[DAWN] The Afghan Taliban said Sunday that its "political office" in Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... is the only entity authorized to carry out negotiations on its behalf, reinforcing the authority of the man who took control of the group amid a tussle over command following the death of long-time leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The Taliban made the declaration in a summary emailed by front man Zabihullah Mujahid of a statement it made during unofficial, closed-door talks taking place in the Qatari capital, Doha.
Calling itself the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," the group also laid out a series of demands including the release of an unspecified number of prisoners and the removal of senior members from a UN blacklist. It described the demands as "preliminary steps needed for peace."
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01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
And next week the European PGA tour event is the Qatar Masters.
#2
AFAIC this is just more evidencia that the Taliban will fight the ISIS/ISIL trying to set up in AFPAK + CENTASIA in return for being granted Political Legitimacy, i.e. being legally or formally allowed by Kabul andor Islamabad to participate in Fed-Local level governace + elections.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A retired Pak senator Afrasiab Khattak has slammed Pakistain for allowing the Afghan Taliban to use its soil as a parallel government to Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... besides the group has stepped up terror attacks across the country including capital Kabul during the recent months.
The former Pak senator has harshly criticized Pakistain for adopting a dual speak in anti-terror policy, blaming it for the return of terror in Pakistain while pointing finger towards Islamabad following a deadly attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
Continued on Page 49
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01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has promised to "bury" the Islamic State (IS) militant group, whose local offshoot has clashed with government forces and Taliban fighters. In a BBC interview, Mr Ghani said IS was "not an Afghan phenomenon" and its atrocities had "alienated the people".
"Afghans are now motivated by revenge," he said. "They [IS] have confronted the wrong people."
Mr Ghani also called for anti-IS action at regional and international level.
"There is no denial that we are dealing with very significant risks," he said, during a visit to the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
"A lot of my diplomacy has been to create the regional consensus, and a region with the inheritance of previous animosities and short-sighted behaviour is something that is going to require effort and focus."
The US state department said last week that it had designated the IS offshoot in Afghanistan as a terrorist organization. It said the group had formed in January last year and was made up of former members of the Pakistani Taliban and Afghan Taliban.
In other comments, Mr Ghani warned that if peace talks with the Taliban did not start by April the conflict would intensify, with consequences across the region.
"Time is not a friend," he said. "We all understand that February and March are crucial."
The Afghan president said observers should understand that the war in his country was "just one component" of a wider war that also encompassed Pakistan. He suggested Pakistan should take action against Taliban groups that did not agree to talks.
"We need to see that we have common interests and we need to act together to preserve the state system and consolidate it," he said.
Asked what message he had for Afghan migrants arriving in Europe, Mr Ghani said: "What I say to them is that you have no future in Europe. Europe is shutting down its borders.
"You've just had an interview with the French prime minister - broadcast that to them. The future is Afghanistan."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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Goodness knows Egypt can use the funds -- that much less needed to borrow from the Saudis.
[AlAhram] The aggregate value of seized assets, cash and personal banking accounts that belong to members of Egypt's banned Moslem Brüderbund are worth the equivalent of $1.1 billion, according to Ahram Online calculations based on an official inventory announced on Sunday.
The assets include 105 schools (valued at LE283.8 million) and 43 hospitals (valued at LE111 million) nationwide.
However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... excluded from Ahram Online calculations were 460 cars and 318 acres of arable lands that were owned by the banned ...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organization, but have also now been frozen
The state committee, which is tasked with appraising and freezing Brotherhood funds, said at a presser in Cairo that the seized funds includes bank credits of 1370 members worth LE154.7 million, US$2 million, €435,000 euros, 1.3 million Saudi riyals, £9,000 and 16,480 Swiss franc.
The list of seizures also comprises of bank credits of 1125 non-government organizations worth $64,000 (LE20 million), bank credits of 62 companies worth LE17.4 million, $117,000 and €7,000, according to judge Ezzat Khamis, the head of the committee, which was formed in 2013 under then interim president Adly Mansour.
The committee also revealed that 19 exchange shops with frozen credits of LE82 million are affiliated with the banned organization.
Cash worth LE5 billion and LE3.5 billion was also seized from the safes of the schools and hospitals, the committee said.
The Egyptian government's crackdown on Brotherhood members and their activities started in 2013 following the ouster of president Mohammed Morsi, who hailed from the group.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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#2
Venezuela next free government should take lessons. Hugo's daughter is worth a couple billion...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2016 10:40 Comments ||
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#3
All stolen from Egypt of course.
The Muslim Brotherhood had put their own money into schools and hospitals and such in their Third Way seduction effort (Islam in the modern world for the Volk) since 1928. Hamas and Hizb'allah do the same. Even ISIS provides education and medical treatment for their Lions of Islam and the Lion Cubs and Cubettes -- Islamic government is rquired to provide such things out of their share of the plumder and the taxes they collect from the dhimmis.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/25/2016 11:49 Comments ||
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#5
Doctors, lawyers, business owners, Sven. In the early days, that third way â the fascist way â attracted pius and patriotic Egyptians who wanted to bring their nation into modernity without losing its soul. Later too, when the alternative to army secular rule was Al Qaeda style radical Islam, the Brotherhood was seen as the Third Way and attracted same people. It was only one day one and election and took our power that it could be seen that they were nothing more than Al Qaeda in slower motion.
[ALMANAR.LB] The Saudi ministry of education ordered the withdrawal of all the books written by the Lion of Islamholy man Salman al-Awda and all the Moslem Brüderbundholy mans, including Yousuf Qaradawi, from the scholastic bookshops.
According to the Saudi al-Hayat newspaper, the ministry said that it banned all the "terrorism" books, claiming that it would take similar actions against all the publications which contradict with Islamic Sharia'a.
Around 80 books issued by the Moslem Brüderbund had been banned by the ministry of Education in the various Saudi provinces.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
"Mommy has a burka and a RPG. Daddy has a beard and an AK-47."
Oh, sorry; "that conflict with Islamic Sharia'a". My bad.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/25/2016 17:02 Comments ||
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[EXPRESS.CO.UK] They coded their language with musical references, often referring to “hits”. The conversation included boasts that a song would “climb up the charts” – a veiled reference to increases in jihadi recruits once the attacks had been launched.
It is thought the pilots were preparing to smuggle in explosive devices or chemical weapons. The messages were intercepted as they flew from a European airport, thought to be Schiphol, in Amsterdan, to Middle Eastern destinations.
They were unaware that Channel 121, the Mayday channel used to broadcast emergencies, was being monitored. Con granum salis test: Which channel would you expect to be most likely monitored?
It is believed that at least one of the airlines involved had already been placed on a UK aviation watchlist.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
It is plausible enough for most j school grads.
I am going to speculate that MI 6 has planted some agents deep in the islamic groups. Deeply penetrated. I can only imagine what incentives they used to turn the key personnel.
(hoping to kick off a big round of mole hunting and internal purges)
Investigations into nearly 60 allegations of unlawful killing against UK soldiers in Iraq have been dropped, the Ministry of Defence says. The Iraq Historic Allegations Team (Ihat) has decided not to proceed in 57 cases, the MoD said. A further case was stopped by the military's prosecuting authority.
The news follows a call by PM David Cameron to "stamp out" what he called "spurious" legal claims against British troops returning from action overseas. Ministers had been asked to draw up plans to curb claims, including by restricting "no win, no fee" arrangements, Mr Cameron said.
Lawyers say no-one is above the law, and many abuse cases have been proven.
IHAT was set up to review and investigate allegations of abuse made by Iraqi civilians against UK armed forces personnel in Iraq during the period of 2003 to July 2009. It currently lists more than 1,300 allegations under investigation, ranging from murder to low-level violence - some 280 of those are allegations of unlawful killing.
Conservative MP Richard Benyon, a member of the Commons Defence select committee, said innocent veterans were being unfairly targeted. He told The Sun: "It's an intolerable burden for people who have served their country well to face this knowing they're innocent."
But the Army's former chief legal adviser in Iraq, Lt Col Nicholas Mercer, has criticised plans to crackdown on legal claims against Iraq veterans, saying it was wrong "simply to polarise it as money-grabbing lawyers".
"The government have paid out £20m for 326 cases to date. Anyone who has fought the MoD knows that they don't pay out for nothing," he told the BBC's Today programme on Friday.
However, the £31m Al-Sweady inquiry, found in December 2014 that allegations that UK troops had murdered and mutilated Iraqi detainees after a 2004 battle were "deliberate lies".
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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Hedge funds and private equity groups armed with $60bn of ready cash are poised to snap up the assets of bankrupt US shale drillers, almost guaranteeing that America’s tight oil production will rebound as soon as prices start to recover.
Long, long piece at The Telegraph with graphs and charts.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Maybe, but not for the lack of trying. And they're sure wounding it.
#3
Procupius: keep in mind that we're currently closing down coal plants, which will increase oil/gas consumption, and make things easier for Saudi Arabia in the long run. (Oh, and also make steel more expensive to produce, therefore making stuff like drill pipe, casing, and tubing more expensive to produce and use in the US).
#5
I think that the EPA are Stalin's O's useful idiots in a sense. They think that they are environmental heroes, but they are enablers of the Saudis and the OPECers by shifting demand out of coal and some into imported oil.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/25/2016 18:23 Comments ||
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Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett painted a dark picture of Jewish life in Europe on Sunday, telling the cabinet anti-Semitism on the Continent has reached an "unprecedented" level.
...Bennett also cited statistics indicating that anti-Semitic incidents in London rose more than 60 percent during the 12-month period ending November 15 and that incidents in France shot up 84% in the first quarter of 2015 when compared to the same period the previous year.
While Tel Aviv University's Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry, which tracks such activity, has not yet released final statistics for the past year, 2014 saw a 40% surge in violent anti-Semitism globally.
Such trends, Bennett contended, "represent a significant challenge to the fabric of Jewish life in Europe and beyond," adding that he viewed anti-Semitic violence as stemming from "European Muslims born in Europe and educated in European education systems" rather than from newly arrived refugees.
Aside from Islamic anti-Semitism, increasing support for BDS also presents a grave threat to Jews, he contended, stating that the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement was "gaining momentum" in Europe and that it "promotes a boycott not only of Israel but the representatives and Jewish events, as well."
Delegitimization of Israel and activities such as demonstrations against the Jewish state and accusations that it is "bloodthirsty and illegitimate" create a "slippery slope leading, in the end, to attacks against Jews who identify with Israel," he warned. What can I say: "Go, go Putin!"
#2
Chancellor Merkel addressed this on Saturday, after the head of the German Jewish community made a presentation last week about the increasing problems caused by the "migrants" in front of a meeting she held with various societal shareholders. Front Page Magazine has the details about that and her suggested policy response -- better Holocaust education -- here.
#4
Mein Kampf is selling very well right now. I don't know if that's the German language or Arabic language version.
I suspect a repeat of the brownshits and with less sympathy for the Arabic targets. I don't expect camps but a general hostile environment with street fights and race-based attacks that encourages the Migrants to leave.
Whoops! Sorry about that. Spring will arrive in teo months, and with it the next wave of migration. However, there is active social media communication among those already there and those in the road or considering it, according to Deutsche Welle, so hopefully the news of stricter criteria and reduced benefits (a cot in a football stadium instead of a nice apartment and a good job) will reduce desire as well.
Mein Kampf was just released in a new German edition, rjschwarz, after a good deal of controversy and Ignoring Jewish and Israeli protests. At least some of that -- and possibly all, as I'm sure the neo-Nazis had been producing it unofficially all along -- is curiosity about what the man really said.
[AnNahar] While Germany is still taking in around 2,000 refugees a day, it is now denying entry to about 200 others daily at its borders, the interior minister said Sunday.
Yes, but are they respecting that, or are they walking across an unguarded field somewhere? Still, it's a start. Next y'all need to actually send home those whose asylum applications are turned downninstead of just telling them they ought to leave.
The tighter border controls come after the EU's top economy last year took in a record 1.1 million refugees and migrants, straining resources and sparking heated political debate.
"People who are fleeing war and persecution are offered security and protection in Germany," the minister, Thomas de Maiziere, told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
"But that also means that those who do not seek this protection from us are refused entry at the border.
"Anyone who doesn't want to apply for political asylum in Germany and wants to illegally enter Germany has no right to be here."
So far this year, federal police had rejected up to 200 people a day, he said -- compared to just 400 people in all of October when border controls and registration procedures buckled under a mass influx.
Those now sent back include people who want to apply for asylum in other European countries.
The ministry said that so far this year, despite winter, about 2,000 refugees had arrived every day. Police now had the capacity to register 3,500 refugees a day at the borders, the ministry said.
#6
Dats strange, JAPAN repor rejects 99% of them - the only migrants accepted are those whom are thoroughly vetted + possess skills important to Japan.
[IsraelTimes] The first of a total of 153 Iraqi Christians who have been offered asylum in the Czech Republic have arrived in Prague.
The government approved the group's request for help because they were threatened by the aggression of 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.... hard boys. They originally used to live near djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... in Iraq.
Ten of them landed at Prague's international airport on Sunday and were to be taken to a hotel near the central city of Jihlava, where they will spend a couple of months.
The government will share the expenses for their move to the Czech Republic with NGOs, and religious institutions will help them settle in the country.
They will be allowed to stay after the current conflict is over.
The Czechs oppose an EU mandatory plan to redistribute 120,000 asylum-seekers among the bloc's 28 nations but say they want to help on a voluntary basis.
EU states could take more genuine refugees from Syria if they worked together better, the new head of the UN refugee agency has told the BBC.
Italian diplomat Filippo Grandi, who took over the post from Portugal's Antonio Guterres this year, was speaking on a visit to Lebanon.
Where's his office? I'd put a refugee camp right outside in the courtyard...
Mr Grandi also urged the EU to do more for Syrian refugees outside Europe.
EU leaders have warned of a crisis after more than a million migrants entered illegally last year.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told the BBC this week: "If Europe can't protect its own borders, it's the very idea of Europe that could be thrown into doubt."
On Friday, his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, warned: "When spring comes and the numbers quadruple, we cannot as the EU cope with the numbers any longer."
The new UN High Commissioner for Refugees has been meeting refugees in camps in Lebanon and Jordan. Speaking to the BBC's Quentin Somerville, Mr Grandi said: "Europe can absorb more genuine refugees if it would be better organised among the different member-states.
"However, we understand the predicament. It is a social and political predicament which is very serious."
The EU is drawing up plans to share the "burden" of refugees more evenly among member states, scrapping a controversial rule that means they must claim asylum in the first country they arrive in.
Hungary, one of the most vocal critics of migration policy, has dismissed the crisis as a "German problem" since Germany is where those arriving in the EU "would like to go".
Mr Grandi also urged the EU to "do more for the countries of first asylum" so there would be "less motivation for people to flee further away".
In other words, make Greek welfare just like German welfare. That might buy the cooperation of the Greeks...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
How about telling the refugees to piss off and start kicking them out?
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Pakistain has decided to issue gun licenses to teachers following the deadly attack on a university in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... province that left at least 21 people killed and more than 30 others maimed.
Pakistain's The Express Tribune news agency reports that the massacre at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda has once again sowed the idea of arming teachers at schools and the K-P administration has decided to issue free weapons' licenses for government educational institutes' employees.
According to the news agency, on Saturday, the provincial home ministry confirmed free licenses would be issued after an official shows the necessary authority letter. Private entities would also get licenses but they would have to pay a fee
Pakistain issued guns to teachers following a deadly attack on an army-run school in 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. that resulted in the death of 144 people and left over 100 others maimed. Most of the victims were school children.
Mullah Fazlullah ...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... , leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) later claimed in a video that the attack was carried out by his group and that he will carry out more attacks of this type.
The attack on Bacha Khan University came about 13 months after his threat and commander of a splinter group of TTP grabbed credit for it.
However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... the group's central spokesperson Mohammad Khurasani rejected TTP's involvement in it.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
A surprisingly sensible thing for the 'Stain. It's been the Wild West there for some time. Worth noting that this comes after an armed teacher fought back against jihadis.
I would expect something similar in Israel as the Paleo stabbing binge continues there.
#3
I would expect something similar in Israel as the Paleo stabbing binge continues there.
They opened up gun licensing a few weeks ago, SteveS, and asked licence holders (and off duty military?) to carry for the duration of the emergency -- a complete reversal of normal procedure. Some of the dead stabbers were killed by those civilians.
[IsraelTimes] The United States is participating in a Moroccan government conference on protecting minorities, including Jews, in Muslim lands.
Arsalan Suleman, the State Department's envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and Knox Thames, its advisor for religious minorities in the Middle East, will attend the January 25-28 conference in Marrakesh, the State Department said on January 21. Thames will meet with the country's Jewish community leaders during the visit.
"Such conditions obligate the Muslim majority to protect the minorities, their religions, their places of worship, and other rights," the declaration says.
A declaration by the Moroccan government and the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, an Abu Dhabi-based group co-sponsoring the conference, calls the recent atrocities against religious minorities carried out by Muslim bandidosmurderous Moslems "a slander against God" and a "betrayal of the faith."
"Such conditions obligate the Muslim majority to protect the minorities, their religions, their places of worship, and other rights," the declaration says.
Morocco's moderate Muslim kingdom is known for the protection it affords its Jewish community.
Iraq summoned the new Saudi ambassador on Sunday after he suggested Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias were exacerbating sectarian tensions and should leave the fight against Islamic State to the Iraqi army and official security forces.
Baghdad's move underscores the depth of enmity between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim powers as sectarian conflicts rage in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. Riyadh only reopened its embassy in Baghdad last month, shut down since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
In an interview with Iraq's al-Sumaria TV on Saturday, Saudi envoy Thamer al-Sabhan criticized the Hashid Shaabi, a coalition of mostly Iranian-backed Shi'ite paramilitary groups seen as a bulwark against the Sunni militants of Islamic State whose rise has inflamed sectarian tensions in Shi'ite-majority Iraq.
"The refusal by the Kurds and (the Sunni province of) Anbar to let the Hashid Shaabi come to their regions shows that the Hashid is not accepted by Iraqi society," Sabhan said.
Iraq's foreign ministry called the remarks "a break of diplomatic protocol and based on inaccurate information".
"The Hashid Shaabi are fighting terrorism and defending the country's sovereignty and acting under the umbrella and command of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces," it said in a statement.
In a separate statement, the ministry said the foreign ministers of both countries had met on Sunday on the sidelines of a conference in Bahrain and rejected Sabhan's remarks.
"The Saudi foreign minister said these statements do not reflect the official position of the kingdom towards brotherly Iraq," the statement said.
There was no immediate report of the minister's comments on the Saudi state news agency.
So the Soddi foreign minister didn't disavow the comments at home...
Earlier Iraqi Shi'ite lawmakers accused Sabhan of meddling in domestic affairs, including recent violence in eastern Diyala province where Sunni mosques and residents were attacked in apparent retaliation for blasts targeting Shi'ite militia fighters claimed by Islamic State.
"If such interference is repeated, there will be calls to declare the ambassador persona non grata and demand that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia replace him," Khalid al-Assadi, a member of parliament's foreign affairs panel, said by phone.
Local media published similar comments from other Shi'ite lawmakers.
"He should be expelled immediately or else he could meet dire consequences," Awatef Nemah from the ruling Shi'ite bloc told al-Sumaria, without elaborating.
Dire Consequences -- is that like Dire Revenge™?
The reopening of the Saudi embassy in Baghdad has been seen as heralding closer cooperation in the fight against Islamic State militants, who control swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and have claimed bombings in Saudi Arabia.
But it has also coincided with a fresh escalation of tensions between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran, longtime regional rivals, after Riyadh executed a prominent Shi'ite cleric this month.
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01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Fearless Leader of the Islamic Revolution ...Iran's doddering head theocrat... Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei ...the successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the actual dictator of Iran... has commended as timely and praiseworthy the "brave" move by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) forces in arresting US Marines who trespassed into Iran's territorial waters.
Ayatollah Khamenei received on Sunday the IRGC naval forces who incarcerated Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! 10 US sailors after their patrol boats entered the country's territorial waters on January 12.
The Leader stated that the praiseworthy measure by the IRGC forces stemmed from their faith and courage and was taken in the right time.
Ayatollah Khamenei added that the capture of the US sailors "was in fact an act of God, who brought the Americans into our waters so they would be arrested with their hands on their heads through your timely measure."
On January 13, the IRGC announced that ten US Marines, who had drifted into the country's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf and had been taken into Iranian custody, had been released after Americans apologized for the incident.
Earlier the same day, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, the commander of the IRGC Navy, said two US Navy crafts carrying 10 Marines had reached three miles into the waters surrounding the Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf.
Fadavi added that the trespassing occurred because of technical problems with the navigation systems of the American vessels.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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#2
"Was in fact an Act of God" > CLOSE ENUFF, AS PER 1960'S-1970'S GUAM TAOTAMONAS + MADONNA VIDEOS.
Not unlike the Not-Yet-Built "New" = Future "Old Agana McDonald's", Al Gore's M-16, + Nekkid Monica Lewinsky, etc. many of the USN Sailors weren't even born yet but God, Madonna, + My Ancestors includ Pre-cestors knew about it.
Iran is interested in buying over 100 aircraft from Boeing, deputy transport minister Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan told Reuters at Tehran's first major post-sanctions gathering of global business people.
Who sells the spare parts for the Tomcats these days?
Tehran has long said it will need to revamp an aging fleet, hit by a shortage of parts because of trade bans imposed by Washington and other Western countries. World powers last week lifted sanctions against the Islamic Republic in return for Tehran complying with a deal to curb its nuclear ambitions.
Next week Iran will tender an offer for the F-35, and Obama will express interest "for the jobs"...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
I don't think the Arabs who hold a minority interest in Boeing will like this.
#3
Just like the late Shah, go on a weapons and tech buying spree and blow money they do not really have.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/25/2016 20:13 Comments ||
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#4
Whatever you sell to Iran better get the money before delivery. The Russians got stiffed and went on a cash basis for reactors.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/25/2016 20:14 Comments ||
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#5
They may be producing more oil now, and they may be able to sell it on the open market now, but they're in the same boat as the rest of the oil world - selling more oil but making less money for it, so they crank open more wells to sell more oil so the price goes down and they make even less....
Iran is holding talks with the US to re-launch direct flights between the two countries, Abbas Akhoundi, the Iranian Minister of Road and Urban Development said.
Sure, why not -- why inconvenience Iranian agents by making them change planes?
Referring to the negotiations on direct Iran-US flights, Farhad Parvaresh, Chairman and Managing Director of Iran Air, the Iranian flag carrier said that daily flights to New York used to take place before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and they will hopefully get resumed in near future.
Following the implementation of the nuclear deal in Jan. 16 Iran is now looking into the possibility of resuming direct flights to the United States in light of the removal of sanctions that have prohibited the country from doing so.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pledged at the 68th session of the UN general assembly in New York in 2013 to facilitate travel to homeland for Iranian expatriates residing in the US. The US, and Los Angeles in particular, is home to hundreds of thousands of Iranian expatriates.
Travelers between Iran and the US currently have to change flights in a third country, usually in Europe or the Persian Gulf states.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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Iran says it has signed a deal with Russia’s Lukoil over two exploration projects in the country’s southwestern oil-rich Khouzestan province, Press TV reported. Hormoz Qalavand, the director for exploration affairs of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), has been quoted by the media as saying that Lukoil is to look for hydrocarbon reserves in Dasht-e Abadan and the northern parts of the Persian Gulf.
Qalavand added that the value of the contract is about $6 million, stressing that the Russian company has already started the work over the projects. It will also take care of all the costs in both projects, the official added.
The Russian company and Norway's Statoil had won a deal to launch exploration operations in Anaran block in western Iran in 2003. Lukoil held a stake of 25 percent in the consortium and the remaining stakes belonged to Statoil. Their operations led to the discovery of oil in Azar and Changuleh fields in 2005. However, both had to pull out from Iran in 2011 after the US and Europeans intensified sanctions on Iran.
In December 2015, Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov was quoted by the media as saying that he had discussed the prospects for the company to return to Iran to develop Azar oil field. To the same effect, the company reopened its office in Tehran, with its first vice president Ravil Maganov saying the company looked forward to participating in Iranian energy projects.
Maganov said Azar would be Lukoil's primary focus but the company was studying geological data from other projects as well.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
The gunmen behind the Paris terror attacks have appeared in a newly released ISIL video in which they behead several unidentified hostages. The footage was shot before the attacks took place in November 2015 but was published on Sunday evening.
It is unclear when exactly the footage was filmed.
Among those who carry out the beheadings in the video is Bilal Hadfi, who was killed during the Paris attacks.
"You destroy our homes and kill our fathers, our brothers, our sisters, our mothers and our children," he says into the camera during the footage.
The video also features Abu Qital al-Faransi, his nom-de-guerre, who is believed to have been one of the gunmen who opened fire in the Bataclan.
"Whoever stands in the ranks of the kuffar (enemy), will be a target for our swords,” the video warned, showing pictures of Tower Bridge and St Paul’s Cathedral in London, claiming they were ready to strike “any time, anywhere”.
A few minutes later the face of John Bercow, the speaker of the House of Commons, appears on the screen with a crosshair over his face. Then the footage ends with the message "Whoever stands in the ranks of Kufr will be a target for our swords and will fall in humiliation" superimposed over an image of David Cameron.
It appears to be an account of the attackers' last words before they travelled to France to carry out the attack.
The film is more brutal than previous propaganda videos as it does not cut away before the victims are beheaded.
The video finishes with an encrypted massage dated Nov 16, 2015 which they say reveals the location of their next attack.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
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.
EU states could take more genuine refugees from Syria if they worked together better, the new head of the UN refugee agency has told the BBC.
