[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The enlightenment movement cancelled a demonstration due for Kabul today hours before a deadly suicide kaboom rocked Kabul city, leaving scores of people dead or maimed.
Presidential front man Shah Hussain Murtazawi informed regarding the cancellation of the demonstration while briefing news hounds today.
He said President Ghani has thanked the movement for their decision to cancel the protests and demonstrations.
Murtawazi further added that a technical commission will be formed to assess the demands of the protesters.
The demonstration by enlightenment movement was apparently planned to mark the anniversary of the deadly attack last year that left nearly 90 people dead and hundreds more maimed.
This comes as a suicide attack rocked the west of Kabul city earlier this morning, the area where the demonstrations were supposed to kick off from.
According to the security officials, at least 24 people were killed and 42 others were maimed in the attack for which the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... group grabbed credit for.
However, you can observe a lot just by watching... reports indicate that the corpse count has further climbed and has reached to 36 people while numerous others have sustained injuries in the attack.
I have read through the entire article (as have you, dear Reader, as we meet here at the bottom), and I still have no idea what this enlightenment movement is.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
[SHABELLENEWS] Iraqi envoy to Kenya Dr Zaid Noori has advised regional countries to keep sharing intelligence and logistical support in order to defeat Al shabaab.
Dr Noori, whose country has wedged a perennial war against terrorist groups, argued that Kenya and its allies can learn from Iraq’s way of fighting terrorists, as the country battles al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... "A lasting solution would come from all countries eliminating terrorist cells and the predisposing conditions such as poverty and unemployment in their territories," he told the Sunday Nation.
"We want an international collation to block gunnies from obtaining money, arms and ammunition by closing their funding resources."
Kenya is currently battling al-Shabaab hard boyz hiding in Boni Forest, Lamu County, from where they have launched a series of deadly attacks.
And while the attacks here appeared to be in guerrilla format, the envoy argued several factors often contribute to the rise in terror attacks.
Speaking on their experience and lessons in combating terrorism, the diplomat says the anti-terror can very well be the "third world war".
In Iraq, just like in Kenya, the insurgence being carried out by 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 has largely been fuelled by what he called a "false religious ideology".
He said that security authorities should focus on sensitising members of the public against bogus religious beliefs being propagated by terrorists.
"We are telling them (the public) that this is not religion and that there is no such thing as a killer in paradise. Islam has been there for thousands of years, but Isis came only four, or five years ago," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)
#1
Islam has been there for thousands of years, but Isis came only four, or five years ago
Apparently the envoy forgot about the Gates of Vienna, Moorish Spain, the Barbary Coast, the Moro Insurrection, the rise of the Iranian Theocracy...
[Libya Observer] The Chief of the Presidential Guard, Najmi al-Nakowa, has announced a ban on entering 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... with light and heavy weapons, saying all unlicensed weapons will be collected by the relevant authorities in Tripoli, Libyan News Agency (LANA) in Tripoli reported.
The decision came in an expanded security meeting of the Joint Operations Room in Mitiga Airbase in Tripoli with many military and security officials from west Libya present.
LANA reported that al-Nakowa urged all Arab and foreign embassies to come back to Tripoli and resume work as the capital is stable and secure, stressing this security must be used in the right way.
The commander of the Joint Operations Room, Colonel Abdelbasit Marwan, said that he discussed in the meeting the security procedures and the troubles that are getting in the way of stability in the capital, LANA added.
LANA also reported the meeting organizers as saying that meeting wanted to touch upon the services and issues related to Libyans and the security of Tripoli, in addition to the activation of the cop shoppes in the city.
Tripoli military zone commander, Belqasim Mohammed, al-Nakowa, and the Tripoli Security Department Director, Salah al-Samowi, as well as general intelligence, investigations apparatuses, and the security preparations committee chief Abdelrahman al-Tawell were all present in the meeting, besides other Libyan army officers from the western region.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
Riyadh – Qatar’s support of Yemen’s Houthi rebels has “revealed the truth of the ties that have existed for some time now between the two sides,” analysts told Asharq Al-Awsat.
They said that Qatar’s negative approach, not only harms the Gulf Cooperation Council and its national security, but it is tantamount to “military and security suicide after it already committed suicide on the political and media levels.”
The analysts noted that Doha played a negative and harmful role through its support of the Houthis with the coordination of Iran. It then persuaded the military branch of the Muslim Brotherhood to ally itself with the Houthis in order to target Saudi Arabia.
President of the Washington DC-based Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee (SAPRAC), Salman al-Ansari, stated that trusted intelligence information revealed that Qatar joined operation Decisive Storm in order to provide Houthis with the coordinates of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition. This consequently led to several martyrs from among the Saudi and Emirati ranks of the alliance in Yemen.
Doha also sought to join the alliance to serve the Yemeni Gathering for Reform, which is affiliated with the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood, added al-Ansari.
Qatar’s recognition of the legitimacy of the Houthis and possible opening of an office for them in Doha “will be military and security suicide,” he added.
“This development will turn Qatar into a country that goes against international consensus and a clear violator of United Nations Security Council resolutions 2216, 2201, 2342 and 2140, which all prohibit providing support to the rebels in Yemen,” he continued.
Saudi political analyst Dr. Khalid Batrafi said: “Qatar’s ties with the Houthis exist and they are strong. It is better that they are out in the open than being under the table, because you can better follow and confront actions that are done in the open.”
Yemeni political analyst Dr. Najib Ghallab stated: “Had it not been for Qatar’s backing of the Houthis, the extremist group would have been destroyed a long time ago.”
“Qatar sough to support the Houthis just when they were on the brink of dying. The Arab Coalition could have destroyed them had Qatar not interfered through an agreement with Iran,” he explained.
“This intervention saved the Houthi movement,” he stressed.
It even struck an agreement that saw Houthi prisoners freed from jail. Each former detainee was given a rifle and 10,000 Qatari riyals. These individuals stormed Sana’a in 2014 and they are the actual leaders of the coup, Ghallab remarked.
Furthermore, he noted that several Yemenis rejected Qatar’s mediation, “but strangely enough, it managed to convince the Muslim Brotherhood’s military and political wings that were combating the Houthis that reconciliation with it was important because a conspiracy is being spun around them.”
“I believe that Qatar had its own clear agenda of targeting Saudi Arabia through this reconciliation and its ongoing support for the Houthis is linked to Iran’s revolutionary goals,” he added.
SANAA, Yemen: Yemen’s president has sacked a governor who was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for his ties with Al-Qaeda.
The presidential decree by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was issued on Sunday. Hadi removed the governor of the central province of Al-Bayda, Nayef Al-Qaysi, and named Salah Al-Rassass as his replacement.
Bayda is a known Al-Qaeda hotbed, and where the US had carried out airstrikes and raids in the past years hunting the group’s operatives.
Al-Qaysi was classified by the US as a “specially designated global terrorist” over allegations that he financed the group.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemen affiliate is known, has long been seen as the global network’s most dangerous branch, and has been implicated in a number of attempted attacks on the US homeland.
Separately on Monday, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), made a rare visit to the front lines in Yemen, taking a road to reach the besieged western of Taiz.
The visit by Peter Maurer aims to provide the ICRC with a firsthand look at Yemen’s raging cholera epidemic and the humanitarian disaster amid the civil war. Maurer already visited the southern port city of Aden and will be ending his trip in Sanaa.
The executive directors of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are also in Yemen to urge for humanitarian aid.
The $2.1 billion humanitarian appeal for Yemen is only 33 percent funded, and the response to the cholera epidemic requires an additional $250 million, of which just $47 million has been received, according to the UN.
Hundreds of thousands of Taiz residents have been caught across fire and residents use donkeys to carry smuggled goods and basic necessities on unpaved roads in and out of the city.
Since April, a cholera epidemic has ravaged the country with around 400,000 suspected cases and over 1,800 deaths. The rainy season underway threatens to worsen the situation and the numbers of cholera cases are expected to double by the end of the year, according to ICRC.
Posted by: badanov ||
07/25/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
[Al Jazeera] The Executive Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) has questioned 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 accusation of Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... funding terrorism while the Kingdom itself continues to carry out "terrorism that is killing people in Yemen".
The conflict 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... has escalated dramatically since March 2015, when the Saudi-led forces launched a military operation against the rebels.
Since the conflict began, more than 10,000 people have been killed and millions have been driven from their homes.
"We don't talk about government terrorism such as the Saudi-led coalition that is killing people in Yemen," HRW's Kenneth Roth said at the Freedom of Expression, Facing up to the Threat conference in Qatar's capital Doha on Monday.
"I am not aware of Qatar financing terrorist groups, but I am aware of the long-term Saudi promotion of an extreme version of Islam that is often adopted by terrorist groups."
Yemen is also facing a health crisis, with the charity Oxfam reporting 360,000 suspected cases of cholera in the three months since the outbreak started in April.
On June 5, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of backing "extremism" and fostering ties with their Shia rival Iran. Qatar denies the claims.
The four countries imposed an air, sea and land blockade on Qatar last month.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
#1
"We don't talk about government terrorism such as the Saudi-led coalition that is killing people in Yemen," HRW's Kenneth Roth said at the Freedom of Expression, Facing up to the Threat conference in Qatar's capital Doha on Monday.
#5
...at the Freedom of Expression, Facing up to the Threat conference in Qatar's capital Doha on Monday.
The Saudis didn't offer enough bribe financial incentives and got outbid?
[AnNahar] The UN accused Australia Monday of backtracking on a deal to relax its strong stance on asylum-seekers and resettle some refugees now held in overseas detention on home soil.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it had agreed last November to help relocate the boatpeople to the United States on the basis that Canberra would accept some of them who have links to Australia.
"We agreed to do so on the clear understanding that vulnerable refugees with close family ties in Australia would ultimately be allowed to settle there," commissioner Filippo Grandi said in a statement.
"UNHCR has recently been informed by Australia that it refuses to accept even these refugees."
He added that they, along with the others in camps on the neighbouring nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea, had been told their only option was to stay where they were or be transferred to Cambodia or the United States.
Australia sends anyone who tries to enter by boat without a visa to remote detention facilities on Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.Even those subsequently found to be genuine refugees are barred from settling in Australia.
The immigration department said Monday this had long been the case.
"The position of the coalition government has been clear and consistent: those transferred to regional processing centres will never settle in Australia," said a spokesperson.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton reinforced this on Sunday.
"No, people will not be coming to Australia. I have said that consistently, the prime minister has said it consistently, as did prime minister (Tony) Abbott at the time," he told Sky News.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull struck a pact with former US president Barack Obama Republicans can come along for the ride, but they've got to sit in the back... to resettle some refugees in the camps in America.
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... has grudgingly agreed to honour what he has called a "dumb deal", although it remains unclear how many Washington will accept.
More than 1,000 remain offshore and Canberra's stance means "some with serious medical conditions, or who have undergone traumatic experiences, including sexual violence, cannot receive the support of their close family members residing in Australia", the UN said.
"To avoid prolonging their ordeal, UNHCR has no other choice but to endorse the relocation of all refugees on Papua New Guinea and Nauru to the United States, even those with close family members in Australia," Grandi added.
Rights groups, who have long accused the government of failing to uphold its international obligations, called on Canberra to honour the deal it had allegedly struck with the UN.
"The right thing to do, the humane thing to do, would be to immediately bring those trapped in Nauru and Manus Island to Australia to be reunited with their family members here," said Amnesia Amnesty International refugee coordinator Graham Thom.
#1
"We agreed to do so on the clear understanding that vulnerable refugees with close family ties in Australia would ultimately be allowed to settle there," commissioner Filippo Grandi said in a statement.
I have heard that the climate is nice in your native Italy ... why not volunteer Italy?
[IsraelTimes] Decision reportedly made before Sunday’s Amman embassy stabbing; Istanbul has seen a number of recent anti-Israel protests.
An unnamed diplomatic source told the Walla news site that the decision to order officials at the embassy in Ankara and the consulate in Istanbul to work from home was made prior to an attack Sunday at the Israeli Embassy in Jordan, during which an Israeli security guard rubbed out two Jordanians after being attacked by one of them with a screwdriver, leading to a diplomatic standoff between the two countries.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has been one of most vocal critics of the metal detectors, with a government front man saying last week that placing them was a "crime against humanity."
President Recep Tayip Erdogan condemned the new security measures and denounced the "excessive use of force" by Israeli security forces during violent festivities with demonstrators in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Ties between Israel and Turkey, former close allies, deteriorated sharply a few years into the rise of Erdogan’s Islamic-focused movement to power in 2003, and ruptured following the May 2010 IDF raid on a Ottoman Turkish vessel seeking to break Israel’s military blockade of the Gazoo Strip, in which 10 Turks were killed.
Despite steps toward a detente in recent years, the relationship remains chilly.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/25/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[AlAhram] Germany said the The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... had informed it on Monday that it had dropped accusations of "terrorism" funding against major German companies amid a raging dispute between the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... partners.
As relations between Berlin and Ankara plumbed new depths, a front man for the German interior ministry said his Ottoman Turkish counterpart had contacted him about the allegations levelled against nearly 700 German firms including giants Daimler and BASF.
The front man, Tobias Plate, said Berlin had been told that the list of companies with Ottoman Turkish operations being investigated for "financing of terrorism" lodged with Interpol in May had been withdrawn, saying the suspicion had been based on a "communication problem".
The Ottoman Turkish interior minister "assured us that the Ottoman Turkish authorities were not investigating companies on the list in Turkey or in Germany," he said.
German newspaper Die Zeit reported last week that Turkey had handed Germany a list of 68 companies and individuals suspected of links to terror due to alleged contacts with the group of the US-based preacher Fethullah 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... , who is blamed for Turkey's failed coup last year. Gulen denies the charge.
Die Zeit said the companies probed ranged from industrial behemoths to a stall selling doner kebab in the west of Germany.
Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... on Friday denied the claims, saying the reports were "black propaganda" aimed at pressurising German companies not to invest in Turkey.
"You have no power to darken Turkey," Erdogan said.
Ottoman Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had also dismissed the report as "entirely a lie" and urged Berlin to solve an escalating crisis through dialogue.
A spokeswoman for the German economy ministry, Tanja Alemany, said Monday that despite the "clarification" of the issue, it would "take a while before German companies can win back confidence" in Turkey as a place to do business.
Ankara's overture to Berlin came amid severe tensions between the NATO allies over arrests of German citizens.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel had said on Thursday that Berlin would review state guarantees for foreign investment in Turkey and urge businesses against putting their money in the country.
The German foreign ministry also warned it could no longer guarantee its citizens' safety in Turkey, in a move sure to impact Turkey's crucial tourism industry.
The latest crisis was precipitated by the order of a Ottoman Turkish court to remand in jug six human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... activists detained on an island off Istanbul including Amnesia Amnesty International's Turkey director Idil Eser and Berlin-based activist Peter Steudtner.
But Berlin was already furious over the jailing in February of Deniz Yucel, Turkey correspondent for Die Welt newspaper, who Erdogan has personally denounced as a "terror agent".
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/25/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
the suspicion had been based on a "communication problem"
Apparently the deutschmark talks louder than Turkish bluster.
[AnNahar] Staff from one of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's most respected opposition newspapers on Monday rejected as absurd "terror" charges against them on the first day of a trial which has intensified alarm over press freedom under President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... The 17 defendants from the Cumhuriyet daily were detained from October last year and a dozen of them have now spent more than eight months in jail without being convicted of any crime.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/25/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[DAWN] The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the execution of a convict who was handed the death sentence by a military court.
The accused, Mohammad Akbar, was convicted of murdering two soldiers in 2009. He had challenged the military court verdict in 2016.
A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, after staying the convict's execution, issued notices to the attorney general and the petitioner's counsel.
At the time of his arrest, five kilogrammes of explosives were also found from Akbar, whose appeal against the death sentence was dismissed by the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. High Court.
The convict's counsel contended before the SC that the military court did not take legal provisions into consideration while handing down the punishment, adding that his client was not given the opportunity to defend himself.
The Supreme Court subsequently stayed the implementation of the execution order after suspending the military court's verdict. The hearing of the case was adjourned for an indefinite period.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday raised Pakistain's concerns over a "blame game perpetrated by some quarters in Afghanistan and US to undermine Pakistain's contributions" in the war against terrorism.
The concerns were shared in a meeting with the Commander, Resolute Support Mission (RSM) and United States Forces in Afghanistan, Gen John W. Nicholson.
"It is not a coincidence that this theme is being played at a time when a policy review is being undertaken in the US," Gen Bajwa told Gen Nicholson, according to a statement issued by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
"Pakistain will continue to act positively despite provocations," he said.
The ISPR statement said that Gen Nicholson had appreciated the professionalism of the Pakistain Army and expressed his admiration for the resilience of the people of Pakistain.
The two generals also agreed on the need for "continuous engagement and coordination for peace and stability in the region," ISPR said.
The US Ambassador to Pakistain, David Hale, was also present in the meeting.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
to undermine Pakistain's contributions" in the war against terrorism.
[IsraelTimes] Jewish Voice for Peace delegation told Israeli government had ordered airline not to let them on board
It's their country -- they can choose who gets to visit.
Five members of an interfaith delegation to Israel were prevented from boarding their flight from Washington, D.C., reportedly due to their activism on behalf of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
The Jewish Voice for Peace organization said in a statement Monday that the delegation tried to check into its Lufthansa flight at Dulles International Airport, only to be told that the Israeli government had ordered the airline not to let the five passengers aboard.
In March, the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, amended the Law of Entry to prevent leaders of the BDS movement from being allowed into Israel. The amendment applies to organizations that take consistent and significant action against Israel through BDS, as well as the leadership and senior activists of those groups.
Lufthansa front man Tal Muscal confirmed that the delegation members were not allowed to fly per the Israeli government’s request. Lufthansa was not made aware of the reason for the order.
Muscal said the airline must obey government requests like these to block passengers from boarding flights.
"We don’t know who these people are," Muscal told JTA. "We have no information as to why the Israeli government does not want them to enter. We simply have to abide by the rules and regulations of every country in which we operate."
See? Other countries do it, too.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on the incident.
Three of the activists were from JVP, including a rabbi. The other two delegation members prevented from boarding the flight were Rick Ufford Chase of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship in Rockland County, New York, and Shakeel Syed, a national board member with American Moslems for Paleostine in Los Angeles.
The other 18 participants with the Interfaith Network for Justice in Paleostine delegation arrived Monday morning in Israel and were allowed to enter after several hours of detention and questioning, according to JVP.
JVP states on its website that it supports boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
"Israel denied me the ability to travel there because of my work for justice for Paleostinians, even though I’m Jewish and a rabbi," Rabbi Alissa Wise said in the JVP statement. "I’m heartbroken and outraged. This is yet another demonstration that democracy and tolerance in Israel only extends to those who fall in line with its increasingly repressive policies against Paleostinians.
Some people are idiots because of their training, others despite it. Dear Alissa falls into the despite camp.
Syed said in the statement that he had his boarding pass in hand when "the Lufthansa representative informed me that they had a direct order from ’Israeli immigration authorities’ to not allow us to board the plane. Furthermore, they refused to even show us the Israeli order."
JVP said it is believed to be the first time that the amendment has been enforced before passengers boarded their flights to Israel and the first time that Israel has denied entry to Jews, including a rabbi, for their support of BDS.
Following the passage of the Entry Law amendment, several groups that promote BDS planned to organize delegations to come to Israel and test the boundaries of the amendment.
Testing has now been completed, but y'all feel free to keep trying. Each baby has to drop peas from its high chair until comes to understand that gravity is a constant.
An anti-BDS bill making its way through Congress would expand existing law that bans boycotts imposed by foreign governments to include those imposed by international organizations like the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
That'll make life amusing, though possibly not for dear Alissa....
I guess it's over. Now the Palestinians will have to find another justification for their temper tantrums.
[IsraelTimes] Israel ministers overnight Tuesday decided that the metal detectors set up outside the Temple Mount in Jerusalem -- in the wake of a terror attack at the holy site in which two Israeli coppers were killed -- would be removed, and replaced with security measures based on "advanced technologies."
The Prime Minister’s Office said the security cabinet "accepted the recommendation of all of the security bodies to incorporate security measures based on advanced technologies (’smart checks’) and other measures instead of metal detectors in order to ensure the security of visitors and worshippers in the Old City and on the Temple Mount."
Israeli media reported earlier Monday that high-resolution cameras capable of detecting hidden objects would be the alternative.
The Prime Minister’s Office said the implementation of the plan would take up to six months and that a budget of up to NIS 100 million was allocated for the measures, based on a plan to be presented by the Public Security Ministry.
The government said police units would meanwhile be reinforced in and around the site as necessary to ensure security. Earlier Monday News Agency that Dare Not be Named footage showed heavy machinery and workers heading to the entrance of the site.
As word spread of the decision, a few hundred Paleostinians gathered to celebrate at Lions Gate, near an entrance to the Temple Mount. One person set off a firework, prompting Israeli police to raid and disperse them using sound grenades. Israeli media reported festivities between the Paleostinians and police.
The cabinet decision came hours after Israel and Jordan ended a diplomatic stand-off over the return of Israeli embassy staff from Amman following an attack Sunday at the mission in which two Jordanian nationals were killed, including an assailant.
The cabinet decision to remove the metal detectors came shortly after Israel and Jordan came to an agreement regarding the safe return of an Israeli security guard injured in a stabbing attack at the Israeli embassy in Amman on Sunday.
In a statement Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked US 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... for "directing [senior adviser and son-in-law] Jared Kushner and dispatching Jason Greenblatt to help with our efforts to bring the Israeli embassy staff home quickly. I thank King Abdullah [II] as well for our close cooperation."
Greenblatt had arrived in Israel earlier for talks over the crisis.
The guard and other Israeli embassy staff, including the ambassador, Einat Schlein, crossed from Jordan back into Israel late Monday.
In the hours before the embassy staff returned, Netanyahu spoke by phone with the Jordanian monarch who reportedly demanded the removal on the metal detectors at the Temple Mount, which houses the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, and is administered by a Jordanian-controlled Islamic trust.
[Ynet] After visit by Shin Bet director to the Jordanian capital and a phone call between Netanyahu and King Abdullah, diplomatic staff returns to Israel, including guard who rubbed out two Jordanians after he was attacked by one of them.
The diplomatic staff of Israel's embassy to Jordan, including a security guard who rubbed out two Jordanians after he was attacked by one of them, returned to Israel on Monday night, bringing a 28-hour-long crisis to an end.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to both Ambassador Einat Shalin and the security guard upon their return to Israel through the Allenby Bridge crossing, asked how they were and welcomed them home.
The Prime Minister's Office said the return of the Israeli diplomatic staff was made possible thanks to a close cooperation between Israel and Jordan.
Jordanian authorities, meanwhile, announced they have completed the investigation into the incident.
According to a statement by Jordan's General Intelligence Directorate (GID), while two people began work to install furniture, an argument broke out between one of them--the son of the furniture shop owner--and an Israeli embassy employee who lives in the apartment.
The argument, according to the GID, was over a delay in completing the work at the time agreed upon, and took place while the landlord and the building's security guard were present.
At the heat of the argument, according to the Jordanians, the son of the furniture shop owner attacked the Israeli diplomat, who was maimed, and the latter responded by opening fire at the worker, wounding him and the landlord who was nearby. The two were rushed to the hospital but both gave up the ghost.
And so face was saved where it needed to be, a very good thing, indeed.
While the Jordanians agreed to allow the rest of the diplomatic staff to leave the embassy, they insisted the guard remains for questioning. The diplomatic staff refused to leave without the guard.
Shin Bet Director Nadav Argaman flew to the Jordanian capital on Monday morning to investigate the incident and speak to the guard. Argaman, accompanied by Jordanian Sherlocks, conducted a reconstruction of events. He then returned in the late afternoon to brief the prime minister.
[Al Jazeera] UN's Middle East envoy has said a solution is needed by Friday to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound crisis in Jerusalem, which threatens to have "potential catastrophic costs well beyond the walls of the Old City".
"It is extremely important that a solution to the current crisis be found by Friday," Nickolay Mladenov told news hounds on Monday after briefing the UN Security Council behind closed doors.
"The dangers on the ground will escalate if we go through another cycle of Friday prayer without a resolution to this current crisis."
The dangers on the ground won't significantly escalate for the Israelis, but only for for those Muslim-Israelis and Muslim-Palestinians who insist on having temper tantrums.
Also on Monday, the UK's ambassador to the UN has called on "all parties to denounce violence".
That statement was an utter waste of expelled carbon dioxide.
Matthew Rycroft told news hounds at the UN headquarters in New York City that it was important that the whole Security Council "stands together to do what we can to help bring peace to the Middle East".
The Middle East Quartet ... The Quartet are the UN (xylophone), the United States (alto), the European Union (soprano), and Russia (shortstop). The group was established in Madrid in 2002 by former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Tony Blair is the Quartet's current Special Envoy.... of Russia, US, EU and the UN in a statement encouraged Israel and Jordan to work together for de-escalation, noting the special role of the Hashemite Kingdom as recognised in its peace treaty with Tel Aviv.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: PLO
Love the Jewish tourist money, but Jordan is Judenfrei and intends to stay that way.
[IsraelTimes] Warning to visitors at Aaron’s Tomb comes as tensions between countries skyrocket over stabbing at Israeli Embassy
Jordanian police on threatened a group of Israeli tourists that they would risk being tossed in the calaboose Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! if they prayed anywhere in the country, an Israeli official said Monday.
The tourists were in Jordan to visit the Tomb of Aaron, the biblical high priest and brother of Moses, who tradition holds is buried on Mount Hor, near Petra, at a site known locally as Jabal Haroun.
"It emerged that they were not allowed [to show] any religious symbols," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon told The Times of Israel. He said the incident occurred either Sunday or Monday.
One of the tourists, Rabbi Menashe Zelicha of Bnei Brak, said the coppers told his group that "in all of Jordan it is forbidden for Jews to pray."
"We are not allowed to pray in the morning, no tefillin, no prayer shawls, nothing ‐ we cannot pray, even in the hotel, even inside our room," Zelicha told the Kol Chai radio station. "Policemen came into the hotel and were shouting and went wild, saying that in a minute they would take us out of Jordan if we made even a tiny squeak. They told us, ’Whoever prays will be taken to jail.'"
Zelicha said that when his group went through the border crossing, authorities "began checking the suitcase and checking everything. They refused to let us bring in books. They removed the prayer shawls, the tefillin; they removed one person’s tzitzit.
"One guy had on him a driving written test booklet, they took it. They took people’s skullcaps. People were left with only their shirt and trousers."
Israeli diplomats stationed in Jordan asked the tourists to "lower their profile and to listen to instructions from the police," Nahshon said.
The Israelis were also advised to leave the country sooner than they had planned, given the tense situation in Israel and the West Bank in the wake of a July 14 shooting attack at the Temple Mount, as well as the stabbing attack on an Israeli security guard and death of two Jordanians at the Israeli embassy compound in Jordan on Sunday.
Jordanian authorities did not respond to requests to comment on the report, but a diplomat said Jordanian officials warning Jewish pilgrims to keep a low profile was not uncommon. In the past, Israelis have complained that border officials prevented them from crossing with tefillin and prayer shawls.
[WND] We’ve often heard the familiar refrain after an Islamic terror attack ‐ terrorism is a "perversion" of Islam, and Muslims who commit acts of terror are not truly following the faith.
However, the man who infiltrated the Council on American-Islamic Relations for six months begs to differ.
"We have to accept reality, Sean, and reality is that all these jihadi groups all over the planet tell us why they are fighting," Chris Gaubatz told Sean Hannity during an appearance on the latter’s radio show.
"It’s interesting to me that all these groups, whether it’s Islamic State, al-Qaida, the Taliban, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, the Muslim Brotherhood, fill in the blank ‐ how is it that they’re all getting their version of Islam wrong in the exact same way?"
Gaubatz, vice president of Understanding the Threat, marvels that so many American leaders remain reluctant to admit jihadists are fighting for Allah, with the ultimate goal of imposing the legal system sanctioned in the Quran.
"It’s 15 years after 9/11 and we still have not identified the enemy ‐ who they are, why they’re fighting, even though the enemy tells us that they’re Muslims waging jihad, and the blueprint for their doctrine, the reason that they’re fighting is the Shariah, to establish the Shariah all over the planet," Gaubatz said.
Gaubatz has witnessed the inner workings of one of America’s largest Muslim organizations firsthand, having posed as a convert to Islam to gain a CAIR internship. He remained undercover for six months, gaining the trust of CAIR’s inner sanctum and collecting more than 12,000 pages of documents and hundreds of hours of video. He exposed CAIR’s role as a Muslim Brotherhood front group in supporting the international jihad movement against the United States.
The full story of his amazing undercover operation was told in the book "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America."
President Donald Trump has reportedly sidelined the State Department and entrusted White House staffers with making the potential case for withholding certification of Iran at the next 90-day review of the nuclear deal, Foreign Policy reported.
According to the report, the president made the decision after his "contentious meeting" with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last week.
Via Newsmax:
"The president assigned White House staffers with the task of preparing for the possibility of decertification for the 90-day review period that ends in October -- a task he had previously given to Secretary Tillerson and the State Department," an unnamed source told FP.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru ||
07/25/2017 18:30 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Foreign Policy is publishing based on anonymous leaks now? Call me when someone reputable uses two proper named sources like they are taught at the Columbia School of Journalism.
[AlMasdar] A large number of rebel fighters have defected from their factions to 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.... (ISIS) in east Leb, Hezbollah media relations reported on Monday.
According to the Lebanese group’s official media wing, the rebel defections involved at least 30 fighters and one commander that was loyal to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham is considered one of the largest rebel factions in Syria and arguably the most powerful group currently fighting the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) across the country.
With the consolidation of Death Eater groups in eastern Leb, the battle for ’Arsal will likely intensify as the Islamic State grows stronger due to the defections.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/25/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[AlMasdar] Head of the Main Operational Department of the Russian General Staff Sergei Rudskoi stated that several new de-escalation zones were set to be fully introduced in the future, speaking from a press briefing at the Russian Defence Ministry, in Moscow, Monday.
Rudskoi said that the boundaries of in the zones "to the north of the city of Homs and in the region of East Ghouta" had been defined during the consultations, with the specifications of the a similar zones in Idlib province underway.
He added that in July alone, "Over 2,000 murderous Moslems were neutralised as well as about 20 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, more than 40 pickup trucks with large-calibre machine and anti-aircraft guns were destroyed."
Commenting on the Syrian government forces progress, Rudskoi noted that SAA "took control over the Syrian-Jordanian border in the provinces of Essaouira and Damascus," adding that "6,500 square kilometres of territory to the east of the ez Zelaf have been cleared of bad boys."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/25/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[FoxNews] ISIS in Iraq and Syria has been "dismantled," with tens of thousands of its jihadist fighters dead, but a promising lead on its leader "went dead" after a media leak, according to a key U.S. military official.
"We have absolutely dismantled his network," Gen. Tony Thomas, speaking of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, said at the Aspen Security Forum. "I mean everyone who worked for him initially is dead or gone. Everybody who stepped to the plate the next time [is] dead or gone. Down through a network where we have killed, in a conservative estimate, 60,000 to 70,000 of his followers, his army."
In a wide-ranging interview moderated by Fox News' Catherine Herridge, Thomas, who leads the Special Operations Command, said his team was "particularly close" to Baghdadi after the 2015 raid that killed ISIS oil minister Abu Sayyaf. That raid also netted his wife, who provided a wealth of actionable information.
Posted by: Captain Slavick9664 ||
07/25/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
The headline gave me an image of Baghdadi leaving the ISIS bigwig meeting to take a leak minutes before the Hellfire missile hit.
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.
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
[Libya Observer] The Chief of the Presidential Guard, Najmi al-Nakowa, has announced a ban on entering 
[Al Jazeera] The Executive Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) has questioned 
[AnNahar] Staff from one of 
[Al Jazeera] UN's Middle East envoy has said a solution is needed by Friday to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound crisis in Jerusalem, which threatens to have "potential catastrophic costs well beyond the walls of the Old City".
[WND] We’ve often heard the familiar refrain after an Islamic terror attack ‐ terrorism is a "perversion" of Islam, and Muslims who commit acts of terror are not truly following the faith.
[FoxNews] ISIS in Iraq and Syria has been "dismantled," with tens of thousands of its jihadist fighters dead, but a promising lead on its leader "went dead" after a media leak, according to a key U.S. military official.
