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Deadly clashes in Libyan capital force airport to close
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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Africa North
Widespread protests force Tunisian army deployment
[FDD's Long War Journal] The Tunisian government deployed over 2,000 troops this week as protests over increased taxes spread. Government officials indicated the army will be protecting government installations, following an incident in which protesters burned a security headquarters near the Algerian border, prompting police to flee.

Over the weekend, several opposition activists were arrested in the capital of Tunis after protesting a new government taxation on basic goods. The wave of protests comes on the heels of the seven-year anniversary of the death of Mohammad Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit vendor who set himself on fire in protest of the government’s policies. Bouazizi’s death on Jan. 4, 2011 – which helped spark protests that spread across the Middle East – is a highly emotive date for Tunisians.

The government’s response has been heavy-handed. The arrests sparked widespread condemnation and rallies across Tunisia. In response, the government deployed the military to several major towns and arrested hundreds of activists. Tunisian leaders insist the new taxes are necessary to satisfy international lenders and stabilize the economy; Tunisians have pointed to the new taxes as emblematic of a failed and oppressive government.

The army has deployed to at least four towns: Thala, Sousse, Bizerte, and Kebili. Protests are ongoing in the capital, as well as Sfax, Ettadhamen, Béja, Siliana, Mahdia, and Nabeul.

Protests are concentrated on the coast, but have also worryingly spread to Tunisia’s western border with Algeria, where the Islamic State has strong support. The Islamic State group has been known to recruit heavily in Kasserine, one of the western towns where protests have erupted. Tunisia, particularly areas near Kasserine, produced more Islamic State fighters than any other country, according to UN data cited by the Washington Post. Many could return home as other fronts quiet.

Protests in areas near Kasserine have already turned violent. In nearby Thala, security forces withdrew after protesters set a headquarters on fire.

Protests may intensify in the coming days, as Jan. 14 marks the anniversary of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s 2011 ouster.
Posted by: 3dc || 01/16/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Africa Subsaharan
Boko Haram video purportedly shows some kidnapped Chibok girls
[AlAhram] Militant Islamist group Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
released a video on Monday purportedly showing some of the remaining girls who were kidnapped from the northeast Nigeria
... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border...
n town of Chibok in 2014.

A group of around 12 girls are seen in the 21-minute video. "We are the Chibok girls. We are the ones you are crying about for us to come back. By the grace of Allah, we are never coming back," said one of the girls.

Around 270 schoolgirls were kidnapped from their school in April 2014.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/16/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)

#1  How's that hashtag diplomacy working? /s
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/16/2018 8:59 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Erdogan: US trying to form 'terror army' in Syria
[Al Jazeera] Ottoman Turkish President 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...
has said that the US is working to form a "terror army" on his country's southern border by training a new force in Syria that includes Kurdish fighters.

"What we are supposed to do is to drown this terror army before in comes into being," he said in an address in the capital, Ankara, on Monday, calling the Kurdish fighters "back-stabbers" who will point their weapons to the US in the future.

His comments came after reports revealed Washington's plan to establish a 30,000-strong new border security force with the involvement of Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.

According to media reports quoting US officials, the US-led coalition fighting 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 (ISIS, also known as ISIS) gang will recruit around half of the new force from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an umbrella group of fighters dominated by the People's Protection Units (YPG).

YPG is considered by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund....
to be a "terrorist group" with ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long fight inside the country.

PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. More than 40,000 people in Turkey have been killed since the 1980s after the PKK launched its rebellion.
Posted by: Fred || 01/16/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  I wonder when someone in turkey will arrange a meeting between this assclown and a high-velocity piece of metal? Thats something that will eventually happen.

Although Obama coddled him, you Turks created this monster, you Turks need to fix it, before that idiot starts the US on attacking you and your country as it descends into a third world Islamic shithole.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 01/16/2018 19:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Erdogan: "Whoah! Stop! We are the ones trying to set up a terrorist army in that part of Syria Greater Turkey!"
Posted by: magpie || 01/16/2018 19:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Erdogan: US trying to form 'terror army' in Syria
Posted by: gorb || 01/16/2018 23:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Erdogan: US trying to form 'terror army' in Syria

Yeah, that would be a bad thing for someone to do, wouldn't it.
Posted by: gorb || 01/16/2018 23:07 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Toronto Schoolgirl Hijab Attack Condemned by Trudeau Never Happened
[FoxNews] An alleged scissor attack targeting a hijab-wearing Toronto schoolgirl that drew condemnation from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau never happened, police revealed Monday.

Khawlah Noman, 11, reported to police on Friday that she was heading to the Pauline Johnson Junior Public School when she was approached from behind by a man who pulled off the hood of her jacket and then cut her hijab with a pair of scissors before fleeing.

“After a detailed investigation, police have determined that the events described in the original news release did not happen,” Toronto Police said in a statement. “The investigation is concluded.”

Authorities had described the imaginary suspect as an Asian male wearing a black hooded sweater, black pants and brown gloves, and asked business owners to review security footage in the area of the alleged incident.

“My heart goes out to Khawlah Noman following this morning’s cowardly attack on her in Toronto,” Trudeau posted on Twitter on Friday, before police announced the attack was fake. “Canada is an open and welcoming country, and incidents like this cannot be tolerated.”

Police told CBC News that Noman won’t be charged.

"These allegations were extremely serious and not surprisingly, they received national and international attention," said police spokesman Mark Pugash, who added he hoped the false tale doesn’t discourage others from coming forward to report alleged hate crimes.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 01/16/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Whatt???
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/16/2018 1:29 Comments || Top||

#2  I think the Canadian government acted ... stupidly.
Posted by: gorb || 01/16/2018 2:00 Comments || Top||

#3  How to know when a Muslim is lying?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/16/2018 4:03 Comments || Top||

#4  “incidents like this cannot be tolerated.”

"Unless, of course, they're fake."
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 01/16/2018 8:46 Comments || Top||

#5  Fake ones should not be tolerated either.

The effect, the scare that goes out throughout the community is the same if the crime is real or not so the hoaxer should be prosecuted as if they committed the crime.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 01/16/2018 11:48 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Simpson testimony shows Steele tipped off FBI before the Australian diplomat tipped off FBI about Papadopoulos
One item from Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) publication of Fusion GPS CEO Glenn Simpson’s Aug. 2017 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee that has not gotten too much attention is the part where the spy responsible for producing the Trump-Russia collusion dossier, Christopher Steele, tipped off the FBI in early July 2016.

According to Simpson, "I believe it was ... [the] first week of July..." citing public sources.

Well, that was before George Papadopoulos reportedly entered the picture. According to the New York Times’ report published on Dec. 30, 2017, "when leaked Democratic emails began appearing online, Australian officials passed the information about Mr. Papadopoulos to their American counterparts, according to four current and former American and foreign officials with direct knowledge of the Australians’ role."

The Democratic National Committee emails began appearing on Wikileaks on July 22, 2016.

Meaning, by the time the Australian diplomat had tipped off the FBI about George Papadopoulos ‐ who apparently was bragging in a bar in May 2016 that the Russians had emails that would make Hillary Clinton look bad ‐ Steele had already told the FBI about his first memo dated June 20, 2016, that alleged the Russians had Donald Trump on tape with prostitutes at a hotel in Moscow.

Now, whether it was Steele’s contact with the FBI in early July or the Australian diplomat later that compelled the FBI to open its investigation, per Simpson’s testimony, by mid-September, the agency wanted everything Steele had. Steele most certainly played a role in the agency’s investigation.

Continues at link.

Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 01/16/2018 16:07 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In other words, the mainstream media attempting to sell this as an "external" tipoff by a diplomat is horseshit. Fake News, just to fit their narrative. And you want to bet the reversal of it NEVER makes the same placing and repitition of the initial "news"?

I swear, if "the revolution" ever comes, Im putting press editors and reporters on the "kill on sight" list for their role in the collapse of the republic.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 01/16/2018 19:01 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
FBI, DOJ Argue for Dismissal of Suit About Garland, Texas Attack
[FreeBeacon] Guard wounded in ISIS-inspired attack in 2015 claims FBI knew of attack ahead of time
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/16/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Documents from a separate court case shed light on just how deep the agent's activity had been

Wonder what the other case is?
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/16/2018 1:08 Comments || Top||

#2  "It seems like it had to have been one or the other," Roberts told the Washington Examiner. "Just a complete botched operation where they [the FBI] don't want the attack to actually take place, or, it's something where they need the attack to take place in order for this guy [the agent] to advance in the world of ISIS."

The possibilities are numerous.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/16/2018 1:21 Comments || Top||

#3  The possibilities are numerous.

And none of them put the FBI in a good light.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/16/2018 11:06 Comments || Top||

#4  The FBI is notorious for prolonging undercover operations long after their original intent had been met.

Clearly, this is another example of the FBI putting the public at risk for an operation that ultimately may not gather enough intel to justify it OR wind up just being another blood stained feather in the cap of some FBI assistant director somewhere.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/16/2018 14:04 Comments || Top||

#5  The project is terminated when we say it is terminated.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/16/2018 15:04 Comments || Top||

#6  President Hussein created ISIS in the ME, supplied weapons to the Cartels, and via Holder explored other ways to influence jihad against Americans.
Posted by: Cheretle Angeans6218 || 01/16/2018 15:07 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Over 1,800 clerics in Pakistan declare suicide attacks Haram
Goodness. President Trump wins again. Bigly.
[GEO.TV] Over 1,800 Ulema from different schools of thoughts have issued a Fatwa (Islamic ruling) declaring suicide kabooms in Pakistain to be Haram (forbidden).

Details of the Fatwa signed by 1829 holy mans in Pakistain emerged on Monday. The ruling states that those who commit suicide attacks, those who order such attacks, those who train such people are all considered rebels against the true spirit of Islam.

The ruling further states that the State of Pakistain is in the right to act against such people.

It outlined clearly that the act of waging war and bloodshed in the name of Jihad can only be initiated by the State. Those who impose their viewpoints on by force are responsible for spreading mischief on earth (Fasad fil Arz).

The ruling also states that in Pakistain, armed conflict in the name of Islamic Law (Shariyat) is forbidden (Haram).

Speaking to Geo News, senior analyst Saleem Safi said that after the Constitution of Pakistain the Fatwa a sacrosanct document that provides answers to the questions faced by Pakistain and the Islamic world in light of the Holdy Koran and the Sunaat.

The document, signed by the holy mans from all schools of thought, will be presented under the title Peghaam-e-Pakistain at a ceremony which will be held at the Presidency on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred || 01/16/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Let US see if it takes hold
Posted by: newc || 01/16/2018 2:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Bigly.

Hugely. :-)
Posted by: gorb || 01/16/2018 3:11 Comments || Top||

#3  declaring suicide kabooms in Pakistain to be Haram

The ruling also states that in Pakistain, armed conflict in the name of Islamic Law (Shariyat) is forbidden


Decoder ring provided free of charge.
Posted by: Grurong Unoluger8267 || 01/16/2018 7:53 Comments || Top||

#4  So did Muhamman, so no surprise.
Posted by: Woodrow || 01/16/2018 11:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Be nice to know how it translates to Arabic and Urdu
Posted by: Frank G || 01/16/2018 11:32 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Anti-Jihadist Coalition Looks to Future Role after IS Defeat
[AnNahar] With 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 all but vanquished from its self-proclaimed "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria, the U.S.-led coalition that has been fighting the jihadists for more than three years is transforming its mission.

Eager to avoid a repeat of 2011, when America completed its troop withdrawal from Iraq only to watch in horror as IS later overran swathes of the country, the coalition is focusing on what it must do to stop a jihadi re-emergence.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/16/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Customs foil smuggling of military gear to Gaza
[Ynet] Customs agents at the Ashdod port uncovered a container destined for Gazoo, which was filled with military gear including thousands of military vests, boots and camouflaged thermal coats.

The shipment from China was ordered by a Gazoo importer who was to receive the container at the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/16/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Remove the gear and send the container on. Let the importer explain to his clients what happened to their goods
Posted by: Frank G || 01/16/2018 9:32 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
The PKK’s Iranian Wing Bides Its Time
[The Jamestown Foundation]
Party for Free Life in Kurdistan: The PKK’s Iranian Wing Bides Its Time

In response to Iraqi Kurdistan’s referendum on independence in early October, members of Iran’s Kurdish minority—an estimated population of six to eight million people—held widespread public celebrations, including in the mainly Kurdish Iranian cities of Baneh, Mahabad and Sanandaj (Kurdistan24, September 25). The Iranian government largely avoided a direct crackdown on this uncommon public demonstration of pan-Kurdish feeling, likely for fear of aggravating the situation. However, in a rare display of unity between President Hassan Rouhani and hardliners, Iran backed the Iraqi government’s diplomatic and military move against Iraqi Kurdistan. This led to the Iraq army and IRGC-backed Shia militias rapidly recapturing most territories gained by Iraq’s Kurds since 2003. Iraqi Kurdish leaders subsequently agreed to significant and humiliating curbs on their autonomy, dealing a dramatic blow to Kurdish separatist aspirations across the region, including in Iran. This action by Tehran —as intended—rapidly deflated Iranian Kurds, and pro-Kurdish demonstrations in Iran quickly tailed off.

These developments—in early January, the Kurdish demonstrations have since been followed by economically triggered protests in Persian areas of Iran that spread into Kurdish districts—reflect Tehran’s enduring concern that Iranian Kurds, who make up around 10 percent of the country’s population, could demand greater autonomy for themselves. Kurdish nationalism in Iran has in recent decades been subdued in comparison to Iraq, Syria and Turkey. This is partially due to demographics. Kurds in Iran represent a relatively smaller part of the total population, which mitigates against a successful insurgency.

However, some indicators suggest that, despite Tehran’s recent success in containing Kurdish separatist feeling to date, Iran’s Kurdish community may become more restive in the coming years. Key potential accelerants include rising Kurdish national feeling across the region, especially given the high-profile success of People’s Protection Units (YPG) in carving out a self-governing region in northeastern Syria. Wider developments, such as the rise of social media activism—in Iranian Kurdistan, as elsewhere, this has allowed isolated activists to transcend national boundaries and evade the state’s attempts to control information—has given life to the formerly abstract idea of a transnational Kurdish identity. In this context, the recent trajectory of the largest and most capable Kurdish militant group in Iran, the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), requires a detailed examination.

The article at the link addresses: Structure, Militant Wing, Political Wing, Future Strategy

Posted by: 3dc || 01/16/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If we had a CIA worth a damn, they would have been working a long time to already turn these folks away from Red Star to Red White and Blue like their cousins over in Iraq. And fund/arm the hell out of them after they commit.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 01/16/2018 21:28 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
30[untagged]
7Islamic State
4Hamas
3Govt of Pakistan
2Boko Haram (ISIS)
2Moslem Colonists
2Arab Spring
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1al-Qaeda
1Houthis
1al-Nusra
1Jamaat ul-Ahrar
1PLO
1Sublime Porte
1Taliban
1Commies
1DFLP

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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
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Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2018-01-16
  Deadly clashes in Libyan capital force airport to close
Mon 2018-01-15
  Israel Says It Destroys Hamas Tunnel Under Key Gaza Crossing
Sun 2018-01-14
  Islamic State affiliate claims Mali attack that injured 3 French soldiers
Sat 2018-01-13
  Over 100 Palestinians said injured in West Bank, Gaza clashes
Fri 2018-01-12
  Saleh Commander Presumed Dead Appears in Yemen Video
Thu 2018-01-11
  Veritas strikes again: Twitter caught doing shadow bans on conservatives through algorithm
Wed 2018-01-10
  Pakistan has suspended military and intelligence cooperation with US: defence minister
Tue 2018-01-09
  Spokesman: Senior Hamas official shot in the head
Mon 2018-01-08
  Nigeria's SSS 'Arrest Cameroon's Separatist Leaders'
Sun 2018-01-07
  SAS soldier cut head off jihadi with a SPADE after running out of ammo
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


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