[National Review] Fort Bragg, N.C. -- Captain Ivan Castro will tell you he’s an ordinary man, basically. You may wish to disagree. He is an officer in the U.S. Special Forces, and blind. He was blinded while fighting in Iraq about two and a half years ago. He did not then leave the military. He persevered, to an astonishing degree. He has attracted interest all over the country, as well he might.
#1
I wonder if those people sued too soon, While Obama is still in office, this lawsuit may be dismissed. If the lawsuit filers waited until Trump take office, they may be able to prevail?
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs failed to capture strategic cities in northern Kunduz and southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province of Afghanistan despite launching major attacks repeatedly, the Minister of Defense Adullah Habibi said Monday.
Briefing the politicians in the Lower House of the Parliament, Wolesi Jirga, Minister Habibi said the Talibs used all force to capture the two strategic cities besides aiming to capture several provinces.
Habibi further added that three major attacks on Kunduz city and two large attacks on Lashkargah city in Helmand were carried out by the murderous Moslems but the Afghan forces managed to repulse their offensive.
According to Habibi, the Afghan forces conducted over one thousand operations to suppress the murderous Moslems activities and the reinforcement and equipping of the Afghan forces continue.
He said hundreds of armored personnel carriers and weapons of different types were delivered to the armed forces during the year and the recruitment of the Afghan army continues smoothly.
Habibi also added that the Afghan forces went through a major test this year but successfully continued to their operations.
The remarks by Minister Habibi came as the Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant across the country since the group announced its spring offensive in mid-April this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2016 00:00 ||
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Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery has ordered a fresh review of the list of refugees in Daadab camp to weed out fraudsters. Nkaissery said there are many cases of double registration of refugees.
The cases comprise of refugees who have irregularly registered as Kenyans on one hand, and on the other, Kenyans who have registered as refugees. He said this is an offense under the Registration of Persons Act, the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act and the Refugee Act 2006.
The verification process will start on Monday and end on December 31, 2016.
“Those living outside the camp, should report at the nearest Deputy Commissioner’s office while those at the camp should report to the office of the Deputy County Commissioner at the camp for the exercise”, the CS said.
Nkaissery’s directive comes after the government decided to delay by six months the closure of the the world’s largest refugee camp after calls by the UN and aid groups to postpone it on humanitarian grounds.
Dadaab, currently home to an estimated 350,000, was opened in 1991 as a temporary shelter for people fleeing civil war in neighbouring Somalia. In May, the government cited security concerns as it announced that the vast camp in Northeast Kenya near the Somali border would be shut down.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/20/2016 00:00 ||
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The UN-mandated African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has been accused of killing civilians in two separate incidents over this week in Lower Shabelle region, south of the horn of Africa country.
At least 6 people, including women and children were killed after AMISOM troops struck a minibus carrying vegetables in the outskirts of Qoryoley district in Lower Shabelle region on Friday night.
In a separate incident, AMISOM soldiers shot dead a mother and her four kids at El Weregow area located near the port town of Marka, about 110Km south-west of Somali capital on Sunday afternoon.
Last week, an armored personnel carrier belonging to AMISOM hit and killed a woman in a road accident in Mogadishu’s KM-4 junction. The convoy left from the scene without paying attention to the incident.
Nur Osman Rageh, the administrator of Shalanbod district urged the federal government of Somalia to take measure to end the recurrent and indiscriminate killings against the civilians by AMISOM forces.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/20/2016 00:00 ||
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European Union (EU) said Monday it will open a new office in Mogadishu which is aimed at facilitating its developmental projects in Somalia, the conflict-riddled horn of Africa county.
EU officials met high-ranking Somali officials from Benadir regional administration and the planning and international relations ministry in Mogadishu today.
Both sides have discussed on ways to boost up the launching of the EU’s new office.
EU has already opened several key offices, including diplomatic missions office which are based in the heavily fortified Mogadishu international airport under African Union forces protection.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/20/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
How fucked are these guys (the people who made the decision and the people who will be manning that office)?
British-supplied BL-755 cluster munitions have admittedly been used in Yemen by Arab Coalition member states, however,there has been an adamant confirmation that coalition military forces will no longer use them, Britain’s defense minister Michael Fallon said on Monday.
Fallon said Britain had not supplied Saudi Arabia with the cluster munitions since 1989 and that the country signed the convention on cluster munitions in 2008.
“However, Saudi Arabia has now confirmed that it will not further use BL-755 cluster munitions and I welcome that.”
“The coalition confirmed earlier today that a limited number of BL-755 cluster munitions exported from the United Kingdom in the 1980s were dropped in Yemen,” he told parliament, adding that the Saudi government said they were used against a “legitimate military target”.
The Arab Coalition is a military intervention in Yemen seeking to bolster and anchor the constitutionally elected government back to power, after militias either backed by Iran or loyalists supporting former president Ali Abdullah Saleh have sought an armed putsch.
In a statement issued on Monday, the Coalition said that “the BL-755 cluster munitions used sometime between December 2015-January 2016 in the vicinity of Al Khadra in Yemen, the Coalition Forces Supporting Legitimacy in Yemen, would like to make the following clarification:
“It must be recalled that international law does not ban the use of cluster munitions. Some States have undertaken a commitment to refrain from using cluster munitions by becoming party to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. Neither the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia nor its Coalition partners are State Parties to the 2008 Convention, and accordingly, the Coalition’s use of cluster munitions does not violate the obligations of these States under international law.”
[Dhaka Tribune] Minister of Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal laid down this year’s restriction on celebrating the New Year and said major churches around the country will receive police protection during Christmas.
The minister says there will be a complete ban on all public gatherings, demonstrations, and celebrations nationwide after 6pm.
He says parties can only be held indoors after taking permission from the authorities.
The minister noted that fireworks are not permitted to be used either.
In addition, pubs have been ordered to close after 6pm as well.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2016 00:00 ||
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[REUTERS] President 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... said on Monday that the killing of Russia's ambassador to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... was a despicable provocation aimed at spoiling Russia-Turkey ties and derailing Moscow's attempts to find, with Iran and Turkey, a solution for the Syria crisis.
In televised comments, Putin, speaking at a special meeting in the Kremlin, ordered security at Russian embassies around the world to be stepped up and said he wanted to know who had "directed" the gunman's hand.
He heaped praise on the murdered Russian ambassador, Andrei Karlov, who was shot in the back and killed as he gave a speech at an Ankara art gallery, and made clear that Moscow's response to his liquidation would be robust.
"A crime has been committed and it was without doubt a provocation aimed at spoiling the normalization of Russo-Turkish relations and spoiling the Syrian grinding of the peace processor which is being actively pushed by Russia, Turkey, Iran and others," said a stern-faced Putin.
"There can only be one response - stepping up the fight against terrorism. The bandidos will feel this happening."
Putin, who said he personally knew the slain envoy, said he had agreed in a phone call with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan that Russian Sherlocks would soon fly to Ankara to help the Turks with the investigation.
"We must know who directed the killer's hand," Putin told Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Sergei Naryshkin, the head of his SVR foreign intelligence service, and Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the domestic FSB security service.
Putin ordered security at Turkish diplomatic facilities in Russia to be stepped up and said he wanted guarantees from Turkey about the safety of Russian diplomatic facilities.
"I also ask you to implement the agreed proposals on strengthening security at Russian diplomatic facilities abroad," Putin told the meeting.
The foreign and defense ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey are due to discuss the future of Syria in Moscow on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
ordered security at Russian embassies around the world to be stepped up
#5
Peace process: a farce by which wars are made more destructive, prolonged, and which results in no clear victory. This sets the stage for decades more violence, but keeps those running the "peace process" employed and influential.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
12/20/2016 8:31 Comments ||
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#6
Those 18 Russian agencies likely include Spetznaz.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
12/20/2016 8:43 Comments ||
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#7
Putin blames attack on video in 1000100010101, 1000100010100. 1000100010099......
[DAWN] HYDERABAD: A contradiction in the versions of police and Rangers with regard to the Friday incident, in which a would-be jacket wallah was killed by law enforcers in Hyderabad, emerged when the A-Section police registered the case.
Airport SHO Anwar Khanzada, lodged the case at the A-Section cop shoppe of Latifabad stating that he, along with a team of his subordinates, was on patrolling the road along Daman-e-Kohsar when he spotted two suspicious persons in the Amani Shah graveyard. One of them fired on his team which was returned, he further stated, adding that during the encounter one of the two suspects fell down. Later, he stated, a boom jacket was found around his body which was defused by the bomb disposal squad.
The version contradicts the Rangers’ blurb issued soon after the incident on Friday.
The blurb had stated that a would-be suicide bomber tried to enter an Imambargah ...since Pakistain is very religiously correct, Shia Moslems can't call their houses of worship 'mosques,' which are reserved for Sunnis. It's not clear if imambargahs are used for explosives storage like mosques are... [Bab-e-Ali situated a few metres away from the Amani Shah graveyard on Daman-e-Kohsar road] while Juma prayers were under way. It said that while trying to enter the Imambargah, he lobbed a grenade at a Rangers mobile team.
The Rangers personnel responded swiftly and he was killed. His accomplice fled," it added.
The case is being investigated by Latifabad DSP Ayub Durrani.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde... the body is still lying in the mortuary of Liaquat University Hospital’s city branch. Police wrote letter to Nadra regional office so that fingerprints of the alleged terrorist could be obtained to establish his identity. The Latifabad police have also approached National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) regional office in this regard.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Terrorist groups based in the Pak-Afghan border region remain a security challenge to both countries and pose a threat to regional stability and peace, says Pentagon, the US defence department.
In a report -- ’Enhancing security and stability in Afghanistan’ -- released this week, the Pentagon also emphasised the need for increased military collaboration between Pakistain and Afghanistan for defeating terrorism.
"The Afghanistan-Pakistain border region remains a sanctuary for various groups," claims the report, adding that they include the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... , the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, the murderous MoslemIslamic 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 (ISIS-Khorasan) and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
The Pentagon identifies the AQIS as an Al Qaeda affiliate which recruits fighters from the larger South and Central Asian region, noting that it poses a direct threat to US interests in the area.
"The United States continues to be clear with Pakistain about steps it should take to improve the security environment and deny safe havens to terrorist and bully boy groups," the report said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2016 00:00 ||
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[UPI] When Hezbollah went to war with Israel in 2006, estimates suggest it had approximately 13,000 short-range rockets. Now it could have more than 100,000, including weapons with greater accuracy, range and payloads.
Hezbollah has acquired the Russian-made SA-17 "Buk," a medium-range air defense missile originally sold to Syria that has a range of 31 miles and can target aircraft flying at altitudes of 78,000 feet.
The SA-17, which Israel went to great lengths to prevent Hezbollah from acquiring, represents the Lebanese group's most potent air defense weapon and puts all Israeli aircraft within reach.
Israel also says Hezbollah is constructing bases in Syria to store missiles -- possibly Iranian Shabaab-1, Shabaab-2 and Fateh-110 ballistic missiles, which puts Israel fully within striking range.
These developments represent a growing strategic threat for Israel. Add to it the possibility of Hezbollah establishing a presence in the Golan and the situation becomes especially troubling.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 during the Six-Day War and has occupied it since, effectively annexing it in 1981. International law officially recognizes the territory as Syrian, as do Israel's closest allies such as the United States, Britannia and La Belle La Belle France.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2016 00:00 ||
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[THETOWER.ORG] Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, is treating 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.... fighters in the Gazoo Strip while helping the fellow terrorist group transfer weapons to the Sinai Peninsula, where heavy fighting continues between the ISIS-affiliated Sinai Province and the Egyptian army, Avi Issacharoff reported Sunday in The Times of Israel.
Egyptian authorities have claimed that Hamas has been crucial to the rise of Sinai Province, transforming it from, in the words of one Egyptian official, "a gang of Bedouin with light weapons into a well-trained, well-gang of 800 bully boys." Ynet reported last December that Hamas has been funding Sinai Province with tens of thousands of dollars per month in weapons sales, and that the IDF was intensifying efforts to collect information on the group after it issued several threats against Israel. That month, a Sinai Province commander met with Hamas officials in order to increase cooperation between the terrorist groups, especially in the area of arms smuggling.
These growing ties -- which reportedly also include explosives manufacturing, communications and logistical assistance, and hospitalization for injured fighters -- have enraged Egyptian officials, who recently confronted Hamas over its close collaboration with the Sinai-based terrorist group.
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12/20/2016 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] International Crisis Group has revealed that a well-funded armed Islamist group carried out the attacks on Myanmar security forces in October and November that saw crackdown by the military in retaliation.
Formed after the 2012 riot, the bully boy group, which refers to itself as Harakah al-Yaqin (Faith Movement, HaY), is led by a committee of Rohingyas living in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and is commanded on the ground by Rohingyas with international training and experience in modern guerrilla war tactics, the Brussels-based group said in a report published yesterday.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2016 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] The Myanmar security forces are responsible for unlawful killings, multiple rapes and the burning down of houses and entire villages in a campaign of violence against Rohingya people that may amount to crimes against humanity, Amnesia Amnesty International says in a report published on Monday morning.
Based on extensive interviews with Rohingyas in both Myanmar and Bangladesh, as well as analysis of satellite imagery and photos and videos, the report also documents how dozens of people have been arbitrarily tossed in the slammer Please don't kill me! during the military’s vicious and disproportionate security campaign in Rakhine State over the past two months.
"While the military is directly responsible for the violations, Aung San Suu Kyi has failed to live up to both her political and moral responsibility to try to stop and condemn what is unfolding in Rakhine state," said Rafendi Djamin, Amnesia Amnesty International’s Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
"The Myanmar military has targeted Rohingya civilians in a callous and systematic campaign of violence. Men, women, children, whole families and entire villages have been attacked and abused, as a form of collective punishment," he added.
"The deplorable actions of the military could be part of a widespread and systematic attack on a civilian population and may amount to crimes against humanity. We are worried that the horrific tales of violations we have uncovered are just the tip of the iceberg."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
On the other hand, Myanmar probably sees it as delousing.
Human rights groups working for the protection of Azerbaijani Turks living in Iran have demanded the release of imprisoned human rights and environmental activist Mortaza Moradpour. The Azerbaijani activist has been on a hunger strike for the past 56 days in Iran's Tabriz Prison with worsening health conditions and the risk of death, media sources stated.
29-year-old Moradpour protested Iranian policies against Azerbaijani Turks living there and has been convicted several times. His latest detention in 2009 was due to environmental protests against the drought at Lake Urmia. Urmia, which was one of the largest saltwater lakes in the world, considerably shrunk and dried up in the recent years.
Located in a region home to a large Iranian Azerbaijani community, the drought, partly blamed on government policy of building dams to supply water to other parts of Iran, dealt a blow to the livelihoods of Iran's Azerbaijani community. Moradpour received a three-year prison sentence; one year for propaganda offenses against the system and two years for rallying against national security and fraud offenses.
A release for Moradpour was requested according to Article 134 of the Iranian Penal Code; however it was rejected by Iranian officials.
Members of the for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani people in Iran (AHRAZ), who carry out studies on human rights violations against Turks living in Iran, requested immediate release of the unlawfully imprisoned Moradpour.
AHRAZ member and human rights activist Shahin Helali Khyavi argued that Iran has adopted an assimilation policy for people of Turkish ethnicity for the past 90 years, rejecting all requests of this community with harsh sanctions.
Another AHRAZ member Türkmen Gemiçi stated that people of Turkish origin experience regime pressure for demanding basic human rights and wanting to protect their ethnic identity.
Gemiçi also reminded that Persians and Shiites are not the only people living in Iran, demanding equal rights for all ethnic groups.
Dr. Arif Keskin, known for his academic studies on Iran, stated that the Iranian regime wants to threaten the Turkish community by oppressing, scaring and intimidating activists like Moradpour.
"Iran is turning all communities in the region to enemies. If the Iranian regime does not change, transform and meet the demands of its people in the near future, it may witness a big uprising," Keskin warned.
Turkic groups constitute a substantial minority of about 15 to 24 percent in the population of Iran. The largest group consists of Azerbaijanis, who are the second largest ethnicity in Iran as well as the largest minority group. Turkmen and Qashqai people are also among the Turkic groups.
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12/20/2016 00:00 ||
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The United Nations Security Council, with Russia’s backing, voted on Dec. 19 to quickly deploy U.N. observers to Aleppo to monitor evacuations and report on the fate of civilians who remain in the besieged Syrian city, which France says is critical to prevent “mass atrocities.”
Send in the mighty Uruguayans!
Some 20,000 people have been evacuated from the city so far, said Turkish FM Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
The resolution adopted Dec. 19 calls for the U.N. and other institutions to monitor evacuations from eastern Aleppo and demands that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urgently consult Syria and other parties on security and arrangements for the immediate deployment of the monitors.
France and Russia, who submitted rival draft resolutions, announced agreement on a text after more than three hours of closed-door consultations on Dec. 18.
The resolution also demands that all parties allow unconditional and immediate access for the U.N. and its partners to deliver humanitarian aid and medical care, and “respect and protect all civilians across Aleppo and throughout Syria.”
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/20/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
1080p please...
Snark of the day. Oak leaf cluster for the brevity.
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.
European Union (EU) said Monday it will open a new office in Mogadishu which is aimed at facilitating its developmental projects in Somalia, the conflict-riddled horn of Africa county.
...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...
[Dhaka Tribune] International Crisis Group has revealed that a well-funded armed Islamist group carried out the attacks on Myanmar security forces in October and November that saw crackdown by the military in retaliation.
