The judge was unequivocal as he explained why he found Officer Caesar Goodson not guilty of all charges in the death of Freddie Gray, whose neck was broken inside his transport wagon: prosecutors showed no evidence of a crime.
The acquittal of the police driver in the death of the 25-year-old arrestee is the most significant blow yet to their efforts to hold police accountable after protests and rioting in the troubled city. The failure raises the prospect of whether any convictions can be obtained, and if State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby should simply give up trying the case in criminal court.
Throughout the legal proceedings, prosecutors' tactics have been maligned, CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues reports.
In December, Officer William Porter walked free after a hung jury. Last month in another bench trial, Baltimore Judge Barry Williams found Officer Edward Nero not guilty. Both officers faced lesser charges than Goodson.
At the start of Goodson's trial earlier this month, Williams scolded prosecutors for failing to turn evidence over to the defense about another prisoner in the transport van with Gray.
Mosby was in court to hear the verdict, and appeared crestfallen as she hurried out of the courthouse, climbing into a black SUV that sped down the street, away from the crowd.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said in a statement posted to Twitter that Goodson still faces a police administrative review.
"We once again ask the citizens to be patient and to allow the entire process to come to a conclusion," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
13:57 ||
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I'd like to see Mosby and Rawlings brought up on charges.
Unfortunately those types of tyrants get away with most anything.
The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is the main supplier of military planes and helicopters to the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). They produce the J-20 stealth fighter, FC-1, and FC-8 fighters, the 5th-generation FC-31 stealth fighter, and aerial reconnaissance and attack drones. In 2007, Chinese hackers stole secrets about the U.S. F-35 that were incorporated by AVIC into the Chinese FC-31. Because we left them where they could steal them.
Given how U.S.-China relations are deteriorating in Asia, the U.S. military in the Pacific region could someday fight these Chinese aircraft -- or at least play dangerous games of brinkmanship. In March 2016, a Chinese military helicopter in the South China Sea lifted off from a PLA Navy frigate and charged a U.S. Navy cruiser. It was likely a Z-9 helicopter, capable of carrying torpedoes that could target the U.S.N. cruiser. The Z-9 is produced by AVIC.
AVIC is seeking to build its general aviation capabilities to directly compete with U.S. commercial and military aviation, including for U.S. and international contracts. In 2011, for example, AVIC attempted to use a tiny and unprofitable California company, U.S. Aerospace, to compete for the next iteration of Marine One helicopters used by the U.S. President. AVIC also sells components for U.S. civilian planes, and seeks to sell aviation parts to the U.S. for use in U.S. military aviation. AVIC sees these as first steps towards competing for U.S. military contracts such as air force trainer jets.
In order to build its general aviation capabilities, AVIC launched a global campaign to obtain technology through purchase of small and medium-sized aviation companies. AVIC is close to buying AIM Altitude, based in Dorset, U.K. AIM Altitude specializes in aerospace and military composites that will be useful for AVIC's continued development of military aerospace technologies, including stealth and drone technologies.
AVIC also produces civilian aircraft, but the "civilian" aviation technology they seek will almost always be useful for their military aircraft development. According to CEO Patrick Jenevein of Tang Energy, which has partnered with AVIC in the past, "What China is doing with AVIC is making sure they have access to technologies that they wouldn't have otherwise."
AIM Altitude is AVIC's first purchase of a U.K. aerospace company, but not its first purchase in the West. In the last twenty years, AVIC has purchased half a dozen economically distressed U.S. and international aerospace companies. Some of these technologies are export-controlled, and U.S. law strictly forbids their transfer to foreign entities. The law applies even when those foreign entities own or control the U.S. entities in possession of the export-controlled technologies.
However, there are easy technical means for foreign owners that want to access export-controlled technologies in U.S. companies they control. According to my sources, it could be a relatively simple insider cyber-attack, or embedded Chinese employees photographing technical processes when other workers leave the site. The CEO of the purchased U.S. company typically wants to please his or her foreign owner, and is disincentivized to implement due care that ensures the foreign owner cannot access the export-controlled technology. According to one source, "As an American company, there are certain technologies that we can't send to China. But if AVIC owns the servers, they can access them." Sounds something like treason to me.
"Our arms exports and technology control policies need a root-and-branch review, said Dr. Patrick Cronin in an email. Dr. Cronin is Senior Advisor at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, D.C. "We are preventing good-enough technology from being easily exported to allies and partners, but we are at risk of losing control over leading-edge technologies."
[CNN] An attack at a cinema in Viernheim, Germany, has left at least 25 people injured, German public TV reported Thursday.
The suspect entered the cinema, apparently heavily armed, around 3 p.m. local time, authorities said. The attacker has been killed, a state interior minister told a local newspaper, according to Rooters. It's not clear if any of the injured were shot, or were maimed in other ways.
Police said they won't release any more details until the operation is over.
The cinema is part of a major shopping center, home to more than 100 businesses. The complex hosts 20,000 visitors daily, according to its website. Viernheim is in western Germany, near Frankfurt.
Mass shootings are rare in Germany. But in 2002, a gunman shot up a high school in Erfurt, killing 16 people -- 13 staff members, two students and a police officer.
In 2009, a gunman dressed in military gear killed 15 people in a rampage that started at a school and spanned two small towns near Stuttgart.
While the motive for Thursday's attack remains unclear, police have repeatedly warned that Germany could be a target by ISIS. Germany absorbed more than 1 million refugees last year, and there have been concerns about the possibility of ISIS cells in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
11:41 ||
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Details about the attacker might help narrow down motive. Let's start with was he Aryan or not?
Special forces have shot a man dead who stormed a cinema in western Germany, authorities have confirmed. Security officials say terror is an unlikely motive.
Hesse's interior minister Peter Beuth told DPA that the man was shot dead in a struggle with police after he took hostages inside a cinema in Viernheim western Germany on Thursday afternoon.
No patrons of the cinema complex were injured and all have been released, Beuth told AFP.
Security officials also told DPA that they do not currently suspect that there was a terrorist motive, and that the man was psychologically disturbed.
Another police spokeswoman told AFP they were investigating what type of weapon the assailant used, adding that it was possible it fired blanks.
This matches closely to the article and link Darth Vader posted below.
The Local.de (Germany) reports the police say the miscreant was psychologically disturbed, which could mean anything from drunk or drugged to a number of conditions. It does not rule out him being Muslim as well, and unfortunately there is no guarantee that the German authorities or German news media would share that information.
Goodson had been charged with second-degree depraved heart murder, manslaughter, two counts of vehicular manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office. He faced up to 30 years in prison.
This leaves State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby with a record of 0 and 3 in the "Freddie Gray" prosecutions, following the hung jury of Officer William Porter and the acquittal Officer Edward Nero in a bench trial.
The state has argued a revolving array of three different theories of the case for criminal liability of the officers: (1) "Murder by failure to seatbelt"; (2) "Murder by failure to provide timely medical care"; and (3) "Murder by rough ride."
In order to obtain a conviction on any of the criminal charges the prosecution must, of course, prove each and every element of that charge beyond a reasonable doubt. Over the course of the last three "Freddie Gray" trials, however, it has become increasingly apparent that the prosecution not only lacks sufficient evidence to meet that high burden, it may lack any direct evidence for any of its theories of the case.
In addition, prosecutors have been repeatedly found to have concealed exculpatory evidence from the defense, that the state's medical examiner originally believed Gray's death to have been an accident after testifying that she had always believed the death to be a homicide, and just yesterday it was revealed by the Baltimore Sheriffs Office that the "parallel" investigation purported conducted by that office on behalf of prosecutors never actually took place.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/23/2016
11:05 ||
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I read from some legal experts that if they can't make anything stick on Freddie, the whole case is done.
Looks like the charges are trumped up. Marilyn needs to be disbarred over this.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/23/2016 11:08
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#3
Caesar Goodson was the most probable to have anything stick, even as unlikely as it was. Her cases are going down faster than Monica Lewinsky. She's toast and will lose on teh retrial and other cases if they choose bench trials. Her only hope was to stack the deck with twelve angry BLM blacks
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/23/2016 11:12
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Posted by: Frank G ||
06/23/2016 11:59
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#5
Her Mussolini face did not impress anyone, let alone make the "railroad" train run on time. But she has that Cholly Rangel / Marion Berry je ne sais qoi going for her still...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/23/2016 12:03
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[BBC] The two most surprising political phenomena of this year have been the rise of Donald Trump and the success of the Leave Europe camp in Britain's referendum on Brexit.
Few pundits saw either coming (and full disclosure, I include myself here, particularly on Trump) - but we should have and now would be a good chance to make up for past oversight by looking at how the two are linked.
This week, polls suggest, Britain may pull out of the European Union. Opinion polls currently have the 23 June referendum too close to call but the Brexit camp (those in favour of the UK splitting from the EU) has been inching ahead in recent weeks.
Later this year, Americans will decide whether to elect Donald Trump as the 45th US President, or Hillary Clinton.
#1
Brits, don't miss the opportunity for Magna Carta 2.0! Perhaps, the U.S. will also rediscover the Constitution, call it Constitution 2.0. I'm convinced the politicos, Partys, MSM, and Hollywood don't understand the breadth and disenchantment of the populace in these grass roots movements such as represented by Trump, Sanders, and Brexit.
[Quartz] If you get a weak handshake from a millennial, don't blame him or her. It could be a generational thing.
Researchers from the Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina found that men and women under 30 have weaker grip strength than they did back in 1985. Their work was published (paywall) in the Journal of Hand Therapy.
The researchers asked almost 240 men and women under 30--most 20 to 24 years old--to exert as much force as they could on a hand dynamometer, which measures grip force in pounds. On average, men’s hand strength decreased by 20 pounds, and women’s hand strength decreased by 10 pounds.
#7
These kids of the West will meet ISIS,
Each seeking their own paradises:
Soft hands, in both houses,
From fondling their mouses...
Er, make that their pointing devices.
#10
Learned years ago: when shaking a lot of hands--from doing stand-ups at public venues--make sure you cup your hand like you're trying to hold water in it, before you extend your hand.
You don't get the painful crunch from strong handshakes that you get when your palm is flat.
And, my old golf buddy had terrible arthritis in his hands, so, my current default is very light pressure when shaking hands. And, the adoption of the fist bump removes a lot of hand shaking. And a lot less chance to get serious stranger goo on your hands.
.
#12
I shook Cam Neely's hand in a comedy club about twenty years ago; he damn near crushed my hand, and I'm not exactly a wallflower. Now that's a strong grip!
[PJ] Top Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Loretta Lynch, have worked with an organization dedicated to interfering with law enforcement efforts to monitor activities at the most radical mosques.
Lynch and DOJ Civil Rights Division head Vanita Gupta have appeared at gala events for an organization called Muslim Advocates. The George Soros-funded charity has badgered the New York City Police Department away from monitoring the most radical mosques in the city.
The organization is also responsible for rewriting training materials for federal law enforcement agency to decouple the role of radical Islam from terrorist acts. An inter-agency working group comprised of multiple federal law enforcement agencies in 2014 adopted this whitewash urged by Muslim Advocates.
The DOJ's short-lived effort to airbrush Islam out of the 911 tapes from Orlando shows you how far they will go to twist the truth about what is causing these attacks. I appeared on Fox and Friends today to discuss the organization and the latest. (Video here).
Civil Rights Division head Gupta appeared at the sold out annual gala event for Muslim Advocates in Millbrae, California. Muslim Advocates lobbies the administration heavily to oppose any link between terrorist acts and radical Islam, and opposes monitoring of radical mosques. Gupta told the crowd:
"To anyone who feels afraid, targeted, or discriminated against because of which religion you practice or where you worship, I want to say this -- we see you. We hear you. And we stand with you. If you ever feel that somehow you don’t belong, or don’t fit in, here in America, let me reassure you you belong."
#5
"Do Loretta Lynch's Ties with 'Muslim Advocates' Org Explain Her Whitewash of Orlando?"
I don't think one explains the other; rather, they're both a result of this administration's pervasive anti-Americanism and sympathy with the cause of Islamic supremacism.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/23/2016 11:32
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We've been successfully infiltrated and Sharia is the endgame.
[Daily Caller] What comes next in the House Republicans’ campaign to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen remains unclear following Wednesday’s "misconduct" proceedings, which House Committee on the Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte refused to describe as an "impeachment" hearing. "What comes next" ? Absolutely nothing.
Members of the committee and legal experts sparred over whether Koskinen’s alleged misconduct of defying congressional subpoenas and providing false testimony to Congress on the IRS targeting scandal rises to the level of gross negligence that meets the "high crimes and misdemeanors" impeachment standard in the U.S. Constitution.
The scandal occurred because hundreds of Tea Party, conservative and evangelical non-profit applicants were targeted and harassed by IRS officials during the 2010 and 2012 election campaigns
Democrats listening to Wednesday’s testimony seized the "misconduct" title of the session, noting that it, like the May proceeding of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the same topic, was also not described officially with the word "impeachment."
#1
Well, the GOPe may be corrupt, ineffectual liars who can only get energetized when fighting the base -- but at least they're not crude like that awful Trump.
#2
When Koskinen came in and flipped off Congress, no reasonable person could describe his behavior as 'misconduct' or 'gross negligence'. Show some balls, vote to impeach and bring it to the House floor for a vote, as soon as the Baby Dems get through with their little temper tantrum.
[AnNahar] A U.S. court on Tuesday convicted two men of attempting to help 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 in Iraq and Syria, with one attempting to travel to the Middle East.
A jury found Nader Elhuzayel and Muhanad Badawi, both 25, guilty of conspiring to provide material support to the jihadist group, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.
Both men, from Anaheim, Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, were tossed in the calaboose ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in May last year, when Elhuzayel was about to board a plane from Los Angeles to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... to join the IS group.
They had "used social media to discuss ISIS and terrorist attacks, expressed a desire to die as deaders, and made arrangements for Elhuzayel to leave the United States to join ISIS," the statement said, using a term for the IS group.
Badawi had bought a one-way ticket for Elhuzayel to travel to Israel with a layover in Istanbul, it added.
In recorded conversations, Badawi and Elhuzayel "discussed how it would be a blessing to fight for the cause of Allah, and to die in the battlefield."
The two also recorded a video in which Elhuzayel swore allegiance to IS group leader His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... and vowed to travel to Syria to join the group, the statement said.
The jury also found Elhuzayel guilty of 26 counts of bank fraud, for which he faces up to 100 years in prison.
It found Badawi guilty of fraudulent use of federal funds, for which he faces up to 35 years in prison.
Elhuzayel obtained money for his travel by depositing stolen checks into his personal checking accounts before withdrawing cash from three banks.
Badawi used federal financial aid to purchase Elhuzayel's plane ticket.
In her opening remarks, prosecutor Deirdre Eliot told the jury that the two men had shared pictures of beheadings on social media.
Badawi's lawyer argued that although his client's behavior could be perceived as "un-American" and "repulsive," he did not intend to carry out an attack.
Elhuzayel's lawyer Pal Lengyel-Leahu argued his client's comments on social media were merely provocative opinions that should be protected under the right to freedom of speech.
Elhuzayel has Israeli citizenship, he argued, saying his client planned to travel to Israel to get married. Elhuzayel would have difficulty joining the IS group with an Israeli passport, he told news hounds after the verdict.
The pair will be sentenced in September.
U.S. authorities have arrested several other young people attempting to join the IS group in recent years, including a 22-year-old sentenced to 12 years in prison in June.
The Los Angeles Times has more, including that Mr. Elhuzayel's mother describes the family as Palestinian, not Israeli, and said he was going to visit relatives in the West Bank.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/23/2016
01:01 ||
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#1
Badawi had bought a one-way ticket for Elhuzayel to travel to Israel with a layover in Istanbul, it added.
My understanding is most countries require you to show a return ticket before you clear immigration at the airport. I guess Turkey is an exception, or is it Israel?
That Gates of Vienna article two days ago mentioning 1,000 (or was it 10,000?) EU bureaucratic hacks make more than Brit PM David Cameron? I hope the Brits tell them to sod off and every one of those hacks loses their jobs.
[Reuters] British Prime Minister David Cameron and his eurosceptic opponents made final pitches for wavering voters on Wednesday on the eve of a defining referendum on European Union membership with the outcome still too close to call.
The vote, which echoes the rise of populism elsewhere in Europe and the United States, will shape the continent's future. A victory for "out" could unleash turmoil on financial markets and foreign exchange bureaux reported a surge in demand for foreign currency from Britons wary sterling may fall.
"Quitting Europe is a risk to your family's future because a vote to leave on Thursday means there is no going back on Friday," Cameron said.
Some voters appeared to be heeding his message as three of four polls released on Wednesday showing a move toward staying in the EU. Two still showed a lead for "Leave", while the other two showed a lead for "Remain".
Most pollsters said the result was too close to predict, and would depend on turnout on the day and any late swing among the substantial number of undecided voters.
[Wash Times] The Army has a new adversary in its battle to build a ground intelligence network the way it wants.
Palantir Corp., whose data processor has won praises for reliability and ease of use from troops in the field, has given written notice to the Army that it plans to file a protest lawsuit.
The Silicon Valley tech firm accuses the Army of illegally excluding its off-the-shelf software from an ongoing project to build the next version of the Distributed Common Ground System, known as Increment 2.
With millions of dollars at stake, Palantir asserts that the solicitation is written in a way to accept only newly developed systems from Army contractors.
"The solicitations refuses to solicit or accept bids from any offerers who have already built a data management platform as a commercial product and could begin immediately fielding it to soldiers in harm's way," Palantir says. "Instead the solicitation seeks to begin another costly and risk-prone major software development project while....
#2
Certainly no dog, in my opinion anyway. Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) is or was a heavily contractor supported proprietary system that copied capabilities from other tools rather than buying licenses and opening the door to tools. DCGS was not soldier friendly, but due to the sunken costs and contractor tail, is very Pentagon friendly.
[Bloomberg] Rebounding after a two-year collapse, it's only this month that oil prices have pushed up past $50 a barrel, but Raymond James & Associates says this is just the beginning for higher prices.
In a note to clients, analysts led by J. Marshall Adkins say West Texas Intermediate will average $80 per barrel by the end of next year -- that's higher than all but one of the 31 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
"Over the past few months, we've gained even more confidence that tightening global oil supply/demand dynamics will support a much higher level of oil prices in 2017," the team says. "We continue to believe that 2017 WTI oil prices will average about $30/barrel higher than current futures strip prices would indicate ."
The team went on to lay out three reasons for their bullish call, all of which are tied to global supply -- the primary factor that precipitated crude's massive decline.
Here's how the rebalancing of the global oil market will be expedited from the supply side, according to the analysts:
First, the analysts see production outside the U.S. being curbed by more than they had previously anticipated, which constitutes 400,000 fewer barrels of oil per day being produced in 2017 relative to their January estimate. In particular, they cite organic declines in China, Columbia, Angola, and Mexico as prompting this downward revision.
As long as it's much cheaper to generate electricity with NG, oil demand will continue to decline. And with fracking that will be everywhere in the not too distant future.
Electric cars are just an inefficient variant of a natural gas powered car.
#6
Don't forget the other end of the equation.The Fed is still printing (or technically keying) money without value backing. It's not that the price of oil is going up as much as the value of the dollar is going down.
[Breitbart] The people of Britain should vote to leave the European Union tomorrow to "take back control" of their country and immigration system, UKIP leader Nigel Farage has said.
Speaking exclusively to Breitbart London, Mr Farage explained to American viewers that the European Union is not a free trade area like NAFTA but a political project.
"For your American viewers who don’t understand what the EU really is, don’t worry because nor does Obama. He doesn’t get it at all," Mr Farage said.
"We are part of a political union ‐ it has a flag, it has an anthem, it’s got a police force, it’s building an army, and its courts overrule the British parliament and overrule the British Supreme Court, so we’ve effectively become a satellite state of this European project."
"What tomorrow is about is taking back our country and becoming an independent, normal nation. [Americans] have Independence Day, a big, big thing in the USA every year and 183 countries in the world have an independence day ‐ I was us tomorrow to become the 184th."
Mr Farage also said the Establishment had gone out of its way to play down issues of sovereignty and national independence.
#1
I never understood why so many European countries willingly gave up their sovereignty. I understand the Germans wracked with guilt as they are doing so, but the British and French. Then again that's what the Liberals in the US are trying to do with the UN so I shouldn't be surprised.
#3
Hope GB withdraws from the EU so the Brits can recapture control of culture, dignity, and country. Moreover, they need to figuratively poke a stick in the eye of the likes of multiculturalists, open borders supporters like George Soros. Please jam it up his butt Brits. We need to do the same in the U.S. We don't need another layer of unelected corrupt bureaucracy such as the EU or UN between the voters and our elected leaders.
[AnNahar] The U.S. military is wary of cutting Internet connections to 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.... strongholds such as Raqa in Syria, even though the Pentagon is waging cyber-war against the jihadists, officials said Wednesday.
Cyber Command -- better known as CYBERCOM -- officially started attacking the tech-savvy IS group in April, in what was the command's most important offensive since being established in 2010.
Thomas Atkin, the acting assistant defense secretary for homeland defense and global security, said a "careful balance" needed to be struck, when asked why the military does not simply stop jihadists from accessing the Internet.
"It's a careful balance, even in Raqa or djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... (in Iraq), or anywhere on how we balance the rights to have access to the Internet versus the use of the Internet illegally by folks like ISIS," Atkin told the House Armed Services Committee, using an IS acronym.
Officials said the IS group's online use was a source of valuable intelligence, but Republican committee chairman Mac Thornberry expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... Atkin was arguing Raqa citizens have "some sort of inherent right" to access the Internet.
The jihadists have used their social media savvy to deliver propaganda and disseminate their vision for a so-called caliphate across parts of the Middle East.
Though Pentagon chief Ashton Carter has frequently touted CYBERCOM's offensive against the IS group, most details remain classified.
CYBERCOM deputy leader Lieutenant General Kevin McLaughlin said the Pentagon has gained important experience fighting the IS group online.
"It's given us the opportunity to learn and mature and kind of plow back in lessons learned in a real circumstance that it might have taken us several years to learn," McLaughlin told politicians.
According to the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , CYBERCOM has placed "implants" in IS networks that let experts monitor the group's behavior and ultimately imitate or alter commanders' messages so they unwittingly direct fighters to areas likely to be hit by drone or plane strikes.
Another technique likely being employed is a common type of cyber attack known as a denial of service.
In a sign of the strategic importance virtual warfare now plays, politicians said it was time for CYBERCOM to stand up as its own combatant command -- an organizational super structure normally arranged along geographic boundaries.
CYBERCOM has about 4,700 troops, but is set to expand to 6,200 in 2018.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/23/2016
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#1
The classic ELINT dilemma: do I listen, or do I jam?
#2
A similar dilemma faced with human intelligence (HUMINT) sources. The only difference is, electrons do not normally conduct bombings or mass shootings against civilian soft targets.
[Ynet] The Swiss federal prosecutor's office says authorities have detained a Swiss national in Zurich upon his return from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... on suspicion of links to jihadi groups in Syria and Iraq.
Spokesman Andre Marty said the man, identified only as a 21-year-old from the French-speaking part of Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... , was detained at the Zurich airport on June 8 and has been placed in pre-trial detention.
Swiss authorities had opened criminal proceedings against the suspect already in February.
[DAWN] Police on Tuesday claimed to have seized a suicide jacket containing about three kilos of kaboom from a private van which was checked upon its arrival at a fuel station on Saghar Road. The van was detained and its driver placed in durance vile Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! , they said.
Sakrand DSP Anwar Durrani told journalists in his office that the van (GF 6774) was kept under watch after a tip-off. When it arrived at the fuel station, he along with a team of the Balu Ja Quba cop shoppe raided it. During a search of the vehicle, the jacket with explosives stuffed in its pockets was found.
The bomb disposal squad was called out which examined the jacket. Safdar Shah, a member of the squad, confirmed that it contained about three kilos of kaboom. The arrested suspect’s identity was not disclosed.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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[AlAhram] A police sergeant was rubbed out and a low-ranking policeman injured Wednesday afternoon in the North Sinai governorate capital Al-Arish, Egypt's interior ministry announced.
In a short statement, the interior ministry said that the two police personnel working in in Al-Arish city were shot by an unknown assailant driving in a car.
The two police personnel were shot outside of a cop shoppe.
The assailants are still on the lam.
Earlier this week, two police personnel, including a police captain, were killed and others injured in two different attacks against security forces in North Sinai.
[ARA News] DUHOK – The Islamic State radical group (ISIS) on Wednesday executed four of its own jihadis in the city of Mosul in Iraq’s northwestern Nineveh province on treason charges.
The four ISIS fighters were accused of “high treason” for escaping the battlefront of Mosul, where the group has been engaged in heavy fighting with the Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi army forces.
The ISIS military leadership ordered the immediate execution of the deserters.
“The four fighters were hanged to death in the Muallimin square in central Mosul,” local media activist Ahmed al-Muthanna told ARA News. “Hundreds of ISIS members and civilians witnessed the execution.”
“ISIS leadership accused the four men of high treason for evacuating their post at the battlefront near Mosul without permission. The group considered them deserters and publicly hanged them to death,” the source said.
Speaking to ARA News, head of Nineveh media centre Raafat al-Zarari said: “By publicly executing its own militants for escaping the fighting frontline, ISIS is trying to send a message to all of its jihadi fighters that anyone who would refuse orders will be punished by death.”
“The group is torturing and killing its own fighters. The recent wave of dissidence that hit ISIS’ ranks reflects the gradual collapse of the group’s power,” he said.
Posted by: badanov ||
06/23/2016
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North Korea has test-fired two mid-range ballistic missiles from its eastern coast, says South Korea.
The first launch was considered to have failed, travelling about 150km (90 miles) before landing in the sea. But the second, launched hours later, flew about 400km and reached an altitude of 1,000km, the most effective test to date.
A confirmed successful test would mark a step forward for North Korea after four failed launches in recent months.
Both launches are believed to have been intermediate-range Musudan missiles.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Seoul and the US were "carrying out an in-depth analysis" of the second missile, and did not say whether it was considered a success.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/23/2016
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#1
"Guam-reaching" IRBMS.
China-ordered, NOKOR-fired.
A reminder to the US that, in China's view, it has nothing important in CENTPAC + WESTPAC west of Hawaii + Alaska, i.e. that China + LRBMS of PLA 2nd Arty can't nuke, thus the US should get out = pull-out of East Asia-WESTPAC + hand the region over to China.
#2
China wants the US to get out of East Asia-WESTPAC while it still can, before the Black Banners of Islam = Global Jihad fly over Washington + other major US Cities???
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 20 passengers kidnapped by the Talibs have been released hours after they were taken hostage from a highway in Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province.
According to the local security officials, the 20 passengers were among 43 people kidnapped from a highway in Greshk district on Tuesday.
The 215th Maiwand Corps of the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces said at least 18 of the passengers were released shortly after they were kidnapped and 20 others were released later on that day.
The source further added that the Talibs are still holding 5 passengers as hostage in their custody and efforts are underway for their release.
"The five last hostages were released this morning after tribal elders intervened," Aqa Noor Kentoz police chief of Helmand told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The majority of the hostages had been released Tuesday evening, Omar Zwak, front man for the governor of Helmand, told AFP earlier, with an army statement saying they were freed in an operation in Marja district.
But the Taliban denied the claim, with front man Qari Yousuf Ahmadi telling AFP they decided to free the hostages after they were found to be "innocent".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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Turkish warplanes hit Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey overnight on Wednesday and authorities carried out further curfews in rural areas by the time the army and police continue to battle insurgents, security sources said.
Noting that, these new curfews show a shift to rural areas away from cities, where much of the fighting since a ceasefire collapsed last July has taken place.
The fighting came a day after Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said operations in the mainly Kurdish southeast were over, obviously referring to the months-long clashes in some urban centers, and added the government would focus on reconstruction.
The air strikes in Kurdish-run northern Iraq led to the destruction of targets that belong to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), including but not limited to shelters and weapon stores.
The jets also targeted sites near the Turkish towns of Lice, northeast of the regional capital of Diyarbakir, and Semdinli, further east near the Iraqi border, sources said.
The three-decade conflict with the PKK reignited last year after a two-year ceasefire collapsed, and fighting has been at its most intense since the peak of the insurgency in the 1990s.
On Wednesday, new curfews were imposed in villages in Mus and Bingol provinces and near the town of Beytussebap, where three police officers were hurt in a gunfight, security sources said.
Posted by: badanov ||
06/23/2016
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Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
Video report at the link
Khalil Andarabi, the Wardak Police chief, is being officially investigated over the transfer of the Taliban's designated spy chief in Baghlan Qari Zahir in a police vehicle earlier this week.
Government sources have said that President Ghani has appointed a task team to investigate Andarabi. The team will report its findings directly to the President. No official comment on the matter has been made by the government.
Qari Zahir was recently wounded in military action by security forces in the province. He was caught on Sunday when he wanted to travel in a Khalil Andarabi, Wardak police vehicle to the country's capital and then on to Pakistan. Some of the police chief's relatives were also in the vehicle.
A source said Andarabi is in Kabul for the investigation and has already been questioned several times.
While neither the Presidential Palace nor the Ministry of Interior want to talk about the matter, analysts have strong views of the issue.
"The presence of opposition members inside the state apparatus will break the government's back. In fact, it means that the opposition has captured the house from inside the house," said Attiqullah Amarkhail, a military analyst.
"The issue must be investigated carefully and the outcome shared with the media and people," said Mirza Mohammad Yarmand another analyst.
The transfer of insurgents in the north of the country, using government vehicles, has raised many question over a long time.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 24 Talibs have reportedly been killed in the latest infighting among the rival groups in western Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... province which ended late on Tuesday.
According to the local government officials, the incident took place in Pashtoon Zarghoon district after the supporters of Taliban Chief Mawlavi Haibatullah Akhundzada ...Deputy to Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansour... clashed with the dissident Taliban leader Mullah Rasool.
Provincial governor’s front man Jilani Farhad said they are aware regarding the latest infighting among the rival Taliban groups.
He said preliminary reports suggest at least 7 supporters of Mawlavi Akhundzada have been killed in the infighting and 6 others were maimed.
Farhad further added that 11 supporters of Mullah Rasool have also been killed or maimed during the clash.
This comes as at least 18 Talibs were killed during an infighting in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province of Afghanistan earlier last month.
Mullah Rasool was an arch rival to the self-declared Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mansoor who who was killed in an Arclight airstrike in Pakistain last month.
He also opposes with the appointment of Mawlavi Akhundzada as the new leader of the Taliban group.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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#1
A score equals 20 therefore "scores" implies at least 40. According to the story, I'm owed at least 4 more dead Talibunnies.
[DAWN] GUJRAT: Another young girl and her alleged lover fell victims to honour killing at Keeranwala village near Mungowal in the precincts of Kunjah police on Tuesday.
According to police, Waqar Naeem, 24, of Baltian village of Daska tehsil, Sialkot district, had an affair with Moamina Zaman of Keeranwala village.
As Naeem was on a secret visit to the girl’s house, her father, Zaman, saw the couple in a room. The enraged man, along with his two sons, bumped off the lovers.
Police on being informed of the incident took Zaman into custody, whereas his sons Faisal and Rizwan expeditiously departed at a goodly pace.
Paperwork was started but nothing else was done under Section 302/34 of Pakistain Penal Code against the three nominated suspects on the report of Dildar Naeem, brother of the victim.
The bodies were shifted to the Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital for an appointment with Dr. Quincy.
None of the girl’s relatives was present at the hospital. The complainant has stated that his brother was kidnapped by the suspects who later killed him along with the girl. Police have started investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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[DAWN] EVERY conflict introduces new innovative techniques and targets. While murderous Moslems have always considered improvised bombs (IEDs) a handy option, the frequency of IED attacks has increased since 9/11.
IEDs, also known as homemade bombs, may be time- or remote-triggered, and are usually planted along the roadside and detonated when their targets pass through in their vehicles. They are attractive to Lions of Islam in Pakistain, Afghanistan and Iraq because they are cheap, easy to make and minimise their own casualties as compared to suicide kaboom.
While technology has undoubtedly accelerated its use, some form of IED has been in use in warfare for centuries. The use of the term ’improvised’ is suggestive of its makeshift nature -- used by insurgencies with a lack of access to superior weaponry but the desire to inflict maximum damage.
In Pakistain, 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... , Fata and KP are the worst IED-affected areas. In Afghanistan, Kandahar and Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... are particularly affected. The proliferation of IEDs is more dangerous than that of arms and ammunition. Over the past decade, casualties of IED attacks in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistain amount to more than any other form of Death Eater violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
There's a lot about the Donald that I don't particularly like. But you show me another Pub presidential candidate who would have gone there like he did. I don't know whether he'll stick with it or whether he'll become unglued. But as Lincoln once said of Grant: “I can’t spare this man; he fights.”
The Hillary Clinton foreign policy has cost America thousands of lives and trillions of dollars – and unleashed ISIS across the world. No Secretary of State has been more wrong, more often, and in more places than Hillary Clinton. Her decisions spread death, destruction and terrorism everywhere she touched. Among the victims is our late Ambassador, Chris Stevens….She started the war that put him in Libya, denied him the security he asked for, then left him there to die. To cover her tracks, Hillary lied about a video being the cause of his death.
Perhaps the most terrifying thing about Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy is that she refuses to acknowledge the threat posed by Radical Islam…. I only want to admit people who share our values and love our people. Hillary Clinton wants to bring in people who believe women should be enslaved and gays put to death.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/23/2016
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#1
By history, the Policy + consequences of POTUS Obama's "Minimalism" in FP will likely carry over into his successor's administration until proven otherwise, as China has given itself from 2019 - 2021 to take Taiwan back.
China will NOT cease its claims on Taiwan + China Sea(s) - SAVE YOUR BEST POPCORN FOR THE EAST CHINA SEA, TAIWAN + KOREAS.
HILLARY'S "STATUS QUO" = TRUMP'S "US ALLIES MUST PAY FOR US SECURITY" = CHINA WON'T STOP FOR ANY.
TOO BAD JOHN WAYNE IS DEAD, + CHUCK NORRIS IS RETIRED.
"The same hatred as from Nazis is coming from Islamists and their politically correct allies. We do not even have a vague idea of how much Western culture we have surrendered to Islam.
Democracies are, or at least should be, custodians of a perishable treasury: freedom of expression. This is the biggest difference between Paris and Havana, London and Riyadh, Berlin and Tehran, Rome and Beirut. Freedom of expression is what gives us the best of the Western culture.
It is self-defeating to quibble about the beauty of cartoons, poems or paintings. In the West, we have paid a high price for the freedom to do so. We should all therefore protest when a German judge bans "offensive" verses of a poem, when a French publisher fires an "Islamophobic" editor or when a music festival bans a politically incorrect band."
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
06/23/2016
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#2
Every concession, every minute of discussion, every conversation is a waste of good productive time. They have no place in America's society.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/23/2016 9:09
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#3
Way too much of our culture is being surrendered to the IslamoNazis. It's suicidal and lemming like. Hard to figure why the leftist dhimmis are so eager to put their necks under the knife other than because of the WH.
#4
Repeating the same bad idea over, and over, and over ingrains it into the lexicon and forms an accommodation mindset.
"Just say NO", was not specific enough to be assimilated.
"No Smoking", was successful as it formed 'Us vs. Them' associations reinforcing fight or flight impulse behavior.
"Mothers against drunk drivers", vocalized but not successful because Mothers are always angry.
"Don't drink and derive", very successful, but with limited acceptance except among mathematicians.
"Bad Cop, no donuts", sarcastically targeted behavior of a small already tightly integrated social grouping.
"Where's the beef?", offended Hindus everywhere.
[Iraq Sun] Slow, steady progress by U.S. and coalition backed forces against 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.... terror group in Iraq and Syria could mean little in the wider war against jihadist organizations bent on striking at the West.
This grim outlook, according to military and intelligence officials, stems from several factors, from poor governance and pervasive instability to the alienation of certain segments of populations. Combined, they say, these factors have undone long-standing cultural bonds and allegiances, turning parts of the Middle East and Africa into terrorist incubators.
"More and more individuals, because of their feeling of being disenfranchised from their governments, are now identifying with subnational groups, whether it be with an ISIS, a Nusra, a 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... or others," CIA Director John Brennan warned politicians last week. "They're not identifying themselves as Somalis, Nigerians or Yemenis."
Complicating matters further is the feeling that military power alone, no matter how overwhelming, is not enough to deliver a decisive blow against IS or any other deep-rooted terror organization.
"It's not as though we're looking at a happy ending in Iraq and Syria," said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "Defeating ISIS does not defeat jihadism."
"Momentum is in favor of the global jihadist movement," he said.
In some ways, the rapid ascension of IS and its bid to become the preeminent global jihadist organization have actually strengthened its competitors, most notably, al-Qaeda.
"Al-Qaeda has prioritized [Jabhat al] Nusra as an affiliate," a U.S. intelligence official told VOA on condition of anonymity. The official noted that the group has used the last two years to "retrench and rebrand," emerging with greater strength on the battlefield in Syria and with more credibility, as well.
Intelligence officials estimate Jabhat al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... currently has several thousand fighters at its disposal, rating the group's capabilities as "formidable."
And even though Jabhat al-Nusra's parent organization has suffered setbacks in Afghanistan, a one-time safe haven, analysts like Daveed Gartenstein-Ross warn it is a mistake to underestimate al-Qaeda's resources or reach.
"People overstate the way al-Qaeda is kind of a virtual entity - it's not. They control territory, and people aren't complaining about it," Gartenstein-Ross said. "They've embedded with local populations in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... and in Syria and Libya and in Mali."
Thanks to its rebranding efforts, al-Qaeda's appeal even seems to be expanding.
"Al-Qaeda has managed to capture the echelon of Salafi jihadis who were repulsed by ISIS' brutality but still have the ideology and want something that is just a half-step down," said Jessica McFate, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer now with the Institute for the Study of War.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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#1
Surely this was always assumed. But at least many who previously were jihadis are now dead, and more are disillusioned with the idea.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier has killed at least four of his comrades in an insider attack in the northwestern Badghis province.
According to the local officials, the incident took place in Jund district on Tuesday evening after an Afghan soldier opened fire on his comrades.
A member of the provincial council said another soldier was also maimed in the attack and the assailant was also killed after the other soldiers responded to his fire.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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Polish prosecutors said on Tuesday they would reopen the coffins of all victims of a 2010 presidential jet crash to examine the remains, a move likely to deepen political divisions surrounding the investigation.
The crash near Smolensk, in western Russia, killed 96 people including Poland’s president, Lech Kaczyński, and his wife, as well as the central bank chief, top army brass and several lawmakers. An inquiry by the previous centrist government returned a verdict of pilot error, but the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, led by Kaczyński’s twin brother Jarosław, says the crash may have been caused by an explosion on board.
Jarosław Kaczyński has also repeatedly accused the then prime minister, Donald Tusk, now head of the European Council, of being indirectly responsible for the crash through negligence.
The prosecutors’ decision to exhume all uncremated victims’ remains comes months after the government merged the posts of prosecutor-general and justice minister, giving itself more direct control over the investigation.It also follows the ruling conservatives’ decision to relaunch a government investigation into the case. At a ceremony marking the relaunch, the defence minister, Antoni Macierewicz, said the plane “disintegrated” metres above the ground.
The move is likely to strain relations with Russia already fragile over the Ukraine crisis. Although PiS has never accused Russia of orchestrating the president’s death, it has said the Kremlin benefited from the crash.
PiS officials have also accused Moscow of prolonging its investigation, and withholding evidence, such as the black boxes and the plane’s wreckage. Russia says these cannot be returned until its criminal investigation is concluded.
The Polish state prosecution said it informed the victims’ families that exhumations were necessary, as comprehensive postmortem examinations were key to reconstructing the chain of events and establishing the cause of the crash, “despite the several years which have passed”. Six of the previously exhumed nine bodies had been wrongly identified, the prosecution said in a statement. It added that reopening the coffins, which had been sealed in Russia, was necessary to confirm all identities.
The crash happened near the place where Stalinist secret police forces shot some of the 22,000 Polish officers and intellectuals they executed in 1940. For decades, Moscow blamed Nazi Germany for the mass executions. The massacre is an enduring symbol for Poland of its suffering at Soviet hands, and president Lech Kaczyński had been flying in to commemorate it.
[DAWN] Renowned Qawwal Amjad Sabri was rubbed out in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... Wednesday afternoon, after unknown assailants fired at his vehicle in the city's Liaquatabad area.
Qari Saifullah Mehsud, spokesperson for the TTP Hakimullah Mehsud group, has claimed the credit for the attack.
Additional Inspector General Mushtaq Mehar told Dawn that two men riding a cycle of violence fired shots at the car, terming the incident as "assassination'>assassination." He said the motive of the killing is unknown as of now.
Sabri, 45, and an associate were travelling in a car in Liaquatabad 10 area, when unidentified gunnies fired at their vehicle, critically injuring him. The two were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed hospital immediately, where Sabri departed this vale of tears.
"Two riders used 30-bore pistols to shoot Sabri five times, the bullet to the head took the qawwal's life. The attackers took the Hassan Square route to escape," said DIG West.
"We have cordoned off the area and will arrest the culprits using all our resources," added the DIG.
Police officials recovered five 30-bore casings from the scene of the attack, which have been sent for forensics.
Both front side windows were shattered and three bullet holes could be seen on the front screen.
Ghulam Ahmed, an eye witness told SAMAA TV he saw two cycle of violence riding men fire shots at one side of the car. "Then they turned and fired four shots on the other side of the car."
Additional police surgeon Dr Rohina Hasan confirmed Sabri's demise. He was shot thrice ‐ twice in the head and once in the leg ‐ police sources said.
Senior Director Health Services Abbasi Shaheed Hospital also confirmed that Sabri was declared dead on arrival.
Fakhre Alam, Chairman of Sindh Censor Board, has claimed in a tweet that Sabri had earlier submitted an application for security, but the home department did not act on it.
However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... an official source claimed the home department had received no such request. SSP Central also stated he is not aware of any such request.
Amjad Sabri was one of the country’s finest qawwals, known for his soul-stirring renditions of mystic poetry. He enthralled music aficionados with his brand of spirituality, mysticism and ecstasy for years. He was not only well-versed with the structure and aesthetics of qawwali but also knew how to make it adaptive to the contemporary music keeping its essence alive.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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#1
ISIS long ago declared war on Sufis. They have been targeted in Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan and Libya. Ironically, Hasan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood was a Sufi adept and protected the movement as long as he lived.
CHENNAI: India took a big leap in space technology on Wednesday when Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) used its workhorse PSLV-C34 to inject 20 satellites including 17 foreign satellites into orbit in a single mission and set a new record on Wednesday.
This should twist a few turbans. And cause some anxiety in Beijing...
The 320-tonne Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C34) took off on its 36th flight at 9.26am from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre with 20 satellites including its primary payload Cartosat-2 series, which provides remote sensing services, and earth observation and imaging satellites from US, Canada, Germany and Indonesia. It was also 14th flight of PSLV in 'XL'configuration with the use of solid strap-on motors.
Cartosat-2 was placed in orbit at 9.44am. With Cartosat-2 weighing 727.5kg, PSLV lifted off a total of 1,288kg in to space and began placing the satellites into orbit about 17minutes later. In the final stages of the mission, ISRO also demonstrated the vehicle's capability to place satellites in different orbits. In the demonstration, the vehicle reignited twice after its fourth and final stage and moved further a few kilometres into another orbit.
ISRO scientists said the demonstration is for their next mission when they are planning to inject satellites in different orbits using a single rocket.
ISRO set a world record for the highest number of satellites launched in a single mission when it placed 10 satellites in a PSLV on April 28, 2008. Nasa in 2013 placed 29 satellites in a single mission and Russia in 2014 launched 33 satellites in one launch.
In December 2015, when PSLV-C29 injected six Singapore satellites in to orbit, ISRO conducted a major experiment where the fourth stage was reignited and switched off after the satellites were placed in orbit.
ISRO scientists said, the vehicle had been pre-programmed for today's launch to perform tiny manoeuvring to place the 20 satellites into polar sun-synchronous orbits with different inclinations and velocities. It ensured that the satellites were placed with enough distance to prevent collision.
ISRO began launching foreign satellites on board PSLV in May 1999. Since then, it has gained popularity, as it launched foreign satellites successfully using PSLV by charging only 60% of the fee charged by foreign space agencies. It has so far launched 57 foreign satellites.
If you can launch multiple satellites, you can launch MIRVs...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/23/2016
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Any deal between Turkey and Israel to normalize their strained relations depends on action taken by Tel Aviv, Ankara has said, adding that Turkey’s relationship with Hamas in Gaza cannot be a subject for the talks.
My advice to Israel: you're in no hurry...
“Whether a balance is to be struck or not in the first next meeting – this depends on the steps that Israel will take. Our conditions are extremely plain, these [conditions] need to be fulfilled, like how our demand for an apology was fulfilled,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said June 22 at a press conference in Ankara alongside visiting Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu.
Turkey has demanded Israel fulfill three conditions prior to any normalization in ties, namely, an apology for Israel’s raid on the Mavi Marmara aid convoy in 2010 that killed 10 Turkish activists, compensation to the families of the deceased and an end to the embargo on Gaza.
“Our Palestinian brothers living there are living under extremely difficult conditions,” Çavuşoğlu said, referring to Gaza.
Self-inflicted conditions...
“There are electricity and water problems. Israel has unfortunately bombed many schools and hospital infrastructure, these need to be rebuilt.
So divert the cement from the tunnel construction...
Humanitarian aid and development aid need to be transported to Gaza and Palestine without any obstruction. We are discussing all of these matters in a detailed way,” he said.
A few hours before Çavuşoğlu’s press conference, the Jerusalem Post reported claims by Hamas which said that Turkey had renounced the condition that Israel lift the siege on Gaza as part of its prerequisites for reconciliation.
If Hamas said it, it must be true? And if true now, true for always?
The daily quoted unnamed Hamas officials as saying in a conversation with the London-based Arab newspaper Rai al-Youm: “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced to Hamas’ leadership that he has done everything possible to lift the siege or ameliorate it, but the Israeli government stubbornly rejected his attempts.”
Anyone really think Bibi would bend on this one?
“Erdogan told the leadership that he must make progress on the normalization deal with Israel in order to serve Turkey’s interests,” the same official in Hamas was quoted as saying.
The unnamed Hamas officials said “they expect Turkey to take strong measures against senior Hamas officials residing in Turkey, mainly by limiting their freedom of movement within the state, to meet Israel’s condition for normalization.”
Çavuşoğlu argued that he does not think there is “a problem concerning Hamas.”
“Our discussions with Hamas were never a secret from the very beginning. Suggestions we have made to Hamas leaders are also not a secret. On one side, we are trying to make a contribution to the Middle East peace process. We know that we haven’t been able to make this contribution adequately because our relations with Israel went off track. But everybody who has been paying attention to the Middle East issue, all of the countries and Israel, today acknowledge that there can be no permanent peace or solution without Hamas,” he said.
“Therefore, from now on too, our contacts will continue in the context of the [importance] of the unity of Hamas and Fatah in Palestine
...which will never happen so long as both parties still draw breath...
and in the context of making contribution to the Middle East peace process.
...a nicely omnidirectional term these days.
Countries that reacted to us for this subject when we first contacted Hamas after they won the elections, even Israel, have greatly understood what we want to do. That’s why there is no condition called ‘Hamas’ to normalize our relations with Israel,” he added.
The foreign minister was referring to Hamas’ exiled political chief Khaled Mashaal’s visit to Ankara in 2006 when he met with then-Foreign Minister and former President Abdullah Gül at the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). At the time, it was reported that former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, then-chief foreign policy adviser to then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was the architect of the visit and had persuaded Erdoğan to allow the visit.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/23/2016
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#1
Turkey has demanded Israel fulfill three conditions prior to any normalization in ties, namely, an apology for Israel’s raid on the Mavi Marmara aid convoy in 2010 that killed 10 Turkish activists, compensation to the families of the deceased and an end to the embargo on Gaza.
"No, no, and FY"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/23/2016 14:03
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Warplanes have bombed Daesh's de facto Syrian capital Raqa, killing at least 25 civilians, after the militants drove pro-government forces out of their bastion northern province.
Twin offensives aimed at severing the militants' supply line from the Turkish border to Raqa city appear to have largely stalled as Daesh mounts a fierce defence using suicide bombers.
Six children were among the 25 civilians killed in bombing raids on Raqa city late Tuesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"Dozens more were wounded, some of them critically," said the British-based monitoring group, which was not immediately able to determine who had carried out the raids.
The Syrian government, its longtime ally Russia and a US-led coalition have all carried out air strikes against Daesh in Raqa.
The Observatory said there were fresh air strikes - apparently by the coalition - on the city on Wednesday, one of which hit the town hall.
Raqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS) - an anti-Daesh activist group which gathers news on atrocities in the city - posted photos of what it said were the aftermath of Tuesday's strikes.
They show a concrete balcony hanging off the damaged facade of a residential building as a large fire engulfs a white minivan.
The group has accused Daesh of preventing civilians from leaving the city in order to use them as human shields.
RBSS activist Abu Mohammad told AFP that the wounded were struggling to get proper medical treatment as Daesh has recruited most doctors in the city to treat its own fighters.
'Disastrous' retreat
Raqa city was seized by Daesh in early 2014 and regime forces were expelled from the entire province that year.
Backed by Russian air power, government troops re-entered the province this month as part of an offensive to retake the town of Tabqa, a key stop on Daesh's supply route from Turkey to Raqa city.
But after advancing to within seven kilometres (four miles) of Tabqa airbase, they were driven back an estimated 20 kilometres late Monday.
More than 40 troops and militia were killed in a militant counterattack.
Al-Masdar, a news website close to Syria's regime, said on Wednesday the lightning Daesh offensive had led to a 'disastrous turn of events' and "a disorganised retreat that left behind weapons and several soldiers."
Syria analyst Fabrice Balanche said the pullback could be attributed to a lack of "elite forces" engaged in the battle.
"At the first suicide attacks, they retreated," the Washington-based expert told AFP. "The Syrian forces were spread too thin to be defendable."
Further west in the adjacent province of Aleppo, another assault aimed at blocking Daesh supplies has stalled.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces encircled the militant-held town of Manbij on June 10 but have since faced a barrage of Daesh suicide attacks, including three on Tuesday, the Observatory said.
'Civilians are starving'
Syria's conflict began in 2011 as protests demanding political reform and the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.
But a brutal regime crackdown and the rise of militant groups have transformed it into a multi-front civil war that has killed more than 280,000 people.
Peace efforts have failed to put an end to the violence, and a truce brokered by the US and Russia has all but collapsed.
UN mediator Staffan de Mistura said Tuesday he hoped peace talks could resume in July, but warned they could not proceed "while hostilities are escalating and civilians are starving."
Negotiations could restart if the truce is reinforced, humanitarian aid is increased, and a "common understanding of a political transition" is reached, he told the General Assembly via video link.
"Then we can have, hopefully in July, inter-Syrian talks that are not about principles but about concrete steps to a political transition," he said.
The main Syrian opposition body - the High Negotiations Committee - has called for a transitional government body without Assad.
But Syria's regime says Assad is a "red line" and it would only be willing to broaden the government structure to accommodate some opposition figures.
Posted by: badanov ||
06/23/2016
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[SLATE] Donald Trump’s Wednesday morning speech about Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Edward Stettinius, Jr. ... ’s record is probably the most unnervingly effective one he has ever given. In a momentary display of discipline, he read from a teleprompter with virtually no ad-libbing, avoiding digs at Bill Clinton ...former Democratic president of the U.S. Bill was the second U.S. president to be impeached, the first to deny that oral sex was sex, the first to have difficulty with the definition of is... ’s infidelity or conspiracy theories about Vince Foster’s suicide. Standing in a low-ceilinged conference room bedecked with square chandeliers in the Trump SoHo, a lawsuit-plagued hotel and condo development, Trump spoke for 40 minutes without saying anything overtly sexist. Instead, he aimed straight at Clinton’s most-serious weaknesses, describing her as a venal tool of the establishment. "Hillary Clinton gave China millions of our best jobs and effectively let China completely rebuild itself," he said. "In return, Hillary Clinton got rich!" He added, "She gets rich making you poor," and called her possibly "the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency."
The point is not that this is true; as political analyst David Gergen said on CNN, the speech was slanderous. But the lies in the speech, many taken from Peter Schweizer’s book Clinton Cash, were not obviously self-refuting. At one point, Trump said, citing Schweizer, "Hillary Clinton’s State Department approved the transfer of 20 percent of America’s uranium holdings to Russia, while nine investors in the deal funneled $145 million to the Clinton Foundation." This has been debunked many times over, including by FactCheck.org.
To explain why it’s not true, though, you have to go into details about Clinton’s role on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which approved the sale of a Canadian-based energy company with American mining stakes to Russia’s nuclear energy agency. It’s a very different sort of lie than the one Trump told at a meeting of evangelicals on Tuesday when he said there’s "nothing out there" about Hillary Clinton’s religion--in fact, her Methodism is extremely well-known even to her political enemies.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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#1
The point is not that this is true
Since when has the truth been of any use for the Left and its media minions? For the Progressives, power is the only truth. OMG, he's using their own play book.
You know, the sort that isn't any kind of falsehood at all. Or, in the vernacular, "a fact". Damnable things, facts.
as political analyst David Gergen said on CNN, the speech was slanderous.
You know, "slander", defined in Washington circles as "something that makes me look bad and reveals my actual behavior and interests in a light unflattering, and to my allies' discomfort".
Posted by: Charles M. Hagmaier ||
06/23/2016 8:43
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Posted by: Frank G ||
06/23/2016 11:00
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#6
I can think of two outright lies told by the mainstream media right off the top of my head.
First, when ABC and others made such a big deal about Trump's response to a hypothetical question about abortion with Chris Matthews. Matthews asked, if abortion is banned should a women be punished for getting an abortion? Well, duh, if it's banned and there is no punishment what is the point of a ban? So Trump said "Yes". ABC jumped on it claiming simply that Trump wants women to be punished for getting abortions. They showed about two seconds worth of him saying yes without any context whatsoever and completely ignoring the fact that Trump will not ban abortions.
Then last night when CBS aired a story about Brexit they showed Nigel Farage in front of a bus with a picture from when all those young men from Syria and elsewhere were walking into Europe toward Germany. The reporter said the ad showed an "imaginary horde". Dude, that horde was real. I remember watching the video, not on CBS of course. CBS lied. Big time.
#8
I missed who was terrified. Hidabeest? then there was some truth in it. The media? They'll just have to work the out-of-context a little harder, no big deal.
If the GOPe was terrified, that's good, right?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/23/2016 14:01
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#9
There's a lesson here: don't be afraid to tell the truth about the progressives, because they aren't afraid to lie about you.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/23/2016 15:29
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Brought to your attention because we've been following the story, and because it's hilarious in a sad way...
Hillary Clinton IT specialist Bryan Pagliano invoked the Fifth more than 125 times during a 90-minute, closed-door deposition Wednesday with the conservative watchdog Judicial Watch, a source with the group told Fox News. The official said Pagliano was working off an index card and read the same crafted statement each time.
And that's how you do it -- don't answer a single question, just read the card.
“It was a sad day for government transparency,” the Judicial Watch official said, adding they asked all their questions and Pagliano invoked the Fifth Amendment right not to answer them.
Pagliano was an accessory a central figure in the set-up and management of Clinton’s illegal personal server she used exclusively for government business while secretary of state. The State Department inspector general found Clinton violated the law government rules with that arrangement.
He was deposed as part of Judicial Watch's lawsuit seeking Clinton emails and other records. A federal judge granted discovery, in turn allowing the depositions, which is highly unusual in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The judge cited "reasonable suspicion" Clinton and her aides were trying to avoid federal records law.
Pagliano’s deposition before Judicial Watch is one of several interviews with high-profile Clinton aides, taking place as the FBI separately is continuing its federal criminal investigation. A federal court agreed to keep sealed Pagliano’s immunity deal struck with the Justice Department in December, citing the sensitivity of the FBI probe and calling it a “criminal” matter.
The next Clinton aide to testify is Huma Abedin. In an earlier deposition, lawyers for senior Clinton aide Cheryl Mills, during a nearly five-hour deposition in Washington, repeatedly objected to questions about Pagliano’s role in setting up the former secretary of state’s illegal private server.
According to a transcript of that deposition which Judicial Watch released, Mills attorney Beth Wilkinson – as well as Obama administration lawyers – objected to the line of questioning about Pagliano.
“I'm going to instruct her not to answer. It's a legal question,” Wilkinson responded, when asked by Judicial Watch whether Pagliano was an “agent of the Clintons” when the server was set up.
A transcript of the Pagliano deposition will be reviewed and is expected to be released next week.
Clinton could also be deposed in the Judicial Watch lawsuit.
There was no immediate comment from Pagliano's attorney.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/23/2016
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#1
So the Clinton Foundation or other Hillary supporter's money found its way to Pagliano for shutting up? He took the 5th every 1.4 minutes in this deposition. Waste of time other than to cast more suspicion on the Hildabeest and her cover up. It's about time for a special prosecutor to clean up this mess since Loretta Lynch has been shown to be a partisan hack who's not interested in justice but only doing the bidding of the Party and her boss. Once again the people get the shaft.
#2
Alternatively, even with the well publicized and anticipated immunity, Pag dodged any/all substantial questions suggesting to the public narrative that HE was the root of the email issues, not Hilarity.
#6
Last words of Dylan Thomas: "Eighteen whiskys. A new record!"
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/23/2016 12:26
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#7
Pagliano can just give his 5th amendment card to Huma. My bet is she will do the same. On the other hand, she might develop a severe case of amnesia.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/23/2016 12:46
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#8
I thought he was granted immunity. If so, wouldn't this require him to answer the questions to retain that immunity? Obviously not, but just in case . . . .
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
06/23/2016 14:00
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#15
Just remember, actually using wasp spray on someone for any reason is a felony. It contains what is essentially a chemical weapon (Nerve agent). It is horribly bad advice to tell someone to use it for self defense. Course, when you're planning to be a democrat operative and slaughter a bunch of people, use whatever the hell you want.
[DAWN] Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) chairman Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... on Monday defended Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... (KP) government's budget allocation of Rs300 million for religious seminary Darul Uloom Haqqania ...an Islamic seminary located in Akora Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The seminary propagates the Deobandi trend of Sunni Islam and is headed by Maulana Samiul Haq, known as the Godfather of the Taliban. It has been dubbed The University of Jihad due to the methods and content of instruction along with the future occupations of its alumni.... In an interview with Geo News, Imran Khan said the funds and support will help the seminary students assimilate in our society, bring them in to the mainstream and keep them away from radicalisation.
"The same Darul Uloom was supported and financed by ANP, even the late Wali Khan went there," said the PTI chief.
Imran elaborated that when the Taliban were opposing the anti-polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... campaign in the province and were killing polio workers, Maulana Samiul Haq ...the Godfather of the Taliban, leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as Mullah Sandwich for his habit of having two young boys at a time... (head of Darul Uloom Haqqania) supported him and launched a polio-immunisation campaign.
The KP government set aside a grant of Rs300 million for the construction and rehabilitation of the Darul Uloom Haqqania in Akora, Khattak, in the annual provincial budget for the upcoming fiscal year angering both Awami National Party founded by Abdul Wali Khan in 1986. Part of the PPP-led cabinet 2008-13. The ANP is considered left wing, advocating for secularism, democratic socialism, public sector government, and economic egalitarianism.... (ANP) and Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP).
The seminary, located in Nowshera district and currently run by Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...the political wing of the Pak Taliban... -Sami chief Maulana Samiul Haq, has faced controversy in the past as its students have been accused of involvement in the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... the seminary administration denied having any connection with the suspects.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 29 anti-government armed Lions of Islam were killed and 10 others were maimed in the latest counter-terrorism operations in the past 24 hours.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) in a statement said Wednesday that the operations were jointly conducted by the Afghan cops.
The statement further added that 21 suspects were placed in durance vile I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! and a would-be jacket wallah was among those held by the Afghan forces.
The majority of the Lions of Islam were killed in northern Kunduz province, MoD said, adding that 8 bad boy including the group’s commander identified as Abu Bakar was killed.
In another operation in Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... province, 6 Lions of Islam were killed, while 6 Lions of Islam affiliated with 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.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed in Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province.
MoD also added that 6 Lions of Islam were killed in another operation in Tagab district of northeastern Badakhshan province, while 3 Lions of Islam were killed, 4 were maimed in Ghani and Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... provinces.
According to MoD, at least 5 soldiers of the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces also bit the dust during the operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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They won't be prosecuted if they win
[ARA News] ERBIL – The Iraqi government and Kurdish government should prosecute ISIS fighters for war crimes against the Yezidi minority, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
“Yezidi victims of human rights abuses have a right to justice, not just government declarations with no consequences,” said Skye Wheeler, a researcher for HRW’s Women’s Rights Division.
According to HRW, the Iraqi central government and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), hundreds of Yezidis have sought safety, and several ISIS fighters are in custody.
But Human Rights Watch says so far no criminal justice authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan or the rest of Iraq are investigating or prosecuting ISIS members for war crimes or crimes against humanity.
According to HRW, letting grave crimes against Yezidis go unpunished is a stain on the Iraqi government, and countries that vowed to protect groups like the Yezidis against threats of extermination and that have committed themselves to supporting justice for grave abuses whenever and wherever they occur.
A report released on June 16, by the UN-mandated Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Syrian Arab Republic, crimes by ISIS against Yezidis after they overrun Sinjar in August 2014 amount to genocide.
Also the Dutch NGO PAX in a report released last week on the situation of Sinjar [Shingal district] after ISIS, called on the Iraqi government to increase the transparency on screening processes, criminal investigations and (military) trials of individuals suspected of ISIS related crimes.
“Multiple crimes, of many different natures, were committed in Sinjar, and must all be addressed through appropriate justice frameworks,” PAX said.
In August 2014, ISIS radicals took over the Yezidi region of Shingal (Sinjar) in northern Iraq, causing a mass displacement of nearly 400,000 people to Duhok and Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. Tens of thousands of Yezidis remained trapped in Mount Sinjar, suffering mass killings, kidnappings and rape cases, according to local and military sources. Also, more than 3000 Yezidi girls have been taken by the radical group as sex slaves.
On November 13, the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraqi Kurdistan, backed by an air cover from the US-led coalition forces, announced the liberation of the entire Yezidi district of Shingal in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh after fierce battles with ISIS extremists. The Kurdish forces have recently discovered more than five mass graves in the Yezidi region, where hundreds of Yezidi civilians have been summarily executed and buried by ISIS jihadis. Yet, thousands of Yezidi women remain in ISIS captivity after being sold as sex slaves across the group’s territory in Iraq and Syria.
Posted by: badanov ||
06/23/2016
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[ARA News] MANBIJ – Since the start of the battle for Manbij border pocket in northern Syria on 31 May, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have reportedly killed a number of prominent jihadis from the Islamic State group (ISIS).
Manbij Governer Osama Al-Tounsi
Last week, the US-backed SDF fighters attacked a convoy for the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) while trying to escape the city of Manbij in Syria’s northern Aleppo province. At least ten ISIS militants were killed in the SDF shelling, including the ISIS governor of Manbij Osama al-Tounsi.
“Al-Tounsi was trying to escape Manbij along with his family and a number of his escorts. Their convoy was hit with several artillery shells. They were all killed in the attack,” local media activist Nasir Taljbini told ARA News.
The convoy, consisting of three cars, was exiting the western gate of Manbij heading towards al-Bab city when the SDF forces bombed them.
“The operation was conducted after we received information that ISIS governor of Manbij Osama al-Tounsi is trying to flee the city,” a spokesman for the SDF told ARA News in Manbij.
According to the official, the death of al-Tounsi while trying to escape Manbij indicates the collapse of ISIS in the city under the ongoing operation by the western-backed SDF troops.
ISIS Prince Al-Hussein
One day after the death of al-Tunsi, another top jihadi commander in the ranks of the Islamic State (ISIS) was reportedly killed in clashes with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northern Aleppo province, military sources reported on Saturday.
Fierce clashes took place between the western-backed SDF troops and ISIS militants in the Um Mayyal village on the road between Aleppo and Manbij in northern Syria, leading to casualties on both sides. The SDF was able to retake the village after ISIS withdrawal.
“Subsequent to heavy fighting on Saturday, our forces liberated Um Mayyal in the western countryside of Manbij on the Aleppo highway,” SDF officer Habun Osman told ARA News. “We have collected corpses of 24 ISIS militants who were killed in the clashes, including their commander Dahham al-Hussein,” the official said, adding that five SDF fighters lost their lives in the fighting and a dozen more were injured.
Al-Hussein was appointed by ISIS as an Emir [prince] in Um Mayyal village and he was in charge of the group’s military operations in western Manbij.
Abu Hamza Al-Ansari
The US-led coalition launched several airstrikes on headquarters of the Islamic State (ISIS) radical group in northern Syria last Sunday, killing and wounding a number of jihadis. The airstrikes targeted ISIS positions in the city of Manbij, near the Turkish border, local sources told ARA News.
At least nine ISIS jihadis were killed, including ISIS senior leader Abu Hamza al-Ansari, and dozens were wounded in the coalition raids on Sunday.
“Al-Ansari was killed along with three of his escorts after one of the airstrikes hit a building where they’ve been hiding in Manbij city,” local media activist Nasser Taljbini told ARA News.
“Another raid targeted an ISIS security centre in Manbij and killed at least five militants and wounded 12 others,” the source reported.
In the meantime, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) advanced towards the ISIS-held city.
Speaking to ARA News, SDF commander in Manbij Adnan Abu Amjad said: “Our forces captured the Al-Kitab square in western Manbij after fierce clashes with ISIS militants.”
The commander added that the international coalition has intensified its airstrikes inside Manbij city to assist the SDF in their ground operations against ISIS.
Chief of Islamic Police Abu al-Hayjaa
Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) last Wednesday announced the death of the ISIS-led Hisba police in the northern countryside of Aleppo.
Abu al-Hayjaa, head of the Islamic State’s Hisba police force in Manbij city north of Aleppo was killed in clashes with SDF fighters.
The SDF confirmed in a statement, obtained by ARA News, that Abu al-Hayjaa was killed along with dozens of other ISIS militants in an offensive by the SDF-led Manbij Military Council inside the city of Manbij, near the border with Turkey.
“Subsequent to fierce clashes with ISIS militants, our forces captured the Hatabat district in Manbij city on Wednesday,” a spokesman for the SDF told ARA News.
“Al-Hisba chief Abu al-Hayjaa and four of his escorts were killed in the clashes. Also, over 27 other members of ISIS were killed under heavy bombardment by our forces,” the official said.
Posted by: badanov ||
06/23/2016
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#1
In the future, all jihadis will be emirs for fifteen minutes before something kills them.
Posted by: Charles M. Hagmaier ||
06/23/2016 8:28
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[Iraq Sun] 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.... faceless myrmidons are "very likely" to set their sights on ungoverned spaces in Africa if they are defeated in Iraq and Syria, according to the general nominated to lead the U.S. military's Africa Command.
"That's why instability inside Africa is to ISIS's advantage," U.S. Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday. ISIS is an an acronym for Islamic State.
Some studies estimate that 1 in 4 people will live in Africa by 2050, and Waldhauser warned the "scale and the scope of some of the issues that we see today certainly could be magnified significantly."
"The seeds of a catastrophe are in place in terms of corruption, lack of economic growth, all of those kinds of elements," Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said during the hearing.
Islamic State already has influenced fighters to pledge allegiance to them in Libya and .
Waldhauser said IS has focused on Sirte, Libya as a "kind of backup" if it fails elsewhere.
But despite the large presence of IS there, the general said the U.S. is not currently flying any sorties over Libya, which both the general and committee member Senator Lindsey Graham ... the endangered South Carolina RINO... (R-South Carolina) agreed "makes no sense."
"There are targets that are being developed but there have not been flights flown," Waldhauser said.
The U.S. military has a small number of troops in Libya and has carried out strikes against Islamic State leaders and fighters in the past.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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#1
I don't care much about 2050, but folks aren't moving there for the cuisine, they are overbreeding the supportive infrastructure.
"The seeds of a catastrophe are in place in terms of corruption, lack of economic growth, all of those kinds of elements"
And these future issues cannot be resolved by the US military.
#2
Regarding Lt. General Thomas Waldhauser, he was a 1976 graduate of Bemidji State University. Being no "ring-knocker", he seems to be a staight-shooter.
For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.
Ukrainian and Russian backed forces in western Donetsk continued to exchange artillery fire, according to Russian language news accounts.
According to several reports posted on tsensor.net.ua, on Monday rebel mortar fire struck Ukrainian forces in several key areas including at Avdievka and Troitskoye. Small arms fire and automatic grenade launcher fire was recorded at Marinka and Krasnogorovka.
The report which quoted a source with the Ukrainian ministry of defense Antiterrorist Operation said rebels struck Ukrainian positions 15 times.
A separate tsensor.net.ua report said that three Ukrainian national guardsmen were evacuated from the combat zone on Wednesday, but the report failed to note where the soldiers were wounded.
The Donetsk ministry of defense on its website claimed that Ukrainian forces continued to hit rebel positions all along the line of contact on Tuesday. One report said that over a 24 hour period rebel troops were fired on by Ukrainian forces a total of 440 times, to include grenade launcher and small arms fire.
According to the report Ukrainian mortar and artillery fire hit rebel positions at Yasinovataya, Petrovsky district of Donetsk, Spartak and at the airport.
In southern Donetsk, Ukrainian fire hit rebel positions at Sahanka and Kominternovo.
A report which appeared on the website of blogger Chervonets Andryuha from a rebel militiaman identified as "Magician" said on June 16th Ukrainian artillery fire started up at dusk, about 2030 hrs and continued until dawn at 0400 hrs. He said that rebels generally respond with counterbattery fire only.
Magician said that last Thursday, Friday and Saturday Ukrainian forces fired on rebel forces more than 1,000 times.
Man gets 9 years prison for directing artillery in 2015
According to a news account which appeared in korrespondent.net, an unidentified man was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in the rocket artillery strike on Mariupol on January 24th, 2015.
Ukrainian and western media claimed at the time that the artillery came from rebel forces in the area, but rebel leaders said that artillery hit was a short fired from Ukrainian rocket artillery units stationed west and northwest of the city.
Much of the video which purported to prove it was rebel artillery was inconclusive. This writer saw the videos and concluded it was Ukrainian artillery firing shorts.
Rebel sources at the time said that Ukrainian artillery has intended to cover the movement of forces through the city and was simply fired short.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com. Click here for a list of stories in the The 2014 War in Ukraina category.
(IraqiNews.com) Babel – A source in Babel police said on Wednesday, that the security forces managed to arrest 30 people wanted on criminal charges during security operations in different areas of the province.
According to information shared by the source, and obtained by Iraqi News, it was mentioned, “Detachments belonging to the different departments of Babel Police arrested 30 wanted people during a number of raid and search operations in different areas of the province.”
The information added, “The detentions were made based on arrest warrants issued by the judicial authorities.”
Salem Taleb focuses on the Ouagadougou Centre with his binoculars. The Islamic State HQ in Sirte is three kilometres away but IS fighters are closer, about 1.5 kilometres, hiding in three buildings ahead of the checkpoint held by the Third Military Forces. It is a Misrati brigade and Salem Taleb belongs to it.
“They have rockets, snipers and they use suicide cars. They currently attack at night because it’s a full moon,” Taleb told Libya Herald.
The checkpoint is south of Sirte, on the main road to Benghazi. Every 12 hours, a new team of a dozen men with machine guns change shift to control the area. The mission is very clear and simple: don’t move ahead and make sure no IS fighters escape.
“IS is trapped in a 25-square-kilometre area in Sirte. They can’t leave. We’ve decided to lay siege to them until they run out of ammunition,” a commander in the Bunyan Marsous operations room, said.
The IS zone is downtown between coastal districts nos. 1, 2 and 3 in the north to Ouagadougou centre in the south. Mohamed (he doesn’t want to give his real name) is in charge of intelligence. He updates a Google Earth map with IS fighters’ positions in the buildings in the city center with blue pins. “This strategy will cost less lives and less destruction than launching a massive offensive with airstrikes”, he explains.
Ibrahim Beitalmal, head of Misrata military council, estimates that around 500 IS fighters are left in Sirte out of the 2,500 there previously. Other militaries sources say between 800 and 1,000 have been killed, while the others managed to flee before the Bunyan Marsous forces surrounded the town. East of Sirte, in Harawa and Nuflyia, the military operation launched by Faiez Serraj’s internationally-recognised government, has drawn in the Petroleum Facilities Guards (PFG) led by Ibrahim Jedhran and Colonel Bashir Budafira from the Ajdabiya-Sirte operations room. Offshore, the sea access is protected by coast guards from the central sector.
“We have two tugboats with machine guns on them, a 16-metre boat with light weapons and two Zodiac boats to protect the port. We have no help from other Libyan cities, not even from Tripoli”, Reda Essa, the local commander of the coast guards, says.
The plan is to destroy the Islamic State in Sirte within a month. So far the offensive, which started on 12 May, has killed about more than 200 of its fighters and wounded more than 500. “The Bunyan Marsous operation gathers brigades from western Libya towns and cities such as Misrata Tripoli, Janzour, Nalut, Zliten, Tajoura, the Wershefana area, and more,” Colonel Mohamed Gasri, spokesman for the operations room says. “Anyone can join us.”
He adds that even Khalifa Haftar is welcome if he recognises Faiez Serraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA). It may be a joke. Several other leading military figures like Ibrahim Baitalmal and Reda Essa told this newspaper that they would never accept Haftar among them.
Officially, a report is sent daily to the Presidency Council about the military situation in Sirte. But on the front, the brigade are more or less free to do what they want but they feel abandoned.
“It’s me who decides who can leave the frontline for a while. I don’t have to refer to anyone regarding my brigade”, Rami Ragou, the chief of a brigade from Nalut, says. His men are in charge to protect the Zaafran roundabout, which is the west entrance of Sirte and well known as the place IS used to crucify “misbelievers”.
Rami Ragou complains that his group will run out of ammunition soon. “I haven’t received anything. We’ll have to go back to Nalut for ammunition.” All of his men and most of the fighters this newspaper had seen were without any basic military equipment such as helmets or bullet-proof jackets.
But the Bunyan Marsous operations room is allegedly receiving help from 15 to 20 advisers from British and American special forces. “They help us to locate the IS fighters”, Mohamed Gasri said.
Posted by: badanov ||
06/23/2016
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#1
"We're not surrounded. We have achieved interior mobility!"
One soldier was killed and another two were wounded on June 22 in an outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attack in the southeastern province of Şırnak, the Turkish General Staff has announced.
PKK militants attacked the Elmalı Peak Military Post in Şırnak, initially wounding three soldiers, according to a statement by the General Staff. One of the soldiers subsequently succumbed to his injuries at hospital at 11.55 a.m., the statement added.
Security forces are still continuing detailed efforts to remove barricades and destroy explosives placed in various points in the region.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/23/2016
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Three suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants were arrested in Istanbul late on June 17 after a tip-off that they had planned to attack an LGBT Trans Pride march held on June 19 in the city’s central Taksim Square.
The suspects - one Turkish national and two from Russia’s volatile Dagestan republic – were detained after a simultaneous operation in Istanbul’s Başakşehir and Pendik districts, on Istanbul’s European and Asian sides, respectively. Officers said they were acting on intelligence reports that the jihadist group was plotting to attack the “Trans Pride” rally on June 19. A suicide vest, camouflage clothing, military blades, laser range finders and a large number of print and digital documents were seized during the raids.
All three suspects were arrested by a local court.
Istanbul police took strict measures ahead of the June 19 Trans Pride march, after the city’s governor announced that they would not allow any LGBT Pride events, due to take place between June 19 and June 26, citing security concerns and public order.
Convenient excuses for the fact that the Turks, particularly the folks currently in charge and their henchmen, really don't like LGBT rights...
The governor’s ban on the parade came just three days after the Alperen Hearths, an ultranationalist youth organization linked to the nationalist Great Union Party (BBP), vowed that they would prevent the march.
The main LGBT Pride March scheduled for June 26 has also been banned by the Istanbul Governor’s Office. The march was held for 13 consecutive years until last year, when it was subjected to a heavy police intervention with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/23/2016
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The Command of the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen has announced that it has intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Yemeni territories towards Marib city, where it was destroyed without causing any damage.
The Command said in a statement that the Air Force responded immediately to destroy the missile launch platform, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SAP).
(IraqiNews.com) Diyala – A local source in Diyala province said on Wednesday that two people were injured in mortar shelling fall near a village, northeast of Baqubah.
According to information shared by the source, “Several mortar shells landed today in groves surrounding Makhisa village (27 km north east of Baqubah). Two persons were injured due to this and number of houses were also damaged. The incident is now being investigated upon by the security authorities.”
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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#1
A beetle-browed gal of San Pablo
Was seized by an imp or diablo
That called itself "Kahlo"
And loved alcohol...
Oh, and posed for a Lutheran retablo.
#2
The Search of British Women Agents of Vera Atkins, F Section, MIA During WWII (wikipedia.com)
After the liberation of France and the allied victory in Europe, Atkins went to both France, and later, for just four days, Germany, where she was determined to uncover the fates of the fifty-one still unaccounted for F Section agents, of the 118 who had disappeared in enemy territory (117 of whom she was to confirm had died in German captivity). Originally she received little support and some opposition in Whitehall, but as the horrors of Nazi atrocities were revealed, and the popular demand for war crimes trials grew, it was decided to give official support for her quest to find out what had happened to the British agents, and to bring those who has perpetrated crimes against them to justice.
At the end of 1945 SOE was wound-up, but in January 1946 Atkins, now funded on the establishment of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), arrived in Germany as a newly promoted Squadron Officer in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force to begin her search for the missing agents, including 14 women. She was attached to the war crimes unit of the Judge Advocate-General's department of the British Army HQ at Bad Oeynhausen, which was under the command of Group Captain Tony Somerhaugh.[23]
Until her return to England in October 1946, Atkins searched for the missing SOE agents and other intelligence service personnel who had gone missing behind enemy lines, carried out interrogations of Nazi war crimes suspects, including Rudolf Hoess, ex-commandant of Auschwitz-Birkenau,[24] and testified as a prosecution witness in subsequent trials. In November 1946 Atkins' commission was extended so that she could return to Germany to assist the prosecution in the Ravensbrück trial which lasted into January 1947. She used this opportunity to complete her search for Noor Inayat Khan, who she now knew had not died at Natzweiler-Struthof, as she had originally concluded in April 1946, but at Dachau.
As well as tracing 117 of the 118 missing F Section agents, Atkins established the circumstances of the deaths of all 14 of the women, twelve of whom had been murdered in concentration camps: Andrée Borrel, Vera Leigh, Sonya Olschanezky (whom Atkins did not identify until 1947, but knew as the fourth woman to be killed) and Diana Rowden executed at Natzweiler-Struthof by lethal injection on 6 July 1944; Yolande Beekman, Madeleine Damerment, Noor Inayat Khan and Eliane Plewman executed at Dachau on 13 September 1944; Denise Bloch, Lilian Rolfe and Violette Szabo executed by shooting at Ravensbrück on 5 February 1945, and Cecily Lefort murdered in the gas chamber at the Uckermark Youth Camp adjacent to Ravensbrück sometime in February 1945. Yvonne Rudellat died of typhus on 23 April 1945, eight days after the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, and Muriel Byck had died of meningitis in hospital in Romorantin, France, on 25 May 1944. She had also persuaded the War Office that the twelve women, technically regarded as civilians, who had been executed, were not treated as having died in prison, as had been originally intended, but were recorded as killed in action.
Atkins' efforts in looking for her missing "girls" meant not only did each now have a place of death, but by detailing their bravery before and after capture, she also helped to ensure that each (except Sonya Olschanezky, unknown to Atkins until 1947) received official recognition by the British Government, including the award of a posthumous George Cross to both Violette Szabo in 1946 and, especially due to Atkins's efforts, Noor Inayat Khan in 1949[25] (Odette Sansom, who survived Ravensbrück, also received the GC in 1946). However, when she did confirm that Sonya Olschanezky had been murdered at Natzweiler-Struthof, she failed to pass the information to Sonya's family.
Despite her stern manner on first meeting, Atkins became well-liked by her colleagues in Germany, and enjoyed relaxing, drinking and smoking in the officers' mess.
(She was one hell of a stern interrogator of NAZI officers, breaking many of them in only a few hours.)
#5
Sixty days for disorderly hairdo. Plus an additional 15 days for the eyebrows.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/23/2016 12:39
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#6
Found on the Internet:
1967: Bonnie Jean Werner was arrested and charged with animal cruelty after an eyebrow mishap inspired her to staple live tadpoles to her forehead. Her unwitting accomplice, Sharon A. Lipke was charged with possession of frog spawn with the intent to sell it for cosmetic purposes.
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – Anbar Operations Command announced on Wednesday liberating the area located between the village of al-Agariya and the Euphrates River south of Fallujah.
Commander of Anbar Operations, Maj. Gen. Ismail al-Mahalawi, said in a press statement obtained by Iraqi News, “The army’s 8th Brigade managed to liberate the area located between the village of al-Agariya and the Euphrates River, south of Fallujah, from ISIS,” adding that, “The liberation came following the detonation of three booby-trapped vehicles driven by suicide bombers and the destruction of four sand berms.”
Iraqi forces capture Zankoura and al-Halabesa
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – Anbar Police Command announced on Wednesday liberating the areas of Zankoura and al-Halabesa northwest of Ramadi from the ISIS control, while pointed out to the killing of dozens of ISIS members and the destruction of two booby-trapped vehicles.
Anbar Police Chief Major General Hadi Rezeeg said in a statement obtained by Iraqi News, “Security forces belonging to the [Iraqi] Army, Tactical Regiment and the Special Forces of Anbar police managed to liberate the areas of Zankoura and al-Halabesa, as well as destroying two booby-trapped vehicles that were prepared to target the combat troops.”
Rezeeg added, “The security forces started to search all houses, buildings and shops in the liberated areas, while dismantled the improvised explosive devices and booby-trapped houses.”
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The commander of Anbar Operations Maj. Gen. Ismail Mahlawi announced on Wednesday killing 50 “terrorists” during an aerial bombing by the international coalition north of the city of Ramadi.
Mahlawi said in a press statement followed by Iraqi News, “The international coalition aviation, in coordination with Anbar Operations, managed to bomb a number of targets and gatherings of ISIS elements in the area of Zankoura north of Ramadi, killing 50 [ISIS] terrorists.”
He added, “The coalition aviation also managed to destroy two warehouses of weapons and gear, in addition to destructing two vehicles that had carried machine guns and rockets in the same area.”
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – Media officials with the Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday, that a large number of ISIS members were either killed or wounded during air strikes conducted by Iraqi Sukhoi aircraft in which also five (5) hideouts belonging to ISIS were destructed in eastern Ramadi.
The officials said in a press statement, a copy of which was received by Iraqi News, “Iraqi Sukhoi warplanes conducted, at noon today, air strikes targeting a gathering of ISIS members in Khalidiya Island (20 km east of Ramadi), resulting in the killing of a large number of ISIS members and the wounding of others.”
The statement added, “The bombardment also resulted in the destruction of five hideouts, three vehicles and two motorcycles.”
Posted by: badanov ||
06/23/2016
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[Iraq Sun] Abu Azrael - the "Father of the Angel of Death" - an Iraqi Shia commander, brags that he once beat a man to death with a plastic flip flop.
His biceps are as big as cannonballs, and he rides into battle on a bicycle (he really does). Commander Abu Azrael wears a Kevlar vest, with hatchet in hand, a sword, grenades and an automatic assault rifle.
He claims to have killed 1,500 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.... (IS) fighters in a single year, and it's rumored that IS is so terrified of him that it will kill anyone who utters his name.
Abu Azrael's shaved head, black beard and gleaming teeth have made him the most recognized face in the region, and he has inspired cartoons, music videos and even Android game apps. His battle cry, "Illa tahin!" ("Into flour!" -- as in, "I'll pound IS fighters into flour") has caught on everywhere.
"The way he was introduced to people was via internet memes," said Phillip Smythe, a University of Maryland researcher and author of the blog Hizballah Cavalcade. "You see this big, muscled guy. Sometimes he has an axe, sometimes he has a sword. Sometimes he's in a helicopter on a door gun."
But who, exactly, is this man -
"There are a lot of rumors," said Smythe. "Some claim he is a former university professor. Others that he is a former Taekwondo champion. Still others claim that his entire village was wiped out by ISIS, so that's why he took up arms."
His real name is reported to be Ayyub Faleh al-Rubaie, and he allegedly serves as a commander in Kataib al-Imam Ali, part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of dozens of Shia militias sponsored and armed by the Iraqi government and suspected of wide rights violations.
In August 2015, a video emerged which showed Abu Azrael desecrating the burned corpse of an alleged IS fighter.
"You won't get far against the ISIS [another acronym for IS] with humanity," he later told the Australian newspaper.
IS retaliated by burning four captured Shia "spies."
In late 2015, rumors circulated that IS had captured and killed Abu Azrael. But he recently resurfaced in Fallujah, ... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids... vowing to liberate that city from IS hands.
"The Sunni perception of Abu Azrael varies from indifference to absolute loathing," said Rasha Al Aqeedi, a fellow at the Al-Mesbar Center, a UAE think tank. "Overall, he is viewed as a thuggish, sectarian outlaw."
In video recordings, Abu Azrael has reassured Sunnis that he views them as his brothers, said AlQeedi, and that his only enemy in this conflict is IS.
"However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... on several occasions, has been caught on tape cursing revered Sunni religious figures and threatening to abolish their 'offspring'
- which is another way of threatening all Sunnis and lumping them together with ISIS," she said.
And some people think he spends more time taking selfies and group photos than fighting in actual battle, she added.
Those photos plaster the internet: In one, he flexes his muscles at a Baghdad gym. In another, he aims his rifle at a tiger. He once attended Mass in a Baghdad church, posing with the priest and patting a bible.
"I would make the argument that he is a completely manufactured personality," said Smythe, suggesting Abu Azrael is a propaganda tool of the Iran-backed government in Baghdad.
"The whole point of the narrative is to legitimize these Shia militias, particularly the Iranian-backed groups like Hezbollah, and to portray them as the true defenders of Iraq, the true allies of other embattled minorities in the region," he said. "The way that they have played this off - He's a romantic hero. He's a guy you want to be with."
When you think about it, Smythe added, "it's absolute genius."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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#1
Yeah, a Shia muscleman outlaw who poses with Christian priests? Say what you will of the Shia militias and their propensity for massacre and sectarian butchery, that's brilliant agitprop.
Posted by: Charles M. Hagmaier ||
06/23/2016 8:33
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[DAWN] The kidnapping of Advocate Awais Ali Shah, the son of the Sindh High Court chief justice, kept the security administration on its toes on Tuesday as the provincial authorities held a high-level meeting to decide a course of probe into the high-profile case, set up an investigation team and announced a reward, while the chief minister questioning the role of police and paramilitary Rangers described the incident as a "serious security lapse".
The son of SHC Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was kidnapped in Clifton on Monday afternoon, but the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) remained clueless about his disappearance until the family pointed it out hours later. The law-enforcers finally declared the incident a case of kidnapping after collecting evidence and recording eyewitness accounts.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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[DAWN] THE recent clash between the Kalash community and their more numerous Moslem neighbours, caused by a girl’s change of faith, appears to have been amicably resolved. However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... the incident should awaken the government and the people both to their duty to save the tiny Kalash minority from extinction.
This month’s attack on the Kalash again brought out their tradition of tolerance. Reena, a 14-year-old Kalash girl, was reported to have converted to Islam and chosen to stay with a Moslem family. Then she went back to her parents’ home and complained of having been forcibly converted. This enraged the Moslem neighbours and they attacked Kalash homes. The authorities intervened and the parties agreed to respect the girl’s wishes. The matter ended when the girl deposed before a magistrate that she had adopted Islam of her own free will, and her family accepted her choice.
The affair highlighted the Kalash tradition of treating change of religion as something normal. Reena’s own uncle and aunt had embraced Islam before her. For some time, however, the Kalash have been showing signs of anxiety at the rate of conversions. In January this year, 12 Kalashas were reported to have converted to Islam within a month. According to a front man of the Kalash People’s Development Network, about 100 Kalashas embraced Islam over the past few years.
Once a large community that ruled the Chitral region, the Kalash population has shrunk to about 3,000 heads. They are also reported to have lost control of a large part of their lands through sale to Moslems or otherwise. In this situation their fears of extinction cannot be summarily dismissed.
The matter of conversion is not as simple as it is sometimes made out to be, especially by some Moslemholy mans who run conversion services. One of them once declared that the Kalash girls were turning to Islam as they had become aware of the difference between right and wrong. Another view is that educated Kalash girls change their faith to improve their marital prospects. Such statements cannot conceal the fact that members of religious minorities are under economic and social pressure to give up their status as second- or third-class citizens and join the privileged Moslem community.
Thus while one has no quarrel with voluntary conversions, the state must ensure that minorities are not driven to give up their faith by denial of their rights or unbearable discrimination in social and economic terms. Such conversions are perhaps not welcome in Islam either. Besides, the question whether minors should be considered competent to change their religion needs to be resolved.
Unfortunately, there have been reasons to discount the narrative of all conversions to Islam being free and voluntary. Two years ago, the Supreme Court took suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... action on reports of threats to the Kalash to convert to Islam or face death. The court accepted the explanation of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... government that the threat mentioned in news reports was not new and that an old story had been "picked up by some sections of media for vested interests [sic]".
All this was based on a report from the Malakand commissioner who had gone to a Kalash village and was able to report that "the representatives of the Kalash minority expressed complete satisfaction over the response of the administration and they were satisfied with the security arrangements in the valleys".
The commissioner’s report, as reproduced in the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment of June 2014, devotes more space to the deployment of security forces near the Kalash villages and along the border with Afghanistan than to the question of conversions or the Kalash people’s rights in general. These security arrangements are important because the danger of incursions by zealots from across the border cannot be ignored.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A key commander of the anti-government armed bully boyz was killed in a drone strike in the restive northern Kunduz province of Afghanistan.
According to the local security officials, Gul Khan also well known as Khanjar was killed along with four of his fighters in the Arclight airstrike.
The officials further added that the Arclight airstrike was carried out in the vicinity of Imam Sahib district where the anti-government armed bully boyz are actively operating.
The officials also added that the Arclight airstrike did not incur any casualties to the local residents.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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Video report at the link
New dangers on insecure highways have are a major threat to transportation in the country, the Ministry of Transport warned on Wednesday.
Provincial police commanders have also warned that armed opposition have, in response to recent government forces military operations, been attacking civilians.
Because of Taliban activity, Gen. Abdul Raziq Achakzai Kandahar police Chief, has advised foreigners not to use the roads in their own interests.
"By targeting civilians, insurgents want to strengthen their own moral and try to prove that they were are still active," said Qasim Jangal Bagh Kunduz police Chief.
The Ministry of Transport linked all traffic incidents to the lack of security on the roads. As a result, drivers are operating in fear, especially in dangerous remote areas.
"The lack of security on the roads is weakening drivers' moral. They want to pass the through insecure areas at high speed," said Hekmatullah Qawanch, spokesman for the Ministry of Transport.
Meanwhile the Ministry of Interior (MoI) has warned about new tactics used by highway attackers. "They will wear fake military uniforms in areas where security forces have less control or are delayed in getting to incidents," said spokesman Sediq Sediqi.
Passengers and drivers have raised serious concerns their safety due to the increase of insecurity on the highways.
"Security of the highways only better around the capital of Baghlan province and that is all," said Shokrullah a driver.
"The roads are dangerous and the traffic levels have dropped," said Barez another driver.
In recent months providing security of the highways has become a major headache for the security forces. The have now set specific times the passenger vehicles to use the highways.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – On Wednesday, a source in the Ministry of Interior said, that five (5) elements of the police had been either killed or wounded in the explosion of an improvised explosive device that targeted their patrol in northern Baghdad.
“This morning, an improvised explosive device exploded targeting a police patrol while it was passing in al-Mashahda vicinity in Tarmiyah District in northern Baghdad, killing one of the patrol’s members and wounding four others, as well as causing material damage to the vehicle,” this was stated according to information shared by the source.
The information added, “Ambulances rushed to the area of incident and transferred the wounded to a hospital for [medical] treatment and the dead body to the forensic medicine department.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior said on Wednesday, that six (6) people were either killed or wounded in a bomb blast in northern Baghdad.
According to information shared by the source and followed by Iraqi News, it was stated, “An improvised explosive device exploded, at noon today, near shops on al-Shaliekh area in northern Baghdad, killing one person and wounding five others.”
The information added, “A security force rushed to the area and evacuated the wounded to a nearby hospital to receive treatment and the dead body to the forensic medicine department, while imposed a security cordon around the area of the incident and barred approaching it.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – An Iraqi police source on Wednesday said that four civilians were injured in a bomb blast at north Baghdad.
Revealing details about the event, the source informed, “This afternoon an improvised explosive device that was placed on side of the road at al-Hamamiyat, al-Taji district in the north of Baghdad exploded, injuring four civilians.”
“Security forces arrived in the blast area and transferred the injured to a nearby hospital for medical treatment,” added the source.
Following a new offensive in Benghazi today, a top Libyan National Army (LNA) commander who asked not to be named told the Libya Herald that it now has “complete control” of the entire Garyounis district. This followed air strikes in the area today. Reports also speak of there having fierce fighting in the district and elsewhere involving 106 infantry brigade, 309 Tobruk brigade and Battalion 21.
There were, however, continued clashes in Gwarsha as well as Suq Al-Hout and Sabri, the commander said, adding that there had been a lot of damage in Garyounis.
He also added that he anticipated the liberation of the city to be declared by Eid and that, once announced, Benina airport would open immediately.
Repeated declarations of an imminent announcement of the liberation of Benghazi have been made by LNA officials, including Khalifa Hafter, over the past two years.
Despite the statement about all of Garyounis being taken, the LNA is officially reported saying today that it now has 90 percent of it. In other advances, however, it is said to have taken most of the tourist village at Ganfouda.
It reports four soldiers killed and says four soldiers were killed and ten others wounded in today’s fighting.
Throughout much of the day, as yesterday, the sound of what appeared to be drones flying over head could be heard in the city.
Rifts have emerged between U.S. military leaders and the Obama White House on Washington's future role in Libya, with the generals questioning the White House's argument that the recent success against Islamic State shows Libya can go it alone in the fight against terrorism, without direct U.S. assistance.
Marine Corps Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, the White House's pick to lead U.S. Africa Command, called for increased American military action in Libya to ensure the Islamic State, or ISIS or ISIL, does not reconstitute itself in the country as pressure ramps up against its strongholds in Iraq and Syria.
Gen. Waldhauser told a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing Tuesday that U.S. military planners were drafting up battle plans for airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Libya, Reuters reported. The fledgling unity government in Tripoli has enjoyed surprising success in recent weeks in a campaign against the Islamic State's stronghold in the coastal city of Sirte.
But rules of engagement for U.S. forces in Libya, which require White House approval for any offensive operations in the country, have hamstrung American military planners in the region, according to the report.
Aside from clandestine drone strikes launched from NATO bases in southern Europe and small rotations of U.S. special operations teams working with local militias in Libya, the Pentagon has not conducted any large-scale military mission in the country since the cancellation of a failed train-and-advise operation late last year.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 ||
06/23/2016
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#1
OTOH see WAFF > USAF B-52H DROPS MINES IN BALTIC SEA, PUTIN VOWS TO RETALIATE BY DROPPING Russian MINES IN SEA OF MEXICO.
PARITY TO THE SUPERPOWER = CO-SUPERPOWER US, NOT INFERIORITY TO THE US.
#3
A change in the breeze, and a tacking;
The flapping of sumptuous sacking;
Then, chests again filling,
A ripple (how thrilling!),
And some could've sworn they heard quacking.
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – A source from the Nineveh Liberation Command announced on Wednesday that three (3) senior leaders of ISIS were killed in an artillery shelling carried out by the Iraqi army on ISIS headquarters at south of Mosul.
According to information shared by the source it was stated, “Army’s 9th artillery brigade shelled ISIS headquarters at Zanaweer village in Qayyarah, south of Mosul.”
Adding further the source informed, “The shelling resulted in the death of three senior ISIS leaders, who were later identified as Mohamed al-Mady, Mohamed al-Agas and Odai al-Ali al-Malali.”
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – On Wednesday, a source in Nineveh Operations announced, that ten (10) ISIS militants were killed in an aerial bombardment carried out by the international coalition aviation on the organization’s headquarters in al-Qayyarah vicinity south of Mosul.
According to information shared by the source and received by Iraqi News, it was stated, “The international coalition aviation bombarded, today, a hideout belonging to ISIS in Albu Wawi village in al-Qayyarah vicinity.”
“The bombardment resulted in the killing 10 ISIS members and the destruction of one of their tunnels,” the information added.
Posted by: badanov ||
06/23/2016
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[DAWN] A Moslem American of Pak descent says he had informed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people in a Florida nightclub, after learning about his radical thoughts in 2014, and criticised Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for accusing Moslems of not sharing such information with authorities.
"Trump is wrong that we [Moslems] don’t speak up when we’re able... I know this firsthand: I was the one who told the FBI about Omar Mateen," Mohammed A. Malik wrote in an op-ed in the The Washington Post on Monday.
If true, it's one more thing the FBI has to explain.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2016
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#1
Pakistan American, don't want to just get into gang fights...
#2
He then contacted the FBI again to let them know that Mateen had been watching Awlaki's tapes. The FBI looked into him and closed the file, however, after apparently finding nothing against him.
If when examining my pocket change I discover a Mercury Silver dime, I set it aside. If someone sees it on my desk, picks it up and says "say my friend, that's a authentic Mercury Silver dime", I secure it even further.
[FoxNews] An alleged sexual assault on a five-year-old special needs girl has put a small Idaho city at the center of the debate over the Obama administration's move to take in hundreds of thousands of refugees.
Much of what occurred in the June 2 incident is unclear, clouded by emotion and rumor and sealed from public record due to the suspects' ages. At a raucous public meeting Monday, dozens of residents of the city of 44,000 voiced their concerns after word had spread that young Syrian refugees had gang-raped a little girl at knifepoint, defiling her in unspeakable ways.
Some of what they had heard was true, some was not and still more remains unconfirmed speculation. But authorities believe something terrible occurred. Two young boys were arrested Friday and remain in custody.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
06/23/2016
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#2
The police have video and the article has more.
Twin Falls Police Chief Craig Kingsbury told reporters the suspects are Iraqi and Sudanese. Loebs said he does not know how long they have been living in the United States.
"On 2 June, 2016 a five-year old girl with special needs was playing outside her home at the Fawnbrook Apartments in Twin Falls, Idaho when she was taken by knife point to the shared laundry facilities on the premises by three boys from two refugee families, ages 13, 9, and 8 years old who sexually assaulted and urinated on her.
According to the victim’s mother, a trusted neighbor discovered her daughter with the three boys. Her clothes had been stripped off by the boys who were also naked and the 13 year old had a phone which allegedly held video of the incident. The mother and father of the victim promptly arrived on the scene after being alerted by the neighbor.
The video on the phone displayed the sexual assault of the five year old girl according to the father who viewed it, and reportedly shows the older boy coaching the younger ones during the assault and attempted rape of the little girl as well as urinating in her mouth and over her body as they pinned her against a wall."
(IraqiNews.com) Salahuddin – A source from the Salahuddin province informed on Wednesday, that ISIS blew up five (5) power transmission towers in eastern Tikrit.
Informing about another incident of carnage carried out by the ISIS, the source said, “Today, ISIS blew up five power transmission towers in Albu Khudu at southern al-Daur, 25 km east of Tikrit.”
“The explosion was carried out by using IEDs that wear planted near the towers,” the source added.
(IraqiNews.com) Salahuddin – Media officials with the Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday, that the security forces raided Sheikh Ali village, south of Sharqat in northern Salahuddin.
In an official statement the officials said, “Today, detachments of the Anti-Terrorism Directorate, Ninth Armored Division and Salahuddin Operations stormed into the Sheikh Ali village, south of Sharqat and raised the Iraqi flag over it after inflicting loss of lives and equipment of the enemy.”
Posted by: badanov ||
06/23/2016
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
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.
The judge was unequivocal as he explained why he found Officer Caesar Goodson not guilty of all charges in the death of Freddie Gray, whose neck was broken inside his transport wagon: prosecutors showed no evidence of a crime.
The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is the main supplier of military planes and helicopters to the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). They produce the J-20 stealth fighter, FC-1, and FC-8 fighters, the 5th-generation FC-31 stealth fighter, and aerial reconnaissance and attack drones. In 2007, Chinese hackers stole secrets about the U.S. F-35 that were incorporated by AVIC into the Chinese FC-31.
I blame man buns and expanders. 
[PJ] Top Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Loretta Lynch, have worked with an organization dedicated to interfering with law enforcement efforts to monitor activities at the most radical mosques.
[Bloomberg] Rebounding after a two-year collapse, it's only this month that oil prices have pushed up past $50 a barrel, but Raymond James & Associates says this is just the beginning for higher prices.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 24 Talibs have reportedly been killed in the latest infighting among the rival groups in western 
"The same hatred as from Nazis is coming from Islamists and their politically correct allies. We do not even have a vague idea of how much Western culture we have surrendered to Islam.
[DAWN] Renowned Qawwal Amjad Sabri was 
Hillary Clinton
[DAWN] Pakistain 
the 
Lindsey Graham
