[Libya Herald] On the eve of Libya’s Independence Day today, seven leading international supporters of the Presidency Council (PC) ‐ La Belle France, Germany, Italia, Spain, the UK and the US ‐ issued a statement yesterday praising it for its efforts to rebuild prosperity, security and a united governance to Libya, and for defeating the so-called 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 Sirte,
The PC, the six said, had their "full support", as did the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA). They also spoke of the Government of National Accord produced by the PC as "the sole legitimate government" of Libya and of the need for other countries to cease all contacts with parallel institutions outside the LPA.
The group also condemned threats to use military forces to capture 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... ‐ a pointed reference to the recent announcement by the Libyan National Army that it would take the capital. Differences had to be resolved through dialogue and reconciliation, the six insisted.
Welcoming the PC’s 2017 budget approval, the statement called on all the country’s financial institutions to fully cooperate with the PC so that "the country’s legitimate executive authority" could implement economic policies that would address the most urgent needs of Libya’s people.
The reference to the country’s financial institutions fully cooperating with the PC is seen as referring to the Central Bank of Libya which has been blocking funds to the GNA and the PC.
The six also called on the PC "to strengthen its internal cohesion and tackle with renewed determination the multiple security, economic, and social emergencies facing Libya today, first among them building a secure environment." All military forces, it said, had to be under civilian oversight ‐ a renewed clear rejection of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar ... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... ’s objectives of the military running the country.
As to the planned Presidential Guard, the PC needed to speed up its plans to create and deploy it.
Despite speaking of the GNA as Libya’s sole legitimate government, it has not yet been approved by the House of Representatives, as required under the LPA, and consequently is not legal in Libyan law.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] Concern is rising for more than 120 women and kiddies, some of them maimed, held for weeks in Misrata after they were found among IS bully boyz in the final stages of the Sirte siege.
An official at the city’s al-Jawiyyah prison has told Human Rights Watch that there is insufficient medical care for the group within the jail. Public hospitals were refusing to admit those needing treatment for fear of attacks by locals angered at the 700-plus corpse count among Bunyan Marsous ...(al-Bunyan al-Marsous, Solid Base) An operation carried out by Misratan forces loyal to the Libyan Goverenment of National Accord to dislodge ISIS forces from Sirte. 2,500 turbans were reported killed in the operation, which lasted from May through December.GNA's Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj officially announced the end of military operations on 18 December 2016... in the Sirte operation.
Once they were inside BM lines the injured were given first aid at field hospitals. But prison officials say some of them have shrapnel and bullet wounds that need urgent hospital attention. There are also cases of dehydration and malnourishment and some of the women are pregnant. The prison clinic is not equipped to deal with pregnancies and children. An official said that the jail could not afford to pay for outside care
Human Rights Watch today urged action. "The Libyan authorities should do everything possible to ensure that the women and kiddies who fled Sirte do not suffer from any association they may have with ISIS fighters," said Bill Van Esveld, an HRW children’s rights researcher, "The authorities should urgently work with the UN and aid groups to get these civilians to a safe place where they can receive necessary medical care and other assistance."
UN officials who visited al-Jawiyyah four times since November had told HRW that there were 35 women and 88 children, including 15 who are unaccompanied, held in the jail. None was said to have identification documents. Although the majority of the detainees is Libyan, others are said to be from Chad, Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... , Iraq, Niger Syria and Tunisia.
A prison official said that with the exception of four Filipina medical staff trapped in Srte when IS took over, the group was made up of wives and children of IS fighters. There have have been many reports suggesting that some at least of these IS "wives" were seized and given to the terrorists.
In the last days of the fighting in Sirte, BM broadcast regular surrender appeals, aimed particularly at women urging them to escape the conflict. The numbers rose slowly from an initial trickle. The early caring welcome given to the women and the children changed at the start of this month, when at least one woman blew herself up amidst the men who thought they had rescued her.
The change of mood among BM forces led to extreme wariness as black garbed women and kiddies approached. The woman who blew up four BM fighters along with herself had arrived with a number of children. Footage of some of the subsequent civilian surrenders recorded shouted insults that they were infidels and scum. Yet there were also examples of BM fighters ignoring the risks of jacket wallahs and still dangerous terrorist snipers to carry terrified children to safety.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[North Africa Post] On the backdrop of the liquidation of the Russian Ambassador in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and the praise such a terrorist attack received from some activists on social media, the Interior Ministry launched a campaign to crackdown on condoning terrorism and take legal action in this regard.
Condoning terrorism is a crime under the Moroccan penal code, said Morocco’s Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Justice and Liberties in a joint statement.
Investigations have been launched to identify those who praise terrorist acts and legal action will be taken against them under the supervision of the General Prosecutor, the statement says.
Condoning terrorism is against the lofty values of Islam and the moderation and tolerance of the Moroccan society, adds the statement.
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12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[North Africa Post] The Berlin attack could have been averted had the German authorities taken seriously the warning issued by Morocco’s intelligence services about the danger posed by the radical Tunisian Anis Amri, the main suspect in the terrorist attack, Moroccan local media said.
Several Moroccan media outlets quoted officials, who requested not to be named, saying that Morocco’s domestic intelligence alerted German counterparts on September 19, 2016 that Amiri was about to perpetrate a terrorist attack on German soil.
Moroccan intelligence services also warned Germany on October 11, 2016, of the potential threat posed by Amri who had been living illegally in Germany for 14 months and meeting illegally with Death Eaters, Moroccan media said.
According to media reports, the suspect was killed in a shoot-out in a suburb of the northern Italian city of Milan on Friday. Italia’s interior minister confirmed the death of the suspect.
The Tunisian national has been monitored by Morocco’s intelligence services since his attempt to join bandidosbully boyz in Syria and Iraq in 2011. Amri was then jugged Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! by Italian authorities and served a four-year prison term.
Morocco’s intelligence services have shown professionalism and vigilance while adopting an anticipatory approach that helps avert terrorist attacks and bust terrorist cells before they move to action.
They also led joint operations notably with Spanish counterparts enabling the dismantling of international terrorist networks.
The information provided by Morocco’s intelligence services has been vital in preventing several attacks across Europe. Morocco provided the tip-off that enabled French police to locate the whereabouts of the criminal mastermind of Gay Paree attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud.
Morocco’s counter terrorism strategy is led by the Bureau Central d’Investigations Judiciaires (BCIJ,) also dubbed "Morocco’s FBI."
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12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[AlAhram] The Islamist group now has two advisory councils for the first time since its founding in 1928, a move opposed by leaders based in London The other one's in Avignon?
The Moslem Brüderbund group has been hit by another internal dispute between two key factions, with rival members of the region's oldest political-Islam movement engaging in a war of statements via the media. Bet they're being careful starting their cars.
The latest crisis erupted on Tuesday, after the Cairo-based Administrative Committee announced on one of the group's Facebook pages that it had created a new "Shoura Advisory Council", deciding by a majority vote on a separation of powers between the organization's legislative and executive branches. The move leaves the organization with two advisory councils for the first time since its foundation in 1928.
Continued on Page 49
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[Iraq Sun] German authorities have said that the chief suspect in the Berlin Christmas market attack had voluntarily served as a jacket wallah.
This has been confirmed by the interceptions made by German authorities in the communication between the suspect and ISIS murderous Moslems.
The suspect, Anis Amri’s ID papers were also obtained about 24 hours after the attack took place.
Authorities said that Anis Amri, a 24 year-old Tunisian man, had arrived in Germany from Italia, in April 2015. He had served a four-year prison sentence in Palmero for arson.
Documents were found on Tuesday afternoon in the truck that was used to carry out the attacks.
Head of the group of Interior ministers from Germany's federal states, Klaus Bouillon, said, "Islamists often leave identity documents at attack sites - as was the case in Gay Paree attacks - to steer public opinion against refugees."
The truck crashed into the Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 and injuring 48. It was the deadliest attack carried out in Germany since 1980.
German authorities came across messages from Anis Amri offering to carry out a suicide kaboom, when they had been intercepting communications of Islamic preachers.
Amri was already on a security watch list, and was also considered a danger to the state. However, you can observe a lot just by watching... intelligence officers didn’t arrest him.
Following the attack, on Wednesday, a 100,000 euros reward was announced by the German police for any information leading to the capture of Amri.
A local newspaper cited an anti-terrorism investigator as saying that it was fairly clear in spring itself that Amri was looking for accomplices for the attack.
The slow performance of intelligence officials and police agencies after this incident has put more pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom... , who has been sharply criticised through the year for her liberal immigration policy.
On Wednesday, the German capital witnessed two demonstrations, where protesters demanded a "regime change."
After the attack and ahead of Christmas, security has been tightened across Europe and especially in La Belle France, that has fallen prey to many terrorist attacks through the year.
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12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
However, they are still not sure of his motive...
[DeutscheWelle] The EU wants to cut off terrorists' finances more quickly. And money laundering is to be criminalized throughout the EU. What took so long?
Another question Europe's voters will be answering in the next round of elections, because personnel is policy.
If you want to fill out a bank transfer or send money to the so-called "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.... " (IS), it's not particularly difficult. The Raqqa branch of the "Commercial Bank of Syria," which is controlled by "IS," is still part of the international banking system's SWIFT code registry. One can find it on the homepage of the SWIFT payment service provider, which operates its database from La Hulpe, south of Brussels. According to the SWIFT website, the bank's current status is active.
[DeutscheWelle] Policy toward 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... may have to change after an intelligence report found that the Saudi government directly supports fundamentalist Islamic groups in Germany. One focus could be arms sales to Riyadh.
.
Berlin's relations with some of its main partners in the Middle East were under critical scrutiny on Tuesday after a leaked intelligence report linked the governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... with Salafist movements in Germany.
The intelligence reports named three organizations sending preachers and building schools and mosques: the Shaykh Eid Charity Foundation from Qatar, the Muslim World League from Saudi Arabia, and the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) from Kuwait. RIHS was banned in the U.S. in 2008; Germany banned the Salafist "True Religion" group in November.
It has long been suspected that states in the Middle East support the missionary efforts of Islamic fundamentalists. This report, carried out by Germany's domestic and foreign spy agencies on behalf of the German government, is noteworthy in that it names three Salafist organizations it says are "closely connected with government offices in their home countries." The report added that "global proselytizing" remains part of Saudia Arabia's "reason of state" and an integral part of Saudi foreign policy. The report predicts that Salafist organizations will "continue to expand their activities in Europe and Germany."
Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND, declined to confirm the accuracy of the leaked excerpts or give any further details from the report, saying that it only provided information to the government. But experts say that the warning about state-sponsored Salafism should be taken seriously.
"I think these reports are credible," Sebastian Sons from the think tank German Council on Foreign Relations told Deutsche Welle. "It's well known that for decades Saudi Arabia has been launching missionary initiatives throughout the world, both by using private foundations and by sending clergymen abroad. Saudi Arabia wants to present itself as the leader of the Sunni Islamic world."
The report says that it's impossible to distinguish between missionary work and support for jihadist violence in one of the organizations, the Kuwaiti Revival of Islamic Heritage Society. The latest estimates put the number of Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... in Germany at slightly below 10,000 - politicians agree that they represent a potential risk.
"The danger is real and shouldn't be underestimated," says Social Democratic Member of Parliament and Middle East expert Rolf Mutzenich. "For quite some time we've had indications and evidence that German Salafists are getting assistance, which is approved by the governments of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, in the form of money, the sending of imams and the building of Koran schools and mosques."
And there's one group some observers fear could be particularly susceptible to radicalization:
Worries about refugees
Germany took in some 900,000 refugees from crisis regions, most prominently Syria, in 2015, and if significant numbers of them grow frustrated, they could represent potentially fertile ground for Islamic fundamentalism. Insiders say that Syrian refugees are sometimes surprised at how conservatively Islam is interpreted by some imams in Germany.
"The danger exists, and we need to vigorously counteract it," Mutzenich told Deutsche Welle. "The best way of preventing refugees from being radicalized is speedy and successful integration. To achieve that we need professional prevention and de-radicalization programs. Concretely that means more money and resources for specialists in schools, government administration, police, youth welfare organizations, prisons and reform schools."
The Saudi Arabian royal family has been allied with Wahhabism, the Saudi form of Salafism, since the late 18th century. But although the German intelligence report concludes that support for missionary movements is part of a long-term foreign policy strategy of Saudi Arabia, Sons doesn't think that Riyadh particularly has its sights set on Germany.
"While we shouldn't underestimate the Saudi influence, I don't believe that Germany is the primary target of Wahhabist proselytizing," the Middle East expert said. "In the past that was always the Islamic world, in Asia, in the Balkans and in Africa. And I think those are the areas where this will prove increasingly relevant in the future."
The BND, however, has been tracking what it calls growing Saudi "interventionism" since the beginning of the year. And the leaked report is increasing pressure on the German government to counteract it.
A well-timed leak
Berlin has never been keen about attempts from within Saudi Arabia to promote Islamic fundamentalism in Germany, and many people object to Germany providing weapons to Middle East allies with questionable records on democracy and human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... Could the two issues become linked in the wake of the leaked report?
"The German government and the Foreign Ministry have called upon the governments in question to stop their support [for German salafist ...also known as Wahhabis, salafists are against innovation in religion or in anything else. They eat the same things every meal of every day and all their children are named Abdullah or Mohammed. Not all salafists are takfiris, but all takfiris are salafists. They are fond of praying five times a day and killing infidels... s]," Mutzenich says. "In this context, the concrete question arises as to whether we should keep supplying arms to these countries and other crisis regions. I think the German government should send a clear signal."
Indeed, sources within the security community, who asked not to be named, think that the timing of the leak may be anything but accidental. Opposition to Germany providing Saudi Arabia with weapons seems to be growing within the intelligence community, and perhaps releasing parts of the report is an attempt to force the hand of politicians in Berlin.
Sons, too, thinks the time may have come for an arms embargo.
"The government has to show that it has a clear strategy for how to deal with a difficult partner like Saudi Arabia," Sons says. "In my eyes, weapons shipments should be off the table. And on state visits, it's important to raise the topics of human rights and Wahhabist proselytizing."
All the same, there is little chance that Berlin will risk complete estrangement from a powerful ally in the Middle East.
"We can't forget that Saudi Arabia is the most important Arab force in the region," Sons added. "There's no way we can do without this country, whether we like it or not."
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Turkish newspaper Zaman announced the preliminary investigations revealed that the Russian envoy’s killer fought for Nusra Front terrorist group in Aleppo in 2015, adding that he, with the knowledge of the Turkish leadership, ferociously contributed to the murderous Moslems’ operations in the city.
Turkish police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas’ psychological background indicates that he murdered a number of Syrian soldiers and that some of his colleagues were also killed, according to the paper which added that since then he had lived in a bloody quagmire and desired the act of killing.
"He also used to reiterate his intention to kill without revealing the identity of his target."
Last week, Altintas asked his commander to let him join the Russian embassy security apparatus and started monitoring the envoy and preparing for his crime, Zaman newspaper pointed out.
"No one could predict that the Russian embassy guard from the Turkish security agencies would be preparing to kill the Russian envoy to Ankara."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[Iraq Sun] Yet another example of intolerance has taken place in the southeastern Turkish city of Sanliurfa (Urfa) - the historic Assyrian Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in the city is now being used as a municipality-owned cultural center and the foundation of the Islamic school of Harran University, The Armenian Weekly reports.
According to sources, the church was used actively until 1924, when Assyrians (Syriac Christians) left for Aleppo.
Locals call the church "the Regie Church", because Tekel, the Turkish tobacco and alcoholic beverage company, had once used it as a tobacco factory. This tobacco factory had been known as the Regie Tobacco Company in Ottoman times, and was nationalized in 1925.
It was also used as a grape storehouse for decades. After its restoration in 1998, it hosted a carpet-making class. In 2002, it became the "Kemalettin Gazezoglu Cultural Center," named after the governor of the city. Today, a part of it has been given to a foundation that runs the Islamic school at the city's university.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has used the historic church for many different purposes - except for its intended purpose: a church.
Called Edessa in ancient times, Urfa has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The modern city was founded in 304 B.C by Seleucus I Nicator.
In the late 2nd century, as the Seleucid dynasty disintegrated, it successively became a Parthian, Armenian, and Roman state, and eventually an Eastern Roman (Byzantine) province. It was frequently conquered during periods when the Byzantine central government was weak, due to its location on the eastern frontier of the Empire. It fell to the Moslem conquest in 639 but was briefly retaken by Byzantium in 1031. It then fell to the Turkic Zengid dynasty in 1144, and was eventually absorbed by the Ottoman Empire in 1517.
Edessa was an important early center of Syriac Christianity. For Armenians, too, the city is significant since it is believed that the Armenian alphabet was invented there.
But the traces of Assyrian, Armenian, and Greek Christians have been systematically erased from the city by Moslem governments and residents throughout centuries.
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12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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I don't care if it's an 1853 law - a law passed by Congress can be changed by Congress.
Whether Congress will have the cajones to do it is a separate question.
Posted by: Barbara ||
12/25/2016 16:17 Comments ||
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#17
And how many of these nitwits voted for obama in 2012?
Look, i'll let you have 2008. but in 2012, you KNEW what you were voting for. You were voting for this. You fools make this, you can now eat it. every last bite of it.
You mean the legacy of flying in a billion dollars in foreign currency, on pallet, to the Islamic Republic of Iran?
In "not a hostage payment" when hostages were kept on the tarmac and only allowed to fly once the plane with the cash landed?
Or the legacy of encouraging race war and BLM by inviting them to the White House instead of prosecuting them for sedition and inciting violence?
Or the legacy of allowing his Secretary of State to sell her public office to Saudi Arabia, and then allowing his foreign policy to be dictated by those donor Saudis?
Or the legacy of destroying stable and secular dictators in the Muslim world to create chaos, failed states run by Islamists?
Or of allowing a Caliphate to form for the first time in a century complete with head-chopping, crucifixions and slave markets?
The most instructive thing about Obama’s Security Council abstention is he didn’t have the guts to do it earlier, when he stood to lose something by doing it. Only after he calculated there was nothing more to squeeze from that particular quarter did he run up the Jolly Roger. Had it cost him it would have meant something, even as a gesture.
But even more interesting was his willingness to damage the Democratic party who he’s leaving with political bill, not to mention the fact that the policy his abstention represents makes little sense.
Israel is likely to emerge as a linchpin in the region, after Obama’s power vacuum bomb reduces the nearby countries to waste. If Turkey and Iran fall apart, which is not inconceivable, then Obama will have antagonized the last man standing.
It was bad timing and pointless, like a punch thrown by a fighter lying on the canvas — at the referee. That would leave his legacy a consistently dysfunctional whole: conceived in delusion, executed in incompetence.
"The Nation of Islam has deep ties to the Black Panthers, a domestic terrorist organization which openly admits its interest in murdering whites.
To remember the march, they are organizing "Justice... Or Else!" in Washington, D.C. And famous actor Will Smith, along with his wife, donated $150,000 to offset the costs of the rally.
You may love Will Smith from his famous role on the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and his countless box-office movie successes.
Farrakhan posted on his Facebook page, "the couple happily donated $150,000 to offset the cost of hosting the upcoming historic gathering!" He reminded his radical followers that Smith also attended the original march in 1995. He announced the donation at Tindley Temple United Methodist Church in Will Smith’s hometown of Philadelphia. He’s using the massive donation to attract other celebrity donations, as he needs approximately $2 million to make the bigoted pro-Islam rally happen this October.
Supposedly, Smith is a former Scientology member who opposes all organized religion, but that hasn’t stopped him from using his deep pockets to promote radicalized Islam.
Farrakhan has an extensive record of insane comments and racist rants about police officers. He supports violence and the type of hate that should be shunned in any civilized society."
#2
Will offers a spoon as the other will supply the fork. Economic decision. He is looking forward to playing parts that portray his people as part of an eternal resistance. He is very similar to O. Both are expert con men. I would rather call him BEANO, Black in name only. He goes where the money is.
[IsraelTimes] Defense minister in Islamabad reacts to false news item featuring non-existent quote by ex-Israeli defense chief Ya’alon.
How mortifying for him.
Pakistain’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif tweeted a veiled nuclear threat at Israel, apparently after taking affront at a fake news article where Israel purportedly warned Islamabad against meddling in Syria.
"Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria against ISIS. Israel forgets Pakistain is a Nuclear state too," the Pak minister tweeted on Friday.
Israel Radio said Saturday that Asif was responding to a fake news story on the website AWDnews.com, which falsely reported that Israel responded to a Pak promise to send troops to Syria with a threat of nuclear attack.
The unfounded story even mistakenly attributes the threat to Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon. Ya’alon left the Defense Ministry in May and was replaced by current Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman.
Israel has never publicly confirmed or denied possessing nuclear weapons, nor issued threats to use nuclear weapons. It would be beyond unlikely for it to brazenly threaten Pakistain that "we will destroy them with a nuclear attack," as the report claimed that Ya’alon did on Tuesday. Such ostensible comments by Ya’alon would have caused major headlines worldwide.
Asif’s tweet was roundly criticized on twitter, with many calling on him to act in a more responsible manner.
"Oh Khawaja Saab, It’s a Fake News From Fake News Outlets. Act Like a Defense Minister," wrote one commentator.
It’s not the first time Asif has brandished his country’s nuclear arsenal.
In September he threatened to use tactical nuclear weapons against arch-enemy India.
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12/25/2016 01:53 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] The Iraqi force tasked with liberating the city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... from ISIS is overstretched, suffered great loss and exhausted and is putting a few hundred new recruits through a crash course for battle. That is the elite Golden Division.
The defeat of ISIS and its expulsion from the second largest city was entrusted to this force of 10,000 trained soldiers from Iraq’s different ethnic backgrounds. And they have been on the forefront since the offensive was launched on October 17.
Continued on Page 49
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12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] Leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP-I or HDK) of Iran say they are convinced Iran was behind a recent attack on their headquarters in the Kurdistan Region that killed seven people and maimed a number of others.
The group said in a statement on Saturday that based on recent threats made by Iranian military leaders and past assasination of their leaders they are certain that all the fingers point towards Iran for the latest twin bombing.
"To accuse the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran of carrying out this terror attack, the Kurdistan Democratic Party has relied on a number of clues and information," read the statement. "This regime has carried out tens of terror attacks against political parties and eastern Kurdistan strivers and their families within the Kurdistan Region, claiming hundreds of victims."
The HDK said that recent threats by Iranian military leaders against their party left no doubt as to Iran's involvement's in the attack in Koya that killed five HDK fighters and two security guards.
"Over the past months, Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders have openly and persistently threatened that they would inflict harm on the democrats and their bases and shelters anywhere if necessary," the group said.
The twin bombing targeted the HDK offices as members of the group were marking the birth day of Abdulrahman Ghassemlou, a former HDK leader who was assasinated while negotiating with Iranian agents in Vienna in 1989.
The place and timing of the bombing, said HDK, was to ensure it killed as many members of the group as possible in that gathering.
"As they appear to have been unable to bring in the bombs inside the auditorium, they placed the bombs in a nearby place to target the people where they would gather after the ceremonies," read the HDK statement. "Within moments of the attacks we had little doubt about Iran’s involvement behind this terror attack."
"The [Iranian] Itlaat and revolutionary guards have been trying for a long time to carry out evil and kabooms against our party institutions and shelters and against our leaders and party members." HDK said.
In fact, to renew terror plots in the Kurdistan Region against the Democratic Party and other political parties of Rojhalat [eastern Kurdistan], they have rejoined some of their 1990’s [friends] and asked them to help them on this regard."
The statement continued: "over the past two years, several other terror plots against several other bases and political organizations of Rojhalat have been foiled in the Kurdistan Region and the perpetrators returned to the hug of Iranian espionage agencies."
At the burial ceremony for those killed in the bombing, HDK leader Khalid Azizi said his party was not going to "respond to the enemy with terrorism,"
"The Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran wants to create an atmosphere of instability," he told news hounds at the burial ceremony. "Terrorism is sewn into Iran, but terrorism does not scare the HDK,"
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12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[Iraq Sun] A few hundred Iraqi Christians flocked on Saturday to Bartella, a northern town recently retaken from ISIS, to celebrate Christmas for the first time since 2013.
Bartella, once home to thousands of Assyrian Christians, emptied in August 2014 when it fell to ISIS's blitz across large parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria. Iraqi forces took it back in the first few days of the offensive that started in October.
'It is a mix of sadness and happiness,' said Bishop Mussa Shemali before a Christmas eve ceremony at Mar Shimoni church, which has been badly damaged, with crosses taken down and statues of saints defaced, Rooters reported.
'We are sad to see what has been done to our holiest places by our own countrymen, but at the same time we are happy to celebrate the first mass in two years.'
The region of Nineveh is one of the most ancient settlements of Christianity, going back nearly 2,000 years.
The front line in the battle to retake djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... - ISIS's last major stronghold in Iraq, has moved a few kilometers to the west, into eastern districts where the murderous Moslems are dug in among civilians, fighting off the advance of elite Iraqi units with suicide boom-mobiles, mortars and snipers.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[Iraq Sun] Raghad, the daughter of deposed Iraqi dictator , has said that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... has a 'high level of political sensibility' and hopes that he will be different from his predecessors.
Raghad, who blames the United States for the chaos in Iraq, said in an interview to CNN, "This man (Donald Trump) has just arrived to the leadership ... But from what is apparent, this man has a high level of political sensibility that is vastly different than the one who preceded him.
Praising Trump for his outspoken attitude, Raghad said, "He exposed the mistakes of the others, specifically in terms of Iraq, which means he is very aware of the mistakes made in Iraq and what happened to my father."
During his presidential campaign, Trump said he opposed the war on Iraq, however, he was publicly supportive of the invasion in interviews before and after the war.
And while saying that Saddam Hussein "was a bad guy," Trump has praised the former Iraqi leader's efficient killing of "terrorists".
Raghad said she has not been involved in politics and supports no groups or parties on the ground. However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... the present Iraqi Government has accused her of supporting her father's Baath party, now outlawed, and has called on Jordan to repatriate her.
More recently it has accused her of supporting ISIS, an allegation that she vehemently denies.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Zionist entity lashed out at US President Barack Obama That’s just how white folks will do you.... over a UN Security Council resolution passed Friday demanding it halt settlements in Paleostinian territory, while vowing it would not abide by it.
"Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the UN and will not abide by its terms," a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.
"The B.O. regime not only failed to protect Israel against this gang-up at the UN, it colluded with it behind the scenes," it said.
"Israel looks forward to working with President-elect (Donald) Trump and with all our friends in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, to negate the harmful effects of this absurd resolution."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Settlements WORK. Somebody wins and somebody loses. There is NO future in your losing so it has to be the other guy.
There is another OLD saying: all is fair in Love and war.
Settlements WORK. Let's have more of them. Take all you can, give nothing back. Settlements will end the War or at least end the Moslems in the West Bank.
In America we put the Indians on Reservations and today the Indians are on reservations. And we don't have to worry anymore about the Indians attacking OUR settlements. It wasn't fair? It worked didn't it? Screw fair, it solved the problem about who owns the United States. And we are NOT giving it back....are we? Israeli Settlements work, and they will win using it. Screw Mohammed. That's right, rump in the air bye bye.
[IsraelTimes] Two posts on consecutive days highlight ’outstanding operations’ in history of Abbas’s movement and during Second Intifada
Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... ’s Fatah movement used social media this month to celebrate numerous attacks by its members that killed over 100 Israelis.
Israeli monitoring group Paleostinian Media Watch found that the Fatah used Facebook on two consecutive days to highlight its "most outstanding" terror attacks, in which a total of 116 Israelis -- 100 civilians, including 22 children, and 16 soldiers -- were killed.
According to PMW, the first post lauded Fatah’s "10 most outstanding operations" in the group’s 52 year history. The second post highlighted the "10 most outstanding operations in the al-Aqsa [Second] Intifada" -- a reference to the wave of violence and terrorism that lasted from 2000 to 2005 and claimed over a thousand Israeli lives.
The attacks were classed as "outstanding" in some cases due to the high corpse count they incurred, such as a 1978 bus hijacking that killed 37 people. Others were included for their historical significance to Fatah, such as the first terrorist attack to target civilians -- a 1965 bombing in which no one was actually hurt.
PMW said the post praising the attacks since Fatah’s creation was to taken down shortly after it was published, and showed a map of Paleostine that included the whole of Israel as well as the Paleostinian territories. It also depicted Fatah’s logo, which contains images of a grenade and guns, and a list of the so-called "outstanding operations."
Abbas has renounced the use of violence in the Paleostinian cause,
...in English, at any rate. In English he prefers outbreeding the juices, and pushing them off the land by sheer weight of bodies. He clearly does not understand the concept of highrise apartment buildings, and carefully ignores what despair has done to Palestinian birth rates...
although in January one of his aides caused outrage when he called for gruesome attacks against Israelis.
Sultan Abu al-Einein, an adviser to Abbas on civil society organizations and a Fatah Central Committee member, said during an interview with the Paleostinian news site Donia al-Watan: "Wherever you find an Israeli, slit his throat."
...by which we can estimate what President Abbas says in his native tongue.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Dec. 24 that Turkey will never allow the formation of a new state in northern Syria.
"We will never allow the founding of this kind of state,” despite efforts to do so, Erdoğan told Turkey’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) in Istanbul.
Erdoğan also reiterated Turkey’s wish to see a “terror-free safe zone” in northern Syria for the safety of its southeastern border provinces.
"We have been saying this from the beginning. If this [issue] isn’t dealt with, Gaziantep is always hanging by a thread, Kilis is always hanging by a thread, Şanlıurfa is hanging by a thread," he added, mentioning three border provinces.
The Turkish army is currently active in northern Syria, assisting Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters under Operation Euphrates Shield, which began in late August to improve security, support coalition forces, and eliminate the terror threat along Turkey’s border.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] A new video of Bana, a child made famous from a twitter account controlled by her mother Fatemah, has emerged of her giving an interview in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... to a news news hound, with her mother scripting the responses.
The video shows her mum directly telling Bana how to respond on the allegations of the shortage of food in Aleppo and to supposed government atrocities on the people of the city.
The innocent child was one of the thousands of people, including her father who is a holy warrior fighter, that beat feet from East Aleppo after an agreement with the Syrian government.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Did mom have a green helmet to wear during the interview?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/25/2016 9:52 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.
...(al-Bunyan al-Marsous, 
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Turkish newspaper Zaman announced the preliminary investigations revealed that the Russian envoy’s killer fought for Nusra Front terrorist group in Aleppo in 2015, adding that he, with the knowledge of the Turkish leadership, ferociously contributed to the
"The Nation of Islam has deep ties to the Black Panthers, a domestic terrorist organization which openly admits its interest in murdering whites.
[Iraq Sun] Raghad, the daughter of deposed Iraqi dictator , has said that U.S. President-elect 
