[SHABELLENEWS] Defeating al-Shabaab ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... snuffies in Somalia requires a "carrot and stick" approach that could eventually include political negotiations with the Islamist holy warriors, the U.N.’s top official in the country tells Newsweek. The ever-helpful UN...
Somalia’s President Mohammed Abdullahi Farmajo, elected in February, has declared a state of war against the al-Qaeda affiliate. The president offered a 60-day amnesty to disaffected members of the group in April and has pledged to eradicate it within two years.
Al-Shabaab emerged from the Islamic Courts Union that was ousted from the Somali capital, Mogadishu, by Æthiopian forces in 2006.
The snuffies have carried out major attacks in Somalia and neighboring countries, such as Kenya, and regularly carry out suicide kabooms in the Somali capital Mogadishu, killing civilians, government officials and soldiers.
Michael Keating, the Special Representative of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Somalia, tells Newsweek that while the offer of an amnesty was a good start, it would not be sufficient to placate the holy warrior group.
"I don’t think an amnesty on its own is going to work. It’s a signal more than a strategy, saying ’We do not consider you all to be dyed in the wool ideological enemies,’" says Keating, speaking on the sidelines of a major international conference on Somalia in London Thursday.
"The amnesty is part of that carrot approach, but you also need the stick approach, particularly if they’re using violence to advance their political objectives."
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05/18/2017 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] House of Representatives President Ageela Saleh is reported saying that the reason he did not attend the third anniversary celebrations of Operation Dignity yesterday in Tocra was because he had an important meeting to attend in Umm al-Rizm, a small town between Derna and Tobruk.
The statement is seen as being in response to a growing wave of questions on social media as to why he did not turn up. Initially it was reported that he had done so and widely-shared images appeared to show him arriving for the celebrations yesterday. They were, in fact, taken the day before, at the rehearsal for the event when he did meet with chief of staff Major-General Abdul Razzaq al-Nazhouri.
Despite the explanation, a number of social media pages have claimed the no-show was because of concerns about a possible confrontation between his guards and LNA security. This, however, has not been confirmed. Other reports spoke of Saleh having arrived late for the celebrations and not being allowed in.
This evening it was reported that Nazhuri had travelled to Guba to speak to Saleh.
The news comes as the US renewed its sanctions on Saleh for another year. They were first issued last May because the HoR president was "responsible for stalling political progress in Libya" by blocking votes in parliament.
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05/18/2017 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] British Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday that it was up to U.S. President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... to decide what intelligence he shared, after reports he divulged top-secret data to the Russians.
"Decisions about what President Trump discusses with anybody that he has in the White House is a matter for President Trump," May told a presser in London.
"We continue to work with the United States and we continue to share intelligence with the United States, as we do with others around the world."
She said the British relationship with the U.S. "is the most important defense and security relationship that we have around the world."
"We have confidence in that relationship between us and the United States, that it helps to keep us all safer."
[RT] Germany is considering eight locations where it could relocate aircraft supporting its mission against 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.... if The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... continues to block German politicians from visiting troops at the Incirlik airbase, Berlin’s defense minister has confirmed.
Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that a team is currently in Jordan to assess a site for Germany's Tornado reconnaissance jets and a refueling plane, AP reported.
Cyprus is also being considered, according to the minister, who said her office has drafted a list of eight possible locations.
Earlier this week, Turkey blocked a scheduled visit by German politicians to some 270 troops serving in the campaign against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIS) at Incirlik airbase. The visit was scheduled for Tuesday.
The move came after Germany granted asylum to soldiers whom Turkey believes were involved in last year's failed coup attempt.
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05/18/2017 00:00 ||
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Austria’s parliament has approved a package of measures that outlaws distributing the Koran and wearing traditional Islamic full-face veils in public. Starting in October, a €150 fine ($166) will be levied on women wearing burkas and niqabs.
The legislative package that was passed on Tuesday night also requires asylum seekers to take a one-year integration course, during which they must learn Austrian ethics and the German language, German newspaper Bild reported.
Under the new measures, migrants must also perform unpaid public work or face losing benefits or other consequences. The requirement is meant to better prepare refugees for the Austrian labor market, according to Bild.
The measure received the go-ahead from both ruling parties, the Social Democratic Party (the SPÖ) and center-right Austrian People’s Party (the ÖVP), Austria’s news outlet oe24.at reported.
Opposition parties have criticized the move, however, saying it is doubtful that banning full-face veils will contribute to integration.
Attacks on migrant facilities doubled in Austria in 2016 compared to the previous year. The acts committed by the perpetrators ranged from hurling Molotov cocktails at buildings to slashing gas pipes, officials said last month.
Austria has received more than 130,000 asylum claims from applicants from the Middle East and North Africa since the summer of 2015. The country of some 8.7 million people has taken in more refugees per capita than any other country in Europe, apart from Sweden.
Under an EU refugee resettlement and relocation program agreed on in 2015, Austria has to accept 460 asylum-seekers from Italy and about 1,400 refugees from Greece. However, Austria took in around 90,000 refugees in 2015 (more than one percent of its population), and was granted a temporary exemption.
As part of a campaign to speed up the repatriation of around 50,000 asylum seekers, Vienna promised in March to double the amount of money paid to migrants who voluntarily return home. Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said the plan primarily targets “those who are not likely to be granted the right to long-term residence.”
Traditional Islamic head and face coverings have long been controversial in Europe, where they are often seen as incompatible with secular values. France became the first European country to impose a ban on full-face coverings in 2011. Belgium followed suit shortly thereafter.
Late last month, German MPs approved a partial ban on full-face veils, saying it’s the country’s duty to present itself “in an ideologically and religiously neutral manner.” The ban applies to public servants, including elected officials, military personnel, and staff working in the judiciary.
“[The ban] obliges officials and soldiers not to hide their faces while performing their duties or during direct fulfillment of their tasks,” a statement on the Bundestag’s website said.
The legislation does contain some exceptions, however. For example, military personnel and public servants may wear full-face veils to protect themselves from infections. Police officers can also cover their faces in order to conceal their identity.
[AA.TR] U.S. fantasy-drama Games of Thrones has been named in an indictment against a group of military officers allegedly tied to the group that planned last July’s attempted coup in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , a judicial official said Wednesday.
The hit HBO show was singled out in an indictment against 136 military lawyers accused of ties to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which Ankara has said plotted the failed putsch.
The suspects are said to have been assigned to martial courts that the plotters planned to establish if the July 15 coup had succeeded, the official said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.
One of the key witnesses in the indictment -- Lt. Volkan Yetistirici, a prosecutor with the Turkish Navy -- investigated five military teachers at Maltepe Military High School in Izmir in 2011 over the screening of the show to students.
The teachers had purportedly shown episodes of the show -- known for its frequent nudity and gory violence -- to help the students improve their English.
In a case that became known as the Game of Thrones Investigation, they were charged with "insulting Turkishness" and "sexual exploitation" by screening the series to under-18s and later discharged from the army.
In October last year, they were cleared by the Constitutional Court when it ruled their right to a fair trial had been violated.
In the indictment -- prepared by the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office and sent to the 16th High Penal Court on Tuesday -- Yetistirici outlined how the investigation was not properly authorized, the official said.
He accused FETO-linked officers of framing the five teachers. This same FETO cabal then made a complaint against him when he refused to prosecute the 2011 case.
Yetistirici added that FETO typically blacklisted judges and prosecutors not tied to the organization. "The biggest characteristic of this organization is having a cell-type structure and a professional intelligence network," he said in the document.
In recent years, hundreds of military officers were jugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! in cases later shown to have been fabricated by suspected FETO members. The officers were subsequently cleared.
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05/18/2017 00:00 ||
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Washington police were initially overwhelmed but quickly drafted in reinforcements, quelling the fight and making two arrests, but not before 11 people including a US officer were hurt. Police said they are also working with the US State Department and Secret Service "to identify and hold all suspects" -- suggesting that they are seeking to interview Erdogan’s security detail.
[IsraelTimes] Hours after meeting with Trump, Turkish president’s security assault peaceful pro-Kurdish demonstrators injuring 11.
US officials expressed outrage Wednesday after a "brutal attack" on protesters by Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... ’s bodyguards cast a dark pall over his visit to Washington.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/18/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
There were police officers and secret service agents there. Why did they not shoot the attackers?
[IsraelTimes] Top diplomat says America still committed to punishing Tehran for support of Assad, Hezbollah; new sanctions announced over ballistic missiles.
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05/18/2017 00:00 ||
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[AA.TR] The spiritual leader of Kashmire’s Moslem majority was sent to his room Wednesday as he was due to address a seminar.
Umar Farooq, who as the mirwaiz of Kashmire leads around 6 million Moslems, had been due to speak during a week of events to mark the deaths of people killed in the conflict between Kashmiri separatists and Indian security forces.
He told Anadolu Agency that it was the 42nd time he had been put under house arrest since fresh violence broke out last year.
"Every opportunity we have to talk to people, the Indian government scuttles it," he said.
"This was not even a public rally but an indoor seminar. But the Indian government is so scared because they know that any occasion can turn into an anti-India event."
Farooq, who is chairman of the Hurriyat forum, had been due to talk at a one-day seminar Resolution of Kashmire Issue -- Prelude to Peace, Guarantee to Stability.
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[NATION.PK] Pakistain Army on Wednesday informed a delegation of 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... Military Observers Group about ceasefire violations by Indian border forces, Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement.
"United Nations Military Observers at UNMOGIP were invited to GHQ to register a protest over unprovoked ceasefire violations and targeting of civilian population by Indian Army on May 10, 13 and 16," it added.
The military’s media wing said that Indian troops used weapons, including mortar shells and field artillery, which killed one civilian and injured 15 others.
"UN Military Observers were also apprised with latest situation along Line of Control (LOC)," it added.
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[AA.TR] President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... will not relocate the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, to Jerusalem, according to multiple reports Wednesday.
The decision would break a major campaign promise from Trump who vowed to make the highly controversial move, but would likely stave off a major diplomatic crisis.
Israel and Paleostine each claim the contested city as their capital. Moving the American embassy there would be a de facto recognition of Israel's illusory sovereignty in the area and would rebuff Paleostinian claims.
An unnamed senior White House official told Bloomberg Politics the move would not be "wise to do it at this time".
"We’ve been very clear what our position is and what we would like to see done, but we’re not looking to provoke anyone when everyone’s playing really nice," the official said.
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05/18/2017 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.
the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
Austria’s parliament has approved a package of measures that outlaws distributing the Koran and wearing traditional Islamic full-face veils in public. Starting in October, a €150 fine ($166) will be levied on women wearing burkas and niqabs.
