[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The First Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum ...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier... accused President Ghani of nepotism and slammed Chief Executive Abdullah for being an incapable leader.
The latest remarks by Gen. Dostum unveils the persistent rift among the leaders of the government of national unity amid tense security situation in the country.
Speaking to a gathering in northern Jawzjan province following a military operation led by him, Gen. Dostum said President Ghani prefers those speaking Pashto and individuals belonging to his province are even more important to him.
Gen. Dostum further added the Chief Executive Abdullah is an incapable leader and has lost his fame among the Tajiks of the country despite he ethnically a Tajik.
The First Vice President appears to have adopted a similar stance the Chief Executive Abdullah adopted earlier in August.
Abdullah President Ghani as unfit for the office, during a gathering in 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.... as he was addressing a group of young people in his office garden.
The Chief Executive said he had struggled to achieve much progress with President Ghani during the two years of their government on the issue of electoral reform.
He said President Ghani is not having time for him even in months so that he can have one-on-one meeting with him.
Abdullah insisted that "if someone does not have the patience for discussion, then they are not fit for the presidency, either."
The Presidential Palace issued a statement and expressed regrets regarding Abdullah’s remarks, saying such remarks are not in line with the standards and spirit of governance, insisting that principles and legal criteria forms the basis of governance based on which the executive steps are taken.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2016 00:00 ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] 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.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group is attempting to establish a caliphate inside Afghanistan, the top US commander in Afghanistan has said.
General John Nicholson who is also in command of the 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... -led Resolute Support Mission (RSM) in Afghanistan has said the majority of the ISIS fighters in Afghanistan are foreigners.
"Right now we see them very focused on trying to establish their caliphate, the Khorasan caliphate, inside Afghanistan," General Nicholson told NBC News.
He said the push is "principally a non-Afghan movement", adding that the U.S. has seen imported muscle, particularly Uzbeks from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, joining the Islamic State Khorasan, or IS-K.
Gen. Nicholson further addded that the U.S. also sees many Pak Pashtun from the Pak Taliban who joined IS-K moving into Afghanistan to fight.
According to Gen. Nicholson, the IS-K is "completely rejected by the Afghan people," and explained that the broader ISIS philosophy is "the antithesis of Afghan culture."
"With our Afghan partners, we’ve been able to reduce that territory significantly and inflict heavy casualties on them to include killing their leaders," he said.
Both the Afghan forces and the US forces in Afghanistan are conducting regular raids against the Taliban snuffies and ISIS loyalist in the districts where they are conducting insurgency activities.
The US forces increased Arclight airstrikes against the Taliban snuffies and ISIS loyalists earlier this year after the B.O. regime granted a broader role to the American forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder what the Paks/Taliban think of all this...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/26/2016 14:15 Comments ||
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#2
I thought that there could be only one. Caliph that is. ISIS already has a caliph.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/26/2016 14:17 Comments ||
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[Libya Herald] In the last 15 days in 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... , six drivers have been killed by carjackers in the course of the theft of 37 vehicles at gun point.
The extent of the collapse in security in the capital is made clear by figures just released from Tripoli Security Room, part of the interior ministry.
It shows that as part of this violent crime spree, there were also 19 kidnappings, during which four people, including two females, were shot. The extent of their injuries was not made clear.
In addition there were 29 reported armed robberies. Gunmen variously held up shopkeepers, taxis where they robbed drivers and passengers and trucks, from which goods were taken.
These 85 gun crimes work out at almost six a day.
It is very likely that there have been more violent crimes which have gone unreported to the police. In the case of kidnappings, relatives fear that involving the authorities will only make matters worse.
One Tripoli merchant, who had been robbed twice by young gunnies last year told the Libya Herald that he saw no point in reporting the crimes to the police. "Unless they catch these guys red-handed, there is nothing that they can do".
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2016 00:00 ||
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All lies!
DUBAI: The Saudi-led coalition denied on Tuesday it had imposed a “blockade” on Yemen, saying instead that it was only controlling access to the country to prevent pro-Iran rebels from obtaining arms.
“No, there is no blockade,” coalition spokesman Major General Ahmed Assiri told AFP.
“There is control based on international law... Control is different from blockade, which means that nobody can enter or leave” the country, he said.
Assiri also spoke of “restriction” and “controlled freedom of movement.”
“If a boat leaves from Djibouti, before reaching Hodeida (port in western Yemen), our forces board the vessel to ensure the cargo is legal and complies with Resolution 2216,” adopted by the UN Security Council in April 2015 and prohibiting the delivery of arms to the rebels in Yemen, he said.
The coalition, which began its bombing campaign against rebels in Yemen in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government, accuses Iran of arming the Houthi insurgents and their allies.
The United States has made similar accusations, but Tehran denies the charges.
Saying that Yemen has been under blockade since March 2015 “gives the wrong impression,” Assiri said.
Ships carrying food and medical aid as well as people and goods have reached “all ports, including those controlled by the Houthis” such as Hodeida, he said.
But he acknowledged that only “aircraft from humanitarian organizations and the United Nations” can land or take off from rebel-controlled capital Sanaa.
“They are the only aircraft that do not undergo inspection,” he said.
Asked why commercial aircraft from national carrier Yemenia can no longer operate in Sanaa, stranding thousands of civilians, Assiri said this was to ensure passenger safety and that the airline was not used by the rebels to transfer arms.
He said that planes can use the airport in second city Aden which pro-government forces recaptured with the help of the coalition in July 2015.
If the road between Sanaa and Aden is too risky for civilian use, “it’s because of the Houthis,” he said.
“We are not angels,” he said. “But this is an exceptional period that requires exceptional measures.”
“We understand the difficulties facing the population in Yemen, but the situation has changed” because of the war.
On humanitarian aid, Assiri said the “problem is not that it is not coming to Yemen, but who controls it” once it enters.
He accused the rebels of blocking aid outside the government-held city of Taiz, which the insurgents have besieged for months, or at Hodeida.
They “sell it for prices three to 10 times higher, or use it to feed their troops or pressure tribes that do not work with them,” he charged.
Nearly 6,900 people have been killed in the Yemen conflict, more than half of them civilians, an additional three million have been displaced and millions more need food aid.
[Iran Press TV] The European Commission, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... ’s executive arm, has moved to extend by three more months regulations requiring border controls in its visa-free travel area of Schengen.
The commission said on Tuesday that it was not yet on the position to restore full functioning with no border controls across the Schengen, recommending continued checks at the borders of Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and non-EU Norway for three months starting in November.
The European Commission was expected to allow the removal of the controls in Schengen, an area which includes 22 EU countries as well as Norway, Iceland, Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... and Liechtenstein, but it said a continued influx of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa into Europe was the main reason for missing the target.
European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said in a statement that the border controls were needed to prevent secondary movements of "a significant number" of irregular refugees that still remained in Greece and in other member states.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2016 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] 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 a state of emergency declared in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... following the abortive July 15 military coup has been used by police forces to torture and abuse people tossed in the clink You have the right to remain silent... In a 43-page report published on Tuesday, the New York-based rights group said that a "climate of fear" prevails in Turkey since the failed putsch.
"By removing safeguards against torture, the Turkish government effectively wrote a blank check to law enforcement agencies to torture and mistreat detainees as they like," said Hugh Williamson, HRW's Europe and Central Asia director.
The watchdog cited 13 cases of alleged abuse, including torture, sleep deprivation, severe beatings, sexual abuse and rape threats among people arrested in the post-coup crackdown.
It further detailed examples of detainees with bruises on their body and said that some lawyers were too scared to record evidence that their clients had been subjected to torture.
"There was not a part of (a detainee's) body that was not covered in bruises," an unnamed forensic specialist told HRW.
An unidentified Istanbul-based lawyer also said that her client had confirmed that officers "threatened to rape them and their wives."
The report also quoted a police officer telling a detainee, "Because of the state of emergency, nobody will care if I kill you. I will just say I shot you while you tried to run away."
The HRW report was based on interviews between August and September with 40 people, including lawyers, human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... activists, former detainees, medical personnel and forensic specialists.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag on Tuesday urged Washington to extradite the alleged July coup criminal mastermindFethullah Gulen ... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world... to avoid damaging bilateral ties, comparing him to slain al-Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest... The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... wants the US-based preacher to be sent home to face charges of "ordering the July 15 failed coup" during which a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... from power.
"If (Gulen) is not extradited or the process is dragged out, this will have a negative impact on relations between America and Turkey.
"What we want now is for relations not to come to a negative point because of a terrorist. That is our wish, "Bozdag told news hounds at Ankara airport, quoted by the official Anadolu news agency.
Gulen strongly denies the accusations.
Bozdag added that "everything Bin Laden represents to the United States, Fethullah Gulen represents for the Turkish state."
He was speaking ahead of flying to the US where he will meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to discuss Gulen and the aftermath of the attempted putsch.
For Gulen’s extradition, the US insists legal provisions must be met.
During a visit to Turkey in August, US 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... insisted that Washington has no wish to protect anyone harming an ally, while adding that "we need to meet the legal standard requirement under our law".
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2016 00:00 ||
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Maybe I'll move to Israel where the leaders make sense.
[Yahoo] Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday that Israel's next war with Gaza militants would be their last "because we will completely destroy them," but added he remains committed to a two-state solution.
Lieberman, speaking in an interview with Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds, said however that he did not want another war in Gaza, which would be the fourth since 2008.
The outspoken former foreign minister urged Palestinians to pressure Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, to "stop your crazy policies".
"As minister of defence, I would like to clarify that we have no intention of starting a new war against our neighbours in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, Lebanon or Syria," he told the Jerusalem-based newspaper.
- Criticising Abbas -
"But in Gaza, like the Iranians, they intend to eliminate the state of Israel... If they impose the next war on Israel, it will be their last. I would like to emphasise again: It will be their last confrontation because we will completely destroy them."
Lieberman is part of what is seen as the most right-wing government in Israeli history, with several prominent members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition openly opposing a Palestinian state.
But while he lives in a West Bank settlement and is known as a security-minded hardliner, Lieberman believes in a two-state solution to the conflict based on land swaps.
He reiterated that position in the interview, saying he sees the main settlement blocks in the occupied West Bank remaining part of Israel under a final peace deal.
He raised the possibility of trading Arab areas of Israel on the edge of the northern West Bank, such as the city of Umm al-Fahm, in exchange for settlements.
Land swaps have long been part of proposals to resolve the decades-old conflict, but the two sides remain far apart on issues such as the status of Jerusalem and the return of Palestinian refugees.
Peace efforts have been at a complete standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014.
- 'Sermons and lies' -
"Today, I think the majority of our people do not believe it is possible to reach any agreement regarding the final status solution, and the same with the Palestinians," said Lieberman.
"The first step would be convincing the people it is possible by making serious improvements in the state of the economy and fighting unemployment, poverty and misery among the Palestinians. And for Israelis, provide security without terrorism or bloodshed for a while."
He spoke of a period of three years without violence and with economic improvement in the Palestinian territories as being capable of leading to progress.
Lieberman, who took office in May, also criticised Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, accusing him of failing to make compromises.
He predicted Abbas would lose if elections were held, with polls showing most Palestinians would like the 81-year-old to resign.
Such elections could lead to Hamas taking power in the West Bank, where Abbas's secular Fatah party dominates, but Lieberman said he believed a different outcome was possible.
"There are enough sensible people in the (Palestinian Authority) who understand the situation and know if there is a choice to make between Hamas and Israel, they think partnering with Israel will be better for them," said the leader of the hardline nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Is Our Home) party.
Lieberman has recently spoken of trying to bypass Palestinian leaders and reach out directly to communities, and his interview appeared to be part of that effort.
Al-Quds, the top-selling paper in the Palestinian territories, was heavily criticised on social media by Palestinians who say it should not have agreed to the interview as it amounted to sanctioning "normalisation" with an occupying power.
The Palestinian foreign ministry accused Lieberman of "promoting a bunch of sermons and lies that contradict signed agreements and violate international law."
Before taking over as defence minister, Lieberman made a series of controversial statements, including one directed at Ismail Haniya, Hamas's Gaza leader.
Lieberman said he would give Haniya 48 hours to hand over two detained Israeli civilians and the bodies of soldiers killed in a 2014 war "or you're dead".
He has since backed off and said he is committed to "responsible, reasonable policy".
#1
If there is another war the Israeli's should relocate the Palestians in North Gaza down into South Gaza. Declare war, lose half your land. Declare war again... Even the dimwitted Palestinians would get the message.
On the cleared section the Israeli's should level everything and plant whatever crops can grow in that area or something but don't build.
[IsraelTimes] Senior Paleostinian officials say around $120 million of financial aid withheld over last 6 months without explanation
Without providing prior warning or an explanation to Ramallah, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... has been holding back financial aid earmarked for the Paleostinian Authority for over six months, senior PA officials say.
Saudi Arabia had been paying $20 million a month to the PA as aid to the cash-strapped Paleostinian government in the West Bank when it suddenly shut the tap.
While there has been no official announcement from either Riyadh or Ramallah, The Times of Israel has learned that the payments stopped over half a year ago with no clear reason given for the cessation.
Paleostinian sources said that several emissaries from the Paleostinian Authority have attempted to find out the reasons for the funding freeze but were not given full answers by the Saudi government.
The Paleostinian Authority is working on the assumption that the freeze is due to an across-the-board cut in Saudi Arabia’s funding of foreign countries based on its own budgetary strains, but some sources assess that Riyadh may be unhappy with PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... In recent weeks, Abbas has locked horns with a number of Arab leaders who have been pressuring him to patch up differences within Fatah and make peace with former Gazoo strongman Mohammad Dahlan, considered a main rival.
Those leaders have included King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... of Saudi Arabia, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Jordan’s King Abdullah and United Arab Emirates President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Abbas’s fierce opposition to Dahlan’s return is both personal and political.
Dahlan is regarded as close to the UAE’s ruler and the Egyptian president, and his name is mentioned -- mainly by Israeli commentators -- as a contender to replace Abbas when the time comes.
Abbas fell out with Dahlan after the latter made thinly veiled corruption allegations against the PA president’s two businessman sons in 2010. Earlier this year, Abbas countered that Arab leaders should stop meddling in internal Paleostinian affairs -- rare public criticism of Arab allies by a leader whose people depend on Arab financial and diplomatic support.
With around $120 million of Saudi aid having been withheld so far, the freeze in funds threatens to cause serious budgetary problems for the Paleostinian Authority.
Earlier this month the PA lost another key source of funding with a UK government decision to cut a third of its aid to Ramallah because of its payment of stipends to the families convicted terrorist serving time in Israeli prison. The UK Department for International Development ordered a review of the PA’s role in funding salaries to terrorists, effectively freezing some £25 million (roughly $30 million) in the current fiscal year, or about one-third of the UK’s total aid to the PA, according to a report in the Sun daily.
The two developments could spell financial disaster for the PA, which relies heavily on foreign aid. In 2012 Saudi Arabia helped prevent a financial crisis by transferring $100 million to the PA, days after then-prime minister Salam Fayyad ...Fayyad's political agenda holds that neither violence nor peaceful negotiations have brought the Paleostinians any closer to an independent state. The alternative to both, violent negotiations, doesn't seem to be working too well, either... warned of a imminent catastrophe.
[IsraelTimes] Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday postponed a meeting to nominate a new ambassador to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... The meeting, scheduled for October 27, has been pushed off and no new date has been set, according to Channel 2.
A Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed to The Times of Israel that the meeting had been delayed, but did not offer an explanation.
The recent reconciliation deal hit a bump last week, however, when a Turkish court refused to dismiss a case against members of the Israeli military, a key condition of the agreement. Dismissing the legal charges against IDF officers connected to a 2010 naval raid on a Turkish flotilla trying to breach Israel’s blockade of the Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,-controlled Gazoo Strip was a central Israeli condition for the June agreement.
Appointing a new ambassador is a key component of the agreement. Earlier this month, Turkish media reported that Kemal Okem, a close associate of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... , had been selected as Turkey’s ambassador to Israel.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/26/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] An Iranian-American held in Tehran has reportedly been sentenced to 18 years in prison for "collaboration with a hostile government," becoming yet another dual national convicted in a secret trial since Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
The sentence handed down to Robin Shahini, a 46-year-old graduate student who lives in San Diego, is the harshest yet for those detained in what analysts believe is hard-liner plan to use them as bargaining chips in future negotiations.
Shahini tells Vice News in an interview aired late on Monday that he "just laughed" after hearing his sentence. He acknowledges supporting the protests that followed Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election, but denies being involved in any sort of spying.
"Whatever information they had is all the pictures I posted in Facebook, in my web blog, and they use all those evidence to accuse me," Shahini says in a telephone call from prison.
Iranian judiciary officials do not respond to request for comment from The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, nor does Iran’s mission to the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... In a statement, the US State Department says it is troubled by reports of Shahini’s sentence.
"We reaffirm our calls on Iran to respect and protect human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... and fundamental freedoms, cease arbitrary and politically motivated detentions and ensure fair and transparent judicial proceedings," it says.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/26/2016 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Russia has announced plans to extend a week-long suspension of Arclight airstrikes targeting foreign-backed 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... Lions of Islam in Syria’s battered northwestern city of Aleppo.
Speaking at a news briefing in Moscow on Tuesday, Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff said that Russian and Syrian jets have stayed 10 kilometers away from Aleppo since October 18.
"The moratorium on Arclight airstrikes by Russian and Syrian planes around the city will be extended," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2016 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.
...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier...
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The 
[Iran Press TV] 
Joe 
