[AnNahar] Mosques are going up, women are covering up, and shops selling alcoholic beverages are shutting down in a changing Algeria where, slowly but surely, Moslem fundamentalists are gaining ground.
The North African country won its civil war with bully boyz who brought Algeria to its knees in the name of Islam during the 1990s. Yet authorities show little overt concern about the growing grip of Salafis, who apply a strict brand of the Moslem faith.
Algerians favoring the trend see it as a benediction, while critics worry that the rise of Salafism, a form of Islam that interprets the Koran literally, may seep deeper into social mores and diminish the chances for a modern Algeria that values freedom of choice.
More than a decade after putting down an insurgency by Islamist myrmidons, Algerian security forces still combat sporadic incursions by al-Qaeda's North African branch. The conflict started in 1991 after the army canceled elections that an Islamist party was poised to win. The violence left an estimated 200,000 dead and divided society.
But authorities are treading lightly in their dealings today with "quietist" Salafis, who eschew politics but are making their mark on this North African nation buffeted by high unemployment -- and a far higher lack of confidence in the powers-that-be.
"Thanks to God, Algerian society is returning to its source of identity," commented Said Bahmed, a philosophy professor at the University of Algiers. Bahmed, who is close to the moderate Islamist party Movement for a Peaceful Society, described the growing number of women in Islamic dress as a "benediction."
Algeria's North African neighbors also have been grappling with a new assertiveness from those seeking a greater role for Islam in society, and have folded Islamist parties into their power structures.
In Morocco, where a moderate Islamist party runs the government, women increasingly don veils, especially in working-class neighborhoods.
Tunisia's moderate Islamist Ennahda party headed the country's first government after the 2011 revolution and remains strong in parliament, but rebranded itself this year to separate religion from politics. Ennahda's influence did not stop deadly attacks on tourist targets last year claimed by 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.
Meziane Ourad, a journalist who fled Algeria after the Armed Islamic Group killed his friend, celebrated writer Tahar Djaout, in 1993, barely recognizes the homeland he left.
"It's more than three months I'm back in Algeria, and I haven't seen a bare leg," Ourad said.
#1
Meziane Ourad Bov Flimbers, a journalist ne'er-do-well who fled Algeria emigrated from the UK after the Armed Islamic Group killed his friend, celebrated writer Tahar Djaout a fallout with socialism, in 1993 1983, barely recognizes the homeland he left
It's like fookin' Beirut in Lunnun now
Posted by: Bov Flimbers ||
08/21/2016 22:14 Comments ||
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[AnNahar] The U.S. military has slashed the number of intelligence advisers directly supporting the Saudi-led coalition's air war in Yemen, the US Navy said on Saturday, after concerns over civilian casualties.
The reassignment of personnel, around June, occurred because "there was not the same sort of requests coming in for assistance" from the Saudis, Fifth Fleet spokesman Lieutenant Ian McConnaughey told AFP from Bahrain.
Saudi Arabia has faced repeated criticism from rights groups over civilian casualties in its 17-month campaign against rebels in Yemen.
US officials have regularly urged their major Middle East ally to avoid harming non-combatants in Yemen.
But McConnaughey said the US reassignment of personnel does not affect their ability to support the Saudis and is a more efficient allocation of resources.
"That's the main reason behind it, and it's based on the amount of requests that we receive from the Saudis."
He said the United States now has "a limited number, less than five, that are working directly on the advisory cell that we have here" in Bahrain.
That number is down from about 45, in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, at its peak. The joint cell was established around the start of coalition operations in March last year, McConnaughey said.
The coalition has told AFP that it uses highly accurate laser and GPS-guided weapons -- many of them supplied by the US -- and that it verifies targets many times in order to avoid civilian casualties.
Yet allegations of strikes on civilian facilities have continued.
McConnaughey said the US cooperation with Saudi Arabia mostly involves "imagery that allows them to better assess the situation on the ground, and then advice and assistance."
He said intelligence is still being provided to the Saudis.
"The only difference is it's based on the demand signal. We're not going to basically have a bunch of people available if there's no immediate request for them."
The spokesman for the coalition could not be immediately reached.
Around June, when the US reassigned its personnel, coalition air strikes had decreased during a formal ceasefire that accompanied UN-brokered peace talks between Yemen's warring parties. The suspension of those talks in early August, after they made no headway, led to an intensification of bombing and fighting.
McConnaughey said that "if the need arises" the team directly assigned to coalition cooperation could be augmented. He said the US advice is always in accordance with international law and the best way to avoid civilian casualties. But the Saudis are the ultimate decision-makers.
"The final decision on targets is up to them," McConnaughey said.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The cost from damage to infrastructure and economic losses in Yemen’s civil war is more than $14 billion so far, according to a confidential report seen by Rooters that highlights the effort needed to rebuild the country, where more than half the population is suffering from malnutrition.
"The conflict has so far resulted in damage costs (still partial and incomplete) of almost $7 billion and economic losses (in nominal terms) of over $7.3 billion in relation to production and service delivery," said the May 6 joint report by the World Bank, United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... , Islamic Development Bank and European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... The 16-month civil war has killed more than 6,500 people, displaced more than 2.5 million and caused a humanitarian catastrophe in a country with a per capita gross domestic product the World Bank last estimated at only $1,097 in 2013.
The Preliminary Damage and Needs Assessment report is an internal working document that is not being publicly released.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
If the nation were up for sale for $14 billion. no one would buy it.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Whenever Jeremy Edgar leaves his home in South Wales he takes a quick look under his car to check that no one has tampered with the vehicle.
Then, when he’s driving, his eyes flick from mirror to mirror, ensuring no one is following.
On top of that, he is always careful to alter his routine -- even changing the supermarket he shops in week to week.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Let ISIS have the lawyers
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/21/2016 10:47 Comments ||
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"Ankara wouldn't mind it if Russia used the Incirlik airbase for its anti-terror missions against Islamic State terrorists in Syria, Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim hinted on Saturday, but acknowledged that no such requests have been made.
"Turkey opened Incirlik airbase to fight Daesh [Islamic State, formerly ISIS/ISIL] terrorists. It is being used by the US and Qatar. Other nations might also wish to use the airbase, which the Germans are also now using," Yildirim told reporters on Saturday, as quoted by Anadolu news.
"If necessary, the Incirlik base can be used," the PM said when asked if Moscow could share the airfield as well. At the same time, he firmly denied recent media reports claiming that Moscow has been pressuring Turkey to lease Incirlik to the Russian air force, saying "this information is not correct."
Amid unsubstantiated reports that Washington might be moving its nuclear arsenal out of Turkey and into Romania, which Bucharest has already denied, Izvestia Daily fueled the rumors by reporting that Russia might soon move into the Turkish base.
Given the recent rapprochement between Moscow and Ankara, the Russian publication cited upper house member Igor Morozov as saying that "it just remains to come to an agreement with Erdogan that we get the NATO base at Incirlik as [our] primary airbase." According to the MP, Incirlik would give Moscow a strategic advantage and provide for a swifter conclusion to Russia's anti-terrorist operation in Syria.
#1
Putin awoke fresh from his nap
Said "The Turks must be Doolally tap"
I'll take the Bosporus
You'll eat white phosphorus
Constantinople is back on the map!!!
(yeah, scans like a 15 year old HP)
Posted by: Bov Flimbers ||
08/21/2016 22:33 Comments ||
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[DW] Bad Godesberg was once home to diplomats working in Bonn. Today, Moslem women in veils and Arab shops and restaurants are abounding. Many long-term residents no longer feel at home, reports Daniel Heinrich.
Sabine Galuschka knows everyone here. The 57-year-old owns a small flower shop in the middle of Bad Godesberg's main street. Her discussions with customers often go beyond the business of buying flowers. The current debate about banning burqas is a particularly hot topic. "I just don't like that there are so many veiled women walking around. That's not the way we dress when we go out," she said. "I would just like to know who's hiding beneath the veil."
Not all women in Bad Godesberg wear the veil. As I walk through the town center on a warm summer's day, the contrast is stark. On one side of the street there are maidens of tender years in hot pants and tops; on the other side, there are women in headscarves. There are also women swathed in black niqabs, a type of full-body veil with just a narrow opening for the eyes. But there's not a burqa in sight.
Fear of the 'right-wing' label
One passerby carrying shopping bags stops briefly to share her opinion. "You know what? I don't have a bad word to say about the Arab women here. Most of them are really nice to me, they often greet me. I just find it a shame that they don't show their faces." She reflects for a moment, choosing her words carefully. "This whole thing with the veils is part of their culture. They're not doing it to bother us." But then she adds that people who move to another country ought to adapt to the customs of that country. "Otherwise, they should go somewhere else." She declines to give her name or have her photo taken.
The debates about the refugee crisis and the burqa ban are touchy subjects in Bad Godesberg. Many people prefer not to comment, or say they're afraid of being labeled right-wing holy warriors. Many rumors routinely make the rounds in this town just south of Bonn. There's talk, for example, of front men who buy apartments for Arab businessmen, or of Arab families willing to pay rent at a monthly rate of 20 euros per square meter - far above the average.
"There's a kind of double standard at work here. Everyone likes Arab money, just not the people who are offering it," says one middle-aged man. He refuses to give his name, nor does he want his interview to be recorded.
Attempts to speak with Arab business owners go nowhere. The most common response is that people here "don't want any trouble." It's even harder to talk to any of the veiled women or their companions. Most put their hands in front of their faces and hurry away as soon as they see my microphone.
'Nothing but shisha bars'
Back in Sabine Galuschka's flower shop, I meet with one customer who is happy to talk. Simone Lavan, 50, is out walking her dog, and doesn't want to be photographed. She says a burqa ban is unnecessary as it only scratches the surface. The real problems are elsewhere. "Every day, I experience the kind of stereotypes Arab men have about women. You just have to walk into any of the Arab cafes around here. They stare at any women who so much as walk by." She says the looks don't scare her. "But it makes me sad that women are treated so badly in their own country."
Lavan adds that the transformation taking place in Bad Godesberg is a much bigger issue for her than the current political debates. She mentions the recent closing of "Aennchen," one of the last typically German restaurants left in Bad Godesberg. "Now you've got shisha bars springing up everywhere, with that sweet smell in the air," she says. "There's not much that's German here anymore, or even Italian. And you see Arabic script everywhere."
Residents here tend to lean toward generalizations when talking about the growing Arab influence in their town. And yet, on my journey home, I take a quick peek into a local branch of a large German supermarket chain. And it's true: In addition to German and English, the signs are also written in Arabic.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Wait until you have to get used to Sharia law, Frau Blucher. And wait until the "Moslem guests" say you should close the butcher shop and not serve any Bratwurst and Head Cheese anymore because its not Halal and "offends" them.
So get used to wearing a bag on your head. And always remember, Allah loves you.
#3
"But it makes me sad that women are treated so badly in their own country."
No No No - did you not absorb your regularly delivered 50 years of leftist indoctrination properly? You DO know that this is all the fault of white, Anglo Saxon heteronormative patriarchical nationalists? 'Course you do! So why are you blaming the cuddly Muslims?
Posted by: Bov Flimbers ||
08/21/2016 22:41 Comments ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Turkish Prime Minister, Binali Yidirum, stated on Saturday that Syrian President, Bashir al-Assad, can remain as the interim leader of Syria, while the country moves towards a transitional government.
Yidirum added that Assad cannot remain president of Syria after the transitional government is set in place.
This shift in Turkish policy comes just two weeks after Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... , met with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... , in St. Petersburg.
Previously, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... demanded Assad step down from the presidency immediately and even threatened military action against his government if he did not comply.
In other words, they'll give him a little longer to flee with whatever he can carry. Golly.
Next week, Erdogan is scheduled to travel to Tehran, where he will meet with the Iranian and Russian leaders in order to increase coordination efforts.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Jerusalem welcomes deal, calling for swift implementation of reconciliation’s terms, including mutual return of ambassadors
Under the rules of hudna, this must end before ten years are up.
Hours after The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s parliament ratified a reconciliation deal reached with Israel last month, the country’s deputy prime minister indicated Saturday that he intended to travel to the Jewish state in the near future.
"The reconciliation agreement with Israel is good for Turkey and for the entire region," Mehmet Simsek said, according to the Ynet news website. "I expect to visit Israel during my next round of international visits."
The Turkish parliament voted to approve the pact early Saturday, just before it closed for a summer recess, ending a six-year rift and paving the way for the restoration of full diplomatic ties.
Israel on Saturday night praised the Turkish move, with the Prime Minister’s Office issuing an official statement expressing hopes for the swift implementation of the agreement.
"Israel welcomes the ratification of the agreement by the Turkish parliament, and anticipates the continued implementation [of the deal], including the [mutual] return of ambassadors," the statement said.
Relations between the former allies imploded in 2010 following an Israeli naval raid on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish aid ship trying to breach Israel’s blockade of the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-controlled Gazoo Strip. The raid left 10 Turks dead and several IDF soldiers maimed.
Under the terms of the reconciliation agreement, Israel will pay a "lump sum" of $20 million in compensation to the victims within 25 days.
So it -- whatever it is, though nobody seems to be calling it a peace treaty -- should last that long.
Individual Israeli nationals also would not be held criminally or financially liable for the incident.
Israel had already offered compensation and an apology over the raid several years ago, but with the agreement it also eased slightly its part in the blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gazoo Strip, transferring humanitarian aid from Ankara through Israel’s border crossings with the Strip.
The Israeli Cabinet has already approved the deal.
Israel will hand Turkey a "lump sum" within 25 working days of the agreement coming into force, the agency said, which families of the victims will receive in due course.
How much will it cost the government to administer that fund?
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/21/2016 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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#1
The Clinton Foundation couls adminster the funds for a - ahem - small fee
Posted by: Bov Flimbers ||
08/21/2016 22:50 Comments ||
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For many Somali-Americans in Minnesota, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s fundraising visit to the state on Friday is the culmination of a tough week, a reminder of recent hostilities against people like them. They believe Trump’s rhetoric on Muslims and immigrants is emboldening hate, and they worry the hostility will stay no matter what happens in the election.
If "Minnesota Somali" elders sat on their male children a little better they wouldn't have to worry about what Mr. Trump might say...
“Donald Trump to me represents a part of America that is anti-Islam, that is anti-immigrant, that is anti-black, that is getting stronger and has an even louder voice and has someone powerful like him representing that, and coming to the place where I live,” said Khadra Fiqi of Minneapolis.
So she's got the SJW progressive Hillary Democrat talking points down cold...
Fiqi is black, wears a hijab and is visibly Democratic Muslim. She said she regularly deals with hateful comments and sees Trump’s arrival in Minnesota as a symbol of a troubled America.
Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the country as a way to protect the country from terrorists. He’s also painted a dark picture of the Somali community in Minnesota, saying the state has become a “rich pool of potential recruiting targets for Islamic terror groups.”
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/21/2016 00:00 ||
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#2
Regarding the publisher, little is known of who pulls the strings at the Shabelle news operation, whether in Somalia or the USA. As for the CAIR activity noted, it was founded in 1994 by a Palestinian, Nihad Awad, and an American Muslim, Cary Ibrahim Hooper, along with one Omar Ahmad. It serves as a Hamas ally and has employed blanket charges that American Muslims are the victims of wholesale repression and that U.S. foreign policy is dictated by extreme Zionists. Following 9/11, as self -appointed Muslim spokesmen they typically refused to blame Osama bin Laden for the horrific attacks on America, following the Wahhabi line that no compelling proof had been offered by U.S. authorities. It has been claimed by many that CAIR is a Muslim Brotherhood operation, something that the US DOJ has never denied.
#6
Somali clan groups in California around San Diego and Hayward are multigenerational kleptocracy tribal structures focus on fraud and theft. They drive a lot of cabs for recon and target development and pool money to elders for property and funding back to Home. Huge mistake to let them take over apartment complexes in SD which has created home turf and status.
#7
Contrast and Compare Minnesota Somalis and Lewiston Maine Somalis.
The difference has been and is amazing. Parents that keep their kids on a short leash attitude wise. Their local Imam turned the other cheek when one of the local drunks rolled a pig's head into the local makeshift Mosque, going so far as to invite CAIR to leave when they came in to cause trouble.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/21/2016 16:56 Comments ||
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#10
I'm hoping Trump is more than a symbol. Many of the Muslims in the Minnesota area have not assimilated and are hostile to our culture. They have dragged their culture over here and expected us to adopt it. Minnesota has also been a fertile recruiting ground for ISIS.
#12
Powerline usually follow this Minneapoiis Somali crew - no Mo Farahs in this place; just a cadre of thieves, grifters and malcontents - like #6 said - and hey, what recent hostilities is the journotool talking about here?
Keith Ellison - nuff said.
#2 - ahhh Douglas Hooper - ALWAYS call him by his true name. This is one guy I would love to conduct a dialogue with - pretty sure I could induce the full Trigglypuff
Posted by: Bov Flimbers ||
08/21/2016 23:55 Comments ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs group condemned the murder of a number of the Afghan nationals in Pakistain as the group claims that the slain individuals were religious holy mans.
Taliban group front man Zabiullah Mujahid said at least three religious holy mans were assassinated in the past few days in different parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... province of Pakistain.
The slain individuals have been identified as Mawlavi Hazrat Sahib, Mawlavi Mohammad Hanafi, and Qari Syed Murad.
Calling the serial killing of the individuals as ’cowardly’, Mujahid said the slain individuals were refugees and called on Pak authorities to ensure the safety of the religious holy mans in the country.
No group has so far grabbed credit behind the serial killing of the religious holy mans in Pakistain and this is not the first time individuals with specific links to Taliban group have been assassinated in Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Moar pleez
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/21/2016 10:51 Comments ||
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[WORLDBULLETIN.NET] The Kurdish peshmerga forces don’t receive orders from the Iraqi army, the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) has said.
In a statement released late Friday, the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs said the Kurdish forces only receive orders from the General Command in Erbil in northern Iraq.
"The central government has neither born the responsibility of training the peshmerga forces nor provided them with weapons," the statement said.
The statement, however, said that the peshmerga forces "have been part of Iraq’s defense system".
The statement was released in response to statements by front man for the U.S. State Department, Mark Toner, in which he called for putting the peshmerga forces under the command of the Iraqi army.
The Kurdish ministry said the peshmerga forces don’t have ambitions to capture any new areas in Iraq, reiterating that the Kurdish forces were ready to cooperate with the Iraqi army to fight ISIS group.
Earlier this month, Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said there was a great cooperation between the peshmerga forces and Iraqi troops with a view to recapturing the northern city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... from the ISIS group.
Iraqi forces are currently preparing to launch a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country’s second largest city, which was overran by the myrmidon group in 2014.
Backed by U.S.-led Arclight airstrikes, Iraqi forces have managed to retake most of the territory seized by ISIS since 2014. The terrorist group, however, still controls several parts in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2016 00:00 ||
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[Khaosod] A number of security analysts said the evidence now shows beyond a reasonable doubt that militants fighting for independence in the far South were behind the bombings in southern Thailand last week.
While officials continue to insist that the ethnic-religious conflict had nothing to do with the series of bomb attacks which hit on the Queen's birthday, these scholars point to methods and motives they say leaves the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the most likely perpetrators.
Researcher Rungrawee Chalermsripinyorat said, "It's likely the southern insurgents. But of course they do not call themselves insurgents. They call themselves juwae, which is a Malay word that means fighters."
Speaking at the same panel, security analyst Anthony Davis suggested that other possible candidates, such as the Redshirts or a military faction can be ruled out, because the former could not plan such a large-scale attack under intense surveillance, and the timing of the attack – just after the junta's charter draft was endorsed by a landslide – ruled out the latter.
Davis, who works for IHS Jane's, said, "In my opinion, it's just common sense. It doesn't require expertise at all. All I did was simply to connect the dots."
Srisompob Jitpiromsri, director of Deep South Watch, said he is also convinced far South insurgents are to blame. He said, "It's clear quite clear. The evidence point that way."
The three experts went as far as naming the group most likely responsible: the BRN, which is often described as the most active and well-armed southern separatist cell.
The military in charge of the official investigation seems to disagree. On Thursday it announced the arrest of 15 Redshirt supporters, mostly in their 60s and 70s, and accused them of having ties with the bombers. The army backtracked on this claim a day later.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Chairman of the State Duma (lower house of parliament) Defense Committee, Admiral Vladimir Komoedov, has noted that the Chinese military’s desire to upgrade ties with Syria could be the first step towards forming a military and political coalition of non-NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... countries.
"The Chinese military in Syria is the first step towards putting together a serious military-political coalition dominated by countries that are not aligned with the aggressive NATO bloc.
The time has come to form such a coalition," the politician told journalists on Friday, commenting on a report about the Chinese Defense Ministry seeking to boost military cooperation with Syria. The report cited a statement made by Guan Youfei, Head of the Chinese Central Military Commission’s Office for International Military Cooperation, at a meeting with Syrian Defense Minister General Fahd Jassem al-Freij in Damascus.
Komoedov added that if Russia, China, India and Iran pooled efforts in the Middle East, the problem of liquidating the illegal Islamic state and the terrorism it produces would be resolved within a year.
"It’s not just the powerful military potential of these players but also serious political influence," the parliamentarian stressed.
According to Komoedov, Russia, China, India and Iran all have common interests in the region, as "peace and stability in the Middle East is needed" for economic and political stability throughout Europe and Asia. "That is why other countries could join the coalition that we are discussing. I am glad that at last there is an understanding on the issue at the highest international level," the admiral proclaimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2016 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Armed Forces are preparing for another massive offensive in the northeastern part of the Latakia Governorate after successfully capturing the key town of Kinsibba earlier this month.
Led by the Desert Hawks Brigade and Syrian Marines, the Syrian Armed Forces will be targeting the imperative village of Kabbani, which overlooks the Al-Ghaab Plains from its western flank.
Kabbani has long been a target for the Syrian Armed Forces; however, it is heavily fortified by the Jaish Al-Fateh (Army of Conquest) jihadists, due to its proximity to another important village: Al-Sirmaniyah
Both Kabbani and Al-Sirmaniyah are located along the path to the jihadist stronghold of Jisr Al-Shughour; this city has been under the control of Jaish Al-Fateh since May 2015.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2016 00:00 ||
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[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] A British soldier who who sold his house to go abroad and fight ISIS has revealed how 'sometimes farcical' volunteers are still beating 'cowardly' gunnies on the frontline.
Tim Locks had no military training but left his life in London to go to Kurdistan and fight after being sickened by the brutal massacres of ISIS in Sinjar, Kurdistan, in 2014.
More than 5,000 people were killed when ISIS launched the brutal attack on a Kurdish area of Northern Iraq, and Mr Locks decided to take action.
Within six months, Mr Locks, a former public schoolboy, had sold his house and chosen to abandon his construction company to go and fight ISIS in Kurdistan.
'Selling your house seems like a big decision but I had made up my mind what I wanted to do and I knew that I might not need it because there was a good chance I wouldn't come back,' he told MailOnline.
Mr Locks had spoken to other westerners who wanted to do the same thing as he did and even gave someone he met £4,500 so he could meet him and they could go to the frontline together.
He booked a close protection course in Europe, which offered basic firearms training. 'It was firearms 101 but I had to do it in Europe because of the firearms laws in the UK,' he said.
He armed himself with body armour, medical supplies and food that he could take with him, then set off to meet his online friend Rob, unsure if he would arrive.
They got a taxi to meet resistance fighters in Dahuk, Kurdistan, where they helped him buy an AK-47 for £700 and a Glock handgun for £1,540 on arrival.
[IsraelTimes] As jihadis lose ground and morph into traditional terror group, frontline volunteers note uptick in Americans and others looking to join fight while there still is one.
Louis Park, a 26-year-old Texan Christian who returned to Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region for a second stint with local anti-IS forces in June, has embedded with the Dwekh Nawsha, an Assyrian Christian militia working with US-backed Kurdish peshmerga forces to protect the towns of Telskuf and nearby Baqufa, around 20 miles (30 kilometers) north of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... "I’m getting inquiries from all around the world -- 60 or 70 since I’ve been back," he said in a phone interview from close to the Baqufa frontline.
According to a study released last week by the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue, of the 300 or so imported muscle it tracked via social media heading to fight the IS group, more than a third are Americans. The fighters are motivated by various factors, including wanting to make a difference or do something meaningful in their lives, and anger over a perceived inadequate international effort to counter the IS group’s barbaric acts.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2016 00:00 ||
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[EXPRESS.CO.UK] French special operations troops are already in action in Libya, Syria and Iraq after President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... declared war on the jihadist group but there are calls growing for the legion of imported muscle to be sent to tackle ISIS.
The feared fighting force has a long history of battling Islamist murderous Moslems, including al-Qaeda and Taliban holy warriors in Afghanistan.
In 2013 they embarked on a two-year campaign - code-named Operation Serval against Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... fanatics in the former African colony of Mali.
Five years earlier they fought alongside European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... troops in Chad and before that in the Ivory Coast during the country’s civi war.
It is unclear what role if the Legion is planning to play in the current war against ISIS but pressure is mounting on the French government to allow the infantry or airborne units of the force to contribute to the war on terror.
Dr Jean-Marc Rickli, a researcher in European security at Kings College London, said French troops were already heavily involved in anti-ISIS operations in Libya, Syria and Iraq as well as the thousands of soldiers on the streets of French cities after a spate of terror attacks rocked the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
EASTON -- At 5 years of age, Khadidja Issa fled the heat and civil war of Sudan with her family. She spent the next decade of her life in a Chadian refugee camp before emigrating to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in September of 2015.
"We came to get a better education," she told a federal court here on Tuesday.
But a lawsuit filed against Lancaster's public school district by Issa and 5 fellow refugee students claims district officials there denied her that opportunity, systematically stalling and stymieing enrollment for older refugee students like them, or placing them into an inferior alternative school described by their attorneys as an educational "dead-end."
...
Qassim Hassan, a Somali refugee whose father was killed by militiamen in that country, said of the security procedures in place at Phoenix Academy: "It makes me hate the school and hate the system. It makes me feel bad."
Speaking through an interpreter, he said of his experience there: "I did not find the school that I deserved."
#1
Your new school has a flushing toilet. That is a big improvement over the Moslem school you used to attend. And if you need an interpreter, can you read the textbooks in your new school ?
Good luck on assimilating, sweety. If you work hard you may fit in in about three generations or so. But you are definitely going to have to work for it.
Your dreams don't match reality ? That's tragic. Eat your hamburger.
well you are NOT gonna get one. YOU want The Holly Crayon, Hadith and Way of the Traveller - you GET Heather has Two Mommies, Glowball Worming, condom etiquette and Collective Oligarchism.
Nobody wins, but by God your suit had better not.
Posted by: Bov Flimbers ||
08/21/2016 23:14 Comments ||
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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.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Whenever Jeremy Edgar leaves his home in South Wales he takes a quick look under his car to check that no one has tampered with the vehicle.
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
[EXPRESS.CO.UK] French special operations troops are already in action in Libya, Syria and Iraq after President 
