Some interesting choices there. The Poles and the Latvians seem to have a better grasp of geography than the Estonians and the Lithuanians.
Posted by: Matt ||
12/21/2017 14:32 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The Poles and the Latvians seem to have a better grasp of geography than the Estonians and the Lithuanians.
IMO, it's not so much a matter of geography as Donald-graphy: The Poles and the Latvians understand that the Don is tired of USA being meals-on-wheels to most of the world’s nasty little third-world despotisms, and Estonians and the Lithuanians don't.
#11
NATO is basically over. Once the Germans shifted over to dependance on Russian gas defending them against Russia because virtually impossible. Beyond that France and England are overrun and unwilling to really come to terms with it, Turkey is supporting hostile actors within Europe, and Greece is a third world nation and doesn't know it yet.
USA should craft a deal with the Commonwealth and a few others and replace NATO and the UN in one swoop.
#14
...Cut our payments by 50% for one month for every nation that voted for us.
I suspect they might come around right quickly.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/21/2017 19:36 Comments ||
Top||
#15
You declare our decision "Null and Void"? Get off our lawn, punks. WhoTF do you think you are?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/21/2017 20:09 Comments ||
Top||
#16
BTW, per Fox - Haley is holding a reception Jan 3rd for those nation's ambassadors that abstained, didn't vote or voted with us. I think it's a message to the others
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/21/2017 20:13 Comments ||
Top||
#17
Let US find out who Our Friends really are.
And, there are other plans and evidence to change anything now. Especially the Un-Just.
[DAWN] IT is not just about the hostility of the government in Kabul; more troubling is the fact that the adverse sentiments in Afghanistan towards Pakistan are deeply entrenched in the public. The indignation has heightened over the past years, with most people in Kabul blaming Pakistain for their suffering. Those feelings are especially evident in urban and educated sections of Afghan society. There are very few who see Pakistain in a positive light.
This was very clear during my interaction last week with young students at a private university in Kabul. Education is one area that has seen massive progress over the last one decade in this country, despite worsening political instability and the spreading insurgency. Hundreds of thousands of students are enrolled in more than one dozen universities in the city ‐ a marked transformation from the days of the retrogressive Afghan Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... rule.
Most students I interacted with in a seminar shared similar views about Pakistain being a villain that is responsible for many of Afghanistan’s problems. Among the audience, there were many who were either born in Pakistain or whose parents had lived there as refugees for decades. Many complained about Pakistain supporting the bully boyz responsible for the death of thousands of Afghans. Distrust of Pakistain is palpable. It is hard to find anyone in the Afghan capital willing to speak in favour of Pakistain.
Ironically, there are many in the cabinet and several high-ranking officials in the Afghan government who spent a large part of their lives in Pakistain and benefited from its hospitality. The resentment is not restricted to any particular ethnic group ‐ it is across the board. Even former Taliban officials who now live in Kabul have little empathy for the country which once patronised them. One is not sure, however, about public sentiments in other parts of the country.
Of course, it is expedient for our civilian and military leadership to dismiss these growing anti-Pakistain sentiments in Afghanistan as merely inspired by ’enemy forces’. This state of denial is, however, not helpful in improving our image. Surely, one cannot deny that there has been a concerted campaign to slander Pakistain and make it a scapegoat for everything that has gone wrong in the war-torn country across the border. Yet one must not gloss over our flawed policies and attitude that are stoking public scepticism inside Afghanistan.
One of the major reasons for Pakistain’s growing isolation is that our entire Afghan policy is built around a skewed security paradigm while diplomacy has taken a back seat. Understandably, four decades of conflict in the region and Pakistain’s position as a front-line state has enhanced the role of the security agencies. But the formulation and implementation of policy should not be left entirely to the security establishment.
In fact, there is great need for diplomacy to take charge in times of conflict. Our foreign policy has suffered hugely because of its direction being determined solely by a national security paradigm that must be corrected in light of the fast-changing geopolitics of the region. Indeed, past baggage and Afghanistan being turned into a centre of a new Great Game does not make it easy for our policymakers to tread the tricky path.
But sticking to the old ways may not help deal with the challenges. Irrespective of whichever government is in power in Kabul we need to work with it and to respect its illusory sovereignty. Our obsession with a ’friendly’ Pakhtun-dominated government in the past has hugely contributed to public resentment against Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Residents of Setif city in Algeria were shocked by an act of vandalism on the statue of their famous city and its main monument, the Ain el-Fouara fountain.
The Salafist Algerian who vandalized the statue saw it as a disgrace, and just a "fetish" for a woman stripped of her clothes.
The video was widely shared on social media sites in Algeria on Monday, showing the Salafist climbing the statue, and destroying it using a hammer and an iron bar, specifically focusing on the marble face and chest areas of the statue.
The video shows citizens gathering around him, demanding him to stop, but he replied with violent threats to anyone who tried to approach him. The police eventually intervened and stopped him with the help of some citizens, while he violently resisted.
The Ain el Fouara statue, located in the heart of the city of Setif, is placed on top of a fountain built in 1898 by the French sculptor Francis de Saint-Vidal. It is considered one of the most important landmarks in Algeria, attracting thousands of visitors daily.
The statue has previously sparked debate in Algeria, where some view it as a display of a woman’s private areas shaming their modesty and dishonoring the people of the city.
But others see it as a historical and cultural landmark; a masterpiece for men and women to enjoy.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Salafists
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] More details have emerged on 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. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... ’s ties with terrorism and the role played by its charities in spreading holy warrior ideology, in an article published by the American Center for Democracy on Tuesday.
The article listed three examples related to Qatar Charity’s (QC) activities in the Middle East, North Africa and even North America.
The report said: "QC was ranked first by the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... for its relief efforts in the Syrian, Paleostinian, and Somali crises. Of course, there was no mention of Qatar’s involvement in the overthrow of the Qadaffy regime in Libya."
It added: "That was followed by $550,000 to aid Libyan refugees. However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... a map provided by the QC itself that enumerates its historic activity around the world shows no activity at all in Libya."
And the QC statement that "Since the start of the Syrian war more than six years ago, Qatar Charity has helped about eight million Syrians," was never substantiated, according to the article.
It questioned a statement made by a front man for UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres’s over the terror blacklist list issued by the quartet (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... , Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt) which includes Qatari entities and personalities.
The article said that Guterres’s statement was rewarded by Qatar in August 2017 with a $8.5m donation to the UN "to finance aid workers on the ground in Syria."
It added: "It was the sort of donation ‐ supposedly with no strings attached ‐ that the UN loves and nations use to burnish a tarnished reputation."
Meanwhile in Canada, the EID Charity has been known for its involvement in teaching and training imams and preachers, the article said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Qatar (MB)
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Saudi-led coalition fighting 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 decided to keep Yemen’s main Hodeidah port open for a month, the coalition said on Wednesday, despite a ballistic missile attack by the Iran-aligned Houthis towards the Saudi capital Riyadh.
The coalition, which controls Yemen’s airspace and access to its ports, last month blocked all entry points to Yemen after a similar missile attack on Riyadh’s international airport.
Saudi authorities had said that both missiles were intercepted without causing any casualties.
"Keen to maintain humanitarian aid to the brotherly Yemeni people and as a result of intensified inspection measures, the coalition command announces that Hodeidah port will remain open for humanitarian and relief supplies," the coalition said in a statement carried by Saudi state new agency SPA.
The coalition said that ships bringing in fuel and food supplies will also be allowed to enter for another 30 days while proposals made by the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... envoy to Yemen are implemented, it added.
The Red Sea port is the country’s main entry point for food and humanitarian supplies.
The coalition had accused Iran of sending the missile that was fired towards Riyadh in November, and the United States last week displayed what it said was evidence that it was provided by Iran. Tehran has denied the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Houthis
[Ynet] Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... has arrived 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... for talks with King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Lord of Most of the Arabians.... and his heir, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, following a US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
His visit to Riyadh on Thursday comes one week after heads of state from Moslem countries met in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... to reject and denounce 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 decision. Saudi Arabia and some of its allies were notably absent from that summit amid reports that the kingdom is privately pressuring Abbas to relinquish Paleostinian claims over east Jerusalem in exchange for continued US pressure against Saudi rival, Iran.
Also on Thursday, the UN General Assembly is expected to vote after the US vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have required the Trump administration to rescind its Jerusalem decision.
[Ynet] President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... hailed Russian spies on their professional holiday Wednesday, saying they have thwarted more than 60 terror attacks in Russia this year.
In a Kremlin speech marking the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka, Putin emphasized that it
and Soviet-era successor agencies such as the KGB were an "inalienable part of our history."
Putin served with the KGB for 16 years and briefly headed the main state security agency that followed it, the Federal Security Service ... the successor to the KGB... , or FSB, before his ascent to the presidency. He said in his speech that "no matter how the times were changing, the majority of people who chose that difficult profession were true patriots and defenders of the state."
The Russian leader underlined that the fight against terrorism is a top priority, noting that Russia would continue working to "resolutely neutralize hotbeds of international terrorism" following its campaign in Syria.
[DailyCaller] The used car dealership known as CIA never seemed like an ordinary car dealership, with inventory, staff and expenses.
On its Facebook page, CIA’s “staff” were fake personalities such as “James Falls O’Brien,” whose photo was taken from a hairstyle model catalog, and “Jade Julia,” whose image came from a web page called “Beautiful Girls Wallpaper.”
If a customer showed up looking to buy a car from Cars International A, often referred to as CIA, Abid Awan — who was managing partner of the dealership while also earning $160,000 handling IT for House Democrats — would frequently simply go across the street to another dealership called AAA Motors and get one.
“If AAA borrows a car to Cars International and they have a customer, it was simply take the car across the street and sell it, and then later on give the profit back or not,” Nasir Khattak, who ran the longstanding AAA dealership, testified in a lawsuit. “There was no documentation… If you go and try to dissect, you will not be able to make any sense out of them because there were many, dozens and dozens, of cars transferred between the two dealerships and between other people.”
Khattak did not explain why he would ruin his existing business to help the Awans. “All of those transactions was to support Cars International A from AAA Motors,” he testified. “That’s why I did not make any money from my dealership because my resources were supporting Cars International A.”
He said only Imran Awan knew what became of the money. “It was Imram, [Abid] Awan’s brother, who was running the business in full control,” he said.
Imran Awan and his family members were congressional IT aides who investigators said made unauthorized access to the House Democratic Caucus server thousands of times. At the same time as they worked for and could read all the emails of congressmen who sat on committees like Intelligence, Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs, they also ran a car dealership that took money from a Hezbollah-linked fugitive and whose financial books were indecipherable and business patterns bizarre, according to testimony in court records.
While Imran and Abid Awan ran their car dealership in Falls Church, Va. in the early part of the decade, Drug Enforcement Agency officials a few miles away in Chantilly were learning that the Iranian-linked terrorist group frequently deployed used car dealerships in the US to launder money and fund terrorism, according to an explosive new Politico expose.
The money that disappeared between the Awans’ dealership, some $7 million in congressional pay, the equipment suspected of disappearing from Congress under their watch, and their other side businesses — all while they displayed few signs of wealth and frequently haggled in court over small amounts of money — raise questions about whether the Awans might have been laundering money or sending it to a third party.
“Based on the modest way Awan was living, it is my opinion that he was sending most of his money to a group or criminal organization that could very well be connected with the Pakistani government,” said Wayne Black, a private investigator who served as law enforcement group supervisor in Janet Reno’s Miami public corruption unit. “My instincts tell me Awan was probably operating a foreign intelligence gathering operation on US soil.”
#3
There were signs that the House Democratic Caucus’ server “is being used for nefarious purposes” by the Awans, according to a House investigation, and “steps are being taken to conceal their activity.”
My instincts tell me we have not gotten to the bottom of this story with all the linkages and complicities. I have a sneaking suspicion that Debbie Wasserman Schultz, other Donks and members of the deep state ought to be squeezed hard (read as waterboarded if you want) until this mess gets unraveled.
#4
If the Awan's populated 'off site' server(s) as has been reported, the potential for the Awan's to have been milking the both cows (US Intelligence as well as Paki Intelligence) should be closely examined.
#6
In and out of every congressional office, and a proven transport route of only ten miles across state lines. Wonder what they were hauling in those cars?
[FreeBeacon] Lawmakers are launching an investigation into Obama-era efforts to thwart a longstanding U.S. investigation into the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah, according to multiple congressional officials and insiders who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon.
The Obama administration worked behind the scenes to thwart a decade-long Drug Enforcement Agency investigation into Hezbollah and its highly lucrative drug trade in Latin America, according to a report in Politico. These officials are believed to have run interference on the investigation in order to avoid upsetting Iran and jeopardizing the landmark nuclear accord.
Senior Obama officials in the Treasury and Justice Departments are said to have undermined the DEA's investigation at multiple junctures in order to avoid angering Hezbollah's patron Iran, which could have jeopardized the landmark nuclear agreement.
Congress is now taking steps to formally investigate the reports, which multiple sources described to the Free Beacon as part of a larger Obama administration effort to overlook Iran's global terror operations in order to cement the nuclear deal.
Rep. Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.), a member of the House Oversight Committee and chair of its National Security Subcommittee, told the Washington Free Beacon on Wednesday that he and other top lawmakers are examining evidence that could implicate top former Obama officials, including National Security Council official Ben Rhodes, the architect of the former administration's self-described pro-Iran "echo chamber."
"I've long believed that the Obama administration could not have done any more to bend over backwards to appease the Iranian regime, yet news that the Obama administration killed the investigation into a billion dollar drug ring that lined the terrorist group Hezbollah's pockets in order to save its coveted Iran deal may very well take the cake," DeSantis said. GDYUP!
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/21/2017 8:34 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I suppose if Iran doesn't like it they can find us in breach of the "agreement". And if they don't, it just says how weak 0bumhole was when it came to negotiating with someone he isn't in control of.
#6
His policies towards the African American community probably couldn't have been any worse if Obama was a white supremacist.
Kill the jobs and import low skilled replacements. Increase gov dependency while promoting hostility between the communities and the police that keep the criminals down. All the while ensuring the flow of cheap drugs to their communities.
[DAWN] Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal has alleged that a troika of some disheartened politicians, retired military officials and journalists is hatching conspiracies against the government.
Speaking on a DawnNews programme on Wednesday, he reiterated that the country was going through a sensitive phase and civil-military relations is the most sensitive fault line for the future of Pakistain. "If we manage to organise the civil-military relations, we will win the war for Pakistain," he said.
A lot of mistrust exists among politicians towards the establishment and within the establishment towards politicians, Iqbal said, adding that the government has to tackle the situation very carefully.
The minister said that according to his findings after thoroughly observing the history of martial laws in the country, no martial law was imposed because of a political failure or crisis. All the marital laws were triggered by army chiefs when they found their jobs in jeopardy, he said.
Talking about the visible vacuum in political circles, he said leadership plays a vital role in political parties and a vacuum is created when the politicianship ‐ particularly in the case of the PML-N ‐ is expelled in an unnatural manner.
He defended the "bitterness" in the tone of 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, then by the courts... and said it was justified. Explaining the reasons behind this bitterness, he maintained that despite showing his assets worth tens of millions of rupees, he was disqualified because he had been entitled to a salary of nearly Rs0.15 million.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry informed the Senate on Wednesday that the government had been forced to negotiate with protesters of the Faizabad sit-in because it had been left alone in the matter.
Giving his comments on an adjournment motion about the Faizabad sit-in, Chaudhry said the Elections Act 2017 had been prepared by all parliamentarians, but only the government was targeted for the change in the Khatm-e-Naboowat oath.
He said no political party had taken the stance that the oath change was a collective mistake.
The fighting that spilled onto the streets following the sit-in could have huge consequences, Chaudhry said, adding that the government had decided to act against the protesters to comply with court orders and after receiving notice for contempt of court.
"This [Faizabad] sit-in ended, but it can be said that the end [of the protest] was not exemplary," he said.
Giving background of the sit-in, the minister said the first sit-in was staged in Pakistain in 2012. He said the sit-in had ended after an agreement with the protesters and the opposition had supported the government at the time.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] 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... , while unveiling his new national security strategy, reminded Pakistain that it’s obliged to help America because it receives "massive payments" from Washington every year.
"We have made clear to Pakistain that while we desire continued partnership, we must see decisive action against terrorist groups operating on their territory. And we make massive payments every year to Pakistain. They have to help," said the president while addressing his nation from the Ronald Reagan building in Washington.
This was the only reference to Pakistain in his speech, although the 56-page document that he released deals with it in more details, urging Pakistain to "continue demonstrating that it is a responsible steward of its nuclear assets".
The policy paper also says that "the United States continues to face threats from transnational Death Eaters and Lions of Islam operating from within Pakistain".
The new strategy, however, focuses more on the domestic front and identifies two "greatest transnational threats" to homeland security: Jihadist Death Eaters and international criminal organizations.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[IsraelTimes] Israel’s Foreign Ministry says the number of countries that either opposed, abstained or were absent from the vote on the UN resolution rejecting US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is "hugely significant."
One hundred and twenty eight countries voted in favor of the motion and nine voted against. Thirty-five countries abstained.
A further 21 countries didn’t show up for the vote.
The vote shows that "not the whole world is part of this show," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nachshon says, immediately after the vote.
An image of the screen showing how each country voted can be seen here.
#4
Britain's Prime Ditherer is just trying to appease iSlam and remove the last hopeless Tories from any chance of considering her as in any way conservative.
[IsraelTimes] 'Let them vote against us. We’ll save a lot,' says US president ahead of Thursday's General Assembly session.
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... on Wednesday cautioned he could slash funding to countries that support a UN General Assembly resolution on Thursday that seeks to annul the United States’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
"They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us. Well, we’re watching those votes. Let them vote against us. We’ll save a lot. We don’t care," Trump said at the White House, according to Rooters.
On Tuesday, Nikki Haley ...Trump administration's ambassador to the UN. 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 was the youngest governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems... , Washington’s UN envoy, warned countries that she would report back to Trump with the names of those who supported a draft resolution rejecting the US recognition.
"The president will be watching this vote carefully and has requested I report back on those countries who voted against us," she wrote to UN envoys. "We will take note of each and every vote on this issue."
The UN General Assembly will hold an emergency session on Thursday to vote on the proposed measure, after the US vetoed a similar resolution for the Security Council.
No country has veto power in the 193-nation General Assembly, contrary to the council, where the United States, along with Britannia, China, La Belle France and Russia, can block any resolution.
Paleostinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki on Wednesday accused Washington of "threatening" member countries of the UN General Assembly over the vote. Malki said American officials were "committing another mistake when they have distributed this famous letter trying to threaten countries, (and) threaten their sovereign decision to choose how to vote."
He spoke at a presser with his Ottoman Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Istanbul, shortly before both men left for New York.
"This is really a new definition of world order in politics and it seems that the American administration... are putting their stamp on a new political reality that many countries will reject," Malki said.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and 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... requested the urgent meeting on behalf of the Arab group of countries and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The two countries circulated a draft resolution on Tuesday that mirrors the vetoed measure, reaffirming that any decision on the status of Jerusalem has no legal effect and must be rescinded.
Malki said the UN session would show "how many countries will opt to vote with their conscience."
"They will vote for justice and they will vote in favor of that resolution that was presented by both Yemen and Turkey on behalf of the Arab group and OIC," he said.
After vetoing the measure in the UN Security Council on Monday, Haley noted that the US has given more than $5 billion to the Paleostinians since 1994, more than any other country and she said: "The United States has never been more committed to peace in the Middle East."
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) Tiger Forces arrived in northern Hama this week with a big surprise from their previous operations in the Deir Ezzor Governorate.
Units from the Tiger Forces were seen armed with US-manufactured weapons that were seized from 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) during the two month long battle in Deir Ezzor.
According to a military source in Hama, the Syrian Army’s Tiger Forces are planning to use the US-manufactured weapons against the jihadist rebels in the upcoming battle for the Idlib Governorate.
Among the US-manufactured weapons transferred to the Idlib front were a large number of TOW missiles that were previously supplied by Washington to the rebel forces in Syria before they were later sold to the Islamic State.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Units from the Tiger Forces were seen armed with US-manufactured weapons that were seized from the Islamic State
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iran has raised the price of fuel by up to 50% during the next year's budget and will move to cancel the monetary support of more than 34 million people.
The price of the gasoline will reach 1500 tomans per liter (about 0.43 US cents), a 50 percent increase, and the diesel will rise to 400 tomans from 300 tomans, the government's website said on Tuesday.
The newspaper "Donya-e-Eqtesad" warned of fears of negative effects of high gasoline prices and quoted experts that the rate of inflation in the country will increase by 1% due to high fuel prices.
It also warned against cash subsidies to the poor and said cash support would be canceled for 34 million people next year.
At the parliament, Wali Dadashi, a front man for the (Article 90) Committee of the Iranian Parliament, said he was strongly opposed to raising energy and fuel prices in the country and considered it a wrong decision taken during bad economic conditions.
The rise comes of the fuel prices comes while Parviz Fattah, head of the Khomeini Supply Committee in Iran, recently revealed that 20 million people are under the extreme poverty line, according to global indicators.
Iran is witnessing labor protests against wage delays, low wages, rampant unemployment and poverty due to widespread corruption, which is reflected directly on the citizens and their standards of living.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#2
diesel is even more subsidized than gasoline in Iran; current cost is about $0.09/liter
but since the Iran National Guard owns a lot of the truck companies, I suppose the subsidy will stay at this level
another problem is that many of the vehicles have disabled or poorly working emission controls - the schools were closed in Tehran a few days ago because of air pollution
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/21/2017 8:53 Comments ||
Top||
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.
...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. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
...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...
...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, 
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
Curry favour with Iran whilst funneling money to Hezbollah and facilitating the only remaining US inner-city enterprise, a twofer. 
[DAWN] Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal has alleged that a troika of some disheartened politicians, retired military officials and journalists is hatching conspiracies against the government.
... 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, then by the courts...
[DAWN] Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry informed the Senate on Wednesday that the government had been forced to negotiate with protesters of the Faizabad sit-in because it had been left alone in the matter.
...Trump administration's ambassador to the UN. 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 was the youngest governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems...
