week on a possible EU mission to assist Libya’s police and border guards.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A deal has been reached on Saturday to reinforce the fragile Yemeni ceasefire in its southwestern city of Taiz, sources told Al Arabiya News Channel.
Sources said the local committee tasked to supervising the ceasefire in Taiz has agreed with Yemen’s warring sides to start reinforcing the country-wide truce which started at midnight on April 10.
Unlike other parts of Yemen, the ceasefire in Taiz had been breached.
The sources said the ceasefire reinforcement will start at 2 PM local time (11 GMT).
While the deal was reached, sources told Al Arabiya News Channel that the Iran-backed Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... and its allied deposed 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... 's militias violated the ceasefire in Taiz when they attacked Brigade 35 headquarters belonging to the internationally-recognized 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... government.
The agreement will allow the opening of the two main thoroughfares connecting Taiz and the capital Sanaa from the east, and Taiz and Al-Hudaidah city from the west.
A source in the committee has also confirmed that each of the warring sides will bring lists of prisoners for a potential swap.
On Friday, the UN special envoy for Yemen, who will be leading peace talks next week between the internationally-recognized government and Houthi militias, said that peace has never been as close as it is today.
Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed urged the government and the Iranian-backed Houthis to "drop their destructive and belligerent attitudes," agree to overcome obstacles, and restore peace after more than 18 months of war.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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[NYTIMES] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... has told the B.O. regime and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Oooohh, a fire sale! I'm sure us locals will be happy to take advantage of the situation.
The B.O. regime has lobbied Congress to block the bill’s passage, according to administration officials and congressional aides from both parties, and the Saudi threats have been the subject of intense discussions in recent weeks between politicians and officials from the State Department and the Pentagon. The officials have warned senators of diplomatic and economic fallout from the legislation.
Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the kingdom’s message personally last month during a trip to Washington, telling politicians that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts.
Several outside economists are skeptical that the Saudis will follow through, saying that such a sell-off would be difficult to execute and would end up crippling the kingdom’s economy. But the threat is another sign of the escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United States.
The administration, which argues that the legislation would put Americans at legal risk overseas, has been lobbying so intently against the bill that some politicians and families of Sept. 11 victims are infuriated. In their view, the B.O. regime has consistently sided with the kingdom and has thwarted their efforts to learn what they believe to be the truth about the role some Saudi officials played in the terrorist plot.
"It’s stunning to think that our government would back the Saudis over its own citizens," said Mindy Kleinberg, whose husband died in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 and who is part of a group of victims’ family members pushing for the legislation.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Reuters reports that the Obama administration is lobbying against the Bill
so Obama is siding with the Saudis over US Citizens, victims of 9/11
I see why Trump is popular - Saudis can afford large campaign donations, get their sympathisers jobs in the administration -> lobby for Saudi
#2
The 9/11 Commission said there was “no evidence” to tie the Saudi government to the terrorist attack but a 28-page portion of the report is still classified. Link
WTF! First the Clinton emails admitting knowledge of the Benghazi attack as terrorism, then the PAK story about ISI payments and the Chapman bombing, now THIS! My world, my shadow presidency it's, it's crumbling.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has warned that Europe can’t become "a new home" for millions of migrants colonists, in a veiled criticism of incumbent 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... ’s liberal asylum policies.
His comments, published in Sunday’s Tagesspiegel daily, come as the ex-chancellor is set to meet Tuesday with Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a fierce opponent of Merkel’s open-door stance towards migrants colonists.
"Europe cannot become a new home for the millions of people in need throughout the world," Kohl was quoted as saying.
Germany’s liberal refugee policy last year ushered in 1.1 million asylum-seekers from Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.
Orban ‐ whose country has erected razorwire border fences to deter migrants colonists ‐ earlier this year said that an uncontrolled influx exposes Europe to the risks of "terrorism, criminality, anti-Semitism and homophobia".
Kohl’s own warning is contained in a preface to the new Hungarian-language version of his book "Aus Sorge um Europa" (Out of concern for Europe).
The solution to the migrant crisis, he argues, lies not in Europe but has to come from the regions that are seeing the exodus.
"National policies of the lone-knight variety must be left in the past," said Kohl, considered the father of German reunification, without mentioning Merkel or her policies directly.
Many migrants colonists "come from different cultural environments," he added.
"For the most part they have a belief which is different from the Judeo-Christian beliefs which form part of the foundations of our social order and our values."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Just import a shitload of goats and make the 'migrants' happy, CDU Guy...
[Ynet] German prosecutors said Friday that a 15-year-old girl who stabbed a police officer is being investigated on suspicion of supporting a terrorist organization.
Safia S., whose surname wasn't given due to privacy rules, was already being held on suspicion of attempted murder and serious bodily harm for attacking the officer with a kitchen knife at Hannover train station on Feb. 26.
Federal prosecutors said the German-Moroccan teenager "adopted the radical-jihadist ideology" 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.... group from November 2015 onward and had been in online contact with members of the group in Syria.
Prosecutors said she traveled to Istanbul hoping to reach Syria but was brought back by her mother, but while in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... members of ISIS convinced her to carry out a martyrdom operation in Germany.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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Some six outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants, along with a “neighborhood representative” allegedly assigned by PKK founder Cemil Bayık, have surrendered to security forces in the Yüksekova district of the southeastern province of Hakkari, security sources said on April 15.
During a counter-terrorism operation against PKK militants, a sniper who was allegedly sent to the town by order of Bayık and proclaimed himself as the PKK’s representative of Yüksekova’s Güngör neighborhood, has surrendered to soldiers with six other militants.
Security sources have also revealed pictures of the militants to refute claims that “those who surrender are being killed.” Stating that the surrendered militants’ needs are being met and those who are wounded are treated and then sent the necessary authorities for procedural acts, sources called on militants to surrender “before it is too late” and called on parents to “take care of their children.”
The surrender came at a time when the security forces expanded their operations to rural parts of the Silvan district of the southeastern Diyarbakır province with the governor’s office declaring curfews in four neighborhoods of the town on April 14.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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EXCLUSIVE: Since 1775, the U.S. Marine Corps has prided itself on being “The Few" and "The Proud." But while the Corps takes pride in doing more with less, senior Marine officers are warning that the Corps' aviation service is being stretched to the breaking point.
Today, the vast majority of Marine Corps aircraft can’t fly. The reasons behind the grounding of these aircraft include the toll of long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the fight against ISIS and budget cuts precluding the purchase of the parts needed to fix an aging fleet, according to dozens of Marines interviewed by Fox News at two air stations in the Carolinas this week.
Out of 276 F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters in the Marine Corps inventory, only about 30% are ready to fly, according to statistics provided by the Corps. Similarly, only 42 of 147 heavy-lift CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters are airworthy.
U.S. military spending has dropped from $691 billion in 2010 to $560 billion in 2015. The cuts came just as the planes were returning from 15 years of war, suffering from overuse and extreme wear and tear. Many highly trained mechanics in the aviation depots left for jobs in the private sector.
“Quite honestly, it is coming on the backs of our young Marines,” Lt. Col. Matthew “Pablo” Brown, commanding officer of VMFA(AW)-533, a Hornet squadron based at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina. “They can do it, and they are doing it but it is certainly not easy.”
Brown's squadron is due to deploy to the Middle East in the coming days.
Lack of funds has forced the Marines to go outside the normal supply chain to procure desperately needed parts. Cannibalization, or taking parts from one multi-million dollar aircraft to get other multi-million dollar aicraft airborne, has become the norm.
To get one Hornet flying again, Marines at Beaufort stripped a landing gear door off a mothballed museum jet. The door, found on the flight deck of the World War II-era USS Yorktown, was last manufactured over a decade ago.
[THEHILL] The State Department is hoping to bring an average of nearly 1,500 Syrian refugees to the United States per month in order to meet President B.O.'s target of settling 10,000 refugees in the country by September.
About 1,300 refugees have already been placed in the United States since Obama first made the commitment in September.
That's far fewer than those taken in by European countries such as Germany, who has dealt with an unprecedented wave of migrants colonists fleeing Syria's civil war, as well as 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.... in Iraq and Syria.
Yet the settlement has provoked a significant backlash, mostly from Republicans, who argue it puts the U.S. at risk from terrorism.
"It's clear that ISIS wants to, has planned on attempting to infiltrate refugee populations. This is a problem. If one person gets through who is planning a terrorist attack in our country, that's a problem," House Speaker Paul Ryan ...U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, serving since 1999. He is a member of the Republican Party. He proposed an alternative to President Obama's 2011 budget and made himself the target of both Democrat and Republican verbal pies... , who recently returned from a trip to the region, said Thursday.
"The administration -- whether it's Homeland Security or the FBI, cannot tell us that they can adequately screen people. There isn't really a Syrian to talk to on that end of the equation to vet people, so it is a problem," Ryan told news hounds.
The State Department says it has fallen behind schedule in meting Obama’s goal partly due to a lack of personnel available to interview refugees.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Because "Hispanics" don't measure up when it's comes to criminality?
[DAWN] Pakistain has been steadily reforming its education system and has also removed a number of offensive references from its textbooks, Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani said in his reply to a US report about objectionable material in Pak textbooks.
While reviewing the report "Teaching Intolerance in Pakistain", Ambassador Jilani noted that the report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) was a follow-up to an earlier study.
"Using that study as a baseline, the report concludes that majority of examples of religious intolerance found in 2011 textbooks had been removed. This conclusion drawn in the report clearly indicates that there is work in progress," he said. "I consider this an incremental but positive change," added the ambassador. "Teaching intolerance in Pakistain", was released at the National Press Club in Washington on Wednesday afternoon. It urged Pakistain to reconsider its education policy and stop teaching material that creates hatred.
"This kind of education closes all doors for a new generation of Pak Muslims to see a peaceful future with Hindus of India," said the report, adding that "And worse yet, it provides a rationale to treat Pak Hindus as outsiders. In contrast, it ignores how Hindus and Muslims have cooperated and coexisted peacefully for centuries in the Sub-Continent."
The report claims that the textbooks portray non-Muslim citizens of Pakistain as sympathetic towards its perceived enemies: Pak Christians as Westerners or equal to British colonial oppressors and Pak Hindus as Indians.
In his statement, Ambassador Jilani said education was a provincial subject in Pakistain and the report had acknowledged progress made in at least two provinces.
Curriculum reforms, he claimed, needed to be viewed as an ongoing process in Pakistain. "Its importance has been duly recognised and is being addressed in the implementation of the National Action Plan as well as National Internal Security Policy," the ambassador said.
"Pakistain is an increasingly introspective society. We are open to and welcome constructive engagement by USCIRF and other such bodies in the ongoing process of review and reform. We believe that this process will yield positive results," he added.
"These grossly generalised and stereotypical portrayals of religious minority communities signal that they are untrustworthy, religiously inferior, and ideologically scheming and intolerant," the report noted.
"These messages are reinforced by the absence of deeper content addressing the complexity of religions, the rights of religious minorities, and the positive contributions of religious minorities in the development and protection of Pakistain."
Using a baseline of 25 examples of religious intolerance found in the 2011 textbooks, the study concluded that most had been removed from the current textbooks.
However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... the study noted that later, new religiously intolerant passages were inserted in the corrected textbooks as well.
The study’s review of 78 current textbooks exposed 70 new examples of religious intolerance and biases in 24 books, similar to the kind of materials found in the earlier study. Of the 70 new examples, 58 (84 per cent) came from books published by the Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... and Sindh authorities, while the remainder came from 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.... (seven) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... (five).
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Removed objectionable things from textbooks. Words, for example...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/17/2016 6:34 Comments ||
Top||
#2
However, the study noted that later, new religiously intolerant passages were inserted in the corrected textbooks as well.
[Dhaka Tribune] Pakistain 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... faces growing pressure and calls for his resignation, a Spanish minister has stepped aside, and more governments are pledging reform as fallout from the Panama Papers revelations continues. The timing of the visit of Nawaz Sharif immediately prompted rumors that Sharif might not return to Pakistain until investigations were completed. Also facing pressures because of his offshore holdings, Spain’s minister of industry, José Manuel Soria resigned on Friday.
[Dhaka Tribune] As US-led offensives drive back Dae’sh in Iraq, concern is growing among US and UN officials that efforts to stabilize liberated areas are lagging, creating conditions that could help the bandidosmurderous Moslems endure as an underground network.
One major worry: not enough money is being committed to rebuild the devastated scenic provincial capital of Ramadi and other towns, let alone Dae’she-held djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , the ultimate target in Iraq of the US-led campaign.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder (rhetorically) why the other middle-eastern governments are not contributing hundreds of millions of dollars for reconstruction?
Rather give it to the Paleos to fight the Zionists? Don't approve of the religions preference of the party in power? Don't have any cash to spare because of U.S. fracking?
All these interesting issues not considered by the Dhaka Tribune - or any other journalistic rag.
Maybe it's as simple as, "It's Uncle Sugar's job."
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/17/2016 8:04 Comments ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A group of Iraqi politicians announced their withdrawal on Saturday from a session of parliament aimed at selecting a replacement for the speaker, apparently leaving it without the necessary quorum.
Iraq was on course to have two rival claimants to the speakership, further increasing chaos in parliament, which has already seen a vote to sack speaker Salim al-Juburi, a fistfight among MPs and a sit-in this week.
The political turmoil had sidelined Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s efforts to replace the current cabinet, a setback for the premier.
Both the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... and Washington have warned that the political wrangling could undermine Iraq’s fight against ISIS group, which overran large areas in 2014 but has since lost significant ground.
MP Qassem al-Araji announced that 23 politicians from the Shiite Badr bloc were withdrawing from the session, saying the parliamentary division could result in two governments and undermine the fight against ISIS.
"We were living with two parliaments, and that could lead to two governments," Araji told journalists, warning that might result in "the collapse of the front" against ISIS.
"We are against dividing the parliament and we want to maintain the democratic political process in Iraq," Araji said.
Juburi rejected the Thursday vote to remove him on the grounds that the session lacked a quorum and called parliament to meet on Saturday, but cancelled the session over an unspecified security risk.
But his opponents insisted that the vote to sack him was legitimate and planned to hold their own session on Saturday to nominate replacements for Juburi and his two deputies.
The Badr withdrawal effectively precludes the session from being held, though it was not immediately clear if it was final or just a strategy to gain concessions.
Badr chief Hadi al-Ameri is a top commander of Shiite paramilitary forces fighting against IS, and also aspires to a senior government post.
MP Kadhim al-Shammari, a member of another bloc involved in the anti-Juburi session, called on the Badr politicians to return and "participate with their brothers in writing a new history for Iraq."
Abadi has called for the current cabinet of party-affiliated ministers to be replaced by a government of technocrats, but has faced significant resistance from the powerful parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds.
Those efforts have been put on hold by disputes over the new lineup and by the move to oust the speaker.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, Gloria slowly backed away from the eight-foot bull frog. If the creature croaked she would surely be deafened... popular Iraqi Shiite holy manMoqtada Tater al-Sadr ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah... gave the parliament 72 hours to vote to form a cabinet of technocrats.
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04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] The PA president and Fatah leader halts money to DFLP, days after similar move with PFLP; seen as bid to tighten grip on power
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine ... a breakaway faction of the Pöpular Frönt för the Liberation of Paleostine. They are regarded as the most intellectual of Paleostinian fedayeen groups, smoking cheap cigarettes and drawing heavily on Marxist-Leninist theory to explain their crappy lives. They can occasionally be seen strutting through the streets of Paleostine, dressed up like soldiers and lugging firearms, though they seldom manage to hit anything and then usually by accident. This may be because of their habit of wearing black masks that cut off most of their vision. That would also explain their habit of occasionally walking into walls, which is a well-known attribute of those immersed in true understanding of the dialectic... confirmed Thursday that Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] Cairo regularly accuses terror group of supporting attacks on its soil, has largely kept its border crossing with enclave closed since 2013
Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, began deploying additional forces on the Gazoo Strip border with Egypt on Thursday, the interior ministry said, in an apparent effort to ease Cairo’s concerns about security.
"National security forces started today to increase the number of its troops and double the security bases along all the southern border with Egypt to be able to control the border better," front man Iyad al-Bazm told AFP.
He said they had established three new bases immediately.
"This is a message that we are concerned with border security and stability," Bazm said, adding nobody would be allowed "to touch the security of Egypt."
Hamas forces were seen setting up about 10 temporary buildings along the border.
Bulldozers flattened the land near the frontier in apparent preparation for more temporary structures.
A Paleostinian security officer called the measures "important new security arrangements to reassure the brothers in Egypt the border is secure."
A delegation headed by Hamas political bureau member Moussa Abu Marzouk held talks in Egypt last month aimed at normalizing relations that have been strained since the overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in 2013.
Morsi had good relations with Hamas, the Islamist rulers of the Gazoo Strip, but his replacement President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has cracked down on his Moslem Brüderbund movement.
Cairo regularly accuses Hamas of supporting attacks in Egypt and has largely kept its border with Gazoo closed since 2013.
It has also destroyed hundreds of Paleostinian tunnels used to smuggle commercial goods, cash, people and, allegedly, weapons.
The Hamas interior ministry said 2015 was the worst year for the Rafah border crossing in recent years, saying it was open for just 21 days in total.
[ARA News] ERBIL – Two children suffered from serious injuries as a result of the explosion of leftovers of explosives planted by the Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants near Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province, the Kurdish police said on Saturday.
Unexploded devices are a daily threat to Kurdish civilians not only in Kobane, but also in the Hasakah province.
“On Friday, two children with the names A.Z (7) and A.M. (6) were heavily injured in the al-Kantry village near the town of Serikaniye, after playing with a metal object,” the Kurdish police said. They were transported to the al-Salam hospital in the city of Qamislo (Qamishli).
“We note that Asayish Forces warned people not to get close to explosives and report them immediately to the nearest office of Asayish security forces,” the Kurdish police –also known as Asayish in Kurdish– said.
Unexploded devices are a huge threat to Kurdish civilians in Syria.
“What we saw in Kobane was beyond our worst nightmares: a significant part of the city is vastly destroyed and unexploded weapons contamination of all kinds have reached a density and diversity that
has hardly ever been witnessed before,” said Frédéric Maio, Handicap International’s Mine Action Program Development Manager in a public statement.
“The unexploded devices and booby traps pose a daily threat to the people who fled Kobani (Kobane) and are now trying to return home. This explosive pollution will make it impossible for people to reconstruct their lives, and blocks access to several areas. It also prevents humanitarian organizations from operating safely and providing the necessary support to this vulnerable population.”
It is most likely that the mines will continue to threaten Kurdish civilians and fighters of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Speaking to ARA News, Abdulrahman Hemo, head of the reconstruction board of Kobane, said that the explosives continue to threaten civilian lives, and that more financial support for Kobane is needed.
“Until now, 50 per cent of the civilian death toll in Kobane was caused by explosives in the ground,” he said. “But we have not seen any practical help yet, so many NGOs got money from donors, but we have not seen any support in Kobane yet,” he said.
“ISIS militants are experts in the use of mines,” German fighter of YPG Heval Cihan told ARA News, suggesting that ISIS is using traps and decoys, which had killed one of the YPG’s mine experts in Ayn al-Issa town.
“After the liberation of Kobane, most martyrs were not killed by attacks, but by mines,” he said. “Some of them [YPG fighters] have no discipline, and open doors, or try to take [booby-trapped] weapons,” he added.
A French volunteer agree. “Mines are our biggest threat,” YPG member Heval Ernesto told ARA News in Kobane.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Teams of Dyn Corp, Lockheed Martin, or General Dynamics deminers operators should be dispatched immediately to buy back recover the ordnance. Another Business Development opportunity missed.
Bad precedent I suppose, that 'returning home' piece. How can Islam be colonized if everyone simply returns to their homes ?
Yes, that will certainly fix the problem. Who's for tea?
[ARA News] ERBIL – Syrian rebel groups launched indiscriminate attacks on a Kurdish neighborhood in Aleppo that killed at least 18 civilians, including seven children, five women and injured 68, Kurdish officials told Human Rights Watch.
“A decrease in casualty numbers brought a much needed respite for Syrians, but many civilians are still dying in unlawful attacks,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director for Human Rights Watch, blaming both the Syrian government and Syrian rebels for killing civilians.
“Key countries pushing for negotiations in Syria – notably the U.S. and Russia – need to press the warring parties in Syria to end unlawful attacks.”
“In Aleppo, opposition armed groups fired locally made rockets, grad, and mortars,” Emad Dawud, a local council member in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, told Human Rights Watch. Local activists said that the armed groups began their attacks following clashes with the Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) over the control of a key thoroughfare.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the armed groups also struck the neighborhood with 23 rockets on March 6, killing nine civilians including four children.
On March 19, four civilians, including two children, died when rockets were fired into Sheikh Maqsoud from the al-Halk neighborhood, which armed groups control.
Human Rights Watch said it reviewed a video posted on March 7 showing rebels from the Thuwar al-Sham brigade preparing locally made cylindrical rockets in preparation for a launch into Sheikh Maqsoud.
A local journalist in Sheikh Maqsoud, Pervin Roj, said on April 8 that the heavy shelling that began on April 5 had not stopped. She said that the hospital was overrun with dead and injured.
“There are still people under the rubble that the rescue teams cannot reach,” Roj said.
Video of the aftermath of the April 5 attacks showed victims being treated for difficulty in breathing. Photos of the aftermath showed children buried under destroyed buildings and others bloodied and covered with blankets after being lifted from the rubble.
Both the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) and Jaysh al-Islam confirmed that civilians were targeted in attacks.
On April 7, the official spokesperson for Jaysh al-Islam, Islam Alloush, issued a statement saying that “during confrontations [with the Kurdish fighters], a local commander in Jaysh al-Islam used weapons that are not authorized to be used in these types of confrontations, which is considered a violation of the group’s internal rules, and he was referred to the military judicial system of the army [Jaysh al-Islam].”
Speaking to ARA News in an exclusive interview, Alloush confirmed that Jaysh al-Islam was part of the rebel coalition that fights against the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Sheikh Maqsoud.
“The Kurds are trying to control Sheikh Maqsoud to facilitate their control of the Castello road, which is the only supply line for civilians in the liberated areas in Aleppo, and the Kurds want to cut off this route, to besiege the city, and to implement the schemes of the regime,” he told ARA News.
However, Kurds disagree and suggest the YPG are trying to protect civilians from the Syrian rebel groups.
“I think the People’s Protection Units (YPG) protect people from the opposition factions’ attacks launched from three points, including Al Castelo,” Nidal Hassan, a Kurdish activist from Efrin, told ARA News. “The Kurdish units are responding to the attacks by rebels who use Castillo supply line as a pretext to bomb the neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud,” he added.
“Today and yesterday was calm compared to the previous days, but shelling and attacks continue. People are now concerned about the spread of diseases (tuberculosis, smallpox) due to the lack of medicines and malnutrition because of the blockade,” he said.
[Iran Press TV] A former US Senate candidate says 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... played a supporting role in the September 11 attacks, in which Israel had a key part.
"When we get to 9/11, there are series of clues and series of explanations that have been provided for us; they really get in the bottom of the fact that it was Israel that was the chief player in calling up 9/11," said Mark Dankof, who is also a broadcaster and pastor in San Antonio, Texas.
He made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Saturday, commenting on a report about the Saudi's reported role in the attacks.
A New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... report on Friday, citing US officials and congressional aides, said the US administration has intently been lobbying the Congress to block the passage of legislation that would allow American courts to hold Saudi authorities responsible for any role in the attacks, which killed almost 3,000 people and caused at least $10 billion in property and infrastructure damage.
According to the report, US courts would be allowed to freeze assets held by the Saudis, if the legislation passes.
The Times wrote that the families of victims accuse the current administration and the former one of George W. Bush of covering up the Persian Gulf kingdom’s involvement in the attacks in order to "protect US-Saudi relations."
Dankof, however, said, "When you look at this entire situation, the United States government is interested in trying out the 9/11 event in terms of propaganda purposes."
He argued that Washington is "more than happy to allow these families to appeared official events that might support the government propaganda line of who and what was behind 9/11."
"The American people will continue to have a complete misunderstanding of who the real enemies are or why we are likely to be in a war after the American 2016 elections," he concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
It is the Iran Press and they will try to obtain any advantage they can against the West such as pitting the U.S. against Israel. Iran really doesn't need to do this as Obean has already accomplished this. So the 28 missing pages will be released and transparency will be served? We will find that SA is not our friend as many of us have thought?
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... said on Saturday it would support Iran’s bid to join the World Trade Organization but it urged Tehran to refrain from further ballistic missile tests after the highest-level talks with Iran in more than a decade.
Seeking to capitalize on last year’s nuclear deal, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini led a team of seven European commissioners on a one-day trip to Tehran where they agreed to cooperate on everything from banking to energy to transport issues.
"It is in the European interest and in the Iranian interest to make sure that banks engage and feel confident to come to Iran and facilitate and support this new economic engagement," Mogherini said at a news conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Tehran.
With a view to opening a full EU diplomatic mission in Iran an EU liaison team will be sent to Tehran, Mogherini and Zarif said in a joint statement.
"Today is a new beginning in Iran and EU relations. We hope this cooperation between the land of the Medes and the Persians and European Union brings about shared interests and global development," Zarif was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.
He also urged the United States to remove obstacles to Iran gaining access to the global financial system, saying this was the main goal of its nuclear talks with world powers.
The EU executive’s visit comes on the heels of trips to Tehran by European governments seeking to revive ties with Iran after the July 2015 nuclear deal.
The EU and Iran will exchange business missions in the second half of this year and Brussels will assist Iran in becoming a member of the WTO, the statement said.
On the issue of human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. , which also figured in discussions, Mogherini said the EU would continue to be firm on its principles while maintaining dialogue with Iran.
The EU is troubled by the more than 1,000 executions in Iran last year, its ballistic missiles and its funding of blacklisted Death Eater groups.
Mogherini repeated that she did not see Iran’s recent ballistic missile tests as a breach of the nuclear accord between Iran and world powers, though she added it was a "worrying step."
"This doesn’t mean that we are not concerned," Mogherini said. "On the contrary, we see this as a worrying step ... and we are encouraging (Iran) to abstain from further steps."
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ support for Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... puts Tehran directly at odds with the West in Syria.
Mogherini said the nuclear deal was important for improving the security landscape in the Middle East and the two sides had agreed to work together to foster dialogue in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... said on Saturday that La Belle France would provide immediate additional military aid to Leb, and urged politicians to end a long-running crisis by electing a president as soon as possible.
Hollande also said he had decided to step up assistance for Syrian refugees in Leb, giving 50 million euros this year and 100 million euros over the next three years to cope with the crisis. Leb hosts more than 1 million registered Syrian refugees, a quarter of its population.
Hollande’s Beirut visit, the first stop on a Middle East tour, came weeks after 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... cut $3 billion of military aid to Leb, where violence has repeatedly spilled over from the Syrian war since it began in 2011.
"We will work to provide immediate assistance to strengthen the military capability of Leb, specifically to combat terrorism but also to confront other threats," he said after meeting Prime Minister Tammam Salam.
He said La Belle France’s defence minister, who travelled with him, would assess the "material means that can be put at Leb’s disposal to ensure its security," without giving further details.
The Lebanese military has recently received additional support from both the United States and Britannia as it seeks to defend the mostly non-existent border with Syria. The army is carefully balanced among the country's sectarian groups and is widely seen as the backbone of the weak Lebanese state.
Saudi Arabia decided to cut aid to the Lebanese army after the Beirut government failed to condemn an attack on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran in January which was prompted by the Saudi execution of a Shiite holy man.
Riyadh is concerned at the influence wielded by Shiite Hezbollah over Lebanese government, and has questioned the Lebanese military’s independence from the Iranian-backed group.
Hezbollah is part of a government grouping all Leb’s main political parties and headed by Prime Minister Salam. The government is struggling to take even basic decisions, including over rubbish disposal.
Political rivalries exacerbated by tensions in the wider region have left Leb without a president for almost two years. The position is reserved for a Maronite Christian.
Hollande urged politicians to elect a president as soon as possible, saying it was in the country’s and the region’s interests to ensure the post was filled. "The answer to that is not in my hands. It is up to you to," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... 's top diplomat during a visit to Tehran Saturday admitted difficulties in implementing Iran's recent nuclear deal with world powers, but maintained that the agreement was on track.
Federica Mogherini's comments, in a joint presser with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, underscored tension in Tehran over the accord, which has been in force for three months.
Under the deal, all nuclear-related sanctions were lifted but Iranian officials have accused the West, particularly the United States, of failing to honour its side of the bargain.
Among their grievances is the contention that U.S. government officials are scaring off European banks from investing in Iran for fear of falling foul of regulations that saw massive fines imposed in recent years.
Mogherini, on her first trip to Iran since the nuclear deal came into force in January, said the diplomatic gains of the agreement must now be turned into "benefits in Iranians' daily lives."
But Zarif echoed remarks from other Iranian officials about the deal not producing discernible benefits.
"It is necessary that the other side's cooperation, especially the United States, is made good in practice, not only on paper," Zarif said, alluding to Seif's comments.
"We warned the U.S. and we will put some pressure on them, to pave the way for cooperation between non-U.S. banks and the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran."
Mogherini sought to play down concern, saying that three months of "challenges" on the deal's implementation was nothing compared to the 12 years of diplomacy it had taken to produce the nuclear agreement.
"We obviously have not finished the work on implementing the JCPOA," Mogherini said, referring to the nuclear deal by its official name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, describing it as "an ongoing task".
- 'Doing all that we can' -
Put to her by a news hound that the banking issues were obstacles, Mogherini countered: "There are challenges in implementation, it is true."
She cited 50 pages of guidelines that have been issued to European financial institutions that detail how business can now be conducted with Iran.
"We are doing all that we can to reassure our financial and banking system that all the new information on the new system is provided."
Mogherini pointed to other evidence of cooperation, saying the EU has agreed to support Iran's bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) for example, and Iran will take part on a joint dialogue on human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... But Mogherini also raised with Zarif the EU's concern about recent ballistic missile tests by the elite Revolutionary Guards, which a UN panel said breached Security Council resolutions.
She said the EU did not regard the missile tests as a breach of the nuclear deal.
"We see this as a worrying step. Any step that could pass different messages (other than cooperation) is not welcome."
Mogherini, who personally helped negotiate the nuclear deal between Iran and Britannia, China, La Belle France, Russia and the U.S. plus Germany, was accompanied by other top EU officials.
The six powers led by the United States agreed in July last year to lift sanctions that had locked down much of the Iran's economy for years in exchange for limits on Tehran's nuclear programme.
The move allowed Iran to resume a higher level of oil exports when the deal was implemented, as well as opening up more trade opportunities.
But with the U.S. still maintaining some sanctions, including on what it says is Iran's sponsorship of designated terror organizations, Iran's access to global finance remains limited.
Mogherini said the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, where the West has been looking for Iran's cooperation with peace efforts, as well as Iran-EU cooperation on energy production and technology were also discussed.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/17/2016 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has warned that Europe can’t become "a new home" for millions of 
Moqtada 
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine
[Iran Press TV] A former US Senate candidate says 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
