The General Security agency arrested on Friday a Lebanese man wanted for forgery and human trafficking, the latest capture in a series of similar cases.
Aa.Sh. admitted to investigators that he is a member of a network that smuggles Syrians to and from Lebanon by handing them fake IDs and fictitious hotel bookings in exchange for sums of money, said a communique issued by General Security.
The suspect was referred to the judiciary as General Security continues to pursue his accomplices, it said.
The general-directorate of the agency warned Arabs and foreigners not to fall in the trap of such acts.
General Security has in the past months apprehended several individuals with ties to networks involved in human trafficking.
Last month, it announced the arrest of a Lebanese national accused of heading a group involved in such activities.
Groups opposed to the state's $1.2 billion expansion of Interstate 70 in northeast Denver have joined the Sierra Club in a federal lawsuit to attempt to scuttle the project.
The suit challenges new EPA Clean Air Act requirements. The Colorado Department of Transportation are using those new standards to claim that increased emissions from traffic on the expanded I-70 would not violate national air quality standards, according to the suit. So the NEW standard allows a big construction project, but the OLD standard would not?
Under the EPA's earlier Clean Air Act, the I-70 project could not qualify for federal funds because it would cause particulate pollution to violate the air standards on high pollution days, say opponents. Under the new guidelines, multiple high pollution days would not be counted against the standard, allowing the project to get federal funds.
The Sierra Club, Citizens for Greater Denver, Elyria and Swansea Neighborhood Association and the Cross Community Coalition are listed as plaintiffs. The EPA and its administrator, Gina McCarthy, are listed as defendants. So improve the I-70 connections to the city streets, and give really long green lights to the parallel streets, so the locals can enjoy the fruits of their opposition.
I suggest a plethora of traffic lights and red-light cameras all around the homes and neighborhoods of the Sierra Club leadership...
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/18/2016
13:53 ||
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#1
Colorado's population is swelling because of legal dope. Time to declare dope smokers to be 3/5 of a voter...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/18/2016 17:46
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The world's most wanted man, a prime suspect in the Paris terrorist attacks, has been wounded in a police raid in Brussels.
Salah Abdeslam was shot in the leg by police commandos and has been captured alive in the district of Molenbeek in the Belgian capital.
Belgian prosecutors said earlier today that his fingerprints were found at the scene of a separate police raid on a Brussels flat, which took place on Tuesday. The 26-year-old, whose brother blew himself up during the slaughter in Paris in November, was said to be one of the suspects who went on the run after a shoot-out.
He has now been wounded and captured in a fresh raid conducted by police this afternoon. It is understood grenades were used in the operation.
Gun shots and explosions were heard while white smoke was seen in the area as police moved in on Abdeslam, who had been on the run for 126 days.
Emergency services were quick to arrive at the scene, which was closed off by officers wearing heavy riot gear.
A Belgium police source confirmed that he had been 'caught alive'. He was wounded, and then retreated into a house in Molenbeek with two men. At least one of the other men is wounded, and one may be dead, said the source.
From Fox News, more details. Pic added per request, with pleasure...
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2016
13:17 ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2016 20:08
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#9
He + his Brother were just minding their own business traveling around Paris when racist "whitey" French Police shot his brother down for no reason.
I'd like to say that after the guns, they would come for the knives. But since knives aren't really a threat to a police state, that won't really happen. In the meantime, the useful fools who might actually care will have to be the facade for higher levels of power, who really don't care.
New York City has seen a 20 percent increase in stabbings this year compared with last, and police say they don't understand why it's happening or what to do about it. Surely the laws convinced criminals to toss their handguns. Or maybe you just don't really get in trouble for carrying a knife if you haven't used it. Or that more hotheads have started carrying knives for defense because law and order is being attacked. Or people are following the example set by Islam. Or maybe it's hard to carry. Or maybe if you carry a gun it's because you plan on committing a crime. Or maybe there are so many softer targets of opportunity than there were before compared to the number of criminals on the streets. Or maybe there are just more criminals on the streets, foreign and/or domestic. Or all of the above because Blasio is an idiot.
While most of the attacks are part of domestic disputes in homes, random assaults without apparent motives are on the rise. As of March 13, police recorded 809 incidents, up from 673 last year. So far there have been 20 attacks in the subways -- nine more than last year -- including a fatal encounter Wednesday in an East Harlem station.
Kitchen knives, screw drivers, box cutters and machetes are among the weapons used. The stabbings have overshadowed a promising crime trend showing a 30 percent decline in homicides so far this year from last and a 19 percent drop in shootings. Tabloid headlines reporting a stabbing almost every day in the most populous U.S. city have heightened the police departments concern about their impact on the public.
"The numbers are relatively very small, but stabbings are occurring all over the city," Robert Boyce, the department's chief of detectives, said in a telephone interview. "The random nature of some of these crimes affect everyone because it's disturbing when it happens to just regular folks."
No Warning
In January, a surveillance camera captured video of a man striding beside a 24-year-old woman on a sidewalk in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood and, without warning, slicing her face twice. In another attack that month, a 71-year-old woman required 30 stitches after a man with a razor opened a four-inch gash on her left cheek as she sat on a subway train in lower Manhattan. On March 10, a man rushed up from behind and slashed a 53-year-old woman's neck on a residential street in Brooklyn.
Thursday, police searched for a suspect who stabbed to death a 53-year-old man in the East Harlem subway station the day before who was illegally selling MetroCard swipes for access to the trains.
News coverage of the spate of stabbings was a factor in leading the department this year to change its record-keeping to list each attack's circumstances and attempt to ascribe a suspect's motive or mental state, Boyce said.
Crime Areas
The records reveal the attacks are most frequent in parts of the Bronx and Queens. That information isn't very helpful because these areas show higher-than-average incidences of all crimes, Boyce said. And the unpredictability of most of the attacks make them much more difficult to police than a knife-wielding repeat offender, for whom investigators could begin to see patterns of behavior, he added.
While the news coverage may have increased the department's focus on the stabbings, the stories, which have sometimes appeared on the front pages, may have encouraged others to commit such acts, said David Kennedy, a criminologist who specializes in violence and gang behavior at City University of New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
"There's been a lot of examples of mini-epidemics of so-called copycat behavior, where press attention makes incidents like suicides and school and spree shootings contagious," Kennedy said. "As I watch the coverage unfold my hope is this attention isn't causing more of them."
The stabbings may be symptomatic of a breakdown in civility in areas of the city where police have scaled down their enforcement of minor offenses, said Heather Mac Donald, a research fellow specializing in crime at the Manhattan Institute, a policy research organization that has been critical of Mayor Bill de Blasio's initiatives to reduce police stop-and-frisk tactics in minority neighborhoods.
"The same strategies aimed at getting guns off the streets, including stop-and-frisk, should apply to knives," she said. "The public feels like the streets are getting out of control, and it's hard to talk to anyone in the city who doesn't feel there's been an increase in street homelessness, litter and a general sense of order breaking down."
Scary Part
Unlike guns, which must be registered and may be traced through ballistics evidence, knives can be household items and are legal to carry, with the exception of knives longer than four inches, or gravity-opened weapons such as switchblades.
"These things are unfortunate, they occur, but the actual reality is that crime is continuing to go down in the city," Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said during a Feb. 18 interview on WOR radio.
Such gains have made residents throughout the city feel safer, yet the stabbings are reminiscent of the sixties, seventies and eighties -- decades when residents considered some streets dangerous at night, said Alvin Berk, chairman of the local community board in Flatbush, Brooklyn, where the 53-year-old woman was stabbed in the neck as she walked down the street while talking on her mobile phone.
"The scariest part of this is its apparent random quality; the unpredictability of it," Berk said. "It's a lot easier to handle something like this when there's an explanation for it, and you can understand it."
Of the hundreds of knife attacks this year, police consider less than 20 unprovoked, Boyce said. Of them, as many as five may have involved gangs, two were robberies and 11 were spats that escalated into violence.
"Someone bumps up against another in a crowded subway, or someone gives another an unfriendly stare," Boyce said. "Eye contact is bad on the subway. Try to avoid it and just go about your business."
#1
"Someone bumps up against another in a crowded subway, or someone gives another an unfriendly stare," Boyce said. "Eye contact is bad on the subway. Try to avoid it and just go about your business."
Yet the left insists that we proles should all live in cities and take public transportation.
#2
Welcome the 21st century. Coming soon, to your town.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/18/2016 13:43
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Rapiers or gladius hispaniensis, what will the spring fashion be? A good gentleman of Verona New York City will not be caught dead with his favorite steel at his side.
The Secret Service, FBI and New York Police Department are investigating what sources tell CBS News is a threatening piece of mail sent to Donald Trump's son, Eric Trump. I also heard it on the radio two hours ago, so it must be true!
A source close to the investigation said the letter had a Massachusetts postmark and warned that if Donald Trump doesn't withdraw from the race for the Republican presidential nomination - paraphrasing - harm will come to the kids. The radio report didn't find it necessary to paraphrase.
A source familiar with the matter but maybe not the same source(s) as identified above said the envelope contained suspicious white powder that's been sent to a lab for testing. The source said a preliminary field test indicated the substance didn't appear to be hazardous. But is - childishly, perhaps - intended to convey the threat of anthrax.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/18/2016
09:08 ||
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#1
The crazies are out in full force. I check with Occupy Wall Streeters, Black Lives Matter, CAIR, The Clinton Foundation or one of George Soros shadowy organizations.
[Daily Caller] During a closed-door meeting last Friday, President Barack Obama reportedly told a group of Democratic donors that it’s time to rally around Hillary Clinton, despite the weaknesses she displays as a presidential candidate.
According to a report from The New York Times, Obama’s comments came during a Democratic National Committee fundraising event in Austin, Texas and have been separately confirmed by three anonymous sources.
Anyone still think DoJ will issue an indictment ?
Bernie Sanders is too far left for him?
Could be that they perceive Bernie to be unelectable. For Democrats it's all about winning and keeping power. Then again, it might be that Hillary has dossiers on everyone...
#1
Bernie Sanders is too far left for him? Bernie is probably not Muslim enough or he doesn't think he can win. Hillary will take money from anyone; she will put on whatever pantsuit color you want.
[Breitbart] In an interview with National Public Radio, the deputy director of the National Security Agency Richard Ledgett claimed the NSA has lost track of about 1,000 intelligence targets since 2013 because of NSA leak Edward Snowden's revelations, including a terrorist group that was planning attacks against the United States and Europe.
The good news, in the deputy director's estimation, is that much of the information disclosed by Snowden is becoming obsolete. "The amount that matters from a technical capabilities sense has decreased over time," he told NPR. Good news? "Technical capabilities" to include communications intercepts from non-secure Blackberries as well, but at this point....'what difference does it make?'
#1
What an amazing coincidence. The alleged 'targeting loss' due to intelligence leaks appears to have begun in 2013, the same year that Clinton departed her job as Secretary of State.
#6
Gosh, if the NSA hadn't spied on Americans none of this would have happened. Traitorous assholes.
That's the word coming out of the Modern Warsaw Pact, I guess. Talk about the NSA's abuses while he's revealing details of spying on places like Indonesia, which has committed ethnic cleansing in the last twenty years.
[Breitbart] The two-month standoff between Oregon militia members and police came to a violent end in January, with the shooting of militia leader Robert "LaVoy" Finicum by Oregon state troopers.
But now the Washington Post reports "new details have emerged" about the controversial conduct of FBI Hostage Rescue Team snipers.
The Post article portrays the current state of the investigation as considerably messier than readers casually following the story might have suspected.
The FBI team has been accused of firing at Finicum’s truck, failing to report their shots as required, and actually taking steps to cover their tracks by collecting their spent shell casings:
#1
The Feds have a very poor track record with these sort of encounters. Interesting how the FBI tends to shy away from violence such as that which took place in Ferguson, Missouri in August of 2014. I reckon it's more convenient to investigate and find fault with local law enforcement, after the fact.
#2
A video was released last week taken by the occupants of the truck. Judging from the second video, i would say that the FBI has a lot of explaining to do. Sadly, since the current admin in Washington hates far right white people there will be the standard cover up of Finicum's murder.
This of course will lead to future conflicts with the Federal Law Enforcement Agencies and the western ranchers/militants.
No doubt the locals know who pulled the trigger. Time will tell how this plays out.
#5
It was an ambush...They were looking for a particular outcome, and I think that they got it.
To what end? What is the benefit of a dead Finnicum ? It would seem from a PR perspective, anyway, the Feds would have preferred quite the opposite. Afterall, look how some folks are trying to portray this misguided fellow as some kind of martyr executed by the jackbooted american gestapo.
#6
Skid. I know your comment was a snark. So this is not about you. But he'll yes I expect something different. I expect my government to act according to the law. After watching all the videos. I do believe these FBI agents were looking for a fight, not an arrest. I believe he was murdered, I'm the same manner as randy weavers wife and child. The FBI is not competent to do anything they are doing out there. Using an HRT to take down a guy in a pickup truck is like killin a spider with a flamethrower. It will work, but the damage will be triple. The HRT is a hostage reacue team, not designed for simple arrests. You think they would have learned from the branch Dravidian fiasco. But they did not. We all ignore this as an isolated event against some right winged extremist. The USG took their property rights away. They passed an arbitrRy law, without the states concent and then unforced this law without any oversight or integrity. This type event is happening more and more often and to the point where it is getting violent. The sheep in the big cities and inside the beltway could fucking care less about the flyover states. It evident in the fed land grab and the total lack of acting responsive about our southern border. Which, by the way, the only people that think it's no problem live over 1000 miles away. Our government must learn to act in a responsible manner to all its citizens, not just the beltway fools. If not this type of violence , the FBI murders will be met with retaliation. Remember all the farmers were armed to the teeth, and they acted in a responsible manner. Time for the Fed to follow along.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
03/18/2016 11:59
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#7
Sorry for the spelling errors.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
03/18/2016 12:01
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#8
He was murdered by some jackbooted American gestapo.
#13
I'm not trying to be a contrarian A-Hole here. I'm asking a simple question. What could possibly be the motivation for the Feds to intentionally execute a man that most people consider either irrational or self-serving. And a man many people believe whose actions precipitated his own death. Now, there's a number of reasonable reasons why the Feds would have preferred the 180 degree opposite outcome. You know, like photos of a burning Waco compound, comparisons to Ruby Ridge, predictions of bloody retribution - things like that.
#15
....there's a number of reasonable reasons why the Feds would have preferred the 180 degree opposite outcome. You know, like photos of a burning Waco compound, comparisons to Ruby Ridge, predictions of bloody retribution - things like that.
Or emboldened, as none of those responsible or in question have ever been brought to justice. Going into 'name tag defilade' ...yet another indicator of nefarious intent.
#16
So I agree with your question depot guy. Why would anyone think burning down the Dravidian compound or sniping a woman with a baby in her arms is good either. Both were done by the FBI These guys should have never gunned him down. They should have never tampered with the evidence and the HRT should have never been involved in the arrest.
The calling the rancher self serving in another comment is pr slander. When the government takes your rights away and you protest you are demAnding your rights, self serving to a definition. Remember this is the same FBi that came in to "run" the kidnapping return of Martin and grace burnham. They paid 300k ransoms and got taken, thus funding the hostage takers for almost eight more months. They have more power than training, a piss poor leadership structure during a crisis, and no real ROE for domestic issues. If they did this kind of murder would not take place.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
03/18/2016 14:50
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#17
To what end? That question presumes that there was a particular ending mindt. It could easily be that a young HRT sniper, all psyched-up and ready to put-down one of these troublesome rustics decided to go all Horiuchi and kill him.
#18
That question presumes that there was a particular ending in mind.
My original question was in response to the kin of Finnicum's presumption "they were looking for a particular outcome". (see ital quote in #5) I agree it's more possible the shots resulted from an overzealous agent. I'm less likely to believe it was a coordinated execution by a sinister element embedded in federal LE. I do know one thing though. If your a known armed fugitive that's on record saying your willing to die for your cause, run through a road block, exit the vehicle, and make furtive gestures it's likely LE is going to employ deadly force.
#19
The consistency I see with all three of these events, branch Dravidian, randy weaver and this event, is the agents seem to have little leadership forcing decisions. The weaver sniper was not over zealous. He questioned his order to shoot and his leadership confirmed the order. So what roe allows a sniper to shoot a woman in plain view, with a baby in her arms. What roe allows the fire at the Dravidian compound, and now this. The Fbi comes to the event looking for a fight, not to diffuse and control. That's an issue to me. It's all leadership training and leadership Disapline. He ran a road block. Yes. He got out of the truck with his hands in the air, every video shows it. He only dropped his hands when the first shot entered his back. Again well documented. Thank god this guy was not black or they would have burned down our cities.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
03/18/2016 16:14
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#20
DepotGuy, you really need to look at the video that was taken from inside the truck when it happened. They were shooting at him before he even left the truck with no weapon in hand. They wanted to kill him. Multiple shots from multiple angles. There is also some drone footage that is either incompetent or intentionally grainy that shows how things went. I read something that the drone footage shows lots of lasers and gunshots from before the truck even ran into the snowbank, but until I see more of it I'm going to ignore it. Also, a LEO placed himself in harms way either intentionally or because he is an idiot, which conveniently gives LE cover for opening fire.
The trap could have been laid entirely differently with non-lethal results. I could have done it, and I'm not an expert. There were women in the back of the truck, and I think some adolescent(s).
What both sides did was wrong, but what LE did was highly risky to all, and resulted in death.
Unless folks like Finnicum stand up to this BS from "our" government, it will never stop.
#23
The first of these such events I can recall was Wounded Knee in 1973. The FBI intervened in the resolution of public elections of a 'sovereign' nation. The direction at the time was to end the unified defiance but it took some 5 bodies to close the action by the time the bureaucrats could come to a consensus.
[DAWN] LAHORE: The Women Action Forum (WAF) expressed shock and outrage at the way the Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... government has allegedly succumbed to pressure from the religious lobby and put the Women Protection Bill on hold.
According to a blurb issued by the WAF on Wednesday, the reaction of religious parties was not surprising.
"As a political strategy, the 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... and other parties of the religious right had always played the ‘Islam is in danger’ card to gain public visibility. What is shocking and unacceptable is the elected government’s response to this blackmail. In succumbing to this pressure not only is the elected government undermining its own legitimacy, it is also raising serious doubts about its sincerity and commitment to women’s right to life and safety," the forum stated.
It said it wanted to remind the Punjab government that domestic violence bills had already been passed by the Sindh and Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... assemblies without any backlash from the religious lobby.
In its March 8 statement, the WAF had welcomed the Women Protection Bill as a step in the right direction, while stating the bill itself needed strengthening in line with similar bills passed by Sindh and Balochistan. The WAF demanded any amendments to the bill must make it more effective in providing protection to women rather than diluting its effect.
It also said as such amendments should be made in consultation with women, who across class were the most vulnerable to domestic violence and not under pressure from a lobby that had "consistently promoted its own political agendas by misusing religion to endanger women and undermine their position and status in society".
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2016
00:26 ||
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For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A water filtration plant resumed operations on Thursday, four days after shutting down, according to Russian language news accounts.
The plant had been shut down since March 13th because, according to rebel military officials, Ukrainian forces started shelling the facility. Ukrainian military officials in turn, accused the rebels of the mortar attacks on the plant, saying rebel mobile mortar units were rushed to an area, fired, then withdrew.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Ukrainian ministry of defense command for operations in Donetsk, Colonel Andrei Lysenko accused rebel forces of shelling the plant to cause a humanitarian crisis in the area.
All sides have denied the charges.
A local ceasefire was agreed to by both sides two days ago, but the ceasefire did not take place until Wednesday. Rebel officials complained that the Ukrainian representative of the joint monitoring group led a group from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to a location six kilometers from the water plant conducted by the Ukrainian joint monitoring group chief of staff, a Ukrainian officer identified as Colonel Romanyuk. The group, which included Russian and Ukrainian officers as well as members of the OSCE, came under mortar fire, and was withdrawn to the Ukrainian side of the line.
Donetsk ministry of defense spokesman Colonel Eduard Basurin claimed that Colonel Romanyuk's trek was intended to stop rebel forces from responding to Ukrainian attacks.
The problems with the water treatment plant stemmed from an attack and occupation into a neutral zone between Ukrainian held Avdievka and rebel occupied Gorlovka, at a town near a critical road junction named Yasinovataya. Artillery and sniper and counter sniper operations have been raging for nine days in the area, as rebel troops dug in and Ukrainian troops attacked rebel positions.
The plant services towns on both sides of the line of contact, including western Donetsk city, Avdeevka, Krasnogorovka, Yasinovataya and Spartak.
According to a news account in tsensor.net.ua, four joint patrols manned by Russian and Ukrainian officers will continue in the area.
Fighting on the line of contact
Rebel Donetsk military officials say that Ukrainian forces have fired on their troops in Donetsk, violating the ceasefire 43 times. Artillery attacks were made on locations including suburbs in Donetsk city, Spartak, the Donetsk airport and Zhabichevo.
Yasinovataya where the bulk of the fighting between rebel troops and Ukrainian forces was hit with artillery including at nearby settlements Kashtanovoye and Zhdanov.
Ukrainian artillery hit the northern Gorlobvka village of Zaistevo on Wednesday, wounding two unidentified civilians.
Rebel official reports are that artillery units with the Ukrainian 56th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, the Ukrainian 58th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade and the Ukrainian 93th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade have done the bulk of the attacks on residential areas in Yasinovataya.
The 58th Motorized Rifle Brigade, according to rebel news releases, is the main Ukrainian unit involved in the operations at Yasinovataya.
Ukrainian troops withdrawing
According to a separate news report on the rebel Donetsk ministry of defense website, Ukrainians have withdrawn the Ukrainian 72nd and 93rd separate mechanized brigades from operations in the Donetsk area.
Rebel military officials claim that desertions are at a high, and that Ukrainian soldiers are paying bribes for transport from Donetsk.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraine by clicking here.
PESHAWAR - The police and security forces arrested 50 suspected persons and recovered arms from their possession during search operation in different localities here on Thursday.
According to police the joint search operation was conducted in Hayatabad and Kotwali areas during which 50 suspects including 4 Afghans were taken into custody. Police said that three pistols, two repeaters and hundreds of cartridges were recovered from the suspects. Around 100 houses were searched with the assistance of lady police during the operation.
Yemeni Prime Minister and Vice-President Khaled Bahah on Tuesday stressed that efforts and joint action by local should be intensified to restore the situation in Lahij Governorate to normal by addressing security issues and repairing infrastructure and public departments destroyed in the war.
Until the next war, which in Yemen won't be all that long in coming...
He was speaking during a meeting with Governor of Lajih, Naser Al Khabji, and local officials to discuss the security situation in the governorate, located between Tazi and Aden.
The meeting was focussed on the security situation in Lajih where the chief of security, Brigadier Adel Al Halemi, asked for reinforcements to support troops in their crackdown on extremists and militants as part of a plan to restore stability to the governorate, according to Yemen's official news agency.
Meanwhile, Bahah attended the signing ceremony of an agreement for restoring 6,000 damaged houses. The value of the preliminary contract is around rials 2 billion.
Yemeni Minister of Public Works and Roads Wahi Taha Aman urged friendly countries and international donors to provide material and technical support for the government's project and reconstruction efforts. He noted that similar projects will be launched in other governorates affected by the war.
[ALMANAR.LB] The number of people killed in air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition on a market in northern Yemen's Hajja province on Tuesday has risen to 119, a UN agency said.
The strikes saw 119 killed, including up to 22 children, and 47 injured, the UNICEF children's agency said in a statement.
Local health officials had previously reported 41 people killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2016
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[ALMANAR.LB] Dozens of worshippers were killed in an early morning bomb attack on a mosque on the outskirts of the restive Nigerian city of Maiduguri, residents and military sources said.
Two suicide bombers suspected to be Boko Haram members joined other worshippers in early morning prayers at a mosque at Umarari-Molai, some 6 kilometers from the city center, eye-witness Mohammed Sugum said.
A military source and rescue official from the national emergency agency said 21 corpses were taken from the scene.
"Evacuation and rescue work is still going on, but so far we have discovered 21 dead bodies," the relief worker told the agency on condition of anonymity.
Nobody has claimed responsibility.
The northeastern city of Maiduguri, epicenter of Nigeria’s six-year insurgency, has witnessed relative peace in recent months. The last bomb attack in the area occurred in January. There are still pockets of attacks in remote communities, though authorities claim to have decimated Boko Haram terrorist group.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2016
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[ALMANAR.LB] The Syrian government warned on Thursday against any attempt to undermine the country's unity and territorial integrity under whatever names, a source in Foreign Ministry said.
The government "warns any party against attempting to undermine the territorial integrity of Syria and the unity of its people under whatever names," the source said in a statement to state-run SANA news agency.
The warning, it added, targets everyone, including the group that are conferring in al-Rmeilan city in Hasaka province.
"Raising the issue of a federation or that of state federalization would affect the territorial integrity of Syria, which goes against the Constitution, the national concepts and international resolutions," the source said.
"Any declaration to that effect would be without any legal value and void of any legal, political, social or economic effect as long as it does not reflect the will of the entire Syrian people with all their political leanings and social spectra, who are all committed to the national unity and territorial integrity of their country," the source added.
The source went on saying that "The main task for our people now is combating terrorism, and any deviation from this goal would be considered support for terrorism and for all those who try to weaken Syria and undermine the will of its heroic army in its endeavor for restoring security and stability nationwide."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2016
00:00 ||
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#1
So they are saying they prefer not to be split up into three (or more) enclaves along ethnic lines? Based on the map I saw here this week, I thought that was a terrific solution!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/18/2016 8:08
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#2
Joe Biden thought it was a terrific idea years ago...
[DAWN] Police on Thursday claimed to have killed a 'commander' of the bully boyIslamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) group, Kamran Gujjar, in an encounter in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... 's Manghopir area.
The suspect is said to have confessed to his involvement in murders, grenade attacks and bank robberies.
According to a blurb issued by Sindh police, District West police and CIA personnel, acting on a tip-off, launched a search operation in Ittehad Town area where the raiding party came under fire. One of the attackers and two coppers were severely injured during the 'encounter'.
The attacker was identified as Kamran Aslam Gujjar, a 'trained Daesh [Islamic State] commander' who had also worked for Al Qaeda in the subcontinent (AQIS) in the past and was carrying a bounty of Rs2.5 million on his head.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2016
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#1
fwiw,
Daesh is typically pronounced die EESH
Dawlat al-Islamiyah f’al-Iraq w Belaad al-Sham
which would correspond to the acronym ISIL
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/18/2016 9:19
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[TheFederalist] As former secretary of Defense Robert Gates said at a recent talk, the Middle East and North African are on fire and are probably going to burn for the next 30 years. We had better well have a plan--a consistent one that can endure beyond a single election cycle. This will require the general support of the American people, which is not an easy task.
We can only hope that these problems, which are now spreading beyond Syria and Iraq, are on every candidate’s radar, and that voters think carefully about who is the right person to take them on." Article tilts towards Sec'y. Clinton but, aside that, is a pretty good summary of international threats.
That's former Secretary Clinton, thank goodness. And if that plan relies on nobody knowing the details but the president and a few key members of our military and intelligence departments, she may not be the president we are looking for.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
03/18/2016
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#1
Rip the nukes out of Iran's and Nork's hands and stay out.
#3
...ignoring that their hated American "imperialism" had largely kept the lid on much of what is normal human history for the last 70 years, now breaking out with abandon around the world.
Peace is that relatively short interlude in history as everyone reloads their guns.
#4
Ahhh yes. The person that ushered in Libya and ISIS and turned Egypt over to the MoBro is just the person we need to straighten out MENA................NOT!!
#6
All the meddling the United States and Europeans have done over there has led to where it is now. It's time to back off and let the locals figure it out for themselves. Let it burn and disengage. We don't go there. They don't come here.
#9
I'm guessing that if things keep going as they are the European far-right will be running the show in Europe and Imperialism might be back on the table as some of these areas sure appear ungovernable.
[NBCNEWS] Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said Thursday that ISIS has been committing genocide against religious minorities in the Middle East -- just the second time the executive branch has used the term in relation to an ongoing conflict.
The formal designation comes days after the House passed a nonbinding resolution by a 393-0 vote condemning ISIS atrocities as genocide.
"Daesh [Islamic State] is genocidal by self proclamation, by ideology and by actions," Kerry said in a televised address, using another name for the Sunni murderous Moslem group. "We must recognize what Daesh [Islamic State] is doing to its victims."
"Naming these crimes is important but what is essential is to stop them," he added.
He enumerated a list of atrocities against Shiite Muslims, Christians and Yazidis at the hands of the Sunni faceless myrmidons that led to the designation.
"Daesh [Islamic State] is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at these same groups and in some cases also against Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and other minorities," Kerry said, noting that it was impossible to know the full scale of the Death Eaters' atrocities.
Kerry took care to highlight the plight of the Yazidis, a Kurdish minority ISIS branded as devil worshipers and who have been killed and starved by the thousands.
Many were saved with the help of the U.S. but "not before Daesh [Islamic State] captured and enslaved thousands of Yazidi women and girls, selling them at auction, raping them at will, and destroying the communities in which they had lived for countless generations," the secretary of state said.
Kerry also gave examples of Shiites and Christians being slaughtered, forced to flee their homes and compelled to convert to ISIS' extreme version of Sunni Islam.
Christian groups had heaped pressure on politicians to ensure ISIS actions against members of the religion were included in any consideration of genocide.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2016
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[AlAhram] Eyewitnesses told Al-Ahram Arabic news hound suspected murderous Moslems launched mortar shells at an army camp
Five Egyptian soldiers were killed and at least eight others injured in an kaboom in the northern Sinai town of Rafah, eyewitnesses and medics said.
Eyewitnesses told an Al-Ahram Arabic news news hound that the attack took place early Thursday when suspected murderous Moslems fired mortar shells at an army camp in Rafah.
Medics at the local Al-Arish Hospital said they received five bodies of army personnel following the incident. At least eight others were maimed, they added.
There was no immediate confirmation from Egypt's army front man of the deaths or how the attack took place.
Egyptian forces are grappling with an Islamist insurgency based in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, which spiked following the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.
Hundreds of police and troops have since been killed in bully boy attacks.
The Egyptian army said in statement earlier Thursday it had killed three "terrorists" in an exchange of fire with forces in two separate incidents in northern Sinai.
[Ynet] Al-Arabiya reported on Thursday that Egyptian fighter planes were striking terror group targets in Rafah in response to an attack on an Egyptian military base that killed at least five soldiers.
[ALMANAR.LB] The Syrian army units, backed by its air forces, continued chasing ISIL, 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 .. ... and other terrorist organizations excluded from the cessation of hostilities agreement across the country, destroying their equipment and killing a number of their members.
Hama
An army unit ambushed ISIL turbans in the eastern countryside of Hama province, a field source told SANA on Thursday. According to the source, the ambush resulted in the destruction of a truck loaded with weapons and ammunition intended to be sent to ISIL turbans in al-Sheikh Hilal village in Hama eastern countryside and the death of a number of terrorists.
Army units killed a number of ISIL members in al-Tar and al-Hayal mountains, al-Mothalath, Wadi al-Zakara and the area surrounding Tadmour city in Homs countryside.
Homs
Army units carried out intensive operations against ISIL in the eastern countryside of Homs. ISIL sites and dens were destroyed in al-Tar and al-Hayal mountains to the west of Palmyra city.
Many of ISIS’ bad boyz were potted and their weapons and ammunition were destroyed in al- Mothalath, Wadi al-Zakara and the area surrounding Palmyra.
Aleppo
A leader within ISIL terrorist organization named "Hassan Abboud", who is identified as the "Wali (emir) of Homs", was killed in an army raid in the southeastern countryside of Aleppo province.
Media said Abboud was killed along with a number of his lover companions, while others were maimed, in the raid which took place at the site of Khanaser town.
The Syrian army also controlled Mounts Maksar al-Nimr and Tnit Rashed in Qalamoun, blocking supply routes to ISIL posts from Dabaa Hill and Yabarda, according to Al-Manar news hound.
Posted by: Fred ||
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WASHINGTON (Rooters) - The top U.S. military officer told the Senate on Thursday that it would harm the morale of U.S. forces to order them to carry out activities such as waterboarding or targeting civilians, options previously cited by leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Marine General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not comment on U.S. politics, and Trump's name did not come up in a question put to him by Senator Lindsey Graham or in Dunford's response.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
03/18/2016
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#1
Cause mandatory social justice indoctrination classes damning 'white privilege' are such a morale boost.
#3
Insiders claim the order stems from a physical altercation which took place immediately following his remarks at the change of command ceremony on Friday, which left a number of Marines with injuries ranging from eye gouges to one severe hematoma of the taint.
Witnesses to the incident say the new Commandant was being congratulated by various well wishers when he reportedly smacked a Master Gunnery Sgt. after he was addressed with “Ooh-rah sir.”
“Shut your filthy sewer, pogue,” growled the general as he struck the senior SNCO in the mouth with an open hand. “That expression is a weak affectation and I won’t stand for it.”
The commandant then turned and kicked the Color Sergeant of the Marine Corps in the groin. Marine officials claim Dunford was enraged that one member of the color guard fell out during the ceremony. A number of aides were also assaulted when they attempted to physically restrain the general and remove him from the scene.
“That’s what happens when we appoint an air winger as Commandant,” Dunford said, as he was finally escorted from the parade deck. “I will not allow this pernicious weakness to further infect my Corps.”
As many as 58 civilians were killed and 269 others injured in indiscriminate shelling and sniper operations by the rebel Houthi militia and group loyal to deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh in the Governorate of Taiz, south west Yemen, in February this year, according the Humanitarian Relief Alliance in Taiz.
In a report, carried by the official Yemeni News Agency, the Alliance said the death toll included 22 deaths and 98 injuries among children and 7 deaths and 26 injuries among women.
''Some 49 houses and government and private facilities were affected by the war and indiscriminate bombing of residential districts last month,'' the report added.
The report affirmed that the city is still living in a blackout as water and power services had been completely disconnected, in addition to a lack of health care services as a result of the suffocating siege of the city by the rebels.
French Foreign Minister is expected in Tunis Thursday to enhance bilateral economic and security relations and underline France’s support to the North African country which is tormented by repeated terrorist attacks and struggling with a sluggish economy. The French top diplomat is expected to re-iterate Paris’s support to its former colony now unable to face the surge of terrorist attacks that have multiplied since last year.
Paris has shown its support to Tunisia following Bardo, Sousse and Tunis attacks last year. It also heavily condemned recent militants’ assaults on military and national guards’ positions in the town of Ben Guerdan, near the Libyan border.
“Tunisia is an important symbol because there are few countries in the region to be reasonably optimistic about,” a senior French diplomat reportedly said before the two-day visit by Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. “The attacks in Ben Guerdan show more than ever why we need to support the Tunisians.”
France is a major economic partner of Tunisia. During Prime Minister Habib Essid’s recent visit to France, Paris pledged to help Tunisia overcome the economic challenges that have engulfed the country and prompted thousands of young Tunisians to take to streets to claim for jobs.
Paris pledged 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) aid package for the coming 5 years to help Tunisia develop poor regions, stimulate job creation – especially for the youth – and modernize Tunisia’s administration. The 1 billion euro plan will also help retain young Tunisians joining terrorist groups abroad.
More than 5,000 young Tunisian, according to a recent report by a UN working group, have joined terrorist groups in conflict zones, mainly in Libya, Iraq and Syria. Authorities indicated this week most of the 40 terrorists killed in Ben Guerdan were Tunisians.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/18/2016
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Al shabaab terrorists militants have taken on Thursday the control of fresh villages in Nugal region, north-east of Somalia after ferocious battle with Puntland forces, reports said.
Local residents in Godob Jiran area near Eyl town told to the Radio Shabelle that the village is under al-Shabab terrorists fighters, adding that the terrorists militants cut off the telecommunication system in the village.
The Puntland’s Nugal region witnessed Al shabaab terrorist incursion, after boatlods of terrorists militants launched a seaborne attack on the coastal Gara’ad village, and seized it breifly this week.
Today’s battle for Godob Jiran has raged on for several hours as Puntland forces resisted the Al shabaab terrorist attack before the strategic village fell to the terrorists militants.
The terrorists militants have been pushed back into Suuj, 100km east of Eyl, the historical district in Nugal province and its neighbourhoods after attacks by Puntland forces.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/18/2016
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A key Taliban capo involved in major terrorist activities has been tossed in the slammer Book 'im, Mahmoud! in southeastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan.
The Afghan Intelligence -- National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) said Qari Khalil-ur-Rehman was a senior Taliban capo was involved in organizing suicide kabooms and other terrorist activities in Ghazni city.
NDS further added that Qari Rehman was arrested during a special military operation conducted by the intelligence operatives.
No further details were given regarding the exact location and timing of the operation that led to the apprehension of Qari Rehman.
The intelligence agency also added that Qari Rehman was arrested in close cooperation with the local residents, preventing him to plan and coordinate further attacks in this province.
The Talibs group has not commented regarding the report so far.
Ghazni is among the relatively volatile provinces in southeastern Afghanistan where anti-government armed bully boy groups including the Taliban holy warriors are actively operating in its various parts.
The holy warriors are mainly involved in carrying out kabooms and murders as well kidnappings in this province.
Posted by: Fred ||
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HOMS – Radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed Thursday its fighters were able to kill a Russian military adviser in the ancient city of Palmyra in the province of Homs, central Syria, during battles with pro-regime forces supported by Russian and Iranian infantry.
The ISIS-linked Aamaq news agency released a video showing the dead body of a man stained with blood and equipment seized from him. In the footage, the group claimed the corpse belongs to a Russian officer with individual military equipment and medicines that carry Russian writings.
This comes just one day after fierce battles between ISIS and the Syria army forces with the support of Russian warplanes and Iranian and Russian infantry troops, according to local activists.
Speaking to ARA News in Homs, media activist Fadi al-Amer said the pro-regime forces were able to advance in the western districts of Palmyra, seizing control of the ad-Duwwa area subsequent to clashes with ISIS. The regime’s forces also recaptured the hills ‘800’ and ‘900’ in Palmyra suburbs earlier on Wednesday.
In the meantime, ISIS launched several counterattacks on the oilfields of Shaer and Jazel in a bid to compensate its losses in Palmyra suburbs.
Palmyra and its countryside are witnessing fierce military operations waged by the Syrian army forces with the support of the Russian and Iranian troops.
In May 2015, ISIS took over Palmyra and since then it was able to destroy many ancient treasures, blowing up temples and shrines considering them as blasphemous symbols of ancient religions. Despite Russia’s relative withdrawal from Syria, President Putin announced that enough forces would remain to fight ISIS, particularly to help pro-regime forces retake Palmyra.
Posted by: badanov ||
03/18/2016
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Civil activist Abdul Basset Abu Al-Dahab was murdered in his home town of Derna today. A bomb which had been placed under his car while he was visiting the bank blew up, killing him instantly.
Locally known as Budhab, he had campaigned since the beginning of the revolution against the threat from extremists to the town. Last year he told the Libya Herald how, with others, he had warned former National Transitional Council chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil in at the beginning of 2012 of the growing danger but that Abdul Jalil had refused to believe it.
There was an attempt to kill him in 2014. He was shot several times and had to be hospitalised in Tunis. In his 50s, he finally returned to Libya late last year but not initially to Derna. He remained in Shahat until a couple of months ago when the Derna mujahideen told him he could come back and that that nothing would happen to him.
A gentle activist, he well regarded and liked by those who came to know him.
Friends are now blaming the mujahideen for his murder although it has denied any involvement.
The spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition says that major combat operations in Yemen are coming to an end, after which the coalition will work on "long-term" plans to bring stability to the country.
About to declare victory, are they?
Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Asiri said that major military combats were coming to a close and that the next phase of rebuilding and reconstruction will be begin shortly. Assiri reiterated that Saudi Arabia and the coalition will “stand by the legitimate Yemeni government and offer support until it is able to restore stability in the country.”
In Marib, Yemeni Deputy Commander of the Yemeni forces General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar said that his team, along with the arab coalition, will stay in place and help rebuild public institutions that have been destroyed by Houthi militias.
In Taiz, hundreds of families were seen returning to the city with shops and everyday life returning to normal after months of destruction by the militias.
[ALMANAR.LB] Two Pak troops and three snuffies were killed on Thursday in a rare firefightin the Chilas district in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, a scenic tourist hub where the Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountain ranges converge.
"Three wanted bad boyz were potted by security forces in a successful intelligence based operation," the military said in a statement.
It added: "The turbans killed were involved in attacks on civil transport, tourists and security forces. Two security forces personnel also embraced shahadat (martyrdom) in exchange of fire."
A search operation is still underway, it added, and security forces have cordoned off the site in Gayal village.
The incident came two days after military courts sentenced 13 snuffies to death for terrorism-related offences, including the 2013 massacre of 10 foreign mountaineers in northern Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2016
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[IsraelTimes] Victim in her 20s assaulted at bus stop outside Ariel; two attackers shot and killed, IDF says
An Israeli soldier was at death's door after being stabbed by a pair of assailants near the West Bank settlement of Ariel, officials said Thursday.
The attack occurred at a bus stop outside Ariel, a large settlement south of Nablus.
Both attackers were shot and killed by responding security forces, the IDF said.
Magen David Adom paramedics said the victim was a woman in her 20s with stab wounds to her upper body.
MDA paramedic Yochanan Weiss said the victim was lying on the sidewalk when they arrived at the scene.
"She was fully conscious with stab wounds to the upper body. We provided her with immediate medical treatment to stem her bleeding," he said. The woman was taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva where her condition was listed as moderate to serious.
The identity of the victim and the attackers was not immediately released.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The acting provincial governor of northern Balkh province Ata Mohammad Noor has said he has no intentions to prevent the cultivation and trade of opium in this province.
Noor who is leading Jamaat-e-Islami party, harshly criticized the way funds were spent on counter-narcotics campaigns in Afghanistan, saying he will not taken any actions in areas under his control.
He said the international community has spent over $7.8 billion to prevent the cultivation and smuggle of opium in the country over a period of ten years.
However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... Noor claimed only $7 million of the grants have been spent in the country to destroy opium fields and prevent cultivation and smuggle of drugs.
"$7.8 billion has been spent and we should be clarified on how and where the funds have been allocated. What has been done for us? Annually, $7 million has been given which is equivalent to $7 million, taking into account the 7 years period. Nearly $8 billion has been allocated and it should be accounted for to ascertain in which parts of Afghanistan the funds have been spent," Noor was quoted as saying in a report by Radio Free Europe.
Noor has also claimed that the remaining funds have fallen into the hands of the Mafia members who are expanding the cultivation and smuggle of opium in the country, insisting that the majority of the opium were cultivated in southern provinces where coalition forces were also stationed.
Noor also added that he was accused of having role in opium cultivation and smuggle after he tried to prevent smuggle of drugs from Kandahar airfield.
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[CNN] Millions of refugees from Syria have flooded into The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , straining its economy and draining resources. Turkey has been drawn into its neighbor's 5-year-long war, spawning discord with Russia. Its leaders have pushed to join the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... while fending off criticism of cracking down on opponents and journalists.
On top of all this, Turkey is battling a terrorist insurgency.
In the latest violence, a Kurdish rebel group on Thursday grabbed credit for a car kaboom that killed at least 37 people earlier this week in the capital.
The Kurdish Freedom Falcons, or TAK -- an offshoot of the Kurdish separatist group PKK -- said on its website that Death Eaters struck Sunday "in the heart of (the) fascist Turkish republic."
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A delegation of Hezb-e-Islami party arrived in Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... today to hold talks with the Afghan High Peace Council, nearly a week after the group announced to participate in reconciliation process.
In a brief presser, the delegation told news hounds that Hezb-e-Islami party is keen to resolve issues with the Afghan government through peaceful negotiations.
The delegation also called on other myrmidon groups to join talks and grinding of the peace processor with the Afghan government.
The Hezb-e-Islami party led by the notorious warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil... announced Sunday that the group is prepared to participate in peace talks with the Afghan government.
The party in a statement said they are prepared to participate in the peace talks in a bid to show to the nation that Hezb-e-Islami wants peace.
The statement further added Hezb-e-Islami party condemns the inclusion of the group’s two members in the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) by the United States, saying the move by the US government comes amid calls by the Afghan government to start reconciliation process.
The visit by Hezb-e-Islami delegation to Kabul for peace talks comes as the Taliban group has rejected to participate in the talks.
The Afghan government was expecting to start face to face talks with the Taliban group at the first week of this month following the conclusion of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) meeting last month where calls were made for direct talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
'cause when you think about peace the first name that comes to mind is Hekmatyar.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The dissident Taliban leader Mullah Rasool has said he will not participate in peace talks with the government which is led by the Taliban supreme leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.
In an interview with the UK-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Mullah Rasool has said he is not opposed to reconciliation in principle, insisting that he opposes with Mansoor’s hegemony over the process as far as the Taliban are concerned.
"Earlier we were thinking that the Afghan Government wanted peace talks with all Taliban, but when we saw that it is interested only in making peace with Mullah Mansur because of the dictates of the Pak Government, we decided we cannot start peace talks with the Afghan Government," Rasool added.
Rasool further added that he will not sit in the same reconciliation meetings with Mansoor, whose claim to leadership he considers spurious, nor will he start a separate reconciliation track.
He said he will negotiate only when Mansoor abandons plans for reconciliation or is excluded from them.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the space pirate fleet to attack Zemblonia... Rasool favoured the inclusion of neighboring Iran in the Afghan reconciliation process, saying the quadrilateral approach (involving US, Chinese, Pak and Afghan diplomats working together to re-launch negotiations with the Taliban) does not sufficiently represent the variety of regional interests.
He said excluding Iran, in particular, will in his view result in the failure of reconciliation efforts.
The remarks by Mullah Rasool comes as the Afghan government was expecting to start face to face talks with the Taliban group at the first week of this month following the conclusion of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) meeting last month where calls were made for direct talks.
However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... the Taliban group rejected to participate in the talks and once again reiterated the group’s preconditions for the revival of grinding of the peace processor.
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An unidentified man was detained by local police in Mukachevo in connection with a March 12th shootout, according to Russian language news accounts.
According to a news article which appeared in korrespondent.net, why the man was detained was not immediately clear. He will be charged with murder.
The March 12th incident initially involved two individuals, both of whom were shot, one fatally. The victims were shot in the Pentagon district of Mukachevo, near School No. 16, following an altercation between them and other unidentified local youths.
One victim was found dead with a unexploded hand grenade, while the other wound up in the local hospital complaining of a gunshot wound to his leg.
Mukachevo is located on a known smuggling route of excise goods for organized crime.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraine by clicking here.
16 March in the village of Plekhanovo near Tula (Russia) was a conflict between local residents, authorities and residents of the Roma encampment. As a result of illegal taps in the pipeline about 400 houses in the village were left without gas. On Thursday the location of the conflict were tightened large police forces and RIOT police, several people were detained.
Experts arrived on March 16 at the place, found that the part of the pipeline filled with water and there are several dozen illegal taps, which supplied the household and the store, reports NEWSRU.com. One of these taps in the gas supply system is exposed to water. March 15, local residents have made another attempt to make illegal tie-in street underground gas pipeline, resulting in an accident.
Repair work has caused discontent of the inhabitants of the Gypsy camp. Gypsies came to the administration building and police, began to burn tires, throw stones and sticks of gas-men, policemen and journalists. The rebellion was quickly put down. Of damage to the pipeline that led to the off gas in the village was eliminated.
According to the data of IA "Tula news" on Thursday in Plekhanovo arrived about 300 law enforcement officers.
As the correspondent of Agency, early in the morning on 17 March in that part of the settlement, where the Roma Diaspora, moved by the police, which was escorted bulldozers and employees of gas service. According to the journalist, the police "seriously equipped and prepared".
Portal MySLO.ru writes about 500 police officers, stating that it is including the OMON, SOBR, the handlers and the internal troops. When I started pruning of the pipeline, the Gypsies approached the cordon. As a result, "the two most actively gesticulating citizens detained in the hard way using non-lethal weapons as batons", the report of IA "Tula news". After some time, the correspondent of the Agency, was arrested in the U.S. "most active" members of the Roma.
According to press reports, law enforcement officers on Thursday "will conduct explanatory work with the residents of the Roma settlements, which was illegally connected to the gas network". According to the report in the group of the newspaper "Sloboda" and the portal MySLO.ru "Vkontakte", the work of the gasman in the Roma settlement is more like a special operation.
(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – A security source in Kirkuk Province revealed on Thursday, that the Peshmerga forces repulsed an attack carried out by the so-called ISIS northwest of the province, while pointed out to the killing of more than 20 ISIS members.
The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Last night, Peshmerga forces managed to repulse ISIS attack on Kharbet al-Rout village in al-Dibs District, killing more than 20 ISIS members.”
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added, “The Peshmerga forces didn’t allow the members of ISIS to advance toward the city axes.”
(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – Iraqi security sources announced on Thursday, that the members of the so-called ISIS organized a show in western Kirkuk areas to display the remains of three Iraqi pilots who were killed after their plane crashed due to a technical failure in western Kirkuk.
The sources said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “Last night, dozens of ISIS militants organized a show including a large number of vehicles, carrying the remains of the three Iraqi pilots who were killed in the crash of their reconnaissance plane on Wednesday.”
The sources added, “The show started from the village of al-Jahish where the plane crashed to the district of Hawija and Riyadh area in western Kirkuk.”
Posted by: badanov ||
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[DAWN] KHAR: A man was killed when a bomb planted along a road went off here on Wednesday, local administration officials said.
They said that Momin Khan was on way to a nearby place in Ganag area of Salarzai tehsil when an bomb went off injuring him critically. He succumbed to his wounds while being taken to hospital.
Though no one has immediately grabbed credit for the blast, the local administration suspects that gunnies could be responsible for the incident.
Local people and Bajaur Levies personnel reached the site and launched an operation to trace the culprits.
Local residents said that a number of people of nearby areas were locked away Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! by the administration under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation.
Residents said deceased Momin Khan, 42, had no personal enmity with anyone. However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... he had played a vital role in restoration of peace to the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2016
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[DAWN] VEHARI: A man divorced his wife after she got him placed in durance vile Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! for subjecting her to torture at Lakha Luddan village.
Nasim Bibi, a resident of mauza Lakha Luddan, filed a complaint two days ago with Luddan police against her husband, Khadim Husain, for subjecting her to physical torture.
The police booked Husain under Section 107/151 of the PPC.
On Tuesday, after securing a bail from a local court, Khadim Husain divorced Nasim Bibi.
Denying the torture allegation, he claimed that he had only admonished his wife for "misuse" of mobile phone.
Though Husain was booked under PPC sections, SHO Rana Khalid claimed police were bound to take action on torture complaints after enactment of women’s protection law.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2016
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[AnNahar] Jihadist groups are swelling their ranks by recruiting disenchanted groups of young sub-Saharan Africans across the region's borders, hard boyz and experts say, and training them to mount deadly attacks on civilian targets.
After Bamako in November and Ouagadougou in January, it was the beach resort of Grand-Bassam in Ivory Coast that came under attack from gunnies armed with grenades and rifles on Sunday, killing 19 people.
The three attackers identified so far were black, sub-Saharan Africans, part of a new generation of homegrown fighters in a shifting jihadi landscape once dominated by Arabs.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/18/2016
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 54 Talibs were killed in the latest wave of violence in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province of Afghanistan, the defense authorities said Wednesday.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said at least 3 faceless myrmidons were also maimed during the operations conducted in Khanshin and Nad-e-Ali districts.
According to an operational update by the Ministry of Defense (MoD), the Afghan army artillery and ground forces pounded the Taliban bandidos myrmidons in the two districts during the past 24 hours.
This comes as reports emerged earlier this week that the Talibs have taken control of Khanshin district following a coordinated attack.
According to the local authorities, the Talibs have overrun some security posts which were providing security to the district administrative compound.
The official further added that festivities still continue between the Talibs and the security forces after the control of the security posts were lost.
Helmand is among the volatile provinces in southern Afghanistan where anti-government armed murderous Moslem groups are actively operating in its various districts and frequently carry out insurgency activities.
The Talibs have repeatedly launched coordinated attacks to capture key districts in Helmand province during the past several months.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2016
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan intelligence operatives thwarted another terrorist attack plot in Jalalabad city, the scenic provincial capital of 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 which has witnessed some deadly attacks during the recent months.
According to a statement by the National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS), two suspected gunnies were placed in durance vile Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! and a rickshaw vehicle packed with explosives was seized in connection to the latest attack plot.
The statement further added that the two gunnies were arrested during an operation from Surkh Rod district of Nangarhar province.
NDS said the suspects have been identified as Najibullah son of Shafta Gul and Reyazullah son of Najibullah who were looking to carry out suicide kaboom using the explosives-laden rickshaw in Jalalabd city.
This comes as the Afghan intelligence detained 7 suspected gunnies in connection to a coordinated suicide attack plot in Jalalabd city last week.
Without disclosing further information regarding the potential target of the myrmidons, NDS said the group was looking to launch the attack using assault rifles and rocket propelled grenade launcher.
The anti-government armed gunnies launched a coordinated attack on Indian consulate in Jalalabad city earlier this month, which left at least 3 dead and around 19 others maimed.
The gunnies also launched another attack in Jalalabad city back in January this year which left at least 13 dead and around 14 others maimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2016
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(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – The local residents in Mosul revealed on Thursday, that the so-called ISIS executed the Imam and preacher of Anwar mosque in Hamidat area in western Mosul.
Eyewitnesses reported for IraqiNews.com, “ISIS executed Sheikh Abu Mohammed al-Hamdani, Imam and preacher of Anwar mosque in Hamidat area by firing squad in front of a gathering of people,” pointing out that, “The Imam was executed after refusing to shelter ISIS leaders inside the mosque.”
The eyewitnesses added, “ISIS is trying to find havens for its foreign members to stay away from the air strikes that target their headquarters.”
[ARA News] ERBIL – U.S.-led coalition forces conducted Thursday several airstrikes on headquarters of the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) in the city of Mosul in Iraq’s northwestern province of Nineveh, killing a top ISIS official along with several leaders from the jihadi group, local sources reported.
“Alian Natiq Mabroush, who was appointed by ISIS as governor of Mosul, has been killed in an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition forces on the Faruq compound in the city,” a local source close to the group told ARA News, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Mabroush was killed along with more than ten jihadi leaders.
“Jihadis who were killed in Thursday’s strikes had close ties to the [ISIS] caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” the source reported.
Also, pro-ISIS media sources reported that a number of the group’s media centers were bombed by the U.S.-led coalition in the early hours of Thursday.
The group’s official news agency of Amaq announced that the American warplanes bombed Thursday seven media centers in the city of Mosul, causing the death of a number of pro-ISIS journalists.
The targeted media centers were located in the neighborhoods of al-Bakr, az-Zuhour, ar-Risala, Bab at-Toub and ad-Dawwasa in the city of Mosul, according to Amaq.
ISIS used to release propaganda videos from the bombed media centers in Mosul.
Over the past few months, the U.S.-led coalition forces intensified its airstrikes on strategic and vital locations for the radical group, killing dozens of the group’s top leaders and wounding more others. ISIS’s power has recently decreased, especially after hundreds of its own militants started to desert its ranks.
Posted by: badanov ||
03/18/2016
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
ROME: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has warned Western powers Libya could spiral out of control if they try to intervene militarily in the conflict-wracked North African state. Speaking in a rare interview, the military-backed ruler of one of the region’s biggest powers said the West and its allies should instead concentrate on strengthening the army of Libya’s internationally recognized government and let it do the job of stabilising the country.
The army is commanded by Khalif Haftar, an officially retired general who spent 20 years in exile in the United States and has been described as a potential ‘Libyan Sisi’ because of his fierce opposition to militant groups.
“If we provide arms and support to the national Libyan army it can do the job better than anyone else, better than any outside intervention which would risk dragging us into a situation that risks getting out of hand and triggering uncontrollable developments,” El-Sisi told Italy’s La Repubblica in an interview published Thursday.
El-Sisi said history had “spoken clearly” about the difficulty of trying to impose peace from outside.
“Two lessons must be kept in mind: That of Afghanistan and that of Somalia,” he said. “Those were long foreign interventions more than 30 years ago and what progress has been made since?”
“The results are there for everyone to see.”
Sissi also suggested that European governments were underestimating the scale of militant influence in Libya.
“Europeans look at Libya as if the Daesh group was the only threat,” he said.
“That is a serious mistake. We have to be aware that we are up against different acronyms with the same ideology: What do we say about Al-Qaeda networks like Ansar Al-Islam, like Somalia’s Al-Shabab or Boko Haram in Africa.”
Italy has said it is prepared to lead a UN-backed international peace force into Libya if and when the country proves capable of establishing a national unity government with the authority to ask for outside security help.
El-Sissi said such a mission would be fraught with difficulty and it would be better to concentrate on building up Haftar’s forces.
The army commander was involved in the 1969 military coup which brought Muammar Qaddafi to power in Libya. He later fell out with the dictator and was forced into exile, returning in 2011 to take part in the uprising that toppled Qaddafi.
He has long had close relations with the Egyptian military having served alongside their forces in the Sinai desert as a young Libyan officer during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
DAGGAR: Police claimed to have arrested two suspected militants having affiliation with Maulana Fazlullah group. Both the arrested men carried head money.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, District Police Officer Syed Khalid Hamdani said that one of the arrested militants, Badsha Hussain, carried a bounty of Rs1 million and the other, Farman, Rs500,000 million.
The DPO flanked by SP Investigation Mohammad Arif Khan and DSP Pir Baba Farman Khan produced the veiled militants before journalists.
The DPO said the arrested men were wanted to law-enforcement agencies for attacks on Gandigar police station in 2009.
He said as per record Badsha Hussain was trained at a Taliban centre in Bajaur Agency and Farman at Sadiqa Banda and Jabbar training centre in Upper Dir.
Our correspondent in Mardan adds: The counter-terrorism department (CTD) of police claimed to have arrested three suspected militants in Mardan on Tuesday.
According to CTD’s DSP Sanober Khan, acting on a tip-off about the presence of militants personnel of the department raided a house in Saroshah village.
He said after a brief exchange of fire with the militants the personnel arrested them.
The DSP claimed that the arrested militants were planning to carry out terrorist activities in the area. He said the personnel seized arms and ammunitions from their possession. The seized items included one Kalashnikov, two pistols with cartridges, three hand-grenades and some other explosive materials.
The arrested men were identified as Sulaiman alias Saifullah, Hayat Alam and Kashifur Rahman. The DSP said they belonged to Mohmand Agency chapter of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.
KHUZDAR: A leader of the National Party and another person were shot dead in Khuzdar and Kalat on Tuesday.
Police sources said that Mir Allah Bakhsh, National Party Councillor of Union Council Hazar Gangi of Tehsil Naal, was targeted by armed men riding a motorcycle. Mr Bakhsh was killed when he was going home in Naal town.
“The leader of National Party received multiple bullet injuries and died in a hospital,” Naseer Ahmed Pirwani, Assistant Commissioner of Naal, said.
The cause of the murder was not known. Police have registered a case and are investigating. In another incident, Muhammad Anwar Nachari was shot dead by in Nachara area of Kalat district.
Levies officials said that the armed men shot dead Nachari when he was passing through the area.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced on Thursday, that eight people had been either killed or wounded in a bomb blast in northern Baghdad.
The source said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “A bomb exploded, this morning, near shops in the area of Husseiniya al-Rashidiya in northern 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 a raid was carried out to search for the perpetrators of the bombing.”
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/18/2016
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#1
YES, I have heard that the Vietnamese like Americans. China however is disliked. China is a bad neighbor. Clothing shipped in from China has been said to burn outlines of garments on people wearing them. A fellow who had escaped said this. Got out with some money with a sister but other sister was killed. When taken over money was confiscated from the banks. Property also I would imagine.
#2
As the Lefties gear up to stop Trump, I doubt their attention will ever turn back to what they did to these people and the joke is on the Left. Irony is not an export of Duluth.
#6
VN = PH = militaries have too much catching up to do before they could even hope to confront China + PLA on their own. To do so in their present condition would be suicidal, which goes to explaining why both nations have developed
"people's war" defensive strategies where the PLA would be allowed to de facto enter or invade their countries only to find themselves mired in violent or deadly guerilla warfare agz both local armed forces + populations.
In the interim, building alliance wid the US, EU, RUSSIA, INDIA, + even JAPAN is their best chance for deterring or stopping China.
#7
the PLA would be allowed to de facto enter or invade their countries only to find themselves mired in violent or deadly guerilla warfare agz both local armed forces + populations.
Considering how many of their own folks they killed in the Cultural Revolution, there may not be much of a population left to revolt. And being the nice little racists the Han can be, not much of any restraint will be found either.
#8
Its not clear yet iff the PLA will need all of the PH, as opposed to only developed Luzon wid its major air-sea hubs, for ASBM Arty staging areas, Subs, + LR PLAAF Bombers agz incoming US intervention forces. IMO WHAT IS CLEAR IS THAT CHINA + PLA HAS NO REASON TO LIMIT ITSELF TO JUST THE SCS ANDOR ECS IFF IT DOES NOT ALSO INTEND TO ATTACK + RE-TAKE TAIWAN AT SAME TIME.
And to bomb or possibly nuke Japan in order to end Japan's challenge to Beijing's "sole" leadership in East Asia-WESTPAC. TAIWAN RECOVERY = CHINA'S ULTIMATE FOCII = "CROWN JEWEL".
* SPUTNIK NEWS > WILL THIS TRIGGER WORLD WAR III? US ARMY STOCKPILING MUNITIONS NEAR CHINA.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA BUILDS [Building]NAVAL BASES AT [Spratly's] SCARBOROUGH SHOAL!NEW CHINESE SHIP ACTIVITY SPOTTED AT DISPUTED SOUTH CHINA SEA SHOAL | THE GUARDIAN.UK.
DEFENCE.PK/FORUM BLOGGER-POSTER = argued its clear that CHINA IS NOW INTENT ON "IGNORING" POTUS OBAMA FOR THE REMAINDER OF HIS PREDIENCY IN 2016. ANY HOPE OF CHINA-US RECONCILIATION, IFF ANY, WILL HAVE TO BE OR OCCUR WID THE BAMMER'S POST-JAN. 2017 SUCCESSOR.
* THE DIPLOMAT > DID CHINA JUST BREAK ITS "DIPLOMATIC TRUCE" WID TAIWAN?, via its diplomatic recognition of Pro-"One-China" Taiwan ally GAMBIA in Africa???
* WASHINGTON FREE BEACON > US ARMY OFFICIAL: US COULD BE OUTNUMBERED, OUTGUNNED IN FUTURE CONFLICTS.
* RELATED WAFF > THE TOP US ARMY GENERAL WARNS US NOT BE AS CAPABLE AS IT USED TO BE AGZ RUSSIA |[ABC News] TOP GENERAL SAYS US ARMY AT HIGH RISK IN WAR AGZ CHINA, RUSSIA [+ Iran, DPRK/NOKOR = "Great Power" Mil Conflicts].
US Army Chief Gen. Mark Milley.
Apparently IRAN + NOKOR = "GREAT POWERS" NOW.
* WAPO@TWITTER > OBAMA FACING ANOTHER "RED LINE" MOMENT, THIS ONE IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA!?
Yeah, but again Beijing's real foci or target is getting back TAIWAN.
JAPAN MUST ACCEPT VASSALAGE TO OWG CO-SUPERPOWER CHINA, OR JAPAN WILL BE NUKED.
[IsraelTimes] Israel has revoked permission for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to travel to Jerusalem for Friday prayers on the Temple Mount, claiming exploitation of the system and misuse of permits granted by Israeli authorities.
As part of a ceasefire agreement that ended the 2014 Gaza war, some 200 Gazans above the age of 60 have received weekly permission to enter Israel in order to worship at the al-Aqsa Mosque.
Sources at the Palestinian liaison office said Israel canceled the agreement because Palestinian worshipers were, against the rules, not returning to the Gaza Strip on the same day of the visit, according to the Palestinian Maan News agency.
The Coordinator of the Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), a branch of Israel’s Defense Ministry, said the decision was due to “inappropriate misusing the permit and exploiting inappropriately the Israeli civil policy.”
“Any claims regarding the freezing of permits for prayers in the Temple Mount should be directed to those who choose to exploit illegally the permits at the expense of the rest of the public,” a COGAT spokesman said.
They called the decision “temporary” and said that permits would be reissued when “the issue is addressed by the Palestinian Civil Committee in the Gaza Strip.”
The move comes just a week after Defense Ministry officials reportedly said they were considering increasing the number of Palestinians able to travel from Gaza to the Temple Mount each week, as well as lowering the age limit to 50.
How many of the hundreds of "illegals" picked up in the recent raids were Gazans who'd overstayed, rather than West Bankers who'd snuck in?
Israel has sharply restricted travel out of the Gaza Strip since the Hamas terrorist group took over the territory in 2007. It has consistently granted permits for humanitarian reasons and to Christians wanting to travel to Bethlehem for holidays, but permits specifically meant to allow Muslims to visit the Temple Mount had not been issued before the 2014 Gaza war, according to Gisha, an Israeli group that advocates freedom of movement for Gazans.
Israel began to ease its restrictions on the Gaza border in October 2014, granting some 1,500 permits for Gazans to travel to Jerusalem during the three-day Eid al-Adha holiday. The permits were part of a package of concessions made in the wake of a 50-day war against Hamas.
In June 2015 COGAT announced it was revoking the permits for 500 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to enter Jerusalem for Friday prayers because of rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave. Entry to Israel has been blocked on a number of other occasions due to unrest on the Temple Mount.
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – Media officials with the Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday the killing of 78 ISIS elements during the liberation operation of the area of al-Muhammadi in western Anbar.
The officials said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The Anti-Terrorism Directorate killed 21 terrorists in the liberation operation of al-Muhammadi area,” adding also that, “57 terrorists had been killed in air strikes by the international coalition aviation,” while pointed out that, “Orders were given to the families to stay in their homes after placing white flags over the houses.”
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – The Anti-Terrorism Directorate announced on Thursday, that the security forces started the liberation operation of al-Mohamadi area in Heet District, while pointed out to the importance of this area.
The commander of the Anti-Terrorism’s 3rd special operations brigade Sami Kadim al-Aredi said in a press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Today the Anti-Terrorism forces backed by the army’s 16th brigade and Anbar emergency police started an operation to liberate al-Mohamadi area east of Heet District.”
Aredi added, “The international coalition aviation, Iraqi Air Force and Army Aviation also participated in the operation.”
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – A military source in the leadership of the army’s Sveenth Division said on Thursday, that the security forces as well as clan fighters advanced into Heet and Kabisa areas in western Anbar.
The source said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “Today, scurity forces from the army’s Seventh Division and the Anti-Terrorism Directorate as well as the Federal Police and the Emergency Regiment, [backed by] clan fighters, advanced from Ainul Assad air base in the vicinity of al-Baghdadi towards the city of Heet and the vicinity of Kabisa to liberate them from ISIS,” noting that, “The zero hour to liberate the city and the vicinity has not started yet.”
The source, who requested anonymity, added, “The security forces and clans advanced from two axes, one leads to Heet and the other leads to Kabisa,” pointing out to, “the existence of aerial cover by the international coalition and the Iraqi [army’s] aviation to support the security forces on the ground.”
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar- Haditha District Police in Anbar province announced on Thursday, that ISIS militants looted and robbed the civilians houses in al-Judafiya area west of Anbar to finance its members in preparation to escape from the western areas of the province.
The spokesman of Haditha police’s 14th emergency regiment Lieutenant Saud Harb al-Obeidi said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “ISIS members looted and robbed the houses of the civilians in al-Judafiya area in al-Baghdadi vicinity (160 km west of Anbar ), and transferred the loot to Heet and Qaim to sell it at a public auction.”
Obeidi added, “ISIS seeks to gather financials to finance its members before escaping from the western regions of Anbar to al-Riqqa and Albu Kamal in Syria,” pointing out that, “ISIS financial sources in Anbar are semi-finished.”
Posted by: badanov ||
03/18/2016
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[Breitbart] Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, held captive for five years by the Taliban, had a mental-health disorder marked by odd, eccentric behaviors and social isolation when he walked away from his post in Afghanistan in 2009, documents released by his defense team showed.
They'll label him with whatever they have to in order to keep him out of jug...
An Army Sanity Board Evaluation in July 2015 found Bergdahl had schizotypal personality disorder, a psychiatric condition marked by unusual fears and beliefs, the inability to form interpersonal relationships and eccentric behaviors. The condition is different from schizophrenia, which is marked by hallucinations and a disconnect from reality. "General Discharge" coming soon to a DD-214 near you.
#1
So the Obumble administration has finally come up with an excuse for this guys behavior and some kind of rationalization of why they swapped for him.
So they swapped for him because he wasn't getting the correct meds and counseling?
#5
Hillary Clinton Bowe Bergdahl Diagnosed with Personality Disorder and memory loss stemming from fall and mini-stroke. Her recent bout of barking like a Kelty provided further confirmation of the medical finding.
In 2015 the medical board makes a diagnosis of what his condition was in 2009 that happens to be exactly what the US Govt wants it to be.
Pretty good textbook example of why most doctors are suspicious of retrospective diagnosis.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/18/2016 12:22
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#7
So a Sanity Board interviews a 2015 Bergdahl, after five years of what might have been highly psychologically-damaging captivity, and is able to see through that damage to determine the mental state of a soldier for whom there is no relevant baseline mental-health data, and determines that his mental state at the time of his desertion was impaired by a pre-existing disorder, thus rendering him incapable of rational thought regarding the consequences of his actions? Really? Is there anyone who accepts this as anything more than another convenient government lie to produce a desired political outcome? Is anyone on the "Army Sanity Board" expecting a promotion or favorable reassignment?
Did anybody notice the 3rd star that MG Dahl got after his interview with this POS? Honor and Integrity slip sliding away from the Army as it increasingly displays the Sukhomlinov Syndrome...
(http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/sukhomlinov-effect.htm)
[DAWN] Former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf left for Dubai early Friday morning, hours after the interior ministry issued a notification to remove his name from the exit control list (ECL). Before leaving, Musharraf told a DawnNews correspondent, "I am a commando and I love my homeland. I will come back in a few weeks or months."
Posted by: Fred ||
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SULAYMANIYAH – Salih Muslim, leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) that controls Syria’s Kurdish region, or Rojava, said on Thursday that it is a priority for the People’s Protection Units (YPG) to liberate Raqqa, despite that some suggest YPG is not ready to take the Arab city–that is deemed a de facto capital for the Islamic State (ISIS) radical group.
“Raqqa is now the capital of ISIS, and also for Rojava it is a priority to retake Raqqah because most attacks in Kobane were launched from Raqqa,” he said at the yearly Sulaimani forum, organized by the American University of Iraq Sulaimani (AUIS).
“That’s why Raqqa should be retaken as soon as possible,” he stressed.
However, US officials and analysts are worried that the YPG cannot rule the Arab-held territory in Raqqa.
“There is concern from US policymakers that if the YPG advanced in Raqqa and captured the city, that it would not be able to govern it because of Arab-Kurd ethnic animosity,” said Nicholas Heras, a Washington-based Middle East researcher at the Centre for a New American Security.
“The assumption is that if the YPG was used to displace ISIS from Raqqa, a majority Arab hold force would be needed to replace ISIS,” Heras told ARA News.
He added there are concerns that the YPG does not have enough reserve manpower. “Therefore, they should instead hold territory already taken from ISIS to provide a platform for an Arab force to capture the city,” he said.
“Arab units of the SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces], most of which are displaced from Raqqa, are hoped to seize the city from ISIS, and to establish a security force that can stabilize an interim governing structure,” Heras said.
According to Salih Muslim, the YPG in general takes areas from ISIS and leaves a local administration run these areas.
“We have to isolate both cities of Mosul and Raqqa, and some other cities should be taken. We need to isolate Raqqa and capture it,” he said during the conference.
Foreign fighters who talked to ARA News, said it would be a hard fight.
“Let’s take Raqqa, it would be good if it falls. This would be hard fight though, and is going to take a lot of casualties on both sides,” said Heval Zirek, a YPG fighter from Norway.
“I hope the YPG goes in [Raqqa], it would be a huge victory for them, like Kobane,” Zirek told ARA News.
Heval Ernesto, a French volunteer in Kobane, said that a battle for Raqqa would be difficult.
“If they [US-led coalition] make big air support and shoot at everything shooting at us, I am confident we [YPG] will win, but without big support from the US it would be a bloodbath. We would have to be ready to loose 3,000 or 4,000 people,” he told ARA News. “In Kobane alone we lost 1,500, and Raqqa is much bigger.”
“It will not be our town and they [ISIS militants] will have time to prepare themselves for the operation,” he added. “They could prepare for an underground battle,” he stated.
FSA-commander Abu Isa ar-Raqqawi who works with the YPG says it’s clear that ISIS is preparing for the future operations. “They are digging trenches around the city and are preparing for this. But the main point is how we are armed,” he told ARA News.
The commander asked the US-led coalition to hurry up with the operation. “It is going to be too late, young people are forced to join ISIS and they are going to use our people against us. It’s going to be too late if we don’t have the right ammunition to start this operation,” he said.
Posted by: badanov ||
03/18/2016
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least seven loyalists 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.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed during a clash with the public uprising forces 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.
According to the local government officials, festivities between the two sides broke out after a group of ISIS turbans launched an attack on security posts of the public uprising forces.
The officials further added that the incident took place in Achin district which was once a stronghold of the terror group in this province.
The district administrative chief Haji Ghalib said the turbans affiliated with ISIS terror group launched the attack on security posts in Deh Sarak area around 11:00 pm local time.
He confirmed 7 ISIS loyalists were killed during the festivities and 3 members of the public uprising forces fighting the terror group bit the dust.
Militants affiliated with the ISIS terror group are occasionally conducting terror activities despite facing major setbacks during the recent months in Achin and Nazian districts of Nangarhar.
The provincial officials in Nangarhar province announced earlier this month that the counter-terrorism operations to suppress the activities of the terror group concluded after 21 days, leaving nearly 300 loyalists of the terror group were killed or maimed during the operations.
The operations were launched by the Afghan cops amid concerns that the loyalists of the terror group are establishing a regional operational base as they were attempting to consolidate operations with the terror group in Syria and Iraq.
The coalition officials estimated around 1,000 to 3,000 Islamic State fighters are stationed in in eastern Afghanistan and are trying to establish a base of operations in the rugged mountains of Nangahar Province.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2016
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[AnNahar] The brother of Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area assuming he's not dead like Mullah Omar. He lost major face when he ordered the nascent Islamic State to cease and desist and merge with the orthodx al-Qaeda spring, al-Nusra... , under investigation for allegedly calling for the creation of a "terrorist group", was released Thursday from an Egyptian prison, his son and security officials said.
On February 23, a court had ordered the release of Mohammed al-Zawahiri, 64, while the investigation was still underway.
Security officials said Zawahiri walked out on Thursday from a Cairo prison after having spent more than two-and-a-half years behind bars.
"My father has been released. He reached home early this morning," his son, Abdelrahman Zawahiri, told AFP.
Zawahiri was initially incarcerated Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in August 2013, a month after the army's ouster of Egypt's Islamist president Mohammed Morsi and at the height of a crackdown against his supporters.
He and dozens of other defendants were accused of having formed "a terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda" and plotting attacks on government installations, security forces and Egypt's Christian minority -- all charges which defense lawyers denied.
He stood trial but was acquitted of any wrongdoing in October 2015, although 10 co-defendants were handed death sentences.
The judge, however, kept him in detention and ordered an investigation into remarks made by Zawahiri during the trial in which he allegedly called for the formation of a "terrorist group".
But on February 23, another court ordered his release.
[VanityFair] ...And, of course, they plan to highlight his fiery, unpredictable temperament as a major national-security threat. According to the Times, the Clinton campaign is counting on both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to carry that message forward, with the president employing his bully pulpit to argue Trump does not have the seriousness required to lead the country. Coming from Presidents Slick and Urkel, this will be quite a statement.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
03/18/2016
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#1
When you take a step back and look at it on face value, it is just breath-taking, worthy of Pakistani politics
#4
Given that Trump is not a hand wringing whining apologist that so many GOPe are, I expect something on the level of Mutual Assured Destruction. Pass the popcorn.
#5
Maybe Slick has it right - Days after the Nevada Republican caucuses, Bill reportedly shot down the belief that Hillary could easily beat Trump in a general election, arguing that the reality-TV star had a keen understanding of the electorate’s mood, coupled with a rhetorical style best suited for what Bill has allegedly called an “Instagram election.” Hillary, on the other hand, is the exact opposite: policy-oriented, pragmatic, and slightly too detailed on the stump.
I hope Willie is the consummate politician everyone says he is!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/18/2016 7:57
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#6
What ya wanna bet Hillary won't take any advice from Bill?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/18/2016 10:34
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#7
Media is pushing Trump right now. Once he has the nomination they will burn him alive. Hillary won't have to do or say a damn thing.
#8
She will destroy Trump?? I wouldn't bet on that. As Trump says he is a counter-puncher. That doesn't mean he can't lead with a good punch. She is ripe and has much baggage. If you remember, Trump sent a team of investigators to Hawaii to check into Obama's birth certificate. I don't know that he ever revealed what he found.
How much is 'pushing' and how much is really 'yanking'? His recent decision not to debate was as much a notice that he knows he draws the ratings that the media lives and dies for. They can't help themselves. They can't afford to ignore it.
#13
His decision to dodge (just like he dodged Vietnam) was a tacit admission that Cruz would probably beat him rather convincingly, and without having to go with the Rubio insult style of things. Not that it would matter - the media that is carrying him now with billions in free publicity will turn on him. And he will fail based off all those polls Trumpbots like to cite that show him favorably in the GOP but losing in the general, giving us President Hillary, unless she gets indicted.
#15
The Dems will vote loyal, evan against their own interests, and in a bloc, they have proven that time and again. Thats the main thing Hillary has going for her - the Dem machine keeps their herd in line and moving.
The problem isn't the press, that doesn't affect Trumps followers as can be seen by posters here - they are True Believers. Thats pretty much proven by his numbers not going down in spite of gaffes and walkbacks that would have cratered any other candidate except perhaps Obama.
The problem is how is Trump going to get beyond 40% or so (he has yet to top 50% in any major state) of less than 40% the voters (registered GOP). Thats 16% of the general electorate as a core. Pretty weak as a starting point.
Now add to that, there are 1/4 to 1/3 or so of the GOP that simply will not vote for the guy. And large numbers as well of independents as well driven off by his liberal background, and the high negatives and abrasiveness not only of Trump but his acolytes as well.
So how does Trump sell himself to those people, without whom he will lose the general election in a landslide? How does he build a coalition that will vote for him in sufficient numbers, in enough states to win?
#16
This from Instaprof -
THEY PROBABLY HAD IT COMING: How Donald Trump Bent Television To His Will.
Two network sources also confirmed the unprecedented control the television networks have surrendered to Trump in a series of private negotiations, allowing him to dictate specific details about placement of cameras at his event, to ensure coverage consists primarily of a single shot of his face.
Network officials say the ratings have born out commercial incentives to devote their campaign coverage to largely unfiltered streams of Trump talking. CBS CEO Les Moonves quipped that Trump “may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS, that’s all I got to say.”
But many inside the networks are growing increasingly disturbed with what they’ve helped create.
“As a programmer, it’s an easy decision, people watch it,” said one producer. “As an American, I’m sort of troubled by it, because I feel like we contribute it.”
And this:
According to two sources familiar with the call, the Trump campaign, citing security concerns from Secret Service, dictated to the networks that their camera crews can only shoot Trump head-on from a fenced-in press pen.
Under the Trump campaign’s conditions, camera crews would not be able to leave the press pen during Trump’s rallies to capture video of audience reactions, known in the industry as “cutaway shots” or “cuts.” Networks would also not be able to use a separate riser set up to get cutaway shots.
The terms, which limit the access journalists have to supporters and protesters while Trump is speaking, are unprecedented, and are more restrictive than those put on the networks by the White House or Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which has had Secret Service protection for its duration.
You don’t have to be enthusiastic about Trump to enjoy watching him beat Clinton at her own media game.
Ignore it? No, they are not ignoring it. Trump is getting more MSM air time than all the other R candidates combined. The number I saw for CNN was 78% of their coverage.
Two take aways from this.
1. It is incredibly easy to manipulate a sizable number of Republican voters.
2. The MSM does not want Republicans to do well. If they are flogging Trump - and they are - then they are convinced Trump will hurt Republicans.
#18
Everything from now until November will be based on scaring the minority factions into showing up and convincing Bernie fans (wealthy whites and college age) she's not the establishment. The Democrat coalition is badly fractured.
All the Republicans have to do to clean their clock is avoid this brokered convention foolishness. Get on the Trump (or Cruz) train and hang on. If the none establishment Republicans play their cards right the union vote might be yanked from the Democrats for good.
#19
Am I the only one who notices the increase in ad hominem attacks lately on this site? Procopius, a long time poster, is referred to as "Proctopius" as in Proctology. Is it a new group of churlish dolts being attracted to the site? Just trolls trying to take up space and ridicule people who think differently? I hate thinking that this will last through the election.
#23
Is it a new group of churlish dolts being attracted to the site?
A multiple anonymous-nymed group of one thus far, Sgt D.T., but he was persistant. Some of our regulars also become excitable -- elections have mattered a great deal more since 9/11. It's easier to avoid if you stay away from Page 6: Seedy Politicians, and choose your op-eds carefully.
[DeutscheWelle] Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the threat to German institutions in Turkey was being taken very seriously. The embassy in Ankara has been shut, along with the Istanbul consulate and two German schools.
Germany's foreign ministry issued a statement advising caution in Ankara, Istanbul and other major Turkish cities. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier went into further detail on Thursday morning in Berlin.
"Yesterday evening, some very concrete indications - to be taken very seriously - reached our security services, saying that terror attacks against German institutions within The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... were being prepared," Steinmeier said.
Steinmeier also said that he had ordered German institutions in Turkey to close their doors, "because protecting German citizens and the people working and learning in these establishments must now take precedence."
Steinmeier: Security being bolstered
The German embassy in Ankara, consulate in Istanbul, and two German schools - one in each city - were shut as a result, Steinmeier said, adding that he had reached the decision overnight.
Steinmeier said that security precautions at the institutions were being bolstered, while the foreign ministry would convene on Thursday for a crisis meeting on the security situation in Turkey.
DW's correspondent Tom Stevenson in Istanbul went to the consulate soon after the warning: "Just arrived. Nothing unusual here: two armed police as always (today they are out of their car though). The security booth round the back is actually empty," Stevenson reported in an email to DW on arrival.
Shortly thereafter, however, at around 11:50 a.m. local time (0950 UTC/GMT), Stevenson noted that three buses full of Turkish police arrived on the scene.
Prestigious schools, central consulate
The consulate said in an email to German citizens that both facilities - the consulate and the nearby school, Deutsche Schule Istanbul - would stay shut as a precaution. This followed what it described as a "warning that could not be conclusively verified." It also urged German citizens to stay away from the area.
The German consulate in Istanbul is located in the vicinity of Taksim Square with the school a mile away in the Istiklal Caddesi pedestrian area. It's considered one of Turkey's most prestigious high schools.
I have a Turkish friend who graduated from the American high school in Izmir, which is also prestigious. I sense a trend.
In Ankara, the German school ("Alman Okulu" in Turkish) is located barely 200 meters from the embassy itself, just off Ataturk Boulevard.
The move comes days after 37 people were killed in a boom-mobile blast in the capital, Ankara. The Kurdish terror group TAK grabbed credit on Thursday.
The German embassy in Ankara had issued a warning on Tuesday of this week.
But the U.S. does not support a Kurdish federal region in Syria. Nothing like sending mixed messages, guys.
[AnNahar] U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Thursday praised the fighting of Kurdish groups in Syria that have declared a federal region in areas of the country under their control.
The Kurds "have proven to be excellent partners of ours on the ground in fighting ISIL," Carter said, using a term for 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 testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"We are grateful for that, and we intend to continue to do that, recognizing the complexities of their regional role."
He spoke the same day Syria's Kurds declared a de facto federal region in areas under their control in the north of the conflict-riven country, a move the United States opposes.
Kurdish groups say declaring a federal region along Syria's northern border with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... is aimed only at formalizing a semiautonomous zone they have already established during five years of war and create a model for decentralized government across Syria.
But Washington believes any Syrian federalism should develop from United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... -sponsored talks over a political settlement of the conflict currently underway in Geneva.
However, a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package... none of the groups representing the Kurdish minority are participating in the talks because of opposition from Turkey.
The Syrian government and the main Arab-led opposition group oppose federalism in Syria.
So does Turkey, which fears Kurds' ambitions in Syria are fuelling Kurdish separatism at home.
Kurds have played a crucial role in the U.S.-led fight against the Islamic State group in Syria, providing the backbone of the forces that have pushed back the jihadist group in the country's northeast.
The Kurds play a dominant role in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDS), an Arab-Syrian coalition the United States supports.
However, a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package... the Pentagon believes more Arab fighters will join the group.
"One month ago I would have said there are about 2,500 Arabs inside Syrian Democratic Forces," said Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Joe Dunford, who spoke alongside Carter. "Today, I can tell you we have 5,000."
More coalition victories would have a "snowball effect," he added.
"More people now are willing to join us because they see the level of support that we are providing and more importantly the level of success that these forces are having."
SDS fighters aided by U.S. special forces recently took control of al-Shadadi, a town in northeastern Syria previously considered a strategic Islamic State group stronghold.
The SDS has a total of 10,000 to 15,000 fighters, Dunford said, adding that they have an estimated reserve of 20,000 to 30,000 men.
[PNA] A joint military and police operation has led to the capture of a ranking New People's Army leader and recovered the body of his comrade who was killed during a gun battle in Matanao town, Davao Del Sur Wednesday morning.
The arrested militant was identified as Joan Casamorin, reportedly the vice-commander of Guerilla Front 72 of the Far South Mindanao Regional Committee. He is facing charges for robbery, kidnapping, four counts of murder and robbery with homicide. Casamorin was injured when he tried to resist.
Funny how that happens.
Fell down elebenteen flights of stairs?
Recovered from his possession was a gun, ammunition, three improvised explosive devices and the body of a certain "Jeb-jeb,"
"Jeb!" for short
a NPA militant reportedly killed during an earlier clash.
[AnNahar] Fresh links between the Gay Paree attacks and a bloody anti-terrorism raid in Brussels emerged Thursday as a manhunt continued for two suspected hard boyz who escaped.
The firefight on Tuesday, in which an Algerian national with suspected ties to 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.... was killed, erupted after Belgian and French police searched a property in connection with the November 13 Gay Paree massacres, claimed by IS.
Sources close to the investigation told AFP that the officers visited the apartment believing it was rented under the same false identity as a hideout in the southern Belgian city of Charleroi used by the Gay Paree attackers.
In the Charleroi hideout, police had found DNA traces of Gay Paree attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud as well as Chakib Akrouh, both of whom were killed north of the French capital days after the Gay Paree attacks under a hail of police bullets.
According to Belgian daily De Standaard, police believe both properties were actually rented by convicted car thief Khalid El Bakraoui, 27, who is on the lam.
His brother, Ibrahim El Bakraoui, is also known to authorities and served a nine-year sentence in 2010 after firing on police during a robbery, according to daily La Derniere Heure.
Sources close to the investigation told AFP the search on Tuesday was to verify if the El Bakraoui brothers were to be found at the apartment, though expectations were low as water and electric power had been cut off for weeks.
According to De Standaard, the two suspects on the run from the firefight Tuesday are not the El Bakraoui brothers, though a front man from the federal prosecutor refused to confirm the information.
The Standaard also reported that police found computers with encrypted data and false IDs at the scene of the firefight.
"In a stroke of luck, the police fell upon what evidently constitutes the core of a terror cell planning something," researcher Claude Moniquet of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center told AFP.
"These are active and heavily armed operators as shown by the presence of 11 Kalashnikov rifle chargers in the apartment," he added.
[IsraelTimes] As Russia announces pullout, Tehran says it is training teams of ‘military advisers’ to be deployed abroad
Iran signaled that it was training commandos and snipers to send to Syria, days after Russia announced it was pulling most of its troops out of the country to allow a diplomatic process to take hold.
Iran, which said it would also send the troops to Iraq, characterized them as "military advisers."
General Ali Arasteh, deputy chief liaison of the Iranian Army’s Ground Force, told news hounds in Tehran that the first group was undergoing preparation and may be sent soon, according to the semi-official Fars news website on Wednesday.
"At some point we might decide to use our commandos and snipers as military advisers in Iraq and Syria," he said.
The Tasnim news site, regarded as close to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, reported Wednesday that the first contingent of "rapid reaction" commandos and snipers had attended a ceremony to mark the end of a two-month intensive course training with an Iranian-made sniper rifle.
Iran has been backing Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... in the Syrian civil war, providing troops, training, logistical support and cash.
Support from Russia and Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has also been key to helping Assad maintain power during a civil war that has stretched on for five years, but this week the Kremlin announced it would pull much of its force out of Syria.
Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy group, denied reports Wednesday that it was also pulling out of the country.
"False messages have been disseminated about the partial withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters" from Syria, a Hezbollah official told Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Last week, General Qassem Soleimani, who commands the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, said his force would continue operating outside Iran’s borders.
The Quds force is responsible for overseas military and clandestine operations.
The wave of kidnappings in and around Tripoli continues. It was announced today that the chairman of Rahila fuel distribution company, Abdulati Al-Rafadi, disappeared yesterday while on his way home to Zawia. He is presumed to have been kidnapped. He was last seen outside his office in the capital’s Hay Andalus district around 1.30 pm.
In the current lawlessness of Libya, in Tripoli and to the west of it, the kidnappings are largely for ransom, with gangs aware they can act with impunity.
There has been no announcement so far as to whether a ransom has been demanded for Al-Rafadi.
[ALMANAR.LB] Outraged Brazilians protested in Brasilia and Sao Paulo late Wednesday following the release of a taped phone call between President Dilma Rousseff and her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
During the call, recorded earlier Wednesday by police and released by a federal judge, Rousseff called Lula on his bugged phone to tell him she would be sending him the official decree nominating him as her chief of staff so that he could make use of it "if necessary."
I'm betting even Hillary isn't this clumsy, but I'd like to be wrong...
That extract was largely seen as confirmation that an aim of Lula's nomination to the post Wednesday was to spare him possible arrest for corruption. Cabinet ministers can only be tried before the Supreme Court in Brazil and ministerial immunity will now protect Lula from prosecution in criminal court.
The recording was made public by federal judge Sergio Moro, who is heading a probe into Brazil's biggest ever corruption scandal.
Lula vigorously denies involvement in the scandal, in which Sherlocks say construction companies conspired with Petrobras executives to overbill the oil giant to the tune of $2 billion, paying huge bribes to politicians and parties along the way.
The release of the recording caused an uproar in Congress, where furious opposition politicians shouted "Resign! Resign!"
Some 2,000 people spontaneously gathered in the capital Brasilia demanding that Lula step down and Rousseff leave office and to show their support Moro.
As night fell, another protest began in Sao Paulo, according to an AFP photographer.
"Resign! Resign!" shouted several thousand protesters at the foot of a highrise housing FIESP, a powerful federation of Sao Paulo industries that was illuminated in green and yellow -- Brazil's national colors -- in addition to a large inscription that read "Impeach now."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2016
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#1
Ms Dilma is getting NAO respect.
Posted by: Ho Chi Crinens5363 ||
03/18/2016 3:25
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#2
With each day the US is looking more and more like a banana republic.....or in this case vice versa.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Groups opposed to the state's $1.2 billion expansion of Interstate 70 in northeast Denver have joined the Sierra Club in a federal lawsuit to attempt to scuttle the project.
The world's most wanted man, a prime suspect in the Paris terrorist attacks, has been wounded in a police raid in Brussels.
The Feds have a very poor track record with these sort of encounters. Interesting how the FBI tends to shy away from violence such as that which took place in Ferguson, Missouri in August of 2014. I reckon it's more convenient to investigate and find fault with local law enforcement, after the fact. 
[ALMANAR.LB] The Syrian army units, backed by its air forces, continued chasing ISIL, 
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The dissident Taliban leader Mullah Rasool has said he will not participate in peace talks with the government which is led by the Taliban supreme leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.
Zawahiri
[PNA] A joint military and police operation has led to the capture of a ranking New People's Army leader and recovered the body of his comrade who was killed during a gun battle in Matanao town, Davao Del Sur Wednesday morning.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
