[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The former Afghan Intelligence -- National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) chief Amrullah Saleh said Monday that certain countries are planning to break up Afghanistan in two parts by sparking divisions among Afghans in North and South.
The head of the Green Trend Movement was speaking during the signing of an agreement with Sulaiman Cultural Society and Noor Social Trend from southeastern Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... and Paktiya provinces.
The agreement between the three movements is aimed at launched joint campaigns to thwart the conspiracies to split Afghanistan.
Saleh promised to stand against all conspiracies to split the nation and insisted that any other flag apart from the national flag of Afghanistan would mean to create divisions among Afghans in a bid to break up the country.
Without naming any specific country Saleh said "all those internal and external groups dreaming to create divisions among Afghans and once again spark civil war, are invalid, since we were one nation and will remain as one nation."
He said the foreign countries are following their specific interests in breaking up Afghanistan, although he did not elaborate further regarding the targets of the countries looking to break up Afghanistan.
Saleh also insisted that the new generation of Afghanistan will never agree to break up the country, with Sulaiman Cultural Society chief Asifullah Ikhlas saying the main purpose of the agreement is to unite the young generation fo the country and eliminate discrimination.
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07/28/2015 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] The British government is playing down reports that Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... said he was prepared to use air power against Daesh targets in Libya.
As he arrived last night in Indonesia at the start of a five-day South-East Asian tour, Cameron told a UK newspaper that he would order "immediate" air strikes if he felt that British lives were in danger.
However, ars longa, vita brevis... within hours the British foreign office was soft pedalling the idea of instant air action. Specifically, it ruled out any retaliation against Daesh for the terror attack in Tunisia in which 30 British holidaymakers were bumped off at a Sousse beach resort hotel.
The message from London is now that the prime minister wants UK ministries, including that of Defence, to put together plans to support a credible Libyan national unity government, if one can be put together. The main focus is on border security and help with training police.
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07/28/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
The UK still has planes and gas for the military? Who knew?
[Libya Herald] Another key member of the Qadaffy coup is dead. General Khuwaildi Al-Hamidi who on September 1969 seized 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... radio station, died yesterday in the intensive care unit of an upmarket Cairo clinic. He is understood to have suffered a heart attack.
Hamidi, who was 75, remained a member of the Revolutionary Command Council until the end. His position was to an extent secured because his daughter married the dictator's son Saadi. At various times he was minister of the Interior and of Local Government as well as chief of military intelligence and head of the military courts.
He held a field command during 2011 but fled to Morocco and thence to Egypt. In exile he formed a Qadaffyst political party, the Libyan Popular National Movement which sought unsuccessfully to register for the 2012 general election.
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[AlAhram] Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab has extended for three months a curfew in North Sinai, according to a decree issued in the government's official gazette on Saturday.
...thus proving he does, indeed, exist ...or at least is less imaginary than originally supposed.
"There will be an extension of the state of emergency in the designated areas for three months starting from Sunday July 26, 2015," the article stated.
The designated areas of the curfew include Rafah, Al-Arish and Sheikh Zuweid cities, and surrounding areas.
The curfew was first applied, on 25 October 2014, for three months but has been renewed a number of times. It was originally applied a day after 31 army personnel were killed and 30 injured in a car kaboom.
In October, the curfew was 11 hours overnight. However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... it was later reduced to eight hours.
In April, some local residents expressed their anger at the curfew via the Twitter hashtag #Enough_Curfew and detailed the difficulties it caused.
Egypt's army is fighting an Islamist insurrection based in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, which has heightened since the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July 2013. The violence has largely targeted security forces, killing hundreds over the past two years.
Sinai Province, which has pledged allegiance to 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, has grabbed credit most of the assaults taking place in the peninsula.
[AnNahar] More than 800 minors -- 84 of them under the age of 12 -- were referred to a British government program to counter radicalization over a two year period, official data released on Monday showed.
Between April 2012 and June 2014, 834 minors under the age of 18 were reported to the Channel program, which is aimed at helping young people seen as vulnerable to Islamic myrmidon ideologies.
The figures were released by the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) following a freedom of information request by Britannia's domestic Press Association news agency.
They showed the number of referrals increasing.
In a 12-month period between 2012-2013 a total of 290 youths and children were reported to Channel.
That number rose to 423 the following year.
Between April 2012 and June 2014, some 2,335 people in total were referred to Channel.
Security Minister John Hayes said the total number since 2012 was "over 4,000 referrals", indicating a sharp increase over the past year.
"Referrals to Channel have increased since 2014 but we have dedicated sufficient resources to the program to cope with demand," Hayes said.
The NPCC said that one in five referrals leads to a support program for the individual.
Channel is part of the Prevent strategy to combat radicalization.
British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... has promised to clamp down on homegrown forces of Evil in new legislation to be put forward later this year and has urged young Britons not to join the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group.
WASHINGTON -- The United States designated North Korea as one of the world's worst countries for human trafficking for the 13th straight year on Monday, saying Pyongyang fails to meet even the minimum standards for efforts to improve the situation.
In case we forget...
The State Department's annual "Trafficking in Persons Report" put North Korea in the lowest Tier 3 of its four-step classification of countries, saying the communist regime maintains political prison camps and sends people overseas for forced labor.
"The government of North Korea does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so," the report said. "The government did not demonstrate any efforts to address human trafficking through prosecution, protection or prevention measures."
Other Tier 3 countries include Iran, Libya, Syria, Russia, Zimbabwe and Thailand.
The report called the North "a source country for men, women, and children who are subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking," saying forced labor is part of an established system of political repression.
"The government subjects its nationals to forced labor in prison camps in North Korea and through government-contracted labor in foreign countries," the report said. "North Korea holds an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 prisoners in prison camps in remote areas of the country."
In many cases, these prisoners have not been prosecuted, convicted, or sentenced in a judicial proceeding, and in prison camps, all prisoners, including children, are subject to forced labor, including logging, mining, or farming for long hours under harsh conditions, the report said.
"Prisoners are subjected to unhygienic living conditions, beatings, a lack of medical care, and insufficient food; many do not survive. Furnaces and mass graves are used to dispose of the bodies of those who die in these camps," it said.
The North is also believed to have about 50,000 or higher numbers of laborers working abroad "under conditions indicative of forced labor, such as working excessively long hours in hazardous temperature with no pay for up to three years."
"They face threats of government reprisals against them or their relatives in North Korea if they attempt to escape or complain to outside parties. Reports show up to 90 percent of workers' salaries are appropriated and controlled by the North Korean government," the report said.
The report also noted that many North Korean women and girls, who have fled to neighboring China, are "especially vulnerable to trafficking," saying traffickers reportedly lure, drug, detain, or kidnap some North Korean women upon their arrival.
"According to one report, some women in the North Korean defector population are subjected to sexual slavery to Chinese or Korean-Chinese men, forced into prostitution in brothels or through Internet sex sites, or compelled to serve as hostesses in nightclubs or karaoke bars," the report said.
"If found by Chinese authorities, victims are forcibly repatriated to North Korea where they are subjected to harsh punishment, possibly including forced labor in labor camps or the death penalty," it added.
Meanwhile, the report put South Korea among Tier 1 countries, along with other advanced countries like the U.S., Britain, France and Germany.
Still, the report noted that some South Korean women, who owe debts to entertainment establishment owners or loan sharks, are forced into prostitution while some disabled or intellectually disabled Korean men are forced to work on salt farms, where they experience verbal and physical abuse, nonpayment of wages and other abuses.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/28/2015 00:00 ||
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Not to be confused with an American administration and politicians to aid and abet human trafficking across their own southern border in numbers that dwarf North Korea.
North Korea's economy and the standard of living of ordinary people seem to have improved, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
From 'torpid' to 'languishing'...
"Since early 2015, reports have trickled in about modest economic growth in North Korea," the CRS said in a recent report. "A series of tentative economic reforms announced in 2014 appear, according to some sources, to have lifted the living standard for a portion of ordinary North Koreans."
"The reforms, which appear to apply market principles to some sectors of North Korean business and agriculture, have created opportunities for economic growth in the impoverished country," it adds.
The situation has improved considerably as managers in the cities are allowed to set salaries and hire and fire workers, while farmers in rural areas are permitted to keep a larger portion of their harvests.
But the report adds, "Economists caution that these reforms are modest in scale and are far from irreversible, but they may be enough to lift North Korea's moribund economy from its low base."
Wait until Fat Boy hears...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/28/2015 00:00 ||
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So, they've moved firmly into the Bronze Age in the countryside, then?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
07/28/2015 8:03 Comments ||
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Dirt ration has been increased to 1.5 clods per week.
[RUDAW.NET] Turkish Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu warned Monday that the jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, will no longer be able to meet with Kurdish politicians who have been his link to the outside world.
His remarks mean that Ankara is threatening to declare an end to a grinding of the peace processor with the PKK that began more than a year ago, later to stutter amid complaints of foot dragging by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... "Ocalan, as a normal detainee, has all the right to see his lawyers and his close relatives. But meeting with a political party is not normal, and that party must explain his attitude on terror," Davutoglu claimed, referring to the Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP).
The grinding of the peace processor collapsed last Wednesday after the PKK grabbed credit for assassinating two Turkish coppers. Turkey called that the end of a ceasefire, launching two days of Arclight airstrikes and shelling PKK positions in Kurdish Iraq.
"They have begun killing our soldiers, therefore we will react," Davutoglu said.
"Unless all weapons are put down and all terrorist groups are wiped out of the land of Turkey, we do not see any benefit from visiting Imrali and seeing Ocalan," Davutoglu added, referring to the island jail where Ocalan is kept.
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07/28/2015 00:00 ||
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Abdullah Ocalan
Known in Marion County for his Arabian Sales.
[REUTERS] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and the United States are working on plans to provide air cover for Syrian rebels and jointly sweep 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.... fighters from a strip of land along the Turkish border, bolstering the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... member's security and providing a safe haven for civilians.
Long a reluctant member of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, Turkey last week made a dramatic turnaround by granting the alliance access to its air bases and bombarding targets in Syria linked to the jihadist movement.
Struggling with more than 1.8 million Syrian refugees, Turkey has long campaigned for a "no-fly zone" in northern Syria to keep Islamic State and Kurdish bandidosLions of Islam from its border and help stem the tide of displaced civilians trying to cross.
While no such formal arrangement has been struck with Washington, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the two allies saw eye to eye on the need to provide air cover for moderate Syrian rebels fighting Islamic State.
"What we have now is air coverage to clear a region from Daesh (Islamic State) and support the moderate opposition so they can gain control of that region," Davutoglu told Turkey's ATV in an interview broadcast live.
"We do not want to see Daesh on Turkey's borders."
In Washington, U.S. officials said discussions were ongoing about the size and scope of a safe zone along the border, which would be cleared of Islamic State fighters and allow moderate rebels to operate freely.
"The goal is to establish an ISIL-free zone and ensure greater security and stability along Turkey's border with Syria," a senior B.O. regime official said, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... . ISIL is an acronym for Islamic State.
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07/28/2015 00:00 ||
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[HINDUSTANTIMES] By gunning down three heavily armed forces of Evil in the dawn-to-dusk offensive at Dinanagar on Monday, Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Police have sent a strong message to terror groups about their ability to hit back hard.
When reports poured in early morning that fidayeen (suicide squad) had stormed a cop shoppe in Punjab's Gurdaspur district and were leaving behind a trail of blood and bodies, director general of police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini had to take a tough and tactical decision - whether the police should take on the forces of Evil or leave it to the army. Saini, who has played a key role in ridding Punjab of terrorism, decided that his force would take on the intruders, even as the Centre was keen that the men in green should take over from the men in khaki, sources in the government have said.
DGP leads by example
The DGP was himself in the thick of action, camping inside the battle zone with his men, coordinating and directing the police offensive. The army had reached the spot and was ready with its choppers hovering over the battleground, but the police decided to go solo and take army's assistance only as a last resort.
"The Union government had also offered to move in National Security Guards (NSG) but Punjab Police wanted to prove that they had the expertise to handle any situation. All the officers taking part in this operation were battle-hardened soldiers of the state's fight against terrorism. We are grateful for the army's assistance, though," said a senior political leader of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
Aim was to catch forces of Evil alive
A senior cop who was part of the action said the aim was to catch the forces of Evil alive. "But they were too determined, and waiting for the night to fall. We had to use heavy firing and grenades to kill them," the police officer said. Earlier, when the three forces of Evil barged into the Dinanagar cop shoppe around 5.30am, the police reaction was swift. By 6am, they had cordoned off the area and trapped the forces of Evil in. Had the forces of Evil sneaked out of the cop shoppe area, they would have created mayhem," said a cop.
The police quickly called reinforcement from the border range around Dinanagar. From their SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics Team) commandos stationed at Amritsar for training with the NSG, 28 moved into the battle zone and teamed up with police commandos to gun down the forces of Evil -reinforcing public confidence in state police's potential to fight terrorism.
Precise response
The heavily-armed faceless myrmidons kept the cops engaged all day and the police also responded with precision. Not only the DGP but also other senior officers such as the inspector general, DIG and senior superintendent of police (SSP) were in the fight. Since the intruders had sophisticated weapons, loads of ammunitions, and even GPS (global positioning system), they didn't let the cops relax. They had the wireless system of the cop shoppe, and so could eavesdrop on the communication between the cops deployed outside.
The fidayeen, it is reported, also took ammunition from the station's armoury to sustain the gun-battle for 11 hours until the final assault around 3.45pm. As they stopped firing, the police opened heavy gunfire and lobbed grenades into the corners where they were hiding.
Cheers broke out after the area was recaptured and the bullet-riddled bodies of the forces of Evil were spotted.
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07/28/2015 00:00:00 ||
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#1
See DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [The Nation] ATTACK IN INDIAN PUNJAB INDICATES RETURN OF AFGHAN FIGHTERS AND INCREASING RISKS OF SKRIMISHES ON PAKISTANI BORDER.
and
* IIRC SAME > INDIAN, PAKISTANI FORCES IN PUNJAB ON EDGE AFTER TWELVE-HOUR GUNBATTLE.
Radical Islam at this time would like to remind everybody that ...
* TOPIX > [CNN] ISIS TERRORISTS SAY THEY COULD PURCHASE NUCLEAR WEAPON FROM PAKISTAN WIDIN A YEAR.
* SAME > [Groong] ISLAMIC STATE USING NEW RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE MEDIA WING TO RECRUIT MILITANTS FROM AZERBAIJAN.
The ISIS/ISIL Hard Boyz trying to outflank Darth Vlad + Russian Army on MULTIPLE FRONTS???
* BIGNEWSNETWORK > [The Diplomat] ASIA'S NEW GEOPOLITICS TAKING PLACE AROUND INDIA, JAPAN, AND AUSTRALIA.
Don't think future "post-US", World + Asian/East Asian Union #1 Wannabe CHINA is going to like this???
[DAWN] An antiterrorism court on Monday issued a fresh black warrant for the execution of condemned prisoner Shafqat Hussain and directed jail authorities to send him to the gallows on August 4 at the Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... Central Prison.
The jail authorities approached the trial court through an application before Ramazan for the issuance of fresh warrant for execution of condemned prisoner by submitting that the court issued last warrant on June 1 and fixed June 9 for hanging. However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... the execution was postponed hours before the scheduled time, they added.
A court official earlier said the application was not taken up since a moratorium was imposed on executions during the holy month, adding that the court was likely to issue a fresh warrant on Saturday.
A trial court (ATC-III) judge issued fresh black warrants for Shafqat on Monday (today) with directives to hang him till death on August 4 at 4:00 am under the supervision of a judicial magistrate, and submit a compliance report after executing him.
Shafqat was sentenced to death by an antiterrorism court in September 2004 after he was found guilty of killing a seven-year-old boy after abducting him for ransom in April 2004 in New Town.
The Sindh High Court had upheld the death sentence in the crime of kidnapping for ransom and set aside the conviction in the premeditated murder by converting it into manslaughter. The Supreme Court also dismissed his appeal in October 2007, while his review petition was also turned down by the apex court in December 2007. The president rejected his mercy petition in July 2012.
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[DAWN] When Pakistain resumed executions after the massacre of 134 pupils at Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. 's Army Public School last December, the government promised hangings would help deter Islamist hard boys.
A Rooters analysis of 180 people hanged since late December, however, shows that fewer than one in six were linked to militancy.
Hangings resumed on Monday (today) after a hiatus for the holy month of Ramazan, and the findings raise questions over whether Pakistain's capital punishment is having the desired effect.
Lawyers and rights groups say several cases that ended in execution had serious legal shortcomings, and although the campaign is broadly popular at home it has drawn condemnation from international partners.
Within six months, Pakistain has become the world's third-ranking country in terms of executions, behind China and Iran.
Of 180 people executed since January, 29 were convicted of liquidations or liquidation attempts, sectarian murders, a hijacking or killing of security officials -- falling under a broad definition of militancy.
Almost all were hanged immediately after the massacre. Since then, most executions were of murderers with no hard boy links.
Officials say the death penalty has deterred hard boy attacks.
"You've seen the number of terrorist attacks going down drastically," the prime minister's special assistant for law, Ashtar Ausaf Ali, told Rooters. "One of the reasons is fear. Fear of being executed."
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[DAWN] Data retrieved from a spy drone shot down earlier this month near the Line of Control (LOC) by Pak forces provides irrefutable evidence that it was flown by the Indian Army, the military said on Monday.
The military released the details of downed Indian 'spy drone' on Monday, stressing that it was sent for reconnaissance inside the Pak side of LOC.
"An Indian drone (Quadcopter) mission was flown on July 15, 2015, by India in which it intruded from Indian Occupied Kashmire(IOK) Jaurian Sector and was flying over Own Banchirian Sector (near Bhimber), when it was shot down by Pak troops," Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in first ever detailed statement following the incident.
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[RUDAW.NET] The head of the Shiite Badr Organization, Hadi al-Amri, said Monday that Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters and its affiliates were spearheading the war against 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.... (ISIS) in Syria.
"PKK and Syrian Kurds are the spearhead in the fight against ISIS," said Amri. "The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... continues to assist ISIS," he said.
His comments came as Turkey launched a crackdown on the outlawed PKK, with raids across the country and air strikes on the group's Qandil Mountain base in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.
Amri said that the Turkish crackdown was in response to Kurdish gains in Syria against ISIS near the Turkish border.
"Turkey has not changed its stance towards ISIS, and what happened over the previous days came days after Kurdish forces deployed on Turkey's border. These actions by Turkey indicate the country's unstoppable assistance for ISIS," Amri said.
He praised the role of Kurdish forces, especially the PKK-affiliated Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) fighters in battles against ISIS.
"They have achieved great victories against ISIS, and now they are in control of a vast majority of Kurdish territories in northern Syria," according to Amri.
"The end of ISIS is not in Iraq but in Syria; they must be taken out there first, then Iraq," Amri said.
He claimed that, unless Iran helped Iraq militarily in the fight against ISIS, it and the Gulf Arab counties would fall to ISIS.
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[Ynet] As the group's political wing moves closer to the Saudis, Abu Marzouk admits Iran has withdrawn support; military wing reportedly attempting to mend relations with Islamic Theocratic Republic.
Senior Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, official Mousa Abu Marzouk on Monday repeated a statement voiced by leaders before, saying that Iran has ceased providing most of its financial assistance to the group.
"The aid has stopped and it is still suspense -- as was the military aid, whose absence is difficult to deal with, and aid to the residents of the Gazoo Strip," said Abu Mazouk.
Despite this, he emphasized that Hamas is working to retain close and robust relations with the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
Abu Marzouk's declaration came amid a crisis in Hamas-Iran relations, which began with the beginning of the Syrian Civil War over four years ago, when Hamas backed the rebels while Iran and Hezbollah supported Assad.
Relations have continued to cool, especially after Hamas began to improve relations with Iran's major regional rival, 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... Hamas chief Khaled Mashal is a great supporter of becoming closer to the Saudi axis, and most of the group's politicianship agrees. The opposition to this process is led by Mohammed Deif and the group's military wing, which desperately needs the financial assistance to rehabilitate and rearm itself after Operation Protective Edge.
The military wing is also interested in Iranian military aid -- both military experts and attempts to smuggle weapons into the Gazoo Strip. Deif has been sending delegates to various countries in the region in the hopes of defrosting relations with Iran and regaining the coveted assistance.
Some in Israel are well-aware of the internal divisions in Hamas about assistance from Iran. At the beginning of July, the Southern Command's intelligence officer said that "the military wing turned to Iran to get financial assistance to allow it to build up ahead of the next campaign against Israel, in contrast to the general sentiment in the movement that prefers the Saudi axis to the Iranian one.
"These are sums the military wing will not get from the organization's budget, and when there's no alternative at home -- they turn to the Iranians, who supply the money because they are first of all interested in a foothold against Israel in every possible sphere."
[IsraelTimes] UN agency for Paleostinian refugees forced to reduce aid to Gazoo as it struggles to overcome $100-million debt
Hundreds of Paleostinians demonstrated outside the United Nation's Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Gazoo Strip on Sunday to protest the agency's reduction of services, the result of an unprecedented financial crisis.
The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... issued an urgent appeal for contributions last week to prevent such a cutback, but to no avail.
One of the banners raised by protesters read, "The reduction in services is leading to Gazoo being blasted by poverty, oppression and insecurity," according to the Paleostinian Ma'an news agency.
The special coordinator for the Paleostinian grinding of the peace processor, Nickolay Mladenov, warned the UN Security Council that UNRWA has a $100-million shortfall that needs to be solved in the coming weeks. Otherwise, he said, "there is a serious risk that UNRWA schools, which educate 500,000 children throughout the Middle East, will not open."
"This will have grave implications for Paleostine refugee children in Gazoo, the West Bank, Jordan, Leb and Syria, and for the stability and security of a region already in turmoil," Mladenov said. "I am deeply concerned about UNRWA's current unprecedented financial crisis."
Mladenov also urged donor nations to increase their support for the Paleostinian Authority, which is running at a $500-million deficit this year -- a gap which, he said, could not be covered with fiscal measures alone.
Walid al-Awad, an official from the Paleostinian People's Party, condemned the postponement of the school year, telling Ma'an that he and the people he represents refuse to accept the UN decision.
Talal Abu Zarifa, a member of the marxist DFLP -- the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine ... a breakaway faction of the Pöpular Frönt för the Liberation of Paleostine. The are regarded as the most intellectual of Paleostinian fedayeen groups, smoking cheap cigarettes and drawing heavily on Marxist-Leninist theory to explain their crappy lives. They can occasionally be seen strutting through the streets of Paleostine, dressed up like soldiers and lugging firearms, though they seldom manage to hit anything and then usually by accident. This may be because of their habit of wearing black masks that cut off most of their vision. That would also explain their habit of occasionally walking into walls, which is a well-known attribute of those immersed in true understanding of the dialectic... -- told Ma'an that the UN needed to rethink its policies.
A very good idea. The Palestinians have been funded for about seventy years; perhaps it is time to give that help to others in considerably greater need, though no doubt that is not what Mr. Abu Zarifa meant..
Abu Zarifa called for the international community and private donors to help UNRWA overcome its $100-million debt, so it could better serve the people of Gazoo.
#1
UNRWA supplies free education, food, housing and everything else people need, to all 'Palestinian refugees" including descendants, until there is peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Have you noticed that the "refugees" became violent when peace seemed near?
In fact it is the unwillingness of the refugees to give up welfare that has been the main obstacle to peace with Israel.
UNRWA is the UN's biggest program and the biggest obstacle to peace.
If you thought the farce of American foreign policy under the Obama administration couldn't get any worse, you need to revise your expectations.
Earlier this month Defense Secretary Ashton Carter briefed Congress on the $500 million program to train "vetted moderate" Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State.
CNN reported:
The United States has only trained approximately 60 Syrian rebel fighters as of July 3, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, saying the number is "much smaller" than the administration hoped to train at this point.
"I said the number 60, and I can look out at your faces and you have the same reaction I do, which is that that's an awfully small number," he said.
Carter's admission highlights the increasing concern over the effectiveness of a program to train a local fighting force to combat ISIS in Syria.
As Politico noted at the time, the price tag for these 60 fighters was $4 million each with half of the $500 million appropriated for Obama's "vetted moderate" rebel army having already been spent.
So how are our "vetted moderate" rebels faring? No one knows, because apparently they have vanished (HT: Alimhaider).
McClatchy reports today:
The dispute over aims has made it almost impossible for the U.S. and other allies to recruit young Syrians under the $500 million U.S. "train and equip" program. Hundreds of recruits reportedly walked off when they were asked to commit to fight only the Islamic State and not the Assad regime.
The first graduates of the course in Turkey, about 50 recruits, rolled into Syria two weeks ago in four wheel drive pickup trucks. But they haven't been heard from since.
The U.S. goal was to train at least 5,000 fighters against the Islamic State this year alone
So after two weeks Obama's "vetted moderate" army hasn't been heard from since. Either they were wiped out instantly or they joined the ISIS. Good job Obumble. Your program is worse than a complete failure and you are still the laughingstock of the world.
Possibly they joined Al Nusra...
Posted by: DarthVader ||
07/28/2015 00:02 ||
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#4
Very difficult to validate the "moderate" mooslim theory if none can be found or recreated. Sort of like the saw billed, double pouched, flying Triandulasouris-Rexus. If we could only find one.
[RUDAW.NET] Turkish attacks on both the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) are The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's attempt to weaken those forces battling 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.... , Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbollah, said Monday.
"In a bid to protect ISIS from any harm, Turkey has targeted the freedom fighters of both the PKK and DHKP-C," Nasrallah said in a statement released by Hezbollah media.
Nasrallah lambasted the Turkish government and refuted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... 's claim that ISIS was a threat to Turkish national security.
"I have no doubt that Turkey helped ISIS, and sheltered it. Turkey opened its borders for ISIS gunnies and facilitated the group economically," said the Hezbollah leader.
"It's an illusion if the governments of 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... , the US and Turkey think that they can maintain control over such a group," he said.
Following the ISIS attack on a Turkish army base near the Syrian border, the Turkish government--which was long reluctant to join the fight against ISIS--launched several aerial attacks against the group in Syria.
However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... near simultaneously, on Friday Turkish F-16 jets also targeted the PKK stronghold of Mount Qandil in northern Iraq, reportedly killing four guerrillas and injuring more than 10 others.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
nothing on this at al-manar so it may be that rudaw made some of it up
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/28/2015 22:14 Comments ||
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... said on Sunday the army had been forced to give up areas in order to hold onto more important ones in its fight with hard boys, and the scale of the war meant the military faced a man power shortage.
He also said groups fighting to topple him had received increased backing from their state sponsors in a reference to countries including The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and 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... "Sometimes, in some circumstances, we are forced to give up areas to move those forces to the areas that we want to hold onto," Assad said in a defiant televised speech in which he said were no compromise solutions in the war.
"We must define the important regions that the armed forces hold onto so it doesn't allow the collapse of the rest of the areas," Assad said. "The army is capable ... Everything is available, but there is a shortfall in human capacity," he said.
Assad has faced a series of battlefield setbacks since March: He lost most of the northwestern province of Idlib to an hard boy alliance including the al Qaeda-backed Nusra Front, and important areas of the southern border region to mainstream groups of the "Southern Front".
The ultra-hardline 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 also seized the central city of Palmyra from the Syrian military in May.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2015 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] A document obtained by Zaman al-Wasl shows a list of members of the National Defence forces who needed food, gave an approximate number of the National Defence militia (NDF) and their hierarchy in Latakia city at the coastal region of Syria.
According to the document Zaman al-Wasl obtained, the total number of the (NDF) in Lattakia is 92,560 members, divided into 27 departments, battalions and branches. There are 8 battalions of ground forces, 6000 members each except one making total number of 45600 members.
Beside ground forces, there are 5 other Battalions of different specialties like tanks, cannons making a total of 29100 members. At 15000 members, the barriers' battalion makes more than a half of this number.
Latakia province - home to Syria's biggest port and a stronghold of Assad's Alawite sect - has been a key battleground of the conflict, which is now in its fifth year.
NDF militia consists of 5 brigades: signals, Snipers, special tasks and the military police brigade which is the biggest at 3000 members.
Moreover, there are 8 branches and departments like the following up, the Education and media, information and intelligence which is the biggest at 4500 members.
In a glance, the 92 thousand total number of the NDF's members, almost one third of the total count of the Syrian national Army before the revolution and its effects on the army from killing significant number of its soldiers and defecting many others.
The number gives an impression that an army exists inside the National army indicating a country inside the country as well.
The huge number of NDF and its organization points out to the fact that Bashir al-Assad has left the military service in the Syrian coast to the national defence forces while the official and National Army had minimal presentation in the Syrian coast and Latakia city in particular.
The other important point the list of NDF highlighted is the huge amount of spending on food only which reached to 11 million Syrian pounds monthly, making 135 million a year. From this figure, we can imagine the other spending on arms, fuel, treatment and administration which could be ten folds of the feeding's cost.
The Syrian army, one of the region's largest, has been over stretched by a four-year long insurgency where it is battling on several major fronts Salafist tough guys and ultra-hardline jihadist bully boyz who have seized large swathes of territory. Many young men have fled the country or find ways to avoid conscription.
The army has been forced in recent months to withdraw from large parts of the northwestern province of Idlib in the face of an assault by a coalition of Islamist brigades and was unable to defend the desert city of Palmyra in central Syria, when it was overrun by 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....
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2015 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
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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)] The former Afghan Intelligence -- 
David Cameron
[Libya Herald] Another key member of the Qadaffy coup is dead. General Khuwaildi Al-Hamidi who on September 1969 seized 
[DAWN] An antiterrorism court on Monday issued a fresh black warrant for the execution of condemned prisoner Shafqat Hussain and directed jail authorities to send him to the gallows on August 4 at the 
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine
If you thought the farce of American foreign policy under the Obama administration couldn't get any worse, you need to revise your expectations.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
