[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Human Rights Watch ... During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, HRW received a pledge from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, of which George Soros is Chairman, for general support totaling $100,000,000. The grant is being paid in installments of $10,000,000 over ten years.Through June 30, 2013, HRW had received $30,000,000 towards the fulfillment of the pledge.... (HRW) says Taliban forces in Afghanistan have added scores of children to their ranks since mid-2015 in violation of the international prohibition on the use of child soldiers.
The rights group's research shows that the Taliban have been training and deploying children for various military operations, including the production and planting of improvised bombs (IED).
In a report released on Wednesday, HRW writes that in Kundoz province, the Taliban have increasingly used madrasas, or Islamic religious schools, to provide military training to children between the ages of 13 and 17, many of whom have been deployed in combat.
"The Taliban's apparent strategy to throw increasing numbers of children into battle is as cynical and cruel as it is unlawful," said Patricia Gossman, senior Afghanistan researcher. "Afghan children should be at school and at home with their parents, not exploited as cannon fodder for the Taliban insurgency."
Human Rights Watch interviewed relatives of 13 children recruited as Taliban soldiers over the past year, and verified these claims through interviews with civil society activists, political analysts, and the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... . Despite Taliban claims that they only enlist fighters who have achieved "mental and physical maturity," and do not use "boys with no beards" in military operations, some of the children recruited from madrasas in Kunduz, Takhar, and Badakhshan provinces are 13 or younger. The Taliban have previously denied"the use of children and adolescents in Jihadic Operations," but its deployment of individuals under the age of 18 violates international law applicable in Afghanistan and in cases involving children under 15 is a war crime.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
The terror group is gaining ground in Libya. But the Obama administration has said no to a Pentagon plan to go after ISIS there.
Despite the growing threat from the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Libya, the Obama administration has turned down a U.S. military plan for an assault on ISIS's regional hub there, three defense officials told The Daily Beast.
In recent weeks, the U.S. military--led by its Africa and Special Operations Commands--have pushed for more airstrikes and the deployment of elite troops, particularly in the city of Sirte. The hometown of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the city is now under ISIS control and serving as a regional epicenter for the terror group.
The airstrikes would target ISIS resources while a small band of Special Operations Forces would train Libyans to eventually be members of a national army, the officials said.
Weeks ago, defense officials told The New York Times that they were crafting military plans for such strikes, but needed more time to develop intelligence so that they could launch a sustained air campaign on ISIS in Sirte.
But those plans have since been put on the back burner.
"There is little to no appetite for that in this administration," one defense official explained.
Instead, the U.S. will continue to do occasional strikes that target high-value leaders, like the November drone strike that killed Abu Nabil al-Anbari, the then-leader of ISIS in Libya.
"There's nothing close to happening in terms of a major military operation. It will continue to be strikes like the kind we saw in November against Abu Nabil," a second defense official explained to The Daily Beast.
The division over what action the U.S. and the international community should take in Libya speaks to the uncertainty about when and where ISIS should be countered.
For Europe, Libya is uncomfortably close and already a jumping off point for migrants willing to take on the rough Mediterranean waters in search of asylum. ISIS pronouncements have previously pointed out that Rome is nearby.
For the United States, there are major concerns about allowing another ISIS hub to emerge in the region. The Libyan city of Sirte is under ISIS control and some believe the terror group seeks to turn Sirte into a center of operations, like Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.
Leaders across Europe have hinted that more should be done in Libya but have fallen short on specifics. In an interview with Der Spiegel last month, the German envoy to Libya said: "We simply cannot give up on Libya."
According to U.S. military figures, there are roughly 5,000 ISIS fighters in Libya, a spike from 1,000 just a few months ago. Defense officials believe that ISIS supporters are moving toward Libya, having found it increasingly difficult to travel to Iraq and Syria.
Perhaps because of that, Sirte, and areas around it, are increasingly falling victim to ISIS's barbaric practices. And some are urging the international community not to wait until Sirte falls further under ISIS control, and filled with fighters mixed in with civilians.
According to this report, residents there cannot leave the city freely as ISIS fighters--many of them from Egypt, Chad, Niger, and Tunisia--inspect cars for signs of residents trying to escape. As in Raqqa and Mosul, residents do not have access to cellphone or Internet networks and live under an ISIS judicial system that issues death sentences to those who do not practice the terror group's brand of Islam.
Moreover, in nearby cities like Ras Lanouf, ISIS is destroying oil installations, cutting off a key potential source of revenue for any newly cobbled unified Libyan government. ISIS has set its sights across the country, from Misrata in the west to Derna in the east.
Some fear the terror group is hunkering down in places like Sirte in preparation for a potential U.S. offensive.
The administration had said that it would not intervene until Libya, which now is governed by two rival governments on opposite sides of the country, had created a single entity to govern the state.
At a press conference Tuesday, during this year's summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, President Obama referred to United Nations efforts to help build a government in Libya, suggesting any military effort could create even more political fractures. On Sunday, a member of Libya's Presidential Council announced that a list of 13 ministers and five ministers of state had been sent to Libya's eastern parliament for approval.
But while the president said the U.S. would go after ISIS "anywhere it appeared," he stopped short of saying the U.S. would expand its effort in Libya unilaterally.
"We will continue to take actions where we've got a clear operation and a clear target in mind. And we are working with our other coalition partners to make sure that as we see opportunities to prevent ISIS from digging in, in Libya, we take them. At the same time, we're working diligently with the United Nations to try to get a government in place in Libya," the president said. "And that's been a problem."
Some military officials believe Obama feels that France and Italy, which both have hinted at intervention, should take the lead on any military effort. Both countries were key to the NATO-led campaign in 2011 that led to Gaddafi's fall. Still others believe the United States wants to limit its war against the Islamic State to Iraq and Syria.
Since Gaddafi's death in October 2011, the state has become especially susceptible to outside extremists. With no tradition of an independently strong state military, militias have served as security forces and now are unwilling to disarm.
With no stable government or security forces, parts of Libya have become vulnerable to groups like ISIS looking for territory to set up a self-described caliphate.
As many as 435,000 of the country's 6 million people are internally displaced, according a recent UN report. An estimated 1.9 million require some kind of humanitarian aid. And as of August, 250,000 migrants had entered, turning Libya into a key hub for those seeking to enter Europe.
Tuesday marked the five-year anniversary of Libya's Arab Spring. It's now considered a bittersweet day, rather than the beginning of a democratic movement the protests launched that day once promised.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Yemeni President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi has revealed that the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, sent him a letter explaining Hezbollah's role in the fighting in Yemen.
Speaking at a presser in Ankara on Tuesday, following a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... , Hadi said Nasrallah wrote to him stating "Our fighters arrived 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... to teach the Yemeni people the essence of governing."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Local authorities and public-sector organizations in Britannia are banned from boycotting Israeli suppliers under new government rules, and violators could face severe penalties, the British government said on Wednesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the new rules as a boost for his government's battle against a Paleostinian-led international boycott campaign. Paleostinians criticized the decision, saying it would reinforce Israel's occupation of territories they seek for an independent state.
The British Cabinet Office said that apart from where legal sanctions, embargoes and restrictions have been imposed, procurement boycotts by public authorities were "inappropriate".
In a statement, it said such boycotts "undermine good community relations, poisoning and polarising debate, weakening integration and fueling anti-Semitism".
The new rules coincided with a visit to Israel by Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock during which, in a speech, he voiced opposition to "those calling for boycotts".
In welcoming remarks to Hancock and a British trade delegation to Israel, Netanyahu said: "I want to commend the British government for refusing to discriminate against Israel and Israelis and I commend you for standing up (for) the one and only true democracy in the Middle East."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently ordered preparations for launching "terror" attacks on South Koreans, a top Seoul official said Thursday, as worries about the North grow after its recent nuclear test and rocket launch.
In televised remarks, senior South Korean presidential official Kim Sung-woo said North Korea's spy agency has begun work to implement Kim Jong Un's order to "muster anti-South terror capabilities that can pose a direct threat to our lives and security."
He said the possibility of North Korean attacks "is increasing more than ever" and asked for quick passage of an anti-terror bill in parliament.
North Korea has a history of attacks on South Korea, such as the 2010 shelling on an island that killed four South Koreans and the 1987 bombing of a South Korean passenger plane that killed all 115 people on board. But it is impossible to independently confirm claims about any such attack preparations. The South Korean presidential official did not say where the latest information came from.
Earlier Thursday, Seoul's National Intelligence Service briefed ruling Saenuri Party members on a similar assessment on North Korea's attack preparations, according to one of the party officials who attended the private meeting.
During the briefing, the NIS, citing studies on past North Korean provocations and other unspecified assessments, said the attacks could target anti-Pyongyang activists, defectors and government officials in South Korea, the party official said requesting anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to media publicly.
Attacks on subways, shopping malls and other public places could also happen, he said.
The official quoted the NIS as saying North Korea could launch poisoning attacks on the activists and defectors, or lure them to China where they would be kidnapped.
The Saenuri official refused to say whether the briefing discussed how the information was obtained. The NIS, which has a mixed record on predicting developments in North Korea, said it could not confirm its reported assessment.
The standoff with North Korea is not expected to ease soon, as Seoul and Washington are discussing deploying a sophisticated U.S. missile defense system in South Korea that Pyongyang warns would be a source of regional tension.
The allies also say their annual springtime military drills will be the largest ever. South Korea's defense minister said Thursday that about 15,000 U.S. troops will take part, double of the number Washington normally sends.
The North says the drills are preparation for a northward invasion.
Seoul defense officials also said that they began preliminary talks on Feb. 7 with the United States on deploying the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, the same day North Korea conducted what it said was a satellite launch but is condemned by Seoul and Washington as a banned test of missile technology.
The talks are aimed at working out details for formal missile deployment talks, such as who'll represent each side, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry.
The deployment is opposed by China and Russia too. Opponents say the system could help U.S. radar spot missiles in other countries.
The United States on Wednesday flew four stealth F-22 fighter jets over South Korea and reaffirmed it maintains an "ironclad commitment" to the defense of its Asian ally. Last month, it sent a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber to South Korea following the North's fourth nuclear test.
Foreign analysts say the North's rocket launch and nuclear test put the country further along it its quest for a nuclear-armed missile that could reach the U.S. mainland.
[DAWN] South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Tuesday signalled a tough new approach to derailing North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, promising an uncompromising and more assertive response to Pyongyang's provocations.
In a strongly-worded televised speech to the National Assembly, Ms Park warned that South Koreans had over the years become "numb" to the threat from their northern neighbour, and said it was time to take a more courageous stand.
North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test last month and followed that up on February 7 with a long-range rocket launch that was widely condemned as a ballistic missile test banned under UN resolutions.
Arguing that efforts to foster cooperation with the North had led nowhere, Ms Park said it was time to prioritise the stick over the carrot in bringing Pyongyang into line.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Commies
#2
They've been trying to make nice at Kaesong so the Norks would have some spendingmoney. They could shut down that stupidity permanently.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2016 0:22 Comments ||
Top||
#3
It strongly appears the "Status Quo" in NE Asia + on the Korean Peninsula is DE FACTO GOING TO BE UNILATERALLY FORCIBLY CHANGED, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER + THE VERY NEAR TERM, N-O-T TOWARDS YEAR 2050.
* FYI YONHAP NEWS > CHINA URGES SOUTH KOREA, US TO "WITHDRAW" FROM THAAD PLAN, as the latter poses a threat or danger to CHINA'S NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS IN THE KOREAS + NE ASIA.
* SAME > NORTH KOREA COULD CONDUCT FIFTH NUCLEAR TEST WID LITTLE OR NO WARNING: 38 NORTH [Website].
* SAME > NORTH KOREA PREPARES FOR TERROR ACTIVITY AGZ SOUTH KOREA: INTELLIGENCE UNIT [ROK National Intelligence Service].
RELATED TOPIX > US PENTAGON: NORTH KOREAN SPECIAL FORCES ARE "HIGHLY TRAINED".
* SAME > EXPERTS: NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR TEST MAY TRIGGER VOLCANIC ACTVITY [Mt. Baeku].
Thats ridiculous - any Man-Made Volcanism will be REGIONAL = RING OF FIRE, NOT JUST LOCAL.
SILLY KIMCHEE.
NORTH KOREA/TWO KOREAS = GUAM + PEARL HARBOR 1941 USN BB US "OKLAHOMA" = OVER-FRACKED US STATE OF OKLAHOMA = "WILL SINK-N-CAPSIZE"???
* TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > US WARNS NORTH KOREA ON PLUTONIUM BOMB PRODUCTION.
[Legal Insurrection] BLUF: Based on the timing and other details, the email chain likely refers to either an October 2009 Times story that identified Afghan national Ahmed Wali Karzai, the half-brother of then-Afghan president Hamid Karzai, as a person who received "regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency" -- or an August 2010 Times story that identified Karzai aide Mohammed Zia Salehi as being on the CIA payroll. Ahmed Wali Karzai was murdered during a 2011 shoot-out, a killing later claimed by the Taliban.
Fox News was told the email chain included then-Secretary of State Clinton and then-special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke and possibly others. The basic details of this email exchange were backed up to Fox News by a separate U.S. government source who was not authorized to speak on the record.
Each batch of Hillary Clinton emails seems to bring with it more evidence that the former secretary of state did not want other Obama administration officials to know that she was in regular contact with her longtime friend and political hatchet man, Sidney Blumenthal.
Because Sid is her bag man. And everyone in Chicago knows what a bag man is...
The latest evidence comes in a Sept. 30, 2010 email released on Saturday which shows Clinton ordering her assistant, Jill Jiloty, to “remove the heading” from an email that Blumenthal sent her from their mutual friend, former Amb. Joseph Wilson.
Who also is no prize...
The email contains a lengthy letter from Wilson, who served in the Bill Clinton White House. In it, he provides Hillary Clinton with a detailed tick-tock of a trip he had made to Iraq on behalf of a power company for which he was consulting at the time and slammed the U.S. military’s presence in Iraq, saying that the experience left him “slack jawed.”
Nope, no conflict of interest there. The Iraqis need Joe's special expertise to pull their chestnuts out of the fire, that's all...
“Berlin and Dresden in World War II were devastated but they and their populations were not subjected to seven years of occupation that included ethnic cleansing, segregation of people by religious identity, and untold violence perpetrated upon them by both military and private security services,” wrote Wilson, who is perhaps best known for NOT debunking the claim that Saddam Hussein attempted to purchase yellowcake uranium from Niger.
Stupid editorializing. We know better...
“I have not been to Gaza but suspect that the dehumanizing effects are somewhat similar.”
Clinton was seemingly embarrassed by something in the email, but it wasn’t Wilson’s aggressive condemnation of the U.S. military’s presence in Iraq. Instead, the email indicates she was worried by Blumenthal’s involvement in the email chain.
“Pls print three copies but remove the heading from Sid so it is just the memo from Joe to me,” Clinton wrote to Jiloty.
You can't expose the bag man. If you do he can no longer carry the bag...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/18/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
“Pls print three copies but remove the heading from Sid so it is just the memo from Joe to me,” Clinton wrote to Jiloty.
In deference to concerns for operational security no doubt. She's always been a stickler for OPSEC.
[DAWN] RAWALPINDI: Three convicts linked to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) were transferred to Adiala Jail after they were convicted under the Army Act on Tuesday, security sources said.
The sources said the prisoners, identified as Shawala Khan from Mohmand Agency ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... and Mohammad Zeeshan and Nasir Khan from Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... were tried by a military court and then shifted to Adiala Jail.
All three convicts were said to be involved in terrorism-related cases, and were put in separate barracks of the jail amid tight security.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday sought reply from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister Secretariat on a petition filed to facilitate a meeting of Dr Fauzia Siddiqui with her sister Dr Aafia Siddiqui ...American-educated Pak cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. In September 2010, she was sentenced to 86 years in jug after a three-ring trial. Siddiqui, using the alias Fahrem or Feriel Shahin, was one of six alleged al-Qaeda members who bought $19 million worth of blood diamonds in Liberia immediately prior to 9-11-01. Since her incarceration Paks have taken her to their heart and periodically erupt into demonstrations, while the government tries to find somebody to swap for her... .
Aafia, a Pak neuroscientist, is serving an 86-year prison sentence in the US for attacking American soldiers in Afghanistan.
After a preliminary hearing, Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi of the IHC issued notices to the respondents and adjourned the hearing till the next week.
During the hearing, Sajid Qureshi, the counsel for Dr Fauzia, informed the court that unknown people had extended threats to his client for pursuing the case of her detained sister.
Advocate Qureshi expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... s over the health condition of Aafia and said the US authorities did not facilitate even a telephonic contact of the family with her.
He said it had been over two years since the family of Aafia had spoken to her on telephone.
Now, apparently, the facility has been withdrawn as none of her family members can talk to her despite making repeated calls to the jail.
He requested the court to ask the prime minister to take up the matter with US President Barak Obama to facilitate a meeting of Aafia with her family.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
[DAWN] Ostensibly aiming to deflect the pressure that had been building on him to act against Maulana Abdul Aziz ...nutball holy man who runs the Lal Masjid in the heart of Pakistain's capital. After instigating a rebellion against the state in 2007, he was caught trying to sneak away dressed in a burka. He rejects democracy as un-Islamic, which it probably is... -- the former Lal Masjid ...literally the Red Mosque, located in Islamabad and frequented by all sorts of high govt officials. The proprietors, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, unleashed their Islamic storm troopers on the city, shutting down whorehouses and beating people up who weren't devout enough. The Musharraf govt put an end to the nonsense by besieging the place. Abdul Aziz Ghazi was nabbed while he was trying to escape dressed up like a girl. BBC reported that the corpse count at 173, but other claims, usually hysterical, say there were up to 1000 titzup. Among their number was Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Everyone then said tut-tut and what a nice guy he had been... holy man -- Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] Being much more forthcoming than usual, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ...Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz Uncle Fester Sharif. He is noted for his vocal anti-American railing in the National Assembly. However (comma) Khan told the U.S. ambassador that he was in fact pro-American but he and the PML-N would have to be critical of US actions in order to remain publicly credible. Khan cited his wife and children's US citizenship as proof, which means he's lying to one side or the other and probably both. He wears a wig, but you probably guessed that. since hair doesn't grow naturally in that shape or texture... on Tuesday named certain 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...
organizations which, he said, were using the name of a middle-eastern terror group that had no actual footprint in the country.
Reiterating his stance that the Lion of IslamIslamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group -- also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh [Islamic State] -- did not have a foothold in Pakistain, he said that Lions of Islam from proscribed organizations had rallied under the IS banner.
For example, he said, that when Lions of Islam using the Daesh [Islamic State] name were picked up from Daska, they were found to be associated with Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat... 's Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... . In Sindh, he said, the Hizb-e-Islami group had been using the IS name.
There are around 45 terrorist organizations operating in Pakistain and some of them are using the Daesh [Islamic State] name, he said, adding that, "These [groups] are on the [radar] of intelligence and security agencies".
He also revealed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would soon send New Delhi a formal request, seeking permission for a special investigation team -- looking into suspected Pak links in the attack on Pathankot airbase -- to visit India.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Tough lady. I wish her well.
(IraqiNews.com) The young Kurdish Hassiba Nawzad could not continue her path towards Germany with her husband after seeing the conditions of Yezidi women in the grip of ISIS. She decided to leave her husband in Istanbul and return back to Iraq to volunteer in the ranks of Peshmerga forces.
Nawzad said in a press statement received by IraqiNews.com, “I left my husband in Istanbul months ago on our way to one of the European countries, after seeing the conditions of Yezidi women in the grip of ISIS.”
She said that her husband insisted to emigrate to Germany together, but she decided to return to volunteer in the ranks of Peshmerga forces to fight ISIS.
Nawzad also revealed that currently she is a volunteer in Noran axis and will continue to do her duty to eliminate the terrorists in her homeland.
[IN.REUTERS] Iraq is searching for "highly dangerous" radioactive material stolen last year, according to an environment ministry document and seven security, environmental and provincial officials who fear it could be used as a weapon if acquired by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... The material, stored in a protective case the size of a laptop computer, went missing in November from a storage facility near the southern city of Basra belonging to U.S. oilfield services company Weatherford, the document seen by Rooters showed and officials confirmed.
A front man for Iraq's environment ministry said he could not discuss the issue, citing national security concerns. A Weatherford front man in Iraq declined to comment, and the company's Houston headquarters did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The material, which uses gamma rays to test flaws in materials used for oil and gas pipelines in a process called industrial gamma radiography, is owned by Istanbul-based SGS The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , according to the document and officials.
An SGS official in Iraq declined to comment and referred Rooters to its Turkish headquarters, which did not respond to phone calls.
In Washington, a U.S. official said the United States was aware that Iraq had reported a missing specialized camera containing highly radioactive Iridium-192 to the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... nuclear watchdog, in November.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
#1
Fear of "Dirty Bombs".
* See also RUSSIA TODAY > ISIS AFTER EU NUCLEAR PLANT? PARIS ATTACKERS SNOOPED ON BELGIUM NUCLEAR BOSS, MEDIA REVEALS.
GERMANY-criticized rundown or discrepit Belgium NucPlant.
A off-duty soldier was killed and another Israeli moderately wounded when two Palestinians stabbed them in a supermarket in the occupied West Bank on Thursday before being shot, officials said.
A 21-year-old victim was taken to Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek hospital in serious condition, where he was pronounced dead after extensive efforts to resuscitate him, a spokeswoman said.
He was later identified by the Israeli army as Tuvia Weissman, a soldier from Maale Mikhmas, a nearby settlement, who was off duty at the time of the attack.
A moderately wounded 36-year-old was being treated in hospital.
Medics said the two had sustained stab wounds to their torsos and that three women who witnessed the attack were being treated for shock.
"Two Palestinians entered the Rami Levi (supermarket) in Shaar Binyamin (industrial zone) and stabbed two Israeli civilians," a police statement said.
"The two terrorists were shot and neutralised by an armed civilian at the site."
A hospital spokeswoman said one of the assailants was in a moderate to serious condition and was being treated for gunshot wounds. The second assailant was in serious condition and being treated at Shaare Zedek.
Palestinian sources said the two assailants were both 14-year-olds.
The supermarket is located in an Israeli-controlled industrial zone near Ramallah frequented by settlers.
Since October 1, Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks have taken the lives of 27 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean, according to an AFP count.
At the same time, 172 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks but others during clashes and demonstrations.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow and Tehran were ready to step up their military cooperation after meeting with his Iranian counterpart on Tuesday.
"I am convinced that our meeting is going to contribute toward reinforcing friendly relations between Russian and Iranian armed forces," said Shoigu in a statement.
Iran's Hossein Dehghan and Shoigu spoke about "the necessary measures for the progressive development" of their military cooperation, based on the accord signed in January between Tehran and Moscow, the statement said.
The two countries are also "ready to coordinate their approaches on a large number of global and regional issues", Shoigu added, speaking in the "context of the growing crisis in the Middle East.
The Russian defense chief did not speak specifically about Syria, where Russia on September 30 sent in its warplanes to lauch air strikes at the request of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... , who is also supported by Iran.
"Our countries face the same challenges and threats in the Middle East region and it is only together that we will be able to fight them," Shoigu said.
Iran and Russia, long-time allies of Syria, have also reinforced their military and nuclear cooperation since the signing in July of an historic accord between Tehran and the world powers on the Iranian nuclear programme.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
"I am convinced that our meeting is going to contribute toward reinforcing friendly relations between Russian and Iranian armed forces," said Shoigu in a statement.
Thanks to Kerry and the Champ, sanctions are now lifted and the checks have cleared.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] U.S. President Barack Obama The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn’t. But she is a typical white person... insisted Tuesday that Russia had made a strategic error in propping up Syrian ruler Bashir al-Assad, but said the conflict was not about him and 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... Predicting a "quagmire" that drains Russia's assets, Obama said "this is not a contest between me and Putin."
"The real question we should be asking is what is it that Russia thinks it gains if it gets a country that's been completely destroyed as an ally, that it now has to perpetually spend billions of dollars to prop up?" Obama said.
"Putin may think that he's prepared to invest in a permanent occupation of Syria with Russian military. That's going to be pretty costly."
"About three-quarters of the country is still under control of folks other than Assad. That's not stopping anytime soon."
Obama said an internationally backed ceasefire due to take effect within a week, would be difficult to achieve, laying some of the blame at Putin's door.
"It's hard to do, because there's been a lot of bloodshed," said Obama.
"If Russia continues indiscriminate bombing of the sort that we've been seeing, I think it's fair to say that you're not gonna see any take-up by the opposition."
Russian bombers have been supporting a Syrian government offensive on Aleppo, and Moscow is Assad's closest ally.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2016 00:00 ||
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#9
Then Russian video was released and people were like
Putin bombing ISIS like whoa
1000 kilogrammers like whoa
Bringing in the Arty like whoa
Gonna build a new base like whoa
So suddenly we discover that there are convoys of vehicles on a trade route with Turkey and we bomb them using A-10s. With leaflets. Then we get around to destroying some of them.
And we were like, "Leaflets? WTF!"
And Erdogon was like, "My money, WTF!"
So here we are, with The White House inventing words like deescalation. Shoot, fellow travelers MsF get bombed and crickets.
So yeah, maybe there isn't a contest, like that white boy in Gran Torino.
And y'all military, I know the house has a smell because of the bats in the attic, it isn't you.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... wants a secure strip of territory 10 km (6.2 miles) deep on the Syrian side of its border, including the town of Azaz, to prevent attempts to "change the demographic structure" of the area, Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said on Wednesday.
Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes have advanced towards the Turkish border in a major offensive in recent weeks. Kurdish militia fighters, regarded by Ankara as hostile murderous Moslems, have taken advantage of the violence to seize territory from Syrian rebels.
Turkey has accused the Kurdish militia of pursuing "demographic change" in northern Syria by forcibly displacing Turkmen and Arab communities. Ankara ultimately fears the creation of an independent Kurdish state occupying contiguous territories currently belonging to Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
"There is a game being played with the aim of changing the demographic structure. Turkey should not be part of this game," Akdogan said in an interview on the AHaber television station.
Rebel stronghold
"What we want is to create a secure strip, including Azaz, 10 km deep inside Syria and this zone should be free from festivities," he said.
Azaz is the last rebel stronghold before the border with Turkey north of the Syrian city of Aleppo, part of what was, before the Syrian government offensive, a supply route from Turkey to the rebels fighting Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... It has come under heavy assault in recent days, but Turkey has said it will not let the town fall into the hands of the Kurdish YPG militia.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Turkey wants more ethnic cleansing? Trying to finish the job? WTF.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/18/2016 8:53 Comments ||
Top||
#2
yeah, ask Israel or Egypt how well that's working.
Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi announced Tehran's willingness to cooperate with Japan in building small nuclear power plants.
Goodie. Let's get one of the most technologically advanced nations to help Iran to build the bomb...
Salehi made the remarks in a meeting with Special Advisor to Japanese Prime Minister Katsuyuki Kawai in Tehran on Tuesday afternoon, Fars News Agency reported on Feb.17.
During the talks, Salehi called for the development of cooperation in scientific and technological fields, adding that Tehran is also interested in cooperation with Tokyo in areas related to nuclear safety, building 100-MW nuclear power plants, and other peaceful uses of nuclear technology.
Kawai, for his part, underlined the need for the expansion of bilateral ties, and said, "Good proposals were raised during the meeting which will be precisely studied by the Japanese government."
Translation: not so fast, buster...
This is while Iranian and Japanese Foreign Ministers Mohammad Javad Zarif and Fumio Kishida in a meeting in Tehran in October had similarly underlined the two countries' resolve to boost cooperation in different arenas, specially in nuclear technology. Salehi visited Tokyo in November 2015 to hold talks with the Japanese officials about expansion of nuclear cooperation, specially safety standards.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/18/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Now that oil prices are down Japan is a little less interested.
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.
The terror group is gaining ground in Libya. But the Obama administration has said no to a Pentagon plan to go after ISIS there.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently ordered preparations for launching "terror" attacks on South Koreans, a top Seoul official said Thursday, as worries about the North grow after its recent nuclear test and rocket launch.
North Korea
[Legal Insurrection] 
Mohmand Agency
Aafia Siddiqui
Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] U.S. President 
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] 
