[Chicago Tribune] The top U.S. general in Europe told lawmakers Thursday that Russia and the Taliban are growing increasingly close, suggesting that the Kremlin might even be supplying the insurgent group.
Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, who is also the Supreme Allied Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, did not elaborate to the Senate Armed Services Committee on what type of equipment the Taliban might have received or when.
Any type of material support, however, would be a significant escalation of Russia's involvement with the Taliban; it has said in the past that it maintains only limited communication with the group.
"I've seen the influence of Russia of late, increased influence in terms of association and perhaps even supply to the Taliban," Scaparrotti said.
Much to the chagrin of U.S. officials and military officers, Russia has justified its communications with the Taliban by saying the insurgent group is fighting the Islamic State in Afghanistan, not the U.S.-backed Afghan government.
Army Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, has decried Russia's contact with the Taliban, saying that it has given cover to a group that has worked for years to undermine the United States and the government in Kabul. Russia fought its own bloody war of attrition in Afghanistan in the 1980s, pulling out after suffering heavy losses from U.S.-supplied insurgents.
"This public legitimacy that Russia lends to the Taliban is not based on fact," Nicholson told reporters in December.
#1
When have the Russians, Chinese, or Cubans NOT injected themselves into conflicts involving the West? The tenets of a 'zero-sum game' demand their involvement. But in fairness, it appears to be a game played by nearly everyone.
Regime change at it's finest:
Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program to arm and finance the Jihadi warriors, mujahideen, in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, prior to and during the military intervention by the USSR in support of its client, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The program leaned heavily towards supporting militant Islamic groups that were favored by the regime of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in neighboring Pakistan, rather than other, less ideological Afghan resistance groups that had also been fighting the Marxist-oriented Democratic Republic of Afghanistan regime since before the Soviet intervention.[1] Operation Cyclone was one of the longest and most expensive covert CIA operations ever undertaken;[2] funding began with $20–$30 million per year in 1980 and rose to $630 million per year in 1987.[1] Funding continued after 1989 as the mujahideen battled the forces of Mohammad Najibullah's PDPA during the civil war in Afghanistan (1989–1992).[3] Wiki link
#3
Popular theme, make new enemies of old.
Possibly because we cannot recognize ancient enemies as new.
Posted by: al aSha-med ||
03/24/2017 15:36 Comments ||
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#4
Russians probably think of it as "turnaround is fair play"
The Russians got the better end of the deal. Between their support for North Korea and North Vietnam, they killed 100K American GI's. The Russians are estimated to have lost 13K soldiers. If they're supporting the Taliban, we need to be bankrolling armed separatist movements in Russia.
#5
Heck, forget armed separatist movements. How about funneling $1b worth of weaponry to Ukraine every year? It'll be worth it just to put an end to Soviet flags flying in East Ukraine.
[Libya Herald] Armed forces commander-in-chief Khalifa Hafter has ordered the immediate and unconditional release of all women and families detained during the liberation of the west of Benghazi except for those facing criminal charges.
The move follows the local and international outrage at the footage showing the summary execution of prisoners and the parading of the decomposing corpses of faceless myrmidons exhumed from shallow graves in Ganfouda’s long-besieged 12 Buildings. Today the Libyan National Army (LNA) found the bodies of seven of its own soldiers in the complex. It is unclear if they had been captured and executed or killed in the fighting.
The LNA has said that those troops guilty of war crimes will be tossed in the calaboose Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! . This was echoed by Wanis Boukhamada, commander of the Saiqa Special Forces ...Libya's elite army unit, insofar as they have one, formed from a mixture of paratroopers and commandos. The group emerged from a militia with the same name in 2010. It now numbers a few thousand and reports to the Ministry of Defence. It deployed in Benghazi in an attempt to control the carnage. As a result, it has been attacked and several of its officers murdered. The force is popular in Benghazi for its stance against Ansar al-Sharia group... . A key suspect is Mahmoud Warfali who resembles a gunman seen executing a total of four men in two separate filmed murders. Warfali is a colonel in Saiqa. It is unclear if he has yet been detained and questioned. There are reports that another significant member of the Special Forces was photographed alongside one of the disinterred murderous Moslems.
Benghazi House of Representatives member Jalal al-Shweidi has demanded that Hafter and army chief of staff Abdelrazak Nazhuri come to the parliament to explain how the crimes had been permitted and what they were doing about them.
The furore over the videos has dampened the celebrations in Benghazi at the final defeat of the Ganfouda murderous Moslems. But there were still a small but enthusiastic crowd to greet the reopening of the 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... road through Ganfouda which has been closed for three years by the fighting. Military engineers spent two days checking the route for IEDs and unwent kaboom! ordnance. The reopening means that travellers wanting to head down to Ajdabiya will no longer have to take a 12 mile detour to the south-west of the city.
Troops continue to search for faceless myrmidons who escaped the 12 Buildings siege. One alleged escapee was found yesterday hiding under tin sheeting on a farm and another was caught nearby in Gwarsha. Both were taken to Granda prison.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2017 00:00 ||
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[Asharq Al-Awsat] Aden- A Yemeni official told Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were behind all the acts of sabotage in the region.
Adviser to the Yemeni President Abdul Aziz Al-Maflahi said: “It is not surprising that Iran, and particularly its Revolutionary Guards, stand behind such acts to save the Saleh militias and Houthis from their distress after the Yemeni National Army and the Popular Resistance advanced in the western and eastern parts of the country.”
The advisor added there is uncontested evidence that Iran was sending arms shipments to the Yemeni rebels, including the Jihan 1 and Jihan 2 ships intercepted while smuggling weapons to Houthis.
His comments came as Western reports said Iran was stepping up its support to Houthis by sending advanced weapons and military advisers to the insurgents.
Reuters quoted sources with knowledge of the military movements, who declined to be identified, as saying that in recent months Iran has taken a greater role in the two-year-old conflict by stepping up arms supplies and other support.
The sources added that this mirrors the strategy Tehran has used to support its Lebanese ally “Hezbollah” in Syria.
According to a senior Iranian official, Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Qods Force – the external arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – met top IRGC officials in Tehran last month to look at ways to “empower” the Houthis, Reuters said.
“At this meeting, they agreed to increase the amount of help, through training, arms and financial support,” the official told the news agency.
At the battlefield, after the liberation of the Red Sea port city of Mokha, all eyes were on the towns and cities of the western coastal governorate of Hodeidah, including the city of Hodeidah, the capital of the Tehama district.
Al-Maflahi said: “The liberation of Hodeidah will represent the final and biggest defeat of the militias.”
[Daily Caller] British Lawmaker Lord Digby Jones does not believe the religion of the London attacker is pertinent, The Washington Post reports.
Lord Digby Jones is a particular species of idiot...
But he gets good press...
Jones comments come in the wake of a tweet by Donald Trump Jr. criticizing London Mayor Sadiq Khan for once telling citizens that terrorist attacks are "part and parcel" part of living in a big city.
Some British lawmakers drew offense from the tweet, saying Trump was attacking the mayor in the midst of a terrorist situation.
"You’re safer in London than you’ve ever been," Jones declared. He continued, "If this turns out to be an act of Islamic terrorism, I think the fact that the man is a Muslim is utterly and completely irrelevant." Other critics said Khan’s quote was mischaracterized because he also emphasized that living in a big city also "means being vigilant, having a police force that is in touch with communities, it means the security services being ready, but also it means exchanging ideas and best practice."
British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed that the attacker, who killed four and injured 40 Wednesday, was a known Muslim extremist to British intelligence services. The Islamic State’s official propaganda arm, Amaq news agency, also claimed responsibility for the attack Thursday calling him a "soldier of the caliphate."
#3
In ref to #2 'multi-cult' comment - PM Theresa May's "all nationalities and cultures" statement on terrorist attack:
"Those values - free speech, liberty, human rights and the rule of law - are embodied here in this place, but they are shared by free people around the world.
"A terrorist came to the place where people of all nationalities and cultures gather to celebrate what it means to be free. And he took out his rage indiscriminately against innocent men, women and children. Link
#5
Fine. We'll ship you off to Syria and you can preach your multi-cultural crap and we'll see how long the "religion" is irrelevant when ISIS comes to set you on fire or cut off your head.
#10
I wonder just what it would take to pry Progressives loose from their childish, cherished belief that "Islam is a religion of peace"? Simultaneous 9/11-style attacks in multiple US or European cities? A nuclear attack by Iran on NYC?
I doubt even those would do the trick.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/24/2017 12:55 Comments ||
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#11
I doubt even those would do the trick.
Of course not. Because we would soon find out that Iran does not follow True Islam.
#12
gorb, of course not. The Iranians are Shiites, and therefore apostates to the Sunnis.
Of course, to the Shiites, Sunnis are apostates.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/24/2017 15:10 Comments ||
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#13
If you really study the history of Islam, there is literally NO WAY anyone can call it a religion of peace. Given as how they've been chopping each other to fish bait over the succession to Mohammed, i.e., the Sunni/Shiia divided since 864 or so when Mohammed died.
[ALMASDARNEWS] 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... promoted several officers from the Russian Armed Forces, security services, and other law enforcement agencies in Moscow on Thursday.
He the also used the occasion to thank those who participated in Russia’s operations in Syria.
Commending the service men for their contribution to Russian security, Putin noted that the armed forces had been "seriously strengthened" in recent years.
He added that they were now "capable of repelling any aggression against Russia, protecting our citizens, our country, and our allies."
"Today, the highest ranked officers who participated in the operation of the Russian army against bandidosbully boyz in Syria stand in this room. I want to thank you for the high professionalism, for your courage and "We will continue to develop the defence heroism," Putin continued.
"We will continue to develop the defence potential of the country, equip all types of troops with new generation weapons and equipment. First of all, this applies to the strategic nuclear forces. By the end of 2020, modern weapons should comprise 60 percent, and for certain parameters, up to 90 percent," Putin concluded.
With what funds does he plan to accomplish this miracle? Oil prices will remain in the current range for the foreseeable future.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2017 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Australia rejected 500 Syrian refugees on security grounds during more than a year of vetting while accepting 12,000 eligible for resettlement from Middle Eastern camps, an official said Thursday.
Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said the deadly rampage near Britannia's Parliament on Wednesday, in which a man used a knife and car as weapons to kill four people, showed Australia was right to be cautious on who it accepted.
"The tragic events in London and elsewhere demonstrate the government's approach was prudent and there are people that we'd excluded on national security grounds and people that we do have concerns about that we have not brought to our country and we never will," Dutton told news hounds.
Update from the Daily Mail at 9:30 a.m. EDT, which has the ugly details:
Christian refugees fleeing Syria were prioritised over Muslims by the Turnbull Government to help weed out extremists after Australia pledged to re-settle 12,000 from the war-torn nation.
[AnNahar] Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was heading to Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... on Thursday after having to call off a campaign appearance amongst diaspora voters, in a bitter row between Ankara and Europe.
Cavusoglu will meet with his Swiss counterpart Didier Burkhalter during his visit, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.
"In addition to discussing bilateral relations, the minister and Burkhalter plan to discuss current regional and international issues," the ministry said.
Cavusoglu will then meet members of the Turkish Swiss community at The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's embassy in Bern, the ministry added.
The visit comes after the Swiss government rejected a request from Zurich authorities to cancel a previously planned visit by the minister earlier this month, after the canton's security front man warned that a rally he was due to attend could be hit by "heavy demonstrations".
However, a woman is only as old as she admits... the organisers cancelled the event after the hotel they had booked refused to host it.
Swiss police on March 10 also blocked a rally in the northern canton of Argau supporting a "yes" vote in the referendum.
On April 16, Turks will decide whether to approve constitutional changes that would axe the role of prime minister and could see Erdogan in power until 2029.
[AnNahar] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has summoned the Russian charge d'affaires after a Turkish soldier was shot by sniper fire from Kurdish militia-controlled Syria, where Moscow has troops, Ankara said on Thursday.
Ankara said the soldier was killed in the southern Turkish province of Hatay during cross-border fire on Wednesday from the northwestern Syrian region of Afrin, which is controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia.
"Immediately after the incident, we invited the Russian charges d'affaires to the ministry and we first shared how seriously disturbed we were," Turkish foreign ministry front man Huseyin Muftuoglu told a presser in Ankara.
"We said to avoid similar incidents after this, whatever necessary must be done. We said if this happens again, an equal response will be given," Muftuoglu said.
Moscow's envoy in Ankara was summoned because under a ceasefire agreed late last year, Russia is responsible for monitoring violations in this region, he added.
A ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey has been in place since late December but both Syrian rebels and the Damascus regime have complained of repeated violations.
Earlier this week YPG front man Redur Xelil told AFP that Russia's military will train Kurdish forces in Syria, adding that Russian forces were already present at a training camp in the Afrin region.
Afrin is one of three "autonomous" cantons that the Kurdish militia control in northern Syria.
Ankara views the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia as a "terror group" linked to Kurdish separatists inside Turkey waging an insurgency since 1984.
Muftuoglu also said Turkey was waiting for Russia to "take steps to close" the Moscow office opened last month of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), whose armed wing is the YPG.
Moscow supports Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... but has also recently worked closely with opposition supporter Turkey to try to end the six-year war in Syria.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/24/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
"during cross-border fire"
Who fired first?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/24/2017 9:50 Comments ||
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[Hurriyet Daily News] The European Commission said on March 23 it had summoned the Turkish ambassador to explain comments by President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... that Europeans would not be able to "walk safely on the streets" if they kept up their current attitude towards The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... Turkey's relations with the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... have become particularly strained after two member states cancelled planned campaign rallies on their territory by Turkish ministers ahead of an April 16 referendum that will decide whether the current parliamentary system should be shifted into an executive presidency.
Germany and the Netherlands cited security concerns for their decision and Erdogan has accused them of using "Nazi methods" and of trampling on free speech.
On March 22 Erdogan said: "If Europe continues this way, no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets. Europe will be damaged by this. We, as Turkey, call on Europe to respect human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... and democracy."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2017 00:00 ||
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[Hurriyet Daily News] Claims that the constitutional change shifting The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... to an executive presidential system will introduce one-man rule are "delusional," President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... has said.
"This accusation is a fallacy, a delusion that arises from having nothing to say to the public," Erdogan said in a speech in the capital Ankara on March 23, addressing words from main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
"Let’s assume that the president goes astray and tries [to establish] one-man rule. Before all, the nation will come down on him. We will be asked to give an account by two: The people and God," Erdogan said.
"I look at the comments of the main opposition leader. Are we living in another country? Is this person living in another world? Nothing he says has any relation to the constitutional amendments," he added.
His comments came after Kilicdaroglu criticized the constitutional amendment aiming to bringing about a "one-man regime," granting excessive powers to the president.
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03/24/2017 00:00 ||
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[Hurriyet Daily News] President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... has said he would call the European countries fascists as long as they continue to call him a dictator.
"You have the freedom to call Erdogan dictator but Erdogan does not have the freedom to call them fascist or Nazi. Take no offense but I will call them fascist as long as they call Erdogan dictator," Erdogan told in a live interview with Dogan TV Ankara representative Hakan Celik aired on CNN Turk and Kanal D on March 23.
Erdogan also said he deplored the newly-elected German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s remarks targeting himself.
"German President Steinmeier made a statement targeting me although we are good friends. I deplore him for his statement. I wish he had never made such statement," he said.
In his first speech as president, Steinmeier said Erdogan risked destroying everything his country had achieved in recent years and damaging ties with its partners.
"The way we look [at The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ] is characterised by worry that everything that has been built up over years and decades is collapsing," Steinmeier said on March 22 in his inaugural speech.
"President Erdogan, you are jeopardising everything that you, with others, have built," he said, adding that he would welcome "credible signs" to ease the situation.
Erdogan also added that he had no plans to visit Germany before the referendum.
In addition, the president also clarified his "Nazi" remarks for the Netherlands and Germany, saying that he uttered those words within the context of their definition.
"If I criticize Germany, I say this within its definition. If I say this by using the Nazi comparison, I say within its definition. I also say the same thing for the Netherlands. You will not allow my minister to the [Rotterdam] consulate and you will make your dogs bite my citizen... Where is the international law? Then, you are disturbed when we say Nazism," he said.
He also stated that the European countries could face with surprises depending on the April 16 referendum results.
Erdogan also noted that the problems with Europe were caused by some EU countries, while also acknowledging the U.K.'s Brexit decision.
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03/24/2017 00:00 ||
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[Daily Mail] Smiling as he meets his family at the airport after arriving from Ankara, Turkey, this is the mastermind of the Boston Marathon bombing as he arrives in America - where he was welcomed as a refugee.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the second from the left in the photo below, stands taller than his father Anzor, despite being just 16 years old in the picture taken in 2003.
To his right is his younger brother Dzhokhar, nine, who Tamerlan would later radicalize and turn against America, a country which gave them both free housing, an education and a future.
Their sisters Ailina and Bella are also in the photo which was obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com from investigative journalist and author Michele McPhee.
In her book Maximum Harm: The Tsarnaev Nrother, the FBI and the Road to the Marathon Bombing to be published in April, she tells how U.S. authorities believed Anzor Tsarnaev's claimed his life was in danger due to his Chechen heritage and his family was granted political asylum.
McPhee's theory - which she admits she cannot definitively prove - is that Tamerlan was a federal informant and that he turned on America after his citizenship application was rejected.
McPhee writes that Tamerlan expected to be granted citizenship quickly and his anger grew when the process was delayed. He was initially told to come in for his swearing in ceremony in October 2012 but it was put off.
The U.S. Immigration service wrote to Cedarleaf, the FBI terrorism chief in Boston, and asked if he was a 'national security concern'. Cedarleaf replied that there was 'nothing I know of'.
In January 2013 Tamerlan tried again to get his citizenship and had another interview where he was asked about his arrest related to a domestic violence charge.
McPhee says that Tamerlan 'fully expected to walk way' with his citizenship'. Instead. his status was delayed again due to paperwork issues.
Two weeks later, on February 6 2013, an 'angry Tamerlan walked into Phantom Fireworks in Seabrook, New Hampshire, and asked for the "biggest and loudest" pyrotechnics in the story', McPhee writes.
McPhee, an Emmy-award nominated reporter with the ABC News investigative team, writes that he felt 'double crossed' and that he turned on America for failing to keep up its side of the bargain after he worked for them.
#6
Air travel to Russia is quite expensive. You'd have to be thrifty and save up your welfare payments. Perhaps Tamerlan had an alternate source of income. By the way, where did Mrs. Tamerlan Tsarnaev get off to?
(Yes, that's her. The US Citizen mooslim convert wife who had to crawl over pressure cookers and time fuse in the cramped kitchen.)
#7
And then there's poor old Abdulbaki Todashev. The buddy of Tamerlan Tsarnaev who made the mistake of attacking law enforcement people with a koffee table. Dead Todashev's tell no tales.
LOOK OUT! He's got a koffee table, BLAST HIM! KA POW, POW, POW, POW, POW.
[IsraelTimes] Rasmea Odeh failed to reveal to US immigration authorities that she was placed in durance vile Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! for 10 years in Israel for her role in 1969 Jerusalem bombing.
A Paleostinian woman who had not told US immigration authorities that she had been imprisoned in Israel for two terror attacks accepted a plea bargain that forces her to leave the country.
...also known as Rasmea Youseh, Rasmea Youseh Odeh, Rasmieh Odeh, and other similar variations on the theme...
would not spend time in US prison or detention but would lose her US citizenship, according to a Thursday statement by the Rasmea Defense Committee.
News of the plea bargain came amid criticism from some in the Jewish world about the anti-Israel views of Odeh and Linda Sarsour, two pro-Paleostinian activists who have recently taken public roles in various feminist events and are speaking together at a plenary at an upcoming conference for Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that backs the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.
In 2015, Odeh was sentenced in the US to 18 months in prison for covering up her conviction and imprisonment in Israel when she entered the country in 1995 and applied for citizenship in 2004, but the conviction was later vacated.
Odeh was convicted by Israel of involvement in a 1969 bombing in Jerusalem that killed two and injured nine. She was sentenced by an Israeli military court in 1970 to life in prison for two bombing attacks on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine and spent 10 years in prison before being released in a prisoner exchange in 1980.
Odeh confessed to planting the bomb in the 1969 attack, though in recent years has claimed the confession was given under torture, which is disputed by Israeli officials.
It was not clear if under the plea bargain Odeh, one of the leaders of the grassroots feminist International Women’s Strike, would still be able to participate in the JVP conference scheduled for March 30-April 2 in reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,... The Israel advocacy group StandWithUs has slammed JVP for hosting Odeh, but the pro-BDS organization defended its decision earlier this month, saying it was "proud" to host Odeh and questioning the validity of her Israeli conviction.
Sarsour, who organized the Women’s March on Washington in January and also helped plan the Women’s Strike, recently said there is no space in the feminist movement for those who do not criticize Israel.
#1
Sarsour, who organized the Women’s March on Washington in January and also helped plan the Women’s Strike, recently said there is no space in the feminist movement for those who do not criticize Israel.
Because Paleos and Arabs in general are all about the feministing
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/24/2017 7:53 Comments ||
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[INSIDER.FOXNEWS] Ayaan Hirsi Ali criticized what she considered the "apologetic attitude" some liberals around the world have toward identifying the religious component to Islamic terrorism.
Ali, a women rights activist who was raised Moslem in Somalia but later became an apostate, called such a mindset "masochistic and stupid."
She said on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that radical Islamic bully boyz "don't go to liberals and say thank you so much, we'll stop terrorizing you" because of some on the left refuse to identify terrorism's religious component.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2017 00:00 ||
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[Daily Excelsior] The only issue of dispute between India and Pakistain as far as Jammu and Kashmire is concerned is the illegal occupation of PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan by Pakistain, the Government today said.
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh reiterated India’s demand that Pakistain should vacate illegal occupation of these areas.
Dr Singh’s sharp remarks came in response to Pakistain High Commissioner Abdul Basit favouring resolution of Kashmire dispute as per the "aspirations of Kashmiris".
Basit was speaking at an event at the High Commission here today to mark Pakistain’s national day.
Talking to news hounds outside Parliament, Dr Singh said "Today if there is any issue between India and Pakistain on J&K, it is only the illegal occupation by Pakistain, whether it is Pakistain-Indian Kashmiree (PoK) or Gilgit-Baltistan".
He also added, "How it can be freed from Pakistain’s occupation and made a part of the Indian republic...That is the only issue now".
Dr Singh said India’s position has been clear for many years now and in 1994, a resolution (on the issue) was also passed in Parliament which all political parties had supported.
Basit had said the aspirations of people "can be suppressed but not quelled and I hope the struggle of the Kashmiris will prove successful".
Kashmire has remained a longstanding unresolved issue between the two countries causing acrimony on both sides.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
No PakPok?
Posted by: al aSha-med ||
03/24/2017 1:00 Comments ||
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While Lurid Crime Tales is definitely a legitimate categorization, I moved this to Israel to group it with the previously published report on the nasty little idiot so we can get the full flavour of his actions. Kudos to those who finally ran him to ground.
-- trailing wife at 5:50 a.m. EDT
[IsraelNationalNews] A 19-year old man with dual US-Israeli citizenship was arrested for allegedly making a series of threats to Jewish institutions in the US and Europe. The suspect has a long record of criminal behavior, authorities in Israel said Thursday.
The man, whose identity has not yet been released for publication, was suspected by police of involvement in a string of similar threats targeting institutions in Israel going back two and a half years.
A district court in Rishon Letzion extended the suspect’s arrested by one week at a hearing Thursday afternoon.
During his arrest, the suspect reportedly assaulted a female officer and attempted to steal her firearm.
Police say the teenager, a resident of the southern city of Ashkelon, is believed to have made hundreds of threats against community centers around the world, including in Israel, over the past two and a half years.
If the suspect is found to be the perpetrator of the recent rash of bomb threats at American Jewish Community Centers, much of the fear of a rise in US anti-Semitism will recede.
The suspect was reportedly turned down by the IDF, which ruled him unfit for the military service.
To mask his identity, the suspect used a technology called SpoofCard that masks a number’s caller ID, according to the Daily Beast. When police subpoenaed SpoofCard’s parent company to trace the call’s real number, they learned that he had called from a disposable Google Voice number.
He paid for SpoofCard through Bitcoin, also untraceable, and routed his internet through proxies, making his IP address untraceable as well. In addition, he masked his voice in the calls to sound like a woman.
[IsraelTimes] Israeli-American teenager remains silent during police questioning; report says police tracked him after he forgot to mask his IP address.
The Israeli-American teenager whose remand was extended for eight days by an Israeli court on Thursday over suspicions he was behind dozens of bomb threats against Jewish institutions in the US and elsewhere, was not answering police questions or cooperating with Sherlocks, according to a number of reports in the Hebrew press.
The teenager has a nonmalignant brain tumor that leads to behavioral issues and he was home-schooled. The suspect’s medical problems were discovered when he was 14 years old.
The arrest of the suspect, an 18-year-old resident of Ashkelon, was announced by Israel Police on Thursday, after what they said was a months-long undercover joint investigation by the Lahav 433 cyber unit and the FBI.
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[Bangkok Post] Thailand's 4th Army commander has brushed aside concerns over the leadership change in the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) separatist movement. Lt Gen Piyawat Nakwanich said yesterday that authorities were not overly worried about the situation. Lt Gen Piyawat, however, insisted action would be taken against the BRN if it stirred up unrest, admitting the new leader might try to prove himself by acts of violence.
The BRN appointed Doonloh Wae-mano, who uses the nom du guerre Abdullah Wan Mat Noor as Supreme Leader and secretary-general of the Dewan Pimpinan Parti (DPP) or Party Leadership Council, as its new chairman. The BRN's leadership council unanimously voted for Doonloh-Abdullah to head the organisation, which is made up of three BRN bodies -- the BRN-Ulama, the BRN-Congress and the BRN-Coordinate -- under its umbrella. The appointment, which took effect on Jan 17, followed the death of the DPP's former chairman Sapae-ing Basor late last year.
Abdullah is wanted for treason under a Department of Special Investigation arrest warrant. A former headmaster of the notorious Jihad Witthaya School in Pattani, he fled to Malaysia 13 years ago after being charged with training separatists on his school's grounds, sources said. Authorities accuse him of training the insurgents who took part in looting more than 400 assault rifles from a military camp in Narathiwat province in 2004. That raid marked the latest upsurge in separatist attacks, now in its 14th year.
Zachary Abuza, an expert on the deep South and professor at the National War College in Washington, said, "Abdullah Wan Mat Noor [Doonloh] was appointed the DPP's Secretary in 2016, so he is as known a quantity as a shadowy insurgency that delights in the secrecy its inner workings can have. Since September, 2016, he has been the BRN's Number 2, so it seems normal that he would be appointed chairman."
In other changes, the BRN named Abdul Munir as secretary-general of political affairs, Din Wan Cik as military chief and Muhd Arsad Wansor as the group's treasurer. Hasan Khatib was chosen to head international political affairs and Bustaman Salih was named as a party consultant.
One BRN member said he was happy Abdullah was the new BRN leader because he was an able military tactician, which made up for his lack of political experience.
[Free Beacon] Iran maintains a network of spies and lobbyists who clandestinely push the Islamic regime's agenda in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, according to the head of Iran's ministry of intelligence, who touted the pro-Iran network's ability to spread its ideology to the West.
I do wonder if the DC bureau will be as successful going forward as it was when President Obama and his dear friend ValJar occupied the White House...
Mahmoud Alavi, Iran's intelligence minister, in recent remarks independently translated by the Washington Free Beacon, bragged about the Islamic Republic's ability to operate an unnamed "lobby group" in D.C. that helps to push the regime's hardline agenda.
Alavi disclosed that Iranians with dual citizenship in the United States, Canada, and England, remain devoted to the "Islamic revolution" and are working to promote this agenda in their adopted homelands.
In D.C., Alavi claimed, a "lobby group for the Islamic Republic of Iran" is working to bolster the regime's international status and help legitimize its nuclear endeavors.
"They have a lobby group for the Islamic Republic of Iran which does not cost us money," Alavi said, without naming the specific organization. "We should not accuse them and say things that discourage them about the ancestral homeland, this is not good, and losing this capital is not good for the regime."
Iranian dual nationals living in the West remain devoted to the Islamic Republic, he added.
"It is wrong to say that all dual nationals are traitors, spies, or foreign agents; many of dual nationals love Iran, are a capital for Iran," Alavi said. "Many who live in Canada, London, or the United States [are devoted] to the [Islamic] revolution and the supreme leader ... In those places some attend religious ceremonies. [Those people] love the [Islamic] Revolution."
While the Iranian official did not name the lobby group in question, the Free Beacon has reported during the past several months that dissident organizations are pushing for a formal investigation into the National Iranian American Council, or NIAC, which has long fought against charges that it lobbies on the regime's behalf.
A group of nearly 100 prominent Iranian dissidents working to undermine the regime petitioned Congress in February to investigate NIAC's ties to the Iranian regime and determine if it is actively helping to push a pro-mullah agenda.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
03/24/2017 00:42 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Unconscious agents, like the ones who brought down Mike Flynn?
#3
Alavi disclosed that Iranians with dual citizenship in the United States, Canada, and England, remain devoted to the "Islamic revolution" and are working to promote this agenda in their adopted homelands.
A cluster on every campus, in every metro, gas stations and hot dog stand.
Want some fun? Ask if the rolling dogs under the heat lamp are Kosher.
Posted by: al aSha-med ||
03/24/2017 15:43 Comments ||
Top||
[ALMASDARNEWS] Reports have emerged about The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s real agenda for northern Syria after a recent Erdogan tour to the Gulf States. According to al-Monitor, Ankara outlined plans to militarily take Manbij and Raqqa and establish a "safe zone" administered by a "new national army". Such an army will be created out the merging of rebel groups and will operate under supervision of the Turkish Armed Forces.
Turkey has already been setting up a new police force in the "liberated areas". Pictures at their headquarters show the rebel flag together with the Turkish one and a portrait of Sultan Erdogan. Videos of the new security forces have emerged, with their officials chanting "Long live Turkey, Long live Erdogan".
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
Sounds like a plan. Put a big target on Turkey (aka Erdogan) and tell all the other losers in the area to have at 'em.
[IsraelTimes] Amid criticism from rights groups over vague instructions, US officials to start flagging applicants who spent time in 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.... -controlled areas.
The State Department has ordered American embassies and consulates around the world to draw up criteria for "population sets" needing extra scrutiny before receiving visas to travel to the United States, according to a recent diplomatic cable.
The message also instructed US posts overseas to review the social media accounts of visa applicants who are suspected of terrorist ties or of having been in Islamic State group-controlled areas.
It's sad that you'd have to order our embassy personnel to screen visa applications to ensure terrorists, nutters and militants don't receive one. You'd think this would be a standing order at every American embassy for the last 230 years...
The guidance was sent in a March 17 cable to all US diplomatic missions to help American officials satisfy 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... ’s memorandum for enhanced vetting of visa applicants. The News Agency that Dare Not be Named obtained a copy of the cable. The State Department wouldn’t comment beyond saying it was working to meet the Trump memorandum’s requirements and that "visitor screening and vetting procedures are designed to effectively identify individuals who could pose a threat to the United States."
The cable, which was first reported by Rooters, does not define "population sets." But it quickly drew criticism from rights groups and others who’ve accused Trump of discriminating against Moslems through his now-suspended ban on travelers from six predominantly Moslem countries.
The cable calls for consular chiefs at each post to immediately convene working groups to "develop a list of criteria identifying sets of post applicant populations warranting increased scrutiny" and "attempt to identify individual applicants that fall within the population set during the course of a consular visa interview." Even if the applicant otherwise qualifies for a visa, those identified as meeting the criteria would require additional scrutiny and possible denial.
Amnesia Amnesty International on Thursday called for the department to publicize the guidance.
"These measures could provide license for discrimination based on national origin and religion," the human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. group said in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. "They could provide a pretext for barring individuals based on their nonviolent beliefs and expression. Social media checks, as well as demands for social media passwords at US borders, have significant implications for privacy and freedom of expression."
The instructions tell officials to refer any visa applicant who "may have ties to ISIS or to other terrorist organizations or has ever been present in an ISIS-controlled territory" to a Fraud Prevent Unit for a mandatory social media review. The results of that review are to be flagged and entered into the applicant’s file.
Additionally, the cable says consular officers must take into account if an Iraqi visa applicant "was ever present in a territory at the time it was controlled by ISIS." If the applicant was, such information must be flagged for additional review.
The Trump administration originally included Iraq among the countries affected by its proposed travel ban. After a court blocked the effort, a second executive order removed Iraq from the travel ban. That order also has been suspended by a court.
The cable anticipates the new requirements may cause backlogs in visa processing.
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 Caller] British Lawmaker Lord Digby Jones does not believe the religion of the London attacker is pertinent, The Washington Post reports.
...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...
[AnNahar] Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was heading to 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Hurriyet Daily News] The European Commission said on March 23 it had summoned the Turkish ambassador to explain comments by President 
[Hurriyet Daily News] Claims that the constitutional change shifting 
[Hurriyet Daily News] President 
[Daily Mail] Smiling as he meets his family at the airport after arriving from Ankara, Turkey, this is the mastermind of the Boston Marathon bombing as he arrives in America - where he was welcomed as a refugee.
[IsraelTimes] Israeli-American teenager remains silent during police questioning; report says police tracked him after he forgot to mask his IP address.
[Bangkok Post] Thailand's 4th Army commander has brushed aside concerns over the leadership change in the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) separatist movement. Lt Gen Piyawat Nakwanich said yesterday that authorities were not overly worried about the situation. Lt Gen Piyawat, however, insisted action would be taken against the BRN if it stirred up unrest, admitting the new leader might try to prove himself by acts of violence. 
