[RFERL] Young men inhaling fruit-flavored tobacco from hookahs had become a common site in Afghanistan in recent years.
But the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... recently issued a fatwa, or Islamic decree, banning the popular pastime. The murderous Moslem Islamist group considers hookahs, also known as shisha, as an intoxicant, which is banned under Islam. "Islam is the only intoxicant you need! Oh...and young boys. That's OK too"
The ban on hookahs was announced in the western province of Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... earlier this month. It is unclear if the fatwa extends to the entire country.
The move has had a severe impact on businesses in Herat, where scores of shisha cafes have been forced to close. Restaurants that offer shisha, meanwhile, have been forced to lay off staff as the number of customers fall.
The ban on hookahs is the latest attempt by the Taliban to impose its murderous Moslem interpretation of Islamic Shari’a law in Afghanistan, where the murderous Moslem group forcibly seized power in August 2021.
'NO CUSTOMERS'
Omid, a young entrepreneur, owned a shisha cafe in Herat city, the historic provincial capital. But last week he was forced to shut down his business and dismiss his seven staff members.
"How can I run a cafe when I have no income?" Omid, who did not want to reveal his full name for security reasons, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. "How can I pay workers when we have no customers?"
Mohammad Qasim was a waiter in a shisha cafe in Herat, earning around $100 per month. After recently losing his job, he has been unable to provide for his family of five.
"I will be forced to go to [neighboring] Iran ...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979... to look for work," the 23-year-old told Radio Azadi.
The Cafe Owners Association in Herat said that around 2,500 people had lost their jobs following the ban, aggravating an already dire economic situation for many residents.
The Taliban takeover triggered an economic collapse and worsened a major humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where hunger and poverty are widespread.
'AGAINST SHARI'A'
Not everyone in the religious and conservative country is against the ban on hookahs.
"This ban will prevent the youth from wasting their money and damaging their health," Nazir Ahmad, a resident of Herat, told Radio Azadi. "It will also protect them from more dangerous addictions."
Azizul Rahman Mohajer, the provincial head of the Taliban's feared Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, said hookahs are "against Shari’a."
"It harms our bodies and causes tobacco addiction, which can spread widely in society," he said.
The Taliban, however, has not imposed any restrictions on naswar, a mild narcotic made from tobacco. It is popular among Afghan men, particularly in rural areas, including among Taliban fighters.
In April, the Taliban declared a blanket ban on illicit narcotics, although Afghan farmers say they continue to plant crops, including opium.
IMPOSING ISLAMIC LAW
The ban on hookahs is the newest effort by the Taliban to implement its version of Islamic law in the country.
Since seizing power, the Taliban has policed the appearances of women and men. The forces of Evil have also imposed strict gender segregation in public spaces. Couples who eat out in restaurants are often questioned and harassed by the Taliban's notorious morality police.
In September, Finance Ministry employees were subjected to a test that gauged their knowledge of Islam. Employees who failed the test were fired.
Women have borne the brunt of the Taliban's attempts to police Afghans' appearances. The Taliban has enforced strict dress and behavioral codes that require women to cover their faces and restrict their right to move freely, work, or receive an education.
Many of the Taliban's orders and restrictions are reminiscent of the group's first stint in power from 1996-2001, when its regime deprived Afghans of their most basic rights.
[ToloNews] The Islamic Emirate denied the claims of the UN Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, saying if there is any question of the violation of human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... , the supreme court will investigate.
The deputy front man for the Islamic Emirate called on Bennett to form its report based on the realities in Afghanistan.
"The rights of all people of Afghanistan are protected under the umbrella of the Islamic Emirate. Of course, if any violation occurred somewhere and someone was treated in error, it will be investigated by the Islamic Emirate," said Bilal Karimi, deputy front man for the Islamic Emirate.
UN special rapporteur Richard Bennett said on Twitter that he met with "diverse stakeholders including female and male reps of civil society from several provinces" during his visit to Afghanistan.
"Representatives from Panjshir described a massive crackdown on civilians by Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... and widespread human rights abuses," Bennett said.
This comes as some residents of Panjshir call for a transparent investigation of the human rights issues.
"There should be a united leadership to provide justice and security for the people of Panjshir," said Khatira Hisar, a resident of Panjshir.
[KhaamaPress] Sarwar Danesh, a former vice president of Afghanistan, has announced the formation of the "Afghanistan Justice and Liberty" party. The newly formed political party sees "fighting the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... and building a federal republic in Afghanistan" as its two main goals.
The Afghanistan Justice and Liberty party’s statement highlighted the necessity to fight the Taliban and stated that the "growth of international terrorism" is a result of the Taliban’s "illegitimate rule."
This political movement, which is led by Sarwar Danesh, released a statement on Monday, October 24. Before the Afghan government collapsed to the Taliban, Danesh served as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, ex-president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. When Biden abandoned the country left with a helicopter, four cars, and part of the national treasury... ’s VP.
The statement addresses that "the emergence and growth of international terrorism and turban groups in our land and the failure and collapse of the nation-state building process in Afghanistan is the consequence of the illegitimate rule of the turban and monopolistic Taliban group in the current situation."
With regard to establishing a federal republic system in Afghanistan, the newly formed party stated that "the time has come to facilitate the implementation of a federal system in our country within the framework of the national consensus."
The absence of a competing and alternative system to be put out as an alternative when criticizing the Taliban administration has long been one of the main issues in political discussions.
One of the most highly contentious issues in recent Afghan political discussions has been the creation of federalism, which has a large following.
The party has declared that it will submit its full blueprint for a federal government in Afghanistan for its future at the appropriate time.
The statement of the party calls for "the fair participation of all ethnic groups in the administration of the country," as well as the involvement of women in leadership positions and political decision-making.
This party also counts Rasool Talib as a member who was a senior advisor to the former Afghan president in public and social affairs.
"We want an inclusive and federal government," a member of this party reportedly said to Deutsche Welle. "If negotiations with the Taliban and other political movements fail, we will turn to armed conflict.
[Garowe] The government of Djibouti has pledged close cooperation in the fight against al-Shabaab ...... the personification of Somali state failure... within the federal republic of Somalia, which could help the country permanently annihilate the krazed killers, who control large swathes of rural central and southern Somalia.
On Monday, Abdulqadir Mohammed Noor, the Defense Minister of the federal government of Somalia, held a meeting with his Djiboutian counterpart Hassan Omar Mohammed where the enhanced bilateral relationship between the two countries was extensively discussed.
Also in the meeting was Djibouti’s Armed Forces boss Sakarie Sheikh Ibrahim, a close supporter of the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS], in which Djibouti has close to 3,500 soldiers serving, and who has been instrumental in operations against the group in Hiiraan region.
During the meeting, state media reported, Nor thanked the government of Djibouti for the support they have given the federal republic of Somalia in the fight against terrorism. Djibouti's army has often been attacked by al-Shabaab on several fronts.
Although Djibouti has not been lately facing threats from the al-Shabaab, the government of Omar Ismail Guelleh has been working closely with other security stakeholders to completely eliminate the al-Shabaab. The United States army has a base in Djibouti.
For his part, Mr. Burhan said that the government and the people of Djibouti are fully supporting the struggle of the people and the forces of the Somali National Army are clearing out al-Shabaab holy warriors from the country, state media reported.
"Therefore, Djibouti State is committed to helping the government of Somalia in ensuring security and fighting terrorism," he asserted in reference to the fight against al-Shabaab, who have lately lost strategic towns in the Horn of Africa nation.
Somalia has been calling for military assistance in the fight against al-Shabaab, with the government also resorting to shaking the ideological narrative by dismembering the group's propaganda network which had previously capitalized on the ignorance of the people.
[Garowe] The influx of refugees crossing over from Somalia to one of the biggest refugee camps in the world; Dadaab is now worrying Doctors Without Borders, who have now raised concerns about the health of the people due to the spiking rate of diseases.
Doctors Without Borders argue that the Kenyan camp could be home to diseases such as cholera and measles, adding that the international community should chip in and assist to administer vaccines that would help the highly popularly handle emergencies pertaining to diseases.
"Every week hundreds of people arrive from Somalia to the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya," the NGO said in a statement. The camp is already home to more than 233,000 refugees, thousands of whom arrived this year.
MSF warns of the "high risk of disease outbreaks" due to overcrowding. It has therefore appealed to organizations such as the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] for an "urgent response" in the form of vaccination campaigns.
Currently, Somalia is facing a devastating drought that has caused hunger across the country, forcing people to flee to refugee camps. In addition, the country is facing an al-Shabaab ...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... resurgence despite efforts to eliminate the group, triggering massive arrivals of people in Kenya.
The southern part of the country is the most affected, with the local militia and Somalia National Army mounting a serious operation against the holy warriors. This, the agency says, has also forced some locals to cross the border for safety reasons.
"Vaccination coverage is low in Somalia and there is no system in place to receive and diagnose new arrivals in Kenya, so diseases can spread quickly (...), particularly among children," said MSF's deputy program director for Kenya, Arián Guadarrama.
"Even a few isolated cases of measles or cholera can cause a huge outbreak in crowded camps where there is hardly any clean water, sewage, or hygiene," he added.
[IsraelTimes] Ankara’s claim to potentially gas-rich areas of eastern Mediterranean angers Greece, La Belle France and EU, while Egypt rejects legitimacy 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... -based PM in divided Libya.
Libya’s Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah signed two deals with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... ’s defense minister on Tuesday, building on a 2019 agreement that angered European nations.
Dbeibah’s administration posted a statement saying the deals included "implementation protocols for the security agreement" signed that year by authorities in Tripoli, who at the time were fending off a blistering assault by eastern-based military chief Khalifa Haftar ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, 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, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. 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. Actually, he is, but slowly... Tuesday’s statement did not give further details.
The 2019 deal had seen Turkey claim large and potentially gas-rich areas of the eastern Mediterranean, angering Greece, La Belle France and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... Shortly afterwards, the delivery of Ottoman Turkish drones to Tripoli-based forces changed the course of the battle, winning them a victory over Haftar’s forces who were backed by Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
Another deal signed by Dbeibah on Tuesday aims to "boost the capacity of Libya’s air force using Ottoman Turkish expertise," read the statement, accompanied by pictures of him with Ottoman Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.
Dbeibah was in Turkey to visit a defense exhibition.
The latest deals come three weeks after Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu signed a deal in Tripoli allowing for oil and gas exploration in Libya’s Mediterranean waters.
That was also built on the 2019 deal, which demarcated the countries’ shared maritime borders but sparked anger in Greece and Cyprus.
The agreement was rejected by a rival administration in the war-torn country’s east, as well as neighboring Egypt, both of which argue that Dbeibah’s term as Libyan PM has expired.
Dbeibah came to power as part of a United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... -led grinding of the peace processor following the battle that had been sparked by Haftar’s attack on Tripoli.
That war was the last major round of violence in Libya’s long-running conflict which began with the 2011 NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... -backed revolt that toppled dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest... The country has since been plagued by divisions and today two rival administrations are vying for power: Dbeibah’s in the west and the government of former interior minister Fathi Bashagha, nominally backed by Haftar, in the east.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/26/2022 02:20 ||
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#1
Limits in the Seas - publications
OFFICE OF OCEAN AND POLAR AFFAIRS: US Dept of State. This series, issued by the Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs in the Department of State, "aims to examine coastal States’ maritime claims and/or boundaries, and assess their consistency with international law. The studies represent the views of the United States Government only on the specific matters discussed therein and do not necessarily reflect an acceptance of the limits claimed."
No Limits of the Seas production on this boundary has been issued. Studies are classified. This is an indication that the DOS wants nothing to do with this hot potato.
[AlAhram] Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Tuesday that religious practices in the region "need to be rethought" for the modern world to keep pace with the developments and challenges in society.
El-Sisi made the remarks at the closing session of the Egyptian Economic Conference 2022 on Tuesday.
The president also called on General Coordinator of the National Dialogue Diaa Rashwan to hold an interfaith conference that includes Moslems, Christians, as well as non-believers.
The National Dialogue, which is under preparation, was called for by El-Sisi in April with the aim of reaching common grounds on priority issues facing society, including social issues.
El-Sisi reiterated the need to reform religious discourse, and said that his earlier proposal to require that divorces be officially documented has not been endorsed despite being approved by a large percentage of members of a specialised religious committee.
In 2017, El-Sisi called for issuing a new law that would prevent divorces from being recognized by the state unless they take place in the presence of a marriage official. However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... al-Azhar, the country's top Islamic authority, insists that according to Islamic law, divorces must be considered valid even if they take place without witnesses or documentation.
According to Egyptian law, Moslem men can legally divorce their wives by mere utterance of the phrase "you are divorced." Women are not afforded the same right to verbal divorce.
The triple talaq. Say, write, or text the secret word three times — if you are a husband, only — and your wife must leave with only what she is wearing. It’s a sharia thing. India passed a law making it illegal in 2019, but husbands have been refusing to take back their illegally divorced wives.
The number of annual divorce cases in Egypt increased by 14.7 percent in 2021, according to recent figures by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics.
Commenting on El-Sisi's remarks today, Minister of Justice Omar Marwan said that a new family law that would ensure "transparency in marriage and put drastic solutions for the problem of divorce" will be introduced to the president soon.
Marwan said his ministry conducted a training course in cooperation with the Ministry of Religious Endowments and Dar El-Iftaa, the country's official body responsible for issuing religious edicts, to provide "intellectual support" to marriage officials so that they can judge on divorce cases.
El-Sisi has called for reforming the religious discourse on more than one occasion in the face of krazed killer thought and waves of terrorism.
The president has urged religious institutions and scholars to intensify their efforts to spread the values of coexistence, intellectual diversity, acceptance of others and tolerant Islamic instructions.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS] The Islah Party, the wing of the Moslem Brüderbund 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... , on Tuesday hinted to form a military council in Hadhramaut province, eastern Yemen.
The Islah aimed through this move to impose a new reality in the oil-rich province of Hadhramaut in the east of the country, and this coincides with the movements of its opponents to exterminate it from its last strongholds there.
Southern media reported, quoting Abdulsalam Battis, who is close to the leader in the Islah Party, Salah Battis, that a Hadhrami force is currently being formed in preparation for the announcement of a military council in Hadhramaut.
The formation of a new force by Islah, despite it maintaining the largest force there, indicates a change in its strategy in confronting its opponents from clashing to circumventing them.
[FoxNews] Biden pledged to help Afghan allies but bureaucratic red tape is backlogging SIV applications.
Tens of thousands of Afghans who are trying to get to America under a special visa program for U.S. allies — and hundreds of thousands of their family members — are stuck in a State Department backlog that is getting worse 14 months after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
President Joe Biden ...... 46th president of the U.S. We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created ... by the — you know — you know, the thing...... pledged to rescue Afghan interpreters and others who worked with the U.S. during the 20-year occupation in Afghanistan, and said in July 2021 that America would "continue to fulfill our promise" to those who "served shoulder-to-shoulder" with U.S. troops.
But a report from the State Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) says Afghans who are trying to apply for the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) that would get them to the U.S. are still stuck in bureaucratic red tape. The State Department is so far behind that hundreds of thousands of emails have not even been opened yet, according to the report.
"By May 2022, there was a backlog of 61,888 principal Afghan SIV applicants in process with an additional 325,000 unopened emails in the SIV application email inbox," the report said. It added that in May of this year, staff were "still opening unread emails dated from August 2021."
In response to the OIG report, State said that by the end of August it had cut the number of unopened emails to 140,175, "almost half the May 2022 figure."
Some of those opened emails are still mired in the application process. OIG found that the backlog of SIV applicants grew dramatically in the eight months ending in May 2022. The 61,888 backlog of principal applicants is up dramatically from 27,000 in October 2021, just weeks after the hasty U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan that left 13 U.S. service members dead.
The report added that nearly 260,000 eligible family members of those applicants are also still waiting for SIVs.
"The principal application backlog has been increasing consistently since at least October 2021," the OIG said.
The report found that while Congress set a goal of completing the SIV application process in nine months, it is routinely taking much longer than that to process Afghan allies. "Processing times for Afghan SIV applicants have consistently exceeded guidelines, with applications stalled at various stages of the process," the OIG said.
A State Department official told Fox News Digital that 18,000 SIVs have been granted to Afghans and their family members under the Biden administration, the same old faces in slightly different places, the same old ideas, the same old graft ...knaves, footpads, and adjusters employed by the Biden Crime Family. They leave a trail of havoc everywhere they turn their attention, be it the nation's borders, the Keystone XL Pipeline, or epidemics, sometimes on purpose, most times through sheer arrogant ineptitude. They learnt this stuff in college, you know... , and about 9,200 of those were approved since the U.S. left Afghanistan in August 2021.
"Since taking office, at the President’s direction, we have undertaken substantial efforts to improve the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa Program, make it more efficient, and process SIVs more expeditiously while continuing to safeguard our national security," the official said.
The OIG report made a series of recommendations on how to improve the process, all of which were rejected at least partly by the State Department. For example, OIG recommended a new staffing plan to reduce the SIV backlog to meet the congressional goal of completing SIV applications in nine months.
State rejected that idea and said this recommendation is based on an incorrect assertion that Congress requires applications to be done in nine months, when it instead is a "target timeframe."
#1
Given the many problems the USA has faced and is facing worldwide based on the Dept of State handling, INTEL, and directions. Has there been a independent deep review conducted and loyality check done in the last 20 years?
But then who can you currently trust? The FBI, NSA, ... to do the review?
#3
It's a bankrupt culture and society. Over twenty years of US blood and treasure failed to resolve their issues and bring about domestication. Hit the delete button and tell them to sort it out for themselves.
#4
'Thank you for calling. Your e-mail is very important. All our operators are attending drag shows. Please stand by while the daemon cleans this record with a cloth.'
[Rudaw] Six Yazidis, who were kidnapped by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS), have been rescued, according to the head of the office responsible for the rescue of thousands of people who went missing when the radical group controlled Shingal in 2014.
Hussein Qaidi, head of the Rescuing Abducted Yazidis office, which is affiliated to the Kurdistan Region Presidency, said in a statement late Tuesday that six Yazidis, aged between 15-24 have been rescued without elaborating when and how they were rescued.
The rescued were identified as Sawsan Hassan Haydar, Roza Amin Barakat, Wafa Ali Abbas, Mazin Jardo Khalaf, Rosita Haji Bajo, and Jane Ziyad Haydar.
ISIS overran the Yazidi heartland of Shingal during their conquest of parts of Iraq and Syria in summer of 2014, committing genocide against the ethnoreligious group. More than 6,000 Yazidis were kidnapped and thousands remain missing with little done to bring solace to the rescued.
The majority of captives are held in the notorious al-Hol camp in northeast Syria (Rojava), according to data obtained by Rudaw English from Khayri Bozani, former head of the Yazidi affairs at the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) endowment ministry.
Kurdish security forces in Rojava have in recent months announced the rescue of a number of Yazidis from al-Hol camp.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/26/2022 00:31 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
It was so counterproductive the last three times they tried it, so clearly the thing to do is be counterproductive again. At the rate they’re going, someone will step up to be a totalitarian monster out of sheer boredom,
[Shafaq News] Iraq's riot police used batons to disperse a crowd of demonstrators who gathered in Baghdad's Tahrir square to commemorate the third anniversary of the October protests.
A source told Shafaq News Agency that the security forces pushed the demonstrators toward al-Khellani square and reopened the tunnel that leads to al-Saadoun street from Tahrir square.
"Some demonstrators were apprehended during the crackdown," the source said.
Since yesterday, concrete blast walls and barbed wire have returned to the heart of Baghdad in anticipation of an expected gathering to commemorate the October 2019 pro-reform protests.
Anti-riot police and other security forces have been sent in, closing all the roads leading to the Green Zone, the home of key government offices and Parliament, as well as foreign embassies.
The security measures snarled traffic in the capital and disrupted daily life, forcing many to work.
Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has stressed that security forces should not open fire or use other illegal means when dealing with any demonstrations.
Three years ago, Iraqis erupted into the streets of Baghdad and other major cities in the Shiite heartland in central and southern Iraq to protest against the political elite who have been in power since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Their demands include more jobs, better services, an end to endemic corruption and an overhaul of the political system.
The leaderless, youth-driven protests were met with a heavy-handed crackdown from security forces and Iran-backed militias.
The largest protests since 2003 led to the resignation of the government and the approval of a new law that led to early elections, but these achievements came with a heavy price.
Nearly 600 protesters and members of security forces were killed in the violence, while tens of thousands were maimed, many with live ammunition.
Dozens of activist muppets reported intimidation and there were many kidnappings and liquidations.
Activists accused Iran-backed militias of being behind the liquidations to try to subdue the protests. The government and militias blamed "third parties", without specifying who they were.
In early 2020, the protests ended due to the crackdowns and the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague) ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... pandemic. Dozens of independent candidates who took part in the protests managed to win seats in the October 2021 elections.
Earlier this month, protesters gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir and Nisour squares near the Green Zone. Skirmishes erupted and dozens of protesters and members of the security forces were maimed.
The Protests Central Committee then called on protesters to gather again on October 25, demanding the formation of an interim government to run the country under the supervision of the UN.
The protests come as haggling between political rivals to form a new government continues, more than a year since the national elections last year.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/26/2022 00:31 ||
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[8 views]
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[Rudaw] The United States on Monday designated three military officials of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... ’s regime for their involvement in a deadly chemical attack in Damascus in 2013 which killed over a thousand people.
The Ghouta suburb of Damascus was struck with rockets containing the chemical agent Sarin in August 2013, killing at least 1,400 people. The attack has been attributed to the Assad regime acting in cooperation with Russia.
The US State Department on Monday designated Brigadier General Adnan Aboud Hilweh, Major General Ghassan Ahmed Ghannam, and Major General Jawdat Saleebi Mawas, whom it accused of being party to "gross violations of human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... , namely the flagrant denial of the right to life of at least 1,400 people in Ghouta."
The designation deems the officials and their immediate families ineligible for entry into the US.
The statement called on Assad’s regime to "fully declare and destroy its chemical weapons ...have not been used since WWI except for in Iraq, by the late, unlamented Saddam Hussein and in Syria, but really, honest, not by the Syrian government. And in Germany in WWII, but that was against civilians. Lots of them, just one of many reasons Hitler's also late and unlamented except among devout Moslems... program," and allow for immediate access for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), in accordance with its obligation to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) which Syria is a signatory of.
The Assad regime continues to deny its use of chemical weapons, citing "falsifying truths" and insisting that it handed over its weapons stockpiles under a 2013 agreement with the US and Russia, which was prompted by the Ghouta attack.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/26/2022 00:31 ||
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#1
I recall Assad Troops were winning the day, were seeing success in clearing ISIS and Moderate Rebels from Ghouta. The question was asked at the time, who uses chemical weapons when they are already winning.
The West discounted all the brags from ISIS on their social media.
"When [ISIS] captures it [Chemical Weapons] from them [Assad Regime] and uses it against them it’s all of a sudden a huge problem?”
- Omar Yilmaz
- ISIS fighter
- Tumblr post
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.
...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...
[ToloNews] The Islamic Emirate denied the claims of the UN Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan, 
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
...former chancellor of Kabul University, ex-president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. When Biden abandoned the country left with a helicopter, four cars, and part of the national treasury...
...... the personification of Somali state failure...
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...knaves, footpads, and 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
...have not been used since WWI except for in Iraq, by the late, unlamented Saddam Hussein and in Syria, but really, honest, not by the Syrian government. And in Germany in WWII, but that was against civilians. Lots of them, just one of many reasons Hitler's also late and unlamented except among devout Moslems...
