[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has demanded a probe into the alleged killing of at least 20 civilians in Afghan Special Forces fire in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan.
The Afghan government and US military should investigate reports that Afghan special forces summarily executed civilians in Kandahar province during military operations from January 31 to February 1, 2018, Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
According to HRW, citing official reports, on the evening of January 31, the Special Forces Unit of the National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) backed by US Arclight airstrikes began an offensive against Taliban ...Arabic for students... murderous Moslems in the Band-e Timor area of Maiwand district and the Reg area of Panjwai district.
Local residents told Human Rights Watch by phone that Afghan cops opened fire on men as they attempted to flee, killing about 50 Taliban fighters and at least 20 civilians.
One witness said, "when the airplanes came we fled. But as the people were running away the forces were shooting them."
"The alleged deaths of at least twenty civilians in Band-e Timor demands a prompt and impartial investigation," said Patricia Gossman, senior Afghanistan researcher. "Summarily executing people in jug, whether they are fighters or civilians, is a war crime. Only a full investigation can uncover all who may be responsible."
The Afghan government and security institutions have not commented regarding the report so far.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Have these bastards ever said a word about the thousands of murders and rapes committed by ISIS or Al Qaeda? When they do, I'll start paying attention, until then I think they should STFU.
[VOA News] In an effort to find new ways of financing their insurgency, Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... rebels have turned to local media for taxation and threatened news outlets in central Afghanistan with punitive measures if they refuse to give in to the Lion of Islam group’s demands.
The Taliban has recently demanded that media outlets in central Ghazni province disclose their revenue so the group can impose taxes.
"The Taliban contacted us by telephone at the start of the spring and demanded 200,000 Afghanis [$4,000], saying it was the tax they are now imposing on media throughout the country," Ahmad Farid Omari, managing editor of a local TV station, told VOA.
"We reported the threats to Afghan officials many times, but no action was taken. After several reminders and threats, we finally paid." Omari added.
Reporters without Borders, or RSF, a global watchdog group overseeing media freedom, also reported Monday that Taliban gunnies have been threatening to bar media organizations across the province from operating if they refuse to pay the money.
Afghan officials, however, have downplayed the issue, saying the practice is not widespread and that the government has taken the necessary measures to ensure the security of media organizations.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2018 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] Last year, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström told a conference that the unfolding humanitarian crisis 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... was one that "has far too long been neglected and forgotten by the global community" and what Yemeni people were going through was "difficult to imagine."
It is such statements that, besides leading various international peace efforts to help resolve major conflicts across the globe, including Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... 's deadly war on Yemen, have helped Sweden establish the image of a peace-loving country that cares for others.
However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... a steady rise in the Scandinavian country's weapons business over the past years, including its major dealings with repressive Arab regimes in the Persian Gulf region, has cast doubt on Stockholm's true intentions.
In fact the rise has been so fast that according to official data by the US government, Sweden is now the world's third largest weapons producer per capita, closely following Russia and Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... while overtaking La Belle France, Britannia and the US.
At the heart of Sweden's weapons industry is Saab, a company that sold over $2.7 billion worth of weapons in 2016 alone, making its way into the world's top 30 arms producing companies according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Over the recent years, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have become some of the main customers for Swedish-made weapons.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
I just noticed that when I see the phrase "the unfolding humanitarian crisis in $BLAHBLA", I immediately and reflexively stop caring.
[The National] The clang and thump of jackhammers and excavators fills the streets of Marib, an oil-rich Yemeni boomtown once accustomed to the sounds of conflict, now an oasis of stability in a country embroiled in a civil war.
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... is convulsed by the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with rampant disease, famine and a ruinous war pitting supporters of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi against Iran-aligned Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... rebels.
But the fall of Yemen has coincided with the rise of Marib, once seen as an Al Qaeda bastion, which has been spared much of the misery owing to its oil and gas reserves, proximity 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... and rare tribal cohesion that has helped repel Houthi incursions.
"We have managed to push the war far away from Marib," said provincial governor Sultan Al Arada. "Marib is untouchable."
The border city is now Yemen's most thriving industrial hub, thanks in part to an influx of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people, among them entrepreneurs, doctors and Yemen's elite that is driving up investments and real estate prices.
Hundreds of new businesses have come up, ranging from eateries to water bottling plants.
Jobs in Marib offer salaries, a novelty to legions of employed youths in a country with chronic joblessness.
"The spectacular rise of Marib has come not despite the conflict, but because of it," Farea Al Moslemi, a Yemen expert at Chatham House think tank based in London.
"Marib has gained from the chaos surrounding it."
Its university is expanding and businessmen who once fled the war are slowly returning.
That includes Obaid Zubaiyen, head of a family-run trade and construction enterprise with interests across the Arabian Gulf, who fled Yemen in 2011 amid increasing turmoil.
"The family is back because Marib means opportunity," said Misbah Ohag, a group manager, showing a blueprint of a planned multimillion dollar project of villas, apartments and malls.
Governor Arada plans an international airport and aims to make Marib, home to temple ruins from the ancient Sabaean kingdom, a magnet for tourists.
But some scars of the war rumbling on outside Marib are still visible inside the province.
At a rehabilitation centre for child soldiers, drawings sketched by the youngsters are telling.
One showed a grenade, a tank, a helicopter gunship and crimson splashes of blood.
"They blew up my school," read the caption.
Houthi rebels have planted thousands of landmines around Marib and the mangled wreckage of cars litter its mountainous border.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2018 00:00 ||
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[AlAhram] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... on Wednesday said it would consider a "legitimate target" any group that comes to the aid of Kurdish militia in Afrin in northern Syria.
The threat from presidential front man Ibrahim Kalin came a day after Syrian pro-regime forces entered Afrin, only to come under fire from Ottoman Turkish forces.
Last month Ankara launched a cross-border air and ground offensive backing Syrian rebels against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Afrin.
Turkey has called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ouster and supported opposition fighters throughout the seven-year conflict.
Kalin said Ankara does not have any official contact with Damascus, but that if necessary, Turkish and Syrian intelligence could enter into "direct or indirect" contact.
My dear Turkish spokesman, if necessary American or Israeli intelligence could ring the unlisted cell phone President Erdogan uses only to call his Jewish mistress. Contact doesn’t get more direct than that.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/22/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Okay then.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/22/2018 17:27 Comments ||
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[PRESSTV] Pakistain's Supreme Court has ruled a disqualified politician cannot lead a political party, ordering the removal of ousted 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... as head of the country’s ruling party.
In the court order, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Wednesday directed the Election Commission of Pakistain to remove Sharif as head of the Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz (PML-N) from all relevant records.
"The Election Commission is directed to remove name of Nawaz Sharif as president of Pakistain Moslem League Nawaz (PML-N) from all official records," the chief justice said.
The order overturns a change in the law by Sharif's PML-N that allowed the former premier to lead the party despite being legally banned from holding public office.
The ruling comes months after the ruling PML-N party passed a law allowing Sharif to remain at the helm despite being removed from the premiership over graft allegations and for concealing financial assets last July.
The decision will likely force Sharif to step down as president of the PML-N and possibly end his career in politics.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2018 00:00 ||
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Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) ‐ Over 3.3 million Iraqis have returned to their home regions, while nearly 2.5 million people continued to live in displacement till January 31, 2018, a Geneva-based UN migration agency reported on Wednesday.
In a report, a copy of which was obtained by Alfurat News, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said, "In January 2018, for the first time in more than three years, there were more returnees than internally displaced people."
The organization pointed out that about 125,000 returnees returned to their areas of origin in the four governorates of Nineveh, Salahuddin, Kirkuk and Anbar last month.
"In the last three years, Anbar governorate has received the largest number of returnees in the country, due to improved security, rehabilitation of services and rebuilding of infrastructures," the report read, adding that the return movement is sill ongoing.
The IOM highlighted that the three governorates reporting the biggest decreases in the number of internally displaced people were Nineveh, (- 6 percent), Baghdad (- 12 percent), and Anbar (- 17 percent). Together, they account for almost two-thirds of the nationwide decrease of displaced people.
"Due to lack of security, services and livelihood opportunities in west djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , approximately 600 families returned in January to Haj Ali camp," the organization noted.
Since the start of the crisis in early 2014, with 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.... later holding large parts of central Iraq and the subsequent conflict to retake these areas, nearly six million Iraqis have been displaced.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/22/2018 00:00 ||
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq will soon start importing electricity from Kuwait through power pylons, a front man of the Iraqi electricity ministry was quoted saying on Wednesday.
Musaab al-Madras was quoted saying in a press statement that "the ministry signed with the Kuwaiti side a memorandum of understanding for the import of electricity from Kuwait during a visit by a Kuwaiti delegation to Basra province".
He added that "during the next period, power pylons will extend along 50 kilometers to import more than 200 megawatts for the national grid".
He noted that Iraq continues to import electricity from Iran through four lines that deliver upto 1200 megawatts.
He also pointed that, despite the absence of power pylons between Iraq and 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 ministry is still considering "ad hoc solutions to transfer power between both countries", adding that "electricity linkage with Saudi Arabia could be executed on the long run".
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/22/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
"ad hoc solutions to transfer power between both countries"
"D" size batteries? Lithium, of course!
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/22/2018 16:12 Comments ||
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Living the metaphor — it looks like they’ve given up on corralling it in poo ponds.
[Yahoo] Municipalities in Gazoo announced Wednesday they will pump sewage straight into the sea from the Paleostinian coastal enclave due to fuel shortages and the desperate humanitarian situation in the strip.
"The beaches of the Gazoo Strip will be completely closed and sewage will be pumped into the sea because the municipalities are unable to provide fuel" for treatment plants, said Nizar Hejazi, head of the Gazoo City municipality.
Hejazi also noted "the policy of collective punishment (which) continues to be imposed on the population," in a statement representing municipalities across the strip.
"We announce a state of emergency in the cities and municipalities of the Gazoo Strip," Hejazi said, noting services would be cut by as much as 50 percent.
#4
They should make Karachi the sister city for this rookery on the Med.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/22/2018 10:48 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Finally, the Paleos have an export besides terror
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/22/2018 12:03 Comments ||
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#6
Oof. Snark of the decade, Frank.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
02/22/2018 15:24 Comments ||
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#7
They’ll quickly find I think the added nutrients will cause an algae bloom. This leeches O2 from the water and will diminish live fish harvesting. They will be reduced to eating algae laced fish kill stew.
#13
Concrete for tunnels but none for sewage treatment plants. I suppose that somebody could seal off the pipe once it is in the ocean. Two can play this game.
Posted by: B. Sheager1498 ||
02/22/2018 19:54 Comments ||
Top||
#14
I guess if the fuel they give them doesn't go towards what it's supposed to, there's no reason whatsoever to give them any at all.
[PRESSTV] The Paleostinian Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,, has roundly criticized the Tel Aviv regime for subjecting a politician affiliated to the group to various forms of torture as he is being kept in Israeli jails without trial or charge.
Hamas, in a statement released on Wednesday, announced that 50-year-old Paleostinian Legislative Council member Abdel Nasser Abdel-Jawad has been behind bars at the high security Kishon (al-Jalameh) prison in northern West Bank for the past 50 days.
The statement added that the politician has been "subjected to severe torture, pressure and threats since his arrest."
Hamas noted that an Israeli military court has extended Abdel-Jawad's detention several times "without allowing him to meet his lawyer."
Abdel-Jawad was placed in durance vile Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! on January 1 as Israeli military forces stormed his home in Deir Ballut town, located 41 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Nablus.
He is a member of the Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform parliamentary bloc, and has previously spent over 16 years in Israeli prisons.
On January 22, Israeli military forces detained a politician linked to the Gazoo-based Hamas resistance movement along with more than a dozen other Paleostinians during separate raids across the occupied West Bank.
Local sources, who asked not to be named, said Israeli forces raided the central West Bank city of Salfit, broke into the home of Omar Abdul-Razeq and detained him.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2018 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] There are no direct links between Indonesian Lions of Islam and the leadership of ISIS in Syria, an Indonesian terrorism expert said on Tuesday.
Taufik Andrie, executive director of the Institute for International Peace Building in Jakarta, was speaking during a meeting about changes in the global terrorism network and the impact those changes have had on extremism in Indonesia.
He said that attacks by self-proclaimed ISIS-affiliated Lions of Islam in Indonesia "were not always related to ISIS, or even to Bahrun Naim or Aman Abdurrahman," referencing an Indonesian bad boy believed to be fighting for ISIS in Syria and a convicted radical holy man who led a ISIS-affiliated network from his prison cell.
"There has never been a direct link between ISIS in Syria with those who claimed to be affiliated with the group here," Andrie said. "Most of those so-called acknowledgements were self-proclaimed.
"If we follow the money trail, there has been little financial support coming in from Syria to Indonesia for terrorism activities," he told Arab News.
However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... Andrie said that remnants of the Southeast Asian bad boy network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) ‐ outlawed in Indonesia since 2008 ‐ still remain, with a clear organizational structure and key figures implementing their strategies.
Nasir Abbas, a former bad boy who is now known as a de-radicalization activist, said the group now operates anonymously, but still works toward the same goals using a mixture of preaching and violence.
"They are still on the move, but they don’t put a name on their organization. They use a strategy, unlike other Lions of Islam who think that they are waging war by being lone wolves," said Abbas, adding that other bad boy groups were now emulating JI by putting a solid structure in place.
"They would try to settle in a small region and strengthen their base, preaching to the locals about their intention to establish a caliphate and making the locals believe in their propaganda," he explained.
Abbas said the conflict-torn southern Philippines remains the go-to destination for Southeast Asian Lions of Islam returning to the region after joining ISIS in the Middle East. He claimed they pass through the porous sea and land borders from Indonesia’s North Kalimantan province to Malaysia’s Sabah state before entering the Philippines in Basilan ...Basilan is a rugged, jungle-covered island in the southern Philippines. It is a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, bandidos, and maybe even orcs. Most people with any sense travel with armed escorts... "It’s the preferred trail because there is a chain of small islands in the Sulu Sea and there are a lot of separatist groups there, which means there is an abundant supply of guns and ammunition," he said.
Nava Nuraniyah, an analyst at the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) in Jakarta, said there has been little change in the role of women in krazed killer groups, particularly in Indonesian and Filipino organizations.
"Very few of them have become combatants. When they do, the reason is usually self-empowerment," she told Arab News. "But most of them play the role of financier, treasurer and recruiter. They manage the money because they are housewives who are also entrepreneurs," she explained.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2018 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[PRESSTV] Last year, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström told a conference that the unfolding humanitarian crisis in 
...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...
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
... 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...
[ARABNEWS] There are no direct links between Indonesian 
