A German intelligence memo shows the threat from the kingdom's headstrong defence minister.
At the end of last year the BND, the German intelligence agency, published a remarkable one-and-a-half-page memo saying that Saudi Arabia had adopted "an impulsive policy of intervention". It portrayed Saudi defence minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- the powerful 29-year-old favourite son of the ageing King Salman, who is suffering from dementia -- as a political gambler who is destabilising the Arab world through proxy wars in Yemen and Syria.
Spy agencies do not normally hand out such politically explosive documents to the press criticising the leadership of a close and powerful ally such as Saudi Arabia. It is a measure of the concern in the BND that the memo should have been so openly and widely distributed. The agency was swiftly slapped down by the German foreign ministry after official Saudi protests, but the BND's warning was a sign of growing fears that Saudi Arabia has become an unpredictable wild card. One former minister from the Middle East, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "In the past the Saudis generally tried to keep their options open and were cautions, even when they were trying to get rid of some government they did not like."
The BND report made surprisingly little impact outside Germany at the time. This may have been because its publication on 2 December came three weeks after the Paris massacre on 13 November, when governments and media across the world were still absorbed by the threat posed by Islamic State (IS) and how it could best be combatted. In Britain there was the debate on the RAF joining the air war against IS in Syria, and soon after in the US there were the killings by a pro-IS couple in San Bernardino, California.
It was the execution of the Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others -- mostly Sunni jihadis or dissenters -- on 2 January that, for almost the first time, alerted governments to the extent to which Saudi Arabia had become a threat to the status quo. It appears to be deliberately provoking Iran in a bid to take leadership of the Sunni and Arab worlds while at the same time Prince Mohammed bin Salman is buttressing his domestic power by appealing to Sunni sectarian nationalism. What is not in doubt is that Saudi policy has been transformed since King Salman came to the throne last January after the death of King Abdullah.
The BND lists the areas in which Saudi Arabia is adopting a more aggressive and warlike policy. In Syria, in early 2015, it supported the creation of The Army of Conquest, primarily made up of the al-Qaeda affiliate the al-Nusra Front and the ideologically similar Ahrar al-Sham, which won a series of victories against the Syrian Army in Idlib province. In Yemen, it began an air war directed against the Houthi movement and the Yemeni army, which shows no sign of ending. Among those who gain are al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, which the US has been fruitlessly trying to weaken for years by drone strikes.
None of these foreign adventures initiated by Prince Mohammed have been successful or are likely to be so, but they have won support for him at home. The BND warned that the concentration of so much power in his hands "harbours a latent risk that in seeking to establish himself in the line of succession in his father's lifetime, he may overreach".
The overreaching gets worse by the day. At every stage in the confrontation with Iran over the past week Riyadh has raised the stakes. The attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad might not have been expected but the Saudis did not have to break off diplomatic relations. Then there was the air strike that the Iranians allege damaged their embassy in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen.
None of this was too surprising: Saudi-Iranian relations have been at a particularly low ebb since 400 Iranian pilgrims died in a mass stampede in Mecca last year.
But even in the past few days, there are signs of the Saudi leadership deliberately increasing the political temperature by putting four Iranians on trial, one for espionage and three for terrorism. The four had been in prison in Saudi Arabia since 2013 or 2014 so there was no reason to try them now, other than as an extra pinprick against Iran.
Saudi Arabia has been engaging in something of a counter attack to reassure the world that it is not going to go to war with Iran. Prince Mohammed said in an interview with The Economist: "A war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is the beginning of a major catastrophe in the region, and it will reflect very strongly on the rest of the world. For sure, we will not allow any such thing."
The interview was presumably meant to be reassuring to the outside world, but instead it gives an impression of naivety and arrogance. There is also a sense that Prince Mohammed is an inexperienced gambler who is likely to double his stake when his bets fail. This is the very opposite of past Saudi rulers, who had always preferred, so to speak, to bet on all the horses.
A main reason for Saudi Arabia acting unilaterally is its disappointment that the US reached an agreement with Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme. Again this looks naive: close alliance with the US is the prime reason why the Saudi monarchy has survived nationalist and socialist challengers since the 1930s. Aside from the Saudis' money and close alliance with the US, leaders in the Middle East have always doubted that the Saudi state has much operational capacity. This is true of all the big oil producers, whatever their ideological make-up. Experience shows that vast oil wealth encourages autocracy, whether it is in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Libya or Kuwait, but it also produces states that are weaker than they look, with incapable administrations and dysfunctional armies. "Disappointment" with the US? Could Perfidious Albion have a son?
This is the second area in which Prince Mohammed's interview suggests nothing but trouble for the Saudi royal family. He suggests austerity and market reforms in the Kingdom, but in the context of Middle East autocracies and particularly oil states this breaches an unspoken social contract with the general population. People may not have political liberty, but they get a share in oil revenues through government jobs and subsidised fuel, food, housing and other benefits. Greater privatisation and supposed reliance on the market, with no accountability or fair legal system, means a licence to plunder by those with political power.
This was one of the reasons for the uprising in 2011 against Bashar al-Assad in Syria and Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. So-called reforms that erode an unwieldy but effective patronage machine end up by benefiting only the elite.
Oil states are almost impossible to reform and it is usually unwise to try. Such states should also avoid war if they want to stay in business, because people may not rise up against their rulers but they are certainly not prepared to die for them.
#1
Expect the Prince's authority + credibility to greatly increase in the NT.
Salman recognizes that the "status quo" will be the death knell for the KSA as the Saudi position in the Muslim World + International Community, Orgs is being directly or indirectly challenged, to includ by poten by major Sunni Nations presently allied or standng wid the KSA agz rival Shia Iran. THE KSA MUST EXPAND TO MEET ITS THREATS + THAT MEANS THE MONARCHY MUST CHANGE.
THE KSA = USA = FACING RISING PARALLEL INTERNAL THREATS FROM BOTH MILITANT SECULAR MARXIST-COMMIE + ANTI-SECULAR RADICAL ISLAMIST-JIHADI GROUPS - iff-n-when the Monarchy falls, its NOT clear which faction or ideology will be left standing.
#2
This is the same Independent article so favourably described by Hezb'allah's Al Manar news site here. It was not clear from that how very much special pleading and double standards journalist Patrick Cockburn had engaged in. But then, Seymour Hersh has described him as the "best western journalist at work in Iraq today." And we all know how to judge any journalistic appreciation from Mr. Hersh.
More than 16 months after Iraqi and Kurdish forces reclaimed Mosul Dam from Islamic State fighters, the structure faces a new threat: the danger that it may collapse because of insufficient maintenance, overwhelming major communities downstream with floodwaters.
In the worst-case scenario, according to State Department officials, an estimated 500,000 people could be killed while more than a million could be rendered homeless if the dam, Iraq's largest, were to collapse in the spring, when the Tigris is swollen by rain and melting snow. The casualty toll and damage would be much less if Iraqi citizens received adequate warning, if the dam collapsed only partially or if it were breached in the summer or fall, when the water level is lower. Pray for global warming.
President Obama underscored the need to make emergency repairs in a call Wednesday with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, in which the two also discussed recent advances by Iraqi security forces against the Islamic State in Ramadi, in western Iraq, the White House said. Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reiterated the urgent need to maintain the dam during a meeting with Mr. Abadi in Baghdad on Thursday, according to a senior Defense Department official.
Worried that repairs might not come in time, American officials have urged the Iraqi government to begin warning its citizens, including those who live under the control of the Islamic State in Mosul, about precautions to take and where to flee if the dam starts to fail. Just warn the citizens. Don't tell the IS sub-humans.
A State Department official who is part of an interagency team assembled last year to focus on the problem cautioned that spring brings heightened risk. The official said the administration's assessment was that absent energetic efforts to repair the dam, it would collapse -- although he did not predict when.
At the heart of the problem is a major engineering challenge: reinforcing a massive dam built during the Saddam Hussein era on a weak foundation of gypsum, chalky limestone and clay.
But the problem is political, as well. The growing risks described by American officials come as Mr. Abadi contends with budget shortages, the ongoing conflict with Islamic State fighters and challenges to his authority from hard-line Shiite politicians prone to see American proposals as a conspiracy to expand Western influence in Iraq. Fine. Warn them and stand back. Watch the ensuing hilarity.
An Italian company, the Trevi Group, has been negotiating with the Iraqi government to make emergency repairs to the dam, at an estimated cost of more than $380 million, according to Iraqi officials.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy said in December that he would deploy 450 Italian troops at the dam to safeguard company workers if they began operations there. But negotiations, including on security arrangements, have yet to be completed.
Lukman Faily, Iraq's ambassador to the United States, said on Sunday that the Iraqi government understood the risk to the dam and would meet with the Italian company this week to continue the negotiations.
As for security for any Italian engineers sent to make repairs, the ambassador said on Sunday that "the dam is protected by Iraqi sissies forces, but we have no objection in the provision of additional security expertise from Italy or other coalition nations."
But reflecting Iraq's fractured politics, Mohsin al-Shammari, the head of Iraq's Ministry of Water Resources and a political supporter of the anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, said last month that Iraq did not need any "foreign support" in guarding the dam. Who needs foreign support when InShallah will do?
"There is no need for Italian forces to protect the dam," Mahdi Rasheed, an adviser to Mr. Shammari, said Sunday in a telephone interview.
Mosul Dam, which was completed in 1984 by a German and Italian consortium and is 30 miles upstream from the city of Mosul, has long been a maintenance nightmare. Before fighters from the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, swept across northern Iraq in 2014, approximately 600 Iraqis worked at the dam. Then they suddenly didn't.
Because the water was eating away at the gypsum base under the dam, Iraqi teams drilled holes in that foundation and filled them with a cement grout mixture. That work was carried out three times a day, six days a week.
The Islamic State controlled the dam for a little more than a week in August 2014, but its fighters did not damage the structure. After it was retaken later that month, however, many of the Iraqi workers never returned and the Iraqi government did not resume regular maintenance. The Iraqis also lost their usual source of grouting material, which was produced by a factory in Mosul, now under the control of the Islamic State. And I'm guessing Iraq doesn't need them, either.
As worries about the dam mounted, the Obama administration formed an interagency team and installed 92 instruments to measure, among other things, the pressure on the dam and the sediment in the water nearby -- one way of assessing the rate at which the gypsum base was disintegrating.
The Obama administration ruled out undertaking the costly repair project itself, and the Pentagon has been reluctant to set up a base near the dam to protect the repair efforts.
So the Obama administration has sought to help the Iraqis defray some of the cost by urging the World Bank to agree that $200 million of a $1.2 billion loan for Iraq would be for Mosul Dam repairs. International companies were informed by American officials that they would need to negotiate directly with the Iraqis and make their own security arrangements.
The period of greatest risk is from the end of February to mid-May, when the Tigris is at its highest and the pressure on the dam is the greatest. Maybe the pressure can be mitigated by turning up the speakers on the mosques and ululating all the time.
The worst-case scenario is a total collapse in the spring for which no public education campaign has been carried out on where citizens should flee or what precautions they should take. Maybe they can start an extensive awareness campaign. They can call it "Run uphill now or die."
State Department officials said the danger would be the greatest in Mosul, where rushing water would be funneled in a powerful current along the Tigris through the center of the city. Residents might have as little as two hours' notice that the dam to the north had given way, and the wall of water could be as high as 80 feet. More like 30 minutes I'm guessing. Unless the water takes a wrong turn somewhere.
The water would continue along the Tigris, which runs by Tikrit and Samarra down to Baghdad, potentially knocking out bridges along the way, according to the administration's analysis. As the water traveled south, debris, pesticides and corpses would become part of the flow, threatening the country's supply of clean water and its irrigation system.
The Iraqi capital would have several days' notice before the water reached there. But some areas in Baghdad near the Tigris, including the American Embassy compound and prominent Iraqi government buildings, could be flooded with water as high as 13 feet.
Educating Mosul's residents about the danger is complicated. Residents could avoid the main rush of water by heeding warnings to move to the outskirts. But the Islamic State, which controls the city, might see such warnings as a gambit to clear the way for an offensive backed by the United States and order citizens to stay.
"Right now, there is no alert system in place," said the State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the internal deliberations with the Iraqis.
Mr. Faily, the Iraqi ambassador, asserted that the Iraqi government was determined to have the dam fixed but was ready for all eventualities. "We have an emergency plan in the event of collapse," he said. Yeah. Wait for the water to go down, bury all the bodies in the way, deny the majority of the casualties, loot everything, and carry on.
#1
Even as I type the go units of the FLA are on the move, it looks like they may be joining the Boll Wevil Popular Front for the Spoliation of Cotton, other humint downplays the rotten cotton angle and tugs on the Heart Strings of the Western Press. They are only lookin' for a home, gotta find a home.
#2
Let the damn dam go. Allan wills it. You can't fix stupid.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/11/2016 18:17
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An Italian company, the Trevi Group, has been negotiating with the Iraqi government to make emergency repairs to the dam
Does that mean we can resurrect an oldie but a goodie saying from the automotive world: " Flood It Again, Tony?"
Lockheed Martin reports it has begun the process of joining four major components of the structure an F-35 Lightning II aircraft for Israel.
The plane is the first being built for Israel and is expected to roll out of Lockheed's assembly hall in June.
"Today [Sunday] marks a new beginning for tactical aviation for Israel," said Jeff Babione, Lockheed Martin F-35 program manager. "Lockheed Martin is proud of our long and storied relationship with Israel's armed forces. The F-35A Adir strengthens our solid relationship with the IAF and ensures that the Israeli aerospace industry will remain strong for decades to come."
Adir is the Israeli Air Force name for the 33 F-35s it is acquiring through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program. The Israeli F-35s will be the A variant, the conventional takeoff and landing model.
A number of Israeli companies provide components and systems to Lockheed for F-35 aircraft. Israel Aerospace Industries produces wings, Elbit Systems Ltd. works on the Generation III helmet-mounted display system and the F-35 center fuselage composite components.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/11/2016 16:17
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#3
...Donks are getting desperate for campaign kickbacks donations. Then there's always putting the state of assembly up for grabs this coming November by shutting down work. There's already enough of the other 'customers' who've gotten jittery over paying for the money pit.
1)These policymakers are typically blind...to the fact that the Saddamist regime in Iraq and the Assad regime in Syria were the way they were for a reason.
2)It was a predictable outcome with which policymakers are woefully ill prepared to deal
#2
The west forgot what it took to keep them in line before and no longer has the spine to be that brutal now. Best to find alternatives to oil, support Israel and perhaps Kurds, and otherwise let the region rot.
#3
Best to find alternatives to oil, support Israel and perhaps Kurds, and otherwise let the region rot.
But we can't "let the region rot". That region will spawn dozens of threats, nuclear and otherwise. We have to find the spine to actually *lead*, and then back that leadership up with overwhelming force.
Only when dissent is crushed can "hearts and minds" come into play.
[dw.com] A group of Paks and a Syrian national have been attacked in the German city of Cologne. The assaults follow dozens of reports of sexual assault on New Year's Eve, mostly by men of North African or Arab origin.
According to police in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, a group of about 20 people attacked six Paks on Sunday evening, near Cologne's central train station. Two of the victims were reportedly taken to hospital.
Shortly after the first attack, a similar incident unfolded when a 39-year-old Syrian national was assaulted by a group of five people. Police said they were investigating grievous bodily harm, but could not confirm whether either of the attacks was racially motivated. It was also not initially clear whether the two were linked.
'Human hunt'
Cologne tabloid "Express" reported on Monday that a group of "bikers, hooligans and bouncers" had used Facebook to plan a "human hunt" to "clean up" Cologne's city center. Early on Monday, a police spokesperson was unable to confirm the reports.
On Sunday afternoon, police had received tipoffs about "groups," which were "specifically looking for provocation," police said. Officers were deployed in the city center and Cologne's "Altstadt" quarter in large numbers. As the result of several identity checks, four people were briefly detained, reported a police front man. Whether they were among the attackers is yet to be determined. Two people also faced criminal charges.
#1
As reported by the MSM (ABC) this "Good Morning America", "allegedly" there was some "assaults" on NYE- and now there are "attacks" on immigrants.
I think the "It begins" actually began in the days leading up to NYE when some intel spooked Brussels and Paris to cancel scheduled celebrations... I wonder if the same words would be used if a thousand fraternity guys behaved the same way to some muslim chicks minding their own business.
#6
When you let criminals run free, good people become vigilantes.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/11/2016 12:00
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#7
Merkel herself must have known this kind of thing would happen. Maybe she thinks her security forces will keep it from destabilizing the entire EU. Maybe they will but she's playing with fire.
#9
Law enforcement around the globe spends big $$$ on "predictive policing" software. If the pre event threats were very, very specific with regards to potential sexual assults near crowds, I would have to believe cameras captured scores and scores of the "lads" faces before, during and after the sexual assaults. The "lads" are are probably standing in a hand out line as I type this, so you shouldn't even have to chase them down.
At least the Finns are firing up the call tree for Sons of Odin to provide a little security. I place my $2 bet on the Sons of Odin vs the "unaccompanied" children of the lions of islam.
#12
While it is good to see that there is some fight left in the Germans, I am still wondering how badly this is going to end. Let us hope the recently arrived welfare mooches take the hint and leave.
I really do not want to see a repeat of "Resettlement in the east."
#13
When the leaders in the country are unable or unwilling to protect the citizens they serve, then others will step in and fill the vacuum of leadership, or the country eventually collapses.
The skirmishes already started, now the battle begins. A three sided battle between the citizens, the government, and the invading hordes, all fighting each other.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/11/2016 18:14
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#14
My guess is there is still time to avoid another holocaust. The first step is to somehow get Merkel out of the chancellor's office and get somebody else in there who has the wisdom and fortitude to send the Syrians and their various cohorts back to their own countries.
#15
It will get a lot worse before it gets better. Merkel has defined these hordes as refugees to fit her narrative of the poor downtrodden masses fleeing oppression, war, etc., etc. Now she has a bunch of hooligans and jihadis trying to take over the country. The actual situation does not fit the progressive narrative. To change things now, she will have to reverse herself and abandon her little refugee meme. Politicians will not do that.
She will bumble on until the situation gets out of control. If the citizens get pushed too far and the government attacks them, then that will radicalize the citizens and you have a smouldering civil war that can flare up.
Events will have to run their ugly course before they get better.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/11/2016 20:32
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#16
"A group of Paks and a Syrian national have been attacked in the German city of Cologne.
Aww, geez. Ain't that too bad.
I'm looking for my femto-violin.
Really, I am. (Not)
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/11/2016 21:06
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#17
The purpose of the Justice system and Police is not to keep the people safe from the criminals, it is to keep the criminals safe from the people.
#18
First time I have commented 3x on a post but fer cryin out loud, why do we only have "unauthorized" low pixel video footage when we KNOW 3D digital, synchronized footage is what the "authorities" have had 11 days to break down?
[Investors.com] Las Vegas - People love to pamper their pets with toys, treats - and, now, tech.
Exhibitors at the annual CES trade show this week showed off a bunch of tech products for Fido and Fluffy, ranging from pet game consoles to video conferencing systems.
Anser Innovation of Burnsville, Minn., showed off PetChatz, a two-way video conferencing system for dogs and cats and their owners. PetChatz is described as a "greet and treat" videophone that allows pet owners to interact with their furry loved ones remotely over the Internet.
#3
Why is is that weird? You got equinnaphobia or something? Just because an animal doesn't have opposable thumbs is no reason to write off their social networking skills.
Long piece in a Swedish mag about events at a charity musical ball in Stockholm last summer. The attacks, by "foreign asylum seekers or refugees", against the local women at the concerts were numerous, persistent and would meet anyone's definition of sexual assault.
The editors at Dagens Nyheters dismissed the news as right-wing fabrication and only now with the Cologne assaults in the news is this coming out.
We'll be hearing about more of these in the days to come.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2016
07:47 ||
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#1
The Internet is the best thing that ever happened to the news business. It's simply awful for the newsroom crowd, but great for all the rest of us.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/11/2016 8:17
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#2
The elitists would offer that the asylum seekers cannot be blamed as they are simply products of their past environments. Urban crime in the U.S. follows exactly the same flawed logic and denial of basic evil.
The disproof or counter-argument is likely found in Bernie Madoff, who, if the logic follows, must be released from prison at once.
#8
EU there has been on both fronts. PLUS the media shows their true colors.
When the Moslems attack it is alleged this and alleged that, when the citizens respond they are unalloyed right wing thugs with nary an alleged in sight.
h/t Instapundit
If they think about Prohibition at all, most Americans probably accept Columbia University historian Richard Hofstadter's conclusion that it was a farce, a "ludicrous caricature of the reforming impulse," an ineffective albeit financially costly moral crusade imposed on a reluctant populace.
Decades later, Harvard University historian Lisa McGirr is here to tell us that not only is this widespread view misguided, it has led us to believe wrongly that the threat and consequences of Prohibition were trivial and short-lived.
#1
I seldom pay much mind to the opinions of academia regarding politics or the evils of society.
National Socialism was not birthed in the ranks of the Wehrmacht. It's origins are found in academia where attempts were being made to find alternatives for capitalism and communism.
#2
Anything can be overthought. The results are never pretty.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/11/2016 9:10
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#3
For a minority of people, ethanol is an addictive drug. For the rest, a mild euphoric. Imposing the protection of that minority on the majority provided an object lesson on human mature.
Bartender, another please.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/11/2016 9:59
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#4
One of the large steps in the growth of centralized, federal gov't power.
#5
What the author left unsaid is that, with the decline of mainline protestant churches, the Left and the Democrat party appropriated the mantle of moral authority and are declaring the Prohibition of guns, "bad-think". and the public statement of "hurtful" truths.
#6
IIRC, one of the key steps before passing Prohibition was to pass the income tax. Before the income tax, excise taxes on liquor were a major source of revenue for the Feds. They passed the income tax, then passed Prohibition. After Prohibition was repealed, the income tax stayed. It became a major source of income, and gave the Feds great power to manipulate society, by rewarding "good" things like home ownership. It has recently become a tool to silence political opponents.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/11/2016 16:15
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[Guardian] A Thai company that runs snake shows has paid $3,200 in damages to a Chinese tourist after she was attacked by one of their pythons when she tried to kiss it.
A video clip posted online shows two men during a show calmly holding the python. A long-haired woman wearing a backpack leans over to kiss it.
The python launches at the woman, grabbing onto her nose and holding tight while she tries to pry it away. Members of the crowd scream.
The local Phuket News named the woman as 29-year-old Jin Jing and said she had been taken to Phuket international hospital where she received treatment. Thai media published a photo they said was of the woman with several stitches in her nose.
#6
Pythons doing what they do. If something looks and smells like food, they react the same way most every time.
Our family used to have a couple in our earlier years. Sometimes they believed that our fingers perhaps were a mouse or some other tasty morsel, with the expected results.
Never was dumb enough to try and kiss one though. They can 'hang on' to anything they catch pretty well.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/11/2016 14:14
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#7
Awwww #4, I wanted to say it - guess I'll have to go wid the corollary "DON'T MARRY/DATE THE SNAKES" to be the tourist warning sign.
[Breitbart] On the Sunday broadcast of "The Cats Roundtable" on New York City's AM 970, host John Catsimatidis spoke about the upcoming 2016 presidential election with economist Arthur Laffer, a former member of President Ronald Reagan's economic policy advisory board.
Laffer not only predicted a victory for the GOP, but he would be "surprised" if they did not take as many as 47 of the 50 states.
"I would be surprised if the Republicans don't take 45, 46, 47 states out of the 50," he said. "I mean, I think we're going to landslide this election."
"I think Donald Trump is phenomenal, I think Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has done a great job, I even like Jeb Bush. I think Jeb Bush is great, he did a wonderful job in Florida. Chris Christie -- phenomenal," Laffer added.
He later said Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's "day is over."
"I don't think Hillary's going to win this election no matter whom she runs against. I mean, Hillary's day is over."
[Daily Caller] A veterans advocacy group that has sued the State Department over its failure to turn over Hillary Clinton's emails is asking Attorney General Loretta Lynch to take action against the former secretary of state for ordering one of her top advisers to strip classification markers off of a set of talking points and send them through unencrypted channels.
In the letter, Veterans for a Strong America (VSA) executive director Joel Arends points to federal statute 18 USC 793, which he asserts Clinton violated when, in a June 17, 2011 email, she ordered adviser Jake Sullivan to strip a document containing talking points of its "identifying heading and send nonsecure" instead of sending via secure fax. (RELATED: Bombshell Emails Shows Hillary Instructed Adviser To Strip Markings From Sensitive Talking Points)
As Arends notes, 18 USC 793 states that it is a federal crime punishable by fine and up to 10 years in prison to "cause to be communicated, delivered or transmitted...to any person not entitled to receive [classified information], or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it on demand to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it."
Gross negligence is also punishable under the statute. A person having knowledge that classified material was illegally removed from its "proper place of custody" and "fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction" has violated that portion of the law.
#1
Lynch hasn't tipped her hand. I wonder if the judgement of history is weighing on her.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/11/2016 17:04
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#2
The judgement of history? I have some doubt Sven. These people hunt in packs, unhindered by the moral law.
"Two things fill the mind with new and increasing admiration and awe. The more often we reflect on them: The Starry heavens above me and the 'moral law' within me.
Immanual Kant
Critique of Practical Reason (1778)
I find no inspiration in the likes of Lynch or in those who have placed her in a position of power and authority. We know why she was placed there. She is a tool of those who would take the law unto themselves, the Clintons, Obama, and the rest. Disgust yes, inspiration no.
#5
...unless there were foreign sourced classified material. Then the offended country could ask for extradition for prosecution. Presidential pardons are for domestic violations.
[ALMANAR.LB] The Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced on Sunday that a strike force from the Information Branch apprehended the "main member" of the group responsible for the twin-bombings of Burj Barajneh, NNA reported.
The criminal, Kh.Z., known as Abu Talha is a Lebanese national born in 1986.
He was captured in a building in Qubba region in the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... . The terrorist group he belonged to also attempted to carry out attacks in the north at the same time of the Burj Barajneh kabooms.
Investigations were underway with specialized judicial authorities.
On November 12, two suicide kabooms rocked the area of Burj al-Barajneh in Beirut's Southern Suburb (Dahiyeh), leaving over 43 deaders and 211 injured.
The Lebanese security forces carried out a large scale crackdown in which it tossed in the calaboose Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! almost all the bandidosbandidos bad boys who planned the blasts and assisted the jacket wallahs.
In Homs countryside, Hezbollah also had managed in late November to kill Abdussalam Abdurrazzaq al-Hindawi, a key ISIL member involved in the terrorist bombings.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2016
00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] At least 20 Lions of Islam were killed in a week-long military operation in northern Sar-e-Pul province, local officials said on Sunday.
In addition, 40 other Lions of Islam were maimed.
The operation was launched in Aqso area of Sayead, Adrang, Balghali, Lati, Qal-e-Sokhta and Dar-e-Sultan areas of the province and ended on Saturday, Provincial Police Chief, Abdul Qayoum Baqizoy said.
Baqizoy said that a number of villages have also been cleared of hard boys.
However, women are made to be loved, not understood... he did not provide details about the security forces casualties.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called the chief of staff and complained that the artillery was keeping him awake... officials of the provincial council said that Laghman and Sokhta villages are not yet cleared of the hard boys.
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MACEDONIA is building a 10ft-high razor-wire fence along its border with Greece with EU help to try to stop hundreds of thousands of migrants travelling through the Balkans into Europe.
News of the move came as authorities in the German city of Cologne said the majority of people suspected of carrying out mass sex attacks on New Year’s Eve were illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. Police said 379 offences had been committed, 150 of them sexual assaults.
Up to 516 now, still at 40% sexual assaults.
Armed border guards from six of the European Union’s eastern members are helping Macedonia, a non-EU member, to shore up its frontier against Greece, a member not just of the EU but also of its borderless Schengen zone.
The fence, due to be completed within the next few weeks, is modeled on one completed recently in Hungary.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2016
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#1
The headline implies a fence from Greece to Latvia. The story says different...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/11/2016 9:22
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[ALMANAR.LB] The Syrian army and armed forces, backed by the air force, destroyed Sunday ISIL trucks loaded with stolen oil in Deir Ezzour and eliminated other terrorist organizations in other provinces.
Deir Ezzor
The Syrian air force destroyed 20 trucks loaded with stolen Syrian oil by ISIS forces of Evil in al-Mayadeen city near the border with Iraq.
Field sources told SANA on Sunday that the air strikes destroyed all the trucks, that were heading for al-Mayadeen city near the Iraqi border, where operations of smuggling the stolen oil to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... were carried out by Turkish speculators.
Media reports affirm that known Turkish officials including Recep Tayyib Erdogan and his family members are involved in buying the oil that ISIL forces of Evil steal from Syria and Iraq.
According to the sources, a number of ISIL bad boyz were potted in artillery and rocket hits carried out by the army units on their positions and gatherings on the outskirts of al-Jafra area, Deir Ezzour.
Idleb/Hama
The Syrian Army air force destroyed terrorist organizations' vehicles in Khan Sheikhoun, Saraqeb, Ma'arkaba, Lahaya and al-Latamenah in the countryside of Idleb and Hama provinces, a military source told SANA.
Terrorist organizations acknowledged the killing of 16 of their members, among them self-claimed leaders in the countryside of Hama and Idleb provinces.
Aleppo
An army unit targeted hideouts of the terrorist organizations in al-Tamoura village and Andan town, 12 km north of Aleppo city, killing and injuring a number of forces of Evil and destroying their arms and ammunition.
An army unit destroyed positions and hotbeds for terrorist organizations in the village of al-Mansoura, 10km west of Aleppo city.
A number of ISIL bad boyz were potted in army operations against their dens and movements in Eisheh village, 38 km to the northeast of Aleppo city.
Army units destroyed terrorists' hotbeds with all arms and ammunition inside them in the neighborhoods of al-Myasar and Bani Zaid in Aleppo city.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Need a picture of the nasty tank wagon rig from Duel for these stories...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/11/2016 9:13
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#2
I wonder if we've backed off our focus on taking out these tankers now that it's fallen into the memory hole.
#3
we don't attack these trucks. It might harm the poor innocent drivers. Also it might annoy our Turkish allies, or at least Erdogan. His anti-Israel behavior qualifies him for our loyal support.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – On Sunday, a police source announced, that a government employee was killed in an armed attack in al-Dawra area in southern Baghdad.
The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Unidentified gunmen shot an employee in the Ministry of Culture in al-Mechanic neighborhood in Dawra area in southern Baghdad, killing him on the spot.
The source added, “A security force cordoned off the area, while opened an investigation into the incident.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – On Sunday, a police source announced, that four civilians were wounded by mortar shells in western Baghdad.
The source said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “Anonymous mortar shells fell, at noon today, in Abu Ghraib District in western Baghdad, wounding four civilians with serious injuries.”
The source added, “A security force cordoned off the area and transferred the wounded to the hospital to receive treatment, while carried out a raid to search for the offenders.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – On Saturday, a police source stated, that five people including a woman and three children have been wounded in a bomb blast in southern Baghdad.
The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “An IED emplaced under a civilian car exploded, at noon today, while passing in a village in Rasheed area in Southern Baghdad, wounding five people including a woman and three children.”
The source added, “A security force rushed to the area and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital to receive treatment, while opened an investigation to determine the perpetrators of the bombing.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad- A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced, that nine people had been either killed or wounded in a bomb blast north of Baghdad.
The source said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “On Sunday, a bomb exploded in Husaineya Rashideya area north of Baghdad, killing one person and wounding eight others.”
The source added: “Ambulances rushed to the area and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital for treatment and the dead body to the forensic medicine department, while the security force cordoned off the incident area.”
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A drone strike has killed three foreign terrorists in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan.
Officials say the militants belong to Bajaur Agency of Pakistan who were targeted by the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) of coalition forces in Shigal District yesterday.
They are identified as Atiqullah, Zishan and Haqyar.
Bajaur is one of the seven tribal agencies across the Durand Line which shares a 52-kilometer border with Kunar province.
The agency is one of the biggest security threats to Kunar where different terrorist groups operate.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which is Pakistan’s primary militant group has a branch in the agency calling it TTP Bajaur which sometimes coordinates attacks with Afghan Taliban.
Pakistani and Afghan Taliban have carried out several joint attacks in Kunar province
Thirty people from the city of Sabratha were kidnapped in nearby Surman on Friday connected to the Shershary children kidnapping.
Sabratha Municipality leader, Hussien Al-Dhawadi confirmed today that 30 people from Sabratha were kidnapped on Friday from within Surman in revenge for the arrest of a kidnapping and extortion cell in the western region.
The arrested cell had included members from the three western cities of Sabratha, Surman and Zawiya.
Dhawadi explained that the kidnappers had requested the release of the kidnapping cell in exchange for releasing the 20 newly kidnapped people from Sabratha.
The Municipality leader assured that the authorities from Sabratha and Surman were doing their best to release the kidnapped as soon as possible and without exposing them to any danger.
The news of the 30 kidnapped Sabrathans in Surman comes further to armed authorities yesterday holding siege to a house in Surman where the three Sabratha Shershary kidnapped children are believed to be held.
A standoff has been ongoing all since yesterday with exchange of gunfire at a house believed to belong to the Nimri family in the Nimri estate of the Beach club area of Surman. The operation is a joint action by Sabratha and Surman authorities.
The action comes after one of the alleged organisers of the kidnapping of the three Sabratha Shershary children has revealed in a video confession some of the details of the crime.
The video confession was posted Friday on the Facebook page of the Counter Kidnapping and Extortion Crimes Committee of Saratha Municipality Council.
The arrests came as part of a concerted effort by Sabratha and Surman to counter the numerous cases of kidnappings in the area.
ALEPPO – The extremist group of Islamic State (ISIS) urged its followers in the West to pretend to be Christians before carrying out terrorist attacks.
The group released a new 58-page terror pamphlet titled “Safety and Security Guidelines for Lone Wolf Mujahideen”, instructing its adherents on how to “bring victory to Islam”.
“We present you this modest work for lone wolf Mujahideen and small cells of brothers who want to bring victory to this religion. This is originally a series of lecture in 30 parts by Aby Abdallah al-Adam (rahimahullah) about safety & security in Jihadi work. It was initially meant for Mujahideen groups (organizations) and not lone wolves, but we have tried to adapt it and pick what’s important and leave what’s not relevant for an individual Mujahid and small groups,” the pamphlet’s intro reads.
“No doubt that today, at the era of the lone wolves, brothers in the West need to know some important things about safety in order to ensure success in their operations. We have also adapted some parts, taking into account the latest technological advances, for example in the field of encryption and safety of documents. This series was released by al-Fajr Media Centre a few years ago, in Arabic. We thought a lot of non-Arabic speaking brothers would find it interesting and may apply it in their blessed operations. We ask Allah to accept our work and we ask you in advance to excuse us for any typo or errors. All good in this work is from Allah, and the mistakes are from us alone.”
The Islamic State provides in its new release suggestions for Western terrorists, including shaving beards, forgoing religious clothing and wearing crucifix necklaces.
“It is permissible in such cases for you to wear a necklace showing a Christian cross,” the radical group advises its followers in the West. “As you know, Christians (or even atheist Westerners with Christian background) wear crosses on their necklaces. But don’t wear a cross necklace if you have a Muslim name on your passport, as that may look strange.”
The terror group is reportedly trying to step up its attacks in the West, especially in countries that participate in the ongoing airstrikes against its positions in Syria and Iraq.
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#1
The future US-born, US-raised, ex-USDOD Killer Elite ISLAMIC MAHDI/MESSIAH/IMAM/NUCLEAR NAPOLEON IS A CONVERT TO ISLAM.
A SO-CALLED "TRUE BELIEVER", LIKE HIS HERO OSAMA BIN LADEN AND DESPITE NOT BEING BORN OR RAISED MUSLIM AFTER BIRTH - HE'S NOT A FAKER OR POSER.
#2
"don’t wear a cross necklace if you have a Muslim name on your passport, as that may look strange" - no stranger than attending services presided over by Rev. Jeremiah Wright with a Muslim name like Barack or Hussein.
#3
Which is great for the west who turns a blind eye to anyone looking remotely jihadish for fear of being branded an Islamophobe but would readily call in a complaint against a clean shaven Christian acting funny.
What I learned from yesterday’s Ask Me Anything was that overwhelmingly, Ricochet wants to know more about the history of the Huguenots and their relationship to the Second Amendment. (Or, at least, Tenacious D does.)
When Ben Carson suggested that an armed populace would have been better able to resist the Holocaust, he walked off the history cliff for two reasons. The first was his failure to appreciate what it took to defeat a modern engine of death like the Nazi war machine — one that rolled over armies comprised of millions of trained soldiers with guns, planes, tanks, and artillery in Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Romania, Serbia, Yugoslavia, and Greece, and often did so in a matter of days.
He also missed a chance to explain to Wolf that in all likelihood, the Founders were thinking about the extermination of a European religious minority. But that minority wasn’t the Jews — it was the Huguenots.
Continued on Page 49
#1
We all know the background. Very few Americans are aware of just how bad the religious wars of those times were, even if their own ancestors were among those trying to escape European savagery and migrating to take their chances dealing with the native American sauvages.
#2
Now, I confess that here my memory is failing me. I can’t remember when, exactly, the policy of disarming all but the Catholic nobility came into effect. But I do remember that it did. Does anyone on Ricochet remember? I know that it happened, but I can’t remember when.
So, the central point of the article is not referenced. And Huguenots were definitely not disarmed on St Bartholomew's Day..
And the rest of the article is pure homespun history as well.
#4
well the Huguenots of the 16th century did not have very good firearms but neither did their opponents
the first practical flintlocks date from the early 17th century
The Huguenots were overwhelmed mostly because their opponents were better organized, more numerous and more vicious - probably better armed too but that wouldn't have been decisive without the other factors
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/11/2016 12:16
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#5
The three musketeers figured in there somewhere....
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/11/2016 12:27
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#7
A super-accurate metaphor that most of the audience doesn't know about would have gone over worse than using the arm the Jews. Most people understand at the very least that even if the Jews would have eventually been slaughtered they would have been able take a few of the bastards with them. Folks understand that on a gut level.
I don't think it lost Carson a single vote. Those that complained about the metaphor weren't voting Carson anyway.
[DAWN] An Afghan official says Pakistain will present a list of Taliban willing to negotiate with 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.... at a meeting this week aimed at reviving the Afghan grinding of the peace processor.
Afghanistan, Pakistain, China and the United States will meet in Islamabad on Monday to discuss a road map for peace talks. The meeting will not include the Taliban.
Javid Faisal, deputy front man for Chief Executive 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... , said Sunday that Pakistain's list will include Taliban who do and do not want talks with Kabul on ending the 15-year war.
Faisal says Pakistain has agreed to cut off financial support to Taliban fighters based in Pak cities. He says murderous Moslems based in Pakistain would not be allowed to resettle in Afghanistan.
He says the agreement would also include "bilateral cooperation on eliminating terrorism".
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[REUTERS] Meeting for the first time in more than three years, Egypt's new parliament on Sunday elected a constitutional expert as its speaker, a key position as President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi looks to push through more than 200 laws issued by executive decree while the assembly was suspended.
Ali Abdelaal, a French-educated lawyer who helped draft the constitution and election law, is a member of the "Support Egypt" coalition, an alliance of over 400 MPs loyal to Sisi.
As speaker, Abdelaal is now first in the line of succession in case of the death or permanent incapacity of the president, until new elections are held.
He quickly moved to impose his authority over the traditionally chaotic and unruly body.
"I know the constitution by heart. I wrote this constitution, nobody holds it up to me," he barked at a politician who spoke out of turn to insist parliament was constitutionally obliged to elect deputy speakers in its first session after Abdelaal moved to adjourn it.
Egypt's last parliament was elected in 2011-12 in the country's first free vote since a popular January 2011 uprising that ended autocrat Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... 's 30-year rule.
The parliament was dominated by Islamists and a court dissolved it in mid-2012 after ruling that the election laws at the time were unconstitutional.
A year later, Mubarak's elected successor, Mohammed Mursi of the Moslem Brüderbund, was himself tossed by the military led by Sisi after mass protests against his rule in June 2013.
"I express my sincere thanks and appreciation toward the leader of the way, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi," Abdelaal said upon assuming office.
"I will always be a defender of democracy and the principles of the Jan. 25 and June. 30 revolutions. I will also be a protector of the people's army and defender of its unity."
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[Dhaka Tribune] Sophie Kasiki stared at the photograph of a young English-speaking boy in a camouflage uniform and black bandana covered in Arabic calling for unbelievers to be killed in the latest 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.... propaganda.
Her eyes welled and she swallowed hard. "That could have been my son," she said, her firm voice wavering. "That's hard for me to say and makes me want to cry. I would have killed us both rather than let him become a killer, rather than let him fall into the claws of those monsters."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
It's always difficult to travel with a toddler.
Especially when you're a complete idiot.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/11/2016 11:58
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#2
Child endangerment should warrant an eventual trip to hell.
[NRTTV] Two weeks after declaring victory over 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.... (IS) in Ramadi, Iraq's military continues to face pockets of resistance and explosive traps in clearing operations.
Iraqi soldiers could be seen on Friday firing into IS positions with armored vehicles while columns of smoke rose from the city skyline. They were backed by six air strikes, the U.S.-led coalition said in a statement that day.
"We are now on the western side (of Ramadi) and the 16th (Army) Unit and private operations participated in cleansing the city and the morale of our fighters and leaders are high and they are advancing as we planned," Iraqi Lieutenant General Riyadh Jalal said.
Baghdad has designated djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... as the next target for Iraq's armed forces.
Foreign special forces have been carrying out raids on an IS stronghold in northern Iraq, ahead of an offensive planned later this year, according to Iraq's speaker of parliament.
Several attacks behind IS lines around Hawija, 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad, were carried out in recent weeks, Salim al-Jabouri told Rooters on Thursday (January 7)
Both the U.S. and Iraqi military have denied that U.S. forces have carried out military operations on the ground in Hawija since October, when U.S. special forces rescued 69 Iraqis in a raid that killed one U.S. commando.
But Dubai-based al-Hadath TV and Iraqi media have reported at least half a dozen raids in and around Hawija since late December, led by U.S. special forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Jessore -- Two of the three condemned killers of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal founding president Kazi Aref Ahmed and four other party men were hanged at Jessore Central Jail on Thursday night. Anwar Hossain and Rashedul Islam Jhantu of Khursa village in Mirpur upazila of Kushtia district were hanged around 11:05pm, said jail sources.
Another death-row convict, Safayet Hossain Habib of Rajnagar village in Mirpur upazila, is set to be executed at 11:45pm night, said jail sources.
Five people, including Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal leader and one of the Liberation War organisers Kazi Aref Ahmed, were shot to death by some miscreants at a rally in Kushtia on February 16, 1999.
Ishak Ali, the then sub-inspector of Daulatpur Police Station, filed a case the following day.
On August 30, 2004, a Kushtia court sentenced 10 people to death and 11 others to life imprisonment in the case. Later, the High Court upheld the death sentence of nine condemned convicts while acquitted 11 others.
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[Rudaw] Coalition air bombing southeast of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... turned at least nine military bases of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) group into rubble late Sunday, and dozens of bully boyz were reported killed or maimed, a senior Peshmerga commander said.
"At 5:30 pm coalition jets started shelling ISIS bases in the villages of Tolband and Kulabor on the Khazir front in Mosul," Brig. Saed Hazhar, deputy commander of the elite Zeravani Peshmerga, told Rudaw by phone.
He confirmed the killing and wounding of dozens of krazed killers, as well as the "complete destruction of nine military bases."
Coalition jets have continually been shelling ISIS bases to weaken the group's abilities on the front. The bully boyz have launched multiple assaults on the Khazir front, since capturing Iraq's second-largest city Mosul in June 2014.
The front is strategically important because it guards the strategic main road between the cities of Erbil and Duhok.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Amid growing optimism regarding the revival of stalled Afghan peace talks with the mediation of Pakistain, former US diplomats have said it would be unlikely for the Pak military to close down the Taliban and Haqqani network operations and imprison Afghan myrmidon leaders willing to pursue violence.
"Pak military has never been willing to take the very steps most likely to advance the process, which are to close down Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network operations in Pakistain and imprison any of their leaders not actively negotiating peace with the government in Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... ," Zalmay Khalilzad, a former American ambassador to Afghanistan and U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations
Continued on Page 49
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[DAWN] An Indian teenager held captive for two weeks by a gang of men said in an interview broadcast Sunday that she was repeatedly raped before being shot twice and dumped in a well on the outskirts of New Delhi.
The victim, reportedly aged 14, was allegedly kidnapped on November 22 while walking to a market in western Delhi, in the latest case of sexual violence in the Indian capital.
Speaking of her ordeal to the NDTV news network, the teenager said she was held in a "dark room" where three attackers took turns to rape her over a two-week period.
"After a fortnight of repeated abuse, one night they said they will let me go. They put me in the car and drove to a store to buy alcohol and then parked the car near a well," the girl said in the interview.
"They told me they will let me go but as I took a few steps back, they fired two shots." The first bullet hit my bone. I didn't feel a thing, my body just went numb. But after the second one I fainted.
She woke shivering and wet inside the well where she said she had been left for dead.
"When I regained consciousness... I could see a bullet in my chest, so I just yanked it out," she said, showing a wound on her chest.
Nearby villagers pulled her out on December 6 after hearing her screams, before she was rushed to hospital.
Several men have been locked away Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! over the attack, according to local media reports.
"I want the rapists to be hanged. No one should go through what I did," she said.
The fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in Delhi in 2012 shone a global spotlight on frightening levels of violence against women.
It also led to major reform of India's rape laws including speeding up of trials and increasing penalties for offenders, but high numbers of assaults persist.
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[CNN] Thousands gathered for a moving memorial service in Gay Paree on Sunday, as a city and a nation paused to remember the scores of lives lost in a spate of terror attacks last year.
French President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... presided over a somber ceremony to honor the 17 victims of the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo ...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe... office and a Jewish supermarket last January, as well as the 130 victims of the coordinated massacre in November.
There was heavy security around the Place de la Republique on Sunday as Hollande and the mayor of Gay Paree, Anne Hidalgo, laid a wreath and unveiled a commemorative plaque near a newly planted oak tree. The Place de la Republique, a vast square in eastern Gay Paree, has become an informal memorial and a rallying point for free speech and democratic values after the attacks. Candles, flowers and pictures of the victims lined the base of the Marianne statue, a symbol of the French republic.
The French army choir performed, and rock legend Johnny Hallyday sang "Un Dimanche de Janvier" ("A Sunday in January") -- a song referring to the march on January 11 last year, in which more than 1 million people joined world leaders to march in solidarity.
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[USATODAY] Sean Penn stunned Hollywood again, and not for his acting.
Penn, the Oscar-winning movie star, political and humanitarian activist, rebel with many causes, writer and globetrotter, says he took a secret meeting late last year in a Mexican jungle with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, the runaway kingpin of the Sinaloa narco mob and two-time escapee from Mexican jails.
Penn says this in an 11,000-word article, headlined "El Chapo Speaks," published in Rolling Stone late Saturday, complete with a picture of Penn and Guzmán (known as Shorty in Spanish) shaking hands, and a video of the paunchy-and-short drug lord answering questions about his sprawling drug business.
Penn says their meeting started with a warm hug. When it ended hours later, Penn had a scoop and the possible script for a different movie: Call it Sean and Shorty.
It's an episode bound to add to the mystique of Sean Penn-the-iconoclast, says PR expert Howard Bragman, founder of 15 Minutes PR. Perhaps by coincidence, the news broke on the eve of the Golden Globes.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2016
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#1
A man of the world. Give him credit for going there and doing that, even if he's still a commie asshole.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/11/2016 9:16
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#2
Probably unrelated, but 'Zero Dark Thirty' grossed $90 million at the box office and was nominated for five academy awards.
#3
...On the other hand, you have got to be wondering if some very, very bad hombres aren't wondering if Mr Penn led the Authorities to their meal ticket.
Popcorn, anyone?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/11/2016 11:45
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#4
No worries, Mike. In spite of all his rhetoric about gun control, Penn is packing.
#9
Brave, stupid? Gotta go with stupid. Maybe Penn can interview ISIL leadership next.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/11/2016 15:10
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#10
If Penn led the federales to El Chapo, he might get a dirt nap from Sinaloa. If he did not and met with EC and the federales did not know about it, he may have issues with the federales, so he better stay from Mexico for a generation or two.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/11/2016 18:29
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[REUTERS] Attacks on women in Cologne and other German cities on New Year's Eve have prompted more than 600 criminal complaints, with police suspicion resting on asylum seekers, putting pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... and her open door migrant policy.
The attacks, mostly targeting women and ranging from theft to sexual molestation, have prompted a highly-charged debate in Germany about its welcoming stance for refugees and migrants, more than one million of whom arrived last year.
The sudden nature of the violent attacks and the fact that they stretched from Hamburg to Frankfurt prompted Germany's justice minister Heiko Maas to speculate in a newspaper that they had been planned or coordinated.
The debate on migration will be further fueled by the acknowledgement by the authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia that a man rubbed out as he tried to enter a Gay Pareecop shoppe last week was an asylum seeker with seven identities who lived in Germany.
In Cologne, police said on Sunday that 516 criminal complaints had been filed by individuals or groups in relation to assaults on New Year's Eve, while police in Hamburg said 133 similar charges had been lodged with the north German city.
Frankfurt also registered complaints, although far fewer.
The investigation in Cologne is focused largely on asylum seekers or illegal migrants from north Africa, police said. They nabbed Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! one 19-year-old Moroccan man on Saturday evening.
In Cologne, where a 100-strong force of officers continued their investigations, around 40 percent of the complaints included sexual offences, including two rapes.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2016
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No doubt this information will be released to Israeli news media in a month or so, once they've been interviewed and gone before a judge.
[ALMANAR.LB] Israeli occupation troops carried out predawn detention raids in the West Bank on Sunday, arresting six young Paleostinian men, the Paleostinian Prisoners' Society said in a statement.
Israeli forces detained three Paleostinians in the northern West Bank district of Tulkarem, two in the town of Nahhalin in the southern district of Bethlehem, and one near the southern West Bank town of Hebron, the statement said.
Latest reports mentioned that a Paleostinian young man was injured during festivities wth the Zionist forces in Takoa in Beit Lahm in the West Bank.
Posted by: Fred ||
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(IraqiNews.com) A local source in Nineveh province said on Sunday, that the ISIS militants executed 5 civilians by crushing them under a bulldozer in central Mosul.
The source reported for IraqiNews.com, “Today, ISIS militants executed five civilians by crushing them under a huge bulldozer after handcuffed them in the area of al-Faisaliyah,” noting that, “The organization transferred the bodies and threw at al-Khasa area located west of the city.”
The source, who requested anonymity, added, “The organization accused the five civilians of apostasy, violation of its teachings and cooperation with the government authorities.”
Posted by: badanov ||
01/11/2016
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#1
Only 5? Hurrah, we have found the moderate wing of ISIS!
[Ynet] The US-led coalition conducted 11 air strikes against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... forces in Syria and 15 in Iraq on Saturday, the task force leading the operation said.
The strikes in Syria hit near Raqqa, Kamal, Manbij, Ayn Isa, Dayr Az Zawr, where one strike destroyed 16 skid-mounted gas and oil separation plants, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement Sunday.
Six of the strikes in Iraq were near the contested city of Ramadi, where Iraqi government troops were fighting to keep turbans out of the city they had occupied since May, it said. They destroyed weapons, fighting positions, an improvised bomb and maimed three Islamic State fighters and denied turbans access to terrain.
Other strikes hit near djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , Kisik, Haditha, Albu Hayat, Habbaniyah.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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[Rudaw] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... said it had killed 12 PKK fighters in a raid Sunday in the Kurdish city of Van, but Kurdish groups insisted the Special Operations Forces had stormed a home and massacred civilians.
The pro-Ankara Daily Sabah said "a police officer has been killed and two others have been maimed during an anti-terror operation against the PKK in eastern Van province on Sunday, where 12 bad boyz were potted."
It quoted Van Governor Ibrahim Tasyapan as saying that the operation against the PKK -- or Kurdistan Workers' Party -- took place around dawn.
"The police was tracking the group, but we also received related notices from our citizens," he said, revealing that two special-forces troops were slightly maimed in the operation.
"Sources added that 30 grenades, 12 long-barreled weapons and a machine gun were seized during a search of the premises," the Daily Sabah website reported.
But the pro-Kurdish Firat News Agency (ANF), meanwhile, said that the home had been occupied by young Kurds "dressed in civilian clothes."
The agency cited an official from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) as saying the incident amounts to a "mass execution."
"They are all young people in civilian clothes, as has been conveyed to us by those who saw the bodies, ANF quoted HDP official Tugba Hezer as saying. "This is a mass execution."
Video footage released by the Dogan News Agency showed what it said was the aftermath of the raid in Van, with bodies lying in the snow.
According to reports the slain were aged between 18 and 25.
[DAWN] A US drone attacked a compound in the Shawal area of North Wazoo tribal region late on Friday night, killing five suspected bandidosgunnies and wounding two others.
The attack was the first such strike of the year.
Sources said that a leader of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, Mulla Noor Said Janikhel, and two Uzbek nationals were among the dead. Mulla Noor belongs to Bannu district.
The sources said the drone fired two missiles at the compound in the Mangloti area close to the border with Afghanistan, some 46km west of Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... The Zarb-e-Azb ..the Pak offensive against Qaeda in Pakistain and the Pak Taliban in North Wazoo. The name refers to the sword of the Prophet (PTUI!)... military operation against bandidosgunnies and Death Eaters is in final stages in Shawal. Other areas of North Waziristan have been cleared.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2016
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Syria's Al Qaeda affiliate stormed a radio station and abducted two prominent media activists from a rebel-held northwestern town on Sunday, an opposition official told AFP.
"Al Nusra Front kidnapped at 0655 (0455 GMT) activists Hadi Al Abdallah and Raed Fares in the offices of Fresh FM where they work and live in Kafranbel," said Soner Taleb, head of media at the Syrian National Coalition.
Fares, Fresh FM's director, has previously been detained by Al Nusra fighters, who disapprove of what they term the station's "secular tendency and support of apostates", Taleb said.
Abdallah shot to prominence in 2011 when anti-regime protests erupted across Syria, before the country's descent into civil war. Last year he was one of the journalists to interview Al Nusra's head, Abu Mohammad Al Jolani.
"Abdallah had used his Al Nusra connections to keep his freedom but this time the extremists detained them both and destroyed and confiscated their belongings at the station," Taleb said.
Kafranbel, in northwestern Idlib province, has been under rebel control since 2012 and is well known for its creative and often humourous protest banners, in English and Arabic, which are widely circulated online.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor confirmed the abduction of Abdallah and Fares.
Al Nusra is part of a powerful alliance known as the Army of Conquest that captured Idlib earlier this year, and it has a strong presence in other parts of the country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2016
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#1
Wolfman Jack had it right. Prerecord the broadcast in a safe location and hire flunkies to play it live.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/11/2016 8:31
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An ambulance full of explosives was safely dealt with in Misrata yesterday after security forces prevented it from heading to its target.
The ambulance was believed to have been heading towards the city’s airport and the visiting party of Faiez Serraj, GNA Prime Minister-designate.
Details are still unclear, but it is reported that the ambulance originated from Zliten and tried to make its way into either central Misrata or most likely its airport hoping to achieve maximum damage.
However, the ambulance was detected and was given chase, forced into less built-up areas. The driver refused to stop and either self-detonated his explosives or it exploded as a result of shots fired at it from the pursuing Misratan security forces.
The ambulance was totally destroyed but it caused no real damage to surrounding property and no one was reported injured.
The attempt to detonate the ambulance was seen as part of a plan to further destabilise the security situation in Libya coming on the heels of the recent terror attacks in Sidra, Zliten and Ras Lanuf.
It was also seen as an attempt to disrupt the visit by the GNA to Misrata and Zliten.
They'll get right on it, I'm sure
The Yemeni political powers on Saturday pleaded to the United Nations to take action to break a deadly siege on rebel-besieged Taiz City by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia and forces loyal to now-ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh in order to save four million civilians from starving to death. Funny, the 'coalition' doesn't ask the UN to intervene when they're on top...
In a joint letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Yemeni political parties reiterated their call for implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution No. 2216 and immediate intervention to break the siege as part of international conventions. They noted that the rebels seize UN humanitarian aid shipments sent to besieged areas. "Free food!"
In a statement issued on December 23, 2015, the members of the Security Council welcomed the commitment of Yemeni parties to peace talks to ensure safe, rapid and unhindered access for humanitarian aid delivery to all affected governorates, including in particular Taiz City.
The letter of the Yemeni parties noted that Taiz, to date, continues to be bombarded by the Houthi-Saleh militias with all types of weapons.
On December 30, 2015, the rebels shelled Al Thawra General Hospital, the last operational hospital in Taiz, an act the Yemeni politicians described as ‘an unprecedented criminal and brutal violation of human values’. No, not exactly 'unprecedented', not even in the Middle East...
In the meantime, more civilians are dying of starvation and lack of medical supplies in Taiz as a direct result of the siege and the rebel bombardment, the Yemeni parties said in their letter to Ban Ki-moon
#1
It's funny but when I read these articles about Yemen I'm never quite sure who is who. Rather than calling them rebel and gov't forces I'd like them to get called, oh, Iranian backed vs. Saudi backed.
Reminds me of the old story about two Auzzie sailors exiting a pub. Stumbling out the door in the late hours into a heavy London fog, they spot a fellow serviceman entering. Oblivious to his rank and heavily bemedaled uniform, they inquire, "Say there bloke, can you tell us where we are?" The serviceman replies... "Do you know who I am?"
One sailor turns to the other "we don't know where we are, and he doesn't know who he is."
IBoth “Jukes” and “Kallikaks” are pseudonyms for families whose genetics were studied at the end of the 19th century. The Jukes illustrated the inheritance of criminality and the Kallikaks of feeble-mindedness (“feeble-minded” was the catch-all phrase used in those days for various forms of mental retardation and learning disabilities).l
while appropriate I doubt you could tell them apart. Just one more distinction without a difference.
QUETTA: Security forces on Saturday launched a search operation in various parts of the provincial capital and arrested 25 suspects in the aftermath of targeted attacks on police officials.
“25 suspects were arrested from various parts of Quetta,” said a police official.
Raids were conducted by security forces in Kasi road, Balochi street and other areas of the provincial capital.
All suspects were being interrogated by security forces in connection with the recent attacks on police officials.
Four policemen were killed during past week in two separate incidents of targeted killings in Multani Mohalla and Sariab road areas of Quetta.
In both incidents, the assailants managed to escape unhindered from the scene of the attack.
No group or individual has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Balochistan has been experiencing incident violence and targeted killings since more than a decade. The largest province of the country by area, is home to a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists.
Al Qaeda-linked militants also operate in the region.
DERA MURAD JAMALI: Security forces arrested a suspected militant for being involved in subversion activities and seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition from him in Rabi Canal area of Nasirabad district on Saturday.
A spokesman for the Frontier Corps said that on a tip-off about the presence of the wanted accused, a search operation was carried out in Rabi Canal area during which the suspected militant was taken into custody.
“A suspected militant was arrested and arms and ammunition were recovered from his hideout,” said the FC spokesman.
The seized ammunition included one rocket launcher with rounds, three SMGs, six 8mm rifles, five 7mm rifles, four 303 rifles, eight Chinese rifles, three repeater guns, six 12-bore rifles, one 9mm pistol and 3,600 rounds.
The suspected militant was handed over to the authorities concerned for interrogation.
DAMASCUS – United States and allies intensified their airstrikes on positions of the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) across Syria and Iraq, hitting the group’s fighting positions, tactical units and oil plants.
The coalition’s Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve said in a statement that its fighter jets on Sunday launched 26 airstrikes against ISIS in the region.
How many bombs did we drop?
In Syria, the U.S.-led coalition conducted 11 strikes, hitting the group’s power centers and oil fields in Abu Kamal, Raqqa, Manbij, Deir ez-Zor, Ain Issa, Maara and Washiyah.
At least seven ISIS tactical units were bombed in Sunday’s strikes in Syria. The raids also hit 16 gas and oil separation plants held by the extremist group.
In Iraq, the coalition launched 15 airstrikes, hitting ISIS tactical units and weapons storage centers in Albu Hayat, Haditha, Habbaniyah, Kisik, Mosul Ramadi and Tal Afar. The airstrikes in Iraq destroyed several ISIS headquarters, fighting positions, heavy machine guns, armored vehicles and assembly areas.
This comes after ISIS militant fighters started fighting back against western-backed ground forces in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo and in Iraq’s Ramadi and Mosul.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/11/2016
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#1
How many bombs did we drop?
"We fly to and fro under Mom's wing
(Routine can utterly calming!)
But then, one fine day,
Without warning, "Away,"
And we suddenly find that we're bombing."
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – A security source in the Rapid Intervention Forces in Anbar province said on Sunday, that the security forces had killed three suicide bombers wearing explosive belts during clashes with ISIS militants east of Ramadi.
The source said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “A force from the Rapid Intervention Forces managed to monitor the movements of ISIS elements that had worn explosive belts and intended to detonate themselves against the security forces stationed in the area of Husaiybah (7 km east of Ramadi).”
The source also noted, “The suicide bombers attempted to sneak into the defensive line, however, the security forces monitored them and killed three suicide bombers that were wearing explosive belts.”
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The commander of Anbar Operations Command, Maj. Gen. Ismail al-Mahalawi, announced on Sunday detonating 64 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the area of Albu Faraj north of Ramadi.
Mahalawi said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “An engineering force belonging to Anbar Operations managed to detonate 64 explosive devices that were found in the area of Albu Faraj north of Ramadi,” noting that, “The army forces continue their operations to cleanse the northern areas of Ramadi City.”
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – A security source in Anbar province said on Sunday, that 4 ISIS elements were killed during violent clashes with the security forces northeast of Ramadi.
The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “A force from the army’s 10th brigade had managed to repel an attack by ISIS on one of the military sites in the area of Albu Ainyah northeast of Ramadi,” pointing out that, “The force clashed with the ISIS killing four elements of [the organization] and seizing their light and medium weapons.”
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The leader of Albu Nimir tribe, Naeem Gaood, announced the killing of 12 ISIS elements in a military operation by the security forces and tribal fighters northwest of Bruwana area.
Gaood said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “The security forces and tribal fighters had carried out an extensive security operation to cleanse the northern and western part of Bruwana area in the district of Haditha (160 km west of Ramadi).”
Gaood added, “The security forces and tribal fighters clashed with ISIS elements northwest of Bruwana,” noting that, “The confrontations resulted in killing 12 ISIS elements.”
Posted by: badanov ||
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SWAT: The anti-terrorism department (ATD) officials have arrested a key terrorist from Mingora area of Swat.
On a tip-off, the ATD officials have carried out a targeted search operation in outskirts of Mingora and arrested a key terrorist.
The key terrorist was identified as Muhammad Ishaq wanted in several attacks and other heinous crimes. ATD have shifted him to an undisclosed location for further investigation.
[Tolo News] Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) Sunday warned certain Taliban factions against refusing to accept the grinding of the peace processor, adding that government will consider severe military action against those that continue to destabilize the country.
The remarks come a day ahead of a key meeting between representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistain, U.S and China in Islamabad to map out the peace framework with the holy warrior group.
Last July, Pakistain hosted the first round of formal talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban; however the talks then stalled following the reported death of the group's longtime leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
On the eve of the Islamabad meeting, the Afghan officials vowed to take extensive military action against the Taliban factions that reject peace and promote war.
"If Pakistain realizes that it has the capacity of gathering all factions around the peace table, is it a good thing. If it does not have the capacity, we request Pakistain to prove its honesty and target the hideouts of those who deny peace," an Afghan senator said.
Referring to Pakistain's role in the Afghan peace dialogue with the Taliban, some Afghan senators on Sunday persuaded Islamabad to support Afghanistan in its attempts to broker groundbreaking talks with the hardline movement.
Concerns grew over the recent weeks that the talks would be more complicated in the wake of the split that emerged amongst the Taliban group following the death of their former leader Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Standing Buffalo drew a bead on his old enemy and squeezed the trigger... the High Peace Council (HPC) said that the issue of the Taliban factions will also be taken into consideration during the talks.
"The quadrilateral meeting will also discuss the topic that which groups and who will participate in the coming two or three meetings," HPC member Maulavi Nuristani said.
A number of military experts meanwhile said the Afghan government should mount pressure on Islamabad to take action against those Taliban that still continue to denounce the grinding of the peace processor, calling on Islamabad to target their hideouts which they believe operate inside Pakistain's soil.
"If the government peace delegation succeeded to mount pressure on Pakistain to take actions against hideouts of such groups, I think this will be effective for strengthening peace in Afghanistan," university professor Sakhi Mohammadi said.
Sources close to the Presidential Palace have confirmed that two Taliban factions are likely to attend the peace talks in future.
The Afghan government has called on Pakistain to prove its sincerity toward the peace talks by March this year.
Sources have said that those Taliban factions that reject the grinding of the peace processor should be declared as Lions of Islam by the four nations attending the Islamabad talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2016
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#1
Military action is used first to force an opponent to the table. Threatening it later is weak. Trump has a point about folks being incompetent.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/11/2016 8:35
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[ALMANAR.LB] The British newspaper, Independent, posted on Sunday, January 10, an article in which it blasted the Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammad bin Salman, describing him as naive and arrogant.
The paper quoted a memo, published by the German intelligence agency, as portraying bin Salman -- the powerful 29-year-old favorite son of the ageing King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... , who is suffering from dementia -- as a political gambler who is destabilizing the Arab world through proxy wars in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... and Syria.
"Spy agencies do not normally hand out such politically explosive documents to the press criticizing the leadership of a close and powerful ally such as Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... . It is a measure of the concern in the BND that the memo should have been so openly and widely distributed. The agency was swiftly slapped down by the German foreign ministry after official Saudi protests, but the BND's warning was a sign of growing fears that Saudi Arabia has become an unpredictable wild card."
The BND lists the areas in which Saudi Arabia is adopting a more aggressive and warlike policy, as in Syria and Yemen.
None of these foreign adventures initiated by Prince Mohammad have been successful or are likely to be so, but they have won support for him at home, the Independent concluded.
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[Dhaka Tribune] The government has started working on the mosque management committees in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country as it thinks the committee members and the imams can play a key role in uprooting militancy by educating the devotees about the radicalisation.
An intelligence agency has recently been tasked to look into the mosque committees alongside inspiring the Islamic scholars to raise their voices against religious extremism. Islamic Foundation is assisting the agency with necessary information, sources said.
The intelligence officials, divided in different zones, started gathering information on the committees two weeks ago, particularly to identify the radical preachers and those linked to Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... within the bodies.
According to a 2008 survey of the Islamic Foundation, there were 5,776 mosques in Dhaka alone whereas the total number of mosques across the country was 2,50,399.
The government thinks that the mosques can play a vital role in preventing the rise of militancy in the country. So before working with the mosque committees, the government wants to make sure that those bodies are free from members of Jamaat and radical groups.
Sources said that the intelligence agency is also taking help from the pro-Awami League members in the mosque committees.
The agency wants to complete preparing a list of the committees members by one and a half months, following which a high-power team will scrutinise their programmes and look into the activities of the suspected persons. They will focus on the persons facing criminal cases and having links to any radical group or Jamaat.
The government will launch its mosque-based initiatives including asking the authorities to reshuffle the committees after getting suggestions from the special team, sources said.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal refused to comment on the matter saying that it was an internal affair of the intelligence agency.
Sources in the Islamic Foundation said that the intelligence officials were taking help from the organization in gathering information about the members of the mosque committees. The foundation runs mosque-based child and mass education programme.
When contacted, Islamic Foundation Chairman Shamim Mohammad Afzal said they were working on spreading the invitation of Islam to the doorsteps of the Muslims.
"It is not our job to gather information on someone. We are now trying to implement a plan regarding sermons before the Jumma prayers at district and upazila levels," he said.
Sources said that Islamic Foundation recently directed all mosques to deliver sermons in Arabic as they appear in the Qur'an and the Hadiths.
Shamim said: "We want to bring the people to the righteous path, like what the Prophet (PTUI!) did. For this, the Friday sermons must be given in Arabic, and there must be words on secular spirit."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2016
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#1
Simple. Follow the money.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/11/2016 8:22
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#2
The government thinks that the mosques can play a vital role in preventing the rise of militancy in the country.
So do bullets, and they are cheaper.
A UN aid convoy for the besieged Syrian village Madaya which was due to arrive on Sunday has been delayed to Monday by last minute complications.
The World Food Program (WFP) planned to deliver shipments of food and medicine to the area, where 40,000 people have been trapped for six months, on Sunday, after the government agreed Thursday to allow in aid. The convoy however was delayed and is now due to arrive Monday.
The reason behind the delay remains unknown.
Madaya, a rebel-held town near the Lebanese border, received humanitarian aid in October before falling under siege, according to the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The city has been surrounded since early July by pro-government forces including Lebanon’s Shi’a Hezbollah, allies of the Syrian government.
Dozens of images and videos have circulated on social media over the past weeks, depicting citizens of Madaya appearing to be severely malnourished and suffering from famine.
Amnesty International issued a report Friday describing the situation in Madaya, collating first-hand accounts of life in the besieged city. The report highlighted the importance of allowing humanitarian access to all civilians and the need to lift the siege on civilian populations across the country.
“We eat once every two days to make sure that whatever we buy doesn’t run out. […] In Madaya, you see walking skeletons. The children are always crying,” Mohammad, a resident of Madaya, told Amnesty International.
A ceasefire agreement in September 2015 was expected to guarantee the unimpeded access to aid and the evacuation of injured civilians; however, the agreement was not implemented on the ground.
“Syrians are suffering and dying across the country because starvation is being used as a weapon of war by both the Syrian government and armed groups,” said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International.
The organisation has reported that many residents of Madaya have been starving to death, reporting that they eat leaves from the trees due to the decrease in food supply and the increase in prices.
International medical group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has reported that 23 patients in the group’s health centre have died of starvation since 1 December.
Of the 23 people who have died, six were under one year of age, and five were over 60 years old.
According to MSF, approximately 20,000 residents of the town are facing life-threatening conditions due to the acute deprivation in basic needs.
The UN estimates that up to 4.6 million persons in Syria live in hard-to-reach areas, including around 400,000 people in 15 besieged cities who have no access to life-saving aid.
[Army Times] Dozens of Americans have left the comforts of home fueled by atrocities Islamic State militants have ravaged against their countrymen in Iraq and Syria, but also in places like Paris, and most recently, San Bernardino, California.
Just south of the city of Kirkuk, Iraq, another group of Americans not sanctioned by the U.S. military have entered the battlefield. The small team, comprised of American and foreign fighters with various specialties, hopes to rescue injured Kurdish forces as they battle Islamic State aggressors in their area of Daquq.
A former Army officer who operates under the alias "Kat Argo", and five other volunteers make up "Qalubna Ma'kum," translated from Arabic to mean, "Our hearts are with you."
"In a lot of ways, I feel like I'm more effective here than I when was in the military," Argo said in a telephone interview with Army Times Dec. 22. "We have the liberty of movement here, and...we're not limited to U.S.-only expertise."
Posted by: Besoeker ||
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#1
If it weren't for the Army Times reporting (why?), I would think this is a smuggling con.
The Iranian Navy is going to stage a war game in less than ten days, Deputy Commander Qolamreza Khadem Bigham said. Pointing to threats the country faces, he said the drill will be staged to the north of the Indian Ocean, Tasnim news agency reported January 10.
Pointing to speculations that Bab el-Mandeb is going to be closed, the commander said international regulations do not allow any country to close shipping ways even during wars.
He concluded by adding that Iran’s Fleet 38 is taking off to the Gulf of Aden and Bab el-Mandeb in a few days.
There have been speculations that Djibouti is going to block the way on Iranian commercial ships after it severed ties with Iran. The African country did so after Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in a political skirmish.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
So IOW, "BAB EL-MANDEB" to Iran = SCS + East Chiha Sea [Okinawa-Taiwan Straits] to China???
OWG CO-Superpower Iran will NOT be blocked off by the Saudis-Allies, just as OWG Co-Superpower China be NOT be blocked off by the PH, Vietnam, + Japan, just as Vlad = OWG Co-Superpower Russia will NOT be blocked off by Turkey, Ukraine, or Co-Superpower Iran.
* FYI AP > PAKISTAN SAYS WILL [strongly] RESPOND TO TO ANY [territorial] THREAT TO SAUDI ARABIA.
[Gulf Today] Abu Sayyaf militants killed an enlisted man in the Philippine Air Force (PAF) who was vacationing in his home province of Sulu, the military reported on Saturday.
Brigadier General Alan Arrojado identified the victim as Andre Burias Nono, assigned to a PAF unit in Southern Luzon, who was vacationing in the town of Jolo. Arrojado said Abu Sayyaf assailants shot and killed Nono at the back of the Catholic Church in Jolo on Friday afternoon.
He added a security team of policemen and soldiers immediately arrested Nono's assailants who were not identified. Police investigators suspect the killing was in response to intensified military operations against the Abu Sayyaf who are still holding at least ten hostages in Sulu.
Posted by: ryuge ||
01/11/2016
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[AnNahar] The news site Spiegel Online reported that the man had already been classed by German police as a possible suspect after he posed at the refugee center with an IS flag, but he disappeared in December. Nadal Hasan, Richard Reed, and the Tsarnaevs were "known" as well. Being a known terrorist, or terrorist sympathizer does not appear to hold much consequence.
The head of North Rhine-Westphalia's criminal police service, Uwe Jacob said the suspect had traveled to Germany in 2013 for the first time from La Belle France, where he had lived illegally previously for five years.
"We are not sure who he really was," said Jacob, adding that the man had already been imprisoned on several occasions for offenses relating to illegal arms possession, drug trafficking and assault.
He had gone under seven different identities and given at least three nationalities on separate occasions - Syrian, Moroccan or Georgian, Jacob said, according to national news agency DPA.
"We are not sure who he really was," said Jacob, adding that the man had already been imprisoned on several occasions for offenses relating to illegal arms possession, drug trafficking and assault.
Welt am Sonntag said the man had drawn a symbol of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... organization on the shelter's wall and had filed for asylum using the name Walid Salihi.
But French Sherlocks said Friday the suspect appeared to have been identified by his family and was said to be a Tunisian named Tarek Belgacem.
Gay Paree prosecutor Francois Molins had said the man was carrying a mobile phone with a German SIM card, with French media reporting that it contained several messages in Arabic, some of which were sent from Germany.
[AnNahar] Iraqi forces evacuated 635 civilians from Ramadi Sunday as they continued to clear the city two weeks after declaring victory against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group, security officials said.
Federal forces retook the strategic government compound in the center of the capital of Anbar province late last month but they have yet to assert full control over the city.
"Forces from the counter-terrorism service and the Anbar police evacuated 635 civilians," said Major General Sami Kadhem al-Aredhi, a commander of elite troops in Ramadi.
He told AFP they had been trapped in areas where IS fighters are still present in Sichariyah and Sufiya, on the eastern outskirts of Ramadi.
They were taken to a camp in Habbaniyah, east of Ramadi, to join hundreds of other families displaced from Ramadi by the fighting.
Aredhi said his forces and the Anbar police also detained 12 suspected IS members who tried to slip out of Ramadi by blending in with evacuated civilians.
"The suspects were moved to a facility to be investigated as we attempt to identify all the people of Ramadi who got involved with those gangs (IS)," Anbar police chief Hadi Irzayij said.
One of the areas of Ramadi which Iraqi forces most recently cleared is the sprawling southeastern neighborhoods of Malaab.
"Bomb disposal teams there have already defused more than 250 IEDs (improvised bombs," a bomb specialist in the police said.
Dozens more were defused or remote-detonated in the Albu Faraj district in northern Ramadi, a colonel in Anbar operations command said.
IS fighters had planted thousands of roadside kabooms and booby traps across the city, slowing the advance of ground forces vastly outnumbering them and supported by air strikes from the Iraqi air forces and U.S.-led coalition.
[NRTTV] As the urban war intensifies and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... finds itself unable to uproot Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters from urban centers, frustrations among Justice and Development Party (AKP) officials, especially from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... , have become quite visible.
The main reason for this frustration is firstly because they are aware that their own policy choices in the last few years have made PKK fighters penetrate urban centers. As a result, sooner or later, they will be held accountable for empowering the PKK in the region.
Secondly, AKP officials, and Erdogan in particular, are aware that the international community is not on their side. In fact, from the US to Russia, the major players in the region have tried to help the PKK or its affiliates for their own interests.
Thirdly, Erdogan's conspiratorial mindset puts him in survival mode in which he believes he is subjected to constant conspiracies from international actors. Thus, he tends to relate every single development inside the country to this larger conspiracy that he imagines.
For instance, instead of looking at his insufficient yet overambitious policy preferences and poorly qualified advisers and babus bureaucrats who are naive enough to think they could deceive the PKK and its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, Erdogan tends to blame international actors for what is going on in Diyarbakir.
The combination of Erdogan's conspiratorial mindset and poor advisory team has made him extra vulnerable to unexpected and uncontrollable developments. As his vulnerability grows, so do his frustrations.
Demirtas a major threat
In addition, Erdogan is aware that Selahattin Demirtas if he is not removed from the leadership position of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), will sooner or later be the next leader after him. However, a woman is only as old as she admits... Erdogan wants to secure the system such that the AKP will always rule Turkey.
Erdogan's 2023 projects and new constitution plans are nothing but an effort to change the political structure to make sure the AKP will dominate the future of Turkey.
Thus, Erdogan wants to remove Demirtas from his post and make sure he will not be an obstacle before the 2023 plans.
Erdogan is aware that shutting down the Kurdish HDP would only help Demirtas strengthen his political position. Therefore, instead of targeting the HDP, as if the HDP is not part of the PKK-affiliated network, Erdogan is going after the leadership of the party and tarnishing their image as supporters of terrorism.
A simple analysis of Erdogan's rhetoric would easily show that Erdogan continually criticizes Demirtas and holds him responsible for the urban warfare rather than PKK leaders. He constantly attacks Demirtas to make sure Demirtas has no role in Turkey's future.
Most recently Erdogan called on Parliament to lift the political immunities of Demirtas and his deputies, accusing them of supporting terrorists. He further argued that those who support Lions of Islam should be barred from politics.
Once he sees that he could stop Demirtas with court trials, there is no doubt he will go ahead and do that.
For now, unless he has an early election in mind, it is not logical for Erdogan to put Demirtas behind bars.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2016
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It's a bad time to be in a Hamas terror cell, unless one really wants a vacation in the Israeli Hilton.
[IsraelTimes] Hebron terror group had purchased guns, were led by brother of man who oversaw abduction-murder of three teens last year, officials say
In a joint Shin Bet-IDF operation, a Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, terror cell was broken in Hebron
...Hamas Central in the West Bank...
in November, officials announced Sunday.
The cell had purchased a variety of weapons, including an M-16 rifle, in order to carry out a terror attack on the Route 35 highway, which runs between Hebron and the coastal city of Ashkelon, the Shin Bet said in a statement.
"The thwarting of this terror cell, which was nearly prepared to carry out an attack, again demonstrates the never-ending attempts by Hamas operatives in Hebron to carry out severe terror acts," the statement said.
The head of the alleged terror cell, Mehmad Ali Qawasmeh, is the brother of one of the Death Eaters responsible for the abduction-killing of three Israeli teenagers in the summer of 2014, the Shin Bet said.
Qawasmeh is a member of the extended Qawasmeh family, a strong Hamas force within the city of Hebron. Another member of the family, Maher Qawasmeh, was incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in December by the Shin Bet for leading another terror cell, which planned to kidnap and murder Israelis in order to negotiate the release of Paleostinian prisoners, the security service said last week.
The group had already scoped out the highway to find optimum vantage point to carry out the attack and had purchased pistols and at least one M-16 assault rifle. The guns were seized by Shin Bet and IDF forces during the bust of the cell.
Mehmed Ali Qawasmeh, 38, recruited the other members of the cell, all of whom were residents of Hebron, the Shin Bet said.
Though the Shin Bet would not reveal how many people were arrested from the cell, at least another three members were picked up.
Louai Faisal Hashlmon, 32, was another leader in the group, the Shin Bet said. He had previously been incarcerated as a Hamas operative. Amer Mehmed Ewiwie, 29, and Husam Fakhrie Hashelmon, 24, were also arrested for their activities in the alleged cell.
In addition, Qawasmeh recruited a number of people for logistical support, who were expected to provide a stolen vehicle with which ti carry out the proposed attack on the highway and also assist the operatives who actually carried out the attack to escape and hide, the Shin Bet said.
A military court indicted the men for conspiracy to commit voluntary manslaughter and for being members of Hamas, an illegal organization.
[WSJ] The Arab League on Sunday backed Saudi Arabia in its continuing diplomatic spat with Iran, triggered by the kingdom’s execution of a dissident Shiite cleric, condemning Tehran for failing to protect Saudi diplomatic sites in the Persian country.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2016
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A district administrator says two people, including an official working at Mogadishu airport were wounded when a bomb planted under car seat exploded in at Manaboliyo intersection in the capital.
Speaking to Radio Shabelle, Shibis district commissioner Ahmed Mohamed Mumin said a passerby and an airport staff member sustained wounds in the blast and have been admitted at hospital for treatment. The commissioner of Shibis district has called on the local residents to work with security forces in thwarting such attacks and any act against the area’s stability.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but Al shabaab has been known for carrying out such attacks targeting on Govt employees and law enforcement personnel in Mogadishu.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2016
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Europe has barely even seen the start of the migrant influx, Germany’s Development Minister has warned.
Gerd Müller said only 10 per cent of Syrian and Iraqi migrants have reached Europe so far and “eight to ten million are still on the way”, with even more to come from Africa.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2016
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#1
Apparently what EUR thought was a massive "Human Wave" wasn't T-H-E WAVE OR ONLY ONE???
QUETTA: Frontier Corps (FC) arrested an alleged militant during a search operation in Chinjan area of Killa Saifullah district on Sunday.
According to FC spokesman, acting on a tip off FC personnel carried out a search operation in the area and apprehended an alleged militant. Further investigation is underway.
Chris Muir at Day by Day has a comment on whether men, particularly the white men of Europe, should ride to the rescue of the wimmin. I don't agree with his take, but it's food for thought.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2016
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#2
But women claimed they didn't need men to do that. I'm just waiting for them to step up to the plate.
I'm also waiting for them to ask why they're not doing 50% of the dangerous dirty shitty jobs with inflexible hours and low pay.
[Rudaw] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's largest pro-Kurdish party and its human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... foundation reported Sunday that more than 160 civilians, including women, were killed in the fallout of festivities and curfews by Turkish authorities in the country's Kurdish southeast.
According to a report by the People's Democratic Party (HDP), Turkey imposed a string of curfews on several Kurdish cities and towns, resulting in the deaths of 161 civilians, 30 of them women.
"The besieging of seven Kurdish cities and 20 townships and storming civilian homes for 280 days is still ongoing, and they (Turkey) has constantly renewed curfews 56 times and they are still in place," the report read.
The Turkish Human Rights Foundation, meanwhile, reported that between August and January, 162 civilians have been killed in confrontations between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Turkish army during curfews in Turkey's Kurdish cities.
"The report puts special emphasis on human rights violations after Dec. 11, 2015 and says that civilians' lives have been hugely affected by the way curfews are imposed, the size of areas implicated, increasing military crackdowns and the hardened discourse by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government," the Turkish Sunday's Zaman reported.
It added that more than "260 members of the security forces have been killed in festivities with the PKK since a cease-fire negotiated by locked away Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and the government collapsed in July."
Ongoing festivities between the Turkish army and residents of Turkey's southeastern Kurdish cities have displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians and led to the deaths of hundreds,
The Turkish army declared a series of military curfews in several neighborhoods of the Kurdish district of Sur in Turkey's Diyarbakir province in early December. Since then, festivities have been underway, with dozens of civilians and coppers reportedly killed and maimed.
Thousands of people have fled Sur district in recent weeks, with the area under a tough curfew for a month. Clashes have been ongoing.
People across Kurdish cities in Turkey have protested against the curfew in Sur, calling for an end to the hostilities, according to reports.
Turkish media reports say that more than 100 people are believed to have been killed and 100,000 others displaced.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2016
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#1
Again, in "brokered convention", + whether GOP or Dem, the frontrunner no matter how successful may or may not be the final name on the Party's ballot come election day.
Iff one does occur, most likely "The Donuuld" will be kept on as POTUS candidate, BUT HIS VPOTUS RUNNING MATE, NOR HIS POST-VICTORY CABINET, MAY NOT BE OF HIS CHOICE.
Anything can happen depending on what kind of internal agreements and concessions are made - ITS QUITE POSSIBLE THAT TRUMP WILL END UP AS VPOTUS DESPITE WINNING MOST OR ALL OF THE CAUCASES OR PRIMARIES.
#4
Urban hipster gals (Sex in the City) like bad boys and flings in their 20s and 30s, but when the 40s hit they start looking for that traditional reliable provider types.
#11
If there is a chance in hell of an open Republican convention, I will gladly pay $150 towards JOE!'s airplane ticket. I want him on the floor reporting exclusively to RBee and be available as a compromise candidate.
(IraqiNews.com) Salahuddin – On Sunday, Leader in al-Hashd al-Shaabi militia Jaber Maamouri announced the death of a suicide bomber who tried to attack one of al-Hashd patrols in Makhoul Mountains in Salahuddin Province.
Maamouri said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “A suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt tried to approach one of al-Hashd al-Shaabi’s patrols in Makhoul Mountains north of Salahuddin,” pointing out that, “The forces from al-Hashd al-Shaabi observed the suicide bomber and managed to kill him.”
“Dozens of ISIS elements including suicide bombers were killed in the last few months after the liberation of Makhoul Mountain due to their persistent attempts to attack different patrols and check points,” Maamouri added.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/11/2016
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#1
Premature suicide. Or would that be preventive suicide?
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/11/2016 8:26
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QUETTA: Two security personnel were killed and three wounded in an explosion in Balochistan's Gwadar district on Saturday.
Police sources said that Coast Guard personnel were on routine patrolling when their vehicle hit a landmine in Kaldan area of Jewni Tehsil in Gwadar.
They said two personnel were killed on the spot whereas three sustained serious wounds. The injured personnel were rushed to nearby hospital for medical treatment.
The blast also damaged the security forces' vehicle. Security forces cordoned off the area and started an investigation into the attack.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Militants in the area have been targeting security personnel and pro-government politicians for last more than a decade.
Injured personnel shifted to PNS Shifa in Karachi
The seriously injured official was shifted to Pakistan Navy Medical Centre at Jiwani, while the bodies and two other injured were shifted to Gwadar where the injured were provided first aid.
Subsequently, the injured and bodies were flown to Karachi in Fokker aircraft provided by Pakistan Navy.
All injured persons are currently admitted at PNS Shifa and undergoing treatment.
Terror bid foiled in Dera Murad Jamali
In a separate incident in Dera Murad Jamali, security forces claimed to have foiled a major bid of terrorism by seizing weapons and arresting a suspected militant.
Security sources said one suspected militant was arrested and weapons were recovered from his possession in Dera Murad Jamali area of Naseerabad district.
Balochistan has been experiencing incident violence and targeted killings since more than a decade. More than 1,400 incidents targeting the minority Shia and Hazara community have taken place in the province during the past 15 years.
The largest province of the country by area, is home to a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists. Al Qaeda-linked and sectarian militants also operate in the region.
At least 47 anti-government armed militants have been killed in the latest wave of counter-terrorism operations across Afghanistan, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said Sunday.
The counter-terrorism operations by the Afghan national security forces have been rampant during the recent week as the anti-government armed militant groups have stepped up terrorist attacks across the country including the capital Kabul.
“In past 24 hours, Afghan National Police conducted several anti-terrorism joint operations with Afghan National Army and NDS to clear some of the areas from terrorists and enemies of peace and stability of Afghanistan,” MoI said.
According to MoI, the operations were conducted in Nangarhar, Takhar, Faryab, Kandahar, Zabul, Maidan Wardak, Ghazni, Paktika, Paktiya, Herat and Helmand provinces, as a result 47 armed insurgents were killed, seven wounded and eight others were arrested by Afghan National Security Forces.
Also, during these operations, Afghan National Security Forces discovered and confiscated light and heavy rounds ammunition, MoI added.
The anti-government armed militant groups have not commented regarding the report so far.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) urged the Afghan citizens to assist the Afghan national security forces in maintaining peace and stability by reporting suspicious terrorist related activities
[NRTTV] Bomb disposal teams in the Peshmerga forces have defused over 22 tons of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) which Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) faceless myrmidons planted to slow Peshmerga advances in southern fronts of Kirkuk.
According to Peshmerga commander Fariq Mohammad, six Peshmerga forces were killed and 23 others maimed by IEDs in the villages of Bashir, Said Khalaf and Tel Rabi in southern Kirkuk.
Mohammad told NRT, "In 2015, we defused over 7,000 IEDs which were planted in barrels, containers and pots."
The IS faceless myrmidons have been known to leave IEDs and bombs behind in town and villages as they are pushed out by the security forces.
NRT has obtained documents stating that up to 182 Peshmerga forces have been killed by IEDs in the southern fronts of Kirkuk in 2015.
Peshmerga Commander Bakir Said told NRT that the former Baath Party officers who are with the faceless myrmidons have used the IEDs as tactics to slow the Peshmerga forces from advancing.
"Mostly the Baath officers, who were in the Iraqi Army [before], used bomb planting tactics which deterred Peshmerga forces from advancing," said commander Said. "I can say over 65 percent of Peshmerga [killed] and wounds were due to the IEDs."
According to Peshmerga commanders, the IEDs which IS faceless myrmidons have planted have the same shape and structure of the IEDs al-Qaeda group had made in Afghanistan.
In a written statement provided to NRT, the Combined Joint Taskforce (CJTF) said the coalition has plans to send military equipment for the Peshmerga, including large sets and mobility and counter-IED equipment.
The U.S.-led coalition forces said it had equipped Kurdish forces with over 150 military vehicles, 15 of which included mine-roller attachments, which are used to detonate mines and IEDs.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2016
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[Tolo News] Security forces regained control of Darqad district of northern Takhar province early Sunday after it fell to the Taliban nearly three months ago, local officials said.
Noor Mohammad Hakimi, the provincial police chief said that a joint military operation was launched on Saturday in Darqad and security forces took control of the district early Sunday.
"Our air forces also supported the ground troops in the operation and security forces are moving forward to clear all districts from myrmidons," Hakimi said.
However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... he did not provide further details.
But local officials said that the Taliban sustained massive casualties in the ongoing military operation but said there are no exact figures.
Afghan forces on Sunday wrested control of a northern district bordering Tajikistan from the Taliban, officials said, two months after its capture stoked fears the jihadists' violence could spread to Central Asia.
The rare positive news for the Afghan military comes as the Taliban are expanding their 14-year-insurgency with an unprecedented winter surge, which analysts suggest is aimed at increasing their leverage before planned peace talks.
Afghan army, police and special forces units launched a fierce offensive on Friday to recapture Darqad in Takhar province.
They defeated the Taliban after two days of intense fighting that left many Death Eaters dead or maimed, the defense ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
"The district has been entirely captured by the Afghan forces, the enemy suffering heavy casualties have been defeated," it said.
Some twenty Death Eaters and one Afghan soldier had died in two days of fighting, it added.
A Takhar provincial front man confirmed the news, adding that some holy warriors were hiding in the residential areas of the district.
"A search and clearance operation is ongoing to arrest or kill these holy warriors hiding in people's houses," Sonatullah Timor told AFP.
Darqad, located on the banks of the Oxus river on the border with Tajikistan, was captured by the holy warriors in late October in a battle that had left at least six Afghan security force members dead.
Afghan government officials have said in the past the Taliban had joined forces with holy warriors of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and other organizations with the goal of spreading northward into Central Asia.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2016
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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.
Lockheed Martin reports it has begun the process of joining four major components of the structure an F-35 Lightning II aircraft for Israel.
[dw.com] A group of Paks and a Syrian national have been attacked in the German city of Cologne. The assaults follow dozens of reports of sexual assault on New Year's Eve, mostly by men of North African or Arab origin.
[Guardian] A Thai company that runs snake shows has paid $3,200 in damages to a Chinese tourist after she was attacked by one of their pythons when she tried to kiss it.
[Daily Caller] A veterans advocacy group that has sued the State Department over its failure to turn over Hillary Clinton's emails is asking Attorney General Loretta Lynch to take action against the former secretary of state for ordering one of her top advisers to strip classification markers off of a set of talking points and send them through unencrypted channels.
A drone strike has killed three foreign terrorists in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan.
Jessore -- Two of the three condemned killers of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal founding president Kazi Aref Ahmed and four other party men were hanged at Jessore Central Jail on Thursday night. Anwar Hossain and Rashedul Islam Jhantu of Khursa village in Mirpur upazila of Kushtia district were hanged around 11:05pm, said jail sources.
[Rudaw] Coalition air bombing southeast of 
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
[REUTERS] Attacks on women in Cologne and other German cities on New Year's Eve have prompted more than 600 criminal complaints, with police suspicion resting on asylum seekers, putting pressure on Chancellor 
Wazoo
[Tolo News] Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) Sunday warned certain Taliban factions against refusing to accept the 
[NRTTV] As the urban war intensifies and 
A district administrator says two people, including an official working at Mogadishu airport were wounded when a bomb planted under car seat exploded in at Manaboliyo intersection in the capital.
