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Aussie, French warships intercept arms for Houthis
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
19:17 4 23:25 Zenobia Floger6220 [1] 
17:49 2 21:56 Frank G []
16:42 2 19:36 DarthVader []
14:18 2 22:06 OldSpook [1] 
14:09 7 16:52 Iblis []
09:24 2 11:56 KBK [1]
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Good evening
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 19:17 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Those hips don't lie, Fred.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/02/2016 22:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Nice hams, lotsa rump roast.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 22:57 Comments || Top||

#3  A modern danseuse of Capernaum
Was modest regarding her sternum.
'Twas odd: three mammillae,
But even when chilly,
She'd turn and you couldn't discern 'em.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 12/02/2016 23:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Her bottom, however, so massive,
Elastic, and extra-expansive,
When shaken, would shiver
Like moonlight on river,
Then hover, serene and impassive.

Phh. Need sleep.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 12/02/2016 23:25 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
MA: Hampshire College snowflakes have mixed feelings about restoring US flag
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/02/2016 17:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  FTA:

AMHERST -- Hampshire College student Eduardo Samaniego is glad the American flag is once again flying at Hampshire College.

Officials decided to return the flag Friday morning, in part because of threats they said students and faculty have endured since it was removed two weeks ago.

"So many of our students were attacked, were vilified on social media," Samaniego said. He was one of few students who would speak to a reporter on the record because of those fears.

In a statement, Hampshire President Jonathan Lash said the college "was alarmed by the overt hate and threats, especially toward people in marginalized communities, which have escalated in recent weeks."

He said in an interview that he chose to see the flag for now was a symbol "of freedom and justice."
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/02/2016 19:32 Comments || Top||

#2  "threats" = ridicule and defunding
Posted by: Frank G || 12/02/2016 21:56 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Veterans Win! Hampshire College Raises Old Glory!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/02/2016 16:42 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Threats against Hampshire College led to decision to raise flag once again
For a different & rather a pitiful take on the story.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/02/2016 19:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Have some vets guard the flag with a weapon and lots of ammo.

Things will work themselves out.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/02/2016 19:36 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Scot tells of fighting for Peshmerga against IS
[BBC] A Scottish soldier has returned home after months fighting alongside the Peshmerga against the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.

Former Queen's Own Highlander Alan Duncan was a volunteer fighter with the Kurdish force.

Since returning to Scotland, he has been questioned by police about his activities in Iraq. He told BBC Scotland that while he was prepared to fight IS, he would never encourage others to do the same. Mr Duncan volunteered to operate as a sniper with the Peshmerga.

He said his "war was over" once the fighting force joined with the Iraqi government army in efforts to take control of the city of Mosul from IS, or Daesh as Mr Duncan calls the group.

On his decision to volunteer, the British Army veteran said: "The Peshmerga have always been very democratic, secular, always been very pro-Western people.

"Daesh is an enemy that the world has not seen since probably the Nazis and the world is standing by doing nothing. "I felt I could help make a difference.

"Did I make a difference? Well, it is not up to me to say."
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 14:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Who is this man, Wallace?
Posted by: Edward Longshanks || 12/02/2016 17:23 Comments || Top||

#2  democratic, secular, always been very pro-Western people.


What have I been telling folks here for years? Its a shame you never hear it in the press, nor from our State Dept.
Posted by: OldSpook || 12/02/2016 22:06 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Trump team makes legal bid to block all THREE recounts as lawyers for the president-elect call Stein suit a 'farce'
  • [Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Donald Trump is pushing to block a total vote recount in Michigan and Pennsylvania

  • Trump's lawyers blasted Green Party candidate Jill Stein's call for the recount; they described it as 'insulting', 'lawless' and a 'farce'

  • Called Stein a 'bottom-dwelling candidate' who was 'no more than a blip on the electoral radar'

  • In Michigan the state attorney general is trying to stop the recount, which he says 'abuses the intent of Michigan law'

  • It was due to get underway on Friday, but Trump's push has delayed count

  • Trump's supporters filed a federal suit to stop the Wisconsin recount
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 14:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hit back twice as hard.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/02/2016 14:44 Comments || Top||

#2  It would be funny if the lawyers sucked up her go fund me $7 mil and then asked for more after Jan 20.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/02/2016 15:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Hoping for that, too.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/02/2016 15:14 Comments || Top||

#4 
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 12/02/2016 15:15 Comments || Top||


#6  Sounds like that's the plan, VRWC - delegitimize Trump's win at all costs. These people are vile fucking scumbags.
Posted by: Raj || 12/02/2016 15:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Should have done this 2 weeks ago.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/02/2016 16:52 Comments || Top||


Government
Allen West: I PRAY Trump doesn't do this in the next 53 days
[Allen West] This is why it’s a strategic imperative that the Trump national security and foreign policy teams have a strategy to implement from day one. He cannot take his eye off the ball.

I’ve shared this story with y’all on previous occasions, but it warrants repeating.

Back in August 2011 during a Congressional delegation visit to Israel, we had the distinct honor and pleasure to sit with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his cabinet chamber. It was there that PM Netanyahu advised us against the complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq.

He carefully articulated that there would be a vacuum created, something would fill that space and there would be immense and detrimental consequences not just for America, but for the Middle East and the world.

You see, leadership is about prescient vision, not just fulfilling empty rhetorical campaign promises and becoming wedded to an intransigent ideological perspective. PM Netanyahu represented the former, Barack Obama the latter.

And Obama’s ill-conceived and insidious decision in Iraq has led to two phenomena: the creation of ISIS (actually a regeneration of al-Qaida in Iraq, just a more virulent strain) and the regional hegemonic dominance of Iran. Both of those foreign policy missteps have led to the current situation in the Middle East -- one that has immediate effects on PM Netanyahu and Israel.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 09:24 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  An honorable man who has served with distinction. But also a wig job. I hope he is not in Trump's loop.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/02/2016 11:44 Comments || Top||

#2  If Trump would do this one weird thing, his problem would be solved.
Posted by: KBK || 12/02/2016 11:56 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
CNN: Chicago hits 700 homicides
It's the first time the city has recorded more than 700 homicides in nearly two decades, according to the Chicago Tribune. Chicago had 704 homicides in 1998, the Tribune reported, and is on a pace to easily break that mark.

Guns are driving the violence, with more than 90% of the 2016 homicides gun-related, said Anthony Guglielmi, head of communications for the Chicago Police Department.

There have been 3,315 shooting incidents this year, police said. Officers have recovered 8,000 guns, a 20% jump over last year, and gun arrests are up 8% over last year.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/02/2016 09:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  90% gun-related? Why don't they get some gun control in Chicago? Take all those tommy guns off the street!

I think I'll go home and watch the original Star Trek A Piece of the Action

Posted by: Bobby || 12/02/2016 9:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Guns are driving the violence

And here I was thinking it might be crime, the off-market pharmaceutical trade, gang-banging or some other sort of tribalism.

Silly me.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/02/2016 12:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Cultural aversion to rubbers and gummint baby mama support policies keep the replacement rate up!
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/02/2016 15:06 Comments || Top||

#4  just think how many it would be without Obama's racial healing!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/02/2016 16:20 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey Detains Business Executive, Alleging Gulen Link
[AnNahar] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
has detained an executive from a major business conglomerate under a probe into supporters of the Moslem holy man blamed for July's failed coup, state media reported Thursday.

Barbaros Muratoglu, of Dogan Holding, was held in connection with the investigation into followers of preacher Fethullah Gulen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world...
State news agency Anadolu said Muratoglu is accused of conducting media activities for a "terrorist organization" (FETO) and being a "FETO member in this way". FETO is how Turkey refers to "Fethullah Terror Organization".

The company responded by issuing a statement that said the claims amounted to "slander" and "distortion."

Muratoglu was held at 6am (0300 GMT) in Ankara and taken to Istanbul, Hurriyet daily, which itself is owned by Dogan Holding, reported.

Turkey accuses Gulen -- currently in self-imposed exile in the United States -- of criminal masterminding the July 15 attempt to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
's government. Gulen denies the charges.

Dogan Holding is one of Turkey's biggest conglomerates with interests in retail, energy, tourism and media including Hurriyet and the Posta daily, Dogan news agency and broadcaster CNN Turk.

The Dogan news agency carried a statement from its parent group denying that the company or Muratoglu, its Ankara representative, had links to Gulen or his movement.

"We see that some media organs are finding this an opportunity to falsely claim that there is investigation into the Dogan group," the statement read. "It it clear there is no connection between our group and this illegal structure."

The Dogan group's shares fell after the reports emerged and were down 5.7 percent to 0.66 Turkish lira, at 1430 GMT.

"In its 58 years of business and 40 years in the media sector, the Dogan Group has been against all kinds of terror and terrorist organizations, and together with its state and its people," the statement added.

More than 100,000 people from the civil service, judiciary, military, media and education sector have been detained, dismissed or suspended over alleged links to the coup-plotters.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/02/2016 09:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Turkey has Guten? Who knew?
Is that why I fall asleep after eating too much Thanksgiving? Oh, that's Glutton.
What, and Gluten is in the dinner rolls?

Well why does Turkey have Gulen...oh, who cares.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/02/2016 13:57 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Donald Trump's Team of Outsiders
[Free Beacon] Democrats and the media are confused about the meaning of Donald Trump’s pledge to "drain the swamp" in Washington, D.C. The president-elect’s critics say his appointment of wealthy Republicans to cabinet positions is hypocritical and reveals him to be a phony populist. "Hypocrisy at its worst," cry Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. "Trump’s Economic Cabinet Picks Signal Embrace of Wall St. Elite," reads the headline on the New York Times. "Stick a sterling silver fork in Trump’s ’populism,'" reads the title of a Washington Post column.

This is the same sloppy thinking that led practically everyone in politics and media to believe Trump would lose the election. If populist voters despise wealth, then why did they back Trump, the wealthiest man ever to become president, who paid for much of his own campaign and bragged on the trail about using bankruptcy and tax laws to his advantage?

The mark of a populist isn’t his net worth but his relationship to the establishment, his rejection of the ideologies, fashions, clichés, and manners of the political and social and cultural elite, his attitude toward the capacities of ordinary people to manage their daily affairs. Rich as he might be, Donald Trump’s candidacy was an exercise in populist confrontation and polarization. He ran against the eastern establishment of both parties with his opposition to comprehensive immigration reform, criticism of global trade, and repudiation of the foreign policies of the last two presidents. His blunt, uncouth, dramatic, untutored, brash, politically incorrect manner was about as far as one can get from elite habits of deference and groupthink. For decades, the nation’s cultural and political elites treated him with disdain, disgust, or ironic fascination. Trump was the original deplorable. That’s how he forged a gut connection with his base of white voters without college degrees.

Only a liberal could believe that Trump’s pledge to drain the swamp was an attack on the wealthy or on market economics. While he and Bernie Sanders struck similar notes on trade, Trump happily attacked the Vermont senator as a socialist nut. The swamp to which Trump and his audiences refer isn’t Wall Street per se but an interlocking system of major financial institutions and multinational corporations, lobbyists, academics, media, and, most importantly, the consultants and rent-seekers in Washington, D.C., that get rich despite failure after failure in economic, foreign, and domestic policy.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 08:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
The swamp to which Trump and his audiences refer isn’t Wall Street per se but an interlocking system of major financial institutions and multinational corporations, lobbyists, academics, media, and, most importantly, the consultants and rent-seekers in Washington, D.C., that get rich despite failure after failure in economic, foreign, and domestic policy.


Recipients of participation awards for adults.
Posted by: ptah || 12/02/2016 12:14 Comments || Top||


Economy
Trump's Path to Mount Rushmore
h/t Instapundit
...There are many ways a Trump administration can fail, and the President-elect faces the most challenging international environment since the end of the Cold War, but after so many failed prophecies of Trump failure, it’s at least a worthwhile mental exercise to speculate on how a Trump administration might actually succeed. There have been plenty of presidents in the past who came into office hated and scorned by the establishment who still made a mark on American history: Harry Truman, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln come to mind. What could make a Trump administration work?

...The Trump administration will double down on shale. Skeptical of climate change, dismissive of most environmentalist handwringing, the Trump administration will view energy production as a simple win. Look for concerted efforts by regulators to open the taps on energy. Trump, never blind to the appeal of pork barrel spending, is unlikely to close down the renewable gravy train completely -- especially the farm-friendly ethanol racket -- but we can expect his administration to do as much as possible to encourage new production, new pipelines and new refineries. Regulations and tax policies are likely to be tweaked in ways that support production.

...Trump’s popularity at home is likely to depend in large part on whether he can revive blue collar jobs. An energy boom offers the best prospect for growth in manufacturing jobs. Much of America’s new energy bounty comes in the form of natural gas; this has significant implications for America’s future industrial development. Natural gas can be exported, but it has to be liquified first -- and that adds significantly to its cost. American manufacturers in energy intensive industries can expect secure supplies of natural gas at lower costs than their competitors in Europe or Asia will pay. That matters to blue collar workers; the energy rich United States is becoming significantly more attractive as a manufacturing site for large, energy (and job) intensive plants.

...If he succeeds, and the outlook for blue collar America improves over the next four years, millions of voters in 2020 are likely to think that Trump has kept the promises that matter most. Since many African American and Hispanic voters would also benefit from rising demand for blue collar workers, Trump might well run stronger with minorities four years from now.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/02/2016 06:51 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Remember how the Dems were certain Capt. Zero would appear at Rushmore? We must be careful not to buy in too much with Mr. Trump.

Yes, I voted for him, but he will at some point, if he is doing the job right, disappoint us all.

This is a "No Hubris Zone," right?
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 12/02/2016 9:11 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Joe Manchin may be Trump's energy secretary
h/t Instapundit
President-elect Trump is leaning toward coal-country Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin to head the Energy Department, say sources close to the transition team.

The senator from West Virginia would be the second Democrat that Trump is reportedly considering for a Cabinet post. The Trump team formally announced Thursday that Sen. Heidi Heitkamp from oil giant North Dakota, who opposes President Obama's climate rules and supports the development of clean coal, will be visiting with Trump in New York on Friday.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/02/2016 06:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Trump's not even in office yet and stocks are up, Fidel Castro is gone, Kanye cancelled his tour and California is talking about leaving the Union.

So far, so good.


Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 6:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Sen his pal Toomey to BATF - with marching orders to shut it down...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/02/2016 7:13 Comments || Top||

#3  If so, how will he be replaced?
Would Tomblin appoint himself?
Posted by: jvalentour || 12/02/2016 11:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Brilliant move - takes out one of the few non-lib Dems who could credibly run against Trump, and give WV political makeup from the last election, the GOP should be able to find a candidate that would win the replacement election and add to the GOP margin in the Senate.

FYI, Jim Justice, the Gov Elect who takes office Jan 17, was a republican until Feb 2015 when he switched to run as a Dem for Gov. Businessman, only billionaire in WV. Owns coal companies, etc.

If Manchin accepts, then Gov Justice can name himself, but that would effectively make his opponent, Cole, the acting governor.

GOP has a 2x state wide election winning AG Patrick Morrissey who would be a strong candidate to take over that seat in a replacement election.

Posted by: OldSpook || 12/02/2016 22:18 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Congressional panel recommends charges against fetal tissue organizations
[Wash Times] The special committee of Congress looking into the sale of fetal tissue has recommended that prosecutors investigate one Planned Parenthood affiliate and referred a handful of other organizations for criminal or regulatory probes, a panel member revealed Thursday.

Planned Parenthood of the Gulf Coast violated both Texas and U.S. laws when it sold body parts to the University of Texas, Rep. Mia B. Love, Utah Republican, said on the House floor, detailing the progress of the Select Investigative Panel that is conducting the probe.

The revelations came just hours before the House voted to extend the committee’s work, allocating another $800,000 in a 234-181 vote that broke down almost entirely along party lines.

"Over the last year, we have held hearings that explored the bioethics surrounding fetal tissue use and that revealed the sobering reality of how some bad actors seek to profit from the sale of fetal tissue in violation of federal law," said committee Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee Republican.
Democratic leaders countered that the probe was "built on a pack of lies," and disputed Republicans’ claims that they have found wrongdoing.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 06:08 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Busted Spy in German Intelligence Was Gay Porn Actor, Closet Islamist
[PJ] Goya said the sleep of reason produces monsters. The sleep of Christian morality in the post-religious West produces monsters, too:
Perhaps the Germans have learned something from Burgess and Blunt. Unfortunately, no one else appears to have.
Two weeks ago, German intelligence agents noticed an unusual user in a chat room known as a digital hideout for Islamic militants. The man claimed to be one of them -- and said he was a German spy. He was offering to help Islamists infiltrate his agency’s defenses to stage a strike.

Agents lured him into a private chat, and he gave away so many details about the spy agency -- and his own directives within it to thwart Islamists -- that they quickly identified him, arresting the 51-year-old the next day. Only then would the extent of his double life become clear.

The German citizen of Spanish descent confessed to secretly converting to Islam in 2014. From there, his story took a stranger turn. Officials ran a check on the online alias he assumed in radical chat rooms. The married father of four had used it before -- as recently as 2011 -- as his stage name for acting in gay pornographic films.

Authorities on Tuesday said they had arrested him on suspicion of preparing to commit a violent act and for violating state secrecy laws. His arrest was first reported in Germany’s Der Spiegel. But two German officials familiar with the case -- a senior intelligence official and a senior law enforcement official -- revealed new details about his double life in interviews with the Washington Post. They include his role in pornographic films, which could cast a fresh light on the judgment and vetting of the German intelligence agency at a critical time.

Tough to know where to begin with this. The erosion of disqualifying personality traits, which used to include homosexuality in both the armed forces and the clandestine services, not to mention pornographic-film acting, may have advanced the cause of equality but has clearly come at the price of operational security and effectiveness. And in the case of Germany -- which has almost no culturally conservative sector left outside the declining churches -- such lapses can have instant ramifications.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 05:51 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So, "on the down-low" and "covert" are not the same thing...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/02/2016 7:08 Comments || Top||

#2  From "disqualifying" to mandatory?
Posted by: james || 12/02/2016 21:48 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Don't Let Chip And Joanna Gaines Destroy Your Marriage
Hat tip to author David Harsanyi, just too true.

Satirist author Hans Fiene, and same topical couple.

Washington Times - Must be Chip and Joanna week.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 05:33 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think I'd change that to don't let HGTV destry your marraige. "Honey I saw it on TV and it only took a half an hour!
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 12/02/2016 6:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Moved from SAST to Culture Wars.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 7:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Chip and Joanna give the Missus and I something to do together. Also the Property Brothers. But we are done with renovations and hire out lots of things I used to do.
Posted by: Bobby || 12/02/2016 7:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Honey I saw it on TV and it only took a half an hour!

Well, this year its been 9 months not a half an hour, but the labor was free. Then again, there is no senior management to insist on a 'compressed' time schedule. Done right, on budget, on schedule. Yep, you get two out three. I blame HGTV for giving up 'apartment' white living.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/02/2016 7:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Then again, there is no senior management to insist on a 'compressed' time schedule

You ought to come around here during our self-performed projects, P2k. 'Timely Completion' is always part of the ongoing one-way discussions.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/02/2016 9:36 Comments || Top||

#6  I married an engineer who'd worked in high school on his uncle's construction crew. We had so much fun renovating our first house over several years -- an Edwardian four-square with as much stained glass, woodwork, fireplaces, and an attic in need of being made into a funky, livable space as one could want without dealing with the gingerbread of a true Victorian -- that we bought a few more small houses and redid them, too. As a result we were prepared when the renovation of trailing daughter #2's new husband's adorable 1940's bungalow needed to be finished on a very fast timeline before they were transferred across the country... And as a result td#2 and nh learnt new skills they hadn't realized they didn't have, and discovered they thoroughly loathe doing that kind of work. The house they recently bought on the far side of the country was built in the 1990s; they will eventually paint the rooms in colours more to their taste.

It's important to know one's limits. Chip Gaines is a professional contractor with a professional crew; Joanna Gaines is a professional decorator.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/02/2016 15:15 Comments || Top||

#7  'It's important to know one's limits.'
~ Trailing wife

Today's Bardess of the Burg.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 15:50 Comments || Top||

#8  'It's important to know one's limits.'
The TW Bardess speaks truth.

My personal limits are reached just after
I let all the magic smoke out of the wires.....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 12/02/2016 18:00 Comments || Top||

#9 
Then again, there is no senior management to insist on a 'compressed' time schedule.


Well, my management insists you could have completed the same task in 3 months if you'd added two more women to the job.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/02/2016 21:44 Comments || Top||

#10  ..then it would have been over budget or not done well.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/02/2016 23:10 Comments || Top||

#11  ..not done well, on my part. Don't work well under pressure these days. Good reason to be retired.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/02/2016 23:11 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Police: 29 out of 39 major fires investigated as arson
[IsraelTimes] Dozens of locations were found in which arson was attempted but did not develop into a full scale blaze.

The Israel Police said on Thursday that of 39 of the most serious fires that broke out last week as part of a wave of fires that ravaged the country, 29 are being treated as arson or suspected arson.

The police also said that dozens of locations were found in which arson was attempted but did not develop into a full scale blaze, Israel Radio Israeli reported.

According to Yoram Levy, front man of the Fire Services, firefighters battled 1,773 brush fires around the country and the West Bank from November 18 to November 26.

However,
a woman is only as old as she admits...
Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan called the number into question on Wednesday, saying that in many cases "20 people called in about the same event, and this was counted," and that in other cases fires from unrelated car crashes were also included. Erdan said that instead what needs to be focused on are the 39 significant fires referenced by the police on Thursday. According the minister, 40-50 percent were likely the result of arson.

But based on the police’s statement, nearly three-quarters of the largest fires are being treated as arson or suspected arson, significantly higher than Erdan’s claim from the previous day.

As of Tuesday, police had tossed in the calaboose
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
at least 35 people on suspicion of arson or incitement to arson. The police did not indicate how many were suspected of setting fires and how many of inciting others to do so.

First arson indictment for wave of fires handed down

[IsraelTimes] Ali Mahajnar, 24, of Umm al-Fahm accused of deliberately starting 3 fires in hometown; says incompetent municipality motivated him.

The Haifa Magistrate Court on Thursday indicted an Umm al-Fahm resident for deliberately starting several fires in his hometown last week as hundreds of devastating wildfires swept across the country. According to the indictment, Ali Mahajnar, 24, started three fires near residential areas in the al-Dahar neighborhood of the northern city.

Mahajnar’s fires -- started several hundred meters from each other -- burned vegetation and wooded areas before firefighters evacuated residential buildings and put out the blazes. The indictment noted that most local residents were home when Mahajnar started the early morning fires.

Mahajnar admitted to the arson to police and expressed remorse for his actions, according to the court document.

Despite promises by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other politicians to prosecute those who deliberately started fires as terrorists, state prosecutors only indicted Mahajnar on arson charges.

During a Monday court hearing, Mahajnar said local authorities motivated him to start the fires.

"I’m the victim of the Umm al-Fahm Municipality that doesn’t treat us like it should," he said according to Channel 2. "[The municipality] don’t clean the streets."

His lawyer on Monday said that Mahajnar has no criminal record, and stressed he was not affiliated with any outside organization.

"I don’t know how to explain his actions," he told the TV station.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/02/2016 04:58 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And arson fires in Tennessee, etc. What a coincidence.
Posted by: Fat Bob B. Hayes5853 || 12/02/2016 13:24 Comments || Top||


3 Israeli Arabs jailed for trying to start IS cell
Truly it is said that Israel is blessed in the caliber of her enemies. Dear Reader, you'll want to put down all beverages before reading any further.
[IsraelTimes] Would-be holy warriors inspired by radical group, were planning several attacks.

Three Israeli Arabs were sentenced to jail terms of 30 to 60 months on Thursday for planning attacks on Israelis and supporting 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....
Muhammad Sharif, 23, and Muhammad Gazoolla, 24, both from the village of Yafa an-Naseriyye, near Nazareth, were given 60 months behind bars and 18-month suspended terms for a list of offenses including membership in an illegal association, weapons possession, firing in a residential area and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Gazoolla had already been handed a two-and-a-half-year jail sentence for other offenses, including attempted arson.
So he didn't succeed at that, either? At least in prison he'll get three hots and a cot every single day, unlike the fate of a man of his cleverness on the outside.
Ahmed Halil Ahmed of Nazareth was given a 30-month sentence for conspiracy to commit a crime, to be served out in addition to a life term he is currently serving for the 2010 murder of Jewish taxi driver Yefim Weinstein. He was also handed a 12-month suspended sentence valid for three years.
So he started out already in prison, then made it worse without actually accomplishing anything. Truly a genius.
A fourth defendant, Ahmed Mahajna, is to be sentenced separately following his request to change his testimony.
A curious statement...
The four, tossed in the slammer
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
in September 2015, formed part of a seven-man cell operating in northern Israel.

Sharif and Mahajna’s links to Islamic State were influenced by their acquaintance with, and the defection of, three other men from their village -- Hamza Majamseh, Muhammad Knanah and Muhammad Kilani -- to Syria in October 2014 to join the ranks of the group. Majamseh returned to Israel in October 2014 and was arrested. The other two are presumably still fighting for IS.
...unless they've been killed, of course. ISIS seems to assume all Israeli Arabs are Mossad spies.
In his decision, Judge George Azoulay of the Nazareth District Court set out the complicated twists and turns of the often bumbling attempts by members of the group to set up an IS cell in Israel.

These included a bid -- ultimately unsuccessful -- by Ahmed, while behind bars, to get Gazella to buy him an M16 rifle "with attachments" for up to NIS 50,000 ($13,000).
What would he be able to do with such a thing? It's not as if it could be smuggled into an Israeli prison.
Gazoolla was assisted in that task by Mahajna, but their efforts came to nothing because the cash was not available when the right gun, at the right price, came up.
To be fair, it's an awful lot of money and he is in an Israeli prison. He wasn't going to earn it while working in the prison laundry.
Sharif and Mahajna established contact through Facebook with the three friends who had gone to Syria, receiving photographs of them posing with weapons and rockets. The three suggested that Sharif and Mahajna join them, but Gazoolla advised them against doing so.
"C'mon guys, everybody knows Shin Bet monitors social media. You're going to get us all in trouble -- and then they'll knock over the house of my mother."
Kilani suggested that Sharif carry out a military operation in Israel on behalf of IS, promising that if Sharif and Mahajna did carry out an attack, he and Knanah would return home to Israel to open an IS front.

Kilani said he would like to come back to Israel and blow himself up with an explosives belt.
I think we all would like that, since he seems to have forgotten the objective of blowing up others, as well.
Gazella was in favor, and he, Sharif and Mahajna began watching IS-related films and developing support for the idea of an Islamic state.

Gazoolla let Sharif and Mahadjna practice shooting on his pistol, which he said he had acquired for the purpose of "jihad." The two novices obtained 20 bullets from one of Mahajna’s uncles.
"We'll have enough left over to kill us a dozen Juices at least, Mahadjna!"
Gazoolla also suggested that the two novices start to raise and sell parrots to make money to buy the weapons they would need for their mission, a scheme that the two agreed to.
They started with the prettiest chicken eggs to be found in the market, because parrot eggs were not sold there.
The developing cell considered several options for a terror attack, including shooting at an Israeli army base,
...with what remained of those twenty bullets...
attacking a police jeep and even setting a business on fire for selling alcohol.

They set up watch at several locations, to scout out a jeep that they could attack and restaurants that they could set on fire.

In the end, the group was arrested before it could carry out any attack.
Insh'allah. He must be offended that such as these presume to think themselves his most beloved.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/02/2016 00:29 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Gotta like the parrot scheme.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/02/2016 5:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Cue the Monty Python sketch...
Posted by: Pappy || 12/02/2016 11:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Theseincluded a bid -- ultimately unsuccessful -- by Ahmed, while behind bars, to get Gazella to buy him an M16 rifle "with attachments" for up to NIS 50,000 ($13,000).

Jeebus, he coulda got one a LOT cheaper during Eric Holder and the BATFE's Fast and Furious debacle, and Eric might have even got it into prison for him
Posted by: Frank G || 12/02/2016 15:04 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
John Bolton: Normal People Don't Become ‘Lone Wolf' Terrorists Overnight by ‘Spontaneous Combustion'
[Breitbart] On Thursday’s Breitbart News Daily, SiriusXM host Raheem Kassam asked former U.N. Ambassador and AEI Senior Fellow John Bolton if he thought investigators were likely to find a radical mosque lurking in the past of Ohio State University attacker Abdul Razak Ali Artan.

"I presume that’s what the police should be doing," Bolton said. "It’s important to discuss this idea of ’lone wolf’ terrorist activities ‐ somebody’s perfectly normal one day, and then overnight, by spontaneous combustion or something, they become a terrorist."

"It’s a subject of grave concern that ISIS has perfected the use of social media, through very aggressive propaganda efforts, that it can recruit people, convert them, mobilize them, and train them, and then deploy them," he continued. "This is something that we’ve never seen before. So the fact that ISIS operates without a corporate organization chart shouldn’t make us relax; it should make us much more concerned. I think it is more likely that there are networks of people who help reinforce what somebody may be reading over the Internet, and it shows why the terrorist threat remains pervasive."

"But why don’t people want to talk about it? Because then you’d have to admit there’s a terrorist threat, and if you’re Barack Obama, you don’t think a terrorist threat exists. That’s just fundamentally wrong, but that’s the attitude that’s driving it," Bolton said.

As during his conversation the previous day with Breitbart News National Security Editor Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Kassam asked Bolton about the enduring influence of the late jihadi cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who has been cited as an inspiration by nearly all "lone wolf" terrorists.

"You can say it’s analogous ‐ it’s certainly not a perfect analogy, but analogous to Che Guevara, whom almost nobody had heard of until he was killed in the Bolivian jungle, trying to foment a revolution there," Bolton observed. "This is, I think, evidence of ISIS’ success in propagandizing their particular view. It’s a way of dramatizing the struggle, and it’s a way of conveying the revolutionary radical terrorist fervor that they want to convey. I think that until you can have a discussion about how ISIS, al-Qaeda, hell, other terrorist groups recruit converts, you can’t have a strategy to combat it seriously."

"And the notion that somehow there’s not a fundamental radical ideology here, I think is self-defeating for the West," he warned. "I think this is something that King Abdullah of Jordan has said repeatedly. He’s talked about a civil war within Islam. And let’s remember, he’s not just the Muslim king of a Muslim country; he’s the descendants of the sharifs of the Hijaz, the keepers of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. So if he talks about this civil war ‐ it’s good enough for him ‐ then it ought to be good enough for us."
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 00:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Obviously this "King" of "Jordan" can't be a "real" "Muslim".
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/02/2016 2:16 Comments || Top||

#2  I agree. Some just take micro aggression courses at the local university. Sort of a Kickstarter program.
Posted by: Airandee || 12/02/2016 5:54 Comments || Top||

#3  You live in an environment in which stuff may not be widely celebrated but at least tolerated and excused and you wonder why humans get an inkling that its OK. Golly gee whiz. That doesn't include swimming in a culture that is brimming with a lot of self hatred for its historical success, why should anyone be surprised.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/02/2016 7:58 Comments || Top||

#4  What I said.
"Kook with a crutch"
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/02/2016 12:08 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Russia: No aim at stopping Aleppo air strikes
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Russia will continue its operations in eastern Aleppo and will rescue the Syrian city from terrorists, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday during a visit to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
Speaking at a joint presser after a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in the Mediterranean town of Alanya, Lavrov said Russia would continue efforts to allow humanitarian aid into Aleppo, according to a Turkish translation of his comments.

Cavusoglu said he and Lavrov had agreed on the need for a ceasefire in Aleppo and the rest of Syria, although he said Turkey's stance on Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
was clear.

Russia is a main backer of Assad, while Turkey supports the rebels fighting to oust him. The rebels have come under siege in eastern Aleppo after rapid advances by Syrian government forces, bringing them to the brink of a major defeat.

Russia will continue its operations despite criticism over its involvement in the Syrian conflict.

Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Putin curbs anti-Western rhetoric, says wants to get on with Trump
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
struck an unusually conciliatory tone in his annual state of the nation address on Thursday, saying Moscow wanted to get on with the incoming US administration and was looking to make friends not enemies.

His foreign minister Sergei Lavrov too sought a fresh start in relations under Trump and made a parting shot at outgoing president Barack Obama
I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money...
, in an interview with an Italian newspaper.

Putin has used previous set-piece speeches to lash out at the West and the United States in particular, but he reined in his criticism this time round and focused most of his speech on domestic social and economic issues.

"We don’t want confrontation with anyone. We don’t need it. We are not seeking and have never sought enemies. We need friends," Putin told Russia’s political elite gathered in one of the Kremlin’s grandest halls.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/02/2016 4:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Since the US Military is guarding Russian oil fields in Iraq and the UFO'S-http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/33258/20161201/ufo-attack-turkey-experiences-shocking-mass-sighting.htm have invaded Turkey we no longer have a 4th Amendment I was wondering when the NSA FBI BND CIA and the Cheka were going to make it all formal and declare victory in the Kingdom and call it South Park? If the clowns keep it up and the Devil and Christ laugh at the same time at the idiots it is game over world peace blue birds the whole 9 yards! Is K_FOR kracking up? Anyways good luck on arresting the Pentagon with brown paper bags and shiny shoes perhaps parachuting into the Russian oil fields in Iraq using paper bags as parachutes insertion and makeup use the brown paper bags like the unknown comic and draw beards on the and be stealthy and arrest the fake US military people helping fight for and guarding the Russian oil interests! I know they trained the dudes with ear buds and trench coats for that mission like Smith from the Matrix and they turn their coats inside out and they look like Arab garb! What I am saying is go Caddy Shack Go Stripes this is not a war it is South Park!
Posted by: Goober Wittlesbach5685 || 12/02/2016 6:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Stream of unconsciousness? Keyboardarrhea? WTF??
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/02/2016 6:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Stream of unconsciousness? Keyboardarrhea? WTF?? Posted by: M. Murcek

Yes to both. We've been trying to work with this fellow, but his condition appears to have deteriorated. Windowless basement dwelling may have claimed yet another victim.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 7:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Miss me yet? - Joe

XD
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/02/2016 8:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Joe had credibility.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/02/2016 15:46 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Family of beaten Canadian Muslim teen says US election could be reason
Well, golly. I guess we shouldn't have had an election.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The parents of a 15-year-old Muslim Canadian who was brutally beaten by two men with baseball bats, say they believe the attack might have been a hate crime, local CBC website reported. Noah Rabbani, from Ontario, was attacked by the two men who got out of a car and attacked the teen, beating him badly before taking his backpack, according to local police.

“The males approached the boy and struck him with the bat several times causing serious injuries,” the police’s news release reads. “The suspects ran back to the car and left in an unknown direction.”

His aunt Huma Aslam said her nephew did not have anything of real value in the backpack to steal, only a water bottle and some books.

But the family, which hails from a Pakistani and Muslim background, is concerned that Rabbani may have been beaten due to his skin color.
Ahah. Pakistain.
“It just seems like all of a sudden after the election in the US there have been more violent incidents in our country,” Aslam said. “It’s the timing of it all.”

She added: “Here we are in Canada, the greatest country in the world. I’m just really in shock.”

Doctors are waiting for Rabbani’s swelling to go down so they can operate to remove a blood clot in his brain.
So far, the teen does not have full movement on his right side.

On Nov. 21, CBC published an article reporting on hate crime incidents with a title that read: “Is the ‘Trump effect’ causing a spike in hate crimes in Canada?” Ryan Scrivens, of the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University, told CBC is that it is “too soon to tell.”
"Only time will tell," as they say in the TV news biz.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh bullshit.
Posted by: Crusader || 12/02/2016 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm not sure I've see a non-fake attack attributed to Trump fans. So if by Trump effect they mean some kind of hoax (Drug deal gone bad, blame Trump, dad beat you, blame Trump) they are probably right.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/02/2016 2:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Poor Muslims, always victims of unprovoked attacks.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/02/2016 4:08 Comments || Top||

#4  How about you face the issues in your own country instead of blaming someone else?

Worthless shitstains
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/02/2016 13:31 Comments || Top||

#5  Poor Muslims, always victims of "unprovoked" retaliations.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/02/2016 14:01 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat's Karachi president detained by Rangers, says party official
[DAWN] A leader of banned Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat
...which is the false nose and plastic mustache of the murderous banned extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain, whatcha might call the political wing of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi...
(ASWJ) was detained 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...
on Thursday, according to party spokesperson.

ASWJ Karachi president Allama Rabnawaz Hanafi was apprehended by Pakistain Rangers Sindh from his residence in Khamosh Colony, Liaquatabad, said the party spokesperson Umer Mowavia.

There was no official confirmation of Hanafi’s detention by the paramilitary force.

The party official said that they would ’cooperate’ with institutions and would ’satisfy’ them as they have any reservations. However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
he added that they had always condemned terrorism.

The ASWJ spokesperson accused that the provincial government has gone "berserk" and was allegedly targeting supposed political rivals.

The government has decided to tighten the noose around members of the banned
...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organization
s, under-observation suspects and human traffickers by cancelling their passports and blocking their national identity cards.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Russia advances safe passage from Aleppo
[al-Manar] Russia has proposed setting up four humanitarian corridors to eastern Aleppo to allow in aid as well as hundreds of desperately needed medical evacuations, the United Nation said Thursday.

“The Russian Federation announced that… they want to sit down in Aleppo with our people there to discuss how we can use the four corridors to evacuate people out,” Jan Egeland, head of the UN-backed humanitarian taskforce for Syria, told reporters in Geneva.

“We have at least 400 wounded that need immediate medical evacuation,” Egeland said, adding that there would also be discussions on using “these corridors to get medical supplies and food in.”

His comments came as hundreds of elite Syrian troops were moving into east Aleppo Thursday ahead of a push into the most densely populated areas.

A government offensive to retake all of Aleppo has pounded the terrorist groups in the city in recent days, with the relentless barrage leaving armed groups’ strongholds strewn with the bodies of gunmen, many lying next to the suitcases they had packed to escape.

The opposition UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday that more than 50,000 people have fled Aleppo’s terrorist-held districts to both government-held territory and Kurdish-controlled districts.

Egeland, who put the exodus at least 27,000, said the UN had access to all the people in both the government- and Kurdish-held areas, but still could not reach those in besieged parts of the east whom the armed groups use a human shields to protect themselves from the grip of the national military and allied forces.
Posted by: badanov || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Meet Miaad Madaad: Sole woman fighter in an anti-ISIS Iraqi unit
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Miaad Madaad is the only female member of the "Lions of the Tigris," a group of Sunni Arab fighters which is part of the Popular Mobilization Committee (PMU) battling ISIS in Shayyalah al-Imam, Iraq.

Shayyalah al-Imam is a village near the ISIS-held city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
ISIS Lions of Islam beheaded Madaad’s father-in-law and brother-in-law.

"The last time [ISIS] they came to my house and threatened me I threw rocks at them and called them dogs," she told Rooters as she clutched an AK-47 assault rifle and vowed to defeat ISIS.

When she and her husband fled to the relatively stable Kurdish region earlier this year, he was enjugged
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
by Kurdish fighters who suspected him of being an ISIS fighter.

Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Anbar Antics: 11 die


2 die as bombers target 80 transmission towers

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Ministry of Electricity announced on Thursday, that two members of the engineering teams were killed, in one of the fiercest attacks that targeted 80 electricity transmission towers using dozens of bombs in Anbar Province.

The ministry said in a brief statement that its maintenance teams were attacked by bombs in the area of Albu Bali, east of Ramadi, resulted in the killing of two members of army engineering teams.

The supply line between Fallujah and east of Ramadi was fiercely attacked by terrorists, resulting in the collapse of more than 80 electricity towers, due to the emplacement of large numbers of improvised explosive devices, the statement added.

Spokesman for the ministry, Mossab al- Mudares said that this attack is the third of its type in the few previous days, and pointed out that there is a large number of IEDs between towers No. 71 and 72, and towers No. 70 and 71.

Iraqi airstrike destroys explosive factory

Anabr (IraqiNews.com) The Army’s 7th Brigade Command in Anbar Province announced on Thursday destroying an explosives factory and killing nine members of the Islamic State group by an international coalition air strike, in western the province.

The Command said in a press statement, “The international coalition air force bombarded an explosives factory in Anah city (190 km west of Ramadi), destructing it completely.”

“The bombardment also resulted in the killing of nine members of the Islamic State group inside the factory,” the statement added.

Security forces finished their preparation, backed by the tribal fighters, to liberate the city of Anah in western Anbar.
Posted by: badanov || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Home Front: WoT
Ohio State University student Abdul Artan was taking Microaggression course
[reason.com] Before he was shot dead while attempting to murder a bunch of people with a car and a butcher's knife, Ohio State University student Abdul Artan--a Pakistani immigrant who reportedly became radicalized after learning about injustices committed against fellow Muslims--was enrolled in a class called "Crossing Identity Boundaries."

In fact, he had a group project on "microaggressions" due later this week. The assignment, worth 15 percent of his grade, required students to find a dozen examples of microaggressions on social media and explain which identity groups were the victims, according to the syllabus.

The purpose of the class is to promote "intercultural leadership" and transform students into "actively engaged, socially just global citizen/leaders." It seems to go well beyond merely educating students, though--it actually requires them to become social justice activists.

One of Artan's classmates who was part of his microaggressions group tweeted a screenshot of the assignment and the names of her group's members, which included Artan. None of these students responded to a request for comment.
No need for Anwar al-Awlaki or ISIS websites, we're now training our own terrorists... or have we actually been training them for decades ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wonder what grade he was getting? Wonder if what his final grade will be now.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/02/2016 2:04 Comments || Top||

#2  He was "actively engaged" until shot dead the other day.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/02/2016 2:17 Comments || Top||

#3  He was doing so well in micro that they jumped him ahead to macro and let him preview the lab.
Posted by: KBK || 12/02/2016 2:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Wonder if what his final grade will be now.

I'm sure there is a contingent in the faculty pushing for an honorary doctorate for the promising young man...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/02/2016 7:16 Comments || Top||

#5  The question is whether it will be in Islamic, or African-American, Studies.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/02/2016 15:42 Comments || Top||

#6  WTF is a microaggression?

Geez, there are aggressions and there are aggressions usually varying between a fist and a nuclear weapon.

This critical theory bull shit they teach at all of the universities is just Marxist Leninist mumbo jumbo victimization crap
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/02/2016 21:44 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
New evidence shows deep Islamic State role in Bangladesh massacre
[Dhaka Tribune] Before Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury orchestrated Bangladesh’s worst holy warrior attack, he sought and won approval for it from 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....
A Canadian of Bangladeshi origin, he was told by his contact in the holy warrior group, Abu Terek Mohammad Tajuddin Kausar, to target foreigners, according to a senior police official who has seen communications between the two men.

Chowdhury, located in Bangladesh at the time, proposed an attack on a Dhaka eatery frequented by expatriates.

On July 1, a group of gunnies stormed the Holey Artisan café in the city’s Gulshan neighbourhood, murdering 22 people, most of them foreigners, in an overnight siege that shocked the country.

The back-and-forth between Chowdhury, 30, and Kausar, 35, which includes drafts of articles later published in Islamic State magazines, has not been previously reported.

Together with attempts by people linked to Islamic State to recruit and fund militancy in the country, the documents show the bully boy organization has built deeper connections with Bangladeshi turbans than was previously known.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa Horn
Ethnic cleansing underway in South Sudan
[al-Manar] UN human rights experts on Thursday said “ethnic cleansing” was under way in South Sudan, after a 10-day visit to the world’s youngest country where violence has soared since a peace deal collapsed in July.

“There is already a steady process of ethnic cleansing underway in several areas of South Sudan using starvation, gang rape and the burning of villages; everywhere we went across this country we heard villagers saying they are ready to shed blood to get their land back,” said Yasmin Sooka of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan.

“Many told us it’s already reached a point of no return.”
Posted by: badanov || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Unity in South Sudan has been since 1950 a tenuous thing. Reality noow requires that the region be split into three states: Bahr al-Ghazal (ethnic Dinka), Eastern (Nuer, Shilluk), and Equatoria (various tribes that want nothing to do with either Dinka or Nuer). Without some territorial resolution the bloodletting will continue ad nauseum.
Posted by: Heriberto Greper9897 || 12/02/2016 7:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Reality noow requires that the region be split into three states

The impression I have is that separately each is too small to stand alone, never mind against a rambunctious Sudan; and clearly together they are unable to stand against a rambunctious Sudan because they will not stand together. Perhaps it is time to consider uniting each third with a neighbour big enough to stand again Sudan, rather than continue pointlessly pursuing independence.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/02/2016 14:23 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US Senate passes 10-year extension of Iran sanctions
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The US Senate passed a 10-year extension of existing sanctions against Iran on Thursday, sending the measure to the White House for President Barack Obama
Republicans can come along for the ride, but they've got to sit in the back...
to sign into law and delaying any potentially tougher actions until next year.As the voting continued, senators were backing the renewal of the Iran Sanctions Act by 89-0. It passed the House of Representatives nearly unanimously in November, and congressional aides said they expected Obama would sign it when it reached his desk.
Update from Ynet at 9:20 a.m. ET:
Iran says extension of sanctions act by US Congress violates nuclear deal
...rendering them null and void?
Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the US Senate's vote to extend sanctions against the Islamic Theocratic Republic for 10 years violated a historic nuclear deal reached between the country and six major powers in 2015.
"The extension of sanctions by the US congress is a violation of the deal. We will report it to Iran's committee, assigned for monitoring the implementation of the deal," according to a statement by Foreign Ministry front man Bahram Ghasemi read on television.
President Trump will be able to work with this, so long as the Iranians don't do something stupid like drop a hastily assembled nuclear device --- or a dirty bomb -- on Jeddah, followed by one on Jerusalem... or vice versa.


Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1 
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/02/2016 11:54 Comments || Top||

#2  "The extension of sanctions by the US congress is a violation of the deal."

We tried to tell you one man is not the United States and that the Senate has to ratify treaties.

We are a government of laws, not men. For now.
Posted by: Bobby || 12/02/2016 13:33 Comments || Top||

#3  They heard what they wanted to hear.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 12/02/2016 19:06 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
More mosques receive hate-filled letters from California
Based on past experience, the odds are better than 50:50 this is an inside job or a Progressive pretending, rather than a hate-filled Trump voter living in Los Angeles. But let us wait until the authorities reveal what they have discovered, once they do.
[DAWN] Several more mosques nationwide have reported receiving a hate-filled letter from Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, that warns Moslems to leave the country or face genocide.

The identical letters postmarked from the Los Angeles area have now shown up at mosques throughout California and in Ohio, Michigan, Rhode Island, Indiana, Colorado and Georgia.

Los Angeles police have been investigating the letters addressed to "the children of Satan" as a hate incident, but not a crime because it does not contain a specific threat.

The letters appeared to be photocopies of a handwritten note referring to Moslems as "vile and filthy people" and saying that President-elect Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
would do to Moslems what Hitler did to Jews.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations
... the Moslem Brüderbund's American arm ...
has asked the FBI to investigate.

The FBI said the threats, while inflammatory and awful, do not pose a threat specific enough to investigate at this point, but they're monitoring the situation and urged anyone to report such incidents.

Police in Providence, Rhode Island, said they would increase patrols after one of the letters was received at Masjid al-Kareem.

Faissal Elansari of the Islamic Centre of Rhode Island said he feels a wave of hate at his doorstep, WPRI-TV reported.

Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't consider this news.

Its only news if it turns out to be true. In which case I would applaud the authors.
Posted by: Crusader || 12/02/2016 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Mosques have reported... Have they provided the evidence to the police?

I bet there I rough drafts of the threatening letter on an Imam's computer somewhere.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/02/2016 2:06 Comments || Top||

#3  "Most ominously, the letters were mailed from a Post Office near the California headquarters of CAIR."
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/02/2016 7:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Silly sensationalist reporters.
There are any number of internet mailing services that will print, package and post an email near your desired destination.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/02/2016 11:42 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistani man commits suicide over Gen. Raheel’s retirement
Okay, that's one down.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A Pak man has reportedly did away with himself over General Raheel Sharif
..Pak chief of army staff, meaning he pulls the strings on the Nawaz Sharif puppet to make it dance and sing and not do much at all....
’s retirement who was replaced by General Qamar Javed Baja earlier this week.

According to the local media reports, the 64-year-old Lutf Amim Shibli consumed poison after almost one of camping, urging for Gen. Sharif’s extension of service.

Shibli had reportedly consumed poison some days ago and died on Wednesday.

"Raheel Sharif is a messiah. I am his fan. Only he can save the country from terrorism and social ills," The Express Tribune reported, citing a poster put on display by the man.

Shibli’s sister-in-law Nooren told the paper "He attempted suicide on Nov 27 after the ISPR [Inter-Services Public Relations] announced the retirement plan of Gen Raheel. We took him to Jinnah hospital from where he was referred to Aga Khan University Hospital. He was initially on ventilator, but later died."

The Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
last week appointed General Qamar Javed Bajwa as the new chief of army staff to replace General Raheel Sharif.

The Pak military informed regarding the retirement of Gen. Sharif last week with a front man for Inter Service Public Relations Gen. Asim Bajwa saying "COAS kicks off his farewell visits..."

The confirmation by the Pak military came amid rife speculation regarding an extension in the COAS’ term after former military ruler Musharraf called for an extension in his tenure, warning against a change in the military leadership.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Arabia
Saudi mufti snubs preacher for mocking men whose daughters study medicine
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh on Wednesday has condemned a preacher, who was seen in a video, ridiculing fathers who allow their daughters to study medicine or work in the field since it may permit both genders to mix.

The preacher named Saeed bin Farwa sparked an uproar online after a viral video of him reprimanding fathers who allow their daughters study medicine. Bin Farwa’s condescending tone was heightened when he described these fathers by using a lewd word in Arabic, which could mean that they are "not real men."

During his weekly interview, al-Sheikh, who is Saudi’s top holy man, said bin Farwa’s statement is "dangerous."

"This is a dangerous statement, and it is not acceptable," the grand mufti said. He also said that "our [medical] universities are protected, and men and women are separated."

"Each gender in two different halls," he added.

There are calls now in Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
that want to see bin Farwa sacked from his duty as a preacher in a mosque.

Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia

#1  So one backwards-ass nothing snubbed another backwards-ass nothing?
Posted by: Crusader || 12/02/2016 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Who do you prefer to do that bi-annual procto exam?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/02/2016 8:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Bin Farwa’s condescending tone was heightened when he described these fathers by using a lewd word in Arabic, which could mean that they are "not real men."

"Nancy boys?"
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/02/2016 11:58 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Iran diplomats face charges in Kenya for filming Israeli embassy
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Two Iranians and their Kenyan driver, who worked for the Iranian embassy in Nairobi, were charged on Thursday with collecting information for a terrorist act after filming the Israeli embassy, lawyers said.
So they can report that security is pretty tight, once they get out of jug.
Sayed Nasrollah Ebrahimi, Abdolhosein Ghola Safafe and driver Moses Keyah Mmboga "were found taking video clips of the Israeli embassy ... for the use in the commission of a terrorist act", according to a charge sheet produced in court.

The three men were in a car belonging to the Iranian embassy when they were locked away
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
on Tuesday, the court papers said. The diplomatic status of the two Iranians was unclear.

The Iranian embassy did not respond to requests for comment.

"My clients pleaded not guilty
"Wudn't me."
and have been detained by the ATPU (Kenya’s Anti Terrorism Police Unit) for further interrogation," defense lawyer Cohen Amanya told Rooters after the men’s court appearance.

Prosecutor Duncan Ondimu said the two Iranians were visiting Kenya but gave no further details.
The Times of Israel adds:
They were detained in the capital, Nairobi after they had come from visiting Kamiti Prison where they saw two other Iranians who have been jailed for 15 years on terrorism charges.
Stopped to buck up fellow members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force. Soon they'll be discussing their adventures daily over tea.
Update from The Times of Israel at 4:30 p.m. ET:
According to Iranian Foreign Ministry front man Bahram Ghasemi, the two men are "official lawyers of the justice ministry... who traveled to Nairobi on behalf of the families of two Iranian prisoners in Kenya for a legal follow-up."

Ghasemi said the arrest of the two lawyers had been the result of a "misunderstanding," and called for their immediate release.
Lawyers instead of spies and saboteurs? Should be easy enough to test.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  "That place over there... great lasagna.
Up here, in the back... ask for Tanya.
And if you have trouble
With police, at the double
Please call my friend Cohen Amanya!"
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 12/02/2016 23:40 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
OSU attack suspect visited Washington DC area days earlier, source says
[Fox] An Ohio State University student who injured 11 people when he attacked pedestrians on campus with a car and a knife traveled to the Washington D.C. area days before Monday's assault, a law enforcement source told Fox News.

The source said Abdul Razak Ali Artan, 18, arrived late on Nov. 24 and left the following day. The short duration of the trip suggested his visit was "purposeful," the source added.

FBI agents are now seeking court approval to get records from Artan's phone and Internet service provider, which can help determine where he travelled in the D.C. area and whether he contacted anyone.
Good lord, that wasn't the first thing they did once they knew who he was? Why in earth not?
Artan was shot and killed by a university police officer shortly after he began his attack Monday. Because of Artan's death and the lack of evidence that he was connected to a larger group, the FBI's requests are being processed through regular channels.

Investigators confirmed earlier Wednesday that Artan "may have been inspired" by the ISIS terror group, though they aren't aware of any direct contact between ISIS and the attacker.

Angela Byers, the FBI special agent in charge of the Cincinnati division, said investigators have not found evidence that anyone else was involved in the attack or the planning of it.

Authorities are trying to piece together a gap of several hours between the time Artan bought a knife at a Wal-Mart near his home and the attack. Police don't know if that was the same weapon he used on campus, investigators said.
Special attention to the Anwar al-Awlaki graphic contained in this article.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fort Hood massacre Muslim was from the DC area.
Posted by: Betty Ghibelline5754 || 12/02/2016 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  As a follow-up to TW's in-line comment and Betty's comment at #1 (thank you ladies for the set up), permit me to pose a potentially inconvenient but nonetheless haunting 'link analysis' question:

If US Law Enforcement (LE) and US Intelligence were aware of, or monitoring the communcations between MAJ Nadal Hasan and Anwar al-Awlaki (to which they have admitted), were they also aware of, or monitoring the potential communications or inspirational links between al-Awlaki and the other 8 domestic terrorist attacks listed in this article? (Now 9 attacks, counting the recent Abdul Razak Ali Artan attack at OSU).

Was the drone zapping of al-Awlaki in Yemen an attempt to terminate those contacts? If so, why were the US contacts not detained or at least closely
monitored ?

If the first three contacts resulted in domestic terror attacks, would it not be logical to assume other contacts would produce similar tragic results? I might add, warnings regarding the Tsarnaev bros. were allegedly issued to US officials by the Russians.

And from wikipedia, which includes a 9/11 connection (10th domestic attack), not included in the article graphic:

As imam at a mosque in Falls Church, Virginia (2001–02), al-Awlaki spoke with and preached to three of the alleged 9/11 hijackers, who were al-Qaeda members. In 2001, he presided at the funeral of the mother of Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who later e-mailed him extensively in 2008–09 before the Fort Hood shootings. During al-Awlaki's later radical period after 2006–07, when he went into hiding, he was associated with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted the 2009 Christmas Day bombing of an American airliner. Al-Awlaki was allegedly involved in planning Abdulmutallab's attack.
Emphasis added.

Lastly, did the recently revealed D.C. trip of the late Abdul Razak Ali Artan also include a visit to the Falls Church Mosque ?

Gross incompetence or patent obstructionism? You decide.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 0:50 Comments || Top||

#3  The Falls Church mosque was my second thought. The first was the idiot wanted to kill Trump.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/02/2016 7:04 Comments || Top||

#4  The Falls Church mosque was a slight favorite over the White House.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/02/2016 7:41 Comments || Top||

#5  To my Rantburg colleagues I would pose two questions :
first why did the FBI's seem urgently interested in what he did in the hours just before the attack?
Second wasn't there a report of someone having pulled the fire alarm in the building moments before the attack and that fire alarm the reason that the police officer was responding and was fortunately on scene.
If you were going to attack the building with the car and then a knife what better way to ensure a dense population of people than the crowd that mills around the entrance of the building right after a fire alarm? isn't it possible there is a second participant?
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 12/02/2016 12:17 Comments || Top||

#6  isn't it possible there is a second participant?

That was conjectured here at the time this went down. Apparently those more expert in these things, and their media purveyors, have deemed it otherwise.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/02/2016 15:40 Comments || Top||

#7  The table in the article of the various jihadi attacks over the years linked to the deceased Imam al Awlaki is a useful one. If someone could paste it into a comment in this thread so we have it for future reference, I'd be grateful.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/02/2016 15:48 Comments || Top||

#8  I was unable to copy the graphic. This wiki link may be of use.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 16:01 Comments || Top||

#9  A more inclusive list at CT Project.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 16:07 Comments || Top||

#10  Thank you, Besoeker. We are now protected three ways against future link rot.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/02/2016 16:57 Comments || Top||

#11  https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cyip9EfXUAoay11.jpg
Posted by: Black Bart Hupating6294 || 12/02/2016 17:01 Comments || Top||

#12  Excellent! Thanks BBH.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 17:21 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Can't resist -- from the Daily Kos
Can you spot what's wrong?
Posted by: Steve White || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No penguins at the North Pole!
What do I win?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/02/2016 0:07 Comments || Top||

#2  The penguin's out of scale on that camouflaged aircraft carrier?
Posted by: KBK || 12/02/2016 2:44 Comments || Top||

#3  also there is no sun on the north pole or anywhere near there on thnkgvg
Posted by: lord garth || 12/02/2016 3:59 Comments || Top||

#4  The Daily Kos has not idea what's 'normal'.
Posted by: Bobby || 12/02/2016 7:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Same people who use images of Soviet era destroyers to represent the US Navy.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/02/2016 8:00 Comments || Top||

#6  Anyone know why there are no NP Penguins?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/02/2016 12:10 Comments || Top||

#7  Ah, families playing "the traditional Turkey Bowl game." A nice touch of familiarity, there. Too bad they're not referring to Uncle Jack kicking his college-student-lefty nephew's backside all over the dining room.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/02/2016 12:32 Comments || Top||

#8  150 ft penguin
Posted by: 746 || 12/02/2016 13:44 Comments || Top||

#9  "Anyone know why there are no NP Penguins?"

I assume it is because they developed in the south and its a long way full of sharks and other nasties that would happily done on a flightless bird unable to escape onto an ice flow. I also assume any that made it to the North Pole didn't fair well against the Polar Bears that reside there.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/02/2016 13:59 Comments || Top||

#10  Note that there are no polar bears down south either.

That might have a relation.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/02/2016 16:34 Comments || Top||

#11  "Anyone know why there are no NP Penguins?"

Penguins occur throughout the SH, even in warmer locations. There are some on an island off Perth. And there penguins on the Galapagos Islands just north of the equator.

They need predator free islands to breed, and the lack of such islands in the eastern Pacific is/was probably the barrier that kept them from getting any further north.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/02/2016 16:50 Comments || Top||

#12  Are there puffins around the South Pole?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/02/2016 21:31 Comments || Top||

#13  What else are you gonna do with 9 months of winter Rob?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/02/2016 23:44 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq’s ‘Anthrax Lady’ faces 15 years in prison
...assuming she ever goes home again, or someone turns her in.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Iraqi biologist and member of the national leadership of Baath party Huda Ammash was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for embezzling public funds.

The sentence was issued by the criminal court dealing with integrity cases.

"Ammash exploited her career when she occupied the post of Deputy Minister of Education in the era of the former regime, and acquired five vehicles belonging to the ministry without permission," as per the Investigation Department of the Integrity Commission.

The 63-year-old Huda, is the daughter of Salih Mahdi Ammash, a bigwig in the Iraqi Ba’ath Party, who served as defense minister in 1963, Deputy Prime Minister in 1968, and finally as an Ambassador of Iraq in 1977. It is believed that he may have been executed under the personal orders of Saddam Hussein in 1981.

Huda Ammash is also known as the ’Anthrax Lady’, a title she earned thanks to her credentials in biology. She also has a Biology degree from the University of Iraq, beside a master's degree in microbiology and a doctorate from the American University of Missouri.

On the ’wanted’ list
After the invasion by US forces in 2003, Huda was number 53 out of the 55 wanted Iraqis by US forces, and the only woman on that list. She was accused of trying to resurrect Iraq's nuclear program after the second Gulf war.
Ammash was trained by Nasser al-Hindawi, who US officials described as the "godfather of the Iraqi biological weapons program."

Ammash is currently battling breast cancer, believed to have been caused by exposure to radiation.

She was tossed in the clink
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
by US forces in 2003, and released in 2005 along with seven others from the key players in Saddam Hussein's regime, for lack of evidence about their involvement in war crimes. Following that, she left Iraq.

Over the past years, the Iraqi judiciary has issued various sentences against bigwigs of Saddam Hussein's regime in the successive governments in Iraq after 2003, including ministers, leaders and executives.

So far, Baghdad has not been able to extradite them from their host countries.

Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  Important to keep in mind, there actually was no WMD in Iraq. Bushitler lied.

[sarc off]
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 9:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Is there a good link for WMD in Iraq?
I've seen a few Iraqi WMD was a lie posters elsewhere and i think they swallowed the MSM nonsense.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/02/2016 10:59 Comments || Top||


#4  Difficult to rewrite history on this one. The Marsh Arabs, their pets and livestock did not succumb from sunburn.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 11:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Didn't we see some time ago that Huda had moved on to Nkor to continue her research?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/02/2016 11:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Ref #3 - Next to last para:

Operation Avarice remained classified for security reasons until 2015.[13] Retired Lieutenant General Richard P. Zahner, the former highest-ranking army intelligence officer in Iraq, praised the operation for having "neutralized what could have become an arsenal used against the US and its allies".

If General Rick 'Zippy' Zahner said it was a good operation, you can take it to the bank. End of message.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2016 14:06 Comments || Top||


Europe
Europe migrant colonist briefs

Spanish police arrest 2 Moroccans for suspected IS links

[IsraelTimes] Spanish police arrested two Moroccans for suspected links to the Islamic State group, including one who was allegedly studying intensely on the internet to carry out attacks against civilians, the Interior Ministry says.

A ministry statement says a Moroccan arrested in the central town of Aranjuez spent many hours viewing and spreading IS-related video material and displayed a fanaticism that fit the profile of a dangerous “lone actor” recruited to carry out attacks. The ministry says much of the material he received and sent concerned Osama bin Laden and four extremists who blew themselves up in Spain in 2004 following the Madrid train attacks.

It later says police arrested another Moroccan who had traveled to Turkey recently to join IS in Syria but was sent back by Turkish authorities.

Hungarian court sentences Syrian in migrant riot

[Ynet] A Hungarian court has sentenced a Syrian man to 10 years in prison for taking part in a Sept. 2015 riot after Hungary closed its borders to migrants and refugees. A court in the southern city of Szeged found the man, identified only as Ahmed H. and a resident of Cyprus, guilty of entering Hungary illegally and of using violence in an attempt to force police into letting in the migrants, considered an "act of terror." In July, the man's parents were part of a group also sentenced to prison for alleged rioting.

Dozens of police officers, migrants and some journalists were injured in clashes on Sept. 16, 2015, a day after Hungary closed off its border with Serbia with a fence protected by razor wire, stranding hundreds of migrants.
Deutsche Welle has more here.

Refugees Rehoused in Greece as Temperatures Drop

[AnNahar] Thousands of refugees and migrants will be relocated indoors from tent camps in Greece as temperatures fell below zero for the first time, the U.N. refugee agency said Thursday. The operation began Wednesday in the snow-covered foothills of Olympus, Greece's tallest mountain, to move around 1,000 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority, said UNHCR spokesman Roland Schoenbauer.

The Yazidis, many of them children, were taken to local hotels and flats rented with UNHCR funds which are already sheltering some 18,500 people nationwide.

There are over 60,000 refugees and migrants trapped in Greece
...most of whom are neither Yazidis nor actual Syrians, and even more of whom are not refugees...
after EU and Balkan countries further north shut their borders nearly a year ago. Most of them have applied for asylum to prevent their deportation back to Turkey and have spent months in the camps, where accommodation and sanitation is basic, especially on the islands bordering Turkey.

Belgium charges two over August attack claimed by ISIS

[AnNahar] Belgian authorities charged a woman and a man on Thursday with terrorism offenses over an August machete attack on two policewomen in front of a police station in Charleroi claimed by the Islamic State group. The assailant was identified only as K.B., an Algerian living illegally in Belgium. Belgian prosecutors said K.B., "had a criminal record but was not known for terrorism."

The prosecutor's office said 36-year-old Sabrina Z. and 37-year-old Farid L., who were detained in a series of raids on Wednesday, were charged by a Belgian judge who is investigating the attack in the southern city of Charleroi.

Three other people detained in the raids were released while another is still being held for questioning.

Police seized several bladed weapons, some of them similar to the one used in the attack, when they raided eight homes in the Charleroi area south of the capital Brussels.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


Africa North
Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade clashes with armed groups east of Tripoli
[Libya Observer] Armed festivities were reported wednesday dawn in Arada, eastern Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
, after the Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade attacked an armed force’s building in the same area.

In a statement issued Thursday by the brigade, it said it ringed the armed force in within Arada area and clashed with its fighters, killing its commander and three fighters.

The brigade said the reason of the attack is that the armed force was involved in murders, banditry, kidnap and smuggling the illegal immigrants colonists despite the fact that the gang is part of the Central Security Department of the Interior Ministry.

"This armed force is a hub for criminal cells and organized murders in Tripoli." The Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade added.

It added that one of its infamous murders is killing a man a month ago; in addition to stealing a money deposit for Madar Mobile Phone Company worth LYD 1.7 million a year and a half ago, let alone the robbery of a bank’s car six months ago.

The Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade, led by Haitham al-Tajouri, clashed with another armed force in Tripoli and took over military and administrative buildings it used to control, including the mail company building in al-Zawiya St. and Health Ministry in Firnaj district.

Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why does this emblem remind me of he cross section of a tire?
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 12/02/2016 15:16 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Report: 15 Electors Will Refuse to Vote For Trump
[ConservativeRead.com] In a sensational new development, TV host David Pakman says he was told by a high level source that 15 electors in states Trump won will refuse to vote for Donald Trump.
A second hand rumour? Golly.
Pakman went on to say that the electors are also lobbying other members of the electoral college to not vote for Trump.

The goal is to prevent Trump from getting the 270 electoral votes he requires to become president.

If Trump loses 37 electoral votes, it will put him under the 270 benchmark and throw America into a constitutional crisis.
On the first ballot. They can then go to a second ballot, and see what happens after the temper tantrum.
This would be totally unprecedented,
Surely not. We've been a republic for a long time.
and it’s a long shot, but it illustrates the left’s desperation to do anything to sabotage Trump.

Could 15 or more electors really be planning to defy the democratic will of the American people ‐ over 62 million of whom voted for Trump?
Not, however, saying they are going to throw their votes to The Beast. Yet another facet of the attempt to deprive DJT an unqualified victory.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh bullshit.
Posted by: Crusader || 12/02/2016 0:12 Comments || Top||

#2  If no majority is achieved in the electoral college, the President is elected by the House of Representatives.
Posted by: Betty Ghibelline5754 || 12/02/2016 0:26 Comments || Top||

#3  If I were an elector I might tell the folks harassing me that I would not vote for Trump just to get them off my back until the vote. Then I'd vote for Trump as I was honor bound to do.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/02/2016 2:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Then I'd vote for Trump as I was honor bound to do.

They are not just honor bound. My understanding is they are legally required to vote as the state did on the first ballot. The law was amended after an elector changed his vote from Nixon to McGovern in 1972.

So all this intrigue is futile.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 12/02/2016 8:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Source Frozen Al (cause that's not what wikipedia says under "Faithless elector")?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/02/2016 8:15 Comments || Top||

#6  A second hand rumor? Golly.

Actually it's worse than that. Some bullshit website named "conservativeread" regurgitates a claim from a a complete joke of a website named "infowars" overheard from an unknown "TV host" about a rumor he was told by an unidentified "high level source" about a story,that even if true, is essentially irrelevant. Then sadly, reposted again here at the 'burg.
C'mon Man!
Posted by: DepotGuy || 12/02/2016 9:12 Comments || Top||

#7  The time for this sort of shenanigans is long past.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/02/2016 11:45 Comments || Top||

#8  My understanding is they are legally required to vote as the state did on the first ballot.

It depends on the state. Half of the states don't bind their electors legally to vote as the popular vote in that state did. Electors from those states can vote contrary to the populous.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/02/2016 14:57 Comments || Top||

#9  To DepotGuy's point, it has all the hallmarks of fake news. Probably just another attempt of many by the Rooshuns to sow discord, confusion, and distrust into our electoral system and national politics.
Posted by: Eltoroverde || 12/02/2016 15:00 Comments || Top||

#10  Actually it's worse than that.

Well traced, DepotGuy. Thank you.

it has all the hallmarks of fake news.

Well said, Eltoroverde.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/02/2016 15:34 Comments || Top||

#11  Meh - I've "Screwed The Pooch" in submissions also and, boy howdy, it sucks to look like a maroon.

Thank goodness the common efforts of this site's citizens can separate wheat from chaff post "Beta" test! ;)
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 12/02/2016 20:11 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian regulars capture new area in Aleppo
[al-Manar] Syrian army took full control of the “youth housing” adjacent to scientific research center in the eastern neighborhoods of the city of Aleppo after clashes with armed groups, leaving a number of gunmen killed or injured.

The army also responded to an attack by the armed groups on his stations off the power company in Sheikh Saeed south of Aleppo, and inflicted them casualties in material and personnel.
Posted by: badanov || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Arabia
Aussie, French warships intercept arms for Houthis
London- Following a series of statements from the Arab Coalition and the United States, international confirmations on Iran arming Houthis in Yemen have been made.

This time, confirmations were given through a British institution as international investigators confirmed in a report released on Tuesday the presence of an arms route between Iran and Houthi rebels.

The report released by British-based Conflict Armament Research (Car) found that weapons seized from Iranian-made dhows by Australian and French warships in the Arabian Sea matched to arms captured from Houthis in Yemen.

The lot number of a Russian Kornet missile matched those of the same type found on the dhow intercepted by the French FS Provence ship in March 2016, and the serial numbers of both were “within the same sequence,” the report stated.

Iran denied U.S. and Gulf accusations that it sends weapons to the Houthi rebels, and officials in Tehran said they only provide diplomatic support.

Analysis of the caches of anti-tank missiles, rocket launchers and other light weapons and small arms from the dhows that were bound for ports in Somalia, suggests they were “probably supplied with the complicity of Iranian security forces,” Car said.

The presence of similar weapons in Yemen with the same lot numbers and serial sequences “supports the assertion that material on board the dhows was ultimately destined for Yemen, and likewise, that the material recovered in Yemen probably originated in Iran,” said the report.

Stowed on the same dhow were also 2,000 new condition AKM-pattern assault rifles with sequential serial numbers, “which suggests that the rifles derived from a national stockpile, rather than disparate non-state sources.”

Light machine guns found on both dhows had the same serial number sequences, “which suggests that the materiel derived from the same original consignment,” the report added.

The Australian HMAS Darwin seized more than 2,000 weapons, including assault rifles and 100 Iranian-made rocket launchers. The French seizure included more than 2,000 assault rifles, 64 new Hoshdar-M Iranian-made sniper rifles and nine Russian-made anti-tank missiles.

The two ships, along with the U.S.S. Sirocco, are part of an international naval coalition that patrols the strategically important waters between Yemen and the Horn of Africa.

Photos of the intercepted dhows provided to Car – which is primarily funded by the European Union and tracks illicit weapons flows for the U.N. and government clients – showed they were manufactured by Al Mansoor, a shipbuilder in Iran located next to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps base, the report said.

The “weapon pipeline” outlined by the report flows from Iran to a number of small transshipment ports in the semi-autonomous Puntland region of the Somali coast, on the tip of the Horn of Africa.
Posted by: badanov || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  I am reminded of some reference to a cruiser of the "Neutrality Patrol" during the Spanish Civil War. I guess countries can just...send ships and pick sides. Not that I'm against it. But it's not part of the post WW II world. More like the Thirties. Not used to it.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 12/02/2016 6:17 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraqi militias could prove themselves in Mosul
(Reuters) – In early June, two Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias under the nominal control of the Iraqi government stormed into an Iraqi military airbase north of Baghdad. Driving armored vehicles and wielding rocket launchers, they took over a building on the base.

The Iraqi commander at the base, near the town of Balad, asked the militiamen to leave. But the men ignored him as well as orders from the central government in Baghdad, according to two army officers in the Salahuddin Operation Command, the regional military headquarters.

The June standoff grounded four Iraqi F-16 fighter jets and pushed more than a dozen U.S. contractors – there to help local pilots bomb Islamic State militants – to flee, according to the army officers and an Iraqi military intelligence source.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: badanov || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
UN: ‘No red lines left to cross in Syria’
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] There are no "red lines left to cross in Syria," the UN humanitarian chief said Wednesday, accusing parties to the Syrian conflict who have systematically disregarded the laws of war.
... starting with the use of poison gas, poison gas on civilian targets, targeting hospitals and schools, collective punishments, yeah, if you can think of a law of war that can be broken they broke it.
Speaking via video-link from London, Stephen O’Brien told an emergency meeting of the Security Council that was nowhere more apparent than in the besieged city of eastern Aleppo with nearly a quarter of million people trapped inside.

"There are no limits or red lines left to cross. The rules of war - sacrosanct notions borne out of generations of costly and painful lessons and set more than 150 year ago in the First Geneva Convention - have been systematically disregarded in Syria," O’Brien said.

O’Brien said some 25,000 people, most of them women and kiddies, have been displaced from their homes since Saturday and that it is likely thousands more will flee in the coming days as Syrian forces step up their attack.

He said there was no longer any properly functioning hospitals in eastern Aleppo, which has been under siege for nearly 150 days and that most of the people trapped inside don't have the means to survive much longer.

He called on the Syrian government to allow the UN and its humanitarian partners unrestricted access to deliver food and medical aid.

He also urged the Security Council for action.

"For the sake of humanity we call on - we plead - with the parties and those with influence to do everything in their power to protect civilians and enable access to the besieged part of eastern Aleppo before it becomes one giant graveyard," he said.

Staffan de Mistura told the council that over the last two weeks, government forces have recaptured almost 40 percent of the area in Aleppo previously held by opposition groups forcing thousands to flee.

He said his office had received credible reports of opposition groups preventing civilians from fleeing areas under their control. Also, he 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...
that many fleeing the city, who are perceived to have links to the opposition, were being detained by government forces.

Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  The only red lines left are those written in blood.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/02/2016 11:47 Comments || Top||

#2  I think the White House has a few mauve ones left in stock.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/02/2016 11:59 Comments || Top||

#3  The White House drew its lines in puce
Knowing they'd stand for a lasting truce
But knowing not they coulda shoulda
The color is beloved by the feral hudna
Snap, perhaps next time chartreuse?
Posted by: JHH || 12/02/2016 15:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Oh my. That was certainly, JHH. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/02/2016 16:47 Comments || Top||

#5  There is still a nuclear red line.

Just sayin'
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/02/2016 19:42 Comments || Top||

#6 
There is still a nuclear red line.


Nope. They crossed that with gas, according to traditional US policy.

(But Bush abandoned that one, so we can't hold it against Obama, much.)
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/02/2016 21:32 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Baghdad Bomb and Bullet Bulletin


Civilians wounded in bomb attack in Sadr City

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Several civilians were wounded on Thursday when two sticky bombs exploded under two vehicles in east and central Baghdad, a security official has said.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Saad Maan said in a statement that the bombs went off at the city of al-Sadr, east of Baghdad, and bab al-Sheikh at central Baghdad.

Baghdad recurrently witnesses suicide bombings and booby-trap explosions, The violence surged with Islamic State militants taking over large areas of the country.

Since 2014, violence surged in Iraq with the Islamic State militants taking over wide areas of the country, and the United Nations said earlier this month that 58000 people died since then. UN statistics say 3150 Iraqis were either killed or wounded in violence during October alone, with Baghdad marked as the most hit.

Observers believe ISIS have begun to target several areas across Iraq to divert security focus on Mosul, where the group fights to defend its last bastion in Iraq under the brunt of continuous advancements by Iraqi government and popular troops.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Defense said it apprehended a three-member terrorist cell affiliated with ISIS’s so-called “State of Baghdad”. It said it found IEDs, explosive belts, hand grenades and cell phones in their possession.

“That group was intending to target citizens at marketplaces and shopping areas in some regions of Baghdad,” a ministry statement said.

Drivers of UN vehicles kill 2 in Baghdad

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) ِAn Iraqi parliamentarian accused on Thursday drivers of a United Nations-owned vehicles of hitting two people dead in Baghdad before fleeing.

Kamel al-Ghariri said in statements that UN cars rammed into two cars parked outside the Green Zone, killed a young man and a woman before running into the Green Zone “before finding out the international institution they belonged to. His statements did not mention the exact time of the incident.

“Following up on the issue, and asking about monitoring cameras at the area, officials there said they had been switched off,” he said. “Is it possible that cameras at such a vital street be kept off?”.

The two victims belonged to the cities of Yarmouk and Najaf, according to Ghariri, who held security authorities fully responsible for not operating the cameras and allowing cars into the Green Zone without knowing their destination, as he put it, vowing to champion an investigation of the incident at parliament.

1 dies in bomb attack in Abu Graib

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) One person was killed and four others were injured in a bombing that targeted a cattle market west of Baghdad.

A source was quoted by Waradana.net as saying that the IED targeted a popular cattle market in Abu Gharib, adding that security cordoned the area off.

Earlier on Thursday, Interior Ministry spokesperson Saad Maan said in a statement that another explosion killed one person at al-Shaab district, north of Baghdad. He aso stated that several people were wounded when two bombs exploded in two cars in al-Sadr city and Bab al-Sheikh.

No party claimed responsibility for the bombings, but Islamic State militants had claimed earlier explosions in the capital and other Iraqi cities.

Since 2014, violence surged in Iraq with the Islamic State militants taking over wide areas of the country, and the United Nations said earlier this month that 58000 people died since then. UN statistics say 3150 Iraqis were either killed or wounded in violence during October alone, with Baghdad marked as the most hit.

Observers believe ISIS have begun to target several areas across Iraq to divert security focus on Mosul, where the group fights to defend its last bastion in Iraq under the brunt of continuous advancements by Iraqi government and popular troops.

2 die in four bombing in al-Shaab

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Baghdad Operations Command revealed on Thursday, that nine persons have been either killed or wounded in four different blasts in al-Shaab area, northeast of Baghdad.

The command said in a press statement, “Four improvised explosive devices exploded, this morning, at al-Shaab area, northeast of Baghdad, killing two persons and wounding seven others.”

“Security forces rushed the area of incident and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital, and the bodies to the forensic medicine department,” the statement added.
Posted by: badanov || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa North
Former Libyan PM says decentralized govt is only way forward
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A decentralized government is the political solution for Libya supported by former Prime Minister Mahmoud Gebril, who rejects the idea of a partition of the country.

"A decentralized government, a small government, a crisis-management government with five or six ministers at maximum. The rest of the powers should be shared with municipalities and local governments with no marginalization" Gebril told Al Arabiya English on the sidelines of NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
Defense College Foundation high-level seminar 'Deep Maghreb: (in)security and stability' held this week in Rome, Italia.

The idea of a partition of Libya has been discussed periodically in international arenas. Some experts argue that this solution would be based on the ancient Roman principle Divide et Impera, translated from Latin as 'divide and rule', with foreign countries being the only ones to benefit from this strategy.

Other observers believe Libya has always been divided within its tribal system and that the country should figure out a political model that benefits from this diversity rather than trying to deny it.

According to Gebril, a partition of Libya would only lead to more conflicts.

"The biggest threat to Libya is to divide the country. If you go for a partitioned Libya you will have more conflict and many civil wars," Gebril explained.

Gebril says right now the real power in Libya is outside the government, with the militia, not with the State, and the most urgent issues to address are related to disarmament, judiciary system, and to reactivate the economy.

Biggest employer

"ISIS is the biggest employer in the Arab world," said Gebril during his speech at NATO Defense College Foundation high-level seminar in Rome. "As long as there is a vacuum in power, ISIS will spread," he added.

According to 2016 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, Libya is in the top 10 countries with the highest impact of terrorism. This North African country recorded a four per cent increase in terrorist fatalities in 2015 compared to the previous year, with 73 Libyan cities recording a terrorist attack and 454 deaths in 2015. "The largest and most active ISIS affiliates are in Libya and now have become the most active terrorist organizations in the country," the 2016 GTI report states.

The threat of terrorist groups spreading in North Africa is shared by Libya’s neighboring countries. Tunisia is now building a barrier on the border with Libya in order to counter terrorism. The project consists of a 220-km barrier represented by a natural dune with military forces and electronic technologies like radars, cameras, movement detectors, provided by Germany and the US.

The complexity of this barrier, that is going to be patrolled also by drones and air forces, was explained to Al Arabiya by Mohammed Jalel Ghedira, Member of the Tunisian Parliament, of the Committee for the Administration of the Armed Forces and part of the Commission for Security and Defense.

"The barrier is going to be finalized by the beginning of 2017 and this is only one of the measures implemented by the Tunisian government to fight terrorists," Ghedira said to Al Arabiya, adding that the Tunisian authorities are now doing house by house controls and cutting communications between bully boyz by acting on telephone operators. According to Ghedira, there are between 200 and 300 bully boyz in Libya interested in entering in Tunisia.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  The Romans and then Italy had it right. Split Libya between Cyrenaica in the east and Tripolitania in the west. Each lays claim to eastern and western oil fields and thus would be economically viable.
Posted by: Heriberto Greper9897 || 12/02/2016 7:59 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Mosul trader: ISIS fighters ‘went after expensive foreign brands’
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Privileged ISIS holy warriors, who enjoyed residing in some looted villas in the northern Iraqi city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
they occupied since June 2014, were indulging of "high-end habits," a perfume trader now residing in a liberated area told Rooters.

"They went for the expensive foreign brands... Some had four wives," Hamza Samih said.

Samih’s business became dependent on ISIS faceless myrmidons after the fighters issued two orders - get rid of the perfumes and colorful bras they said were unholy, and set up separate doors for men and women.

ISIS holy warriors’ draconian edicts almost put him out of business by forcing women, his main customers, to cover themselves in black, not use perfume in public and stay indoors.

But later, Samih’s business became dependent on the holy warriors.

"They were the ones with money. They bought perfumes for themselves and for their wives," the 23-year-old storekeeper said of ISIS forces who were driven out of his street on Sunday by Iraqi special forces.

The faceless myrmidons overran Mosul two years ago, imposing their ultra-hardline interpretation of Sunni Islam over Mosul.

They are now being driven out in the biggest military operation in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion. Troops have pushed them out of around a quarter of the city in an advance now in its seventh week.

Privileged existence
While most of the population struggled to get by, residents say the faceless myrmidons enjoyed a privileged existence.

Some drove expensive cars and stayed in looted luxury villas, according to Samih’s neighbors and relatives - voicing a common refrain among residents in Mosul districts recaptured from ISIS.

The army hopes people like Samih will reopen businesses quickly to bring life back to normal in recaptured areas of Mosul, a message delivered in person on Monday by the commander of the army’s counter terrorism unit, who came to Samih’s Aden district escorted by seven Humvees carrying masked gunners.

Back at the perfume shop, Samih said it was too soon to resume trading. "I’m not ready to open the shop yet. We need stability," he said, looking exhausted.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  When it happens, look for Lexus 'Technicals...'
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 12/02/2016 15:21 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
India to have patrol-free, multi-layer smart fence along Pakistan, Bangladesh borders
[DAWN] India will have a patrol-free, multi-layered smart fence along its borders with Pakistain and Bangladesh by the second half of 2017, the Press Trust of India news agency reported Wednesday.
Oh my. That's going to make things so much fun on the far side.
According to the news agency, Border Security Force (BSF) Director General (DG) K.K. Sharma said the force is working on implementing a Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) where the security of the two "sensitive and difficult terrain" borders will shift from the regular troops patrolling system to a quick reaction team pattern where guards strike once they notice a blip of infiltration on their surveillance radars.

The Indian home ministry has approved of the project, Sharma added.

"We are making concerted efforts to modernise our border fence. Twenty big companies are currently conducting a technical evaluation for the CIBMS. It is expected that it would be on ground by the second half of next year.

"A few pilot projects are already on ... two in Jammu and one each in Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

and Gujarat
...where rioting seems to be a traditional passtime...
where we have marshy areas," the DG said.

He also said that the aim of BSF, India's largest border guarding force with about 250,000 personnel in its ranks, is "to modernise itself", thereby minimising human error and inaccuracy as much as possible.

Sharma further said that once the CIBMS becomes operational, aided by laser fence, surveillance radars, satellite imagery and thermal gadgets, the troops on ground will respond when they detect an infiltration bid in the multi-tier security ring, comprising the regular fence as well as laser walls.

He said the force is also looking into gadgets and securing technical support to tackle dangers presented by hidden tunnels running across the Indian borders.

Sharma said the force was in touch with countries like Israel as well as elite Indian technology institutes to procure the right technology.

"We are in the process to plug breaches by technical solutions at both Pakistain and Bangladesh borders," he said.

Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies

#1  Contracts for Israeli companies by the looks of it.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/02/2016 5:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Out of the billions of starving, unemployed Indians certainly some 'border watchers' could be found more reliable and discerning than limited, unknown technology, that are quicker to install, require less maintenance and are less subject to sensor and programming errors.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/02/2016 11:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Smart fences aren't susceptible to bribery.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/02/2016 12:45 Comments || Top||

#4  there's bribery in India?
Posted by: 746 || 12/02/2016 13:42 Comments || Top||

#5  The UA 571-C Automated Sentry Gun might be a nice add-on.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/02/2016 15:13 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
‘Bad cops’ beaten up, stripped naked, and shown the street
[Dhaka Tribune] People of a Netrakona village resorted to strong measures when two coppers came around allegedly trying to extort them.

They beat up Assistant Sub-Inspector Imrul Kayes and Constable Mozammel in broad daylight and stripped them naked at Dyarkanda village in Kalmakanda upazila.

Villagers said the coppers had come to the local market on a cycle of violence.

Kayes and Mozammel, who were not in uniform, demanded Tk20,000 from stone trader Al Amin, saying he was accused in a case and threatened to arrest him if he did not comply.

Amin left the spot pretending to bring the sum and informed the villagers about the extortion bid.

Agitated locals surrounded the coppers and at one stage, physically assaulted the duo and stripped them naked. They also vandalised the cycle of violence and snatched a pair of handcuffs from the coppers.

ASI Kayes and Constable Mozammel expeditiously departed at a goodly pace. They could not be reached for comments.

Kalmakanda cop shoppe OC Abu Bakar Siddique said he had heard about the incident. "We will investigate the matter first," he said, declining further comments.

Netrakona’s police chief Joydev Chowdhury said they would take administrative action against the duo if they were found guilty.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Need more of this in the US.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/02/2016 10:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Kalmakanda is one tough upazila.
Posted by: Grunter || 12/02/2016 14:47 Comments || Top||


Europe
Francois Hollande will not seek re-election as president of La Belle France
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] French President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist...
said on Thursday he would not seek a second term in office in the presidential election in 2017, an unprecedented move that leaves the way open for other left-wing candidates.

It is the first time in decades that an incumbent French president has not sought re-election. Hollande is the most unpopular president on record.

"I am aware today of the risk that going down a route that would not gather sufficient support would entail, so I have decided not to be a candidate in the presidential election," a somber-looking Hollande said in a televised address.

All recent polls have predicted that neither Hollande nor any other Socialist candidate would make it past the first round of the election. They predict a run-off battle between center-right candidate Francois Fillon and the leader of the far-right National Front, Marine Le Pen.

The Left is deeply divided as it approaches the election. Several other Socialists, including former economy minister Arnaud Montebourg, have said they will take part in the party’s primaries in January.

Another of Hollande’s ex-ministers, Emmanuel Macron, and leftist firebrand
...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments...
Jean-Luc Melenchon have said they will run in the presidential election but without taking part in the primaries.

There has been tension between Hollande and his prime minister Manuel Valls, who raised the possibility in a weekend interview that he might run in the primaries against his boss.

Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lessee - when LBJ did that here, we got Nixon. LePen as the French Nixon? She will have to work on the facial hair and the growl...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/02/2016 7:18 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Fighting in Tripoli as pro-PC forces move to crush militants
[Libya Herald] Intensive fighting broke out in Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
today in number of areas of the city in what appears to have been a pre-emptive strike by militias loosely linked to the Presidency Council to crush gunnies linked to grand mufti Sadek al-Ghariani, former Tripoli "prime minster" Khalifa Ghwell and the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG).
LIFG was banned worldwide as an affiliate of al-Qaeda. The group has denied ever being affiliated with al-Qaeda, stating that it refused to join the global Islamic front Osama bin Laden declared against the west in 1998.
While casualty figures are unknown, a number of civilians are said to have been killed in Abu Sleem. There the local militia headed by local Abdul Ghani al-Kikli (also known as Ghneiwa) were involved in fighting against a number of Misratan and other units supporting Ghwell. Seven bodies were reported to have been taken to the neighbouring Hadba hospital.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Two explosions hit Benghazi Medical Center, no casualties
[Libya Observer] Two consecutive blasts have shaken the Benghazi Medical Center off the hinges causing considerable damage to the building and no casualties, the media office of the Benghazi Medical Center has reported.

The media office added on Thursday that "some terrorists" targeted the accommodation sections of the center with bombs while patients were inside.

"This is not the first time the center comes under such attacks." The media office remarked.

It pointed out that all the patients in the center are fine, as measures to secure it along with its vicinity have been taken and investigation into the incident has already started by the relevant authorities.

Post-blast, there were orders by the center’s administration not to allow any visits while it only allowed the medics to be there for the safety of all, the media office indicated.

Suitcase bomb attack inside Benghazi Medical Centre

[LibyaHerald] A bomb went kaboom! in a crowded area of Benghazi Medical Centre today which has been busy dealing with the maimed from the army assault on Ganfouda.

The device, thought to be in a suitcase, was left in a fifth floor lavatory. Four people were maimed in the blast and others were treated for shock, but there were no deaths. The bomb blew the lavatory apart and sent shrapnel and plaster scything down a corridor.

The hospital management put out a statement condemning the attack on a vulnerable location where staff were entirely focused on trying to care for the injured. Nevertheless, tighter security was now being put in place at the hospital.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Southeast Asia
Vajiralongkorn proclaimed king of Thailand
[Dhaka Tribune] Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 64, became Thailand’s new king on Thursday after he accepted an invitation from parliament to succeed his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in October. King Bhumibol, 88, was widely loved and regarded as a pillar of stability during decades of political turbulence and rapid development in the Southeast Asian nation.

Prince Vajiralongkorn, who will be known as King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, according to a statement released by the government’s public relations department, met Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, president of the National Legislative Assembly, at Bangkok’s Dusit Palace.

"I would like to accept the invitation for the benefit of the Thai people," the new king said in a televised statement.

The new king will also be known as Rama X, or the 10th king of Thailand’s Chakri Dynasty.

New era for Thai monarchy

Vajiralongkorn, 64, who inherits one of the world’s richest monarchies as well as a politically troubled nation, will ascend the throne 50 days after King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s death. As dusk fell in Bangkok, the prince arrived at the Grand Palace where his father’s body lies in state for religious rites to mark the 50th day since his death.

Vajiralongkorn, who has been named successor for more than four decades, does not yet enjoy the same level of popularity. He spends much of his time outside of the public eye, particularly in southern Germany where he owns property.

He has had three high-profile divorces, while a recent police corruption scandal linked to the family of his previous wife allowed the public a rare glimpse of palace affairs.

Thursday’s ascension will end a period of uncertainty which followed a shock junta announcement after Bhumibol’s death that the prince had asked to delay his official proclamation so he could mourn.

Thailand’s constitutional monarchy has limited formal powers.

But it draws the loyalty of much of the kingdom’s super-rich business elite as well as a military that dominates politics through its regular coups.

It is also protected from criticism by one of the world’s harshest lese majeste laws, carrying up to 15 years in jail for every charge of defaming the king, queen, heir or regent.

That law makes open discussion about the royal family’s role all but impossible inside the kingdom and means all media based inside the country routinely self-censor.

Convictions for so-called "112" offences -- named after its criminal code -- have skyrocketed since generals seized power in 2014.

Experts say most have targeted the junta’s political opponents, many of whom support the toppled civilian government of Yingluck Shinawatra.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The ruler of Thailand, Thailand, the sex trade capital of the world, is named 'Longkorn'?
What ever happened to late night comedy?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/02/2016 12:03 Comments || Top||

#2  I take it you have not seen the photos of him in the midriff baring crop top? Or him at breakfast with topless wife feeding dog who gave a military rank to? Air Force Vice Marshall no less. He was quite fond of Foo Foo


Posted by: John Frum || 12/02/2016 15:03 Comments || Top||

#3  link here
Posted by: John Frum || 12/02/2016 15:13 Comments || Top||

#4  foo good birthday party
Posted by: John Frum || 12/02/2016 15:26 Comments || Top||

#5  He looks constipated, and gay.
Posted by: Omomort Cheager7040 || 12/02/2016 19:48 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
No talks with Pak amid continued terror: India
[Daily Excelsior] Talking tough in the wake of attack on Army camp in Nagrota, India today made it clear that talks with Pakistain cannot take place in an atmosphere of "continued terror", which it will never accept as "new normal" in the bilateral relationship.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup also said the Government is awaiting detailed information on the specifics of the Nagrota attack before it decides on the next steps.

"But I do wish to emphasise that the Government takes this incident very seriously and will do what it feels is required for our national security," he asserted.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Home Front: Culture Wars
A mortal threat to art
I happen to be an opera (and ballet) lover, so this is important to me.
[NATIONALREVIEW] The University of Bristol, in England, has a musical-theater society. Students in the society voted to put on Aida — not the opera by Verdi but a musical by Elton John and Tim Rice, which is based on the opera.
So it was a toy Aida...
More specifically, it is based on a children’s book, telling the story of Aida. That book was written by Leontyne Price, the great American soprano, who is one of the outstanding Aidas of all time. Aida is about an Ethiopian princess — the title character — who is a slave in Egypt. She is in love with an Egyptian officer, who loves her back. Much trouble ensues.
But melodiously. Very melodiously. I've got two recordings, both of them videos. One's the San Francisco opera company with Pavarotti as Radames. The other's the Royal Albert Hall.
Bristol’s Aida never got off the ground, because of student protests. The protesters figured that white students would be cast in the musical. And that would be an injustice to Egyptians and Ethiopians. It would be “whitewashing.” So, the musical-theater society canceled the show. “We would not want to cause offense in any way,” they said.
But naturellement. It must be painful to be skinless in a sandpaper world, as tw would point out.

Not having any grounding in history or geography or anthropology, the students (what do they study, that doesn't include history, geography, or anthropology?) demanded that the parts go to blacks.

Most Egyptians, as are most North Africans, are of what used to be called Mediterranean type, which is black-hair and olive complexioned, but (dare we say it?) perfectly white. There are also Nilotics in the south, to be found from there south along the coast through Somalia. Their skin color shades from light brown to black and their features are often quite handsome by Western tastes.

Ancient Egyptians really weren't black, regardless of how much American blacks would like to lay claim to the pyramids. They didn't represent themselves in art as black. There's a rather delightful story inscribed in the tomb of the last king of the IV dynasty, with illustrations, about an expedition to Punt that returned with slaves, dancing girls, and a dwarf to entertain the youthful Pharoah. The slaves and the dancing girls and the dwarf are all black, the king and his court aren't. Argue with them all you like, but remember, we have the bodies.

That particular Pharoah, by the way, lived to the ripe old age of ninety six, outliving the people who would have been his heirs and leading to the fall of his dynasty. The V Dynasty was a period of near anarchy. The most notable of its kings was Antef the Great (his own apellation), who was described as "The Most Ferocious Man of his Age." Somebody oughta write an opera about him.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Next thing we know the remake of the Al Jolson story will need Snoop Dog in "white face" so the minstral scenes aren't racist. Never mind the concept is racist to start with. From both view points
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 12/02/2016 6:13 Comments || Top||

#2  And all the amplifiers will go to twelve...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/02/2016 7:02 Comments || Top||

#3  So again we have white people, this time in Bristol, acting against their own interest because they fear offending someone. Sounds like a good way to become extinct.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/02/2016 10:02 Comments || Top||

#4  The pulled a production of the Mikado in Noo Yawk a couple years ago.

"I've got a little list. and I'm sure they'll not be missed!"
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 11:45 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Mosul Offensive News
32 ISIS Turbans die in mine attacks as Militia prepares attacks

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) More than 30 Islamic State militants were killed in landmines explosions thought to be caused by violent rainfalls at the town of Tal Afar as al-Hashd al-Shaabi forces prepare to storm another strategic ISIS stronghold.

A security source said heavy rains caused tens of landmines planted by the extremist group northwest of Tal Afar to explode, also submerging militants barracks. Rains also led to the explosion of a landmines cache, killing 32 militants.

The source said artillery forces are preparing to target ISIS havens making use of the weather conditions.

Al-Hashed al-Shaabi forces spokesperson said Thursday that the militia started to encircle the town of Tal Abta, Mosul, preparing to storm it and engage with Islamic State militants.

Ahmed al-Assadi said the militia is on the outskirts of Tal Abta, surrounding it from all directions except for the southern area. He predicted to invade the town on Thursday or Friday.

Assadi said information obtained by al-Hashd al-Shaabi reveal that ISIS members had fled the area after setting fire to their barracks and important archives.

The anticipated siege on Tal Abta is hoped to totally isolate the town of Tal Afar.
Posted by: badanov || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  ? all that unexpected water shorting out un-insulated wiring
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/02/2016 2:22 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
The Beatings Will Continue: Iraqi and Syrian Editions


15 kidz die in ISIS sniper attacks in Mosul
Evil bastards gotta be evil
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State snipers killed 15 children while they were attempting to flee towards locations taken over by Iraqi security forces in Mosul, according to a security source.

“ISIS snipers killed 15 kids belonging to Mosul refugees who were heading to security forces,” the source told Alsumaria News, but did not clarify the time frame for the alleged killings.

“ISIS gangs have used the most horrific means of killing with the migrating people of Mosul, targeting them with IEDs, sniping their children to prevent them from leaving town and using them as human shields,” the source said.

Iraqi government forces, backed by tribal militias and US-led aircrafts, have been successfully liberating several villages around Mosul as part of a wide-scale operation that launched mid October to retake the city from ISIS. The forces commanders, while claiming daily victories, admit that the existence of civilians in the city, many of whom are reportedly used as human shields, have slowed down the pace of operations.

UN adds 2 camps for refugees in Mosul

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has added two more camps for displaced families from the city of Mosul, bringing the total to six.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq said in a statement that the UNHCR inaugurated last week al-Alam camp, near the Tikrit, Salahuddin province. It said the area had admitted 180 projected to increase.

Amala camp is also expected for inauguration next week near Tal Afar, according to UNAMI.

The opening of the two new facilities comes as the rest of camps reached their maximum capacity.

The current number of refugees from Mosul stands at at least 73000, according to UN statistics. The refugees are escaping violent battles back home between Islamic State militants and Iraqi troops seeking to liberate the city from the extremist group’s hold.

The United Nations had predicted before the launch of operations that one million people would leave homes in Mosul due to fighting.

It said in a recent report that a half of children in Mosul are unable to get clean potable water as the main supply line to the city was destroyed in battles.

3 civilians die in ISIS mortar attacks

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Three civilians were killed on Thursday when a mortar missile landed on their homes in al-Bakr district in Mosul.

Shafaaq news website quoted a source as saying that three others were injured in the incident.

Iraqi forces and popular militias had liberated the district two days ago, but ISIS has been used to shell areas it lost to the forces, causing civilian deaths on some occasions.

Iraqi forces, assisted by popular militias and a US-led international coalition’s jets, continue to engage with ISIS militants in Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, as part of a major campaign to force the extremist group out of Iraq.

In a related context, Abdul Wahab al-Saedi, a senior commander at the army’s anti-terrorism force, said his forces continue to clear several liberated areas from explosives planted by ISIS and comb the regions for any remaining ISIS elements.

A source told Shafaaq that the forces urged citizens through loudspeakers to remain at home.

200 families return to Namrud

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) 200 displaced families have returned to the liberated area of Namrud and nearby villages, after being liberated by the security forces and al-Hashd al-Shaabi.

Head of Namrud area, Ahmed Obeid al-Eissa, said in a press statement, “200 displaced families returned to their areas in al-Namrud vicinity, southeast of Mosul, after being fully liberated by the army’s 9th Armored Brigade and Nineveh Plain’s forces,” adding that, “These forces secured the entrances and exits of the area and removed IEDs from it.”

“The names of majority of families were checked to prevent the return of terrorist to the area,” al-Eissa added. “There is a joint cooperation between al-Hashd al-Shaabi and security forces to guarantee the return of all displaced families,” Eissa explained.

In 23 November 2016, the 37th regiment of the 9th armored brigade cleansed the area of Namrud, southeast of Mosul, from adhesive and improvised explosive devices, and dismantles nearly 240 IEDs so far.

Aleppo risks becoming graveyard

[AlArabiya] A top UN envoy on Wednesday pleaded with the Security Council to help break the siege of Aleppo, warning that residents of the Syrian city were at risk of extermination.

“For the sake of humanity we call on -- we plead -- with the parties and those with influence to do everything in their power to protect civilians and enable access to the besieged part of eastern Aleppo before it becomes one giant graveyard,” said Stephen O’Brien, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.

O’Brien, speaking to a special Security Council session by video-link from London, said that the clock was ticking on the city as the winter set in.

Residents have been reduced to scavenging for food, hospitals are not functioning after repeated military strikes and an estimated 25,000 people have fled eastern Aleppo since Saturday alone, O'Brien said.

O’Brien said that aid convoys were ready to roll in from Turkey and western Aleppo but that they needed an end to the siege and protection for civilians.

“These are neither new nor complicated demands -- those common threads of humanity that we all have a responsibility to rally around,” he said.

“Those parties that can’t or won’t live up to their basic obligations should know that they will one day be held accountable for their actions,” he said.

The eastern part of Aleppo has been a key rebel stronghold since 2012, with government forces determined to wrest control.

More than 250,000 people had been living in the eastern neighborhoods when the government laid siege four months ago.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has enjoyed diplomatic support from Russia, which has also intervened militarily to boost the campaign for Aleppo.

O’Brien said he faced the persistent question as he traveled -- “Why on Earth can the Security Council not come together to unite to put a stop to this suffering?”

“The people of Syria have suffered far too much for far too long,” he said.

He urged the Security Council not to lose sight of another 700,000 people besieged in other areas, notably around Damascus.

Civilians flooding out of Aleppo

[AAWSAT] “There are still corpses in the streets, there are wounded people everywhere and hunger is killing those civilians that remain. I do not know if the term “humanitarian disaster” is sufficient to describe the situation of the city, but the reality is worse than can be described in words.”

The above is a description of the situation in the eastern neighbourhoods of Aleppo that is situated in northern Syria. The description was made by a prominent Syrian opposition activist named Hadi Al-Abdullah and he gave this account five days after the Syrian regime and its allies launched a major offensive on the city through which they were able to make advances into the areas that have been controlled by the Syrian opposition since 2012.

Al-Abdullah said that opposition factions remain devoted to fighting but said that “all options remain open” with regards to the possibility that they might accept to withdraw at a later time or continue with the fighting. He added that “there are a number of reasons for the opposition’s withdrawal in the city; the most prominent of these is the unprecedented bombing in the south, the fact that hospitals have been bombed and taken out of service as a result and wounded people are unable to leave for treatment. This has led to the collapse of both citizens and fighters’ morale, and has naturally led to withdrawal from some neighbourhoods. He continued by saying “As for talk of the military fall of the city, this is incorrect considering that the regime does not control more than 18% of Aleppo”.

The director of the Free Aleppo Health Directorate Abdelbasset Ibrahim said in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat that “the situation in the city is going from bad to worse” and pointed out that “the wounded are dying in the streets because we are unable to save them”. He continued by saying “More than 50 women and children were killed in one place.”

Another mass grave uncovered in Mosul
Via NY Times
Hamam al-Alil, Iraq- The battle was over in Hamam al-Alil, Iraq, an old spa resort town that the country’s security forces had wrested from ISIS a few days ago, but one Iraqi soldier was still on a very personal mission.

The soldier, Zaman Mijwal, was looking for his older brother, Munther, a former policeman he described as “a quiet man, a poor man,” who lived in a nearby village but hadn’t been heard from in weeks.

Mr. Mijwal’s circuit had taken him to a stretch of road flanked by two dirt fields. He pointed to one side, where decaying, headless corpses were lying in heaps of trash on a barren plot of land that had once been a shooting range for the Iraqi Army.

“He may be there,” he said.

He pointed to the other side of the road, just an expanse of earth that looked freshly moved.

“Or he may be there.”

With every mile of territory the Iraqi security forces retake from ISIS, it seems another mass grave is uncovered. It has become nearly ritual, and despairingly regular.

The legacy of the mass grave in Iraq is long, stretching back further than ISIS to the times of Saddam Hussein’s industrial-scale killings. It is the horrible symbol of what has been for decades a gut-wrenching constant of Iraqi life: the disappearance of loved ones into the machinery of despotism.

For Iraqis, ISIS, for which the mass grave is as much a part of the group’s infrastructure as makeshift prisons and slaveholding houses, is just a new form of tyranny with direct links to Mr. Hussein’s regime. Many former Baathist officers from Mr. Hussein’s security forces populate the top ranks of ISIS, mimicking the former dictator’s tactics.

Lately, with ISIS under pressure from Iraqi security forces, the group’s cruelty has gone into overdrive: Many of the mass graves recently uncovered, the biggest of which was in Hamam al-Alil, contain the bodies of local men. Most of the buried were former members of the security forces who were executed only in recent weeks, after the campaign for Mosul began.
More at the link
Posted by: badanov || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
2 Syrian rebels die in Turkish airstrike in Manbij
[ARA News] Manbij – Michael Israel from California and Anton Leschek from Bielefeld
...in Germany...
were killed in a Turkish airstrike on November 24. The two men were foreign volunteers, serving in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

“Michael and Anton were martyred on November 24 as a result of Turkish airstrikes on western Manbij,” the SDF leadership told ARA News. “The SDF-led Manbij Military Council continues to put up fierce resistance against the occupying Turkish Army and its affiliated terrorists.”

Dozens of international volunteers joined the campaign to liberate Manbij city in May, fighting alongside local Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen soldiers. Several of the volunteers were killed fighting Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists in the city’s urban warrens.

“In Manbij city, three volunteers from the US, and two others from the UK and Slovenia were martyred alongside their fellow freedom fighters,” the SDF told ARA News. Michael is the fourth American volunteer to die in the ranks of the SDF.

“Coming from around the world, it was of great importance to them to cut the transfer route of Daesh terrorists from Manbij to Turkey and then to Europe,” the Manbij Military Council told ARA News, employing an Arabic acronym for ISIS. “For that, they were ready to sacrifice their lives.”

Michael Israel was an American, known to his companions by the nom de guerre Robîn Agirî. He joined the SDF in July, declaring that he was “here to protect the peoples’ revolution in Rojava and fight the enemies of the struggle.”

Anton Leschek was a German, known to his Kurdish comrades by the nom de guerre Zana Ciwan. Upon joining the SDF, he declared that it is “a true fight in Rojava for me, because here people neither surrender to tyranny nor to terror; I will support this democratic revolution to the end.”

Several SDF fighters expressed their grief at the death of Israel and Leschek. “We were taking a small village when we got hit by Turkish jets in the night. Two of my friends, Leschek and Michael, were killed along with many others,” a foreign volunteer explained.

Undeterred, the volunteer declared that he was “staying to finish out my six month [tour].”

“It’s with a heavy heart that I learned today that heval Michael Israel passed away, fighting ISIS as a volunteer,” another international volunteer said, using a Kurdish word for comrade.

“Michael was a man of extremely powerful convictions; an inspiring, idealistic fighter who struggled unlike any other for a better world,” the volunteer continued. “Michael spent his whole life fighting systems of injustice that deny peace, and trekked the states spreading awareness against the Iraq war.”

“He conferred his experiences and lessons from both Syria and the states with everyone. He died the very way he lived and his legacy is an example of how a true revolutionary should be. History will exalt him as one of the greatest of our generation,” the volunteer eulogized.

Somberly concluding, Michael’s companion said: “He taught me a lot, I’ll never forget him. Rest in power heval.”
Video report at the link
Posted by: badanov || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Rooshuns, Syrians committed war crimes
Not if they win they didn't
[ARA News] Aleppo – The Russian-Syrian coalition committed war crimes during a month-long aerial bombing campaign of opposition-controlled territory in Aleppo in September and October 2016, killing over 440 civilians, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Violations Documentation Center, a Syrian civil monitoring organization, documented that the bombing campaign killed more than 440 civilians, including nearly 90 children.

During the month-long bombing campaign, Syrian military forces surrounded opposition-held eastern part of Aleppo city.

Although Syrian and Russian authorities declared that civilians and fighters could leave through designated corridors, very few did.

Syrian and Russian authorities and armed opposition groups blamed each other for the civilian casualties.

“Whatever the reason, the Russian-Syrian coalition should have taken precautionary measures to avoid and minimize civilian casualties when attacking armed opposition groups,” Human Rights Watch said.

Airstrikes often appeared to be recklessly indiscriminate, deliberately targeted at least one medical facility, and included the use of indiscriminate weapons such as cluster munitions and incendiary weapons, the human rights group reported.

Satellite imagery that Human Rights Watch analyzed have shown more than 950 new distinct impact sites consistent with the detonation of large high explosive bombs across the area during the month.

“Using that amount of firepower in an urban area with tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of civilians predictably killed hundreds of civilians,” said Ole Solvang, deputy emergencies director at Human Rights Watch.

“Those who ordered and carried out unlawful attacks should be tried for war crimes,” Solvang stressed.

HRW has also documented armed opposition groups’ attacks against government-controlled western Aleppo.

“Deliberate or reckless attacks against civilians and civilian objects, including hospitals, committed with criminal intent are war crimes,” HRW said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council on September 28, that those using indiscriminate weapons in Aleppo “know they are committing war crimes.”
Posted by: badanov || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dresden.

Somebody wins and somebody loses. There is no future in losing.

That is why they call to war.

There IS no nice or decent way to fight a War. War is killing people. You do it and you keep doing it until you run out of ammo and then you take ammo off the dead and use theirs.

The UN can suck a hotchy. Simon de Montfort. What you DON'T do ...... is Lose.
Posted by: Harcourt Elmoger6914 || 12/02/2016 5:25 Comments || Top||


173 civilians die in airstrikes in Iraq and Syria
That's what happens when the bad guys make people into human shields.
[ARA News] Erbil – The US-led coalition said on Thursday that after at least 173 civilians were killed by coalition airstrikes in Syria and Iraq since the start of the operation against the Islamic State (ISIS).

“To date, based on information available, CJTF-OIR has assessed it is more likely than not that, since the start of Operation Inherent Resolve, 173 civilians have been inadvertently killed by Coalition strikes,” the US-led coalition said in a statement obtained by ARA News.

“We regret the unintentional loss of civilian lives resulting from Coalition efforts to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria and express our deepest sympathies to the families and others affected by these strikes,” it said.

During the month of October, the coalition received 18 reports of possible civilian casualties resulting from Coalition strikes in Iraq and Syria in the fight against ISIS. “Twelve of these reports were determined to be non-credible, three were determined to be credible, and three reports are still being assessed,” the coalition said.

The coalition stressed that although its air forces make extraordinary efforts to strike military targets in a manner that minimizes the risk of civilian casualties, in some cases casualties are unavoidable.

“Four past reports of possible civilian casualties and three of the reports received in October were determined to be credible resulting in the unintended death of 54 civilians,” it said.

This included airstrikes in the Syrian cities of Sala Heya, Shaddadi, Manbij, Taltanah, and one airstrike in Iraq, near Fasitiyah town.

More from al-Manar: US-led Coalition Admits Another 54 Civilian Deaths in Syria, Iraq Strikes

The US-led coalition “bombing the ISIL group” in Syria and Iraq said Thursday that 54 civilians had been “inadvertently killed” in seven air strikes between March and October.

The announcement brings the official coalition tally of civilians killed to 173 since the “anti-ISIL” campaign began in the fall of 2014 — though critics say the real figure is far higher.

“Although the coalition makes extraordinary efforts to strike military targets in a manner that minimizes the risk of civilian casualties, in some cases casualties are unavoidable,” the coalition said in a statement.

Although the coalition has announced that it targets ISIL terrorists, analysts consider that its role reinforced the militant group in several areas and wonder how the takfiris managed to widen their deployment in several cities despite the aerial control of the US-led forces.
Posted by: badanov || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Home Front: WoT
US Senators McCain, Graham aim to fix JASTA
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Two US Republican Senators - Lindsey Graham
... the endangered South Carolina RINO...
and John Maverick McCain
... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution...
‐ proposed on Wednesday an amendment to the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) that was approved by the Congress in September.

JASTA has been thrusted into the limelight after Congress overrode US President Barack Obama
They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them...
’s veto of the potential bill. If passed, JASTA would allow US citizens to sue Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
over the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The Senators propose that foreign governments would only be held liable for terrorist attacks "if they knowingly engage with a terrorist organization directly or indirectly, including financing," Graham explained.

US-based news website Politico described the "fix" as a way to "narrow the law’s scope and reduce the likelihood that it would produce retaliatory suits against the United States."

Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia

#1  Oh bullshit.
Posted by: Crusader || 12/02/2016 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  And who will determine if nations "knowingly engage"? McCain and Graham?
Posted by: Heriberto Greper9897 || 12/02/2016 8:05 Comments || Top||

#3  I see Hillary's email 'get free from jail" fashion is spreading.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/02/2016 8:17 Comments || Top||

#4  So the good folks of Syria should be able to sue us for the terrorist policies espoused by McCain and Graham.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/02/2016 10:25 Comments || Top||

#5  And we KNOW we can trust Politico. I smell a rat. I get the feeling that these two just tipped their hand regarding who funds them.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 12/02/2016 19:05 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Army launches major attack in Benghazi
[Libya Herald] The army has this morning launched a major assault on the Ganfouda terrorist enclave in Benghazi. At least 20 tanks are reported to have been attacking from the west while LNA forces appear to be pressing forward all around the perimeter while naval vessels bombard from offshore.

The assault, which began this morning in torrential rain, has seen an unknown number of casualties. Among the injured is the 298 Tank Brigade’s commander brigadier-general Naji al-Moghrabi.

The LNA says that it has destroyed the terrorists’ only tank and has captured at least six bad boys. It is claiming that it now controls more than 90 percent of Ganfouda.

Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring



Who's in the News
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2Govt of Pakistan
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1Govt of Iraq

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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2016-12-02
  Aussie, French warships intercept arms for Houthis
Thu 2016-12-01
  'IS-linked' Ohio university attacker lived in Pakistan for 7 years: NYT
Wed 2016-11-30
  ISIS claims responsibility for Ohio State attack
Tue 2016-11-29
  Iranian small boats train weapons on US Navy Helicopters
Mon 2016-11-28
  Ohio State Stabbing: Somali Refugee (stabber) Killed
Sun 2016-11-27
  Iraq's parliament passes law legalising Shia militias
Sat 2016-11-26
  Fidel Castro dies aged 90
Fri 2016-11-25
  Suicide truck bomb kills about 100 in Iraq, mostly Iranian pilgrims
Thu 2016-11-24
  Wayne State University police officer dies after being shot in head
Wed 2016-11-23
  ISIS ‘resisting till their last breath’ in Sirte, Libya
Tue 2016-11-22
  ISIS claims responsibility behind Kabul mosque bombing that left 32 dead
Mon 2016-11-21
  Turkey’s Erdogan warns NATO on sheltering ‘terrorist’ plotters
Sun 2016-11-20
  Three Pakistani Men Apprehended in U.S. at Arizona Border
Sat 2016-11-19
  Taliban shadow governor among 11 killed in North of Afghanistan
Fri 2016-11-18
  Haftar forces claim victory in Benghazi

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