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U.S. freezes grant to UNRWA
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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1 21:59 Flilet Omeremble3846 [2]
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Page 6: Politix
17 14:44 Anomalous Sources [4]
6 23:07 Zenobia Floger6220 [1]
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4 11:25 M. Murcek [4]
2 07:37 Titus White2470 []
Afghanistan
Afghan government has no links with Daesh, Hekmatyar insists
[ARABNEWS] Former Afghan holy warrior leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil...
, who joined President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
’s government last year, has categorically denied the allegation of links with ISIS turbans made by Afghan ex-spy chief Amrullah Saleh.

ISIS has emerged as a complex and murky phenomenon in Afghan militancy as the group stepped up and expanded its attacks in Afghanistan recently.

Saleh served for years as chief of Afghan intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security
...the Afghan national intel agency...
(NDS), in the previous administration, and was a harsh critic and rival of Hekmatyar during the bloody factional fighting over power in the 1990s. His assertions come amid growing division within the Ghani government and ethnic tension stirred up mostly by politicians and factional leaders.

The veteran Hekmatyar, who is in his late 60s, is a leader of Hizb-e-Islami; one of the main Afghan factions who fought during the Cold War against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Last week, Saleh said the government "had 20 ISIS (ISIS) suspects in jug all having current or pre-reconciliation ties with Hekmatyar. None has been referred to the court system in order to cover up affiliation with Hekmatyar to save the deal. Hekmatyar has been lobbying and bargaining for their release."

Hekmatyar, in a news conference held in Kabul, Thursday, rejected Saleh’s allegations.

"It is just part of defamation (campaign) by liars. We don’t have any kind of political or party-based relations (with ISIS) and will not think about it. We don’t have relations with the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
nor with ISIS or al-Qaeda or any other party."
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar


Arabia
'We put our man on top', Trump said on bin Salman, book reveals
Real or fabulist? See more from and about the book here.
[PRESSTV] A new book based on interviews purportedly coming from White House insiders has revealed that 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...
was behind the elevation of Mohammed bin Salman
...Crown Prince of Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
as of 2016....

to the position of Saudi Arabia's crown prince last year.

The claim is included in the book titled Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House which went on sale on Friday. Michael Wolff said on Friday his book is based on more than 200 interviews with Trump and his close aides.

"We've put our man on top," Trump is said to have claimed to friends, according to the book, after Saudi King Salman
...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Lord of Most of the Arabians....
ousted his nephew Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as next-in-line to the throne and made his then-31-year-old son, Mohammed bin Salman, the new crown prince in June 2017.
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia

#1  He may become a very fitting King for the House of Saud. He was my pick. The others were listless and focused not on futures.

If you want to save the Moslem World, Save it.
Don't start knocking on GODS door in Yerusalem to place blame.

You own the blame.
Posted by: newc || 01/06/2018 1:28 Comments || Top||

#2  As believable as the rest of the book?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/06/2018 4:19 Comments || Top||

#3  I suppose that depends on how much of it you want to believe, and if you're allowed to pick and choose.
Posted by: gorb || 01/06/2018 9:34 Comments || Top||

#4  I seriously doubt the US had a lot of say, especially a brand new President that was facing turmoil.

I suspect Bannon is behind the bulk of the anonymous quotes.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 01/06/2018 12:45 Comments || Top||

#5  See "A Million Little Pieces."
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 01/06/2018 15:17 Comments || Top||


Europe
Anti-migrant attacks surge in Greece's Piraeus
[Al Jazeera] Racist attacks targeting the homes of migrant workers have surged in Piraeus, a port city near the Greek capital, since Christmas, according to an anti-racist activist group.

More than 30 homes where migrant labourers reside - most of whom are Pak nationals - have been targeted since December 25, the anti-racist group Keerfa said on Friday.

Petros Constantinou, Keerfa's national director, said the sharp uptick in violence comes amid a 40-day period of attacks on migrant homes in the area.

"It's been happening at least three times per week," he told Al Jazeera. "They are targeting homes where it is obvious migrants colonists are living."

The incidents have taken place primarily in Renti and Nikaia, two neighbourhoods in Piraeus with large immigrant populations.

Constantinou said anti-Moslem slogans had also been spray-painted on the entrances and walls of several homes. "These appear to be organised attacks," he said, explaining that the assailants were swiftly picked up by getaway cars after the incidents concluded.
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1 
Posted by: Omomons Wittlesbach9113 || 01/06/2018 1:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Nice graphic Omomons, although I believe the Greco-Roman ruin on the left is in Sicily.

A quick search doesn't show any sort of Muslim unrest in Piraeus, and the self-flagulation events for the Shiites don't seem to occur at this time of the year. My best guess is a general Greek intolerance for these people being here.
Posted by: Fairbanks || 01/06/2018 2:43 Comments || Top||

#3  More than 30 homes where migrant labourers reside - most of whom are Pak nationals

Migrant labourers in a country with long term high unemployment? The wonder is that the properties haven’t been burnt down with them inside.

And how many arrived illegally? Send them all back, and give their jobs to locals.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2018 9:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Pic is side view of Parthenon a few decades after the Turco-Venetian festivities, showing Johnny Turk's replacemeent magazine mosque. No minaret this time, sadly (at least I've never seen a pic of one).
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 01/06/2018 23:44 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Erdogan lashes out at French journalist after jihadist aid question
[ALMASDARNEWS] French President Emmanuel Macron received his Ottoman Turkish counterpart Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
in Gay Paree on Friday, with the Syrian conflict and media freedom in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
high on the agenda.

On the subject of press freedom and terror, Erdogan appeared to accuse journalists of aiding and abetting forces of Evil through their writing.

"Terror and forces of Evil have gardeners," Erdogan is reported as saying. "They do not appear by themselves. They water from their columns on newspapers. One day these people appear in front of you as terrorists."

Erdogan also said that he is ’tired’ of waiting for the EU to decide on Turkey’s membership.

His visit takes place amid anti-Erdogan demonstrations over press freedom and the deterioration of human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
in the French capital.
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  He meant to equate it with roses probably, when he said "Terror and forces of Evil have gardeners..."
Posted by: Dron || 01/06/2018 2:19 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Trump could freeze $2bn of Pakistan aid over militant havens
Haqqani network sanctuaries completely destroyed in Pakistan: Asif

Do not want current situation with US to escalate: Khurram Dastagir

Diplomacy of deadlines, redlines is counterproductive: Pak ambassador to US
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Pakistain piously condemns Kabul suicide attack that left several dead or wounded
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The government of Pakistain has condemned in strongest words the deadly suicide in Kabul that left at least 13 dead late on Thursday night.

"Pakistain strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Kabul last evening, in which many Afghans have bit the dust, while a number of people have been injured," the ministry of foreign affairs of Pakistain said in a statement.

The statement further added "We are grieved at the loss of precious lives in this terrorist attack and express our heartfelt condolences with the families and friends of those who have lost their loved ones and pray for the early recovery of the injured. We express our solidarity with the Government and the brotherly people of Afghanistan in this hour of sorrow and grief."

"Pakistain reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations andits firm resolve to eradicate this menace," the statement added.

The deputy spokesperson for the ministry of interior Nasrat Rahimi told news hounds in Kabul today that 13 coppers bit the dust in the attack.

He said at least 16 coppers and 2 civilians were also maimed after a jacket wallah detonated his explosives among the police personnel and civilians.

Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Britain's defense secretary: War against IS in 'new phase'
[Ynet] Britannia's Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson has warned that dangers from 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 are "far from over" despite its defeat in Iraq.

Williamson says the fight now "enters a new phase" and expressed his government's commitment to continue working with the U.S.-led coalition to hunt down remaining IS fighters in Syria and elsewhere.

He spoke at a presser in Baghdad on Thursday. He signed a statement of intent for a 10 million British pounds ($13. 5 million) investment in Iraq's counter terrorism capacities.

Williamson said his government is determined to "win the war online, preventing (IS) viral propaganda from recruiting yet more fanatical fighters."
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  Where they stop trying to actually rule in dar and switch to killing westerners in the west?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/06/2018 4:03 Comments || Top||

#2  No, it is not entering a "new phase" it is returning to Phase One of the "Management of Savagery." Back to creating regions of savagery or zones of chaos for them to exploit and move to fill. Phase two is building popular support and phase three is establishment of the caliphate. AQ thought IS moved way to quickly to phase 3, and that they would be destroyed once they did so... AQ was correct.

So, it is not a "new phase" it is back to phase one.
Posted by: Tennessee || 01/06/2018 10:15 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Arab Press: Hamas said prepared to place its weapons under PLO’s control if it can join
[IsraelTimes] After months of stalled talks with rival Fatah, Gazoo-based terror group now bidding to become part of main Paleostinian leadership, al-Hayat reports

Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", has tentatively agreed to hand over its weapons to the Fatah-led Paleostine Liberation Organization, provided it can become part of the PLO and of the overall Paleostinian government, according to a report in the al-Hayat newspaper Friday. There was no confirmation of the report.

The London-based Arabic newspaper reported that a senior Hamas official in Ramallah said that the terror group would agree to disarm if it can gain PLO representation.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  As long as they can still use it against "settlers".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/06/2018 4:19 Comments || Top||

#2  And once we're part of the PLO then we'll take it over and all the Paleos will become our soldiers to kill Jews.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/06/2018 7:21 Comments || Top||

#3  PLO already in business of killing Jews, AC.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/06/2018 8:11 Comments || Top||


Israel grants bail to Palestinian woman in 'slap video' case
[GEO.TV] Israel on Friday released a Paleostinian woman on bail after she was charged with assaulting an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank following a viral video of the incident.

Nour Tamimi, 20, was released early on Friday from a military prison after a court rejected the prosecution's appeal against her release, her father Naji Tamimi told AFP.

She was jugged
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
on December 20, a day after her cousin Ahed Tamimi, 16, was detained in the wake of a viral video showing them slapping and kicking two soldiers the previous week.

Ahed and her mother Nariman Tamimi remain in jug.

Nour was allowed to return to her home in the village of Nabi Saleh, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, after posting a bail of 5,000 shekels ($1,450, 1,200 euros).

A guarantor vouched that she would show up for her court proceedings, set to begin on February 12, her lawyer Gaby Lasky told AFP.

Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US citizen captured in Syria says he wants ACLU mout'piece
[ARABNEWS] An American citizen picked up on the Syrian battlefield and held by the US military for nearly four months without a lawyer has told the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that he wants to challenge his detention, a lawyer for the civil rights group said Friday.

ACLU attorney Jonathan Hafetz said he and two other ACLU lawyers went to the Pentagon on Wednesday and spoke via videoconference with the detainee, who is being held as an enemy combatant accused of fighting with ISIS.

"He spoke loud and clear that he wants a lawyer and wants to challenge his detention now," Hafetz said, adding that the detainee also indicated that he wants the ACLU to represent him.

Hafetz said the detainee was born in the US but would not identify him. He "expressed concerns about his name being released and asked that it not be made public," Hafetz said.

The ACLU filed a court petition months ago, challenging the man’s detention and asking to act on his behalf to provide him access to legal counsel. Hafetz said that the detainee told the ACLU that he did not learn that the petition had been filed on his behalf until shortly before the video conference.

Last month, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that the US military must provide legal counsel to the detainee. The US government had acknowledged that it has detained him without fulfilling his request to see a lawyer. The judge ordered the military to let the ACLU have "immediate and unmonitored access to the detainee" to determine his wishes.
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  "He spoke loud and clear that he wants a lawyer and wants to challenge his detention now,

Good. Kill him.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/06/2018 7:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Turn him over to the Kurds. I'm sure they'll oblige.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/06/2018 8:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Bet the ACLU told him to say all this stuff at his recruitment.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 01/06/2018 12:44 Comments || Top||

#4  He "expressed concerns about his name being released and asked that it not be made public,"

Well we certainly have no obligation to protect his identity.
Posted by: Neville Speaking for Boskone6001 || 01/06/2018 13:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Give him to the "Syrian" authorities... The Assad Regime. He was captured on Syrian soil, you see, so they have first dibs.
Posted by: magpie || 01/06/2018 14:28 Comments || Top||


Saudi Arabia, Daesh following Trump's lead: Iran's Zarif
[PRESSTV] Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and ISIS Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
terrorist group are "eternal bedfellows" and both are following 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...
's lead.

"All endorse violence, death and destruction in Iran. Why are we not surprised," Zarif said in a "breaking" post on his official Twitter account on Friday.
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Thousands hundreds lots of Iranians protest UN Security Council meeting
[ALMASDARNEWS] Hundreds of pro-government supporters marched through the streets of Tehran, Friday, ahead of the UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Iran.

Supporters burned a banner depicting USA flag with what appeared to be Star of David symbols, denouncing US President Donald Trump’s alleged support of anti-government protests in Iran.

The UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting later on Friday to discuss protests in Iran, at the US request. Moscow has argued that the US call for the meeting interferes with Iran’s sovereignty.

At least 21 people have died in anti-government protests since Thursday with rallies against rising food prices, unemployment and alleged corruption. President Hassan Rouhani acknowledged the public’s anger over Iran’s flagging economy but vowed to crackdown on lawbreakers. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has also blamed the recent unrest on meddling by “enemies of Iran.”
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran



Who's in the News
26[untagged]
5Islamic State
3Commies
3Govt of Pakistan
2Govt of Saudi Arabia
2al-Shabaab (AQ)
2Govt of Iran
1Govt of Iraq
1Arab Spring
1Hamas
1Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar
1Houthis
1Ahrar al-Sham (Salafists)
1Moslem Colonists
1Pirates
1Sublime Porte
1Taliban

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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2018-01-06
  U.S. freezes grant to UNRWA
Fri 2018-01-05
  13 Islamic State members killed, injured in operation, northeast of Baquba
Thu 2018-01-04
  Revolutionary Guards deployed to crush Iran demonstrations
Wed 2018-01-03
  Egypt executes four Islamist extremists over 2015 bomb attack
Tue 2018-01-02
  Pakistan plans takeover of charities run by Lashkar-e-Taiba
Mon 2018-01-01
  Nigeria: Scores Killed in Boko Haram Attacks in Borno, Yobe
Sun 2017-12-31
  Iran protests: Telegram and Instagram restricted
Sat 2017-12-30
  IS says it was behind Saint Petersburg supermarket bombing
Fri 2017-12-29
  Senior Pakistani Taliban leader blown by own explosives in Kunar province
Thu 2017-12-28
  Islamic State claims attack on Shiite center in Kabul, 41 dead
Wed 2017-12-27
  Swede among 'terror' suspects arrested in the Netherlands
Tue 2017-12-26
  Six Islamic State, involved in killing policeman, killed in Kirkuk
Mon 2017-12-25
  ISIS military commission chief killed in US drone strike in Afghanistan
Sun 2017-12-24
  Taliban’s IED expert famous as Osama killed in NDS operation
Sat 2017-12-23
  Terror Attack in Pennsylvania's State Capital?


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