From Daniel Pipes Middle East Forum:
The editors of AydÄąnlÄąk, a Turkish newspaper, asked me a number of questions about the shoot-down of the Russian plane on Nov. 24. I replied to the questions and sent in my replies on Nov. 27 but did not hear back. So, over two weeks later, I am providing them here, as I wrote them, in English.
As relations between the Turkish and American governments have worsened in recent years, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄan has sought improved relations with Russia and (to a lesser extent) China. With the shoot-down of the Russian SU-24 warplane, ErdoÄan has seemingly thrown away this option. Why?
ErdoÄan's aggressiveness has won him near total-power within Turkey, so he naturally assumes that the same methods will work on the international stage. But they do not. Although he had made some major achievements in foreign policy until about 2011, his record since then has been dismal, featuring worsened relations not only with nearly every state near Turkey but also with the great powers and even with the Turkish administration in northern Cyprus. Shooting down the Russian plane fits within this context of steady belligerence.
Do you think Turkey benefits from the shoot-down that compensates for losing Russia?
No, there are no benefits. I see only disadvantages. This incident marks a major reversal from the Turkish government's point of view.
Was it really necessary for Turkish forces to shoot down this warplane?
It was completely unnecessary. The Russian infringement was very minor, apparently lasting just 17 seconds, hardly a mortal offense between two states at peace. Also, air-space infringements take place routinely; for example, a Greek defense economist, Christos Kollias, has counted 6 infringements a day in 2014 by Turkish military aircraft â and the Greeks did not shoot a single time at them.
Perhaps relevant is that Syrian forces shot down a Turkish plane in June 2012, saying it infringed on Syria's airspace. This shooting may have been motivated in part by a desire to avenge that one.
Are the economic sanctions that Russia intends to apply on Turkey realistic?
Very realistic. Russia's President Vladimir Putin showed in the Ukraine crisis that he is willing to accept economic pain to achieve his larger purposes. Noting that Russia and Turkey are among each other's largest trading partners, Putin can certainly make life more difficult for Ankara, especially at a time when the Turkish economy has slowed down.
Will this incident hurt Russian relations with the West?
I doubt it because Russia is widely seen as the victim in this incident. Indeed, Turkey's NATO allies are concerned that, for the first time since 1952, a NATO member has shot down a Russian plane â and without due cause. They see this as irresponsible and dangerous; among other problems, it impedes cooperation with Russia in the skies of Syria. ErdoÄan has made Turkey a problem for NATO.
How would you evaluate Turkish-American relations after this incident?
The shoot-down adds yet another tension between the governments, on top of others such as Ankara's policies toward press freedom, the civil war in Syria, and mass illegal emigration to Europe.
What do you see as the long-term consequences of this incident?
The Russian and Turkish leaders' similar personalities suggests that neither of them will compromise or retreat, implying that this confrontation will have lasting repercussions. For the Turkish government, it is another major step toward economic troubles and its purportedly happy isolation.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/12/2015
13:18 ||
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#1
We should make note publicly that we will provide as much assistance to Erdogan as they provided us in 2003
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2015 13:58
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#2
There's also the possibility that whoever decided to squirt off a missile was not entirely trying to help Erdogan out.
There's all kinds of opinions out there.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/12/2015 16:11
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#3
There's also the possibility that whoever decided to squirt off a missile was not entirely trying to help Erdogan out.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2015
11:19 ||
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#1
ahhhh crap. It showed in Preview
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2015 11:21
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#2
A strong commercial. Clicking on the headline will get one there until one of the moderators with better computer skills than mine can fix whatever isn't working.
#3
The phrase "leading from behind" has got to be one of the most annoying phrases to come out of Obama's lexicon and playbook of How to be a Complete Failure as a Leader."
#4
This drum major figurehead runt
Who leads his parade with a blunt
Has got the folks beggin'
For someone like Reagan
Who's willing to follow up front.
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (WXYZ) - Dozens of faith leaders, community activists and citizens came together in Hamtramck Friday afternoon to denounce ISIS and terrorism.
They gathered in front of city hall and began the rally with a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance before speakers one by one took to the podium.
"We do not support ISIS and we do not support terrorism," Imam Abdul Mutalib of the Al-Islah Islamic Center said.
Leaders said they want to be heard loud and clear, they're American citizens who support the U.S. Constitution and religious freedom, and that they are especially proud to call Hamtramck home.
Hamtramck made history in November when voters elected the first majority-Muslim city council.
"The world is watching, as they should, because we are like no other. We are the example to other cities who’ve blocked away and made others feel unwelcome. But not here," Hamtramck resident Susan Dunn said.
"As all the years I’ve lived here, I've never sensed any negativity among my Muslim friends or non-Muslim friends," Bill Meyer said. "Terrorism is not a religion. Terrorism is not even an ideology. It’s an emotion. It's a feeling. It’s an attitude. And religion is Islam, Christianity, Judaism, those are religions," he added.
I appreciate your stand. However, I gently correct you: terrorism frequently springs from an ideology. It's not about how you feel, it's about what you believe.
"We are brothers and human beings here and this is our country, United States of America. God bless America," Saleh Aljahim of the Iman Islam Complex said.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ‐ The co-chair of the Colorado Springs chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union resigned on Friday after posting on Facebook that he would shoot Donald Trump supporters before election day.
Loring Wirbel told The Gazette the post was not meant to be taken seriously, but he acknowledged it could be seen as offensive.
"It was intended totally as a joke," he said.
To quote Daffy Duck: "Ho-ho. Ha-ha. It is to laugh. Ho-ho."
#1
...And had the worst case scenario happened - some deranged nutcase shot a Trump supporter or campaign worker - it would have been blamed on 'Trump's incendiary rhetoric'....
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/12/2015 9:12
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RIVERSIDE, Calif. ‐ The regulars did not take it seriously when Enrique Marquez mused about terrorism at Morgan's Tavern, a dank dive bar.
"He would say stuff like: 'There's so much going on. There's so many sleeper cells, so many people just waiting. When it happens, it's going to be big. Watch,'" said Nick Rodriguez, a frequent patron who had known Marquez on and off for the past two years.
While Marquez initially checked himself into a mental-health facility after the Dec. 2 massacre in San Bernardino, he has been speaking for hours with federal investigators after waiving his right to remain silent and not incriminate himself, officials say.
Good.
Marquez's role is particularly concerning because counterterrorism officials believe that he represents a strand of impressionable people at life's margins with no obvious connections or sympathies with terrorist groups, who can be goaded or enticed toward violence.
As investigators burrow into Marquez's life, they now suspect that Farook and Malik were in the final planning stages of an assault on a location or building, perhaps a nearby school or college, that held many more people than the Inland Regional Center. as many on the 'Burg have already speculated.
Last year, Marquez married the Russian sister of Raheel Farook's wife. He later told a friend and people at Morgan's Tavern that it was a sham marriage for immigration purposes. Bar patrons said he told them he had been paid $5,000 or $10,000 to marry Gigliotti's sister, Mariya Chernykh.
Marquez occasionally talked about Islam. Sometimes he came directly from mosque to the bar, Rodriguez said, adding that this did not deter him from drinking, even though Islam forbids alcohol. Idiocracy 2.0
Scandal: The administration says there just wasn't enough time to send military help for the four Americans murdered by terrorists in the Benghazi attacks. Newly released emails show that's another lie.
Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta swore during congressional testimony in 2013 that "without an adequate warning, there was not enough time given the speed of the attack for armed military assets to respond" to Benghazi.
Killed by terrorists in the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks were U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith, and CIA contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
In a televised interview, also in 2013, Panetta, who served as the Obama defense secretary for nearly two years, said "you cannot just simply call and expect within two minutes to have a team in place. It takes time."
So the administration's official line has been that no help was sent because events happened too quickly.
But the facts are catching up with the story. Emails released this week by Judicial Watch show that a Defense official offered armed intervention that could in the official's opinion have provided help. "We have identified the forces that could move to Benghazi," chief of staff Jeremy Bash said in an email sent to State Department leadership. "They are spinning up as we speak."
We don't know what those "forces" were because the reference has been redacted. But they likely didn't need to have the strength of an invading army.
It wouldn't have taken much to instill terror in the terrorists. As noted by Judicial Watch, which obtained the emails through a Freedom of Information lawsuit, State Department Mission Deputy Chief Gregory Hicks has said under oath that even scrambling "a fighter or aircraft or two over Benghazi as quickly as possible after the attack commenced" would have prevented the mortar attack on the State Department annex and caused the Libyans to " split."
"They would have been scared to death that we would have gotten a laser on them and killed them," Hicks said.
But military support would have drawn attention to the administration's failed Middle East policies. And it couldn't afford that in an election year.
So, it appears a White House decision was made to let the violence play out without intervention, then make up a lie that the attacks weren't terrorism but merely a protest over an anti-Islamic video that just got out of hand.
It was a tale that Hillary Clinton was most certainly involved in concocting. Was she also involved in turning down the offer of military support?
The White House has repeatedly denied a stand-down order given to the military response to Benghazi. But as the Bash email confirms, support clearly was offered -- yet never arrived. Did someone in the administration turn it down, or was it utterly ignored? Nah. She probably didn't get the 03:00 email because she was sleeping. Besides, she thinks the military is for losers.
Either way, the White House and the Democrats' leading presidential candidate look bad. It was Secretary of State Clinton's war, so she owns Libya and every disaster related to it.
#2
For starters, someone needs to ask former Congressman Mike Rogers (R), (former head of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence) some pointed questions.
Perhaps one could begin by taking a look at the U.S. State Dept's no bid Benghazi facility security contract with UK's Blue Mountain Group. I doubt any digging will be done however, dirt on both sides the isle so to speak. In the end, Pub or Dem, it's a beltway fraternity.
#7
Now Hillary is basically accusing the family members of lying when they relate that she told them it all about an internet video. F&*king lying bitch
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2015 12:17
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* Temporary consulate with security arrangements any 'sane' government official would have questioned, given the conditions on the ground.
*Repeated refusals to upgrade security by the Foggy Bottom Home for Questionable Ethics.
* FSO who was playing "Klingon" with the Islamist anti-Qadaffi forces prior to his appointment as ambassador to Libya.
* An annex facility larger than the consulate itself.
* Significant message traffic from the temporary consulate indicating reconnaissance prior to and the day of the attack.
* Unexplained pull-back from the area by local police.
*Initial refusal to respond by OIC of the annex.
* Lack of proactivity by the US Embassy in Tripoli.
One might think that everything was intended to be expendable from the start.
#9
Do not forget that the admitted reason that the Ambassador was there was top meet with the Turkish Ambassador for a private meeting. Since it seems likely they were talking about the arms flow from Libya via the CIA Annex to Turkey surrogates and then to the Syrian rebels, and since the mortar attack had a skilled registration on the annex almost immediately when it commenced, does the dual attack bear any connection to Russian/Iranian surrogates to make a point about stopping that arms flow? So many messy questions.....
The answers are likely based on four possibles, all of which could be linked together or considered discrete missions:
1. Coordinating the flow of arms to approved recipients.
2. Restricting the flow of arms (i.e., no MANPADS)
3. Stopping the flow of arms.
4. Monitoring/tracing the flow of arms.
My list of possibles from back then included, in no particular order:
Egypt (Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood regime)
Iran and surrogates
Russia
Turkey
Hamas
One of two possible Arab-peninsula countries
An un-named nation with ties to the US
Libya's then-rump government
For reasons:
1. Stopping the out-flow of weaponry
2. Resuming the out-flow of weaponry
3. Disrupting and removing a US IC presence in Benghazi
#11
My guess is that they felt it would be over before the military support got there and wrote it off rather than risk incursions into foreign airspace. Then those two CIA guys showed up and held them off the jihadi hour after hour buying the necessary time, exposing the whole thing.
[Ynet] Overnight, Shin Bet and IDF forces placed in durance vile Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! 37-year-old Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, member who carried out vehicular attack against 4 soldiers.
Overnight Thursday, the IDF's elite Duvdevan unit and the Shin Bet arrested the terrorist who carried out the vehicular attack near Beit Aryeh, wounding four soldiers.
Muhammad Abdel Halim Abdel Alhamid Salem, 37, from the village of Al-Lubban al-Gharbi, was arrested and identified as being a member of Hamas.
After ramming into four IDF soldiers, Salem expeditiously departed at a goodly pace. He then abandoned the vehicle he used and returned to his village, where Israeli security forces arrested him. The arrest, carried out by Duvdevan forces, was made with no resistance.
Of the soldiers hospitalized in Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, two remain in moderate condition and one is in light condition. The fourth soldier was released from the hospital.
In 2001, Salem was placed in administrative detention for six months, but in recent years he was not involved in any security offenses.
During his initial interrogation by the Shin Bet Salem admitted that he committed the attack after being influenced by Paleostinian incitement in the media regarding the situation in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount and the 'murder of Paleostinian children'.
An initial report indicated that the vehicle had approached a group of soldiers from the Kedem battalion who were busy conducting routine security operations along the route, before ramming the soldiers and their vehicle, wounding all four.
According to police, a black Isuzu vehicle rammed into the four between the Paleostinian village of Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya and the Israeli settlement of Beit Aryeh-Ofarim.
The car was later found abandoned in the village of Rantis.
A search of the vehicle turned up an M16 rifle and a stun grenade and it is possible that a bigger attack was prevented. It was later learned that the rifle belonged to one of the soldiers and that the force of the vehicular attack made the rifle fly into the terrorist's car.
[IsraelTimes] Three border coppers injured during protests, after Paleostinian driver's attempted car-ramming of IDF soldiers
Two Paleostinians were reported killed Friday afternoon as festivities erupted in the West Bank and the Gazoo Strip following weekly prayers. One man was killed during violent protests north of Hebron, according to Paleostinian media. Meanwhile officials in the Gazoo Strip said a second man was killed by Israeli troops in a clash along the security fence.
Media reports identified the Hebron man as 21-year-old Oday Irsheid, the brother of a 17-year-old Paleostinian girl who was killed in October after security officials said she pulled a knife at troops in Hebron. Paleostinian witnesses have claimed she was unarmed and was shot without provocation.
Of course they did, but how could they possibly know?
The army said Irsheid died during a riot in which hundreds of Paleostinians attacked forces by hurling stones and Molotov cocktails and rolling burning tires toward troops. The military said forces tried to disperse the riot with nonlethal means before firing "towards inciting characters."
"I say to all the people, don't cry," Jihad Irsheid told local media after identifying his son's body. "Pray, fast, and instead of crying, cry over our situation. The martyr is with God."
Or not, as the evidence suggests Allah is not pleased with these activities. After all, the proof of Allah's approval is that victorious conquest is the result.
In the Gazoo Strip dozens of rioters participated in several violent demonstrations along the security fence, hurling rocks at Israeli troops and burning tires. IDF forces were responding with non-lethal means, and in several cases shot at what they called central instigators. Gazoo officials said one man was killed after being shot in the chest.
In Beitunia near Ramallah, three border coppers were lightly injured while responding to a riot. Two were treated at the scene, while one was evacuated to hospital for treatment.
The festivities follow an attempted car-ramming of IDF soldiers at the Halhul Junction earlier Friday, during which the troops shot and killed the Paleostinian driver. The assailant was identified as Issa Haroub, 55, a resident of a village outside Hebron.
Soldiers opened fire on Haroub's vehicle as it sped toward them at a checkpoint at Halhul Junction, which lies just north of Hebron. The army confirmed the driver was killed by the soldiers' fire. A large knife was found on his body. No Israelis were hurt in the incident.
The incident marked the second Paleostinian attack in as many hours.
Earlier Friday, a Paleostinian opened fire on the Gilboa crossing between Israel and the northern West Bank, near Jenin. No Israelis were hurt in that attack either.
According to a Defense Ministry statement, the Paleostinian assailant opened fire from several dozen yards away. A guard identified the assailant and returned fire, apparently wounding him. A Paleostinian commercial vehicle then sped up to the shooter, who got in and escaped.
Security forces launched a manhunt for the attacker, who was believed to have come from around the nearby Paleostinian city of Jenin.
According to Channel 10, Paleostinian Authority police may have tossed in the calaboose Book 'im, Mahmoud! the shooter while he expeditiously departed at a goodly pace. A conflicting Paleostinian report suggested IDF forces may be searching for the assailant in Jenin.
[Tolo News] President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. strongly rejected rumors on Friday that the National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) chief Rahmatullah Nabil was sacked at Pakistain's request.
Instead, Ghani said his resignation was routine.
Following speculation over Nabil's resignation, Ghani said those who believe that either the president of Afghanistan or the national security council would dismiss government officials at the request of others should be prepared for a hundred-year war.
"If someone believes that the president, security council or member of the government dismisses an official at the request of others should be prepared for a hundred-year war, because this is national treason, no foreign country will be allowed to meddle in appointments within the government of Afghanistan" he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2015
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[Tolo News] A powerful kaboom rocked Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... city shortly before 6pm on Friday close to the Spanish Embassy.
Early reports indicate a boom-mobileexploded in Sherpor area.
Exact details of the target have not been divulged but Senior Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Gen. Salangi said late Friday night that two jacket wallahs have been killed and one other maimed.
He also said clearing operations are underway.
No details have been given regarding casualties but according to eye witness accounts a number of people have been taken to hospital.
Sporadic gunfire was also reported in the immediate area in the hours that followed the initial blast - including smaller kabooms thought to have been grendades.
Officials said earlier that faceless myrmidons had entered a building close to the embassy and were fighting security forces.
The Ministry of Interior's front man Sediq Sediqqi confirmed that a blast had occurred but did not give details.
Security forces have cordoned off the area.
The Taliban has meanwhile grabbed credit for the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2015
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#1
But, but the Spanish people voted against fighting terrorism after terrorists bombed their trains. Don't terrorists realize Spaniards already surrendered to terrorism? You don't have to terrorize Spaniards, just tell them what you want and they will comply.
[RFE/RL] Two wanted extremists suspected in the murder of a police officer were gunned down by security troops in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital. Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security said that the two suspects, allegedly members of the Jaishul Mahdi Islamic group, were killed in a special operation overnight.
The two men were suspected of involvement in the slaying of a police officer in Bishkek last month.
The Yemeni army and the Popular Committees managed on Thursday to drown the seventh warship that belongs to the Saudi-led military coalition off Al-Mokha' coast in Al-Hadida province west of Yemen.
The national army fired a missile that directly hit the warship and killed its 3-men crew on board.
A military source told Al-Massira website that the Yemeni Missile Unit targeted the Faissali landing warship during its participation in combat attacks off the coast of Yemen in Mokha by a guided missile, which set it ablaze and killed all its military crew.
It is noteworthy that the army and the Popular Committees have targeted five warships off the coast of Mokha and Bab al-Mandab since the beginning of the Saudi-US aggression in March 25, and have destroyed the sixth less than a week ago.
BAIDOA, Somalia -- Al Shabaab gunmen have ambushed Somali National Army (SNA) convoy in Bay region of southwestern Somalia on Thursday, Garowe Online reports.
Initial reports disclose that at least three government soldiers died in the assault occurred in a village near Bay regional district of Diinsoor, Loon. Al Shabaab attackers encountered an overwhelming repulse from army soldiers, witnesses said.
Some sources added that militants seized AK-47 rifles in the raid.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/12/2015
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The Swiss public broadcaster RTS is reporting that two men of Syrian origin have been arrested in Geneva with traces of explosives found in their vehicle.
RTS says that it was not clear whether the two men had any connection with the four suspects with alleged ties to the extremist Islamic State group that Geneva authorities have been hunting in the region. The report, which did not cite a source, said police declined to indicate where the vehicle was stopped.
Geneva security department spokeswoman Emmanuelle Lo Verso declined to comment on the RTS report, deferring to judicial officials handling an investigation. A spokesman for the city prosecutor's office did not immediately respond to calls and a text seeking comment.
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[DAWN] Maulana Abdul Aziz ...nutball holy man who runs the Lal Masjid in the heart of Pakistain's capital. After instigating a rebellion against the state in 2007, he was caught trying to sneak away dressed in a burka. He rejects democracy as un-Islamic, which it probably is... , former khateeb of the Lal Masjid ...literally the Red Mosque, located in Islamabad and frequented by all sorts of high govt officials. The proprietors, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, unleashed their Islamic storm troopers on the city, shutting down whorehouses and beating people up who weren't devout enough. The Musharraf govt put an end to the nonsense by besieging the place. Abdul Aziz Ghazi was nabbed while he was trying to escape dressed up like a girl. BBC reported that the corpse count at 173, but other claims, usually hysterical, say there were up to 1000 titzup. Among their number was Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Everyone then said tut-tut and what a nice guy he had been... , has made no secret of his vision regarding the complete enforcement of Sharia in the country.
After failing to whip up a popular movement that would demand the imposition of Sharia law, the holy man turned to the Supreme Court on Thursday, submitting a petition asking the government to furnish reports listing the steps taken in this regard.
Maulana Aziz, who has a penchant for stirring up controversy, had also made an impassioned appeal before a Supreme Court bench headed by then-Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on March 27, 2012, asking him to invoke suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... jurisdiction and order parliament to enforce Sharia and shun English law.
"Otherwise, Allah Almighty will initiate a suo motu," Maulana Aziz had cautioned the court when he appeared before it during the hearing of petitions moved against the alleged extra-judicial killings of innocent people in the wake of the Lal Masjid operation in 2007.
The latest petition asks the top court to order the federal and provincial governments to take steps under the constitution that will enable Muslims to live in accordance with the teachings and the requirements of Islam, as set out in the Holy Koran and Sunnah.
The petition names President Mamnoon Hussain, the four governors, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the federal government and the chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), as respondents.
The petition also asked the court to direct the president and the four governors to order that reports on the observance of Sharia be placed before the national and provincial assemblies, and that provisions be made in the rules of these legislatures to provide for discussion on such reports.
The petition also sought directions for the CII to make recommendations to parliament for adopting laws that would enable and encourage Muslims to bring their lives, individually as well as collectively, in accordance with the principles and concepts of Islam.
The petition contended that the court should direct respondents to take proper steps under Article 31(1, 2a and b) of the Constitution to make the teachings of the Holy Koran and Islamiat compulsory; enable and facilitate the learning of Arabic language; ensure the correct and exact printing and publication of the Holy Koran and promote unity and the observance of the Islamic moral standards in the country.
The petition also seek a declaration for the provision of free and compulsory education to all children aged five to sixteen, as well directions to obey Article 5 of the constitution and the their oath that asks for strive to preserve Islamic Ideology, which is the basis of the creation of Pakistain.
Maulana Abdul Aziz is not the official khabteeb of Lal Masjid, despite having been associated with the mosque for many years now. The title of khateeb was withdrawn by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration in 2004.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I'm almost looking forward to the nuclear incineration of this shithole.
Almost
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2015 11:28
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Frank, the hard part would be knowing when to stop......but the nuclear winter should shut up the warmies.
The U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS militants in Iraq and Syria has killed the group’s finance minister and two other senior leaders in air strikes in recent weeks, a U.S. military spokesman said on Thursday.
Army Colonel Steve Warren told a Pentagon briefing coalition strikes had killed Abu Salah, ISIS’ financial minister, in late November.
“He was one of the most senior and experienced members of ISIL’s financial network and he was a legacy Al Qaeda member,” Warren said.
Warren said Salah was the third member of the finance network who had been killed in as many months.
“Killing him and his predecessors exhausts the knowledge and talent needed to coordinate funding within the organization,” Warren added.
According to a Brooking Institute report, Abu Salah’s real name is Muafaq Mustafa Mohammed al- Karmoush.
Warren said a senior leader responsible for coordinating the group’s extortion activities and another leader who acted as an executive officer had also been killed.
ISIS, which the United States calls the wealthiest militant group of its kind in history, has a number of revenue streams.
More at the link
Posted by: badanov ||
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#1
“Killing him and his predecessors exhausts the knowledge and talent needed to coordinate funding within the organization,” Warren added.
As in the last massacre, the left most helpfully has been pushing the public mind to accept gun confiscation as a goal they have had all along. I never really looked upon it as such, but Rantburger Silentbrick characterized it as a call for slavery. My only beef is that compared with the way things should be under a constitutional republic, we are all already slaves; it is now a matter of degree of how much more the government and their enablers can take. Right now, it is just money and civil rights, but the direction they are going suggests guns and blood are what they are after.
The main reason for referencing the discussion is this gem from a commenter:
The greatest paradigm shift required is a willingness to allow commanders to actually command an action from the air. All too often company commanders are forced to develop situational awareness solely through situation reports submitted by subordinate units. Fire force commanders could talk to, as well as see, their troops. Consequently, they were able to achieve the tempo necessary to outmaneuver and defeat an elusive enemy similar to the type Marines faced during Operation RESTORE HOPE. We would be remiss if we failed to study the modern conflict of the Rhodesian War and ignored the lessons learned.
Read the entire comment. It is a summary of an article on how Rhodesian light infantry dealt with a hostile guerrilla movement through the use of light infantry tactics. Capture the links as well. They have a number of good resources both on the history of light infantry and some data on tactics.
This matters because at Sipsey Street Irregulars there was a reference to a gun shop that was shut down because of violations of ATF rules. What the ATF did was to take information from the FFL and give it to the New York State Police, so that they could check those lists against lists of ARs that are required to be registered under the SAFE Act. The Form 4473 from which this data was collected is supposed to be destroyed within 24 hours after the background check is complete, but ATF rules, as I understand it, require FFLs to post the data to a separate book so that ATF agents can see them. Apparently no rule exists that disallows the ATF from passing that information to local authorities, but I seriously doubt that the rule that requires destruction of the form 4473 was intended to be used to allow that information to be passed on in any other form.
As that matter stands now, about 200 firearms owners in New York have been contacted and told to turn in their firearms (ARs) so federal prosecutors can use them as evidence. The notification that went to the owners did not say whether the owners would get their guns back, but I suspect that any transfer would require another background check. Maybe through a friendlier FFL.
Mike Vanderboegh said that this could be the spark that sets off a civil war, but I doubt it. A conflict will only arise if those gun owners refuse to turn over their guns.
Loads.
Rantburg's summary for arms and ammunition:
Prices for pistol ammunition and rifle ammunition were mixed.
Prices for .223 55 grain ammunition jumped 10 percent higher from last week, much the same prices did last year at this time. Because of all the gun/AR-banning talk coming out of Washington and their media enablers, it is hard to tell if the jump is seasonal (due to Christmas) or because of fears of a frisky federal government. Time will tell if prices continue to hold throughout the year as they did last time banning M-855 ammunition was being considered. If prices drop after Christmas, then I can speculate that the jump will be seasonal.
Also consider this note from last week (quoting): Note, also that the price for .223 55 grain ammunition is the lowest it has been since last year at $0.21 per round.
Prices for used pistols and for used rifles were mixed.
New Lows:
None
Pistol Ammunition
.45 Caliber, 230 Grain, From Last Week: -.02 Each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Quality Made Cartridges, Store Brand, FMJ, Brass, Reloads, .25 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Blok Tactical, Store Brand, TMJ, Reloads, .24 per round (From Last week: Unchanged (2 Weeks))
.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 Grain, +.02 Each After Unchanged (8 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Freedom Munitions, Store Brand, RNFP, Brass, Factory Seconds, .24 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Ammunition Planet, Store Brand, FMJ, Brass, Reloads; .21 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks))
9mm Parabellum, 115 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Cased, .17 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt!, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Cased, .16 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (3Q, 2015))
.357 Magnum, 158 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel cased, .28 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 1,000 rounds: J&G Sales, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel cased, .25 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks))
Rifle Ammunition
.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 Grain, From Last Week: +.02 Each
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt, Tulammo, steel cased, FMJ, .23 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt, Tulammo, steel cased, FMJ, .22 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks))
.308 NATO 150 Grain, From Last Week: -.01 Each After Unchanged (7 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammunition Supply Company, Tulammo, steel cased, FMJ, .37 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: J&G Sales, Tulammo, steel cased, FMJ, .34 per round (From Last Week: -.10 Each (!))
7.62x39 AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammunition Depot, Wolf WPA, steel case, FMJ, .24 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: TrueCaliber.com, Wolf WPA, steel case, .23 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks))
.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds (10 Box Limit): Ammomen, Federal Gold Medal, RNL .08 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds (5 Box Limit): Target Sports USA, Aguila, RNL, .08 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks))
Used Gun of the Week: (California) DPMS Chambered in .223 Remington
Chris Covert writes for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter
#1
I agree that in a sense we are already slaves, but at this point we still have the ability and means to flip the apple cart and burn it to the ground. We have not reached the point yet were it is the only option left to us besides a literal collar. I still have some slim hope that we can chart a new course without going to the ammo box instead of the ballot box.
#2
As that matter stands now, about 200 firearms owners in New York have been contacted and told to turn in their firearms (ARs) so federal prosecutors can use them as evidence. The notification that went to the owners did not say whether the owners would get their guns back, but I suspect that any transfer would require another background check. Maybe through a friendlier FFL.
I have not heard of reports of resistance to the AR return request. Are owners complying? Doubtful they will ever see their AR again.
#6
A coda, as it were:
I’ll add in a few things, to the readers, based on comments from the True Light Infantry post. First things first, I think a lot of folks missed the larger message. It was in part very much a critique of the current state of affairs in the US Infantry, but also a different viewpoint that seems to never get attention- the fact that most of you are not soldiers, and that groups of people who are not soldiers have been beating professional soldiers for a good while now. Second, the nation of today will not be the nation of tomorrow. The regional political landscape ten years from now very well could look completely different, and new nations may very well form as a result of balkanization. That’s not for me to say, but it surely is in the realm of possibility. Regional armies will arise as a result, and many of the challenges the Rhodesians faced will also face the breakaway states. They performed admirably given limited resources and a world who turned their backs on them. Your job is to learn absolutely everything you can now and make yourself and those close to you the absolute best at whatever it is they have to offer.
ALEPPO – Russian fighter jets targeted on Friday rebel-held areas in the northern countryside of Syria’s Aleppo, causing casualties among civilians, eyewitnesses and military sources reported. One of the Russian strikes hit a primary school in the town of Kafr Zeta north of Aleppo. At least four children were killed in the strike.
Any secondary explosions?
“Rescue teams have pulled dead bodies of four victims from the rubble, while several others were transferred to a field hospital in Kafr Zeta after being hardly injured in the raid,” civil rights activist Alwan al-Halabi told ARA News.
The Russian warplanes have also bombed the rebel-held village of al-Younissiyah in the northern countryside of Aleppo, where at least two people were killed and five more wounded. This coincided with an airstrike by the Syrian air force in the town of Latmaniyah, where rebel fighters of the Army of Conquest are stationed.
Speaking to ARA News in Aleppo, spokesman of the Army of Conquest Muhammad al-Nasser said: “Those airstrikes come after our units pounded strongholds of pro-Assad troops near Hama.”
Friday’s strikes caused a mass displacement among civilians, who escaped their homes heading to nearby villages and towns in Aleppo countryside.
#4
We Franks attend school of a Sunday,
Which makes for a mores-or-less fun day.
The Prophet's adherents
Are practicing clearance
And cleaning their pieces on gun day.
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The leader of Albu Nimir tribe in Anbar province, Naeem al-Kawood, announced Thursday lifting the siege on six people that were held by ISIS as captives north of Bruwana in the district of Haditha.
Kawood said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “Today, a force from the fighters of Albu Nimir tribe had carried out a tactical operation in which the tribal fighters had managed to lift the siege on six people that were held by ISIS in the area of Abu Dlaya (45 km north of Bruwana) belonging to the district of Haditha (160 km west of Ramadi).”
The statement added, “The tribal fighters of Albu Nimir clan were able to destroy a bulldozer and a truck for ISIS in the same area during the operation,” pointing out that, “The force managed to secure the arrival of people to the area of Bruwana in Haditha District.”
Posted by: badanov ||
12/12/2015
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Worth the read (and the look) if you can take the grease... Just a sample... [IMAGES.DAWN] Is there any grub as deliciously medieval as a burger? It is, after all, a hunk of cooked meat, caught between two slabs of bread, and held together by a splatter of sauces and some greens. Made well, it has the potential to gratify the brain with a slow seduction of the taste buds. Prepared poorly though, and it feels like a bare-knuckled blow from a morning star.
Pakistan’s love affair with the burger has been interesting to observe. Visiting the country as a teenager over twenty years ago, I found street food dominated by the usual desi fare such as kebab rolls, bun kebabs, biryani, chaat, and the like, yet few eateries aside from the legendary Mr. Burger and a handful of other restaurants offered a good burger. In fact, Pakistanis at this time developed an aversion to the western meal.
#2
"The sauce is so heavy, in fact, that the burger usually crumbles half-way through, leaving my face left looking like that of a performer in a Japanese fetish video."
nice
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2015 12:10
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LAHORE: Five alleged terrorists belonging to the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed in an encounter with the police’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in Nankana Sahib on Friday night.
According to officials, the CTD was told by an informer that seven or eight members of the groups were in Faizabad town and were planning to attack law enforcement agencies’ personnel to avenge police action against terrorist organisations.
A team surrounded the village where the men were hiding. When the suspects came on the road, the personnel ordered them to surrender but they opened fire.
After crossfire, the five suspected terrorists were found dead, while the others escaped.
Police found explosives, Primacord, Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol and some documents at the scene.
A police official claimed that documentary evidence about a big terrorist plot had been unearthed.
According to sources, the dead suspects included Awais Asif of Rahimyar Khan, who was wanted in several cases of targeted killing in south Punjab and bomb explosions in his town. He was said to be a hit man associated with Malik Ishaq, the slain LeJ chief.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz told the National Assembly on Friday that talks with India on all issues including Kashmir, Siachan, Sir Creek, easing tension on borders and other matters will start next month for normalisation of relations.
While giving a policy statement, he said foreign secretaries of both Pakistan and India would meet next month to set priorities. Opinion from house committees will be solicited and their guidance will also be sought in this regard, Sartaj Aziz remarked.
Meanwhile, the decision to hold India-Pakistan comprehensive dialogue following Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's meetings during visit here this week has been largely welcomed by the media and analysts, though certain politicians and former diplomats believe the joint statement issued after these meetings tilted towards India.
Opposition in the National Assembly, in particular Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf of Imran Khan and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam's Maulana Fazlur Rehman demanded that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should brief the assembly about what transpired during talks with the Indian delegation and in the Heart of Asia conference.
Former senior diplomat Shamshad Ahmed who had authored the agenda of composite dialogue in 1998, acknowledged that resumption of talks was a happy development. However, he expression apprehensions over the expression "Comprehensive bilateral dialogue" used in the joint statement. "I believe this is a clear device introduced by India to exclude the Kashmiri representation in the process," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/12/2015
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The Saudi-led coalition forces have captured a Yemeni Red Sea archipelago used by Houthis for storing and smuggling weapons into Yemen, the Saudi-led alliance and local fishermen said on Thursday.
The coalition said its forces “cleansed Greater Hanish”, the biggest island in the archipelago in the Red Sea’s main shipping lanes, Saudi state television said. The islands, it said, were used by the Houthis to store weapons and smuggle them into Hodeida, Yemen’s main Red Sea port.
Fishermen told Reuters by telephone that the islands had been subjected to weeks of heavy shelling by Arab forces before they were seized.
The archipelago was the subject of a territorial dispute between Yemen and Eritrea, which seized the archipelago in the 1990s, until a London-based international arbitration court granted Yemen sovereignty in 1998.
Perhaps the U.S. could seize them and build a base. Might be useful. Make it sovereign American territory and follow the Trump rule: no foreigners.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/12/2015
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Amnesty International said Friday that a Saudi-led coalition had bombed schools in Yemen, violating international humanitarian law and denying access to education for thousands of Yemeni children.
The London-based rights group called on "all states who supply arms to the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, including the USA and UK, to suspend all transfers of weapons which are being used to commit violations of international law".
Yemen has been since March 26 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led coalition.
Thousands have been martyred and injured in the attack, with the vast majority of them are civilians.Yemeni schools targeted by Saudi aggression
Riyadh launched the attack on Yemen in a bid to restore power to fugitive Hadi who is a close ally to Saudi Arabia.
The Rights watchdogs have accused the coalition of breaking the laws of war and killing civilians.
In a report titled "Our kids are bombed", Amnesty said it investigated five air strikes on schools between August and October, killing five civilians and injuring at least 14, including four children.
"In some cases the schools were struck more than once, suggesting the schools were deliberately targeted," the group said.
It added that students were not inside the schools during the attacks, but the strikes caused serious damage that has disrupted the education of more than 6,500 children in Hajja, Hodeida and Sanaa provinces.
"No evidence could be found in any of the five cases to suggest the schools had been used for military purposes," it added.
Lama Fakih, senior crisis advisor at Amnesty, said: "Schools are central to civilian life, they are meant to offer a safe space for children.
"It is simply appalling that the USA and other allies of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition have continued to authorize arms transfers to members of the coalition," she said.
In November, Washington approved a $1.29-billion deal to replenish the Saudi air force's arsenal.
The order included 6,300 Paveway II and Paveway III laser-guided bombs, 12,000 general purpose bombs weighing and 1,500 devastating "bunker busters" designed to smash hardened concrete structures.
The United Nations says more than 5,700 people have been killed in Yemen, since March. More than 25,000 have been wounded.
[ARABNEWS] Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh has commended the nation's soldiers for not only guarding the Saudi borders but also protecting the Islamic religion.
"The soldiers positioned at the Saudi borders are protecting religion, the country and the Ummah and fighting for the sake of Allah," Al-Asheikh said.
The grand mufti made the statement during a campaign organized by King Saud Medical City (KSMC) recently to donate blood for the soldiers.
The campaign was in cooperation with the General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Ulema (Scholars) under the slogan "The valiant soldiers, we are all with you."
Al-Asheikh, also the head of the Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Issuing Fatwas, advised the troops "to fear Allah because you're a Mujahideen fighting on Allah's behalf."
For his part, Sheikh Dr. Abdullah Al-Mutlaq, adviser at the Royal Court and member of the High Council of Ulema, told the soldiers, "You, at the border areas, are better than the world we live in now."
On the other hand, Dr. Fahd Al-Majid, secretary general of the Council of Ulema, lauded the efforts of KSMC got organizing the blood donation drive.
"This blood donation campaign has two messages. One is for the whole country and its citizens regarding the importance of blood donation," he said. Dr. Al-Majid added that the other is "for the soldiers to know and understand that we are totally in support of them," adding that the blood donation drive has generated a lot of interest.
Dr. Haitham Al-Falah, KSMC executive director, added that the campaign "comes as a matter of national duty since it's for soldiers who care for our comfort and protection."
He thanked the General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Ulema for their participation in the campaign.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAWN] SURVIVAL is the most fundamental directive hard-wired into the DNA of every species. So what makes young men -- and, increasingly, young women -- become jacket wallahs?
Clearly, it takes very powerful conditioning to overcome this Darwinian imperative that is reinforced by all major religions as well as by human laws. A desire for Dire Revenge is a strong motivation, as is hatred. A sense of personal and national humiliation can drive some to lash out in a suicidal rage.
A combination of these factors has been used by cynical people to indoctrinate others to lay down their lives. Perhaps Samson was the first historical figure to kill himself while bringing down the temple on the heads of his tormentors.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
SURVIVAL is the most fundamental directive hard-wired into the DNA of every species
Not personal but genetic. Shahids are like soldier ants.
[ARABNEWS] Catholics should not try to convert Jews and should work with them to fight anti-Semitism, the Vatican said in a new document that drew the Church further away from the strained relations of the past.
Christianity and Judaism are intertwined and God never annulled his covenant with the Jewish people, said the document from the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations with Jews.
"The Church is therefore obliged to view evangelization to Jews, who believe in the one God, in a different manner from that to people of other religions and world views," it said.
It also said Catholics should be particularly sensitive to the significance to Jews of the Shoah, the Hebrew word for the Holocaust, and pledged "to do all that is possible with our Jewish friends to repel anti-Semitic tendencies."
"A Christian can never be an anti-Semite, especially because of the Jewish roots of Christianity," it said.
The document coincided with the 50th anniversary of a revolutionary Vatican statement that repudiated the concept of collective Jewish guilt for Jesus' death and launched a theological dialogue that traditionalists have rejected.
They feel there should be a so-called "Jewish mission" to convert Jews, a senior Vatican official said.
"In concrete terms this means that the Catholic Church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed toward Jews," said the document, adding that there was a "principled rejection of an institutional Jewish mission."
A Vatican expert in Catholic-Jewish dialogue said it was the first time a repudiation of active conversion of Jews had been so clearly stated in a Vatican document.
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Daesh has claimed responsibility for triple suicide bombings in northern Syria that killed at least 26 people. The group said in a statement posted online that the attacks in the predominantly Kurdish province of Hassakeh targeted offices of the main Kurdish militia known as YPG. Three of its fighters driving three separate vehicles had detonated the suicide bombs targeting "bases" belonging to Kurdish fighters.
The attacks in the predominantly Christian town of Tal Tamr occurred late Thursday. Syrian State TV and Daesh said on Friday the blasts killed 60 people while the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they killed 26, including four Assyrian Christians. Dozens of people were also wounded in the blasts.
Earlier, a triple truck bomb attack claimed by Daesh in northeastern Syria killed at least 50 people and wounded 80 others, a spokesman for the Kurdish militia that controls the area said on Friday. The town in the northeastern province of Hasaka is controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia, which has been battling Daesh with the support of US-led air strikes.
The three blasts, carried out by at least two suicide bombers, struck outside a hospital, at a marketplace and in a residential area in the town of Tel Tamer late on Thursday, the YPG's Redur Xelil said via an internet messaging service.
"There is massive destruction in the town and the number killed is between 50 and 60, all of them civilians," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/12/2015
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GENEVA – The United Nations in Syria and its partners have evacuated more than 300 fighters along with their families from the last rebel-held neighbourhood of the western city of Homs, as part of a local truce the UN Special Envoy for Syria has described as having “great value” toward demonstrating that a nationwide ceasefire is “doable.”
The Special Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, said “the UN’s clear goal is to reach, as soon as possible, a nationwide ceasefire,” Deputy UN Spokesperson Farhan Haq told the regular press briefing at UN Headquarters on Friday.
Meanwhile, “initiatives like this one bring relief to besieged or isolated communities and have great value,” Mr. Haq quoted the envoy as saying. “They help the perception that a nationwide ceasefire brokered by the members of the International Syria Support Group is doable and that the UN can and will do its part.” Technical preparatory talks for the next International Syria Support Group meeting are taking place today in Geneva, Switzerland.
The evacuation operation from Homs was carried out on Wednesday when a UN team and its partners moved about 700 people, including 30 wounded, from the Al Waer neighbourhood and transferred to Idlib governorate, as stipulated in a local ceasefire agreement.
The spokesperson said the evacuation, in addition to the previous entry of humanitarian assistance on 5 December, made a significant change in the lives of more than 60,000 people with limited access to such assistance living inside Al Waer and the wider geographic area of Homs, one of the most heavily damaged cities in the Syrian war that erupted in 2011.
[Tolo News] Afghanistan's Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... 's second deputy Mohammad Mohaqiq on Friday warned of more violence in the country during the coming year, calling on the people to be prepared for what he believes will be a lengthy war.
He called on the people to think about their contribution over maintaining security and defending the country against threats in different regions.
"We are committed to the peace negotiations and determined to take firm steps in this regard and do not chant war slogans, but this issue must be remembered that still our country is facing major crisis and turmoil, we will likely face more violence and major wars during the spring," he said.
Speaking at a gathering commemorating the anniversary of the death of Prophet Mohammad, Mohaqiq warned that violence will likely to see an upsurge in spring, calling on the people to cooperate with the government to maintain security.
"My request for the entire people of Afghanistan is to be prepared for a long term war," he added.
The remarks come hours before President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. said peace talks with the Taliban will likely start within the next few weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Four women suspected of being members of Al-Shabaab could face new terror related charges. The Director of Public Prosecutions made the application in a Mombasa court on Wednesday evening a few hours after the High Court declined to revise or cancel the Sh500,000 bond imposed on Ms Ummulkheir Sadri Abdalla, Ms Khadija Abubakar Abdulkadir, Ms Maryam Said Aboud and Ms Halima Adan.
The four appeared before Chief Magistrate Julius Nange’a for a plea that was deferred.
Defence lawyer Chacha Mwita questioned why the women were taken to court late in the evening yet the prosecution had time to file the case during the day.
Prosecution Counsel Lydia Kagori said the plea was a matter of urgency.
The magistrate directed that the women be remanded at Shimo la Tewa Maximum Prison.
One of the new charges says the women organised a meeting in Nairobi on March 26, 2015 to plan how to cross into Somalia to support the Al-Shabaab terror group.
The second charge says on the same day, the four and some foreigners outside Kenya, including a Tanzanian, Ms Abdalla, conspired to carry out terrorist attacks in the country. The women were arrested at El Wak border point in Mandera County on March 27 while allegedly trying to sneak into Somalia.
Earlier, the Mombasa High court declined to revoke their bond.
“Having deliberated on the reasons for the application to cancel the bond and the circumstances surrounding the case, I found nothing illegal, improper, irregular or incorrect in the orders by the trial court in which the accused were granted a Sh500,000 bond each with one surety of a similar amount,” Justice Dorah Chepkwony said.
“In dismissing the application to review the orders, I took cognisant of the nature and gravity of the offence and also the frequency with which these acts are occurring in the country,” she said.
Principal Magistrate Richard Odenyo had earlier released the four on bond but Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Alexander Muteti moved to the High Court to cancel it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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[Tolo News] Local officials in Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. said a National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) official was killed in a suicide kaboom in the eastern province on Friday morning.
Nangarhar governor's front man Ataullah Khogyani told TOLOnews that there is no information about the exact location of the incident, but NDS officials have confirmed that it occurred near their office in the province.
Khogyani said the attack occurred when NDS officials were chasing a car carrying foreign nationals and when they get close to the car, a foreign national woman stepped out of the car and detonated her explosives near the NDS vehicle, which left one of the officials dead.
Sources say that the foreigners in the vehicle were Russian nationals and that three Russian children have been killed in the blast.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2015
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[ARABNEWS] Russian Sherlocks on Friday charged ex-oil tycoon and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky with organizing the 1998 murder of a mayor in Siberia, ratcheting up their campaign against the exiled former Yukos boss.
"As a result of investigative work, we managed to obtain new information and in light of this, it was decided on Dec. 11, 2015, to prosecute Mikhail Khodorkovsky as a defendant for... the organization of murder," Russia's powerful Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Investigators announced in June that they were reopening a criminal probe into the 1998 murder of Vladimir Petukhov, the mayor of oil-producing Nefteyugansk city, saying that Khodorkovsky -- then the head of the now-defunct oil giant Yukos -- may have ordered the killing.
Former Yukos security chief, Alexei Pichugin, is already serving a life term for the mayor's murder and Sherlocks said Friday that "not one important decision was taken at Yukos without Khodorkovsky's order."
Khodorkovsky, who now lives in London, has claimed that the new probe into the mayor's murder was ordered personally by 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... .
Once Russia's richest man, he spent a decade in prison on charges of tax evasion, fraud and embezzlement, which he blames on a political vendetta by Putin.
In late 2013 he was unexpectedly released and flown out of the country after a presidential pardon. After intially pledging to stay out of politics, he has once again become an outspoken critic of Putin.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
It's a stay out of politics like you agreed to when I released you message from Putin.
From an interview in London with the Financial Times last year:
As we finish our coffees, I ask Khodorkovsky if he fears for his own safety; he is leaving alone, with no bodyguards in sight. “I understand that decisions about me are taken by only one man. This, of course, provides me with a certain level of protection,” he says.
Posted by: Boss Phomonter5016 ||
12/12/2015 0:38
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The Russian news agency FAN reported that a number of the AKs used in the November attacks in Paris were originally sent to the US.
A manager at a Yugoslavia weapons factory identified as Miloyko Brzakovich told the Associated Press that the serial numbers of the weapons matched those that were exported to the US in 2013 from Serbian factory "Zastava Arms".
The news report goes on to say that unidentified US officials refused to comment on the story.
The AKs used in the attacks were the Yugoslavian M92 and M70 AK-47, 7.62x39mm.
US law prohibits military grade rifles to be imported into the United States unless they have been de-militarized, usually by destroying the rifle's receiver and by disassembly. Those resulting kits are then taken and rebuilt as semiautomatic rifles for civilian use, either commercially or by individuals.
#2
The entire world is awash in the damn things. Obtaining converted semi-auto kits or models from a commercial U.S. shipment seems a bit unlikely. Possible, but unlikely.
Then of course you have the usually unreliable Russian media sourcing.
#5
Possibly offloaded from a container, checked, processed, and reloaded into another container for "re-export"?
I doubt they even cleared customs before being shipped back. That or they never made it here and were intercepted somewhere along the way, inbound or outbound.
#8
I doubt they even cleared customs before being shipped back. That or they never made it here and were intercepted somewhere along the way, inbound or outbound.
That would not surprise me. Though I'd use 'diverted' rather than intercepted.
Some of the arms believed to be used in last month's deadly Paris attacks, were manufactured in Serbia's arms factory, including one exported to U.S. in 2013, a company official said Friday.
"A semi-automatic pistol PV M92 was produced in our factory and legally exported to the (Florida-based) company Century International Arms in May 2013," Milojko Brzakovic, head of Zastava arms factory told AFP.
Following the November 13 attacks in Paris, Serbia's interior ministry was asked by French police and Interpol to check serial numbers of seven pieces of weapons believed to have been manufactured in Zastava, Brzakovic said.
"We were given numbers of weapons and confirmed that all had been manufactured in Zastava and we delivered information where these weapons ended up," he said.
All serial numbers, including the semi-automatic pistol and several automatic rifles, versions of AK-47 known as Kalashnikov, matched the weapons legally produced and sold by our factory, he said.
"We have strictly controlled trade of arms and military equipment, nothing goes out of the factory without the approval of the Serbian government and export licence," Brzakovic insisted.
He had no explanation how the legally sold weapons, including the pistol exported to the US, ended up in the hands of attackers in Paris.
According to Brzakovic, one rifle was delivered in 1983 to an army barrack in Bosnia, another to one in Macedonia in 1987, two were sent to army units in two Croatian towns and one in 1990 to a Slovenia's military office.
One pistol CZ99 was sold to a local arms dealer in 1993.
German newspaper Bild reported last month that four assault rifles used in the Paris attacks that left 130 people dead had been allegedly purchased from a trafficker in Germany.
Quoting documents from the Stuttgart prosecutor's office, the newspaper said two AK47s and two Zastava M70s were sold on November 7 by the arms dealer to a customer in Paris.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters are afraid of girls and fear facing female soldiers, believing that they will be prevented to enter heaven if they are killed by a woman. What if they're hit by artillery and they don't know it was fired by women? Gonna be a real surprise when they arrive in not-Paradise. Same with tanks: who's in the driver's seat, who'se gunner, who's loader? What if it's a mixed crew? Two out of three, maybe only your feet go to heaven, so you go dancing through eternity...
A militia commander in the Kurdish women's unit dismissed the the ISIS fighters' bravery and said "They think they're fighting in the name of Islam." "Instead they're losing to a bunch of girls! We go home at night and make dinner for our husbands and then we clean house and crochet and clean weapons until bedtime. We go to bed and get what those fools ain't gonna get, then in the morning it's off to the old ammo dump for another day..."
The 21-year-old commander fighting under the nom-de-guerre Tehelden which is Kurdish for 'Dire Revenge' told CNN's Ben Wedeman "They believe if someone from Daesh [Islamic State] [ISIS] is killed by a girl, a Kurdish girl, they won't go to heaven. They're afraid of girls." "At least girls older than nine..."
A 20-year-old fighter Efelin who is fighting in Tehelden's unity said they will not even leave one of the ISIS fighters alive if they tried to attack Al-Houl again. Efilin is stationed along with several other female Kurd fighters in Tehelden's unity in Al-Houl which is about an hour drive to the south of Al-Hassakeh in north-east Syria.
The women are fighting under the Women's Protection Unit (YPJ), an all-female branch of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), fighting ISIS in the Kurdish areas of Iraq and Syria.
Mainly comprising Kurd fighters, the YPG has some 50,000 fighters including 20 per cent women. They have played a major role in fighting the ISIS fanatics in Syria and Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Have you watched the news about President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton loudly demanding justice in the Laquan McDonald case in Chicago?
No?
Me neither. I haven't seen word one from the mouths of Obama or Clinton about any of it. All I've seen are tepid, tapioca statements from their spokesmen.
John Kass asks some very, very inconvenient questions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/12/2015
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Protecting the party. In fact all the theatrical outrage (Zimmerman, Ferguson) was to get the base out for the election. It's an old political ploy, waving the bloody shirt. It still works, because man has not changed his behavior in thousands of years. In this case, nothing to be gain for the party to play that card.
Nick Folkes does not understand the war on terror and thinks it is the West v Islam. It is not - it is the West and secular muslims against theocratic fascist Islamists. He was banned by the courts from organising a rally to mark the 10th anniversary of the Cronulla Riots.
so today, he held a halal-free compromise barbecue instead.
A bunch of violent leftard thugs turned up to attack them. The leftards do not understand the war on terror either. They think it is the Bigots versus Islam, and do not even register the existence of Islamist theocratic fascists.
This marks a turning point where the leftards have proven themselves to be violent and intimidating and worse than the bigots they claim to be fighting. meanwhile the Islamists are feeding the grievance narrative with collecting as many Islamophobia tales as they can to keep the leftards pumped.
This is what happened.... as reported by the Sydney morning herald People regarded as being anti-Islam protesters have been set upon by members of a large anti-racism crowd numbering in the hundreds that has gathered to mark the 10th anniversary of the Cronulla riots.
The anti-racism protesters -- including a vocal minority called Antifa (anti-fascism) dressed in black with black face masks -- have been abusing police, using megaphones.
One middle-aged woman draped in an Australian flag caught in the crowd was surrounded by 20 to 30 Antifa members who shouted at her to "take that fascist flag off now".
A man in the crowd yelled "burn that flag and burn that woman".
There were other chants of "police protect the fascist filth" and "Muslims are welcome, fascists are not."
In a volatile and confusing situation, members of the Antifa crowd were being instructed to "mob up", running from one side of the park to the other in an apparent effort to confuse police about their intentions.
An Antifa member told Fairfax Media: "I believe we have more to fear from the bosses and the state and the police than from different cultures.
Asked about their confrontational tactics, he said "peaceful confrontation is not going to work with these people. We have tried that in the past. We will not tolerate any fascism in our country."
Antifa members carried red, black and white flags with the words Antifaschistische Aktion, the name of a German anti-fascist organisation that reportedly has its roots in the German communist party in 1932, was dissolved in 1933 by the Nazis and resurfaced in the 1980s in Europe. Russian Communists made alliance with Hitler - molotov-ribbentrop pact. The communists remained faithful to Hitler right until he invaded them. In fact one communist spy warned moscow to give them advance warning of Operation Barbarossa. Stalin didnt believe him. When he was captured in Japan the USSR would not save him via prisoner exchange. He was tortured and hanged. I recount this tiny bit of history to remind people of the true nature of the regressive Left.
Antifa Australia's Facebook page has as its most recent post on November 17: "These deranged far-right scum want to damage society and bring everyone down. If the Authorities won't stop hate speech, the leftist community will now need to implement their own authority via violent thuggery grassroots action."
Police have provided the anti-racism crowd with free transport at the train station and asked them to leave Cronulla.
At the other end of the beach, a crowd of 120 anti-Islam protesters were outnumbered by members of NSW Police, the Riot Squad and weekend joggers.
"I'm here to celebrate a free Australia and freedom of speech and to celebrate Australian culture with a halal-free barbecue of a pig on a spit," said Nick Folkes, chairman of the anti-Islam Party for Freedom. there is now no reason for satire. Comedians can hang up their hats. Leftard fascists violently beating up on a no-threat defiant little barbecue by a few idiots who hate Islam are the ones calling themselves antifascists. And in the end it is the racist idiot who is actually defending free speech. You couldnt make it up if it wasnt true already
Folkes had announced plans to hold a rally at Cronulla but was blocked by a Federal Court order on Friday. Holding the barbecue was "a compromise", he said, confirming that he would not be addressing the crowd but that he could talk to the media.
"Everyone in Australia should have the right of assembly," said Folkes, who claimed that the tyres on his car had been slashed overnight, "no doubt by the useful idiots on the left".
MOGADISHU -- Somali National Intelligence officer has been killed in a bomb reportedly attached to this car on Thursday, Garowe Online reports. Late Mohamed Abdullahi Salad (Gardhub) died from serious injuries shortly after the car bomb blast according to officials and medics.
Witnesses said, they could see a car blown into flames on Mogadishu’s Maka Al Mukarama road, just a few meters away from Waaberi police compound. Security officials say, investigations are underway as has been the case.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/12/2015
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Witnesses said, they could see a car blown into flames
Well, it could have been the cabbage.
Posted by: Sloluth Protector of the Weak7539 ||
12/12/2015 18:07
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[Tolo News] A monthly security report by TOLOnews found security incidents in the country had dropped by 23 percent in November compared to October.
Civilian casualties dropped by two percent in November against October, the report said.
The Afghan cops launched several counterinsurgency operations in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province in November - widely seen as a response to murderous Moslem attacks - putting the province on top of the volatile provinces list in terms of security in November, the report added.
Based on the report, 190 counterinsurgency and murderous Moslem incidents were reported in November.
However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... an exact figure on human casualties, including that of turbans was not available, but security officials said more than 1,000 turbans had been killed in November and 215 security personnel, 86 civilians along with nine public order personnel died.
Based on the report the most insecure provinces were Nangarhar with 88 security incidents, Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... with 85, and then Faryab with 39, Kunduz with 28, Kandahar with 21, Ghazni with 22 and Zabul with 25.
"Aside from that, the country also saw 352 military operations taking place, 14 air strikes, 102 attacks by murderous Moslems, 33 cases of mine kabooms, 92 arrests, 36 armed attempts, 26 cases of violence and kidnappings and 13 armed encounters among rival murderous Moslem factions," the report said.
However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... abduction cases increased by 27 percent in November compared to October, the report read.
The report stated that the beheading of seven hostages including three women and two children in Zabul and the killing of five children in Maidan Wardak and the stoning of Rukhshana were among the shocking security events in November.
"The operations rise and fall on the basis of the scale of threats. Military operations declined in areas where there was a decrease in murderous Moslem attacks. But military operations will continue in areas where there is a threat, even special operations were extended in areas under threat," Sediq Sediqqi, a front man for the Afghan Interior Ministry said.
According to the report, rival Taliban factions engaged in festivities eight times in November and rumors surfaced that Taliban's leader Mullah Akhter Mansour had been killed during one of the confrontations that happened between two rival groups in Pak city of Quetta.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[ARABNEWS] Iraqi security forces have made advances on two fronts in the city of Ramadi, clearing Daesh [Islamic State]hard boyz from a key military command base and a sprawling neighborhood on its western edge, army officials said.
Capture of the sprawling western Ramadi district of Al-Taamim and the Anbar Operations Command headquarters on Wednesday could advance government efforts to retake Ramadi which fell to Daesh [Islamic State] in May.
"Army troops and counter-terrorism forces launched simultaneous offensives from the northern and western fronts and succeeded in making a striking advance," joint operations front man Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool told Rooters.
The center of Ramadi remains under Daesh [Islamic State] control, but Rasool said the Death Eaters, which Iraqi intelligence estimates number between 250 and 300 fighters, are losing the initiative and suffering food and ammunition shortages after government forces cut their last supply line into the city last month.
"We can hear their radio call we intercepted complaining about lack of food and ammunition," Rasool said. "It's quite clear they are desperate and collapsing."
"Retaking Taamim after a striking offensive prevented gunnies from evacuating large stockpiles of ammunition which they left behind. It's a severe blow to their morale," said Sabah Al-Numani, front man for Iraqi counter-terrorism forces.
Local officials and tribal leaders estimate between 1,200-1,700 families remain trapped inside the city by the Death Eaters.
Besieged Daesh [Islamic State] Death Eaters, meanwhile, destroyed a lock on the Euphrates River that served as a bridge.
Since Iraq's military launched its push on Ramadi earlier this month, the hard boyz had destroyed all other bridges leading into the city, both on the Euphrates and its tributary, the Warar River.
Iraqi Maj Gen. Ismail Al-Mahlawi, the head of military operations in the western Anbar province, said the lock destroyed Wednesday was the last remaining bridge from the city center to the northwest. "Daesh [Islamic State] forces trying to stop our progress bombed the last bridge which connects the city center," he said.
The locks' destruction leaves some 300 Daesh [Islamic State] fighters trapped in the center of the city, he added.
Col. Steven Warren, the front man for the US-led coalition in Baghdad, said the destruction of the bridge may prove to be a tactical mistake for Daesh [Islamic State]. "What they've also done now is they've really cut themselves off," he said.
"So the fighters left on the north side of the river can't retreat and the fighters on the south side of the river can't send reinforcements."
Muhannad Haimour, the front man for the Anbar governor's office, said he received reports from residents still inside Ramadi that Daesh [Islamic State] was also destroying buildings and radio towers.
"We've seen this before; they tend to blow up not just bridges, but a lot of infrastructure inside the city," Haimour said.
Haimour added that according to reports he received, about two months ago Daesh [Islamic State] fighters began moving their families out of Ramadi and toward the town of Hit northwest of Ramadi. That, he said is when he believes the tide began to turn against Daesh [Islamic State] in the Anbar picturesque provincial capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
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al-Anbar – On Friday, a source in the army’s 7th division in Anbar province announced, that the army forces had managed to destroy two booby-trapped vehicles belonging to the ISIS west of the city of Ramadi.
The source reported for IraqiNews.com, “A force from the army was able to destroy a booby-trapped vehicle driven by a suicide bomber using a Russian missile system near Waheed Bridge east of the district of al-Baghdadi (90 km west of Ramadi),” pointing out that, “The army aviation with support from the seventh division managed to bomb and destroy another booby-trapped vehicle and kill two suicide bombers west of Kabisa District south of Heet (70 km west of Ramadi).”
Posted by: badanov ||
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MIDDLETOWN - Officials pulled a piece of art from this year’s “Artists Response to Human Rights” show at SUNY Orange after a student complained it was offensive to Muslims.
The work, which was submitted by a student from The Storm King School in Cornwall, includes two images. One pictures a woman in a head covering worn by some Muslim women, with the caption “Under Shariah law, men have the right to beat their wives for insubordination.” The other is a picture of a dog, and underneath it are the words: “In the United States, abuse of an animal is punishable by up to 10 years in a federal prison.”
This was the Orange County Human Rights Commission's fifth annual show. It features works from 224 students in 11 Orange County high schools. It runs through Dec. 16, with displays at both the Middletown and Newburgh campuses.
In their works, the students depict one of 30 articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For example, one work shows outstretched fingers protecting children from bullying. Another shows an assembly of deaf people spelling out the word “equal” in sign language.
SUNY Orange’s communications officer, Mike Albright, said the student complained to the college Wednesday, and the college passed on the complaint to the Human Rights Commission. Thursday, after the commission said the artist had requested that the piece be taken down, the college removed it.
The artist 'requested'? Who threatened the artist?
In an emailed statement, the chairman of the Human Rights Commission, Fred Cook, said the artist who had created the work “felt that their submission could be offensive to some and that was not their intention.” Cook also said the commission would have supported the artist’s position if the artist wanted the work to remain in the show.
But they were happy to be let off the hook...
Some SUNY Orange students said the removal of the work stands in stark contrast to the goals in the Declaration of Human Rights, which include freedom of expression. Second-year psychology student April Acker, who is active in the campus gay-straight alliance, visited the gallery Thursday with the "SUNY Orange” legend on her T-shirt covered in tape as a protest.
Acker said the student who complained is an acquaintance from class, and she had urged the student to attend the art show to promote cultural diversity. Instead, said Acker, “It went the polar opposite.”
Artists have always offended people. And have always paid dearly when they offended the wrong people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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"the artist who had created the work “felt that their submission could be offensive to some and that was not their intention.”
"please don't hurt me"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2015 11:05
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The Western political establishment, including but not limited to the left, learned to love the Taliban after 9/11.
ISIS is just a group of islamofascists the public is temporarily permitted and required to hate.
In the not too distant future Western leaders will be begging ISIS to enter negotiations. They will be offered political power, danegeld and symbolic acts of submission.
The West will subsidize, protect and serve some political entity ruled by 'moderate' ISIS elements.
etc etc
See Afghanistan
This is nothing but a farcical repeat of the 9/11 war debacle.
#5
The West doesn’t really want to defeat Islamic terrorism. It responds to terrorism while ignoring the ideology. And then it roots around for root causes that coincidentally turn out to all involve progressive policy priorities like economic inequality and global warming.The left sees Islamists as an anti-colonialist minority lobby rather than theocratic supremacists. Muslim Brotherhood front groups, like Communist front groups, are willing to use “useful idiots” on the left. But rather than forming a common front, Communists and Islamists hijack left-wing causes and make them their own. So, for example, Muslims turn #BlackLivesMatter protests into anti-Israel campaigns.
A couple of points. The West is not the left. The left are useful idiots to the Communists and the Muslims. Their agendas are similar. The left is naive in thinking that the theocrats are their buddies. Perhaps it would make sense to wage war against the left as well as the Islamics and be done with it.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least four people were killed following a suicide kaboom carried out by a foreigner woman in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province of Afghanistan, local officials said Friday.
The incident took in Jalalabad, the provincial city of eastern Nangarhar province late on Thursday night.
Provincial governor front man said at least three children and an operative of the Afghan intelligence -- National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) bit the dust in the attack.
There are no reports regarding the identity of the foreigner woman who detonated the explosives strapped in her body but Khogyani said the incident took place while the Afghan intelligence operatives were conducting a search on a group of suspected foreigners travellign in Daronta area.
Khogyani further added that five men were also among the group of the suspected foreigners travelling in a car when they were stopped for search and questioning.
Nangarhar is among the relatively volatile provinces in eastern Afghanistan where anti-government armed holy warrior groups are actively operating.
Certain district of Nangarhar province have also became a hotbed for the snuffies pledged allegiance to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Two New People's Army militants and a soldier were killed and another soldier was injured following a gun battle in Hinobaan town in Negros Occidental on Friday morning.
Major Ray Tiongson said troops were on patrol at Sitio Bugtong Lubi in Barangay Damutan . when they encountered 12 or so militants. He said the two sides traded fire for 15 minutes after which the militants fled and left behind the bodies of their two slain comrades.
[DAWN] KARACHI: The Ministry of Interior has approved the transfer and trial of 18 cases, including the Safoora Goth massacre and the murder of Sabeen Mahmud, to military courts.
Sources told Dawn the interior ministry has sanctioned 18 cases of Sindh for trial "strictly as per law under the Army Act 1952, as amended".
The suspects to be tried in military courts are namely, Saad Aziz, Tahir Hussain Minhas, Asad Rehman, Hafiz Nasir Ahmed, Azhar Ishrat, Sultan Qumar Siddiqui, Hussain Umer Siddiqui, Naeem Sajid and Hafiz Umer.
The cases were earlier referred to the federal interior ministry by the home department of the provincial government.
Saad Aziz is among the prime suspects in both the Safoora Goth carnage and the murder of rights activist Sabeen Mahmud.
In October, an antiterrorism court was informed that due to security concerns, the trial of the Safoora Goth bus carnage case would be conducted inside the central prison.
The home department through a notification had informed the ATC-I that the trial of the suspects would be conducted inside the prison because of security reasons.
Sindh police in August had planned to send 35 cases of terrorist activities allegedly carried out by Safoora Goth bus attack suspects, believed to be local operatives of self-styled 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.... , to military courts, official sources say.
The Sindh police had decided to 're-examine' all terrorism-related cases on the basis of severity of the crime before recommending them to the home department in the wake of Supreme Court decision in favour of military courts.
Safoora Goth massacre
Saad Aziz alias Tin Tin, Tahir Hussain Minhas alias Sain, Asad-ur-Rehman alias Malik, Hafiz Nasir alias Yasir and Mohammad Azhar Ishrat alias Majid are facing trial for their involvement in the killing of 45 Ismaili community members, including 18 women, in a assassination on a bus near Safoora Goth on May 13.
At least 43 people were killed and 13 others maimed when gunnies opened fire inside a bus carrying members of the Ismaili community near Safoora Chowk 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... .
The gunnies used 9mm pistols in the massacre, and managed to flee after the attack.
Sabeen Mahmud's murder
Earlier in April this year, prominent rights activist and co-founder and director of The Second Floor (T2F), Sabeen Mahmud was rubbed out by unidentified gunnies in Karachi.
Sabeen, accompanied by her mother, left T2F after 9pm and was on her way home when she was shot by unidentified gunnies in Defence Phase-II, sources confirmed. She died on her way to the hospital. Doctors said they retrieved five bullets from her body.
Her mother also sustained bullet wounds and was said to be at death's door, but survived the wounds.
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The FBI has taken heat for failing to immediately classify the San Bernardino shootings as terrorism, but a new report shows that FBI reluctance could have been due to external pressure from the White House.
A source told Jack Murphy of SOFREP that the FBI instantly believed the shooting, which left 14 dead, to be a clear act of terrorism. The White House, however, didn’t feel the same way and quickly moved in to squash the terror classification. This source added that as soon as the shooting took place, Obama convened a meeting with the National Security Council and the heads of other federal enforcement agencies to discuss a public relations strategy.
He discussed PR as opposed to discussing how to act, how to get to the bottom of it, how to retaliate against ISIS, etc. Rather tells you all you need to know about the man...
Part of the reason for trying to avoid the designation of the shootings as terrorism is because it threatens to upset the Obama administration’s strategy in Syria. A case of Islamic terrorism in the U.S. would put additional pressure on the administration to play a much more active role in the conflict.
So he didn't want events to force him into doing things, as he'd prefer to do nothing.
But in this case, because the preponderance evidence so pointed to terrorism, the FBI’s hand was forced, and the agency declared the existence of a terrorism investigation, going against top-down priorities from the White House.
So someone at the FBI still has some intellectual honesty...
In response, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the Department of Justice was ready and waiting to prosecute people engaging in “anti-Muslim” rhetoric.
...but not so much at the AG's office.
Michael Flynn, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said publicly that the Obama administration wants to completely sideline discussion of terrorism, because it contradicts the claim that al-Qaida is dwindling. Obama recently suffered major embarrassment after he claimed that ISIS was contained, only one day before the Paris attacks took place.
The Palace Guard at the networks and NYT did their best to bury that but there's only so much they can do.
In the end, Obama told the American people in a public address from the Oval Office that the attacks were an act of terrorism, though he hedged his admission by saying that the war is not on Islam, but against ISIS.
He added that sending boots on the ground into Syria and Iraq would be a huge mistake. Obama has already violated previous promises not to send boots on the ground by authorizing 50 special operations forces into northern Syria, where the Kurds hold sway.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest insisted that the troops didn’t really count because they are not part of a combat mission.
That's right, the special forces guys are there ... for the waters. That's it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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I hate that photo RMN was about 50 times the man The Won is, smarter, braver, more thoughtful, shrewder, and most importantly ruthless in war. He would have Linebacker IIIed Mosul, Raqqa and possibly Damascus. The S-400 AA system would have been destroyed while landing, or perhaps it never would have arrived because of mines.
#2
Obama convened a meeting with the National Security Council and the heads of other federal enforcement agencies to discuss a public relations strategy.
This is SOP for the regime. After about the third or fourth serious incident, you could almost time the placement of the speed dial to various agencies.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
12/12/2015 8:24
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" Obama told the American people in a public address from the Oval Office that the attacks were an act of terrorism, though he hedged his admission by saying that the war is not on Islam, but against ISIS."
Not exactly right...he used ISIL and there is a difference. See posts earlier in the Burg. IIRC, Israel is contained as part of ISIL. Feckless bastard.
PESHAWAR: An anti-terrorist court has awarded 14 years rigorous punishment to two accused of terrorism while taking decision in the light of investigation conducted by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police investigation wing.
According to police, Peshawar police apprehended the two accused in April 2015. Police recovered 1,250 explosive materials and prima cord (23 inches) from their custody. IGP Nasir Khan Durrani also appreciated the performance of investigation wing of KP police.
GENEVA – The Spanish authorities on Friday announced the arrest of a member of the Islamic State (ISIS) radical group in the northeastern region of Catalonia.
Catalan Police said in a statement that ISIS militant Ali Charef Damache was arrested in a security raid.
Damache is wanted by the United States and the Interpol for providing support to terrorists, according to the Catalan security official Jordi Jane, who confirmed Damache’s arrest. The suspect is originally from Algeria and has Irish nationality.
In the meantime, spokesman of the U.S. Justice Department in Philadelphia, Patty Hartman, confirmed Damache’s arrest by the Spanish authorities, saying the U.S. “will be seeking extradition”.
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#1
Spanish authorities originally from Algeria has Irish nationality. the U.S. “will be seeking extradition”
mono-hemispherian
How do these people do it?
I got cavity searched in LA coming back from Hawaii!
Posted by: Sloluth Protector of the Weak7539 ||
12/12/2015 18:05
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(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The leader of al-Hashed al-Sha’bi in Ramadi, Gen. Yusuf al-Asal, announced on Friday, that the joint security forces have begun the military operation to liberate Ramadi Island from ISIS, pointing out to the participation of 500 tribal fighters in the operation.
Asal said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “A force from Anbar Operations, backed by tribal fighters, began an operation to liberate Ramadi Island from ISIS and gain control over it,” noting that, “The operation was carried out with an air cover by the international coalition.”
“500 fighters from the sons of the clans in al-Hashed have participated in the operation after arriving yesterday in the northern axis of the city of Ramadi,” he also added.
Posted by: badanov ||
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#1
Interesting that Lind used what appears to be a photo of a member of the RLI carrying an FN as an example of "true Light Infantry." Excellent article by the way.
#3
True Light Infantry. Is that like 'true' blacks or 'true' gays? Not qualified if they're conservative.
It's a straw man argument.
Light in American military terminology refers to something Americans have had to deal with since '41. It's strategically light. It certainly isn't tactical as any grunt hauling a hundred pounds plus on his mule like carcass can attest. It's the ability to move a force thousands of miles with minimal strategic lift. Or in someone else's terms, the firstest with the mostest.
#5
Sad as the argument is, I'm reminded of the colonial wars when the Brits were up against French guided Indians. Roger's Rangers were formed as a 'light' force to carry an asymmetrical fight away from the red coated lines of riflemen backed by artillery.
Even with advances in sensor technology and air power, strategy and tactics have not evolved in nearly 300 years. The last real innovation was seen late summer in Japan, 1945.
Posted by: Sloluth Protector of the Weak7539 ||
12/12/2015 10:55
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State Department spokesman John Kirby admitted Friday that Libya “has struggled” since 2011, when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led the charge for U.S. military intervention in the Libyan civil war.
“After the intervention in 2011 … I think we’ve all seen that Libya has struggled since 2011,” Kirby said. He pointed to the power vacuum that dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s ouster created as a source of instability, and said that since 2011, violent groups like the Islamic State have filled that vacuum.
“We know that groups like ISIL try to use ungoverned spaces there, as they have in Syria, to try to propagate their own twisted form of ideology and violence,” he said.
Kirby said that the international community is laboring to recover the security situation in Libya.
“There is a concerted effort by the international community to do what they can, to do what we must, to try to get at better security and stability there in Libya,” he said.
At some point the Libyans are going to beg us not to help them any further...
Clinton has been criticized for pushing President Obama
...at the request of Sid Blumenthal, remember...
to intervene in Libya without a concrete post-war plan. Others write that following the intervention, Congress “showed little interest” in Libya, until the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was attacked in 2012, resulting in the deaths of four Americans.
Clinton defended the intervention in the October 13 CNN debate, calling it “smart power at its best.”
And Sid make money!
She justified the intervention by telling viewers that as a result, the Libyan people “had a free election the first time since 1951,” and that “they voted with the hope of democracy.”
Turned out well, didn't it Hilarity...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/12/2015
00:00 ||
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#1
'Arab Spring'.... a continuing saga and thrilling success story which is frequently in the news. The Klingon's and their Foggy Bottom surrogates, what an amazing 'game changing' team.
#2
When did Congress authorize American involvement in the Libyan 'Arab' Spring? Answer - Never. So, this colossal political and military abortion is the product of one man. You Built That!(tm)
#3
Exactly. This was Hillary, Obama, R2P (Samantha Power, Rice, ValJar) trying to show some 'nads.
They can't pawn it off on somebody else. Just like ACA, they own it. BTW - that smarmy little ass-kisser Kirby needs a beatdown every time he lies
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2015 10:59
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#4
Lay it on Hillary's doorstep and ultimately Obama's. Hopefully, it will not be like the 2012 election where Romney did not fire back with what he had. This should come up often and hard during this election in ads and debates.
[ARABNEWS] Syria’s main opposition groups agreed at unprecedented talks Thursday to negotiate with President Bashar Assad’s regime but insisted he must step down at the start of a political transition.
“The participants are ready to negotiate with representatives of the Syrian regime based on the Geneva 1 communique... within a specific time-frame that would be agreed on with the UN,” said a statement issued after two days of talks between a range of armed and political opposition groups.
But the opposition groups insisted that “Assad and his aides quit power with the start of the transition period” set out last month in Vienna by top diplomats from 17 countries.
The opposition groups in Riyadh also called on the United Nations and international community “to force the Syrian regime to implement goodwill measures before the negotiation process begins.”
The measures include the ending of regime sieges on towns and districts to allow the entry of humanitarian aid, a halt to executions, the release of political detainees and the creation of conditions to allow for the return of refugees. The regime should also end “the forced displacement” of citizens and the dropping of “barrel bombs on civilian gatherings,” it said.
Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said: “Our support to Syrian brothers continues and Assad is left with two choices: Either he leaves power as a result of negotiations which would be the most simple and fastest option for everyone involved or he leaves power as a result of continued fighting as the Syrian people refuse to keep him in office.”
Al-Jubeir lambasted the meddling of Iran in the affairs of the Gulf countries, saying that “Iran is playing a negative role in most regional issues.” He disclosed that he met only for “a few minutes” with his Iranian counterpart in Vienna last month on the sidelines of a meeting to discuss ways to end Syrian war, in which Iran is backing the militants.
He said that the Kingdom hopes for better relations with Iran, but added that Tehran’s intransigent policies have hindered diplomatic ties and hampered all peace efforts.
Under the agreement, opposition groups have formed a “supreme committee for negotiations” based in Riyadh which will act as a reference for their negotiating team, whose members the body itself will choose.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2015
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#1
They've been associating with Western "elites" too much?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Scandal: The administration says there just wasn't enough time to send military help for the four Americans murdered by terrorists in the Benghazi attacks. Newly released emails show that's another lie.
[IMAGES.DAWN] Is there any grub as deliciously medieval as a burger? It is, after all, a hunk of cooked meat, caught between two slabs of bread, and held together by a splatter of sauces and some greens. Made well, it has the potential to gratify the brain with a slow seduction of the taste buds. Prepared poorly though, and it feels like a bare-knuckled blow from a morning star.
Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh
...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...
People regarded as being anti-Islam protesters have been set upon by members of a large anti-racism crowd numbering in the hundreds that has gathered to mark the 10th anniversary of the Cronulla riots.
MOGADISHU -- Somali National Intelligence officer has been killed in a bomb reportedly attached to this car on Thursday, Garowe Online reports. Late Mohamed Abdullahi Salad (Gardhub) died from serious injuries shortly after the car bomb blast according to officials and medics.
The FBI has taken heat for failing to immediately classify the San Bernardino shootings as terrorism, but a new report shows that FBI reluctance could have been due to external pressure from the White House.
