A conundrum: Today's American soldier is by common consent the world's finest, even history's finest, but the United States doesn't win its wars. Time and again, the mission - the overall aim of the exercise - goes unaccomplished, while the war itself continues as if on autopilot. Why? Politics? Liberals? Progressives? Nah!
Instinctively, and not entirely without reason, Americans hold politicians responsible for failing to deliver victories promised and expected. For many, it's all George W. Bush's fault. For others, it's Barack Obama's. Dig a bit deeper, however, and the American people themselves share in the culpability. But it's Bush's fault Obama was elected, so it's all his fault anyway. And Truman's. Johnson's. Nixon's. Carter's. Put simply, the nation's military system is out of sync with its military ambitions. That system, euphemistically known as the All-Volunteer Force or AVF, employs a mix of patriotic appeals and material blandishments to induce young Americans to go fight in distant lands. Yet those responding to these inducements are too few in number to get the job done. That's the reason? There are not enough? I wonder why there are not more? American's young people aren't political enough? They need more blandishments?
This is notably the case in the greater Middle East, for decades now the epicenter of U.S. military activity. Ironically, the very doggedness of those who do serve - nursing the hope that one more deployment on top of the last three or four might finally close the deal ‐ provides a handy excuse for ignoring the futility of the larger enterprise on which the United States has embarked. Ahh, so it's futile, anyway. But the politicians aren't the problem, it's the military!
Numbers tell the story. Opinions may differ on how many troops it would take to secure the population, territory, and borders of Iraq and Afghanistan, the former larger than California and the latter roughly the size of Texas. But as a rough estimate, let's posit a half-million - for each. Taken at face value, that's a very considerable figure. In the context of previous large-scale American wars and relative to the current population, it's not. So we could have won both wars? But for the military's failures? And the expensive contractors. Don't forget them!
Even so, in neither theater did the United States ever came close to meeting that requirement. The Pentagon's commitment to Iraq topped out at 158,000 during the so-called "Surge." In Afghanistan, U.S. troop strength peaked at 98,000 during President Obama's first term. We can gauge the shortfall in U.S. troops by tallying up the number of "defense contractors" - another misleading euphemism ‐ hired to perform (typically at exorbitant prices) duties traditionally assigned to soldiers. Astonishingly, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, contractors equaled or outnumbered U.S. uniformed personnel. If only the Pentagon had assigned the correct number of troops!
So as measured by the number of troops putting their lives on the line, historians will not enshrine Iraq or Afghanistan alongside the Civil War, the world wars, or Vietnam on the roster of this nation's Big Wars. So this amazing rationale does not consider Vietnam?
Iraq and Afghanistan do, however, head the list of our Long Wars. At least in part, they ended up being long because they were not big. That is, the insufficiency of boots on the ground imposed constraints on the commanders charged with waging them. A nugget.
Not that the views of U.S. commanders or even the commander-in-chief himself carry much weight on that score. Under the terms of the AVF, the issue is not theirs to decide. Or the Congress, for that matter. The same Congress that abandoned Vietnam in 1975.
The bargain implicit in the All-Volunteer Force from the moment of its inception redefined military service as choice rather than obligation. This bargain leaves it to ordinary Americans to decide how much wars such as Iraq and Afghanistan should matter. Their limited willingness to volunteer suggests their answer: Not much. Ordinary Americans. setting the Pentagon budget. Who knew?
Crucially, this indifference toward wars in which Americans as a whole are so little invested allows policymakers to continue those wars in perpetuity, with few questions asked. War thereby becomes a normal condition, with peace at best a theoretical proposition. Policymakers? Who are those guys/gals? In the Pentagon? The Military-Industrial Complex? Secretary of Defense? Nancy Pelosi?
The complaint here is not that in a time of protracted armed conflict a mere 1 percent serve. Rather, the complaint is that the other 99 percent find the arrangement and ensuing results tolerable. A conspiracy of silence, or perhaps a clamor of hollow cheerleading, shields our prevailing military system from critical scrutiny. Political and military leaders collaborate in ignoring its shortcomings. The great majority of Americans finds it expedient to go along. Only because the author considers the great majority of Americans to be Democrats, or Independents, but not conservatives. Clearly, the author is unaware of Rantburg.
The solution lies in ensuring that priorities and values align. At present, they do not. Stripped to its essentials, the prevailing definition of U.S. interests requires the United States to exercise global leadership, relying on superior military might to punish, pacify, and police. Meanwhile, the prevailing definition of American values, emphasizing the uninhibited pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, increasingly centers on personal self-actualization. This guy may be on to something. The military is at war, the nation is at the mall.
To fulfill its self-imposed obligations as sole superpower, the United States would need a citizenry that subscribes to the warrior-patriot's code: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country. Most Americans are far more likely to subscribe to the code vividly displayed each weekend in Style sections of newspapers. There, the appeal of dying for one's country takes a backseat to the latest tips on relationships, restaurants, recipes, street wear, household furnishings, and places to be seen. And when the next government blandishment gets deposited.
Thus does the AVF persist. It does so not because it works but because Americans choose to ignore its defects, thereby turning a blind eye to the sacrifices exacted of the troops and the outcomes of the wars we charge them with fighting. Painful as it may be to acknowledge, those sacrifices have been largely pointless and the outcomes uniformly disappointing. When will anyone take notice? When we find another Ronald Reagan. Andrew J. Bacevich is the author of the new book America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/24/2016
13:29 ||
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#1
It doesn't take lots of troops.
It simply takes acknowledgement that war is something you engage in when legal and diplomatic means don't work.
That being the case lawyers (including JAGs), politicians and diplomats and rules should be kept away from the successful use of weapons and troops to implement a conclusion to the need for the war.
#4
It probably helps to have clearly defined goals.
Posted by: james ||
04/24/2016 14:57
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#5
Why America Fails to Win Wars Surrenders
There, fixed that for you. (The next president Americans elected after Bush was a muslim who changed his name Hussein.)
Posted by: Unelet Protector of the Sith2424 ||
04/24/2016 15:00
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#6
We are too eager to believe the perfectability of every foreign nation, culture, and/or religion (guess who?) exposed to our ideals. Spmetimes you need to go in and break shit, then leave, as an example for others. It is not worth another American life to nation-build for the ignorant ungrateful goatfuckers
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2016 15:08
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#7
The writer is a fucking idiot. Blame the troops, blame the pentagon, don't blame to politicians that set the ROE, wanted to nation build across Afghanistan, never really wanted to win a hard war. So blame the easy ones, the troops that are fighting America's battles.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/24/2016 15:11
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#8
Because we stick our noses into others people's business in places where we don't belong.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/24/2016 15:30
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#9
Ditto #7.
#8 sort of.
The problem is two fold and both sides belong to the politicians.
A) Define the enemy.
B) Define what victory looks like.
The troops will gladly then answer the call and achieve the desired results.
#10
This may have something to do with the author's perspective:
On May 13, 2007, Bacevich's son, Andrew John Bacevich, was killed in action in Iraq by an improvised explosive device south of Samarra in Salah ad Din Governorate.[8] The younger Bacevich, 27, was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army,[9] assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.
#11
possible reasons are our poor ROE, our political duplicity, our lack of will to kill all enemy until they beg to surrender, engaging in wars without American strategic imperative...
#12
Too many individual wars run within the war. SOF goes one direction, White House runs drone zapp program and focused on EXFIL. Big green Army and USMC go another direction chasing bad guys. US Embassy and Foggy Bottom focused on diplomacy. Klingons focused on Klingons. Host Nation focused on the 'conflict after' and survival.
Nobody talking to one another. No unity of effort. No leadership.
#13
Besoeker, One would think after losing a son he would go after the confused policy, lack of strategic coordination, and constraining ROE.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/24/2016 18:39
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#14
As a society our politicians (democrats) seem to have developed a willingness to lose for partisan game. Since they aren't held accountable for the duplicity in the fall of Vietnam or the fall of Iraq they will continue.
#16
The following TED talk addresses one very interesting way to look at the challenges that face the American military - and offers one approach towards dealing with those challenges:
[WAPO] A few years ago, two economics professors, Quamrul Ashraf and Oded Galor, published a paper, "The Out of Africa Hypothesis, Human Genetic Diversity, and Comparative Economic Development," that drew inferences about poverty and genetics based on a statistical pattern. Is Darwin to be believed? Well yes, but only when convenient.
The world’s most genetically diverse countries (using their measure of what counts as genetically diverse) are in sub-Saharan Africa, which is the world’s poorest region. The least genetically diverse countries are in places like Bolivia, which have low incomes but not as low as in that region of Africa. There’s an intermediate level of genetic diversity among the residents of the middle-income and rich countries in Asia, Europe and North America.
Genetic diversity arises from migratory distance of populations from East Africa. Countries in east Africa have the highest genetic diversity because this is where humans evolved. Populations that settled in other parts of the world descend from various subgroups of people who left Africa at different times. Thus, these groups are less varied in their genetic profiles.
Ashraf and Galor put this together and argued that this is "reflecting the trade-off between the beneficial and the detrimental effects of diversity on productivity." Their argument was that a little bit of genetic diversity is a good thing because "a wider spectrum of traits is more likely to be complementary to the development and successful implementation of advanced technological paradigms," but if a country is too genetically diverse, its economy will suffer from "reduced cooperation and efficiency." Thus, they wrote, "the high degree of diversity among African populations and the low degree of diversity among Native American populations have been a detrimental force in the development of those regions."
Gets one to thinking of three bowls of porridge...
Any claim that economic outcomes can be explained by genes will be immediately controversial. It can be interpreted as a justification of the status quo, as if it is arguing that existing economic inequality among countries has a natural, genetic cause. See this paper by Guedes et al. for further discussion of this point.
When the paper by Ashraf and Galor came out, I criticzed it from a statistical perspective, questioning what I considered its overreach in making counterfactual causal claims such as: The mind-worm will die, but only if you stop reading NOW !
As someone who works with geneticists and who (tries to do) does genetics a little himself, it's more than a bit of a stretch to blame the differences between Africa, Europe and Bolivia all on genetics. There's a couple thousand years of culture to account for, and we know the environment modifies genetics (that's a whole field of 'epigenetics', and it's real). So my retort to this is that it's culture, environment, genetics, and human behavior all wrapped together, and good luck trying to sort out the relative contributions of each. Focusing on one part exclusively means one ignores the contributions of the other parts; and that's going to be a major error.
#1
I think it has to do with culture and weather. Cold weather climates promote a work together or freeze to death culture. Hot weather cultures do not.
#2
Good points at the salmon. With due respect to your acknowledged expertise and study, I'd love to hear your comments on the 40,000 to 80,000 year (by some estimates) head start on civilization and progress.
There has got to be more to this story than environmental impacts.
#10
I once read an interesting paper about the absence of domesticable animals in sub-Saharan Africa. There were no horses or dogs or cattle that easily supported the growth of Animal Husbandry. No pigs or chickens to speak of made it extremely hard to move off the hunter gatherer plateau.
Can't critique the argument but it seemed to make sense as something to add into the picture. Of course there is no single answer as so many always want.
#11
Up till about 1700, Europe was a bunch of tribes just getting their national identity together. Meanwhile, China had been the real world power in size and whatever passed for GDP back then and had been for centuries, minus the cyclic breakups and reunifications. They could have asked back then, why is Europe poor and China so wealthy? Once you understand the operative elements to Western ascendency, then you can critique from perspective the whys for the differences.
#12
I would venture to say it is a combination of many factors. But rarely discovery out of Africa was ever popular. While Europe and Asia continuously innovated, explored, expanded... To improve their way of life. How far underdeveloped would Africa be without the evil colonialists?
#13
Perhaps freezing wasn't the best term. Some weather promotes agriculture and civilization, others like tropical islands provide and civilization doesn't seem to from the same way.
#14
The problem is, no one wants to talk About the Northern Protestant explosion, so they have to talk about race and genetics, but they can't talk about that, really, either, because Nazi, sooo... You get mush like this paper.
#15
Sub-Saharan Africans are the only genetic population lacking Neanderthal DNA.
There have been and will be many great civilizations. But Indo-European's seem to have produced the largest and most successful of those consistently throughout known history.
#16
There's also the element of 'private privilege and ownership'.
The early European feudal systems made it difficult for an individual to innovate. There were no individual incentives to expand or progress, unless your ruler deemed it so. In fact, individual incentive was usually met with less than desirable results.
Modern civilization in Europe didn't really take off until the breakup of the feudal system, with the result being that mere individuals could own property and work for themselves. The Dutch and British were the first to really implement this in the 1300-1400's (some locations earlier), other northern European countries followed with the Mediterranean states (Italy, Spain, Greece) lagging till much later.
Whereas early North American colonization (NOT Mexico) was of the Dutch/British notion that individuals could work their own jobs and own property, Mexico, Central and South America were still of the old 'Padron' feudal system until the 1800's.
The African tribal systems ran along the 'feudal' mindset that there was no individual property rights and you were born to your life's work. Again, there was no individual incentive to expand or progress, unless your ruler deemed it so.
East Asian systems were 'feudal', but had extremely strong (and large) family components AND Confucian philosophies. They succeeded until the ruling classes were so interbred that they became physically unable (and unwilling) to continue any progress. The civilizations there stagnated until the late 20th century.
Culture stagnation and the repression of individual incentives may have a part to play with the answer to this question, too.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/24/2016 21:49
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#17
Another interesting point with regards to genetics is the "mix". For example, we have empirical evidence for successful civilization development if we look at Japan and Germany, both culturally unrelated, both monolithic and both very warlike. Germany having followed the natural progression of development and Japan "jump starting" in the mid 1800's. Both industrialized relatively quickly and despite annihilation, were able to become world economic powers within a short time. Yet these two civilizations are totally unrelated in every aspect. It would be interesting to see if therein is a certain genomic mix which both genetic groups share.
Personally I think warfare, it's type, frequency and duration plays a huge role in a civilization's success and development. Mainly, being the culling of those unsuccessful in contributing to war and it's losers. Intense generational warfare over hundreds of years, as experienced in Europe, certainly produces a genetic "type" of European, whether serf or King, the successful one.
#19
Also an interesting aspect of Sociobiology could be displayed in modern terrorism. So the classic example is a father and son are drowning, who does the grandfather save? Sociobiology will dictate he saves the grandson because at the genetic level the grandfathers actions are dictated that his own genes are most likely to succeed through the grandson.
Contrast this with a civilization where you encourage your son or grandson to become a suicide bomber. To Eurpoeans/Americans this is anthema. Is this genetic? Does some aspect of their genomic makeup allow for this? I'm not saying parents don't love their kids. I'm saying this could be an example of a difference in outcome at the genetic level due to genetic make-up of the different population which, for some reason, devalues the necessity to select the best option to perpetuate the genes.
[Aljazeera] As the beginning of the endgame on Syria commences, Israel is signaling its intention to join in the feasting on Syria's decaying sovereignty - demanding international recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights captured from Syria in the June 1967 war.
The occasion for this demand was an extraordinary cabinet session in on the Golan plateau - the first ever - where, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reckoning, 50,000 Israeli settlers reside.
"I chose to hold this festive cabinet meeting on the Golan Heights in order to deliver a clear message," Netanyahu declared at the outset of the meeting. "The Golan Heights will forever remain in Israel's hands. Israel will never come down from the Golan Heights."
This Israeli message bears repeating, particularly now when the parties to the war in Syria are jockeying for advantage in the first stages of the diplomatic battle to end the war and to design Syria's future.
Netanyahu, no less than the multitude of players circling around the decimated Syrian state, is determined to place its maximal demands on the diplomatic agenda now being fashioned in Washington and Moscow. "Maximal demands" for survival. Is that too much to ask ?
It is significant that Netanyahu set out this demand for international recognition of the Golan Heights' annexation without addressing the larger question of a peace treaty with Damascus, which has always been part of the broader diplomatic context in which negotiations over the Golan Heights have been held.
Syria, of course, is hardly able to consider engaging in negotiations over the Golan Heights' future. Nor is there much evidence that any Syrian party to the war is prepared to recognise Israeli sovereignty. Both opposition leader Riad Hijab and Syria's Bashar al-Jaafari found themselves in unusual agreement on their adamant rejection of Netanyahu's provocative declaration. Swiftly moving from hopeless blathering to closing paras and yes of course, the obligatory blame game:
This shortcoming is all the greater because of the spectacular failure of the Obama administration's initial demand for a complete settlement freeze.
The patent first established during the Obama administration's diplomatic offensive on Palestine - grandiose American statements lacking any real strategic sense or commitment to their implementation - is now playing out in Syria, as well. Brain check? Ahg! I find myself agreeing with Aljazeera. I too blame the indolent, petulant Champ, but not simply for the situation in the Golan. One need not connect the settlements in the West Bank to Syria to understand what Champ has been doing with regard to Syria. In fact, it's easier if you don't...
#1
Don't blame the author. A brain eating protozoan has systematically devoured any recollection of history and facts. An empty shell and dogmatic Islamic chants are all that remain. He writes reasonably well however, which provides valuable insights into the larger group think, as if any additional insights were needed.
The 'dog bites feeding hand' blame line is chocolate mousse to the soul. More please, with much wider dissemination and fact-filled examples.
#2
If you capture strategic territory from which an attack was launched on your nation you are under NO obligation to return it.
Moral of the story: don't start fights and lose
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2016 12:54
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#3
Ditto Frank. Since 1947 or so, an unending serious of wars, terrorism and conflict aimed at finishing the work begun by a deranged Austrian house painter. Who could fault the push-back ?
[NYPost] The New York Times Co. is preparing to lay off a few hundred staffers in the second half of the year, The Post has learned.
Chairman and Publisher Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger Jr.'s management team has been talking with some of the Times' unions to come to a deal to provide reduced severance to those affected, sources told The Post.
And if they don't reach an agreement, Pinchy will just fire them...
"There's a goal of a couple of hundred people," said a source familiar with talks. "They don't want to pay out big packages, and they're having negotiations with the unions." NY Elites: Friend of the Worker
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2016
11:25 ||
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#1
When the news is made and full of lies, rather than true investigative journalism, you don't need that many people...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/24/2016 15:08
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#2
Poor Pinch. Such decisions are weighty.
His car splashes past a gray lady.
The corner, the whoring,
The stories so boring...
Pretending it's still 1980.
#3
The last time the NYT got pay concessions from a union under their purview, Pinchy & Janet Robinson (then CEO) rewarded themselves with huge pay increases. I'm expecting a similar backstabbing this time around.
#5
Marty: The last time Tap toured America, they where, uh, booked into 10,000 seat arenas, and 15,000 seat venues, and it seems that now, on their current tour they're being booked into 1,200 seat arenas, 1,500 seat arenas, and uh I was just wondering, does this mean uh...the popularity of the group is waning?
Ian: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no...no, no, not at all. I, I, I just think that the.. uh.. their appeal is becoming more selective.
Some 300 people gathered on Saturday in St. James Monastery in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem and held a ceremony commemorating 101 years to the beginning of the Armenian Genocide.
The ceremony was held after a mass that was led by Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian, and was attended by the leaders of Armenian community in Jerusalem. The service honored the memory of some 1.5 million Armenian victims whom Ottoman forces killed between 1915 and 1923, mainly in Syria.
Clashes between Kurdish and Shi'ite Turkmen paramilitary forces broke out late on Saturday in northern Iraq, killing at least two fighters and cutting a strategic road between Baghdad and the oil city of Kirkuk, security sources said.
The violence in Tuz Khurmatu, about 175 km (110 miles) north of the capital, has become a near monthly occurrence between the armed groups, uncomfortable allies against Islamic State since driving the jihadist militants out of towns and villages in the area in 2014.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
01:25 ||
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#1
A fortunate seafaring rover,
As lucky as five-leaféd clover:
"I grounded and stove 'er,
Half drowned, and rolled over
To witness the white clefts of Dover!"
[www.army.mil] EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- A Special Forces noncommissioned officer has returned to full active duty service two and a half years after his hand was amputated to free him from underneath a vehicle before a suicide bomber could strike a deadly blow against him and his team.
Sgt. 1st Class Ivan Morera, a Miami native and a Special Forces Medic, continues to serve with the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), despite being severely wounded in a vehicle roll-over in Afghanistan.
In August 2013, an insurgent on a motorcycle drove up to the front-left tire of the MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle that Morera was driving. Aware of intelligence reports stating insurgents were employing suicide bombers on motorcycles, Morera swerved to avoid the attacker. The insurgent pursued Morera's vehicle, even as he swerved multiple times. The final time Morera swerved, the vehicle went off the road. When he over-corrected to return to the road, the vehicle began to roll over. While the vehicle flipped, the driver's side door next to Morera broke off its hinges and combat lock.
"I woke up and noticed my hand had been crushed. I called out for my team sergeant. He unstrapped himself and put a tourniquet on my arm," said Morera recalling the aftermath of the roll-over. "He called over my junior medic who put an additional tourniquet on and they had to complete the amputation in order to pull me out of the vehicle."
In addition to the loss of a hand, he suffered severe damage to his left shoulder and knee during the roll-over. After Morera was medically evacuated, the motorcycle-borne suicide bomber returned to attack the Special Forces team, killing himself by detonating his improvised explosive device and wounding a number of the Green Berets still at the scene of the accident.
[FOXNEWS] Charles Krauthammer told viewers Friday on "Special Report with Bret Baier" that new Fox News poll numbers in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, are "devastating for Cruz."
The New Fox News poll shows Republican Donald Trump holding a big lead in California. Trump captures 49 percent of likely Republican primary voters. That’s more than the combined support for his two remaining competitors. Ted Cruz receives 22 percent and John Kasich 20 percent.
"That is a New York massacre," Krauthammer said. "So if that happens ‐ and let’s assume that Indiana and California end up where the polls are ‐ then I don’t see how Cruz has a claim."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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#1
You have been a dumb jackass for the past 4 years Krauthammer. Your minds meld into utter shit when sitting around in NY listening to nattering nanobodies all day. Hardly worth a news channel.
In fact, I just shit canned your whole network because you are dumb suck pieces of non learning political shit with you don't know what values.
It's a club of crap. You are on notice, rupert. This crew SUCKS ASS so you are fired as a news channel from here on out.
Ergo, I have no cable news channel, and only 4 shows I Am willing to watch.
My Twitter is a better source anyways since they have real people on it.
#3
Yeah, well... Hoover was a "businessman" too.
Trump is an idiot. This will be a not fun term for US trying to piece together shit like nations and economies with this show biz Biff coming out of the woodwork to un-thread needles and such.
Everytime I think I have a deal with Trump, It breaks because he is like dealing with Iranians on deals and shit.
You had to be there.
He BETTER read Rantburg or he is out for default on finding any intel at all.
#6
So you're saying that Trump is winning by going big in Dem states that he has no chance of competing in, in the general, while getting, a bit over 1/3 of the GOP votes in the swing states where any candidate must be competitive to win?
Similar ffor Cruz but flipped - he is doing amazing in the GOP easy states, but doing so-so at best in some of the swing states.
Seems to me the GOP has designed a primary system that produces nothing but a loser for the general election.
They need to stop letting Democrats and Indeps choose their nominees in some states, dont give so much wight to states that will never be GOP or will always be GOP, and put more weight on states that were close to being GOP in the last election cycle.
How they do that I haven't a clue.
I think I will just buy more ammo, gasoline stabilizer and stock up on antibiotics & alcohol.
#7
B, Koch knows he cant control him, now I am certain I'm voting for him.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/24/2016 15:14
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#8
Your choices now have been reduced to Crooked Hillary, Lyin' Ted, Bernie the Bolshevik Sanders and Donald Trump. I like Ted's positions but he's just too slick, too slimy, too Canadian and too Cuban. Sorry. And if Hillary had the slightest little bit of integrity left in that decrepit body of hers she would have divorced Bill before he ever left Arkansas. Bernie is a Bolshevik. 'Nuff said.
newc, I gave up on Fox years ago. What took you so long? They're really no better than ABC except instead of Clinton they like Bush. What's the difference?
Fat Bob, I dunno about other states but in California you have to be registered Republican to vote in the Republican primary. There are still a few Republicans left in this state and we deserve a vote. No caucus. No backroom deals. Straight democracy. Not since 1976 has it mattered the least little bit how Californians voted in the primary because all of the other states vote before we do and the deal is done before June. This year I'm thrilled to be in a position where my vote will be important. And if Trump can bring a few Democrats along with him in November, so much the better.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/24/2016 16:36
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#9
just too slick, ..., too Canadian
I've trouble with slick and Canadian going together
#10
B, Koch knows he cant control him, now I am certain I'm voting for him. Posted by 49 Pan
Roger! Everyone should be BINGO for excuses for not voting Trump about now. Nobody every said you had to 'like' the sob. Probably more like Koch to come.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs suffered heavy casualties during a military operation launched by the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) which led to the opening of Kunduz-Takhar highway.
According to the local security officials, the operation was launched late on Friday night in parts of Kunduz province, near the main highway connecting Kunduz and northeastern Takhar province.
Provincial police chief Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh said at least 20 Taliban snuffies were killed and 6 others were maimed during the operation.
The clearance operations are currently underway in certain villages and parts of Kunduz which threaten the main highway, the officials added.
The highway going through Kunduz is considered as one of the main highways in northern Afghanistan which connects northeastern Takhar with Badakhshan and Kunduz provinces.
The anti-government armed forces of Evil are usually threatening the highway by conducting insurgency activities, mainly in Kunduz province where the Taliban snuffies are having a widespread presence.
The Talibs launched a major offensive during the recent weeks in a bid to capture key parts of Kunduz province, including the strategic Kunduz city which was seized by the group last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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[Iran Press TV] North Korea says it will stop its nuclear tests on the condition that the US halts its annual military exercises with South Korea.
"It is really crucial for the United States government to withdraw its hostile policy against the DPRK and as an expression of this stop the military exercises, war exercises, in the Korean Peninsula. Then we will respond likewise," said North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong in an interview with the News Agency that Dare Not be Named in New York on Saturday.
He added that if the exercises stop "for some period, for some years...new opportunities may arise for the two countries and for the entire world as well."
In March, the US and South Korea began massive war games involving more than 17,000 American and 300,000 South Korean troops, with warships and aircraft carrying out live-fire drills in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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#1
...Oh, that's easy: keep up the exercises, run the place on a wartime basis 24/7. He'll run out of bombs long before we run out of supplies and money.
Then whack his overweight, megalomaniacal little a$$ into the garbage where it belongs, and walk away.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/24/2016 9:33
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(IraqiNews.com) Diyali – Diyali Police Command announced on Saturday seizing a large cache of weapons and explosives in the vicinity of al-Mansouriya east of Baqubah.
Diyali Police chief, Maj. Gen. Jasim al-Sa’adi, said in a press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Security forces belonging to the police and al-Hashed al-Asha’ri [militia] conducted inspection operations in groves located in the vicinity of al-Mansouriya (45 km east of Baqubah), resulting in the seizure of a large hideout that contains more than 130 Kalashnikov rifles, thermal missiles and gunpowder used for manufacturing explosive devices, in addition to destroying a boat for ISIS that was used for transferring the explosives.”
Sa’adi also added, “The raid operations came in accordance with the strategy adopted by the leadership of the police in preventing the presence of any foothold for terrorists, in addition to launching tactical and proactive operations in order to achieve the internal stability and protect the liberated areas.”
Posted by: badanov ||
04/24/2016
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BEIRUT: Daesh terrorists on Friday captured a Syrian pilot alive after shooting down his plane east of Damascus, the Daesh-affiliated Amaq news agency said.
Amaq gave the pilot’s name as Azzam Eid, from Hama. It said Daesh fighters had shot down his plane and found him alive after he parachuted down to the crash site.
A video posted by Amaq showed the charred remains of a plane, some parts still on fire, lying on a vast desert plain. Several apparent Daesh fighters in military-style fatigues circle around the wreckage, pointing to the two-starred Syrian government flag clearly visible on one of the wings.
Syrian state news agency SANA had no immediate news on it.
The United States and its allies targeted Daesh militants in Iraq with 20 strikes on Friday and 10 in Syria, the US military said on Saturday.
Regime bombardment of rebel-held areas across Syria killed at least 27 civilians on Saturday, threatening an eight-week-old truce at a time when peace talks are stalled in Geneva.
The head of a Britain-based monitoring group said the escalating violence meant a cease-fire between the regime and rebels, in place since late February, had effectively collapsed.
Twelve civilians were killed in air strike on the northern metropolis of Aleppo on Saturday, a local civil defence official said. The Syrian Human Rights Observatory said 13 others died in shelling of the rebel-held town of Douma, while two men were killed in regime airstrikes on Talbisseh in central Homs province.
The United States and its allies targeted Daesh militants in Iraq with 20 strikes on Friday and 10 in Syria, the US military said on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a Syrian warplane crashed over a town controlled by the group southeast of Damascus. The war jet crashed over Tal Dakweh near the town of Beir Al Qassab southeast of Damascus, said the Observatory. The London-based watchdog group stopped short of giving further details, saying it was not clear whether the aircraft was downed by Daesh or multifunction.
Earlier in the day, Russia's Interfax news agency said the plane crashed because of a technical fault. It quoted a Syrian military source as saying that the crashed plane had recently undergone repairs while there was no attack from the ground, adding that "it crashed because of a technical fault."
The report also identified the plane as a Mig-23.
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04/24/2016
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Egypt has tossed in the clink Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! dozens of activists ahead of an anti-government demonstration planned for Monday, a group of lawyers said.
The group published a list of 59 people they say were detained since Thursday, arrested at cafes and at their homes in Cairo, adding "the arrests continue".
Opposition groups -- including the April 6 movement, which spearheaded the popular uprising that ousted former leader Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... in 2011 -- have called for the rally mainly in protest at the government's deal to hand two islands in the Red Sea to Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... On April 15, more than 1,000 people demonstrated in central Cairo in the biggest protest in two years demanding "the fall of the regime", with police firing tear gas to disperse them.
That protest was called for by both secular and Islamic activists, and while originally about the islands became a wider demonstration against the Sisi government.
Demonstrations not approved by the police have been banned.
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04/24/2016
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[ARA News] DAMASCUS ــ At least 13 people were killed after army forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad pounded the city of Duma in the eastern suburbs of Damascus in southern Syria with heavy artillery, local sources reported on Saturday.
Speaking to ARA News in Duma, rights activist Yasser Fistaqi confirmed that at least 13 civilians were killed in the city of Duma eastern Ghouta near Syria’s capital Damascus, including a child and two women, while dozens more wounded after the pro-regime army forces targeted the popular market in the city with heavy weapons.
The injured were transferred to nearby field hospitals.
“The regime’s army has systematically attacked the market crowded with civilians with artillery shells and rockets, without taking into account the presence of children, women and elderly people in the area,” Fistaqi reported.
Assad’s forces, which have stationed in the areas surrounding Duma, targeted the district of the eastern Ghouta with artillery shells and rocket launchers, according to the same source.
Eyewitnesses told ARA News that a state of panic prevailed among the residents of Duma as a result of the continued bombardment launched by pro-regime army forces.
Meanwhile, rebel groups that are in control of Duma called on the people, through mosques’ loudspeakers, to hide in shelters after Saturday’s massacre.
The city of Duma has been relatively calm during the past few days before the regime’s last use of heavy weapons. However, Syrian army troops have launched dozens of artillery shells and conducted several airstrikes on residential areas despite the fragile truce that came into force on February 17.
The truce has been on the verge of collapse after opposition delegation suspended on Friday their participation in Geneva talks.
More than 280,000 people have been killed over five years of conflict in Syria, amid mounting refugee crisis in the region and Europe caused by the ongoing war.
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04/24/2016
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One soldier was killed on April 23 in an outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attack in the southeastern province of Mardin. Gendarmerie specialized sergeant Ethem Hacımahmutoğlu was heavily wounded by PKK sharpshooter fire during operations in the Nusaybin district at around 8 a.m. He was immediately taken to the Nusaybin State Hospital but later succumbed to injuries despite all efforts.
Security forces operation in the district was ongoing.
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04/24/2016
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[ARANews] ERBIL – The radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul has banned sports shops from selling sportswear, local sources reported on Saturday.
Local activists confirmed that ISIS-led security forces [also known as Hisba police] have been wandering in Iraq’s Mosul markets since three days, arresting a number of people, including women for violating the Islamic dress as well as the men who shaved their beards. This coincided with a siege imposed on the city by the Iraqi army and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, supported by the US-led coalition forces.
Speaking to ARA News in Mosul, media activist Abdullah al-Malla said a patrol for the ISIS-linked Hisba police has informed owners of sports shops in Mosul’s Dawasa market about the new orders regarding banning the sale of sportswear.
The ISIS group views selling and wearing sportswear as “a blind imitation of infidel Westerners”, al-Malla cited an ISIS Hisba officer as saying.
“The Hisba police ordered owners of sports shops to sell swords, spears and saddles instead of sportswear,” the source told ARA News.
Are horses generally available in cities under siege?
Sometimes, and they can be yummy if you're desperate enough...
ISIS jihadis have put huge constraints on civilians in Mosul, issuing new strict regulations every once in a while, according to local sources.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/24/2016
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#1
"Mo didn't wear Nikes"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2016 12:41
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#2
Well since the founder of Nike was a WW-II 10th Mountain col/gen I can kind of see the Muslim hate of Nike.
#4
Mo's babies, along with a rattle,
Are handed a sword and a saddle.
"Why don't we get horses?"
The answer, of course, is,
"Crawl forth and acquire them in battle!"
[Bangkok Post] A defense volunteer in Narathiwat province was gunned down on the way home from a rubber plantation early Saturday. His body was found lying face-down on a road in Sungai Kolok district at about 6am. He had been shot in the chest. His motorcycle lay beside his body and a .38 bullet was found there.
Police said that the victim had left his home alone to collect latex. On his way home, another motorcycle followed and then passed him. The pillion rider on that vehicle shot him and then they fled.
The head of the central region Petroleum Facilities’ Guards (PFG), Ibrahim Jadhran, was injured this morning in fighting with convoy of vehicles from the so-called Islamic State. According to a PFG source, one guard was killed and, in addition to Jadhran, three others wounded. He claimed that a number of IS fighters had been killed and six of their vehicles captured.
Jadhran was not seriously wounded, the source stated and, after treatment at Ajdabiya’s Imhemed Al-Magarief Hospital, returned to the fighting.
The convoy of around 100 vehicles was spotted around dawn this morning south of Brega. PFG forces from Ajdabiya were called in and engaged them some 50 kilometres from Brega. Fighting continued until around midday.
According to the source, the convoy was not that of the IS fighters who retreated from Derna on Wednesday. With less than 40 vehicles, it was reported to have reached Sirte on Thursday.
The PGF source was unable to say where today’s convoy was heading, although with 100 vehicles it was thought to be taking part in a fresh military operation, possibly an attack on the oil facilities in Brega itself. In January, IS attacked the Sidra and Ras Lanuf export terminals and then attempted an attack on the Zuetina terminal.
Meanwhile there are separate reports of IS fighters pulling out of the village of Ben Jawad, 170 kilometres west of Brega and returning to Sirte, but these have not been confirmed.
Ben Jawad was captured by IS in January.
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04/24/2016
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[Mindanao Examiner] Five policemen taken prisoners by Maoist militants have appealed for their lives following a massive military shelling of New People's Army strongholds in the southern Philippines. NPA spokesman Rigoberto Sanchez said the "prisoners of war" are being held by the NPA's 1st Pulang Bagani Command.
They were seized on April 16 in Davao City's Paquibato district where rebels attacked and overran an army post.
The insurgents also released videos of the prisoners which showed the policemen appealing to the Philippine government to halt the military shelling and suspension of police operations in Davao for fear they would be killed in the continuing assault.
The NPA called the military assault and police operations "lunatic and fruitless rescue offensives in Paquibato district."
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Libya’s Vice President Ahmed Maetig has expressed hope that the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... will enter into an agreement with his country similar to that between the EU and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... restricting the flow of migrants colonists to Europe.
Maetig made the appeal while in Rome meeting with Italia’s Interior Minister Angelino Alfano.
"The vice president has asked that we proceed with an agreement between the European Union and Libya based on the one between the European Union and Turkey," a statement by Alfano read, without giving further details.
According to the March 18 agreement, Turkey agreed to take back all migrants colonists arriving in the Greek islands, in an effort to relieve the pressure on the European Union that saw one million migrant arrivals since early 2015.
In return Europe promised to resettle one Syrian refugee for every Syrian taken back by Turkey, to grant visa-free travel to Turks within the border-free Schengen zone and to reassess Turkey’s stalled EU membership bid.
Maetig "thanked Italia for aiding the Libyan people, and expressed hopes that Italia would continue to play a key role in the national reconciliation process towards the construction of a united and democratic Libya," the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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That's because those Juices are so powerful they can break anything they set their minds to.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... told world leaders at a UN ceremony Friday that Israel must stop "destroying" the climate in the Paleostinian territories.
"The Israeli occupation is destroying the climate in Paleostine and the Israeli settlements are destroying nature in Paleostine," Abbas told the gathering of 175 countries signing a landmark climate deal.
"Please help us in putting an end to occupation and to putting an end to settlements," said Abbas after signing the agreement.
The Paleostinian territories were among a group of 15 countries and parties that immediately presented their already-completed ratification of the accord aimed at tackling global warming.
Abbas signed on behalf of the observer state of Paleostine, a status the Paleostinians obtained in 2012 at the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... and which allows them to join international conventions and agreements.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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#4
You are right G(R)Om. "Democrats" learned their tactics from the third world. They forgot the times we tried communism here where everyone almost DIED.
[DAWN] LAHORE: Four more members of the Chotoo gang surrendered to army early on Friday morning, raising the number of surrendered gangsters to 17.
The army and police have launched an operation against the gang to clear Kacha Jamal riverine area from the outlaws.
Gang leader Ghulam Rasool Chotoo and his 12 accomplices had surrendered to the army two days ago and freed 24 coppers the gang had taken hostage.
Local people confirmed that the troops continued heavy shelling on the hideouts of the gangsters who had not surrendered. Some of the bunkers of the gang were demolished due to heavy shelling. They said there could be more than 50 outlaws still fighting the forces.
A senior police official told Dawn that another gang leader, Attaullah Phhat of Mouza Kachi Umerani, Rojhan, along with his three accomplices had surrendered to army.
He said the four outlaws riding on a boat were carrying white flags in their hands and approached the army check post and surrendered.
He said that Phhat was also involved in several cases of kidnap for ransom registered against him in Rajanpur and other adjoining districts. He said Phhat was not part of Chotoo gang and he had visited the area to offer condolences on the death of Chotoo’s niece who was killed in police firing on April 14. Due to the operation and arrival of army he could not leave the island.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy was furiously chewing her cud and thinking... Chotoo and his 12 accomplices had been shifted to Islamabad for interrogation.
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04/24/2016
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[DAWN] KARACHI: Two personnel of the Police Qaumi Razakar (PQR) were jugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! by the Korangi Industrial Area police over the allegation of rape, officials said on Friday.
Landhi SP Afnan Amin told Dawn that the police had apprehended the PQR personnel and registered an FIR against them for rape on the complaint of a girl. He added that they had given a letter to the girl and sent her for a medical examination at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and further legal action would be taken in the light of the doctors’ report.
Additional police surgeon Dr Kaleem Sheikh told Dawn that a woman medico-legal officer had examined the girl aged around 18 years.
The police surgeon said that the report had been reserved for the chemical examination.
The Korangi Industrial Area police officer said that an FIR (384/2016) had been registered against the PQR personnel under Sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistain Penal Code.
The girl in her statement stated that she was travelling in a rickshaw on Thursday night when the Police Qaumi Razakars, whose uniform looked like that of regular police uniform, intercepted her rickshaw near the Qayyumabad ...a suburb of Korangi Town, if you know where that is... roundabout at around 11pm.
The PQR personnel, according to the girl, took her to the riverbed in Qayyumabad where they allegedly subjected her to sexual assaults.
She informed the police personnel present at the Qayyumabad checkpoint about the incident, who detained the suspects.
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04/24/2016
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[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] President B.O. explained Friday that he removed a bust of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill from the Oval Office when he first became president to make room for a bust of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., because King means so much to Obama.
But Obama stressed that he still keeps a bust of Churchill right outside his private office in the residence because he also respects the legendary wartime leader and orator.
The removal of Churchill from the Oval Office has led to constant complaints from Republicans that he was disrespecting one of the U.S.'s closest allies. But in a Friday briefing in London with Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... , he said he imagines that the British people understand.
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04/24/2016
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[LATIMES] Police in northwestern Bangladesh have found similarities between the killing of a university professor Saturday and recent slayings of bloggers and secular activists by Islamist turbans.
Rezaul Karim Siddique, an English professor at Rajshahi University, was hacked to death when he went to catch a bus to campus around 7.30 a.m., police said. The attack took place near Siddique's house and was carried out by two assailants on a cycle of violence, police said citing witnesses.
"Professor Rezaul Karim Siddique has been killed in the same way that the bloggers and online activists were slain," Rajshahi Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mohammad Shamsuddin told news hounds at the scene. "That leads to the suspicion that this might be the handiwork of radicals."
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.... grabbed credit for the attack, accusing the professor of advocating for atheism, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors turban websites.
The murderous Moslem group has claimed other attacks in Bangladesh, where a series of deadly assaults against secular bloggers, minority Shiites, Christians and two foreigners has spread fear in the past year.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 31 snuffies were killed in the latest clearance operations of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said.
According to a statement by MoD, at least 23 snuffies were also maimed and 4 others were detained during the same operations.
The statement further added that the operations were conducted in Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. , 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.... , Parwan, Paktia, Zabul, Kandahar, Badghis, Baghlan, Balkh, Jawzjan, Faryab, Kunduz and Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... provinces.
At least 16 of the snuffies were killed during the operations in Chardara, Imam Sahib and center of Kunduz province, MoD said, adding that 14 others were maimed during the same operations.
In a separate operation at least 7 snuffies were killed and 4 others were maimed in the northern Faryab province, MoD said.
The statement also added that 5 snuffies were killed in other raids conducted in Khogyani district of Nangarhar.
Another Lion of Islam was killed, 5 others were maimed and 4 more were locked away Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! in separate raids conducted in Zabul, Parwan and Jawzjan provinces, MoD added.
According to MoD, a soldier of the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces also lost his life during the clearance operations.
The anti-government armed Lion of Islam groups including the Taliban faceless myrmidons have not commented regarding the reports so far.
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[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: Decision on a request made by the PML-N government for the formation of a judicial commission to probe the Panama Papers leaks will be taken after Chief Justice of Pakistain (CJP) Anwar Zaheer Jamali returns from his visit abroad, acting CJP Saqib Nisar said on Saturday.
Speaking on the sidelines of his oath-taking ceremony as the acting CJP, Justice Nisar said he did not have the powers as the acting chief to constitute the judicial commission.
The CJP will consult other judges before making any decision regarding the commission requested by the government, said Justice Nisar. He made it clear that every government department or agency would be bound to cooperate and assist the judicial commission if it is constituted.
Registrar Supreme Court Arbab Arif told media personnel that although the letter by the government about the commission has already been sent to the chief justice, "the decision will be made after Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali returns".
The oath was administered to Justice Nisar by Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa in a ceremony at the Supreme Court.
Justice Nisar will serve as CJP during Chief Justice Jamali's stay in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , where he will participate in the annual ceremony of the Turkish Constitutional Court. He is expected to return on May 1.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... in his state address on Friday announced the writing of a letter to the chief justice to investigate allegations made against the premier's family in wake of the Panama Papers leak.
Soon after the announcement, the government issued an SRO under which a three-man commission under Section 3(1) of the Pakistain Commission of Inquiry Act, 1956 is appointed.
Constitutional expert S.M. Zafar said that the acting chief justice has the authority to take decision on the government request to constitute a judicial commission to probe the Panama Papers allegations.
However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... "the acting Chief Justice Saqib Nisar is not willing to take any decision on the government’s request," sources said.
Many, including former advocate general of Punjab, Khawaja Haris, were of the opinion that any decision by the acting chief justice will not be prudent because the opposition is demanding for a CJP-led commission to investigate the Panama leaks scandal.
"In all probability, the acting chief justice will prefer to stay away from the controversy," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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Some six suspected members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were caught in an operation on early April 23 in the Central Anatolian province of Konya. Police detained six Syrian origin ISIL members during operations at various addresses in the province.
The Konya Governor's Office said in a statement that ISIL members sought possible attacks targeting statesmen visiting the city along with other strategic targets.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/24/2016
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[Iran Press TV] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... ’s Court of Cassation endorsed Saturday a death sentence handed down to an activist from the Shia community, four months after the execution of a respected holy man by Riyadh sparked international outrage.
The court approved the sentence handed down to Yusof al-Mosheykhas, a citizen of the Shia-dominated city of Awwamiyah in the eastern region of Qatif, Naba’ TV reported.
According to the report, Mosheykhas was tossed in the calaboose Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! two years ago after he attended several anti-government protests in his hometown. He was convicted of attempted terrorist act in an initial trial and was incarcerated in January 2014.
Rights campaigners expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... about the imminent execution of Mosheykhas, saying the activist could be put to death in an unknown location without prior notice. That has been the case for other Saudis and foreigners convicted of involvement in terror activities.
Back in January, Saudi Arabia executed Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a highly respected Shia holy man and an outspoken critic of Riyadh from Qatif, only to trigger massive condemnations around the world.
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04/24/2016
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#1
The UN human rights panel is headed by SA.
That's like putting Bill Clinton in charge of your teenage daughters' slumber party.
[Iran Press TV] Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi says Tehran has offered Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... 's family an asylum in Iran, but he refused, arguing his family is no different from other Syrian families.
The Syrian president was informed about the offer by Major General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), but Assad "declined the offer", saying his family "is like the rest of Syrian families and they will remain in Damascus," said Alavi in an interview with Lebanese television station al-Mayadeen.
The Iranian minister went on to say that the "plot against Syria" began when Damascus sided with the Leb's resistance movement Hezbollah on the Israeli aggression on Leb in July 2006.
During the 34-day war, known as the July War, Israeli regime waged a full-scale war on the Lebanese soil and killed some 1,300 people of the Arab country, displacing about a million others. The war also severely damaged Lebanese civil infrastructure.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Alavi also said that the ISISTakfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorist group has been hatching "plots and conspiracies" against Iran from the city of Raqqah, its de facto capital in the Syrian soil, among other places, adding that if Iran had not fought terrorism in Syria and Iraq, it would have had to do so in its western provinces.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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[NYPOST] A Miami doctor, whose actions were widely ridiculed after a video surfaced three months ago of her having a meltdown after an incident with an Uber driver, was fired Friday.
The Miami Herald reported that Jackson Health System officials released a statement saying that fourth-year neurology resident Anjali Ramkissoon would be terminated. She was placed on administrative leave in January after the video of her tantrum surfaced.
On the video Ramkissoon, wearing white shorts and an orange shirt, slaps the Uber driver and kicks him in the groin.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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#2
Proposals are not always flowery:
"My dearest," and then, for an hour, he
Sat, still and silent,
Till passion ran violent:
"I might... for a big enough dowry!"
[Iran Press TV] US Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has denounced his main Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Abel P. Upshur ... , as "a crooked person."
"We call her 'Crooked Hillary' because she's a crooked person. She's always been a crooked person," Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Friday.
"Clinton is a person who's got many, many flaws... The only thing she's got going is the women card," and that she's "the worst possible representative a woman can have," he added.
At a campaign event in the US sate of Pennsylvania on the same day, Clinton said she would not respond to Trump's comments about her.
Earlier this month, Trump had slammed the Democratic front-runner as "unqualified" to be the US president.
In the interview, the real estate mogul also promised his supporters that he would not bore them by becoming overly presidential, saying, "I can tell you that if I go too presidential, people are going to be very bored," adding that he worried his supporters would "fall asleep."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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#1
...he would not bore them by becoming overly presidential,
#3
One of the reasons to like Trump is he's not going to pull punches on her. She needs to be called "crooked and a congenital liar" in every interview and speech...cause it's true
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2016 10:32
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#4
I will tell you the system is broken. I gave to many people before this-before two months ago, I was a businessman. When they call, I give. And you know what, when I need something from them [Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi] two years later, three years later, I call them. They are there for me. That's a broken system.
And Trump knows what he's talking about on this one. Apparently as a "businessman", Trump had unique access into the crooked Clinton machine. And you can imagine the tremendous insight he gleaned from that 100K "donation" to the Clinton Foundation.
[Iran Press TV] At least 12 people have been killed and dozens more sustained injuries in two separate boom-mobilekabooms, blamed on the ISISTakfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorist group, in the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad.
A boom-mobile went off near a security checkpoint in the northern suburb of Husseiniya, killing nine and wounding 28 others, and the other blast hit an army convoy in Baghdad's southeastern neighborhood of Arab Jabour and killed three more people, and injured 11 others.
According to local sources, the corpse count may increase. No group or individual has grabbed credit for the attack yet, but such assaults bear the hallmarks of those made by ISIS terrorists.
On Friday, a kaboom inside a Shia mosque in the Radwaniyah area located in southwestern Baghdad, killed at least nine people and maimed 25 others
Although security has gradually improved in Baghdad, kabooms against security forces and residential areas are still a regular occurrence.
Iraq dealt a major blow to ISIS when its elite forces and allied tribal fighters managed to retake Anbar’s scenic provincial capital, Ramadi, in late December. The city, which lies around 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Baghdad, along some other territories in west and north, fell into the hands of ISIS in mid-2014. Baghdad has vowed to clear the entire Iraqi soil from the Takfiri group in 2016.
The Lions of Islam have been committing heinous crimes against all ethnic and religious communities in Iraq, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians. Iraqi army soldiers and fighters from allied Popular Mobilization Units are seeking to win back holy warrior-held regions in joint operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Yemeni forces loyal to the internationally recognized government killed 25 al-Qaeda snuffies in heavy festivities Saturday in southern Yemen, a provincial official said, following an Arclight airstrike campaign this month by a Saudi-led coalition against Al Qaeda positions in the area.
Ground troops were advancing in Saturday’s festivities in the town of Koud in the southern province of Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... , said al-Khedr al-Seidy, the province’s governor.
Elsewhere, a jacket wallah detonated a boom-mobile southwest of the Abyan scenic provincial capital of Zinjibar to stall advances by the military in the province. The kaboom led to an unknown number of casualties among the army forces.
Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen, viewed by Washington as the group’s most dangerous offshoot, has exploited the conflict between Iranian catspaws and government forces to expand its footprint.
A Saudi-led, US-backed coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognized government is battling Iranian catspaws known as Houthis and their allies.
The Houthis have held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since September 2014, and their advance across the Arab world’s poorest country brought the Saudi-led coalition into the war in March 2015.
In the central city of Taiz, five non-combatants were killed and seven others injured when a land-mine went kaboom! as a bus was passing by on a side street west of the city.
Taiz has been besieged for months by Houthis who have been indiscriminately shelling the war-devastated city and blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid, according to residents and aid groups.
Clashes also continued Saturday in the provinces of Marib and Jouf, while the Saudi-led coalition launched Arclight airstrikes against the Houthis in Taiz and Jawf.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – The leadership of al-Hashed al-Shaabi in Anbar Province announced on Saturday, that 150 members of the so-called ISIS were killed during the cleansing battles of al-Karma District east of Fallujah.
The commander of Karmat Fallujah brigade, Colonel Khamis Bahr Halbusi, said in a press statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “This morning the security forces carried out a military operation targeting ISIS gatherings in the areas of Subaihat, Albu Jassim and Albu Ouda in al-Karma District, killing 150 ISIS fighters, including Arabs and foreigners.”
Halbusi added, “The joint forces are advancing in the remaining areas of al-Karma District backed by the international coalition aviation and Iraqi Army Aviation, in order to destroy ISIS strongholds, as well as cutting off their supply lines in Fallujah and Saqlawiyah.”
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – The leadership of al-Hashed al-Shaabi in Anbar Province announced on Saturday, that the security forces liberated an area in the district of Heet west of Ramadi, while pointed out to the killing of dozens of ISIS members during the operation.
The intelligence officer in al-Hashed al-Shaabi in al-Somoud brigade, Nazim Aljughaifi said in a brief statement received by IraqiNews.com, “The joint security forces were able, at noon today, to liberate Albu Naim area west of Heet District from the ISIS control,” noting that, “The operation resulted in the killing of dozens of ISIS members.”
Aljughaifi added, “The joint forces from the army, police and Anti-Terrorism Directorate are advancing in several axes to cleanse al-Doulab area in Heet District,” pointing out that, “The next few hours will witness the liberation of al-Doulab area, as well as raising the Iraqi flag over its buildings.”
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – On Saturday the commander of Anbar Operations Major General Ismail al-Mahalawi announced, that the Iraqi Air Force bombarded eight headquarters belonging to ISIS southwest of Fallujah, and killed all the ISIS members who were inside the headquarters.
Mahalawi said in a press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The Iraqi Air Force backed by the army’s 8th brigade managed to bombard eight ISIS headquarters in Albu Eifan area southwest of Fallujah.”
“The bombardment resulted in the destruction of the headquarters, as well as killing all the terrorists inside these headquarters,” Mahalawi added.
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – A source in Anbar Province revealed on Saturday, that the commander of the commandos regiment in the army’s 7th brigade was wounded during confrontations against ISIS west of Ramadi.
The source reported for IraqiNews.com, “Today the commander of the commandos regiment in the army’s 7th brigade Colonel Hakim al-Jouani was wounded during confrontations against ISIS in al-Dolab area west of Heet.”
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added, “Jouani is currently receiving treatment and his condition is stable.”
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – The commander of Anbar Operations Major General Ismail al-Mahalawi announced on Saturday, that 12 ISIS members were killed in an air strike carried out by the international coalition aviation east of Ramadi.
Mahalawi said in a brief statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The international coalition aviation bombarded ISIS hideouts in al-Falahat area west of Fallujah (40 km east of Ramadi), destructing the hideout and killing 12 ISIS members.”
Mahalawi added, “The bombardment was carried out based on information indicating the presence of ISIS members in that hideout.”
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – Media officials with the Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday, that 8 ISIS elements, including a senior leader, had been either killed or wounded in an aerial strike in the district of al-Rutba.
The officials said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “Based on intelligence by the Falcons Intelligence Cell, in coordination with the Joint Operations Command, an aerial bombardment was carried out on one of the ISIS shelters in the district of al-Rutba, resulting in the death of 5 terrorists and wounding 3 others.”
“Abu Azzam al-Iraqi, the commander of the so-called Anti-Aircraft Detachment, was among the dead,” the statement added.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/24/2016
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – On Saturday, a security source in Kirkuk Province announced, that 15 members of the so-called ISIS were killed in artillery shelling carried out by the Peshmerga forces northwest of Kirkuk.
The source said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “The Peshmerga forces shelled ISIS gathering near al-Atshana village in Dibs District, using artillery and rockets.”
The source, who asked anonymity, added, “The security forces continue to bomb the areas controlled by ISIS to prevent the advance of its fighters toward the Peshmerga forces’ areas.”
(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – The spokesman of al-Hashd al-Shaabi in the northern axis Ali al-Husseini announced on Saturday, that the Iraqi Air Force destructed a number of tactical units and two booby-trapped vehicles belonging to ISIS in southern Kirkuk.
Husseini said in a press statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “Yesterday, Iraqi Air Force conducted six air strikes on ISIS headquarters in Kasbet Bashir in Taza vicinity, killing and wounding a number of ISIS members, as well as destructing the tactical units that were used by ISIS to attack Taza vicinity.”
Husseini added, “The air strikes also destructed two booby-trapped vehicles belonging to ISIS members,” pointing out that, “ISIS prepared these vehicles to target the defense lines of al-Hashd al-Shaabi forces.”
Posted by: badanov ||
04/24/2016
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The United States pressed Pakistain to follow up on Islamabad’s expressed commitment not to discriminate between terror groups amid reports that the deadly 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.... attack was plotted and carried out by the notorious Haqqani terrorist network.
Elizabeth Trudeau, Director of Press Office for the State Department, said "We have consistently expressed our concerns at the highest level of the Government of Pakistain about their continued tolerance for Afghan Taliban groups such as the Haqqani Network operating from Pak soil."
She was speaking during daily press briefing in Washington DC and responded to a question regarding the Kabul attack as reports suggest the deadly attack was plotted by the Pakistain-based Haqqani terrorist network.
"And we did again ‐ after this week’s attack, we have pressed the Government of Pakistain to follow up on its expressed commitment not to discriminate between terror groups regardless of their agenda or their affiliation by undertaking concrete action against the Haqqanis," Trudeau added.
At least 64 people were killed and 347 others were maimed in the attack on a unit of the Afghan intelligence in capital Kabul on Tuesday.
The Taliban group grabbed credit behind the attack which followed days after the group announced its spring offensive, vowing to carry out more such attacks across the country.
The attack was initially launched by detonating a Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) near the Directorate of Security for Prominent Figures, triggering shootout between the remaining Death Eaters and Afghan cops.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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Top|| File under: Haqqani Network
[DAWN] Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Chairman Siddiqul Farooq says that board owns no commercial property in 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... , as its all land in the province had been sold by its two former heads, who also were retired military generals, during the Musharraf rule.
He told Dawn the two retired military generals had declared the land as "unmanageable" during their tenures.
"In Balochistan, the ETPB had the commercial property worth billions on Jinnah Road in Quetta which was sold during the regimes of two retired generals," he said.
"Their act caused a huge financial loss to the ETPB."
He said it was shocking to know that trust’s commercial property had been sold illegally by declaring it "unmanageable".
"You know the rates of commercial property in Quetta: Rs250,000 per squre feet."
He said board members in a meeting had given a go-ahead to the administration to seek the help of chief ministers in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... (KP) to get retrieved trust-owned 9,000 fertile acres from the land grabbers. He said approximately over 4,000 acres of the ETPB were under unlawful possession in Sindh, over 5,000 acres in 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.... and 200 to 300 acres in thee KP.
"I don’t have the detail of commercial property occupied illegally in these three provinces. Also, I don’t have information about the detail of the commercial property sold out in Quetta," he explained.
Earlier, after board’s 299th meeting, he told news hounds the participants had passed a resolution, condemning land mafia occupying ETPB’s land.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
North Korea has fired what is believed to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said Saturday.
So they launched an SLBM, but not necessarily from a sub...
The missile was fired at 6:30 p.m. local time (5:30 a.m. ET), South Korean officials said, and appears to have flown for about 30 km (about 19 miles) -- well short of the 300 km (roughly 186 miles) that would be considered a successful test.
The action comes a week after an apparently unsuccessful attempt to fire a missile, South Korean and U.S. officials said April 15.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/24/2016
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Top|| File under: Commies
#1
Of course Seoul is only @35 miles from the DMZ and less from the coast.
#2
...The good news here - such as it is - is that it's overwhelmingly likely that this was a one-off missile from a one-off, highly modified boat...and the only boats he's got are sufficiently old and noisy that they could be heard in Virginia Beach by a deaf, retired sonarman standing next to I-64 at rush hour using two Quaker Oats cans tied together with string.
The bad news is that this is something of a game changer - if he can put even one tube to sea, and we lose track of it (highly unlikely, but within the realm of possibility) he could start making demands, which would leave us in a situation that would make even Tom Clancy, may God rest his soul, look up and say, "Dude..."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/24/2016 9:42
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#3
"The Hunt for Pudgy October"?
Posted by: Matt ||
04/24/2016 16:22
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#6
Let's sing of the loss of the Pudgeon,
The bludgeon of Juche's curmudgeon:
'Twas manned by his slaves
Who went glad to their graves
To escape from his landlubbin' dungeon.
And God rest the men of the Gudgeon. 72 years (can that be right?) last week.
Two major Al-Shabaab training camps in Southern Somalia have been bombed by Kenyan jet fighters during an impromptu airstrike on Friday night, residents said. A senior army commander in Kismayo, who asked to remain anonymous said the Kenyan military warplanes struck Al shabaab controlled Behani and Abdalla Birole areas, some 40Km south of Kismayo city.
There was no immediate verification of the casualties on Al shabaab, but the Jubbaland commander says senior militant leaders were targeted in the airstrike.
KDF fighter jets hit the militants’ camps in southern Somalia in retaliation for the January raid against a KDF camp in El-Adde, in Gedo region which left scored of Kenyan soldiers serving with AMISOM dead.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/24/2016
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Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
#1
KDF fighter jets hit the militants’ camps in southern Somalia in retaliation for the January raid against a KDF camp in El-Adde, in Gedo region which left scored of Kenyan soldiers serving with AMISOM dead
Really? January? Do you even need a reason to bomb Shaboobs?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2016 12:09
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Over 100 school girls have been poisoned in western Farah province of Afghanistan during the school hours.
According to the local officials, the incident took place in the central city of Farah in a girls school.
Provincial governor’s front man Mohammad Nasir Mehri confirmed that 106 school girls were poisoned mysteriously and an investigation is underway to find out the cause of the poisoning.
The provincial public health officials have confirmed more than 100 school girls were admitted to the hospital after they were poisoned.
The officials further added that the students were suffering from fever and shivering when admitted to hospital.
The circumstances surrounding the poisoning of the school girls have not been ascertained so far.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
To poison one schoolgirl? Sadistic!
To poison ten million? Statistic.
To poison a planet
Like Marx or Mohammed?
Pure genius! Creative! Artistic!
[DAWN] IT had all the potential of a public relations coup. A day after army chief Gen Raheel Sharif ..Pak chief of army staff, meaning he pulls the strings on the Nawaz Sharif puppet to make it dance and sing and not do much at all.... waded into the anti-corruption debate by calling for across-the-board accountability, he provided a compelling example of his commitment to the cause when it emerged that he had unprecedentedly dismissed from military service a three-star and a two-star general, three brigadiers and a colonel.
News of the dismissals was sure to dominate the political discourse -- and it did. But there appeared to be a breakdown, perhaps deliberately so, when it came to the communications of the otherwise superbly well-oiled ISPR machine.
Rather than official comment, the media was given inaccurate early information by a clutch of unnamed military officials.
Even after clarification was offered about the number of officers acted against -- earlier reports had suggested a larger number of officers had been found guilty of corruption -- there were no details shared regarding the charges that the officers faced or the findings of the court.
Nevertheless, it is a beginning -- the guilty being found guilty by their own institution suggests a new willingness to focus on professionalism and probity.
Consider that the officers involved were serving in a province where the military has insisted that a range of unprecedented threats -- state and non-state, internal and external -- are undermining the security and stability of the country itself.
With the vast security responsibilities that the military has arrogated to itself in 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... and the life-and-death policy and operational decisions that senior officers routinely make, the quality of officers serving in the province ought to be second to none and their reputations impeccable.
Perhaps GHQ ought to conduct a more wide-ranging probe about the various streams of corruption, both along the border and when dealing with local populations, that are widely rumoured in the province.
To fight external enemies and win over disaffected local populations, surely the military’s reputation must be above reproach in every respect.
Inevitably, however, there are lessons here for the politicianship of the country. The military dominates the civil-military relationship for many reasons, historical and institutional.
But perhaps one of the greatest assets of the military is its understanding of the public mood -- and willingness to align with it and exploit it. For weeks now, the fallout of the Panama Papers has dominated the political discourse in the country -- and yet absolutely nothing whatsoever has been done to prove that the civilians are serious about combating corruption.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... an internal military investigation that appears to stretch back at least a year has suddenly been unveiled and offered as the centrepiece of the military’s own efforts to cleanse itself.
The political class needs to understand that legitimacy does not just flow from elections -- it also flows from the quality of democracy and governance that the politicians deliver.
Sadly, it is the military that time and again has demonstrated a more sophisticated understanding of politics than the politicians themselves.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
This comes at a time of the most hateful administration and political attack dogs I have ever seen. Speak your mind and your history(PC crowd). Morale of our military as with our law enforcement is at an all time low. Well, I know it is for law enforcement. I would think retirement would be the best way out. Perhaps there is corruption but in my opinion its coming from our politicians. Perhaps I am old fashioned but I am reluctant to criticize our Military or Law enforcement. Eager to criticize our politicians however.
[NYPOST] A Christian brother and sister from Syria felt blessed to have been among the dozen refugees selected to start a new life in Italia -- but now say their savior, Pope Francis, abandoned them on a Greek island, according to a report.
Roula and Malek Abo, who had been housed in a refugee camp on Lesbos, said they thanked their lucky stars when they found out the Vatican had selected them during the pontiff’s visit to the island last week, the Daily Mail reported.
Their dreams were shattered, though, when they were informed the following day that they would not be traveling to Rome. Instead, three Muslim families were taken.
Asked why they were all Muslim, Francis said there was something wrong with the papers of a Christian family on the list.
The siblings arrived in Greece on April 1 -- 10 days after a controversial European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... deal called for asylum-seekers in Greece to be returned to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... Their hopes to avoid deportation now hinge on their applications for asylum.
"If they can do this for 12 people, they can do it for more," Roula, 22, told the paper. "If you have promised to take people back to Italia, will something like registration papers stand in your way?"
Community Sant’Egidio, the charity that organized the trip, and the Vatican would not explain the process involved in choosing the migrants colonists.
"The problem here is the three Syrians arrived after the March 20 deadline. They arrived just after the agreement between the European Union and Turkey," front man Massimiliano Signifredi told the Daily Mail.
"Our staff went to Lesbos and spoke with the people who were selected. But everything was decided by the Vatican," he said.
"The question why the pope took only Muslims is difficult to understand and he was suffering, I think, because he wanted to do something also for Christians as the chief of the Catholic Church. But he couldn’t because there is this international agreement [with the EU]," he said.
The Vatican declined comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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#1
What a useless man. not that he kicked them out of the popemobile into dusty camp, but that he said he would take them and expect everyone else to take them
To hell with you pope. You are adverse to all wisdom and knowledge of Heaven you pre-madonna communist scumbag.
To hell with you. You do not know who you work for.
#3
With utmost respect (and a dash of quaking terror); questions wholly rhetorical, natch...
A newc kind of mind: Anaxagoras?
His pure righteous anger: cantankerous!
Old soldier, or spook?
Nous, news, noose, or nuke?
For Rantburg he's almost too rancorous.
#4
Flattery gets you everywhere Zenobia Floger6220.
I cannot believe rantburg has put up with me either. My angry swear words and self righteous pinions.
I have regrets of staining this Family site with vulgar representations distaste for the perverted turns of this world.
I'm embarrassed I sink so low and use gutter language for what should be a well written Synod of current events with eloquence worthy of Shakespeare.
I used to have a code for writing (not really).
You should see my twitter account! It's magnificent!
I lost everyone pretty much right after I started it and cussed these same peoples out.
I'm so ronery.
Anyways, Thanks for putting up with it. I really could have shown all of you more respect, but these days, who knows where that really is coming from anymore?
#9
newc, thanks. Entertaining, motivating reading, as usual. I'll try digging up that Twitter feed when I'm halfway organized. I should stress that while I'm inexplicably permitted to speak through Rantburg, I'd never presume to speak for Rantburg, let alone weigh in on anyone's right to post. Rock on!
#10
I hear that Benedict XVI is quite healthy still.
"Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
Maybe the wrong pope retired
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/24/2016 21:10
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[DAWN] AT various stages of Pakistain’s history, something or the other (perhaps an institution) has been identified as the solution to all Pakistain’s chief ills. Over the last couple of years, a new candidate has emerged. This new narrative is as follows: if there was rule of law, implementation of the Constitution and speedy justice administered by the courts, then terrorism, corruption and various forms of societal injustice would be drastically reduced. In short, the new superman in town is the ’law and courts’. Hence, the constant talk about legal and judicial reforms.
With the above emerging narrative of the new legal superman and in the background of the continuing guilt of parliament for having allowed the establishment of military courts (ie impliedly accepting the failure of the civilian justice system), the Senate in Islamabad has, in recent history, undertaken the biggest attempt to reform the Pak legal system by converting the entire membership of the Senate to the Committee of the Whole. The result is a report of the committee titled Provisions of Inexpensive and Speedy Justice in the Country.
The Senate report is commendable in many respects. Firstly, it has identified the key problem of the legal justice system ie expensive and delayed justice. The absence of inexpensive justice leads to access to justice being denied to the majority of Pak citizens, while excessively delayed justice is actually injustice to the victims. Secondly, there is the realisation that no legal reform is possible without simultaneously reforming the laws, government justice bureaucracy (police reforms, prosecution system etc.), and the judiciary and without the provision of free legal aid for the poor, weak and powerless. We share the same problem with Pakistain. A big part of it is the proliferation of lawyers who need at least $200 an hour to make a phone call. When I was growing up we had people who were known as "justices of the peace." They could marry people and most traffic stops ended up with them rather than with having to go to court. You paid your fine and if there was a record kept it wasn't a serious record. If they were brought back I'll betcha they could handle virtually all misdemeanor judgments, without waiting for a court date four or five months down the road. The $200 an hour lawyers could go on salary and learn to scale back their appetites a little. The expense to the state of maintaining them would be offset by the fines collected. The courts could be reserved for actual felonies, and the definitions of same could be refined.
But nobody listens to me. I'm just an old crank.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Pakistan was actually a Nation that had a chance after the Brits left. It was modern enough to handle true law. But then Islam shit and it turned into the turnbuckle of satans army. I do not know what to do with them.
So, I shall look on in horror as idiot liberals and idiot islamists beat them up until it spills over like the dead carcus of the lost Mongol Empire - with entrails spoiling food in every surrounding country and ruining the taste around the world.
There are a number of works covering the events leading up to and through June 6, 1944, known as Operation Overlord, or commonly known as D-Day. There are also a number of misconceptions, such as D-Day being a generic term for the beginning of a military operation, so in pop culture D-Day refers to this spectacular event instead of the numerous other landings and operations during World War II, really all other D-Days.
Even people with little interest in history have at least a passing understanding of events, mostly due to the popular movie Saving Private Ryan, the classic movie The Longest Day, the bit obscure movie Ike, television shows, and a slew of video games. Untold numbers of books and works also cover Operation Overlord. So why does this book stand out? First, it is written by Stephen Ambrose.
I am sure many Rantburgers have read or at least know of Mr. Ambrose. His ability to insert survivors' accounts into the sequence of events and not lose the story is top notch. Mr. Ambrose's prose is simultaneously casual and serious, and he is able let the story happen without personally overshadowing events.
A reader does not necessarily have to have a good, or even passing knowledge of events leading up to Operation Overlord; the book stands on its own. Mr. Ambrose does a fine job describing both the Allies and the Axis history up-to-then and their respective order of battle. (Pages 101-102)
The Germans built a four-gun battery on the cliff just west of Port-en-Bessin. Big fortifications, big guns - 155mm. Beautifully camouflaged with nets and dirt embankments, they could not be seen from the air.
The farmer on whose land they were built was furious because he could not graze his cattle or grow crops on the field. He paced off the distances between the bunkers, from the bunkers to the observation post on the very edge of the cliff, from the cliff to the bunkers, and so on. He had a blind son, eight or nine years old. Like many blind people, the boy had a fabulous memory. Because he was blind, the Germans paid little attention to him.
One day in early 1944, the boy hitched a ride to Bayeux. There he managed to get in touch with Andre Heintz, an eighteen year old in the Resistance. The boy gave Heintz his information; Heintz sent it on to England via his little homemade radio transmitter (hidden in a Campbell Soup can; today on display in the Battle of Normandy Museum in Caen); thus the British navy, on D-Day, had the exact coordinates of the bunkers.
Mr. Ambrose's accounts really coil a spring leading up to the actual invasion. Included in the book are maps and photographs to assist the reader with both where things are and what they looked like. Mostly though it is the accounts of the survivors which really bring the amazing, brutal events to life. (Page 247)
"Everything is wrecked, Herr Leutnant! The stores are on fire. Everything's wrecked!"
Shaking his head, he added, "We've got to surrender, Herr Leutnant."
"Have you gone out of your mind, man?" the twenty-three-year-old Jahnke replied. "If we had always surrendered in Russia in this kind of situation the Russians would have been here long ago."
He called out a command, "All troops fall in for entrenching!" Just as they were getting into the work, here came another wave of Marauders. The men huddled in the sand. Jahnke sent a man on a bicycle to report to battalion HQ, but he was killed by a bomb.
The tension is palatable, and events graphic. (Page 322)
All along the bluff, German soldiers watched the landing craft approach, their fingers on the triggers of machine guns, rifles, artillery fuses, or holding mortar rounds. In bunker 62, Frerking was at the telephone, giving the range to gunners a couple of kilometers inland: "Target Dora, all guns, range four-eight-five-zero, basic direction 20 plus, impact fuse."
As this book is based upon the individual soldier's experience, Mr. Ambrose lets them speak for themselves, and the horrors they witnessed. Not for the faint of heart, as the recollections make the now famous opening to Saving Private Ryan look like Care Bear Adventure Time. Really, not going to quote those sections. I will note that something which surprised me, and I considered myself fairly knowledgeable about Operation Overlord, was the work of the Destroyers. I knew of the Rangers, the Airborne, Omaha Beach, even flail tanks. Never anything about the Destroyers: they did their part. (Pages 387-388)
Frankford fired away from shoal water 800 meters off the beach. Gunnery Officer Keeler recalled: "A tank sitting at the water's edge with a broken track fired at something on the hill. We immediately followed up with a 5-inch salvo. The tank gunner flipped open his hatch, looked around at us, waved, dropped back in the tank, and fired at another target. For the next few minutes he was our fire-control party. Our range-finder optics could examine the spots where his shells hit."
A bit later McCook had the perhaps unique experience of forcing German troops to surrender. As "Rebel" Ramey was firing at a cliff position, German soldiers appeared waving a white flag and attempting to signal the ship by semaphore and flashing light. For nearly an hour Ramey's semaphore man tried to establish communications, he using broken German, and they using poor English.
When Ramey tired of the game and signaled that he was resuming fire, a prompt answer came back - "Ceize fire!" Ramey had his man signal to the Germans that they should come down the bluff and surrender themselves. They understood and did, coming down single file with hands up to turn themselves over the GIs on the beach.
This book greatly improved my understanding of Operation Overlord, greatly enhancing my appreciation of The Longest Day and Ike, and in a way diminished the opening to Saving Private Ryan even with all of the Hollywood Magic. To be fair, they likely could not have accurately portrayed the landing to most audiences.
Along the pop culture references to Operation Overlord is the board game Axis and Allies: D-Day which is officially a two or three player game (USA, Commonwealth, and Germany) though with little work the Germans could be split for a four player game. What is interesting is the designers added the unit names/designations so a person who knows their stuff, like reading Ambrose's D-Day, can see how the designers balanced history with game balance. It is a good game, with a fair amount of setup time, usually not lasting more than two hours with setup, play, and post-game trash talking. The units are stylized according to the player. I do see that the game is a couple dollars now, and board games are a bit passe, but it is a good time getting friends/family around the battle board, moving the realistic pieces about, hearing the dice drop, and thinking "Yes. I do need to send some Marauders against that blockhouse."
That counts me out, then. I appreciate the warning, swksvolFF. Fortunately, that leaves more copies for the rest of you. ;-) But at least I got to learn from the review.
#2
TW,
The first about half of the book is mostly academic and very informative. When the shooting starts, well, what I understand is Mr. Ambrose was the real deal and it could be that many of the interviewees were sharing their experience for the first time in however many years, with understandable detail.
At least 27 civilians were killed on Saturday in regime bombardment on rebel-held areas across Syria, a monitor and local sources said, in the latest deadly violence despite a ceasefire deal.
Twelve civilians were killed in Aleppo, according to a local civil defence official, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 13 others died in shelling on the rebel town of Douma, east of Damascus. And two men were killed in regime airstrikes on Talbisseh in Homs province, the monitor said.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said the escalating violence meant the ceasefire in Syria had effectively collapsed.
The barrage of air strikes on Aleppo began around 10am on several neighbourhoods, including the heavily-populated Bustan Al Qasr district, a correspondent in the city said.
But the deadliest raid was on the Tareeq Al Bab neighbourhood on the eastern edges of the city. A civil defence member responding to the incident said 12 civilians had been killed there.
At least nine other civilians were wounded in air strikes on other parts of the city, including Bustan Al Qasr and Al Mashad, the civil defence member said. It was the second day of deadly strikes on Aleppo, after 25 civilians were killed and another 40 wounded in air strikes on Friday.
Once Syria's commercial hub, the northern metropolis has been divided by government control in the west and opposition groups in the east.
In the rebel-held town of Douma, 13 people - including three women and two children - were killed in government shelling on the city. The Observatory said all the dead were civilians. Douma lies in the Eastern Ghouta opposition bastion, where the Jaish Al Islam rebel group - also party to the truce deal - is dominant. The ceasefire deal brokered by Russia and the United States saw Syria's government and non-militant opposition agree to halt attacks while pursuing peace talks.
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04/24/2016
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] When two C-130H aircraft arrived at Robins in the fall of 2013, each would play a significant role nearly two years later in a country over 7,000 miles away.
The nose of one aircraft, scheduled to be retired, served as a donor to a second C-130. The second had experienced a hard landing and suffered structural damage to its nose, prior to its arrival for unscheduled depot level maintenance at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex. It was that second C-130 that received the most attention ‐ a new nose section that would not only breathe new life into the aircraft, but assist with efforts to provide increased tactical airlift capabilities and mobility operations throughout Afghanistan.
The successful PDM of that C-130 resulted in a successful aircraft delivery supporting operations with the Afghan Air Force.
The C-130 with the donor nose was the fourth aircraft delivered to the country in June 2015. Since its arrival this year, it has continued to serve as a valuable resource to the AAF.
"Adding a fourth aircraft to the Afghan Air Force’s C-130 fleet has led to a significant increase in Afghanistan’s strategic airlift capabilities," said Lt. Col. Michael Morales, 538th Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron commander, with Train, Advise, Assist Command-Air.
TAAC-Air groups work to support NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... ’s Resolute Support mission, which trains, advises and assists Afghan partners to develop a sustainable air force.
"The C-130’s night, all-weather airlift capability provides vital, rapid and agile support to Afghan National Defense Security Force counterinsurgency operations throughout the country," he said.
A Robins team plays a support role in further assisting with the ongoing needs of the four Afghan C-130s. That can include awarding and sustaining contracts to tech order responsibilities.
"Anything that an active duty C-130 unit would normally do, the contractor does that within their capabilities. We provide oversight for them to do that," said Robert Burleigh, Afghanistan Security Assistance program manager. "That mindset of a high density/low demand asset really comes into play. They fly them every day, and use them to fly troops in and around the country, as well as move their maimed around. The more they have available and the more crews they have trained to fly, the better off they are in fighting that war. In our program, it’s one day at a time, because something always changes."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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#1
Wow, wonder if they can transplant integrity and backbone?
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Embassy of Russia 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.... has rejected reports regarding Moscow’s cooperation with the Taliban group in fight against the 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 in the country.
According to a statement by the Embassy of Russia, the statements by the Russian Presidential Special Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov have been repeatedly altered.
Dismissing the reports as baseless, the statement further added that the reports have sparked anger among the Russian officials, specifically the misinterpretation of the statements following the deadly attack in Kabul.
The statement also added that rumors circulating in social media are aimed at provoking the public view against the Russia, warning that such moves will have a negative impact on relations between the two nations.
The Russian Embassy also insisted that Moscow’s stance towards the Afghan grinding of the peace processor is clear, emphasizing that the Taliban group should accept the Afghan constitution, refrain from violence and terminate links with al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks.
The statement said Russia remains committed in supporting Afghanistan to bolster security and capabilities of the Afghan National Security Forces.
This comes as reports earlier emerged regarding the growing concerns of Moscow as the loyalists of the Islamic State are expanding foothold and terrorist related activities in Afghanistan.
Moscow is mainly concerned that the loyalists of the terror group are looking to further expand foothold by infiltrating into the Central Asian countries and Russia.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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[DAWN] PESHAWAR: The capital police claimed on Friday to have jugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! three Death Eaters of a banned terror outfit during a search operation in Badbher and Atta Mohammad Garhi areas, on the outskirts of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. SSP operations Abbas Majid Marwat told media persons that the police also seized arms and explosives from the possession of arrested Death Eaters identified as Wisal, Asmatullah and Wasid Gul.
He said that the Death Eaters were involved in attacks on government schools and other sensitive installations. They were also involved in firing on PIA aircraft.
The police officer said the arrested Death Eaters were planning to attack schools and other government installations.
He said hand grenades, two Kalashnikovs and three pistols were recovered from their possession. -- APP
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, Bart was wondering if fisticuffs would be appropriate at this point... the city police on Friday arrested the main accused charged in a rape case. The man along with three other accomplices was charged in a rape case by a woman a day earlier.
ASP Waseem Riaz Khan told Dawn that the accused was identified as Faqeer alias Bhoola.
However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... he said initial investigations had revealed that both parties had issues in the past and had also approached the police in that regard.
Previously, he said the main accused had complained at the Paharipura cop shoppe, accusing the complainant of the rape case of drugging his wife, who was later allegedly raped by several persons.
ASP Waseem said that apparently the rape claim, wherein the woman said that she was taken to the residence of the main accused, did not hold water as he lived along with his wives and other family members.
However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... he said that police were waiting for the medical report of the complainant.
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[ARA News] ALEPPO ــ Subsequent to fierce battles with rebel groups, militant fighters of the Islamic State (ISIS) were able to control several key areas in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo, local sources reported on Saturday.
Local activists confirmed that ISIS jihadis have advanced in the region despite the Turkish bombardment on the group’s locations near the Syrian-Turkish border.
Speaking to ARA News in Aleppo, rebel spokesman Saleh Zein said that ISIS insurgents launched a major offensive on rebels’ positions in Aleppo’s northern suburbs and were able to recapture Kafr Ghan, Tel Hussein and Biraghida villages near the Syrian-Turkish border after heavy battles with the rebel fighters of al-Sham Corps and al-Hamza Brigade.
The source emphasized that ISIS jihadis have used heavy weapons against the rebel factions, causing them heavy losses in manpower and equipment.
Zein pointed out that the battles are still ongoing between the two sides, while rebels try to recapture the areas that fell to ISIS on Saturday.
“Daesh has advanced in the region despite Turkish heavy shelling on its positions on the outskirts of Tel Hussein and Biraghida near the Syria-Turkey border,” Zein told ARA News, using an acronym for ISIS.
In the meantime, rebel fighters of the 13th squad along with the 1st regiment targeted headquarters of the ISIS group in the towns and Harbal and Asanbil with mortar shells and hell cannon amid reports of casualties among the group’s ranks, according to the spokesman.
ISIS was able last week to seize control of the strategic town of al-Raee in northern Aleppo subsequent to fierce battles with rebel fighters, according to locals.
Also Saturday, the US-led coalition forces conducted several air raids on ISIS headquarters in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah, causing the death and injury of dozens among ISIS jihadis, locals reported.
Speaking to ARA News, J.L. based in Hasakah, confirmed that the US-led coalition forces targeted headquarters and tactical units for the radical group in the vicinity of Margada town south of Hasakah, northeast of Syria, causing the group heavy losses in manpower and equipment.
“However, some of the group’s militants were able to avoid airstrikes through hiding within the civilians’ houses in the town,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
ARA News could not verify the death toll among ISIS ranks.
In February, ISIS militants have evacuated their headquarters in Shaddadi city in Hasakah province under heavy bombardment by the Kurdish-Arab alliance of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The SDF forces include the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) along with Arab and Christian groups. Backed by the U.S.-led coalition, the SDF alliance is mainly focused on fighting ISIS, al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups in northern Syria.
SDF’s progress in Shaddadi came after they were able to cut off a main supply route [al-Hawl] for the radical group near Syria’s northeastern border with Iraq.
“SDF units have closed a strategic supply route near Shaddadi and paralyzed ISIS’s movement subsequent to losing its main supply line with Iraq’s Mosul,” an SDF official told ARA News in a previous interview.
Furthermore, the SDF alliance had seized control of a key gas facility and main financial resource for the group in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province. The western-backed forces regained control of the Jibisa gas facility, located about 12km east of Shaddadi city in southern Hasakah.
The facility had been used by ISIS for nearly two years as a source to fund its operations. Jibisa gas facility is considered one of the main gas facilities in northern Syria for its huge production that has been feeding power stations in central Syria. The facility was run by some 500 workers, including specialized engineers, technicians and workers.
The Kurdish-Arab alliance of SDF had earlier liberated more than 240 towns and villages from ISIS militants on the border with Iraq. SDF has now been fortifying its positions in the southern suburbs of Shaddadi, while SDF-ISIS clashes have stopped for nearly two months in the region. The Azzawi village, between Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor provinces, is considered an area of contact between the two sides.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/24/2016
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[BLOOMBERG] As the average age of farmers globally creeps higher and retirement looms, Japan has a solution: robots and driver-less tractors.
The Group-of-Seven agriculture ministers meet in Japan’s northern prefecture of Niigata this weekend for the first time in seven years to discuss how to meet increasing food demand as aging farmers retire without successors. With the average age of Japanese farmers now 67, Agriculture Minister Hiroshi Moriyama will outline his idea of replacing retiring growers with Japanese-developed autonomous tractors and backpack-carried robots.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has warned that left unchecked, aging farmers could threaten the ability to produce the food the world needs. The average age of growers in developed countries is now about 60, according to the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... . Japan plans to spend 4 billion yen ($36 million) in the year through March to promote farm automation and help develop 20 different types of robots, including one that separates over-ripe peaches when harvesting.
"There are no other options for farmers but to rely on technologies developed by companies if they want to raise productivity while they are graying," said Makiko Tsugata, senior analyst at Mizuho Securities Co. in Tokyo. "The government should help them adopt new technologies."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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#1
The robots sent into Fukushima haven't worked that well. So, will the workers in farms near it need to be older people who will die of old age before cancer?
#2
If we cut to the chase, the next generation of all Japanese can be robots.
I have tried talking to the Pope about the coming of Robo-Jesus and The Word Made Silicon, but he just ignores my emails. Don't think he is that into robotic outreach.
A total of 12 police officers and three civilians were wounded on April 23 in an outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bomb attack near the Mazıdağı district of the southeastern province of Mardin. PKK militants detonated a bomb placed on the Mardin-Diyarbakır motorway during the passing of an armored police shuttle.
According to initial reports, 12 police officers and three civilians were wounded in the attack. The wounded police officers were taken to hospitals in Mardin and Diyarbakır as two were reported to be in critical condition.
An operation has begun to apprehend the PKK militants responsible for the attack.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/24/2016
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The Government Uganda said it is demanding $10 million as compensation for the war and tear of equipment used in Somalia.
From whom?
The Ugandan troops in Somalia have not been been paid to a tune of over Shs200 billion. This detail is contained in a report by Parliament’s Defense and internal affairs committee to parliament .
The government is also demanding another $10 million, approximately 34 billion shillings, as compensation for the war and tear of equipment used in Somalia.
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[Hot Air] "Is there going to be political interference? If there's enough evidence to prosecute, will there be political interference?" Grassley wondered aloud during a breakfast meeting with the Des Moines A.M. Rotary club on Friday. "And if there's political interference, then I assume that somebody in the FBI is going to leak these reports and it’s either going to have an effect politically or it's going to lead to prosecution if there's enough evidence."
"I wouldn't be encouraging it because if it's a violation of law, I can't be encouraging a violation of law," he said. "This is kind of my own opinion, this is something I've heard."
#1
Well, we already know that and we don't pay you for leaks. Democrats do not care how horrible, idiotic, or murderous their leaders are. Look at lennin and hitler.
All "democrats" are is non-democratic fascist cultural marxists with nothing but critical theory in their empty heads.
They will vote for that horrible skankles bitch if for nothing else, to feel better having solved the rampant poverty in this Nation because 3 obama phones, free housing, and 9 paid for Fatherless Children in a ghetto school they cannot get out of is not enough.
Show democrats how much they care every day by cutting them out of anything you do and life becomes better for everyone... even the welfare state.
[DAWN] AFTER seven cops were killed in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... the other day, the usual condolences and prayers were offered, and we have already moved on.
A week or so ago, another six were killed by gangsters in the Rajanpur face-off in southern Punjab. Their deaths were quickly buried under the media coverage of the army operation in the area. In the same disastrous attempt to neutralise the Chotoo gang, 24 cops had also been captured.
In Karachi, hundreds of coppers have been murdered in broad daylight over the last four years. So common are these deaths that unless it’s a particularly bloody incident, they seldom make the front pages or the breaking news on TV. And of late, Rangers patrolling Karachi’s streets are being similarly targeted.
While earlier, MQM hitmen were widely suspected of carrying out this bloody campaign, now it’s the jihadists of various stripes. So despite the ongoing Rangers-led operation to clean up Karachi, and the many staged encounters that have eliminated suspected bully boys, it would appear that the city has become a vast nest of vipers where Islamist Lions of Islam can pick off cops and Rangers at will.
Clearly, our well-resourced intelligence agencies have failed at penetrating and identifying these groups and their hideouts. According to forensic evidence, the weapons used to kill the seven cops in Orangi were also employed in the killing of over a score of victims over the last two years. The gang remains untraced.
Obviously, policing a city of 20 million is no easy task, especially with only around 25,000 coppers available. Out of these, nearly a third are assigned to protect public buildings and so-called VIPs. And even those who are supposed to protect us are poorly trained, underequipped and paid peanuts for risking their lives every day.
It is true that the public has a very poor perception of our police for their corruption and incompetence. At independence, we inherited a force that was trained to protect the colonial state, and not ordinary citizens. Since then, its orientation has not changed.
Despite three decades of militancy in Karachi, successive governments have been unable to train and equip an effective force to tackle this menace. With good reason, our cops are demoralised, serving under a rotten provincial administration. All too often, they have to pay bribes to get inducted into the force. So once they don their uniforms, there is every incentive for corruption to recover their investment.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2016
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Put simply, the nation's military system is out of sync with its military ambitions. That system, euphemistically known as the All-Volunteer Force or AVF, employs a mix of patriotic appeals and material blandishments to induce young Americans to go fight in distant lands. Yet those responding to these inducements are too few in number to get the job done. 
[NYPost] The New York Times Co. is preparing to lay off a few hundred staffers in the second half of the year, The Post has learned.
North Korea
[Mindanao Examiner] Five policemen taken prisoners by Maoist militants have appealed for their lives following a massive military shelling of New People's Army strongholds in the southern Philippines. NPA spokesman Rigoberto Sanchez said the "prisoners of war" are being held by the NPA's 1st Pulang Bagani Command.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Libya’s Vice President Ahmed Maetig has expressed hope that the 
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] 
David Cameron
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 31 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hillary Clinton
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Over 100 school girls have been poisoned in western Farah province of Afghanistan during the school hours.
At least 27 civilians were killed on Saturday in regime bombardment on rebel-held areas across Syria, a monitor and local sources said, in the latest deadly violence despite a ceasefire deal.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] When two C-130H aircraft arrived at Robins in the fall of 2013, each would play a significant role nearly two years later in a country over 7,000 miles away.
[DAWN] PESHAWAR: The capital police claimed on Friday to have 
