Some pointed parting thoughts from General Kelly.
Gen. John Kelly, commander of U.S. Southern Command, goes "over the side for the last time" with 45 years of perspective on U.S. war-fighting and its future.
"This will sound strange to you," said Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, the U.S. military's longest-serving general. "My greatest fear was that I would be offered another job."
The four-star head of U.S. Southern Command will hand over his final command on Thursday and retire at the end of the month. In an exclusive interview, Kelly reflected with his characteristic off-the-cuff candor on nearly half a century in the military, spanning from the Vietnam War to three tours in Iraq to overseeing the Defense Department detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"I won't be any more or any less honest than I've been in all of my career," he said in Boston brogue. "I've been doing it a long, long time."
Kelly led troops through some of the most violent days of the Iraq War in Anbar province, where the U.S. military once again is helping Iraqi forces oust the Islamic State four years after the war's ostensible end. He had the ear of Defense Secretaries Robert Gates and Leon Panetta as their senior military assistant. Two sons followed him into the Marines -- one, Robert, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010, making the general the highest-ranking officer since 9/11 to lose a child in combat.
When Kelly visited the Walter Reed military hospital and wrote letters to the families of those who had died under his command in Iraq, he said he tried to think of what it'd be like to lose a child, to better empathize. "You can't imagine until it happens," he said Friday in his last briefing at the Pentagon.
For other parents in his situation, he said, "I think the one thing they would ask is that the cause for which their son or daughter fell be carried through to a successful end, whatever that means, as opposed to 'this is getting too costly,' or 'too much of a pain in the ass,' and 'let's just walk away from it.'" I imagine certain politicians are not going to like this. And at this point there is nothing they can do to punish him for saying it. Score one for the general and common sense.
Later in the press conference, a reporter, citing recent losses in Afghanistan, asked the same question Kelly said these families occasionally ask: "Was it worth it?" He gave the same answer: "Not my question. It's his," he said, referring to his son Robert. "He answered it."
'One Pair of Boots is Boots on the Ground'
"It's almost impossible for any man or woman in uniform to not give his or her honest assessment ... because you can't make a good decision without straight-forward advice," Kelly told Defense One. Kelly says he's never been muzzled from giving that advice during President Barack Obama's administration.
Kelly expressed disagreement with the Obama administration over Guantanamo; the decision to open all combat positions to women, despite the Marines' objection; the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq; and the rhetorical gymnastics officials are using to avoid acknowledging U.S. troops are again in combat in the Middle East, in spite of Obama's pledges.
"If there's a country and it's dangerous and we deploy a U.S. military man or woman, if there's only one there, and they never leave the capital, that is 'boots on the ground,'" Kelly said. "We do a disservice to the sacrifice of these people, particularly if they are killed, when we say there's no boots on the ground."
When Kelly took Southern Command, an area of responsibility from the Southern Cone to Mexico's southern border where much of the action consists of drug interdictions, some observers thought the lower-profile post was intended to sideline the unreserved general.
Yet Kelly explained Friday, "I was given some options. And I was kind of tired of the war." Southern Command would, "allow me to unleash other energies and talents."
For years, Kelly has been asking Congress for more money for SOUTHCOM. In July of 2014, he told Defense One that "near collapse of societies in the hemisphere with the associated drug and [undocumented immigrant] flow" were existential threats. "If the average American doing a little blow on the weekends thinking there is no harm in it knew the harm is it results in countries being destroyed," he said, things may change. As it is, "We don't get very many assets." A number of countries in the region are seeking intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance resources elsewhere, turning to Israel, Russia and China for drones.
The Middle East's wars still touched his region, but Kelly said claims that terrorist groups such as ISIS are taking advantage of the instability to infiltrate either the U.S. or its backyard are divorced from reality. Officials have observed a slight increase in recruits travelling to Syria -- from roughly 100 last year to 150 or so, Kelly estimated -- but he downplayed the danger. His concern now, he said, was ISIS's encouragement for recruits to stay home -- so-called "lone wolf" attacks.
"It seems like the Islamic extremists and terrorists have shifted a lot of their message, and that is, 'Hey, rather than come to Syria, why don't you stay at home and do San Bernardino, or do Boston, or do Fort Hood,'" he said. "Even just a few of these nuts can cause an awful lot of trouble in the Caribbean."
'Gitmo is Gitmo'
Kelly oversees Guantanamo, a divisive issue he alluded to from his Pentagon podium Friday. "I do not do policy -- whether it opens or closes, whether it ever should have opened."
He bristles at reports he and other military officials have stymied the president's push to transfer out detainees and close the detention facility for good.
"It's an insult, frankly, to a serving military officer or a civil servant in this building to be accused of -- whether we agree or disagree with any of the policies, that we would in any way impede the progress," he said. "My only role in transfers is give me a name, give me a country, give me a timeframe, and I will get the person to that country."
Kelly facilitated the infamous swap of five Taliban for captured U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. "I said, 'Is this on the up-and-up?... he said, 'Paperwork will be coming, but it's got to go quick.' So I said, 'As long as I get the paperwork afterwards,'" Kelly recounted. He put the detainees on a plane to Qatar behind the backs of visiting reporters and the families of victims of 9/11. "We never got caught," he grinned.
Kelly said the swap was "unusual," but he never questioned the legality. "I would never assume that anyone, in this building for sure, broke the law," he said.
But the general also undermined key aspects of the administration's argument for why Guantanamo must be closed: that the so-called "worst of the worst" can be held in the U.S., and that its mere existence poses a national security threat by serving as a propaganda tool.
"Bombing the living shit out of ISIS in Iraq and Afghanistan, Syria, that would maybe irritate them more than the fact we have Guantanamo open," he told Defense One. For terrorist groups and rights activists alike, "What tends to bother them is the fact that we're holding them there indefinitely without trial ... it's not the point that it's Gitmo. If we send them, say, to a facility in the U.S., we're still holding them without trial."
Obama administration officials argue that ISIS executing hostages in orange jumpsuits is purposeful stagecraft in protest of Guantanamo. Kelly disagrees, saying, "What I see are animals acting like brutal animals." He pointed out detainees now wear beige. "If they execute these poor sons of guns in orange jumpsuits and we say, 'ah, see, that's a good example of how Gitmo --,' that's full of sh... -- I think it's not accurate."
Kelly said he didn't know whether Guantanamo would be closed in the next year, calling it a "civilian leadership issue." But if it were agreed Guantanamo should be closed, he said, logistically, it wouldn't be hard, and remaining detainees could be held in the U.S.-- "They're not going to escape, for sure." Reiterating he's not a lawyer, he added, if all the issues with moving detainees to U.S. soil had been resolved, "I think it would be done already."
As for critics' argument that detainees transferred to other countries are returning to the fight, Kelly concluded the briefing, "If they go back to the fight, we'll probably kill them. So that's a good thing."
'Man on the Moon'
To Kelly, one of military's biggest evolutions over the past 15 years is a shift to problem solving: a whole-of-government approach to conflict resolution beyond "typical, kinetic-type stuff." As Kelly recounted, the Iraqis would give the example, "'Look, you people put man on the moon ... how come you can't get me electricity?'"
Though this shift is also one championed by Obama, Kelly implicitly criticizes decisions made in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now the war against ISIS.
"When I left Iraq, the training wheels were coming off," he said, and like parents behind a child's bicycle, the U.S. could have stayed closer to Iraqis learning to pedal on their own.
"This war stuff is hard, and it's not for the untrained and unadvised," he said of Iraq now. "We obviously have a whole new war over there."
As for Afghanistan, he also said far more than military power was needed. "If you take the point that we can't let them have safe haven, then you have to do social, economic, military action, political action to prevent that."
"Some of the recommendations might be distasteful or out-of-the-box in terms of some of the policy-makers' thinking," he said. "We know how to do it, but it generally translates to more expensive and longer-term than what maybe the nation hopes for."
The future of warfare requires case-by-case strategy picked from a range of options by policymakers and the public they represent, Kelly said.
"If you want to just go after and try and kill senior leadership of this organization with hopes it eventually just kind of goes away, that's maybe a drone strike option," he said. "Or I can put a million men and women on the ground and we can reconstruct the country and government and everything else. So that's the spectrum, policy maker ... you tell me what you want to do."
Kelly's passionate belief that the military positively impacts the country is as obvious as his bemused resignation toward policy makers and Beltway bureaucracy. He'll return to northern Virginia, but hopes to stay away from Washington.
Someone recently asked what it'd be like no longer being a Marine. "I'll always be a Marine," he said.
"I'd love to find a way to keep giving," he continued. "My fear was of being offered a job that would be kind of a full-time position at a veterans organization or even in the government ... I'd prefer to not be that, to come up the Beltway every day."
Defense secretary lays out his vision for the next decade's killer capabilities in 2017 budget preview.
Smarter smart bombs, mini railguns, and swarming robot boats to watch man-made islands are a few of the key technology areas that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter sees as vital to U.S. military superiority in the next decade. In a preview of the Pentagon's upcoming 2017 budget request, Carter said military research and development spending would rise to $71.4 billion from last year's $71.3 billion request.) Carter also listed areas where the Defense Department was already seeing "returns" on R&D spending through the Strategic Capabilities Office, or SCO.
"I'd like to tell you about a few projects SCO has been working on that we're funding in the budget," he said. "Some you may have heard of, and some we're talking about here for the very first time" he said.
Sending Swarmboats to Watch Manmade Islands
Robotic autonomy is critical to the Pentagon's ambitions to be in more places at less cost. Carter today highlighted "swarming, autonomous vehicles in all sorts of ways, and in multiple domains.
Many military technologists such as Center for a New American Security senior fellow Paul Scharre and New America's Peter Singer see robotic teaming, or swarming, as a game-changing capability on the battlefield. The military has been researching swarmbots large and small, for years.
Swarming robots aren't just in the air but also on the water. In 2014, on Virginia's James River, the Office of Naval Research staged a key demonstration of the Control Architecture for Robotic Agent Command and Sensing, or CARACaS, system in which 13 self-driving boats conducted highly coordinated maneuvers.
Carter alluded to the demonstration in his Tuesday speech: "And for the water, they've developed self-driving boats, which can network together to do all sorts of missions, from fleet defense to close-in surveillance -- including around an island, real or artificial, without putting our sailors at risk," a clear (if indirect) reference to China's man-made islands in the Pacific.
Smaller Railguns
The high cost of advanced ballistics is driving the military toward cheaper alternatives like direct energy and electromagnetic railgun that hurl shells at hypersonic speeds. The Navy is planning an at-sea demonstration of a BAE designed railgun that can hurl 44-pound shells.
But Carter wants to shrink railgun technology until it can fit into "the five-inch guns at the front of every Navy destroyer, and also the hundreds of Army Paladin self-propelled howitzers. This way, instead of spending more money on more expensive interceptors, we can turn past offense into future defense -- defeating incoming missile raids at much lower cost per round, and thereby imposing higher costs on the attacker," he said.
He noted a January demonstration that equipped a Paladin with railgun capabilities.
Smarter Smart Bombs
Helping bombs find their targets without relying on outside communications (or worse, dumb luck) could decrease errant strikes and save lives. Carter highlighted advanced navigation projects that would use "the same kinds of micro-cameras and sensors that are littered throughout our smartphones today, and putting them on our Small Diameter Bombs to augment their targeting capabilities. This will eventually be a modular kit that will work with many other payloads -- enabling off-network targeting through commercial components that are small enough to hold in your hand."
DARPA's program in micro-technology for positioning, navigation and timing exemplifies this long-standing,growing research effort.
Arsenal Planes
And where will these smarter smart bombs descend from?
Carter said the Pentagon is working to turn "one of our oldest aircraft platforms" -- understood to be the B-52 bomber -- into "a flying launch pad for all sorts of different conventional payloads. In practice, the arsenal plane will function as a very large airborne magazine, networked to 5th-generation aircraft that act as forward sensor and targeting nodes -- essentially combining different systems already in our inventory to create wholly new capabilities."
Here's what that might look like in a real-world mission. Next-generation stealth fighter jets like the F-22 and the F-35 would take the lead in a strike, slipping through and disabling enemy radar and electromagnetic weapons. The arsenal planes would follow to finish the job.
Fifth-generation fighter and older craft have difficulty communicating, which some have highlighted as a critical oversight in planning. Carter today acknowledged that fixing the problem is going to be key to keeping older aircraft relevant.
#1
Anyone notice that when a real ground pounding war kicked off after 2001, the sudden shift in monies from Buck Rogers gold plated crap to actual stuff used by hundreds of thousands of Snuffies on the ground that had been previously ignored for at least two decades?
Approximately 300 people including scientists, engineers and other experts, about half with doctorate degrees, have petitioned U.S. House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, to carefully investigate suspiciously overheated climate temperature book-cooking by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Signers included 25 climate or atmospheric scientists, 23 geologists, 51 engineers, 74 physicists, and 12 economists.
One was a Nobel laureate physicist, two were Apollo astronauts . . . and another was me.
Referring to a 2015 NOAA study purporting to having eliminated a nearly two-decade-long "hiatus" of flat global temperatures, the signatories asked Smith's committee to ensure that federal agencies observe scientific Data Quality Act (DQA) guidelines established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.
The DQA requires agencies, including NOAA, to "ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information, including statistical information."
NOAA's adjustments to previous ocean temperatures between 1998 and 2012 made recent global temperature changes appear more than twice warmer than the original records showed.
This was accomplished by throwing out global-coverage satellite-sensed sea surface measurements taken since the late 1970s -- the best data available -- and upwardly adjusting spotty and unreliable hit-and-miss temperature readings taken from ocean-going vessels which present well-recognized problems.
Big errors are introduced because readings taken from the cooling-water intake-tubes of various ships record measure temperatures at different ocean depths. Varying amounts of conduction from different vessel infrastructures and daily sun conditions skew temperatures as well.
Writing in the well-known science blog "Watts Up With That," CATO's Center for the Study of Science Director Patrick Michaels, Assistant Director Paul Knappenberger, and Distinguished Senior Fellow-MIT Professor Emeritus of Meteorology Richard Lindzen agree that the lax standard of NOAA's study should prompt questions by members of the scientific community.
They note: "As has been acknowledged by numerous scientists, the engine intake data are clearly contaminated by heat conduction from the structure, and as such, never intended for scientific use."
In addition to tweaking recent temperature readings to be higher, NOAA's revisions to earlier original data have consistently made past temps cooler.
As climate expert Bob Tisdale and meteorologist Anthony Watts observe on the same WUWT blog site, "To manufacture warming during the hiatus, NOAA adjusted the pre-hiatus data downward" to show even more recent warming.
Incidentally, NOAA's "corrections" to suggest warming between a huge 1998 El NiĂąo and another big one last year contradict data provided by other wider-coverage and higher quality measurements.
A large integrated network of Argo ocean buoys operated by the British Oceanographic Data Center in combination with satellite-enhanced data reveal no statistical warming.
And even if all those adjustments were right, the warming trend would still be significantly lower than was projected by the collection of climate models cited in the most recent U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.
In light of the massive El NiĂąo there should be no surprise that 2015 showed elevated temperatures -- about a quarter of a degree Fahrenheit higher than the previous year.
This is similar to what happened with the El NiĂąo in 1998. Also don't be surprised to see it soon followed by a La NiĂąa cooling. Although not well understood, there is no evidence linking these naturally-occurring reversals of Pacific trade winds and deep-ocean currents to any man-made influences.
Michaels, Knappenberger, Lindzen, along with most of us, recognize that global temperatures have been warming in fits-and-starts since the "little ice age" ended in the mid-1800s.
They urge us to keep in mind: "It is important to recognize that the central issue of human-caused climate change is not a question of whether it is warming or not, but rather a question of how much. And to this relevant question, the answer has been, and remains, that the warming is taking place at a much slower rate than is being projected."
House Science Committee Chairman Smith has expressed a commitment to look into concerns that the real purpose of NOAA's report was to push President Obama's political agenda.
He is not alone in noting that the non-peer-reviewed study appeared to be rushed for release conveniently in advance of U.N. Climate Change Conference held in Paris last December.
As reported by the Daily Caller News Foundation, Smith said: "It is this committee's oversight role to ensure that federal science agencies are transparent and accountable to the taxpayers who fund their research." He added: "Americans are tired of research conducted behind closed doors where they only see cherry-picked conclusions, not the facts."
Referring to the pleading submitted by the 300 petitioners, he responded that "This letter shows that hundreds of respected scientists and experts agree that NOAA's efforts to alter historical temperature data deserve serious scrutiny."
After all, isn't serious scrutiny a prerequisite for all trusted science? It's OK if it's junk science.
#3
Raj, you're a piker. Start at 80% cut and work down from there.
I've been a Software geek for 35 years including as a systems auditor investigating the validity of models. It is a given that the easiest way to get the results you want is to cook the data.
#4
How about this? If they want to present a model saying there's *this* amount of warming, fine. If their module proves accurate in five years, they will be listened to. If it's not, they get burned at the stake. Oh and you must all present ALL data like real scientists. No hiding anything or it's the stake.
The head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy said Monday that if the U.S. seeks to humiliate Iran, the IRGC would release footage of ten U.S. sailors detained last month that is much more embarrassing than images released earlier.
Addressing Iranian lawmakers a day after being awarded a medal by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for the Jan. 12-13 incident in the Persian Gulf, Sardar Fadavi also said his personnel had obtained information from the U.S. sailors' laptops and phones.
"We have extracted extensive information from their laptops and cell phones," the state-owned Tasnim news agency quoted him as saying, adding that the material could be made public.
A U.S. Navy investigation is underway. Earlier, U.S. Central Command said that when Iran released the sailors and boats, "all weapons, ammunition and communication gear are accounted for minus two SIM cards that appear to have been removed from two handheld satellite phones."
In his address in parliament, Fadavi also warned that the IRGC had much more footage of the incident than the material it released earlier -- which showed the sailors kneeling on the deck at gunpoint, later relaxing and eating, and one of them apologizing for unintentionally entering Iranian waters.
Tasnim reported: "If U.S. officials say they are angry with and frustrated by the footage released, they would be 100 times more embarrassed if the IRGC releases other films of the capture, the Iranian commander said."
"Iran does not seek to humiliate any nation, he said, but stressed that if they want to humiliate Iran, the IRGC would publish the footage and make them even more embarrassed and humiliated," the agency added.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Secretary of State John Kerry both declared themselves angry about the images publicized by Iran -- although Kerry also said their release came from the IRGC, not from the foreign ministry.
Kerry spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to ensure the quick release of the sailors and their two patrol boats, and when they were allowed to go some 15 hours after being apprehended, he expressed his "gratitude to the Iranian authorities for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter."
"That this issue was resolved peacefully and efficiently is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure, and strong," he said in a Jan. 13 statement.
Fadavi's visit to parliament saw lawmakers praise him and the personnel involved for detaining the U.S. sailors.
Parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani said the forces had demonstrated the power of the IRGC Navy with their "timely and calculated action" against the "intruding pirates."
Iran's Mehr news agency posted photos of Fadavi being feted by lawmakers, and lawmakers reacting to his address with raised fists.
#3
The Ex-Sole-Superpower-soon-to-Be-Just-One-of-Many-OWG-Co-Superpowers USA apparently needs to be humiliated + degraded, etc as it unilaterally retreats or falls back around the World, in the name of US-LED ANTI-US OWG-NWO.
So that OWG Co-Superpower Amerika's fellow OWG Co-Superpower siblings Russia, China, + Iran, Other? can rise to MilPol or Geopol PARITY wid the US, albeit "rough", NOT INFERIORITY = SUBSERVIENCE TO THE US.
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG!?
Lets ask God, Nostradamus, Madonna, + the Pearl Harbor 1941 USN BB USS "Oklahoma", VPOTUS AL Gore's Vietnam M-16 + Texas-sized Asteroids, shall we???
The military is by nature a conservative community. Given the cost in lives inherent in betting on the wrong new trend, this should hardly be surprising. Sometimes, that traditionalist streak gets in the way of progress, as was the case with radical ideas like the aircraft carrier. Sometimes, the skepticism is justified. Defense News looks at the $3+ billion per ship DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class, which is likely to serve as a design template for future cruiser classes (CG-X, 19 ships from 2011) and possibly even a frigate class (FFG-X, featured in CBO reports but no firm plans), asking: "Is New U.S. Destroyer Unstable? external link" Are the critics prisoners of their preconceptions re: what ships are "supposed" to look like, or sounding an early alarm before a very expensive ship and its crew are lost to Mother Nature rather than enemy fire? Defense News:
"Nothing like the Zumwalt has ever been built. The 14,500-ton ship's flat, inward-sloping sides and superstructure rise in pyramidal fashion in a form called tumblehome. Its long, angular "wave-piercing" bow lacks the rising, flared profile of most ships, and is intended to slice through waves as much as ride over them..."
"At least eight current and former officers, naval engineers and architects and naval analysts interviewed for this article expressed concerns about the ship's stability. Ken Brower, a civilian naval architect with decades of naval experience was even more blunt: "It will capsize in a following sea at the wrong speed if a wave at an appropriate wavelength hits it at an appropriate angle"... "
"...Brower explained: "The trouble is that as a ship pitches and heaves at sea, if you have tumblehome instead of flare, you have no righting energy to make the ship come back up. On the DDG 1000, with the waves coming at you from behind, when a ship pitches down, it can lose transverse stability as the stern comes out of the water -- and basically roll over."
These concerns have existed for a decade, but the US Navy continues to express confidence in the stealth-enhancing design based on their modeling and testing to date. A 1/20 scale, 30-foot scale model has been taken it up through Sea States 8-9 [hurricane-force seas and winds], based on the standard US Navy requirement for stability in ships is a 100-knot wind and using a model of 1969's Category 5 Hurricane Camille. A 150-foot, 1/4 scale steel hull has also been built and tested for stability, and the arm's-length US Naval Technical Authority has determined the Zumwalt's design to be safe.
All ships may face dangerous conditions at sea, and all ships have conditions in which certain actions can be troublesome of even dangerous. Ships larger than the Zumwalt Class have gone to the bottom in freshwater lakes, let alone the open ocean. They key issue is that no ship with the same set of design features has ever put to sea... and those that were similar didn't do well.
A number of French and Russian battleships used tumblehome designs, and their poorer sea-keeping abilities were a matter of record. The tumblehome design's repute was not enhanced when several Russian battleships sank after being damaged by gunfire in the 1905 Battle of Tsushima. In fairness, one must note that the Russian ships suffered from "having their 'T' crossed" by Japanese maneuver; to which must be added unhealthy crews, poor quality shells, poor training and tactics, and a high rate of casualties among the force's commanders. Regardless, the tumblehome hull form was dropped by French designers after World War 1.
Unsurprisingly, concerns also persist about the Zumwalt Class ships' ability to take damage. The sharply reduced crew size of just 182 promises operational cost savings and instant response, but automated damage control mechanisms coordinated by software remain an unproven option. In exchange for its advantages, it may offer less adaptability than human crews are capable of, as well as a potential point of failure in the automated systems themselves or their software.
In the end, the "unproven" label remains the core issue facing the DDG-1000 design, on multiple levels. It is new, and unlike more conventional hull forms it has not encountered tens of thousands of sea states and combat injuries to provide a deep baseline for prediction and modeling. Testing is underway with the best will and equipment available -- but no testing program can truly duplicate the vast legacy of experience built up during the last century with conventional hull forms.
Ship design has come a very long way since 1905, and an era of aircraft and missiles creates different imperatives for performance and survivability. The US Navy argues that a new approach is needed because existing designs are too limited, and sees a new design that would be difficult to copy and give its ships the edge in combat. Critics argue that inaugurating a completely new hull form, on such an expensive ship, creates real risks of untested events or combinations that could lead to the catastrophic loss of a major fleet asset. Not to mention the end of a hugely expensive program, long after vast sums have been expended.
Who's right? The answer could easily be either party, or neither party -- or even both parties. Until the Zumwalt Class' hull form is truly tested with a baseline of at sea experience and with experience of severe damage, we won't really know.
Meanwhile, decisions must still be made, in an arena that's all about assessments of risk and advantage.
#1
I find it difficult to believe that testing at NSWC Carderock wouldn't have found this problem if it existed.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/02/2016 12:24
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#2
I also believe that the specific scenario specified could be recreated in the wave tank. The architects better have ....
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/02/2016 12:32
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#3
The ability of the ship to take a hit and damage control is always a question with the automation and one that won't be fully answered until the missiles start flying. Even then technology can leapfrog the original design.
Take for instance the British Battleships that were made in the 1920s. They didn't armor the decks and they were only made of wood as only a plunging shot would penetrate there and it saved weight and allowed the ships to be faster.
In WW2 this proved disastrous with the advent of the airplane and several British battleships were sent to the bottom of the sea by Japanese dive bombers.
#6
I am concerned about the ability to adequately address damage control; with a very small crew (automation is your friend) there is not a lot of redundancy for DC parties, fire fighting, shoring for flooding, etc.
The Forrestal's fire took out about 200 people and that left a big hole in DC party manning, but the Zoomie crew is even smaller.... Not optimistic if TSHTF.
10 ... 9 ... 8 ...
The largest destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy headed out to sea for the first time Monday, departing from shipbuilder Bath Iron Works and carefully navigating the winding Kennebec River before reaching the open ocean where the ship will undergo sea trials.
More than 200 shipbuilders, sailors and residents gathered to watch as the futuristic 600-foot, 15,000-ton USS Zumwalt glided past Fort Popham, accompanied by tugboats.
Kelley Campana, a Bath Iron Works employee, said she had goose bumps and tears in her eyes.
"This is pretty exciting. It's a great day to be a shipbuilder and to be an American," she said. "It's the first in its class. There's never been anything like it. It looks like the future."
Larry Harris, a retired Raytheon employee who worked on the ship, watched it depart from Bath.
"It's as cool as can be. It's nice to see it underway," he said. "Hopefully, it will perform as advertised."
Bath Iron Works will be testing the ship's performance and making tweaks this winter. The goal is to deliver it to the Navy sometime next year.
"We are absolutely fired up to see Zumwalt get underway. For the crew and all those involved in designing, building, and readying this fantastic ship, this is a huge milestone," the ship's skipper, Navy Capt. James Kirk, said before the ship departed.
The ship has electric propulsion, new radar and sonar, powerful missiles and guns, and a stealthy design to reduce its radar signature. Advanced automation will allow the warship to operate with a much smaller crew size than current destroyers.
All of that innovation has led to construction delays and a growing price tag. The Zumwalt, the first of three ships in the class, will cost at least $4.4 billion.
The ship looks like nothing ever built at Bath Iron Works.
The inverse bow juts forward to slice through the waves. Sharp angles deflect enemy radar signals. Radar and antennas are hidden in a composite deckhouse.
The builder sea trials will answer any questions of seaworthiness for a ship that utilizes a type of hull associated with pre-dreadnought battleships from a century ago.
Critics say the "tumblehome" hull's sloping shape makes it less stable than conventional hulls, but it contributes to the ship's stealth and the Navy is confident in the design.
Eric Wertheim, author and editor of the U.S. Naval Institute's "Guide to Combat Fleets of the World," said there's no question the integration of so many new systems from the electric drive to the tumblehome hull carries some level of risk.
Operational concerns, growing costs and fleet makeup led the Navy to truncate the 32-ship program to three ships, he said. With only three ships, the class of destroyers could become something of a technology demonstration project, he said.
#10
Shipman, I agree that the Seawolf-class is an excellent sub. But it is so expensive that we can't afford more than 3. The same applies to the Zumwalt-class.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/02/2016 15:58
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#11
the civil war ship Monitor had an even smaller radar profile although the angles are more Merrimac
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/02/2016 16:46
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#12
The Monitor was a littoral combat ship (LCS).
:-)
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/02/2016 21:02
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#13
And the Monitor sank while being towed.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/02/2016 21:20
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The pic shows a side-hull explosion outward... shoe bomber?
A Daallo Airline Airbus A321 flight D3159 made an emergency landing at Mogadishu today after an explosion soon after takeoff from Mogadishu, Somalia.
A loud bang was heard followed by flames, injuring 2 passengers.
The body of a person fallen from a plane around Balcad town, Somalia.
If it had happened in higher altitude, it would have been an explosive decompression! It could have been a premature detonation of a bomb carried by a passenger
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2016
10:16 ||
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[7 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
#1
Reports say all passengers survived.
In images I saw, the upholstery on the seat adjacent to the window was ripped off. Maybe maintenance personnel placed a bomb in the headrest of the seat?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2016 20:10
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#14
This BBC news article is reporting different, making it seems like it was caused by metal fatigue.
The BBC reported some fellow named "Darren Howe" saying it was. No word on whether Mr. Howe is an aircraft designer, or an engineer of some type, or a pilot, or an A&P technician. Rather sloppy reporting from the Beeb. And a rather sloppy conclusion from Seeking.
[TX Tribune] Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat, pressed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Monday to explain why the agency plans to reduce its aerial surveillance on the Texas-Mexico border.
In a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, the lawmakers said the cut to a requested 3,850 hours of aerial detection and monitoring in 2016 amounts to 50 percent less coverage than recent years.
"Given the recent surge of migrants from Central America and Cuba along the southern border, we believe DHS should request more surveillance and security resources, not fewer," Abbott and Cuellar wrote in a letter.
The pair also reminded Johnson that in September, Abbott's office asked the DHS for more aerial resources and U.S. Border Patrol agents but that the request was never acknowledged.
A DHS spokesperson said the agency would respond "directly" to the governor and the congressman.
#1
1) Because the bad Republicans wouldn't give us more money.
2) Because it doesn't need as much monitoring anymore, since the immigrants are all now obeying the law.
#2
Well, you see, it all has to do with Chicago. Gotta keep the narcotics flowing into that city as well as places like Baltimore and Washington DC. That way the junkies that don't OD will shoot each other in drug dealing turf wars. Gotta keep the natives busy so the new immigrants can take their jobs. Besides, it's quite lucrative.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/02/2016 12:07
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#4
As Feds Plan to Cut Border Monitoring, Texas Officials Ask Why
"...Well, two reasons: first, because when we monitor, we keep getting data we really don't want to get. Second, because f#@k you, Red border states."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/02/2016 17:40
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#5
Among other reasons, under OWG NAU Immigration focii will switch from the Tex-Mex border to Mexico's borders wid the Lower Americas.
MEXICO + MEXICO CITY WILL HAVE THE BALL, NOT ANY LONGER TEXAS OR WASHINGTON.
OTOH the OWG Globies have not answered the questionne' as to where or what [neutral] city will be the Tr-Nation Capital of the new future NAU, by + for same.
* OWG-NWO + GLOBALISM = CO-SUPERPOWER-TO-CO-SUPERPOWER "PARITY" WID THE US [albeit likely "rough" parity], NOT "INFERIORITY" TO THE US.
BY EXTENSION, SAFE TO SAY DITTO AS PER OWG- GLOBAL-FEDERAL-UNION-TO-OWG-GLOBAL-FEDERAL-UNION
IRREGARDLESS OR REGION OR TRANS-REGION, CONTINENT OR TRANS-CONTINENTS???
The Globies can't have any of the above iff the Sole Global Superpower US is still a or t-h-e Sole Global Superpower in the World, now can they???
D *** NG IT, SOMEONE HAS TO SURRENDER LIKE FRANCE, AND IT CAN'T BE THE FRENCH [or Hard Boyz + Global Caliphate?] - HHMMM, HHHMMM, WHOM CAN IT BE!?
[Breitbart] Citing new data just received today, long time pollster Pat Caddell called this year's primary, "A pre-revolutionary moment and I think we've passed into something bigger," he added.
Caddell made the comments today to Breitbart News Daily host Stephen K. Bannon.
Citing the data, said Caddell, "It's unbelievable. This country has left the building if you will on the political establishment, on America in trouble and in decline." Caddell also noted that, just as with the last debate minus front runner Donald Trump, none of those themes really get "hammered" without him.
"This is what it would have looked like without the insurgents having arrived," said Caddell, meaning a 2016 Republican primary without candidates like Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ben Carson. Caddell predicted a big turnout in Iowa.
He also cited Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as proof of an insurgency of sorts on the Democrat side. The entire interview can be heard below.
#1
Pat Caddell is one rare bird: probably one of the last Scoop Jackson-class Democrats extant. I recall a youtube video where he denounced the Obama AG as more corrupt than John Mitchell of the Nixon administration.
#2
I call it a soft revolution. The great thing about a democracy is the people can revolt without guns and death.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
02/02/2016 18:44
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#3
"An America in trouble and in decline" > D *** NG IT, DON'T FERGIT AN AMERICA = AMERIKA THAT IS ALSO IN UNILATERAL OR SELF-IMPOSED STRATEGIC RETREAT = FALLBACK AROUND THE WORLD, FROM POST-COLD WAR/9-11 "SOLE" GLOBAL SUPERPOWER TO RESTRICT ITSELF INTO BEING JUST ONE OF SEVERAL OR MANY P-A-R JOINT OR "CO-SUPERPOWERS" IN THE WORLD = NWO.
Giving up 1/2 of the Pacific + 1/2 of the Atlantic, + limiting itself to CONUS-NORAM + OWG North American Union + Similar.
As the OWG Globies + aligned intended, so that "Co-Superpowers" Russia, China, + Iran, Other? can rise to lead or domiante the OWG Global Federal Union(s) being set up in their regions or continents.
The "American Dream" of our Parents + Grandparents, etc. is now the Pro-Socialist, Pro-OWG "Amerikan Dream" + "North American/Amerikan Dream" - WE ARE ALL MEXICANS + CANADIANS + GREENLANDERS NOW UNDER OWG + NAU.
OOOPPPPPSIES, my bad, I forgot that as Canadians + Greenlanders now, OWG NAU Amerika has to give up 1/2 or more of the ARCTIC SEAS = ARCTIC + NORTH POLE REGIONS???
[Daily Caller] In the very early days of Hillary Clinton's tenure at the State Department, top agency officials signed off on a plan to allow the then-secretary of state to use a "stand-alone PC" set up on a non-departmental computer network system so that she could check her personal email account.
The emails, which were obtained by the watchdog group Judicial Watch through a lawsuit, are the first to show how the State Department decided to allow Clinton to avoid using a state.gov email account.
In the email chain, dated Jan. 23-24, 2009, Clinton's chief of staff Cheryl Mills asks Lewis Lukens, the former deputy assistant secretary of state and executive director of the secretariat, about her and Clinton's use of Blackberries and about accessing email through a "non-DOS [Department of State] computer."
She also told Lukens that she spoke to someone else at State about "setting up Counselor office for HRC so she can go across hall regularly and check her email."
#1
Pretty well explains why we've heard so very little from the DoS Information Management Officer (IMO), or the Contracting Office which would have obviously been responsible for funding maintenance of the clandestine system.
Somewhere in the Rantburg archives I am certain the possibility of a DoS sanctioned 'off-line' system was discussed. The fact that she declined the use of the U.S. State Department .gov system would have led to no other conclusion.
I wonder how many other top gov't 'leaders' employ similar 'off-line' digital avoidance systems ?
#4
But for the sake of argument let us just suppose, given that time was available, that a foreign power monitoring the UNCLAS traffic of highly placed regime appointee(s), passed word to the attackers at Benghazi that a 'stand-down' order had been given. What then ?
Those 21 Clinton emails that Foggy Bottom says 'cannot be released' under any circumstance; can we safely assume at least some of those emails contained highly sensitive Special Access Program information? The kind of information that might be used in the tasking or re-tasking of in-extremis force rescue elements.
Would it be possible to at least have the dates of transmission of those 21 sensitive communiques? I thought not.
Of course the regime continues to insist that no 'stand-down' order was given, so why should we go there ?
#5
Even the peons can access their dot gov e-mails from home using encrypted tunnels provided to all. What illegal sh*t is the beast hidding?
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/02/2016 8:37
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#6
What illegal sh*t is the beast hiding?
Treason. Organized and highly calculated treason. The selling of State secrets for donations to the Clinton Slush Fund euphemistically referred to as a Foundation.
The Clinton's are traitors through and through.
The State Department has long been a cesspool of Leftist traitors. It needs to be shutdown and all its staff investigated. Legal defense to be paid for by the individual staffers.
#7
The DOS and Obama all said: "It was news to us!".
They all lied, many to a Federal Judge/Court. I would hope the Judge is not amused and feeling like a little "wrath of God" is due
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2016 8:52
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#8
Nixon was guilty of obstruction of justice. I am sure that WaPo and the NYT would give front page coverage day after day if Obama did something similar.~
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/02/2016 8:58
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#11
So it seems Hillary told State she wanted to check her personal email.
Hence a separate computer system on a non-State network. Which in itself is not State allowing HRC to "avoid using a state.gov email account." Talk about hyperventilation.
What it does do, though, is place culpability directly on HRC and her people.
#12
The last link in the culpability chain for anyone not a brain dead sycophant is to determine of Hilda actually ever had a SCIF access record, and a JWICS/SIPERNET account. She could not do her job as SecState without the classified information, so there should be copious records, certainly of the SCIF access, since the TS-SCI-SI-SAP programs could not have been discussed anywhere else outside. I suspect we all know the likely result of such an audit......
America's most expensive weapons system ever just hit another snag. Unexpectedly. Again.
The F-35 Lighting II, Lockheed Martin's fifth-generation fighter jet, is expected to miss a crucial deadline for successfully deploying its sixth and final software release -- referred to as Block 3F. Maybe we could just go straight to Block 4F?
Block 3F is part of the 8 million lines of sophisticated software code that underpin the F-35. What could possibly go wrong?
In short, if the code fails, the F-35 fails. Not entirely. They make great hanger doorstops.
The latest setback for the F-35 stems from a 48-paged December 11 report from Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon's top weapons tester.
According to Gilmore, the stealth fighter jet won't be ready by its July 2017 deadline. And even if it does, I wouldn't want to be the first to fly it into battle.
As first reported by Aviation Week, the DoD report states that "... the rate of deficiency correction has not kept pace with the discovery rate" meaning, there are more problems quickly arising from the F-35 program than solutions.
"Examples of well-known significant problems include the immaturity of the Autonomic Logistics Information System (aka the IT backbone of the F-35), Block 3F avionics instability, and several reliability and maintainability problems with the aircraft and engine." Have the Israelis work on it.
One recommendation Gilmore gives for the F-35's latest woes is to triple the weapons delivery accuracy (WDA) tests, which are currently executed once a month. I read something about the F-35 being used as a "standoff ground support" platform. Combined with the need for tripling the weapons delivery accuracy, I think I may have spotted another problem that will unexpectedly show itself in the next few months years.
Adding more tests to the troubled warplane will likely add to the cost overruns and schedule delays, however, Gilmore warns that decreasing testing in order to meet deadlines will put "readiness for operational testing and employment in combat at significant risk." Otherwise I'm sure the testing would be adequate and guarantee the plane's readiness for combat. For sure. Yep. That's the ticket. It's the testing schedule's fault.
According to the DoD report, the Block 3F software testing began in March 2015, 11 months later than the planned date.
The now nearly $400 billion weapons program was developed in 2001 to replace the US military's legacy F-15, F-16 and F-18 aircraft. Until the F-35 is fully operational, I don't know if we should be labeling them as "legacy" yet.
Lockheed Martin's "jack-of-all-trades" F-35's were developed to dogfight, provide close-air support, execute long-range bombing attacks, take-off and land on aircraft carriers -- all the while utilizing the most advanced stealth capabilities. Maybe we could use it as a troop transport and refueling tanker, too.
Adding to the complexity, Lockheed Martin agreed to design and manufacture three variant F-35's for a particular sister service branch.
The Air Force has the agile F-35A, the F-35B can take-off and land without a runway, ideal for the amphibious Marine Corps, and the F-35C is meant to serve on the Navy's aircraft carriers.
The Marine Corps was the first sister service branch to declare an initial squadron of F-35's ready for combat. Ah, they have been "declared" ready. Maybe "deemed" would be more accurate.
In July 2015, Gen. Joseph Dunford, the commandant of the Marine Corps, declared initial operational capability (IOC) for 10 F-35B fighter jets. The enemy is shaking in their boots.
The Air Force is expected to declare IOC for its F-35As later this year and the Navy plans to announce IOC for the F-35Cs in 2018. Maybe "Initial Order Placeholder" would be a better term. Where the programming is replaced by cables and levers.
Even so, America's most expensive warplane's turbulent march to combat readiness is far from over.
#2
Finding defects faster than they can be corrected; Death spiral. My advice would be to stop adding features (i.e. cut scope) and get what you have working. Didn't these guys/gals put in any automated testing (and I don't mean just unit tests)?
F-35:
> No range
> Not maneuverable enough to survive a dog fight
> Not survivable enough (and too expensive) for close air support
> Inferior in energy maneuverability to a Block 40 F-16
> No AIM140D long range AAM till Block 4
As gorb said, "What could possibly go wrong?"
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/02/2016 11:48
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#3
Dunno. I remember my step-father telling me how the B-25s he flew were flying coffins. I suspect the F-35 is just upholding a long-standing tradition... and don't get me started on my uncle's feelings about the Sherman tank....
#6
They had to extend the life of F-18's. A plane that works.
They should have gone back to the F-22 many years ago when we saw this idiot machines price tag. Our Allies and Ourselves cannot afford this political piece of sh!t.
The software is just as vulnerable as it was 8 years ago when the RSA was hacked.
#8
Newc, estimated price tag for 75 new F-22 is 17 billion pentagon dollars. A great plane that is from what little I know a maintence nightmare. Still, if we could sell them to Japan, Australia, the Zionist entity and Canada it might be do-able. Perhaps Mike K. Could point me in the correct direction.
Interesting article from the Daily Beast. If you wanted to make a study of hit pieces, this would probably be the lead piece in Hitting 101. It's one of the vilest pieces of greasy innuendo I've seen. Just for startsies...
While Trump may publicly reject their support, "He rejects their support but we know that in his heart he loves them true."
he is certainly helping them Since they eat, so's Dairy Queen helping them. Damn Dairy Queen anyway. Racists, that's what they are...
when he retweets messages from WhiteGenocideTM, a pro-Hitler Twitter user who has posted interviews with Holocaust deniers and is fervently behind the GOP’s frontrunner. What was the content of the messages?
Also on the coattails: Thom Robb’s Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Arkansas-based group that has recommended Trump’s opposition to brown-skinned immigrants and Muslim refugees as a great conversation-starter. It is. If you've got a malaria problem, start the conversation with mosquitoes.
The Occidental Quarterly, a journal of white-nationalist thought, has declared the real-estate mogul’s candidacy “a game-changer.” We think the same on Rantburg, which may throw us into seedy company, but we do have empirical data...
And then there’s the American National Super PAC, which is paying for the wave of robo-calls that are ringing in Iowans’ living rooms in support of Trump. Betcha the Iowans hate the robocalls more than they hate the originators, though they'd be happy to lynch the originators to stop the calls...
Phone solicitations likely won’t budge the needle much for the GOP caucuses in Iowa. ... since robocalls are a stench and an abomination...
Yet, they might mean more for the fortunes of these white nationalists. Tar and feathers, perhaps...
These are no ordinary racists and bigots. No, no!
They wail that the period of white supremacy and domination has ended in the United States—voting-rights laws and other civil-rights measures that enforced the 14th Amendment’s dictum to bring “equality before the law” sealed that deal for them. Suggested the 14th Amendment might be imperfect, did they?
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. Makes slaves and Indians citizens. If you're here illegally, by the way, you're not legitimately subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Extends equal protection of the law.
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But including Injuns who pay taxes...
But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. Deals with active supporters of the Confederacy.
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. Deals with officers of the Confederacy.
Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. Creditors of the Confederacy get squat.
Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Most say they believe “the Jews” disenfranchised whites. I have never in my life heard anyone say that, though I'm sure somebody, somewhere, has. I once had a fellow tell me that Catholics kept guns in their church basements, and that the Knights of Columbus were the officers for the army of insurrection that would impose Catholicism as the mandatory state religion.
Now, with immigration feeding a demographic transformation that will turn white people into a minority alongside other minorities, white-ists
White-ists? Oh dear.
fear that it will be near impossible for them to come back to power. Two of the Republican challengers have Hispanic names. Ben Carson is, if you look closely, black. There are three Dem contenders: one is an old white male, with an old, tired agenda. One is an old, tired female, with an old, tired agenda insofar as she has one. One is a younger white male who in his time as governor of Maryland, where I live, passed a tax on rain and another on toilet flushes. Trump buys politicians by the half dozen. If he gave enough money to the editorial board of the Daily Beast they'd take their pants off and roll over.
To survive, most of these movement groups say they require a whites-only nation state on a piece of the territory that once constituted the United States. I've never heard that argument from anyone white, though probably there are people who're dumb enough to come up with it. Like various black "liberation" movements here in the not so recent past.
Yet they are divided over a strategy to get there. The political-action types seek a grip on the mainstream of white American thought. The Noble Souls at the Daily Beast are holding out.
Others, like Dylann Roof, who is charged with killing nine black church attendees in Charleston, South Carolina, last June, are “vanguardists,” who prefer to just use guns in hope of starting a race war. (Roof has pleaded not guilty.) I'm not sure what a guy who can't even spell his first name correctly and has been in jug from before even this interminable campaign started, has anything to do with Donald Trump.
The remainder of the piece is similarly "ugh." If it's not taught in political science classrooms then the educational system has punched through bottom.
#1
To survive, most of these movement groups say they require a whites-only nation state on a piece of the territory that once constituted the United States.
The 1920's are calling. They want their white hood back.
#2
Rolling stone - quality sources. Too pitch perfect to actually exist outside of the author's mind.
These "White-ists" I suspect are the embodiment of the authors own unacceptable opinions projected on to "others" she doesn't like. (the lumpen proletariat that isn't able to afford the tuition at the high end school the author went to)
#3
Remember if you're not with them then you're all Nazis (not that they understand what National Socialists Workers Party really was). It's the Left's "N" word.
#4
Leonard Zeskind is an American human rights activist, and president of the Institute for Research & Education of Human Rights (IREHR).[1]
He worked in industry for thirteen years. Since 1982, he has been a community activist and human rights advocate. He is known for his research into extreme right, racist, and anti-Semitic organizations in the United States.
He is a lifetime member of the NAACP, and has served on the board of directors of the Petra Foundation, and the Kansas City Jewish Community Relations Bureau.
1998 MacArthur Fellows Program award
surprising, his head doesn't taper like most pieces of shit
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2016 15:07
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(IraqiNews.com) Salahaddin – A security source in Salahuddin Province announced on Monday, that the security forces have closed Tikrit-Kirkuk road due to the clashes between Iraqi security forces and the so-called the Islamic state in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in eastern Tikrit (170 km north of Baghdad).
The source said in an interview, “The security forces closed Tikrit-Kirkuk road that passes through Tel Kasibh area in eastern Tikrit due to the ongoing battles between the security forces and ISIS members.”
The source, who asked to remain anonymous, added, “The battle between the security forces and ISIS in that region is ongoing.”
[Guardian] Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland said 'indiscriminate' bombing suggested by Donald Trump and Ted Cruz goes against army values: 'It matters how you win.'
The US military commander in charge of the Iraq-Syria war has tacitly rebuked pledges by leading Republican presidential contenders to "carpet-bomb" the Islamic State.
Though army Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland did not call out Donald Trump and Ted Cruz by name, he rejected what he called "indiscriminate" bombing as illegal, immoral and un-American.
"We are bound by the laws of armed conflict and at the end of the day it doesn't only matter whether or not you win, it matters how you win," MacFarland told reporters on Monday.
As Iowans were set to caucus in the first presidential contest of 2016, MacFarland said "indiscriminate bombing, where we don't care if we're killing innocents or combatants, is just inconsistent with our values", despite two major White House contenders adopting it as a central proposal against Isis.
#4
What else is this political hack supposed to say? He wouldn't be where he is without kissing Obama's butt.
I'll bet in 01/2017 he will be working for MSNBC or CNN.
#9
The laws of armed conflict are pretty clear on not protecting forces that purposefully violate them. ISIS burnt a POW alive, General -- why are you extending lawful combatant status to them?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/02/2016 12:22
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#10
Ya know, I'm beginning to think that not using all means available against homo hostis generis should be a war crime.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/02/2016 12:24
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#11
"We are bound by the laws of armed conflict and at the end of the day it doesn't only matter whether or not you win, it matters how you win"
I'm sure the citizens of Germany and Japan miss the 'kinder gentler' form war. Of course, neither have been seen to want to wage war or annex their neighbors in the last 70 years.
We're back to 'primitive' (posturing) warfare just with modern technology. PR wars that go on and on and on.
Cliven Bundy and supporters of Bunkerville, N.V. have formally notified Harney County Sheriff Ward, Oregon governor Kate Brown and President of the United States of America Barack Obama that they are taking possession of the Harney County Resource Center effective February 1, 2016.
Posted by: Unelet Protector of the Sith2424 ||
02/02/2016
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#1
... via Certified Letter to each of the above politicians.
Posted by: Unelet Protector of the Sith2424 ||
02/02/2016 0:22
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[ALMANAR.LB] The Iraqi authorities announced on Monday that the army managed to cut off the supply routes to ISIL in Fallujah, ... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids... opening safe passages for the locals to exit the city which has been occupied by the turbans since 2014.
A military commander told AFP that liberating the city will be a gradual process as the noose around ISIL turbans is being tightened.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2016
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From the executive summary:
• Across multiple games using a wide range of expert
participants playing both sides, the longest it has taken
Russian forces to reach the outskirts of Tallinn and Riga
is 60 hours.
• Such a rapid defeat would leave NATO with a limited
number of options, all bad.
• Having a force of about seven brigades, including three
heavy armored brigades—adequately supported by
airpower, land-based fires, and other enablers on the
ground and ready to fight at the onset of hostilities—
might prevent such an outcome.
• While not sufficient for a sustained defense of the
region or to restore NATO members’ territorial integrity,
such a posture would fundamentally change the
strategic picture from Moscow. I think the contention that the Russian Army could take the Baltics in 60 hours or less is optimistic. I think it would take them at least a week, if the breaks all went their way.
Going for a country drive atop a T-72 tank, they could possibly arrive in Vilnius inside of 60 hours, but with Russian army logistics stuck in the 1940s, plenty of reasons exist why they won't. Just three crippled tanks from mechanical failure alone would be enough to affect the combat readiness of a tank battalion, or to stop it cold.
A recent study by western militaries concluded that they were wrong about the Russians continuing with their air campaign in Syria; that their rust bucket navy was a better than they thought. If you saw all the money and effort being poured into surface combatants and the Russian navy, you well would understand why they have performed so well to date.
The Russians should have learned after WWII and from observing our recent military attacks in Iraq, it is one thing to drive armored forces into an area, and moved your rifles there and establish order, but it is another matter altogether to hold your gains.
[Dhaka Tribune] An official of the Bangladesh High Commission in Pakistain has been missing since Monday evening.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to Pakistain Suhrab Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that Personal Officer of Press Section Jahangir Hossain left the high commission after 6pm to pick up his daughter from a coaching centre.
"As he did not reach there, his daughter phoned her mother," the High Commissioner said.
"Jahangir's mobile phone is switched off," he added.
"When I was informed about it, I immediately contacted Pakistain foreign ministry, chief of protocol, police and dean of the diplomatic corps," Hossain said.
The Pakistain authorities are in touch with high commission and time to time sought information from the officials, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2016
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[Dhaka Tribune] Law enforcement and intelligence agencies do not have information on the whereabouts of at least 192 bully boyz -- some of them trained explosives experts -- who got bail in the last few years.
As part of the efforts to dig the reason behind the recent spike militancy in the country, law enforcers have been trying to trace these bully boy leaders and activists.
Unofficial sources suggest that many of them have illegally crossed the border and fled to India's West Bengal.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2016
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#1
almost as if it were the plan
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2016 10:58
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Hani al-Sofyan,
AlArabiya.Net
Monday, 1 February 2016
An 11-year-old child was killed and nine members of his family were wounded Sunday when a rocket fired from Yemen hit their house in a border region of Saudi Arabia, civil defense authorities said according to Al Arabiya News’ website.
The incident took place at around 5:20 PM on Sunday and resulted in one 11-year-old child being killed and nine of his family members taken to hospital, according to Lieutenant Colonel Ali bin Omair al-Shahrani.
Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen have intensified cross-border rocket attacks since late last year.
Around 90 civilians and soldiers have died from shelling and skirmishes in Saudi border regions since March when the Saudi-led coalition began air and ground action in Yemen.
The coalition is backing the Yemen government in a bid to push back Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels who had taken over the capital Sanaa.
Last Update: Monday, 1 February 2016 KSA 13:10 - GMT 10:10
[Daily Excelsior] Two suspected operatives of Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), tossed in the clink Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! for allegedly radicalising youths and propagating the terror agenda of the output, were today remanded to judicial custody till February 10 by a Delhi court.
Abdul Sami and Syed Anzar Shah were produced before Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh after expiry of their police custody and the Special Cell of Delhi Police requested the court to send them to judicial custody.
The police told the court that the two accused were not required for further custodial interrogation at this stage and since probe in the case was going on, they should be remanded to judicial custody.
The court after hearing the submissions remanded both the accused to judicial custody till February 10.
Besides Shah and Sami, the other arrested accused in the case are Mohammed Asif, Zafar Masood and Mulana Mohd Abdul Rehman Kasmi.
Police had earlier said that Rahman ran a madrassa in Uttar Pradesh where several students were enrolled and he was allegedly trying to radicalise them for terror activities.
It had claimed that Masood was propagating the terror agenda of AQIS among the youths and trying to attract them towards the outfit.
While Asif (41), was held from Seelampur in north-east Delhi, Rahman (37) was arrested from Jagatpur area of Cuttack in Odisha, police had said. They have been booked under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
According to the special cell, Rahman is suspected to have international links in countries like 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... , Pakistain and Dubai.
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[Iran Press TV] The number of homicides in the US city of reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,... climbed dramatically in January to 51, the highest monthly toll in at least 16 years.
The Chicago Police Department said in a statement on Monday that there were 22 more homicides in the first month of this year than in January 2015.
The number of shooting incidents also more than doubled to 242 during the same period.
Police said that the "unacceptable" rise in homicides was largely driven by gang-related violence.
The rise in bloodshed comes as the police department is struggling to win back public trust after the court-ordered release of a video showing a white police officer fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel faced mounting calls for resignation during near daily protests in the wake of the release of the video late last year.
Chicago, the third largest city in the US, routinely records more homicides than any other American city.
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02/02/2016
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#2
Planned Parenthood can't possibly be held responsible for high concentration target communities like Chicago. Some population reductions must be accomplished at the local and neighborhood levels.
(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – A security source in Kirkuk said Monday, that the ISIS military commander of the southwestern areas of the province had been killed, along with five other leaders, during an aerial strike by the international coalition on the outskirts of Hawija.
The source said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “Five ISIS leaders, including the leader known as Mulla Shuwan Abu Haroun, had been killed in a drone strike by the international coalition on the outskirts of Hawija District (55 km southwest of Kirkuk),” noting that, “The bombing targeted a site used by ISIS to hold meetings between the ISIS leaders in an operations room southwest of Kirkuk.”
“Mulla Shuwan, who is from the residents of Erbil, is considered to be the military commander of the southwestern areas of Kirkuk,” the source added.
[YAHOO] Pope Francis told gossip-loving priests and nuns to bite their tongues on Monday, and warned those breaking their vow of obedience to fall into line sharpish.
"If you get an urge to say something against a brother or a sister, to drop a gossip bomb, bite your tongue! Hard!" the pontiff said in an improvised speech to members of the clergy marking the end of the Year of Consecrated Life.
The Argentine warned against those abusing their religious vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, describing "anarchy" as the "daughter of the devil".
And he bemoaned a drop in the number of people signing up for a religious life, but warned against taking just anyone.
"Why is the womb of consecrated live becoming so sterile?" he asked.
"Some congregations experiment with 'artificial insemination'. What do they do? They welcome... 'Yes come, come, come'. And then there are problems," he said.
"No. We must be serious about who we take. We must clearly distinguish if it is a real vocation, and help it to grow."
The Roman Catholic Church is still smarting from the holy manal sex abuse scandal, which hurt the institution globally and saw many believers, particularly in the West, turn their back on the centuries-old institution.
The number of priests and nuns in industrialised countries is in sharp decline, though the Church still counts 693,000 nuns around the world and 55,000 priests.
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#1
The semi-dyslexic in moi first read the headline as:
Pope warns gossiping priests. Nuns to bite your tongue.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) -- Afghanistan's intelligence agency has tossed in the calaboose Please don't kill me! planners of terrorist attacks in southern Afghanistan.
A statement released by NDS on Monday states that the 4-member group was busted in the jurisdiction of the capital city of Kandahar province.
The turbans are identified as Abdul Ghani S/O Abdul Baqi, Mohammad Zarif S/O Abdul Karim, Ezatullah S/O Musa Jan and Rahmatullah S/O Asadullah.
According to the statement, the group has accepted involvement in a number of attacks.
In a footage released by NDS, the detainees say they were assigned by Taliban for anti-government activities.
NDS statements usually do not contact exact date of the achievement but they usually come after recent operations.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A suicide kaboom rocked Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... city around 01:45 PM (local time) on Monday.
The blast took place in Dehmazang area where compounds of border and civil order police are located.
Initial reports suggest that the jacket wallah was on foot who planned to get to the entrance of one of the police compounds but security forces fired on him after he was recognized.
It is yet unknown whether the blast occurred as the result of the firing or the terrorist himself detonated his vest.
Senior Deputy Interior Minister General Mohammad Ayoub Salangi said it left 10 people killed and 20 others maimed.
"In the suicide kaboom that took place an hour before in Dehmazang square, 10 people have been reportedly martyred and 20 maimed. Most of the deaders and maimed are civilians," reads a post on the official twitter account of Gen. Salangi.
No group has yet said it had sent the suicide bomber.
However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... Taliban carried out several kabooms in Kabul city last month including a suicide kaboom that claimed the lives of seven journalists.
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[Daily Excelsior] The police foiled robbery attempt in Gramin Bank branch at Palma near Rajouri and nabbed one member of the gang last night. I thought Gramin was a microbank? What do you get away with when you rob a microbank? A coupla bucks?
Official sources said that acting swiftly on the basis of an information that some people were trying to break the shutters of the Bank branch at Palma on the outskirts of Rajouri on Kotranka road, the police party led by SHO Rajouri Chaman Gorkha rushed to the spot along with police men and organised a trap.
It was at around 12.30 midnight that two masked men were busy in breaking shutters of the bank while two others were keeping an eye on the movement of the people. The police party parked its vehicle at some distance away from the spot and kept making advances taking cover. The cops nabbed one of the robbers while three others managed to escape.
The placed in durance vile Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! robber has been identified as Waqar Ahmed, son of Mohd Shabir, resident of Kot Dharra in Rajouri. The police claimed to have identified the other members of the gang. It said that police parties have been sent to different locations to trap the other robbers.
With the prompt action by police, the robbery in the bank was averted. The arrested accused has confessed the involvement of the gang in several theft cases in Kotranka and Rajouri area in the recent past. Further investigation was in progress.
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[Dhaka Tribune] RAB has recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition from Sherpur's Nalitabari upazila, saying that the weapons were similar to those found during a drive in Satchari of Habiganj in 2014.
Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan, spokesperson for the Rapid Action Battalion, told a press briefing that a team from RAB 5 made the find during an operation early yesterday near the border with India.
The recovered weapons cache included one anti-aircraft gun base, 22,000 heavy machine-gun bullets, 17,000 SMG bullets, a large number of bullets, two anti-aircraft spare barrel, two heavy machine gun, five machine gun spare barrel, one spare target sight, two sniper rifles, one AK-56, one 7.62mm pistol, 20 MG drum, different types of machines for cleaning rifles, five satellite phones and short- and long-range walkie-talkies.
Asked whether the weapons cache belonged to any international terrorist organization, the RAB commander said it was not possible to comment without further investigation. He added that the drive was still not over and.
RAB officials were tipped off before yesterday's raid at Chengbeng area in Poragaon union. The firearms and ammos were stored in at least four spots in the hills of the area.
A RAB source told the Dhaka Tribune that information provided by four persons detained in Rajshahi on Sunday had led to the Sherpur drive, led by RAB 5 Commanding Officer Lt Col Mahabub Alam and Company Commander Mobashwer Hossain Khan.
Sherpur has a history of weapons being stored by criminals in the area. In 2012, a large number of bullets and AK-47 rifles were recovered from a village in Nalitabari.
In 2010, police seized around 13,000 rifle bullets from Sherpur's Jhenaigati upazila; a few months earlier, the same number of rifles were recovered from Bakakura Gucchagram of Sherpur's Jhenaigati Upazila.
Between 2007 and 2011, around 50,000 bullets, rockets, land mines and weapons were found in Jhenaigati's border areas near India.
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[Dhaka Tribune] PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) indicated thon the lam numbers of 15-year-old students struggle to master basic numeracy skills in UNICEF-supported countries. In the majority of these countries, more than half of the students -- that's about 1.3 billion students -- fail to reach the minimum level of performance in mathematics.
Because of its inescapable practical applications, math is taught in every level of our education system, starting from elementary schools to university levels. And whether you are an amateur or an expert in math, everyone needs assistance in solving math problems from time to time. So, in the absence of a helpful source of assistance (a teacher or a friend), we can ask the ubiquitous Internet to help us, or we can use the guide books found in the book stores. We can also use a new math-solving application, called MalMath.
Launched on May 5, 2015, MalMath is an android application that can solve math problems with step by step solutions and provide graphic analysis. The app is quite simple to use: just type in a math problem, press the "solve" or "click" button. And, MalMath will present the solution, including the following helpful features.
Step by step description
This is the main feature of MalMath. For each problem that is solved, the steps of the solution are provided for the user. However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... knowing that some users can't understand faster than others, Malmath provides additional sub-steps. Even the sub-steps may contain other steps, until the most detailed explanation that a user may need.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2016
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#1
Should worry about math education in the first world, not the third one.
[DAWN] CULTURAL and societal values, prejudices and customs tend to be accepted unquestioningly and reflected in all aspects of society. Often, they are also resistant to change. Society, during the course of its evolution, has treated women as inferior, with matriarchal societies a rare exception.
Despite the development of complex and sophisticated social structures, women have been consigned to the periphery. Even in the West, more specifically the US, which stands as the standard bearer for women's emancipation, the right to vote was pledged after decades of struggle in 1912 by the forerunners of modern-day feminists.
Hence, it is only to be expected that governance structures have been dominated by a patriarchal set-up and led by men with a vested interest in sustaining male hegemony. Indeed, the impact of this culturally sanctioned male dominance on the justice system can be so overwhelming that even the best of legislation remains open to distorted implementation.
The most important area of the present complex governance structure in Pakistain is the criminal justice system, with the front office being the cop shoppe, which is the locus of interaction between the institution and the common man across the country. Male chauvinism and hegemonic practices therefore have a strong influence on the biased behaviour of police towards women.
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[DAWN] Three madrassahs were raided in Quetta's Eastern Bypass area on Monday morning, police said, adding that they were subsequently sealed over alleged involvement in 'suspicious' and 'illegal' activities.
The sealed seminaries include Madrassah Hussainia, Madrassah Taleemul Koran and Madrassah Abu Bakar Siddique.
The raiding party also picked up four holy mans -- Qari Saifur Rehman, Surat Shah, Habibullah, and Qari Wali -- for interrogation.
Strict security measures were adopted by the district administration when the seminaries were being sealed.
Police said the madrassahs were sealed under the National Action Plan.
Like other parts of the country, Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... has started a scrutiny process of religious seminaries, the instructors employed in these as well as their students across the province.
Moreover, law enforcement agencies have intensified action in the aftermath of recent incidents of assassination'>assassinations in Quetta.
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(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – The Spokesman of al-Hashd al-Watani Mahmoud al-Sourji announced on Monday, that the security forces manged to retake three villages in al-Qayyarah District from ISIS, while pointed out to the continuation of the liberation operations in the area.
Sourji said in a press statement, “Today, Pesmerga forces in cooperation with the fighters of Sabaaweyeen, Lahib and Jabboura tribes attacked several areas in al-Qayyarah District,” pointing out that, “The attacks were carried out in Qayyarah backed by the international coalition aviation.”
Sourji added, “The security forces managed to retake Kudaila Karmrdi and Khattab villages east of al-Qayyarah District from ISIS,” indicating that, “35 members of ISIS were killed in the attack.”
[DAWN] Pakistain's current envoy to the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... Maleeha Lodhi apparently acted as an informal messenger between the B.O. regime and former army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... , according to an email former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Chateaubriand ... received from a senior aide.
On Friday, the US State Department released some 1,000 pages of emails of Ms Clinton when she headed the department but sometimes used a private email and a private server to communicate.
In one of the emails, Vali Nasr, then a senior adviser in the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistain, informs Secretary Clinton that Ms Lodhi had shared with him a message from Gen Kayani.
"I got a call from Maleeha Lodhi, who is in London. She gave a message from Kayani," Mr Nasr wrote on January 21, 2011.
But the entire message that Ms Lodhi supposedly shared with Mr Nasr has been edited out.
Ms Lodhi, who has also served as Pakistain's ambassador in the US and Britannia, was not a government official when she supposedly conveyed this message. She was a prominent columnist for Pak and international newspapers. Mr Nasr, a prominent academic, has lived in Pakistain and has many friends in the country.
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#1
"I got a call from Maleeha Lodhi, who is in London. She gave a message from Kayani," Mr Nasr wrote on January 21, 2011.
Following a brief dustup near the Pakistan Military Academy on May 1, 2011, UBL went to be with the fishes a few hours later. Probably little more than a coincidence.
[Iran Press TV] The United States 2017 military budget, which includes details of a previously secret mini-drone, is set to be previewed by the Pentagon chief, officials say.
In a speech in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter will elaborate on the budget for fiscal year 2017, which is expected to be $524 billion, AFP reported Monday quoting anonymous officials with the defense department speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... .
The budget is augmented by $59 billion for an "overseas contingency fund" to cover the country's military operations in Afghanistan as well as Syria and Iraq, where the US allegedly targets Daesh [Islamic State]Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorists.
The world's changing "threat environment" will also be discussed during the speech, an official said, referring to the crisis in Ukraine and reunification of Crimea to Russia in 2014.
A big increase is expected in funds for the so-called European Reassurance Initiative, aimed at pushing Moscow out of eastern Europe.
A 35 percent increase, compared to the last year, is also expected for the budget to fight ISIL, which will put the figure at $7 billion.
Some newly declassified technologies, including a small drone capable of flying alongside other units in a sort of swarm, are expected to be unveiled.
The speech will likely introduce an expansion in the US fight against Daesh [Islamic State] in Syria, Iraq, and even Libya.
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[Iran Press TV] US whistle-blower and former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden is among the top candidates for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize which is awarded in Oslo, Norway.
"2016 may finally be Edward Snowden's year ... His leaks are now having a positive effect," Kristian Berg Harpviken, head of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo told Rooters, putting him on top of his list of candidates.
In the wake of Snowden's leaks of details of the US government's spy programs, many countries have been reforming laws to restrict surveillance programs, helping human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... , Harpviken said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Anyone can be nominated and at present that is all he has a nomination.
#2
Well, Obama and Yassir Arafat got one. So perhaps with a high bar standard like that.....
The Nobel has in the past missed Mengele ( advancement of Medicine )and Idi Amin ( brotherhood of man ), of course, but then they can't reward all the fine examples like Obama and Snowden who are out there.
Perhaps next year.
(IraqiNews.com) Salahuddin – On Monday, Iraqi Federal Police announced, that the security forces repelled attacks carried out by the so-called ISIS on Allas and Ogail oil fields north of Salahuddin, while indicated to the detonation of a bulldozer and three booby-trapped vehicles.
The Commander of the Federal Police Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat said in a press statement, “Today, a force from the army’s 5th brigade backed by the Federal Police artillery repelled attacks carried out by ISIS on Allas and Ogail oil fields in Salahuddin Province.”
Jawdat added, “The Federal Police forces were able to detonate a bulldozer, as well as three booby-trapped vehicles and managed to kill all the suicide attackers.”
MANBIJ – Extremists of the Islamic State (ISIS) executed on Monday three men from one family in Manbij city in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo, after accusing them of insulting the group’s self-declared Caliphate.
The three brothers Ibrahim, Adnan and Jasser al-Mree were arrested by ISIS militants earlier on Sunday after being involved in a fight with officials of the ISIS-linked al-Hisba (taxation) department.
“The three brothers used to run a grocery store in Manbij. When members of al-Hisba department demanded them to pay the regular taxes, the three brothers opposed the taxation policy of ISIS arguing they were unable to pay anymore taxes to the group. Then a fight broke out between them and the al-Hisba officials, leading to the arrest of the three brothers. They were referred to the Sharia Court of Manbij,” local media activist Nasser Taljbini told ARA News.
After reviewing their case, the Sharia Court convicted the three men of insulting the Caliphate by opposing ISIS regulations and attacking its officials.
“The three brothers were beheaded on Monday at the Dadat square in Manbij suburb in front of dozens of people,” the source reported.
Noteworthy, collecting taxes from residents is considered one of the main financial resources for the ISIS radical group.
Dozens of al Qaeda militants reclaimed the town of Azzan in Yemen’s Shabwa province on Monday, residents said, exploiting a security vacuum in the country’s south as a civil war rages, Reuters reported.
Azzan is a major commercial center for about 70,000 people in a parched and mountainous region. It was controlled by al Qaeda for around a year until the group got cast out in 2012, by an alliance of tribesmen and armed residents loyal to Yemen since central government.
“Dozens of al Qaeda gunmen arrived in the early hours of the morning and set up checkpoints at the entrances to the town and in its streets. They planted their black flag on government buildings,” one resident who declined to be named told Reuters by telephone.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) took advantage of Yemen’s civil war to expand, which set off a military intervention by a Gulf Arab coalition last March, and also controls the major port of Mukalla in a neighboring province.
Sunni Muslim AQAP is viewed by Western analysts as the most dangerous arm of the global militant organization. It claims responsibility for the deadly January 2015 attack in Paris on the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo.
It has made its advances in Yemen as the Saudi-led coalition forces, which back the ousted government, clashed with the Houthi movement, a proxy for Iran.
AQAP has suffered setbacks, losing its leader and several top officials to U.S. drone strikes, and is also facing competition from the new Yemen branch of the ultra-violent ISIS.
Though there are many reports that IS is bracing itself for airstrikes in and around Sirte, the terrorists have not abandoned their campaign to expand their territory and attack oil facilities.
IS is being blamed for the bombing yesterday of pipelines leading to the export terminal at Zuetina, north of Ajdabiya . Petroleum Facilities Guard spokesman, Ali Al-Hassi told Reuters that the attack which caused a fire, happened some 75 kilometres south of the terminal.
The PFG has also been involved in fighting around Ben Jawad, seized at the start of last month as IS advanced on the Sidra and Ras Lanuf export terminals. Hassi gave no explanation for these exchanges.
In a separate incident on the western side of the territory controlled by IS from its base in Sirte, terrorists are reported to have seized Albuirat, a small village on the road to Misrata, before the important crossroads at Abugrein. Alwasat said that the black IS flag was seen flying from mosque’s minaret.
It is unclear if the village was taken from occupying Misratan militias after a fight or if the village had been left undefended. Recent foreign media reports from the Misrata frontline with IS said that the Misratan forces are on the highest state of alert and vigilance.
The attack on the pipelines running up to Zuetina could well have been an IS covert operation. As Tripoli NOC chief Mustafa Sanalla said last week, there was no need for the terrorist to attack in force. “They are not occupying the oil facilities. They are damaging them. And they are doing this with a small number of people”.
The Saudi-led coalition striking rebels in Yemen says it is setting up an independent committee to probe the force's actions amid criticism over its military operations in the impoverished nation.
Coalition spokesman Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri was quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency early on Monday as saying the team is tasked with examining military activities in civilian areas.
A separate statement from the Saudi Embassy in Washington says the committee will assess the coalition's rules of engagement involving civilians and will offer "conclusions and recommendations to better respect international and humanitarian law."
A document by a United Nations panel leaked last week urged the UN Security Council to consider creating an international commission to investigate alleged human rights abuses by all sides in the conflict. Nothing to see. Move along.
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[DAWN] Expressing 'dissatisfaction' over the law and order situation in the country, the JUI-F criticised the Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... government on Sunday for its alleged action against seminaries and Learned Elders of Islam in the name of operation against terrorism.
Continued on Page 49
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A group of Talibs launched attack on electricity directorate in Pul-e-Khumri, the lovely provincial capital of northern Baghlan province of Afghanistan.
The attack was launched by a group of around 50 Talibs who have taken position in the electricity directorate in Band-e-Du area of the city.
A provincial council member Bismillah Atash confirmed that clash is underway between the Afghan forces and the assailants.
He said the attack has been launched with an aim to bring pressure on the government as the Afghan forces have launched a major operation to clear Dand-e-Ghori area of Baghlan from the Taliban presence.
The operations in Dand-e-Ghori further intensified after deputy chief of army staff Gen. Murad Ali Murad assumed the charge of the ongoing operations.
Meanwhile, ...back at the revival hall, the pastor had finally been wrestled from the pulpit. Y'got the wrong guy! he yelled just before Sergeant Malone's billy club landed... Atash said the attack by Taliban is not sophisticated and will pose any threat to the provincial city, emphasizing that the Afghan forces will soon repulse the attack.
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[Dhaka Tribune] A newborn baby has allegedly been thrown out from the fourth floor of an apartment building in the capital's Bailey Road area.
Surprisingly, the boy survived the incident and is undergoing treatment at Ad-din Hospital, said SI Aminul Islam of Ramna cop shoppe.
He said: "Being informed, we rushed to the spot and rescued the newborn boy from the roof of an adjacent tin-shade shop. After a few hours of hectic effort, the police identified the boy's mother, Beauty Akhter, 17, who threw him out of the fourth floor of the building.
"Beauty, who worked as a domestic help at the flat, is being treated at Dhaka Medical College Hospital under police custody."
When contacted, the Manager of Ad-din Hospital, Abu Syeed Mollah, told the Dhaka Tribune: "The boy's condition is stable but he is suffering some injuries and also a fracture on his leg."
Locals said they heard a big sound around 11:30am Monday and found the newborn boy crying on the roof of a tin-shade shop, and called the police immediately.
Beauty's employer Firoza Begum told the Dhaka Tribune: "She was working at my house since she was a child. She left the job last year and went to her village home in Sirajganj district. She returned a few months ago and we appointed her again.
"We did not know that she was pregnant. Even we failed to notice it as her body never showed any sign of pregnancy."
During primary investigation, Beauty admitted that she threw her baby out from the flat, said the SI. "Further investigation is underway."
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[ALMANAR.LB] The Syrian army continued on Monday its anti-terrorist operations across the country, inflicting heavy losses upon the terrorist groups and controlling more areas.
In this context, the Syrian army regained Tal al-Jebayn and Dweir al-Zaytoun in Aleppo northern countryside.
Meanwhile, ...back at the game, the Babe headed for second base. He almost made it. Then Sheila slapped him.... army units destroyed positions, supply routes and vehicles for the terrorist organizations in the towns of Byanon and Hraitan on the road leading to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... which provides them with arms and terrorists, SANA quoted a military source.
More Death Eaters of ISIL and al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... killed in Aleppo city and countryside
According to SANA, more positions and hotbeds for al-Nusra Front (Qaeda branch in Syria) terrorist organization were destroyed in army operations in al-Sheikh Lutfi and al-Rashedeen neighborhoods in Aleppo city.
The army destroyed hideouts and vehicles equipped with weapons and ammunition for ISIL terrorist organization in special operations against their positions in the villages of al-Seen and Rasm and the farms of al-Taibeh village in the eastern countryside of Aleppo province.
for its part, the so called "al-Ferqa al-Shamaliyeh" terrorist group admitted the death of 7 of its members.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Good thing the UN-sponsored peace talks are going on, eh?
[Iran Press TV] A military court in Egypt sentenced seven supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi to death on Monday over their alleged role in a deadly bombing last year.
The court in the second city of Alexandria handed down the execution sentences to seven of the Moslem Brüderbund members on charges of involvement in last year's bombing in the northern province of Kafr el-Sheikh.
Three of the defendants were sentenced to death in absentia.
More than a dozen people, mostly from the now-banned Brotherhood, face charges of involvement in the deadly bombing near a military college in the volatile province.
The court has sent the papers of the defendants to the grand mufti of Egypt, and now awaits his non-binding opinion. The final verdict is to be issued in early March.
In mid-April last year, at least three Egyptian army cadets were killed and six others injured when a bomb went off in the Nile Delta province of Kafr el-Sheikh. No individual or group grabbed credit for the attack.
Over the past years, the murderous Moslem group, known as Velayat Sinai, has been carrying out terror activities across Egypt, taking advantage of the turmoil caused in the country after the first democratically-elected president, Morsi, was ousted by the military in July 2013.
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The Afghan Air Force carried out an air strike in Achin district in eastern Nangarhar province on Monday, and destroyed a radio station reportedly run by Daesh.
According to Dawlat Waziri, a defense ministry spokesman, this was the third time security forces had silenced the radio station.
Nangarhar residents have become increasingly concerned over the radio station in the past few weeks as the station known as the "Voice of the Caliphate" has been broadcasting pro-Daesh sentiment and using the channel to recruit new members.
Repeated calls were made to government to silence the radio station but despite previous efforts to eliminate the broadcaster, the group continued to air their propaganda.
Last month, officials said that the group was using a mobile studio, making it difficult for security forces to pin-point their location.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Interior Minister of Germany Thomas de Maiziere has warned that many Afghans seeking asylum in Germany will be deported to Afghanistan, insisting that the majority of the asylum seekers from Afghanistan are seeking better economic prospects.
De Maiziere visited 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.... on Monday to hold talks with the Afghan officials regarding the issue of Afghan asylum seekers as more than 150,000 Afghans have applied for asylum last year.
According to De Maiziere, many asylum seekers from Afghanistan are seeking better economic prospects as they are deceived by the human smugglers who are making large sums of money.
He also added that the asylum seekers whose applications are rejected by the authorities in Germany should return to the areas deemed safe in Afghanistan.
De Maiziere said the current laws of Germany allow the failed asylum seekers to claim for their return flights. "Of course, the security situation in Afghanistan is complicated. But Afghanistan is a big country. There are unsafe and safe areas there," De Maiziere told the local newspaper, DPA.
The considerable growth in the number of asylum seekers forced Germany to launch a campaign in capital Kabul last year in a bid to deter the flow refugees from Afghanistan.
Several posters appeared in the populated parts of the city today, delivering Germany's message in both Dari and Pashto languages.
"You are leaving Afghanistan: Are you certain?" reads the message posted on one of the billboards, while a short statement posted on the Facebook page of the campaign, reads "Do not believe the rumors and false information deliberately spread by human traffickers about the allegedly easy trip and the easy life in Germany. Do not risk your lives by trying to flee to Europe. Human traffickers are criminals who are only interested in money. They don't tell the truth and don't care about human lives."
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02/02/2016
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#5
You can't help but notice the news black out. Give the FBI credit for pulling this off when the media is focused on the primary.
I wonder if we will ever see a video from a LEO vehicle.
As far as a snitch, it was well known they were concerned about informants.
All this smells fishy. I seriously doubt that a lot of the good old boys out west will forget about this anytime soon.
#7
In the upcomming YouTube sensation 'The Legend of LaVoy", Finnicum will no doubt be portrayed as a heroic martyr for the cause. Reality suggests it was just another example of God chlorinating the gene pool.
#8
Depot guy, a lot of these ranchers do have legitimate complaints and their land rights, especially along the Red River in Texas, are being taken by the BLM. In the Red River area this land has been owned for generations.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/02/2016 18:52
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#9
I agree that the US Gov't has been highhanded in its treatment of many of the ranchers, but on the specific subject of this man's death, the video is pretty clear. He was trying to pull a handgun from his jacket pocket with his right hand, while holding the jacket with his left. This action wasn't a surprise, since his previous statements were that he would fight rather than submit to arrest. You can make a case that he died for something important to him, but to suggest that the authorities murdered him without cause is just foolish and lessens the credibility of anything else you might say. If the cops confront an armed subject -doing their job - and the man pulls a gun, then the consequences are predictable and entirely the fault of the person being arrested. He could have gone to court, stayed back at the preserve, lots of things. Trying to shoot a cop is a non-started as far as I'm concerned.
BLUF: Unconventional warfare, whether conducted by the United States or Russia or any other state seeking to advance national interests through Gray Zone proxy warfare, has a rich history but continues to evolve to meet changing global conditions. One certainty in a world of continuing disorder, a world bereft of Cold War clarity and relative "stability," where globalization has enabled almost continuous change, is that the UW mission must continue to adapt and so must those responsible for executing it.
U.S. forces can likely have the greatest chance for success in Gray Zone UW operations when engaged early in a resistance movement's development and continuously thereafter. As demonstrated in the U.S. operation to support Afghanistan's Northern Alliance in 2001, however, it can also succeed with relatively mature and experienced resistance groups, when a benefactor state's support might be just enough to tip the scales in favor of a movement that has been largely stalemated.
One remaining requirement is that of determining what Gray Zone UW success looks like and establishing meaningful criteria for measuring the effectiveness of such operations. The very concept of "winning" must be fundamentally reexamined in the context of a future environment where we will likely not commit large military formations in decisive engagements against similarly armed foes.
A Gray Zone "win" is not a win in the classic warfare sense. Winning is perhaps better described as maintaining the U.S. Government's positional advantage, namely the ability to influence partners, populations, and threats toward achievement of our regional or strategic objectives. Specifically, this will mean retaining decision space, maximizing desirable strategic options, or simply denying an adversary a decisive positional advantage.
In these human-centric struggles, our successes cannot be solely our own in that they must be largely defined and accomplished by our indigenous friends and coalition partners as they realize respectively acceptable political outcomes. Successful culmination of Gray Zone conflicts will not be marked by pomp and ceremony, but rather should, ideally, pass with little or no fanfare or indication of our degree of involvement.
History has shown that no two UW situations or solutions are identical, thus rendering cookie-cutter responses not only meaningless but also often counterproductive. Planners and operators most in demand in this difficult task will be those capable of thinking critically and creatively, warriors unhindered by the need for continuous and detailed guidance. Such special operators will be most capable of performing critical UW tasks under politically sensitive conditions, ensuring that they can serve, in the tradition of their Jedburgh predecessors, as true warrior-diplomats.
ALEPPO – The Islamic State (ISIS) radical group on Monday claimed responsibility for shooting down a French drone over Manbij city in northern Syria.
ISIS said in a statement that its fighters have downed a French drone aircraft near Manbij on the Syria-Turkey border.
The ISIS-linked Amaq media center released images for remnants of a French drone, saying it was shot down by the jihadis on Monday.
The extremist group has not provided further information about the operation.
ISIS threatened to target more aircrafts for the western coalition –that has been bombing the group’s positions across Syria and Iraq for nearly two years.
Noteworthy, the coalition has recently intensified its raids on ISIS tactical units and resources, beside targeting command centers killing a number of leading members of the group.
HANGU: Hangu police in successful operation in the jurisdiction of Cantonment Police Station nabbed six hardcore criminals and recovered weapons from their custody.
Cantonment Police Station Station House Officer (SHO) Tahir Nawaz Khan told media on Monday that in pursuance of the directives of DPO Hangu Shah Nazar, search operations were conducted by the police parties in various areas of the cantonment. As a result of which six proclaimed offenders were netted and one Kalashnikov, pistol and hundreds of cartridges were also recovered from their custody. He said that the police shifted them to undisclosed location for further interrogation adding that no one would be allowed to violate law.
[ALMANAR.LB] Defense lawyers for fallen Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... Monday accused his bitter rival President Alassane Ouattara ...the current president-for-life of Ivory Coast. He actually beat his predecessor in an election before having to eject him from the presidential palazzo.... of seizing power by force aided by former colonial ruler La Belle France after disputed 2010 elections.
In an opening statement on the third day of Gbagbo's landmark trial on charges of crimes against humanity, defense lawyer Emmanuel Altit sought to unmask what he called a deliberate "smear campaign" against his client.
"Ouattara and his supporters wanted to seize power by force and the battle of Abidjan was, simply put, the very implementation of this strategy," defense lawyer Emmanuel Altit told the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... (ICC).
Gbagbo and his co-accused Charles Ble Goude, a firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... militia leader, have denied four charges of crimes against humanity after 3,000 people were killed after the Ivory Coast vote.
Their highly-anticipated trial opened on Thursday at the court based in The Hague and is set to last three to four years.
Gbagbo declared himself the winner in late 2010, but the major powers including La Belle France, the United States as well as the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... backed Ouattara, who had snatched a narrow victory.
It led to a bitter standoff, with Gbagbo holed up in the fortified presidential palace and Abidjan -- the country's main city and commercial capital -- turned into a war zone.
"La Belle France did not want peace to be negotiated," Altit said.
Then French president Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd President of the French Republic. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... "had shown unwavering support for his friend Ouattara," another defense lawyer told the court.
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[DAWN] Acting under the National Action Plan (NAP), law-enforcement agencies have so far sealed 182 religious seminaries in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... because of their involvement in promoting extremism and other suspicious activities.
As part of the strategy to choke terror financing, the State Bank of Pakistain (SBP) has so far frozen Rs1 billion in 126 accounts which have a link to banned bad boy organizations.
Law-enforcement agencies have also recovered around Rs251 million in cash. The money was traded through Hawala and Hundi.
Data shows that the government has recovered Rs19.77 million from suspects involved in the 2004 'Chowk Yadgar Operation' in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. .
The government has put names of 8,195 people in the fourth schedule and 188 on the Exit Control List. Movement of 2,052 hardcore holy warriors has been restricted.
Similarly, the government has registered 1,026 cases and locked away ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... 230 terror suspects. There were 64 banned ...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organizations in the country while 74 have been declared unlawful by the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... .
Activities of some organizations are constantly being monitored and their activists are under surveillance.
With regard to hate speech, over 1,500 books and other hate material have been confiscated and 73 shops have been sealed. Law-enforcement agencies have registered 2,337 cases for hate speeches and material and arrested 2,195 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAWN] Six Arab hunters of houbara bustard with 11 falcons were held by wildlife staffers in Thatta district early on Sunday morning for lack of hunting permits but were released later and sent back to Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... as they had not yet started hunting the bird, it is learnt here.
Sources said the hunters from Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... were guests of a local host associated with the wildlife department in Sujawal and had political connections.
They arrived in the area on Saturday and after having enjoyed overnight hospitality the Qatari hunters with the 11 falcons and local host camped near the Keenjhar lake. But before they could venture to hunt the bird they were stopped by the wildlife staffers.
The sources said that local police who were also helping the hunters and their host issued threats to the wildlife staffers to scare them away but they refused to let them break the law and informed high-ups about the situation.
Hyderabad deputy wildlife conservator Ghulam Mohammad Gadani told Dawn that when the wildlife staffers saw the police providing protection to the hunters instead of helping them, they called him (Mr Gadani) and he immediately contacted the Thatta police chief, who ordered the police to assist the wildlife staffers.
The official said the Qatari hunters ---- who were travelling in three land cruiser jeeps and two double cabin trucks ---- did have permits for the falcons but they did not possess permit to hunt houbara bustards. They were therefore asked to leave the area accompanied by wildlife staffers.
He said the hunters' hosts were warned not to be part of such activity in future, else stern action would be taken against them. A report about the incident would be sent to the wildlife conservator on Monday, said Mr Gadani.
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[YAHOO] The influential Muslim holy man lives quietly on a gated 26-acre compound in the Pocono Mountains, where he prays, works, meets admirers and watches from afar as terrorism accusations that have landed him on The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's most-wanted list unfold in court.
Rarely seen in public, Fethullah Gulen has long been one of Turkey's most important scholars, with multitudes of followers in his native country and around the world. More recently, Turkey's increasingly autocratic president, Recip Erdogan, has accused Gulen of plotting to overthrow the officially secular government from his Pennsylvania idyll some 5,000 miles away.
Gulen's supporters call the charge baseless and, so far, the U.S. has shown little inclination to send him back to Turkey to face a trial that began without him Jan. 6 and is expected to last several months. A second trial, involving accusations that his movement took part in espionage, opened Monday.
If the reclusive leader worries about the possibility of deportation, he hasn't shared it with confidants, they say.
"He said that the United States has a long tradition of democracy and rule of law," said Y. Alp Aslandogan, who sees Gulen about once a week as president of the New York-based Alliance for Shared Values, a group that promotes Gulen's ideas. "They will see that these are politically oriented charges, and they will not allow Erdogan to spread his ambition into the United States."
Justice Department front man Peter Carr declined to comment on Gulen's case.
Gulen's followers run a loosely affiliated global network of charitable foundations, professional associations, businesses and other projects, including about 150 taxpayer-funded charter schools throughout the U.S. But details about Gulen's personal life and his ties to those ventures have long been murky, giving rise to suspicions about his motives.
Some of the U.S. schools have been investigated by the FBI amid allegations of financial mismanagement and visa fraud. One of the most explosive claims, leveled by a lawyer who is representing the Turkish government in a U.S. lawsuit against Gulen, is that the schools are importing Turkish teachers to identify impressionable students and indoctrinate them into Gulen's movement, sometimes called Hizmet, Turkish for "service."
Nobody associated with the U.S. schools has been charged, and there has been no public outcry from parents or students about teachers promoting Islam, Gulen's supporters say. In America, the schools are public and open to students of all faiths.
"Try proselytizing evangelical Christians in the center of Texas. See what happens," Aslandogan said. "Anybody who knows American society and climate today would know that's a ridiculous claim."
In any event, he said, Gulen has nothing to do with the schools' finances or operation.
Trained as a holy man, or prayer leader, Gulen gained notice in Turkey some 50 years ago, promoting a philosophy that blended a mystical form of Islam with staunch advocacy of democracy, education, science and interfaith dialogue. Supporters started 1,000 schools in more than 100 countries. In Turkey, they have run universities, hospitals, charities, a bank and a large media empire with newspapers and radio and TV stations.
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[Dhaka Tribune] An Indian lawyer has filed a case against Hindu god Lord Ram over the alleged mistreatment of his wife Sita. Back in the Vedic era. Let it rest, fergawdsake.
Lord Ram's brother, Laxman, has also been accused of helping Lord Ram in "renouncing" Sita. Laxman's always had a shifty look about him when he's appeared to me in dreams.
Lawyer Thakur Chandan Kumar Singh claimed that Lord Ram banished his wife Sita to live in exile in a forest, citing the move as "hypocritical" and "cruel". He's a god, for gosh sakes!
Singh said that there was no valid reason for Sita's banishment and that she was later found innocent of the charges that forced her into exile. She's a goddess. What's it matter if she has to live in the forest? She's also an avatar of Lakshmi, Goddess of Luck. Every time she opened her bag groceries were trying to fall in.
According to a number of Indian news outlets, Singh said: "The devi (goddess) was exiled for no fault of hers. How can a man become so cruel to his wife that he sends her off to live in a forest?" How can a man be so dumb that he tries to sue a god?
The case, which a Bihar court agreed to hear, sparked nationwide discussion on Monday, the morning of the hearing. Ram's name was trending on Twitter as thousands of Indians took to social media to defend the god, criticising the lawyer for "offending" Hindus. Lord Rama should strike him and reduce him to a cinder. Or turn him into a toad and stomp him.
Singh has said that his intention was not to hurt anyone's religious beliefs, however, he believed the crime committed by Lord Ram was a "non-cognisable offence", which meant that the police would be unable to make an arrest without a warrant issued by a court order. Go ahead, dumbass. Get the warrant.
In his complaint, Singh said: "Lord Rama did not think for a single moment how a woman could live alone amid wild animals, including reptiles and mammals, in the forest." He probably thought a goddess could get by pretty well, especially the Goddess of Luck..
According to the Hindu text Rayamana [sic. They mean the Ramayana], Lord Ram was banished to the forest for 14 years, during which his wife Sita and brother Laxman accompanied him. Upon their return to the Kingdom of Ayodhya, rumours began to spread about Sita's purity following the news of her pregnancy. Lord Ram reluctantly gives into public opinion to banish his wife to the forest.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2016
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#1
OK Bubba, how you gonna serve papers on/ receive any judgement arrived at?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
02/02/2016 8:29
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[Iran Press TV] Israeli security officials have banned the manager of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound from entering the site for six months.
Najih Bakirat has been barred from the location of the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, which lies in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Avshalom Peled, an Israeli police deputy commander, said in a letter to Bakirat that the ban came into effect on January 31.
The manager is not permitted to "enter, stay or be found in the Temple Mount area, or its entrances, unless he is permitted by the deputy district commander," the letter read.
Peled also claimed that the "move is necessary to prevent serious harm to both people and property."
Israeli security officials alleged that Bakirat is a "radical and inciting figure" on the site.
The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, is a flashpoint. In August last year, restrictions were imposed on Paleostinian worshipers visiting the holy site, prompting the fury of the Paleostinians.
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(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – Nineveh Operations Command announced on Monday the killing of the so-called ISIS Wali of the area of Tal-Afar in an aerial bombing by the international coalition west of Mosul.
The Operations Command said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “Warplanes of the international coalition bombarded a gathering for ISIS on the road which links between Mosul and Tal-Afar, resulting in the killing of the ISIS Wali of Tal-Afar and al-Jazeerah.”
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – On Monday, al-Hashd al-Watani announced, that the military official in ISIS was killed in an armed attack carried out by unidentified attackers in central Mosul (405 km south of Baghdad), along with three of his companions.
The spokesman of al-Hashd al-Watani Mahmoud Alsurja said in a press statement, “An armed attack carried out by unidentified attackers in central Mosul killed Nasser Awad al-Shammari who was also known as ISIS military official, along with three of his companions.”
Alsurja added, “The attackers managed to escape to an unknown destination, while the security members in ISIS imposed a security cordon around the incident area.”
Noteworthy, ISIS has imposed its control over the city of Mosul in Nineveh Province (405 km north of Baghdad) in the tenth of June 2014, while extended its activities to several provinces and regions in Iraq.
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – The member of the Agriculture and Water Committee in the Iraqi Council Mansour al-Baeigi revealed the presence of one thousand Italian soldiers to protect Mosul Dam, while considered the American media exaggeration as a tool to bring foreign troops into Iraq.
Baeigi told reporters, “Based on our information, there are 1000 Italian soldiers in Nineveh Province to protect Mosul Dam, as well as the Italian experts who are treating the decay in the dam’s floor.”
Baeigi added, “The United States uses media exaggeration to bring foreign troops into Iraq and to hinder the liberation of Mosul.”
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – A source in Nineveh Province announced on Monday, that ten houses belonging to Christian people were completely destroyed by the so called the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) north of Mosul (405 km north of Baghdad).
The source said in an interview, “Today, ISIS members detonated ten houses belonging to the displaced Christians using improvised explosive devices in al-Maidan neighborhood north of Mosul, causing the houses to collapse completely,” adding that, “ISIS members stole the contents of the houses before the detonation.”
Noteworthy, ISIS took over the city of Mosul in Nineveh Province (405 km north of Baghdad) in the tenth of June 2014, before extending its terrorist activities in many other areas in Iraq.
#1
“An armed attack carried out by unidentified attackers in central Mosul killed Nasser Awad al-Shammari who was also known as ISIS military official, along with three of his companions.”
Alsurja added, “The attackers managed to escape to an unknown destination, while the security members in ISIS imposed a security cordon around the incident area.”
Tell me more!
Posted by: Oscar McGurque ||
02/02/2016 3:02
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#2
An armed attack carried out by unidentified attackers in an attacking mode, for attacking purposes
(IraqiNews.com) Diyali – A local source in Diyali province said on Monday, that six elements of the paramilitary Peshmerga force had been either killed or wounded in a bomb blast northeast of Baqubah.
The source reported for IraqiNews.com, “Today, an explosive device targeted a patrol belonging to the Peshmerga forces while carrying out an inspection operation in the area of Tulkana south of Khanaqin DIstrict northeast of Baqubah,” adding that, “The explosion resulted in killing three Peshmerga elements and wounding three others.”
[YAHOO] A survivor hidden in a tree says he watched Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... snuffies Molotov cocktail huts and heard the screams of children burning to death, among 86 people officials say died in the latest attack by Nigeria's homegrown Islamic Death Eaters.
Scores of charred corpses and bodies with bullet wounds littered the streets from Saturday night's attack on Dalori village and two nearby camps housing 25,000 refugees, according to survivors and soldiers at the scene just 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram and the biggest city in Nigeria's northeast.
The shooting, burning and kabooms from three jacket wallahs continued for nearly four hours in the unprotected area, survivor Alamin Bakura said, weeping on a telephone call to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. He said several of his family members were killed or maimed.
The violence continued as threeexploding trollop female suicide bombers blew up among people who managed to flee to neighboring Gamori village, killing many people, according to a soldier at the scene who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to journalists.
Troops arrived at Dalori around 8:40 p.m. Saturday but were unable to overcome the attackers, who were better armed, said soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. The Boko Haram fighters only retreated after reinforcements arrived with heavier weapons, they said.
Journalists visited the carnage Sunday and spoke to survivors who complained it had taken too long for help to arrive from nearby Maiduguri, the military headquarters of the fight to curb Boko Haram. They said they fear another attack.
Eighty-six bodies were collected by Sunday afternoon, according to Mohammed Kanar, area coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency. Another 62 people are being treated for burns, said Abba Musa of the State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri.
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#1
Boko Haram managed to murder about 4,000 in 2015, putting them above Al Qaeda or the Taliban but probably behind ISIS in that category.
Seems they are off to a big start again this year.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/02/2016 18:17
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#2
I'm sure the locals are glad we aren't bombing Boko Haram into oblivion because we might kill a few hundred civilians in the process.
[ALMANAR.LB] She is a beautiful Paleostinian girl with a courageous and fervent spirit. She loved her homeland so she devoted herself for it. She refused to let it be forgotten so she exerted every effort. In her school she played a mobilization role that her friends talked about. She was in control of the radio in her school, and every national poem or statement she read made the audience cry. As for the knife revolt (Intifada) that the Paleostinian youth initiated, she did not only support it, but even considered that "the end of the occupation is near, God willing..." The heart [urp!] burns bleeds.
"The generation that you labeled as "Oslo generation" has proven to you that it is the son of this land and it will throw you out of this land, restore its dignity, and avenge for its free people..." she added, reassuring to the Zionists that "the response will be harsh on you, just wait to see it and fear the anger of the Paleostinian."
She is Ashraqat Taha Al-Qatanani, or Ashraqat Paleostine (Paleostine shined) as her father named her after her martyrdom. She is the 16-year-old girl who lashed the Zionists with these words to take only a couple of days later a knife from the kitchen of her house and head towards an Israeli checkpoint.
Ashraqat witnessed the occupation's barbarism since she was a child, and had to bear responsibilities at a very early stage. Father of the martyr, Sheikh Taha Al-Qatanani recalled that during one of the occupation soldiers' raids on his house "she was alone with her siblings so she stood up to the soldiers. I later gave her all my papers so she was in charge and looked after her siblings until morning."
She loved the Gazooks and sympathized with them. She was hurt for the burning of martyr Mohammad Abu Khdeir and Dawabsha family alive. So she expressed that on her Facebook page writing: "They burned the infant... damn a people that revolted for burning a murderous pilot but did not revolt for burning an infant... damn you... You are shameful to the religion of Mohammad (PTUI!) and shameful to his morals."
Ashraqat further considered that it was not the Zionists who burned the Paleostinian infant, but the Arabs "since they abandoned the right of Abu Khdeir..."
With all this oppression around her, Ashraqat refused to stay hand folded. She took a brave decision and sacrificed her life for what she loved the most - Paleostine -.
She took a knife from the kitchen of her house and headed toward an Israeli checkpoint to later be executed by an officer there. The story did not end here, for even after her martyrdom, Ashraqat had brave stances that were revealed.
The young Paleostinian martyr left five wills:
- If I was martyred I want my organs to be given to those who needed them.
- Father, if I was martyred don't get mad or cry.
- If the occupation kept my body and bargained over it, don't accept that.
- If I was martyred (know that) I am the daughter of Paleostine, not any organization.
- If I was martyred don't shoot in the air.
This was what actually took place, and as a proud father, Sheikh Taha Al-Qatanani did not give in to any of the occupation's conditions after the latter kept the body of Ashraqat for over a month and bargained over it.
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(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – On Monday, a security source in Anbar Province revealed, that 12 civilians were either killed or wounded in the explosion of two improvised explosive devices while trying to escape from Heet City.
The source said in an interview, “This morning, three families who inhabit Heet City, tried to escape using the desert road from ISIS members who control the city.”
The source added, “Two improvised explosive devices were emplaced on the road side to target the families exploded, killing seven civilians including children and wounding five others.”
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – The Head of Khalidiya Council in Anbar Province announced on Monday, that the security forces have advanced for a distance of 3 kiometeres north of Fallujah (26 km west of Baghdad), while indicated to the killing of dozens of ISIS members.
Ali Daoud said in an interview, “Today, security forces have carried out a large-scale military operation on ISIS gatherings and strongholds in Albu Shajel and AlBu Shehab areas in Saqlawiyah Island (17 km north of Fallujah), killing dozens of ISIS members,” noting that, “The security forces managed to penetrate an area of 3 kilometers in the island.”
Daoud added, “The army, police and tribal fighters, backed by the international coalition aviation destroyed ISIS defense lines in Albu Shajel and AlBu Shehab vicinities.”
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – On Monday, Head of Kalidiya Council Ali Daoud announced the advance of the army forces to liberate Albu Shehab and Albu Shagl areas in al-Kalidiya Island east of Ramadi.
Daoud said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “This morning, army forces backed by the Iraqi Army Aviation, army artillery and rocket launchers have advanced toward Albu Shehab and Albu Shagl areas in al-Khalidiya Island north of Khalidiya City to liberate them from ISIS.”
Daoud added, “The army forces were able to reach Albu Shehab that is considered the only passage between Ramadi and Falluja north of Khalidiya,” pointing out that, “A number of ISIS members were killed during the confrontations amid heavy aerial shelling carried out by the Army Aviation on ISIS hideouts in Albu Shehab and Albu Shagl areas east of Ramadi.”
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced on Monday the killing and wounding of 13 “terrorists” including officials of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) during an aerial bombardment west of the province.
The ministry said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The Hawks Intelligence Cell belonging to the Interior Ministry carried out an offensive against ISIS gangs based on accurate information about their gatherings in the area of Akashat west of the province,” pointing out that, “The army’s air force targeted their site directly and managed to kill and wound more than 13 terrorists.”
The statement added, “Abi Ali al-Salmani, a military leader, Abu Mansour and Abu Jaafar al-Shami, the suicide bombers official in Akashat area were among the dead.”
[Iran Press TV] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... has carried out several rounds of Arclight airstrikes on a civilian airport west of 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... as it seeks to cut off the impoverished nation from the outside world.
Yemeni's al-Masirah TV said on Monday that Saudi warplanes pounded the port city of al-Hudaydah's international airport, inflicting huge losses on the facility.
The attack is the latest in a series of operations by Riyadh to destroy Yemen's civilian infrastructure including the channels it can use for receiving humanitarian aid it badly needs.
Yemen has been under a deadly siege over the past 10 months as Saudis continue to attack areas across the country in a bid to undermine the ruling Ansarullah movement and allied military units. The air campaign, which has killed more than 8,300 people since it was unleashed late March last year, is meant to restore power to runaway firmer president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Saudi warplanes on Monday targeted residential areas in northern provinces of Sa'ada, Hajjah and Ma'rib, with no immediate information available on the casualties. The harshest attacks have been reported in a market in Sa'ada where three days of incessant Arclight airstrikes have inflicted huge damage on civilian properties while a major health facility has also been destroyed in the area.
A woman and her little girl were also killed Monday when Saudis bombarded the district of Mara'an in Sa'ada.
In response to the Saudi Arclight airstrikes, Ansarullah and allies launched attacks on pro-Saudi snuffies operating inside Yemen with reports suggesting that a number of the mercenaries were killed after the allied forces pushed them back from two key neighborhoods of the southern city of Ta'izz. A similar operation was launched in the northern Jawf Province.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
[DAWN] THE bombings near the revered Syeda Zainab shrine outside Damascus on Sunday, in which at least 70 people have reportedly been killed, are a disturbing provocation clearly designed to sabotage the nascent peace talks under way in Geneva between the Syrian government and opposition, and widen sectarian fissures. While the shrine itself was not damaged, the area around it was devastated. The iconic structure has been targeted before. The bad boyIslamic 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 has claimed the attack; considering that the mosque serves as the locus for Hezbollah and other Shia militias active in Syria, as well as pilgrims, it is one of the most sensitive locations in the Syrian theatre. The threat of communal violence that targeting such a significant religious structure can unleash should not be underestimated. For example, the 2006 bombing of the Al Askari mosque in Samarra triggered a horrific wave of sectarian violence that ripped Iraqi society apart, and the repercussions of which are still being felt.
The Syrian quagmire has already acquired an ugly sectarian colour. Attacks such as these will only fuel the fires of communal violence now burning in many parts of the Middle East. That is why it is essential that the UN-sponsored peace talks being held in Geneva make progress. Of course, the Syrian conflict is an incredibly complex one, with internal and external actors pursuing varying agendas. However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... unless the negotiation teams of both the Syrian government and opposition display the intention to move the grinding of the peace processor forward and make compromises, little can be expected from the talks. One key issue is that the opposition seems divided and unsure of what to do. The Saudi-backed Higher Negotiating Committee only joined the talks at the last minute while for obvious reasons, the bad boy opposition, consisting of IS, Al-Nusra and others of their ilk, are not at the table. Expectedly, both the regime and the opposition have taken maximalist positions; these must be loosened for there to be progress.
It would help matters immensely if both sides announced an immediate ceasefire, which would bring relief to the hapless Syrian population. However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... as both sides argue over the details of how to permanently end the conflict and establish a government acceptable to all sides, they must agree on one point: there must be a united front against murderous Moslem groups -- thought this is difficult as some of the 'moderate' rebels have fought alongside the murderous Moslem fighters. The UN 'road map' for peace as envisaged in a recent Security Council resolution can only be implemented if Syria's warring factions -- as well as regional and international players -- agree to make it work. 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... , Iran and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... have a significant role in making this happen. Establishing peace in Syria is incredibly difficult, but not impossible if the principal domestic and foreign players choose to work towards it.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
are a disturbing provocation
As opposed to what? The chemical weapons use? The 15 terrorist groups civil war? The Russian/Iranian invasion?
The U.S. Army is close to selecting a new style of weapon designed to stop an imminent threat of terrorists using drones to fly bombs into military and government facilities.
The Army's Rapid Equipping Force has teamed up with several Army commands such as the Asymmetric Warfare Group and the Fires Center of Excellence to find a weapon that can detect, classify and disrupt a weaponized drone from reaching its target.
The small, fast-moving drones were difficult to hit but also very durable. Detecting their location before they got too close to their intended target also proved very challenging, the source said.
The Army then invited companies to Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, in September to participate in demonstrations of technology designed to detect, classify and potentially defeat drones, Sliwa said. Army officials tried to develop unique vignettes of how a free-thinking enemy might use drones against U.S. forces on the battlefield, he said.
Sliwa would not talk about any specific system since it is too early in the evaluation.
But DroneDefender, a system made by Battelle, proved very effective, the Army source said.
"It's available now, and it's is effective," he said.
The DroneDefender, a shoulder-fired weapon that looks like something out of a bad science-fiction movie, uses radio waves to cut the link between the drone and its controller, the source said.
Maybe the army could provide some to the marines on our CVs; Skeet shooting!
"The Islamist activist group told its followers yesterday that Muslims should not have to submit to an oppressive campaign of "forced assimilation" such as singing the national anthem or pledging support for democratic values in the citizenship oath.
The call came at a conference in Sydney where Muslims were encouraged to make use of printed material which recommends "refusing to partake in any of the government's counter-terrorÂism programs and initiatives", and says co-operation with spy agencies "is outright haram (forbidden)"."
#1
Proud thralls of Mohammedan phantom,
Disdaining our contract and anthem
(as these would abase 'em),
Demand we replace 'em
With Allah's perpetual tantrum.
#2
I've joined a new religion which I'll thank you not to scoff at:
We worship a Koala and the Wombat is his Prophet.
"Sign here," said they, "The tucker's great!" I think they may have gypped us,
Cuz all there is to eat up here is f*cking eucalyptus.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source within the police force said on Monday, that a civilian has been killed in a militant attack that took place east of Baghdad.
The source said in a brief statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “This evening, unidentified militants driving a modern vehicle opened fire against a civilian in Palestine Street, resulting in his immediate death,” pointing out that, “A security force transferred the dead body to the forensic medicine authority, while opened an investigation into the incident to determine the party that stands behind it.”
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.
Defense secretary lays out his vision for the next decade's killer capabilities in 2017 budget preview.
Approximately 300 people including scientists, engineers and other experts, about half with doctorate degrees, have petitioned U.S. House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, to carefully investigate suspiciously overheated climate temperature book-cooking by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 
[Daily Caller] In the very early days of Hillary Clinton's tenure at the State Department, top agency officials signed off on a plan to allow the then-secretary of state to use a "stand-alone PC" set up on a non-departmental computer network system so that she could check her personal email account.
America's most expensive weapons system ever just hit another snag. 
[Iran Press TV] The number of homicides in the US city of 
Hillary Clinton
The Saudi-led coalition striking rebels in Yemen says it is setting up an independent committee to probe the force's actions amid criticism over its military operations in the impoverished nation. 
International Criminal Court
The U.S. Army is close to selecting a new style of weapon designed to stop an imminent threat of terrorists using drones to fly bombs into military and government facilities.
