[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A number of senior Taliban leaders have reportedly met in Islamabad the capital city of Pakistain to hold secret talks on Afghan grinding of the peace processor. But don't tell nobody, okay? 'Cuz they're secret.
The secret meeting comes as recent reports suggested that the Afghan government is expected to initiate talks with the group within the next few days.
Sources privy of the development have said that the senior Taliban leaders left a blunt message from Pakistain insisting on an immediate end to a rft between the two top Taliban leaders or talks might ever get off the ground.
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Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] Nineteen prisoners were released yesterday from the Jawiya prison in the city of Misrata, the pro GNC-Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... LANA news agency reported.
LANA said that the 2011 revolution-war prisoners were supporters of the former Qadaffy regime and originated from different cities, but did not name the cities.
The release process was attended by various officials including the head of Misrata City Council, the head of the Reconciliation Committee, representatives from the Attorney's Office and Judicial Police.
After the release process, the officials were conducted through a tour of the prison, which included meeting prisoners and inspecting prison cells and utilities, that comply to strict judicial standards, the report said.
Tawergha Youth Organization, for its part, reported that some of the released prisoners were from Tawergha and had been in jail for more than three years. It reported that the Tawergha Local Council, the Reconciliation Committee, UNSMIL and the UNSMIL-led Geneva Libya dialogue were instrumental in the prisoners' release.
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03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Are those really medals or did Moamar just pick them up at the costume jewelry counter down at the Suq?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/14/2015 20:09 Comments ||
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[Libya Herald] At Thursday's Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Abdullah Thinni's government looked at a number of bottlenecks that have been affecting the performance of the government.
The meeting held in the eastern city of Al-Beida included the Deputy Prime Ministers as well as the heads of the Audit Bureau and the Administrative Control Authority.
The presence of the head of the Audit Bureau was particularly pertinent as Prime Minister Thinni had called on the oversight body last Sunday to ''ease'' its restrictions on government transactions ''in view of the exceptional circumstances'' the country was going through.
There has been an ongoing spat between various governments going back to the Zeidan government with the Audit Bureau as the government struggles to act effectively and the Audit Bureau continues to impose the Qadaffy-era restrictions on the statute books.
At Thursday's meeting, progress on the re-opening of Kharuba airport was reviewed.
In December, it will be recalled, the Thinni government had announced it was to reopen and expand the old airfield and at Thursday's meeting the need to reopen the airport in the short term was highlighted.
The Kharuba airfield was built during World War II and renovated 20 years ago, but was quickly neglected.
According to specialists, the airport is about 50% ready to start operations. Plans are in progress to update the structure and equipment in order to enable the airport to receive domestic and international flights in the near future.
It is hoped that the additional airport will relieve Labraq of some of its traffic.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] President says US has 'responsibility' to do more; speaks to Netanyahu 'a lot' and understands Israel's concerns on Iran
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi called for greater US military support to avoid the "collapse" of Egypt, and asserted that relations with Israel are strong.
In an interview with The Washington Post published Thursday, Sissi said he believes there is "a miscommunication" with Washington, and that the United States must stand by Egyptians in the fight against regional extremism and 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.... "It seems we can't convey our voice in as clear a fashion as it should be. However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... the dangers surrounding this region are clear, and I believe the United States is following closely how terrorism is threatening [it]."
The Egyptian president said the US has the "responsibility" to do more in the fight against the Islamic State. He said the campaign against the snuffies can't be from the air alone, and that there must be "boots on the ground."
Angered by stalled Egyptian democratic reforms, Washington has frozen a chunk of its $1.5 billion in mostly military annual aid to Cairo since October 2013, insisting greater progress must be made.
Apache helicopters, however, have been delivered to the Egyptian military -- a key ally in the fight against al-Qaeda and Islamic snuffies sheltering in the Sinai Peninsula.
US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... arrived in Cairo Thursday for the Egypt Economic Development Conference, and was expected to meet Sissi.
Egypt hopes the foreign investor conference will jump-start its battered economy, while showcasing international support for Sissi as he battles radical Islamist opponents.
Sissi also addressed Egypt's current relations with Israel, citing the permitting of Egyptian troops to be placed in the demilitarized areas of the Sinai Peninsula as an example of positive cooperation.
"The hostile mood and skepticism have diminished with peace with Israel. This can happen with the other Arab countries and Israel if a two-state solution is reached."
Saying he speaks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "a lot," Sissi expressed support for renewed peace talks with the Paleostinians.
"I just want to reassure him that achieving peace [with the Paleostinians] will be a historic deal for him and for Israel, and that we are ready to help reach this peace," he added.
Further alluding to amicable relations with Jerusalem, Sissi said that "we must understand the Israeli concern" regarding the nuclear deal taking shape between world powers and Iran.
Sissi repeatedly expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... s during the interview about the repercussions of his country's collapse on the Middle East: "If this country fails, the whole region will slide into a cycle of anarchy that will represent a grave danger to all countries in this region, including Israel, and would extend to Europe."
[Ynet] Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... is delivering words of encouragement for Egypt's efforts to attract greater foreign investment, but no new military assistance as demanded by the country's president.
Kerry's hands are tied because the B.O. regime is undecided about whether to affirm Egypt's progress on democracy and human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... or issue a national security waiver. It must do one or other under the 2015 federal budget to unblock hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid for Egypt.
In the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh Friday, Kerry said investment was needed to restore confidence in Egypt and provide stability for the region.
He said the US, whose companies invested $2 billion in Egypt last year, stood ready to help.
#2
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUM BLOGGER = asks iff Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood will now choose to rise up + fight the Main = Al-Sissi Govt., either on its own or in collusion wid other Armed groups including but not limited to the ISIS + Al-Qaeda???
#3
It is time for Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinians to mend their differences, and combine efforts against the twin threats posed by ISIS, and the nascent New Persian Empire.
Both ISIS and Persia represent existential threats to the four named parties, and the United States is backing the bad guys - so the four amigos are on their own. They definitely make strange bedfellows, but necessity breeds extraordinary outcomes.
#5
The problem from the start is that Egypt was aligned as an ally when O took office. Look how he's treated all of America's (former) allies. Get in line.
#6
The problem from the start is that Egypt was aligned as an ally when O took office
But all was forgiven when the Muslim Brotherhood democratically (scare quotes optional) took power after Mubarek was driven out. The problem is that al Sisi, the army's man replaced him by the same process, when our president knows that the softer, gentler Islamofascism of the Brotherhood is the irresistible wave of the future. That is what is unforgivable, it seems to me.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] 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... , Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman on Friday pledged a combined $12.5 billion in aid to stimulate the Egyptian economy during an investment summit held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Saudi Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz announced $4 billion in aid to Egypt following a similar move by Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah who pledge investments worth $4 billion to Egypt.
UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, also pledged $4 billion in aid and investment to the Arab world's most populated country.
The UAE said it would deposit $2 billion in Egypt's central bank and the other $2 billion in the economy. Saudi Arabia said $1 billion of its pledged aid would go to the bank while Kuwait's representative did not say how his country's pledge would be divided.
The president of Oman's state council later said his country was giving Egypt $500 million in grants and investment over the next five years.
Half of the amount given by Oman would be in the form of a "grant to support liquidity" and the other $250 million would go towards investment in projects in Egypt, Yahya bin Mahfouz said.
The announcements were made on the sidelines of the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm el-Sheikh organized by Egypt to attract overseas investment in its troubled economy. The conference was first called for by late Former King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands Abdullah ... Now a dead guy... bin Abdulaziz.
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03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Chadian troops deployed to fight Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... in Nigeria have returned to Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... , where they are expected to be regroup for fresh offensives in border areas, military sources said on Friday.
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Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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[REUTERS] Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... is treating hundreds of suspected Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... murderous Moslems in its prisons humanely despite the death of 25 in a prison cell last December, a government minister said on Friday, rejecting a rights group report that accused the army of abuses.
Information Minister Issa Tchiroma said several of the Boko Haram suspects were tossed in the slammer Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! with arms in their possession, while others were caught with mobile phone videos in which they were filmed slitting the throats of their victims.
The Boko Haram suspects "were not summarily executed. They will be tried according to the laws of the land," Tchiroma, who is also government front man, told a news conference.
He rejected a January report by the regional human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... organization REDHAC that accused the army of rights abuses in the northern region where it was battling Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist sect.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
the death of 25 in a prison cell last December
"Asphyxiation. We're changing the food"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/14/2015 12:14 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] A senior Iranian official says the Islamic Theocratic Republic will support Yemen in its fight against terrorism and its effort to improve its flagging economy.
"We will stand by the Yemeni people in the battle against terrorism and help [realization of] economic prosperity across Yemen," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Friday.
He added that a Yemeni economic delegation held "important" talks with representatives of Iran's economic and private sectors during its visit to Tehran earlier in March.
The official noted that Iran would help Yemen develop its infrastructure while Tehran and Sana'a would also strengthen cooperation in different trade and economic fields.
"Tehran respects Yemen's independence, illusory sovereignty, territorial integrity and national unity and underscores the continuation of national broad-based negotiations and fight against terrorism in the country," the diplomat said.
Amir-Abdollahian emphasized that foreign interfering powers and Lions of Islam have no position in the future of Yemen.
International organizations based in the Middle East region and the international community are expected to make serious efforts to improve security and welfare for the Yemenis, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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[YEMENONLINE.INFO] The United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... World Food Program has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on food aid intended for the most desperately poor people in Yemen -- but included not just impoverished households, but also some that "belonged to the wealthiest" categories on a national social welfare scale, according to the agency's own audit report.
The miscue meant that hundreds of thousands of destitute people in one of the world's poorest countries may well have been excluded from WFP aid, even as money went to others considerably better off -- a situation that the U.N. agency has been trying unsuccessfully to rectify for several years.
The reason: U.N. allotments used local government data compiled in 2008 to establish a Social Welfare Fund (SWF) registry of the country's poorest citizens -- and it has not been updated since.
The fund was initially administered during the presidency of President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... , who is believed to have purloined anywhere from $32 billion to $60 billion during 33 years of rule that ended in 2012, according to a U.N. panel of experts report that was published last month.
The WFP audit covered the agency's programs in Yemen from January 2013 through June 2014. It only saw daylight after a formal management response to the document was given in January 2015.
Amid political chaos that has engulfed the country over the past five years, the U.N. agency has been working with the World Bank to complete a new version of the SWF registry, but so far without much success.
"We are aware of the shortcomings of these lists, but we have no alternative" to using them, an official told Fox News -- while at the same time denying that any skewing of U.N. aid benefits occurred.
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03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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[YEMENONLINE.INFO] The drone strike shot through the afternoon sky and slammed into the white Suzuki jeep carrying three al Qaeda turbans along a remote road in Yemen's Marib province, sending up a ball of fire and killing the passengers.
Instead of the standard silence surrounding such top-secret U.S. attacks on Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000... , or AQAP, the shadowy group sent photos of the charred vehicle and detailed obituaries to news hounds within hours. One fighter was engaged, another, the father of a little girl.
Then they should have chosen careers that didn't have a high likelihood of early death.
The dispatch was part of a new AQAP media strategy, providing real-time reports on sensitive U.S. counterterrorism operations in Yemen to distribute the Lion of Islams' version of events in the hotly contested realm of cyberspace.
Since its establishment, AQAP has engaged with the media on its own terms, often through carefully timed video releases. But it has struggled to keep up as rivals in the jihadist world and the U.S. government adopt tools such as Twitter.
Leading the fledgling publicity operation is AQAP's first easily accessible media liaison. He explained that the goal is to dispel misconceptions about the group that the U.S. views as the terrorist organization's most dangerous affiliate.
"We believe we are misunderstood as a result of the continuing American propaganda. That's why we want to counter the U.S. government's narrative," the liaison said, asking to remain nameless so that only the group's top leaders serve as the public face for al Qaeda.
"Our fight against the U.S. isn't about oil, or because we hate Americans for being Americans. That's the way congressmen and analysts in America like to frame it. There are reasons behind our resistance, such as the U.S. support to Israel and its support to corrupt regimes in the Moslem world, its unjust invasions and crimes.... So as long as these reasons remain, our jihad will continue."
Another aim of AQAP's new media strategy is vying with Syrian-based 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.... for pre-eminence in the jihadist world. Islamic State split from al Qaeda in 2013 and has since shot to prominence.
Among jihadist groups, Islamic State has set the pace in media savvy, producing slickly packaged videos featuring fighters speaking with Western accents praising life in the group's territory and administering Twitter accounts in French, German and even Albanian.
On the media front, at least, AQAP is playing catch up, said Rami Khouri, a Beirut-based analyst.
"Clearly, the competition with the growing field of Islamists is one of the driving reasons behind this [AQAP] strategy. They want to make sure they are major players in the media and blowing up things is no longer enough in their eyes," Mr. Khouri said.
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03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] The Argentine government on Friday declassified its files on an unsolved 1994 bombing at a Buenos Aires Jewish center that is at the center of a new political firestorm.
In a decree published in the Official Bulletin, the government declassified "all documents in their entirety" from the probe into the bombing.
It also declassified "any other new documents, reports or files that have not been part of the case and could be of interest in the investigation."
The bombing at the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (AMIA) killed 85 people and maimed 300, the deadliest such attack in the South American country's history.
The case came back into the spotlight 21 years later after a prosecutor appointed to reopen the investigation died mysteriously in what his family says was an liquidation.
The prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, had accused President Cristina Kirchner of shielding high-ranking Iranian officials from being implicated in the bombing in exchange for oil and trade benefits from Tehran.
Nisman was found dead of a gunshot to the head on January 18, on the eve of congressional hearings where he was due to present his allegations.
The prosecutors assigned to take over the case had requested the declassification.
The news received a lukewarm welcome from leaders of Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... 's 300,000-strong Jewish community, the largest in Latin America.
"We welcome any new information that might emerge, but what is in doubt is the truthfulness of the information, given that the people who carried out the investigation are now accused of being part of a system that had lost control," Waldo Wolff, vice president of the Delegation of Argentine Jewish Associations (DAIA), told Radio Mitre.
The initial investigation into the bombing ended with no convictions.
The president at the time, Carlos Menem, is also accused of obstructing the investigation. He is due to face trial on the charge in June.
A judge dismissed the obstruction case against Kirchner last month. The prosecutors who took over the file from Nisman have appealed.
Nisman had accused Iran of ordering the bombing via Leb's 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... .
He alleged that Kirchner's government struck a deal with Iranian officials including former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ... the fourth President of Iran. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts until he was eased out in 2011 He continues, for the moment, as Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council. In 2005 he ran for a third term as president, ultimately losing to rival Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was in Khamenei's graces back then. In 1980 Rafsanjani survived an assassination attempt, during which he was seriously injured. He has been described as a centrist and a pragmatic conservative without all that much reason. He is currently being eased out of any position of actual influence or power and may be dead by the end of 2012... to have Interpol wanted notices for them annulled.
The Iranian and Argentine governments both deny the accusations. Interpol's director at the time, Ronald Noble, says no such request was made.
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[AnNahar] North Korea fired seven surface-to-air missiles into the sea off its east coast on Thursday in an operation supervised by leader Kim Jong-Un at a time of heightened military tensions, South Korea's Defense Ministry said Friday.
A ministry front man said Kim was understood to have been on hand when the rockets were fired early Thursday evening from a site near the eastern town of Sondok.
The exercise came at a time of elevated tensions with North Korea's condemnation of annual U.S.-South Korea military drills that Pyongyang views as rehearsals for invasion.
"We see this as another show of force by the North related to the exercises," the front man told AFP.
One of the joint drills, Key Resolve, wound up Friday, but the other, Foal Eagle, is set to continue until April 24.
The annual exercises are always a particularly testing time for relations between the two Koreas, who remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty.
North Korea signalled its displeasure when this year's drills began by firing two short-range Scud missiles into the sea off its east coast.
U.N. resolutions ban any ballistic missile test by North Korea.
The defence ministry front man acknowledged that Thursday's surface-to-air missile tests were not a violation of the resolutions, but added that Pyongyang had failed to announce the firing in advance as a caution to shipping.
- 'Low-intensity' demonstration
"This is a pretty low-intensity show of force, timed to coincide with the wrap-up of the Key Resolve exercise," said Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
Missile tests have long been a preferred North Korean method of expressing displeasure with what it views as confrontational behaviour by the South and its allies, though Seoul and Washington insist the exercises are defence-based in nature.
Although there is no doubt that North Korea has an extremely active ballistic missile development programme, expert opinion is split on how much progress it has made.
In 2012, Pyongyang demonstrated its rocket capabilities by sending a satellite into orbit, but it has yet to conduct a test that would show it had mastered the re-entry technology required for an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The other key question is how close the North is to being able to miniaturize a nuclear device that could be fitted on the tip of a missile.
In a white paper published earlier this month, the South Korean defense ministry said the North had already taken its miniaturization technology to a "significant" level.
A U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report leaked in 2013 reached the same conclusion, although U.S. officials at the time said it did not represent a consensus view of all the country's spy agencies.
North Korea has carried out three nuclear tests -- in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
In January, the North offered a moratorium on further tests if this year's joint military drills were cancelled -- a proposal rejected by Washington as an "implicit threat" to carry out a fourth atomic detonation.
#3
NK1: DUUDE! I got some fireworks left over from New Years!
NK2: Awesome! Let's get some brews, and go to the beach and shoot them off!
NK1: Should we invite Kim?
NK2: Sure. He'll bring the brews! (Besides, I'm gonna tell him you asked that question...)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/14/2015 10:23 Comments ||
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#4
North Korea fired seven surface-to-air missiles into the sea off its east coast on Thursday ...
So wouldn't they be surface-to-sea missiles instead?
h/t Gates of Vienna
Stockholm (AFP) - Many Jewish bodies in Europe are being bankrupted by the growing need for security measures, the US State Department's special envoy on anti-Semitism said on Friday. Maybe it's time to rethink this entire "Europeans of Mosaic Faith" thing?
[AnNahar] The Turkish government took an unexpected step back on its controversial homeland security bill, taking the legislation out of parliament and sending it back to a committee for further revision.
The move appears to be a concession to the pro-Kurdish opposition in parliament to avoid damaging a fragile grinding of the peace processor with Kurdish rebels.
Over half the articles in the the 130-clause security bill have already been approved by parliament.
But Interior Minister Sebahattin Ozturk has asked for the remaining 63 articles in the bill to be sent to a parliamentary committee before further debate, Deputy Parliament Speaker Meral Aksener was quoted as saying late Thursday by the official Anatolia news agency.
The bill has proved to be one of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's most contentious pieces of legislation in recent years with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) staging all night sessions to push it through.
The meetings have repeatedly descended into punch-ups between politicians.
The AKP, co-founded by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... , has a majority in parliament allowing it to push legislation through.
Opponents fear that the bill, which the government says is necessary for the security of citizens during protests, will turn Turkey into a virtual police state with the police given sweeping new powers to arrest and even fire on protesters.
The opposition pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) vehemently opposes the bill but is also negotiating with the government over an end to the three-decade armed separatist Kurdish insurgency.
Expectations are growing of a major breakthrough in the grinding of the peace processor ahead of the Kurdish New Year on March 21 and the government does not want to risk the fragile talks and may now water the bill down.
In landmark message last month, Abdullah Ocalan, the tossed in the calaboose You have the right to remain silent... leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), urged the separatists to take a "historic" decision to lay down arms.
With the intensity of talks increasing, HDP politicians are expected to soon visit Ocalan on his prison island on the Sea of Marmara with an greatly expanded delegation.
HDP MPs Idris Baluken and Ceylan Bagriyanik are meanwhile holding talks in the Kandil Mountains area of northern Iraq where the PKK's armed units are based, Turkish media said.
The secular opposition however expressed fury over how the bill was being handled with the deputy chief of the Republican People's Party (CHP) Sezgin Tanrikulu accusing the government of "political trickery".
"Either withdraw the law or continue debate," said Otkay Vural of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
The government drew up up the bill after deadly pro-Kurdish protests in October 2014 left dozens dead.
[Ynet] Three men accused in a plot to travel from the U.S. to Syria to join forces with 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 pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." Friday to terrorism charges in federal court.
Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, and Abror Habibov, 30 were indicted this week on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy and travel document fraud. Federal officials say Juraboev and Saidakhmetov had tickets to travel to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... but were really going to Syria.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Holy carp, not a one named Mohammed.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/14/2015 0:41 Comments ||
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Uzbekistan nationals Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24 and Abror Habibov, 30, together with Kazakhstan citizen Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, are charged with offering support to a foreign terrorist organization.
[DAWN] Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... government has decided to collect the bio-data of all Afghan holy mans currently performing duties as Paish Imams (prayer-leaders) across the province, it has been learnt.
On Friday evening, Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Malik Baloch chaired the meeting of Apex Committee comprising senior military and civil officers to review the pace of implementation of National Action Plan (NAP) in the province.
The meeting decided to rein in those elements taking law into their hands and selling hate materials in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan.
The decision to collect bio-data of Afghan clergymen is part of Balochistan government's resolve to implement the National Action Plan (NAP).
In most parts of Quetta and northern parts of Balochistan, Afghan holy mans have been performing their duties as prayer leaders for more than three decades. These holy mans have established good ties with local population. "We have no specific details of these holy mans," the officer said.
District Intelligence Coordination Committees (DICCs) have already been established to scrutinise Madrassahs (religious seminaries) in the province.
These DICCs have also been entrusted the task to collect bio-data of Afghan clergymen, an officer of the Balochistan Home and Tribal Affairs Department told Dawn.com.
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03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Indian Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistain J P Singh was summoned at foreign office in Islamabad on Friday and a strong protest was lodged with him over India's deliberate delay in the trial of Samjhota Express terror attack and Indian government's hue and cry over Lakhvi's trial in Pakistain.
The Indian diplomat was told by officials at Pakistain's foreign ministry that New Delhi's hue and cry over Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi's release orders by the court is not justified.
A bigwig on the condition of anonymity told Dawn.com that Pakistain told the senior Indian diplomat that despite Islamabad High Court's orders Pakistain detained Lakhvi under MPO therefore Pakistain's integrity and commitment to try the accused of Mumbai attack should not be doubted.
Pak officials held Indian government responsible for the delay in trial of accused of Mumbai attack being taken in Pakistain and India simultaneously.
"Despite Pakistain's repeated requests credible evidence about Mumbai attacks was never shared with Pakistain," the foreign ministry official said.
The official observed that Pak officials and prosecutors were not granted access for cross questioning of Mumbai attack's key accused in India "and this is hampering the proceeding of the trial".
Earlier, the detention orders of the alleged criminal mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, were declared void by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday.
IHC's Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi accepted Lakhvi's appeal filed against his third time detention orders and ordered the immediate release of the alleged Mumbai attack criminal mastermind.
The IHC had earlier reserved its decision over the application.
Lakhvi has been granted bail in both cases against him, including the 2008 Mumbai attack case and the six-year-old case pertaining to the kidnapping of an Afghan national.
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03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Pakistain has successfully launched an indigenously developed armed drone and test-fired its laser-guided missiles, military sources say.
The Mighty Pak Army chief General Raheel Sharif, who attended the launching ceremony, witnessed the test-fire on static and moving targets on Friday.
Gen. Sharif also congratulated scientists and technicians involved in the development of the drone.
The drone, named Burraq, has the ability to fly in all types of weather conditions and strike its targets with pinpoint accuracy.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard... the Mighty Pak Army said in a statement that the locally constructed drone would be a very effective force multiplier in counter-terrorism operations across the militancy-riddled country.
The developments came after the United States refused to sell Pakistain its advanced drones.
Pak government has repeatedly asked the US administration to provide it with armed drones, claiming it could carry out attacks against murderous Moslems more effectively.
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03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] A Pakistain court on Friday canceled a detention order against the alleged criminal mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, potentially paving the way for his release.
It is the latest round in a tussle over Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, accused over the terror siege that left 166 dead, which has worsened already strained ties with India.
The latest ruling means Lakhvi could be released as early as Saturday, though the government can still appeal to the Supreme Court and for now he remains in jail.
Update from An Nahar at 9:15 a.m. ET: Release revoked for a month. He never left prison. It's an Islamabad High Court vs. Supreme Court catfight.
Pakistan successfully launched the latest version of an indigenously developed nuclear-capable cruise missile on Monday, The Washington Post reports.
The Shaheen-III missile has a maximum range of up to 1,700 miles, according to members of the Pakistani military. Depending upon the missile's placement, Pakistan would be capable of carrying out a nuclear strike from Israel in the West to Kazakhstan in the north and Burma in the east.
[IraqiNews.com] On Wednesday, an official at the Bosnian Ministry of Defense revealed that his country has donated 500 tons of ammunition in aid to Iraq to fight ISIS.
The French News agency quoted the official as saying, "The Republic of Bosnia donated 500 tons of live ammunition to Iraq for the purpose of helping the Iraqi forces in the fight against ISIS."
The official, who asked to remain anonymous, added, "We want to contribute to the fight against the terrorist organization," adding that, "The three presidencies in Bosnia agreed to the request of the United States to join the international coalition."
[IraqiNews.com] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... announced on Wednesday, that it will 15 truckloads of military equipment to Iraq, confirming that it is training more than 1,500 Peshmerga elements.
Not clear is whether the equipment went to the Kurds or to Baghdad...
The front man for the Turkish Foreign Ministry Tango Bagheij said in remarks reported by 'Anatolia' and followed by IraqiNews.com, "In this context, Turkey trained a thousand and 511 of Kurdish Peshmerga elements, in addition to sending 15 truckloads of military equipment to Iraq."
Bagheij added, "The Turkish Minister of Defense confirmed, during his meetings with Iraqi officials as part of his recent visit to Iraq, Turkey's intelligence and logistical support for Iraq in its war against ISIS."
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03/14/2015 11:03 ||
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[Iran Press TV] The commander of the Iraqi volunteer forces has hailed Iran's assistance to the Arab country in the fight against ISIL Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorist group.
In a Friday interview near the embattled Iraqi city of Tikrit in the northern province of Salahuddin, Hadi al-Ameri praised Iran's supports for the Iraqi security forces in anti-terror operations, adding that "help from Iran is unconditional."
Ameri, who also heads the Badr Organization political party, lashed out at the US for failing to fulfill its earlier promises to provide Baghdad with military assistance in the fight against Takfiri terrorists.
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03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... held talks Friday with Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... and the leaders of Egypt and Jordan on the stalled Middle East grinding of the peace processor, officials said.
Kerry was attending an investment conference in Egypt's Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh along with hundreds of prominent figures to jumpstart its economy.
Ahead of the conference Kerry met Abbas, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Jordan's King Abdullah II to discuss the grinding of the peace processor, a State Department official and Sissi's office said.
Referring to the breakdown in relations with Israel and the ongoing financial crisis in the PA due to withheld tax funds, Abbas said that "there's no alternative but to re-evaluate the security and economic relations between the Paleostinian Authority and Israel." Abbas has threatened several times recently to halt security cooperation between his forces and the IDF in the West Bank.
Yeah, yeah.
Kerry promised Abbas that he would press Israel to resume transferring the tax funds,
But no mention of any sort of quid pro quo, oddly enough.
Israel's Channel 10 news said. The funds have been withheld in recent months in punishment for the PA's decision to join the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... in The Hague and seek to indict Israel for war crimes.
The four leaders discussed creating an environment to "push forward the grinding of the peace processor to reach a comprehensive and just peace in the region," Sissi's office said in a statement.
#1
Mind your own buisness. Maybe they are withholding the "tax" funds for failure to pay their power bill.
Posted by: chris ||
03/14/2015 0:20 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Since this wasn't Paleo money in the first place (Refunding sales tax to the buyers' place of origins is not international law. It isn't even "Human Rights").
#3
Kerry yammers a lot. He is mesmerized by the sound of his own voice. He should listen to the Eagles song "Take it Easy":
I've got seven women on m mind
Four that want to own me, two that want to stone me
One says she's a friend of mine
Take it easy, take it easy Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don't even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand, and take it easyy
[Ynet] Footage filmed this week shows armed and masked Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, fighters hard at work preparing for a possible future escalation with Israel; 'This phenomenon did not exist before Operation Protective Edge, now they're building outposts and training facilities right under our noses,' area resident says.
[Jpost] The Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas announced this week that it would invite users on social media, particularly those in the West, to ask questions in the run-up to a key European Union court hearing that will determine whether Brussels may designate it a terrorist organization.
The campaign, which began on Friday, was launched under the hashtag #AskHamas. Within hours, it became a trending Twitter topic in the United States, with social media users flooding their feeds with sarcastic questions that may not have been what Hamas had in mind when it thought of the idea.
[AnNahar] Syrian Kurdish fighters urged the U.S.-led coalition Friday to launch new air strikes on 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 as the jihadists brought in reinforcements for an attack in the northeast.
The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) called on the coalition to carry out raids to prevent IS from seizing the key town of Tal Tamr in Hasakeh province.
"We call on the international coalition forces to take part in the battle for Tal Tamr," a statement said, adding that the U.S.-led grouping had yet to carry out strikes in the area.
IS forces began a major offensive in Hasakeh in February, seizing several villages and kidnapping several hundred members of the Assyrian Christian minority in the area.
But it has also suffered setbacks, including the February 27 loss of jihadist bastion Tal Hamis.
The Death Eater group is now battling to take Tal Tamr and the town of Ras al-Ain, which sits on the border with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... Tal Tamr lies on a road leading to Ras al-Ain, as well as a highway running across the Iraqi border to the IS stronghold of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... The coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq has provided air support for Kurdish fighters battling the group in northern Syria, and was key to their holding on to the strategic border town of Kobane, which they almost lost.
The coalition said it had not carried out any strikes in Syria between Wednesday and Thursday.
YPG front man Redur Khalil told AFP that IS was bringing in additional forces to the Ras al-Ain area from its strongholds in Raqa city and Tal Abyad.
He said Kurdish forces were expecting an "imminent attack" in the area around Ras al-Ain, which is north of Tal Tamr.
"After losing Tal Hamis... Daesh is trying to restore its prestige in the area as much as possible," Khalil said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britannia-based monitor, said at least 35 YPG fighters had been killed in three days of festivities in the area, but had no toll for IS forces.
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[AnNahar] 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... is reportedly mobilizing and preparing to carry out a wide-range attack on more than one axis in the rebel-held areas in the Syrian Qalamoun region and on Leb's Eastern Mountain range.
A source close to Hizbullah revealed in comments to the Italian news agency Adnkronos (AKI) that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Syrian regime forces will back the party's assault on bully boy posts.
The source said Hizbullah had waged a stake that the harshness of the winter in Qalamoun, strategically located on the Lebanese border, would limit the movement of the Islamist fighters and reduce their areas of control.
However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... the failure of the party's expectation compelled Hizbullah to stage the wide-area operation to force the rebels to retreat.
"The party's strategy during winter failed to block the key rebel supply line," the source told the news agency, fearing that the rebels have stepped up their readiness for a battle in the spring.
When the Syrian revolt erupted in March 2011, the Lebanese eastern border town of Arsal served as a key conduit for refugees, rebels and maimed people fleeing strife-torn Syria, but the Lebanese army stepped up it's security measures in the village to stop infiltrations.
It was overran in August by gunnies belonging to the two al-Nusra ...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant... Front and 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.... of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), who withdrew from the town by taking several soldiers and coppers hostage. Four have been so far executed.
Though ISIL and al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front both have roots in al-Qaeda, IS has formally broken with the group, while Nusra is its official branch in Syria.
Despite ideological similarities, the two groups are opposed and in conflict with each other in other parts of Syria, particularly in the north.
But in Qalamoun, their fighters battled the regime and Hizbullah forces alongside each other, with support from some smaller Islamist rebel groups.
[Iran Press TV] The Israeli regime provides medical assistance to Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... murderous Moslems injured in the Syrian conflict, a new report by American Newspaper The Wall Street Journal says.
According to the report which was published on Thursday, the Tel Aviv regime allows the injured Takfiri murderous Moslems to cross the Syrian border into the occupied territories and receive treatment in Israeli hospitals.
An unnamed military official confirmed the report, saying that most of the maimedmurderous Moslems belong to the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra ...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant... Front which is launching operations against Syria's legitimate government.
"We don't ask who they are, we don't do any screening... Once the treatment is done, we take them back to the border and they go on their way," he stated.
The report cited the former chief of Israel's military intelligence who implicitly admitted that the regime is cooperating with Takfiris active in Syria.
Old news. Israeli doctors take their Hippocratic Oath seriously, also treating any Palestinians who present themselves, including family members of senior Hamas officials. Also, this gives them a chance to sign on spies and take their reports... including the ever-useful cell phone number registries.
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#1
"Fatima, while your here would you please remind Mo to take the entire course of anti-biotics"
[BusinessInsider] In speaking with nearly 30 experts and veterans of both the Bush and Obama administrations, I've found one core factor at the heart of this outcome: the desire to avoid military engagement with Iran at all costs -- and, particularly during the Obama administration, the fear of even threatening it.
Without a credible threat to use force, the United States has relied on tools that alone could never have compelled the Islamic Republic of Iran to abandon its nuclear program.
Convinced that the United States would not attack, Iran has largely dictated the terms. The history of negotiating with Iran suggests that no matter the result of the next round of diplomacy -- full agreement, another extension, or collapse -- the Iran talks have failed.
There's a cute little map at the link that will be of absolutely no use to you if you are even slightly colourblind, dear Reader. But if you aren't, it's quite informative.
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp52169 ||
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#1
Obama
Posted by: chris ||
03/14/2015 0:24 Comments ||
Top||
#2
As per #1, Yuuup.
Once again, the OWG Globalists - in this case US-specific Globalists - have N-O-T answered the question regarding what does Amerika get in return for putting their own country in DE FACTO high existential danger or risk???
EVEN IFF I GUESS IT 100% OR 1.OMILYUHN PERCENT CORRECTLY, I STILL WANT TO HEAR IT FROM THEIR LIPS.
#3
Obama has said that Iran could become a “very successful regional power” in the wake of a deal —a statement he made after he told the New Yorker that if Iran began operating “in a responsible fashion,” it could underpin an “equilibrium” with Sunni Gulf states “in which there’s competition, perhaps suspicion, but not active or proxy warfare.”
This is precisely where the Champ is coming from. His strategy has absolutely nothing to do with alleged [barking dog] Bush or any previous administration's failures found herein. Great piece, thank Hup.
#4
First, you remove Iran's only natural enemy---the Iraqi Baathist regime.
Second you elect a community organizer---who thinks he's a genius, to be your chief executive.
[Ynet] The State Department on Friday said it was upgrading the security of its unclassified computer network to defend against cyber attacks, leaving some employees unable to send outside emails or access the internet.
In case you were trying to get through...
Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki ...a valley girl who woke up one morning and found she was spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of State... said the agency, which in November said it had suffered a cyber attack, was improving "the security of its main unclassified network during a short, planned outage of some Internet-linked systems."
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.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A number of senior Taliban leaders have reportedly met in Islamabad the capital city of Pakistain to hold secret talks on Afghan 
[Libya Herald] Nineteen prisoners were released yesterday from the Jawiya prison in the city of Misrata, the pro GNC-
[Libya Herald] At Thursday's Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Abdullah Thinni's government looked at a number of bottlenecks that have been affecting the performance of the government.
Former King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands Abdullah
[YEMENONLINE.INFO] The drone strike shot through the afternoon sky and slammed into the white Suzuki jeep carrying three al Qaeda 
North Korea
International Criminal Court
[BusinessInsider] In speaking with nearly 30 experts and veterans of both the Bush and Obama administrations, I've found one core factor at the heart of this outcome: the desire to avoid military engagement with Iran at all costs -- and, particularly during the Obama administration, the fear of even threatening it.
