[An Nahar] Veteran Sudan Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, one of the fiercest critics of President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. 's government, died of a heart attack on Saturday aged 84, state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said.
"The Islamist intellectual Hassan al-Turabi has died," the state broadcaster said.
It interrupted its regular programming and broadcast Islamic verses from the Koran that are recited for the dead.
A medical source earlier told AFP that Turabi was taken to the intensive care unit of Khartoum's Royal Care hospital "after suffering a heart attack in the morning and died" there.
In the evening, an ambulance carrying his body left the hospital for the Turabi family home in the city, an AFP correspondent said.
A key figure in Bashir's regime for a decade after his 1989 coup, Turabi later became one of its fiercest critics and led the opposition in urging a Tunisia-style uprising.
He was detained in May 2010, a month after Sudan's first competitive polls since 1986 for denouncing the election as fraudulent.
Turabi was the only Sudanese politician to support a warrant issued for Bashir's arrest by the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... (ICC) on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide over the regime's conduct of the conflict in Darfur.
After breaking ranks with Bashir he formed his own party, the Popular Congress Party.
Turabi was detained several times over a career spanning four decades, including in January 2009 two days after he urged Bashir to surrender to the ICC.
An ideologue with influence beyond Sudan's borders, Turabi was one of the driving forces behind the introduction of Islamic sharia law in Sudan in 1983, which sparked a devastating 22-year civil war with the mainly Christian, African south that cost an estimated two million lives.
The Western-educated Turabi held a master's degree in law from London and a doctorate from Sorbonne University in Gay Paree.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Check his funeral for a who is who of the international Muslim Brotherhood.
[IsraelTimes] Scientists examining tree rings suggest unprecedented 14-year dry spell that ended in 2012 helped spark Syrian war
Lots of moments in history when bad weather sparked war and insurrection. When you can't feed your family bad things happen.
A recent 14-year dry spell in the Middle East was the worst drought in the past 900 years, according to a new NASA study released this week.
NASA’s researchers examined records of rings of trees in several Mediterranean countries to determine patterns of dry and wet years across a span of nine centuries. They concluded that the years from 1998 to 2012 were drier than any other period, and that the drought was likely caused by humans.
The study’s lead author Ben Cook said the range of extreme weather events in the eastern Mediterranean has varied widely in the past nine centuries, but the past two decades stand out.
"This recent drought falls outside the range of natural variability," he said. Drought has continued in parts of the Middle East, he added.
Cook is a climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York City.
The researchers used records of tree rings in Northern Africa, Greece, Leb, Jordan, Syria and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , and combined the data with records from Spain, southern La Belle France and Italia to examine patterns of drought across time in the region.
They studied rings of trees, both living and dead, that were sampled all over the region. Rings in the trunks of trees represent years. Thin rings indicate dry years; thick rings show years when water was abundant.
Cook said the research supported other studies indicating human causes of extreme climate events.
Last year, researchers at Columbia University and the University of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, Santa Barbara found that drought triggered a collapse in agriculture in Syria and the migration of 1.5 million farmers to the cities, straining resources. The water shortage was one of several contributing factors that had worsened the situation in Syria in the lead-up to the outbreak of that country’s devastating civil war in 2011.
Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, said the NASA study is one of several worrying reports about unprecedented climate conditions. Mann was not involved in NASA’s study.
In an e-mail to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, Mann noted that tree rings "have their limitations and uncertainties," but said "the authors have done a reasonable job in assessing the uncertainties."
#1
"the authors have done a reasonable job in assessing the uncertainties." - Yeah, we sent Rocco and Vinnie over to "explain" to him how unpredictable "uncertainties" could be, especially when there is grant money involved.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/06/2016 12:15 Comments ||
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#11
You're welcome, Whiskey Mike.
We've been following the drought in the Middle East since 2005. See archived articles about Syria here.
One needn't believe in catastophic anthropogenic climate change to see that droughts and floods happen, and that when they go on for years, farmers will be forced off the land. And that desperate people in large numbers are tinder awaiting a spark.
#12
Droughts and floods happen. Those that allow for that survive and thrive. Then those are arrogant and stupid just bumble along till they starve get murdered or get overthrown.
Forrrrr example......the Saudis have pumped 80% of their aquifer's water away. Water stored since the ice age. They depend solely on oil for their wealth with some investments. They have royals and commoners to support, with a populace with a poor work ethic. And an Insh'allah religion to boot.
You use your mind and make your own good news, or you leave it to the Fates. Take your choice and live with the consequences.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/06/2016 15:51 Comments ||
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#3
It's like trying to replace the M2 50 cal. There are just somethings that are so basically good at what they do, replacement is hard and/or too expensive.
[IsraelTimes] The Gazoo terror group’s armed wing is digging tunnels in broad daylight to help smuggle in jihadists for medical care
These bulldozers approach the border, and then abruptly disappear underground, according to sources in the Gaza Strip. Several seconds later, they exit the tunnels, loaded with dirt, and unload it not far from the excavation site.
The Egyptian soldiers stationed on the border of the Gazoo Strip have encountered this sight more than once in the past few weeks: Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-owned bulldozers and tractors appear and begin excavations on the border with the Sinai Peninsula.
Despite promises to Cairo that Hamas is not engaged in the smuggling trade with the Islamic State
Continued on Page 49
[APS.DZ] CHAHID Al-HAFEDH (Sahrawi refugee camps) - The United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon starts Saturday a visit to the refugee camps and the liberated territories of Bir Lehlou.
The visit is part of his tour in the region. The UN Chief is expected Sunday in Algeria to complete his report about the situation in Western Sahara, he will submit to the Security Council in next April.
After having been received on Friday in Nouakchott by Mauritanian President Mohammed Ould Abdelaziz, Ban Ki-moon said that his visit to the region aimed at re-launching negotiations for the settlement of Western Sahara conflict through a referendum on self-determination for the Saharawi people.
According to the plan of this fourth visit paid by a UN Secretary General after Perez De Cuellar, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... , Ban will be welcomed at Tindouf Airport before joining the Sahrawi refugee camp in Smara where he will visit the "17 June School" managed by the UN Organization.
Besides, Ban will meet with Sahrawi young people and students from Smara camp.
The UN Chief will also meet with Polisario Front officials in the Chahid al-Hafedh refugee camp, notably President Mohammed Abdelaziz.
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03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] A U.N. Security Council delegation visiting Mali on Saturday called for faster implementation of a peace deal agreed last year, amid ongoing jihadist violence.
Representatives of the 15 Security Council members met Prime Minister Modibo Keita in the capital Bamako on Saturday before heading for talks with regional authorities in the center and northwest.
French delegate Francois Delattre said the Security Council's main message was "that the priority now is to implement the peace accord, to speed up the implementation of this accord... above all on the ground".
A landmark peace agreement was reached last year between the Mali government and Tuareg-led rebels, but jihadist violence has intensified on the ground and the handling of a return to peace has been criticized by the international community.
Mali's vast, desolate north continues to be beset by violence, having fallen under the control of Tuareg-led rebels and jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda in 2012.
The Islamists sidelined the rebels to take sole control, and although they were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013, Death Eater groups still pose a threat.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon has warned that the future of Libya, and the stability of the whole Sahel region ... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas... , is at stake as it faces the "terrifying threat" of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group.
But he warned international powers not to "stoke the fires of conflict" in the country.
Ban was speaking in Mauritania before heading to Algeria on Saturday as part of a tour of West and North Africa.
While meeting Mauritanian leaders, including President Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz and Prime Minister Yahya Ould Hademine, in the capital Nouakchott on Friday he said he was "deeply concerned about the situation in Libya".
Chaos has engulfed Libya since the 2011 NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... -backed ouster of dictator Moamer Qadaffy and rival administrations are being urged to sign up to a U.N.-brokered national unity government to help restore stability.
The internationally recognised government is based in the far east of the North African country.
The Islamic State group and other bad boy organizations have exploited the power vacuum, making gains along the oil-rich coastal regions and triggering concern among Western nations over jihadists controlling territory just 300 kilometres (185 miles) from Europe.
"There are alarming reports of widespread human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... violations, including serious abuses that may amount to war crimes," Ban said in his comments Friday.
"All those with influence must use it to calm the situation and stop the fighting. It is utterly irresponsible for any outside player to stoke the fires," he added.
Ban said that his special representative Martin Kobler "is facilitating talks on a national unity government" as "we face the terrifying scourge of Daesh [Islamic State] (IS) expanding in Libya and beyond its borders."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
OMG, Spanky and this Pope and their ilk really are stupid aren't they?
[An Nahar] Prime Minister Matteo Renzi cautioned Saturday that any military intervention in Libya by Italia would first need the approval of parliament, and that Rome would not be rushed into action.
Any "Italian commitment" against offshoots of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group in the conflict-torn country "would need to go through the necessary parliamentary and institutional steps", he said in a note to his center-left Democratic Party.
"This is not the time to force things, this is the time for good sense and composure," he warned, after the murder of two Italian hostages in Libya sparked increased pressure at home for the country to send in special forces.
The prime minister repeated that a long-anticipated move against the IS remains on hold as long as Libya has not formed a unified government with the authority to ask for help to stem the myrmidon group's growth.
Italia has agreed to lead a UN-mandated international stabilization force into its troubled former colony, but the sticking point remains getting credible cover from a national authority.
"The situation in Libya is increasingly delicate. 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... ' work to reach a solid and stable agreement on the government is still underway," Renzi said.
Italia needed to be especially cautious following the deaths of two kidnapped Italians in Sabratha near Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , he said.
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03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Despite fears that linking of deadliest terror groups would bring imported muscle and arms into Lake Chad region, Nigerian jihadis seem to have weakened since move.
Shekau’s declaration and the subsequent re-branding of Boko Haram as “Islamic State West Africa Province” or ISWAP caused a reported rift in the Boko Haram hierarchy. Dissenters have reportedly explored closer ties with other jihadi groups in the wider Sahel region.
When Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... pledged allegiance to the Islamic State
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/06/2016 11:29 ||
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#1
thats enough to turn someone a Whiter Shade of Pale.
[APS.DZ] Head of the High Islamic Council of Chad, Sheikh Hussein Hassan Abkar, expressed Thursday in Algiers, his country's willingness to draw on the experience of Algeria "which advocates a moderate Islam against extremism."
In a statement to the press after a meeting with the officials of Ministry of Religious Affairs and Waqf, chaired by Minister Mohammed Aissa, Abkar stressed that "the High Islamic Council of Chad wants to benefit from the Algerian experience in fight against extremism by promoting a moderate Islam."
He indicated having examined with the Minister "important" topics as "the Muslim nation experiences hard times when atrocities are perpetrated in the name of religion by young people with limited knowledge."
Sheikh Abkar stresses that "Islam is innocent of this extremism which hat is now a global scourge."
Chad's High Islamic Council head called for "combining efforts to combat this extremism," recalling that "Africa belongs to a single entity and must remain united facing this threat."
The President of the High Islamic Council in Chad also indicated he requested assistance notably in the training of imams and the construction of an Algerian cultural center in Chad.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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Khaled Hussein al-Yamani, Yemen's permanent representative to the United Nations, has accused the Houthi militias in Yemen of continuing policies of starvation and siege against the Yemeni people.
He called on the international community to make steps to save Yemen's children from Houthi recruitment operations. He also praised the role of the Gulf countries in providing food and medical aid for the Yemeni people.
Aden- Recently, al-Qaeda late leader Ossama bin Laden’s revealed documents let slip of his affiliation with the ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The CIA disclosed documents exposing bin Laden’s attentiveness to the situation in Yemen after the break of demonstrations against Saleh which demanded his deposition, in February 2011.
After the Abbottabad mission which reportedly killed bin Laden in May 2011, the CIA put its hands on 113 documents. The second collection was made available to media outlets last Tuesday, and Asharq Al-Awsat acquired copies of them.
One of the documents showed bin Laden’s refusal on intervening in Yemen , setting out instead an initiative for a breather with Saleh’s administration, because the foundation of supporters he had were not yet prepared to take over control in Yemen.
Bin Laden mentioned, in one of his messages sent to an al-Qaeda appointed prince over the Arab peninsula called Abu Basir, that “the rivals were alert in both Yemen and Afghanistan; however, Yemen hits home for our enemies, for it is located at the Gulf’s heart, which contains the largest oil reserve in the world.”
Bin Laden suggested to mediate with those whom he named “senior wise-men and clan sheikhs”, to arrive at a fair truce that helps Yemen’s stability. However, bin Laden said “Saleh might not be able to agree to the truce, should the government refuse, it would appear to be the one insisting for escalations to take place and that it does not control its fate. Thus, the public’s sympathy with the “Jihadists “will persist and magnify, leaving the opponent responsible for the aftermath and not us. We will show people our concern for the unity of the Islamic nation and the safe being of Muslims in well-founded principals.”
Bin Laden also pointed out that Saleh’s administration would be better than any other authority that will replace it. He stated that “we do not foresee much escalation because we are still in a preparatory phase. It doesn’t play to our best interest to hastily overthrow the regime in Yemen, despite its malfunction and misconduct; it remains to be a better option that the management the U.S. wishes to replace it with.
“Saleh remains incompetent of suppressing Islamic activism, and he being a non-Muslim supporter of the West has served as a shield for Islamic activism over the past few years. Each of the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafists, and Jihadi Salafists benefited from him.”
[An Nahar] Pope Francis has slammed as "diabolical" an attack on an elderly care home 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... in which at least 16 people were killed, including four nuns, the Vatican said Saturday.
"His Holiness Pope Francis was shocked and profoundly saddened to learn of the killing of four Missionaries of Charity (nuns) and 12 others at a home for the elderly in Aden," the Vatican's Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said.
"He sends the assurance of his prayers for the dead and his spiritual closeness to their families and to all affected from this act of senseless and diabolical violence," Cardinal Parolin said in a statement.
Four gunnies stormed the facility housing dozens in Aden's Sheikh Othman district on Friday, killing a guard before tying up and shooting employees, security officials told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Screams of elderly residents echoed from the home during the shooting rampage, witnesses said. Among the dead were four foreign nuns working as nurses.
While security officials initially said they were Indian, the Vatican missionary news agency Fides later identified them as two Rwandans, a Kenyan and an Indian, adding that the mother superior managed to hide and survive.
The Argentine pontiff "prays that this pointless slaughter will awaken consciences, lead to a change of heart, and inspire all parties to lay down their arms and take up the path of dialogue," Parolin said.
"He calls upon all parties in the present conflict to renounce violence, and to renew their commitment to the people of Yemen, particularly those most in need, whom the sisters and their helpers sought to serve," he added.
No group grabbed credit for Friday's attack, the first of its kind in Yemen, where the internationally-recognised government is grappling with an Iran-backed rebellion on one side and a growing jihadist presence on the other.
One official said the attackers were "extremists" and blamed the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group, which has been gaining ground in Aden in recent months.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Thumper Smiter of the Swedes8842 ||
03/06/2016 18:16 Comments ||
Top||
#4
#3 Worst Pope EVER!
This Pontifex Maximus itches
His flock should relinquish its britches:
"It's awfully religious,
This building of bridges
For Muslims to Christendom's riches."
#5
"Step down from my seat of St. Peter?"
"You're such an incredible leader,
Our needs and your talents
Might be more in balance
If you were head Vatican greeter!"
[An Nahar] 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 foreign minister said Saturday the kingdom will keep French military supplies previously intended for Leb under a $3 billion aid program, as Riyadh toughens its stance against Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... Last month the oil-rich Gulf state halted the program in protest against Hizbullah, which Saudi bitterly opposes.
"We didn't stop the contract. It's just going to Saudi Arabia, not to Hizbullah," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a news conference in Gay Paree.
"We have a situation where Leb's decisions have been hijacked by Hizbullah. The contracts will be completed but the clients will be the Saudi military."
On Wednesday the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council declared Hizbullah a "terrorist" group in the latest step against the party as ties between its main backer Iran and regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia deteriorate.
Gulf monarchies had already sanctioned Hizbullah in 2013 in reprisal for its armed intervention in Syria.
Last week Riyadh upped measures against the group, freezing assets and prohibiting dealings with three Lebanese nationals and four companies.
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03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] BNP founder and former military strongman Ziaur Rahman’s younger brother Ahmed Kamal has announced that he would form a new political party soon.
"I cannot control myself seeing the shaky condition of the BNP. Sometimes it hurts me when I see that there is no similarity between Ziaur Rahman’s ideology and the current activities of the BNP," said Kamal, who wanted to float a new party during HM Ershad’s regime but failed.
He was addressing a discussion on Zia’s ideology and restoring endangered democracy at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh yesterday. Former BNP leader Ashraf Hossain, former editor of the daily Dinkal Kazi Siraj and former leader of Bikalpadhara Bangladesh Sheikh Shahidul Islam also addressed the programme among others.
Unmarried and detached from the Zia family for a long time, Kamal claimed that the BNP leadership and its Chairperson the loathesome Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... had been misguided by vested interests and the anti-liberation forces.
"They want to keep the BNP chairperson in dark by giving her false and wrong information. Due to this quarters, from big shots to the grassroots leaders are paying huge pay," he said.
Kamal, who retried from service as a director of Bangladesh Tourism Corporation in 2006, said that there should not be any controversy over the number of deaders in the Liberation War of Bangladesh while Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Ziaur Rahman should be kept above all sorts of controversies. "Everyone should shun the path of mudslinging and dirty politics."
He claimed that hundreds of BNP leaders were on the run and passing a dreadful life. "We have to stand beside these dedicated leaders and bring them to the right path. I will be with you to implement my brother’s ideology and strengthen the party. I do not want to do politics for power. I want to serve the BNP in its crisis times."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Kamal, who retired from service as a director of Bangladesh Tourism Corporation in 2006
Now there's a thankless job
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/06/2016 10:21 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... has suggested building a new city in northern Syria to house some of the millions of refugees escaping the country's civil war, reports said Saturday.
Finally, someone is listening to me...
Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul late Friday that the new city would be located near the Turkish border and said he had even discussed the idea with U.S. President Barack Obama teachable moment... "I am going to tell you something. What is the formula? We found a city in the north of Syria," said Erdogan, quoted by the Anatolia news agency.
He said that the city would be 4,500 square kilometres in area and its infrastructure could be built in cooperation with the international community.
Refugees from Syria could be "resettled" there, he said. Such an area would make the city comparable to some of the largest urban centres in the United States.
"We have discussed this with Mr Obama and even set the coordinates but it has not yet come to fruition," said Erdogan. He gave no timescale for how the project could be realised.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has repeatedly sought to persuade its Western allies to help create a so-called safe zone inside Syria that could house Syrian refugees.
But this appears to to be the first time that Erdogan has proposed building a permanent city in which they could be housed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
likeley importing Islamist Arabs into Kurdish traditional territory.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/06/2016 10:29 Comments ||
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Israel's culture minister had a blunt message on Sunday for liberals worried about what they consider efforts by the government to stifle dissent in the arts: "Cut the bullshit."
Free-speech debate in Israel has grown fierce under conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Non-governmental organizations and artists that document or dramatize conditions for Palestinians complain about legislation scrutinizing their funding. Apparently, being known as a de facto agent of hostile foreign organizations is injurious to your rights
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The White House on Friday played down suggestions that Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... would launch a new peace initiative during a visit to Israel and the West Bank next week. Joe's another foreign policy expert, y'know.
"The vice president will not be carrying any major new initiatives," a senior administration official told news hounds. "It’s an uncertain context in the Israeli-Paleostinian issue."
A five-month wave of violence in Israel and the Paleostinian territories has killed more than 200 people, according to a AFP toll count.
"Obviously we are all watching with great concern the kind of defuse but persistent violence between Paleostinians and Israelis in recent months," the official said.
Biden is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem, and Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... in Ramallah.
He will also meet former Israeli president Shimon Peres. "Peres has had some health issues as of late, and this is basically a friend meeting with another long-standing friend," the official said.
Biden and Netanyahu are expected to discuss the fight against the ISIS group.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Something needs to come out of this to restablish Biden name recognition if they want him to run.
[DAWN] Contrary to fears and apprehensions of the local authorities, protest rallies organised by religious parties and groups against the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri fizzled out on Friday.
To ensure foolproof security, three of the four roads towards the Red Zone in the city were sealed by placing containers and only the Margalla Road was open for traffic.
The main protest in the federal capital was held at Aabpara Chowk which was organised by Namoos-e-Risalat committee, consisting of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... (JI), Jamaat Ahle Sunnat (Barelvi), JUI-F, Aalmi Majlis Tahafuz Khatam-e-Nabuwat, Ansarul Ummah of former holy warrior commander Fazlur Rehman Khalil ...one of the signers of Osama bin Laden's declaration of war against Christians and Jews back in 1998, when he was head of the Bangla jihad movement. The Pak govt's had him under house arrest a few times, but he seems to come and go as he pleases and remains the head of Harkat ul-Mujaheddin... and other smaller groups belonging to both the Barelvi and Deobandi sects.
Incidentally, the proscribed group, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat ...which is the false nose and plastic mustache of the murderous banned extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain, whatcha might call the political wing of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi... (formerly Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain ...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts... ), which has traditionally been a diehard opponent of the Barelvis also participated in the rally.
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03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) demanded on Friday the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the allegations leveled by former MQM senator and Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... nazim ...small time big shot, the chief elected official of a local government in Pakistan, such as a district, tehsil, union council, or village council... , Mustafa Kamal, against the top leadership of his party that "over the years, it has acted hand in glove with the Indian RAW in anti-state activities."
Chief spokesperson of the party, Naeemul Haq, in a press statement said that the nature of charges in which Mr Kamal had by name accused former interior minister of the PPP government and incumbent senator, Rehman Malik Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship. , and MQM chief the increasingly enormousAltaf Hussain ..The head of MQM in Pakistain, who has lived in London and hasn't laid eyes on Pakistain since Caesar made corporal. Judging from the size of him,he may be a Hutt... , was too serious to be ignored and must be investigated at the highest forum. "How can one ignore the claims made by one of MQM’s very own," he said.
At a presser on Thursday, Mr Kamal and former MQM deputy convener, Anis Kaimkhani, made startling revelations that the two had personally witnessed how the party leadership was involved with RAW and how Mr Malik, being the interior minister, was also privy to all this.
"For around three decades, we have been hearing similar allegations against the MQM leadership. Now the time has come to put the true facts before the general masses without any give and take," Mr Haq said in the statement.
The PTI information secretary stressed that the assertions made by Mr Kamal shouldn’t be ignored and a judicial commission was the best option to put the controversy to an end.
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03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Several Syrian opposition groups have requested protection from Moscow as the 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... snuffies launch manhunt for those participating in a recently announced ceasefire, the Russian military says.
"They are asking us to provide their security and defend them from faceless myrmidons of the Daesh [Islamic State] group and other terrorist organizations who declared a manhunt for opposition figures signing ceasefire agreements," said the head of the Russian truce center in Syria, Lieutenant General Sergey Kuralenko, on Saturday.
The ceasefire agreement, recently brokered by the United States and Russia, does not cover areas under the control of Daesh [Islamic State] and the al-Qaeda--affiliated al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front.
"From our part, we will help ensure the security of the leaders of the Syrian opposition units and heads of local administrations who signed agreements to end fighting and to start the reconciliation process," Kuralenko said.
He added that since the center opened last week in Russia’s Hmeimim military base in Syria, 23 meetings had been held with opposition forces.
"During even this short period of time, we have noticed drastic changes in the process of the talks," he said.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, around 30 opposition groups have so far joined the truce and six more are currently engaged in negotiations.
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, Jack stuck the cigar in his mouth, stepped onto the gantry, and asked Got a light, Mac?
Von Schtinken stopped short, lowering the dagger and trying to control his features.
If you light that thing, Herr Armschtröng, he pointed out, his voice tense, we all die!... UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura noted that the latest round of Syria peace talks would get a staggered start later in the week.
"I see us beginning on (Thursday) March 10 when we will launch the process," he added.
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03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] One of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition groups elected a new leader Saturday after the term of its former chief ended, it said in a statement.
The The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... -based Syrian National Coalition said longtime member Anas al-Abda was elected president, replacing Khaled Khoja. It added that three other officials from the group have been named vice presidents.
The coalition was once the main Western-backed opposition group. It is currently part of the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee, which was to represent the opposition in indirect peace talks with the Syrian government next week in Geneva.
However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... the talks was thrown into doubt Friday, when HNC chief Riad Hijab said that circumstances were not suitable to resume the talks next week.
Despite a truce brokered by the US and Russia, Syrian military operations are still ongoing, detainees have not been released by Damascus and little aid is entering rebel-held besieged areas, Hijab said in Gay Paree.
The cease-fire went into effect on Feb. 27 and since then violence has dropped. The cease-fire does not include the ISIS group and the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria known as the Nusra Front.
The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that tracks Syria's civil war, reported on Saturday that during the first week of the cease-fire, 132 people, including 35 civilians, were killed in areas included in the agreement.
The group said another 552 people were killed in areas where ISIS has a significant presence.
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03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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[ALMANAR.LB] The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) navy commander said likened the Saudi-led aggression against 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 the war launched by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
It is not only 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... but also the world, led by the US and its dirty puppets, who are fighting against the Yemenis, said Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi a local ceremony in Qom.
Saudi regime was the initiator of the war in Yemen, Fadavi said, adding war in Yemen is similar to the war imposed by Saddam Hussein against Iran.
During the 1980-1988 imposed Iran-Iraq war, it superficially seemed that Iraq was the side against Iran, but they were truly over 54 countries which were supporting Iraq, said Fadavi, IRNA news agency reported.
These days, he added, Yemen is also witnessing such a situation that Iran experienced.
Fadavi said that the US and the Zionist regime are major trail-blazers in taking military action against Yemen, noting that the news about the oppressed Yemen is not broadcast thoroughly.
During the past year, Saudi Arabia has not been able to take any effective step against Yemen, he stressed, adding the Yemenis have relied on power of God.
Saudi Arabia with the help of nine other Arab countries except Oman has been mounting massive attacks on Yemen since March 26, 2015.
Since then, thousands of Yemenis including children and women have been killed and tens of thousands have been displaced.
Referring to January arrest by IRGC forces of the American sailors who entered Iran's territorial waters illegally, Fadavi said none of world states, even members of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... (EU), dare to hold up the US non-military boats even for a judicial case.
However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... he added, the IRGC naval forces did so and stopped the US military boats as a normal and routine mission.
The American sailors were freed after the country apologized to Iran for illegal entry.
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03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... must leave office as soon as a transitional authority is set up, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Saturday, insisting there is no way he can retain power.
Talks between the regime and Syrian opposition, due to resume next week in Geneva, aim to set up a political transition process to end the country's five-year-old war. A U.N.-brokered international roadmap foresees a transitional authority by the middle of this year and elections by mid-2017.
"Assad has to leave at the beginning of the process," the Saudi minister, whose country backs the Syrian opposition, told news hounds in Gay Paree. Referring to the sequence of events, he said: "There is a transitional body, power shifts from Assad to the transitional body, and then he goes."
After that "the transitional body drafts a constitution, prepares for elections. Some are arguing that no, Bashar leaves at the elections in 18 months, that's not how we think.
"For us it is very clear, he leaves at the beginning of the process, not at the end."
Syria peace talks set for March 9 will begin the following day with participants due to arrive in Geneva over several days, U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura said earlier Saturday.
A first round of talks in early February was cut short amid intensifying Russian air strikes in Syria in support of Assad's forces.
But a fragile ceasefire drawn up by Russia and the United States and backed by the U.N. Security Council that entered into force on February 27 is now in its second week, despite accusations of violations.
The Saudi minister said there was no possibility that Assad could remain in power.
"The Syrian people have spoken when they took up arms against Bashir al-Assad and their message is very very clear: he is not going to be their president... they have already decided with their feet, with their guns," he said.
Discussing Syrian opposition reluctance to travel to Geneva to resume peace talks, he admitted that "they can't go into talks empty-handed".
Syria's main opposition leader Riad Hijab said Friday that conditions were not yet right for talks to resume, stressing shortfalls in humanitarian aid and breaches of the ceasefire implemented a week ago.
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03/06/2016 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[An Nahar] Veteran Sudan Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, one of the fiercest critics of President 
International Criminal Court
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
Joe 
[DAWN] Contrary to fears and apprehensions of the local authorities, protest rallies organised by religious parties and groups against the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri fizzled out on Friday.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
