[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Afghanistan has urged Pakistain to take immediate actions for releasing the Afghan diplomat and former governor Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi who was kidnapped by unidentified gunnies in Islamabad on Friday.
"The Islamic Theocratic Republic of Afghanistan expresses its grave concern in connection with the kidnapping of Mr. Sayed Fazalullah Wahidi former governor of Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... Province, which took place yesterday afternoon in Islamabad, Pakistain," states a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday.
"Given the fact that Mr. Wahidi was kidnapped in Pakistain, the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Afghanistan wants the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Pakistain to take immediate and serious action through its security agencies using all possibilities in identifying the kidnappers and to release of Mr. Wahidi."
Afghanistan's Ambassador to Pakistain Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal has said that has been given assurance by Pak officials that the issue would be followed with utmost seriousness.
Wahidi was with his grandson at a busy market place when gunnieskidnapped him.
He had arrived in Islamabad along with his family for acquiring visas to UK from the British Embassy.
Wahidi has served as the governor for eastern Kunar and western Herat provinces of Afghanistan.
So far no group has grabbed credit for the kidnapping.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2016 00:00 ||
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Gen. John. F. Campbell, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, arrived here 18 months ago expecting to be the U.S. military leader who would bring the war to a close. On Saturday, as he prepares to hand-off command to his successor, Campbell was instead promising that coalition forces “are here to stay.”
“Not only the U.S., but the whole international community, are now starting to talk about long-term commitment,” Campbell told reporters. “It ought to give confidence to the Afghan people and also send a message to the Taliban too: What they thought in 2015 — everyone is leaving, and they could wait us out, that is no longer the case here.”
Campbell’s remarks reflect just how much the Obama administration’s posture toward Afghanistan has changed over the past two years. When Campbell began his tour in August 2014, Obama had already announced plans to reduce U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan to 9,800 by the start of last year. The president then hoped to cut that number in half by the start of this year, paving the way for him to fulfill his 2008 campaign promise of withdrawing all U.S. troops before he leaves office in January.
But with the Taliban insurgency showing little sign of weakening and the Islamic State attempting to gain a foothold here, Obama abandoned those plans last year.
Obama is now keeping 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan through the end of this year. Administration officials say Obama still plans to cut that number in half before his presidency ends, but many analysts believe he may leave that decision up to the next administration.
For now, however, the scope of U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan is once again broadening. Obama gave Campbell, who also oversees U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan, new authority last month to aggressively target Islamic State militants near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border through airstrikes and Special Forces operations.
Campbell said that authority was needed because the Islamic State hopes to use Afghanistan to plan and coordinate attacks on Europe and the United States.
Thus copying what al-Queda did two decades back...
The Pentagon estimates there are only 1,000 to 3,000 Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan, but Campbell warned “they have the ability to recruit quite well, not only around the world, but inside Afghanistan.”
“How much is coming from Syria and Iraq? Hard to tell,” Campbell said. “But we do believe the senior leadership here in Afghanistan does communicate with [Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi] in Iraq and Syria.”
But Campbell said coalition forces’ biggest task over the next year will be the mission to train the Afghan army for its continued battle against the Taliban. Despite more than $35 billion in U.S. support over the past 15 years, the Afghan army struggled to repel a major Taliban offensive this past fall into Kunduz, a commercial hub in northern Afghanistan, taking days to regain control. The Taliban also made gains in several eastern and southern provinces last year.
To prepare for another “tough year,” Campbell said the coalition is sending several hundred additional advisers to Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand province, where some of the bloodiest battles of the 14-year war have been waged.
U.S. military officials say the challenge facing the Afghan army is compounded by still being 25,000 soldiers short of its targeted strength of 195,000. Recruitment is especially poor in Pashtun communities in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, raising concerns about a potentially destabilizing geographic imbalance within the military, officials said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2016 00:00 ||
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Recruitment is especially poor in Pashtun communities in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, raising concerns about a potentially destabilizing geographic imbalance within the military, officials said.
Yes General, and we've seen the long-term dangers involved when military enlistments from poor and rural communities [read that, U.S. Southern States] are over-subscribed, have we not ?
The militant group of Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab militants has claimed responsibility for an explosion that tore inside of Daallo airline shortly after taking off from Mogadishu’s airport.
The 'boobs claim that a number of 'Western' and 'Turkish' intel agents were on the plane.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2016 00:00 ||
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Thousands of Egypt’s doctors protested police abuses on Friday following an alleged attack on two doctors by policemen in a Cairo hospital. It was a rare instance of public protest, almost unheard of since the takeover of power by Egyptian military strongman Abdel Fatah al-Sissi in 2013.
Really doesn't seem to matter who's in charge in a thugocracy, does it...
As many as 4,000 doctors flocked to their union’s office to attend an emergency meeting called for by the Egyptian Medical Syndicate to condemn police violence. On Jan. 28, the union said, two police officers attacked two doctors and other hospital staff for “belittling” the injury of one of the officers in Matariya Public Hospital.
“Leave! Leave!” yelled the doctors in unison on Friday, calling for the resignation of the health minister, while many carried signs, one reading “The doctors of Egypt will not pay the price for the failure of your system.”
The union decided to begin a strike if the policemen who allegedly assaulted the doctors were not held accountable, and if their other demands, such as the closure of any hospital in which doctors are assaulted, were not met. They also decided to provide free services to all citizens for two weeks.
The doctors who were allegedly assaulted had filed a judicial complaint against the police officers. But after they issued a counter complaint, the doctors withdrew theirs for fear of being detained and abused at the Matariya police station.
So the thugs in charge don't like being held accountable...
The station, according to a report by the Egyptian initiative for personal rights, is where 14 people have died in custody in the past two years, and where other instances of torture and ill treatment have allegedly occurred.
After the Jan. 28 incident, Matariya hospital staff went on a strike, demanding an investigation by the authorities. A few days later, public prosecutor Nabil Sadek ordered the doctors to reopen the hospital and end their strike.
In a statement, on Friday, the chairman of the doctor’s union, Hussein Khairy, called the turnout “historic,” hailing it as a “turning point in our union’s history” and demanding “rule of law.”
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2016 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Some members of the US Congress have expressed skepticism over 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... 's commitment to escalate its air campaign and send ground troops to Syria to fight the Daesh [Islamic State]Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorist group.
The politicians made remarks this week regarding Saudi Arabia's readiness to expand its air campaign against the Daesh [Islamic State]Lions of Islam and to send special forces to Syria only when the US-led coalition battling the terror group initiates the ground operations.
"I hear a lot of talk," US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker was quoted as saying on Friday when asked about Riyadh's promise to commit troops in Syria.
Another US Congress member questioned the Saudis' reasoning regarding their demand for Washington to initiate ground forces first, considering that Saudi Arabia is closer to Syria.
"I don't know why the United States has to make the first move on the chessboard," Senator Tim Kaine said. "Whose region is this? And who has the principal responsibility with it?"
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
The Saudis cannot even get things squared away in Yemen. Another project? Surely you jest. The Saudis are not our friends, except for our politicians, who can be bought at a bargain.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/14/2016 9:32 Comments ||
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#2
I'm skeptical of our president fighting daesh.
Posted by: chris ||
02/14/2016 15:23 Comments ||
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed "serious concern" over a decision by South Korea to begin formal talks with the United States to adopt an advanced U.S. missile defense system, according to China's foreign ministry on Friday.
Wang conveyed the concern to South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se during their meeting in Munich on the sidelines of international talks on Syria on Thursday, the Chinese ministry said in a statement.
"Minister Wang Yi expresses serious concern," the statement said.
Wang also told Yun that the possible deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea is "not conducive to taking the proper response to the current situation and is not conducive to maintaining peace and stability in the region."
China has long voiced opposition to the possible deployment of the THAAD battery in South Korea, claiming that it could also target China. Wang said the THAAD battery in South Korea would "significantly undermine the strategic security interest of China."
Earlier this week, South Korea decided to begin talks with the U.S. about the deployment of the THAAD battery after North Korea defiantly launch a long-range rocket following its fourth nuclear test last month. With North Korea continuing to develop its nuclear and missile arsenals, analysts in Seoul say South Korea has no choice but to adopt the THAAD battery, which would be deployed at a U.S. base in South Korea, home to about 28,500 American troops.
Once again, the solution is simple: China, curb your dog...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2016 00:00 ||
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Well, what do you want me to tell you? We have DPRK and their shenanigans, Your Chinese "Space weapons" the Russian interest, and our own Security to asses.
* See also RELATED WORLD NEWS > CHINA OPPOSED TO US THAAD DEPLOYMENT TO SOUTH KOREA.
* SAME > [SCMP] WASHINGTON'S THAAD MISSLE SYSTEM MAKING BEIJING NERVOUS, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER WANG YI TELLS JOHN KERRY IN MUNICH.
VERSUS
* WORLD NEWS > US MISSLE DEFENSE SYSTEM IN SOUTH KOREA MAY [covertly] BE MEANT FOR CHINA, not just Pudge = NOKOR???
Wehell, why should Beijing = China be worried about that???
* JAPAN TIMES > JAPAN TO UPGRADE [its] MISSLE DEFENSE, CONSIDERS ACQUIRING THREE-TIER SYSTEM, namely
> More BMD-capable AEGIS Destroyers for JMSDF.
> THAAD.
> Improved SM-3'S + Other.
BMD Lasers? EM Rail-Gun?
* TIME.COM > WHY DOES NORTH KOREA CONTINUE TO PROVOKE ITS ALLY CHINA? PYONGYANG IS FULLY AWARE THAT IT HAS THE CHINES LEADERSHIP "UNDER THE BARREL".
Again, Econ-struggling/detriorating NOKOR wants to avoid annexation by China + desires to formally reunify wid SOKOR ASAP AMAP ALAP, BUT KNOWS CHINA WON'T ALLOW IT UNLESS IT CHINA FIRST GETS BACK TAIWAN.
* DEFENSE NEWS > US PENTAGON: NORTH KOREA LACKS THE TECHNOLOGY FOR ANTI-US NUCLEAR STRIKE.
Thats why NOKOR has repor been colluding wid PAKISTANI, IRANIAN, + even CHINESE PERTS, isn't it. NOKOR faces Chinese takeover be it by wartime mil defeat or collapse, or by peacetime increasing "Creeping Sino-ization" of the Country as China is presen NOKOR's dominant-n-still-expanding trading partner.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- The United States temporarily deployed an additional Patriot missile battery in South Korea in response to North Korea's nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch, ahead of talks next week to set up an even more sophisticated U.S. missile defense in a move that has worried China and Russia.
The new tough stance follows South Korea's decision to shut down an inter-Korean factory park that had been the rival Koreas' last major symbol of cooperation, but that Seoul said had been used by North Korea to fund its nuclear and missile programs. North Korea responded by deporting South Korean citizens, seizing South Korean assets and vowing to militarize the park."
Little Sweden has taken in far more refugees per capita than any country in Europe. But in doing so, it’s tearing itself apart.
BY James Traub
Long piece in Foreign Policy that is surprisingly clear-voiced in explaining how Sweden intends to commit national suicide. The Swedish people do not want this but the Swedish government does. These officials point to the successful integration, in the past from WWII to recently, of Norwegians, Balts, and Bosnians, and assume that today they will similarly integrate Syrians, Afghanis, Iraqis and Libyans. The numbers of refugees are far larger than what the Swedes managed in the past; the refugees are poorly educated and culturally very different (even from the Bosnians), and the Swedish economy can't handle it. No matter; as the progressives like to say, "Forward!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2016 00:00 ||
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As bolshevik biddies roared, "Forward!"
And bored border guards beckoned shoreward,
And blonde maidens, braiding,
Made ready for raiding,
The horde of new Norsemen oared nor'ward.
[Rudaw] Ankara MP of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's Republican Peoples Party (CHP) Akin Ustundag revealed on Thursday that 908 tourist facilities along Turkey's Aegean coastline are now being put up for sale thanks to the increased threat of terrorist attacks against tourists and the Russian boycott of these facilities following the recent breakdown in ties between those countries.
"The [tourism] sector has contracted by 35 percent over this year ... European tourists have turned towards Greece, Portugal and Spain. Besides, many Western countries have issued security warnings about Turkey amid terror attacks," Ustundag explained to Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News."
"When we have added our deteriorating ties with Russia to this equation, we have seen a sharp rise in reservation cancellations," he added.
Ten German tourists were killed in a suicide kaboom in Istanbul last January 12 in an incident which has seen many tourists avoid holidaying to Turkey.
Russia placed economic sanctions on Turkey following Turkey's shooting down of a Russian warplane over the Syria-Turkey border last November 24. Russia has also banned its citizens from holidaying in Turkey which has affected Turkey's tourist sector since many Russians used to holiday there.
Russian sanctions are also had adverse affects on the agricultural sector in Turkey's Aegean region. Ustundag singled out the Aegean province of Mugla which "exported around 150,000 tons of fresh fruits to Russia last year, but their exports have now been about to stop. Only the district of Fethiye sent more than 30 trucks of fresh fruit and vegetables to Russia each day until the crisis erupted between Turkey and Russia last November."
"Russia has closed the doors to our exporters. Our daily loss is around 1 million liras. We all hope the issues will be resolved as soon as possible."
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Two senior members of Taliban's 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... have made a visit to Islamabad ahead the resumption of face-to-face peace talks with Afghan government.
The delegation reportedly visited Islamabad on February 6, on the eve of third round of the quadrilateral talks for finalizing the three-step roadmap for restarting the halted process.
The two peace negotiators were Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikza, who heads the Qatar political office, and Qari Din Mohammad, who is another peace negotiator at Qatar office.
A source privy to the development has said that the Taliban peace negotiators brought with them a list of their representatives who are authorized to talk on the behalf of the group.
The direct talks are expected to be sometimes this month with efforts made by a four-nation committee formed by Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai from Afghanistan, Pakistain's Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry, Ambassador Richard G. Olson from the United States and Ambassador Deng Xijun from China.
The agreement to revive stalled peace talks with Taliban was reached during a meeting between President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. and Pak Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... on the sideline of the "Heart of Asia" conference in Islamabad.
For bringing Afghan krazed killer groups to the negotiation table, Islamabad wants 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.... to act against Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) Chief 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... who is responsible for some deadly attacks in Pakistain.
Islamabad claims that Mullah Fazlullah is hiding in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2016 00:00 ||
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Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi vowed on Friday that Iraqi security forces would clear terrorists of the Daesh militants in his country this year. Addressing audience at the Munich Security Conference, Al Abadi said Iraqi forces liberated "more than half" of areas occupied by the terrorists.
"We intend this year to make it the final year and the last year for the existence of Daesh in Iraq," he was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
Anti-terrorism is one of the key issues discussed at the annual security forum which started on Friday and lasts until Sunday. Other topics include Syrian conflicts, refugees, climate change and transatlantic relations.
Al Abadi said reforms that his government had undertaken improved efficiency of Iraqi forces.
"Daesh is losing ground. They are not only losing militarily in combating our forces, but they are losing ground among Iraqi population," he said.
The minister added that terrorism is not only an Iraqi problem, but also an international one. Conflicts in Syria could also cause terrorists to flee into Iraq.
He said an agreement of "cessation of hostilities" that top diplomats reached early Friday morning "must be successful".
Al Abadi also warned that Turkish combat troops' presence inside Iraq without his government's permission was "unacceptable" and "very dangerous".
"If you wish to help Iraq, it is up to us to decide in what way you are to help us," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2016 00:00 ||
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The collapse of Mosul Dam would be catastrophic for Iraq. If breached, it could unleash a 180-foot-high wave down the Tigris River basin and drown more than half a million people, with floodwaters reaching as far as the Iraqi capital, about 280 miles to the south.
Bad combination of a shaky foundation, fly ash, shoddy maintenance, and war...
The dam has been called the most dangerous in the world for the past decade. But recent assessments by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say it is at “significantly higher risk” of failing than previously thought.
The dam’s structural problems became evident as soon as the reservoir behind it was filled in 1985. It is built on layers of clay and gypsum, a soft mineral that dissolves when it comes into contact with water, and the dam immediately began seeping. Since then, about 100,000 tons of grouting have been poured into the structure to prevent it from collapsing.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2016 00:00 ||
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Ich kann nicht ander
My Life and Hard Times
3. The Day the Dam Broke
My memories of what my family and I went through during the 1913 flood in Ohio I would gladly forget. And yet neither the hardships we endured nor the turmoil and confusion we experienced can alter my feeling toward my native state and city. I am having a fine time now and wish Columbus were here, but if anyone ever wished a city was in hell it was during that frightful and perilous afternoon in 1913 when the dam broke, or, to be more exact, when everybody in town thought that the dam broke. We were both ennobled and demoralized by the experience. Grandfather especially rose to magnificent heights which can never lose their splendor for me, even though his reactions to the flood were based upon a profound misconception; namely, that Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry was the menace we were called upon to face. The only possible means of escape for us was to flee the house, a step which grandfather sternly forbade, brandishing his old army sabre in his hand. "Let the sons -- ------- come!" he roared. Meanwhile hundreds of people were streaming by our house in wild panic, screaming "Go east! Go east!" We had to stun grandfather with the ironing board. Impeded as we were by the inert form of the old gentleman -- he was taller than six feet and weighed almost a hundred and seventy pounds -- we were passed, in the first half-mile, by practically everybody else in the city. Had grandfather not come to, at the corner of Parsons Avenue and Town Street, we would unquestionably have been overtaken and engulfed by the roaring waters -- that is, if there had been any roaring waters. Later, when the panic had died down and people had gone rather sheepishly back to their homes and their offices, minimizing the distances they had run and offering various reasons for running, city engineers pointed out that even if the dam had broken, the water level would not have risen more than two additional inches in the West Side. The West Side was, at the time of the dam scare, under thirty feetof water -- as, indeed, were all Ohio river towns during the great spring floods of twenty years ago. The East Side (where we lived and where all the running occurred) had never been in any danger at all. Only a rise of some ninety-five feet could have caused the flood waters to flow over High Street -- the thoroughfare that divided the east side of town from the west -- and engulf the East Side.
The fact that we were all as safe as kittens under a cookstove did not, however, assuage in the least the fine despair and the grotesque desperation which seized upon the residents of the East Side when the cry spread like a grass fire that the dam had given way. Some of the most dignified, staid, cynical, and clear-thinking men in town abandoned their wives, stenographers, homes, and oflices and ran east. There are few alarms in the world more terrifying than "The dam has broken!" There are few persons capable of stopping to reason when that clarion cry strikes upon their ears, even persons who live in towns no nearer than five hundred miles to a dam.
- See more at: http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.nl/2011/01/thurber-tonight-my-life-and-hard-times_09.html#sthash.092422vc.dpuf
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/14/2016 10:06 Comments ||
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#3
Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources has played down the threat but was persuaded to reopen the lower gates of the dam to relieve some pressure, even though it meant power was restored to the militant-held city farther south.
yet, the Taliban can down a couple pylons and disrupt the Afghan grid on a daily basis
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/14/2016 10:35 Comments ||
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#4
Insh'Allah baby. Let the water park go. They should drain the reservoir for safety, but Tater knows best.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/14/2016 19:09 Comments ||
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#5
As per 1960's-1970's Guam Taotamonas + NOstradamus, dare a future Not-a-Pink-Submarine, Not-Captained by-Cary-Grant-or-Tony-Curtis, All/Mostly-Female USN SSN do the same to China's heavily-defended Three Gorges in FutWar.
Both for US Victory + destroying China's control of Asia's fresh = natural potable water???
["DRAGNET" THEME + "SINK THE TIRPITZ/X-CRAFT" here].
In which the source of this An Nahar article, Agence France Presse, fondly believes it maintains an air of neutrality throughout.
[AnNahar] With a four-day lockdown and economic sanctions, Israel cracked down hard on the West Bank village of Qabatiya after three of its sons killed a policewoman in a Jerusalem attack.
But residents of the hilltop village of 25,000 pledge to keep up their long history of struggle against foreign masters, come what may.
"Here we have resisted every occupation," mayor Mahmoud Kamel told AFP, citing centuries of Ottoman imperial rule, followed by nearly 30 years of British control and Israel's capture of the territory from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Continued on Page 49
#1
The policy of taking down the houses of families of perps is reasonable, but the criminal PA government subsidizes the families to rebuild.
A more effective policy would be to take down the houses of the immediate neighbors of perps, leaving the perp families alone.
This might cause the neighbors to put local pressure on the perps not to be perps. Or take down houses of more distant relatives of perps rather than immediate families.
Again this might discourage evil acts.
JERUSALEM - Israel voiced doubt on Sunday that an international ceasefire plan for Syria would work, with one senior official suggesting a sectarian partition of the country might be preferable.
While formally neutral on the five-year civil war wracking its neighbor, Israel has some sway among the world powers that have mounted armed interventions and which on Friday agreed on a "cessation of hostilities" to begin within a week.
The deal, clinched at a Munich security conference, is already beset by recriminations between Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad militarily and wants to see his rule restored, and Western powers that have called for change in Damascus involving some opposition groups.
"The situation in Syria is very complex, and it is hard to see how the war and mass killing there are stopped," Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, in Munich to meet European counterparts and Jordan's King Abdullah, said in statement.
"Syria as we have known it will not be united anew in the foreseeable future, and at some point I reckon that we will see enclaves, whether organized or not, formed by the various sectors that live and are fighting there."
Ram Ben-Barak, director general of Israel's Intelligence Ministry, described partition as "the only possible solution."
[Iran Press TV] The United States has called on The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... to halt military strikes on the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the Syrian Army in the northern province of Aleppo.
"We are concerned about the situation north of Aleppo and are working to de-escalate tensions on all sides," State Department front man John Kirby said in a statement on Saturday.
Turkish media outlets, quoting military sources, reported that the Turkish Army shelled PYD targets near the town of Azaz, and also targeted Syrian Army positions.
"We have urged Syrian Kurdish and other forces affiliated with the YPG not to take advantage of a confused situation by seizing new territory," Kirby said.
"We have also seen reports of artillery fire from the Turkish side of the border and urged Turkey to cease such fires," he added.
Kirby said Turkey and the Syrian Kurdish fighters must work together as they both share the serious threat of Daesh [Islamic State] in northern Syria.
He had earlier said that Washington does not consider the Syrian Kurds as terrorists. The comment prompted Turkey to summon the US ambassador in Ankara.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... also warned the US that it has to choose between Ankara and the Syrian Kurds.
The US and some regional players, including 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... and Turkey, have been financing and arming various Death Eater groups, including Daesh [Islamic State] and al-Qaeda, in Syria.
The foreign-sponsored conflict, which flared up in March 2011, has reportedly killed some 470,000 people and displaced nearly half of the population, according to the Syrian Center for Policy Research.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2016 00:00 ||
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Turkey and Saudi Arabia could launch a ground operation against Daesh militants in Syria, the Turkish foreign minister said Saturday, adding the kingdom was already sending jets to a Turkish base to attack the extremists. The coordinated plans by Riyadh and Ankara, who are pursuing an increasingly tight alliance, add a new element to the explosive situation in Syria where Russia has been backing a successful regime offensive against rebels.
"If there is a strategy (against Daesh) then Turkey and Saudi Arabia could enter into a ground operation," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by the Yeni Safak and Haberturk newspapers after taking part in the Munich Security Conference.
"Some say 'Turkey is reluctant to take part in the fight against Daesh'. But it is Turkey that is making the most concrete proposals," he said.
Cavusoglu added that Saudi Arabia is also sending planes to the Turkish base of Incirlik, a key hub for US-led coalition operations against Daesh, already used by Britain, France and the United States carrying for cross-border air raids.
"They (Saudi officials) came, did a reconnaissance of the base. At the moment it is not clear how many planes will come," Cavusoglu said.
Asked if Saudi Arabia could send troops to the Turkish border to enter Syria, Cavusoglu said: "This is something that could be desired but there is no plan. Saudi Arabia is sending planes and they said 'If the necessary time comes for a ground operation then we could send soldiers'."
His comments come after Assad defiantly told AFP in an exclusive interview published on Friday that he would recapture the whole of Syria and keep "fighting terrorism".
Assad also said he "doesn't rule out" that Turkey and Saudi Arabia would intervene militarily in Syria but said that his armed forces "will certainly confront it".
Saudi Arabia had already said earlier this month that it was ready to join any ground operation against Daesh. But this is the first time a top Turkish official has publicly raised the prospect, long the subject of speculation, of a joint ground incursion with the kingdom.
Turkey's relations with Saudi Arabia have warmed considerably in recent months. Saudi Arabia and Turkey both see the ousting of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad as essential for ending Syria's five-year civil war and are bitterly critical of Iran and Russia's support of the Syrian regime. Turkey and Saudi back rebels who are seeking to oust Assad and both fear the West is losing its appetite to topple Assad on the assumption he is "the lesser of two evils" compared to Daesh militants.
Both are outraged by the Russian military intervention in Syria, which analysts believe has given Assad a new lease of life and has also deeply alarmed the West.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
"Daesh", is that how you spell Kurds in Arabic?
CIA director John Brennan has said that Daesh fighters have used chemical weapons and have the capability to make small quantities of chlorine and mustard gas, CBS News reported on Thursday.
"We have a number of instances where Daesh has used chemical munitions on the battlefield," Brennan told CBS News, which released excerpts of an interview to air in full on the "60 Minutes" news programme on Sunday.
The network added that he told "60 Minutes" the CIA believes that the Daesh group has the ability to make small amounts of mustard or chlorine gas for weapons.
"There are reports that Daesh has access to chemical precursors and munitions that they can use," Brennan said.
Brennan also warned of the possibility that the Daesh group could seek to export the weapons to the West for financial gain.
"I think there's always the potential for that. This is why it's so important to cut off the various transportation routes and smuggling routes that they have used," he said.
When asked if there were "American assets on the ground" searching for possible chemical weapons caches or labs, Brennan replied: "US intelligence is actively involved in being a part of the efforts to destroy Daesh and to get as much insight into what they have on the ground inside of Syria and Iraq."
The release of the interview excerpts comes two days after similar comments from spy chief James Clapper before a congressional committee.
"Daesh has also used toxic chemicals in Iraq and Syria, including the blister agent sulfur mustard," Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told lawmakers on Tuesday.
He said it was the first time an extremist group had produced and used a chemical warfare agent in an attack since Japan's Aum Supreme Truth cult carried out a deadly sarin attack during rush hour in the Tokyo subway in 1995.
President Bashar Al Assad's regime and rebel forces have accused each other of using chemical agents in the nearly five-year war that has killed more than 250,000 people. After an August 2013 sarin attack outside Damascus that much of the international community blamed on Assad's government, the regime agreed to turn over its chemical arsenal.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) - which oversaw the dangerous removal and elimination of Syria's avowed stockpile - now says that declared arsenal has been completely destroyed.
Nothing about the undeclared arsenal, however...
But the global arms watchdog has still warned of the continued use of mustard, sarin and chlorine gas in the conflict, without blaming the regime, the rebels or the Daesh group for use of the weapons, which are banned under international law.
Last year, officials in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan said blood tests had shown that Daesh fighters used mustard agent in an attack on Kurdish peshmerga forces in August. Thirty-five peshmerga fighters were exposed and some taken abroad for treatment, officials said.
At the time of the attack, The Wall Street Journal cited US officials as saying they believed Daesh had used mustard agent.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2016 00:00 ||
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Muslim students, and those perceived to be Muslim, could be bullied, and the government wants teachers to know how to "create an anti-bias learning environment" by focusing specifically on those students and their faith. Perhaps this photo will help.
'This means incorporating the experiences, perspective and words of Muslim people into the curriculum through social studies and current events instruction, children's literature, in order to learn about different cultures,' the blog reads.
'When you teach about world religions, Huh?
be sure to include Islam. ... It's also important to be aware that some Muslim students may feel relieved and comfortable discussing these issues in class and others may feel nervous, scared or angry to be talking about a topic so close to home.'"
One of the better core classes I took in college was a survey of world religions. No proselytizing, a true survey: here's what various religions believe, here's why they believe it, here's how it influenced the culture of the people. Quite useful in understanding the world.
If that's what the DoE was proposing I'd be 100% in favor. But it isn't, and so we should be suspicious.
#1
Hey that's NASA's job, that and long range weather forecasting.
The future:
Capcom: Chimperoo please throw breaker 4532B, we want to realign the SCOG.
Chimperoo: cheep, cheep!
Capcom: Thanks Chimp, we're coasting for awhile.
Capcom: Belay the coasting Chimperoo, sorry. Initiate Auto-Mecca sequencer for the Astronaut.
Chimperoo: mofo mofo mofo!
#3
Fine. Make sure they read the whole Crayon, not just the PC parts of it, and that they understand the idea that the later parts trump conflicting earlier parts.
#4
Read the Koran side by side with the matching Biblical sections, and discuss the archeological evidence that supports or contradicts what was written.
Granted, pious Muslims are unlikely to feel comfortable with this, as their tradition forbids that kind of approach, and also unbelievers in any way questioning or contraditing Muslim claims about their faith. Some pious Christians and Jews are also likely to feel uncomfortable about contradictory external evidence.
#7
Okay, that's first stage separation.
Our faiths formed a useful foundation,
But now that we're smarter,
Let's fire Muslim ardor
For burn of uncertain duration.
#10
Unbiased Biblical and religious history will never fly with the NEA. Schools should require classes on what it means to be an American and read the Constitution for themselves. It's the rule book that is common ground and the source of equality before the law, regardless of religious belief, yet most citizens haven't even read it. "These truths are self-evident"....If Muslims want to live here peacefully and lawfully as Americans respecting our laws, fine, but I would gladly relocate any Islamists to Paki-waki land or the hellhole of their choice. Just watched Bridge of Spies and the constitutional convictions Hanks voices are the crux of the issue. The real James Donovan did believe that everyone deserves a defense. "Our principles are engraved in the history and the law of this land," Donovan said in 1962. "If the free world is not faithful to its own moral code, there remains no society for which others may hunger" (The Milwaukee Journal). Destroy the Constitution, destroy America and all it represents.
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.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed "serious concern" over a decision by South Korea to begin formal talks with the United States to adopt an advanced U.S. missile defense system, according to China's foreign ministry on Friday.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- The United States temporarily deployed an additional Patriot missile battery in South Korea in response to North Korea's nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch, ahead of talks next week to set up an even more sophisticated U.S. missile defense in a move that has worried China and Russia.
Little Sweden has taken in far more refugees per capita than any country in Europe. But in doing so, it’s tearing itself apart.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi vowed on Friday that Iraqi security forces would clear terrorists of the Daesh militants in his country this year. Addressing audience at the Munich Security Conference, Al Abadi said Iraqi forces liberated "more than half" of areas occupied by the terrorists.
The collapse of Mosul Dam would be catastrophic for Iraq. If breached, it could unleash a 180-foot-high wave down the Tigris River basin and drown more than half a million people, with floodwaters reaching as far as the Iraqi capital, about 280 miles to the south.
CIA director John Brennan has said that Daesh fighters have used chemical weapons and have the capability to make small quantities of chlorine and mustard gas, CBS News reported on Thursday.
Muslim students, and those perceived to be Muslim, could be bullied, and the government wants teachers to know how to "create an anti-bias learning environment" by focusing specifically on those students and their faith.
