[BusinessInsider] The AC-130 gunship, one of the aircraft the US says it used to return fire on Russian-backed attacking forces.
• US airstrikes reportedly killed Russian military contractors in a massive battle in Syria earlier this month.
• They are thought to be among the 100 or so dead after the clash.
• It saw 500 pro-Syrian regime forces assaulted US-backed forces in what the US called an "unprovoked attack."
• Russian contractors are not the same as regular Russian soldiers, but US and Russian forces have operated close to each other on opposite sides of the Syrian conflict for years.
US airstrikes in response to what it called an "unprovoked attack" killed around 100 people in Syria earlier this month according to the Pentagon, but a new report from Bloomberg says that number may be as many as 300, and that they were Russian mercenaries.
If true, the battle may mark the deadliest encounter between the Cold War rivals in decades.
While the Kremlin has declined to comment, and no independent party has yet verified the reports, US and Russian aligned forces have fought on opposite sides of the Syrian conflict and in close proximity for years.
If the US did kill Russian military contractors, it falls short of killing official Russian servicemembers, which could escalate into a larger war.
But the loss of Russians in Syria may still blacken the image of the Kremlin's intervention in the six-year civil war, which it portrays as peace-keeping and inexpensive.
Russian media said Russian private contractors and pro-government forces advanced on oil fields in the eastern Deir el-Zour province and were targeted by the United States.
"Pro-regime forces initiated what appeared to be a coordinated attack on Syrian Democratic Forces east of the Euphrates river," Pentagon spokesperson Dana White said in a statement, referring to the SDF, which the US has trained, equipped, and backed for years.
The river acts as a border between the coalition and Russian and Syrian forces, and the Pentagon also described the SDF location as well-known, and that therefore the attack wasn't a mistake.
Syrian regime forces launched a coordinated attack that included about 500 regime troops, 122mm howitzers, tanks and multiple launch rocket systems on the US-backed SDF headquarters in Deir al-Zor province approximately five miles east of the Euphrates River.
Regime forces operating Russian-made T-55 and T-72 tanks fired 20-30 tank rounds within 500 feet of the SDF base, where some US troops were embedded, according to Pentagon press secretary Dana W. White.
The US-led coalition responded with "AC-130 gunships, F-15s, F-22s, Army Apache helicopter gunships and Marine Corps artillery," according to Fox News reporter Lucas Tomlinson.
The Pentagon said that the attack wounded only one SDF soldier. Days later, a US jet destroyed a Russian-made T-72 battle tank that had fired on US and SDF forces, the Pentagon told Business Insider.
#3
Dunno for sure, but in another embedded article, it reads like the dust-up was about drying up one of the sources of funding ISIS.
"We suspect Syrian pro-regime forces were attempting to seize terrain SDF had liberated from Daesh in September 2017," a US military official told Reuters.
The pro-Assad forces were "likely seeking to seize oilfields in Khusham that had been a major source of revenue for [ISIS] from 2014 to 2017."
[WSJ] Christopher Wray was supposed to bring a new candor and credibility to the FBI after the James Comey debacle, but the country is still waiting. The director’s testimony Thursday to the House Judiciary Committee suggests he has joined the Justice Department effort to stop the public from learning about the bureau’s role in the 2016 election.
Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte invited Mr. Wray to answer the multiplying questions about the bureau’s 2016 political interference. This includes the role that the Steele dossier‐opposition research financed by the Clinton campaign‐played in the FBI’s decision to investigate the Trump presidential campaign. The committee also wants answers about reports that special counsel Robert Mueller demoted Peter Strzok, a lead FBI investigator in both the Trump and Hillary Clinton email investigations, after Mr. Strzok exchanged anti-Trump texts with his mistress, who also works at the FBI.
Mr. Wray spent five hours stonewalling. The director ducked every question about the FBI’s behavior by noting that the Justice Department Inspector General is investigating last year’s events.
Is Mr. Wray concerned that Mr. Strzok edited the FBI’s judgment of Mrs. Clinton’s handling of her emails to "extremely careless" from "grossly negligent" in a previous draft? The grossly negligent phrase might have put Mrs. Clinton in legal jeopardy, but Mr. Wray said he couldn’t answer because that is subject to the "outside, independent investigation."
Is Mr. Wray taking steps to ensure his top ranks are free of political "taint"? He couldn’t say because of the "outside, independent" investigation.
Ohio Republican Jim Jordan noted that the only way for Congress to know if the FBI used the Steele dossier to obtain a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign is for the FBI to provide its application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. "Is there anything prohibiting you from showing this committee [that application]?" Mr. Jordan asked.
Mr. Wray’s answer was dismissive. "I do not believe that I can legally and appropriately share a FISA court submission with this committee," said Mr. Wray. "When I sign FISA applications, which I have to do almost every day of the week, they are all covered with a ’classified information’ cover."
This is an excuse, not a serious reason. The IG is a watchdog created by Congress to investigate executive misbehavior. It was never intended to supplant congressional oversight, much less be an excuse for executive officials to protect their decisions from scrutiny.
As for hiding behind "classified information," the House Intelligence Committee that is investigating Russian campaign meddling has appropriate clearances. Mr. Goodlatte reminded Mr. Wray that the Judiciary Committee also has primary jurisdiction over the FISA court.
The FISA application is central to the issue of Russian meddling and whether the FBI used disinformation to trigger a counterintelligence investigation of a U.S. presidential candidate. Congress and the U.S. need to know not only if Trump officials were colluding with Russians but also if Russia and the Clinton campaign used false information to dupe the FBI into intervening in a U.S. election. Yet the FBI and Justice have been stonewalling House Intelligence for months.
The lack of cooperation has become more troubling amid reports that senior career Justice officials have a partisan motivation. Judicial Watch last week released emails showing that Mr. Mueller’s top lieutenant, Andrew Weissmann, praised Obama holdover and acting Attorney General Sally Yates in January for defying Mr. Trump on his travel ban.
Justice also confirmed a Fox News report last week that one of its top lawyers, Bruce Ohr, was in contact with Christopher Steele (the dossier author) before the election, and after the election with Glenn Simpson, the founder of Fusion GPS, the opposition-research firm that hired Mr. Steele. Mr. Ohr was demoted, which suggests his contacts were unauthorized.
By the way, the chief law enforcement officer of the United States is the President. This means he has the legal authority through his deputies at the White House and Justice to see the FISA application. AG Jeff Sessions is recused from the Russia probe, which complicates his access because we don’t know the extent of his recusal. But Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein supervises the FBI when Mr. Sessions does not.
Mr. Rosenstein can and should order the FBI to meet Congress’s document requests including the FISA application. If he refuses, then Mr. Trump through White House counsel Donald McGahn can order him to do so. Mr. Rosenstein could choose to resign rather than comply, but he will not have the law on his side.
The easy way to solve this standoff is for executive officials, including the FBI, to do their duty and cooperate with the duly elected Members of Congress. If they don’t, sterner measures like a finding of contempt of Congress will be needed.
[Reuters] ISLAMABAD - The United States has put forward a motion to place Pakistan on a global terrorist-financing watchlist with an anti-money laundering monitoring group, according to a senior Pakistani official. Pakistan has been scrambling in recent months to avert being added to a list of countries deemed non-compliant with terrorist financing regulations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a measure officials fear could hurt its economy.
The United States has been threatening to get tough with Islamabad over its alleged ties with Islamist militants, and last month President Donald Trump’s administration suspended aid worth about $2 billion.
Islamabad, which denies assisting militants in Afghanistan and India, has reacted angrily to U.S. threats of further punitive measures.
A meeting of FATF member states is due to take place next week in Paris, where the organization could adopt the motion on Pakistan.
Pakistan’s de facto finance minister, Miftah Ismail, told Reuters the United States and Britain put forward the motion several weeks ago, and later persuaded France and Germany to co-sponsor it.
"We are now working with the U.S., UK, Germany and France for the nomination to be withdrawn," Ismail said, speaking by telephone from Europe. "We are also quite hopeful that even if the U.S. did not withdraw the nomination that we will prevail and not be put on the watchlist."
Pakistan was previously on the FATF watchlist from 2012 to 2015.
A senior U.S. official who follows U.S. policy in the region said Pakistan has "always been selective" in cracking down on militants who use its territory as a base.
"It is time for that to stop, and so we are working with our allies, who also are affected, to see effective action against groups such as the Haqqanis and elements of the Taliban," said the official, referring to militants operating along the border with Afghanistan.
MONEY FLOWS
The FATF, an intergovernmental body based in Paris that sets global standards for fighting illicit finance, had previously warned Islamabad it could be put back on the list without further efforts to crack down on the flow of funds to militants.
Pakistani officials and Western diplomats say being put on the FATF watchlist could deal a blow to Pakistan’s economy as it would make it harder for foreign investors and companies to do business in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation.
[FOX] Family and friends of a male escort found dead in the West Hollywood home of a high-powered Democratic Party donor last year continue to press for answers‐in a case that has eluded the national media spotlight on incidents of sexual misconduct and racial injustice.
Gemmel Moore, 26, was discovered by police on July 27 inside the apartment of Ed Buck, 63. Buck is a well-known Democratic contributor, and has given more than $500,000 to an array of Democrats including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey and a variety of state and local organizations in California.
The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office initially ruled the death an accidental methamphetamine overdose. But the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Bureau on Aug. 14 announced they would investigate if there is any criminal culpability, after Moore’s family and friends disputed the initial finding.
Investigators told Fox News they would like to have the inquiry wrapped up in the near future‐but have had trouble interviewing certain witnesses.
"We should have all the information, so we can make a good evaluation of everything that transpired to see if there’s any criminal culpability," Lt. Joe Mendoza, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office homicide bureau, told Fox News in a recent telephone interview.
Detectives have already interviewed "numerous" witnesses who have information to share about their interactions with Buck, according to Mendoza. But investigators are trying to schedule additional interviews with people who may have useful information.
[National Review] The FISA-gate, Clinton emails, and Uranium One scandals are sort of reaching a consensus. Many things quite wrong and illegal were done by both Hillary Clinton and her entourage and members of the Obama agencies and administration ‐ both the acts themselves and the cover-ups and omissions that ensued.
Remember, in the FISA-gate scandal such likely widespread criminal behavior was predicated on two premises: 1) certainty of an easy Clinton victory, after which the miscreants would be not only excused but probably rewarded for their zeal; 2) progressive hubris in which our supposedly moral betters felt it their right, indeed their duty, to use unethical and even unlawful means for the "greater good" ‐ to achieve their self-described moral ends of stopping the crude and reactionary Trump.
The wrongdoing probably includes attempting to warp a U.S. election, Russian collusion, repeatedly misleading and lying before the FISA courts, improperly surveilling American citizens, unmasking the names of citizens swept up in unlawful surveillance and then illegally leaking them to the press, disseminating and authenticating opposition smears during a political campaign, lying under oath to Congress, obstructing ongoing investigations, using federal funds to purchase ad hominem gossip against a presidential candidate, blatant conflicts of interests, weaponizing federal investigations, trafficking in and leaking classified information . . . The list goes on and on.
The State Department is now involved. Apparently anyone who was a former Clinton smear artist can pass fantasies to a sympathetic or known political appointee at State. And if the "dossier" fits the proper narrative and shared agenda, it gains credence enough to ensure that it is passed up to senior State officials and on to the FBI. Perhaps a private citizen with a grudge against a rival should try that as well.
But then what? In some sense, we are in uncharted territory ‐ given the misadventure of appointing Robert Mueller as special counsel. His team is now replaying the role of Patrick Fitzgerald in the Scooter Libby case: investigating a crime that did not exist and that even if it did was committed by someone else. The Mueller team’s likely parachute will have little if anything to do with the Russian collusion that it originally and chiefly was appointed to investigate. Instead, it’s likely to settle for perjury and obstruction charges against peripheral Trump officials (if the cases are not thrown out by possible reliance on tainted FISA transcripts).
[CNBC] Move over, Blue Apron. Uncle Sam could soon be delivering "America's Harvest Box."
The Trump administration is proposing replacing a portion of the federal food stamp program with actual boxes of food delivered to recipients' front doors, putting the U.S. government directly in charge of what goes on the dinner plates of more than 16 million low-income households.
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney likened the model to that of the dominant meal-kit delivery service, Blue Apron, and called it one of the most "innovative" ideas in the president's budget.
Been saying this for years, except that food stamp recipients pick up a limited assortment of pre-filled boxes at grocery stores. Now with Amazon, other delivery services and the internet, recipients can be assured of nutritious food with limited options to rip off the system.
[Task & Purpose] U.S. Special Forces can relax now that the Army has officially unveiled a beret for combat advisors that is absolutely not green.
At an activation ceremony Thursday at Fort Benning, Georgia, the Army unveiled the new brown berets, flash and unit insignias for the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, which is set to deploy to Afghanistan in spring
The choice of brown berets came following an outcry in October when a picture of a new green beret for soldiers in the unit was posted online, which prompted a petition which called on the 1st SFAB to immediately abandon the distinctive headgear.
"The wearing of the Green Beret is a symbol of commitment and sacrifice to the men who challenged themselves to be the best of the best in the U.S. Army Special Forces," the petition said. "This honor is earned, never issued."
More on that battalion sized attack on SDF and US advisors near an oil field a few days ago. Salt to taste until confirmation.
[Bloomberg] U.S. forces killed scores of Russian mercenaries in Syria last week in what may be the deadliest clash between citizens of the former foes since the Cold War, according to one U.S. official and three Russians familiar with the matter.
More than 200 contract soldiers, mostly Russians fighting on behalf of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, died in a failed attack on a base held by U.S. and mainly Kurdish forces in the oil-rich Deir Ezzor region, two of the Russians said. The U.S. official put the death toll at about 100, with 200 to 300 injured.
The Russian assault may have been a rogue operation, underscoring the complexity of a conflict that started as a domestic crackdown only to morph into a proxy war involving Islamic extremists, stateless Kurds and regional powers Iran, Turkey and now Israel. Russia’s military said it had nothing to do with the attack and the U.S. accepted the claim. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called the whole thing "perplexing," but provided no further details.
#2
General Mattis, this is not perplexing at all. Turkey wants the US out of Syria. So does oyhers there. With ISIS out of the picture, the Kurds and the US presence is the next target. And Trump signalled yesterday that we no longer have a mission there if ISIS is toast. Let the Russians baby sit them.
No cheap ethnic stereotyping here, nosiree!
[Chicago Tribune] - yeongchang is a mountainous county 110 miles southeast of Seoul in South Korea, and the host of the 2018 Winter Olympics.
P.F. Chang’s is an Asian-inspired chain restaurant with 210 U.S. locations, including ones in Chicago, Lombard, Northbrook, Orland Park and Schaumburg.
PyeongChang and P.F. Chang’s are not the same thing, and beyond the fact that they both begin with the letter P and end in "Chang," they have little in common. Thanks for pointing that out, Einstein. Katie Couric could use the tip, though...
[Real Clear Politics] Former CIA director John Brennan is having trouble keeping his Trump-Russia stories straight. On Meet the Press this past Sunday, host Chuck Todd asked MSNBC’s new national security analyst about George Papadopoulos, a volunteer adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and his reputed ties to Russia.
Skipping down para 4 and the British GCHQ role:
Todd asked Brennan if the intelligence on Papadopoulos came "through the C.I.A. via the Five Eyes thing," referring to the intelligence-sharing relationship between the five English-speaking powers, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Brennan’s response, though, went off-script.
He wasn’t "going to get into details about how it was acquired," he explained. "But the F.B.I. has a very close relationship with its British counterparts. And so the F.B.I. had visibility into a number of things that were going on involving some individuals who may have had some affiliation with the Trump campaign."
British counterparts? The Times report, based on interviews with former and current U.S. and foreign officials, had claimed that the Australians passed on the tip. Did the Times get that part of its story wrong? Perhaps Downer, Australia’s former foreign minister, had told British police who passed it to the FBI. Or maybe Brennan misspoke, or misremembered.
What seems more likely is that the former CIA director told the truth. Informed sources in Washington have been whispering for months that Britain’s intelligence service, the Government Communications Headquarters, the U.K.’s version of America’s National Security Agency, was intercepting the emails and phone calls of Trump officials. "It’s not impossible," a former high-ranking U.S. intelligence officer told me, "that the information came from the Brits. Under certain circumstances, we can search their database, and they can search ours. Our intelligence-sharing relationship with the U.K. is much closer than it is with anyone else, by far the closest we have. But something like that wouldn’t be routine in our relationship."
Luke Harding of the Guardian, apparently one of the few journalists with access to Steele, first reported April 13 that the GCHQ had played a central part in uncovering Trump’s possible ties to Russia, and forwarding the information they had directly on to John Brennan. The next day CNN published a similar report.
Citing U.S. and U.K. intelligence sources, Harding wrote, "GCHQ played an early, prominent role in kickstarting the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation, which began in late July 2016." According to one account, reported Harding, "GCHQ’s then-head, Robert Hannigan, passed material in summer 2016 to the CIA chief, John Brennan. The matter was deemed so sensitive it was handled at ’director level.’ After an initially slow start, Brennan used GCHQ information and intelligence from other partners to launch a major inter-agency investigation." Brennan knows the noose is tightening. This is little more than a 'damage control' kabuki dance.
#1
He (Brennan) wasn’t "going to get into details about how it was acquired," he explained.
Of course he wasn't going to share the details, he was the architect of the "details." He couldn't trust the NSA and Admiral Rogers to go along, so he outsourced the surveillance.
Intelligence sharing at these levels is not conducted in an adhoc, 'oh by the way' manner. It is accomplished through coordinated taskings.
Christopher Steele, a former senior employee of British Airways? No, I believe he worked for someone else. James Comey "targeted"? I doubt it. Helpful accomplice I suspect. They were after all, reporting to the same master.
#2
Clapper and Brennan went to CROWDSOURCE to create the fake documents that they used to support the false narrative that it was a Russian hack that took the DNC emails to try and cover for Seth Rich's copying of those same emails directly from the server room.
Since they both knew that Seith Rich was the real source that makes them complicit in his murder. Why else would they try to cover up the evidence?
Phase three in action.
Posted by: C. the Imp. ||
02/13/2018 6:28
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#3
I'll go one further; I doubt we'll ever hear from or see Christopher Steele again.
#8
I'm really not surprised that a bunch of credentialed back slapping oxbridge types (GCHQ) in an opaque bureaucracy manage to continuously churn out such drivel.
#10
And WikiLeaks did publish a bunch of CIA hacking tools that showed that the CIA could hack a computer and make it look like someone else did it...so why does anyone think it was the Russians that hacked Shillary's email and Podesta's email?
What was there to learn about the inner sleaziness of the Clinton campaign that would interest the Russians? Answer nothing. Real question: Who shot Seth Rich?
[Breitbart] Monday on ABC’s "The View," co-host Whoopi Goldberg criticized Vice President Mike Pence for what she deemed to be a show of a lack of respect for North Korea by not standing for the entrance of the country’s Olympic athletes.
Partial transcript as follows:
HOSTIN: I thought that Mike Pence said that it was inappropriate to make political statements at sporting events? Wasn’t he that guy who walked out of the football game because people were kneeling and not standing?
JOY BEHAR: Well he would say that’s in their own country is what he would say to that
HOSTIN: But he’s representing the United States of America isn’t he?
GOLDBERG: We have to be respectful because what we do know about politicians is they end up sitting with people that you and I say well, why are they sitting with them? So if you’re in Korea, you need to stand up. You need to stand up and show respect.
#4
ABC's Miss fart cushion stuck, dedicated on stupid. Racism, Christaphobia are mandatory for the lack of View.
She has stated that her stage forename ("Whoopi") was taken from a whoopee cushion; "If you get a little gassy, you've got to let it go. So people used to say to me, 'You're like a whoopee (fart) cushion.' And that's where the name came from
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/13/2018 8:28
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#9
Hi EC. Educate me please. What is the origin of the picture, and what is that multi-pointed star shown over one marcher to the left. Thanks if you know this. I makes me aware that we can search for words or phrases, but I am unaware of any publicly available image search. (Maybe too many cat pic searches)
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/13/2018 12:42
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#10
Okay. I decided to look into it. Google's 'best guess' is Adolf Hitler gives a speech during 1936 Olympic games held in Berlin, Germany. HD Stock Footage - YouTube.
The mustaches were a hint. It turns out you can reverse lookup many images. images.google.com iirc. I had no idea. I also hit 70 this week, so maybe that is an excuse? No? Ah well.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/13/2018 12:50
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#11
Congratulations on the milestone Mike. Please take the remainder of the afternoon off with pay.
#15
You know, if her pet thugs can't be bothered to show respect to the US Anthem, shit on her and her flaming tyrants. Why does the left hate humans so much?
[Real Clear Politics] I would say, here's my big concern. We are, as we all know, a deeply divided country. We have these partisan fights, they're very rough and tough, this side watches this, the other side watches this, we're not in the same information flow. One thing that could damage this nation terribly is having a national election where the outcome is unclear because we got hacked.
The states is a national election. By the year 2020, right away we should start saying, "You've got to go paper ballots." We'll figure out all this internet magic, technological stuff, but for now, paper ballots in America so Ohio knows how it voted.
#3
If we could keep the elections folks from stashing/destroying paper ballots from districts known to be in opposition to their intended candidate, that would be good too.
The purple thumbs would keep some of the 'traveling voter element' in check, depending on the integrity/diligence of the polling place workers that is.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/13/2018 8:13
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#5
Show me a computer system, counter and I guarantee it can be hacked from in or out.
Missing ballot boxes got Lyndon Johnson and Al Franken elected. Burgers as always have some great ideas.
Paper ballots, voter ID and the purple finger would likely remove the DNC from half their major strongholds. Which is exactly why the Dems don't want them.
#8
ACORN showed that paper does not deter corruption. You can outlaw murder, robbery and rape, but unless you ruthlessly enforce penalties, you can't suppress the activity.
The only proven hacking of the election was an attempted entry into the Georgia electronic voting system. The IP address of that attempt was from a computer within DHS. That bit of information should have been followed but after the sycophant Secretary of DHS said it had to be a mistake, it was conveniently dropped.
I wonder how many other state election systems actually reported attempted entries from DHS? Or didn't report because they knew what was going on?
#11
#1 Won't stop the evil Russians from coming right into the polling places. We need positive Voter ID as well. They must be STOPPED ! Posted by: Besoeker
Yep, we need photo ID to keep the Mexican government from interfering in our election process. Mexican nationals are actually encouraged to interfere by our friendly Democrat National Committee and even the former POTUS.
#17
Make it so that after a cut off, no ballot boxes 'found' will be counted. Every ballot should have an inked thumbprint of the voter on it. Voter Fraud is treason and the penalty should be death. NO matter what the level of it.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/13/2018 15:21
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#4
And remember she was the talking head/originator of the narrative that Benghazi was the spontaneous result of a YouTube video...
Reading between the lines, I would say that they all knew they were screwed when Trump was elected and were trying to figure out how to blur the edges on what they had done and what kind of narrative to put out.
#5
The sad thing sock, is that if they had kept their heads down and kept quiet instead of launching a Russian collaboration investigation, they would be ok and most likely having a long career in government.
#9
The left never ever gives up, and pulling things back from their clutches is always messy. No matter how solid the proof, they will throw a lot of smoke and H&I fires to keep the average American convinced that everyone is equally to blame......
#10
My impression is that they have thrown their entire playbook at this mess and can't get any traction on alternate narratives.
Such is the bothersome nature of the Internet, if you said it, sent it by email, or posted it to a website, it will come back to bite you in the butt.
I think they are gone through the table of contents, the index, and the bibliography on their playbook. Given as how silent Cummings is these days and how completely obviously disingenuous Shiffless is, they are now at the squirrel stage, hoping for anything to throw out there to divert attention.
Hence, all of the colossal stupidity by the media over the Olympics and anything else they can find.
Porter is a victim of this. I know he's a serial spouse abuser, but were it not for the desperation of the media to find anything to throw out there, he would have never surfaced.
Have you noticed how the Russian Collusion narrative, Flynn and Porter suddenly don't seem to be in the news as much?
I have to hand it to you guys, my fellow Rantburgers, you called it. As soon as this Russian collusion/Trump dossier came up, a lot of us said that the Democrats will regret investigating it. With the Republicans in control of both houses, how on earth did they think the Republican chairs of the Intel committees would let this skate on by???
#11
Porter is a victim of this. I know he's a serial spouse abuser, but were it not for the desperation of the media to find anything to throw out there, he would have never surfaced.
I don't know this. Has it been adjudicated in a court of law? Were any police reports or professional investigations filed? I have an ex-wife, who attempted to fake the same photos, etc, against me. Luckily I found out and it stopped.
He's been convicted and punished in the media, then his job. The mob moves on to Kelly, who was always the target. Who knew WhoTF Rob Porter was before this?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/13/2018 20:36
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Arrogant, condescending & stupid is no way to go through life, cookie.
[USAToday] Katie Couric might want to visit Amsterdam sometime.
The broadcaster is drawing criticism on social media after her unusual reasoning for the Netherlands' success in speedskating over the years. Couric, who co-anchored NBC's coverage of Friday's Olympic opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, said that the Dutch rely on skating as a form of transportation in their capital city, which sits at sea level.
"As you all know, it has lots of canals that can freeze in the winter," Couric said, "so for as long as those canals have existed, the Dutch have skated on them to get from place to place, to race each other and also to have fun." Click on for world-class mockery, so richly deserved...
#5
There posed in D.C. a great Thinker
Who plugged leaky dikes with his finger,
Though he wasn't quite Dutch
Nor especially butch,
And he skated as well as Hans Brinker.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/13/2018 10:51
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#8
Skating on the canals depends entirely on the winter being cold enough, long enough to freeze solid. Has this been the case during these recent years of much-trumpeted catastrophic global warming?
As I recall, Hans Brinker, Or The Silver Skates was set during the Little Ice Age, when winters were much colder, allowing London to hold Frost Fairs on the frozen Thames.
#9
The last Elfstedentocht (skate run through 11 towns) was held in 1997. The canals don't freeze easily these days. But look at Dutch paintings of the 17th century.
Couric isn't entirely wrong but frozen canals in Amsterdam are a rare event these days.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/13/2018 11:46
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#10
My understanding is pole vaulting originated in Amsterdam as well. The Dutch used the poles to vault across the canals. Exciting little factoid there but I won't vouch for its credibility.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/13/2018 12:01
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#11
Nope, that was already done in ancient Greece
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/13/2018 12:07
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#12
Cruising in my klompen
On a Sunday afternoon...
https://youtu.be/rpX0mPSYMC8
#17
The problem is, you can't count on walls having airbags on the other side.
This is why during a siege the attackers often catapulted rotting animal carcasses over the walls - to have something soft for the pole vaulters to land on. Just another little known fact.
#22
"It's true, and no bullshit." The Bulgar,
A boatman, was prone to be vulgar.
"A sturdy devochka
Would chop down a tchotchke,
And over the Volga vaults Olga."
BLUF:
[Red State] MIC 🎤 DROP: @PressSec On Leaking classified info:
"If you guys have any real concerns about leaking look around this room, you guys are the ones that publish classified information and put our national security at risk"!
Exactly right.
Ultimately the White House gets to choose who works there. Not the FBI. And the sudden concern of the media, in particular the White House press corps, over publishing damaging leaks of national security information is charming in its utter duplicity.
But this is not about Porter. And it isn’t about security clearances. It is about trying to force John Kelly out of his job. All Porter and the security clearances are is a club to beat Kelly and the administration with. Emphasis added.
#5
Guys are heroes when they leak the Pentagon Papers or the intel gathering methods but it is high treason when Assange leaked those damning emails of Shillary and Podesta.
#7
The White House decides who works in the White House. If POSTUS decides he wants to bring in OJ Simpson as his personal adviser and confidant, it's POTUS' call. OJ's clearance will be granted, I assure you. A fact which appears to be lost on many.
[CNSNews.com] - The federal government this January ran a surplus while collecting record total tax revenues for that month of the year, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement released today.
January was the first month under the new tax law that President Donald Trump signed in December.
During January, the Treasury collected approximately $361,038,000,000 in total tax revenues and spent a total of approximately $311,802,000,000 to run a surplus of approximately $49,236,000,000.
Despite the monthly surplus of $49,236,000,000, the federal government is still running a deficit of approximately $175,718,000,000 for fiscal year 2018. That is because the government entered the month with a deficit of approximately $224,955,000,000.
#3
If the feds can keep that differential going, it will change the landscape for decades. I will have to look at this more closely, but is $49B per month enough.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/13/2018 8:31
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#4
the surplus was about the same in January 2017
the monthly numbers reflex various tax management strategies
April is also a month with frequently a big surplus because people are filing
September also has a frequent surplus because of late filing and estimated payments for the next filing
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/13/2018 9:18
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#5
What lord garth said - April 15th is when the first quarter estimated tax payments are due, followed by June 15th (Q2), Sept. 15th (Q3) and Jan. 15th (Q4). January collections also potentially reflect year-end bonuses to employees.
#6
Thanks people. I was going to ask my bookkeeper, who is absolutely brilliant but she is buried right now. Tax season. She may be 'just' a bookkeeper, but she is far better than I am (4 years of accounting, zero hands on time); I defer to her insight. I keep her up to date on best carry and stuff. It works.
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02/13/2018 13:10
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This thought had occurred to me previously (and is probably not entirely original) but it didn't finally take shape until now. I mocked him yesterday for looking like he was taking a shit in his official presidential portrait. We also remember a picture or two where he extends his middle finger in an otherwise innocuous photograph, and his NCAA picks, and other such behavior when he's not loading up pallets of cash to Iranian terrorists and the like.
We had the epic thread back in 2011 when we (perhaps the best collection of online IQ anywhere) asked 'if you were an enemy of the United States, what would you do differently than what Obama is doing now?'. We were all in agreement - 'not much'.
This most recent picture of Obama on the loo reminded me of that thread, and Obama's assault on our country. Aside from these direct actions, it seems to me he doesn't mind debasing / embarrassing himself in these manners if it serves the purpose of weakening the office of the Presidency, does it?
I offer up this post in order for the Rantburg community to mention other examples of this dynamic. Sadly, I think he still has some shots to fire, as we saw today. Then again, we have Trump to fire back, and then some.
#2
I think we got our first warning about what kind of person he was with Fast and Furious, once the true purpose got out...to disbase the 2nd Amendment, we saw what he was trying to do: turn the US into a socialist dictatorship with a one party system.
#3
IMHO our first warning was his world apology tour, debasing American historical actions in the worst possible light/interpreetations
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/13/2018 11:51
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#4
My late Father-in-Law, active in Illinois Politics from 1970-2010, described Obama in 2004 as "a Marxist".
'Nuf said.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/13/2018 11:53
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#5
On the brighter side by the time the dust settles a number of ideologies will be fairly discredited for a generation or so (at least I hope the millennials can see the difference in the economy and the corruption in the Democrats by the next President election).
#7
Every time he said he wanted to fundamentally change the United States, I always said "into what?"
Perhaps as an intel guy with a specialization in worst case scenarios and having lived out a few of those, maybe I am a bit on the paranoid and conspiracy theorist supreme. HOWEVER, as the bits and pieces are laid out and you get a global view of what was being put into place, all my brain would scream is "Violent overthrow of the US."
Maybe as the FBI, DoJ, and CIA malfeasance to guarantee Shillary's election to continue the "fundamental transformation" comes to light, none of us were really that paranoid. Maybe our stark sense of reality undeluded by the MSM and the cognitive powers of our own brains, we saw this coming.
When the full depth of what was going on during his regime and what they REALLY intended to do gets out into the bright light, it will shock none of us, it will scare the crap out of most of the Facebook crowd.
The head of the nation’s largest Jewish civil rights organization called it "extremely disturbing" that three Democratic congressmen, including the vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), attended a private dinner with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
"Based on what we know, its extremely disturbing that Dem reps or members of any political group would attend a session hosted by hatemongers," Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said Monday.
#4
Disturbing but not suprising. An old photo popped up showing Obama chumming it up with Farrakhan before he became Potus. Alan Dershowitz, in an interview said had he known this, he would not have voted for Obama. I wonder how many other Jewish people are beginning to have buyer's remorse with both Obama and Hillary?
[Daily Caller] A Harvard law professor and member of the anti-Trump "Resistance" floated the false rumor Monday that a source for the unverified Steele dossier was killed in a plane crash in Russia over the weekend.
Laurence Tribe claimed on Twitter that Sergei Millian, a Belarus-born businessman alleged to be a dossier source, was killed Sunday when a Saratov Airlines plane crashed near Moscow. All 71 passengers died.
"Among those killed in the tragic plane crash yesterday: Sergei Millian, a Papadopoulis friend who had emailed Kushner and is said to be behind one of the most salacious claims in the dossier on Trump’s involvement with Russia," wrote Tribe, who has been described as Barack Obama’s legal mentor from the former president’s days at Harvard Law School.
Posted by: S. Thaick9166 ||
02/13/2018 13:54
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#10
Just watched American Made with Tom Cruise on a flight back from Central America... getting bored with TC, but had a pretty creative final sequence where he politely asks strangers to take their conversations away from his car when he starts it. Wonder if some spy vs spy craftwork explains this event where the cause of the crash is always painfully obvious- gravity.
[DAWN] An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore on Monday charged a man with raping and murdering six-year-old Zainab Amin in a case that enraged the country and sparked riots in his home district of Kasur last month.
Imran Ali, 24, pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to sexually assaulting and murdering Zainab, said defence lawyer Mehr Shakeel Multani.
"The police have levelled baseless and false allegations against my client," Multani told AFP.
The hearing was held in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail for security reasons. Witnesses will be called on Tuesday.
Zainab's rape and murder last month had sparked outrage across the country after the six-year-old, who went missing on January 4, was found dead in a trash heap in Kasur on Jan 9. Her case is the 12th such incident to occur within a 10 kilometre radius in the city over the past year.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/13/2018
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[IsraelTimes] The IDF says it tossed in the slammer Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! a mentally ill Lebanese national who crossed into Israeli territory yesterday afternoon, after he was forced to do so by the Hezbollah terror group.
The army says he was under surveillance as he approached the security fence. He was detained shortly after entering Israeli territory and questioned.
"During his interrogation, he stated that he was sent by two Hezbollah operatives, Mahadi and Ali Shahror from the village of Habush. The operatives, who are brothers, threatened him with forced mental hospitalization if he refused to infiltrate into Israeli territory in order to examine possibilities to enter and exit Israel," the army says.
"Furthermore, he was brought to the point of infiltration by Mahadi Shahror on a cycle of violence, and was told to test if the electric fence is intact," the IDF says.
[AlAhram] Twelve Death Eaters have been killed in northern and central Sinai on the fourth day of a comprehensive anti-terrorism operation waged by military and security forces, Egypt's army spokesperson Tamer El-Refaie said in a statement on Monday.
This was the fifth communiqué released by the Egyptian Armed Forces since Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018 was launched on Friday.
El-Refaie said 92 other suspects were captured and 60 targets used by Death Eaters were destroyed in Monday's operations.
"The army destroyed and seized 20 4x4 vehicles, 27 cycle of violences, 30 hideouts and ammunition storehouses. Army sappers also detonated 27 IED's that were planted in the area of operations," the statement said.
"Upon intelligence, the air force targeted and destroyed 60 targets used by terrorist elements," it added.
Operation Sinai 2018 was launched on Friday morning, involving land, naval and air forces, as well as the police and border guards, targeting "terrorist and criminal elements and organizations" in northern and central Sinai, as well as parts of the Nile Delta and the Western Desert.
El-Rafei said Operation Sinai 2018 was launched "to implement the plan of comprehensive confrontation with terrorist and criminal elements and organizations in North and Central Sinai, and in other areas in the Nile Delta and desert areas west of the Nile Valley."
[IsraelTimes] Western nations weighing options for imported muscle who joined terrorist group and are now being held by Syrian Democratic Forces
The United States is urging allied nations to help deal with the growing number of imported muscle that are being held by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), saying the Death Eaters should be turned over to face justice in their home countries.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is expected to raise the issue during a meeting in Rome this week with other members of the coalition that is fighting the Islamic State
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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[Al Jazeera] A Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... infiltrator has killed 16 pro-government militia fighters in Afghanistan's Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province.
The attacker had been fighting alongside the militia for months before turning his gun on them on Saturday night, at a checkpoint in the Gereshk district.
"We know that a Taliban fighter killed 16 forces of Evil fighting alongside government forces, but who these forces belong to, we don't know yet," a front man for Helmand's governor told Rooters news agency on Monday.
Local media said the Taliban grabbed credit for the attack. The attacker managed to join the gang after fleeing the checkpoint with weapons, TOLOnews reported.
Large swaths of Afghanistan's Helmand province - the country's opium production hub - are currently under control of the Afghan Taliban.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Providing false information to the FBI is a violation of 18 U.S.C. §1001, the same statute that Gen. Flynn was charged under.
January 4, 2018
VI ELECTRONIC TR NSMISSION
The Honorable Rod J. Rosenstein
Deputy Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue,NW
Washington, DC 20530
The Honorable Christopher Wray
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
935 Pennsylvania Avenue,NW
Washington, DC 20535
Dear Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and Director Wray:
Attached please find a classified memorandum related to certain communications between Christopher Steele and multiple U.S. news outlets regarding the so-called Trump dossier that Mr. Steele compiled on behalf of Fusion GPS for the Clinton Campaign and the Democratic National Committee and also provided to the FBI.
Based on the information contained therein, we are respectfully referring Mr. Steele to you for investigation of potential violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, for statements the Committee has reason to believe Mr. Steele made regarding his distribution of information contained in the dossier.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter. If you have any questions, please contact Patrick Davis or De Lisa Lay of Chairman Grassley' s staff at (202) 224-5225.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Grassley
Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
Lindsey O. Graham
Chairman
Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism
Committee on the Judiciary More at the link
Posted by: S. Omolet4728 ||
02/13/2018
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#1
"Those who cannot understand that we cannot simply start arresting w/o first ensuring the safety & well-being of the population, shifting the narrative, removing those in DC through resignation to ensure success, defeating ISIS/MS13 to prevent fail-safes, freezing assets to remove network-to-network abilities, kill off COC to prevent top-down comms/org, etc etc. should not be participating in discussions."
[SABANEWS.NET] The army and the popular forces' artillery on Monday shelled groups of Saudi-paid mercenaries Kawfel camp in Serwah district of Marib province, a military official told Saba. The shelling hit the groups in the camp, killing and wounding among the mercenaries, the official added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[SABANEWS.NET] Dozens of Saudi-paid mercenaries were killed and others maimed on Monday when the army and popular forces foiled their four attacks towards Karash area of restive Lahj ... a Yemeni governate located in the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It is the stomping grounds on the southern secessionist al-Harak movement province, a military official told Saba.
The mercenaries were targeted when they were trying to wage offensive towards Shaifan and some hilltops, al-Hawimaih and al-Rakizah mountain in the area.
The official said that the army's artillery targeted the mercenaries' groups in Tawr al-Baha, killing, injuring a number of the mercenaries and burning a weapon store, the official added.
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[PJ] The official portraits of the Obamas were unveiled today to much buzz and criticism. The artist who painted Barack Obama's portrait is Kehinde Wiley, a well-known, far-left gay painter whose work is racially charged. Anyone with eyes can see Wiley uses race as his main subject. The New York Times pontificated endlessly about his edgy and important work highlighting injustice.
"He redresses the absence of nonwhite faces in museum masterpieces, 'using the power of images to remedy the historical invisibility of black men and women,' as Eugenie Tsai, the curator of the Brooklyn Museum show, observes in the accompanying catalog," the Times wrote.
Wiley's shtick appears to be taking famous paintings and recreating them with black people in order to represent blacks in Western masterpieces. (This, of course, begs the question of whether Wiley thinks white people are underrepresented in Asian art or in African art where very few white people are depicted.) His version of "Judith Beheading Holofernes" is raising eyebrows on social media.
#4
An insolent man of Mongolia,
Possessed by a cute melancholia,
Would give us the finger,
Then, grinning, would linger
Till covered in P. quinquefolia.
Sabo. Heh. Or Dubya. He's probably pretty good by now.
#5
#SPOD Ignoring for the moment, all the questions about "O's" origins, one has to wonder if "O's" election was rigged back in 2008 in light of all the rigging that went on with Hildo.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/13/2018 15:15
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#8
First impressions of Obammy's pitcher:
1) Is that Clint Eastwood's chair he is siting on?
2) the floral background would be right at home as a Dorothy and Toto backdrop, "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."
#9
As I recall, the JFK and Bill Clinton portraits were also non-classic in style. The Bill Clinton pixelated face is a bit of a horror; the Obama is merely insipid and sentimental. And executed at a good high school student level, but that's a separate issue. The Obamas wanted artists about whom there is a buzz, particularly in the African-American community, and that's exactly what they got.
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) A civilian was killed, while two others were maimed due to a blast caused by the remnants of 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.... hard boyz in west of Anbar, a security source said on Monday.
Speaking to BasNews, the source said, "an kaboom caused by the remnants of IS in al-Mazraa region in Qaim town, on borders with Syria, left a civilian killed and two others seriously maimed. They were taken to hospital."
Security services, according to the source, combed the region fearing further bombs that could be there in the region.
The source also added that troops managed to detonate hundreds of bombs and booby trapped houses in several regions across Anbar, however, there are still huge amount of bombs that need international efforts as well as devices to reveal the places where they are hidden and remove them.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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[Ynet] A court has sentenced the leader of an 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-affiliated Lion of Islam network in Indonesia to seven years in prison for involvement in smuggling guns from the southern Philippines.
Presiding Judge Siti Jamzanah said Monday it was proven that Zainal Anshori "committed a criminal act of terrorism." She said he had traveled to a town in Sulawesi closest to the Indonesian border with the southern Philippines to collect a cache of weapons.
Court documents said Anshori also attempted to set up a jihadist training camp.
Anshori was tossed in the clink You have the right to remain silent... in April, sparking a reprisal attack against police which ended with six snuffies killed in a gunbattle.
The network he led, Jamaah Anshorut Daulah, is believed responsible for a 2016 attack in Jakarta that killed eight people including the four attackers.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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[Ynet] Using Russian knowledge and technology, more and more countries in the Middle East and North Africa are building nuclear power plants, and not just for civilian purposes; according to Dr. Shaul Shay of IDC Herzliya, this is also the Sunni Arab world's way of dealing with the Iranian nuclear program.
Arab states in the Middle East and North Africa are pushing forward with the construction of nuclear power plants, according to a new report released by the Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS) at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya led by Major-General (res.) Amos Gilad.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be the first state to operate a nuclear reactor (made in South Korea). Egypt, Soddy Arabia
Continued on Page 49
in the Gazoo Strip appeal to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to reopen the Rafah border crossing on a permanent basis and end the "suffering" of hundreds of stranded passengers.
They also call on Sissi to order the Egyptian army to stop harassing and humiliating Paleostinian passengers at military checkpoints in Sinai.
Last week, the Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah terminal for three days, on Wednesday through Friday, for the past time since the beginning of 2018.
Since the terminal was closed last Friday, hundreds of Paleostinian passengers wishing to enter the Gazoo Strip have been stranded on the Egyptian side of the border crossing.
Other passengers who left the Gazoo Strip through the terminal last week have been unable to continue their trip to Cairo due to severe restrictions imposed by the Egyptian authorities. These passengers have found shelter in the Egyptian towns of El Arish and Rafah.
[AlAhram] Thousands of websites, including ones run by U.S. and UK government agencies, were infected for several hours on Sunday with code that causes web browsers to secretly mine digital currencies, technology news site The Register reported.
More than 4,200 sites were infected with a malicious version of a widely used tool known as Browsealoud from British software maker Texthelp, which reads out webpages for people with vision problems, according to The Register.
The news comes amid a surge in cyber attacks using software that forces infected computers to mine crypto currencies on behalf of hackers. The prevalence of these schemes has increased in recent months as the volume of trading in bitcoin and other crypto currencies has surged.
The tainted version of Browsealoud caused inserted software for mining the digital currency Monero to run on computers that visited infected sites, generating money for the hackers behind the attack, The Register said.
Representatives of the U.S. and British law enforcement agencies and Texthelp could not immediately be reached for comment.
Texthelp told The Register that it had shut down the operation by disabling Browsealoud while its engineering team investigated.
[BLOOMBERG] South Africa’s ruling African National Congress decided to tell President Jacob Zuma to step down after he refused the top party leadership’s request for him to resign voluntarily, according to five people familiar with the matter.
The ANC’s National Executive Committee took the decision during a 13-hour meeting that ended early Tuesday in Pretoria, the capital. It was called to decide on a transition of power to the party’s new leader, Cyril Ramaphosa, said the people, who declined to be identified because the decision hasn’t been made public. Calls to ANC front man Pule Mabe’s mobile phone didn’t connect.
"Zuma is clearly digging in, fearing what could come next should he resign prematurely," Mark Schroeder, vice president of Africa analysis at geopolitical advisory company Stratfor, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Monday. "It’s an open question whether the ANC members of Parliament will vote with the multiple opposition parties to compel the president to resign."
The ANC is trying to remove Zuma allow Ramaphosa, 65, to take over as president more than a year before the 2019 elections, giving him time to convince voters that he’s committed to meeting his pledges to rebuild a battered economy and clamp down on the graft that critics say has become synonymous with the Zuma era.
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[SOFREP] Last week, SOFREP reported on the Navy’s latest venture into autonomous warfare, the 140 ton ACTUV, which holds the record for largest unmanned vessel in the world. Not one to be left behind, the U.S. Army also recently announced entering the next stage in development of their own unmanned vehicle, an armed Humvee called, “Wingman.”
While still far from entering service as a combatant, the “Wingman” Joint Capability Technology Demonstration, or JCTD, program has had a fair amount of success in developing and testing an autonomously piloted and specially configured Humvee armed with with a modified 7.62 weapon system. The platform’s early testing took place with an M240B machine gun, but feed issues forced the team to develop an electrically driven 7.62 weapon system to replace its gas operated predecessor.
“Obviously if you’re a kilometer away from your vehicle, jams are not good,” said Thomas B. Udvare, deputy chief of the program. “What’s nice about their electrically-driven system is that the incidents of jamming are greatly reduced.”
A pity they won’t remain dependent on Israel, but this is better than remaining dependent on supplies from the decreasingly wealthy Gulf countries.
[AlAhram] Production from Egypt’s offshore gas field Atoll has started seven months ahead of schedule, BP announced in a blurb on Monday.
The company also announced savings in expenditure, with the Atoll Phase One project being delivered 33 percent below the initial cost estimate.
"The longstanding partnerships we have in Egypt allowed us to fast-track Atoll’s development and deliver first gas only 33 months after discovery," said Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive.
"This is a further demonstration of our commitment to help realise Egypt’s oil and gas potential and meet the increasing demand from its growing population," Dudley added.
Gas is now being produced from the field at 350 million cubic feet of gas per day (cfpd), in addition to the production of 10,000 barrels of condensate per day.
Production from the field, located in the North Damietta concession in the East Nile Delta, will feed into Egypt’s national gas grid.
Egypt’s natural gas production currently stands at 5.5 billion cfpd, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said earlier this month.
Production is expected to reach 6 billion cfpd by year-end.
BP announced the discovery of Atoll gas field in March 2015.
The field’s main reservoir is estimated to hold 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas and 31 million barrels of condensates.
"The Atoll Phase One project is an early production scheme involving almost $1 billion investment," the BP blurb read.
"Atoll is our first major project in Egypt to be delivered in 2018, following the West Nile Delta Taurus and Libra project and then Zohr last year," said Hesham Mekawi, Regional President, BP North Africa.
"We are extremely proud of Atoll’s efficient execution through our joint venture, the Pharaonic Petroleum Company," Mekawi added.
Trial production from Atoll began in December at a production capacity of 300 million cubic feet per day of gas.
BP acquired a 10 percent stake in the Shorouk Concession from Eni last year; the concession contains the giant Zohr gas field, which began production in December.
Nineveh (Iraqinews.com) ‐ Thirteen 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.... turbans were killed in an Arclight airstrike by the U.S-led international coalition warplanes on a terrorist hotbed in Nineveh province, a well-placed military official was quote as saying Monday.
Speaking to Rai Alyoum news website, Major Safwan al-Obeidi, a senior officer in the Nineveh Operations Command, said, "F-16 jet fighters of the U.S.-led international coalition carried out three air raids targeting an underground hotbed for Islamic State group in the desert of Mir Qasim village in Tal Afar, 63 km west of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... "The airstrikes left 13 Islamic State turbans dead and their hotbed destroyed," Obeidi said, adding that the hideout was used by IS turbans for hiding and was equipped with modern communication equipment.
He pointed out an armored vehicle was also destroyed in the aerial bombardment.
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[Al Jazeera] Ottoman Turkish authorities have incarcerated You have the right to remain silent... at least 666 people since the beginning of a major military operation in northern Syria.
hmm.. 666 the sign of the...
The detained are accused of spreading "terror propaganda".
The Ottoman Turkish prosecutor has also launched a probe into the conduct of leader of the main pro-Kurdish party over criticism of the country's offensive in Syria.
Pervin Buldan, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) leader, and her fellow politician Sirri Surreya Onder are also under suspicion of the same, according to Ottoman Turkish authorities.
HDP is the only political party in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... that opposes Operation Olive Branch, the military action in northern Syria against Kurdish fighters known as the YPG.
"An investigation has been launched into politicians Pervin Buldan and Sirri Sureyya Onder by the chief prosecutor for the crimes of carrying out terror propaganda, inciting grudges and enmity in the public," Rooters news agency reported citing a document from the prosecutor's office.
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Kuwait (Iraqinews.com) ‐ A number of Kuwaiti and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have pledged a total of USD 330.130 million in support of the humanitarian situation in Iraq during a conference that kicked off earlier in the day in Kuwait.
According to KUNA, the donor NGOs included the Kuwaiti Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affair, as well as the Zakat House and the Awqaf General Secretariat (USD 35 million), along with al-Salam Humanitarian and Charity Society of Kuwait (USD 15 million), and the Kuwaiti International Islamic Charity Organization (USD 10 million).
Also, the Kuwaiti Aid Society, al-Najat Charity, Direct Aid Society, Al Eslah Society and the Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage have donated USD 10 million each.
Outside Kuwait, the International Committee of the Red Thingy pledged USD 130 million in programs, while the Human Appeal of the UK donated USD 30 million. Also, the 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. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i Education Above All Foundation pledged USD 13.5 million.
The NGOs Conference to Support the Humanitarian Situation in Iraq kicked off early on Monday to tackle the latest developments in the humanitarian situation.
It coincided with Kuwait’s hosting of the International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq.
The one-day conference, which is being held under the patronage of Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah and the Kuwaiti government, is attended by a group of speakers representing around 70 regional and international humanitarian organizations , 25 Iraqi institutions and 15 Kuwaiti organizations.
[Rudaw] Iraqi border guards free nearly a dozen Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters from ISIS in western Anbar near the Iraq-Syria border.
Ahmed Nasrallah, the commander of the 13th Brigade of the Hashd al-Shaabi announced that upon the command of the Hashd al-Shaabi Operations Command, the Iraqi border guards freed 11 SDF fighters from ISIS on Monday.
"The ISIS bandidosLions of Islam were targeted by the jets and artillery," Nasrallah explained. "A number of military outposts still under ISIS control come under mortar shellings by the Hashd al-Shaabi and border guard forces."
A Sunni Hashd al-Ashayari official told Rudaw that after ISIS attacked their military outposts, 11 SDF fighters fled to the locations of the Iraqi forces in Dermrasla north of the Euphrates river in Anbar province.
"The [fighters] are protected by Iraqi joint forces," he added.
The SDF did not immediately confirm or deny the report.
The SDF is the US-led anti-ISIS coalition partnered ground force. They have been actively clearing ISIS holdouts in the Middle Euphrates River Valley.
The coalition has announced that there is coordination between SDF and Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) in order to maintain border security.
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[Al Jazeera] In Iraq's western Anbar province, rustics starting to rebuild have warned they will take Dire Revenge on the families of ISIS fighters if they return.
Anbar is the biggest province in Iraq and one of the last places to be freed from ISIS, or 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 the Levant group.
ISIS, also known as ISIS, swept into the province in 2013. The cities of Falluja, Ramadi and al-Qaim soon became urban battlefields.
"We don't want to go back to square one," Omar Shihan al-Alwani, who fought against ISIS, said.
"We're totally against that. If they come back, then blood will flow and neither tribes nor military operations will be able to stop it."
The homes of ISIS family members have been destroyed - a tactic ISIS itself has used in the past.
"We're not against [ISIS family members] returning, but the timing is bad and would risk provoking unrest and a return to bloodshed in the streets," said Omar Ibrahim, a former tribal fighter.
"We the fighters think that families of IS group members should be in a camp under the supervision of Iraqi government and experts such as religious leaders, professors and intellectuals. They should receive daily training sessions."
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[Al Jazeera] UK-based charity Oxfam's second-in-command has quit over allegations aid workers paid for sex while on assignments in Haiti and Chad.
Penny Lawrence, Oxfam's deputy chief executive, said in a statement on Monday she was "ashamed" of staff members' use of hookers in both countries.
"Over the last few days we have become aware that concerns were raised about the behaviour of staff in Chad as well as Haiti that we failed to adequately act upon," Lawrence said.
"I am desperately sorry for the harm and distress that this has caused to Oxfam's supporters, the wider development sector and, most of all, the vulnerable people who trusted us."
Staff reportedly used hookers in Chad at the charity's staff house. Those allegations followed news reports last week that Oxfam staff paid sex workers while on an aid mission following Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake.
Oxfam fired four staff members for gross misconduct and allowed three others to resign following a 2011 internal inquiry into the sex scandal, the downloading of pornography, and bullying and intimidation during the assignment.
A Times article published on Friday - based on a copy of the internal Oxfam report it obtained - said the country director in Haiti, Roland van Hauwermeiren, was among those allowed to resign after it was revealed he paid for sex at a property rented by the charity.
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“Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.”
[gCaptain] Cyprus on Sunday accused the Turkish military of obstructing a ship contracted by Italian oil company Eni from approaching an area to explore for natural gas, highlighting tensions over offshore resources in the east Mediterranean.
A spokesman for Eni said on Sunday the Saipem 12000 drill ship had been heading from a location southwest of Cyprus towards an area southeast of the island on Friday when it was stopped by Turkish military ships and told not to continue because of military activities in the destination area.
Turkey, which does not have diplomatic relations with Cyprus, claims that certain areas in Cyprus’s offshore maritime zone, known as an EEZ, fall into the jurisdiction of Turkey or that of Turkish Cypriots.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said Turkey had violated international law by blocking the ship and Cyprus would take “necessary steps”, without elaborating, although he seemed keen to avoid exacerbating the situation.
“From our side, our actions reflect the necessity of avoiding anything which could escalate (the situation), without of course overlooking the violation of international law perpetrated by Turkey,” Anastasiades told journalists in Nicosia.
A spokesman for the Italian foreign ministry confirmed that Turkish authorities were not allowing the ship to proceed towards its destination.
Italy is following the matter “at the highest level through its diplomats in Nicosia and Ankara … and following all possible diplomatic steps to resolve the question,” the spokesman said.
A spokesperson for Italy’s state-controlled Eni said the ship, which was travelling after reporting a natural gas discovery in another prospect within Cypriot maritime boundaries on Feb. 8, would remain stationary until the issue was resolved.
“The vessel has prudently executed the orders and will remain in position pending an evolution of the situation,” the spokesperson said.
The ship was heading to Block 3 of Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone, ENI said.
Turkey’s ministry of foreign affairs, in a statement on Sunday did not make any mention of obstructing the Eni ship but said exploration of Block 3 was a unilateral move by Greek Cypriots that violated the sovereign rights of Turkish Cypriots on the ethnically-split island and Greek Cypriots were jeopardising security and stability in the region.
Greek Cypriots, who are exploring for natural gas, run Cyprus’s internationally recognised government. Turkish Cypriots run a breakaway state recognised only by Ankara in north Cyprus and say resources around the island belong to them too.
Cyprus’s state radio reported senior officials from Eni would hold talks in Nicosia on Monday.
The island was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup. Peace talks collapsed last year.
Turkey’s ministry of foreign affairs said it would continue to protect Turkey’s own rights and interests on its continental shelf, and those of Turkish Cypriots.
“We also make use of this opportunity to strongly emphasize our expectation that companies centred in third countries refrain from supporting … this unconstructive Greek Cypriot attitude which also constitutes a major obstacle to the settlement of the Cyprus issue,” it said.
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In which three branches of the Muslim Brotherhood support one another in a variety of ways to further their joint war against the Jewish nation.
[Ynet] Cemil Tekeli, a Ottoman Turkish national, suspected of helping Hamas members establish themselves in Turkey, while Dara'am Jabarin, an Israeli citizen, suspected of aiding in money laundering and transfer of funds to West Bank for terror activity.
A Ottoman Turkish law lecturer and an Israeli citizen have been incarcerated Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in Israel on suspicion of aiding Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",murderous Moslems in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
Continued on Page 49
[TheIndianExpress] In a strategic move to expand its footprint in the Indian Ocean region, India has secured access to the key Port of Duqm in Oman for military use and logistical support, top sources have told The Indian Express. This is part of India’s maritime strategy to counter Chinese influence and activities in the region.
This is part of India’s maritime strategy to counter Chinese influence and activities in the region. This was one of the key takeaways of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Oman over the last two days.
This was one of the key takeaways of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Oman over the last two days. He met Sultan of Oman Sayyid Qaboos bin Said Al Said and an annexure to the Memorandum of Understanding on Military Cooperation was signed between the two countries. Sources said following this pact, the services of Duqm port and dry dock will be available for maintenance of Indian military vessels.
The Port of Duqm is situated on the southeastern seaboard of Oman, overlooking the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. It is strategically located, in close proximity to the Chabahar port in Iran. With the Assumption Island being developed in Seychelles and Agalega in Mauritius, Duqm fits into India’s proactive maritime security roadmap.
Diyala (Iraqinews.com) ‐ Four people, including a well-placed municipal official, were killed and maimed Monday in two kabooms in Iraq’s Diyala province, security sources were quoted as saying.
Speaking to Alghad Press news website, a source said, "Three bombs planted by unknown men went off outside a house of a member of al-Abbara city council in northeastern Baqubah, leaving the municipal official and his uncle maimed."
The two were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and security forces opened a probe into the kaboom.
In another incident, a source said an explosive charge went kaboom! in al-Azim area in northern Diyala, leaving a man killed and his wife injured.
The statistics of the military operations in Afrin since the beginning of the Turkish invasion on January,20,2018
The Turkish invasion with its Jihadist factions against Afrin district has started at 5 PM of January,20,2018 and is still ongoing until 12-Feb-2018. The following are the numeric statistic of the Turkish invasion:
1-Civilian martyrs: due to the Turkish attacks on civilian targets, whether by airstrikes or artillery shelling, 180 civilians martyred including children, women and old aged. All of the names were officially documented in Afrin hospital’s records.
2-the wounded civilians: due to the Turkish attacks on the civilians, 413 civilians were wounded including children, women and old aged. All of the names are archived in Afrin hospital.
3- SDF Martyrs: during a chivalric resistance by our forces against the Turkish invasion army and its Jihadist factions, 98 of our fighters got martyred and were held by formal and public burial ceremonies.
4- Enemy Death Toll: during the military operation conducted by our forces, 862 enemy were confirmed by our forces to be killed in the battlefield.
5-Air Attacks: the Turkish warplanes carried out 668 indiscriminate raids. The raids targeted civilian locations and the infrastructure in Afrin such as fresh water pump, schools, bakeries and animal farms.
6-Hovercraft Attacks: the Turkish invasion army has carried out 16 helicopter attacks against populated locations and the infrastructure.
7- Heavy Weapon Shelling: the Turkish invasion army and its Jihadist factions conducted 2645 indiscriminate shelling, using tanks and artillery.
8-Direct Clashes: our forces engaged with the invaders 409 time in which the results were know, while there were 108 direct engagements in which the results were unknown.
9-Aircraft shooting down: since the beginning of the Turkish invasion, our forces have been able to shoot down 2 helicopters, one of them of Copra Brand and the other was Skurski type. The last one was carrying 11 Turkish officers and soldiers. Our forces also shot down 2 reconnaissance planes, one of them was of Bayraqdar type, where the Turkish President signed on its body.
10-Armored Vehicles Destruction: 51 armored vehicle were completely destroyed including tanks, APCs and 4 wheeled drive vehicles, while 15 vehicles were damaged including tanks and APCs.
SDF-Media Center
12-Feb-2018
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 ||
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#1
it almost sounds as if the SDF is happy to be able to take on the Turks
if you believe their metrics, the SDF is doing pretty well
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/13/2018 8:51
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I check the 'isis' map at liveuamap.com daily because they seem to be tracking things on almost an hourly basis. An added bonus is that the map can be zoomed to a fine grain ( wish I had it when the RAB 'shuttergun' chronicles were active!) so small towns can be searched for.
#6
It's usually an single-shot rifle-like firearm, a shotgun made in a machine shot with a "shutter" breech. Usually more sophisticated than a 'zipgun'.
[BALTIMORESUN] A federal jury has convicted two Baltimore Police detectives for their roles in one of the biggest police corruption scandals in recent memory.
Detectives Daniel T. Hersl, 48, and Marcus R. Taylor, 31, were found guilty of racketeering conspiracy and racketeering. The convicted officers join six of their former colleagues who previously pleaded guilty in the case, four of whom took the stand at the trial and testified for the government.
Mayor Catherine Pugh said in a statement: “The verdict rendered by jurors in this disturbing trial is clearly the right one, given the abundance of compelling and damning evidence against these former officers of the now disbanded Gun Trace Task Force. I want all of our citizens to know that I have likewise been appalled by the level of dishonesty and betrayal that these individuals, and others also implicated, perpetrated here in our community. There is no more important element to effective policing than trust between the men and women of our police force and those they have sworn to protect and serve."
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[IsraelTimes] A Paleostinian Authority police officer is placed in durance vile Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! by Israeli police in Bethelem on suspicion that he threw rocks at Israeli security forces outside the Rachel’s Tomb shrine in the city.
The Paleostinian officer, who is said to be 36 years old, was arrested last week and is suspected of taking part in a number of violent riots, police say.
He will be indicted in the coming days, police say.
[Rudaw] The United States Department of Defense (DoD) has requested $1.4 billion for its train and equip programs in Iraq and Syria as part of the war against ISIS in its budget request for the 2019 fiscal year.
Noting "significant progress" in the war against ISIS having regained nearly 100 percent of territory in Iraq and Syria from the myrmidon group, the defense department is focused on ensuring the defeat of ISIS "by consolidating gains and setting the conditions for a more stable region," DoD stated in its budget proposal.
"Working by, with, and through Iraqi and Syrian partners, the Department is helping to provide security in liberated areas, prevent the reemergence of the ISIS threat, and set conditions for long-term stability," it stated.
A key aspect of the long-term strategy is building up local forces. The DoD has requested $1.4 billion for its Counter-ISIS Train and Equip Fund for 2019. This is down $400 million from 2018.
This amount is broken down into $850 million for training and equipping Iraqi Security Forces, $300 million for training and equipping vetted Syrian opposition forces, and $250 million for "border security requirements related to the counter-ISIS mission."
In northern Syria, the US is partnered with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF controls roughly a quarter of the country. The US also has a small garrison in the south, At Tanf, where they are training local forces.
It is not immediately clear where the $250 million for border security will be allocated and if this will fund efforts to build a border security force in Syria.
When the United States announced in January a plan to train a 30,000-strong border force with the SDF to secure the borders of Rojava, the self-autonomous Kurdish enclave in northern Syria, Washington’s NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... ally Ankara was enraged.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... considers the Kurdish forces in northern Syria, the armed YPG and the political party PYD, extensions of the PKK, a named terror organization.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson walked back the border force announcement, saying it "was not properly described." He said the US was not creating a border security force but was training forces that were "internally focused."
Turkey’s fears were not appeased, however, and soon afterwards Ankara launched its Operation Olive Branch on Afrin.
Ottoman Turkish media have reported on the budget request as $550 million investment in the "PYD/PKK."
The defense department also requested $1.1 billion in support for coalition forces.
In the proposal, DoD predicts that troop levels in Iraq and Syria will remain unchanged at 5,765 total in the two countries. These forces are "associated with enabling ongoing counter-ISIS operations and conducting Iraq and Syria train and equip efforts," the report stated.
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[BeyondSocratesKnee] For instance, the appearance of Glitnir as the name of the bank that the FL Group created in Iceland to obscure their empty, worthless asset trading in order to create fake equity to borrow against and raid the Western Banking system of real capital. FL Group was technically an Icelandic organization. It just happened to be taken over by Putin's Family and Friends Fund. After which it had created Glitnir and went raiding.
[DAWN] Pakistain on Monday endorsed the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... ' list of banned terrorist organizations by extending the ban on the said outfits in Pakistain as well, DawnNews reported.
The country-wide ban was imposed after President Mamnoon Hussain amended the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 and issued the amended Anti-Terrorism Ordinance 2018.
Following an amendment in Section 11-B and 11-EE of the ATA, the organizations and personnel banned through the UN's Security Council's resolution will stand banned in Pakistain too.
The development spells bad news for entities such as Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... , Jamat-ud-Dawa, Harkat-ul Mujahideen, which are among the 27 banned outfits on the aforesaid UN list.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistain had already banned the UN-identified organizations and personnel from collecting donations in the country.
The amended ATA ordinance, which goes into effect immediately, will see the assets of the banned ...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organizations frozen.
The move comes just days before a Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting is to take place in Gay Paree. It was feared that FATF, under pressure from the US and India, would place Pakistain on its grey list, which in turn could raise the cost of doing international financial transactions for Pakistain.
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Giving the colonists a good reason to stay where they are, rather than continuing to Europe.
[AlAhram] For the first time ever, refugee craftspeople will be selling their products at Ambiente, the leading international consumer goods trade show held in Frankfurt, Germany from 9-13 February 2018 in an initiative supported by the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Egypt, according to a blurb by the agency.
Refugees from Syria, Sudan, South Sudan and Æthiopia have brought together their traditional skills, motifs and stories to create unique culturally blended products.
"Their skills were enhanced through training provided by the NilFurat project, one of UNHCR Egypt’s livelihood projects, and further supported with the help of many local volunteers, designers and professors from the German University in Cairo," said the release.
NilFurat is a creative initiative by UNHCR Egypt that brings together culturally diverse refugees with Egyptians living in the area of Hadayek El-Maadi in Cairo with the ultimate aim of promoting community cohesion, economic empowerment and the inclusion of women.
The initiative is currently expanding its access to the global marketplace with the support of "Yadawee," an Egyptian social enterprise that specializes in promoting and exporting high quality handicrafts from Egypt.
"Refugees have skills and talents that simply need a chance to grow and flourish. Within each piece lies a story of history and culture, and the chance for a person who has fled war and persecution to offer something of beauty and style to the world," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
The refugee display at the trade fair is the result of MADE51, a new initiative by UNHCR and a global network of social enterprises to assist talented artisans fleeing war or persecution to achieve greater self-reliance and access the global marketplace.
MADE51 also aims preserve cultural heritage and indigenous crafting techniques that might otherwise be lost through the displacement of peoples and their integration into new economies.
Refugees involved in the initiative are paid market prices, as earning a fair living is considered key to helping displaced individuals rebuild their lives.
"It is only through such sales that these refugee artisans will be able to employ their skills and earn income. By including refugee-made products in their sourcing plans, retailers and brands have a vital role to play. They can be part of the solution," added Grandi.
[SABANEWS.NET] Dozens of Saudi-paid mercenaries on Monday were killed and wounded when the army and popular forces carried out unique offensive operations upon their sites in Jawf province, a military official told Saba.
The offensive operations targeted the mercenaries’ sites in the east of Malahaa area of Maslup district, inflicted them heavy losses and seized weapons, the official added.
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[IsraelTimes] An Iraqi interior ministry official says 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’s head, His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart... , is alive and being treated at a field hospital in Syria after being maimed in an Arclight airstrike.
"We have irrefutable information and documents from sources within the terrorist organization that al-Baghdadi is still alive and hiding" in Syria’s northeastern Jazira region, says intelligence and counterterrorism department head Abu Ali al-Basri, quoted today in the government daily As-Sabah.
IS retains a significant presence in the desert plains of northeastern Syria’s Hasakeh province despite having lost most of its cross-border "caliphate," which once also covered a third of neighboring Iraq.
Basri says that Baghdadi is suffering from "injuries, diabetes and fractures to the body and legs that prevent him from walking without assistance."
The jihadist chief had been maimed in "air raids against IS strongholds in Iraq."
Last June, Russia said it had probably killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a late May air raid near Raqqa in Syria, but later said it was still trying to verify his fate.
In September, an American military chief said the jihadist chief was still alive and probably hiding in eastern Syria’s Euphrates Valley.
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[Rudaw] Life is rough for the families who have returned to Shingal, living without healthcare or schools more than two years after ISIS was routed from the town. Yezidi leaders hope their regions will benefit from the international donor conference happening this week in Kuwait, even though Baghdad has not prepared any proposals for Shingal, according to a Yezidi MP.
Some 13,000 Yezidi families have returned to their homes in Shingal. They complain about lack of services where 80 percent of the town was damaged in the battle to defeat ISIS.
"By God life here is difficult ‐ no gas, no doctor. When we go to the hospital, there is nothing. By God's name, whenever we go there and get an injection we do not find it. There are no teachers. Our children go to schools but there are no teachers," Xonaf Heji, a resident of Shingal, told Rudaw.
The town was liberated more than two years ago, in November 2015, by Kurdish forces including Peshmerga of the Kurdistan Region and PKK fighters. It came under Iraqi central control last October when the Iraqi army and Hashd al-Shaabi took over much of the disputed areas.
An administrator, installed by the Hashd al-Shaabi for the town of Snune in the Shingal region, said that water and electricity services should be up and running soon.
"For three years in this area everyone knows there was no water. But inshallah in the coming two to three days [there will be] electricity. We have brought a mobile electricity station. We have brought a cement plant as well. We will do our best to bring water back to the city," Khudeda Juke, commissioner of Snune, told Rudaw.
Iraq has estimated that it will need $100 billion to reconstruct the country after the end of military operations against ISIS.
Kuwait is hosting an International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq that began on Monday and runs through Wednesday and is attended by politicians and potential private sector investors.
Yezidi MP Vian Dakhil noted that Iraq is not taking to the donor conference a single proposal for reconstruction of the Shingal district, despite the city being officially declared a war-damaged zone.
Murad Ismail, executive director of Yezidi advocacy group Yazda, will visit Kuwait to participate in the conference.
"Yazda hopes that the conference will succeed and come out with contributions and decisions that will serve the areas of Yazidi and other minorities by helping to provide assistance to the Iraqi crisis in terms of reconstruction and rebuilding various areas that destroyed during ISIS invasion since 2014," read a statement from the organization.
Yazda hopes that the Yezidis and other minorities will receive a good share of the funded projects.
[ALARABY.CO.UK] An Algerian member of parliament has come under fire after she attacked the language of the Berber minority in the North African country with comments that have been widely condemned as racist.
Naima Salhi said in a controversial video posted on social media last month that she would "kill" her young daughter if she spoke Berber.
"My young daughter was in a school where the majority of students are Kabyles so she started to learn their language... I told her if she speaks a word of the language I would kill her," Salhi said.
Salhi explained her divisive ...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled... comments on local Ennahar TV on Tuesday, saying: "I refuse to let my daughter speak the fabricated Frenchified Kabyle language taught in the Zionist Berber Academy in Gay Paree."
French and Zionist? Worse than that cannot exist!
"I would kill her if she spoke it... meaning I would severely punish her," she added.
Salhi, who is the head of the Islamist Justice party, has claimed the Berber Tamazight language is a "dead non-language" that lacks the terminology to be used in science and the public sphere.
The Kabyle, who are the largest Berber minority in Algeria, have long called for greater rights with some separatist movements even calling for an independent Berber state.
Salhi's comments have been widely slammed on social media and have led to politicians calling for her resignation.
"We have demanded that the head of parliament take action. This woman cannot be part of a parliament that represents all Algerians," member of parliament Khaled Tazaghart told Ennahar TV on Friday.
Tuareg politician Baba Ali also demanded she resigns for "attacking the culture and identity" of the Berber people, who refer to their community as Amazigh.
The controversy comes amid growing official recognition of the Amazigh people, who make up roughly a quarter of the country's total population.
The Tamazight language was first given official status in Algeria in 2002, a year after bloody riots that left 126 people dead in Kabylie.
In 2016, it became enshrined in the constitution as a state language alongside Arabic.
Last month, the country's interior ministry released its first ever official communique in Tamazight.
In December, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika ... 10th president-for-life of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and is currently on his third or fourth term. Maybe it's the fifth.... declared Amazigh New Year's a national holiday and called for the establishment of an official authority to regulate the Tamazight language.
The move came after protests in Berber communities over politicians blocking funding for the teaching of the Tamazight language in government schools.
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Salhi, who is the head of the Islamist Justice party, has claimed the Berber Tamazight language is a "dead non-language" that lacks the terminology to be used in science and the public sphere.
[Rudaw] Kurdish forces in Afrin have shot down a Ottoman Turkish drone (unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV) in Afrin on Monday, the YPG media office reported. There are heavy festivities ongoing in the self-autonomous region of northwest Syria.
"This is a Ottoman Turkish UAV shot down by fighters in Afrin," the YPG media office stated in a video showing images of wreckage.
Rudaw cannot independently verify the information.
Ottoman Turkish planes shelled northwest and west areas of Afrin on Monday morning and there have been festivities between the YPG and the Ottoman Turkish army with its Syrian proxies in multiple parts of the canton, according to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Ottoman Turkish tanks shelled Nabi Huri and areas around Sheikh Horuz village in Bulbul district, northern Afrin, according to a local source who explained that Sheikh Horuz village is divided between the two battling forces.
Brusk Hasaka, spokesperson for YPG in Afrin, said in a statement on Monday that in the past 48 hours the Ottoman Turkish army and their Syrian allies have seen great "losses" at the hands of the YPG who downed two helicopters, destroyed a number of tanks, and blew up a weapons depot.
As of Sunday, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has confirmed 31 casualties amongst it ranks. According to the Observatory, 152 Kurdish fighters have been killed as well as 165 from the Ottoman Turkish-backed Syrian forces.
At least 160 civilians have been killed, according to Afrin health officials. The Observatory has documented 74 civilian deaths.
Turkey denies targeting civilians. Ottoman Turkish chief of staff Gen. Hulusi Akar said on Sunday during his visit to Hatay region that they "would not harm innocent people and civilians."
Akar was accompanied by Ottoman Turkish military commanders and the aim of their visit was to "investigate and examine the Operation Olive Branch [developments] in Hatay region," read a statement from Ottoman Turkish Armed Forces (TAF).
"The main objective of the operation is to bring peace, security and stability to Afrin and the bordering area, save the people of the region from the oppression of the bully boyz and return our Syrian brothers to their homes in a safe way," claimed Akar.
The YPG’s Hasaka, responding to the general’s visit, said "the aim of the visit was to give directions and draw new military plans for his field commanders because they had not made any of the military progress they had been tasked to achieve."
[AlAhram] Another 143 Ottoman Turkish soldiers were maimed in the operation dubbed "Olive Branch" which began on January 20 against the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in the western region of Afrin, a statement said.
Some 1,369 "terrorists" had been neutralised during the operation, the army said, referring to those killed but also those captured or maimed.
It was not immediately possible to verify this figure.
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[IsraelTimes] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s foreign minister assails the United States, claiming that American forces in Syria are intentionally stalling the fight against 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.... bully boyz as an excuse not to cut ties with Syrian Kurdish murderous Moslems as Ankara has demanded.
Mevlut Cavusoglu tells news hounds in Istanbul that US forces are leaving "pockets" with IS bully boyz intact to justify continued cooperation with the Kurdish militia.
Speaking ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson later this week, Cavusoglu says Turkey’s ties with the US are at a make-or-break stage and that Washington needs to take "concrete steps" to regain Turkey’s trust.
"Our relations are at a very critical stage," Cavusoglu says. "Either we will improve ties or these ties will totally break down."
Goodness, he sounds so portentious. And completely unaware of the possibility that Turkey has already lost President Trump’s trust.
Ankara is riled over Washington’s support for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG ‐ the top US ally in the fight against the Islamic State group.
Ankara is, indeed, riled. Then they sent a mixed unit of 300 to attack the Americans embedded among the Kurds at Manbij ...how many did they lose in the affray? Something a wise man might ponder before further assailments.
Turkey considers the YPG a "terrorist" group linked to Kurdish faceless myrmidons fighting within Turkey’s own borders.
[AlAhram] The mayor of the Ottoman Turkish capital of Ankara said on Monday he had approved re-naming a street outside the U.S. Embassy as "Olive Branch", the name The Sick Man of Europe Turkey uses for its ongoing military campaign in Syria.
Ankara has been infuriated by Washington's alliance in Syria with forces led by the Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey is targeting in its offensive.
President Tayyip Erdogan has promised to sweep the militia from Turkey's southern border, a move that could put Ottoman Turkish troops in confrontation with U.S. forces on the ground in Syria.
"We have signed the necessary proposal to change the name of the Nevzat Tandogan Avenue in front of the U.S. Embassy to 'Olive Branch'. May it go well, may the souls of our saintly deaders rejoice," Ankara Mayor Mustafa Tuna tweeted.
The proposal will be presented to the municipal parliament later on Monday, he said. It will most likely be approved, just days before U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is due to visit Ankara on Thursday.
The U.S. Embassy in Ankara and the Ankara mayor's office were not immediately available for comment.
“I’m sorry, but the American ambassador is laughing too hard to say anything intelligible, let alone something politely diplomatic.”
According to a poll published on Monday by the Center for American Progress ...George Soros-funded think tank headed by John Podesta, White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton, supplied progressive talking points and policy positions for the Obama regime. There was a revolving door between the White House and its nerve center, with the president staffing his administration with many of its operatives.... , 83 percent of Turks view the United States unfavourably, and 46 percent think their country should do more to confront it.
Tuna had ordered the re-naming of the street where the United Arab Emirates mission is located to that of the Ottoman former governor of Medina, following a row between the two countries about the state of the holy city under Ottoman rule.
Golly. The very picture of a petulent, powerless pasha.
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Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) ‐ Five people were killed and injured as two kabooms rocked the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday, a security source was quoted as saying.
Speaking to Baghdad Today news website, the source said, "An employee of the Ministry of Construction and Housing breathed his last after an explosive charge fixed into his car went off in al-Saydiya neighborhood in southwestern Baghdad."
"Another bomb went kaboom! near a busy street market in al-Latifiya neighborhood in southern Baghdad, leaving four people injured."
[All Africa] Zim-bob-we will invite international observers to monitor its elections later this year, signaling a shift in relations with Europe, whose observer missions the deposed administration of Bob Muggsy Mugabe Nonagenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case. Dumped in November 2017 when the Missus decided she wanted to be president, and opposed heer might against Crocodile Mnangawa Important safety tip: If your opponent goes by the name Crocodile andf your title is Shopper in Chief let him win.... barred from attending.
The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... (EU) have not been invited since 2000 when Mugabe accused Western nations of impartiality and using the opposition to effect regime change. This was in reaction to the EU slapping his government with sanctions for alleged electoral fraud and human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... violations.
Tensions have eased with new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa at the helm.
He has assured the international community of credible, free and fair elections scheduled for July, hence his pledge EU, Unites States of America (USA) and United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... (UN) observers would be invited.
Addressing ruling party, Zanu-PF supporters in Mvuma, some 200km south of Harare, Mnangagwa also reiterated the call for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and 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... (AU) to deploy observer teams.
"There is nothing to hide. We want a peaceful and a transparent election. There is no reason for Zanu-PF or any other political party to be violent," Mnangagwa said.
He said the ruling party supporters should desist from violence against opposition activists.
"All citizens belong to one nation, which is Zim-bob-we," Mnangagwa said.
His party, under Mugabe, has been accused of unleashing violence against the opposition to maintain a stranglehold on power since independence from Britannia in 1980.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of ailing former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and National People's Party (NPP) of Mugabe's former Deputy, Joice Mujuru, are seen offering the biggest challenge to Zanu-PF.
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[AlAhram] Egypt's Criminal Court has handed a final death sentence to a man convicted of the October 2017 killing of a Coptic priest in a northeastern suburb of Cairo.
The court's verdict comes two months after it convicted 19-year-old Ahmed El-Sonbaty
...who has been described as an extremist with a criminal record, whatever that means...
and issued a preliminary death sentence.
The preliminary sentence was referred to the country's Grand Mufti, whose opinion is legally required in death penalty cases, although it is not binding.
The final sentence, issued with the Mufit's approval, can still be appealed.
El-Sonbaty was convicted of killing Coptic Orthodox priest Samaan Shehata in Cairo's El-Salam city and assaulting another called Beyman Moftan.
He was found guilty of premeditated murder of the Coptic priest, who hailed from Beni Suef Governorate in Upper Egypt.
According to investigations by the prosecution, El-Sonbaty does not suffer from a mental illness and was "fully conscious" while committing his crime.
The prosecution added that El-Sonbaty said he did not know Arch Shehata personally, but he attacked him using a cleaver as soon as he saw him wearing a Coptic vestment.
#1
Worth noting. The Roman Colosseum along with two churches in Mosul and Aleppo will be lit up by red lights later this month to draw attention to the global persecution of Christians.
[RADIOSHABELLE] An estimated 160 soldiers have defected from the northern breakaway republic of Somaliland amid tension in Tukaraq town in Sool region. Sool was very big among the Hittites.
Sources said the forces have surrendered themselves to the rival Puntland authorities in Boohoodle town in Togdher region. The reason behind their defection remains unclear.
Lieutenant General Abdirisak Gar’ad, who is among the surrendered officers said they moved from Araweyn area in the conflict-hit Sool region.
He stated that they decided to join Puntland army after losing patience with Somaliland’s aggressive attacks in the region, where an escalating tension has been brewing since Jan.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[PowderedWigSociety] A new name in the greatest criminal conspiracy in the history of American politics, namely the conspiracy by liberal Democrats to frame and destroy President Trump with the 35-page lie we now know as the Trump dossier, is now being mentioned, but investigators want to keep his name as hush-hush as possible, obviously for his own protection and to maintain as much secrecy as possible in the investigation of the Obamagate scandal.
Bill Preistap is the Director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division and Peter Strzok’s boss. Multiple sources are now corroborating that Preistap has flipped and is fully cooperating with investigators in the Obamagate scandal.
Preistap was certainly a central figure in the acquisition of the Trump dossier, using it to obtain a FISA warrant to wiretap the Trump campaign even though the document and its source (Sidney Blumenthal) had no credibility whatsoever. Clearly, Preistap knows every detail of the conspiracy to frame President Trump.
Comey threw Preistap under the bus in his testimony before Congress. When asked why he didn’t notify Congress of the surveillance of candidate Trump as required by law, Comey said that he kept the Trump investigation secret because Priestap advised him to.
No wonder Preistap flipped! Continues and vid from this weekend’s past "Justice With Judge Jeanine" segment regarding is embedded.
#1
Yeah we'll see. Nothing ever seems to come with these. Remember the Congress spying scandal with the Amwan brothers and Debbie Schultz? That was going to ruin people, and then just disappeared. I'll believe this when people start going to prison.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
02/13/2018 2:55
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#2
Herb McCoy7309,
Phase three is just ramping up.
Posted by: C. the Imp. ||
02/13/2018 6:36
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#3
The Awan brothers, interprising lads who operated freely from their lairs in Woodbridge and Falls Church Virginia for years.
Strange no one in the intelligence community ever took notice. Very strange.
Posted by: C. the Imp. ||
02/13/2018 7:02
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#5
I doubt the Awan monitoring and IT storage effort was limited to DNC clients. The real money would have resided elsewhere. The Clinton's were probably witting of the effort, hence the Beest's remote server farm and haversack full of selectors, nyms, and passwords.
#7
If Priestap is flipped, it is game set match for the gang of twelve and their plot to unseat the president.
I still say the end game was to install Zero as a president for life. Hillary was to be a proxy for his continued reign...as would any democrat president to follow.
#8
Mr. Obama disliked the job of president, which is hard work done in front of critical eyes. But he would have enjoyed the perks of a Supreme Court justice, happily leaving the opinion writing to others — who would also have been happy he modestly held back his pen.
[DAWN] A dronezap killed six suspected Al Qaeda bully boyz in central 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 Sunday, a security official said.
The US military is the only force known to operate armed drones over Yemen.
The official said the strike happened after sundown and targeted a vehicle in Bayda province.
"An unmanned drone ‐ likely American ‐ bombed the group’s vehicle in the area of Qayfa, where Al Qaeda is active," the official said.
Al Qaeda’s global network remains "remarkably resilient", posing more of a threat in some regions than the bad boyIslamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group, UN sanctions monitors said in a report last week.
The report sent to the Security Council said that the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000... (AQAP) served as a communications hub for the UN-designated terror group as a whole.
A long-running American drone war against AQAP has intensified since US 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... took office in January last year.
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[AlAhram] Ottoman Turkish prosecutors Monday launched a probe into the leader of the main pro-Kurdish party over criticism of Ankara's offensive in Syria, just one day after she was chosen as the new joint leader of the party.
The Ankara chief public prosecutor opened an investigation into Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) leader Pervin Buldan and fellow politician Sirri Surreya Onder on suspicion of making "terror" propaganda, the prosecutor's office told AFP.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has detained hundreds of people since the Syria operation began on January 20, in a major crackdown that has angered activists.
The interior ministry said on Monday that 474 people had now been detained over accusations of spreading "terror propaganda" and another 192 for protesting against it.
In which they neatly conflate those who support ISIS and related jihadi groups with those who support equal rights for Kurdish citizens of Turkey...
Turkey launched a military operation dubbed "Olive Branch" against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in its western enclave of Afrin in Syria, supporting Syrian rebels with ground troops and air strikes.
The HDP is the only party in parliament that opposes the offensive.
Buldan, who is also a deputy speaker of the parliament, had been chosen by party delegates to be co-leader of the HDP on Sunday during its congress in Ankara.
Ankara says the YPG is a "terrorist" offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) but the militia has been working closely with the US who has given it weapons to use against 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.... bad boy group in Syria.
The prosecutor's office said the two MPs were being investigated after images of the locked away Please don't kill me! PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan were shown during the congress.
The two are also being probed over allegedly making statements against the Afrin operation during the event but the prosecutor's office did not give specific details.
The HDP has male and female co-chairs in the name of promoting gender equality. The party's delegates voted for Buldan's male co-leader to be Sezai Temelli, a former MP.
Temelli replaced Selahattin Demirtas, who was credited with building the appeal of the party beyond its Kurdish base but has been locked away Please don't kill me! since November 2016 over alleged links to the PKK.
Buldan replaced Serpil Kemalbay who herself replaced Figen Yuksekdag, who was jugged Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! at the same time as Demirtas.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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[DAWN] A Tehrik-e-Taliban ...Arabic for students... Pak (TTP) spokesperson has confirmed the death of TTP commander Khan Said Sajna in a recent US dronezap.
Azam Tariq Mehsud said Commander Sajna was killed in last Thursday's strike in a village along the Pak-Afghan border. He said another commander, Mufti Noor Wali, has now been appointed in Sajna's place.
Tariq says Wali enjoys the backing of Mullah Fazlullah ...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... , the leader of the TTP who is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan.
Sajna, 36, was believed to be involved in an attack on a Naval base in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... and is also credited with criminal masterminding a 2012 jailbreak in which the Taliban freed 400 inmates in the northwestern city of Bannu.
"Sajna had no basic education, conventional or religious, but he was battle-hardened and had experience of fighting in Afghanistan," an official had said earlier.
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[BusinessInsider] The AC-130 gunship, one of the aircraft the US says it used to return fire on Russian-backed attacking forces.
[Task & Purpose] U.S. Special Forces can relax now that the Army has officially unveiled a beret for combat advisors that is absolutely not green.
[Breitbart] Monday on ABC’s "The View," co-host Whoopi Goldberg criticized Vice President Mike Pence for what she deemed to be a show of a lack of respect for North Korea by not standing for the entrance of the country’s Olympic athletes.
[CNSNews.com] - The federal government this January ran a surplus while collecting record total tax revenues for that month of the year, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement released today.
Opinion by Raj
[Daily Caller] A Harvard law professor and member of the anti-Trump "Resistance" floated the false rumor Monday that a source for the unverified Steele dossier was killed in a plane crash in Russia over the weekend.
Can spot the portrait that appears slightly out of place ? 
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) A civilian was killed, while two others were 
[Ynet] A court has sentenced the leader of an 
[SOFREP] Last week, SOFREP reported on the Navy’s latest venture into autonomous warfare, the 140 ton ACTUV, which holds the record for largest unmanned vessel in the world. Not one to be left behind, the U.S. Army also recently announced entering the next stage in development of their own unmanned vehicle, an armed Humvee called, “Wingman.”
...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. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
[Al Jazeera] UK-based charity Oxfam's second-in-command has quit over allegations aid workers paid for sex while on assignments in Haiti and Chad.
[gCaptain] Cyprus on Sunday accused the Turkish military of obstructing a ship contracted by Italian oil company Eni from approaching an area to explore for natural gas, highlighting tensions over offshore resources in the east Mediterranean.
Diyala (Iraqinews.com) ‐ Four people, including a well-placed municipal official, were killed and 
[BeyondSocratesKnee] For instance, the appearance of Glitnir as the name of the bank that the FL Group created in Iceland to obscure their empty, worthless asset trading in order to create fake equity to borrow against and raid the Western Banking system of real capital. 
...the 
...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart...
[Rudaw] Life is rough for the families who have returned to Shingal, living without healthcare or schools more than two years after ISIS was routed from the town. Yezidi leaders hope their regions will benefit from the international donor conference happening this week in Kuwait, even though Baghdad has not prepared any proposals for Shingal, according to a Yezidi MP. 
Bouteflika
...George Soros-funded think tank headed by John Podesta, White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton, supplied 
[PowderedWigSociety] A new name in the greatest criminal conspiracy in the history of American politics, namely the conspiracy by liberal Democrats to frame and destroy President Trump with the 35-page lie we now know as the Trump dossier, is now being mentioned, but investigators want to keep his name as hush-hush as possible, obviously for his own protection and to maintain as much secrecy as possible in the investigation of the Obamagate scandal.
...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...
[DAWN] A Tehrik-e-
