Recently declassified U.S. government cables suggest Pakistan's intelligence service paid a U.S.-designated terrorist organization $200,000 to carry out one of the deadliest attacks against the CIA in the spy agency's history.
But a U.S. intelligence official said the information was uncorroborated and inconsistent with what is known about the 2009 suicide bombing at Camp Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border.
Seven CIA employees were killed when a Jordanian doctor and double agent gained access to the base after tricking the Americans into believing he would lead them to Ayman al-Zawahri, then al-Qaida's No. 2. The correspondence released by the National Security Archive at George Washington University dates to the weeks after the attack.
A Jan. 11, 2010, document says the head of the Haqqani network, a Taliban-allied group the U.S. considers terrorists, held two meetings with senior officials of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence the month of the bombing.
"The first discussed funding for operations in Khowst province" and "funds were later provided to tribal elders in Khowst province for their support of the Haqqani network," the cable says, using an alternative spelling for the area. At the second meeting, Pakistani intelligence officials gave "direction to the Haqqanis to expedite attack preparations and lethality in Afghanistan."
A Feb. 6, 2010, cable, which like the other was heavily redacted, is more specific. Network leader Siraj Haqqani and another individual were provided $200,000, it says, "to enable the attack on Chapman." The document refers to several individuals involved in the plot, including an Afghan border commander, "to enable a suicide mission by an unnamed Jordanian national."
The Jordanian would have been Humam al-Balawi, the supposed al-Qaida turncoat whom the CIA codenamed "Wolf." As the CIA ushered him on to its base on Dec. 30, 2009, al-Balawi detonated a suicide bomb. A Jordanian intelligence official and an Afghan driver also died, while six people were injured. It was the most lethal attack against the CIA in the 15-year Afghanistan war and possibly since the 1983 embassy bombing in Beirut.
The reports aren't authoritative. Each one states: "This is an information report, not finally evaluated intelligence."
The U.S. intelligence official described the information as a "raw, unverified and uncorroborated report" that clashes with the general consensus of the attack as primarily an al-Qaida plot, and not one that involved the Haqqani network. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Pakistan's embassy in Washington had no immediate comment on the cables.
The U.S. has long cited the links between the Pakistani intelligence and the Haqqanis, a group that includes criminal and insurgency elements, and which uses Pakistani territory as a rear operating base. When Adm. Mike Mullen stepped down as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 3 1/2 years ago, he went so far as to call the network a "veritable arm" of Pakistan's ISI.
But no evidence of Pakistani funding of the group for the Camp Chapman attack had previously surfaced publicly. The source of the information on both cables is unclear. The National Security Archive received the documents after a Freedom of Information Act request. This must have sneaked through.
I hope we never have to actually get into a real war with this. If an incident isn't seriously survivable, you better be able to fix it in a couple of weeks with duct tape and baling wire.
A repair bill of an estimated $23 million and months out of action. That's the cost to U.S. taxpayers and the Navy after the four-year-old littoral combat ship USS Forth Worth tried to operate its propulsion system without enough oil in January.
The Navy announced Wednesday that the $360 million vessel would make a six-week-long journey this summer from Singapore, where it has been tied up since the incident, to San Diego for repairs to its combining gears, the hardware that transfers power from the ship's diesel and gas turbine engines to its water-jet propulsion system.
"The casualty occurred due to an apparent failure to follow procedures during an operational test of the port and starboard main propulsion diesel engines," said the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in a statement issued earlier this year.
"During start up of the main propulsion diesel engines, lube oil was not properly supplied to the ship's combining gears as required by ship's operating procedures," said Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a Navy spokesman. "The insufficient flow of lube oil resulted in high temperature alarms on the port and starboard combining gears."
How long as the Navy been dealing with lubrication oil in a power plant? A hundred fifty years? Longer?
The Navy's $23 million cost estimate for the USS Fort Worth covers already underway maintenance, transiting from Singapore to San Diego and scheduled repairs and maintenance once the ship reaches its home port, according to Hawkins.
"Preparations are expected to take several months to complete necessary inspections, conduct lube oil system flushes and configure the engineering plant for safe operations," a Pacific Fleet statement said.
The 388-foot, 3,400-ton Fort Worth will make the 8,900-mile trans-Pacific voyage using just the power from the gas turbine engines, meaning it will be slower and require several more refueling and supply stops that would normally be the case, the Navy said.
Putting as bright a face as it could on the incident, the Navy said the Fort Worth's repair time in San Diego would coincide with a planned maintenance period in its home port.
The incident cost the then-commander of the Fort Worth, Cmdr. Michael L. Atwell, his job in late March when the Navy announced Atwell was being reassigned to LCS squadron duties in San Diego.
"Sufficient findings of facts emerged during the investigation to warrant the relief of the commanding officer," the Pacific Fleet said in a statement at the time.
The mechanical mishap on the Fort Worth came shortly after a similar mistake on its sister ship, the USS Milwaukee, which broke down in the Atlantic Ocean on December 10, less than a month after it was commissioned. The ship had to be towed 40 miles to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia. The Navy said at the time that metallic debris was found in filter systems in the ship, causing a loss of pressure in lubricant to gears that transfer power from the ship's diesel and gas turbine engines to its water jet propulsion system.
Navy officials later explained what happened in an email to CNN. The Milwaukee "is designed to operate with gas turbine and diesel engines, which can operate in tandem or independently," Navy Lt. Rebecca Haggard said. "In the case of Milwaukee, when switching from one system to the other, a clutch failed to disengage as designed. Instead, the clutch remained spinning and some of the clutch gears were damaged."
The Milwaukee has undergone repairs and in late February steamed from Virginia to Mayport, Florida, where the Navy said it would take on additional equipment for testing this spring before proceeding to its home port in San Diego.
The Navy's littoral combat ships come in two variants: the monohull and the trimaran. The Fort Worth and Milwaukee are monohulls. With a draft of between 14 and 15 feet and a speed of 40 knots, the ships are designed to operate in littoral environments, or shallower coastal areas.
#4
The Master Chief plaster saint hissed from his cube,
"You bobbled a bubblehead's boob?
The New Navy lobby
Will clobber you, swabby --
Your rack! Bring a bucket of lube!"
The Greenland ice sheet is the second-largest single piece of ice on the planet (second only to the one in Antarctica). Nearly two miles thick in places, it contains some 684,000 cubic miles of ice. And because that is all above sea level -- as opposed to floating, like the northern ice cap -- if all of the Greenland sheet were to melt, it would raise the world sea level about 20 feet. I think I just figured out where all of California's water went!
So it's a bit worrisome that the annual melting season has begun a month earlier than the previous record start -- and in spectacular fashion, immediately leaping to a melt extent not usually seen until June. It's a clear and present danger to any low-lying cities, but also a reminder that the uncertainty of future predictions is one of climate change's most threatening aspects. Much like the inhabitants of Greenland couldn't have known that their beautiful land would be overrun by ice a hundred years after they moved there.
This chart shows the percentage of the melt extent over the ice sheet by month. Today's outlier is extremely stark: Is there a chart to go with it showing how quickly it was overrun by ice hundreds of years ago?
As Brian Kahn notes, even the summit of Greenland recently topped 20 degrees Fahrenheit -- some 40 degrees above average.
To be clear, this early melt does not mean the Greenland ice sheet is going to disintegrate tomorrow. On the contrary, while scientists have long thought that more than one or two degrees Celsius of warming would probably end up melting most of the sheet, they've also thought the process would take thousands of years.
Melting all that ice by direct heating would certainly take a very, very long time, due to its sheer volume. However, there are other mechanisms at work. Surface meltwater will flow down through shafts in the ice to the base of the sheet, where it can then increase the speed of glacier movement into the ocean by lubrication. A thinning glacier will also be more buoyant where it reaches the ocean, which will similarly make sliding into the ocean easier. Any comment on what I think may be volcanic activity below the ocean floor?
This is akin to the linear versus non-linear question which I have previously discussed regarding climate sensitivity. It might be that glaciers will respond in a simple, predictable fashion to increasing temperature, with ice loss increasing in a constant proportion to increased temperature. However, they also might respond with acceleration, with ice loss increasing much faster than temperature past some point.
From where we stand, it's very hard to say with any certainty whether the collapse of the world's ice sheets will be slow and steady or rapid and catastrophic. One must conduct measurements across thousands of square miles of treacherous ice, and much of the key development is taking place far below the surface. Models can help, and the science is advancing rapidly, but it's a devilishly tricky subject (though recent estimates suggest at least some acceleration).
However, one can say that extreme, nonlinear responses are easier to imagine in circumstances with extreme inputs to the system -- like, for example, a melting season that begins a full month before the previous record at breakneck pace. And that sort of yawing between weather extremes is precisely the sort of thing that climate models predict under future warming. Knowing what will happen to a particular ice sheet is hard, but it's now established beyond question that more warming means more extreme weather.
This is a key academic question, and many of the world's best scientists are working feverishly to figure it out. But for political leaders, the implications are simpler. A potential collapse of ice sheets in Greenland or Antarctica might be somewhat unlikely, but it would be a catastrophic emergency if it did happen -- and can't be fully ruled out. Catastrophic? As in it won't be immediately subject to OWG if a bunch of folks move there to avoid the political catastrophe here in America?
This should only strengthen the already ironclad case for strong climate policy. If an appliance professional told you there was a 1 percent chance your stove was going to explode and burn down your house, you'd definitely fix or replace it as quickly as possible. Even though the absolute chance is low, the downside is so large that it's not worth risking it. But what if that 1% was an exaggeration?
#2
The MMGW crowd always yells at us when we take one weather event to show that global warming isn't happening how they think, then they take one small point in time and say how the world will end.
Everything is proof that man is changing the climate, cold or hot and anything saying something else is heresy.
The highest elevation in Greenland - a "mountaintop" summit, is 2.295 miles above seal level (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mountain_peaks_of_Greenland#Highest_major_summits).
Looking at Greenland, this summit towers above the surrounding land.
Here is topographic representation of elevation in Greenland http://polarmet.osu.edu/jbox/data/sublimation_figure.gif
Now, the radius of earth is 3961.3 miles, or 20,915,664 feet, at sea level.
So - raising sea level 20 feet would mean changing seal level to 20,915,684 feet from Earth's center.
Now, there is whole lot of land interfering with any calculation of ocean volume, based on increase in sea level. And - Earth is not a perfect sphere.
But - lets do the simple numbers:
Volume of a sphere = 4/3 x pi x (radius) cubed.
Earth (before) = 4/3 x 3.141586 x (20,915,664 feet) cubed - and then compute cubic miles by dividing by (5,280 feet) cubed.
260,375,964,295 cubic miles
Earth (after) = 4/3 x 3.141586 x (20,915,864 feet) cubed - and then compute cubic miles by dividing by (5,280 feet) cubed.
260,383,433.677 cubic miles.
Volume differential: 7,469,382 cubic miles.
Now - figure in land mass that accounts for some of the increased volume. Land account for 29% or 30% of Earth's surface. Let's say 29.5%. So - assuming that 70.5% of the volumetric increase of the sphere's volume is water, that is 526,591,431 cubic miles of additional water, to raise sea level 20 feet.
Surface area of Greenland is 836,300 square miles. Add 2 miles of ice sheet over THE ENTIRE COUNTRY, and you get 1,672,600 cubic miles of ice.
Compare 1,672,600 cubic miles of ice - if ALL of Iceland was two miles deep in ice, and it all melted - and created the same volume of water - to 526,591,431 cubic miles of additional water needed, to raise sea level 20 feet.
By my thumbnail calculations, Greenland - if ALL ICE TWO MILES THICK - AND THEN COMPLETELY MELTED could produce 0.0031764 of the required amount of sea level rise, compared to 20 feet. That is - an increase in ocean depth of 0.7623 inches.
Now, there are lots of deviations from ideal - oceanfront contour of land mass - and also variations in ice thickness on Greenland's land surface - and the fact that melting ice produces a decreased volume of liquid water - and the fact that the ENTIRE ice sheet does not melt - but - in general - the article exaggerates by a factor of at least 315 times.
#4
I used the wrong value for Pi - should be 3.1415926 - but this is pretty much angels dancing on the head of a pin. The numbers in the climatista article are still orders of magnitude off from reality.
#8
Closer to six feet.
Volume differential: 7,469,382 cubic miles.
That much would raise the sea level 20', if it was all water. Since 30% is land, that much would raise the sea level closer to 26 feet.
So the volume of Greenland's ice is 1,672,600 cubic miles of ice, or about 22% of the 26 feet rise, or about 5.8'.
Still, very conservatively overestimates by a factor of four, compared to warmist numbers. But the science is settled.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/14/2016 15:59
Comments ||
Top||
#9
My thoughts are:
Multiply 2 miles of ice by the ratio of Greenland's surface area to the Earth's wet surface area (which is 70% of total surface area):
[INSIDER.FOXNEWS] The fact is, the Dem party is institutionally against white people. The whole "whiteness" thing is its latest wrinkle on class warfare. They're the "them" and we're the "us." "Us" must be destroyed.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
10:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
You need to recognize my foot is gonna be planted so far up your ass your goddamn teeth will crack if you keep pushing this bullshit.
#5
This whole "white privilege" thing angers me more than anything else that's being said these days. I had one grandfather who mined coal and another who was a dirt farmer. It's called upward mobility when each generation builds upon the accomplishments of the generation before it. It's not privilege if the generations before me worked their butts off, saved their money, kept their families together and taught their children to do the same. It's not a white thing or a black thing either. It's morality, religion and a cultural value system that we seem to be losing and whores like Hillary are so eager to toss out the window.
#6
Yes, Hillary - white privilege is why I passed the CPA exam on my first try; it had nothing at all to do with spending 500+ hours studying for the fucking test...
#7
Black's need to stop castigate those who recognise their deep cultural problems that keep them from being wealthy, like every other group has managed.
#8
The concept of White Privileged was invented to cover all the whites with ancestors who had zero to do with slavery. The guilt wasn't working so they just expanded it outward to say they are getting benefits now. Orwell would be proud.
White Privileged is doing your homework and finishing school, saying "yes sir, no sir" to authority figures, trying to stay away from addictions and teen pregnancies. It's not rocket science and a number of Asian cultures have figured out this big secret.
#13
Does she mean the "white privilege" that's had me paying taxes all of my life. Know if she said we needed to work towards a color blind society that rewards achievement irregardless of quotas. With hiring based solely on qualifications that I could agree with. But I fear that this is just the first step towards Al Sharpton's dream of reperations. And if that ever hapens it will never, and I mean never go away. If reperations ever get paid then in twenty years or we will facing aother generation demanding their reperations
Did the United States win or lose the Vietnam War? We are taught that it was a resounding loss for America, one that proves that intervening in the affairs of other nations is usually misguided. The truth is that our military won the war, but our politicians lost it. The Communists in North Vietnam actually signed a peace treaty, effectively surrendering. But the U.S. Congress didn't hold up its end of the bargain. In just five minutes, learn the truth about who really lost the Vietnam War. If you detect a pattern when juxtaposed against recent events, you may not be incorrect.
Remember what I said earlier about disarmament by goldbricking?
New Balance is renewing its opposition to the far-reaching Pacific Rim trade deal, saying the Obama administration reneged on a promise to give the sneaker maker a fair shot at military business if it stopped bad-mouthing the agreement.
After several years of resistance to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a pact aimed at making it easier to conduct trade among the United States and 11 other countries, the Boston company had gone quiet last year. New Balance officials say one big reason is that they were told the Department of Defense would give them serious consideration for a contract to outfit recruits with athletic shoes.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain ||
04/14/2016
09:18 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
[Daily Caller] The German agency regulating advertisement laws wants to eliminate "gender discriminatory advertising" in response to the spree of sexual assaults in the country.
Heiko Maas, the German federal minister of justice and consumer protection, wants to modernize the "gender image" in Germany that is reducing "women or men to sexual objects," according to German news outlet Spiegel. The current gender image, Maas says, is to blame for the more than 1,000 sexual assaults reported in Cologne on New Year’s Eve.
A majority of the perpetrators were under refugee status and originated from North Africa.
As the head of the Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, Maas and his cabinet has authority to impose regulations on advertisements. In the case of dispute between an advertiser and the ministry, a court will decide if an ad should be allowed or not.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/14/2016 8:42
Comments ||
Top||
#4
"Achtung, Muslim rapists! Your bender
Has come to an end! Please surrender!
Or we could appease you
By ceasing to tease you
And changing our 'image of gender.'"
#12
I guess the Germans are in the "at your feet" stage. Don't think that they'll ever be at anyone's throat again. All the ones with balls are long dead, unless you count the Muslim colonists.
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/14/2016 16:45
Comments ||
Top||
#13
Nonsense that a socialist minister (SPD) says shouldn't be attributed to "The Germans".
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/14/2016 17:50
Comments ||
Top||
[CNSNews] For several years we have been seeking records of then President-elect Barack Obama’s interview with two FBI agents and two assistant U.S. attorneys regarding former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was sentenced to fourteen years in federal prison for attempting to sell Obama’s vacated Senate seat.
Our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests were rejected, and so we have now filed a lawsuit (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No 1:16-cv-00576)) against the U.S. Department of Justice in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking the FBI interview records of Obama, Rahm Emanuel, and Valerie Jarrett.
The FBI denied our June 1, 2011, FOIA request seeking:
Records of FBI interviews with Barack Obama concerning or relating to Rod Blagojevich, including but not limited to notes, summaries, and recordings of the interview.
Records of FBI interviews with Rahm Emanuel concerning or relating to Rod Blagojevich, including but not limited to notes, summaries, and recordings of the interview.
Records of FBI interviews with Valerie Jarrett concerning or relating to Rod Blagojevich, including but not limited to notes, summaries, and recordings of the interview.
Records concerning any of the aforementioned interviews with Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, or Valerie Jarrett.
The FBI contends the release of these records "could reasonably be expected" to interfere with law enforcement proceedings and withheld them under Exemption 7 (which allows agency to withhold certain law enforcement records).
Here is the background:
On December 18, 2008, about a week after Blagojevich’s arrest, then-President-elect Barack Obama was questioned at his Chicago transition office about the scandal surrounding the alleged sale of the Senate seat he vacated in 2008. We are seeking the FBI summaries from this interview.
In January 2009, we released documents from the office of then-Governor Rod Blagojevich related to Blagojevich’s contacts with President-elect Obama and his transition team. The documents include a December 3, 2008, letter from Barack Obama following his December 2, 2008, meeting with Blagojevich, as well as a November 17, 2008, letter signed by Presidential Transition Team co-chairs Valerie Jarrett and John Podesta, providing Blagojevich with a list of transition team contacts. These documents tend to undermine Obama’s claims that he had no contact with Blagojevich.
Blagojevich was convicted on 17 of the 20 public corruption charges against him, some of which have been vacated. He is not scheduled for release until 2024. The Supreme Court has refused to hear his appeal on the 13 remaining corruption charges. A federal judge has scheduled Blagojevich to be resentenced on June 30, 2016.
Writing in The Washington Examiner, Rudy Takala noted, "There are no enforcement proceedings related to the case known to be pending, leading critics to charge that the agency's denial is politically motivated."
Well, yes. This lawsuit highlights the personal corruption issues of Barack Obama. He and his closest aides were interviewed by the FBI in a criminal investigation, and his administration doesn’t want Americans to have the details. The Chicago way shouldn’t trump the American people’s right to know.
#1
And there is another issue: Obama was president-elect, and thus would become the FBI's boss-of-bosses: did the fact that Obama could be able to punish the ones interviewing him have anything to do with there being no enforcement proceedings in the first place? Nixon was nailed because he was accused of using the power of his office and the agencies under him to affect an election that would have political consequences and thus was politically motivated. Why should Obama be exempt from the same accusation?
Finally, the job of preventing political corruption, and thus creating political implications of wrongdoing in one party clearly rests with the opposition, since we would be fools to believe that a political party would police itself and air its own political dirty laundry.
You Dems demand that we "do our jobs". Oh, we'll do our jobs all right. More than you can stand or handle!
[Wash Times] Israeli intelligence has confirmed to the German newspaper Bild, that Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terrorist army that has vowed to destroy the Jewish state, has acquired advanced Russian anti-aircraft weapons systems that were given by the Russian military to the Syrian armed forces, reports The Times of Israel. The SA-17 Buk missile battery is a game changer and will directly threaten Israeli aircraft operating in northern Israel and the region.
This development would be "interesting," said Nadav Pollack, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Studies, whose research focuses on Hezbollah. "It’s a big deal. Israel calls these weapons ’tie-breakers,’ " Pollack said, using a Hebrew phrase similar to the English "game-changer." The Buk is a derivative of the system that shot down a civilian airliner over East Ukraine, killing all aboard, in 2014.
The SA-17 can target high to low altitude aircraft at medium range and is mobile, making it harder to find and destroy. Israel has destroyed multiple anti-aircraft systems before while being transferred to Hezbollah. Many analysts believe these were in fact SA-17s, highlighting the seriousness with which the Israeli Air Force views the weapon.
The private intelligence company, StratFor has also stated that Hezbollah is building fortified positions inside Syria to attack Israeli forces. We have written before here at Threat Assessment that Hezbollah has stated that after the Syrian civil war winds down, Hezbollah will focus their efforts again on destroying the Jewish state.
#3
will directly threaten Israeli aircraft operating in northern Israel and the region
Northern Israel is Lebanon, with 'the region' as Jordan and Syria. What's the Buk defense dome missile radius, 20 miles? Is that really a threat with a Tomahawk standoff range of 200 miles?
The M107 was also used by the Israel Defense Forces in the various Arab–Israeli conflicts from the Yom Kippur War on. During the Yom Kippur War it was one of the few weapons able to destroy Egyptian and Syrian anti-aircraft missile positions. Of the 15 SA-2 batteries lost by Egypt on the east bank of the Suez Canal, 13 were destroyed by M107s. When the IDF crossed the Suez Canal in Operation Gazelle, M107 SP guns were among the first to cross together with tanks and APC's. M107s also had sufficient range to hit the Syrian capital of Damascus.
When these guns were outranged by rocket fire from Tyre, they were upgraded with the addition of extended range, full-bore ammunition and new powder supplied by Gerald Bull's Space Research Corporation. This allowed operations over 50 km with increased accuracy. The IDF acquired over 200 vehicles.[8] In IDF service, the M107 is known as the Romach (spear or lance).
[Legal Insurrection] U2 lead singer and philanthropist Bono praised former President George W. Bush on Tuesday for his initiative to fight the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and save the lives of those suffering from the disease, particularly in Africa, hailing the effort as an "amazing " success.
Bono appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe to discuss his recent trip to the Middle East and East Africa to visit refugee camps full of people who escaped the Syrian civil war and from other collapsing states. He said the current refugee crisis poses an "existential threat" to Europe and called on the United States and other countries to provide more aid for both humanitarian and national security reasons.
As the interview was ending, Bono asked to say one final thing to Nicolle Wallace because she worked for Bush as his communications chief.
"Can I just say one thing?" Bono asked. "Actually, it's to Nicolle, and it's just, she knows because she worked for President Bush. The American people have done this before. They've taken on really impossible tasks and succeeded. And the battle in the fight against AIDS was won successfully. It's an amazing thing. America leads the world in the fight against AIDS. Nearly 10 million lives are owed to America. So you can do it. It's difficult stuff, but you're up to the job."
#1
So did he 'praise' Bush, or the work done by Americans under his term of office? And only in the sense of 'you need to step up and do it again'.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/14/2016 7:39
Comments ||
Top||
#2
He praised the Bush policy for fighting AIDS in Africa, a policy that never got much attention because those that push for more attention to Africa and more attention to AIDS also hated Bush and couldn't say a nice thing.
#3
Yes build more refugee camps in the nearest country. Let them retake their nations from corrupt rulers.
Neither of the above will happen as the establishment really want to mobilise the migrants as they collect the higher rents, that are funded by middle class taxes.
[Daily Caller] An inmate who escaped from a North Carolina county jail on March 27 has been found decapitated, authorities said.
Authorities identified Kelvin Singleton, 26, an escaped inmate, as the headless body found partially decomposed last Thursday in a wooded area.
"He used what we believe to be a makeshift shank -- A knife made out of a toothbrush," Sheriff Dwayne Goodwin told reporters, according to WAVY.
Goodwin emphasized there was no indication anybody assisted Singleton. That must have taken a great deal of sheer determination, not to mention concentration and a steady hand. How exactly does one sever a head using a "knife made out of a toothbrush"? That's some toothbrush...
Palmyra: An old hieroglypher,
Undaunted with Daesh to differ,
Clawed out a last drawing
As Mahmoud was sawing:
"I sure wish this toothbrush were stiffer!"
[Guardian] At CIA meeting days after Obama called Libya the ’worst mistake’ of his presidency, remarks underline growing anxiety of Isis foothold in the country.
Efforts to stem the flow of Islamic State recruits into Syria and Iraq have been met by an increase in foreign extremists heading to Libya instead, Barack Obama has warned.
Just days after describing the failure to prevent extremists filling a power vacuum in Libya as the "worst mistake" of his presidency, Obama’s remarks underline growing White House anxiety about the foothold gained by Isis in the country.
"As we, and our foreign allies and partners, have made it harder for foreign terrorists to reach Syria and Iraq, we have seen an uptick in the number of Isis fighters heading to Libya," Obama told reporters at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, after a meeting with intelligence chiefs intended to review US strategy against the terror group.
#4
"We had a R2P, so we overthrew Muammar. We'd like to introduce you Libyans to your new and improved Islamic Masters™, the JV Team of beheaders. You're Welcome"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/14/2016 8:57
Comments ||
Top||
Peabody Energy, the world's largest private-sector coal producer, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday in a U.S. court, citing "unprecedented" industry pressures and a sharp decline in the price of coal.
The company said it will continue to operate while in bankruptcy, while working to reduce debt and improve cash flow. Company has about 8000 employees. The coal produced by the company was used to generate about 10% of the electricity used in the US in 2014
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/14/2016
06:46 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Not only the environmentalists, global warmers, and their White House patron have hurt coal, but also fracking, and yes - mild winters. Utilities didn't use up their winter stockpiles and fracking makes gas so cheap, new plants use gas and older ones convert to 'clean-burning' natural gas.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/14/2016 7:27
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Onerous EPA regulations, export controls, and Obama and Hildebeest's campaign promises to put coal companies out of business hardly mentioned.
#3
Remember during the "No Nukes" protests people saying "we've got enough coal for 500 years.
But that said making the coal industry clean up its own messes that may be caused by the mining and prepperation process isn't a bad thing either. As I understand it coal from open pit mines is washed. Does anybody really want that water getting discharged without getting cleaned up.
BLUF: Speaking of Obama's actions in Libya:
[Breitbart] Let’s hope he and others can learn from this moment. Let’s not have another President coming to us in the coming years with his regrets. Let’s follow the constitution and restore the power of Congress to declare war.
#2
In 2011, when we joined with Europe to overthrow Qaddafy, the Democrats had 51 Senators plus two "Independents" who voted with them. The Republicans could not have stopped it. So it seems to me the learning was, a Democratic president with a disciplined Democrat-controlled Senate can do as he pleases abroad.
#3
Congress give him anything he wants without him coming hat in hand. So why bother? He knows McConnell and whoever is running the House will fold over like an envelope.
#4
One of Ryans first campaign for President speech, you know, saying what has to be said to get elected again, then back to the below the beltway agenda.
Posted by: Ho Chi Crinens5363 ||
04/14/2016 21:12
Comments ||
Top||
[Breitbart] CRUZ: Well, listen, I think very, very highly of Marco. I appreciated those very kind comments he made. I’ll tell you, he is an amazing communicator. He’s one of the best communicators in the Republican Party. And he ran a campaign that inspired millions across this country. It inspired me. When he ran for Senate in 2010, his underdog race in Florida inspired me. It was one of the inspirations that led me to run two years later in Texas. So I think the world of Marco. And I very much appreciate it.
COOPER: Is that really true? Because you guys had tough words, I mean, during the campaign. Is that just part of how it works?
CRUZ: It’s a campaign. He was trying to beat me; I was trying to beat him. That’s what happens in a campaign. I can tell you, I consider Marco a friend. He’s someone...
COOPER: Could you see a Cruz-Rubio ticket?
CRUZ: Look, anyone would naturally look at Marco as one of the people who would be a terrific person to consider for VP. And we’re in the process now of considering a number of different options.
COOPER: You’re not ruling it out?
CRUZ: He would be someone that you would be a fool not to look at seriously. He’s very, very talented. And, you know, you asked if Marco and I are friends.
#1
I like Trump-Kasich better. I don't like him much better but it seems to me like Kasich might bring a few more delegates to the table along with Ohio's electoral college votes in November. OTOH, Rubio might not even deliver Florida.
#2
Trump-Kasich is a great Democrat ticket to run against the Socialists.
Posted by: Deadeye Protector of the Slytherins8173 ||
04/14/2016 15:14
Comments ||
Top||
#3
EU hard to say about Fl. He would be the first Person from Florida to be on a national ticket, although Leroy Collin and Rubin Askew :) (ucwutididthar?) were considered by the Democrats for Veep.
[Iran Press TV] A top Syrian official has rejected the "dream" of a transitional government without Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... , saying that such ideas are nothing short of a "coup d’etat."
"This will not happen, not now, nor tomorrow nor ever," Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad was quoted as saying by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named on Wednesday.
"We believe such an idea has failed, it is outdated, it will never be acceptable. This amounts in fact to a coup d’etat. People organize a certain rebellion and then they get power. This will never happen in Syria," he added.
He went on to note that for the peace talks to proceed, "factual, actual solutions" most be reached.
"This includes the possibility of establishing a national unity government or a broad government that includes members of the opposition," he said.
Assad recently offered the notion of a unity government conclusive of both government and opposition while rejecting a "transitional body with full executive powers."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
A Pentagon spokesman says the U.S. conducted airstrikes Monday and Tuesday in Somalia that killed an estimated 12 militants affiliated with the al-Shabab Islamic extremist group.The spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, said the targeted militants posed an imminent threat to U.S. personnel who were assisting Somali government forces north of the city of Kismayo in southern Somalia.
Local residents said the U.S. airstrike struck Al shabaab camp in Yoontoy village, some 20Km north of Kismayo city, the regional capital of Lower Jubbada province.
These were the latest in a series of U.S. attacks in Somalia aimed at al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaida. Al-Shabab has been carrying out a campaign of deadly violence targeting government officials and international troops, as well as hotels and restaurants in the capital.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] Following a drop in students applying for housing, the University of Missouri will not be placing students in two dorms for the fall 2016 semester.
Mizzou will be closing the Respect and Excellence halls (ironic names, given the circumstances) in order to utilize dorm space "in the most efficient manner" to keep costs down.
In March, the university announced that it saw a sharp drop in admissions for the coming school year, and will have 1,500 fewer students. This will lead to a $32 million budget shortfall for the school, prompting the need to close the dorms in order to save money.
"Dear university community," wrote interim chancellor Hank Foley in an email to the school back in March. "I am writing to you today to confirm that we project a very significant budget shortfall due to an unexpected
Unexpected!
sharp decline in first-year enrollments and student retention this coming fall. I wish I had better news."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Actions have consequences. Liberals act so surprised every time this happens to them.
Mizzou went all leftist kookoo clock nutzoid on everyone this year SOOOO....the good farmers, ranchers, and folks in Missouri are sending their children to safer and more serious academic environs...
#4
The concept of cause and effect are alien to the Left. Dogma and the narrative are their only world, yet they dare use terms like 'scientific', which they systematically debase, to rationalize that world.
#6
In March, the university announced that it saw a sharp drop in admissions for the coming school year, and will have 1,500 fewer students. This will lead to a $32 million budget shortfall for the school, prompting the need to close the dorms in order to save money.
Wait a minute:
$32 million divided by 1500 students equals...let's see...where's my calculator? Is that $21,333 per student per year? Multiply that times four and it seems like a lot of money to pay for a liberal arts degree that won't be worth the paper it's printed on. They might have to let some of the faculty go. You know, concentrate on teaching those kids something worthwhile...nah. They wouldn't do that.
Sorry, no hashtag for this one. Nothing from the feminists. Human Rights Watch hasn't said a word. Michelle Obama has turned her head.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Michelle to Mohammedan women,
As if she had sucked on a lemon:
"Your problems are pissers!
They're causing our kissers
To pucker like unripe persimmon."
[AnNahar] Germany deported 60 percent more migrants last year than in 2014, the government said Wednesday, with figures from January and February showing that the pace of repatriations further accelerating.
Some 22,369 people were forcibly returned to their countries of origin in 2015, up from 13,851 the previous year.
In the first two months of this year close to 4,500 people were repatriated -- twice as many as in January and February 2015.
Germany, which last year let in a record 1.1 million migrants and refugees, has been ramping up efforts to deport those who have failed to win asylum.
Meanwhile, the number of asylum seekers who have voluntarily left Germany also rose sharply, from 13,573 in 2014 to 37,200 in 2015.
From January to March this year, voluntary repatriations reached 14,095.
13/04/2016 -- STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Terrorist arrested at Airport
An internationally wanted terrorist was arrested under a European Arrest Warrant at Stockholm airport this morning in the departure hall. The man, who is not known to be an ordinary resident of Sweden, has not been identified by name but has revealed to be a member of the banned Kurdish PKK organisation. He was to fly to Turkey from Stockholm, reports Aftonbladet.
Other than that he is wanted by Germany, no more details have been released. Sweden’s secret police, the SAPO, are investigating.
13/04/2016 – HOLLABRUN, Austria – Migrant Home Closed After Accusations of Rape
An asylum home in the Austrian city of Hollabrun has been closed after a 13 year-old girl was sexually abused. The offender has been caught and is now in custody but the authorities have shut down the centre until further notice because there is a kindergarten in the same building and do not want to risk the safety of the other children.
22 asylum seekers lived in the building and the government is looking for another location to house them away from children, reports ORF.
13/04/2016 – IDOMENI, Greece – Three German Open Borders Activists Arrested
Greek police arrested three German nationals in Idomeni who are accused of circulating rumors among migrants to get them to storm the Macedonian border. Police found alcohol and a knife on one of the Germans and said to media that NGO’s and activists are creating tensions along the border, reports Speigel.
13/04/2016 – WESTPHALIA, Germany – Police Raid 33 Asylum Homes
German federal police raided 33 asylum homes in one day looking for illegal migrants and migrants who had forged identity papers. Migrants were fingerprinted and all suspicious North Africans were taken away or made to claim asylum if they had not already done so.
The raid was to combat the some 500,000 unregistered migrants living in asylum homes, reports Die Welt.
13/04/2016 – GAVLE, Sweden – Migrants suspected of kidnapping
Five Iraqis are suspected of abducting a 23 year old man off the street in Gavle, Sweden on the fourth of April. The man was pulled into a car in the centre of town which “screeched its tyres” as it made the getaway. Sweden’s Friatider reports one woman has been arrested in connection to the disappearance of the man, who is not a Swedish citizen, and are now seeking witnesses.
13/04/2016 – VARMLAND, Sweden – Migrant puts knife to two year old girls’ neck
Police were called to a Swedish asylum centre last week after a 31 year old migrant placed a knife at the throat of a two year old girl and threatened to cut it. When another man attempted to save the child, the migrant and his brother beat the would-be rescuer. Both men have been arrested, reports Sweden Radio Varmland.
Greek authorities say Macedonian police resorted to crowd control measures in an attempt to stop about 30 people from trying to get over the razor-wire border fence using blankets.
The country, which introduced temporary border control last year in a bid to stem the influx of migrants travelling from Turkey, has been told it must get a plan in place before April 26.
And a follow-up at 10:40 a.m. ET from Ynet on that arrest at Schiphol airport yesterday, which turns out to have involved a migrant, though not one from Dar al Islam:
A man who sparked a major security alert at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport was a homeless Polish citizen who claimed to be a "terrorist," Dutch military police said Wednesday. The 25-year-old man, who was carrying two backpacks, made the claim, "under the influence of alcohol," the police said in a statement after interrogating him. The man's identity was not released.
[IsraelTimes] Khaled abu Hamra’s brother insists he was not the source of pro-Northern Branch programming on Rahat pirate radio station
Police on Monday locked away ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... a Bedouin Israeli journalist for allegedly broadcasting content sympathetic to a banned Islamist movement on a pirate radio station operating out of the Negev city of Rahat.
Khaled abu Hamra was remanded into custody until Saturday by the Beersheba Magistrate’s Court for promoting the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement on the a-Rif radio station, the Haaretz daily reported on Tuesday.
Last year, the government voted to outlaw the group, accusing it of links to terrorist groups and incitement during the recent wave of violence.
Hamra’s brother Otwa strongly denied No, no! Certainly not! the accusations, telling the newspaper his 31-year-old brother was in charge of advertising and had no say in the content of the station’s programming.
He said Hamra was summoned for questioning last month by Israeli security forces, who were aware he worked at an illegal radio station. After warning Hamra not to broadcast "programs that interfere with the state," in Hamra’s words, he was released and allowed to return to work at a-Rif.
Some Rahat residents confirmed police suspicions to Haaretz, saying Hamra was involved in broadcasting the movement’s messages.
On Monday, police also arrested two other suspected members of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement from the Bedouin city. Sheikh Yusef abu Jamaa and Sheikh Osama al-Yacoubi are expected to be remanded during a Wednesday hearing at the Beersheba court.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan praised the Rahat arrests, saying, "combating the incitement of the Islamic Movement, which encourages young Paleostinians to commit acts of terror, was a top priority."
In November, the security cabinet voted to designate the group a terror organization, making membership in it or participation in its activities a "criminal offense punishable by a prison sentence."
The Northern Branch rejects the Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Paleostinians, boycotts national elections on the grounds that they legitimize the Jewish state, has claimed repeatedly that Israel seeks to demolish the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount and is accused of encouraging terror attacks against Israeli civilians.
The movement is headed by firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... holy man Raed Salah, who in 2013 was sentenced to 11 months in prison for incitement to violence and racism over a sermon he delivered in 2007 in Jerusalem.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested that the Justice Ministry ban Salah from visiting the volatile Temple Mount holy site during the upcoming Jewish festival of Passover in a bid to prevent the stoking of further violence during the holiday.
QAMISHLI ــ At least 34 Turkish army troops have been killed during the military operations in the mainly Kurdish areas in Turkey’s south-east, according to the People’s Defense Forces (HPG), the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The PKK’s media center issued a statement, obtained by ARA News, saying: “In response to the Turkish-led offensive on the cities of Kafr, Nusaybin and Şırnak, our forces [HPG] carried out an operation against military headquarters in the township of Hani in Amed (Diyarbakir) province.”
“We were able to kill at least 34 soldiers of the Turkish army and wound more than 70 others,” the statement read.
The HPG leadership explained that many ambulances went to the operation’s area and transferred the injured to the hospitals.
“We were able to destroy a large deal military equipment during the operation,” it stressed.
Speaking to ARA News, the Kurdish mayor of Nusaybin Sara Kaya had said that the Turkish army forces have been bombing the Kurdish city of Nusaybin southeastern Turkey for weeks. At least seven neighborhoods in the city have been under heavy bombardment, according to Kaya.
Major Kurdish cities and towns in southeastern Turkey have been witnessing daily battles between the Turkish army forces and PKK rebels.
Since the start of the Turkish military campaign last July, over a 1000 civilians have been reported dead, hundreds more injured and tens of thousands displaced due to the military operations by the Turkish forces southeastern the country. More than 100,000 displaced people have been documented in two months, while many others remain stranded in war-torn towns and villages in the Kurdish region, according to local activists.
Over the past two months, the army has been targeting the PKK strongholds in Nusaybin and Şırnak with tanks and artillery from the hills that overlook the two Kurdish areas, in a bid to remove the PKK-led checkpoints erected on the roads linking the cities in Turkey’s south-east, according to Turkish military sources.
Turkey-PKK violence has raged in the Kurdish region since July subsequent to the collapse of peace talks–aimed at ending a three-decade conflict in the country that claimed lives of over 40,000 people.
[Ynet] The United States and its allies conducted nine strikes against 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.... in Iraq and Syria on Tuesday, the coalition leading the operations said.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the Combined Joint Task Force said two strikes near Al Hawl and Mar'a in Syria hit a tactical unit and destroyed a fighting position.
In Iraq, seven strikes near five cities hit several more tactical units and destroyed machine gun positions, assembly areas and a vehicle-borne bomb, among other targets, the statement said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[PREMIUMTIMESNG] You may recall that last week, this Service informed the public of the arrest of Khalid AL-BARNAWI, known for his leadership and notoriety in terrorism activities in Nigeria. Nigerians were also informed of his talent-spotting and recruitment of young people into the Ansaru/Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... terrorist groups. With the arrest of AL-BARNAWI, the Department of State Services (DSS) has made an uncommon success in the decimation of these groups and their leadership. Similarly, the Service wish to inform that it has further tossed in the clink Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! Bello DANHAJIYA, a close associate and presumed second in command to AL-BARNAWI.
DANHAJIYA is a Fulani from Zamfara State and a strategic accomplice of AL-BARNAWI. Preliminary investigations have disclosed his involvement in gun-running, cattle rustling and other nefarious criminal activities principally on the directives of his commander, AL-BARNAWI. So far, efforts are being made to conclude the investigations and commence prosecution in line with
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[16 views]
Top|| File under: Boko Haram
[NYTIMES] The Panamanian authorities have raided the offices of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the vast leak of documents this month that exposed the global use of offshore tax shelters, and spent at least 16 hours combing through the company’s files looking for evidence of possible "illegal activities," officials said on Wednesday.
The crime isn't hiding money: it's making powerful people look bad...
The search at the company’s headquarters in Panama City, which was led by an organized crime unit from the attorney general’s office, began Tuesday afternoon and lasted until Wednesday morning. Other groups of Sherlocks also searched subsidiaries of the firm in Panama and a Panamanian telephone company’s data support center, officials said.
The disclosure of about 11.5 million documents from the firm, which specializes in setting up offshore accounts, laid bare the elaborate system of shell companies that the world’s wealthy and powerful use to stash their money, often in an effort to minimize or avoid tax payments.
The revelations have spurred criminal investigations around the world, brought pressure on senior politicians in numerous countries and led to the resignation of the prime minister of Iceland, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
...Or in this particular instance, the Panamanian authorities wanting to know why they didn't get their cut...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/14/2016 5:03
Comments ||
Top||
#2
If you attack the kings, make sure they are killed.
(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – A security source in Kirkuk Province announced on Wednesday, that the so-called ISIS attacked Taza area in southern Kirkuk, using Katyusha rockets.
The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “This afternoon, ISIS launched two Katyusha rockets from the vicinity of Kasabat Bashir toward the center of Taza area in southern Kirkuk,” noting that, “Two other rockets fell north of the vicinity.”
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added, “The attack did not result in any casualties or damage.”
(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – On Wednesday the security forces from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Kirkuk Province announced arresting 12 members of the so-called ISIS in central Kirkuk, while pointed out that the detainees had entered the city as displaced people.
The Kurdish security forces spokesman, Brigadier Samko Mahmoud, said in press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The Kurdish security forces (Asayish) arrested 12 militants from ISIS in the city of Kirkuk.”
Mahmoud added, “The detainees had entered the city of Kirkuk as displaced people.”
Posted by: badanov ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
HASAKAH – Kurdish Peshmerga forces would participate in any offensive operation to recapture the city of Mosul in northern Iraq from the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS), Karim Sinjari, interior minister of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, said on Wednesday.
The Kurdish minister told local reporters that the Peshmerga forces have no intensions to enter the city of Mosul while participating in the upcoming anti-ISIS operation.
Speaking to ARA News, political activist Marwan Eidi said: “Certainly there is no intention by the Kurdistan leadership to annex the city of Mosul to the Kurdish autonomy, except for some areas in the Nineveh Plain, villages and towns that were formerly under the control of Iraqi central government.”
“These areas in Nineveh province are mainly part of the Kurdistan homeland in northern Iraq; the liberation of this region from ISIS’s terrorists was delayed for several factors, including political and regional reasons,” Eidi argued.
The Kurdish activist stressed that the participating of the Peshmerga in liberating the city of Mosul is necessary. “The Peshmerga will likely retake the disputed areas in accordance with Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution,” he reported.
“The visit of the French Minister and before representatives of the Czech Republic and Germany came to agree on specific points regarding their strategy towards the battle for Mosul,” Eidi told ARA News.
The powers which prepare for the anti-ISIS battle to liberate Mosul include the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, the Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the National Defense group, the Iraqi army in addition to the US-led coalition forces.
The visits of Western leaders to the Kurdistan region of Iraq came within the framework of coordinating and supporting the Kurdish Peshmerga forcesــ which have been playing a remarkable role in pushing back the terror group away from the areas held by Kurds in northern Iraq, according to Kurdish monitoring groups.
Noteworthy, Mosul was controlled by ISIS in June 2014. The presence of a social incubator of Sunni tribes – who had been strained by the former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s policy– has facilitated the radical group’s control over the city, according to military experts.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
Mortar fire by militants in Benghazi hit an army ammunitions store in there city’s central district of Juliana today, a Libyan army source has told the Libya Herald. It is not known, however, if the store was deliberately targeted by forces linked to the so-called Islamic State (IS) or was just a lucky hit.
The day has seen a wave of 122-mm mortar strikes against Juliana. At least ten hit the area, although there are no reports of anyone being injured. One mortar also hit the city centre this afternoon. They are thought to have been fired from south Benghazi’s Garyounis district, although there are claims of mortars also being fired from Sabri and Suq Al-Hout.
Both were reported to have been liberated in January by the Libyan National Army under General Khalifa Hafter.
Yesterday, mortars landed in the city’s Jamal Abdul Nasser Street, killing a 47-year old Benghazi University administrator.
The fresh mortar attacks follow a series of Libya air force strikes on vessels delivering arms and ammunition to the militants. In the past couple of days, six boats, all thought to have come from Misrata, have been targeted. Two were attacked today sailing towards Khashem Al-Kabesh near Gemenis, south-west of Benghazi. Also today, another vessel was reported attacked north-west of Benghazi.
In response to today’s attacks, the Libyan air force launched counter strikes into Garyounis. The result of these strikes in unknown at present.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A provincial council member has been killed as clash erupted among the ex-Jihadi commanders in northeastern Takhar province of Afghanistan.
The local security officials have confirmed that festivities erupted among Mullah Perum Qul and Ainuddin Rustaqi supporters earlier this evening.
The officials further added that Mullah Qul was also a former Afghan politician in the parliament and his supporters have killed Rustaqi during the shootout.
At least two others have also bit the dust during the shootout, the officials said, adding that security forces were deployed to bring the situation under the control.
The main reason behind the bloody clash among the two ex-Jihadi commanders has not been ascertained so far.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
[AnNahar] Three French peacekeeping soldiers died after their armored car ran over a landmine in Mali, the French presidency said Wednesday.
One soldier was killed immediately in the blast on Tuesday and President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... learned "with great sadness" that two more soldiers had died in the west African country, a statement said.
The car was leading a convoy of around 60 vehicles travelling to the northern desert town of Tessalit when it hit the mine, according to the French defense ministry.
The troops were part of Operation Barkhane, under which La Belle France has some 3,500 soldiers deployed across five countries in the Sahel region ... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas... , south of the Sahara desert, to combat the jihadist insurgency raging there.
The latest deaths bring to seven the number of French soldiers killed in combat in the operation, according to defense ministry figures.
Ten French soldiers were killed in an earlier military intervention launched in January 2013 to oust Salafist tough guys who had taken over vast stretches of northern Mali in the chaos following a coup.
Countries across west Africa are scrambling to tighten security following a string of attacks against hotels and restaurants popular with foreigners that have highlighted the growing reach of jihadist groups in the region.
[IsraelTimes] 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.... ’s online magazine, Dabiq, praises the attackers who killed 32 in Brussels last month, and hails two brothers who were jacket wallahs in the attack as key actors in November’s bloodbath in Gay Paree as well.
The group has grabbed credit for both acts of carnage targeting Western European capitals.
"All preparations for the raids in Gay Paree and Brussels started" with Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 30, and his brother Khalid, 27, Dabiq says. "These two brothers gathered the weapons and the explosives."
It is “firstly due" to the El Bakraouis that the November 13 attacks that killed 130 victims in the French capital occurred, Dabiq says. Subsequently, it says, Khalid El Bakraoui had a dream "which motivated him to carry out another istishhadi (martyrdom) operation."
The younger El Bakraoui went kaboom! in a rush-hour Brussels subway train on March 22, killing 16 victims. That same morning, his older brother was one of two jacket wallahs who detonated explosives-laden suitcases at Brussels Airport, killing another 16.
Dabiq also confirms Belgian and French police findings that Najim Laachraoui, the second Brussels Airport jacket wallah, manufactured the explosives used in both the Gay Paree and Brussels attacks.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Iran Press TV] Fifteen of the 9/11 "hijackers" from 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... were CIA agents working for the United States government , which was seeking to destroy the Middle East for Israel and to double the American military budget, says Dr. Kevin Barrett, an American academic who has been studying the events of 9/11 since late 2003.
Dr. Barrett, a founding member of the Scientific Panel for the Investigation of 9/11, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Wednesday, after a number of US politicians called on the White House to declassify documents that shed light on Saudi Arabia’s possible complicity in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#2
Dr Barrett, who has a PhD in french Literature is a 1993 oonvert to Islam. He taught at the Univ of Wisc at Madison until his writings got so crazy it was enough to embarrass the U. They found a way to dismiss him in 2006.
Would be interesting to know where his funding comes from these days.
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/14/2016 17:36
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Crazy enough to get dismissed by U Wisconsin? That's some serious crazy!
[Iran Press TV] Police in Jordan have raided and closed the headquarters of a group affiliated with the Egyptian Moslem Brüderbund movement in the capital, Amman, in a move condemned by the group as "illegal."
On Wednesday, a Jordanian official, who spoke anonymously, said the headquarters of the group was sealed because the group is "illegal and not licensed." The source said "illegal" internal elections had been held secretly within the group.
The Moslem Brüderbund in Jordan split into two groups in March 2015 when a number of the Jordanian Brotherhood members disavowed themselves from the movement originally based in Egypt.
The splinter group continues to be licensed in Jordan.
The other group, which did not initially split from Egypt’s Brotherhood but did later break ranks with it too, was the one that saw its headquarters closed on Wednesday. It remained unauthorized even after splitting from Egyptian Brotherhood.
The members and supporters of the Moslem Brüderbund in Egypt have been under mounting pressure by the Egyptian government ever since former Egyptian president, Mohammed Morsi, who was affiliated with the movement, was ousted in a military coup led by the then-military chief and current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in July 2013.
The Brotherhood was later blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the Cairo officials in a move seen by observers as an attempt to prevent its affiliates from running in elections.
Another senior Jordanian official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the judiciary had ordered the transfer of property from the illegal Brotherhood to the licensed group.
Jordan has recently tightened its crackdown on the Brotherhood, with a Jordanian court sentencing Zaki Bani Rsheid, the deputy leader of the unauthorized branch, to 18 months in prison due to criticizing the United Arab Emirates for blacklisting of the Moslem Brüderbund as well as more than 80 other groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood
[Iran Press TV] A total of six people have bit the dust in a bombing as well as festivities between security forces and snuffies in Libya’s northwest.
Aziz Issa, head of the media office at Misrata's central hospital, said a boom-mobile went off at a checkpoint, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the Libyan port city.
The bombing left a member of the security forces in Libya dead and four others maimed, he added.
No individual or Death Eater group has yet grabbed credit for the incident, but the Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... ISIS terrorist group has carried out several attacks on checkpoints on the coastal road south of Misrata, which leads toward the group’s stronghold in the city of Sirte.
Two members of the security forces bit the dust in the festivities along with three camp workers who had been beheaded, according to an unidentified official from Bani Walid's town council.
Libya has been dominated by violence since a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... military intervention followed the 2011 uprising that led to the toppling and killing of longtime dictator, Muammar Qadaffy ...a reminder that a single man with an idea can change an entire nation, usually for the worse... The oil-rich state has had two rival administrations since mid-2014, when snuffies overran the capital and forced the parliament to flee to the country’s remote east.
The two administrations reached agreement on a unity government last December, and the new government received endorsement by the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... . However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... it has had difficulty taking over.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Iran Press TV] Russia has warned of the "clear and present threat" that Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... murderous Moslems in Syria could launch chemicals attacks in Europe.
Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin made the remarks on Wednesday following a closed-door 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... Security Council (UNSC) meeting on the progress of investigations into chemical attacks in Syria.
"I have not heard anybody claim that they are concerned that the Syrian government may use chemical weapons in a subway in a European city -- all those things are happening with the terrorists," Churkin said.
The UN envoy noted that thousands of the Takfiris had relocated to Europe.
"Could some of them have brought with them components of chemical weapons? Could some of them have brought to a European city or European country their knowledge of how to build chemical weapons?" he asked.
During the UNSC meeting, Russia and China presented a draft resolution that calls on all countries, especially Syria’s neighbors, to monitor and report Lion of Islam activities related to chemical weapons.
"Our hope is that if they know that we are monitoring their activities, the incentive to use chemical weapons in the hope that the responsibility for that can be shifted elsewhere... will diminish," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[RFA] Officials in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region are offering a cash bounty of up to $774,000 for tips about suspicious activity linked to terrorism or religious extremism. One government official said, "The program is a necessary step that corresponds to the reality and development of Xinjiang."
While informants can earn cash, the amount of money they receive depends on the quality of information they give, local law enforcement officials said.
A Uighur police officer based in the Hoten (in Chinese Hetian) Prefecture said, "The reward amount depends on value of information. We report the information they provide to us to the local public security department, which evaluates the value of the information."
The rewards fall into different categories with information about bombs, bombers and bomb making raking in the most cash. Another police officer said, "Information about a bombing somewhere, or making bombs, or planning to make bombs for an attack is the most valuable. The top information will be awarded 5 million yuan."
The officer added, "This includes the planning stage. If someone informs us before the attack, the cash reward will increase because that is preventive work."
While the main aim of the program is interdicting terrorist activity, the officer said someone has already collected some money for turning in an illegal religious school. He said, "In our village we rewarded a guy who informed us about an illegal religious school. We have arrested that school teacher."
[InterAksyon] Two of six sawmill workers, earlier abducted by members of the Maute Group, in Lanao Del Sur province, were found beheaded Tuesday afternoon. This was confirmed by Western Mindanao Command spokesperson Major Filemon Tan on Wednesday.
The bodies were identified as Salvador Hanobas and Jaymart Hanobas, Tan said. The bodies and the heads were placed inside two sacks.
Lanao del Sur police chief Senior Superintendent Rustom Duran said, "Salvador Hanobas and Jaymart Hanobas were beheaded by their abductors. Locals brought the heads and the torsos to the mayor's office."
The fatalities are among the six sawmill workers seized by members of the Maute Group last April 4 in the belief that they were spying on the militants on orders from the government. The rebels released Julieto Hanobas, Alfredo Anoos, Gabriel Permites, and Adones Mendez unharmed on Monday.
Duran said the kidnappers belonged to an Islamist militant group that battled Philippine security forces for a week in February, leaving three soldiers dead and forcing 20,000 people to flee their homes.
Police found black flags identical to those flown by Daesh jihadis in Iraq and Syria in the fighters' hideout in the town of Butig.
[TRIBUNE.PK] A Pak man who claims to be on a ’Kill List’ of people to be targeted in US drone strikes appeared on a BBC Radio programme on Monday to urge the US and UK governments to stop trying to kill him.
Malik Jalal, from Wazoo, claims to have narrowly missed at least four drone strikes and says he has been warned by various authorities that he is on a "Kill List".
Describing one such attack, Jalal said a car driving behind him was hit by a missile while he was out visiting another village. "I heard the kaboom and the back window of my car shattered. The car behind was in flames and the passengers were in pieces," he said.
Jalal, a tribal elder, has travelled to the UK on the invitation of Lord Ken MacDonald, the former Director of Prosecutions, to ask parliamentarians and the government to take his name off the "Kill List". He further says that his children are "terrified" of dying in a missile attack.
According to him, the US and UK is targeting him for his work with North Waziristan Peace committee (NWPC) ‐ a group attempting to bring peace between the Taliban and the government of Pakistain. Jalal’s role as an intermediary in settling disputes is recognised by the Pak government.
"I had a special role to improve security and we were making progress and that’s why I think America targeted us. I came close to being bombed four times, so in the end I realised they were on to me," Jalal told BBC.
In a letter addressed to Home Secretary Theresa May, who has oversight of MI5 and the NCA, and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who has responsibility for GCHQ and MI6, Jalal has asked for meetings to clear his name and get off the "Kill List". The US ambassador is also copied in the letter.
Recounting another drone incident, Jalal said a friend’s house he had intended to visit for dinner was hit by a missile while he was about 500 metres away in his car.
"I have had to leave Waziristan. In my own family there are six people who are mentally destabilised because of the strikes. In Waziristan there are more than 400,000 people who have mental problems because of the drones. My own son is too scared to go back to Waziristan," the tribal elder said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
[RFE/RL] Russian police say they have identified three suicide bombers who were killed when they tried to attack a police station in southern Russia.
Officials in Russia's Investigative Committee said the three attackers were all residents of the village of Kitayevskoye in the Novoselitsky district of the Stavropol region. Kitayevskoye is close to the police building that came under attack on April 11.
The attackers were named as Zaur Akayev, Ramazan Khaibulayev, and Isai Abdulatipov.
Initial reports said one of the men had been a suicide bomber, but investigators later said that all three men detonated suicide vests during the attack.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said that the authorities had responded to the attack by activating the "Fortress Plan," meaning police had been put on a higher state of military readiness.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the Turkish military struck targets from the ISIS terrorist organization in Syria on Wednesday in retaliation after four rockets that hit the southeastern Turkish border town of Kilis for the third straight day on Wednesday.
Davutoglu said in a speech the Turkish army struck in back in line with its rules of engagement.
More than 20 people have been wounded this week alone as multiple rockets struck Kilis, a town that is home to an estimated 110,000 Syrian refugees and is frequently hit by shelling from across the border, a region controlled by ISIS.
Four rockets hit Kilis on Wednesday but they landed in an empty field and no casualties were reported, Mayor Hasan Kara told Reuters.
Northern Syria has witnessed fierce battles recently as ISIS – despite retaking the town of al-Rai from rebels – is pushed back by rebels, Kurdish fighters and Syrian government forces.
Kilis residents watched as the Turkish military carried out their retaliatory missions across the border.
Davutoglu said measures would be taken to ensure the safety of citizens. “Daesh targets have been struck within the rules of engagement,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for the terrorist hardline group.
“We are conducting a decisive battle to protect our citizens from this circle of fire,” he said.
Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz, Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar and the head of the national intelligence agency Hakan Fidan were visiting Kilis to inspect the area and discuss border security, Davutoglu said.
“We go to sleep to the sounds of rockets and we wake up to the sound of rockets,” Kara told Reuters by telephone, adding that the death toll from Tuesday’s rocket attack had risen to two after another person died in hospital overnight.
The military has now struck 146 ISIS targets across the border from Kilis since January 9, Yilmaz said at a news conference in Kilis.
“Based on our information, we think they have suffered 362 casualties and 123 injuries,” he said.
The Turkish armed forces often respond to such attacks by firing at targets in Syria. In March, two people, including a young child, were killed by rocket fire into Kilis.
Turkey is confronting a number of security threats on multiple fronts. As a member of a U.S.-led coalition, it is fighting ISIS in neighboring Syria and Iraq. It is also battling Kurdish militants in its southeast, since the collapse of a ceasefire last year which has triggered the worst violence since the 1990s.
Two Russian Men Arrested
Turkish police have arrested two Russians, over the killing of a Chechen militant commander in Istanbul last year, the Haberturk newspaper said on Wednesday, one of several killings of Chechens in the country.
The Russian consulate has confirmed the information, saying the Russian citizens deny all the accusations.
The two men were detained in Istanbul on April 8 in an operation by Turkish police and intelligence agents as they made preparations for another unspecified operation. Istanbul police declined to comment.
The reported arrests come against a background of poor relations between Turkey and Russia following the shooting down of a Russian warplane near the Syrian border by Turkish military jets last November.
The newspaper said the 52-year-old Yury Anisimov and 55-year-old Aleksandr Smirnovare are reportedly suspected of having killed jihadist Abdulvakhid Edelgireyev from the Chechen Republic, Russia.
Haberturk said they were found to be carrying fake ID papers and memory sticks containing photos of security cameras, parking areas and license plates.
Many Chechen dissidents have settled in Turkey since the two wars in the 1990s between Russia and militants in its Chechnya region and there have been several murders of Chechens there that remain unsolved.
In May 2013 a prominent figure in the Chechen diaspora was shot dead in his Ankara office. In 2011, three Chechens were shot dead in broad daylight on a suburban street in Istanbul.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
For anyone believing Erdogan's Islamists would strike their spawn of the Daesh(Isis), I have a nice big bridge to sell in Brooklyn...
The socialist prime minister of France, Manuel Valls, has once again raised the thorny question of Muslim headscarves in the country, calling for a ban on the custom at the nation's universities, and causing outrage amongst party fellows.
Cognitive dissonance amongst the socialists: always fun to watch...
In an extended interview with the French daily Liberation, Valls outlined that French Muslims should be "protected" from what the politician considers to be contagious extremist ideas. Valls said that a scarf covering a woman's head stops being "an object of fashion or consumption like any other" and becomes a political gesture, undermining basic gender freedoms.
Answering the question on whether a ban on headscarves should be introduced in higher education institutes, he said that "it should." However, he noted that the current constitution makes such a move difficult.
His statements immediately caused a backlash among other socialist politicians.
They wouldn't have had a problem banning crucifixes, you see. They could ban a kippah without a second thought. But the headscarf is sacred amongst socialists. You could look it up...
"There is no need for a law on the headscarf at university," Thierry Mandon, the higher education minister, claimed, pointing out that this piece of clothing is not banned anywhere else in French society.
France's education minister, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, agreed, saying that university students are young adults who have constitutional rights, including freedom of conscience and religious liberty.
So long as they do so responsibly, of course...
"Our universities also have a lot of foreign students," she added. "Are we going to ban them access because in their culture there's a certain type of clothing?"
The Muslim headscarf debate has been ongoing in France for many years. Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, who restricted the wearing of niqabs (a face veil covering all but the eyes) in public places in France, spoke in favor of banning headscarves.
Air France has recently allowed its female crewmembers to avoid working on flights to Iran, a country where headscarves are required anywhere off the aircraft.
Valls said that Islam, the second-most popular religion in France,
...after socialism...
must be "fundamentally compatible with the Republic, democracy, our values and equality between men and women."
"Certain people don't want to believe it, a majority of French citizens doubt it, but I'm delusional convinced that it's possible," he said of conforming Islam with French values.
Commenting on the interview, a member of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, Abdallah Zekri, claimed that Valls statements represent "populist discourse which is worse than the far-right."
There's a clear-eyed thinker...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Salafists
#1
I don't mind the headscarves - reduces the spread of lice.
[Iran Press TV] The commander of an army brigade loyal to Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, Yemen’s resigned president, has been killed in festivities with 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 ... Ansarullah fighters while a shaky truce is in place in the war-torn country.
According to loyalist military sources and medics, a Houthi sniper fatally shot Major General Zaid al-Huri, early Wednesday in the northeast of Sana’a Province. They said the Houthi fighters fired a mortar round in the same area, wounding six loyalist soldiers.
Pro-Hadi Major Abdullah Hasan said two Death Eaters were killed and seven injured in several hours of overnight festivities with Houthis in Ma'rib Province. At least one Houthi fighter was also killed and several hurt and captured during the Ma'rib fighting, Hasan added.
The confrontations came as the ceasefire between Yemen’s warring sides took effect at midnight (2100 GMT) on April 10. The truce was announced by the UN special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, as a step to calm the situation ahead of peace talks scheduled to be held in Kuwait on April 18.
In a statement, a Houthi military official accused loyalist forces 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... of "violating the ceasefire" on Tuesday in the provinces of Ma’rib, Jawf and Ta'izz.
In breach of the truce, Saudi mercenaries hit several areas in Sana’a’s Nihm District with Katyusha missiles. They further targeted positions held by the Yemeni army and Popular Committees in areas across the provinces of Jawf, Ta'izz, Shabwah and Bayda while Saudi fighter jets also violated the airspace of the same regions.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Houthis
[Iran Press TV] 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 former Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz says his country is supplying anti-Iran Death Eater groups in neighboring Pakistain with large volumes of ammunition.
According to Turki bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz, the kingdom’s former head of the presidency of meteorology and environment, Muqrin made the remarks when they paid a visit to former deputy minister of defense and aviation Abdul-Rahman bin Abdulaziz at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, where he had been hospitalized for some health problems earlier this month, Kuwaiti online newspaper Alaan reported on Wednesday.
Muqrin said, citing military sources, that Riyadh had sent the ammunition via C-130 military transport planes in five stages to hard boyz in Pakistain’s southwestern province of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... which borders Iran. The aircraft unloaded their cargos at Dalbandin airport, which was constructed by the financial assistance of Saudi Arabia in the 1980’s.
He also said that the Saudi Arabia, via Kuwait, had also sent similar ammunition cargos to anti-Iran forces of Evil who are active near the border of Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan.
Maqrin expressed his concern about these operations, saying that they would have adverse consequences for the security of the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia’s former Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz
Riyadh has reportedly spent $100 billion to nurture Wahhabism throughout the world, which is directly responsible for the rise of such terror networks as the ISISTakfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... group wreaking havoc in several countries, mainly Iraq and Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced on Wednesday, that eight people had been either killed or wounded in a bomb blast near a fruits and vegetables market in southern Baghdad.
The source said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “This morning, a bomb exploded near Rasheed fruits and vegetables market in Abu Dshir neighborhood in al-Darwa District in southern Baghdad, killing one person and injuring five others.”
The source, who asked anonymity, added, “A security force rushed to the area and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital for treatment and the dead body to the forensic medicine department, while a raid was carried out to search for the perpetrators of the bombing.”
[FRANCE24] Spanish police have tossed in the clink ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... a French man suspected of supplying the arms used by an Islamist holy warrior to kill four people at a kosher supermarket and a policewoman in Gay Paree in January 2015, Spain’s interior ministry said on Wednesday.
Antoine Denive, a 27-year-old from Sainte Catherine in La Belle France, was arrested on Tuesday on a European arrest warrant in Rincon de la Victoria, a town close to Malaga on Spain’s southern coast, the ministry said in a statement.
Two other men from Serbia and Montenegro linked to arms trafficking were also arrested during the raid, which was coordinated by French police, the ministry said.
The Islamist gunman Amedy Coulibaly killed a policewoman in a Gay Paree suburb on Jan. 8 last year and attacked the supermarket the following day before being rubbed out by police. Two other gunnies shot 12 people at and near the offices of the Charlie Hebdo ...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe... newspaper in Gay Paree on Jan 7.
Neither the ministry nor police said where the weapons were handed over but the ministry said Coulibaly had been in Spain several days before the attacks, which he dedicated to 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.... holy warrior group in a video.
The ministry said Coulibaly was in Spain with his wife Hayat Boumeddiene and an unknown third person, before he accompanied Boumeddiene to Madrid’s Barajas airport where she took a flight to Istanbul with the aim of joining Islamic State in Syria.
Denive fled La Belle France several weeks after Coulibaly stormed the supermarket, the ministry said, and set up a new base in Malaga where he continued his illegal arms dealing using fake papers and a valid European passport in the name of a different person.
The ministry did not say what weapons Denive supplied to Coulibaly but said Coulibaly was armed with two AK 47 assault rifles, two semi-automatic pistols, 20 sticks of industrial dynamite and a combat knife when he died.
A front man for Spain’s High Court said on Wednesday Denive had denied selling arms to Coulibaly but said he was willing to be extradited to La Belle France. The judge ordered that Denive be kept in jail but he would be tried in La Belle France as long as no other cases against him in Spain were found.
La Belle France’s Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve had congratulated his Spanish counterpart Jorge Fernandez Diaz on the success of the operation, a ministry front man in Madrid said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[TRIBUNE.PK] Amid growing Islamophobia ...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do... in the west, Pakistain has voiced deep concerns at what it called a "sharp rise in hate speech, discriminatory acts and social hostility against Muslims", particularly in the countries where they are in minority.
"We are also witnessing an increase in instances of physical and psychological violence against Muslims and their businesses and places of worship. Muslim minorities are being alienated and marginalised. Many of them live in fear," said Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj PrunefaceAziz ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy... in his speech at a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Istanbul ahead of a summit meeting.
Aziz said western media’s ignorant portrayals of Muslims were providing fuel to the campaign of hate and bigotry. "At a time when there is a need to urge all communities to develop tolerance and respect for each other, we see the unfortunate rise of political opportunism by spreading fear and xenophobia."
He warned that "if left unchecked, such instances and political shortsightedness will grow rapidly in the years to come. It is our collective responsibility to reverse these trends."
"We attach importance to freedom of expression. We, however, refuse to accept that it allows insults against Islam and hate speech and incitement to violence against Muslims."
Aziz also spoke about the current challenges facing the Muslim countries, particularly disunity and problems of terrorism and extremism. In these difficult times, solidarity and unity of the Ummah is needed more than at any other time in our 1,400 years’ long history, he added.
"We must rekindle the spirit of brotherhood and one community that has characterised the Muslim people, for justice and peace, especially in Paleostine and Afghanistan."
Aziz maintained that resolving issues through mutual consultations, therefore, was not only our religious duty but also a political imperative for ensuring peace and security of our peoples.
He said any member state amongst the OIC that could assist in bridging the differences between the brotherly countries must step forward and play a role.
"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... acted in this spirit when he visited the Kingdom of 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 Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran in January 2016. We are thankful for the cooperation we received from our brothers," he told the conference.
Today, terrorism and violent extremism pose serious threat to international peace and security. The menace has inflicted immeasurable human and economic losses, he said. "Pakistain has always supported that a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy is needed to tackle this global problem."
He said the complexity of challenge also demands enhanced and shared understanding and deeper dialogue between countries, cultures and civilisations.
The meeting of the 57-member OIC comes at a time of turmoil in many Muslim nations, with conflicts in Syria 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... dragging on and several states, including The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , bloodied by turban violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
We attach importance to freedom of expression. We, however, refuse to accept that it allows insults against Islam...
Does this guy and Obama have the same speech writer?
#2
Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha decried the rising Islamophobia on display as he and his conquering army were driven back by the combined armies of Eastern and Central Europe before the Gates of Vienna.
#3
A phobia is an irrational fear. I don't believe concern about militant Islam is irrational, and I wouldn't use the word 'fear' either - maybe anger, disgust, concern ... but not fear.
The only thing we have to fear
Is fear itself... of Muslims,
But ain't it queer? It don't appear
To put the skeer... on Muslims;
So ring out clear, dear little bell
Of liberty... for Muslims,
And all kuffar can go to hell,
Or make things hot... for Muslims.
[Daily Excelsior] General Officer Commanding (GOC), 16 Corps, Lt Gen RR Nimbhorkar said today that a number of murderous Moslems continued to sit across the Line of Control (LoC), camping at the launching pads, waiting for an opportunity to sneak into this side but alert Indian Army hasn’t allowed their plans to succeed.
In a brief chat with newspersons during ’Rajouri Day’ celebrations in Rajouri this morning, Lt Gen Nimbhorkar, who had gone to the border district to join the celebrations and boost morale of the troops, said there was no "specific time" of the murderous Moslems for infiltration as they continued to wait for intrusion bid.
"You can’t say, they (the holy warriors) will make infiltration attempts when the snow melts. Though the snow will start melting some days afterwards but the murderous Moslems are always in search of opportunity to infiltrate. They don’t wait for melting of snow. They try to infiltrate every time but our brave and alert troops don’t allow them to succeed," the GOC Nagrota based 16 Corps, said.
The General said there were inputs available with the Army that a number of murderous Moslems were camping on other side of the LoC (Pakistain occupied Kashmire) along launching pads waiting for infiltration through twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri. However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... he added, the Army was well aware of the holy warrior designs and will not allow them to succeed.
"We are well versed with the holy warriors’ plan. They can attempt infiltration any time but we will not allow them to enter into this side,’’ he added.
Replying to a question on yesterday’s flag meeting between India and Pakistain at Chakan-Da-Bagh on Poonch-Rawlakote route in Poonch district, Lt Gen Nimbhorkar said the focus of the flag meeting was to maintain peace and tranquility on the LoC, which was going on since past September when the last Brigade Commander level flag meeting was held barring Shahpur incident recently.
He said Army wants to maintain peace along the LoC, which was in the interest of all including people living on both sides of LoC.
Only few days back, Pakistain Army had broken nearly six months long ceasefire on the LoC in Shahpur sector of Poonch district by resorting to heavy mortar shelling and firing on the forwards Indian villages causing damage to six houses and an Alto car. The Indian side had retaliated effectively, silencing the Pak guns.
The Commanding Officers level flag meeting at Chakan-Da-Bagh yesterday had reiterated commitment by both the sides to maintain peace and tranquility along the LoC in Poonch and Rajouri districts. The meeting had reaffirmed the commitment to September 21 Brigade Commander level meeting in which both sides had agreed to stick to ceasefire agreement of 2003.
Responding to another question on upcoming joint military exercises between India and United States and whether some of the exercises could take place in the area falling under jurisdiction of 16 Corps, Lt Gen Nimbhorkar said the Indo-US Army exercises are regular annual feature.
"If any of the area under our jurisdiction is selected for joint exercises, we will have no problems. We are ready for it," he said but made it clear that selecting any area for exercises depends on the Defence Ministry.
Lt Gen Nimbhorkar actively participated in the Rajouri Day celebrations.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies
[THEHILL] The B.O. regime is considering a proposal to kill off the lowest tier of classification amid escalating scrutiny on top government officials’ ability to safeguard sensitive information.
Won't help Hilarity...
In a memo circulated to intelligence agency leaders last month, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper asked for feedback about getting rid of the "confidential" level of classification.
"Please comment on whether the CONFIDENTIAL classification level can be eliminated from your agencies’ guides and the negative impacts this might have on mission success," Clapper wrote to the heads of the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and three other federal intelligence offices in his three-page memo.
"This action could promote transparency," Clapper added, by "simplifying agency classification practices," focusing only on sensitive material "that would cause significant and demonstrable harm to national security if improperly released" and reflect the fact "that few, if any" clearances are issued at the "confidential" level alone.
Additionally, Clapper noted, the United Kingdom eliminated its "confidential" level of government secrecy in 2014, so following suit would "align" the two countries’ systems. In addition to "confidential," the government also marks sensitive information as "secret" and "top secret."
Eliminating the lowest level of classification would have a dramatic effect on the number of classified documents created by the government.
It also could have beneficial effects for Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillary and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Jeremiah S. Black ... , whose private email server contained thousands of messages now considered classified. The vast majority of the roughly 2,000 documents on Clinton’s machine are considered confidential. If we downgrade the remainder of the Clinton emails to CONFIDENTIAL, then eliminate CONFIDENTIAL, the email problem is solved, right? Thanks Jim, you're a fok'n genius.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It doesnt matter - possessing even one piece of data that TS/xx is enough to convict if they would actually enforce the laws.
#2
My blood pressure begins to rise when I recall military personnel who have been severely disciplined or had their clearances revoked for mishandling of classified documents.
#4
The timing of the classification fix is suspect... well, not really.
If here is still anyone out there who still believes the Hildebeest will be held accountable and prosecuted, please chime in. I'd certainly love to hear your theory.
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – On Wednesday, an informed source in Fallujah revealed, that dozens of civilians were either killed or wounded by a shelling carried out by ISIS on the outskirts of the city.
The source said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “Today, ISIS shelled the outskirts of Fallujah using mortar shells, killing and wounding dozens of civilians inside the city.”
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added, “ISIS incited the civilians against the security forces and al-Hashd al-Shaabi through the mosques’ speakers.”
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The commander of Anbar Operations Command, Maj. Gen. Ismail al-Mahalawi, announced on Wednesday cleansing 34 booby-trapped houses in different areas of the province.
Mahalawi said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “A force from the engineering force of the [army’s] Tenth Division had managed to cleanse 12 booby trapped houses on the international highway road in the area of al-Hamediyah east of Ramadi,” pointing out that, “[Another] force from the engineering force of the Sixteenth Division managed to cleanse 12 booby-trapped houses in the city of Heet (70 km west of Ramadi).”
The source added, “A [security] force from the Third Regiment of the [army’s] Sixteenth Division was also able to cleanse 10 booby-trapped houses northeast of the city of Heet.”
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – Heet District Council in Anbar Province announced on Wednesday, that the joint forces liberated an area in central Heet, while pointed out to the killing of 33 ISIS fighters during the operation.
The Head of Heet Council Mohammed Mohannad al-Hiti said in press statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “The joint forces were able, at noon today, to liberate al-Jamiya al-Thaniya neighborhood in central Heet from the control of ISIS.”
Hiti added, “The joint security forces also killed 33 ISIS militants during the operation.”
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – A security source in Anbar province said on Wednesday, that an officer within al-Hashed al-Asha’ri militia was killed while defusing a roadside bomb east of Ramadi.
The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “An explosive device that was planted on the side of a road in al-Sajariyah area east of Ramadi exploded against one of the officers within al-Hashed al-Asha’ri [militia] while he was trying to dismantle the bomb alongside the security forces and the engineering force.”
The source, who requested to remain anonymous, added, “The blast killed the officer,” noting that “The dead body was taken to the forensic medicine authority.”
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – Media officials with the Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday the destruction of laboratories for manufacturing explosives belonging to the ISIS during an aerial bombing in the districts of Heet and Sharqat.
The official said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “The Iraqi F-16 warplanes pounded ISIS shelters in the areas of Heet, Sharqat and Qayyarah, targeting the headquarters of the ISIS elements,” noting that, “[The bombing] resulted in the destruction of a set of vehicles and booby-trapping factories.”
The statement added, “[This] was based on intelligence by the Anti-Terrorism Directorate and the Federal Investigations Agency.”
Posted by: badanov ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
It's like Chicago - but with crew-served weapons.
[NYPOST] ISIS on Wednesday put out a hit list targeting moderate Muslims -- including top Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Charles Evans Hughes ... aide Huma Abedin.
The list -- in the latest edition of the terror group’s magazine Dabiq‐ targets several other prominent Muslims including US Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota and British pols Sayeeda Warsi and Sajid Javid.
Abedin, the wife of former rep. Anthony Carlos Danger Weiner ...aka Hot Dog Tony, the remarkably offensive sex maniac six-term New York congressman who resigned in 2011, then decided everybody had forgotten by 2013, when he decided to run for mayor of New York City... , and other targets are branded "overt crusaders" and "politically active apostates," who "involve themselves in the politics and enforcing laws of the kufr [disbelievers]."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
so Huma Abedin has a rational, rather than an irrational reason to fear Islam, i.e. Islamaphobia,
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/14/2016 6:43
Comments ||
Top||
#2
The only thing that gets killed is this story.
H does not want the masses to know her top aid is islamic and connected to KSA.
#4
A Rani rode out to shoot puma
(and apes who would jape and hoot rumor)
When sounds even louder
Rang down from the howdah:
The Raja had bagged a cute Huma.
Yet again Russian jets made provocatively close passes to an American warship, as tensions continue between Moscow and Washington over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. A senior defense official told CBS News there were two recent incidents that were "more aggressive than anything we've seen in some time."
The first, on April 11, involved two Russian SU24s, when the USS Donald Cook left the Polish port of Gdynia and was about 70 nautical miles from Kaliningrad in the Baltic Sea. The official said the Russian jets made 20 passes of the American ship and flew within 1,000 yards at an altitude of just 100 feet.
In the second incident on April 12, two Russian KA27 Helix helicopters flew several circles around the Donald Cook, apparently taking photos, after which two jets again made numerous close passes of the ship in what the official described as "Simulated Attack Profile."
"They were so close they created wakes in the water," the official said.
CNN reports "there is an intense discussion about releasing video and still photos of the Russian encounter to demonstrate the danger the jets posed to the ship."
It's not clear how many times this type of incident has happened, but in 2014 Pentagon officials publicly decried a similar incident in the Baltic. A close-flying jet came within a few thousand feet of the USS Donald Cook, a guided missile destroyer which was conducting a "routine mission" at the time. The U.S. ship tried to contact the plane's cockpit, but received no response.
The Russian plane, which the U.S. says was unarmed, made at least 12 passes. This continued for about 90 minutes. The event ended without incident. While the jet did not overfly the deck, Col. Steve Warren called the action "provocative and unprofessional."
Time for our naval air corps to find a Russian destroyer out in the middle of the ocean...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yes it is provocative and shoot them down. They would shoot us down if we did the same thing.
[NYDAILYNEWS] the Texas teen who dodged a prison sentence for a fatal 2013 DUI crash by claiming he was too privileged to serve time, only to apparently violate his probation and flee the country two years later — must serve four consecutive 180-day jail sentences, one for each of the four people he killed in the wreck, a judge ruled Wednesday.
“You’re not getting out of jail today,” Fort Worth Judge Wayne Salvant told Couch, who turned 19 on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Butcher 4 people and get 2 years?
The state abrogated its responsibility to render justice. The families would have had more real justice had they left him in Mexico and sought justice the old fashion way via the cartels.
#2
Hmph. the fact that he "dodged a prison sentence...by claiming he was too privileged to serve time" shows that justice was not rendered long before this specific hearing.
#3
Nobody liked the original sentence. A year later, the judge resigned/retired. The judge gave him about the max he could, under the law. It's a start.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/14/2016 15:02
Comments ||
Top||
(IraqiNews.com) Diyali – A security source in Diyali province said on Wednesday, that a security force killed an ISIS element during clashes with him in an area east of Baqubah.
The source said in a brief statement received by IraqiNews.com, A combat force from the [army’s] 20th Brigade of the 15th Division conducted a tactical operation in the vicinity of Shalgham al-Nada (55 km east of Baqubah) and clashed with one of the ISIS militants who barricaded himself inside a residential house before he was killed.”
The source, who requested anonymity, added, “The force found an explosive belt and a [roadside] bomb in possession of the dead,” noting that, “The dead [man] was wanted on charges of terrorism.”
Posted by: badanov ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
ALEPPO – Subsequent to fierce clashes with the western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Islamist rebels were able Wednesday to recapture areas in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo, local sources reported.
Local activists confirmed that a number of Islamist factions, backed by Turkish artillery shelling, were able to deter an SDF-led offensive on their positions and seize control of areas fell to the latter earlier on Tuesday.
The SDF forces include the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), Arab and Christian fighters –mainly supported by the United States in the war on radical Islamists.
Speaking to ARA News, media activist Walid al-Sheikh, based in the town of Sheikh Issa in Aleppo province, said that the Sham Corps and the First Regiment along with other militant fighters were able to repel an SDF-led attack towards the town of Sheikh Issa after the latter took over a number of nearby villages.
“Both sides have used mortar shelling, but the SDF were forced to retreat towards their positions in the town of Tel Rifaat,” he reported.
In February, the YPG forces, baked by SDF allies, took control of major parts of the strategic Tel Rafaat town, which has been one of the main supply routes for the radical Islamist groups in northern Aleppo
The source also confirmed that sporadic clashes continued between the two sides on Wednesday midnight on the road connecting Tel Rafaat with Sheikh Issa, without reports of progress by any party.
Over the past few weeks, the US-backed SDF attempted to advance towards the towns of Sheikh Issa and Maree, but Islamist opposition factions were able to repel the progress of these forces. Also, ISIS has been trying to break into the strategic town of Maree in Aleppo’s northern suburbs.
After the Kurdish forces and SDF allies have cut off the Azaz-Tel Rafaat road subsequent to fierce clashes with militants of Nusra Front and the Islamic Movement Ahrar al-Sham, “the SDF became able to make larger gains against the Islamists in the northern countryside of Aleppo,” according to Kurdish military sources.
[REUTERS] Syrians voted in a parliamentary election in government-held areas of the country on Wednesday in what they called a show of support for Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... , while his opponents and Western powers denounced the poll as illegitimate.
The election went ahead independently of a U.N.-led grinding of the peace processor aimed at ending the five-year-long war. A second round of talks began in Geneva on Wednesday but an upsurge in fighting has darkened the already bleak outlook for diplomacy.
The government said the vote was held to comply with the constitution, a view echoed by its Russian allies.
The opposition, which wants the new peace talks to focus on a political transition, said the election was meaningless, while Britannia and La Belle France called it a "flimsy facade" and a "sham".
Voters were electing 250 MPs to parliament, which has no real power in Syria's presidential system. The state rallied them with the slogan "Your vote strengthens your steadfastness".
"Assad is already strong but these elections show that the people support him and bolster him," said Hadi Jumaa, a 19-year-old student, as he cast his ballot at his university halls of residence in Damascus.
Dozens queued to vote at one polling station where a portrait of Assad hung on the wall. Outside, some danced.
With his wife Asma at his side as he went to vote in Damascus, a smiling Assad told state TV that terrorism had been able to destroy much of Syria's infrastructure but not Syria's "social structure, the national identity".
Asaad al-Zoubi, chief negotiator for the main opposition body, the High Negotiations Council. dismissed the polls: "They are illegitimate - theater for the sake of procrastination."
The conflict has killed more than 250,000 people and created millions of refugees, splintering Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by the government, an array of rebels, a powerful Kurdish militia, and the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group. The government views all the groups fighting it as terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[NYTIMES] Somewhere, there is a digital archive containing the portraits of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... ’s network of fighters in Europe. The image of each fighter was stored in this database months before last year’s attacks in Gay Paree, and after each new terror strike, the group has reached into it and released the photographs. So it was on Wednesday.
The latest issue of Dabiq, the Islamic State’s slick online magazine, includes an image of Najim Laachraoui, the 24-year-old former Catholic school pupil who was last seen wheeling a suitcase bomb into the Brussels airport. He is wearing military fatigues and sadistically winking at the camera. Next to him is a man with a bloody knife, suggesting they had just beheaded a captive.
It is worth noting that the two men’s uniforms exactly match those worn by the Gay Paree attackers last year, as shown in another set of photographs and an accompanying video, also pulled from the archive. Those were shot somewhere in Syria or Iraq before the attacks, and made public soon after. They have the same desert camouflage pattern, the same tan cap and tactical vest, the same cutoff gloves and grotesque scene of bloodshed.
Before returning to Europe, both the Brussels bomber and the Gay Paree plotters posed for carefully choreographed scenes, showing the atrocities they committed in Syria and Iraq. The purpose is clear: to show the West that the attackers really were sent from the heart of the group’s terror machinery.
In a short biography of Mr. Laachraoui, who is also identified by the nom de guerre Abu Idris al-Baljiki, the Islamic State says he was the bombmaker for both the Gay Paree and Brussels attacks. The biography also says the future jacket wallah’s first foray in Syria was as a recruit in the battalion of Amr al-Absi, the leader of a group calling itself the Mujahedeen Shura Council. In 2012, that group became a magnet for European jihadists, especially Belgians, who flocked to a walled villa in Kafr Hamra, just outside Aleppo, Syria, as Ben Taub reported in an excellent piece for The New Yorker.
Later, Mr. Absi’s group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIS. The biography says Mr. Laachraoui "was one of the first, along with the rest of his group, to pledge allegiance."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A major attack plot by Haqqani terrorist network was foiled by the Afghan intelligence operatives in eastern Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... of Afghanistan.
The Afghan Intelligence, National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS), said a huge cache of weapons and explosives prepared by the terror network for the attack was seized by NDS operatives.
A statement by NDS said the cache was discovered during a joint operation by Afghan National Police from Chargoti village in Alisher district.
The statement further added that the cache included 30 Ak-47 assault rifles, 2 rifles, 3000 rounds of Ak-47 ammunition, 2 Improvised Explosive Device, 4 fake Pak vehicle registration plates, 1 van, 5 military uniforms.
NDS in its statement further added that the terror network was looking to use the explosives to carry out coordinated attack in Khost province.
According to NDS, two suspects were also jugged Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! in connection to the attack plot by the Afghan cops.
This comes as the Afghan intelligence operatives foiled a major attack plot by the terror network on Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... International Airport.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Haqqani Network
#3
Can't have a socialized population that is self reliant, they will wander off the reservation. Gotta keep them dependent on the government for absolutely everything.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs suffered casualties after attacking security posts in eastern Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... of Afghanistan, local officials said.
Provincial police chief General Abdul Habib Syed Khel said Talibs launched coordinated attacks on security posts in Marwara and Sarkano districts earlier today.
He said festivities still continued between the turbans and Afghan cops, leaving at least 9 Talibs dead.
Gen. Syed Khel further added that a policeman also sustained injuries during the shootout with the Talibs.
Talibs grabbed credit behind the attack and said heavy casualties were incurred to the security personnel.
However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... the local security officials have rejected the Taliban claims as baseless.
Kunar is among the volatile provinces in eastern Afghanistan where anti-government armed Lion of Islam groups including the Taliban murderous Moslems are actively operating in a number of its districts and frequently carry out insurgency activities.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Iran Press TV] 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 grand mufti has defended a ban on driving by females in the kingdom, saying it exposes women to "evil."
Mufti Sheikh Abulaziz Al Sheikh said in an interview with the satellite channel al-Majd that driving "is a dangerous matter" for women because it exposes them to evil.
The kingdom’s highest religious authority also said that men with "weak spirits" who are "obsessed with women" could cause harm to women drivers.
He also noted that family members of female drivers would not know about the whereabouts of women if the ban on driving for women is lifted.
The Wahhabi figure has gained notoriety for his various controversial and radical decrees, including his reported decree in 2007 for the demolition of the tomb of Prophet Muhammad (PTUI!) and an edict five years later for the destruction of all the churches across the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that prohibits women from driving. The ban stems from a religious fatwa imposed by the country’s Wahhabi holy mans. If women get behind the wheel in the kingdom, they may be incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... , sent to court and even flogged.
Saudi authorities have defied calls by international rights groups to end what has been described as a violation of women’s rights.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Taliban group leaders are convening key meetings in their safe havens inside the Pak soil, a top Afghan defense official said Wednesday.
The Chief of Army Staff General Qadam Shah Shaheem told news hounds in Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... that the Taliban gatherings, including meetings to pledge allegiance are taking place in Pakistain.
Gen. Shaheem also criticized the cross-border shelling by Pak military in eastern provinces and said the Afghan leadership is hopeful that the provocative acts are immediately stopped.
According to Gen. Shaheem, the Taliban group is facing unity challenges and their central command has been weakened which he says is a good news for the Afghan armed forces.
The remarks by Gen. Shaheem comes as reports emerged earlier this week that the Haqqani terrorist network has played a key role in resolving the leadership issues of the Taliban group.
According to local media reports in Pakistain, the Haqqani network leader Sirajuddin Haqqani ...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network.... intervened to resolve the issues of the Taliban leadership and managed to secure key posts Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... ’s son and brother in Taliban leadership council.
The report emerged days before the Taliban group announced their spring offensive and vowed to carry out more attacks across the country as the group’s insurgency enters to its 15th year.
The Afghan officials have long been criticizing Pakistain for supporting the anti-government armed holy warrior groups by providing them with shelters inside their soil.
Although the Pak officials have repeatedly denied support to the Taliban group but the country’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj PrunefaceAziz ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy... earlier acknowledged the Pakistain has influence on Taliban leaders which could be used as a leverage to force the group to participate in peace talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Iran Press TV] Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says Tehran has always seriously pursued the fight against terrorism and it has given assistance to other countries in this regard.
"The Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran has always seriously followed the fight against terrorism in the Muslim world and practically any nation and government that has sought Iran’s help, Tehran has offered its help and assistance," Rouhani said before flying to the Turkish port city of Istanbul to take part in the 13th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The Iranian president elaborated on Iran’s assistance to the Muslim countries in their fight against terrorism, saying the governments of countries such as Iraq and Syria have enjoyed Iran’s support in this regard.
Rouhani further noted that the Muslim world is currently grappling with such problems as terrorism, extremism and sectarianism, while "some countries are unfortunately invading other countries."
He stated that one of the goals of the OIC is to create unity among Muslim nations, expressing hope that the organization would be able to resolve differences among Islamic states.
"We hope there would be helpful discussions in this summit about the settlement of disputes in the Muslim world, fostering unity and solidarity among Muslim countries, and especially the issue of fighting terrorism," Rouhani said.
The OIC summit will be held under the theme, "Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace." A resolution on the Paleostinian issue and support for international efforts to re-launch a "collective political process" will be issued at the end of the summit.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
All depends on your definition of terrorism. They're terrified of gays, Zionists, Sunnis and infidels. Basically everybody except Iranian theocrats.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/14/2016 7:44
Comments ||
Top||
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] ISIS's ranks have been pared back by international and local military action in Iraq and Syria to their lowest level since Washington began monitoring the group, a bigwig said Tuesday.
The comments from deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken came one day before President Barack Obama If you like your coverage you can keep it... was due to convene his national security team at CIA headquarters to take stock of the anti-ISIS fight.
"Working by, with and through local partners, we have taken back 40 percent of the territory that ISIS controlled a year ago in Iraq and 10 percent in Syria," Blinken told US politicians in prepared testimony.
"In fact, we assess ISIS's numbers are the lowest they've been since we began monitoring their manpower in 2014," he added, using one of three terms US officials use interchangeably to refer to ISIS.
Blinken did not put a new figure on the size of the holy warriorgroup's fighting force in his statement to the Senate committee overseeing funding for the State Department's program to counter violent extremism.
But in September 2014, the last estimate to which Blinken referred, a US intelligence official told AFP news agency that the CIA believed the group could put between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters in the field, both imported muscle and local recruits.
Since then, US-backed Iraqi and Kurdish forces have pushed ISIS fighters back from the cities of Tikrit and Ramadi and taken territory in northern Syria, while Syrian forces receiving Russian support have recaptured the Syrian city of Palmyra.
On Wednesday, Obama and his top aides are set to evaluate the progress made so far in the anti-ISIS fight and weigh proposals for upping the pressure on the holy warriors.
"The president has asked them to come to him with suggestions for how it is possible to reinforce those elements of our strategy that are showing the most success," White House front man Josh Earnest told news hounds Tuesday.
When asked about a possible increase in the number of US troops in Iraq, Earnest refused to say if any announcements were on the horizon, saying only that Obama would make a statement after the meeting.
"It's not uncommon for the president to make decisions in the context of these meetings," he said.
Washington has led an international coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria since August 2014.
The United States, which withdrew its forces from Iraq in 2011 after eight years of war, officially redeployed 3,870 troops to the insurgency-wracked country in recent months.
But the actual number is likely about 5,000, according to media reports.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Bangla New Age] The anti-talk faction of separatist outfit United Liberation Front of Asom
Who?
has threatened to blow up Bangladesh’s largest gas transmission pipeline, prompting authorities to order an intensified security vigil, a media report said on Wednesday citing an Indian intelligence tip-off, reports PTI.
The Paresh Barua-led faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam recently issued the threat to blow up the transmission line of the Bibiyana gas field, which supplies 45 per cent of the gas.
The article said Indian intelligence agencies recently unearthed the plot tapping a telephone conversation of Barua with an ULFA commander when he asked him to blow up the pipeline in Bangladesh.
The 119 kilometre-long Bibiyana pipeline is Bangladesh’s largest transmission line that supplies gas to the national grid from the Bibiyana gas field in north-eastern Habiganj, bordering Assam to central Dhunat sub-district, operated by US oil giant Chevron.
Officials of state-run Petrobangla, which contracts out the gas plants to foreign and local oil companies, said they received the information last week and took up the issue with government authorities concerned and cautioned Chevron.
’We have sought necessary government steps for the security of the gas line and cautioned Chevron to enforce an extra vigil on the Bibiyana’s production and transmission systems,’ Petrobangla director M Kamaruzzaman told PTI. He said Petrobangla and Chevron already held a meeting with
the officials of the home ministry and security agencies concerned to ensure adequate security for the plant and the transmission line.
A home ministry official said the law enforcement and security agencies were asked to take necessary steps in view of the reported threat, enhancing their vigil as the outfit has record of carrying out sabotages on Indian gas pipelines.
However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... officials said they were assessing its authenticity and capacity of the outfit’s ’remnants.’
Home minister Asaduzzaman Kamal expressed his doubt about the authenticity of the threat and capacity of the ULFA faction as most of their top leaders gave up their separatist campaign in view of their negotiations with the Indian government.
’I cannot tell you anything about the threat before we could fully verify it, but I am in doubt about the capacity of ULFA remnants in carrying out any sabotage in our country,’ Kamal said. He added that Bangladesh long ago drove out the ULFA from its borders with India, evicting their makeshift hideouts.
’Paresh Barua, however, is still on the run but we understand India has kept a watch on his activities and so have we, as he once secretly took refuge in Bangladesh,’ Kamal said.
Barua was earlier handed down death penalty by a Bangladeshi court after in absentia trial for weapon trafficking through Bangladesh territory while media reports suggested he was currently hiding in Myanmar-China borders. He was given the death penalty by a south-eastern Chittagong court in 2014 along with 13 Bangladeshis including two former ministers, two ex-army generals and, after trial of the country’s biggest-ever weapon haul involving the separatist outfit.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraqi politicians have resorted to throwing water bottles and punching each other a day after a vote on a new Cabinet was postponed.
Wednesday’s chaotic scenes reflect a growing political crisis in Iraq, even as the country wages war against ISIS.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, following weeks of pressure from an influential Shiite holy man and thousands of his followers, drafted a list of new ministerial nominees.
Lawmakers were to vote on the make-up on Tuesday but the vote was postponed, prompting dozens of politicians to begin a sit-in inside parliament, demanding al-Abadi and others step down.
The scuffles broke out between the protesting politicians and others who tried to continue the previous day’s session.
Shiite politician Kadhim al-Saydi, one of the protesters, said al-Abadi should "resign immediately."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
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.
Recently declassified U.S. government cables suggest Pakistan's intelligence service paid a U.S.-designated terrorist organization $200,000 to carry out one of the deadliest attacks against the CIA in the spy agency's history.
The Greenland ice sheet is the second-largest single piece of ice on the planet (second only to the one in Antarctica). Nearly two miles thick in places, it contains some 684,000 cubic miles of ice. And because that is all above sea level -- as opposed to floating, like the northern ice cap -- if all of the Greenland sheet were to melt, it would raise the world sea level about 20 feet.
[Daily Caller] The German agency regulating advertisement laws wants to eliminate "gender discriminatory advertising" in response to the spree of sexual assaults in the country.
[Breitbart] CRUZ: Well, listen, I think very, very highly of Marco. I appreciated those very kind comments he made. I’ll tell you, he is an amazing communicator. He’s one of the best communicators in the Republican Party. And he ran a campaign that inspired millions across this country. It inspired me. When he ran for Senate in 2010, his underdog race in Florida inspired me. It was one of the inspirations that led me to run two years later in Texas. So I think the world of Marco. And I very much appreciate it.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
A Pentagon spokesman says the U.S. conducted airstrikes Monday and Tuesday in Somalia that killed an estimated 12 militants affiliated with the al-Shabab Islamic extremist group.The spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, said the targeted militants posed an imminent threat to U.S. personnel who were assisting Somali government forces north of the city of Kismayo in southern Somalia.
White privilege flight? Creeping Detroitificaation? Trumpophobia ? 
[PREMIUMTIMESNG] You may recall that last week, this Service informed the public of the arrest of Khalid AL-BARNAWI, known for his leadership and notoriety in terrorism activities in Nigeria. Nigerians were also informed of his talent-spotting and recruitment of young people into the Ansaru/
[Iran Press TV] Fifteen of the 9/11 "hijackers" from 
Wazoo
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced on Wednesday, that eight people had been either killed or wounded in a bomb blast near a fruits and vegetables market in southern Baghdad.
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in 
"We must rekindle the spirit of brotherhood and one community that has characterised the Muslim people, for justice and peace, especially in Paleostine and Afghanistan."
[THEHILL] The 
Hillary Clinton
CAPT Will C. Rogers, skipper of the U.S.S. Vincennes might have approached the problem a bit differently. 
