[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... will never be a member of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... as long as it is governed by Tayyip Erdogan, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday, accusing the Ottoman Turkish president of failing to take accession talks with the bloc seriously.
His remarks in an interview with mass-selling newspaper Bild are likely to further inflame relations between the two NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... allies after Erdogan urged German Turks to boycott Germany’s main parties in next month’s general election.
"It is clear that in this state, Turkey will never become a member of the EU," Gabriel said. "It’s not because we don’t want them but because the Ottoman Turkish government and Erdogan are moving fast away from everything that Europe stands for."
EU leaders have been critical of Erdogan’s crackdown on opponents before and after a failed military coup against him in July last year. Accession talks have ground to a virtual halt though Turkey remains a candidate for membership.
Turkey’s Western allies fear that sweeping new powers Erdogan won in a tightly fought referendum in April are pushing Turkey away from democratic values.
Erdogan says both the crackdown and the increased presidential powers are needed to help tackle serious challenges to Turkey’s security both at home and beyond its borders.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Turkey will never become a member of the EU,
I wasn't aware that that was still a question. Thought the Euros had pulled in the welcome mat and bolted the door awhile ago, no?
[IsraelTimes] Police continue to question detained man over suspected terror plot, but doubts grow about authenticity of threat
Dutch police continued to question a man Friday over a suspected terror plot against a Rotterdam concert, but doubts grew over the authenticity of the threat which triggered a major security alert.
"We... will continue to question the suspect and our investigation is ongoing," Rotterdam police front man Wessel Stolle told AFP, saying there was "not much more" to add.
The 22-year-old suspect, identified by Dutch media as Jimmy F., was incarcerated I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! during a pre-dawn raid on Thursday in a small village 42 kilometers (26 miles) south of the bustling port city where US rock band Allah-Las was due to play on Wednesday.
The arrest followed a tip-off by Spanish police on Wednesday afternoon who said they had spotted a message on the Telegram chat-app about a possible terror attack, two Dutch newspapers reported, citing unnamed sources.
Telegram is a smartphone app which has often been used by Islamic gunnies due to its encrypted messaging service.
Dutch media said the message appeared to have been posted online by the suspect, with some newspapers suggesting it may have been a prank which backfired.
"The decision to cancel the Allah-Las concert was mainly based on one chat message," the authoritative NRC daily reported.
"The terror threat in Rotterdam came from the 22-year-old," said the centre-left De Volkskrant. Neither report was confirmed by the police.
Dutch Justice Minister Stef Blok had on Thursday denounced the suspect’s actions as "idiotic," fueling doubts over the authenticity of the threat.
But on the same day, Rotterdam police chief Frank Paauw told AFP that the threat was concrete and specific.
"There was concrete information from the Spanish police that an attack would be committed on that date, at this place and against this rock band."
A joke?
Neighbors of the suspect living in the southern town of Zevenbergen described him as a "quiet youngster who still lived with his parents."
"He is a seemingly ordinary student that has a second job at a petrol station and who every-now-and-then drinks a beer at the local pub," daily tabloid De Telegraaf said.
Dutch media said he had taken part in chat groups discussing the war in Syria but that he had demonstrated "no radical viewpoints."
But police said it was too early to say if it was a prank.
"At this stage it is too early to say whether it was indeed a joke," Stolle told AFP.
Anti-terror experts said the Spanish tip-off was not thought to be linked to last week’s deadly vehicle attacks in Barcelona and the Spanish seaside town of Cambrils in which 15 people were killed and another 120 maimed.
"But, seen in the recent context of the attacks in Spain... it is understandable that alarms bells went off," Leiden University expert Jelle van Buuren told the Trouw newspaper.
There were also growing doubts among the Dutch public Friday whether the threat was indeed real, with a public discussion on the issue sending off a stream of comments on Twitter.
"Seriously wondering whether there was an actual #threat. I suspect possible #overkill by the #police," wrote one person identified as "Echo."
Wary eye
Late on Thursday, police released another man who was arrested near the venue, saying the driver -- who was in a white van with Spanish plates containing gas bottles -- was most likely "in the wrong place at the wrong time."
He was arrested after police noticed him driving suspiciously near the Maassilo concert venue in the city’s sprawling harbour district.
Police later said he was drunk and released him saying he was no longer a suspect in the case.
The Netherlands has so far been spared the terror strikes that have rocked its European neighbors recently.
But top Dutch security and intelligence officials have been keeping a wary eye on events.
In June, a Dutch man -- known to authorities as being possibly radicalized -- was arrested filming outside a stadium during a concert. He was later freed, but the incident is still under investigation.
[DAWN] Pakistain’s top civilian and military leadership on Thursday strongly rejected 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... ’s allegations of insincerity and duplicity in the fight against terrorism and set conditions for future counterterrorism cooperation with Washington and Kabul, specifically the removal of hideouts in eastern Afghanistan.
The government’s formal and comprehensive response to the Trump administration’s policy on Afghanistan and South Asia came after a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), which was chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and attended by ministers for defence, foreign affairs, finance, and interior, the national security adviser, services chiefs and heads of intelligence agencies and military operations.
The NSC was specially convened for deliberations on the US policy and formulating the ’comprehensive response’.
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08/26/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
The committee also pointed towards Indian interference in the internal affairs of neighbouring countries and use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy.
[DAWN] The capital administration on Thursday stopped relatives of deposed Lal Masjid ...literally the Red Mosque, located in Islamabad and frequented by all sorts of high govt officials. The proprietors, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, unleashed their Islamic storm troopers on the city, shutting down whorehouses and beating people up who weren't devout enough. The Musharraf govt put an end to the nonsense by besieging the place. Abdul Aziz Ghazi was nabbed while he was trying to escape dressed up like a girl. BBC reported that the corpse count at 173, but other claims, usually hysterical, say there were up to 1000 titzup. Among their number was Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Everyone then said tut-tut and what a nice guy he had been... holy manMaulana Abdul Aziz ...nutball holy man who runs the Lal Masjid in the heart of Pakistain's capital. After instigating a rebellion against the state in 2007, he was caught trying to sneak away dressed in a burka. He rejects democracy as un-Islamic, which it probably is... from holding a presser on the grounds that mosques should not be politicised.
A presser on alleged enforced disappearances of Mr Aziz’s family members was scheduled for 3pm. When it was time for the presser, a large contingent of Islamabad police arrived at the mosque and closed off the main entrance.
Mediapersons who had entered the mosque prior to the arrival of the police remained within the mosque’s courtyard for half an hour, while those outside attempted to persuade the police to let them in.
"This is a mosque and not a political area," the police official posted at the spot said, adding: "Besides, there is no one inside the mosque for the briefing, as the maulana and his wife have not arrived."
Mr Aziz’ nephew Haroon Rashid, meanwhile, criticised the police for taking charge of the mosque gates and said the move was a human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... violation.
"Mosques are also the community centres of Moslems," he said. "Not allowing media persons to enter the mosque is a violation of freedom of movement and freedom of expression. Maulana’s sisters wanted the address the media ‐ what is the threat in that?"
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08/26/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The ’sudden disappearance’ of Rehman Malik Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship. , Babar Awan and others from Liaquat Bagh came under discussion during a hearing of the Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... murder case at a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday.
ATC Judge Asghar Ali Khan asked Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Special Prosecutor Khawaja Imtiaz why Mr Malik, Mr Awan and others who were sitting in Bhutto’s backup vehicle, rushed to Zardari House before her vehicle had left the venue.
According to the testimonies of several prosecution witnesses, including senior coppers, the backup vehicle ‐ a bulletproof Mercedes ‐ was included in the slain PPP leader’s convoy for emergencies.
The prosecutor told the court that in addition to Mr Malik and Mr Awan, Farhatullah Babar and retired Lt Gen Tauqeer Zia were also in the backup vehicle.
He told the court that the joint investigation team (JIT) that conducted an investigation under the PPP regime did not list the passengers of the backup vehicle.
When asked by the ATC judge, the prosecutor disclosed on Thursday that of the around dozen passengers from Bhutto’s vehicle and the backup car, only two had testified before the court under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
He said that since the backup vehicle had already left the venue before Bhutto was assassinated, in their initial statements before the investigation team, the passengers of the backup vehicle had stated that they did not know anything about the incident since they were not present at the scene at the time.
When the judge asked why the backup vehicle left the venue in such haste, the prosecutor said that they were supposed to make arrangements for Bhutto at Zardari House in Islamabad, ahead of her arrival.
"[The passengers of the backup car] said they had rushed to Zardari House to open it for Benazir; was not any staff or servant available in Zardari House to perform such a job?" the judge asked. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... the prosecutor could not respond to this question.
To another query regarding the number of people sitting in the vehicle designated for Bhutto, the prosecutor listed then-senior superintendent of police (SSP) retired Maj Imtiaz Hussain, Naheed Khan and Safdar Abbasi, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, as well as Khalid Shehenshah, Razzaq Mirani, and the driver Javed Rehman.
Of these, the prosecution listed only Maj Hussain and the driver as witnesses.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Pakistan's population has surged to 207.77 million, having experienced a 57 per cent increase since the last census in 1998, provisional census data presented to the Council of Common Interest (CCI) on Friday shows.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
It's a bloody rookery.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/26/2017 0:06 Comments ||
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[TIMESNOWNEWS] A high alert has been sounded in Jammu and Kashmir after Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad, was spotted near the Line of Control. Azhar was in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir along with five suspected terrorists to perhaps monitor terrorist infiltration. The areas put on alert following the JeM chief’s sighting are Poonch, Rajouri and Udhampur districts.
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08/26/2017 00:00 ||
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[NEWSINFO.INQUIRER.NET] The Regional Trial Court (RTC) here has reset the arraignment of a police officer who had links with the Abu Sayyaf ...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder... bandit group.
Judge Jorge Cabalit, of RTC Branch 48 in Tagbilaran City, rescheduled the arraignment of Supt. Maria Cristina Nobleza for the illegal possession of firearms and explosives charges.
No date had yet been set for Nobleza’s schedule on when she would enter her plea before the court.
Sarah Soriano-Hermida, one of Nobleza’s lawyers, said the arraignment was postponed since the court had yet to resolve their motion that sought to dismiss the charges against the police officer.
"Our ground is--the court doesn’t have jurisdiction over the accused Nobleza because the arrest was made illegally," said Hermida.
The judge gave the prosecution 10 days to comment on the motion while the defense would be given another 10 days to answer.
Nobleza, who was wearing a hijab, a veil traditionally worn by Moslem women, arrived the sala of Judge Cabalit around 9 a.m.
Considered a "high risk" detainee, she was heavily escorted by coppers that caused a traffic jam along the city’s B. Inting Street.
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08/26/2017 00:00 ||
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[TRUNEWS] U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... Nikki Haley ...first woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina, and the second Indian-American governor in the country, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. At the age of 39, Haley is the youngest current governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems... has been in Vienna this week to discuss the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency’s efforts to keep tabs on Iran’s nuclear program.
She first met with IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano to discuss U.S. concerns that Iran strictly adhere to its obligations under the B.O. regime-negotiated nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. They also discussed ways to prevent Iran from exploiting ambiguous language in the deal.
Haley later met with IAEA inspectors who work directly with Iran’s nuclear scientists, who she thanked for their vital work of monitoring and verifying Iran’s compliance. She made it clear the U.S. insists that IAA inspectors have full access to all facilities related to the JCPOA.
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 been particularly critical of the nuclear deal, and has threatened to end it. Haley’s comments, however, would suggest he won’t do that anytime soon.
In Haley’s absence, the UN Security Council took a report on UNIFIL’s mission. That didn’t keep her from taking the opportunity to hit out at Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has been operating in Syria during the civil war in that country, ostensibly to help root out ISIS.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2017 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.
