[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Inter Services Intelligence chief, Pakistain military’s intelligence, Gen. Naveed Mukhtar is expected to visit Kabul in near the future as efforts are underway to mend the Pak-Afghan ties which witnessed an all time low during the past one year.
According to the informed sources, Gen. Mukhtar is expected to visit Kabul at the end of the current week to meet with the Afghan officials.
This comes as a delegation of the Pak parliamentarians visited Kabul last week and met with the Afghan president and other high level government officials to bridge the gap between the two nations and improve bilateral relations between the two neighboring countries.
The speaker of the Upper House of the Afghan Parliament, Meshrano Jirga, Fazal Hadi Moslemyar, said Sunday that President Ghani had serious negotiations with the delegation of the Pak Parliament during their visit to Kabul.
Speaking during the general session of the Upper House of the Parliament, Moslemyar, said President Ghani shared the concerns and issues of Afghanistan with the Pak delegation.
He said the Pak delegation has taken a note of the concerns shared by Afghanistan and they submit the Afghan concerns and issues to the Pak authorities upon their return.
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05/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] After dropping MOAB and raiding compound, American military thinks group reduced to less than 800 fighters.
After dropping a monster bomb on its fighters, then targeting its leader, the US military is looking to destroy 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’s Afghan branch before battle-hardened reinforcements arrive from Syria and Iraq.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Wasn't that in our sights last year?
Maybe we're tripping over dollars to pick up shiny pennies.
[Libya Herald] Although there has been no official statement so far on today’s talks in Abu Dhabi between Presidency Council head Fayez Serraj and Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, unconfirmed reports say that a number of points were agreed. These include reducing the Presidency Council to three rather than nine members, the fight against terrorism and the classifying of a number of organisations as terrorists, the removal of controversial supplementary Clause 8 of the Libyan Political Agreement, and fresh parliamentary and presidential elections within six months of an agreement being reached.
Other items agreed are said to be:
The formation of a new presidency council to comprise a president plus the head of the House of Representatives and the general commander of the Libyan armed forces;
No foreign interference in army and security affairs;
The dissolution of militias and armed groups;
Compliance with all Libyan judicial decisions; and
Rejecting the settlement of migrants in Libya.
Hafter and Serraj are also said to have agreed to set up working group to prepare a formal agreement. It is also reported that they will have another meeting to continue their discussions next week in Cairo and that it will be attended by Egyptian President Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. Sisi was to have attend the talks that the two were supposed to have in the Egyptian capital in February but which failed to take place when Hafter refused to meet Serraj.
There is no news as to whether the LNA will call a new ceasefire in the south.
The decision on fighting terrorism may prove thorny if, as reported, it has been agreed that the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shoura Council (BRSC) and the Benghazi Defence Brigades are to be classified as terrorists because of their ties to Al-Qaeda via Ansar Al-Sharia, itself part of the BRSC. This will almost certainly be rejected by a number of Misratan groups as well as those allied to the grand mufti, Sheikh Sadek al-Ghariani.
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05/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] US President 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... and Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... discussed working together to end the violence in Syria on Tuesday in their first phone call since US air strikes in Syria strained US-Russian relations.
The White House said the two leaders agreed that "all parties must do all they can to end the violence" in Syria and that Trump and Putin also discussed working together against the holy warriors throughout the Middle East.
"The conversation was a very good one, and included the discussion of safe, or de-escalation, zones to achieve lasting peace for humanitarian and many other reasons," a White House statement said.
Trump's decision to launch 59 cruise missiles against a Syrian airfield on April 4 in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack angered the Russians and led to some bitter exchanges between the two governments.
The White House statement said Washington will send a representative to Syrian cease-fire talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday and Thursday.
"They also discussed at length working together to eradicate terrorism throughout the Middle East. Finally, they spoke about how best to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea," the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
discussed working together
Trump: "You have all the common edges. I only have matching colors."
[RT] Saudi Aramco has become a 100-percent owner of Port Arthur, an oil refinery in Texas. Port Arthur has a capacity of 600,000 barrels per day, making it the biggest in North America.
The kingdom’s national oil company previously owned 50 percent in the refinery before acquiring the full stake from Royal Dutch Shell on Monday. Complicated relations between the companies forced them to separate their assets. On Monday, Shell announced the divorce was complete.
Saudis also acquired 24 distribution terminals, Aramco said in a statement. The Saudi firm also got the exclusive right to sell Shell-branded gasoline and diesel in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, the eastern half of Texas, and the majority of Florida.
In about five years, last I heard, the Saudis will have spent down their liquid assets; at that point liquidating their foreign holdings will look very attractive.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Nationalize it. Show 'em two can play that game
[AlAhram] EU countries that imposed border controls in the passport-free Schengen area because of the migrant crisis should end them by November, Brussels said Tuesday.
Austria, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and non-EU Norway introduced the ID checks in 2015 and have been allowed to repeatedly prolong them at set intervals.
Sweden said earlier Tuesday that it was scrapping the checks.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said it would now only recommend one final half-year extension from mid-May.
"The time has come to take the last concrete steps to gradually return to a normal functioning of the Schengen area," EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told news hounds.
"This will be the last prolongation."
The five countries first introduced the checks as a record wave of refugees and migrants colonists from Syria and other Middle East countries and from Africa streamed across Europe.
Brussels initially set the goal of getting rid of the checks by the end of 2016 but that proved impossible.
The Schengen area comprises 22 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... Explaining the decision for one final extension, Avramopoulos said the ID controls were "exceptional, proportionate, and as a last resort, for a strict and limited period -- in this case, for a last time, of maximum six months."
EU states would instead strengthen "proportionate police checks across the territory" of the bloc, especially near internal borders, he said.
[RT] Denmark has banned the entry of six foreign preachers for at least two years, following the publication of a blacklist of those it says have spread hate speech. The blacklist, consisting of just six people, is dominated by controversial Moslem preachers and also features the Evangelical Florida pastor Terry Jones, who gained notoriety for burning copies of the Koran.
The list comprises Saudis Salman al-Ouda and Muhammad al-Arifi, Americans Kamal El-Mekki and Jones, Syrian Mohammed Rateb al-Nabulsi and Canadian Bilal Philips.
The Danish Immigration and Integration Ministry believes that the blacklist "sends a clear signal that travelling fanatical religious preachers who try to undermine our democracy and fundamental values of freedom and human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... are not welcome in Denmark."
Immigration and Integration Minister Inger Støjberg echoed these sentiments.
"The government won’t accept hate preachers coming to Denmark to preach hate against Danish society and indoctrinate listeners to commit violence against women and kiddies, spread ideas of a caliphate and undermine our founding values," the Copenhagen Post cites her as saying.
"So I am naturally very pleased that it’s now clear to everyone that these people are not welcome in Denmark," she added.
It was was unclear whether any of the preachers had traveled to Denmark in the recent years, although German agency dpa reported that US imam Kamal El-Mekki had visited the Scandinavian country in the past and Canadian Moslemholy man Bilal Philips had traveled to Denmark in 2011.
Golly.
The list of banned preachers was spurred by a February 2016 hidden-camera documentary that captured a radical imam in a Danish mosque preaching that adulterers should be stoned. The documentary's broadcast led to a debate in Danish society about how to stop the construction of parallel societies and prevent religious fanaticism.
Virtue signalling rather than being effective? One so misses the refreshing directness of the Vikings.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[RT] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... will say goodbye to the EU if it refuses to "open new chapters" on its accession into the bloc, President Erdogan has stated. It comes after an EU commissioner said Ankara’s actions and policies have made it impossible to meet EU criteria to join.
"From now on there is no option other than opening the chapters you have not yet opened. If you do not open [them], goodbye," Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... said at a Tuesday ceremony to mark his return to the ruling AK Party, as quoted by Rooters.
His comments came after European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, who oversees EU membership bids, told Rooters that Turkey’s limits on press freedom, mass jailing, and diminishing civil rights have made it almost impossible for Turkey to meet EU joining criteria.
Hahn said on Tuesday that EU rules are "not negotiable," and that the bloc will not put aside the "human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... situation" in discussions with Ankara.
"Everybody’s clear that, currently at least, Turkey is moving away from a European perspective," Hahn said.
"There is no version of Turkish democracy. There is only democracy. Turkish people have the same rights to live in freedom as Europeans do."
He stated that the focus of the relationship between the bloc and Ankara "has to be something else... we have to see what could be done in the future, to see if we can restart some kind of cooperation."
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05/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[WJON] A man convicted of trying to join 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 in Syria will remain in jug until a hearing next week when a federal judge in Minneapolis is expected to decide whether he violated his probation by watching a documentary on terrorism.
...the precocious ISIS supporter who probably wasn't named after the Abdullahi Yusuf International Airport in Galkayo, Somalia. He was last seen on Rantburg two years ago when he was arrested for violating conditions in an unspecified way while in a halfway house undergoing deradicalization -- it seems we missed the report in May, 2016 when he testified against his former friends...
is one of nine men from the Twin Cities convicted and sentenced last year for trying to join the krazed killer group.
Reports say Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Davis found probable cause Tuesday to keep the 21-year-old Yusuf in jug until a hearing next week on whether his supervised release should be revoked.
Yusuf was living in a halfway house when a probation officer recently informed the judge that Yusuf had admitted watching the terrorism show on CNN.
This article starring:
Abdullahi Yusuf
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05/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] In what is being seen here as an attempt at escalation, India on Monday accused the Pakistan Army of carrying out an ambush across the Line of Control (LoC) in held Kashmir through a ’border action team (BAT)’ and beheading two Indian soldiers.
A nasty Pakistani tradition, I've heard, and not just heads.
The allegation was strongly denied by the Pakistain Army, which stressed that being a professional force it did not engage in lowly acts of mutilating corpses of enemy troops. It denied undertaking a BAT action or committing any ceasefire violation.
Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif in a tweet termed Indian allegations baseless. He said it was a deplorable attempt by India to ignite tensions for internal political motives.
"Pakistain Army did not commit any ceasefire violation on Line of Control or a BAT action in Buttal sector (Indian Krishna Ghatti Sector) as alleged by India. Indian blame of mutilating Indian soldiers’ bodies is also false," the military’s public relations wing ISPR said.
It said: "Pakistain Army is a highly professional force and shall never disrespect a soldier even Indian."
The Indian army had earlier alleged that the Pakistain Army had on Monday morning carried out a "rocket and mortar" attack on two of its forward posts on the LoC. It further alleged that a BAT action was launched on a patrol operating between two posts.
The Indian allegation came a day after Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Bajwa visited the LoC in the Haji Pir sector. He told the troops that India had been committing aggression against the people of held Kashmire and Pak villages along the LoC and the Working Boundary. He said that the response from the Pak side should be "purely in military domain in accordance with our values".
Indian media, quoting an unnamed senior army officer, alleged that a BAT team had been deployed 250 metres on the Indian side of the LoC. As per Indian media accounts the patrol comprised eight soldiers, six of whom had fled for cover, leaving behind the two who were allegedly "killed and beheaded".
A statement issued by the Indian army’s northern command alleged that the bodies had been mutilated and warned that the "despicable act" would be "appropriately responded".
Pak officials have often said that India adopts diversionary tactics to distract world attention from grave human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. violations in held Kashmire.
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05/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
lowly acts of mutilating corpses of enemy troops
[DAWN] Local commanders of the Pak and Indian armies made hotline contact on Monday night in the Rawalakot-Poonch sector along the Line of Control (LoC) in the wake of Indian allegations that Pak troops had killed and mutilated the bodies of two Indian soldiers.
A day earlier, the Indian army had alleged that Pak forces fired rockets and mortar bombs at two Indian posts across the LoC and mutilated the bodies of two soldiers on patrol. The allegation was strongly refuted by the Pakistain Army.
According to a statement by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistain Army’s media affairs wing, the Pak local commander had told his Indian counterpart that there had been no ceasefire violation or crossing of the LoC by Pak troops from the Pakistain side of the border, so the mutilation of the bodies of Indian soldiers was not possible.
"Indian authorities were (also) told that there is unnecessary media hype following the allegations, and that Pakistain remains fully committed to maintain[ing] peace and tranquillity along the LoC and expects the same from the [Indian] side," the ISPR statement added.
The ISPR said the Pak commander expressed hope that prudence would be exercised across the divide and no steps would be taken that may affect peace along the LoC and lead to a worsening of the environment.
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05/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj PrunefaceAziz ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy... on Tuesday dismissed India's proposal to resolve the Kashmire dispute bilaterally with Pakistain, saying that New Delhi had "scuttled all opportunities for meaningful dialogue" over the past two decades, according to a statement issued by the Foreign Office (FO).
Aziz's statements come on the back of Delhi's rejection of an offer extended by Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... for multilateral resolution of the Kashmire dispute. India refused the proposition, insisting the matter must be resolved bilaterally through talks between Islamabad and New Delhi.
"The Indian counter-proposal that it is ready for bilateral dialogue with Pakistain is no longer credible because in the past two decades, India has scuttled all opportunities for a meaningful dialogue to resolve the Kashmire issue in accordance with the UN Security Council’s relevant Resolutions on Kashmire," the FO quoted Aziz as saying.
The adviser said Erdogan's move to "strengthen the dialogue process among the stakeholders for resolving the Kashmire issue, and his call for a multilateral approach to settle the Jammu and Kashmire dispute... must be welcomed".
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05/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] UN mission front man says cultural agency ’too often used as a vehicle by member states inclined to deride and delegitimize the State of Israel’.
The United States rejects the "biased" and "counterproductive" UNESCO resolution passed Tuesday that suggested Israel has no sovereign claim to Jerusalem, a front man for the US Mission to the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... told The Times of Israel.
"Once again, the United States rejects the adoption of these anti-Israel resolutions at UNESCO," the US official said. "Like other parts of the UN system, UNESCO is too often used as a vehicle by member states inclined to deride and delegitimize the State of Israel."
The vote, which coincided with Israel’s 69th Independence Day, was passed Tuesday with 22 countries in favor, 23 abstentions, 10 opposed, and the representatives of three countries absent.
Titled "Occupied Paleostine," the resolution refers to Israel as the "occupying power" in Jerusalem -- language that indicates it has no legal or historical ties to any part of the city.
Such motions that target Israel have become routine at the UN’s cultural body in recent years.
"Although several of these anti-Israel resolutions are typically adopted biannually at UNESCO, over time they have become increasingly political in nature, and now attempt to deny the historic connections of the Jewish people to the holy sites of Jerusalem," the US official said.
"These biased resolutions are counterproductive to the core work of UNESCO, discredit the organization, and do nothing to advance Israeli-Paleostinian issues," the official added. "There is no place for them in an organization that is meant to be impartial."
The text also castigates Israel’s conduct, including for various construction projects in Jerusalem’s Old City, as well as at holy sites in the West Bank city of Hebron. It also calls for an end to Israel’s blockade of Gazoo and does not mention frequent rocket attacks emanating from the Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",-run coastal enclave.
Its wording, however, was less harsh on the topic than previous UNESCO resolutions. Unlike others, it does affirm the resonance of Jerusalem to the "three monotheistic religions."
Also unlike previous resolutions, this one does not refer to the Temple Mount only as Haram al-Sharif, or to the Western Wall Plaza only as al-Burak plaza -- the respective sites’ Moslem names.The sites are not mentioned at all.
Tuesday’s motion received less support than others critical of Israel, something the US official acknowledged. "We are encouraged by the diminishing levels of support for these resolutions, and we are grateful for those member nations who today voted against the resolution," he said.
The official would not say exactly how the US will respond.
"We are disappointed these kind of resolutions continue to receive attention in UNESCO, and we will continue to advocate for the fair treatment of Israel in all international fora," he said.
At the AIPAC conference in March, US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley ...first woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina, and the second Indian-American governor in the country, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. At the age of 39, Haley is the youngest current governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems... gave a thunderous speech in which she vowed to tackle the Israel bias at the world body, declaring there was "a new sheriff in town."
"If you challenge us, be prepared for what you’re challenging us for, because we will respond," she exclaimed, adding that she let her colleagues in New York know "the days of Israel bashing are over."
Last Friday, all 100 US senators signed a letter to the United Nations, saying the "unacceptable" treatment of Israel at the international body must end.
Submitted to UNESCO’s Executive Board by Algeria, Egypt,
...currently allied with Israel against a common enemy, not a friend...
Leb, Morocco, Oman, 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... and Sudan, the resolution on "Occupied Paleostine," which indicates that Israel has no legal or historical rights anywhere in Jerusalem, had been expected to pass, given the automatic anti-Israel majority in the 58-member body.
The 10 countries that voted against the resolution were the US, UK, Italia, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Greece, Paraguay, Ukraine, Togo, and Germany.
Sweden's ambassador to Israel, Carl Magnus Nesser, was summoned for a reprimand in the Foreign Ministry following the fact that Sweden was the only European country to vote in favor of the UN Security Council resolution that Israel is an occupying entity.
The United States is launching a new diplomatic effort to reach a comprehensive peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, hosting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House. Groovy
#3
Waste of time. Paleos want to destroy Israel, their view of negotiations is to exact concessions from Israel and no concessions for themselves. Every US president thinks that he can make a difference, thinking that he can jump into the black hole and come out again.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/03/2017 16:35 Comments ||
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#4
Not everything is our problem. This is at the top of that list.
[IsraelTimes] Terror group says it will increase its own price for any future prisoner swap deal if ultimatum not met.
The Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, terror group on Tuesday gave Israel 24 hours to accede to the demands issued by hunger-striking Paleostinian prisoners, warning that otherwise it would increase its own demands in a future prisoner exchange with the Jewish state.
For each day the standoff between Israel and the Paleostinian inmates held in Israeli jails continues, the terror group said it will add the names of 30 prisoners to the list of detainees it wants released in a future swap deal.
The deadline was set by the military wing of Hamas, the de facto rulers of the Gazoo Strip after the organization seized control of the coastal enclave in 2007.
"We warn the enemy not to ignore the just and legitimate demands of the prisoners, and we say we are giving the enemy leadership 24 hours to respond," a front man for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades said in a recorded speech.
Otherwise, he warned, Israel would "pay the price every day they delay responding to the demands."
Paleostinian officials say some 1,500 prisoners participated in the hunger strike that began on April 17, with detainees ingesting only water and salt in protest of their conditions. Israel Prison Service front man Assaf Librati said on Monday that 870 prisoners are still refusing to eat. Israeli officials have said they will not negotiate with the prisoners.
Israel is seeking the release of three Israeli men who crossed into the coastal territory of their own accord: Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, as well as Juma Ibrahim Abu Ghanima, whose presence in Gazoo is unconfirmed. Hamas, an Islamist terror group that seeks to destroy Israel, also holds the bodies of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who the army determined were killed in action in the 2014 Gazoo war.
In the past, Israel has released thousands of Paleostinian prisoners in return for captured Israeli soldiers, civilians, or the remains of Israeli soldiers.
As a precondition for negotiations, Hamas demands that Israel release all Paleostinian prisoners freed in the 2011 exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and relocked away ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in 2014 when three Israeli teens were kidnapped and killed in the West Bank. Despite occasional media reports of negotiations, via a mediator between Israel and Hamas, no deal has yet been formulated.
In 2011, as part of the prisoner exchange deal for Shalit, an IDF soldier who had been kidnapped and held by Hamas in Gazoo, Israel released 1,027 Paleostinian and Israeli Arab prisoners.
Over the past three weeks, support for the hunger strike has gained momentum with West Bank marches, strikes, and backing on Paleostinian social media.
The hunger-strikers, led by convicted terrorist and popular Paleostinian figure Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life terms for his role in deadly attacks, have become a cause celebre, with near daily demonstrations in support of them.
#3
Paleo hunger strikes have been commonplace since about 2005 or so.
IMO, the Israelis should let the prisoners know that not eating will kill them and then, if the prisoners don't eat, let them martyr themselves. The UN can be given advanced warning and if anybody wants to join the Paleos in prison, let them in.
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/03/2017 10:54 Comments ||
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#4
So "If you don't meet our price we will raise it higher."?
#5
RE#4 - a tactic Mr. Trump may have seen before.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/03/2017 13:02 Comments ||
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#6
After the 24 hours ultimatum deadline passes, they will escalate the threat:
"If Israel does not meet the prisoner's demands, All Hamas leaders will join the Hunger strike (at least during the month of Ramadan)". Israel's Response : " we are all breathlessly waiting to see Haled Mashaal loose a few kilograms, please continue your valiant efforts until all of you meet the 70 virgins(Registered trademark)
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
05/03/2017 13:23 Comments ||
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[Free Beacon] Iran is using the billions in cash resources provided under the landmark nuclear deal to engage in an unprecedented military buildup meant to transform the Islamic Republic's fighting force into an "offensive" juggernaut, according to a largely unreported announcement by Iranian military leaders that has sparked concern among U.S. national security insiders and sources on Capitol Hill.
Iranian officials announced late last month that Iran's defense budget had increased by 145 percent under President Hassan Rouhani and that the military is moving forward with a massive restructuring effort aimed at making it "a forward moving force," according to regional reports.
Iranian leaders have stated since the Iran deal was enacted that they are using the massive amounts of cash released under the agreement to fund the purchase of new military equipment and other armaments. Iran also has pursued multi-million dollar arms deals with Russia since economic sanctions were nixed as part of the deal.
Leading members of Congress and U.S. officials working on the Iran portfolio suspect that at least a portion of the Obama administration's $1.7 billion cash payment to Iran has been used to fund and support terrorists in the Middle East.
The latest disclosure about Iran's military buildup is further fueling concerns that U.S. cash assets returned to the country--which were released with no strings attached by the Obama administration--are helping Iran pursue a more aggressive military stance against U.S. forces in the region.
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05/03/2017 07:03 ||
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[An Nahar] Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem ... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... announced Tuesday that "any resistance not aimed at liberating Paleostine from the sea to the river cannot be of use," a day after the Paleostinian movement Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", unveiled a new policy document easing its stance on Israel after having called for years for its destruction.
Do not worry, your Rotundity, Hamas has not changed either goals or methods, only deemphasized certain words during the current hudna.
"We are not with a resistance that paves the way for a settlement and we are not with a resistance that splits Paleostine into two states," Qassem said during a meeting with the Global Campaign to Return to Paleostine, in an apparent jab at Hamas.
"We are with a resistance that only accepts a fully liberated land so that Paleostinians can return to their land in dignity and pride," Hizbullah number two added.
"We are with the resistance in Paleostine and we are with the resistance for the sake of Paleostine. Resistance in Paleostine does not have one form; resistance in Paleostine is taking place through words, prayer, writing, captivity, protests, gunfire, car ramming attacks and stabbings. These are all forms of resistance in Paleostine," Qassem went on to say.
Hamas exiled leader Khaled Meshaal said on Monday: "We in Hamas believe that renewal and reinvention is a necessity."
While the new document does not amount to recognition of Israel as demanded by the international community, Hamas officials say, it formally softens its stance in a few key areas.
Hamas leaders have long spoken of the more limited aim of a Paleostinian state in the West Bank and the Gazoo Strip without explicitly setting this out in their charter.
But after years of internal debate, the new document formally accepts the idea of a state in the territories occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967.
It also says its struggle is not against Jews because of their religion but against Israel as an occupier.
However, women are made to be loved, not understood... the original 1988 charter will not be dropped, just supplemented, in a move some analysts see as a way of maintaining the backing of hardliners.
The new document also continues to speak of liberating historic Paleostine, including areas that are today part of Israel.
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05/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
There could be one old homeless Jew sleeping on a park bench in Tel Aviv and we would still b hearing this.
[IsraelTimes] German daily says military involvement in Syria and US sanctions have forced terror group to increasingly rely on illicit schemes to raise money.
More illicit than the drug running and and other criminal rackets they've been doing for decades in Lebanon and the Americas?
The Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah is reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of its large outlays on fighting in Syria and from the increasing squeeze of US sanctions on its revenue streams, though top members continue to pad their own wallets.
According to a report Friday in the German daily Die Welt, Hezbollah’s increasing financial difficulties have led the group to increasingly rely on a number illicit schemes to earn money, including money laundering, drug trafficking and counterfeiting, as well as through its substantial property holdings.
Despite $1 billion in aid that Israeli security officials estimate Hezbollah receives each year from its patron Iran, which is said to cover some 70 percent of the group’s annual finances, the increasing financial toll from its military involvement in Syria and lack of additional assistance from Tehran has forced the group to resort to extorting not only its "donors" in the country, but also Lebanese expatriates in Africa, South America, Europe and the United States, according to the report.
The blackmail has reportedly led to discontent within the Shiite group’s ranks and among its supporters, as Lebanese Shiites in the country have been forced into selling their assets and property in order to prop up Hezbollah and fund its operations.
Good. Let them become ever more war rich and asset poor.
In areas in southern and eastern Leb under its control, Hezbollah has also begun collecting tariffs on goods at border crossings with Syria in place of the Lebanese government, according to Die Welt.
While the fighting in Syria has greatly strained the group’s finances, the imposition of US sanctions last year on Lebanese banks that do business with the terror group is also said to have taken a toll, as Shiite businessmen in Leb have become increasingly reluctant to work with Hezbollah out of fear of American reprisal.
Credit where due to President Trump's predecessor.
"Hezbollah has had to cast a wide net because most Lebanese banks have not wanted to do business with them," a congressional expert on the legislation told AFP in 2015.
Despite its monetary troubles, Hezbollah has not cut funding for the extensive social programs it provides to large segments of Leb’s Shiite community or the payments it provides to the families of dead and injured fighters so as not to risk alienating the group’s support base.
Die Welt also reported that members of the terror group’s leadership have used Hezbollah funds for their own enrichment despite its dire fiscal situation, including the son of the organization’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, who is said to have taken money to fund a chain of coffee houses in Beirut.
In addition, Nasrallah himself is said to be worth some $250 million, according to Die Welt.
In a speech last year, Nasrallah brushed off reports that the group was in dire financial straits, saying that money was continuing to pour in from Tehran.
"We are open about the fact that Hezbollah’s budget, its income, its expenses, everything it eats and drinks, its weapons and rockets, are from the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran," he said in June.
Iran was instrumental in Hezbollah’s inception three decades ago and has provided financial and military support to the group.
"As long as Iran has money, we have money... Just as we receive the rockets that we use to threaten Israel, we are receiving our money. No law will prevent us from receiving it," Nasrallah added.
#1
other sources indicate the Hezbollah financing situation, while serious is not approaching bankruptcy
Hezbollah has however, been expanding their fundraising activities - a recent addition is the "Fund a mujihad" campaign where a donor pledges a monthly sum to keep a Hezbollah fighter equipped and you get an autographed photo of the guns and ammo. It is, in some sense, similar to many US non profits which promote monthly contributions (e.g., PBS)
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/03/2017 10:32 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.
[Libya Herald] Although there has been no official statement so far on today’s talks in Abu Dhabi between Presidency Council head Fayez Serraj and Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, unconfirmed reports say that a number of points were agreed. These include reducing the Presidency Council to three rather than nine members, the fight against terrorism and the classifying of a number of organisations as terrorists, the removal of controversial supplementary Clause 8 of the Libyan Political Agreement, and fresh parliamentary and presidential elections within six months of an agreement being reached.
...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...
North Korea
[RT] Saudi Aramco has become a 100-percent owner of Port Arthur, an oil refinery in Texas. Port Arthur has a capacity of 600,000 barrels per day, making it the biggest in North America.
[RT] 
[WJON] A man convicted of trying to join the 
[DAWN] Local commanders of the Pak and Indian armies made hotline contact on Monday night in the Rawalakot-Poonch sector along the Line of Control (LoC) in the wake of Indian allegations that Pak troops had killed and mutilated the bodies of two Indian soldiers.
...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in 
[Free Beacon] Iran is using the billions in cash resources provided under the landmark nuclear deal to engage in an unprecedented military buildup meant to transform the Islamic Republic's fighting force into an "offensive" juggernaut, according to a largely unreported announcement by Iranian military leaders that has sparked concern among U.S. national security insiders and sources on Capitol Hill.
