Hi there, !
Today Sat 10/07/2017 Fri 10/06/2017 Thu 10/05/2017 Wed 10/04/2017 Tue 10/03/2017 Mon 10/02/2017 Sun 10/01/2017 Archives
Rantburg
531687 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 63 articles and 233 comments as of 9:45.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Daesh defense line collapses in Hawijah as Iraqi forces liberate more villages
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
5 08:53 Pappy [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
4 22:44 trailing wife [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
4 08:45 Frank G [1] 
9 14:55 Raj [] 
1 11:46 g(r)omgoru [] 
4 12:59 Skidmark [1] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [1] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
2 21:07 phil_b [1] 
0 [1] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
6 18:42 Phuth Slase9811 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
Page 3: Non-WoT
23 22:30 trailing wife [1]
12 23:35 Skidmark [1]
1 20:21 Skidmark []
1 01:32 newc []
1 13:15 Skidmark []
11 21:10 Seeking cure for ignorance [2]
0 []
3 17:21 Skidmark [1]
0 []
0 []
1 07:10 Procopius2k []
40 23:31 newc []
16 22:39 Joluth Thusoting4606 [1]
Page 4: Opinion
15 12:57 Anguper Hupomosing9418 []
7 20:46 Anomalous Sources []
4 12:11 swksvolFF []
3 17:08 Besoeker [2]
12 18:49 Iblis []
Page 6: Politix
6 23:51 Skidmark []
1 02:25 Besoeker []
20 23:10 49 Pan []
11 23:56 Skidmark []
10 23:48 Skidmark [1]
-Obits-
Former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani dies aged 83
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, has passed away on Tuesday aged 83, Iraqi Television has reported.

Talabani, a veteran leader of the Kurdish struggle for self-determination, stepped down as president in 2014, after a long period of treatment following a stroke in 2012.

Talabani was born near Erbil, now the seat of the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq, in 1933. He was the first non-Arab president of Iraq, elected in 2005, two years after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Afghanistan
General Mattis reveals new rules of engagement
[Marine Times] WASHINGTON ‐ U.S. forces are no longer bound by requirements to be in contact with enemy forces in Afghanistan before opening fire, thanks to a change in rules of engagement orchestrated by Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.

Mattis, appearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford told a pair of congressional hearings that the White House gave him a free hand to reconsider the rules of engagement and alter them to speed the battle against the Taliban if need be.

Over the last several years, many top officials in Washington have advocated for a loosening of the rules of engagement that dictate how troops conduct combat operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

Changes could allow the U.S. military to move more quickly to defeat terrorist organizations. Rules of engagement are classified, and military officials generally do not discuss them.

However, there were signs that changes to those rules of engagement were coming. In his Aug. 21 speech announcing his Afghianstan strategy, President Donald Trump said he would "lift restrictions and expand authorities" for warfighters.

"We will also expand authorities for American armed forces to target the terrorists and criminal networks that sow violence and chaos throughout Afghanistan," Trump said at the time.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/04/2017 02:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Does he mean compliance with Art.99 of the UCMJ -


899. ARTICLE 99. MISBEHAVIOR BEFORE THE ENEMY
10. Punitive Articles

Any person subject to this chapter who before or in the presence of the enemy–

(1) runs away;

(2) shamefully abandons, surrenders, or delivers up any command, unit, place, or military property which it is his duty to defend;

(3) through disobedience, neglect, or intentional misconduct endangers the safety of any such command, unit, place, or military property;

(4) casts away his arms or ammunition;

(5) is guilty of cowardly conduct;

(6) quits his place of duty to plunder or pillage;

(7) causes false alarms in any command, unit, or place under control of the armed forces;

(8) willfully fails to do his utmost to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy any enemy troops, combatants, vessels, aircraft, or any other thing, which it is his duty so to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy; or

(9) does not afford all practicable relief and assistance to any troops, combatants, vessels, or aircraft of the armed forces belonging to the United States or their allies when engaged in battle;


shall be punished by death or such punishment as a court- martial may direct.


???
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/04/2017 7:19 Comments || Top||

#2  /s/ SGT Bo Berglund
Posted by: Clem || 10/04/2017 7:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Won't have to get three JAGs. two political appointees, and the Ambassador to sign off first?
Posted by: Frank G || 10/04/2017 8:32 Comments || Top||

#4  So we'll be able to shoot back even if the enemy shoots but misses?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 10/04/2017 8:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Won't have to get three JAGs. two political appointees, and the Ambassador to sign off first?

Not to worry - there's a certain R'Burg commenter who posts chapter and verse of the UCMJ.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/04/2017 8:53 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Khalifa Haftar: Libyan Army is launching legitimate war in Sabratha
[Libya Observer] Renegade Libyan General, Khalifa Haftar
... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
, has declared that one of the warring groups in Sabratha is affiliated with his self-styled army, saying the ongoing fighting in the city is legitimate.

In a statement to Italia’s AKI news agency, Haftar revealed that the ISIS Fighting Operation Room is launching a legitimate war against the bully boyz and human smugglers and traffickers.

"The war will not stop until those groups hand over their weapons, release tossed in the calaboose
Please don't kill me!
people for blackmail and hand over imported muscle who are fighting with them". He said.

The power-obsessed General also denied social media claims of his meeting with Commander of 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...
Revolutionaries’ Brigade, Haitem Tajouri, in La Belle France, saying he rejects "the principle of sitting down with leaders of undisciplined groups".

Haftar’s statement refutes claims of the ISIS Fighting Operation Room that it’s acting under the Defense Ministry of Presidential Council.

The ISIS Fighting Operation Room is made up of former army officers. It’s backed by a Salafist militia group called "Wadi Brigade," which is controlled by followers of Madkhali sect and owes allegiance to Khalifa Haftar’s Dignity Operation.

Dignity Operation spokesperson, Ahmed al-Mismari, told Sky News Arabia TV on Sunday that the ISIS Fighting Operation Room and Wadi Salafist militia are their affiliates and they will continue the fighting until they eradicate the "terrorist groups" from Sabratha.

To add fuel to the fire, the High Fatwa Committee of the eastern government has called for Jihad in Sabratha against what it called the "Kharijites," a term Dignity Operation uses to describe its opponents.

The Awqaf Authority of the government, led by Abdullah al-Thanni, also ordered mosques in the eastern region to perform Qunut prayers to ask God to defeat the "Kharijites" in Sabratha.

Meanwhile,
...back at the mall, Clarissa suddenly spied Mr. Bartlett at the checkout counter. He was buying Grecian Formula!...
Chief of Staff of Presidential Council, Abdurrahman al-Taweel, ordered Monday the warring parties in Sabratha to stop the festivities and he tasked the head of intelligence office, military police chief, and Sabratha security department chief to supervise the ceasefire he ordered.

He added that any violations will render the party committing them as illegitimate.

Both Brigade 48 and the ISIS Fighting Operation Room said they will comply with the ceasefire orders, but the Wadi militia is rejecting it, accusing Brigade 48 of being a group of "terrorists".

Earlier, The Presidential Council in its capacity as Supreme Commander of Libyan Army ordered Chief of Western Military Zone, Osama Jawaili, to intervene and stops the fighting.

Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Africa Subsaharan
Judge hands-off trial of Boko Haram factional leader, Albarnawi, 8 others
[VANGUARDNGR] Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday, disqualified himself from further presiding over the trial of a factional leader of the Boko Haram sect, Mohammed Usman (aka Khalid Albarnawi).

Justice Tsoho withdrew from the case following the allegation by some of the defendants that he was biased. Albarnawi who was identified as the head of a Boko Haram splinter group that specialised in kidnapping and murder of foreigners, is facing trial alongside eight other alleged members of the sect- Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan (a.k.a ANSARU); Mohammed Sani, Abubakar Abdulrahman Habibu, Mohammed Bashir Saleh, Umar Mohammed Bello (aka Abu Azzan); Mohammed Salisu (Datti); Yakubu Nuhu (aka Bello Maishayi), and a lady, Halima Haliru. The defendants are answering to an 11-count terrorism charge the Federal Government preferred against them.

They had on March 14 when they were docked before the high court, pleaded not giulty to the charge, even as the trial Judge remanded them in Kuje Prison. However, sequel to subsequent application by the Federal Government, Justice Tsoho, on April 25, reversed his earlier ruling and gave the Department of State Service, DSS, the nod to retain the defendants in its custody pending conclusion of the trial.

Consequently, at the resumed sitting on the matter yesterday, five of the defendants, through their lawyers, said they were no longer confident in the ability of the judge to handle their trial objectively. Insisting that they have lost confidence in Justice Tsoho, the defendants said they would prefer to face trial before another judge of the high court.

The five defendants, through their counsel, N.I. Momoh, Samuel Attah, and Elisha Oloruntoba, accused Justice Tsoho of dancing to the tune of FG regarding their trial. Besides, they alleged that condition of the DSS detention facility greatly worsened their health status, saying they were constantly denied access to their family members and legal representatives.
Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)


Arabia
Qatar continues selling its properties, are Barclays and Glencore stocks next?
Soon to be followed by Saudi Arabia?
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] As the Anti-Terror Quartet
countries’ boycott 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...
continues, so does Doha’s economic deterioration.

Qatar is being forced to sell more assets and make new arrangements to ensure sufficient liquidity to support its domestic market, leading the country’s sovereign fund to shift from being one of the largest foreign assets’ owner to a seller.

After Qatar cut its share in Credit Suisse Bank, Rosneft for oil and Tiffany for jewelry in the last few days, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) plans to sell more of its assets worth over $320 bln, including shares in Glencore, Barclays Bank, according to Bloomberg.

Bankers and lawyers, who usually arrange the QIA acquisitions, are now proposing to sell some assets without waiting or expecting any significant investments for the QIA in the short term.

Bloomberg added that the QIA did not officially appoint financial advisers for the planned sales, but was considering which of them to be sold at the moment.

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) was established in 2005 to use natural gas revenues, for which Qatar is considered the largest resource worldwide, helping local economy avoid fluctuations in oil markets, and diversifying its sources.

Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Qatar (MB)

#1  We'll know it's a real thing when Qataris start selling off their vanity investments like Paris St. Germain, the French soccer team.
Posted by: Raj || 10/04/2017 12:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Al Arabiya spin. Asia NG spot price, and hence Qatari income, up significantly over the last year.
Posted by: phil_b || 10/04/2017 21:07 Comments || Top||


Europe
Belgium withdraws residence permit of "Salafist" Saudi imam
[Ynet] Belgium took steps to expel a Saudi imam who preaches at the country's biggest mosque for spreading bully boy ideology, the immigration minister said on Tuesday.

The imam's residence permit was withdrawn as a prelude to expelling him. He had lodged an appeal against that decision which, if it failed, would oblige him to leave the country, Minister Theo Francken told radio station BelRTL.

Brussels' Grand Mosque, which was leased to 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...
for 99 years in the 1960s as part of an energy deal, has faced repeated accusations from local politicians of propagating ultra-conservative forms of Islam.
The Times of Israel adds:
Francken did not identify the imam but his office tells AFP his name is Abdelhadi Sewif, a man of Egyptian origin who has lived in Belgium for 13 years.

Belgian authorities first decided in March not to renew the imam’s residence permit but he has appealed against the decision and judges will review his case on October 24, an official says.

After the deadly Brussels bombings in March last year, the mosque defended itself against charges that it was preaching a puritanical strain of Islam and was even a hotbed of extremism.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Marseille police arrest four suspected terrorists after knife attack by Tunisian illegal immigrant shouting 'Allahu akbar' killed two students
[DailyMail]
  • Ahmed Hanachi, 29, on Sunday killed murdered two cousins, 20, at Gare de Marseille-Saint-Charles

  • Reports claim the Tunisian shouted 'Allahu Akbar' before stabbing the women

  • Officials say he had been arrested seven times since 2005, but had no convictions and used fake names

  • When killed, he had no identification, so had to be identified by his fingerprints

  • Hanachi had Italian residency and a valid Tunisian passport

  • Four people were arrested on Wednesday, and are being held on suspicion of being associated with a terror group

  • On Friday, Hanachi had been arrested and released after being caught shoplifting

  • The authorities do not routinely lock up illegal immigrants suspected of minor crimes
Marseille Terrorist Ahmed Hanachi Avoided Deportation Day Before Attack

[Breitbart] Hanachi's identity was confirmed by Tunisian authorities as one of their nationals Monday evening.

Paris prosecutor François Molins confirmed Hanachi was known for criminal acts in his home country and across North Africa and had been arrested a dozen times between 2005 and 2014 by French police in the areas of Marseille, Toulon, and Lyon, according to France 2.

Le Parisien revealed that the Tunisian had been detained ahead of a deportation order the day before the attack – after his most recent arrest for shoplifting – but was released because authorities were unable to reach the person responsible for signing detention orders at the Rhône prefecture and because there was, allegedly, not any room in the Lyon detention centre.

The French daily noted that only 30 per cent of illegal migrants who have passed through an administrative detention centre are ever deported, with Tunisians representing the third highest number of illegals expelled, according to 2015 figures.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


French lawmakers adopt anti-terror bill 'at expense of' civil liberties
[Iran Press TV] The French parliament has overwhelmingly adopted a new controversial counterterrorism bill, which will boost police surveillance powers and make it easier to close religious centers, as the European country is under a nearly two-year-old state of emergency.

Legislators in La Belle France’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday approved the bill by 415 votes to 127, with 19 abstentions, two days after a suspected member of the ISIS Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
terrorist group stabbed to death two young women at a train station in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille.

The bill encountered little resistance from a nation traumatized by a string of terror attacks by ISIS in recent years. However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
the French left and right groups strongly criticized the law, arguing it would lead to the infringement of civil freedoms.

"Lawmakers realize that today’s threat is serious and that we must protect ourselves against terrorists. This must be done in a way that balances security and freedom," Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told news hounds after the vote, adding, "This text will help protect French people."

He also described La Belle France as being "still in a state of war" as authorities struggle to eliminate the threat posed by foreign bully boyz and home-grown bully boys. Collomb called the anti-terror bill a "lasting response to a lasting threat."
Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  The bill encountered little resistance from a nation traumatized by a string of terror attacks by ISIS in recent years.

Another reason the new class loves Muslims so much?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/04/2017 11:46 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Manning says she won't be intimidated by CIA chief
[Iran Press TV] American whistleblower Chelsea Manning
...formerly Bradley Manning before he decided to become a girl. He, or she or whatever it was, was a misfit Army intel analyst who decided to leak all the secrets he could lay hands on. Currently doing 35 years in Leavenworth and writing editorials for the New York Times....
says Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo cannot "intimidate" her from speaking out on political issues.

The transgender activist made the comments in an interview with The Daily Beast on Tuesday, accusing the intelligence community of attempts to "stifle dissent" after she was banned from lecturing at Harvard University.

"What’s important here is that the Central Intelligence Agency and associated people in the intelligence community, they think they can stifle dissent, all forms of dissent, all across America and use academic institutions as a battleground," Manning said. "I’m not going to be afraid and I’m not going to be intimidated."
Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Shoot 'her' in the face.
See if that works.
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/04/2017 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  "I’m not going to be afraid and I’m not going to be intimidated."

Howzabout "I'm not going to be treasonous"?
Posted by: SteveS || 10/04/2017 1:51 Comments || Top||

#3  I'd prefer "irrelevant".
Posted by: Pappy || 10/04/2017 8:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Uh huh. I'm sure Mike Pompeo rises each morning focusing first on this traitorous attention-whore freak
Posted by: Frank G || 10/04/2017 9:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Performing exactly as Obama had hoped.
Posted by: jvalentour || 10/04/2017 9:53 Comments || Top||

#6  It has a new pearl necklace to clutch tightly, so it ain't afraid of no big ol' bad man.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 10/04/2017 10:54 Comments || Top||

#7  When ever manning goes to visit him with a pizza they play Private Dancer by Tina Turner!
Posted by: ThBlack Bart Cromotch7868 || 10/04/2017 12:20 Comments || Top||

#8  Its Bradley Manning, and its not a she.

Truth matters.
Posted by: Crusader || 10/04/2017 14:52 Comments || Top||

#9  If I looked like Gary Numan's bastard love child, I'd go find the nearest rock and crawl under it for good.
Posted by: Raj || 10/04/2017 14:55 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey Detains 35 Istanbul Officials over Coup Links
[AnNahar] Ottoman Turkish police on Tuesday enjugged
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
35 local authority officials in Istanbul over alleged ties to last year's failed coup, just weeks after the city's long-serving mayor stepped down, state media reported.

Another 77 Istanbul officials also face arrest, with a total of 112 warrants issued for current or former employees of several district authorities, Anadolu news agency reported.

They are accused of links to 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...
, whom Ankara blames for orchestrating the bloody coup, charges he fiercely rejects.

They allegedly used Bylock, a messaging app used by the July 15, 2016 putsch suspects.

They are accused of "membership in an armed terror group," Anadolu reported.

Separately, Ankara prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 142 people -- 121 of them from the education ministry, most of whom had been sacked, and 21 former employees of the sports ministry, Anadolu said.

The suspects are also accused of using Bylock, it added.

The arrests follow last month's resignation of Istanbul mayor Kadir Topbas, after 13 years in the key post.

Topbas, 72, did not give any reason for his resignation from the job which President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
himself held from 1994 to 1998.

The former mayor found himself in a tricky situation after the coup, with police briefly arresting his son-in-law, a businessman, for alleged links to Gulen.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Turkey’s Erdogan says will impose further sanctions against northern Iraq
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
will impose further sanctions on northern Iraq over its independence referendum, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

"We are managing with some embargoes in northern Iraq for now, but if they don’t come to their senses, this will continue increasingly," Erdogan told politicians from his ruling AK Party.

Iraq’s Kurds overwhelmingly backed independence in last week’s referendum, defying neighbouring countries including Turkey, which fear the vote could fuel Kurdish separatism within their own borders and lead to fresh conflict.

Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


India-Pakistan
Another symbol of resilience from Swat valley
[DAWN] Like many Swatis, Khursheed Alam lovingly called Spin Dada by his relatives is getting on with his life with a smile but his left arm hanging down uselessly is a constant reminder of the horrific event that changed his life forever.

He lost not only his arm but also 18 of his relatives as he along with other elders gathered in a mosque were attacked by hard boyz in 2008 when militancy was at its peak in Swat
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
valley.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Doubling down on new foreign policy direction, Asif terms Narendra Modi a 'terrorist'
[DAWN] Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, in an interview on Monday, termed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "terrorist" and said the Indian government was being run by a "a terrorist party".

Asif made the remarks in an appearance on Geo TV's Capital Talk show in response to Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj's United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
General Assembly (UNGA) speech, in which she had accused Pakistain of "producing and exporting terrorism".

"Why is it today India is a recognised IT superpower in the world, and Pakistain is recognised only as the pre-eminent export factory for terror?" she had said at the assembly. "We produce scholars, doctors, engineers. What have you produced? You have produced terrorists," she had accused.

Asif, while talking about the many Kashmiris who have been killed in India-held Kashmire and touching upon civilian casualties in cross-border firing along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary, recalled those allegations on Monday.

"A terrorist is their [India's] prime minister at this time: one whose hands are stained with the blood of the Moslems of Gujarat
...where rioting seems to be a traditional passtime...
," he countered. "A terrorist party is ruling them [India] ─ the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) is ruling them. The Bharatiya Jannata Party (BJP) is like its subsidiary organization," he said.

"But Narendra Modi," Hamid Mir, the show's host, reminded Asif, "is an elected 'terrorist'."

Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Geo News fined Rs1m for 'institutional corruption' comments against army
[DAWN] The Pakistain Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Tuesday imposed a Rs1 million fine on Geo News for airing comments against the Pakistain Army.

The channel had reportedly accused the country's armed forces of 'institutional corruption'.

According to a statement issued by the authority, Pemra had approved the recommendations of the Councils of Complaints (CoCs) of Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
and Lahore which had sought a Rs1 million fine for Geo News for repeatedly airing "comments against armed forces" in connection with "institutional corruption" during a TV programme, "Aapas ki Baat", which aired on January 9, 17, 24 and 25.

Pemra said it had received a large number of complaints against the said programme.

The authority, on the recommendations of a committee, also suspended the landing rights of private TV channel Starlite for seven days for the airing of "obscene and vulgar" content on June 6, 2017.

Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


US commander claims Pakistan's ISI agency linked to 'terrorist groups'
[Iran Press TV] A top US military official has accused Pakistain's main spy agency of having "connections" with groups involved in acts of terror across the region.

Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that the Inter-Services Intelligence
...the Pak military intelligence agency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir...
(ISI) directorate had maintained relations with "terrorist groups."

"It is clear to me that the ISI has connections with terrorist groups," media outlets quoted Dunford as saying.
US officials have long been frustrated with what they say is Pakistain's unwillingness to act against bully boy groups including the Afghan Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
and the Haqqani network.

The Haqqani network, founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani
...founder and still titular head of the Haqqani Network. Jalaluddin is old and tough and very crafty, one of the few Pashtun warlords who was worth spit...
, is a bully boy group that operates on both the Pak and Afghan side of the border.

Successive US administrations have criticized Pakistain for links with the Taliban and for harboring slain al-Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest...
On August 21, 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...
, in a major speech outlining US policy on Afghanistan, denounced the Pak government for offering safe haven to "agents of chaos."

Pak officials bristle at what they say is lack of respect by Washington for the country's sacrifices in the war on militancy.
Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Where is our Captain obvious icon when we need it?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/04/2017 10:16 Comments || Top||

#2  The Pak ISI is mad at the Afghan NDS and the NDS mad at the ISI...and poor old Billy Yank is caught in the middle always...always in a continuous state of bewilderment...
Posted by: Tennessee || 10/04/2017 12:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Some method needs to be implemented which will extract us from this mess yet permit the deadly arming of each side enabling mutual annihilation. Surely someone can devise such a plan.

White papers to the Pentagon Director of Operations please.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/04/2017 12:35 Comments || Top||

#4  GMO the poppys then let them fight over what's left.
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/04/2017 12:59 Comments || Top||


Pakistan’s ousted PM Sharif re-elected as head of his party
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Pakistain’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
has been re-elected as president of the country’s ruling party, the Pakistain Moslem League, despite the scandal surrounding his dismissal from office.

His re-election on Tuesday came after parliament the previous day approved a bill allowing officials disqualified by courts to hold party offices.

The Supreme Court in July dismissed Sharif over concealing financial assets and he is now facing trial before an anti-corruption court.

Pakistain’s opposition parties have said they would challenge the new bill in court, saying it was just a means of paving way for Sharif’s stay as party president.

Also on Monday, an anti-graft tribunal postponed Sharif’s indictment for a week after his children, who are co-defendants in the case, failed to appear in court.
Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Iraq’s Kurdistan plans presidential, parliamentary votes on Nov. 1
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region plans to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on Nov. 1, said Erbil-based Rudaw TV, citing the votes' supervising body.

A referendum held on Sept. 25 in the country's Kurdish-held regions delivered an overwhelming yes for independence.

Masoud Barzani is currently president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Almost 93 percent of Iraq’s Kurds voted to create an independent state, the High Elections and Referendum Commission said on Wednesday, in a referendum that has angered the Baghdad government and regional powers The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and Iran.

Voters were asked to say "yes" or "no" to the question: "Do you want the Kurdistan Region and Kurdistani areas outside the (Kurdistan) Region to become an independent country?"

More than 72 percent of eligible voters, or 3.3 million people, cast a ballot, with 92.73 percent of valid votes in favor of "yes" and 7.27 percent in favor of "no."
Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel to prevent Palestinian entry for 11 days due to Sukkot
[IsraelTimes] In a rare move, Israel announces it will be closing off the West Bank and Gazoo Strip for 11 days for the Sukkot festival and the following Shabbat, beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday.

Closures for Jewish and Israeli holidays are a routine procedure. However,
man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them...
in the past, Israel has shut down the crossings surrounding the West Bank and Gazoo only for the start and end of week-long festivals like Sukkot, rather than for the entire holiday.

The closure was approved by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman earlier this week, but its implementation was still dependent upon a final situational assessment.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


History will judge those who waste a chance at peace, Sisi tells Palestinian unity cabinet
And the senior Hamas and PA men had to sit there and look agreeable.
[AlAhram] History will hold responsible those who waste a chance at building peace, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Tuesday, in a video address to the Paleostinian unity government, which is visiting Gazoo for the first time in three years.

The Gazoo visit is seen as a historic move towards reconciliation between rival Paleostinian groups Fatah and Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,, the culmination of months of talks sponsored by the Egyptian government.

In his speech, El-Sisi called on the unity government to end the years-long division, while wishing them success in serving the Paleostinian people.

"Members of the national reconciliation government, Egypt has forever, despite the challenges, been a supporter of the Paleostinian cause. The cause has always been at the top of Egypt's priorities during meetings with world leaders or during international conventions," El-Sisi said.

"I have always known that there is an opportunity for peace in the region, on the condition of union between all parties," he said.

The Egytian president said the whole world was watching the efforts to acheive reconciliation between the Paleostinian people, and their persistence in overcoming previous obstacles to harmony and unity is valued.

"I have a full belief that the differences should be solved among Paleostinians with the support of your Arab brothers, rejecting interference from any foreign powers on the issue," El-Sisi said.

The Egyptian president added that no one benefits from divisions between the political factions, emphasising his confidence that Paleostinian leaders would appreciate the sensitivity of the current situation and the importance of converging to accomplish unity and move forward with the wishes of the Paleostinian people.

El-Sisi sent his intelligence chief to attend the meetings in Gazoo, as a message of Egypt's keenness to provide all the support necessary to finalise the reconciliation process.

In recent months, Egypt has been sponsoring talks for the resumption of Paleostinian national reconciliation efforts, while also pushing for a revival of Israel-Paleostine peace talks.

Abbas: 'No Palestinian statehood without Hamas reconciliation'

[Ynet] Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas gave an interview to an Egyptian television channel in anticipation of the arrival of the Palestinian government to Gaza for the purpose of applying its sovereignty over the Strip.

"There can be no Palestinian state without completing reconciliation and unity. The government has returned to Gaza to carry out its duties. We have ideological differences with Hamas, but we can't deny the fact they're a part of the Palestinian people," Abbas said.

"The day will come when we achieve an independent Palestinian state, but it won't be soon," he added.

Hamas leader rejects Israeli, PA demand to disarm

[IsraelTimes] Hamas says it won’t give up its vast weapons arsenal, putting it at odds with both the rival Fatah movement and Israel.

In a TV interview, Hamas’ supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh, says his group, which has fought three wars with Israel, won’t give up its armed struggle against the Jewish state.

“As long as there is occupation on the ground, our people have the right to possess weapons and resist the occupation with all forms of resistance,” he tells the private On TV station.

In a gesture to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, he says Hamas will not go back to war against Israel unilaterally. “We are ready to negotiate with the Palestinian factions and Fatah on unifying the decision of peace and war,” he says.

Such concessions are unlikely to satisfy Abbas, who issued his own tough statement late Monday saying “everything must be in the hands of the Palestinian Authority.”

He said specifically he would not agree to reproduce the “Hezbollah model” of Lebanon, where the armed militant group acts freely under the watch of a weak central government.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said earlier today that his government will not accept a reconciliation deal between rival Palestinian factions that puts Israel at risk.

He said any deal must include recognizing Israel, disbanding Hamas’s military wing and cutting ties with Hamas’ patron Iran.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  History already judged them, and the rest of you, Abdel-Fattah - its garbage heap is waiting.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/04/2017 5:15 Comments || Top||

#2  There can be no Palestinian state without completing reconciliation and unity.

The Juice the cause of that problem too, Mahmoud?
Posted by: AlanC || 10/04/2017 7:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Mosab Hassan Yousef gave them the what for. Proud of the Lad. Maybe he should be in charge?
Posted by: newc || 10/04/2017 19:08 Comments || Top||

#4  That one is glorious indeed, newc.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/04/2017 22:44 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Rohingya militants in Bangladesh camps eager to fight
[DAWN] Bangladesh has deployed secret police in the burgeoning refugee camps near its border with Myanmar, where Rohingya claiming to be members of a bully boy group say they have found fertile ground for recruitment.

Authorities in Bangladesh, which was already grappling with its own militancy problem before the latest mass influx of Rohingya refugees, have repeatedly said there are no hard boyz among the new arrivals.

But inside the camps are a number of self-proclaimed members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the group behind the August 25 attacks on police posts in Myanmar that sparked a military crackdown that the UN has likened to ethnic cleansing.

Capitalising on anger over the unrest that has forced half a million Rohingya Moslems to flee to squalid camps in Bangladesh, recruiters claim to have enlisted hundreds willing to fight back in Myanmar, where the minority faced decades of persecution.

Those allegations are hard to verify. But authorities in Bangladesh have stepped up surveillance of the border area in recent weeks.

Mohammad Halim, who says he is a recruiter for ARSA, told AFP that volunteers were trained in combat, military tactics and the use of weapons ‐ but he complained that they were unarmed.

"All that training seems to be vain, because we don't have weapons," Halim said in a steamy tent in Cox's Bazar, using a pseudonym to protect his identity.

"If we had arms, we'd go back to Myanmar to fight... we would drive away the military and take back our land," he told AFP.

Waiting for orders
The ARSA says it launched the August assault ‐ and a previous attack in October 2016 ‐ to fight back after decades of suffocating restrictions on Rohingya Moslems in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar, which denies them citizenship and free movement.

But the violence unleashed by the ARSA attacks has resulted in a massive exodus of the minority from their homes in Rakhine state.

ARSA, branded a terrorist organization in Myanmar, is fronted by Ata Ullah, who is believed to have been born to a Rohingya family in Pakistain, and to have lived 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...
Rohingya leaders have long rejected attempts by outside murderous Moslems to radicalise the population.

But observers say increasingly oppressive restrictions imposed since communal violence between Moslems and Rakhine Buddhists in 2012 have allowed support for militancy to take root.

Security experts warn that radicalisation among the Rohingya would have far-reaching consequences, especially if global Death Eater groups tap ethnic rivalry in Myanmar's Rakhine state and anger in the refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Refugees fleeing the latest violence -‐ including sizeable Hindu and Buddhist minorities ‐ have alleged atrocities by all sides, including mass killings and rapes.

ARSA has effectively gone underground in recent weeks, said Jahangir Alam, a newly arrived refugee who claimed he took part in the bully boy ambush on security forces last October.

Rohingya fighters were told to await orders and weapons, Alam said, but some in the camps were eager to avenge the slaughter of friends and family.

Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army

#1  Maybe if you weren't so eager to fight, you wouldn't be in a refugee camp. Just sayin'...
Posted by: SteveS || 10/04/2017 1:58 Comments || Top||

#2 
Rohingya leaders have long rejected attempts by outside murderous Moslems to radicalise the population.


Not very well, obviously.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 10/04/2017 6:15 Comments || Top||

#3  well if Burma holds it's nerve the Bangladesh invasion will be halted.

I think they should invest in a decent border wall.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/04/2017 6:36 Comments || Top||

#4  "If we had arms, we'd go back to Myanmar to fight... we would drive away the military and take back our land," he told AFP.

If, if, if. Sounds like bar talk. "We'd moiderize them!"
Posted by: Frank G || 10/04/2017 8:45 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
26[untagged]
4Govt of Pakistan
4Islamic State
3al-Shabaab (AQ)
3Moslem Colonists
3Boko Haram (ISIS)
3Taliban
2Govt of Iraq
2Houthis
2Sublime Porte
2Arab Spring
1TTP
1Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army
1Govt of Pakistain Proxies
1Govt of Qatar (MB)
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Govt of Syria
1Hamas
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Salafists

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2017-10-04
  Daesh defense line collapses in Hawijah as Iraqi forces liberate more villages
Tue 2017-10-03
  Key ISIS member Qari Zahid killed in US drone strike in East of Afghanistan
Mon 2017-10-02
  Terror Attack in Las Vegas - Mass Shooting - Updated 50+ dead, 400+ wounded
Sun 2017-10-01
  Kurdish secession bid in Iraq threat to entire region: Hezbollah chief
Sat 2017-09-30
  Islamic State sets oil wells on fire, urges militants evacuate villages in Hawija
Fri 2017-09-29
  Lebanon Military Tribunal sentences Takfiri preacher to death
Thu 2017-09-28
  Al-Qaeda leadership, dozens of jihadists wiped out by Russian missile strike in Idlib
Wed 2017-09-27
  Palestinians admitted Interpol membership
Tue 2017-09-26
  US drone targets ISIS vehicle in Nangarhar leaving 5 dead
Mon 2017-09-25
  Tennessee Church Shooter Suspect Identified As 25-Year-Old From Sudan
Sun 2017-09-24
  Saudi FM: We demand Qatar abide by Riyadh agreement promises
Sat 2017-09-23
  ISIS virtually annihilated in Raqqa city as Kurdish forces begin final push
Fri 2017-09-22
  8 members of Pak-based Lashkar-e-Taiba killed in Helmand airstrikes
Thu 2017-09-21
  Syrian Army kills Al-Qaeda emir of Aleppo in northern Hama
Wed 2017-09-20
  RAF Drone Stops Islamic State Public Execution

Better than the average link...



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.
44.192.16.60
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (20)    Non-WoT (13)    Opinion (5)    (0)    Politix (5)