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IRGC completely dismantles terrorist group in southeast Iran: Commander
Today's Headlines
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Science & Technology
Lockheed's F-35 soars over Paris in first flight demo
Lockheed Martin's (LMT) F-35 made its first aerial demonstration on Monday at the Paris Air Show, as the defense contractor looks to ink a blockbuster sale for hundreds of the stealth fighter jets.

The F-35 flew late in the afternoon in Paris, where aircraft makers gather each year to show off their latest models and score new orders from airlines and militaries. An F-35A‐the model designed for the U.S. Air Force‐took off in a vertical climb, then made a series of loops, twists and other dramatic maneuvers. In another impressive display, the stealth fighter abruptly cut its throttle to slowly float through the air, simulating the F-35's capabilities in a dogfight.




Youtube video

Twitter link, comments allover the place.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 06/19/2017 15:47 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336086 views] Top|| File under:

#1  An F-35A‐the model designed for the U.S. Air Force‐took off in a vertical climb, then made a series of loops, twists and other dramatic maneuvers.

A drone won't mind the Gs that a human body would. Just saying.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/19/2017 16:09 Comments || Top||

#2  P2K, that is something the aeronautic engineers have been pushing for a while. We currently have the technology for the airframes to resist 20gs. With a pilot they are stuck at 9g.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/19/2017 16:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Youtube link

Tweeter link

Posted by: SteveS || 06/19/2017 18:52 Comments || Top||


Economy
Here's how the U.S. got to $20 trillion in debt
Not even the Great Depression and WW II looks as bad as the last few years.

Lots of graphs at link.
Posted by: gorb || 06/19/2017 14:31 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here's how the U.S. got to $20 trillion in debt

Politicians. They get what ever they can get away with. You get what you deserve when you voted for them. (BTW - where are those who voted to repeal Obamacare now?)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/19/2017 16:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Income taxes.

You then need exponential debt in order to mask the damage to the economy.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 16:46 Comments || Top||

#3  African-American leadership. Everywhere that an African-American has taken power, you will see massive debt left behind.

The first African-American elected to president left behind more debt than the past 43 US Presidents combined.
Posted by: Harry and Tenille5433 || 06/19/2017 22:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Soetoro is not African-American, he's Black African. There is nothing American about him.
Posted by: DonM || 06/19/2017 23:31 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Bikers for Trump rumble into Georgia with message in Handel vs. Ossoff election
[Wash Times] MARIETTA, Ga. -- This neighborhood might have gotten quite a jolt when Bikers for Trump -- sporting tattoos galore, black vests and a massive flag with the group’s insignia -- showed up in this Atlanta suburb to politely ask people to vote for the Republican candidate in this week’s special congressional election.

At one stop, Chris Hummel and his wife, Karen, assured Chris Cox, founder of Bikers for Trump, and the six other men and women who were going door to door that they had voted early for the Republican, Karen Handel, over Democrat Jon Ossoff. Mrs. Hummel even shed some tears after learning that three of the bikers had served in the military. Her father served as a battalion leader in the Vietnam War and returned a different man. Years later, when Mrs. Hummel was a baby, he took his own life.

"We have heard about them," Mrs. Hummel said about the group. "I just think it is cool that it is just kind of grass-roots door-to-door, just common folks. Because that is really what America is."

Mr. Cox and his crew of volunteers had visited this well-groomed neighborhood before and returned Tuesday to make certain that its heavily Republican voters planned to -- or already had -- voted for Mrs. Handel. The bikers are hoping to punch a hole in the Democrat-driven storyline that President Trump’s supporters are turning their backs on him.

"For us, it is more about ’Support Donald Trump,’ and by supporting Karen Handel we are supporting Donald Trump," said Mr. Cox, standing in a cul-de-sac next to his Harley-Davidson motorcycle and steps away from a miniature soccer goal. "This is kind of like a crown jewel of the Republican Party right now -- holding on to this thing."
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2017 06:31 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Endorsed by Pelosi and an understudy of Congressmen Hank (Tip Over) Johnson and John Lewis. Very difficult to believe it's even a question.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2017 6:42 Comments || Top||

#2  I was in Marietta this weekend, sas the bikers, no one seemed shaken up. As 1 who has to watch all the osoff ads relentlessly bombarding us daily, he's a lttle twat who needs choking.
Posted by: chris || 06/19/2017 7:55 Comments || Top||

#3  From B's mugshot, he looks like the offspring of the mating or Pee-Wee Herman and Alfred E. Newman....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 06/19/2017 10:03 Comments || Top||

#4  USN, Ret. For those not familiar with Alfred E. Neuman. Spitting image.

Image result for alfred e. neuman
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2017 10:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Pee Wee and Alfred E. Neuman likeness is akin to the Webster Hubbell and Chelsea likeness. (Recently, Alex Jones offered Chelsea $1 mil. to take a DNA test).
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2017 13:00 Comments || Top||

#6  thanks John QC; whenever I try posting pictures, the computer screen keeps bending my thumb tacks....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 06/19/2017 15:00 Comments || Top||

#7  :)
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2017 22:04 Comments || Top||


After Assassination Attempt, Pubs Delude Themselves With Demands For More Civility
BLUF: [Daily Caller] Republicans should have been smart enough to know that thinking civility could be restored after an attack on them and playing the better man wasn’t going to earn them any serious goodwill. It certainly didn’t stop left-wing journalists from dumping on their colleague who nearly died from his bullet wound delivered by a progressive.

And, more importantly, the sincere, yet unheeded calls for dialing back the rhetoric won’t stop future left-wing violence. To Democrats and liberal journalists, Republicans are still the bad guys -- even when they’re the victims.

Maybe it’s because most congressional Republicans wish that they could just focus on fiscal matters and avoid hot-button cultural topics that they hoped everyone could just get along. Tax rates don’t get people fired up like immigration does.

But the Left isn’t interested in having a civil discussion with people it sees as an enemy. The members of the Left want to transform this country, and a shooting isn’t going to make them reconsider the tactics and rhetoric they’re using to pursue that goal.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2017 06:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Author Scott Greer is sadly correct. Leftest ideologues see death as a tool, an instrument necessary to achieve their goal. The attacks on Rep. Scalise as he was lying near death are clear evidence of the left's disregard for civility.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2017 6:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Immigration acts like a tax.
The benefits go to the wealthiest via increased rents and higher land prices also there's a weaker effect on lowered wages for the least market-productive.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 7:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Of course their definition of civility is us saying "Yes, Massa"
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 9:28 Comments || Top||

#4  The Pubs might ask for more civility. However, the Dems will continue on with their uncivility. After all, the ends justify the means in their playbook--except they have no clue as to where they are going...they are not good at seeing unintended consequences.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2017 10:18 Comments || Top||

#5  They refuse to notice the mantra of the Left - "There Can Only Be One"
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/19/2017 16:14 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Game Changer
A number of recent articles have argued that America -- and the post WW2 order -- is broken. Ian Bremmer, the president of Eurasia Group, a political-risk consultancy wrote that the "Pax Americana, the stabilizing role played by the U.S. superpower, is no more. The G-Zero era--where no one country (or constellation of countries) is willing or able to assume the responsibility of global leadership--is now officially upon us. And it’s already wreaking havoc." The phrase "G-Zero" is a play off the slogan of the G-20, which assumed the world could be led by a small elite of countries. In a G-Zero world no one is in charge of "the world".

At the heart of the vacuum is a growing political division in the West, the putative wrecker ball of the G's collapse. Evidence of the division abounds. "It feels like America is descending into chaos," writes John Podhoretz. "Wednesday’s ghastly shooting spree at the congressional Republican baseball practice" felt like the start of something. The assassin had a list of six other Republican congressman in his possession.

...Perhaps an even more dramatic example are the demands by left-wing protests at Evergreen College for what amounts to racial separatism.

Like "African-Americans", or the left in general, could survive without other peoples' money.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 03:33 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not much noticed is how Trump is cutting off the money flowing from government to the Left. The slimming of the federal bureaucracy will bring down house prices around DC which will do a lot to reduce the wealth of this Left leaning group and hence money flowing to their preferred causes.
Posted by: phil_b || 06/19/2017 4:07 Comments || Top||

#2  #1 impacting surrounding areas. Look at traffic flows in and out of DC. I know Maryland has benefited greatly these many years sucking off the government political operations in DC. Look at the influx of many different races with each trying to grab power as the blacks have done. Each does this not for America but for their own people. Creating private enclaves or simply put safe zones.
Posted by: Dale || 06/19/2017 6:06 Comments || Top||

#3  In the age of internet, the government should be decentralized. How about starting by moving the EPA in Iowa?
Posted by: Captain Tojo3621 || 06/19/2017 7:49 Comments || Top||

#4  TC - that idea has been floated and has merit. Unfortunately many Dems back it so I'm skeptical as to actual motives. Still, enough worth that the Trump admin should look into
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 06/19/2017 9:00 Comments || Top||

#5  A number of recent articles have argued that America -- and the post WW2 order -- is broken.

And thus the pushback against globalism; Brexit, and the election of Trump. If broke, it is that people sense the gnawing away of underpinnings by the left and globalists.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2017 10:12 Comments || Top||

#6  #3, hey man, what did Iowa ever do to you?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 06/19/2017 10:33 Comments || Top||

#7  ...able to assume the responsibility of global leadership
They keep using the term global leadership and they just never define it, do they? This like the difference, in engineering, between Force and Work -- unless an action has meaningful results it is just waste motion. But the writers assume that what they desire is meaningful --- hubris...
Posted by: magpie || 06/19/2017 12:42 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Israeli sources: Breakthrough in ties with Saudi Arabia is unlikely
Israeli sources were skeptical Sunday of a report in the Sunday Times that Saudi Arabia and Israel are in talks to establish economic ties, saying Riyadh has little interest at the moment in taking its ties with Israel out into the open.

Senior Israeli officials, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu down through ministers, such as Transportation and Intelligence Minister Israel Katz, have broadly hinted over more than a year that Israel and the Saudis are cooperating on security issues having to do with their common threats: Iran and radical Islamic terrorism.

But beyond mentioning that these ties exist, no one has provided much detail.

The Sunday Times, quoting Arab and American sources, said the economic ties would "start small," allowing Israeli business people to operate in the Gulf, and letting EL Al fly over Saudi airspace.

Why should Israel exert itself to establish relations with a "country" that - given fracking - won't exist in 10 years?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 03:16 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Master of the Obvious picture must be on vacation.
Posted by: Raj || 06/19/2017 13:04 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran and China conduct naval drill in Gulf
Iran and China began a joint naval exercise in the Gulf on Sunday, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.

The military drill comes at a time of heightened tension between the Iranian and US military in the Gulf and is likely to be a cause of concern for Washington.

In recent months, the US navy has accused the Iranian navy of sending fast-attack boats to harass warships as they pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

An Iranian destroyer and two Chinese destroyers are among the vessels that will participate in the exercise, which will take place in the eastern portion of the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman, according to IRNA. Some 700 Iranian navy personnel will be participating in the drill.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 03:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Hezbollah supporters call for Israel’s annihilation at London rally
[IsraelTimes] A few hundred people marched down Regent Street, behind the Paleostinian and Hezbollah terror flag, before staging a sit-down protest on Oxford Street.

Hezbollah and Paleostine supporters staging a sit-down protest brought part of central London to a standstill on Sunday afternoon. A few hundred people marched down Regent Street, behind the Paleostinian and Hezbollah terror flag, before sitting down at the junction with Oxford Street shortly after 4.30pm on Sunday.

Many carried banners with messages including "Boycott Israel", "Freedom for Paleostine" and "Zionism = racism".

The demonstration wound its way through the capital’s retail heart, which was busy with shoppers. A man on a loudspeaker led the protesters in chants of "Free Paleostine".

One speaker then blamed the devastating In Grenfell Tower fire, which has left at least 58 people dead, on Israel supporters. Addressing the crowd at Grosvenor Square, he said: "Many innocents were murdered by Theresa May’s cronies ‐ many of which are supporters of Zionist ideologies. Some of the biggest corporations who are supporting the Conservative Party are Zionists. They are responsible for the murder in Grenfell. The Zionist supporters of the Tory Party."

A counter protest, organised by Jewish groups including the Zionist Federation, was also held nearby, featuring speakers from the Board of Deputies, Jewish Leadership Council, Zionist Federation, and other communal groups.

Speaking to Jewish News after addressing the counter-demonstration in Grosvenor Square, Matthew Offord MP condemned the flying of Hezbollah flags in Central London.

He said: "There are Hezbollah flags being flown. When they were flown in 2015, outside Number 10, I spoke with the then Home Secretary who agreed with me, that as Hezbollah is proscribed under the Terrorism Act, they should not be doing so.

"The Police have a different legal opinion, and they feel that the political wing of Hezbollah is different from the paramilitary wing, and as such they allow them to do so.".

Addressing what action he think can be taken, Offord, who was re-elected in Hendon two weeks ago, said: "I’m going to continue to press the new HS to have this proscribed under the terrorism act, so that Hezbollah flags, as with ISIS flags, should not be flown on the streets of London."

Simon Johnson of the Jewish Leadership Council said they’d "already made this representation in our annual meetings with the Prime Minister, for each of the last two years" with regards to the flying of Hezbollah flags.

He added: "I am convinced we’ve been caught in a bit of a civil service paralysis. It’s been kicked around from department to department. Now that we’ve suffered terrible terrorist outrages in this country ‐ surely now is the time to be able to ban the flag of Hezbollah.

"This is a terrorist flag. Hezbollah are a terrorist organization. There is enough evidence of it and it really is time [to ban it]."

He welcomed Matthew Offord’s support to take more action, before saying: "We’re going to make these steps formally to the Prime Minister, the Home Office and the Foreign Office".

In the lead up to Al Quds Day, more than 15,000 petitioned Sadiq Khan, urging him to stop the march from taking place. Asked whether the Mayor of London had done enough, Johnson said: "It’s not his remit [to ban it], but it is in his remit to work with the Metropolitan Police to ban marches like this. I think his response to this has been disappointing. I think he could have taken more action on this. They [the Met Police] didn’t need to agree to a march. it could have been a static demonstration. That would have been perfectly proper and appropriate, and a guarantee of free speech for all sides. The fact they agreed for it to be a march was an easy way out for them."
Interestingly, an earlier brief article in The Times of Israel described the situation thusly:
Thousands of people are gathered in London to take part in an annual rally to mark Al Quds Day. Organized by the Islamic Human Rights Commission, the rally is billed as an event that "unites for the freedom of the oppressed in Paleostine and beyond."
Whether it's a few hundred or a few thousand, that pales in comparison to the 15,000 who support Israel. Fascinating.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/19/2017 00:15 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Iraq
Police take over facility in Mosul’s Old City, kill senior IS leader
[Iraq News] Iraqi Federal Police forces said Sunday they took over a major facility in western djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
’s Old City and killed a senior 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....
leader as government troops invaded the group’s last enclave in the region.

The service said on its facebook page that police troops took over the "civil defense building", killing Kanaan Jayad Abdullah, aka Abu Amena, the group’s general checkpoints supervisor, in Bab al-Beed area.

Federal Police chief Shaker Jawdat said his forces continued advances inside al-Shifa neighborhood, north of the Old City. He said hours earlier that troops took over a major "medical complex", a blood bank, the medicine school and a children’s hospital, killing 19 murderous Moslems and moving 100 meters closer to the Tigris River.

The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said Sunday that government forces began invading the Old City, the medieval, densely populated and narrowly structured area where a few hundred murderous Moslems entrenched in the middle of at least 100.000 civilians believed to be used as human shields.

Khaled al-Jawari, a colonel at the Joint Operations Command, told BasNews that army forces placed in durance vile
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
14 IS members, including eight jacket wallahs who tried to target the assaulting forcrces. He added that the army troops invaded ap-Farouq neighborhood in the Old City from Bab Sinjar, and repelled four attacks by the Death Eater group.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa Horn
Kenya to avert Al shabaab IEDs near Somali border
[SHABELLENEWS] Wreckage of blown up vehicles along the dusty Bargoni-Kiunga road that cuts through the Boni Forest in Lamu attest to a grueling bloody combat between security forces and Al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
The road is arguably the most dangerous path in Kenya, according to military and coppers manning three roadblocks along the route.

And we are told the vehicles were destroyed by Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) planted by Al-Shabaab fighters.

Residents describe the section between Milimani and Kiunga as a minefield of IEDs sown by the forces of Evil and have killed several security officers since Operation Linda Boni started.

On May 31, 10 coppers were killed when an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) they were travelling in struck an IED at Baure.

Operation Linda Boni began in late 2015, covering 13 villages northeastern of Lamu and stretching to the southern part of Garissa County, along Kenyan border with Somalia.

A visit by Sunday Standard to Busaba, Milimani, Manga, Mararani and Kiongewe villages in Boni reveals that the operation has restored peace but military sources and villagers say the area is still volatile.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
IRGC completely dismantles terrorist group in southeast Iran: Commander
[Iran Press TV] Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has managed to kill all members of a Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
terrorist outfit and completely dismantle it in a southeastern Iranian town, a senior IRGC commander says.

"A terrorist team, which we had engaged a few days ago in the town of Qasr-e Qand, was completely dismantled today after the killing of five more of its elements," Commander of IRGC’s Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour told Fars news agency on Sunday.

He added that two members of the terrorist group had been killed after the operation launched in Qasr-e Qand town in the province of Sistan-and-Baluchestan on Thursday.

The remaining members had fled to nearby mountains, but were killed during festivities with the intelligence teams of the Qods Headquarters of the IRGC ground forces, he noted.

The senior IRGC commander said the identity of the turbans has not been determined yet, adding, "The turbans were members of the [so-called] Ansar al-Furqan group and their identities are under investigation."

Pakpour emphasized that no IRGC member was killed or injured in the operations.

The IRGC said in a Thursday statement that its Qods Headquarters had dispatched its units to Qasr-e Qand after obtaining information about the presence of a Takfiri terrorist group in the area and engaged the group in mountainous areas.

"During the anti-terror operation, the IRGC's Qods Headquarters fighters destroyed a vehicle laden with 600 kilograms of explosives, and seized five bombs ready to be used in suicide kabooms, 700 kilograms of explosives, tens of thousands of bullets and a number of weapons and ammunition," the statement read.
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336115 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


IS Khalid Ibn al-Waleed militia slaughters 5 fighters west of Daraa
[Iraq News] A militia that pledged allegiance to 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 executed five fighters in its held areas, west of Daraa.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, members of the Khaled Ibn al-Waleed army, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group, slaughtered five fighters on charges of apostasy in the city of al-Shagara, west of Daraa.

Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, Bossy's udder had begun to ache...
mutual shooting took place between the Syrian government forces and Islamic militias in al-Mansheya neighborhood, in the city of Daraa, while regime forces shelled several areas in eastern Ghariyah City, causing material damage.
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Southeast Asia
Philippines to halt operations against communist rebels
[Al Jazeera] The Philippine government has announced it would suspend offensives against communist fighters, allowing troops to focus on quelling a bloody siege by ISIS-linked fighters in the country's south.

Silvestre Bello III, chief government negotiator, said on Sunday that the government move is in response to a similar plan by the communist New People's Army rebels.

He did not specify when such a suspension of government offensives would take effect and under what terms.

In the last year the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte has been engaged in an on-and-off truce with the communist rebels.

Despite the latest peace overtures, Philippine troops killed five communist fighters in separate festivities in the south while the rebels stormed a cop shoppe in a central Philippine island of Leyte and seized a dozen assault rifles and pistols over the weekend, officials said.

Three communist fighters were killed in Davao Oriental province and two others died in Compostela Valley in separate festivities with army troops on Saturday, military officials said.

While in Leyte, about 50 communist rebels stormed a cop shoppe and seized 12 rifles and pistols, and other equipment, according to the police.

The rebels grabbed credit for the attack, saying in a statement that they waged the assault to punish coppers, whom they accused of being involved in extortion, gambling and distribution of illegal drugs.
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  My, Why have you never tried this before?
Posted by: newc || 06/19/2017 1:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Muzzies before Commies? Well, Churchill and Roosevelt did something similar.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 3:04 Comments || Top||

#3  ..yep, picking the guy who killed more of his own citizenry than the invader.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/19/2017 9:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Two fer, P2k?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 9:55 Comments || Top||


Arabia
UAE renames Abu Dhabi mosque after Mary, mother of Jesus
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A mosque in the capital of the United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi was renamed on Wednesay to "Mariam Umm Eisa" ‐ meaning mother of Jesus in Arabic.

The move was aimed at promoting social connections between followers of different religions and strengthen the common characteristics between them, local media reported.
Goodness. The timing certainly is interesting.
The name of the mosque, previously known as "Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Mosque," was changed by order of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed al-Nahyan to "consolidate bonds of humanity between followers of different religions".

UAE's Minister of State for Tolerance Sheikha Lubna al-Qasimi said the move reflected the Crown Prince’s "pure humanity and portrays a bright image of the real tolerance and coexistence in the UAE."

Qasimi explained that the mosque is located in a place that reflects values of tolerance and coexistence, as the area includes "many civilized places of worship."

February last year, the UAE opened the Ministry of Tolerance to "promote tolerance as a fundamental value in UAE society," the ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum said.

Senior chaplain Reverend Canon Thompson at nearby Anglican church St. Andrews said he was pleased with the renaming. "We are delighted that we are celebrating something that we have in common between both our faiths," he told Gulf News.
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336063 views] Top|| File under:

#1  nearby Anglican church St. Andrews

To my mild surprise (don't know much about Abu Dhabi), it seems they're building a second, bigger church which will be next door not to this mosque, but -- conveniently for the umpteen denominations they host -- to workers' housing.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 06/19/2017 2:16 Comments || Top||

#2  It is surprising but its still a mosque doing mosque things. A sop to the West?
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2017 10:40 Comments || Top||

#3  a mosque doing mosque things

yes

I don't think the mosque named after Mary will have a female prayer leader nor will it likely preach against the 'women are inferior' type verses in the koran
Posted by: lord garth || 06/19/2017 13:20 Comments || Top||


Plot to assassinate a King!
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Saudi artist Talal Salamah said he will not take a residential unit offered to him by Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
, saying that he does not need it.

This stance shows the extent of Qatar’s infiltration of soft power in 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...
Qatar’s infiltration is not limited to preachers as it also includes popular artists.

Doha seeks to influence artists and exploit athletes to serve bigger purposes which is imperial expansion, until it controls countries like Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt and Tunisia.

The dream seems funny but this is the truth. This is what the hidden scheme is about.

The hideous conspiracy to assassinate King Abdullah showed the Saudis the power of patience which the Saudi kingdom had enjoyed. Some talk about "harmony," "peace" and "compassion."

This is the how the situation is between the Saudi and the Qatari people.

Only solution
However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow...
in terms of the regime, the only solution is to alter the political behavior, respect laws and states’ illusory sovereignty and be disciplined within the context of international charters.

After there was a conspiracy to kill a King, someone talks about a ’fitna’ (strife)!
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia

#1  The article suddenly goes from influencing artists to assassinating the king. Over zealous editing?
Posted by: phil_b || 06/19/2017 1:49 Comments || Top||

#2  I highly recommend The Arab Mind, Kim.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 2:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Thought that was discredited, Grom?
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/19/2017 4:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Discredited? I found it really helpful.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 5:01 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria troops advance in Raqqa towards Deir Ezzor
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Syrian army on Sunday advanced into the northern province of Raqqa as part of an offensive to reach the neighboring oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor, a monitoring group said.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime troops had reached the edges of Resafa, a town some 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Raqqa city, bastion of ISIS.

The goal of the operation is to push further east and reach Deir Ezzor, the Observatory said.

The regime has lost control of many oil and gas fields since the start in 2011 of Syria’s conflict, especially in the provinces of Homs and Deir Ezzor.

Sunday’s advance came after government troops captured several villages in the past few days, said the Observatory.

Troops were also about 50 kilometers from a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance of fighters, which launched a new offensive this month to retake Raqqa city.

The fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces entered the northern city earlier in June, after months of heavy festivities to encircle Raqqa.

Since June 6, they have seized a few neighborhoods, including one in the east and one in the west, and are battling to push into the Old City of Raqqa.

The Observatory says a large number of ISIS murderous Moslems are holed up in the Old City.

ISIS seized Raqqa in 2014, transforming it into the de facto Syrian capital of its self-declared "caliphate."

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa North
Roadside explosion in Cairo kills Egyptian policeman
[AlAhram] An Egyptian policeman was killed and four maimed by a roadside explosive near the Cairo suburb of Maadi on Sunday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

"At around 12:45 a.m. on June 18 as a vehicle belonging to the Central Security Forces transported a group of officers and conscripts an improvised bomb planted on the roadside went off," the ministry said.

"This led to the martyrdom of First Lieutenant Ali Abdelkhaliq and the injury of four others, an officer and three conscripts, who have been taken to hospital for treatment."

The bomb exploded remotely, and an initial examination suggested it exploded using a mobile phone SIM card, a senior Interior Ministry official told state news agency MENA.

A joint task force made up of several police units is questioning tenants of flats overlooking the site of the attack to try to identify and arrest the culprits, the official said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility by any group.

Egypt faces an Islamist insurgency led by ISIS group in North Sinai. Other holy warrior groups, which the government says are linked to the Moslem Brüderbund, are active in Cairo and other cities where they have targeted security forces, judges, and pro-government figures.
Likely it's Lewaa al-Thawra (The Revolution Brigade) or Hasm (Decisiveness, Determination), the two groups established by the Moslem Brotherhood to make life difficult for the new government in Cairo and the Nile delta while Ansar Bayt al Maqdis causes trouble in the Sinai after the Brotherhood was removed from power.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


Home Front: Politix
Sen. Dianne Feinstein at 84 is not planning to retire
[ABCNEWS.GO] The nation's oldest U.S. senator looks like she's sticking around.

Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,'s Dianne Feinstein
...Dem Senator-for-Life from Caliphornica. She has been a politician since about the time she was weaned. Feinstein was the author of the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, and tried it a second time in 2012. Feinstein has chaired the Select Committee on Intelligence since 2009. At age 80, Feinstein is the oldest currently serving United States Senator....
turns 84 on Thursday and is displaying signs that she's headed for a re-election campaign, not a retirement party.

While the Democrat has been coy when asked about seeking a fifth full term next year, her political committee, unambiguously titled Feinstein for Senate 2018, raised more than $650,000 in the first three months of this year in a cue she is looking ahead.

Feinstein plays a marquee role for Democrats on Capitol Hill, where she has queried Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former FBI Director James Comey about their interactions with President 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...
, amid probes tied to Russian influence and the 2016 presidential campaign.

On Friday, she warned that Trump might attempt to fire Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating possible obstruction of justice. "The message the president is sending through his tweets is that he believes the rule of law doesn't apply to him," she said.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336082 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Planning to die together with California, eh?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 3:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Got to help sucker the youth into funding the generation that impoverished them the most, and especially in rentierist Kaliphornia.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 5:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Feinstein, Pelosi, McCain, Fonda, Ginsburg, Kissinger, Mugabe...and you ask me why I read the obits ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2017 7:06 Comments || Top||

#4  DI-FI is wrong. If there is cause, such as a conflict of interest, Trump can fire Mueller.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 06/19/2017 7:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Who knew there would be a 'down side' to modern medicine?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/19/2017 7:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Not planning to retire? It is a shame. Kalifornia has about 40 million people...there's got to be a decent replacement somewhere in the Golden State...is there something in the water?
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2017 8:27 Comments || Top||

#7  The only way they will get her out is on a gurney
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/19/2017 9:05 Comments || Top||

#8  She's going to vote dem for the next 100 years.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 9:43 Comments || Top||

#9  The question you should ask is what the real estate business holdings are for her hubby. After election agin, at the right moment, she retires and Jerry or Gavin merely appoints the next Socialist/Progressive/Minority Senator to further the far left agenda. Leftist autocracy playing the theater of the absurd for the ignorant masses who wait for the goodies.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 06/19/2017 10:21 Comments || Top||

#10  I don't know. At least Feiny seems to have a grasp of the issues.
Remember, the last time Cal got a new senator, we ended up with Kamala-la-la Harris, D. dipshit.
Be care what you wish for.
Posted by: ed in texas || 06/19/2017 10:26 Comments || Top||

#11  We ended up with Kamala-la-la Harris, D. dipshit. Fortunately, this woman is her own worst enemy when she opens her mouth. Feinstein gets it right occasionally but then again every blind pig finds an ear of corn occasionally too.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2017 10:35 Comments || Top||

#12  This is one example of why we need term limits, and a convention of the states to propose the necessary amendment, because it would never get out of Congress.

Keep in mind that Senators such as Feinstein & McCain aren't just individuals; they become industries of staff, toadies, hangers-on, etc., devoted to power, influence, fundraising, and so forth. The pressure to NOT retire is enormous.
Posted by: PBMcL || 06/19/2017 11:23 Comments || Top||

#13  Planning to die together with California, eh?

Murder/suicide scenario.
Posted by: regular joe || 06/19/2017 11:46 Comments || Top||

#14  Increasingly effective top tier life extension for the DC elite means we are doomed to be ruled by an ever more aged Methuselah class.

Term limits. Even 25-35 years would be better than what we have now. Before it's too late.
Posted by: The peanut gallery || 06/19/2017 12:47 Comments || Top||

#15  Hey, with Harris, the Dems hit the cycle* - Harris was the first woman, the first Jamaican American, the first Asian American, the first Indian American, and the first African American attorney general in California.

Wikipedia

*Which I just learned this year, the cycle in baseball is a single, double, triple, and home run, all in the same game.
Posted by: Bobby || 06/19/2017 12:53 Comments || Top||

#16  Term limits need to be such that the DC ruling class doesn't have sufficient time to develop the corruption networks.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2017 12:53 Comments || Top||

#17  If Kamala Harris is any indication, Di-Fi's eventual replacement will be even worse.
Posted by: Iblis || 06/19/2017 13:57 Comments || Top||

#18  So the committee to re-elect her raised more than $650,000 in the first three months of this year in a cue she is looking ahead. What happens to all that cash if she drops out?
Posted by: warthogswife || 06/19/2017 14:16 Comments || Top||

#19  If Kamala Harris is any indication, Di-Fi's eventual replacement will be even worse.
Posted by Iblis


She'll continue in the finest traditions of her socialist idols. Men such as Congolese henchmen Jean-Bedel Bokassa or Nigerian despots like Sani Abacha, and Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar. We've got quite a lot to look forward to with Kamala.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2017 15:16 Comments || Top||

#20  What happens to all that cash if she drops out?

They've written a law for themselves to convert that to their own money. That's how 'average' citizens go to Washington and retire as millionaires. It's part of a diverse portfolio.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/19/2017 16:17 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Saudi coalition strikes on Saada market kill dozens
[Al Jazeera] At least 25 Yemeni civilians have been killed by Saudi-led coalition air strike on a market in the northern Saada province, according to a local health official.

The director of the Houthi-run health department office in Saada said the aircraft conducted two raids on al-Mashnaq market in Shada district close to the Saudi border on Saturday.

"Rescue teams were unable to reach the area for some time for fear of being hit by artillery shelling of the area," the official, Dr Abdelilah al-Azzi, told Rooters news agency by telephone on Sunday.

Several Yemeni online news outlets carried similar reports of the bombing in Saada, which sits directly along the Saudi border.

Officials from the Saudi-led coalition could not immediately be reached for a comment on the report.

A Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes in the impoverished country for more than two years against 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 ...
rebels, who control vast swathes of the country.
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


India-Pakistan
‘Mastermind’ of Chaman blasts arrested
[DAWN] The alleged criminal mastermind of several kabooms carried out in Cha­man town, near the Pakistain-Afghanistan border
...also known as Pashtunistan, home of ignorance, poverty, and automatic weapons...
crossing, has been locked away
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
, police said on Saturday.

Noor Ahmed, who illegally crossed into Pakistain from Afghanistan, was arrested in Chaman a few days ago.

Police claimed that the suspect during interrogation had confessed to his involvement in several kabooms, including the attack near government girls college and railway road.

The suspect, who is an Afghan national, had returned to Afghanistan after the attacks. He re-entered Chaman recently and was captured, said a bigwig.

"I was receiving Rs100,000 per attack from Afghanistan, out of which I paid Rs50,000 to the man who would execute the plan," the official said quoting Ahmed.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Afghanistan
American national kidnapped in Kabul city
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A foreign national has been kidnapped by unknown gunnies in capital Kabul earlier today, according to the security sources.

The incident has taken place in the vicinity of the third police district of the city in Karte Char area of the city.

According to reports, the American national was working with the Ministry Agriculture of Afghanistan on a World Bank project.

No group or individual has so far grabbed credit behind the incident.

This comes as two foreign nationals working for the American University were kidnapped in a similar attack last year.

Taliban
...Arabic for students...
released a 13-minute video earlier this year which purportedly showed the two lecturers making desperate pleas for their lives.

The video was released months after reports emerged that the US forces conducted an operation to release them but achievement was made in the raid.

Officials privy of the developments have said the two professors are being kept by the Haqqani terrorist network, a notorious Lion of Islam group close to the Taliban Death Eaters.

The two lecturers were kidnapped in the month of August last year by gunnies who had disguised themselves in military uniforms.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under: Haqqani Network


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Navy jet shoots down Syrian warplane that attacked US-backed rebels
A U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down a Syrian government warplane after it attacked Washington-backed fighters near ISIS' de facto capital of Raqqa, the U.S.-led coalition said Sunday.

In a statement, the coalition headquarters in Iraq said that a F/A-18E Super Hornet shot down a Syrian Su-22 that had dropped bombs near positions held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The statement said coalition aircraft had "conducted a show of force" to turn back an attack by Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's forces on the SDF in the town of Ja'Din, south of Tabqah.

The coalition said the shootdown took place "in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of Coalition partnered forces."

The statement said "a number of SDF fighters" were wounded in the regime's attack, but did not specify further. The coalition also said that Russian officers had been contacted on a special "de-confliction" hotline in an effort to halt the assault.

"The Coalition's mission is to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria," its statement said. "The Coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any threat."
Still think Trump sold out to Putin?

I am glad we are finally defending "allies", but damn, if the Russians send a jet and we shoot it down without knowing it is Russian things could get real hairy.

The view from the receiving end:
US downs Syrian fighter jet engaged in anti-Daesh operations

[Iran Press TV] A Syrian fighter plane engaged in operations against Daesh in Raqqah has been downed by the US-led coalition. The plane crashed and the pilot’s whereabouts were still unknown, the Syrian army said in a Sunday statement.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336099 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Still think Trump sold out to Putin?

Channeling Rachel Madcow: "Obviously a ploy to distract us from the truth!"
Posted by: gorb || 06/19/2017 1:50 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder if McDumb is celebrating?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 2:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Ms. Lindsay's fluffing
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2017 9:17 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Iran’s deputy foreign minister visits Qatar with Rouhani message
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iranian Foreign Ministry front man Bahram Qasimi said that the Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, paid a short visit to Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
where he met with Qatari officials and exchanged views about the bilateral relations and the most important international issues.

The Iranian news agency "IRNA" stated that Qasimi pointed out that Jaberi Ansari carried friendly messages from Iranian officials to Qatari officials.

He stressed that the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran always seeks unity and solidarity among the Islamic world and helps to set foundations of peace and security in the region.

The Spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that this visit comes in the framework and the continuation of previous consultations with Qatari officials.

"Iran era" site, which is close to the government, reported that Ansari carried a verbal message from Rouhani to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, emir of Qatar.

The website quoted the Qatari News Agency that Rouhani’s message to Sheikh Tamim was carried by Hossein Jaberi Ansari, assistant of Iranian foreign affairs Minister for Arab and African Affairs, during a meeting with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani on Saturday evening.

The agency gave no further details about the message.

Jaberi Ansari is the first Iranian official to visit Doha since severing relations with Qatar by some Arab countries about two weeks ago.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336063 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran launches ballistic missiles at terrorists in Eastern Syria
[THEDURAN] Iran’s Tasnim News Agency has reported that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have launched a ground-to-ground ballistic missile attack on terrorist targets in the Eastern Syrian Governorate of Deir ez-Zor. The missiles were reportedly launched from the western Iranian provinces of Kermanshah and Kurdistan.

Deir ez-Zor is at this point in time, the most prominent hot-spot of ISIS in Syria, in many ways even more than Raqqa. Recent reports have surfaced of both the US and its Kurdish dominated SFD allies allowing ISIS leaders out of Raqqa. In most cases they are fleeing to Deir ez-Zor.

With the help of Russian Arclight airstrikes, the Syrian Arab Army has been making gains within Deir ez-Zor Governorate and are rapidly advancing on Deir ez-Zor city.

Iran’s strike is of course in full compliance with international law as Iran forms part of Syria’s anti-terrorist coalition whose largest member is Russia.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Iran’s strike is of course in full compliance with international law as Iran forms part of Syria’s anti-terrorist coalition whose largest member is Russia.

I remember a little sumpthin sumpthin about ballistic missile violations. Or did Obama give that away too?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2017 9:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Looking at the map, it might've flown 400-500 miles, so probably that short-range stuff was omitted from the Obama Give-Away.
Posted by: Bobby || 06/19/2017 13:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Are they ranging Israel?
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/19/2017 15:41 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Al shabaab launches attack on Somali army outpost
[SHABELLENEWS] At least five people were killed and 12 others maimed in heavy fighting between Somali National Army soldiers and al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
bandidos Death Eaters in the Bakol region of southwestern Somalia.

Somali army officials confirmed that the bandidos Death Eaters had attacked a government military base in el-Lahelay village, about 20 kilometers west of Hudur, the lovely provincial capital of the region.

The bandidos Death Eaters used machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades to assault the base from different directions at midday Saturday, engaging in a fierce gunbattle with Somali troops for about an hour, officials said.

On the condition of anonymity, witnesses said that they saw the bodies of at least five combatants, some from each side. No civilian casualties were reported.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336090 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Arabia
Bahrain gives Qatari soldiers 48 hours to leave Manama
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Kingdom of Bahrain has requested that Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
i soldiers leave their territories within 48 hours, a source has confirmed.

According to the source, Bahraini authorities made it clear to the commander in charge of the US base in Bahrain that Qatari soldiers working in there are expected to leave within 48 hours.

Bahrain has an American base where the Central Command of the Naval Forces, including military personnel from countries in the region, carry out war-related missions against extremis organizations in the Middle East.

The news comes just days after Bahrain released audio of phone conversations between a Qatari royal adviser and a designated Bahraini terrorist, both of whom conspired to manipulate unrest in Manama back in 2011.
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Qatar (MB)

#1  Manamana?
Posted by: JHH || 06/19/2017 14:10 Comments || Top||


Yemen: Militias detain more than 600 relief ships and convoys
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The head of the Higher Relief Committee Abdul Raqib accused militias of obstructing, detaining and looting more than 63 aid ships from the Gulf Cooperation Council states in the ports of Al-Hudaydah and Al-Salif.

He pointed out in a statement to ‘SABA’ agency that the militias detained and looted 550 more relief convoys at the entrances of the provinces under their control, which contributed to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Afghanistan
Top Haqqani network leaders killed in Paktia airstrike
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Two big shots of the Haqqani terrorist network were killed in an Arclight airstrike in southeastern Paktia province of Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said the two top Haqqani network leaders were killed in the vicinity of Orgun district earlier today.

A statement by MoI said the two leaders of the terrorist network identified as Abdul Azizi and Ghalchakai were targeted in Shikhan area of Orgun around 5:30 am local time.

The Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan also confirmed that an Arclight airstrike was carried out in Orgun and at least five Haqqani network members were killed.

The anti-government armed bully boy groups including the Haqqani network and Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
have not commented regarding the report so far.

The Arclight airstrike was apparently carried out nearly a hour before a group of jacket wallahs launched a coordinated attack on a headquarters of the police forces in this province.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under: Haqqani Network

#1  The Arclight airstrike was apparently carried out nearly a hour before a group of jacket wallahs launched a coordinated attack on a headquarters of the police forces in this province.

"C'mon! Let's 'splode for Abdul Azizi and Ghalchakai!"
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2017 9:14 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IDF activity increases as Ramadan winds down
[Ynet] Fearing copycat attacks similar to Friday's twin terror attack in Jerusalem, IDF forces are increasing operations in the West Bank ahead of the end of Ramadan ten days from now in order to keep situation from escalating.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What's the score for the Ramadanians this during this pilgrimage (aka the month of jihad)?
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2017 12:50 Comments || Top||


Britain
Finsbury Park: Number of casualties as 'van hits pedestrians' on Seven Sisters Road
The Telegraph is liveblogging this story as it unfolds.
[Telegraph] One person has been enjugged
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
after a vehicle struck pedestrians, leaving "a number of casualties" in north London.

Officers were called at 12.20am on Monday to Seven Sisters Road, the Metropolitan Police said.

London Ambulance Service said: "We have sent a number of resources to an incident in Seven Sisters Road."

The incident reportedly happened close to Finsbury Park mosque.
...long time home pulpit of one-eyed, hook-handed hate preacher Abu Hamza, known to his mother back in Egypt as Mustafa Kamel Mustafa. He now graces the Florence, Colorado supermax prison, and was connected to more planned and executed terror plots around the world over the past several decades than you can shake a stick at, many of them Al Qaeda.
Witnesses reported seeing six people on the ground after the van ploughed into worshippers who had been attending evening prayers at the Muslim Welfare House.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing bystanders wrestle the suspect to the ground and pin him down until officers arrived.

One eyewitness speaking to LBC said the van had hit people on the pavement, but had not collided with a building. "It looked like he had lost control of the van or something," he said.

A man leapt out of a white van and stabbed at least one person near a North London mosque, the Evening Standard newspaper reported on Monday, citing witnesses.

The suspect screamed "I'm going to kill all Muslims" before he was tackled to the floor, according to a witness.
This article starring:
Finsbury Park mosque
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336096 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Department of Streets? We need marking
For infidel dogs who drive, barking,
Straight onto the pavement,
And rave of enslavement...
Or snark about 'Finsbury Parking!'"
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 06/19/2017 1:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Connected or retaliation?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/19/finsbury-park-number-casualties-vehicle-hits-pedestrians-seven/
Posted by: NoMoreBS 2017-06-18 20:57


I'm going for retaliation, NoMoreBS, given subsequent revelations. In checking over yesterday's Burg before I go to sleep, I noticed your link is the same as mine. Next time, go ahead and set up an article as well -- if it turns out to be a false alarm, we can always delete it. ;-) Thank you for being on top of this for us.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/19/2017 1:47 Comments || Top||

#3  We need van controls!
Posted by: gorb || 06/19/2017 1:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Findsbury park Mosque was a hotbed of radicalism and got shut down. Subsequently reopened under new sweetness and light management or so Wikipedia says.

Given the van was rented 200 miles away in rural Wales, I'd say it was specifically targeted.
Posted by: phil_b || 06/19/2017 2:24 Comments || Top||

#5  van controls!

Yes! My two three step plan:

1) Remove all edged or pointy things from private hands.
2) Assign knife-armed police to butchers, fruit-and-veg vendors, and restaurants. Peelers, like.
3) Replace all drivers with armed police.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 06/19/2017 2:31 Comments || Top||

#6  I'd liked to see, how shall I put it, a more professional response
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 2:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Subsequently reopened under new sweetness and light management or so Wikipedia says.

phil_b's Wikipedia article. Though with a current stated affiliation as Salafi - Ikhwan, I have to wonder how much bitterness and bile is currently going on there behind closed doors.

Incidentally, Abu Hamza's Wikipedia page is worth reviewing.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/19/2017 5:21 Comments || Top||

#8  Looks like the truck of peace got a turnabout.

I was wondering when something like this would happen to be honest.

There's probably a majority of people who look at this country failing needlessly and wondering WTF is happening. Looking at those who died in the recent fire makes it look like it was a fire in pakistan.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 5:32 Comments || Top||

#9  Sadiq Khan has said he believes the threat of terror attacks are “part and parcel of living in a big city”

Posted by: Count Galeazzo Flineng3746 || 06/19/2017 5:33 Comments || Top||

#10  Looking at those who died in the recent fire makes it look like it was a fire in pakistan.

I wish I could laugh.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 5:52 Comments || Top||

#11  I was told by a British friend that the North Kensington area is relatively affluent, that housing units like the one destroyed by fire are sprinkled about as a method of integration.

Comments ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2017 5:56 Comments || Top||

#12  Herbert Morrison is alledged to have said
"We are going to build the Tories out of London. "
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 6:43 Comments || Top||

#13  Herbert Morrison is alledged to have said
"We are going to build the Tories out of London
."

The concept certainly worked well in Atlanta and surrounding communities.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2017 6:48 Comments || Top||

#14 

It wasn't outside the mosque and it's in a weird one-way system.
I wonder if this a crash with muslims in the road being engineered into something else?

This is alledgedly a picture of the van driver


The van was hired in Wales 200 odd miles away.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 7:23 Comments || Top||

#15  The top picture is an image of the crash site which is outside an islamic or islamist bookshop.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 7:23 Comments || Top||

#16  I misread that as Islamic Bookie.
Posted by: Publius Punter || 06/19/2017 7:40 Comments || Top||

#17  Something is not adding up. See pic in this story.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/231245
Posted by: Chitle Snore4266 || 06/19/2017 8:15 Comments || Top||

#18  It's looking like an RTA bigged up into terrorism by a screaming MSM.

Apparently, there was a heart attack patient in the road and the guy collided with a crowd around him.

They obviously were not near the mosque as that's 10 mins walk up the road.

Let's see what the MSM spin up!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 9:03 Comments || Top||

#19  The police have told reporters that the arrested suspect is named Antwan Kummaya and is Tunisian
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 9:11 Comments || Top||

#20  Think it may be a spoof though.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 9:12 Comments || Top||

#21 

It's 300 yards from the mosque down a cul-de-sac.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 9:19 Comments || Top||

#22  So, a "hate crime" manufactured from an incident?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 9:23 Comments || Top||

#23  @Grom Yes! Apparently, the guy who died was from a heart attack and was sitting in the road in a chair!

There was group around him and the van swerved away from them probably into the curb.

This is looking more and more dodgy by the moment.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 9:38 Comments || Top||

#24  I should've known it was dodgy the moment I've read one of the witnesses said 'The suspect screamed "I'm going to kill all Muslims"'.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 9:54 Comments || Top||

#25  Meanwhile, at the same time in central London a man screaming "aluha akbar" attacked a police officer. They have decided not to call it a terrorist attack.
Posted by: Threatch Jeamp8135 || 06/19/2017 10:25 Comments || Top||

#26  @Threatch Jeamp8135

Have you got a link for that?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 10:33 Comments || Top||

#27  Annnd in Paris a jihadi just rammed a police car.
Posted by: Threatch Jeamp8135 || 06/19/2017 10:35 Comments || Top||

#28  I posted a link for that one 5 mins ago.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 10:36 Comments || Top||

#29  BP: attack on police officer occurred at Paddington Station
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 06/19/2017 10:36 Comments || Top||

#30  I think I just saw it over at www.DrudgeReport.com.
Posted by: Threatch Jeamp8135 || 06/19/2017 10:41 Comments || Top||

#31  Champs -Ellysee video here
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 10:45 Comments || Top||

#32  www.Breitbart.com has a link on the other attack that Drudge did not cover.
Posted by: Threatch Jeamp8135 || 06/19/2017 10:46 Comments || Top||

#33  Finsbury Park mosque victim may not have died from terror attack, police say

It was a heart attack from before the RTA.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 11:01 Comments || Top||

#34 

Man with axe and knives arrested near Kidderminster TA base
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 11:13 Comments || Top||


#36 

Picture of crashed van. Front shows no sign of injury so likely low speed.
Sole Death was from heart attack BEFORE crash!
Heart attack person was sitting in a chair in the middle of the road!

The MSM should BURN for this reporting.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 11:24 Comments || Top||

#37  #France: Failed terrorist attack on #ChampsElysees in #Paris. Terrorist shot! In the car of the terrorist: 2 guns, 1 AK47 & gas bottle!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 11:39 Comments || Top||

#38 

Front of hire van shows no damage.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 11:48 Comments || Top||

#39  This doesn't look good. He seems to be blowing a kiss towards reporters and waving to the crowd when he's put in the police van.
Posted by: gorb || 06/19/2017 11:54 Comments || Top||

#40  Darren Osborne, originally from Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, but now living in Cardiff, has been named locally as the suspect behind this morning's terror attack
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 12:02 Comments || Top||

#41  The blowing a kiss was to the guys who just attacked him he was safe in the van. They were the ones filming on their phones.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 12:08 Comments || Top||

#42  BREAKING: Reports of stabbings at Oval underground station in central London with casualties.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 12:16 Comments || Top||

#43  VIDEO: Attacker checked for explosives at Champs-Elysées in Paris.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 12:17 Comments || Top||


#45 

Reverse view showing a (un)likelihood of being able to see people around road-corner.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 13:10 Comments || Top||

#46  If the folks that got plowed into were from the Finsbury mosque, and if it turns out they were making this up, I imagine that it could well blow up in their face. Look for authorities to cover this up in that case.
Posted by: gorb || 06/19/2017 13:20 Comments || Top||

#47  So, a "hate crime" manufactured from an incident?

It's starting to look like it. I'd assumed it was directly outside the mosque. As it wasn't, how would the driver even know they were muslims?

Someone from outside London, not familiar with area, comes around a corner to find a crowd in the middle of the road. The rest can be put down to the muslim tendency to lie compulsively.

Can't see any of the MSM backtracking on the terrorism narrative as yet.
Posted by: phil_b || 06/19/2017 13:45 Comments || Top||

#48  I hope the man gets a good lawyer, as he could easily be railroaded for this.
Posted by: phil_b || 06/19/2017 14:09 Comments || Top||

#49  This is interesting.

Follow the link to the videos and I can see why the eyewitness thought it was just a drill. No urgency and looks consistent with a minor traffic accident with no serious injuries.

Add in police over reaction due to the claim of 'terrorism'. And it looks like the real story is Muslims lying, resulting in a massive waste of police time.
Posted by: phil_b || 06/19/2017 15:06 Comments || Top||

#50  Have they charged him with Cultural Appropriation yet?
Posted by: Classer || 06/19/2017 18:02 Comments || Top||

#51  Shouldn't we be discussing whether this will lead to infidelophobia?
Posted by: Matt || 06/19/2017 18:22 Comments || Top||

#52  #35 Just witnessed a Man trying to attack an officer at Paddington Station whilst shouting "Allahu Akbar" and other foreign words #LondonAttack

The Daily Express has two bits of video, which don't make it look like a proper jihad attack, and they report the police say it isn't terror. On Bright Pebble's twitter link people were claiming the man was swearing in Romanian, about which I am not qualified to judge.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/19/2017 21:08 Comments || Top||

#53  #44 Ilford shooting: Man staggers into Muslim community centre for help after being shot and stabbed

From Bright Pebble's link:

The injured man and his attacker are thought to be known to each other, police said.

Just two local lads messing about, as local lads do.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/19/2017 21:56 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Forces loyal to Libya's Haftar 'burn 6,000 books'
[Al Jazeera] Forces loyal to renegade Libyan general Khalifa Haftar
... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
have been accused of burning more than 6,000 books, including works on religion, politics, poetry and philosophy.

According to a video posted on Facebook by Al Manara, a Libyan media platform, more than 6,000 books - including reported biographies of the Prophet Muhammad - were destroyed by a police force in the eastern city of Benghazi on Saturday.

The video showed a police officer claiming that the seized literature was promoting the ideas of "ISIS" (the Arabic term 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....
of Iraq and Levant or ISIS), as he sat behind a desk covered with books, including classical Islamic works.

The officer said the books "promoted violence" and the "ideas of the Moslem Brüderbund", which has been banned by UAE and Egypt.

In January, more than 100 Libyan writers and intellectuals, including renowned Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho, condemned a seizure of books deemed "erotic" or anti-Islamic by authorities in eastern Libya.

Books by Egyptian Nobel Prize-winning novelist Naguib Mahfouz and Arabic translations of books by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche were allegedly among dozens seized from a truck heading from Tobruk to Benghazi.

A video of the book seizure was posted online where security officials denounced the "cultural invasion," claiming the works promoted sorcery, as well as erotic materials.

In an open letter, more than 100 novelists denounced the confiscation, calling it "intellectual terrorism".

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Afghanistan
Two Pakistani diplomats in Afghanistan 'missing', says FO
[DAWN] Two diplomats based in the Consulate General of Pakistain in Jalalabad, an eastern Afghan city, went missing June 16 while traveling to Pakistain by road, the Foreign Office (FO) confirmed Sunday.

A blurb from FO Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria's office said Islamabad is in constant contact with Afghan authorities, and the matter of the diplomats' safety and recovery at the earliest has been raised with the relevant officials.

"Pakistain has requested the Afghan government that all efforts may be made to ensure early recovery of our officials and bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice," the FO statement said.

The FO added that Afghanistan is cooperating in the efforts to "probe the incident" and recover the two diplomats.

"Three distinct investigating groups have been constituted to ensure the safe recovery of the officials," the statement added.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Have they looked in Tora Bora?
Posted by: Pappy || 06/19/2017 12:17 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Russia claims it killed two more IS commanders in Syria
[DAWN] The Russian defence ministry said on Saturday it had killed two field commanders of the krazed killer 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, named as Abu Omar al-Beljiki and Abu Yassin al-Masri, in air strikes near the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, Interfax news agency reported.

The statement came a day after Russia said it may have killed IS leader His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us...
in an air strike last month. Washington said it could not corroborate Baghdadi’s death and Western and Iraqi officials were sceptical.

The Russian defence ministry said on Saturday it killed around 180 bandidos Lions of Islam and the two commanders al-Beljiki and al-Masri in air strikes close to Deir al-Zor on June 6 and June 8.

Hisham al-Hashimi, a Baghdad-based expert who advises several Middle East governments on IS affairs, said he was sceptical about Russia’s claim on Saturday.

He said Abu Yasin al-Masri is the same person as Abu al-Haj al-Masri, who the Russians on Friday said they killed near Raqa in May.

Al-Hashimi said the other IS leader, al-Beljiki, was unlikely to have been in Syria at the time of the attack.

"The Russians are trying to improve their record fighting ISIS as it was the Americans who have killed the top commanders of the group so far, like Abu Omar al-Shishani, Abu Moslem al-Turkmani, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani and Abu Ali al-Anbari," he said, using an Arabic acronym of IS.

"If (Russia’s) announcements prove wrong, their credibility will be hurt," al-Hashimi said.

IS fighters are close to defeat in the twin capitals of the group’s territory, djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
in Iraq and Raqa in Syria, after nearly three years ruling over millions of people in a wide area in both countries.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336095 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinians dismiss IS claim of Israel policewoman killing
[DAWN] Pale­stinian bad boy factions on Saturday dismissed a claim by the bad boy 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 that it was behind the fatal stabbing of an Israeli policewoman in Jerusalem saying the assailants came from their ranks.

The Israeli security services also raised doubts about the veracity of the IS claim -- its first for an attack in Jerusalem -- which came with the jihadists facing defeat in their Iraq and Syria bastions.

Three Paleostinians attacked officers just outside the walled Old City in annexed east Jerusalem late on Friday before being rubbed out by security forces, Israeli police said.

In an online statement, IS said jihadist fighters had targeted a "gathering of Jews", warning that "this attack will not be the last".

But Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",, the Paleostinian Islamist group that runs the Gazoo Strip, dismissed the claim, saying the attackers had come from among its own ranks and those of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine (PFLP).

The assault took place as tens of thousands of Paleostinians held night prayers at the nearby Al Aqsa mosque compound, Islam’s third-holiest site, on the third Friday of Ramazan.

According to police, two assailants opened fire on a group of officers who returned fire, and a third stabbed the border policewoman a short distance away before being shot.

Policewoman Hadas Malka, a 23-year-old staff sergeant major, was taken to hospital at death's door and later died of her wounds.

Four other people were maimed in the incident, including two Paleostinians from east Jerusalem and one from the West Bank city of Hebron.Hamas front man Sami Abu Zuhri
...a senior spokesman for Hamas. Zuhri gained notoriety in 2006 when he dropped his money belt containing somewhere between 640,000 and 900,000 euros, which was confiscated by Paleostinian security and customs officials at a routine border crossing from Egypt to Gaza. The news brought competing Hamas and Fatah forces to the crossing checkpoint for an epic face-making and hollering contest...
said the IS claim was an attempt to "muddy the waters", adding that the attack was carried out by "two Paleostinians from the PFLP and a third from Hamas".

The killing was "a natural response to the crimes of the occupier," he said, echoing the language used by Hamas after other recent attacks against Israelis.

A front man for Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency said it was "impossible to corroborate (the IS claim) at this point." The Israeli army said the assailants appeared have acted independently, like many of the attackers in a wave of unrest that has rocked Israel and the occupied territories since October 2015.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Arabia
Cow farm in Qatari desert struggles amid Arab boycott
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] On a cattle farm in the desert outside Doha, hundreds of cows imported from the Netherlands are led into an air-conditioned hall to be milked by Asian workers in orange uniforms.

Ghadeer farm, set among scrubland near a US air base, is scrambling to meet a surge in demand for milk caused by a Saudi-led economic boycott of Qatar that has raised fears of food shortages in a country dependent on imports.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Arab nations cut ties and severed all transport links with Qatar last week over its alleged support for terrorism.

The dispute has disrupted trade, forcing the gas-rich state to fly in goods from Turkey and Iran and launch new shipping routes.

Australia ship
On Thursday, a ship from Australia carrying thousands of sheep arrived at Qatar’s Hamad port. A prominent businessmen last week announced plans to airlift 4,000 cows into the desert country, according to Bloomberg.

At the farm on Friday, black cows stood ankle-deep in mud under hangers as workers unloaded bags of grass from tractors.

“It’s been non-stop and we are exhausted. The cows are exhausted too,” said Sajit, 32, a worker from Nepal. “We are confident we can increase production but we need to ensure we have enough food for the cows and better facilities.”

The farm, set up in 1985, was the first attempt to rear cattle on an industrial scale in the Arabian Peninsula country where fierce temperatures and vast gas revenues mean food and fresh produce are typically flown or shipped in.

Food insecurity
Food insecurity has long preoccupied Qatar which shares its only land border with Saudi Arabia and buys 80 percent of its food from the neighbors that have ostracized it.

The government has acquired farmland in countries like Sudan and is growing crops on vast farms in the desert with water piped in from desalination plants.

Qatari traders say they can avert shortages and survive the boycott by striking deals with new suppliers from places like India and China.

But the sanctions have led to worry on the farm.

With temperatures approaching 50 degrees, the cows are suffering heat stress and producing less milk.

“We need grain supplements to feed the cows and boost their milk volumes but the grain comes from the UAE,” said Sajit. “We must find another source soon or the grain will run out.”
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Qatar (MB)

#1  Time to sell the Qatari on the idea of whale milk - it won't work but can be remunerative.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 7:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Whale...take me back down where cool water flow, yeh...
Posted by: JHH || 06/19/2017 14:29 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm still waiting to see how they "milk" that "cow"! I hope someone will make a 'how to" video and post it on YouTube.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 06/19/2017 16:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Seems easier to simply buy (melamine-laced) powdered milk from the ChiComs than start a dairy herd in a friggin' desert.
Posted by: SteveS || 06/19/2017 20:20 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Something is fishy about USS Fitzgerald story we are getting from the media
[AmericanThinker] Under no circumstances should a US Navy vessel possibly be damaged by a container ship at sea. Multiple systems exist to prevent this. Even CNN is noticing how little we know about the catastrophe that took the lives of seven sailors and almost caused a powerful warship to founder.

The USS Fitzgerald, an anti-ballistic missile destroyer that was part of the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group, will no longer be ready to defend the carrier and other ships from missile attacks launched from North Korea, should push come to shove in the current confrontation with the rogue regime on the threshold of the capability to attack New York, Los Angeles, and our power grid with nuclear missiles. This is an incident that could affect the outcome of a nuclear confrontation of historic moment.

Brian Joondeph yesterday noted how the media have distorted what really happened, by reporting a "collision," as if the ships randomly bumped each other in the fog or something. The truth is that the ACX Crystal, a ship with somewhat murky provenance, rammed into the Fitzgerald with calamitous results:

[Vice Adm. Joseph P. Aucoin of the 7th fleet] described the damage as "extensive," adding that there was a big puncture and gash below the waterline on one side of the ship. He also said three compartments were severely damaged.

"The ship is salvageable ... [it] will require some significant repair," Aucoin said. "You will see the USS Fitzgerald back ... It will take months, hopefully under a year."

Retired Rear Admiral John Kirby describes for CNN the extent of the chaos unleashed:

First, we know the crew fought heroically to save their ship and the lives of their shipmates. We know that from early reports by Navy officials but also from the images that flashed across our screens, our tablets and our phones after the incident happened early Saturday.

One look at the crushed, twisted starboard side, the hoses flaked about, the water being discharged, the frantic work being done tells you all you need to know about the stuff you can't see in those same images: a fiercely brave crew working together to staunch the flooding, to rescue their shipmates and to save their ship.

You can be certain they ended up drenched, exhausted, scraped and bruised -- but not broken. They kept that ship from foundering for 16 brutal hours. And they brought her back into port.

We received an email from a Navy Mother that raises serious questions. We will redact her name, while the rumors (and that’s how they must be categorized for now) reported by her son aboard the Fitzgerald are checked out. Here is what she wrote to us:

My son is assigned to the USS Fitzgerald. I am unable to share his rate with you.

The information is short and not so sweet. The implications are disturbing.

The ship is registered in the Philippines. We do not know who the owner is. The container ship neither had its running lights or transponder on. That is an action taken willfully. Furthermore, for the container ship to strike with such accuracy is troublesome. Given what some have done with cars in Europe, what a feather in the cap it would be to sink a U.S. Navy warship. Think on that.

My son missed being washed out to sea by the blink of an eye. He was on his way to one of the berthing areas that was rammed.

Yes, language is important. "Rammed" is the perfect word.

Loving and Concerned Navy Mother

If there is any substance to this ‐ that the ACX Crystal disabled protective systems and rammed the Fitzgerald at high speed aimed at crtical facilities (evident from the damage)

...we have to consider the possibility of an asymmetric warfare attack designed to disable missile defense of a carrier strike group, as North Korea demonstrates the ability to make exactly such attacks on a multibillion dollar warship carrying thousands of sailors.

Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The ACX Crystal was crewed by Filipinos. This doesn't seem like the ideal nationality to serve Nork interests.
Posted by: gorb || 06/19/2017 1:54 Comments || Top||

#2  You can never know, gorb. Personally, I think it's like car accident - which mostly happen when both drivers screw up.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 3:13 Comments || Top||

#3  They claim to br Filipinos, are they really?
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 06/19/2017 3:23 Comments || Top||

#4  The USS Fitzgerald does not carry a crew of thousands. The number is 300.
The location of the collision is in the area of the largest shipping harbor in Japan that is considered dangerous any time day or night and requires caution to navigate.
The Philippine ship is under control of a Japanese shipping company.
The Philippine ship decided to pull a U-turn and is several times larger and cumbersome than the agile and quicker US Warship.
The US Ship, though a part of the Reagan carrier taskforce, was not active with the task force but was on an independent, routine mission.
Posted by: Angung Gonque4787 || 06/19/2017 4:39 Comments || Top||

#5  This is tinfoil...

The only thing fishy is the USS Fitzgerald below the waterline.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 5:34 Comments || Top||

#6  A few years ago, I was 6-8 kilometers away from a booby trapped cargo trailer and line mine incident along the PAK border in AFG that resulted in a number of US killed in action. Incidents like these in wartime or peace just make an old man silently weep.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2017 5:52 Comments || Top||

#7  Good to know, Angung Gonque4787.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/19/2017 6:19 Comments || Top||

#8  The container ship neither had its running lights or transponder on

That's not surprising to anyone who's dealt with flag-of-convenience merchant shipping, merchant shipping in Asia, and merchant shipping in general.

As for 'transponder-off', if the news reports are accurate, there supposedly a radar track on the merchant's course and maneuvering.

The only things remotely accurate about this whole article are the ships' names, the causalties, and "the rumors (and that’s how they must be categorized for now)".

Everything else is tin-foil hat.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/19/2017 8:28 Comments || Top||

#9  Facts are lacking. I will withhold judgement but not forever. It is incumbent on all involved parties to get to bottom of this and publish the facts in a timely manner.
Posted by: Ulineter Darling of the Sith6718 || 06/19/2017 8:52 Comments || Top||

#10  ...which means you'll never get it via the Lame Stream Media.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/19/2017 9:40 Comments || Top||

#11  The container ship neither had its running lights or transponder on.

But presumably it was still visible on radar for miles in every direction. I find it hard to imagine they didn't know exactly where that ship was which begs the question why would a nimble destroyer ever allow a lumbering mountain of metal to get so close when they had the whole ocean to maneuver in.



Posted by: rjschwarz || 06/19/2017 10:04 Comments || Top||

#12  That's the key point rjschwarz. There can be a lot of clutter on primary radar. In a busy place like the seas off Japan, the Fitzgerald may have relied on the cleaner looking symbology of secondary radar.

In any case the Fitzgerald almost played PT-109 to a lumbering container ship with a huge radar signature.
Posted by: The peanut gallery || 06/19/2017 10:40 Comments || Top||

#13  Been awhile, but when I sailed on merchant ships they had "collision avoidance" radar...which I believe filtered out small fishing vessels..1980's..
Posted by: crazyhorse || 06/19/2017 11:16 Comments || Top||

#14  #6 A few years ago, I was 6-8 kilometers away from a booby trapped cargo trailer and line mine incident along the PAK border in AFG that resulted in a number of US killed in action. Incidents like these in wartime or peace just make an old man silently weep.
Posted by Besoeker
Was this a IED in a shipping container? Or, on a cargo truck?
Posted by: Tennessee || 06/19/2017 13:06 Comments || Top||

#15  Daily Mail roundup
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/19/2017 14:35 Comments || Top||

#16  Is it possible to hack the autopilot?
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 06/19/2017 14:59 Comments || Top||

#17  Was this a IED in a shipping container? Or, on a cargo truck?
Posted by Tennessee


Neither, we were told it was in a small trailer. Someone in Kandahar had it under UAV observation and believed it to be a HME transporter, due to it's somewhat frequent relocations. Some lads from up north did a vertical insertion via UH-60 and one of them set it off as he conducted a recce. A couple of the survivors attempted to climb to the 'high ground' and radio for MEDIVAC. They tripped strategically placed anti-personnel mines. All in all, a very, very bad day.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2017 15:01 Comments || Top||

#18  Is it possible to hack the autopilot?

Possible, but very, very, very highly unlikely.

Posted by: Pappy || 06/19/2017 16:16 Comments || Top||

#19  A nice only facts as known, with a rules of the road graphic:
https://warontherocks.com/2017/06/how-could-this-happen-the-fitzgerald-the-u-s-navy-and-collisions-at-sea/
Posted by: ed in texas || 06/19/2017 19:59 Comments || Top||

#20  Not a Philippine vessel. Per Wiki, "ACX Crystal has been owned by Olympic Steamship Co SA, Panama (a subsidiary of Japanese shipowner Sunford Shipping Ltd) and managed by Sea Quest Ship Management Inc of Bacoor, Philippines since 2008.[4][3] The ship has been bareboat-chartered to Sinbanali Shipping Inc of Manila since 2014,[3] but is reported by NYK Line on June 17 as being actually owned by Dainichi-Invest Corporation, a Japanese ship investment firm."

IMO, American Thinker is usually a pretty reliable opinion source. Maybe this is a klinker, maybe not. Time will tell. Had considered the tinfoil hat .jpg, but figured Kimmie was the net beneficiary of this "collision."
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 06/19/2017 20:04 Comments || Top||


Arabia
US: Iran provides cruise missiles to Yemen’s Houthis, in threat to Bab el-Mandeb
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] US General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview this week that Iran is "harassing US and international maritime activities" in the Arabian Gulf.

Speaking to Breaking Defense, Dunford said it was important to "zero in" on one of the most important issues for the United States, "and that’s freedom of navigation in the Straits of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb."

"By harassing U.S. and international maritime activities ... and supplying advanced anti-ship cruise missiles to 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 ...
rebels in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
on the Red Sea coast, Iran is posing a threat to two waterways that are absolutely crucial to global commerce."

He added: "Since the 1970s and [President Jimmy Carter
... the worst president ever. Maybe the second worst. The votes aren't all in yet...
’s ’Carter Doctrine’], the United States has been committed to keeping those vital waterways open."

In January, a US Navy destroyer fired three warning shots at four Iranian fast-attack vessels near the Strait of Hormuz after they closed in at high speed and disregarded repeated requests to slow down.

Years of mutual animosity eased when Washington lifted sanctions on Tehran last year after a deal to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. But serious differences remain over Iran's ballistic missile program and conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Afghanistan
Ex-Taliban commander admits the group’s leaders are in Pakistan
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A former commander of the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
group who has joined grinding of the peace processor in eastern Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province has admitted that the group’s leaders are based in the neighboring Pakistain.

The provincial government in a statement said a group of Taliban Lions of Islam joined grinding of the peace processor due to the efforts of the Afghan intelligence operatives and have vowed that they will not conduct anti-government activities anymore.

The leader of the group Abdul Wahab who has surrendered to the government with his four fighters has said they were conducting insurgency in Khogyani, Shirzad, Hesarak, Chaparhar and some other districts of Nangarhar since last eight years.

Wahab claimed that the group’s top leaders are based in Pakistain and they were receiving instructions from them to conduct insurgency activities.

Another member of the group Wahidullah who joined grinding of the peace processor has said he joined the Taliban ranks six years ago and during the period they were receiving instructions from the Pakistain-based leaders of the group to conduct insurgency.

Accoridng ot Wahidullah, they were mainly instructed to target the schools, bridges, culverts and other public welfare compounds.

The Taliban Lions of Islam group has not commented regarding the surrender of the group’s fighters in this province so far.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


India-Pakistan
Mob ‘justice’
[DAWN] THERE is ample evidence that the country is being sucked down a vortex where the violence is steadily escalating. There have been many cases where citizens have suffered viciousness and even death at the hands of an enraged mob. Now it would appear that society does not even draw the crucial distinction between private citizens and state representatives responsible for maintaining order. Early Thursday morning in Rawalpindi, a traffic warden tried to intercept a motorcyclist who was doing a ’wheelie’, or the dangerous and illegal stunt of riding a bike on one wheel. In response, the pillion rider pulled out a gun and shot the warden, leaving him injured; the unregistered cycle of violence sped away. A day later, a traffic police post in an adjacent area was attacked by an enraged mob wanting to seize cycle of violences that had been impounded during the ongoing drive against wheelies. A crowd of some 80 people fired shots, tried to set fire to police vehicles and pelted stones at the post. Order was restored when regular police and Elite Force commandos were called in, as a result of which five attackers were rounded up.

Those involved in these attacks must face the full censure of the law. However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
the root causes of such behaviour are a societal problem that requires course-correction. Mobs take the law into their own hands when there is little faith in the justice system. But as the Rawalpindi incidents show, we have now reached a point where there is scant respect for the rule of law; hence the emboldening of wrongdoers. The answer lies, on the one hand, in bringing to book all those who flout the law, especially at the top tiers of society, so that a strong signal is sent out about the sanctity of the law; on the other hand, renewed efforts to reduce weaponry on the streets must be pursued. An armed and alienated population is fast becoming a frightening reality.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa Subsaharan
Half of Nigeria food never reached Boko Haram victims: Government
[Iran Press TV] Nigeria says half of government food aid meant to reach the victims of a militancy northeast of the country has not reached its destination.

A front man for acting president Yemi Osinbajo said late on Saturday that half of the trucks carrying food aid for people driven from their homes 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...
Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
group have been diverted away from their destination.

"Over 1,000 trucks of assorted grains are now on course, delivering the grains intact to beneficiaries since the commencement of the present program as against the reported diversion of over 50 trucks in every 100 trucks sent to the northeast," said Laolu Akande in an emailed statement.

Osinbajo, acting in lieu of President Muhammadu Buhari who is in Britannia on medical leave, launched a program on June 8 to reach out to around 2.7 million people identified as IDPs, or internally displaced, as a result of more than eight years of insurgency by Boko Haram.

Akande said the new system for distribution of food would significantly prevent the diversion of the humanitarian aid.

"The issue of diversion of relief materials, including food and related matters, which has dogged food delivery to the IDPs would be significantly curbed under the new distribution matrix," said the official, elaborating that 1,376 military personnel and 656 armed police would be tasked with guarding the food from where it its loaded to the trucks to the three main location where displaced people live, namely Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)


Afghanistan
Afghan commandos deployed to clear the strategic Tora Bora from ISIS: MoD
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Special Operations forces of the Afghan National Army, Afghan commandos, have been deployed to the strategic Tora Bora, days after the ISIS terrorist group claimed the capture of the area.

The acting Afghan defense minister Tariq Shah Bahrami told news hounds in Kabul on Saturday that the Afghan commandos have been deployed to Tora Bora area.

He said the operations are underway in the area and developments regarding the clearance of the area are expected soon.

This comes 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....
of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group’s offshoot in Afghanistan, ISIS Khurasan, claimed Thursday that the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest...
’s hideout in the remote Tora Bora area in eastern Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province has been captured.

The group’s loyalists informed regarding the capture of the mountainous terrain, a claim which was rejected by the Afghan officials.

A local security official in Pacher Agam confirmed that the turbans of the terror group have gotten closer to Tora and heavy festivities are underway between the terror group and Talibs close to the area.

The official further added that the turbans of the terror group reached Tora Bora via Khogyani district but rejected the claims by ISIS that the area has fallen to its fighters control.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1 
Step 1: Drop MOAB.

Step 2: Wait for whining.

Step 3: Claim it must have been a landmine.
Posted by: gorb || 06/19/2017 1:58 Comments || Top||

#2  the famous caves of Tora Bora that were once used by Osama b Laden probably no longer exist

there are many other caves there

Posted by: lord garth || 06/19/2017 7:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Deploying to help their Taliban brethren?
Posted by: chris || 06/19/2017 9:19 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Old City attacker's uncle distances family from actions
"Please don't destroy our house. It would take foreign donors days to rebuild it."
[Ynet] The families of two of the three who carried out Friday's attack that claimed the life of a 23-year-old Border Police officer express their shock to Ynet, claiming that they had no inkling the young men would carry out such atrocities.

The uncle of one of the three attackers who killed a 23-year-old Border Police officer and maimed four others on Friday spoke with Ynet, distancing his family from the attack, on Sunday.

"The family had no prior knowledge of the intention to carry out an attack," said Mohammed Atta, the uncle of Osama Atta, who carried out the attack together with Adel Anakush and Bara Saleh. "There are no parents who wouldn't stop their son if they knew about his intentions. We have no joy; he's dead."

The three Paleostinians, armed with an automatic weapon and knives, assaulted officers on duty near the Old City in two locations Friday evening.

Police said Master Sgt. Hadas Malka, 23, was rushing to respond to that initial attack nearby when a Paleostinian assaulted her with a knife. Malka wrestled with the man for several seconds as he stabbed her multiple times before other officers saw what was happening and opened fire, killing him, police said. She later died of her wounds in hospital. The other two attackers were also rubbed out by security forces.

The uncle completely dismissed ISIS's claiming responsibility for the attack: "Osama was identified with Fatah and has nothing to do with ISIS. He was imprisoned in Israel for a year, and in prison, too, he was identified with Fatah. He was not religiously observant and had nothing to do with ISIS."

He explained that his family believes that a sense of Dire Revenge for that period of imprisonment in Israel may have prompted Osama to carry out the attack, but he emphasized that it was only a hypothesis. "He spent a year in prison, and this is an age when nationalist fanaticism and nervousness prevail," he said.

The family has expressed doubts regarding the details Israeli authorities released about the attack, and specifically do not believe that the attackers had guns.

Adel Ankush's father said he was completely surprised by the fact that his son had carried out an attack: "I did not expect anything like this ever to happen. I'm in shock. He was the hope of the family."
Known wolf is the hope of the family. That's truly sad.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the Paleostinian government for not condemning the attack.

He called for the world to "demand the immediate cessation of Paleostinian Authority payments to the families of terrorists, something that only encourages terror."
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Fatah

#1  Crush 'em anyway. If you can't control 'em then we can't guarantee that we can control our bulldozers.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 06/19/2017 1:32 Comments || Top||

#2  And banish the terrorists' families to . . . Detroit!
Posted by: gorb || 06/19/2017 1:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Typical
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 2:52 Comments || Top||

#4  When you have collective benefits paid to survivors, you have to have collective punishment.

Although Trump may yet put a stop to the practice of collective benefits by hitting the Paleo leadership where it really hurts; in their Swiss bank accounts.
Posted by: phil_b || 06/19/2017 5:14 Comments || Top||

#5  One day Grom Jr. shared the following wisdom (obtained from a school pal) with me "Not every Arab is a terrorist, only every other one." From the mouths of the babies.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 7:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Tee shirt!
Posted by: JHH || 06/19/2017 14:34 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
John Cleese on Political Correctness and Islam
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:

#1  After voting for leftists for decades NOW you want to do something?
Posted by: no mo uro || 06/19/2017 5:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Same fellow who wonders what happened to England, after him spending years trashing it?
Posted by: Pappy || 06/19/2017 8:20 Comments || Top||

#3  If we view liberals as arrested adolescents, the maturation timeline is pretty much correct.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 06/19/2017 9:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Still - love Cleese. Caught him and Idle on their most recent tour - well worth it.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 06/19/2017 9:02 Comments || Top||

#5  What Rex Mundi said. As Winston Churchill said: “If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.”
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2017 10:32 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Mali attack: Two dead after gunmen storm tourist resort
[BBC] Mali's government has said it suspects jihadists are behind the resort attack

Gunmen have stormed a tourist resort in Mali popular with Westerners and two people are dead, the country's security minister has said.

"It is a jihadist attack. Malian special forces intervened and about 20 hostages have been released," Salif Traore told AFP.

"Unfortunately for the moment there are two dead, including a Franco-Gabonese."

Government troops battled the gunmen at the luxury resort Le Campement Kangaba, east of the capital Bamako.

"Security forces are in place. Campement Kangaba is blocked off and an operation is under way," a security ministry spokesman told Reuters earlier.

Malian special forces intervened, backed by UN soldiers and troops from a French counter-terrorism force.

Witness Boubacar Sangare was just outside the compound as the attack unfolded.

"Westerners were fleeing the encampment while two plainclothes police exchanged fire with the assailants," he said.

"There were four national police vehicles and French soldiers in armoured vehicles on the scene."

He added that a helicopter was circling overhead.

The European Union training mission in Mali, EUTMMALI, tweeted that it was aware of the attack and was supporting Malian security forces and assessing the situation.

Earlier this month, the US embassy in Bamako had warned of "possible future attacks on Western diplomatic missions, other locations in Bamako that Westerners frequent".

BBC correspondent Alex Duval Smith says many expats and wealthy Malians go to Kangaba at weekends, to enjoy the pools, cocktail bar, canoeing facilities, and other activities for children.

Mali has been fighting a jihadist insurgency for several years, with Islamist fighters roaming the country's north and centre.

In November 2015, at least 20 people were killed when gunmen took guests and staff hostage at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako.

Al-Qaeda's North African arm, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), said it was behind that siege.

Mali has been in a state of emergency since the Radisson Blu attack. It was extended for a further six months in April.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336100 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  Frozen Al, by the time I saw your article in the hopper at 4:30 yesterday afternoon, the situation had resolved. So I added the update and pushed it back to today.

Thank you on being on top of this for us.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/19/2017 0:52 Comments || Top||


#3  From Ynet:

An al-Qaida-linked Islamic militant group said Monday it staged an attack the previous day on a resort area in Mali popular with foreigners, killing five people, including a Portuguese soldier who had been serving in the European Union mission to stabilize this West African country wracked by mounting extremism.

The recently formed Mali-based Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen extremist group has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites.

A Malian soldier and three civilians—a Chinese citizen, a Malian, and a French-Gabonese dual national—also were slain in the worst terror attack to strike Bamako since late 2015.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the Malian victim worked for the European delegation in Bamako.

The attack struck a resort area that was considered safe enough that it was an approved rest and recreation location for soldiers with the EU mission. It was not immediately clear how the attackers managed to overpower the security staff and shoot at guests.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/19/2017 23:01 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
US lawless gangster state, North Korea says
[Iran Press TV] North Korea says the US authorities have "literally mugged" its diplomatic delegation in New York, as tensions between Washington and Pyongyang soar.

"Diplomats of a sovereign state are being robbed of a diplomatic package in the middle of New York where the headquarters of the United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
is located and that serves as the venue for international meetings including the United Nations General Assembly," the state-run KCNA news agency quoted a North Korean Foreign Ministry front man as saying on Sunday.

He added that the "illegal and heinous act of provocation" occurred at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday as the delegation was returning from a UN conference on the rights of the disabled, officially known as the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

"This clearly shows that the US is a felonious and lawless gangster state," he said, adding that the international community should seriously question the prestige of New York as a place where international meetings are held.

According to the KCNA report on the incident, over 20 officials, who claimed to be with the US Department of Homeland Security and police, "made a violent assault like gangsters to take away the diplomatic package from the diplomats." It added that the delegation was in possession of valid diplomatic courrier certificate.

The White House and the US State Department had issued no immediate comment on the North's statement.

Pyongyang warned that if the White House failed to give due response to the North's "reasonable and fair demand" on the incident, it would be "totally responsible" for all the consequences.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  But first we'd like to know what happened to Otto Warmbier.
Posted by: gorb || 06/19/2017 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Forget Jung
I will name your Country OTTO.
Posted by: newc || 06/19/2017 1:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Siezing a diplomatic package is unusual. They must have known what was in it before they siezed it. It probably set off an explosives or drugs sniffer.
Posted by: phil_b || 06/19/2017 1:45 Comments || Top||

#4  IMO, the problem is that Americans - at least these "on the wrong side of history" - are, just a bit, too law abiding.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/19/2017 3:02 Comments || Top||

#5  "lawless gangster state"

Well illary did dodge prison.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 5:36 Comments || Top||

#6  Dennis Rodman probably ordered a gift for Kim from Macys, added some blow, but didn't get past the TSA dudes and dudettes.
Posted by: Threatch Jeamp8135 || 06/19/2017 8:40 Comments || Top||

#7  Sounds like projection to me.
Posted by: Ulineter Darling of the Sith6718 || 06/19/2017 8:41 Comments || Top||

#8  Chicago, Baltimore, et al. Even a broken (analog) clock is correct twice a day.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/19/2017 9:42 Comments || Top||

#9  RE:gorb - i think he tried hanging himself and almost succeeded shortly after he was sentenced.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 06/19/2017 10:10 Comments || Top||

#10  And what is North Korea?
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2017 10:20 Comments || Top||

#11  ....Post-Prog American University? (See - Evergreen)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/19/2017 12:04 Comments || Top||

#12  And what is North Korea?

The first country to conquer obesity!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 12:50 Comments || Top||

#13  And what is North Korea?

Warm bier and vodka
Moose Juce MASH, Farley Mowat
God's Sake, Nippon
Posted by: JHH || 06/19/2017 13:49 Comments || Top||

#14  The first country to conquer obesity!\

Almost. Only one high-profile case left to take care of . . . .
Posted by: gorb || 06/19/2017 15:28 Comments || Top||

#15  Warmbier just died. "Missing some brain tissue"
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2017 17:52 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian, Iraqi army troops meet up at border for first time in years
[Iran Press TV] Syrian government soldiers, backed by volunteer fighters from popular defense groups, have linked up with Iraqi army troops for the first time in years after they took control of a vast territory in Syria’s semi-arid southeastern region of al-Badiya.

Leb-based Arabic-language al-Manar television network reported on Sunday that the army units in cooperation with allies had managed to liberate 25,000 square kilometers (9,600 square miles) of land during a campaign in the border region in recent weeks.

"This is the sign of the cooperation between the brotherly Iraqi and Syrian military leadership to secure the shared borders," a Syrian army general, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, told privately-owned and pro-government al-Ikhbariya al-Soriyah television news network.

The general said the meeting point for Iraqi and Syrian forces is northeast of Tanf base, where the US military is training anti-government Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
Death Eaters.
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Iraq
Iraqi forces progress in Daesh-held Mosul Old City
[Iran Press TV] A high-ranking Iraqi security commander says government forces have made territorial gains in the western part of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
as they battle to drive ISIS Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
bandidos Death Eaters out of their last bastion in the country’s second largest city.

Commander of Federal Police Forces Lieutenant General Shaker Jawdat said on Sunday that security personnel had advanced 100 meters in the Death Eater-held Old City of Mosul, only hours after they began their assault to retake the rest of Mosul, Arabic-language Mawazin news agency reported.

Jawdat added that soldiers from the Federal Police have also regained control over the civil defense buildings in the area, and are targeting ISIS defense lines with missiles.

Taking back the Old City of Mosul, a densely populated warren of narrow alleyways on the western side of Mosul, is crucial to recapturing the whole of the former ISIS stronghold in Iraq.

The United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
says around 150,000 civilians are trapped in the neighborhood along with hundreds of ISIS Death Eaters.
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


India-Pakistan
Conversion of minor
[DAWN] IT is a sadly well-worn script: a minor Hindu girl apparently kidnapped, forcibly converted and married to a Moslem. As in many such cases, the latest incident took place in Tharparkar, which is home to a large Hindu community. If reports are to be believed, 16-year-old Ravita Meghwar was kidnapped on June 6 by men from the influential Syed community belonging to a village near Nagarparkar town. Her father has claimed that despite approaching the police several times, he got no cooperation from them. On Thursday, the teenager accompanied by her Moslem husband told journalists she had converted of her own free will. The two of them have asked the Sindh High Court to provide them protection against her family.

Minority communities have once again been put on notice: their belief systems, even the law of the land itself, are of no consequence when the majority decides to ride roughshod over their rights. While at present there exists no legislation in the province denying recognition to the conversion of minors -- even though one came very close to being passed into law last year -- the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013, made marriage below the age of 18 a punishable offence. That alone should be enough to prosecute all those who were party to Ravita’s abduction and ’marriage’. Certainly, there are instances of individuals from minority communities -- almost always girls and women -- who have converted voluntarily, and that is their right. At the same time, the issue of conversion cannot be seen in black-and-white terms. For it is motivated not only by spiritual reasons but also by material concerns. Pakistain’s social structures are such as to make it not inconceivable that Hindu girls belonging to the marginalised and impoverished ’scheduled castes’ are sometimes drawn to the prospect of improving their lot in life by converting to the majority faith. This bitter reality only exacerbates the insecurities of minority communities who fear losing their younger generation as well as their own heritage in the process.

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa Horn
Al shabaab attack SNA and Djibouti bases in Bulaburte
[SHABELLENEWS] Al shabaab Death Eaters have attacked military bases manned by Somali forces and their allied Djibouti peacekeepers on the outskirts of Bulaburte town in Hiiraan region on Sunday.

The armed Death Eaters raided the army barracks from different directions, before engaging in a fierce shootout with the allied troops, according to a resident, who spoke to Radio Shabelle.

Hassan Nur, the district commissioner of Bulaburte said the soldiers have repulsed the attack, and warded off the attackers from their bases outside the town following the battle.

The Al Qaeda-linked Al shabaab claimed victory over the attack against the Somali soldiers and Djibouti peacekeepers serving with the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)



Who's in the News
13[untagged]
7Islamic State
4Govt of Iran
3al-Shabaab (AQ)
3Govt of Pakistan
2Govt of Qatar (MB)
2Commies
2Govt of Syria
2Haqqani Network
2Houthis
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Hamas
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Hezbollah
1Taliban
1Fatah
1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1Arab Spring

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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2017-06-19
  IRGC completely dismantles terrorist group in southeast Iran: Commander
Sun 2017-06-18
  Afghan forces recapture Tora Bora in Nangarhar
Sat 2017-06-17
  Taliban rejects report on Kandahar bombing that killed UAE ambassador, diplomats
Fri 2017-06-16
  Army takes over Mosul’s Old City entrance, IS trapped
Thu 2017-06-15
  SDF capture former IS member known as Jihadi Jack
Wed 2017-06-14
  Senior Republican politician and several aides shot at baseball practice near Washington
Tue 2017-06-13
  Taliban’s military commission chief killed in Helmand drone strike
Mon 2017-06-12
  London Police Chief: Terror Victims Show How Diverse We Are
Sun 2017-06-11
  Libyan group says it has freed Gaddafi son Seif al-Islam
Sat 2017-06-10
  Islamic State claims it killed two Chinese in Pakistan
Fri 2017-06-09
  Nearly 70 dead in Al-Shabaab attack on Puntland military base
Thu 2017-06-08
  Syrian government, rebel forces fighting in Aleppo
Wed 2017-06-07
  Iran's parliament and Khomeini mausoleum attacked by gunmen
Tue 2017-06-06
  Shaboobs go into that good night softly after attempt to raid KDF camp
Mon 2017-06-05
  Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE sever ties to Qatar over 'terrorism'

Better than the average link...



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