[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The leader of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil... has warned of public uprising against the groups pursuing violence as he insisted on elections as the only way to reach to power.
Hekmatyar made the remarks during a meeting with the tribal elders of five provinces in West of Afghanistan during his visit to Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... province on Tuesday.
He said we call upon all sides to end the war and if this does not happen and those pursing violence continue to their armed insurgency then the people will be forced to start uprising against them.
The leader of Hezb-e-Islami did not name any specific group pursuing violence in the country.
However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... he has long been criticizing the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... group for waging a baseless insurgency in the country, calling the move by the Taliban snuffies against the humanity and principles of Islam.
In the meantime, Hekmatyar said the only way to reach to power is through elections.
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Unfortunately, the scholars of Al Azhar are adamantly uninterested in such changes.
[AlAhram] Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has renewed calls for reforming Islamic discourse, saying it is a key element in defeating terrorism.
"By speaking of renewing religious discourse, we look to promote the correct understanding of [Islam] and filter out false ideology and misconceptions," El-Sisi said in an interview with Fox News in New York on Wednesday.
The Egyptian president reiterated the need for a comprehensive strategy that is not confined to military and security confrontation, to combat holy warrior ideology and terrorist organizations around the world.
"The international community needs to stand firm against [extremism] with a comprehensive strategy that is not confined to military security confrontation, but which involves other aspects: economic, social and cultural," El-Sisi said.
El-Sisi, who is currently in New York for the 72nd United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... General Assembly, said that the Middle East has suffered the most from terrorism.
[Al Jazeera] 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... has warned that his government will consider imposing sanctions on northern Iraq's semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan over its planned independence referendum.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) plans to hold the referendum on support for independence on September 25 in three governorates that make up the region, and in disputed areas controlled by Kurdish forces, but which are claimed by Baghdad.
The plebiscite has alarmed neighbouring The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... which has a large Kurdish minority. Iran and Syria also worry that the vote will encourage secessionist ideas among their own Kurdish minorities.
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[Ynet] A Massachusetts man charged with plotting to behead coppers in an effort to help 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.... was due in court on Wednesday for the start of his trial on charges including conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism.
Federal prosecutors charge that the man, David Daoud Wright,
...who is in our archives as David Wright, along with several other David Wrights who were of interest to us before 2015...
along with his uncle and a friend, had first plotted to kill the woman who organized a 2015 "Draw Mohammed" contest in Garland, Texas. But they contend Wright's uncle, Osamaah Abdullah Rahim,
...in our archives as Usaama Rahim, beloved brother of a Saudi-trained imam and object after his death of a Black Lives Matter protest and halal BBQ in Ferguson, MO. He was all of two years older than his nephew, and no doubt just as useless...
lost patience and in June 2015 told Wright and the third man that he instead planned to kill coppers.
Law enforcement had been monitoring communications between the three and overheard the threat, prosecutors said. When police approached Rahim in a Boston supermarket parking lot to question him, he drew a large knife and officers shot him dead.
David Wright is accused of conspiring with his uncle and a third man to kill Pamela Geller, a conservative blogger with is anti-Islam.
At his trial on Wednesday, Wright's attorneys sought to portray the the defendant as a lost young man who had poor judgment but is not a criminal. He weighed more than 500 pounds, lived with his mother and had no career when he planned the murder said Wright's attorney. The defense attorney went on to argue that in the online world of 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, Wright found acceptance and an escape.
Wright also wanted to carry out other attacks in the U.S. and encouraged his uncle to kill coppers according to officials.
Wright, of Everett, is charged with obstruction of justice, conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and conspiring to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries. The latter charge carries a penalty of life in prison.
Wright encouraged his uncle to attack police and die a 'martyr,' instructing him to destroy his cellphone and wipe all the data from his computer said Siegmann.
Authorities say Rahim received instructions about the plot to kill Geller from Junaid Hussain, an Islamic State member and hacker who was later killed in an Arclight airstrike in Syria. Prosecutors say that Rahim then passed along Hussain's instructions to Wright.
Wright told another person online that he was one of dozens of Islamic State fighters in the U.S. who were ready to act according to Siegmann. The person Wright was chatting with was secretly working for the FBI and is expected to testify later in the trial.
Another one who unknowingly confesses all to the FBI.
The third man, Nicholas Rovinski of Warwick, Rhode Island pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy charges and faces a sentence of between 15 and 22 years.
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09/21/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Wright encouraged his uncle to attack police and die a 'martyr
Wonder what Michelle Carter's defense has to say about that?
[DAWN] TWITTER Inc., under pressure from governments around the world to combat online extremism, said that improving automation tools are helping block accounts that promote terrorism and violence.
In the first half of the year, Twitter said it suspended nearly 300,000 accounts globally linked to terrorism. Of those, roughly 95 per cent were identified by the company’s spam-fighting automation tools.
Meanwhile, ...back at the mall, Clarissa suddenly spied Mr. Bartlett at the checkout counter. He was buying Grecian Formula!... the social network said government data requests continued to increase, and that it provided authorities with data on roughly 3,900 accounts from January to June.
The increasing role of machines in fighting extremism is a function of necessity, with manually identifying violent material within the millions of messages sent every day an impossible task.
Twitter currently has around 328 million users, with monthly active users in the US around 68 million.
Twitter, along with Facebook and YouTube, are instead building automation tools that quickly spot troublesome content. Facebook has roughly 7,500 people who screen for troublesome videos and posts. It’s also funded groups that produce anti-extremism content that’s circulated on the social network.
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The company is balancing a commitment to free speech against pressure from policymakers who want to see social media companies do more to fight extremism and hate speech.
While the company is suing the US government in an effort to report more granular information about the national-security requests it receives, Twitter last year signed a voluntary pledge in Europe to take action within 24 hours against reports of racist, xenophobic and violent content.
Interesting that the Pak news article was "By arrangement with Bloomberg-The Washington Post"
[DAWN] Awami National Party founded by Abdul Wali Khan in 1986. Part of the PPP-led cabinet 2008-13. The ANP is considered left wing, advocating for secularism, democratic socialism, public sector government, and economic egalitarianism.... president Asfandyar Wali Khan on Tuesday urged jehadi and krazed killer organizations to abandon violence before participating in electoral politics.
"Entry of these groups in mainstream political process is a positive step. But they should publicly disassociate themselves from their past activities and apologise for it," replied Asfandyar Wali when asked about the participation of the Milli Moslem League (MML) and other similar groups in the NA-120 Lahore by-polls.
"If they (jehadi and krazed killer outfits) are joining the mainstream politics without giving up their previous activities, then it will be dangerous for the society," he told a news conference here at the Bacha Khan Markaz after chairing a meeting of the party’s central council.
The MML, the newly-formed political wing of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... , is contesting the by-elections in NA-4 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. next month.
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[DAWN] In a strongly worded speech in the National Assembly (NA), former interior minister Chaudhar Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday criticised Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for making a "courtesy call" on US Vice resident Mike Pence.
Continuing his recent criticism of the federal government's relationship with the US, Nisar said: "There is no need for us to be paying courtesy calls to the US; in fact, after the latest dronezap, there should be a strong condemnation sent their way."
"A resolution against Pakistain was passed in the latest BRICS conference held in China ‐ Pakistain's greatest friend. This shows the amount of convincing [by Pakistain's detractors] that went into getting that resolution passed," he continued.
"I call it a resolution against Pakistain because the organizations that have been named in it have existed in Pakistain," Nisar said, adding that India had tried to pass a similar resolution in the previous BRICS conference, "but after failing to do so last year, India spent its time lobbying and managed to get the resolution passed in the latest conference."
"My question is, when India was lobbying for the resolution, why was Pakistain not making contact with friendly members of BRICS ‐ like Brazil, Russia and China ‐ to make sure that the resolution was blocked again?"
Nisar added that diplomacy is not an "on and off game between two meetings," rather it is a full-time job to keep a country in touch with its allies at all times.
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[DAWN] An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Haripur on Wednesday began hearing the Mashal Khan lynching case against 57 suspects indicted a day earlier by the court.
The court held its proceedings inside the Haripur jail's premises, where strict security measures were put in place to avoid a possible confrontation with zealots.
Of the 18 witnesses presented before the ATC, only five coppers could record their statements on the first day of the case's proceedings. The court subsequently adjourned till September 27.
Mashal Khan, a journalism student at the Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, was killed in April after a charged mob beat and shot him after accusing him of publishing blasphemous content online.
A report compiled by a 13-member team investigating the incident stated that a group of people in the university had incited the mob on the pretext of blasphemy. The team found no proof that Mashal Khan had ever committed the offence.
The report said that Mashal Khan had been vocal about the rights of students at the university and even challenged the appointment of a new vice chancellor (VC) to ensure that students were able to obtain their degrees, which was not possible without the VC’s signature.
Mashal Khan was murdered in line with a plan allegedly hatched by Sabir Mayar, the president of the Awami National Party founded by Abdul Wali Khan in 1986. Part of the PPP-led cabinet 2008-13. The ANP is considered left wing, advocating for secularism, democratic socialism, public sector government, and economic egalitarianism.... -aligned Pakhtun Students Federation (PSF), and Ajmal, the president of the university’s employees association, the report found.
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[Ynet] A 70-year-old Palestinian woman who was deported from the United States for concealing a decades-old bombing conviction has arrived in Jordan.
Rasmea Odeh said Wednesday that she was "exhausted and angry."
Enjoy life as an old, unconnected female in the Muslim Third World, my dear. Even the PFLP won't care anymore.
In 1970, Odeh was convicted of two Jerusalem bombings, including one that killed two people. She says she confessed under torture. She was released in a 1979 prisoner swap between Israel and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Odeh didn't disclose her criminal record when applying for a US visa and later for US citizenship. Her 2014 conviction for lying on her application was vacated after an appeal, but she made a deal with the government when prosecutors said they would take her to a second trial.
In Chicago, Odeh was associate director of the Arab American Action Network, which provides social services and education.
[IsraelTimes] Iranian hackers suspected of targeting industries in Soddy Arabia, the US and South Korea, with government backing
A group of hackers suspected of working in Iran for its government is targeting the aviation and petrochemical industries 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... , the US and South Korea, a cybersecurity firm warned Wednesday.
Continued on Page 49
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#1
Or the industries are just failing from lack of maintenance.
[Ynet] Researchers say 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.... supporters have found an ephemeral platform to share propaganda on Instagram, using the service's "stories" feature which sees posts disappear in 24 hours.
Instagram is owned by Facebook, which has come under pressure to close accounts linked to Islamic State supporters after governments said they were being used as propaganda tools.
With successive military defeats and its Twitter and Facebook accounts being shut down by the thousands, Islamic State's propaganda drive is increasingly homemade. But, the analysis found the supporter networks crop up elsewhere.
The analysis beginning this summer identified more than 50,000 accounts linked to Islamic State supporters posting Instagram stories, according to Andrea Stroppa, who is part of the software research group Ghost Data.
Instagram had no immediate comment.
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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.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
