[National Review] In 2010, the 3rd Platoon of Kilo Company in the 5th Marine Regiment was patrolling the farmlands in bloody Sangin in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. When I joined them, they were shot at or encountered concealed IEDs (improvised explosive devices) every day.
I had patrolled in many places in Vietnam (in the ’60s) and in Iraq and Afghanistan. Third Platoon went into Sangin with 51 Marines and in seven months took 27 casualties, including two killed and nine amputations. Altogether, American and British forces each lost 100 troops in the battle and incurred several hundred moderate to severe casualties.
I suppose I have as much time on patrols as any American, and I loathed what I saw in Sangin, because what we gained could not be sustained. Our top generals were preaching a counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy based on winning hearts and minds. "The conflict will be won," General Stanley McChrystal, the top commander, wrote, "by persuading the population, not by destroying the enemy." Yet by a two-to-one ratio, the Marines in the platoon rated the Taliban better fighters than the Afghan soldiers, and not one Marine believed the villagers supported the government. (See my book One Million Steps, page 244.)
Every battalion commander who served there knew that the Afghan soldiers would give up what we paid so dearly to gain. Yet the top Marine general in Helmand wrote me that I did not understand operations or strategy. We had a difference of opinion long before Sangin fell. The denial, at the top, of the reality at the bottom was Kafkaesque. The 3rd platoon waded through red, crimson and purple poppy fields as beautiful as Monet’s paintings. Helmand provided 70 percent of the world’s supply of opium and heroin. A farmer collected pitch from every bulb on his five to seven acres and earned $9,000 for the aggregate product. He paid about $3,000 to the Taliban youths who helped him, plus a tax of 15 percent. Sangin District was yielding $40 million and Helmand Province was yielding $250 million in farm-gate revenues alone. The value skyrocketed from there, after the raw opium was refined in hidden labs and smuggled out to Pakistan, then west into Iran, and from there to the Balkans and on to the rest of Europe and to Russia.
The Taliban in Helmand and across Afghanistan are tied into a global drug network estimated at well over $20 billion. Of course tribal leaders and government officials at all levels wanted their share. Our Marines were sent to the end of the earth -- the miserable, selfish, mean district of Sangin -- to win hearts and minds, while drug lords in collusion with the Taliban (and too many government officials) filled the wallets of the villagers. Mission impossible.
#1
It'd sure be interesting if we could follow the money.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/07/2017 13:30
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#2
The author is saying in essence, that if we were Romans using current technology, we'd kill the Sangin men, sell off the women and children into slavery, resettle the district with a more tractable (non-Pashtun) population and be done with it. What we've done, the hearts-and-minds program, was a complete waste of both money and good men. Given current mores, the best we can do is to give up on Sangin and other Pashtun areas, support only the non-Pashtun areas and drone-zap the Pashtuns who try to attack those areas.
#3
What we've done is not wage war. The noun is used for something that it is not. When you make something less painful, less determinate, you make humans far more likely not to change their ways/behaviors that got you there in the first place. See - Germany,Japan post-45.
[Sputnik News] A highly-anticipated declassified US intelligence report, aimed to prove that Russia supported Donald Trump, has turned out to be a huge embarrassment. The annex that contained factual material that was thought to provide evidence of RT influencing the American public was compiled in December 2012, right after the reelection of Barack Obama.
The report focuses on television shows and interviews that took place four years before Trump was elected, and well before he was even a politician. In Annex A of the report, intelligence agencies claim that "Kremlin's TV Seeks To Influence Politics, Fuel Discontent in US." Buried at the bottom of that page is a note stating, "This annex was originally published on 11 December 2012 by the Open Source Center, now the Open Source Enterprise."
The report notes that two RT shows, Breaking the Set and Truthseeker, focused on criticism of US. The problem is, both of these shows were off air before the 2016 election season began.
[Daily Caller] Russia’s original hacking intent had nothing to do with President-elect Donald Trump, according to intelligence officials who detailed their assessment in a report released Friday.
The intel chiefs are highly confident the core motivations behind the extensive Russian campaign were to undermine the integrity of the election, denigrate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and undermine her potential presidency. Although the report states Russia developed a "preference" for Trump late in the campaign, it’s clear they believe the underlying goal was always to hurt Clinton.
"We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election," the report states. "Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency."
[Chicago Tribune] Chicago's Honey Butter Fried Chicken is among a couple of dozen restaurants across the country to sign onto a new "sanctuary restaurant" movement meant to offer safe workplaces for immigrants, Muslims and other communities they feel are under threat in the current political climate.
The movement is a joint project of ROC United, a national group that advocates for higher wages for restaurant workers, and Presente.org, whose mission is to "advance Latinx power" (Latinx is a gender-neutral alternative to Latino and Latina). Check the above links and 'follow the money.' It's not about employees, it's about cheap labor and market share.
According to a news release Wednesday, sanctuary restaurants do not allow harassment of individuals based on immigrant or refugee status or race, religion, gender or sexual orientation; participate in peer networks to exchange ideas for protecting targeted workers; and agree to place prominent signs that state "SANCTUARY RESTAURANTS: A Place At the Table for Everyone" at their establishments.
ROC United co-founder and co-director Saru Jayaraman said in the news release that restaurant workers "are on the front lines of discrimination and hate in America."
"While the restaurant industry suffers from a labor shortage, anti-immigrant and sexist rhetoric is now commonplace. Sanctuary Restaurants seeks to create the world we want -- establishments free from hate and discrimination, where everyone has a seat at the table," Jayaraman said.
ROC in November had urged signatures for an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump penned by RAISE, its subgroup of supportive employers, asking him to alleviate fear of deportation and harassment of immigrant workers in the restaurant industry.
[Wikipedia] Jayaraman was named a Champion of Change by the Obama administration in 2014, listed in CNN's "Top10 Visionary Women," and was awarded a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award in 2015. She was named one of Crain's New York Business "40 Under 40," 1010 Wins' "Newsmaker of the Year," and New York Magazine's "Influentials" of New York City."
After all they wouldn't want to make criminals feel 'threatened' by calling the police or do anything to defend themselves - or their paying customers.
#10
I hope nobody gets upset with me for noticing the name Honey Butter Fried Chicken sounds like it was concocted to appeal to customers in predominantly black neighborhoods. But how many blacks will be employed by this chain?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/07/2017 13:16
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#11
My guess is that they will only hire minorities in black population dominated areas, so by definition, blacks are not minorities, so they are SOL, IMHO.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/07/2017 17:59
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#12
Who? Never heard of them.
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/07/2017 20:12
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[FOX] No documents related to the hacks of the Democratic National Committee emails or Clinton campaign Chair John Podesta’s emails appear to be altered or forged, according to a declassified U.S. intelligence report on alleged Russian interference in the U.S. election released Friday.
While the report accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering a campaign to influence the U.S. election and hurt Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, it found that the material sent to WikiLeaks did not contain "any evident forgeries."
The claim that the emails may have been doctored or forged was raised by DNC Interim Chair Donna Brazile in October, when she was criticized for an email that surfaced in hacked messages from Podesta’s account.
The report also concluded that Moscow chose WikiLeaks to distribute the information "because of its self-proclaimed reputation for authenticity."
While the report does not specifically mention Podesta’s emails, it does say Russian intelligence agencies relayed material to WikiLeaks "from the DNC and senior Democratic officials." Podesta was the most prominent Democratic official to be subject to a cyberattack during the campaign.
[FOX] DAMASCUS, Syria ‐ A string of bombings, including a suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State group, struck in and around several Syrian cities on Monday, killing at least 43 people, mainly in government-controlled areas.
The SANA news agency reported blasts around the coastal city of Tartus, the central city of Homs, the suburbs of the capital Damascus, and the northeastern city of Hasakeh. The attacks were timed closely together, but authorities have not determined whether they were linked. ISIS claimed responsibility for the blast in Hasakeh.
Areas controlled by President Bashar Assad's forces have seen several bombings and other attacks during the country's five-year civil war, with many claimed by Al Qaeda-linked militant groups.
One of Monday's attacks took place in the heavily guarded suburb of Sabbourah, marking a major security breach. SANA said the attack killed one person, while the opposition-run Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three people were killed.
"It's an area that houses officers and their families. Even before the revolution it was carefully guarded," said opposition media activist Yousef al-Boustani, referring to the 2011 uprising against Assad, which began with peaceful protests demanding reform.
#1
Wikileaks is like a pack of rats. If you leave your food out where they can get it, they will. You can blame the rats all you want but it's no excuse for not keeping the food in secure storage.
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01/07/2017 12:27
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#2
See the look on Podesta's face in the first picture at the link? She's an idiot and he knows it. What he doesn't know is that he's an idiot too.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/07/2017 12:29
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#4
When the democrats start the race war they so desperately want, I think they'll find it doesn't go the way they want. They are concentrated in the cities where the blacks and others tend to live, so they'll be the ones facing the brunt of the crazy. And sure, Houston has it's areas like that, but once they're done with the city liberals, trying to expand out won't go well.
#5
A violent sociopath is a thousand times more dangerous than an angry bigot After all, anger can be calmed and bigotry can be overcome. An utter lack of a moral compass, however, is not an issue so easily resolved. Especially when the parent suffers from the same condition..
h/t Instapundit
Tequila can be a night saver. If you’re a Lesser Long-nosed Bat, however, it can be a species saver (and congratulations on learning to read if you’re a bat, by the way).
That’s because tequila producers are partly responsible for bringing the Lesser Long-nosed Bat population from less than 1,000 in 1988, to more than 200,000 today, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
#3
Extinction, by the way, is a perfectly natural process. When a species becomes too specialized, like the Spotted Owl, or River Smelt, for the Dodo bird for that matter, they *need* to die off and/or evolve into a more general species.
Perhaps title should actually read 'Jim Clapper on Steroids.'
[Wash Times] The nation’s top spy suggested Thursday that it would behoove the incoming administration to revive the defunct U.S. Information Agency, or USIA, as a bulwark against Moscow’s powerful propaganda operation. But wait! I thought the current problem was cyber hacking and espionage? Wasn't the old USIA a diplomatic tool ?
"We could do with having a USIA on steroids to fight this information war [with Russia] a lot more aggressively than we’re doing right now," Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Resuscitating and revamping the agency, which was officially shuttered in 1999, and focusing the organization’s pro-U.S. messaging into social media networks would go a long way in countering Russian-sponsored media outlets like Russia Today and Sputnik, Mr. Clapper said. Resuscitation of USIA? But Wikileaks has such a head start. It could take years, possibly decades. Wikileaks is the problem, right ?
"[Russia Today] was very active in promoting a particular point of view, disparaging our system, our alleged hypocrisy about human rights," he said. "Whatever crack, fissure they could find in our tapestry, they would exploit it," via the state-owned news network. The Clinton 'tapestry' did not require a great deal of exploitation.
Currently the aging State Department-run Voice of America is the closest capability Washington has in offsetting Russia Today’s growing influence across the globe.
#1
Forget the Department of Defense, and the fact that we failed you in the past. We now need those new Trump defense dollars. Just ask Leon Panetta, Mike Morell, or Brennan !
Please hurry! We've already selected senior people and purchased desks.
#4
A Mark Dillen review of Nicholas Cull's, The Decline and Fall of the United States Information Agency: American Public Diplomacyfound at this link.
About the author: "Mark Dillen is an international public affairs consultant. As a member of the Senior Foreign Service, he served as Political Minister Counselor at the US Embassy in Rome in 1999, when talks about a Loya Jirga were underway in Rome with Zahir Shah. Mark recently returned from Kabul, where for one year he was Communications Director for USAID and Executive Secretary for the USAID Mission."
#5
Remember, white propaganda is truth. So how do you fight white propaganda, with gray (misleading) or black (lies)? The Donks are already full spin on the latter. They don't need govt subsidizes.
[Wash Times] Turkish intelligence officers ordered the nation’s border police not to inspect truckloads of bomb-making materials shipped by companies in Turkey to Islamic State operatives in Syria in recent years, a former top Turkish counterterrorism official said.
Although Ankara denies it ever allowed private companies to supply the terrorist group, Ahmet S. Yayla, who held high-level Turkish law enforcement posts from 2010 to 2014, said the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a clandestine policy to facilitate cross-border transfers of explosive materials to the group.
"Police were told to close their eyes when large shipping container trucks rolled across the Syrian border with Turkey," Mr. Yayla told The Washington Times. "The protocol was that if national intelligence was arranging the movement, there was [no] stopping for inspection."
Mr. Yayla, an adjunct professor at George Mason University and an outspoken critic of the Turkish government, made the assertions amid growing scrutiny of Ankara’s suspected role in arming the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
Turkish diplomats strenuously denied the charges during a half-hour meeting at the Turkish Embassy late last month. The diplomats insisted that they could speak only on background and therefore could not be quoted by name.
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01/07/2017
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[Wash Times] President-elect Donald Trump is "undermining the credibility" of the U.S. intelligence community by using Twitter to discuss and dispute matters of national security, former CIA Director Leon Panetta said Friday.
In an interview broadcast by NBC’s "Today" show, the former CIA chief said it was "unheard of and unprecedented" for the president-elect to be publicly sparring with the nation’s intelligence community after Mr. Trump used his widely followed social media account to challenge its claims concerning a hacking campaign waged against the 2016 White House race by the Russian government.
"When he sits down with our intelligence community and hears what they have to say, I think he’s going to realize that this is a very important issue that must be dealt with seriously," said Mr. Panetta, who at separate times ran both the CIA and Department of Defense under President Obama.
"He’s going to find that it’s easy to tweet about reactions to all kinds of issues. But to seriously deal with our national security and deal with the threats to our country is a business that ought to be done in the confines of the Oval Office," he said Friday morning.
Although Mr. Panetta has been hardly reserved in the past with respect to expressing his opinion of the president-elect, his latest comments proved especially timely given that Mr. Trump was scheduled to be briefed by intelligence officials Friday afternoon on the Russia’s hacking campaign.
#1
Failed to predict the collapse of Soviet Union. Failed to predict the raise of Islamic Militancy. Failed in all their recommendation in how to deal with Islamic Militancy. Failed in predicting Russian response to engineering Ukrainian putsch. Failed to ... Ok, maybe we should talk about their successes instead?
#5
Next you're going to say "Trump ‘undermining the credibility' of news media with Twitter tirades"?
Seems both institution sunk themselves by their own actions and behaviors. Trump is just the kid pointing out the Emperor has no clothes. Fortunately, he has enough standing to actually get peoples attention to the matter.
#6
I think it's the fact that the CIA is pursuing it's own agenda and has become lying worthless political hacks instead of doing their actual job that is the reason Trump is going to eviscerate them. Maybe we should use rendition to send them all to the Russians so they can have that fantasy super secret agent experience, only for real. I'm sure the Russians will 'disappear' them.
#7
I think it's the fact that the CIA is pursuing it's own agenda and has become lying worthless political hacks instead of doing their actual job.
But, but, but intelligence collection, analysis, and dissemination... be hard. Political intrigues, running guns, shi* disturbing, and overthrowing governments is much more lucrative.
#8
It would appear that Pannettas' primary beef is the public nature of PE-Trumps' IC critiques. He also seems to insinuate the use Twitter is not an appropriate vehicle to air such grievences. Those are opinions held by many - not the few. Trump would be wise to tone down his 144 characters on this issue. At least re-focus the motive conclusion towards the damaging of a single candidate as opposed to swaying an entire election.
#10
....I think one should read TFA with this in mind: the CIA cheerfully went after Dubya in his second term, and may have actively worked against John McCain. Mr Panetta - White House COS under Slick Willie and with ZERO LE or Intel experience - was sent to CIA by President Obama with one and only one purpose in mind: make sure that a weaponized intel community wouldn't turn against Obama and the Democratic party. He did his job and made sure that when it came down to it, the intel community would support The Right People.
Mr Panetta isn't bitching about undermined credibility here; he's complaining that President-elect Trump might actually be intending to drain the particular swamp in Langley, VA.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/07/2017 10:53
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#11
Incoming director Rep. Mike Pompeo is going to have his hands full.
#12
"the CIA cheerfully went after Dubya in his second term, and may have actively worked against John McCain"
And this is not half of the bureaucratic nonsense for political gain I have seen for decades.
Do not get me wrong, I love them, they do deliver some great products,
The political arm over Our entire structure has been tuned into an ether level priority.
The ground level probably waits on 50 staff to do anything now.
information is forged for political purposes. Metrics are off.
Grab a decade of WFB and check it
There is no Sin against being plain spoken or direct. There is nothing wrong with trust but verify.
And this dogpile on Trump looks exactly like it is.
It's an army of strawmen to contaminate the news that no one cared about in 2012.
China is the Nation State that attacked Our Government, and probably has the OPM file on everyone on rantburg, plus .. Every Federal Government Employee.
Some simple rudimentary checks show inconsistencies with "competing" agencies. The map making process must have been a bitch beating your heads together to make a consistent non-story about the big Russian Bear in your barn or bathroom.
[Wash Times] President-elect Donald Trump said Friday he’s asking the chairmen of the House and Senate intelligence committees to investigate how NBC got hold of details from what it says is the top secret dossier on Russian interference in the U.S. election.
He issued the call in a Twitter post just minutes before he himself is scheduled to get a briefing on the information.
On Thursday he said someone was playing "politics" by sharing the top secret information with the television network.
"I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it," Mr. Trump said in his Friday post.
Earlier this week NBC aired a story on the intelligence community’s findings, which were presented first to President Obama and then are being shared later today with Mr. Trump.
[Breitbart] The organized left’s kitchen sink tactic seen throughout the week against Senator Jeff Sessions’ (R-AL) nomination for the next U.S. Attorney General included a bold effort tell the Senate Judiciary Committee directly that the nominee’s record of prosecuting federal voter fraud defendants served as an example of voter intimidation.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s opposition campaign formally expanded this week to include the promotion of a letter from former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D), who previously served as a staff lawyer for the organization before advancing to be Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Clinton Administration.
The document, directed to Senate Judiciary Committee leadership, charged that Sessions’ judgment should be questioned after bringing a case against three black, Alabama voters for what Patrick describes was an effort to "help someone else to vote or advise them how to vote--even if and when they ask for such help." The defendants named in the case (the Perry County Three) were Albert Turner, Spencer Hogue, Jr., and Evelyn Turner. Patrick reports that he served as counsel to Mr. Hogue. The former governor further charged that the case was an example of Sessions’ "extraordinary quasi-judicial activism" and noted that Sessions targeted his efforts on "black voters and only where white incumbents were losing political ground." Finally, the letter argued that the former U.S. Attorney’s decision to give 20 local government witnesses armed protection when traveling to testify led some to believe there was a "campaign to intimidate" the group into "believing that voter assistance was illegal."
#1
Seems to me - looking from outside in - that African-Americans from top (current POTUS) to bottom (these punks in Chicago), with every stage in between (all these AA professors & organizations), are doing everything they can to reverse the advancement they've achieved since 1960. I guess, I'm wrong (because the only other alternative is that the old racists were right).
#7
Funny that they can't find a victim. Well other than the people who's vote were actually changed, without their knowledge or consent, by the people Session prosecuted.
And they failed to note that Sessions acted on behalf of other black candidates who felt that their election was being stolen.
[PJ] In a move that threatens to destroy irony meters everywhere, an online webinar outlet is hosting a disgraced 20th century newsman to "guide you through the 21st century state of journalism." The online course is titled "Dan Rather on Journalism & Finding the Truth in the News," with the subtitle "Learn to ask the right questions & tell captivating stories. Practical advice for journalists & avid news consumers." Fittingly, you can participate in the class for the low, low price of $10 -- a 93% discount!
You might remember that Mr. Rather had his own brush with dishonesty when he made up a story about President George W. Bush during his reelection campaign in 2004. All of a sudden, during a critical time that election season, newly uncovered memos were "found" that alleged that Bush had failed to fulfill his duties while in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. Well, if by "found," you really meant "forged," then yeah. The memos were faxed to CBS News producer Mary Mapes, after which the originals were supposedly burned.
[AlAhram] Tunisian authorities have enjugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! a state employee accused of passing information about security operations to bad boy groups, a police front man said on Friday.
Since its 2011 uprising, Tunisia has faced repeated Islamist murderous Moslem attacks that have killed more than 100 soldiers and coppers, as well dozens of civilians and foreign tourists, according to official figures.
Khlifa Chibani, a front man for the National Guard, told a news conference that 11 "terrorist cells" were broken up by security services last month alone and 62 suspects arrested.
Among the suspects was "an employee of the state who provided these cells with a programme of security raids," said Chibani.
He declined however to identify the suspect or say in which government department he worked, adding only that "he could access" security information through his job.
"His relation to security (services) allowed him to know" of planned anti-extremist operations, he said.
Chibani said the state employee was arrested in Tunisia's Enfidha region, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital Tunis, and added that the suspected had confessed to the alleged crime.
In September 2015, the interior ministry said 110 members of the security services had been dismissed from their posts, some allegedly for harbouring "terrorist sympathies".
Tunisia says around 3,000 of its nationals have joined the ranks of jihadists groups fighting in neighbouring Libya, as well as in Syria and Iraq.
The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... puts this figure at 5,500.
A government front man last month said around 800 jihadists who returned to Tunisia have so far been jugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! or placed under surveillance.
[AlAhram] The Egyptian army has foiled a plot by forces of Evil to attack a number of security checkpoints on Friday morning, state news agency MENA reported.
The army said in a statement that the third field army pushed back an attack by gunnies on a checkpoint, killing nine forces of Evil and injuring 16 others.
[AnNahar] Egyptian authorities have detained three people suspected of planning and carrying out a Cairo police checkpoint bombing that killed six coppers last month, the interior ministry said Thursday.
In footage published by the interior ministry, one of the suspects, Mahmoud Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed, confessed he planted an bomb at the checkpoint on December 9 in Cairo's al-Haram street.
Investigations showed the perpetrators belonged to the newly-emerged Hassam Movement, the ministry said.
Hassam had grabbed credit for the attack.
The two others incarcerated Book 'im, Mahmoud! are members of the group operating its hideouts and handling its logistics, the ministry said. Authorities located hideouts for the group in Cairo's October 6 district, the ministry added.
During raids by security forces on these hideouts, another suspect was killed in a shootout, while police found items including footage recorded while the attackers were monitoring the checkpoint ahead of the bombing, according to the ministry.
In the video confession, the suspect Ahmed said he joined the Moslem Brüderbund in 2015, and in mid-2016 he was told his subgroup had joined Hassam.
Oh? Interesting, if true.
After monitoring coppers's homes and security convoys, the group scoped out the al-Haram street checkpoint before planning their attack. On the day of the kaboom, the attackers moved close to the checkpoint and pretended their car had broken down. Ahmed placed an bomb shaped like a rock near the checkpoint before another attacker set it off as they left in their car, he said in the video confession.
#1
Two thirds of Britain's global training team effort is now in the continent
Hopeless mission aside, are we to understand that the British 'Global Training Team' consists of a total of less than 150 personnel, or is that just the Sierra Leone or African contingent ?
Understand there have been MOD cutbacks but that seems like a paltry number in any case.
#2
I can't imagine that 90 is meant to be the two thirds, Besoeker, but that ninety plus the other teams elsewhere on the continental together make up the two thirds. Since I have no idea where else British teams might be in Africa, nor what else they might be doing wherever they are, I have no idea how to calculate a total. This makes me sad only because I used to be pretty good at algebra. ;-)
[IsraelTimes] Terror group representatives meet with Egyptian officials to discuss swap of soldiers’ bodies, freedom for captive Israelis held in Strip.
The Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, terror group is reportedly willing to negotiate the release of two Israeli civilians and the remains of two IDF soldiers held in the Gazoo Strip, if Israel releases 60 of the organization’s members from prison as a precondition to talks.
The Gazoo-based group is currently holding the remains of IDF soldiers Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul and Lt. Hadar Goldin, who the army says were killed in the 2014 Gazoo war, and is also believed to be detaining Avraham Mengistu and Juma Ibrahim Abu Anima, two Israeli men who crossed into Gazoo on their own accord.
The Hamas terror group has long demanded Israel first release hundreds of Paleostinians who were relocked away Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! after they were freed in the 2011 Shalit deal before it would even enter into negotiations with Israel over a prisoner exchange.
According to a report in the al-Araby al-Jadeed newspaper, senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk discussed a prisoner swap with Egyptian officials last week, according to a translation Friday by Israel Radio.
Abu Marzouk hailed Egyptian mediation between Hamas and Israel, but set a precondition that it would only launch negotiations into the possible release of the bodies and the captured Israelis if Jerusalem freed 60 Hamas members who were released during the 2011 prisoner swap for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, but have since been rearrested by Israel.
A high-level Hamas delegation will soon travel to Cairo to meet with Egyptian officials, Israel Radio reported. The matter of the captive Israelis was expected to be raised at the meeting, the radio report said.
The Hamas terrorist group has slammed Jerusalem’s decision to stop returning bodies of Hamas hard boyz killed while carrying out attacks, calling the directive "evidence of criminality and barbaric occupation" by Israel.
In a renewed effort to pressure Hamas into returning the two Israeli civilians and the remains of the two soldiers, the high-level security cabinet on Sunday ruled that Hamas murderous Moslems killed while carrying out attacks against Israeli civilians or security forces would be buried quietly, instead of being returned to their families.
Israel has often gone to great lengths to retrieve bodies of soldiers with unknown burial places, setting up a designated unit within the Manpower Directorate to find them and, in some cases, embarking on regular search missions.
For live soldiers, like Shalit who was captured by Hamas in 2006, and also for bodies of deceased fighters, Israel has often agreed to wildly lopsided exchanges with terrorist groups.
To secure the release of Shalit, for instance, Israel set free 1,027 murderous Moslems from its prisons.
That policy is heavily debated on the Israeli street and in the upper echelons of the country’s security services. One side stresses the need for Israel to do everything within its power to bring back any soldier who falls into enemy hands, while the other argues that such a sentimental approach to individuals, and especially bodies, is ultimately a weakness, which can be and has been exploited by Israel’s enemies.
[DailyMail] An ISIS propaganda chief has died in an Arclight airstrike in the Syrian city of Raqqa, US officials have revealed.
The US-based coalition killed senior group controller Mahmud al-Isawi in an air strike in the krazed killers' self-proclaimed capital.
His death, on December 31, was confirmed by the US military command in the region today.
CENTCOM identified the target as al-Isawi, an IS operative who managed instructions and finances for ISIS leaders and provided propaganda and intelligence support.
He was the 16th significant member of the network's external operations killed last year.
Before moving to Raqqa, the longtime ISIS member supported the group's media and intelligence operation in Fallujah.
He also facilitated transregional travel with other operators, and had what CENTCOM dubbed a 'close working and personal relationship' with Abd al-Basit al-Iraqi, emir of the group's Middle East attack network.
Al-Iraqi was killed in a coalition air strike on November 2.
'His death, combined with the recent successive deaths of other ISIS leaders plotting terrorist attacks, has degraded ISIS's trans-regional attack and facilitation network, and is forcing ISIS to increase their focus on internal security,' CENTCOM said. 'The coalition will continue to track and eliminate ISISsnuffies who plot and conduct attacks against coalition nations and our allies, wherever they are hiding.'
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/07/2017
02:03 ||
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[Ynet] Several Russian SS-26 Iskandar ground to ground missiles discovered by Israeli satellite; stationed at the Latakia airbase in Syria, they are thought to be in use by the Russians, missiles are able to hit Tel Aviv, J'lem; can carry half ton warhead.
Several lovely satellite photos at the link, with circles and arrows and an explanation under each one.
The Eros B satellite operated by the Israel based ImageSat International (ISI) has located two long range Russian ground to ground SS-26 Iskandar missile launchers in the Syrian Latakia air base. The base is also used by the Russian Air Force.
Below are the first high quality photos of the launchers in Syria ever released.
#1
Yawn. Reported back in March. Was seen on Russian TV.
A still from footage aired by Russia's Zvezda TV on 27 March shows an Iskander TEL next to the runway at Humaymim Air Base. (Zvezda TV)
Russia has deployed at least one Iskander missile system to its Humaymim Air Base in Syria, although it is unclear if it is the ballistic or cruise missile variant.
The Iskander transporter erector launcher (TEL) was spotted in footage broadcast by Russia's Zvezda TV channel on 27 March. The system could be seen on the east side of the runway at Humaymim as an An-124 transport aircraft took off from the base.
The TEL, which is 13 m long, can be seen at the same location in Airbus Defence and Space satellite imagery taken on 20 March.
Like numerous other Russian military systems, the Iskander is mounted on an 8x8 MZKT-7930 chassis. However, the one at Humaymim does not match any other known systems, including the K-300P Bastion-P anti-ship missile system, which is in Syrian service. The superstructure needed to accommodate the Yakhont missiles launched by the Bastion-P is notably longer than that of the Iskander.
Posted by: John Frum ||
01/07/2017 14:14
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[Ynet] The number of migrants reaching the European Union by sea fell by two-thirds in 2016 due to a migration deal with Turkey but arrivals in Italy from north Africa hit an all-time high, the EU said on Friday. The deal concluded in March provides Turkey with billions of euros as long as it keeps refugees on its territory and stops people smugglers from moving them across the Aegean to Greece.
It also involved promises to Ankara of financial aid, visa-free travel to much of the EU and accelerated membership talks, which have all been put on hold because of Turkey's crackdown on critics after a failed military coup last July.
Migrants still making the journey across the western Mediterranean mainly came from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, the EU's border agency Frontex said.
[IsraelTimes] On 2-year anniversary of terror attack, columnist Zineb el Razhoui says magazine ‘died on January 7,’ criticizes decision to stop drawing Muhammad.
[IsraelTimes] Tens of thousands clicked and shared the Breitbart.com story with the headline “Revealed: 1,000-Man Mob Attack Police, Set Germany’s Oldest Church Alight on New Year’s Eve.”
It said the men had “chanted ‘Allahu Akhbar’ (God is Greatest), launched fireworks at police, and set fire to a historic church,” while also massing “around the flag of al-Qaeda and Islamic State collaborators the ‘Free Syrian Army’.”
The local newspaper charged that Breitbart had combined and exaggerated unconnected incidents to create a picture of chaos and of foreigners celebrating terrorism. Stray fireworks did indeed start a small blaze, but only on netting covering scaffolding on the church, and it was put out after about 12 minutes, it said. The roof was not on fire and the church is not Germany’s oldest.
Dortmund police Thursday said its officers had handled 185 missions that night, sharply down from 421 the previous year.
U-Turn: Merkel Considers Annual Migrant Number Cap
6 Jan 2016
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party is considering setting a flexible limit on the number of migrants allowed into the country each year.
Police Chief After Terror Raids: Muslims Are Our Stand Out Suspects
6 Jan 2016
Upper Austria’s chief of police has spoken out on the nature of the terror threat and rising crime in his central European nation, detailing the extent of operations his officers have undertaken since the Islamist attack on a Christmas market in neighbouring Germany in December.
Integration Expert: Ban Headscarves for Public Employees
6 Jan 2016
An Austrian integration expert has advised the government that public employees should be banned from wearing Islamic headscarves in the workplace.
Majority of Poles Do Not Want Middle Eastern Migrants in Poland, Prefer Culturally Similar Ukrainians
6 Jan 2016
Two-thirds of Poles reject the European Union (EU) redistribution of migrants from the Middle East and Africa, and more than half do not want to accept any asylum seekers at all, a new poll reveals.
[DAWN] MARDAN: A schoolteacher allegedly subjected a grade one student to physical torture in a government primary school in Tikadar village of Mayar here.
Jamil Khan, father of the student aged 6, addressing a news conference at the Mardan Press Club on Friday, said his son remained absent from school on Wednesday. Next day, he alleged, the teacher undressed his son in severe cold and subjected him to corporal punishment for remaining absent from school.
He said his son could not sleep during night owing to pain caused by torture, adding torture marks were visible on the back of his body.
He also said he had taken his son to a doctor for check-up.
Jamil said he was a poor person working in a marble factory and appealed to the provincial education minister Mohammad Atif Khan and other relevant authorities to take stern action against the teacher.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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[IsraelTimes] Announcement comes day after US House of Representatives overwhelmingly votes in favor of measure condemning Resolution 2334.
Israel on Friday suspended about $6 million in funding to the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... to protest a Security Council resolution demanding an end to settlements in the Paleostinian territories.
The council adopted the resolution last month after the United States refrained from using a veto to block the measure in a break from its usual practice of shielding its Middle East ally.
The cut to Israel’s $40 million annual contribution to the United Nations represented the portion of the UN budget allocated to four committees on Paleostinian issues, the Israeli mission said.
"It is unreasonable for Israel to fund bodies that operate against us at the UN," Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement.
"We seek to stop the practice where the UN is used solely as a forum for unending attacks against Israel."
The announcement came a day after the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted in favor of a measure condemning the UN stance and chastising President Barack Obama I am the change that you seek... ’s administration for abstaining in the Security Council vote.
The cut in funding is the first in a series of retaliatory measures that the Israeli mission said would be taken at the United Nations after the new US administration takes office.
[Ynet] With EU labeling decisions and BDS pushing for international boycotts, West Bank industrial parks are seeing a boom, with a new park set to be built soon; regional council head: companies marketing to Africa, India, China.
Despite BDS calls to boycott goods produced in the West Bank, a recent report has revealed that West Bank goods are more in demand than ever before.
At the Shahak industrial park being built in the northern West Bank, over 100 dunams have been sold to developers. The Barkan industrial park outside of Ariel - which already has 160 factories and companies ‐ has registered a further 60 companies who want to relocate to the area.
Due to this huge increase in demand, another industrial park is set to open. Called the Nahal Rabah ‐ Gates of Shomron Industrial Park, it will be located next to Sha’ar Tikvah and Oranit, putting it within a 20 minute drive of Petah Tikvah.
The industrial park will include both manufacturing and hi-tech companies, and will be owned by the Shomron Regional Council in conjunction with the Oranit and Elkana local councils.
Head of the Shomron Regional Council Yossi Dagan was one of the drivers behind the opening of the new industrial park. He said "on the one hand, international companies don’t really comply with EU decisions. On the other hand, Israeli companies aren’t ready to give up on the advantages (of operating in these areas), and are marketing their products to places other than Europe, such as Africa, India, and China."
These are gang members that are really popular on youtube. The guy's street name is PBG Hothead. PBG stands for Pooh Bear Gang. They're a small set of Gangster Disciples that are popular on the internet for their rap music, and they're well known in the streets for all the murders they've committed. They will kill you and then write a song about how they killed you. And if someone gets to you first they will write a song making fun of you to provoke your gang. They're cold blooded as f**k.
Here's a montage of songs where PBG member Young Pappy raps about how he killed a rival gang member that killed his friend Pooh Bear. (The guy the gang as named after)
The other rapper in the song was arrested in July 2015 for walking up to a rival gang member and murdering him in front of his wife and 3 kids.
I can go on and on with the headlines this gang makes. Remember the gang member that was killed on Thanksgiving day, just minutes after writing Facebook post about how much he misses and wants to be with his dead friends? That was PBG Mosey. Here he is in a music video with Bang Da Hitta.
The guy at 0:04 is TaySav, Young Pappy's little brother.
The guy in the camo bucket hat at 0:27 is Lil Shawn. He's the one that's awaiting trial for murdering a man in front of his wife and 3 kids. Supposedly he got caught because he had the balls to do it with his ankle bracelet on.
The guy towards the right at 0:15 is Lucci, otherwise known as Lucci Wit Da .40. (I wonder how he got that name?) He is in many PBG music videos holding a Gen 2 Glock 23 or a Gen 1 .40 Sigma.
You can see Lucci multiple times in this video with his Glock 23 and a 32 round magazine.
You can see him multiple times in this video with his Glock and Sigma. He's the one in a red shirt and black hoodie. PBG Kemo even says "I'll call Lucci Wit Da .40" while he shows his gun to the camera."
And you can see Lucci multiple times in this video with his Glock 23 again. He's the one in the camo hoodie at 1:16. BTW the guy rapping is Young Pappys little brother again.
[AA.TR] The Nigerian military has said another of the 276 schoolgirls kidnapped in 2014 by Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... holy warriors has been sprung.
Rakiya Abubakar was discovered alongside a six-month-old child as troops placed in durance vile You have the right to remain silent... a number of Boko Haram holy warriors on Thursday in the country's northeast region, according to army front man Brigadier- General Sani Usman.
The number of the kidnapped schoolgirls still in captivity now stands at 196.
A total of 276 had been taken on the night of 14 April 2014. Eighty-one -- including 21 whose release was negotiated in October 2016 -- are now free and in government care.
By Sunday, will be 1,000 days since the girls were kidnapped, sparking international outrage and raising the profile of the holy warrior group.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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[DAWN] Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Friday confirmed the recent development that former army chief General (retd) 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.... was made the chief of 39-nation Islamic military coalition formed to combat terrorism.
Speaking during a talk show at Geo TV, Asif admitted that an agreement in this regard was finalised few days back; however, the defence minister said he didn’t have much information at the moment about the details of the said agreement.
Asif said that the decision to appoint Gen (retd) Raheel, who retired in November 2016, was taken after taking the incumbent government into confidence.
"No, definitely our government's consent must have been part of this," he replied when asked if the decision was taken in Riyadh or Islamabad.
The defence minister said that any such assignment or posting requires proper clearance from the government and General Headquarters (GHQ) both and confirmed that the due process was followed before finalising the agreement. He was, however, unaware of the exact details.
"As you are aware that this thing was in the pipeline for quite some time and the prime minister was also part of the deliberations," Asif said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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#1
His experience as Pak chief of staff overseeing their terrorist trainer NGC camps should be quite useful
Posted by: John Frum ||
01/07/2017 14:19
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[DAWN] Police on Friday announced the arrest of a teacher in connection with the suspected suicide of University of Sindh Jamshoro student Naila Rind on Jan 1.
The suspect, Anis Khaskheli, is a teacher at a private school, Deputy Inspector General Hyderabad Police Range Khadim Hussain Rind said.
The DIG said the two began speaking on Facebook about three months ago before they started speaking over the telephone.
The DIG said the teacher had allegedly promised to marry the girl but then refused to do so, after which she went into depression and ultimately ended her own life.
Upon retrieving telephone data, police found the suspect is a repeat offender who has done the same thing with 30 other girls, the DIG said, adding that police also found objectionable photos in the suspect's possession.
The Jamshoro police said on Thursday that they raided the residence of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University (Nawabshah) registrar Ghulam Rasool Khaskheli in the Syedabad area and incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... his son, Anis Khaskheli, in connection with the mysterious death of Naila Rind, whose body was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her hostel room on Sunday.
Sources said that the arrest was made on the basis of a 24-minute call, which appeared to be the last conversation appearing in the call data of the dear departed woman’s mobile phone.
The registrar said his son, Anis, had completed his masters in English from SU in 2008 and since then he had almost nothing to do with the institution. At present, he added, his son was serving as teacher in a private school.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday proposed calling members of the prime minister’s family to examine whether they would abide by the stance they had taken on four London flats in their previous statements.
"I propose to display the interviews of 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... ’s children on the ownership of the London properties and then we can ask the other party (defendants) to deny these," said Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who is heading a five-judge bench hearing the Panama Papers case.
The suggestion came when Naeem Bokhari, the counsel for PTI chief Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... , sought the court’s permission to refer to a number of interviews given by the prime minister, his wife and children on different occasions to highlight that every member of the Sharif family had taken a divergent stand on the ownership of the properties in London’s Park Lane.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi security forces and allied tribal militias recaptured on Friday 11 villages in western Anbar from Islamic State militants as operations in that region launched Thursday.
Nazem al-Juhgeifi, a senior intelligence commander at al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) said army forces, backed by police and tribal troops, recaptured seven villages on the road between the towns of Annah and Rawa. He said IS militants fled those villages without resistance.
Ragea al-Eifan, a member of the security committee at Anbar Province council, said troops retook four other villages after militants fled to the town of Rawa.
He said forces began to defuse explosive devices planted by the group to secure a pathway for military vehicles, while securing civilians evacuated from those regions.
“The mission is to clear Rawa as a first phase while cutting supplies to the group from the town of Qaem passing at the desert area surrounding those areas,” he stated.
IS used regions of western Anbar as launching points for attacks against civilians and security forces. Iraqi security and coalition forces responded with occasional strikes on those locations.
The most outstanding battle against IS in Iraq has been running since October at the city of Mosul, the country’s second largest city and the formerly proclaimed capital of the militants’ “Islamic Caliphate”. Generals say they have become in control over a half of the city’s eastern section and hope to advance towards the western section on the borders with Syria.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/07/2017
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[DAWN] KARACHI: In a renewed wave of violence barely a few days into the new year, a cop shoppe came under grenade attack by person or persons unknown, who minutes later killed a rickshaw driver and maimed a policeman in an exchange of gunfire with police in North Nazimabad on Friday morning, police said.
The incident comes after the assassination'>assassination of a police officer on Wednesday night on Rashid Minhas Road.
SSP Nasir Aftab said that two men riding a cycle of violence threw a grenade at the North Nazimabad Police Complex that also houses the Taimuria cop shoppe and escaped. The grenade went kaboom! on the premises of the cop shoppe causing injuries to Constable Mohammad Iqbal, 50.
He said the assailants reached Five Star traffic intersection -- located around one and a half kilometres from the Taimuria cop shoppe -- where four traffic coppers were regulating traffic and one of them was guarding the others with his official sub-machine gun.
The SSP said that they started firing and the armed policeman, identified as Bashir Ramzan, despite suffering a bullet wound returned fire forcing the suspects to escape. While fleeing, the suspects shot a rickshaw driver, Ali Imran, 25, as it appeared that he had blocked their exit path with his vehicle.
The maimed were taken to the nearby Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors declared Imran dead. The condition of constables Ramzan and Iqbal was said to be stable. The rickshaw driver suffered bullet wounds in the neck. He was father of three and lived in Surjani Town.
About the grenade attack, bomb disposal official Abid Farooq said that it was a Russian-made (RGD-1) hand-grenade; the kaboom damaged a wall of the cop shoppe.
During a visit to the scene, DIG-West Zone Zulfiqar Larik told media that the suspect used a 9mm pistol as Sherlocks collected eight spent bullet casings of the pistol and nine spent bullet casings fired from the SMG of the policeman from the Five Star traffic intersection.
He said that the two incidents were carried out by the same suspects.
He said the police had some leads about the identity and motive of the attackers but it was premature to share the same with the media.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: The controversy surrounding Taiba minor housemaid, who was allegedly abused by the family of an additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ), deepened on Friday when two women appeared before the Supreme Court, claiming that the girl may be their daughter. The apex court, however, directed Islamabad police to verify both women’s claims.
Conducting suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... proceedings on the matter, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar also summoned Assistant Commissioner Nisha Ishtiaq ‐ who had recorded Taiba’s statement where she claimed to have been physically abused and by ADSJ Raja Khurram Ali Khan and his wife.
During the course of proceedings on Friday, two women; Kausar Bibi, widow of Mohammad Nawaz; and Farzana Bibi, wife of Mohammad Zafar, appeared before the court and claimed that Taiba could be their missing daughter.
Kausar Bibi told the court her daughter went missing in 2014 and she had registered an FIR of her disappearance. Chief Justice Nisar directed police to investigate the matter. Farzana Bibi, meanwhile, claimed that Taiba’s photographs resembled those of her own missing daughter.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) A civilian was killed and six others were wounded on Friday when an explosive device exploded in Suwaib, south of Baghdad.
A security source told Alsumaria News that the IED was placed near a cattle market.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said recently that violence in Iraq had left 19000 casualties in 2016, but said the count excludes deaths in Anbar during three months of that year.
Observers believe Islamic State have begun to escalate attacks outside the city of Mosul, where the group has been losing ground and personnel since October, so as to relieve pressure on that front by government forces and to divert attention from losses.
Attacks across Baghdad in the past week, some claimed by the ultra-hardline Sunni group, have killed more than 60 people, Reuters said.
Attacks in the east and south of the capital on Thursday left at least seven dead.
[AA.TR] Gambia’s embattled President Yahya Jammeh has fired the country’s Ambassador to Senegal after the Ambassador urged him to accept defeat and hand over power.
Pa Momodou Njie, a renowned Muslim like Jammeh, is the third ambassador to be recalled and amongst a dozen envoys after they called on the defeated president to allow a peaceful transfer of power to President-elect Adama Barrow.
President Yahya Jammeh last month recalled the country’s envoy to the UN Momodou Tangara and his Ambassador to the U.S. Sheikh Omar Faye for committing similar crimes.
President Jammeh initially accepted defeat and made a “u turn” a week later claiming the polls were rigged even though International Observers termed the polls as credible and transparent.
Efforts by West African leaders to persuade him to exit peacefully failed and ECOWAS, the sub regional monitoring group now says a military intervention has been authorized if he failed to handover on Jan. 19.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] Police claim Marjan coordinated the July 1 attack on Gulshan's Holey Artisan Bakery that killed 23 people, including 17 foreigners, while Saddam was accused of criminal masterminding a string of fatal attacks in northern Bangladesh.
Two most wanted turbans of the New JMB group including the Gulshan terror attack operational commander Marjan have been killed in an alleged shootout with the police’s counter-terrorism unit in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur area.
[LEADERSHIP.NG] The reported arrest of a Local Government Chairman in Borno State and his father for aiding and abetting insurgency confirms long held opinion by security analysts that Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... could not have lasted this long without some form of assistance from among the locals. There was also the allegation that they were using the people in the area as human shield. That may have been possible, because those used for that purpose made themselves available, they acquiesced to the evil plot. With this arrest that assertion has also been confirmed.
In the early days of that war, there were reports that some of the locals were sabotaging the military operations by giving the soldiers false intelligence. In some cases, the same locals knowingly and deliberately lured the soldiers into ambush that led to the death of officers and men of the armed forces.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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[AA.TR] An Istanbul court remanded 10 suspects late on Friday in connection with last month's deadly terror attacks in the city's Besiktas district.
The suspects are accused of "being member of an armed terror organization" and "making terror propaganda."
The court ruled the release of two others under judicial control.
On Dec. 10 at around 10.30 p.m. (1930GMT), a boom-mobile went off outside a football stadium in Istanbul's Besiktas district, two hours after the end of a Turkish football league match.
Seconds later, a suicide kaboom occurred in Macka Park in the same neighborhood.
Good lord -- with all the excitements recently, I'd completely forgotten about that one.
The blasts martyred 46 people, mostly coppers, and left dozens of others maimed.
Istanbul anti-terror police said the jacket wallah was Burak Yavuz, a 20-year-old man from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's southeastern province of Sanliurfa.
Following the incident, at least 13 suspects linked to the bombings were locked away Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! . TAK (Kurdistan Freedom Falcons) -- one of the most important sub-organizations of the terrorist organization PKK -- grabbed credit for the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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[ARA News] Raqqa – An airstrike by the US-led coalition has killed a top official of the Islamic State (ISIS) and the group’s propaganda chief in Syria’s northeastern Raqqa city, officials said on Friday.
Mahmoud al-Isawi, senior ISIS facilitator and a prominent leader of the jihadist propaganda, was taken out by a US-led coalition airstrike on December 31.
The coalition confirmed al-Isawi’s death in an official statement on Friday, saying the airstrike targeted him in Raqqa–capital of the ISIS self-proclaimed Caliphate.
The longtime ISIS member al-Isawi used to manage instructions and finances for ISIS officials and provided a significant intelligence and propaganda support.
“His death, combined with the recent successive deaths of other ISIL leaders plotting terrorist attacks, has degraded ISIL’s trans-regional attack and facilitation network, and is forcing ISIL to increase their focus on internal security,” the US-led coalition said, using another acronym for ISIS.
“The coalition will continue to track and eliminate ISIL terrorists who plot and conduct attacks against coalition nations and our allies, wherever they are hiding,” it concluded.
The US-led coalition has been striking ISIS positions in Syria and Iraq since summer of 2014. The coalition also backs local ground troops in both countries to liberate territories held by the radical group.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/07/2017
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A local security official in Kapisa on Friday said Ghubar Military Operation is ongoing in Tagab district in the central province in order to clear the area of Taliban.
Kapisa Police Chief Mohammad Raziq Yaqubi told TOLOnews that the operation was kicked off three days ago and still continues in parts of the district.
According to him, three Taliban fighters were killed and seven others were wounded as well as 11 villages were cleared of the insurgents during the operation.
He said one local police force member were killed and two public uprising forces were wounded as a result of a suicide vest blast during the operation on Thursday.
Meanwhile, local residents claimed that a mortar hit a civilian house in the district during the operation, where three civilians were wounded.
However, security officials have rejected the claim.
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) Twelve joint security forces members were either killed or wounded on Friday when Islamic State militants attacked a police unit in al-Dour, east of Salahuddin’s city of Tikrit.
A security source told AlMada Press that some of the attackers, including two suicide bombers, were killed, adding that security forces imposed a curfew in the area.
The attack comes a few days after Islamic State suicide bombers killed five policemen in the province’s city of Samarra on Monday. Also on the same day, five tribal fighters and at least 40 IS militants were reported killed after an attack on another security unit in the town of Shirqat.
Observers believe Islamic State attacks outside Mosul, where the group has been sustaining daily losses since October, are designed to distract security forces focus on the city and to take away attention from the group’s defeats there.
Iraqi government forces, backed by tribal militias and forces from a US-led international coalition, have been carrying out a major campaign to retake Iraqi cities from IS fighters, most notably the city of Mosul. Another campaign was launched Thursday to clear areas at the west of Anbar, near the borders with Syria.
Posted by: badanov ||
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[WattsUpWithThat] An atmospheric river will take aim with heavy precipitation, high snow levels and soils that are already saturated from recent storms. Precipitation starts Saturday, but the brunt of the storm will be Sunday & Monday. Forecasters say this will exceed stream and river flood levels last seen in 2005. nice graphics at the link
The first site I discovered when I started to wonder about the things I'd until then firmly believed about global warming, many years ago.
Posted by: lord garth ||
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#1
They do excellent troubleshooting. Put them in your RSS feed
#3
You captured the spirit of the meaning here, Phil. If I give you water, what shall you do with it?
If I give you food or money, what shall you do with it?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/07/2017 11:38
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#6
Now that the drought is over it'd be nice if they'd lower the water rates. But I think we all know better. Watch them continue to allow construction of more and more massive housing tracts with big green lawns and sprinklers sprinkling every morning so the next drought is even worse. Then they'll tell us we need to conserve.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/07/2017 13:05
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#7
Flooding closely followed by another 'drough
There will always be a drought. To do otherwise would mean giving up control.
#8
Reasonable conservation practices in California, and the rest of the Southwest are for the most part common sense. No matter if it is redidential, agriculture or industrial. If LA and the rest of SoCal had to live on the water it has naturally the population would be maybe 10% of what it is now. California will continue to be subject to periods of drought until low cost, really low cost desalination can come on line. But that will require energy and the fringe of the environmental movements will do anything to stop the development of the energy sources needed.Be they solar, fission, wind, ocean thermal, fusion (I keep hoping) or fairy dust.
[AA.TR] A French court sentenced Friday four members of the PKK terrorist organization to two months in prison. That sounds like they sure threw the book at 'em.
The convicts aged between 25 and 45 had been sentenced to suspended prison terms on charges of "providing financial resources to terrorist organizations" in Gay Paree on Dec. 7.
The court in Reins made the sentence immediate and fined them 300 Euros ($316) each for not notifying the police of their current residence addresses within a fortnight, according to the L'Union news site.
The court ruled as per the new anti-terrorism law enacted on July 1, 2016, French media wrote.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Ynet] Coming two months after a French government initiative to label Israeli products from WB, E. J'lem, Golan as "settlement products," Gay Paree grocery store labels Israeli products in this manner for the first time.
The first French supermarket has labeled Israeli products as "Made in Israeli Settlements." This comes after the French Government instituted a policy of labeling Israeli produce grown in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights as "settlement products" two months ago
The signs were first seen at the Auchan supermarket chain in the Kremlin Bicetre suburb of Gay Paree.
The incident is known to the Israeli Embassy in La Belle France, who then turned to French Jewish organizations to ask the chain to take down the offending signs.
The manager of the supermarket said that it was a localized initiative to put up the sign, and that he had nothing to do with it. Nevertheless, he replaced the sign the next day to a sign which simply read "Israel."
Israel claims that this is the French government’s "Dire Revenge" for Israel refusing to attend the upcoming Gay Paree Peace Conference on January 15.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry sent a harsh response to the event, saying they "condemn the French government’s decision to implement the EU Commission guidelines regarding marking Israeli products originating from beyond the 1967 lines. We are sad that it was La Belle France who came up with an anti-boycott law, and is now taking these steps which might boost anti-Israel radical elements."
"Moreover," the letter continued, "it’s puzzling that La Belle France is adopting such a double standard in regards to Israel, especially when there are over 200 territorial conflicts around the world ‐ including in La Belle France."
However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... Embassy officials said that this seems to be the initiative of a pro-Paleostinian employee of the supermarket, and that the store is in a low socio-economic, immigrant area.
No doubt. And if they hadn't got caught, shortly therafter it would have been in all stores staffed by low income pro-Palestinians, many of them patronized by high income pro-Palestinians.
[NYPOST] The former owner of a Midtown gay club was strangled to death on the Upper West Side and authorities are now looking to question his masseuse, police sources said.
Savyon Zabar, 54, was discovered unconscious by two roommates in their fourth-floor apartment on West 81st street near Amsterdam Avenue about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The victim, who tips the scale at around 400 pounds, was found face up in his bed, police sources said.
Zabar was declared dead on scene, and police didn’t notice any visible trauma to the victim’s body.
But authorities later determined he sustained deep tissue hemorrhaging consistent with strangulation, police source said.
His death is now considered a homicide, police said.
Zabar owned the Latin gay nightclub Escuelita on West 39th Street, neighbors said. The club shuttered in February after 19 years in operation.
The obese victim frequently received massages, police sources said, without yet indicating whether the masseuse was a suspect.
A neighbor would often see young Latino men shuttling in and out of the victim’s West 81st Street pad.
"He always had an entourage [of] young, handsome Latinos," said Vinny de Angelis, 61, adding that Zabar has lived in the building for about 30 years.
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At least 13 coalmine workers in Tala wa Barfak district in Baghlan were shot dead by a group of fighters affiliated to Daesh insurgents on Friday afternoon, local officials said.
Tala wa Barfak district governor Faiz Mohammad Amiri told TOLOnews that the workers were on the way to their homes when they were attacked by the fighters in Anarak village in the district.
He said the fighters had masks on their faces.
Amiri stated that three other workers were wounded in the attack.
Meanwhile, a number of Baghlan residents said the coalmine workers who were attacked by Daesh are from Shia community.
However, officials have not commented on this so far.
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[DAWN] 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... on Thursday said the world needs to tell India "enough is enough" with regard to its policy towards the freedom movement in held Kashmire.
The premier was addressing an International Parliamentary Seminar on Kashmire held in Islamabad to discuss the prevailing situation in India-held Kashmire.
"Seventy years of brutal repression and Kashmiri struggle in the face of that oppression have shown cries of freedom cannot be stifled by sounds of bullets," the PM added, calling for an end to the "continued suffering" of generations in IHK.
Referring to Burhan Wani as a "vibrant and charismatic leader", the premier said that his "martyrdom has become a rallying point for the freedom loving people of the territory".
The oppressors' efforts "to silent that one voice have unleashed a thousand more", he said at the conference organised by the Young Parliamentarians Forum of the National Assembly.
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Unidentified assailants injured five members of Quetta's Hazara community in a targeted attack on Friday, police said.
The assailants shot and injured the individuals on Spini Road in the Qila Mubarak area, Deputy Inspector General Police Quetta Razzak Cheema said, terming the incident a targeted attack.
Two of the wounded are in critical condition, and all those injured in the shooting have been shifted to Bolan Medical Complex
The five individuals were targeted while they were travelling in a taxi, the DIG said.
Police have launched an investigation into the attack.
Being the wrong kind of Muslim can be as deadly as not being Muslim at all, once the society in question goes takfiri.
[DAWN] QUETTA: Four suspected Death Eaters were killed while five others were locked away Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! after an exchange of fire with security forces in the Uch area of Dera Bugti district on Friday.
Official sources said that personnel of the Frontier Corps ...a provincial paramilitary force. Total manpower is about 80,000. They are tasked to help local law enforcement in the maintenance of law and order, and to carry out border patrol and a..the Antwerp-based Salafist organization that had campaigned to introduce Sharia law to Belgium before single-handedly making Belgium the highest per capita supplier of jihadis to Syria in Europe. There was a big trial in Antwerp in 2015, but most of those convicted were in absentia...nti-smuggling operations.... (FC) and intelligence had launched a search operation on a tip-off about the presence of Death Eaters in Uch.
They said that armed Death Eaters opened fire on the security forces from their hideouts using automatic weapons. The security forces immediately returned fire.
"A heavy exchange of fire continued for at least two hours in which four Death Eaters were killed," said a security official, adding that during the operation five Death Eaters were also taken into custody.
The officials claimed that nine hideouts of the Death Eaters were demolished during the search operation.
"The Death Eaters belong to a banned outfit which has been involved in attacks on the gas line installations and security forces," official sources claimed.
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Benghazi militant leader Wissam Ben Hamid is dead according to one of his colleagues who was arrested today near Ajdabiya by the Libyan National Army (LNA) while trying to flee.
Naizar Jalal Atwier, who was a spokesman for Ansar Al-Sharia in Benghazi, was caught east of Ajdabiya at a location named Al-Bidan. It is believed that he managed to escape from Ganfouda in yesterday’s mass breakout.
It was thought at the time that Ben Hamid had also managed to escape.
Interrogated today, however, Atwier said that Ben Humaid had been killed in a recent airstrike. According to LNA spokesman, Colonel Ahmed Mismari, it was at the end of December. Some reports say 28 December.
Since then, Atwier stated in a videoed interview, the militants in Ganfouda have been led by Jamal Makhzoum. He, apparently, is still there.
Ben Hamid who was originally commander of one of the main brigades in the city, Libya Shield No. 1 Battalion, was widely regarded as one of the most dangerous and ruthless of Benghazi’s Islamist leaders. He was suspected of being behind a string of political assassinations and murders in the city, among them the gunning down in June 2013 of 32 protestors outside Libya Shield No. 1’s Kuwafiyah base. That October, he was accused of ordering the murder of Colonel Ahmed Mustafa Al-Barghathi, the head of Benghazi military police, and his home in Kuwafiyah was burnt down by members of the Barghathi tribe. He then threatened revenge on the attackers.
In October 2015, evidence was produced suggesting that he had planned the murders of Mahdi Al-Barghathi, now the Presidency Council’s defence minister but then the commander of the LNA’s main tank battalion fighting the militants in Benghazi, and Salah Bughaib, the head of military intelligence unit in the city.
As the LNA offensive in Benghazi against the militants slowly managed to throttle them, Ben Hamid created new forces loyal to himself – a year and a half ago there was one called the Free Libya Martyrs Brigade. However, by the end of 2015, he had left the city and was at various times in Tripoli, Misrata and Jufra. By mid-2016 he was a leading figure in the Benghazi Defence Brigades, based in Tripoli, which were linked to controversial grand mufti Sadek Al-Ghariani and dreamed of wresting control of their city from the LNA.
In July last year, he accused Abdul Raouf Kara, the head of the Rada (Deterrance) units in Tripoli of being part of a “malicious clique”.
He was reported to be in Tripoli in November. Last month, however, Mismari said that he was trapped in Ganfouda along with Makhzoum and another militant commander, Salem Ben Shatwan.
Meanwhile late this afternoon, the bodies of 19 militants, all thought to have taken part in yesterday’s Ganfouda breakout, were taken to Ajdbiya hospital. It is believed they include 13 who blew themselves up today when they were surrounded by LNA forces at the village of Saunau east of Ajdabiya.
Executions and pogroms. If this guy is a health minister he ain't doing his job
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) An airstrike on southwest of Kirkuk killed the official of the Islamic State’s so-called “health department”, a source said Thursday.
The strike targeted an IS location in al-Qadisiya neighborhood at central Hawija, killing the official and four other aides, the source told Alsumaria News.
Islamic State, which took over large areas of Iraq in 2014, is still holding areas in southwest Kirkuk, most notably the town of Hawija.
Iraqi government and popular forces, backed by a US-led international military coalition, are struggling to recapture Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city in a major operation launched in October 2016. IS has been losing ground and several of its senior commanders in the operation, but proved tough resistance in face of advancing forces.
Kirkuk and other cities held by IS are still awaiting similar campaigns to eliminate the extremist group. On Thursday, Ahmed al-Assadi, spokesperson of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) said during a press conference that PMU leaderships had preferred to give priority to the liberation of Kirkuk’s Hawija, but it was the government’ s decision to start with the liberation of Mosul.
People in Hawija and other areas held by IS have reportedly suffered stinging shortages of livelihood and supplies, as well as from the group’s human rights abuses. Conflicts in IS-occupied areas have forced at least 160.000 people to flee those regions to refugee camps.
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[ARA News] Deir Ezzor – Militant fighters of the Islamic State (ISIS) on Friday launched an offensive on a regime-held military airbase in eastern Syria, and destroyed at least two warplanes.
“ISIS militants bombarded the Deir ez-Zor Military Airport with dozens of mortar shells and at least two guided-missiles in the evening on Friday,” media activist Samer al-Khalaf told ARA News.
The bombardment caused the destruction of two Syrian warplanes and killed scores of soldiers, according to informed military sources.
This comes just one day after ISIS fighters hit Syrian Army bases in Deir ez-Zor Governorate. The group started on Thursday a major offensive against Syrian regime forces in the governorate.
ISIS militants initiated the offensive by targeting headquarters of the Syrian regime’s army forces in the Bagheliya town with heavy artillery and mortar shells. The group also attacked the 137th Regiment of the Syrian Army in western Deir ez-Zor with two car bomb attacks, followed by fierce mortar shelling. Dozens of casualties were reported among the Syrian forces.
Most of the city of Deir ez-Zor and its countryside is under ISIS control. However, pro-regime army troops still hold control of several neighborhoods in the city beside a military airport in Deir ez-Zor suburb.
The province of Deir ez-Zor is deemed strategic for ISIS for it links the group’s de facto capital of Raqqa with Iraqi territory controlled by the radical group.
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Security forces are fighting terrorists east of Ajdabiya thought to be survivors of yesterday’s coordinated breakout during which it is now known that 21 police and soldiers were killed.
The escape from the invested enclaves of Ganfouda and Sabri came during a power blackout which appears to have been caused deliberately. A GECOL control room engineer has been arrested.
The main terrorist breakout was made by a column of vehicles that headed south towards Suluq. Libyan National Army spokesman Ahmed Mismari said that in the running battle that followed, involving grounds forces and aircraft, all the terrorist trucks were destroyed, the last of them south of Ajdabiya.
The announcement may have been premature since today there are reports that two soldiers have died and four been wounded in fighting with terrorists in Saunnu to the east of Ajdabiya not far from the B11 inland highway linking the town to Tobruk.
Another military source said that eight armed vehicles had been caught in a village south-east of Ajdabiya. A number of men was captured. At least one of them, named as Ashraf Al-Ruq, was transferred to Marj. It is understood that reconnaissance flights in search of further vehicles have been conducted as far west as Harawa.
Details are less clear over the outcome of the two other breakouts, from the north side of Ganfouda and from Sabri. Early reports were that a car bomb failed to detonate in LNA lines when the terrorists broke through. In Sabri, an armour-plated vehicle was stopped and three terror suspects were killed but others managed to get through. In what may have been a separate incident at another Sabri checkpoint, suicide bombers were shot down before they detonate their explosive vests, which were thereafter defused.
Later two policemen were shot dead outside Benghazi Medical Centre but the identity and fate of the culprits has not been given.
Benghazi Security Director Salah Huwaidi has insisted that security in the city is under control. A state of emergency is still in force but life on the streets has returned to normal.
Meanwhile the city’s Investigation Department head, Lieutenant-Colonel Ashraf Faydi has said that a Palestinian woman has been arrested at her home near the port on suspicion of spying. Faydi alleged that the unnamed woman had links to the Hamas party in Palestine and had confessed to filming military movements and reporting them to the terrorists. Her laptop had been seized.
[DAWN] IF ever an image was emblematic of Pakistain’s progress in the war against extremism -- and indeed of the fissures in its society -- it is that of the viciously defaced 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... Press Club walls. Last October, a group of artists had painted them with portraits of women who have made significant contributions to the country in various fields, including Fatima Surraiya Bajiya, Zubeida Mustafa, Yasmeen Lari, Perween Rahman and Sabeen Mahmud. To celebrate them in this manner was to celebrate the progressive ideas they embodied, the last two even having paid with their lives for their efforts towards a more inclusive and egalitarian society. On Wednesday night, those ideas came up against another side of Pak society -- bigoted, fanatical and misogynistic. In what was clearly a premeditated act, members of ultra right-wing groups demonstrating outside the press club, one of several such protests to counter commemorations of Salmaan Taseer’s death anniversary in the country, spray-painted the walls with profanities and calls to murder.
This is the ugly reality of the state’s much-vaunted ’fight against extremism’, a fight that it vowed to take on with unwavering commitment after the APS 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. attack in December 2014. Two years on, with kinetic operations to dismantle the terrorist network in the northern areas virtually over, the other aspect of the fight -- the long, laborious work to stamp out extremism from society -- has barely begun. It is not that the state is incapable of asserting its writ: we have seen it do so comprehensively when Mr Taseer’s killer was tried and convicted. The problem is that it chooses to do so selectively instead of sending a consistent, resolute message. How else can one explain the impunity with which certain right-wing elements continue to menace anyone who rejects their noxious worldview? Notwithstanding ad hoc measures such as the arrest in Lahore of over 100 people -- who will undoubtedly soon be released without charge -- for attempting to hold a rally to ’celebrate’ the former 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.... governor’s liquidation, where is the concerted drive against hate speech and incitement to violence that should be the cornerstone of the civilian aspect of NAP? Why does the government not robustly demonstrate that it values progressive voices rather than appeasing those who would build a shrine to an assassin?
Instead, the state goes through motions such as the Punjab apex committee meeting on Thursday where it resolved to choke terror funding and launch an indiscriminate crackdown against those providing financial support to terrorists. Yet the province has not seen action commensurate with the fact of it being the heartland of jihadist organizations. On the contrary, well-known centres of radical thought continue to operate unimpeded here while members of right-wing groups are being ’mainstreamed’ into charitable work. Only when ’zero-tolerance’ is more than just a meaningless buzzword will there be any hope of us turning the corner.
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#1
How do the DAWN writers stay alive? It's amazing.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/07/2017 12:59
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Emptying their prisons the hard way
At least 33 inmates were killed by their rivals at a prison in northern Brazil on Friday, days after a riot by warring gangs left dozens more dead at another prison, officials said.
The government of Roraima state said the situation at PAMC (Agricola de Monte Cristo prison) was now “under control.”
[DAWN] LAHORE: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of police claimed on Friday to have locked away Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! two people suspected to be involved in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park suicide kaboom in 2016.
At least 74 people were killed and 340 others injured when a jacket wallahwent kaboom! himself near the swings in the crowded park on March 27 last. Many among the visitors had come to the place to celebrate Easter.
Continued on Page 49
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[AA.TR] Yemen’s Shia Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... militia group and its allies launched an attack on a military site near the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Thursday, killing a number of government soldiers, sources from both sides of the conflict have said.
Fahman al-Subaihi, a government field commander, said Houthi murderous Moslems and allied forces loyal to former Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... had fired a "ballistic missile" at the Shaab al-Jen military camp, which is located near the strategic waterway.
According to al-Subaihi, the missile attack left six government soldiers dead and dozens more injured.
Houthi officials quoted by Yemen’s Houthi-linked SABA press agency said murderous Moslems had fired the missile at a concentration of government troops deployed at the army camp.
The press agency quoted an unnamed Houthi military source as saying that "dozens" of government personnel had been killed and injured by the missile strike.
In a related development, Saudi-led coalition warplanes reportedly struck a number of sites affiliated with the Houthis and their allies in the city of Dhobab and the al-Jadid area -- including the al-Omary army camp -- in the southwestern Taiz province near Aden.
According to local sources, the Arclight airstrikes led to the destruction of several Houthi military vehicles and at least one rocket platform.
Taiz- Clashes between pro-government forces and insurgency militias in Yemen’s northern province Saada intensified as Yemeni army forces , backed by Arab Coalition air power made significant advances retaking grounds and strategic locations, cutting the passageway linking Saada a to the insurgency-run Jawf province.
Insurgency militias are mainly composed of Iran-aligned Houthi coup militias seeking to overturn the rule of law in Yemen that have joined forces with armed loyalists supporting ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The insurgency has sparked a civil war which left Yemen descending to sheer chaos.
Two rounds of subsequent U.N.-backed peace talks failed to resolve the conflict, in which thousands of Yemenis are believed to have been killed to date and an estimated 2.5 million forced to flee their homes.
Military sources say that army forces successfully staged a retaliatory operation securing a sweeping advance in Saada, in which a Houthi senior leader, Mourad al Shabathi, had been neutralized by an Arab Coalition airstrike Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile, army artillery continues pounding insurgency militia pits in Sirwah considered the most important economic and political center in prehistoric Yemen. The location is a logistic gain that insurgency groups hold on to fiercely.
As for Beihan, located in the Shabwa province, army forces took control of new sites formerly controlled by coup militias after fighting fierce and violent battles over the course of several days.
Military sources said that the units backed by popular resistance managed to free the mountain range overlooking the valley Beihan through which militias supply routes pass to As Safra District, a local armed forces media outlet reported.
Saudi-led Arab Coalition air forces launched a series of intense strikes on insurgency camps in multiple provinces, namely Shabwa, Taiz and Hodeidah, Marib.
In Taiz, army forces regained control of new western positions by ambushing insurgency local strongholds.
Coup militias on the other hand continue sniping down and bombarding civilians and in different parts of Taiz. A young Yemeni girl, Siham Mohammed, being the latest victim of insurgency cruelty. Many other civilian injuries have also been accounted for after insurgency militias attacked a crowd of children and parents exiting a school on the 30th St.(west of an air defense camp), local sources said.
Arab Coalition airstrikes also targeted militia positions west of Usaylan District resulting in the death and injury of dozens of the coup militants, the destruction of five crews and two rocket launchers.
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[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: Although a medical board waited several hours in vain for police to produce Taiba for a second medical examination, Pims Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Akram said there was no doubt the child had been tortured.
A board consisting of burns surgeon Dr Tariq Iqbal, plastic surgeon Dr Hameeduddin, general surgeon Dr S.H. Waqar and psychologist Dr Asma, was supposed to examine Taiba on Friday.
However, a woman is only as old as she admits... they ended up waiting for hours for police to produce the 10-year-old girl.
Both Farzana Bibi and Kausar Bibi ‐ the two women claiming parentage of Taiba ‐ also came to Pims later in the day, where blood and hair samples were collected from the two women for DNA testing.
Dr Akram said that the child’s parentage would be confirmed in a few days, provided they were able to obtain a blood sample from the child to compare against her purported parents’ DNA.
Explaining his assertion about the treatment meted out to the minor, Dr Akram said that after the examination conducted on her first visit to the hospital, there was no doubt that she had been physically abused. He said that the wounds on her body were not of the same age, adding that they seemed to have been inflicted at different times.
"During her first visit to the hospital, the child claimed she was burnt while trying to switch on the television. But the wounds indicated that a hot iron rod had been placed on her arm," he said.
Initially, police prepared a report stating that the girl had fallen down some stairs and was accidentally injured.
But after the Islamabad High Court took notice of the matter, the girl changed her statement and told a magistrate she had been tortured by the family of the Islamabad additional district and sessions judge.
The judge and his wife were able to obtain bail after a couple claiming to be the child’s parents arrived in Islamabad and submitted affidavits to a local court stating they did not want to lodge a complaint against the accused.
But after the chief justice of Pakistain took suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... notice of the incident, the district administration wrote to Pims, asking for a medical examination to be carried out.
Dr Akram told Dawn that on the basis of their last examination, on Dec 29, he could surely say the child was tortured.
"Though the child claimed she had fallen from stairs and was burnt while switching on the television, the wounds showed she had been tortured for a long time and harassed/forced by someone to give that statement. The burn injuries were not caused by electric current and I can surely say someone had [tortured her with] hot iron rods."
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[Dhaka Tribune] One of the two top leaders of bully boy group New JMB killed in Dhaka early Friday has been identified as Saddam Hossain ‐ a most wanted bully boy involved in at least 10 murders and attempted murders in the northern districts, Monirul Islam, chief of Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC), confirmed to the Dhaka Tribune.
Police said Saddam, also known as Rahul alias Sabuj alias Chanchal alias Robi, is charge-sheeted in five cases and accused in five others. He was accused of planning the attacks and supplying arms.
Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Standing Buffalo drew a bead on his old enemy and squeezed the trigger... during a press brief at his residence on Friday morning, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told news hounds that bully boy Saddam Hossain had led attacks in northern regions of Bangladesh.
CTTC chief Monirul Islam said Saddam was named in the charge sheets for the murders of Japanese citizen Hoshi Kunio and shrine caretaker Rahmat Ali in Rangpur. He was also named in the charge sheet for the attempted murder of Bahai Centre Director Ruhul Amin in the same district, he added.
Saddam was also named on the charge sheets for the murders of Joggeshwar Roy in Panchagarh and converted Christian freedom fighter Hossain Ali Sarker in Kurigram. He was named as accused in three other murder cases (Dr Dipti, Rabbi and Tarun Datta) filed with Gaibandha police and one each in Nilphamari (Karbala Khadem Hasnain) and Dinajpur (Dr Birendra), Monirul further added.
Saddam is the son of Alam Miah alias Jola and Sufia Begum, hailing from Char Bidhyananda village of Rajarhat upazila in Kurigram, said police.
A senior officer in Rangpur police said that Saddam had arrest warrants issued against him in the cases.
"He is known as the military commander of New JMB’s northern region. He used to supply arms and explosives before attacks," the official said seeking anonymity.
Police learnt about Saddam after a New JMB member, Masud Rana, jugged Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! in Hoshi Kunio case had confessed in court. Rana said that Saddam started following Kunio’s movements along with other accomplices eight to 10 days before the murder on October 3, 2015.
He went close to Kunio’s house three days before the attack and monitored his activities. Masud Rana, Nazrul Islam alias Bike Hassan and Bijoy implemented the plan upon the order of Saddam, according to the charge sheet. Saddam supplied the cycle of violence and two pistols used in the attack.
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Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (IS)
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Forces recaptured on Friday a new district in eastern Mosul as operations proceed to clear the region from Islamic State militants, the operations’ commander said.
The forces managed to cross al-Khawsar river and liberated al-Muthanna district in the eastern section of the city, according to Lt. Gen. Abdulamr Yarallah, commander of the joint forces operations in Nineveh. He said forces raised the Iraqi flag on the district.
Iraqi government forces, backed by popular militias and a US-led international military coalition, have been carrying out a major campaign since October to retake Mosul from militants. The recapture of Mosul, IS last outstanding stronghold in Iraq, could deal a last blow to the group’s existence in the country.
Iraqi generals have said recently they had become in control over 70 of Mosul’s eastern section. But IS militants have regularly bombed areas they have lost to security forces since operations kicked off in October to recapture Iraq’s second largest city.
IS still maintains hideouts in the western section of the city that are close to its strongholds in Syria, but Iraqi generals and allied militia leaders say the group has become isolated from Syria and Iraq.
Security officials estimate the number of remaining IS combatants in Iraq by 6000, but those are fighting against at least 100.000 government and militia soldiers.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in December the battle for Mosul was entering a “decisive” stage, and predicted that the operations could realize final victory within two months.
[al-Manar] Iraqi army and elite forces advanced against militants of the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group in eastern Mosul in their first night-time raid in the city, a spokesman said on Friday.
Counter-terrorism service (CTS) forces pushed across a tributary of the Tigris river shortly after midnight and drove back ISIL militiamen in the Muthanna district, CTS spokesman Sabah al-Numan said.
“We used special equipment and had the element of surprise – the enemy did not expect us to mount a night offensive because all previous offensives were during the day,” he said.
US coalition warplanes carried out 19 air strikes in support of the assault, which killed dozens of militants, he said.
A second phase of the nearly 12-week campaign to drive ISIL out of its last major city stronghold in Iraq began last Thursday. The Mosul offensive is the biggest in Iraq since the US-led invasion to the country in 2003.
A 100,000-strong alliance of government and Kurdish security forces and mainly Hashd Shaabi units quickly overran ISIL in villages and towns surrounding the city.
The terrorists, who are deploying snipers and suicide car bombers and using civilians as human shields, are still in control of Mosul west of the Tigris.
Iraqi troops entered Mosul from the north for the first time on Friday, part of a new phase in the battle for the city that also saw elite forces bridge a river under cover of darkness in an unprecedented night raid.
A spokesman for Iraq’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), which has taken the lead in much of the assault on the city, said troops had taken territory in an overnight raid across a Tigris River tributary in east Mosul.
The operations were part of a major new push launched last week to seize ground in the city, after progress in the nearly three-month-old operation had stalled for weeks because of a need to slow the advance to protect civilians.
Troops would soon “cut the head of the snake” and drive the ultra-hardline group from its largest urban stronghold, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said on Friday.
But the ultra-hardline militants, who are thought to number several thousand in Mosul, continue to put up fierce resistance using suicide car bombs and snipers.
They carried out more attacks against security forces some 200 km south of Mosul on Friday, killing at least four soldiers, and are expected to pose a guerrilla threat to Iraq and Syria, and to plot attacks on the West, even if their caliphate falls.
Iraqi forces have so far recaptured more than half of eastern Mosul, but they have yet to cross the Tigris to face insurgents who are still firmly in control of the western half of the city.
More than 100,000 civilians have fled, but 1.5 million people have stayed behind in the city, which commanders say forced the government troops to slow their advance.
The commander of the U.S.-led coalition backing Iraqi troops said this week the army and security forces had recently improved their coordination and were gaining momentum after advances had slowed in some areas in the first two months.
ISIS militants swept into control of a third of Iraq when the army abandoned its positions and fled two years ago. But the Iraqi government says its security forces have since been rebuilt and have proven themselves in battles to recapture the lost ground. Prime Minister Abadi praised the Iraqi army on the anniversary of its establishment.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/07/2017
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[al-Manar] A ceasefire agreement which had concluded in Wadi Barada in Damascus countryside ended as the deal was scheduled to last for few hours.
Before the cease agreement, the Syrian army controlled Dahret Nahila height which overlooks Kfar Awamid, Burheleya, Kfarzet and Husseiniya in Wadi Barada area in Damascus countryside, killing or injuring a number of Nusra Front terrorists.
The Syrian army also confronted the terrorists attacks in various areas and escalated operations against them in many provinces, inflicting heavy losses upon them.
[Breitbart] The Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... -based Centre for Security Studies (CSS) has published a report, focusing on the "Dynamics of Radicalization and Violent Extremism in Kosovo", which claims that "foreign-funded turban networks" are active in states applying to join the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... (EU).
The report, originally authored for the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), claims that Macedonia, an official Candidate Country for the bloc, is subject to "long-term and targeted radicalization, recruitment, and mobilization efforts", alongside neighbouring Kosovo.
Author Adrian Shtuni describes how more than a thousand fanatics have travelled to Syria and Iraq from the two countries, as well as from Albania, Bosnia, and other Balkan states.
Albania, which was made a Candidate Country in 2014, imprisoned three holy mans who had been recruiting jihadi fighters last April, and a terror plot aimed at the visiting Israeli football team was barely foiled in November after Israeli security services raised the alarm.
Bosnia’s membership application was accepted by the EU last September, following an agreement to allow visa-free travel between the fractious republic and the Schengen Area in 2010.
The bloc signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Bosnia in 2015 and deploys "considerable resources" there via its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), but the German news outlet Der Spiegel reported last April that "in some remote villages, the black flag of IS is flown".
The Ministry of Security in Bosnia has denied the existence of such "Sharia villages", but Der Spiegel claims the public prosecutor responsible for terrorism investigations has conceded "that there are places in the northern part of the country where up to forty Islamist families live in accordance with Sharia law".
Similar reports have described the country as a "recruitment hotbed" for 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.... , furnishing the terror group with hundreds of soldiers, and munitions used in attacks on a Jewish supermarket and the offices of Charlie Hebdo ...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe... in Gay Paree have been traced back to it.
Kosovo has provided Islamic State with more imported muscle than any other European country, per capita, including the notorious Lavdrim Muhaxheri (pictured above), who has appeared on social media beheading one hostage and executing another with a rocket-propelled grenade.
This is despite an expensive and extensive EU rule-of-law mission in the breakaway state. This mission has itself been mired in controversy, with a UK whistleblower accusing it of corruption and bribe-taking.
#1
"Dynamics of Radicalization and Violent Extremism in Kosovo",...Kosovo has provided Islamic State with more imported muscle than any other European country,
Help me out here, wasn't this one of Bill Clinton's great foreign policy successes?
[All Africa] Abuja -- Soldiers fighting the Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... gunnies on Wednesday said they incarcerated Book 'im, Mahmoud! 1,400 Death Eaters in one week.
The Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Leo Irabor, explained that the suspects and rescued persons were also parts of those involved in the operation.
He said: "A total of 1,400 civilians were arrested by our troops during all our operations conducted between 28 December, 2016 and 4 January, 2017
"On December 25, 2016, at about 1000hrs, troops deployed in Fob Potiskum apprehended a suspected Boko Haram member Musa Abdullahi at Fika. The suspect is in jug undergoing interrogation.
"Troops in conjunction with NSCDC arrested a suspected Boko Haram suspect, Rabiu Ibrahim, at Bajoga in Funakaye Local Government Area of Gombe State. The suspect fled to Gombe as a result of the recent attacks on Boko Haram Death Eaters by troops.
"During preliminary interrogation, the suspect confessed that he joined the sect about four years ago and took part in the attack of troops along Damaturu - Maiduguri road. The suspect is in jug for further interrogation.
"On December 30, 2016 at about 1330hrs, the troops arrested a confirmed Boko Haram Death Eaters member at Goni Kalla. While the suspect was being moved from Goni Kalla to Damaturu, the Boko Haram Death Eaters member attempted to escape by jumping out of the vehicle. He was therefore shot and killed. His corpse has been deposited at General Hospital Damaturu.
"On Christmas Day at about 1330hrs, troops and Department of State Services (DSS) personnel trailed two suspected high profile kidnappers (Mohammed Ali and Sani Digaru), for an alleged plan to carry out an operation in Gombe and possibly escape to their camp at Yuga Forest in Bauchi State. The two kidnappers were tracked and arrested by DSS in conjunction with troops at Silas area along Gombe-Dukku road."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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Top|| File under: Boko Haram
[WASHINGTONPOST] This Wednesday, Yee received a five-year prison sentence for accepting bribes and trafficking in arms. After initially denying culpability, Yee pleaded guilty to the charges last summer.
"I hope that in your sentencing of me, you will look at my entire life and not just these crimes I have committed," the senator implored U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reported.
He's right. Double his sentence!
"In the 67 years of my life, I have devoted much of it to the work of the community, to people here in the Socialist paradise of San Francisco ...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964... and in the state of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,."
Yee added that he was most ashamed to have hurt his family and supporters: "That will always weight on me, and that will always haunt me for the rest of my life."
Breyer was unsympathetic to the calls for leniency. While holding public office, Yee had accepted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions in exchange for political favors. And on the side, he and two associates had been involved in a weapons trafficking plot.
These acts were discovered by undercover federal agents investigating organized crime in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Jackson, a former school board president who helped Yee facilitate the bribes, received a nine-year sentence.
"It must be that the public has trust in the integrity of the institution, and Mr. Yee, you abused that trust," Breyer said, according to the Times. He called Yee’s actions "vile" and the arms dealings particularly "hypocritical" given the politician’s history of gun control advocacy.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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#1
It's not hypocritical, he approves of guns for his people. Just not for our people. It's a perfectly consistent position.
buying automatic firearms and shoulder-launched missiles from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, an Islamist extremist group located in the southern Philippines and attempting to re-sell those weapons to an undercover FBI agent
#5
Gray bar hotel resident Raymond Chow Kwok-cheung 'Shrimp Boy Chow' leader of the Ghee Kung Tong and Clinton money bundler linked to gun runner Sen. Leland Yee ?
#6
Interesting story with a moral. We both started our political careers at the same time, running for the SF Charter Reform Committee in the late '70's. He won and he's in prison, I didn't and I'm not.
[CNN] Five people were shot dead and eight wounded in a baggage claim area at Fort Lauderdale's airport, and law enforcement sources tell CNN the suspect, identified as Esteban Santiago, had brought the firearm in his checked luggage.
Authorities said it was too early to understand why the suspect, who was taken into custody without incident, opened fire at the Florida airport.
Santiago, who lived in Alaska, is being interviewed by local and federal authorities. They are looking into witness reports that the suspect got into an altercation on board his flight to Florida, law enforcement officials said. Military Age Male (MAM), sporting new beard, wearing Palestinian Keffiah (scarf), executing Islamic index finger symbol, worked for a security firm, had recent discussions with FBI concerning terrorism.... anyone see a pattern ?
Also about the age when schizophrenia blooms, and went for mental health treatment a few months ago, complaining he heard voices in his head. The mad swim in the zeitgeist as well, and latch on to that which fits their needs. This increases the danger to us all.
#6
Bingo, japal!!!!!! That is the heart of the matter. With respect to Islam: it will have to reform itself, or others will, which won't be pretty.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/07/2017 12:28
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#7
It's been said, long ago, that Muslims are either at your throat or at your feet. Sure, most Muslims are against violence, but the religion nurtures those who are for it. So even if all Muslims today denounce violence, the religion will always reconstitute the violent wing by nature.
I wonder what the Holy Crayon would look like if all the abrogated passages were redacted so nobody could read them . . . .
#9
Was by the mosque this morning in Anchorage while on some errands. This is a 15,000 sq ft building, serving 3000 muslims from all over the world. The article is somewhat dated, but HERE is a link to the building. Would like to know about the financing of this edifice. Got to be $3 million at least. I am sure that the FBI has been defanged from investigating mosques and muslims in general by DoJ directives. We have the equivalent of a Trojan Horse in our midst. Jan 20 can not come soon enough.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/07/2017 17:56
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Housekeeping note: I switched over from tracking California firearms to Arizona. You can see that Arizona is the smallest market I can track, but it is relatively free.
On the heels of its wildly successful gun control laws, the one with a five percent registration compliance rate, New York legislators are considering a law that will limit ammunition purchases to 20 rounds every 90 days. They apparently think firearms ammunition is separate from firearms, Constitutionally, but they are wrong. Limits to ammunition purchases not only infringe on the right to keep and bear arms, but even with registering ammunition purchases are easy to get around.
Metrosexuals are starting to look at firearms as a bulwark against a government that no longer intrudes only on the lives of their political opponents. As a personal note, I welcome them into the fold, with the caveat that their rights are identical to mine, but our ends may differ.
Prices for pistol ammunition were mostly steady. Prices for rifle ammunition were mixed.
Prices for used pistols were mixed. Prices for used rifles were mixed.
New Lows:
None.
Quarterly reports are noted below: The three signature ammunition classes, .45 ACP, .223 Remington and .22LR showed mixed results. .45 ACP was unchanged from last quarter, while .223 Remington rose by $0.01 per round, which was an unexpected increase. Most significant was the .22LR which dropped to the lowest level since this column has been tracking ammunition prices, $0.05 each.
Pistol Ammunition
.45 Caliber, 230 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (4Q, 2016) (From Q3, 2016: .24 per round, Unchanged)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .24 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .24 per round (From Last week: Unchanged (9 Weeks))
.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 Grain, From Last Week: +.01 Each After Unchanged (2 Weeks) (From Q3, 2016: .20 per round, +.02 Each)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .22 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds:LAX Ammunition, Own brand, FSFP, Brass Casing, reloads, .21 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks)
9mm Parabellum, 115 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (6 Weeks) (From Q3, 2016: .14 per round, +.01 Each)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .15 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: FedArm, Own Brand, TPMJ, Brass Casing, Reloads, .14 per round (From Last Week: -.01 Each After Unchanged (2 Weeks))
.357 Magnum, 158 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (8 Weeks) (From Q3, 2016: .23 per round, +.02 Each)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .25 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 1,000 rounds: J&G Sales, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel casing, .25 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (4Q, 2016))
Rifle Ammunition
.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 Grain, From Last Week: +.02 Each After Unchanged (2 Weeks) (From Q3, 2016: .23 per round, -.01 Each)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Midsouth Shooters Supply, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .24 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .22 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
.308 NATO 150 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (6 Weeks) (From Q3, 2016: .35 per round, +.01 Each)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .34 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .34 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks)
7.62x39mm AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks) (From Q3, 2016: .24 per round, -.01 Each)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammo King, Wolf WPA, Steel Case, FMJ, .25 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: SG Ammo, Wolf WPA, Steel Case, FMJ, .22 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks))
.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: -.01 Each After Unchanged (5 Weeks) (From Q3, 2016: .06 per round, -.01 Each)
Cheapest, 50 rounds (10 Box Limit): Natchez Shooters Suuply, Federal, RNL, .05 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 325 rounds (2 Box Limit): Ammo King, Federal, RNL, .06 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks))
Guns for Private Sale
Rifles
.223/5.56mm (AR Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $485 Last Week Avg: $550(-) ($616 (2Q, 2015), $468 (5 Weeks))
Arizona (115, 0): Palmetto State Armory: $500 ($500(), $500 ())
Texas (327, 306): Palmetto State Armory: $475 ($700 (1Q, 2015), $350 (2Q, 2015))
Pennsylvania (162, 154): Smith & Wesson M&P15 Tactical: $500 ($700 (2Q, 2015), $300 (3Q, 2015))
Virginia (201, 189): Palmetto State Armory: $500 ($750 (1Q, 2015), $415 (4 Weeks))
Florida (451, 445): Anderson Arms: $450 ($650 (2Q, 2015), $380 (1Q, 2015))
[Ynet] An al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria has said the nearly week-old cease-fire brokered by Russia and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... is "humiliating" and those who agreed to it made a "big mistake."
The cease-fire, which excludes the al-Qaeda-linked Fatah al-Sham Front as well as the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group, has largely held, except for intense fighting in the Barada Valley outside Damascus, a major source of water for the capital. Both the government and the rebels have accused the other side of violations.
Fatah al-Sham front man Hossam al-Shafei said in an interview published late Wednesday by al-Jazeera Net that the current truce only protects Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... and allied Iranian-backed militias.
"What was agreed upon was a big mistake and a responsibility of everyone that attended and signed," al-Shafei was quoted as saying. "The people of (Syria) didn't offer all these sacrifices to be handed this humiliating agreement."
Asked if his group would accept the outcome of the expected peace talks, he said the Syria rebellion "today needs someone to unify its ranks and restore its spirit and strengthen its political position by battlefield achievements." He added that there will be no resolution to Syria's conflict without Assad's exit from power, which is not on the agenda of the talks.
Like many, to include the Obama regime, it appears the Russians thought HRC had it in the bag. The Russian 'long game' was to "undermine her future presidency." It would seem counterintuitive that the Russians would back a loser.
Excerpt from page 7: Moscow’s approach evolved over the course of the campaign based on Russia’s understanding of the electoral prospects of the two main candidates. When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election, the Russian influence campaign began to focus more on undermining her future presidency.
#1
Don't know if it is true*, but it's a brilliant propaganda ploy - it has something for everyone.
a) It supports the view (which they'd held anyway) that Trump's election is illegitimate for anti-Trumpers.
b) It gets "intelligence community" of the hook for (manifestly) false earlier statements they've made on behalf of their political masters.
c) It even appeals to Trump voters - the Russkies are too stupid to understand us.
*If it's true, we'll hear something about purges among FSB USA analysts.
#4
Basically the entire thing was someone's opinion. No sources, not even a reference to a confidential informant somewhere or a counter hack. Just opinion based on feelings. If this is the utter rubbish they spew out, no wonder Trump has no interest in daily briefings from them.
Posted by: John Frum ||
01/07/2017 14:10
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Nor is Turkey an ally.
[AA.TR] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's defense minister used a television interview on Friday to say the country’s Incirlik Air Base was under Turkish illusory sovereignty, not NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure.... ’s.
Fikri Isik also criticized Barack Obama I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody... ’s administration over its Syria policy.
Isik told private news channel Haberturk: "Incirlik base is not a NATO base. This needs to be known by everyone. They [foreign forces] are in there with the permission of Turkey."
He said Turkey had the right to shut down the strategic military facility and warned the country’s allies to be clear about fighting ISIS.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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[AA.TR] Four detainees of the controversial military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been transferred to other countries, the U.S. announced Thursday.
Salem Ahmad Hadi Bin Kanad, Muhammed Rajab Sadiq Abu Ghanim, Abdallah Yahya Yusif al-Shibli and Muhammad Ali Abdallah Muhammad Bwazir have been transferred 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... , the Pentagon said in a statement.
Al-Shibli and Bwazir were unanimously approved for transfer by an interagency task force. Kanad and Ghanim were transferred on the recommendation of six departments and agencies comprising a periodic review board.
The move is likely to irk President-elect Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... who has called on the B.O. regime to halt detainee transfers.
Trump has spoken favorably of the prison and said he would begin sending new inmates to the site that became a lightning rod for controversy under former President George W. Bush.
The comments stand in stark contrast to the actions of President Barack Obama I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody... 's outgoing administration, which has worked to close the facility despite congressional opposition to send to the U.S. detainees too dangerous for transfer to third party countries.
With Thursday's transfers 55 inmates remain at Gitmo.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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[AA.TR] The head of the Greek Orthodox Church celebrated Christmas with a traditional ceremony on the banks of Istanbul’s Golden Horn on Friday. So Merry Christmas. Again.
The Orthodox Christmas celebrations began with a service held in Hagia Yorgi Church adjacent to the patriarchate’s residence. Prayers were led by Patriarch Bartholomew I.
Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Ioannis Amanatidis was also present during the four-hour service.
After the church service, clergy and members of the congregation went to Fener dock on the shores of the Golden Horn. A cross was thrown into and then retrieved from the water by a group of swimmers.
Due to a difference in calendars, Jan. 6 marks Christmas Eve for many Orthodox churches and Christmas is celebrated on Jan. 7 rather than Dec. 25.
The majority of Orthodox churches worldwide use the Julian calendar, created under the reign of Julius Caesar in 45 BC, and have not adopted the Gregorian calendar, proposed by Latin Pope Gregory of Rome in 1582. The former calendar runs 13 days behind the latter.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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[DeutscheWelle] The outbreak of avian flu that decimated farmed and wild birds around the world and in Germany in 2016 doesn't show signs of letting up in 2017. But experts disagree on the causes behind the outbreak.
Bird flu is back, and is spreading quickly. But don't worry, the virus isn't targeting humans.
The H5N8 strain of bird flu reached Europe in October 2016, and since then has been detected in at least 14 countries including La Belle France, Denmark and Germany.
In Germany alone, authorities have recorded more than 30 separate incidents of bird flu, leading to the cull of tens of thousands of domesticated chickens, ducks and geese, among others.
In the wild, more than 500 birds are known to have been infected as well.
Wild ducks in Ireland and England, and an outbreak that killed 2,000 ducks in a French farm, are a few of the most recent cases sadly confirming that the outbreak has not ended in 2016 - on the contrary, it continues spreading.
Experts are desperately looking for the origin of the virus - without any official conclusion until now. Some argue that the natural migratory patterns of wild birds are to blame, while others insist industrial livestock farming and international trade are primarily responsible.
European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and national authorities have adopted urgent protective measures for strict "biosecurity" in farms. But despite the efforts, new cases continue appearing daily.
The first known victim of the ongoing outbreak was a wild swan in Hungary, found one week before the first outbreak in a farm.
[ARA News] Raqqa – The Islamic State (ISIS) radical group on Friday executed a man in Syria’s northeastern Raqqa city, after accusing him of being a wizard and practitioner of magic.
"He turned me into a newt!"
The ISIS-led Islamic Police, also known as Diwan al-Hisba, arrested an elderly man in Raqqa city earlier on Thursday, under the pretext that he was practicing magic.
On Friday, the Sharia Court called for his execution after considering the man a wizard and a sorcerer.
“An ISIS jihadist beheaded the elderly man in front of hundreds of people in the al-Hamam Square in Raqqa,” local media activist Khalid al-Omar told ARA News.
“The Sharia Court claimed that they’ve found tools and materials at the man’s house proving the allegation,” the source reported.
"He had eggs, olive oil, a frying pan, and a spatula, your honourness. And then he cracked the eggs into a bowl, muttered magic words under his breath, and muttered more words that turned it all into an omelet!! That's the blackest sorcery of all!"
Practicing magic is strictly banned by ISIS.
The group believes that magicians are “apostates” who oppose “the law of Allah”.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/07/2017
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[Dhaka Tribune] A 38-year-old man has been enjugged You have the right to remain silent... for raping an eight-year-old girl in the district’s Palashbari upazila, police say.
The suspect, Md Jahurul Haque Islam, was detained from Srikhandi village in Hossainpur union on Thursday.
Palashbari police’s Officer-in-Charge Mujibur Rahman said the victim went to Jahurul’s grocery shop at the Shishudoho junction of Palashbari-Ghoraghat road in the afternoon.
"He took the child inside the shop promising to give her candies and forced himself on the eight-year-old," Mujibur said.
Police went to the spot and detained Jahurul after locals informed police about the incident.
"The man has confessed to raping the child," the OC said. "The victim has undergone medical examination and there is evidence of sexual assault."
A case was later filed by the victim’s father at the Palashbari cop shoppe.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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[AA.TR] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... will remain resolute in its fight to clear all forms of terrorism from Syria's Manbij and al-Bab, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... said on Friday. The Kurds ejected ISIS from Manbij. They were going to head for al-Bab next. The goals are Ottoman, not anti-terrorist.
Speaking during an inauguration ceremony in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa, Erdogan said that Turkey's ongoing operation to take control of the northern Syrian towns of al-Bab and Manbij from the terror organization continued.
Criticizing the U.S.-led coalition forces, the president said Turkey has been left to combat ISIS alone in the region, without any help of its allies.
"They started the djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... operation to put Turkey in trouble and decelerated it, and then they delayed the Raqqa operation. ISIS is there. You were saying ISIS was an element to fight against. Why don't you fight against the group?"
"They saw that Turkey was achieving results and then they changed their plans. We will not stop until we clear Manbij, al-Bab and other regions from terror," Erdogan said.
He said that Turkey would do everything necessary to "ensure that our brothers in Iraq and Syria have peace. If we have no [military] support, we will continue with our own means," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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[AA.TR] A joint session of Congress on Friday certified Electoral College returns, cementing Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... as the country’s president-elect.
The proceedings were largely symbolic. Trump had received well more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure the office when electors met last month in their state capitals.
Some Democrats, however, objected to the proceedings Friday, but were denied action by Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... who oversaw the session as President of the Senate.
"It's over," he said as Democrats pointed to long lines at polling stations, and alleged Russian interference in this presidential election.
The final tally put Trump at 304 Electoral College votes. His challenger, Hillary Clinton ... former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, sometimes described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as a crook... , received 227.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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#1
I love the fact that Biden literally brought the hammer down on those idiots.
[DAILYPOST.NG] The International Committee of the Red Thingy (ICRC), has said that women and their children in the Lake Chad Basin, have been forced into prostitution, in order to make ends meet.
ICRC stated this on Thursday, while explaining how the Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... insurgency has driven millions from their homes and left families starving.
Over 2.4million have been displaced across the swamp lands of Lake Chad, where the borders of Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... and Niger meet.
"It’s extraordinary to see a woman and her family and they have nothing other than what they have been given," Simon Brooks, who is the head of ICRC’s delegation in Cameroon, said.
"The children are clearly malnourished and it’s just hopeless", he added.
Speaking on how some mothers were now into prostitution, Brooks said: "When you don’t have the means to survive, you’ll go begging for it.
"It’s a loss of dignity when you’re having to resort to something like that just to keep your children alive ‐ fraternising with people who have money."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2017
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Top|| File under: Boko Haram
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.
[Sputnik News] A highly-anticipated declassified US intelligence report, aimed to prove that Russia supported Donald Trump, has turned out to be a huge embarrassment. The annex that contained factual material that was thought to provide evidence of RT influencing the American public was compiled in December 2012, right after the reelection of Barack Obama.
[Wash Times] Turkish intelligence officers ordered the nation’s border police not to inspect truckloads of bomb-making materials shipped by companies in Turkey to Islamic State operatives in Syria in recent years, a former top Turkish counterterrorism official said.
[PJ] In a move that threatens to destroy irony meters everywhere, an online webinar outlet is hosting a disgraced 20th century newsman to "guide you through the 21st century state of journalism." The online course is titled "Dan Rather on Journalism & Finding the Truth in the News," with the subtitle "Learn to ask the right questions & tell captivating stories. Practical advice for journalists & avid news consumers." Fittingly, you can participate in the class for the low, low price of $10 -- a 93% discount!
[AA.TR] The Nigerian military has said another of the 276 schoolgirls 
[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday proposed calling members of the prime minister’s family to examine whether they would abide by the stance they had taken on four London flats in their previous statements.
[AA.TR] Gambia’s embattled President Yahya Jammeh has fired the country’s Ambassador to Senegal after the Ambassador urged him to accept defeat and hand over power.
[Dhaka Tribune] Police claim Marjan coordinated the July 1 attack on Gulshan's Holey Artisan Bakery that killed 23 people, including 17 foreigners, while Saddam was accused of 
[NYPOST] The former owner of a Midtown gay club was strangled to death on the Upper West Side and authorities are now looking to question his masseuse, police sources said.
[DAWN] Prime Minister 
Benghazi, 6 January 2017:
[DAWN] IF ever an image was emblematic of Pakistain’s progress in the war against extremism -- and indeed of the fissures in its society -- it is that of the viciously defaced 
[AA.TR] Yemen’s Shia 
[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: Although a medical board waited several hours in vain for police to produce Taiba for a second medical examination, Pims Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Akram said there was no doubt the child had been tortured.
[Dhaka Tribune] One of the two top leaders of
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
Surely there must be some way Philippine President Roberto Durante can assist with this burdensome and costly incarceration. 
Gray bar hotel resident Raymond Chow Kwok-cheung 
[CNN] Five people were shot dead and eight wounded in a baggage claim area at Fort Lauderdale's airport, and law enforcement sources tell CNN the suspect, identified as Esteban Santiago, had brought the firearm in his checked luggage.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[AA.TR] Four detainees of the controversial military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been transferred to other countries, the U.S. announced Thursday.
[AA.TR] 
[AA.TR] A joint session of Congress on Friday certified Electoral College returns, cementing 
Joe 
Hillary Clinton
