[AA.TR] Pakistain on Tuesday said it would not send troops to fight in any country as part of a 34-nation Saudi-led alliance against "terrorism".
"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... has neither asked for ground troops nor are we sending them [to any country]," Pak foreign affairs adviser Sartaj PrunefaceAziz ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy... told a parliamentary foreign affairs committee.
Briefing the committee on last week's back-to-back visits to Islamabad by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir, Aziz stressed Pakistain's full support for the anti-terrorism alliance but said its participation would be limited to intelligence sharing, training and the provision of arms.
"It is not our policy to send troops to any country as part of any alliance except those with a UN mandate," Aziz was quoted as saying by Pak state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
.Aziz also told the committee that Islamabad would rather play a mediatory role between Riyadh and Tehran -- rather than taking sides -- with a view to easing mounting tension between the two regional powers.
Diplomatic ties between longtime strategic allies Islamabad and Riyadh reportedly soured last year after the former refused to send troops to fight Shia Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... rebels in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... as part of a Saudi-led military campaign.
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01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] A court in Kuwait has sentenced two people, including an Iranian, to death over allegations that they had been "spying for Iran" and planning attacks in the Persian Gulf country.
The verdict was issued on Tuesday for the Iranian, identified as Abdulreza Haydar, on trial along with 25 Kuwaitis on charges of spying for Tehran and hiding of arms and ammunition in underground depots.
The court claimed that Haydar had recruited the Kuwaiti nationals and helped them to travel to Leb to receive military training from Leb's resistance movement Hezbollah.
The other man condemned to death, Kuwaiti Hasan Abdulhadi Ali, was found guilty of being "the criminal mastermind of the cell."
Authorities handed down life imprisonment sentence to another defendant, while 19 received jail terms between five and 15 years. Three were acquitted and one was fined 5,000 dinars (USD 16,500).
The court also alleged that the defendants spied for Hezbollah, smuggled in and assembled explosives, and were in possession of firearms and ammunition.
Iran has yet to comment on the allegations made by the Kuwaiti court.
Kuwaiti officials last August claimed that they had disbanded a cell linked to Iran and seized large quantities of arms, explosives and ammunition.
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01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] The state has filed a review petition with the Supreme Court against its judgement that reduced the death penalty of notorious war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayeedi ...Islamic orator and politician. He was a former Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2008, and is one of the most prominent leaders of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami... to imprisonment until death.
The attorney general's office submitted the petition yesterday to the Supreme Court registrar's office seeking Sayeedi's capital punishment handed down by the International Crimes Tribunal in 2013.
This is the first case of war crimes trial in which the state has sought review to maintain the tribunal's verdict.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam at his office told news hounds that they had cited five reasons in support of Sayeedi's death sentence. They sought death penalty for Sayeedi for killing Ibrahim Kutti and Bisa Bali.
He said the apex court would fix a date for conducting hearing on the review petition.
Mahbubey said that the highest sentence could not be maintained due to failure of the investigation agency and the prosecution of the tribunal.
Sayeedi, known as "Deilya Razakar" in 1971, was given the death penalty on February 28, 2013 after the war crimes tribunal found him guilty of committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
He was sentenced to death for killing Ibrahim Kutti and one Bisa Bali in Pirojpur. The tribunal did not deliver sentence on the six other proven charges.
The Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... leader appealed against the tribunal verdict seeking acquittal while the state pleaded for sentence on the six other proven charges.
On September 17, 2014, the Appellate Division's five-member bench headed by the then Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain delivered its short verdict based on majority judgement.
The full verdict was published on December 31 last year. According to the rules, a review petition has to be filed within 15 days after the full verdict is published.
The case against Sayeedi was the first of its kind under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973. The case faced great difficulties from its inception, having also been subjected to the greatest extent of conspiracies from quarters striving to derail the justice process, tribunal observers said.
This included, among others, the abduction of a key prosecution witness, defence obtaining the register of prosecution witnesses in the safe house, hacking of personal computers of ICT judges and illegal interception of their personal communications -- all during the trial of Sayeedi.
According to the state, the tribunal prosecutors had failed to provide the necessary documentary evidence in Sayeedi's case during the appeal hearing.
Asked whether there was any precedence in any court across the globe of increasing sentence on a review petition, Mahbubey yesterday said: "I did not scrutinise all the review petitions. But there can be new developments during trials. It depends on the court."
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01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] North Korea faked its latest submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test by heavily editing the released footage, analysts say.
According to the Middlebury Institute's James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), the North used "heavy video editing" to cover up the fact that the "rocket ejected, began to light, and then failed catastrophically."
On Friday, North Korean state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
broadcasted footage of the December SLBM test, which was unannounced beforehand unlike a previous test in May.
Based on the analysis of the Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,-based think tank, two frames from the footage show the missile actually catching fire with small components breaking away.
"They used different camera angles and editing to make it appear that the launch was several continuous launches, but played side by side you can see that it is the same event," said a senior CNS research associate, Melissa Hanham, on Tuesday.
The analysis shows that Pyongyang used rudimentary editing techniques to splice the footage with and earlier SLBM test and a Scud missile test.
On Saturday, South Korea also announced that the footage appeared to be edited with a SCUD launch from 2014.
The footage was released just two days after North Korea announced the successful testing of its first hydrogen bomb, an action that was also met by skepticism and widespread condemnation.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
D *** NG IT, ahz came to see GODZILLA in the side pic, leaving disappointed.
[BLOOMBERG] The U.S. House voted to toughen sanctions against North Korea following last week's nuclear test, showing overwhelming support for a measure that would mostly target non-U.S. companies.
The sanctions bill was backed by Democrats and Republicans alike in the 418-2 vote Tuesday.
The legislation, H.R. 757, would authorize sanctions against companies that contribute to North Korea's nuclear program and ballistic missile development, send luxury goods to the country, help its censorship efforts or aid human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... abuses, according to a House Foreign Affairs Committee summary. The president would have the authority to waive penalties for as long as a year.
"The latest test demands a response," Representative Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, said on the House floor Monday. "North Korea has become more and more savvy at evading sanctions and that is why this bill broadens our sanctions."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Tuesday that he plans to schedule floor time on a companion measure, S. 2144, sponsored by Colorado Republican Senator Cory Gardner, which McConnell said will be considered soon by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The White House has yet to comment on either bill.
It's difficult to say what companies would be affected by the legislation and whether any are in the U.S., said Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow for Northeast Asia with the conservative Heritage Foundation. That's because any entities being sanctioned would have to already be in violation of U.S. law, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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#3
Who says the Congress can't do anything bi-partisan?
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/13/2016 13:52 Comments ||
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#4
Iff the alleged H-Bomb test was Pudgy's = NOKOR's way of trying to get POTUS Obama = USA back to the negotiating table, espec as per the US providing NOKOR wid higher increased econ assistance than evar before, IMO IT INDIR SUPPORTS MY CONTENTION THAT NOKOR'S ABILITY TO PREVENT ECON COLLAPSE + ULTIMATELY CHINESE TAKEOVER, ANNEXATION IS STEADILY DETERIORATING + ABOUT TO EXPLODE.
Or perhaps more correctly - "IMPLODE" LIKE THE USSR.
FAILING TO GET BACK TAIWAN ONLY INCREASES, NOT DECREASES, CHINA'S DESIRE TO TAKE OVER [annex?]NOKOR WHEN IT COLLAPSES + DESPITE THE HEAVY COSTS TO CHINA OF DOING SO.
Iff the Bammer or any similar Anti-US US OWG Globalist POTUS Successor(s) allows China to formally take over NOKOR, IS THE US WILLING TO TOLERATE THE LIKELY SERIOUS BACKLASH FROM SOKOR + JAPAN + EVEN RUSSIA, ETC???
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom called on Tuesday for an investigation to determine if Israel was guilty of extrajudicial killings of Palestinians during recent violence there, local media reported.
[AnNahar] For a few incredible months, the prospect of a better life in Europe seemed within grasp, attracting a wave of more than 1 million migrants from the war-torn, poverty-stricken Middle East and Africa. To get there, they risked their lives at sea and parted with fortunes.
But a tightening of border controls closer to the promised lands of Germany and Sweden has left thousands trapped and destitute in the last place most want to be — financially wrecked Greece.
But in late November the Balkan gateways started to close, and Greek officials fear they could be completely shut in coming months. Now, only Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis are deemed refugees and let through, with all others — about 12,000 of the 103,000 who entered Greece in December — rejected as economic migrants.
All now face two legal options: To seek asylum in Greece — which has 25 percent unemployment and a crumbling welfare system — or volunteer for repatriation. Greek authorities have recorded an increase in both since Macedonia tightened controls.
Daniel Esdras, IOM office head in Greece, sees a steep increase in voluntary repatriations, which the IOM organizes. About 800 people registered in December and 260 have been sent home.
"It's one thing to return in handcuffs ... and quite another to go as a normal passenger with some money in your pocket, because we give them each 400 euros ($435)," Esdras said.
Deportation awaits those who don't qualify for asylum and reject repatriation — with several hundred currently interned in Greece. About 20,000 were repatriated or deported last year. But most were Albanians, and only one in 10 from the Middle East and Africa.
Greek officials say that is largely because some countries resist deportations.
"We have big difficulties with the returns to Pakistan," Mouzalas, the migration minister, said. "If 3,000 people come (from Turkey) every day and (Turkey) accepts 150 returns every 20 days, you understand the problem cannot be solved."
Trapped migrants face a third, illegal choice — paying to be smuggled into Macedonia. That is what happened before late June and Macedonian police say it is on the rise again since late November, while almost 10 percent of migrants trying to enter legally daily use fake Syrian documents.
Smugglers ask for 1,500-3,000 euros ($1,630-3,260) to take someone into Macedonia," said Daher, the Lebanese migrant in Elaionas. "I don't have that money. I don't know what we will do now."
[AnNahar] Germany Tuesday admitted that it was refusing entry to an increasing number of migrants seeking to cross over from Austria, but said it was not a result of any policy changes.
The spokesman explained that migrants seeking entry are asked for their travel documents and those without papers are asked if they intended to make asylum applications in Germany.
Those seeking to travel on to Sweden for instance, or who have already filed for asylum in Austria would not be granted entry.
Migrants entering Germany with the intention of finding employment without prior permits are also turned away, he added.
The number of refused entries is still dwarfed by that of those allowed to enter Germany, with police saying that daily figures ranged from 290 to 3,050 in the first few days of January.
Austrian authorities had said Monday that Germany was now turning away 200 migrants daily since the start of the year, from around 60 in December.
Those refused entry are mostly Afghans as well as Moroccans and Algerians who did not want to apply for asylum in Germany but in other countries, notably Scandinavia.
Austria is a major transit country for the hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees seeking to enter the European Union, mostly via Upper Austria state at a rate currently of 1,000-2,000 per day.
Last week, Sweden, a favored destination for many of the migrants, sought to stem the flow by imposing controls on travelers from Denmark.
Denmark in turn introduced spot checks on arrivals from Germany.
[NEWSWEEK] A former German justice minister has cast doubt on the ability of Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... 's government to deport migrant criminals, as the country faces mounting violence in the wake of sex attacks committed by immigrants.
Germany's current justice minister Heiko Maas today announced that the government would "tighten criminal law to make deportation easier," the BBC reports. Chancellor Angela Merkel last week said her government would review Germany's ability to expel foreign criminals following a national outcry over sex attacks which took place in Cologne on New Year's Eve. Police now say the majority of the perpetrators were most likely immigrants.
But Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a member of the centrist Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as justice minister from 2009-2013 when her party was in coalition with Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), tells Newsweek deporting such offenders may not be a workable solution.
" We cannot deport people [for example] from Syria back to Syria," she says, "because there they could be the victim of bombs and others... I think it will not work in practice."
Send 'em to Turkey, then. You're already paying Turkey to keep them. Or build prisons on Devil's Island and other remote spots, then offer the choice of staying there or going back to Syria, etc. Bottom line, immigrants who choose to prey on the citizenry are not entitled to continue in either location or activity.
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger also said that the European Convention on Human Rights would make it difficult to deport such offenders.
Germany is reeling not just from the attacks in Cologne, but from the spate of far-right and vigilante violence they have provoked. In Leipzig on Monday, as 2,000 supporters of Legida, an offshoot of the anti-Islam group Pegida, marched through the city peacefully, a group of far-right holy warriors and football hooligans embarked on an orgy of violence. They vandalised buildings and burned vehicles. Police have made at least 211 arrests in connection with the violence, according to the BBC.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Latest pic from Cologne protests:
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/13/2016 18:22 Comments ||
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[AA.TR] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... on Tuesday criticized academics accusing the government of carrying out a massacre in the country's southeast.
"Today, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's issue is a terror issue with which many countries in the world are fed up, it is not Kurdish issue," he said in a speech to Turkish ambassadors at the presidential palace in Ankara.
Erdogan's remarks came a day after around 1,100 figures dubbing themselves the Group of Academics for Peace issued a manifesto on the military's operations against PKK bandidosgunnies and accused the state of violating human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... and "causing a massacre".
Referring to the "so-called intellectuals", Erdogan said: "You are not intellectuals. You are so dark and ignorant as to know neither southeast nor east but we know there like the way and the address to our home."
Erdogan said the PKK had violated the human rights of millions of people in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast.
"The rights and freedoms of our millions of citizens living in the region are breached due to acts of the terror organization," he said before going on to cite the building of barricades and planting of bombs as impeding residents' lives.
"It is the terror organization that makes life miserable for citizens by setting fire to schools, hospitals, mosques, libraries, homes and workplaces and opening fire on ambulances and fire trucks," he added.
"It is again the terror organization that breaches rights and freedom of our citizens by holing the walls of homes and opening tunnels from people's bedrooms. Despite these realities, a group calling themselves 'academicians' is releasing manifesto and accusing the state.
"Besides that, they also invite foreigners to our country to follow the developments. Its name is colonial mindset, its name is mandate."
The president invited the foreign academics in Turkey to view evidence about events in Turkey's east and southeast.
The PKK - considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU - resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in late July.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Police on Monday registered a terrorism case against leaders of the Tanzeemat-e-Ahle Sunnat -- an alliance of several religious parties of the Barelvi school of thought -- for allegedly inciting people to violence against the state and its institutions by raising the case of Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed and convicted killer of 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.... governor Salman Taseer, during a rally in Nishtar Park a day earlier.
At the Sunday event, speakers demanded a fresh trial of Mumtaz Qadri by the Federal Shariat Court, termed the death sentence handed down to him 'un-Islamic' and warned that they could go to any extent if the government failed to change its attitude.
An official at the Soldier Bazaar cop shoppe said the FIR was lodged on behalf of the state under Sections 37 (cooperation by doing one of several acts constituting an offence), 147 (punishment for rioting), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) and 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.
"Around a dozen people have been nominated in the FIR and prominent among them are Sunni Tehrik ...formed in Karachi in 1992 under by Muhammad Saleem Qadri. It quickly fell to trading fisticuffs and assassinations with the MQM and the Sipah-e-Sahaba, with at least a half dozen of its major leaders rubbed out. Sunni Tehreek arose to become the primary opposition to the Deobandi Binori Mosque, headed by Nizamuddin Shamzai, who was eventually bumped off by person or persons unknown. ST's current leadership has heavily criticized the Deobandi Jihadi leaders, accusing them of being sponsored by Indian Intelligence agencies as well as involvement in terrorist activities... chief Sarwat Ejaz Qadri, Maulana Irshad Bukhari, Jamaat-e-Ahle Sunnat chief Syed Shah Turab-ul-Haq Qadri who addressed the conference. However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... no arrest has been made yet."
The police insisted that despite a clear warning the leaders of the multi-party alliance chose to defy the set rules.
"The Tanzeemat-e-Ahle Sunnat has been organising such conferences for the past several years for which they take proper permission from the office of the deputy commissioner concerned and we provide all due security during the entire event," said Jamshed Town SP Dr Fahad Ahmed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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[Daily Excelsior] Three operatives of banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... (LeT), jugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in 2012 for conspiring to carry out blasts in national capital on the instructions of their Pakistain-based handlers, were today sentenced to varying jail term of up to seven years by a court here.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Reetesh Singh sentenced LeT operatives Ahtisham Farooq Malik and Shafaqat Ali Tuggu to seven years jail each, while another convict Tawseef Ahmed Peer was awarded four-year imprisonment by the court.
The three convicts were held guilty of offences under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Malik and Shafaqat were also held guilty for offences under the Explosive Substances Act.
Besides them, the court awarded three months jail term to Saijee Anwar who was convicted for offences punishable under the provisions of IPC only, including Section 471 (using as genuine forged documents).
Later, the court suspended Anwar's sentence and granted him bail for filing an appeal against his conviction.
They were convicted in the case lodged by the Special Cell of Delhi Police in 2012 in which it was alleged that Malik, an LeT operative, had come to Delhi to carry out terror strikes here on the instructions of his Pak-based handlers.
During the arguments on the quantum of sentence, advocate Akram Khan, appearing for the convicts, sought leniency for his clients saying they were arrested at the stage of planning itself and no terror incident had occured.
According to the police, they had received a tip-off about the arrival of Malik in Delhi on February 26, 2012. It said the input was regarding LeT's plan to carry out terror strike here at the behest of their handlers.
It had said that Malik and Shafaqat were arrested from Tughlakabad extension area here on February 28, 2012 and during the search, a bag was recovered from Malik's possession which contained explosives and detonators.
The police had claimed that Malik was an active member of LeT who had undergone training at Pakistain after which he had returned to India in January 2012 with a plan to carry out terror strike in Delhi.
Regarding Shafaqat, the police had said that he was one of the associates of Malik and was involved in the conspiracy.
It had said that Peer's name had cropped up as one of the conspirators during Malik's interrogation, following which he was also arrested in connection with the case.
Regarding Anwar, the police had alleged that he had helped Malik in procuring a mobile number on a fake identity proof.
In November 2013, the court had framed charges against Malik, Shafaqat and Peer under various Sections of the IPC, including 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating), the Explosive Substances Act and under provisions of the UAPA.
Anwar was put on trial by the court for alleged offences under various Sections of the IPC including 120B, 420, 471 and 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating).
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] The Israeli regime has received of a fifth submarine from Germany, amid pressure on Berlin to halt the delivery of the state-of-the-art weaponry that is capable of being armed with nuclear warheads.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday welcomed the delivery of the advanced Dolphin-class submarine at the Haifa port north of the occupied Paleostinian territories. The submarine, said to be capable of remaining submerged for up to seven days, can be equipped with missiles armed with nuclear warheads.
The Tel Aviv regime pursues a 'policy of ambiguity' over its nuclear arsenal, which is widely believed to contain up to 400 nukes.
Whereas Iran as yet does not have one.
The new submarine has cost Israel about 500 million euros (USD 540 million), with the German government paying one third of the cost. Berlin is also to deliver a sixth submarine in two or three years.
Many of the usual wankers have criticized Germany for the sales of the modern military equipment to Israel.
The administration of German Chancellor Angela Markel claims Germany has an obligation to guarantee the security of Israel.
German media say the delivery of the four previous Dolphin-class submarines have cost German taxpayers over 1 billion euros (USD 1.12 billion).
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
This is where the cartoon character PtheSM lives.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/13/2016 20:32 Comments ||
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#6
Is this dolphin equipped with an air independent propulsion system? Maybe that is all the fuel that the fuel cell has. Seems like a strange limitation.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/13/2016 20:58 Comments ||
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[AA.TR] A one-time rebel group that laid siege to a city in the Philippines south in 2013 to protest the terms of an ongoing grinding of the peace processor has sought to deny it has forged an alliance with an al-Qaeda linked group, despite Abu Sayyaf ...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder... murderous Moslems attending one of its regional meetings.
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) front man Absalum Cerveza told radio dzMM in an interview Tuesday that some of the murderous Moslems -- who have also been linked with Daesh [Islamic State] -- were present as the meeting coincided with a "kanduli" (Moro feast) and that they were related to MNLF members.
He denied reports that the MNLF had invited the Abu Sayyaf to establish ties.
"The Abu Sayyaf members were there... but as to their affiliation, that is not the issue. They are just there for their relatives," Cerveza said.
He dismissed allegations that the MNLF were protecting the Abu Sayyaf and its extortion and abduction activities.
"There was no security installed to prevent non-MNLF members from entering. Everybody was welcome to come," he added.
"We have distanced ourselves from the Abu Sayyaf. We do not like to be attached to their shenanigans. If what they have been doing, that's theirs. We do not have control over them just like the military has no control over them."
The MNLF is internationally recognized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), but some of its factions are opposed to an ongoing grinding of the peace processor between the government and MNLF breakaway group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
In September 2013, a group led by MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari laid siege to the predominantly Christian city of Zamboanga following the MILF-government peace deal, which he claimed is a betrayal of an 1996 OIC-brokered agreement, has left his organization short-changed, and granted Muslims in the region lesser autonomy.
The Abu Sayyaf also broke away from the MNLF, and has carried out bombings, kidnappings, liquidations and extortion since the 1990s in a self-determined fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines.
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01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
The ASG = ABU SAYYAF GROUP has repor already declared its allegiance to ISIS/ISIL, so the MNLF inviting them to establish ties wid the ISIS/ISIL is already moot.
AFAIK the ASG had also pledged its allegiance to AQ = AL-NUSRA, but has NOT relinquished or disvowed its pledge in favor of the ISIS.
I'm intrepreting the above as more indicia that the ISIS + AL-Nusra Orgs are NOT truly deadly enemies despite their seeming rhetoric + violence to the contrary.
#2
AFAIK the ASG had also pledged its allegiance to AQ = AL-NUSRA, but has NOT relinquished or disvowed its pledge in favor of the ISIS.
I'm intrepreting the above as more indicia that the ISIS + AL-Nusra Orgs are NOT truly deadly enemies despite their seeming rhetoric + violence to the contrary.
Or, all those loudly shouted pledges of blood and souls are mere posturing, as local jihadi organizations plump for the latest strong horse/terrifying boogeyman in the hope of absorbing the cachet and perhaps getting a whare of the funding. We see the same behaviour by the jihadi tourists, who flow from country to country as they seek out the coolest battleground, where the locals are conquering instead of being driven back. For a while everyone went to Afghanistan, then Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, Syria again...now it seems that Libya is getting hot as Turkey is less welcoming to those passing through.
It's a Daily Mail article, so it's huge. Here are the highlights from the header.
Footage of sailors on the floor, with hands behind their heads surrounded by Iranian guards has been released
It was aired on the Islamic republic's state television after they were freed following a diplomatic standoff
When the sailors were taken off of the boats in the Persian Gulf, they were questioned by the IRGC
Later the captives were filmed looking relaxed while sitting on a big carpet sharing plats of food and water
One of the sailors was filmed apologizing for their unit's 'mistake' and praised the Iranians 'fantastic' behavior
A female sailor with the group was given a makeshift head scarf to wear while they enjoyed meal
Reports by state media inside Iran stated the U.S. issued a grovelling apology before the sailors were freed
However John Kerry's spokesman said there is 'zero truth' to reports the Secretary of State said sorry
#1
See also RELATED ZERO HEDGE > IN LATEST EMBARRASSMENT OF OBAMA, IRAN RELEASES VIDEO FOOTAGE OF ARREST, APOLOGY OF 10 US SAILORS.
FYI VPOTUS JOE BIDEN = claimed that Iran was only helping out US Boats and Personnel in distress, + there is absolutely no evidence that US SecState John Kerry had formally "apologized" to Iran for the incident, i.e. for the US illegally entering Iran territorial waters.
Lebanon is effectively barring many Syrian refugees from renewing their residency permits, putting them at risk of exploitation and "setting the stage for a potentially explosive situation", rights campaigners warned on Tuesday.
Human Rights Watch said a $200 annual renewal fee introduced last year was prohibitive for most Syrian refugees in Lebanon where the great majority rely on aid. They should let them abuse the locals instead as the Europeans do?
[AnNahar] Iran will sell part of its stock of heavy water to the United States under its nuclear deal with world powers, its deputy atomic chief said Tuesday.
Ali Asghar Zarean also denied reports Iran had dismantled the core of its Arak nuclear reactor, a key step in the deal that will see sanctions lifted in exchange for limits on Tehran's nuclear program.
"Iran will sell 40 tons of its excess heavy water to the United States through a third country," Zarean, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
Is Iran precluded from generating more heavy water in the future?
"Six tons of the exported heavy water will be used in nuclear facilities and the rest in American research centers," he said.
Iran has a heavy water production plant in its Arak nuclear site, which has been operating for several years.
Under its July deal with the P5+1 group -- the United States, Britannia, China, La Belle France, Russia and Germany -- Iran has agreed to replace the core of the Arak heavy water reactor and take other steps to ensure it cannot be used to make nuclear weapons.
Reports emerged on Monday that Iran had removed the core at Arak, but Zarean said this was not the case and that Tehran was still working on an agreement for a replacement being redesigned with the help of China and the United States.
"We must have a solid agreement with the foreign side, including China.... The documents of the agreement will be officially exchanged at the end of next week or this week," Zarean said.
"As long as the agreement is not finalized, we will not take any physical measures to remove the core of the Arak reactor."
Under the deal Tehran has reduced the number of its centrifuges and transferred the bulk of its low-enriched uranium stockpile to Russia.
The ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must verify that Iran has fulfilled all of its obligations before sanctions can be lifted.
Officials have said the IAEA announcement could come as early as this month.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
How much does 6 tons of heavy water weigh?
Do they have a ship buoyant enough?
[Iran Press TV] An Iranian Air Force fighter jet has crashed in the country's southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, killing its two pilots.
The F-4 Phantom II fighter jet crashed due to "technical problems" while in a training mission northwest of the port city of Konarak, in the vicinity of Taran village near the Kahir-Shahr district at 11:00 local time (07:30 GMT) on Tuesday, said Konarak Governor Bijan Bakhtiyari.
The plane tried to land on a nearby road but failed due to heavy traffic at the time and crashed near the village, he said, adding that the case is under further investigation.
Konarak is located some 700 kilometers (434 miles) south of the historic provincial capital city of Zahedan and 1,450 kilometers (900 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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[VOA News] Online supporters of the Assad regime and Hezbollah launched a social media campaign during the past few days to mock starving civilians in Madaya, which has been under siege by the Syrian army and Lebanese Shi'ite fighters since July. They posted photos of spreads of food and skeletons on Twitter (with the hashtag, which means solidarity with the siege of Madaya).
The online campaign started hours after Hezbollah accused anti-Assad bully boyz of precipitating the crisis in Madaya, a mountain village with a pre-war population of 40,000 that has been swollen by refugees from nearby villages, by withholding food from the locals and claiming there are no real victims of hunger in the town.
Hezbollah's Al Manar TV in neighboring Leb broadcast a report saying the pictures of the starving in Madaya posted by anti-Assad activists on networking sites are fabrications. Thousands of Hezbollah supporters took to Twitter to deride the claims of starvation in Madaya in response to another hashtag [Madaya starved to death] started by anti-Assad activists.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... has hinted that the Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... could be granted asylum in Russia.
In an interview with a German magazine, Putin said it was premature to discuss the issue to provide shelter for President Assad.
However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... he said "We granted asylum to Mr. Snowden, which was far more difficult than to do the same for Mr. Assad."
Snowden was the former NSA contractor who fled to Moscow after releasing reams of classified documents about U.S. surveillance programs.
In other parts of the interview, Putin said Russia supports Syrian President Bashir al-Assad's forces and will back anti-Assad rebels as long as they are fighting 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.... "We support both Assad's army and the armed opposition," Putin said, adding that "We are coordinating our joint operations with them and support their offensives by Arclight airstrikes in various sections of the front line."
The remarks by Putin comes as Russia has repeatedly been criticized over its Arclight airstrikes in Syria, claiming they only support the Assad regime and allegedly focus on hitting the Syrian opposition rather than Islamic State.
A surprise intervention by Putin in Syria was widely seen as an effort to prop up the current regime led by President Bashir al-Assad.
The critics also believe that the intervention was also aimed at giving Russia a seat at the table in any negotiations about the future of the country.
However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... Putin rejected the criticisms and called for a new constitution i Syria followed by early elections.
"I think that President al-Assad has made many mistakes in the course of the Syrian conflict," Putin said. "It is the Syrian people themselves who must decide who and how should run their country."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Of course Russia can - the Maha-Rushian Questionne' is whom does Moscow = Putin have to replace or substitute for Baby Assad + Govt. in suppressing or fighting the Hard Boyz, plus is also Local = Syrian [read, NON-ETHNIC RUSSIAN POL].
[VOA News] Syrian Kurdish female fighters are expanding their ranks on the frontlines of the fight 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.... Death Eaters in northeastern Syria.
In a remote camp near the Kurdish city of Afrin in northwestern Syria, the leadership of Women's Protection Units (YPJ) continues to recruit and train young women to prepare them for combat missions against IS.
"We learn how to use weapons and we take military education classes," said Rozelin, a new recruit.
At the onset of the Syrian crisis in 2011, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) established armed wings in the Kurdish-majority areas of Syria. The People's Protection Units (YPG) was the main group that fought in the area. The YPJ was another wing the PYD formed to include only female fighters.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2016 00:00 ||
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[VOA News] Humanitarian workers say the plight of starving people in the Syrian town of Madaya is heartbreaking and the worst they have witnessed during the country's nearly five-year-long civil war.
"There is no comparison in what we saw in Madaya," Sajjad Malik, the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... refugee agency's chief in Damascus, told journalists in Geneva Tuesday, a day after the U.N. delivered aid to the embattled town of 42,000 people surrounded by forces loyal to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... Malik said there were "credible reports" of people starving to death in Madaya.
"There are people in Madaya, but no life," he said. "What we saw in Madaya should not happen in this century."
"We saw a people that are desperate; a people that are cold; a people that are hungry; a people that have almost lost hope that the world cares about their plight," Yacoub el Hillo, the U.N.'s resident and humanitarian coordinator in Syria, told news hounds at the U.N. in New York via phone from Damascus.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2016 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
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.
...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in 
[Dhaka Tribune] The state has filed a review petition with the Supreme Court against its judgement that reduced the death penalty of notorious war criminal 
[Iran Press TV] 
North Korea
[NEWSWEEK] A former German justice minister has cast doubt on the ability of 
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
