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Saudi Says it will Take Arms Bound for Lebanon
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Home Front: Politix
'Cut the bullshit,' Israel's culture minister tells liberals
Israel's culture minister had a blunt message on Sunday for liberals worried about what they consider efforts by the government to stifle dissent in the arts: "Cut the bullshit."

Free-speech debate in Israel has grown fierce under conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Non-governmental organizations and artists that document or dramatize conditions for Palestinians complain about legislation scrutinizing their funding.
Apparently, being known as a de facto agent of hostile foreign organizations is injurious to your rights
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/06/2016 16:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  NGO gets booted off YouTube for exposing Palestinian incitement video
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/06/2016 16:21 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
WW2 - 11.5%, Vietnam - 4.3%, GWOT - .45%
[RGR UP.com] I remember the day I found out I got into West Point.

My mom actually showed up in the hallway of my high school and waited for me to get out of class. She was bawling her eyes out and apologizing that she had opened up my admission letter. She wasn't crying because it had been her dream for me to go there. She was crying because she knew how hard I'd worked to get in, how much I wanted to attend, and how much I wanted to be an infantry officer. I was going to get that opportunity.

That same day two of my teachers took me aside and essentially told me the following: "Nick, you're are a smart guy. You don't have to join the military. You should go to college, instead."

I could easily write a tome defending West Pont and the military as I did that day, explaining that USMA is an elite institution, that separate from that it is actually statistically much harder to enlist in the military than it is to get admitted to college, that serving the nation is a challenge that all able-bodied men should at least consider for a host of reasons, but I won’t.

What I will say is that when a 16 year-old kid is being told that attending West Point is going to be bad for his future then there is a dangerous disconnect in America, and entirely too many Americans have no idea what kind of burdens our military is bearing.

In World War II, 11.2% of the nation served in four years. In Vietnam, 4.3% served in 12 years. Since 2001, only 0.45% of our population has served in the Global War on Terror. These are unbelievable statistics.

Over time, fewer and fewer people have shouldered more and more of the burden and it is only getting worse. Our troops were sent to war in Iraq by a Congress consisting of 10% veterans with only one person having a child in the military. Taxes did not increase to pay for the war. War bonds were not sold. Gas was not regulated. In fact, the average citizen was asked to sacrifice nothing, and has sacrificed nothing unless they have chosen to out of the goodness of their hearts.

The only people who have sacrificed are the veterans and their families. The volunteers. The people who swore an oath to defend this nation. You.

You stand there, deployment after deployment and fight on. You’ve lost relationships, spent years of your lives in extreme conditions, years apart from kids you’ll never get back, and beaten your body in a way that even professional athletes don’t understand. And you come home to a nation that doesn’t understand. They don’t understand suffering. They don’t understand sacrifice. They don't understand that bad people exist. They look at you like you're a machine -- like something is wrong with you. You are the misguided one -- not them. When you get out, you sit in the college classrooms with political science teachers that discount your opinions on Iraq and Afghanistan because YOU WERE THERE and can't understand the "macro" issues they gathered from books with your bias. You watch TV shows where every vet has PTSD and the violent strain at that. Your Congress is debating your benefits, your retirement, and your pay, while they ask you to do more.

But the amazing thing about you is that you all know this. You know your country will never pay back what you've given up. You know that the populace at large will never truly understand or appreciate what you have done for them. Hell, you know that in some circles, you will be thought as less than normal for having worn the uniform. But you do it anyway. You do what the greatest men and women of this country have done since 1775 -- YOU SERVED. Just that decision alone makes you part of an elite group.

Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/06/2016 13:21 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thank you to those who serve(d).
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/06/2016 13:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Taxes didn't increase for."the war," but the government spends.more mo ey than ever even if a smaller part than ever actually goes to the military. We make stuff in this country less than ever. The I duztry I was in is imploding even while e eryone talks about how sucessful it is.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/06/2016 14:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Damn phone.

Anyway, you could argue that the closest thing we have to a victory is the "fracking revolution,"/which has more to do with directional drilling than it does with fracking. And it's.only because.our government hasn't figured out a.way to throw.it away yet.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/06/2016 14:34 Comments || Top||

#4  They already outsource most of it, Thing.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/06/2016 17:13 Comments || Top||

#5  Directional drilling? Fracking?

Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/06/2016 21:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Thing, Next chance you get, check the composition of the drill crew. Or the ownership or seamen on the oil tanker.
Watch the refinery workforce as they go in the plant.
Who owns and operates the local quickie gas station?
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/06/2016 23:41 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Little to show for Boko Haram a year after joining Islamic State
[IsraelTimes] Despite fears that linking of deadliest terror groups would bring imported muscle and arms into Lake Chad region, Nigerian jihadis seem to have weakened since move.

Shekau’s declaration and the subsequent re-branding of Boko Haram as “Islamic State West Africa Province” or ISWAP caused a reported rift in the Boko Haram hierarchy. Dissenters have reportedly explored closer ties with other jihadi groups in the wider Sahel region.
When 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...
pledged allegiance to the Islamic State
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/06/2016 11:29 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram

#1  thats enough to turn someone a Whiter Shade of Pale.
Posted by: Griter Wholuse5857 || 03/06/2016 13:29 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela throws out socialism
HT to Chuck Simmins on FB
Venezuela held legislative elections last weekend and the results are heartening for anyone who believes in freedom.

Not since the late Hugo Chavez took power in 1999 had his United Socialist Party of Venezuela lost an election. This time, though, the opposition party won a two-thirds majority in the congress, and will have the ability to challenge the rule of Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's successor as president.

This was a result Maduro and his socialist government feared. In the run-up to the election, he jailed opposition leaders on flimsy pretexts, and banned others from running for office. His allies put a sham third party on the ballot with a similar name to that of the opposition in hope of confusing voters and winning by splitting the vote. Maduro rejected international monitoring of the election, raising fears that he would steal it. Even now, it's hard to say for sure he didn't try.

But despite all of this chicanery, and perhaps partly because of it, Maduro's United Socialist Party was buried in an electoral landslide. The reasons for the public's discontent with Chavism are plain enough, and rooted in the nature of socialism, a system that always and everywhere attempts to govern by thwarting human nature through state control of economic life
Posted by: Frank G || 03/06/2016 10:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  If the oligarchy actually leaves, I wonder if they will be allowed to keep the billions of dollars they siphoned off while destroying the economy.
Posted by: gorb || 03/06/2016 10:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Freedom is bought with blood.
Beware the unearned vacumn.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/06/2016 11:04 Comments || Top||

#3  So you sayin' it ain't over 'till the fat lady sings, Skid?
Posted by: Bobby || 03/06/2016 12:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Maduro and his henchmen aren't leaving quietly.

And Oogo's daughter, the one who stole the $2 billion plus, isn't giving it back without a fight.

I'm not a particularly bloodthirsty person (as I've demonstrated time and again here at the Burg), but a Mussolini-style solution for these folks wouldn't bother me a bit.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/06/2016 12:42 Comments || Top||

#5  If the oligarchy actually leaves, I wonder if they will be allowed to keep the billions of dollars they siphoned off while destroying the economy.

I'm waiting for someone to say I'm a communist if I suggest taking it all away from the aristocrat m-er effers.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/06/2016 12:52 Comments || Top||

#6  So, what do Bernie and Sean Penn et. al. have to say about this?

Is the CIA still doing this kind of over-throw in LA?
Posted by: AlanC || 03/06/2016 13:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Is the CIA still doing this kind of over-throw in LA?

CIA can't act in the USA but they could ask the Brits to do it. ;-)
Posted by: Thoper Flinenter9950 || 03/06/2016 13:09 Comments || Top||

#8  So that's where my Campagnolo rear sprocket went...
Posted by: Raj || 03/06/2016 16:16 Comments || Top||

#9  Please note that this article is from 12/10/15
Posted by: European Conservative || 03/06/2016 18:48 Comments || Top||

#10  Good catch, European Conservative.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/06/2016 21:42 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
US, allies conduct 14 strikes against IS: US military
[AlAhram] The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(IS) group turbans in Iraq with 12 strikes on Friday and two in Syria, the US military said on Saturday.

Two of the strikes in Iraq were near Ramadi, hitting two IS tactical units and a tunnel.

One of the strikes in Syria destroyed two IS fighting positions near Palmyra, the military said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/06/2016 06:03 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  When I was in, a "fighting position" was a hole with some sandbags. If you had time and the inclination, you might have more sandbags and...overhead cover. Two guys in it.
Hope the ordnance they used wasn't real expensive.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 03/06/2016 19:18 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Report: Israeli intel prompts Russia to freeze missile delivery to Iran
Russian President Vladimir Putin has suspended the transfer of S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran in light of Tehran’s violation of an earlier pledge not to provide sophisticated Russian-made weaponry to the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah, according to a report Saturday in the Kuwaiti daily Al Jarida.

A senior source told the newspaper that the Russian leader elected to punish the Iranian regime after Israel supplied him with clear-cut evidence that Tehran had given its proxy Hezbollah SA-22 surface-to-air missiles.

The intelligence information was corroborated by reports from Russian pilots flying their fighter jets over Lebanon and Syria.

The Russian air force anti-missile radars were able to detect SA-22 systems stashed in regions of Lebanon that are under the control of the Shi’ite militia.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/06/2016 02:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Not likely. He doesn't care if Israel suffers
Posted by: Frank G || 03/06/2016 9:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Was it ever really going to happen?
Posted by: Menhadden Glereck6400 || 03/06/2016 10:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Maybe Vlad is upset that Russian missiles could shoot down Russian planes, and not be caused by 'Friendly Fire'?

I'm reading Ardennes 1944 by Antony Beevor and by New Years Day, 1945, both sides were shooting at anything that approached them - "If it flies, it dies".
Posted by: Bobby || 03/06/2016 12:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Not likely. He doesn't care if Israel suffers

But he cares if Russia suffers and Russia will suffer when IAF demonstrates what most advanced Russian systems are ineffective.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/06/2016 15:47 Comments || Top||

#5  The history of Russian weapons in the hands of Arabs trying to use them against the Isael is not stellar.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/06/2016 17:04 Comments || Top||

#6  wikipedia says the sa-22 is yet to be delivered to Iran, but has been delivered to Iraq, Syria, and Jordan. (Oh, and is also used in Syria by Russians).

Any of those could have been the original purchasers, IMHO.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/06/2016 17:39 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
No longer ‘lone wolves,’ Palestinian attackers pair up
[IsraelTimes] Wednesday morning’s terror attack in Eli highlights a new pattern of ‘cooperative’ strikes in twos and even threes

The terror attack Wednesday morning in Eli, in which local resident Roee Harel was injured and the two gunnies killed, highlights the shift in recent weeks in the modus operandi of Paleostinian attackers, away from the hitherto lone-wolf style of the current wave of violence.

The attackers are now setting out in pairs, sometimes even in threes, to kill Israelis. Paleostinian youths who decide to carry out an attack seem to understand that doing so with a partner or two at their side offers the possibility of causing far greater harm.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/06/2016 00:17 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Under Egypt’s nose, Hamas boosts cooperation with IS in Sinai
[IsraelTimes] The Gazoo terror group’s armed wing is digging tunnels in broad daylight to help smuggle in jihadists for medical care

These bulldozers approach the border, and then abruptly disappear underground, according to sources in the Gaza Strip. Several seconds later, they exit the tunnels, loaded with dirt, and unload it not far from the excavation site.
The Egyptian soldiers stationed on the border of the Gazoo Strip have encountered this sight more than once in the past few weeks: Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-owned bulldozers and tractors appear and begin excavations on the border with the Sinai Peninsula.

Despite promises to Cairo that Hamas is not engaged in the smuggling trade with the Islamic State
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/06/2016 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Bury a couple tunnels with the excavators inside
Posted by: Frank G || 03/06/2016 17:16 Comments || Top||


Sri Lanka
ISIS executes 1 in Aleppo
[ARA News] ALEPPO – Extremists of the Islamic State (ISIS) executed Saturday a teenage boy in Syria’s northern Aleppo province after accusing him of ‘apostasy’, local activists and eyewitnesses reported.

The 16-year-old victim was arrested in the ISIS-held city of Jarablus north of Aleppo for missing Friday prayers at the mosque.

“The teenage boy, who faced charges of apostasy, was beheaded in front of a huge crowd in central Jarablus on Saturday,” local media activist Nasser Taljbini told ARA News.

The victim was accused by the Sharia Court of violating the Islamic law, and ordered his execution in public on charges of apostasy, the source reported.

“Before carrying out the execution, a Sharia official read a statement issued by the ISIS Sharia Court, vowing everyone who misses prayers at the mosque to face a similar punishment,” an eyewitness told ARA News, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Posted by: badanov || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We have finally found the moderate wing of ISIS?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/06/2016 2:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Only one execution? Must be a slow day.
Posted by: gorb || 03/06/2016 16:17 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Mideast just experienced worst drought in 900 years – NASA
[IsraelTimes] Scientists examining tree rings suggest unprecedented 14-year dry spell that ended in 2012 helped spark Syrian war
Lots of moments in history when bad weather sparked war and insurrection. When you can't feed your family bad things happen.
A recent 14-year dry spell in the Middle East was the worst drought in the past 900 years, according to a new NASA study released this week.

NASA’s researchers examined records of rings of trees in several Mediterranean countries to determine patterns of dry and wet years across a span of nine centuries. They concluded that the years from 1998 to 2012 were drier than any other period, and that the drought was likely caused by humans.

The study’s lead author Ben Cook said the range of extreme weather events in the eastern Mediterranean has varied widely in the past nine centuries, but the past two decades stand out.

"This recent drought falls outside the range of natural variability," he said. Drought has continued in parts of the Middle East, he added.

Cook is a climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York City.

The researchers used records of tree rings in Northern Africa, Greece, Leb, Jordan, Syria and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, and combined the data with records from Spain, southern La Belle France and Italia to examine patterns of drought across time in the region.

They studied rings of trees, both living and dead, that were sampled all over the region. Rings in the trunks of trees represent years. Thin rings indicate dry years; thick rings show years when water was abundant.

Cook said the research supported other studies indicating human causes of extreme climate events.

Last year, researchers at Columbia University and the University of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, Santa Barbara found that drought triggered a collapse in agriculture in Syria and the migration of 1.5 million farmers to the cities, straining resources. The water shortage was one of several contributing factors that had worsened the situation in Syria in the lead-up to the outbreak of that country’s devastating civil war in 2011.

Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, said the NASA study is one of several worrying reports about unprecedented climate conditions. Mann was not involved in NASA’s study.

In an e-mail to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, Mann noted that tree rings "have their limitations and uncertainties," but said "the authors have done a reasonable job in assessing the uncertainties."
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "the authors have done a reasonable job in assessing the uncertainties." - Yeah, we sent Rocco and Vinnie over to "explain" to him how unpredictable "uncertainties" could be, especially when there is grant money involved.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 03/06/2016 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Did 1.5 million farmers move to cities or not? Answer that poster #1.
Posted by: Don Vito Whuth8374 || 03/06/2016 0:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Is commenter #2 a Michael Mann sock puppet?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 03/06/2016 5:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Rain and temperatures too! I wonder if tree rings know where Judge Crater went too?
Posted by: Shipman || 03/06/2016 9:07 Comments || Top||

#5  ".... helped spark Syrian war..."

yeah, that probably contributed 0.01% of the causation
Posted by: lord garth || 03/06/2016 10:38 Comments || Top||

#6  "I'm really thirsty and we're all out of Zam Zam Cola. We should overthrow the Gubbamint!"
Posted by: Frank G || 03/06/2016 10:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Michael Mann has become a denialist. Or at least he's surrendered to the idea that the pause is real. Link
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/06/2016 11:41 Comments || Top||

#8  And yes, the farmers did move to the city to look for work.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/06/2016 11:42 Comments || Top||

#9  If Mann is involved I suspect the data.

And note how carefully they avoid explaining just how humans caused the drought. The Middle East isn't all that industrialized.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/06/2016 11:55 Comments || Top||

#10  Good link! TY TW.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 03/06/2016 12:15 Comments || Top||

#11  You're welcome, Whiskey Mike.

We've been following the drought in the Middle East since 2005. See archived articles about Syria here.

One needn't believe in catastophic anthropogenic climate change to see that droughts and floods happen, and that when they go on for years, farmers will be forced off the land. And that desperate people in large numbers are tinder awaiting a spark.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/06/2016 12:51 Comments || Top||

#12  Droughts and floods happen. Those that allow for that survive and thrive. Then those are arrogant and stupid just bumble along till they starve get murdered or get overthrown.

Forrrrr example......the Saudis have pumped 80% of their aquifer's water away. Water stored since the ice age. They depend solely on oil for their wealth with some investments. They have royals and commoners to support, with a populace with a poor work ethic. And an Insh'allah religion to boot.

You use your mind and make your own good news, or you leave it to the Fates. Take your choice and live with the consequences.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/06/2016 15:51 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Karachi police claim killing four suspected militants in encounter
[DAWN] Police on Saturday claimed to have killed four suspected holy warriors belonging to banned outfits during an "encounter" in the outskirts of the metropolis.

Malir SSP Rao Anwar said that suspects were allegedly involved in the killing of security personnel and members of Shia community.

The senior police official claimed that the dear departed were members of banned outfits -- Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ...
Police acted on an information provided by the already tossed in the slammer
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
suspects and was backed by intelligence agencies, said Anwar.

The raid was carried out near residential compound off Superhighway near Inara Garden -- a residential complex of members of Ismaili community, he added.

"Suspects on seeing the police resorted to firing and in an ensuing encounter, four gunnies got bumped off," claimed the Malir SSP.

Anwar identified two of the dear departed as Noman Akhter and Sohail alias Kanga.

They deceased were involved in the assassination'>assassinations of traffic officials, coppers and members of Shia community. The police also claimed to have seized a cache of weapons from the custody of suspected bad boys.

Soon after the encounter in which four holy warriors got killed, four suspects riding two cycle of violences attacked a police post near Al-Asif Square in Sohrab Goth, said the Malir SSP.

The opened fire on the police check post from some distance but coppers manning the bunker retaliated with return fire, forcing the attacker to flee.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent


PTI demands probe into Kamal’s claims
[DAWN] Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
(PTI) demanded on Friday the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the allegations leveled by former MQM senator and 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...
nazim
...small time big shot, the chief elected official of a local government in Pakistan, such as a district, tehsil, union council, or village council...
, Mustafa Kamal, against the top leadership of his party that "over the years, it has acted hand in glove with the Indian RAW in anti-state activities."

Chief spokesperson of the party, Naeemul Haq, in a press statement said that the nature of charges in which Mr Kamal had by name accused former interior minister of the PPP government and incumbent senator, Rehman Malik
Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship.
, and MQM chief the increasingly enormousAltaf Hussain
..The head of MQM in Pakistain, who has lived in London and hasn't laid eyes on Pakistain since Caesar made corporal. Judging from the size of him,he may be a Hutt...
, was too serious to be ignored and must be investigated at the highest forum. "How can one ignore the claims made by one of MQM’s very own," he said.

At a presser on Thursday, Mr Kamal and former MQM deputy convener, Anis Kaimkhani, made startling revelations that the two had personally witnessed how the party leadership was involved with RAW and how Mr Malik, being the interior minister, was also privy to all this.

"For around three decades, we have been hearing similar allegations against the MQM leadership. Now the time has come to put the true facts before the general masses without any give and take," Mr Haq said in the statement.

The PTI information secretary stressed that the assertions made by Mr Kamal shouldn’t be ignored and a judicial commission was the best option to put the controversy to an end.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
1 dies in bomb attack in Baghdad
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior said on Saturday, that eight people had been either killed or wounded in a bomb blast southeast of Baghdad.

The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “A bomb exploded, on Thursday evening, near shops in Zaafaraniya area southeast of Baghdad, killing one person and wounding seven others.”

The source, who asked anonymity, added, “A security force rushed to the area and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital for treatment and the dead body to the forensic medicine department, while strict measures have been taken in anticipation of the presence of other bombs.”
Posted by: badanov || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Six arrested, 17 booked in another vani case
[DAWN] Two persons, including the father of the girl, were locked away
You have the right to remain silent...
for trying to marry an 11-year-old girl as Vani, following a Panchayat decision in the urban area of Nooraywali.

The Panchayat had given Samreen as Vani to be married with 18-year-old Muhammad Abbas to settle the issue over the marriage of Samreen’s father, Muhammad Nawaz.

Nawaz had contracted second marriage with one Kalsoom. However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits...
there was tension and fights in the house and Kalsoom’s parents accused him of ruining their daughter’s life. A Panchayat meeting was called which announced that Nawaz would marry his daughter, Samreen, a class VII student, with Muhammad Abbas of Kalsoom’s family as compensation.

Samreen and her mother resisted against the decision of Panchayat but the Panchayat and Nawaz prepared Nikahnama with fake signatures of Samreen, mentioning her age as 18.

Samreen’s mother approached the station house officer of C-Division Police Station but he took no action on her complaint. Later on, she moved the court and on the court directions, police took action against the illegal marriage.

DPO Zeeshan Asghar told Dawn a case had been registered and father and Nikah registrar had been arrested.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Europe
Two Kiev Soldiers Killed in East Ukraine Fighting
[An Nahar] Two Ukrainian soldiers were killed in festivities between pro-Russian rebels and government forces over the past 24 hours, a military front man in Kiev said on Saturday.

The latest casualties came after a fresh European push to resolve the nearly two-year conflict floundered this week, with Russia and Ukraine saying they could not agree on polls in the rebel-held east.

"Unfortunately, two Ukrainian soldiers were killed in festivities with the occupation forces", military front man Andriy Lysenko told journalists.

The latest skirmish took place in the vicinity of the government-held port of Mariupol, when Ukrainian soldiers detected a reconnaissance group of rebels.

Five more Ukrainian soldiers were maimed over the past 24 hours in eastern Ukraine, Lysenko added.

On Thursday, La Belle France and Germany held a new round of talks with Ukraine and Russia in Gay Paree as part of mediation efforts to try to end the nearly two-year war in the east of the former Soviet republic but no consensus was reached over elections in the separatist regions.

More than 9,000 people were killed and more than 21,000 injured since a Moscow-backed insurgency erupted in eastern Ukraine in April, 2014.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Anbar Antics: 37 die
Fresh troops arrive in Khalediyah Island

(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – Anbar Operations Command announced on Friday the arrival of military reinforcements from the army and tribal fighters northeast of Ramadi to participate in the liberation of Khalediyah Island east of Ramadi.

The commander of Anbar Oeprations, Maj. Gen. Ismail al-Mahalawi, said in a press statement received by IraqiNews.com, “Today, military reinforcements from the army, consisting of two regiments from the Eighth Division backed by tribal fighters, arrived in the Tenth Division Leadership in Albu Aitha and Hamediya northeast of Ramadi.”

Mahalawi also added, “These military reinforcements will participate in the liberation operation of Khalediya Island (23 km east of Ramadi) alongside the Tenth Division.”

20 ISIS Bad Guys die in airstrikes near Haditha

(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – Anbar Police Command announced on Friday the killing of 20 ISIS elements in an aerial bobmardment by the international coalition west of Ramadi.

Saud Harb al-Obeidi, the spokesperson for Anbar Police Command, said in a brief statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Based on intelligence information, the international coalition’s aviation bombarded a convey belonging to ISIS in the area of Bruwana in the district of Haditha (170 km west of Ramadi), resulting in the death of 20 ISIS elements as well as the destruction of seven vehicles for them.”

Obeidi added, “Security forces are working to target ISIS in the western areas of Anbar.”

17 ISIS troops die in battles in al-Hamidiya area

(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – On Saturday the commander of Anbar Operations Major General Ismail al-Mahalawi announced the killing of 17 members of the so-called ISIS while trying to attack the army headquarters east of Ramadi.

The commander of Anbar Operation Ismail al-Mahalawi said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “ISIS attacked the troops of the army’s 41st and 40th regiments in al-Hamidiya area east of Ramadi.”

Mahalawi added, “A force from the headquarters’ guards foiled the attack and killed 17 ISIS militants, while destructed two houses and dismantled 12 improvised explosive devices.”
Posted by: badanov || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Land of the Free
LNG Update: U.S. Export Terminals and Infrastructure in the Works

Export Terminals


Cheniere's Sabine Pass terminal began operation in February 2016 with different liquefaction units, with a total permitted capacity of 4.16 Bcf/d.

According to EIA data updated today, four other LNG export terminals are currently under construction:

  • Dominion Energy's Cove Point LNG facility in Cove Point, Maryland, is scheduled to bring one train totaling 0.82 Bcf/d online near the end of 2017.
  • Corpus Christi LNG, another Cheniere project, is under construction in Corpus Christi, Texas. The terminal is scheduled to begin service in 2018, with total permitted capacity at 2.14 Bcf/d.
  • Sempra Energy's Cameron LNG terminal, located in Hackberry, Louisiana, is under construction and is scheduled to bring three trains online in 2018. A total of 1.7 Bcf/d has been permitted.
  • Freeport LNG's terminal planned for Freeport, Texas, has three trains under construction totaling 1.8 Bcf/d. The first two are scheduled to begin service in 2019, and the third in 2020.

New Pipeline Projects on the Horizon


In the past couple months, there have been several new pipeline projects to come online in an effort move natural gas either to the Mid-Atlantic markets (New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) or to feed the gas into existing infrastructure that delivers natural gas further across the country, specifically the U.S. Gulf Coast where LNG plants are planned and currently under construction.

Key projects that came online in late 2015 or early 2016 include, from EIA:

  • The Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) reversal project had added westbound capacity to flow natural gas to the Midwest in 2014. In late 2015, Texas Eastern Transmission Company's (Tetco) OPEN project added 550 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of pipeline takeaway capacity out of Ohio.
  • Columbia Gas Pipeline's East Side Expansion, a 310 MMcf/d project that flows natural gas produced in Pennsylvania to Mid-Atlantic markets.
  • Tennessee Gas Pipeline's Broad Run Flexibility Project, a 590 MMcf/d project originating in West Virginia that moves natural gas to the Gulf Coast states.
  • Tetco's Uniontown-to-Gas City project flows up to 425 MMcf/d of natural gas produced in the Marcellus region to Indiana.
  • Williams Transcontinental Pipeline's Leidy Southeast project provides additional capacity to take Marcellus natural gas to Transco's mainline, which extends from Texas to New York. From there, the natural gas serves Mid-Atlantic market areas as well as the Gulf Coast.
Capitalism hums along. Hey Bernie, how is socialist Venezuela doing?
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And the price of regular natural gas delivered to my home is the lowest it's been in 35 years.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/06/2016 1:50 Comments || Top||

#2  The capacity of all those facilities under construction total 6.46 Bcf/day or 1.11 Million barrels of oil equivalent / day and goes to show why oil is so vital to the energy trade.
Posted by: Betty Hitler2611 || 03/06/2016 6:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Besides port capacity, the other choke point is pipeline volume. How's that coming? /rhet question
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/06/2016 8:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Meanwhile in the people's republic of Washingtonstan, the tree huggers/ bernie babies have been sucessful in getting moratoriams or permits revoked for a multitude of oi/gas/coal terminals.
But increased production/export efforts are continuing in BC Canada
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/06/2016 11:58 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Police Colonel, Aide killed in Attack in Aden
Gunmen opened fire and shot dead a police colonel and his aide as their vehicle was passing through a roundabout in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Saturday, a local security official and witnesses said.

The attack on Col. Salem al-Milqat, police chief of Tawahi district, took place in the restive district of al-Mansoura which has witnessed several assaults on local security officials.

Iran-allied Houthi rebels have forced Yemen’s embattled government out of the capital Sanaa. Yet, despite it being based in Aden now, the legitimate government is fighting to impose its authority even there.

Local officials and medical sources also stated on Friday that gunmen attacked an old people’s home in the Yemeni port of Aden, killing at least 15 people, including four Christian nuns from India.

After being one of the world’s busiest ports as a hub of the British Empire, the southern city has transformed into a backwater and then in recent months into a conflict zone.

A Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign a year ago to avert the Houthis plot to take complete control of Yemen.
Posted by: badanov || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Mosul Mayhem: 32 die
ISIS Top Dawg dies in airstrike

(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – A local source in Nineveh province said on Friday, that the so-called ISIS Wali of Wilayat Dijla had been killed along with seven of his aides in an aerial strike by the international coalition south of Mosul.

The source reported for IraqiNews.com, “The international coalition aviation conducted, at noon today, an air strike that targeted a shelter belonging to the ISIS in the village of Shakhir in the district of Qayyarah (60 km south of Mosul), resulting in the death of the so-called Wali of Dijla, known as Abu Shuaib, along with seven of his aides.”

The source, who requested to remain anonymous, added, “The bombardment led to the complete destruction of the shelter.”

Iraqi artillery dispatches 13 ISIS troops

(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – An informed source in Nineveh Operations Command said on Saturday, that 13 ISIS elements had been killed in an artillery shelling by the army forces south of Mosul.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said in a brief statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The Iraqi army’s Artillery Regiment shelled, this morning, gatherings for ISIS in the villages of Sultan Abdullah and Tal al-Sha’ir in the district of Qayyara (60 km south of Mosul), resulting in the death of 13 ISIS elements,” adding also that, “The shelling resulted in the destruction of a number of [ISIS] shelters.”

18 ISIS Bad Guys die in artillery strike near

(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – Nineveh Operations Command announced on Friday the killing of 18 ISIS militants in an artillery strike by the Iraqi army forces southeast of Mosul.

Nineveh Operations said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “The Iraqi Army’s Artillery Division shelled sites where the ISIS militants where hiding and killed 18 elements of them in the area of Sultan Abdullah southeast Mosul,” indicating that, “The operation was based on accurate intelligence information.”

The statement also added, “The international coalition aviation bombed accurately more than five rocket launchers,” pointing out that “The operations to monitor ISIS movements and shelters are continuing.”
Posted by: badanov || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
ISIS Homs Emir has a Very Bad Day
[ARA News] HOMS – A prominent militant leader from the Islamic State (ISIS) radical group was reported dead after an airstrike hit an ISIS tactical unit in Syria’s central province of Homs.

Amro al-Abbassi, who had been promoted by ISIS supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as an Emir in Homs province, was killed in an airstrike on Friday midnight, local sources confirmed.

It was not immediately clear whether the strike that killed al-Abbassi was conducted by the U.S.-led coalition or Russia.

“He had led several battles against the regime troops and moderate rebels in Homs over more than a year,” rights activist Sarwat al-Shami told ARA News in Homs. “His death could have serious consequences for ISIS forces in the province.”

Al-Abbassi was accused of abducting several western journalists and aid workers in Syria, including the American journalist James Foley and British aid worker Alan Henning –both beheaded by ISIS in 2014.
Posted by: badanov || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Caribbean-Latin America
Bodies partially dissolved in acid barrels found in Mexico
[Iran Press TV] Partially dissolved remains of several people have been found in acid filled barrels in Mexico’s central Puebla state.

Local authorities discovered ten barrels along with nine plastic bags filled with mutilated human remains in the municipality of San Andres Calpan on Thursday.

"It's likely more than three people, we still need to study the contents of the bags," a source from the state prosecutor's office said on Saturday.

Three male pelvic bones have so far been identified, one of which belongs to a 50-year-old, the source added.

According to an official statement, the bodies are probably linked to an incident in the neighboring municipality of Cuautlancingo.

On Tuesday, gunnies raided an illegal cockfight and killed and kidnapped several people.

Four missing people complaints have so far been issued over the kidnappings, although police believe the actual number of abductees is actually higher.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos

#1  Breaking Bad (season 5)?
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 03/06/2016 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Hillary's IT Team?
Posted by: Frank G || 03/06/2016 9:24 Comments || Top||

#3  What's the price of acid these days?
A wood chipper would be faster. Is it cheaper?
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/06/2016 10:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Yeah Skid but cleaning them is a real bitch. 8^)
Posted by: AlanC || 03/06/2016 12:59 Comments || Top||


Africa North
U.N. Security Council Urges Adoption of Mali Peace Deal
[An Nahar] A U.N. Security Council delegation visiting Mali on Saturday called for faster implementation of a peace deal agreed last year, amid ongoing jihadist violence.

Representatives of the 15 Security Council members met Prime Minister Modibo Keita in the capital Bamako on Saturday before heading for talks with regional authorities in the center and northwest.

French delegate Francois Delattre said the Security Council's main message was "that the priority now is to implement the peace accord, to speed up the implementation of this accord... above all on the ground".

A landmark peace agreement was reached last year between the Mali government and Tuareg-led rebels, but jihadist violence has intensified on the ground and the handling of a return to peace has been criticized by the international community.

Mali's vast, desolate north continues to be beset by violence, having fallen under the control of Tuareg-led rebels and jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda in 2012.

The Islamists sidelined the rebels to take sole control, and although they were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013, Death Eater groups still pose a threat.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Home Front: Politix
So What About 'Trump University'
The Internet has greatly narrowed the field of the seminar folks, simply because it's made information so much more-available at far lower cost. I'm not even slightly surprised that these seminars are gone, having disappeared following the '08 crash, both due to the changes in the real estate market and the proliferation of information via online means.

As for the BBB angle, it's worthless in either direction. As a former CEO my view on the BBB is 180 degrees out-of-phase with that of most consumers. BBB "accreditation" requires membership for a fee. Unfortunately the fact that the BBB is decentralized (the various regional units are more-or-less independent), "pay to play" organization and businesses are the ones paying, while the consumer is the one allegedly protected, along with the fact that their measurement means you can't expect consistency, especially across organizations that are and are not "members" or are and are not "accredited." In other words whether the organization was listed as "A+", "D" or not at all gives you nothing actionable.

In short I don't think there's anything wrong with Trump's organization having a piece of itself that ran seminars that charged an amount of money that was roughly what I'd expect to see charged for this sort of thing. That they ran afoul of a state law on their name doesn't exercise me much either. And finally, given the apparent number of people who took these seminars and that nearly all of them appear to have been happy with what they received I'm trying to figure out exactly what the argument here is. If it's that he made money at it, well, isn't that what capitalists are supposed to be doing?

The bottom line is this: Have you ever seen a business operate with thousands of customers with a 100% satisfaction rate?

Neither have I.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The writer doesn't mention how the affordable seminar pushed attendees to use credit cards to pay an extra $5 to $20 grand for more instruction. Little Hands is a phony crook. Rantburg posting this crap makes me start wondering about its credibility.
Posted by: Don Vito Whuth8374 || 03/06/2016 0:27 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't mind reading what whatever cheerleaders are posting, and it does give the opportunity for the Rantburg community to argue a point, which you did, thank you.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/06/2016 1:15 Comments || Top||

#3  This appears to be the author of this editorial.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/06/2016 6:02 Comments || Top||

#4  More new and interesting names posting too.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/06/2016 8:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Ditto swksvolFF.

One of the reasons I peruse the 'burg is that knowledgeable commenters are around to apply the appropriate level of skepticism without an immediate recourse to name calling.

It's good to see both sides and think for oneself.
Posted by: AlanC || 03/06/2016 9:13 Comments || Top||

#6  "100% satisfaction rate?"
Most bars I know.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/06/2016 11:02 Comments || Top||

#7  The author makes a good point. Without questiion, the graduates of TRChump U got scammed. They just need to harness that valuable hands on experience to cultivate their own rackets. And you have to admit the whole Bait and Switch thing has been veddy veddy good for The Donald.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 03/06/2016 12:27 Comments || Top||

#8  these type of seminars still go on, although less than a decade ago and with new players

the trick to getting a good evaluation from the student is to give him the evaluation form after a particularly up session

if they gave evaluations a year after the seminar, it would be a different story
Posted by: lord garth || 03/06/2016 12:33 Comments || Top||

#9  a fool and his money are soon parted
Posted by: 746 || 03/06/2016 14:02 Comments || Top||

#10  @#2: Not a cheerleader, but I understand how these "seminars" work.

Like all self-improvement or career advancement "Ra-Ra's," there will be some who find the subject matter and presentation useful and others who do not. A lot depends upon the anticipated NPV of the seminar which may or may not incorporate the necessary behavior modifications facilitating the successful outcome for the kool-aid drinker sub-set.

There are basic skills that are required for Real Estate investing (not the least of which would be being able to sell your Mother's teeth.), and these things cannot always be taught.

I used to lead training seminars, and was astounded to have a woman attend (2) of the same module yet complained about her first attendance that I was going to fast and the next too slow. My pace did not change...
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 03/06/2016 14:19 Comments || Top||

#11  Dear valued friend, I know this may come as huuuge surprise to you, but I trust you to join in a venture with me. It will be wonderful. My name is Prince Donald, from the land of Winners, I desire to move 20 M US votes and deposit them at the Republican convention. I hire only the best people for this endeavor, believe me. That is why you were recommended to me to help...
Boner fooled me once with the same scam, Prince Donald ain't gonna get me on the rebound.
Posted by: Tennessee || 03/06/2016 14:24 Comments || Top||

#12  Anyone but Hillary.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/06/2016 16:15 Comments || Top||

#13  Wasn't getting on ya BU5562 or anyone else, my point was that to not post differing opinions is a credibility issue, and also robs us of a chance for discussion.

In a way, I expect cheerleading from people who are knowledgeable and passionate about a subject.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/06/2016 16:28 Comments || Top||

#14  @#13: It's all good!
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 03/06/2016 16:30 Comments || Top||

#15  It is funny to read that as a subtitle to that South Africa sign language guy.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/06/2016 18:40 Comments || Top||

#16  Oh apparently an exorcism there at #14.5

Just a thought, or observation, whatever. Bennie won Kansas, and I hate Fraggles.

Isn't forgiven student debt for people who went to university and could not find a well paying job afterwards in essence a refund on a poor education?

As a business owner, the nice thing about credit cards is that I get paid no matter what the finances of the customer is or becomes.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/06/2016 19:10 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
101st Airborne leaders rescind order for soldiers to remove combat patches during training
[ArmyTimes] The 101st Airborne Divisions 3rd Brigade Combat Team has rescinded a directive requiring soldiers to remove their combat patches during a unit training exercise.

Soldiers in one of the brigades subordinate units on Tuesday "were given a directive to remove their combat patches in order to build cohesion during a unit gunnery exercise at Fort Knox, Kentucky," the division announced in a press release Friday.

The brigade leadership has since rescinded the directive, and soldiers from the unit have been allowed to wear their combat patches.

"This was a well-intended action taken by a
now reassigned
leader that was not well thought out and was quickly corrected," said Brig. Gen. Scott Brower, the division's acting senior commander, in a statement. "This division is amongst the most storied, battle-tested and prideful in all the Army. We are proud of all of our combat veterans and never want to take for granted their efforts and sacrifices."
Looks like at least one Brigade does not share the collectivist vision.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Buddy of mine was telling me something similar when he was training, to which I said something like, "Madness. How are the newbies supposed to know who (which trainers) knows what they are talking about?"
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/06/2016 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  How are the newbies supposed to know who (which trainers) knows what they are talking about?

That is the whole point.

I see we are well on the way to setting up another Task Force Smith. Gonna be decades cleaning up the mess left behind by these bozos.
Posted by: Nguard || 03/06/2016 0:58 Comments || Top||

#3  How are the newbies supposed to know who (which trainers) knows what they are talking about?

Combat Veterans are kinda like veteran bull riders... the difference between the bull riders and the bullshitters becomes immediately obvious on first jump out the gate.
Posted by: junkiron || 03/06/2016 3:57 Comments || Top||

#4 
"This was a well-intended action taken by a
leader that was not well thought out and was quickly corrected,"


When the Army was in it's nadir at the end of the Vietnam experience, we had a McNamara boy who treated everyone as an interchangeable cog. Banned the headgear that marked esprit de corps. Now personally, I thought some of it was pretty odd, but hell, these were units that were on the highest level of being hammered if the balloon went up.

One of the 'lessons learned' (and apparently unlearned) from the Vietnam experience was the importance of unit cohesion. Soldiers are not individual cogs or replacements. It's a unit. The unit trains and fights as one. When McNamara Boy left, the various headgear and unit ID came back. It was the beginning of the evolution to one of the finest, if not the finest military this planet had seen in history. Now the idiots are back again devolving the organization (which is still in recovery from over extended commitments).
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/06/2016 8:09 Comments || Top||

#5  'Good intentions' get people killed.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/06/2016 10:58 Comments || Top||

#6  There was an advantage when I was in where the patches were sewed on.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/06/2016 11:42 Comments || Top||

#7  This is the stupidity of the Everyone Gets A Trophy mindset that Obama and the progressives are embedding into the government and is now seeping into the armed forces, eroding the meritocracy that must be the standard for a successful military.
Posted by: Creter Squank9797 || 03/06/2016 13:03 Comments || Top||

#8  PRIVATE HARRISON BERGERON reporting for duty...
Posted by: Clyde Borgia4967 || 03/06/2016 13:04 Comments || Top||

#9  Looks like at least one Brigade does not share the collectivist vision.

Brig. Gen. Brower just made Zero's short list to be cashiered on some bogus charge.
Posted by: PBMcL || 03/06/2016 13:05 Comments || Top||

#10  Concur with P2K. I wish we would bring back the Regimental affiliations as well. I grew up hearing about the units my father and uncles served in and wished to follow in their footsteps and serve in the same units... Immature inexperienced officers and folks like McNamara, whose lack of any real understanding of why men fight could only contribute by changing the names of units as their offering to the good idea fairy of incompetence.
Posted by: Tennessee || 03/06/2016 13:54 Comments || Top||

#11  Combat Veterans are kinda like veteran bull riders... the difference between the bull riders and the bullshitters becomes immediately obvious on first jump out the gate.

Great analogy, and totally agree, just not necessarily if it is a person's first rodeo.

I am of the school that the only thing harder than learning something new, is unlearning something wrong.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/06/2016 14:02 Comments || Top||

#12  How are the newbies supposed to know who (which trainers) knows what they are talking about?

Don't remember worrying about such things when I was a boot. Mostly concerned with avoiding being noticed by these demonic entities.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/06/2016 16:19 Comments || Top||

#13  @#12: And don't volunteer for anything.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 03/06/2016 16:26 Comments || Top||

#14  It reminds me of that scene in Baron Munchausen, something like:

"So this is the soldier who singlehandedly destroyed four enemy cannon and rescued twenty prisoners? Execute him. That sort of behavior is demoralizing to the regular soldier."
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/06/2016 16:47 Comments || Top||

#15  No call to use obscene language, Blossom!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/06/2016 16:47 Comments || Top||

#16  @#15: Our "Team Member," SSGT Padilla gave us that advice as we got off the bus.

A couple of the guys didn't take this seriously and, when SSGT Clayton asked of us who could type, a couple of hands shot up. They spent the next 5 days (unhappily) typing blood (O, A, AB, etc.).
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 03/06/2016 18:44 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Kobane Kurds foil ISIS infiltration attempt
[ARA News] KOBANE – A group of militants from the Islamic State (ISIS) were engaged in clashes with Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) near Kobane in northern Syria, after trying to infiltrate into the city.

Nuraddin Gaban, YPG spokesman in Kobane, told ARA News their forces have foiled an attempt by ISIS jihadis to storm Kurdish positions in the city.

“More than 20 terrorists from ISIS were trying to infiltrate into Kobane from the southwestern suburb. Two of them were captured by our forces, then clashes broke out and continued until the midnight, where various weapons were used,” Gaban said.

The official confirmed that three ISIS militants were injured in the clashes. “The terror group was forced to withdraw from the area on Saturday midnight,” the YPG spokesman said.

Last week, ISIS jihadis launched a similar operation in the Nassriya village in Kobane countryside and killed over ten people, mostly civilians. Then clashes erupted between the militants and the Kurdish forces, where at least three ISIS militants were killed and one YPG fighter was injured, before the group retreated from the village towards its strongholds in Jarablus city west of Kobane.
Posted by: badanov || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraq
Kirkuk Kombat Chronicle
3 ISIS troops die in artillery attack

(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – A source within the Shia militia of al-Hashed al-Sha’bi said on Saturday, that three senior ISIS leaders had been killed in an artillery strike in southern Kirkuk.

The source said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “The artillery battalion of the Abbas Regiment shelled, today, a headquarters for ISIS in the village of al-Bashir in the district of Tuz Khurmato (25 km south of Kirkuk), resulting in the death of three [ISIS] leaders.”

The source, who requested anonymity, added, “The intelligence effort of the Abbas Regiment was able to determine the [location] of an ISIS headquarters in the village of al-Bashir and its exact coordinates.”

22 ISIS Bad Guys die in artillery attack

(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – al-Hashed al-Shaabi forces announced on Saturday, that 22 elements of the so-called ISIS were either killed or wounded in a shelling targeted their gathering in southern Kirkuk (250 km north of Baghdad), while pointed out to the destruction of a vehicle belonging to ISIS.

Abbas brigade of al-Hashed al-Shaabi reported for IraqiNews.com, “This morning Abbas brigade’s artillery battalion bombed a gathering of ISIS guerrilla in Bashir village in southern Kirkuk, killing nine ISIS members and wounding 13 others.”

The statement added, “The shelling also resulted in the destruction of four-wheel vehicle belonging to ISIS.”

Noteworthy, Bashir village in Taza area (30 km south west of Kirkuk) was under the control of the ISIS since June 2014.

ISIS and Shiite militia bomb each other with artillery fire south of Kirkuk

[Rudaw] Islamic State militants and Shiite militia were locked in an intense exchange of artillery fire on Friday on the outskirts of the predominantly Shiite town of Taza southern Kirkuk including Bashir village.

“Our bombardment is a response to ISIS shelling which was intensely launched on the town of Taza,” Ali Husseini, media officer of the Shiite militia Hashd al-Shaabi's Abbasi division, told Rudaw.

Husseini added that “To stop ISIS from bombing Bashir village, the Abbasi artillery division has sent large reinforcement to the frontlines.”

Peshmerga forces in the area are for their part on alert for any possibility of the spillover of clashes between ISIS and the Shiite militia.

“[Peshmerga] forces are on alert and we have not started any bombings, it is only Hashd al-Shaabi and ISIS exchanging artillery fire,” Brig. Taha Raza, told Rudaw, adding that “warplanes form the US-led coalition are seen in the sky of the area.”

Raza revealed that ISIS has brought in reinforcements to villages close to Peshmerga fronts.
Posted by: badanov || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria Rebels Take Border Crossing from IS
[An Nahar] Two Syrian opposition monitoring groups say rebel fighters have seized the Syrian side of a major Syria-Iraq border crossing from the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group.

Fighters from the New Syria Army militia took the Tanaf border crossing Friday night, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

The Local Coordination Committees network reported Saturday that one IS fighter was killed in the fighting and several more were maimed.

The IS group had controlled the crossing, located in the Homs province in southeast Syria, since government forces withdrew in May 2015.

The Observatory says the rebel fighters had crossed into Syria from Jordan, suggesting they are backed by the United States.
Rudaw adds:
Al-Tanf also known as Tadmur is considered ISIS's biggest concentration in central Syria and it is only 240 km (150 miles) from Palmyra.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Home Front: Politix
Release of Clinton Documents Delayed After State Department Discovers 'Thousands' of Unsearched Records
"The State Department’s recent discovery of thousands of unsearched records from Hillary Clinton’s tenure has delayed several public records lawsuits and could keep many of the documents out of the public sphere until next fall.

The watchdog groups Citizens United and Judicial Watch, which are suing the State Department for Clinton-related records, are two plaintiffs that have been affected by the discovery. The State Department said the new documents could take months to process, a time period that extends well beyond its court-ordered deadlines."
At some point the judge has to call a halt to the shenanigans and require a final inventory from the State Department. Any documents discovered after that lead to immediate contempt of court. The folks in State are Obama appointees and Hillary supporters. They simply will never comply with the courts until forced to do so.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't they mean unsanitized?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/06/2016 8:46 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: DepotGuy || 03/06/2016 12:51 Comments || Top||

#3  "keep many of the documents out of the public sphere until next fall"

How... convenient. For Hillary. The judge must order they release what they have now and a batch every Monday, or else go to jail for contempt of court and obstruction.
Posted by: Whavising Thud7791 || 03/06/2016 13:06 Comments || Top||

#4  I maybe wrong here, and others with military/diplomatic/spy experience feel free to weigh in; doesn't any information classified or otherwise that comes in via a "classified or above" machine (email, fax, radio, telegraph) automatically become classified de facto due to coming thru said portal?

Had a buddy on a naval vessel who told of newbie comm techs, when the shredders went down, tossed stuff like sports scores and headlines from newspapers overboard, to decrease amount of clutter, only to be busted by the watch of the day (floating trash bags) and served brig time because that info come in over classified machines and therefore was considered classified.

Anyone attest or dispel?
Posted by: Everyday a Wildcat (KSU) || 03/06/2016 16:34 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen’s UN envoy: Houthis carry on starvation policy
Khaled Hussein al-Yamani, Yemen's permanent representative to the United Nations, has accused the Houthi militias in Yemen of continuing policies of starvation and siege against the Yemeni people.

He called on the international community to make steps to save Yemen's children from Houthi recruitment operations. He also praised the role of the Gulf countries in providing food and medical aid for the Yemeni people.
Posted by: badanov || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  Hey, as long as there is enough gat, who cares?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/06/2016 2:22 Comments || Top||

#2  qat, too.

Posted by: Pappy || 03/06/2016 14:26 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
10 militants affiliated with ISIS terror group killed in Nangarhar
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least ten gunnies affiliated with the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed during the ongoing operations in eastern Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province of Afghanistan.

The provincial government media office said the operations are being conducted in Achin district and at least five gunnies were also injured.

According to an official statement, the operations are being conducted jointly by the Afghan army, Afghan border and public order police, and Afghan intelligence operatives.

The Afghan forces have stepped up counter-terrorism operations against the loyalists of the terror group amid concerns that the group is attempting to establish a regional base in Nangarhar.

The US Forces in Afghanistan have increased air campaign against the terror group in this province, carrying at least 20 Arclight airstrikes between late January and early February.

At least seven gunnies of the terror group were killed in the latest Arclight airstrike by coalition forces in Achin district last week.

Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: ISIL-K


Taliban prisoner disguised in women’s dress in failed bid to break jail
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A Taliban prisoner disguised in women’s dress and burqa in a bid to break jail in northern Jawzjan province of Afghanistan was incarcerated
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
by the security forces before he manage to pass through the final exit gate of the jail.

According to the local security officials, the failed attempt
Curses! Foiled again!
by the prisoner was made in Sherbarghan city, the quiet provincial capital of Jawzjan province.

The prisoner was identified as Mohammad Nader who was serving in the jail for having links with the Taliban group, Gen. Dil Agha Adil, head of Sar-e-Pul jail told RFE/Radio Liberty.

He said the prisoner was looking to use the opportunity on Thursday morning which is normally the visiting day for the relatives of the prisones.

Over one thousand prisoners are kept in Sherbarghan city jail which includes women and men both from Sar-e-Pul and Jawzjan provinces, arrested over different criminal charges.

This is not the first the anti-government armed hard boyz using burqa and women’s dress to escape from the security forces.

The Afghan intelligence -- National Directorate of Security
...the Afghan national intel agency...
(NDS) operatives arrested a commander of the notorious Haqqani terrorist network as he was trying to enter Khost city late last year.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  I think part of the management of "tactical cross-dressing" should be that those caught doing it are issued only women's clothing thereafter in the hoosegow.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/06/2016 15:33 Comments || Top||

#2  and manscaring...and a temporary shaving of the unibrow and back
Posted by: Frank G || 03/06/2016 17:09 Comments || Top||

#3  manscara
Posted by: Frank G || 03/06/2016 17:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Why temporary, laser depilate their faces. "No more facial hair for you..."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/06/2016 18:33 Comments || Top||

#5  There is so much gay pedophilia over there that perhaps adult gay sex wouldn't be that big a deal.

Sorry.
Posted by: Glolump the Florid4951 || 03/06/2016 18:50 Comments || Top||


52 militants killed in Afghan, coalition airstrikes in Helmand
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The anti-government armed faceless myrmidons suffered heavy casualties after staging an offensive on Afghan security posts in Sangin and Marjah districts of Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD), said at least 52 faceless myrmidons were killed 45 others were maimed after the security forces responded to the offensive with close-air support by Afghan Air Force and coalition forces.

A statement by MoD said the faceless myrmidons launched coordinated offensive on the security posts of 215th Corps of the Afghan National Army, triggering heavy festivities as the Afghan forces responded to the offensive.

The statement further added that 45 faceless myrmidons were killed and 35 others were maimed in Sangin district, while 7 faceless myrmidons were killed and 6 others were maimed in Marjah district.

At least soldiers serving with the 215th Corps of the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces were maimed in the attack, MoD added.

Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Subsaharan
Nigerian president blames economic problems on oil reliance
[Iran Press TV] Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari says faulty economic policies and overdependence on oil revenues are the main causes of the country’s economic problems.

Nigeria only has itself to blame for its current economic troubles, Buhari said in an interview broadcast on Saturday, AFP reported.

He also took to task previous governments for causing the country’s overreliance on crude revenues.

Buhari’s remarks came as Nigeria, which is Africa's biggest oil producer and the most powerful economy, has been struggling with problems caused by global oil price slump for more than a year.

The drastic fall in oil prices since June last year has sharply slashed most of the Nigerian government’s revenues.

Last Thursday, Nigeria’s junior oil minister stated that some oil-producing countries, including Russia, were supposed to meet in Moscow on March 20 to discuss a way out of the current oil price slump.

Asked about the impact of policies adopted by 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...
, as the world's biggest crude oil supplier, and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on smaller oil producers, Buhari told al-Jazeera English that to get out of the current dire situation, all member states of OPEC had to "act together to save the situation."
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How about "Riches attract Graft". A ton of parasites can suck the life out of any economy. Just ask Mexico.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/06/2016 8:14 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un threatens to 'clearly show the end' of South Korean president
[DailyMail] Kim Jong-Un has increased his outspoken war of words by threatening to 'clearly show the end' to South Korea's President Park Geun-hye, in one of his most outspoken outbursts in public.

It is the first time Kim Jong-Un has openly denounced the South Korean President in such strong words, with the state's media usually responsible for issuing the threats.

The North Korean media has rarely held back in criticising Seoul, once describing the South Korean president as a 'bat living in a cave' and going as far as calling her 'a devil, not a woman.'
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Kimmie has pictures of Park's butt?
Posted by: charger || 03/06/2016 10:22 Comments || Top||

#2  One wonders when fat boy will finally snap. And if he snaps will he push the button or will his general staff, or the Chinese who certainly have him infiltrated, take him out as a madman.
Posted by: Eohippus Throgum9121 || 03/06/2016 13:09 Comments || Top||

#3  I've gotta think China has at least one, possibly two, in his inner circle to shoot him in the head if he goes to start war (nuke or otherwise)
Posted by: Frank G || 03/06/2016 17:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Why wait?
Posted by: European Conservative || 03/06/2016 18:51 Comments || Top||

#5  What sane person would connect up fat boy's go button? I would attach that button to a couple sticks of dynamite.
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 03/06/2016 18:54 Comments || Top||

#6  Probably button radio connected to a brick of C-4 under his executive chair.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/06/2016 20:33 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt denies plans to tax Facebook
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Egypt’s finance ministry this week denied plans to impose taxes on Facebook, halting previous rumors that circulated after the social media giant said it would pay far more tax in the UK.

There is no intention to impose taxes on the use of Facebook, Salah Yusuf, financial ministry’s affiliated tax research body said, in a reversal of his previous comments.

He added that the taxation department is currently considering taxing the e-commerce of goods and services, and plans to attach it to the upcoming Value Added Tax laws.

The Yawm al-Sabeh newspaper previously quoted Yusuf as saying that Facebook should pay tax.

One hour after the publication of the statement, the ministry has quickly released a statement denying the news and Yusuf made a new statement negating what he said before.

A marketing research firm said recently that the number of Facebook users in Egypt reached 27 million users in Dec. 2015, making up 30 percent of country’s population. Egypt is by far the most populous country in the Arab world.

52 percent of Facebook users in Egypt are under 25 years old, and that 35 percent of users are female.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Home Front: WoT
White House expects no breakthroughs on Biden mid-east trip
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The White House on Friday played down suggestions that Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden
The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body...
would launch a new peace initiative during a visit to Israel and the West Bank next week.
Joe's another foreign policy expert, y'know.
"The vice president will not be carrying any major new initiatives," a senior administration official told news hounds. "It’s an uncertain context in the Israeli-Paleostinian issue."

A five-month wave of violence in Israel and the Paleostinian territories has killed more than 200 people, according to a AFP toll count.

"Obviously we are all watching with great concern the kind of defuse but persistent violence between Paleostinians and Israelis in recent months," the official said.

Biden is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem, and Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
in Ramallah.

He will also meet former Israeli president Shimon Peres. "Peres has had some health issues as of late, and this is basically a friend meeting with another long-standing friend," the official said.

Biden and Netanyahu are expected to discuss the fight against the ISIS group.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Something needs to come out of this to restablish Biden name recognition if they want him to run.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/06/2016 10:45 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian opposition group elects new leader
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] One of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition groups elected a new leader Saturday after the term of its former chief ended, it said in a statement.

The The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
-based Syrian National Coalition said longtime member Anas al-Abda was elected president, replacing Khaled Khoja. It added that three other officials from the group have been named vice presidents.

The coalition was once the main Western-backed opposition group. It is currently part of the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee, which was to represent the opposition in indirect peace talks with the Syrian government next week in Geneva.

However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes...
the talks was thrown into doubt Friday, when HNC chief Riad Hijab said that circumstances were not suitable to resume the talks next week.

Despite a truce brokered by the US and Russia, Syrian military operations are still ongoing, detainees have not been released by Damascus and little aid is entering rebel-held besieged areas, Hijab said in Gay Paree.

The cease-fire went into effect on Feb. 27 and since then violence has dropped. The cease-fire does not include the ISIS group and the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria known as the Nusra Front.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that tracks Syria's civil war, reported on Saturday that during the first week of the cease-fire, 132 people, including 35 civilians, were killed in areas included in the agreement.

The group said another 552 people were killed in areas where ISIS has a significant presence.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Africa Subsaharan
Chad wants to draw on Algerian experience in fight against extremism
[APS.DZ] Head of the High Islamic Council of Chad, Sheikh Hussein Hassan Abkar, expressed Thursday in Algiers, his country's willingness to draw on the experience of Algeria "which advocates a moderate Islam against extremism."

In a statement to the press after a meeting with the officials of Ministry of Religious Affairs and Waqf, chaired by Minister Mohammed Aissa, Abkar stressed that "the High Islamic Council of Chad wants to benefit from the Algerian experience in fight against extremism by promoting a moderate Islam."

He indicated having examined with the Minister "important" topics as "the Muslim nation experiences hard times when atrocities are perpetrated in the name of religion by young people with limited knowledge."

Sheikh Abkar stresses that "Islam is innocent of this extremism which hat is now a global scourge."

Chad's High Islamic Council head called for "combining efforts to combat this extremism," recalling that "Africa belongs to a single entity and must remain united facing this threat."

The President of the High Islamic Council in Chad also indicated he requested assistance notably in the training of imams and the construction of an Algerian cultural center in Chad.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Saudi Says it will Take Arms Bound for Lebanon
[An Nahar] 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...
's foreign minister said Saturday the kingdom will keep French military supplies previously intended for Leb under a $3 billion aid program, as Riyadh toughens its stance against Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
Last month the oil-rich Gulf state halted the program in protest against Hizbullah, which Saudi bitterly opposes.

"We didn't stop the contract. It's just going to Saudi Arabia, not to Hizbullah," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a news conference in Gay Paree.

"We have a situation where Leb's decisions have been hijacked by Hizbullah. The contracts will be completed but the clients will be the Saudi military."

On Wednesday the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council declared Hizbullah a "terrorist" group in the latest step against the party as ties between its main backer Iran and regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia deteriorate.

Gulf monarchies had already sanctioned Hizbullah in 2013 in reprisal for its armed intervention in Syria.

Last week Riyadh upped measures against the group, freezing assets and prohibiting dealings with three Lebanese nationals and four companies.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia


The Grand Turk
Erdogan Moots Building 'Refugee City' in Northern Syria
[An Nahar] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
has suggested building a new city in northern Syria to house some of the millions of refugees escaping the country's civil war, reports said Saturday.
Finally, someone is listening to me...
Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul late Friday that the new city would be located near the Turkish border and said he had even discussed the idea with U.S. President Barack Obama
teachable moment...
"I am going to tell you something. What is the formula? We found a city in the north of Syria," said Erdogan, quoted by the Anatolia news agency.

He said that the city would be 4,500 square kilometres in area and its infrastructure could be built in cooperation with the international community.

Refugees from Syria could be "resettled" there, he said. Such an area would make the city comparable to some of the largest urban centres in the United States.

"We have discussed this with Mr Obama and even set the coordinates but it has not yet come to fruition," said Erdogan. He gave no timescale for how the project could be realised.

The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
has repeatedly sought to persuade its Western allies to help create a so-called safe zone inside Syria that could house Syrian refugees.

But this appears to to be the first time that Erdogan has proposed building a permanent city in which they could be housed.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  likeley importing Islamist Arabs into Kurdish traditional territory.
Posted by: Frank G || 03/06/2016 10:29 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Philippines impounds North Korean ship
MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) -- Enforcing the United Nations sanctions on North Korea, the Philippines has impounded a North Korean freighter docked at a former US naval base in Zambales, MalacaĂąang announced on Saturday, March 5.

"Our obligation is essentially to impound the vessel and not allow it to leave port," Undersecretary Manuel Quezon III, head of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office, said in an interview on state-run radio dzRB.

Quezon added that the crew of cargo ship Jin Teng, docked in Subic port in Zambales, "must eventually be deported."
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Home Front: Politix
Ted Cruz tops Trump in Kansas Republican caucuses
[Iran Press TV] The US presidential race is underway with primaries and caucuses across five states.

In Kansas, Senator Ted Cruz won the Republican caucuses on Saturday. It was Cruz's fifth victory of the Republican primary season, beating GOP front-runner Donald Trump and Florida Senator Marco Rubio.

With 100 percent of the vote counted, Cruz had 48.2 percent of the vote, compared to 23.3 percent for Trump. Rubio had 16.7 percent of the vote. Ohio Governor John Kasich ended the night with 10.7 percent.

"God bless Kansas!" said Cruz in a campaign rally in Idaho, upon learning that he was projected the winner. "And the scream you hear, the howl you hear from Washington, DC, is utter terror for what we the people are doing together. What we’re seeing is conservatives coming together.''

"I am here today with a word of hope and encouragement. I believe this election will center on three issues: jobs, freedom and security," he added.

Cruz is vying to solidify his candidacy as the alternative to Trump.

The billionaire real estate mogul is ahead in the all-important delegate count for the Republicans, having won 10 of the 15 states that have voted to date in the process that determines the nominees for both parties.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Imho, a more interesting race will take place on March 22nd (Utah) with Mr. Trump going against a Mitt Romney surrogate.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 03/06/2016 0:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Interesting that Sanders won Kansas.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/06/2016 0:25 Comments || Top||

#3  There are more than 14 million Mormons in the U.S.
But disagreeing with Mitt Romney would hardly be noticed. The Mormon people have disagreed among themselves, about Mitt Romney, since long before he became involved in politics.

But saying that Mitt Romney would get down on his knees for Donald Trump (for whatever insinuated reason you may want to attach to it) is a direct insult to all 14 million Mormons.

In the last poll I saw Donald Trump was leading in both Utah and Idaho. If the polls turn upside down this week, it will not be because of Mitt Romney's speech.
It will be because of what Donald Trump insinuated in his response.

Donald Trump may be a great businessman. But a great diplomat he is not.
Posted by: junkiron || 03/06/2016 4:48 Comments || Top||

#4  The Mormon people have disagreed among themselves

Senator Reid to the courtesy phone.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/06/2016 7:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Donald Trump may be a great businessman. But a great diplomat he is not.
Posted by junkiron


I'll go with 'businessman' for $ 500.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/06/2016 8:23 Comments || Top||

#6  “the chief business of the American people is business.” - Calvin Coolidge
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/06/2016 8:51 Comments || Top||

#7  No path forward for Rubio any longer. All he can do now is play spoiler / kingmaker.
Posted by: Iblis || 03/06/2016 11:22 Comments || Top||

#8  "The Mormon people..."
The only place, in the world, where I was the victim of discrimination was Utah. F... [rant] ... [screaming rant] ... [rant], white sheets and 14 million victimized souls.

I need some more coffee.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/06/2016 11:35 Comments || Top||

#9  The real news is in the delegate split. Trump "won" LA and KY, but only got 3 more delegates than Cruz from those wins. Cruz won ME and KS, and got 3 and 15 more, respectively. Had Rubio not been in Kansas, Cruz likely would have topped 50% and taken all the delegated. Interesting little fact: Cruz won the votes cast on primary day in LA, so Trumps margin was from mail-in voters, typically low information unless military.

Funny how Democrats and now Trump seem to gain the most benefit from early votes, while if people have time to think it through, they go elsewhere. The same thing is shaping up in Florida.
Posted by: Omerong Sninese9425 || 03/06/2016 13:00 Comments || Top||

#10  Interesting that the pols are seeing margins of error approaching 20% in closed primary states as was the case in Kansas. The states that the polls seem to be accurate are the open primary states where Ds are voting int the Republican primary for Trump. Smart strategy on their part - encouraging discontent within our party. There is a Trump vote out there, enhanced by the D vote, for a candidacy encouraged by Clinton herself. Don't underestimate the deviousness of the Clintons.
Posted by: Tennessee || 03/06/2016 13:43 Comments || Top||

#11  "Trumps margin was from mail-in voters"

This also means that the Trump vote was based on information available 2-3 weeks ago. Votes cast on more recent information broke for Cruz. This argues in favor of a Trump slump, which makes sense. Trump had a strong message 8 months ago. Everything since then has been a disaster.

One other interesting data point. Trump's victories were narrow: 4.3% in KY and 3.6% in LA. That's a massive shift from the 20 points Trump carried NH with.
Posted by: Iblis || 03/06/2016 13:50 Comments || Top||

#12  Trump did well in the north. He's still a Yankee and that doesn't go well in flyover states.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 03/06/2016 16:25 Comments || Top||

#13  Trump looked bad in the last debate while Cruz came off looking like the grown up.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/06/2016 17:12 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
BIFF bomb injures two cops in Mindanao
[Gulf Today] Two policemen were injured in a bomb blast believed to have been set off by members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Maguindanao province.

Regional military spokesman Captain Jo-ann Petinglay said the victims were among a team of policemen aboard a vehicle patrolling a highway in the town of Guindulungan when the bomb exploded late on Friday night. After the explosion, suspected BIFF militants fired at the policemen, triggering a 40-minute firefight.

Petinglay said the attackers withdrew after the arrival of military reinforcements at the scene. Bomb fragments indicated they were similar to the home-made explosives manufactured by the BIFF in previous attacks.
Posted by: ryuge || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters

#1  BIFF bombs are a lot less lethal than MILF bombs.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/06/2016 5:03 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Pope Shocked by 'Diabolical' Attack on Yemen Care Home
[An Nahar] Pope Francis has slammed as "diabolical" an attack on an elderly care home in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
in which at least 16 people were killed, including four nuns, the Vatican said Saturday.

"His Holiness Pope Francis was shocked and profoundly saddened to learn of the killing of four Missionaries of Charity (nuns) and 12 others at a home for the elderly in Aden," the Vatican's Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said.

"He sends the assurance of his prayers for the dead and his spiritual closeness to their families and to all affected from this act of senseless and diabolical violence," Cardinal Parolin said in a statement.

Four gunnies stormed the facility housing dozens in Aden's Sheikh Othman district on Friday, killing a guard before tying up and shooting employees, security officials told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Screams of elderly residents echoed from the home during the shooting rampage, witnesses said. Among the dead were four foreign nuns working as nurses.

While security officials initially said they were Indian, the Vatican missionary news agency Fides later identified them as two Rwandans, a Kenyan and an Indian, adding that the mother superior managed to hide and survive.

The Argentine pontiff "prays that this pointless slaughter will awaken consciences, lead to a change of heart, and inspire all parties to lay down their arms and take up the path of dialogue," Parolin said.

"He calls upon all parties in the present conflict to renounce violence, and to renew their commitment to the people of Yemen, particularly those most in need, whom the sisters and their helpers sought to serve," he added.

No group grabbed credit for Friday's attack, the first of its kind in Yemen, where the internationally-recognised government is grappling with an Iran-backed rebellion on one side and a growing jihadist presence on the other.

One official said the attackers were "extremists" and blamed the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group, which has been gaining ground in Aden in recent months.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia

#1 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/06/2016 2:24 Comments || Top||

#2  These are the people you think you can 'deal' with (cause as demonstrated they can't live with you).
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/06/2016 8:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Worst Pope EVER!
Posted by: Thumper Smiter of the Swedes8842 || 03/06/2016 18:16 Comments || Top||

#4  #3 Worst Pope EVER!

This Pontifex Maximus itches
His flock should relinquish its britches:
"It's awfully religious,
This building of bridges
For Muslims to Christendom's riches."
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 03/06/2016 20:31 Comments || Top||

#5  "Step down from my seat of St. Peter?"
"You're such an incredible leader,
Our needs and your talents
Might be more in balance
If you were head Vatican greeter!"
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 03/06/2016 20:35 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
Veteran Sudan Opposition Leader Turabi Dead at 84
[An Nahar] Veteran Sudan Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, one of the fiercest critics of President Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
's government, died of a heart attack on Saturday aged 84, state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said.

"The Islamist intellectual Hassan al-Turabi has died," the state broadcaster said.

It interrupted its regular programming and broadcast Islamic verses from the Koran that are recited for the dead.

A medical source earlier told AFP that Turabi was taken to the intensive care unit of Khartoum's Royal Care hospital "after suffering a heart attack in the morning and died" there.

In the evening, an ambulance carrying his body left the hospital for the Turabi family home in the city, an AFP correspondent said.

A key figure in Bashir's regime for a decade after his 1989 coup, Turabi later became one of its fiercest critics and led the opposition in urging a Tunisia-style uprising.

He was detained in May 2010, a month after Sudan's first competitive polls since 1986 for denouncing the election as fraudulent.

Turabi was the only Sudanese politician to support a warrant issued for Bashir's arrest by the International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
(ICC) on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide over the regime's conduct of the conflict in Darfur.

After breaking ranks with Bashir he formed his own party, the Popular Congress Party.

Turabi was detained several times over a career spanning four decades, including in January 2009 two days after he urged Bashir to surrender to the ICC.

An ideologue with influence beyond Sudan's borders, Turabi was one of the driving forces behind the introduction of Islamic sharia law in Sudan in 1983, which sparked a devastating 22-year civil war with the mainly Christian, African south that cost an estimated two million lives.

The Western-educated Turabi held a master's degree in law from London and a doctorate from Sorbonne University in Gay Paree.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan

#1  Check his funeral for a who is who of the international Muslim Brotherhood.
Posted by: Bugs Unaviper5548 || 03/06/2016 9:01 Comments || Top||

#2  "The Islamist intellectual Hassan al-Turabi has died," the state broadcaster said.

Oxymoron alert!
Posted by: Frank G || 03/06/2016 10:06 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jordan’s taekwondo star trains thousands of women to fight harassment
[IsraelTimes] With self-defense classes at Amman center, Lina Khalifeh wants to empower women to protect themselves from attack.
Paging Dr. Steve! Dr. Steve to the white courtesy phone, please.
The wimmins should still keep a dirk in a handy place under their hem...
Fighting with weapons is a related but different skill. One thing at a time -- first they have to become willing to block a blow and hit back. And thus far 14,000 Jordanian girls have learnt that.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  God made man (and women), Colt made all men (and women) equal.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/06/2016 8:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Kinda hard to fight wearing a barbecue cover.
Posted by: gorb || 03/06/2016 10:46 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Renzi Cautions Italy Parliament would Need to Green-light Libya Intervention
[An Nahar] Prime Minister Matteo Renzi cautioned Saturday that any military intervention in Libya by Italia would first need the approval of parliament, and that Rome would not be rushed into action.

Any "Italian commitment" against offshoots of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group in the conflict-torn country "would need to go through the necessary parliamentary and institutional steps", he said in a note to his center-left Democratic Party.

"This is not the time to force things, this is the time for good sense and composure," he warned, after the murder of two Italian hostages in Libya sparked increased pressure at home for the country to send in special forces.

The prime minister repeated that a long-anticipated move against the IS remains on hold as long as Libya has not formed a unified government with the authority to ask for help to stem the myrmidon group's growth.

Italia has agreed to lead a UN-mandated international stabilization force into its troubled former colony, but the sticking point remains getting credible cover from a national authority.

"The situation in Libya is increasingly delicate. 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...
' work to reach a solid and stable agreement on the government is still underway," Renzi said.

Italia needed to be especially cautious following the deaths of two kidnapped Italians in Sabratha near Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
, he said.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Turkey Police Fire Plastic Bullets at Anti-Erdogan Newspaper Rally
[An Nahar] Turkish riot police on Saturday fired plastic bullets and tear gas to disperse protesters who gathered outside an opposition newspaper the day after it was seized by authorities in a violent raid.

The swoop against the paper raised fresh concerns over declining media freedoms in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, a key European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
ally, ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to Brussels Monday for a crucial summit meeting with EU leaders.

"Free press cannot be silenced," a group of demonstrators including the paper's readers shouted outside the Istanbul premises of Zaman daily, staunchly opposed to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
Police used large amounts of tear gas, water cannon and plastic bullets to disperse around 500 people clapping in protest, an AFP photographer at the scene reported.

Before midnight on Friday, police also stepped in by using tear gas and water cannon to move away a hundreds-strong crowd that had formed outside the newspaper following a court order placing the media business under administration.

Turkey's top-selling Zaman newspaper, closely linked to Erdogan's arch-foe the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, was ordered into administration by the court on the request of Istanbul prosecutors, local media reported.

- 'Internet cut off' -

Zaman published a defiant edition Saturday warning of the "darkest days" in the history of the press.

"The Constitution is suspended," it said on its front page in large font on a black background.

The newspaper, with an estimated circulation of 650,000, went to print earlier than usual on Friday evening and the number of its pages was reduced to 16 from 24, one of its journalists said.

Sevgi Akarcesme, the editor-in-chief of the paper's English language edition Today's Zaman, said on Twitter on Saturday that "All internet connection is cut off at the seized #zaman building by police raid."

"We are not able to work anymore," she wrote.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood

#1  When IDF uses such things, they're called "plastic coated metal bullets".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/06/2016 2:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Next thing is all metal bullets.

Wonder how the negotiations between Erdogan and Al-baghdadi about the caliphate are coming?

Think maybe Kerry should mediate?

[/disgust /sarc]
Posted by: AlanC || 03/06/2016 8:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
This Week in Books, March 6, 2016
Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy
Ian W. Toll
W.W. Norton and Company, 2006

I chose this book as it closely follows the events described in Washington's Crossing. I was curious about how this new nation was conducting itself in the world theatre, and how we know now that war was coming, while back then of course they did not know what was coming. Initially I chose this book as a topic covering the Barbary War, and ended up with a book which covered a very dynamic and critical period of US history.

Following the War for Independence, the new American States had adopted The Articles of Confederation. After some practice, many shortfalls became problems for the states, and a new form of central government was proposed. The proposed Constitution of the United States was not without controversy, and was in no way guaranteed to be ratified. A chief concern was a powerful central government wielding a military which could dominate its own people: (page 33-34)

On October 27, 1787, the first of the Federalist essays was published in New York. On December 7, Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution, followed in quick succession by Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. In the ensuing six months, Maryland, South Carolina, and New Hampshire ratified. That summer, the two largest states in the country, Virginia (June 25, 1788) and New York (July 26, 1788), voted to ratify by narrow margins: 89-79 in Virginia and 30-27 in New York. The new government took effect on March 4, 1789.

Mr. Toll presents the founding of the U.S. Navy with a well written, easy to read, and well researched novel. Mr. Toll's book is divided into three sections: To Provide and Maintain, To the Shores of Tripoli, and England Again. Mr. Toll's book is well referenced and provides (in the hardback book) nice, full color inserts. The information is thorough and relevant to the story, and the action is knuckle binding.

Mr. Toll is fair, and often times critical, of this growing process. He begins by outlining the make-up of the leading naval power at the time, namely the British: (page 7)

The British were happy to trade blows at point-blank range, to fight "ball for ball," because their gunnery was superior to that of their enemies. The potency of British gunnery owed nothing to the weapons themselves, for the French and Spanish ships were armed in much the same way. Nor was it the aim of the British gun crews, for even when their aim was superior it was rarely decisive. The single most important factor was the rate of fire. A British warship would fire three broadsides to every two fired by an enemy ship - if that enemy ship was particularly well manned, well led, and well practiced. More often, the British would get off two or three broadsides to the enemy's one, and the ratio would continuously improve in their favor as the battle wore on toward its inevitable conclusion.

Throughout the book Mr. Toll keeps track of the economic forces involved, as merchant fleet protection was the justification for the massive costs of building and maintaining a navy, as well as the tax revenue needed for the funding: (page 19)

These hopes were quickly dashed. American trade had always depended, above all, on access to England's West Indian colonies. The hungry Caribbean Islands, with their huge slave populations and their narrow economies devoted entirely to cultivation of sugar and coffee, had once consumed more than two thirds of American food exports. In 1783, however, a British Order in Council debarred any American ship from entering any British West Indian seaport. The measure was final, sweeping, and devastating. Cut off from their traditional markets, prices of flour, beef, port, salted fish, naval store, bar iron, and other mainstays of the American export economy fell 30, 40, or 50 percent. By 1788, ship arrivals from the British West Indies had fallen to half of what they had been before the Revolution. With Europe at peace, the vast opportunities offered by the wartime carrying trade would not be available until several years later.

Mr. Toll stays in the historical moment without muddying it with what is coming, just as the participants experienced it. The back and forth between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams is intriguing as they argue what is to be the behavior and role of a United States, especially now that they no longer receive the protection of the British military, especially their navy. But as noble as their ideals were, it would ultimately be others who defined the role of the fledgling United States: (page 35)

You are earnestly desired, as speedily as possible, to give a universal alarm to all Citizens of the United States concerned in navigation, particularly to the southern parts of Europe, of the danger of being captured by the Algerians... A truce for twelve Months is concluded between Portugal and Algiers. In consequence of which a fleet of Algerine Cruizers passed through the Straits into the Atlantic on Saturday night last.

Joshua Humphreys' novel ship design and construction is noted, as well as the operators of the ship yards and their relationship with Mr. Humphreys, which was not always smooth and professional. As a result, uniquely designed ships took on their own personalities, and also utilized a unique building material, the 75 lb per cubic foot Quercus Virens, or live oak: (page 59)

Carpenters prized its uniformity of substance, its straightness of fiber, its smooth consistency, its fine grains. Properly seasoned, it was said to have a life span five time that of white oak. But the shipyard workers also dreaded the extra work it took to cut, shape, and manipulate live oak, and they rolled their eyes whenever a new load of timber sections was brought into the yard. A nail driven into it was nearly impossible to extract. Axes bounced off it and saws moved back and forth across it again and again, making little or no discernible progress. Nothing took the sharpness out of a ship carpenter's tools as quickly as well-seasoned live oak.

Mr. Toll delves into the exploits of the US Navy versus the various Barbary States, including the ignominious grounding of the Philadelphia and the daring raid to destroy her, and the lead up and consequences of the War of 1812. But what I found more interesting was the first engagement during the Qasi War versus the French: (page 118)

As Constellation closed the gap with the fleeing L'Insurgente, the great weight of her 24-pounder guns caused her to heel excessively to leeward. To keep his ship upright, Truxtun was forced to run out his windward guns and keep the leeward guns housed behind closed ports. Here was a dramatic proof of the dangers of overarming. The Constellation held the weather gauge - could engage the enemy from windward - and tactical doctrine dictated that Truxtun must conserve this valuable advantage. Yet, doing so would require him to bring his leeward battery into action. With the Constellation a cable length astern of the French vessel, Truxton decided to surrender the weather gauge by crossing the Insurgente's wake and running under her lee.

As you can see, there are a number of nautical terms a reader must be at least familiar with. Having a diagram depicting parts of a sailing ship, weather, and directions in the book would have been helpful for this Kansas landlubber, allowing me to page back and forth within the book instead of stopping to look up the terms and lose the moment - though re-reading with understanding was still enjoyable.

I recommend Six Frigates, and am interested in Mr. Toll's other books.

Link is to Amazon's Six Frigates
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good review. I bought this book last summer for my Kindle, but haven't gotten around to reading it. I'll have to move it up in the queue.
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 03/06/2016 17:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Thank you. It was difficult to not quote the book in its entirety.

Mr. Toll gets into the politics of the venture as well, and it was not pretty.

Mr. Toll also makes the case that the War of 1812 was of significance; that the British would talk to the Americans at the adult table afterwards, and that it was the navy and privateers who won that honor after the army failed everywhere but New Orleans.

To be fair, Mr. Toll does make a case that a failure at New Orleans could have resumed hostilities, or at least given the British a strong hand in the Mississippi River System and checked American westward expansion. Mr. Toll states that had hostilities continued for another year, the United States quite possibly would have dissolved.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/06/2016 19:00 Comments || Top||

#3  I just started reading "The Conquering Tide", part two of Toll's Pacific War Trilogy.

Good stuff.
Posted by: charger || 03/06/2016 20:59 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Documents hint at links between bin Laden and Saleh
Aden- Recently, al-Qaeda late leader Ossama bin Laden’s revealed documents let slip of his affiliation with the ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The CIA disclosed documents exposing bin Laden’s attentiveness to the situation in Yemen after the break of demonstrations against Saleh which demanded his deposition, in February 2011.

After the Abbottabad mission which reportedly killed bin Laden in May 2011, the CIA put its hands on 113 documents. The second collection was made available to media outlets last Tuesday, and Asharq Al-Awsat acquired copies of them.

One of the documents showed bin Laden’s refusal on intervening in Yemen , setting out instead an initiative for a breather with Saleh’s administration, because the foundation of supporters he had were not yet prepared to take over control in Yemen.

Bin Laden mentioned, in one of his messages sent to an al-Qaeda appointed prince over the Arab peninsula called Abu Basir, that “the rivals were alert in both Yemen and Afghanistan; however, Yemen hits home for our enemies, for it is located at the Gulf’s heart, which contains the largest oil reserve in the world.”

Bin Laden suggested to mediate with those whom he named “senior wise-men and clan sheikhs”, to arrive at a fair truce that helps Yemen’s stability. However, bin Laden said “Saleh might not be able to agree to the truce, should the government refuse, it would appear to be the one insisting for escalations to take place and that it does not control its fate. Thus, the public’s sympathy with the “Jihadists “will persist and magnify, leaving the opponent responsible for the aftermath and not us. We will show people our concern for the unity of the Islamic nation and the safe being of Muslims in well-founded principals.”

Bin Laden also pointed out that Saleh’s administration would be better than any other authority that will replace it. He stated that “we do not foresee much escalation because we are still in a preparatory phase. It doesn’t play to our best interest to hastily overthrow the regime in Yemen, despite its malfunction and misconduct; it remains to be a better option that the management the U.S. wishes to replace it with.

“Saleh remains incompetent of suppressing Islamic activism, and he being a non-Muslim supporter of the West has served as a shield for Islamic activism over the past few years. Each of the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafists, and Jihadi Salafists benefited from him.”
Posted by: badanov || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian opposition groups call for Russia’s protection from Daesh
[Iran Press TV] Several Syrian opposition groups have requested protection from Moscow as the 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...
snuffies launch manhunt for those participating in a recently announced ceasefire, the Russian military says.

"They are asking us to provide their security and defend them from faceless myrmidons of the Daesh [Islamic State] group and other terrorist organizations who declared a manhunt for opposition figures signing ceasefire agreements," said the head of the Russian truce center in Syria, Lieutenant General Sergey Kuralenko, on Saturday.

The ceasefire agreement, recently brokered by the United States and Russia, does not cover areas under the control of Daesh [Islamic State] and the al-Qaeda--affiliated 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 .. ...
Front.

"From our part, we will help ensure the security of the leaders of the Syrian opposition units and heads of local administrations who signed agreements to end fighting and to start the reconciliation process," Kuralenko said.

He added that since the center opened last week in Russia’s Hmeimim military base in Syria, 23 meetings had been held with opposition forces.

"During even this short period of time, we have noticed drastic changes in the process of the talks," he said.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, around 30 opposition groups have so far joined the truce and six more are currently engaged in negotiations.

Meanwhile,
...back at the dirigible, Jack stuck the cigar in his mouth, stepped onto the gantry, and asked Got a light, Mac?

Von Schtinken stopped short, lowering the dagger and trying to control his features.

If you light that thing, Herr Armschtröng, he pointed out, his voice tense, we all die!...

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura noted that the latest round of Syria peace talks would get a staggered start later in the week.

"I see us beginning on (Thursday) March 10 when we will launch the process," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iranian Commander: Saudi Aggression against Yemen Like Saddam’s War on Iran
[ALMANAR.LB] The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) navy commander said likened the Saudi-led aggression against 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...
to the war launched by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on the Islamic Theocratic Republic.

It is not only 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...
but also the world, led by the US and its dirty puppets, who are fighting against the Yemenis, said Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi a local ceremony in Qom.

Saudi regime was the initiator of the war in Yemen, Fadavi said, adding war in Yemen is similar to the war imposed by Saddam Hussein against Iran.

During the 1980-1988 imposed Iran-Iraq war, it superficially seemed that Iraq was the side against Iran, but they were truly over 54 countries which were supporting Iraq, said Fadavi, IRNA news agency reported.

These days, he added, Yemen is also witnessing such a situation that Iran experienced.

Fadavi said that the US and the Zionist regime are major trail-blazers in taking military action against Yemen, noting that the news about the oppressed Yemen is not broadcast thoroughly.

During the past year, Saudi Arabia has not been able to take any effective step against Yemen, he stressed, adding the Yemenis have relied on power of God.

Saudi Arabia with the help of nine other Arab countries except Oman has been mounting massive attacks on Yemen since March 26, 2015.

Since then, thousands of Yemenis including children and women have been killed and tens of thousands have been displaced.

Referring to January arrest by IRGC forces of the American sailors who entered Iran's territorial waters illegally, Fadavi said none of world states, even members of the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
(EU), dare to hold up the US non-military boats even for a judicial case.

However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits...
he added, the IRGC naval forces did so and stopped the US military boats as a normal and routine mission.

The American sailors were freed after the country apologized to Iran for illegal entry.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Rotate B-1 out, "Big Ugly Fat Fella" in
[FoxNews] US sending nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to ISIS fight
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  "Fella?" That's not how I remember it. ;->
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 03/06/2016 0:07 Comments || Top||

#2  "Fella?" That's not how I remember it. ;->

Just go with it
Posted by: badanov || 03/06/2016 0:09 Comments || Top||

#3  It's like trying to replace the M2 50 cal. There are just somethings that are so basically good at what they do, replacement is hard and/or too expensive.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/06/2016 8:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Operation Arc Light rides again?
Posted by: Crimp Bluetooth8540 || 03/06/2016 13:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Crimp----you owe a round of drinks at the O-Club for mentioning arcl---t in comments.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/06/2016 20:30 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Ban Ki-moon expected in Western Sahara refugee camps, liberated territories
[APS.DZ] CHAHID Al-HAFEDH (Sahrawi refugee camps) - The United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon starts Saturday a visit to the refugee camps and the liberated territories of Bir Lehlou.

The visit is part of his tour in the region. The UN Chief is expected Sunday in Algeria to complete his report about the situation in Western Sahara, he will submit to the Security Council in next April.

After having been received on Friday in Nouakchott by Mauritanian President Mohammed Ould Abdelaziz, Ban Ki-moon said that his visit to the region aimed at re-launching negotiations for the settlement of Western Sahara conflict through a referendum on self-determination for the Saharawi people.

According to the plan of this fourth visit paid by a UN Secretary General after Perez De Cuellar, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
, Ban will be welcomed at Tindouf Airport before joining the Sahrawi refugee camp in Smara where he will visit the "17 June School" managed by the UN Organization.

Besides, Ban will meet with Sahrawi young people and students from Smara camp.

The UN Chief will also meet with Polisario Front officials in the Chahid al-Hafedh refugee camp, notably President Mohammed Abdelaziz.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Five more states ready to chip in delegates to Campaign 2016
[Dhaka Tribune] It’s an odd moment in the 2016 campaign: Not even half the states have voted for the party nominees and no candidate has half the delegates needed to win, yet the sense is spreading that it’s practically game over.

This weekend, voters in five states and one territory are taking their turn. They possess the power to make Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as The Liberatress of Libya and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John C. Calhoun ...
and Donald Trump closer to unstoppable or to give the conventional wisdom about one or both front-runners a shake, News Agency that Dare Not be Named reports.

A look at a weekend of politicking anchored by primaries and caucuses, capped by a Democratic debate Sunday night:

Where?

On Saturday, both parties have contests in Kansas and Louisiana. Republicans in Maine and Kentucky and Democrats in Nebraska also vote.

On Sunday, Maine Democrats and Puerto Rico Republicans are up.

The campaigning

Republican Marco Rubio, in a sign of retrenchment or at least strategic focus, canceled Louisiana and Kentucky events Friday, instead landing in Kansas to unload on Trump at a Topeka airport. The Florida senator did so in stark terms, telling a few hundred supporters Trump "accentuates the most dangerous instincts in humanity." Rubio’s Waterloo will be his home-state primary March 15 and Florida is where he’s campaigning the hardest.

Trump staged a late rally in New Orleans followed Saturday morning by one set for Wichita, Kansas. Maine also drew considerable attention, with visits in recent days from Democrat Bernie Sanders
...The only openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords...
, Trump and his GOP rival Ted Cruz.

Iffy impact

It’s easier for GOP hopefuls to gain delegates in the weekend round of voting than it was in the Super Tuesday extravaganza. That means it’s harder to have a breakout that changes the nature of the race.

Candidates in Kentucky must get just 5% of the statewide vote to get delegates, and in Kansas and Maine the bar is 10%. In Louisiana’s primary, there is no threshold to earn a portion of the delegates. Contrast this with 20% thresholds in some other states.

And in coming Republican contests, like Florida and Ohio, all delegates in a state will go to the winner, for the first time in the campaign.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They all peg out, eventually.
Posted by: Pappy || 03/06/2016 14:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Pappy's Hemingway is back
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/06/2016 18:00 Comments || Top||

#3  And gone.
Posted by: badanov || 03/06/2016 19:03 Comments || Top||

#4  thanks
Posted by: Frank G || 03/06/2016 19:07 Comments || Top||

#5  Aw darn - missed a targeting opportunity.
Posted by: Pappy || 03/06/2016 19:23 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Zia’s brother to float new political party
[Dhaka Tribune] BNP founder and former military strongman Ziaur Rahman’s younger brother Ahmed Kamal has announced that he would form a new political party soon.

"I cannot control myself seeing the shaky condition of the BNP. Sometimes it hurts me when I see that there is no similarity between Ziaur Rahman’s ideology and the current activities of the BNP," said Kamal, who wanted to float a new party during HM Ershad’s regime but failed.

He was addressing a discussion on Zia’s ideology and restoring endangered democracy at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh yesterday. Former BNP leader Ashraf Hossain, former editor of the daily Dinkal Kazi Siraj and former leader of Bikalpadhara Bangladesh Sheikh Shahidul Islam also addressed the programme among others.

Unmarried and detached from the Zia family for a long time, Kamal claimed that the BNP leadership and its Chairperson the loathesome Khaleda Zia
Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
had been misguided by vested interests and the anti-liberation forces.

"They want to keep the BNP chairperson in dark by giving her false and wrong information. Due to this quarters, from big shots to the grassroots leaders are paying huge pay," he said.

Kamal, who retried from service as a director of Bangladesh Tourism Corporation in 2006, said that there should not be any controversy over the number of deaders in the Liberation War of Bangladesh while Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Ziaur Rahman should be kept above all sorts of controversies. "Everyone should shun the path of mudslinging and dirty politics."

He claimed that hundreds of BNP leaders were on the run and passing a dreadful life. "We have to stand beside these dedicated leaders and bring them to the right path. I will be with you to implement my brother’s ideology and strengthen the party. I do not want to do politics for power. I want to serve the BNP in its crisis times."
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Kamal, who retired from service as a director of Bangladesh Tourism Corporation in 2006

Now there's a thankless job
Posted by: Frank G || 03/06/2016 10:21 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Not many turn up at protest against Mumtaz Qadri’s hanging
[DAWN] Contrary to fears and apprehensions of the local authorities, protest rallies organised by religious parties and groups against the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri fizzled out on Friday.

To ensure foolproof security, three of the four roads towards the Red Zone in the city were sealed by placing containers and only the Margalla Road was open for traffic.

The main protest in the federal capital was held at Aabpara Chowk which was organised by Namoos-e-Risalat committee, consisting of Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
(JI), Jamaat Ahle Sunnat (Barelvi), JUI-F, Aalmi Majlis Tahafuz Khatam-e-Nabuwat, Ansarul Ummah of former holy warrior commander Fazlur Rehman Khalil
...one of the signers of Osama bin Laden's declaration of war against Christians and Jews back in 1998, when he was head of the Bangla jihad movement. The Pak govt's had him under house arrest a few times, but he seems to come and go as he pleases and remains the head of Harkat ul-Mujaheddin...
and other smaller groups belonging to both the Barelvi and Deobandi sects.

Incidentally, the proscribed group, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat
...which is the false nose and plastic mustache of the murderous banned extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain, whatcha might call the political wing of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi...
(formerly Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain
...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts...
), which has traditionally been a diehard opponent of the Barelvis also participated in the rally.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Assad Must Go at Start of Syria Transition, Says Saudi
[An Nahar] Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
must leave office as soon as a transitional authority is set up, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Saturday, insisting there is no way he can retain power.

Talks between the regime and Syrian opposition, due to resume next week in Geneva, aim to set up a political transition process to end the country's five-year-old war. A U.N.-brokered international roadmap foresees a transitional authority by the middle of this year and elections by mid-2017.

"Assad has to leave at the beginning of the process," the Saudi minister, whose country backs the Syrian opposition, told news hounds in Gay Paree. Referring to the sequence of events, he said: "There is a transitional body, power shifts from Assad to the transitional body, and then he goes."

After that "the transitional body drafts a constitution, prepares for elections. Some are arguing that no, Bashar leaves at the elections in 18 months, that's not how we think.

"For us it is very clear, he leaves at the beginning of the process, not at the end."

Syria peace talks set for March 9 will begin the following day with participants due to arrive in Geneva over several days, U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura said earlier Saturday.

A first round of talks in early February was cut short amid intensifying Russian air strikes in Syria in support of Assad's forces.

But a fragile ceasefire drawn up by Russia and the United States and backed by the U.N. Security Council that entered into force on February 27 is now in its second week, despite accusations of violations.

The Saudi minister said there was no possibility that Assad could remain in power.

"The Syrian people have spoken when they took up arms against Bashir al-Assad and their message is very very clear: he is not going to be their president... they have already decided with their feet, with their guns," he said.

Discussing Syrian opposition reluctance to travel to Geneva to resume peace talks, he admitted that "they can't go into talks empty-handed".

Syria's main opposition leader Riad Hijab said Friday that conditions were not yet right for talks to resume, stressing shortfalls in humanitarian aid and breaches of the ceasefire implemented a week ago.
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia


Africa North
U.N. Chief: Libya's Future Threatened by 'Terrifying' IS
[An Nahar] U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon has warned that the future of Libya, and the stability of the whole Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
, is at stake as it faces the "terrifying threat" of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group.

But he warned international powers not to "stoke the fires of conflict" in the country.

Ban was speaking in Mauritania before heading to Algeria on Saturday as part of a tour of West and North Africa.

While meeting Mauritanian leaders, including President Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz and Prime Minister Yahya Ould Hademine, in the capital Nouakchott on Friday he said he was "deeply concerned about the situation in Libya".

Chaos has engulfed Libya since the 2011 NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
-backed ouster of dictator Moamer Qadaffy and rival administrations are being urged to sign up to a U.N.-brokered national unity government to help restore stability.

The internationally recognised government is based in the far east of the North African country.

The Islamic State group and other bad boy organizations have exploited the power vacuum, making gains along the oil-rich coastal regions and triggering concern among Western nations over jihadists controlling territory just 300 kilometres (185 miles) from Europe.

"There are alarming reports of widespread human rights
...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you...
violations, including serious abuses that may amount to war crimes," Ban said in his comments Friday.

"All those with influence must use it to calm the situation and stop the fighting. It is utterly irresponsible for any outside player to stoke the fires," he added.

Ban said that his special representative Martin Kobler "is facilitating talks on a national unity government" as "we face the terrifying scourge of Daesh [Islamic State] (IS) expanding in Libya and beyond its borders."
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  OMG, Spanky and this Pope and their ilk really are stupid aren't they?
Posted by: AlanC || 03/06/2016 8:57 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
SC upholds life sentence in honour killing case
[DAWN] The Sup­reme Court maintained on Friday a Lahore High Court judgment of sentencing a man to life in prison for killing his daughter in the name of honour in 2005. The man had injured his wife and two other daughters as well.

The LHC had on May 2, 2013, converted the death sentence awarded to Mohammad Zaman by an additional sessions judge Lahore on July 28, 2007, into life imprisonment by holding that although the accused was found guilty of committing the crime, it was not on case record what circumstances had led him to kill his daughter Kauser and injure wife Husna Bib and two other daughters Kahkashan and Komal.

The case was reported to Lahore’s Mughalpura cop shoppe by the man’s fourth daughter Kiran Zaman.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Caribbean-Latin America
Doctors, patients report on health drama in Venezuela
[ELUNIVERSAL] Shortage of medical equipment and drugs may increase death rate in the country
Posted by: Fred || 03/06/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Single Payer program.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/06/2016 8:11 Comments || Top||

#2  No schadenfreude. We've been having a shortage of medications in the U.S. for several years, for some reason.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/06/2016 13:33 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
27[untagged]
8Islamic State
4Commies
3Govt of Pakistan
2Govt of Iran
2Govt of Saudi Arabia
2Taliban
1Boko Haram
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent
1Govt of Syria
1Hamas
1Houthis
1ISIL-K
1al-Qaeda
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Narcos
1Govt of Sudan
1Arab Spring
1Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2016-03-06
  Saudi Says it will Take Arms Bound for Lebanon
Sat 2016-03-05
  Taliban says will not take part in Afghan peace talks
Fri 2016-03-04
  Fresh tunnel dug from Pak to RS Pura to push fidayeens detected
Thu 2016-03-03
  Gulf nations declare Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist organization
Wed 2016-03-02
  France pushes ahead with 'Jungle' migrant camp clearance after clashes
Tue 2016-03-01
  Taseer's killer Mumtaz Qadri hanged
Mon 2016-02-29
  Suicide attack thwarted in Kabul, 14-year-old would-be bomber arrested
Sun 2016-02-28
  Soddys intercept Iranian arms shipment to Yemen
Sat 2016-02-27
  Another suspected ISIS chemical weapons attack investigated in Kurdistan Region
Fri 2016-02-26
  Pakistan Starts ’Last Phase’ of anti-Militants Offensive
Thu 2016-02-25
  ISIS Fighters Claim Pakistan Funded Them
Wed 2016-02-24
  Iraqi koppers round up 35 in Babylon
Tue 2016-02-23
  US drone strike leaves 3 militants dead along Durand Line
Mon 2016-02-22
  Three Terrorist Attacks Target Sayyeda Zeinab Area in Rural Damascus, Kill 50
Sun 2016-02-21
  46 dead in Homs bomb attack

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