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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Al-Quds rally rejects ‘deal of the century’
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-Land of the Free
State Department will now require all visa applicants to provide social media accounts as Trump's 'extreme vetting' process finally takes effect
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/02/2019 03:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not compulsorily.
Posted by: Dale || 06/02/2019 12:12 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
UN condemns murder of security staff in central Somalia
[RADIOSHABELLE] The United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
mission in Somalia on Saturday condemned the murder of one of its security staff in the central town of Galkayo on Friday evening.

Mohammed Abdi Khayre, a UN local security assistant, was killed as he was leaving a mosque in the city of Galkayo, said Raisedon Zenenga, officer-in-charge of UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and the deputy special representative of the UN secretary-general in Somalia.

"We mourn the passing of Khayre, who served with distinction in the UN Department of Safety and Security during his tenure with the organization," Zenenga said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Africa North
Al-Juwaili: Forces attacking Tripoli are gangs
[Libya Observer] The commander of the western military zone of the Presidential Council's government Osama al-Juwaili said Friday that the forces attacking Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
are gangs with different goals set by a myriad of parties.

Al-Juwaili told al-Bayan newspaper - local media outlet - that what Khalifa Haftar
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
and his gangs are doing to Tripoli is a barbaric act that aims at destroying political process.

"Any military operations must be ordered by legitimate authorities and within the planned tactics that see power used in a very specific area. Such operations are usually used against outlaw groups." al-Juwaili added.

He said he doesn't expect the international community to do a lot regarding the current fighting after its silence and inaction, confirming that Haftar's forces received weapons with regional countries supporting them with military equipment, including La Belle France, which reiterated support for the Presidential Council's government.

"Our forces' resistance to the attack surpassed all expectations. The government is now doing efforts to rebuild the Libyan army on correct principles with many steps taken in that regard, saying such work need political stability to reach a full circle." al-Juwaili further explained.

Al-Juwaili told news hounds the last few days that their forces had pushed the forces of Haftar afar on different Tripoli frontlines, saying the last stage of the war had begun.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Arabia
Saudi Crown Prince says ready to support national initiative away from military solution in Libya
[Libya Observer] The Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Fayez al-Sarraj said he was looking forward to having a 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...
n stance that doesn't make attackers and defenders equal and does help end bloodshed in Libya.

Al- Sarraj's media office said Saturday that al- Sarraj met with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
...Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia as of 2016....
(MBS) on the margins of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on Friday/Saturday.

This was the first meeting for al- Sarraj with a Saudi Arabian official after the attack on Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
led by Khalifa Haftar
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
, whose attack is linked by many reports to Saudi Arabia's funding.

"Such an attack on Tripoli has one aim, that is the abortion of the political process and bringing Libya back to the totalitarian rule." al- Sarraj told MBS.

He told MBS that the attack destroyed civilian properties and left many dead, injured or displaced, calling on attacking forces to return to their previous positions.

"The countries supporting Haftar and providing him with arms are partners in his crimes in Libya." al- Sarraj remarked.

Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, Buford bit the snake and Eloise began speaking in tongues...
MBS said there is no military solution to Libya's crisis and that Saudi Arabia is ready to play a role in Libya and help support a national initiative that represents all Libyans.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Bangladesh
Nasim: Remain alert to thwart BNP-Jamaat conspiracies
[Dhaka Tribune] Awami League Presidium Member Mohammed Nasim has said the BNP-Jamaat alliance is hatching conspiracies to destroy the country’s democracy.

"The country’s democracy is not yet out of danger as BNP-Jamaat and terrorist networks are hatching conspiracies to ruin the democracy," he said at an iftar event organized by the 14-party alliance at the AL president’s Dhanmondi office on Saturday, reports BSS.

Mohammad Nasim also called upon all to remain alert so that conspirators can never be successful.

The Awami League-led 14-party alliance will hold rallies and discussions against political violence, terrorism, and militancy at the divisional and district levels, he reiterated.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies


Britain
Over 40k forces to protect Trump as UK braces for massive protests
[PRESSTV] Over 10,000 coppers are expected to be on alert amid 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 visit to the United Kingdom as large scale protests are being planned. Thousands of protesters are expected to demonstrate during the three-day visit, the Times reported Saturday.
The protests can't really be taken as a symptom of actual indignation, since people will turn out to protest anything. But if they should actually harm Trump, which some of them would just adore doing for the attention it brings, they would make him into a martyr.
Not just the president. Harm any of our people with such stupidity, especially given all the anti-Trump posturing by British politicians and the Duchess of Sussex, and life would certainly get interesting.
Police will also spend £25 million, around $31,600,000, to provide security for the American president, whose mother was born in Scotland.

Use of snipers, bomb-sniffing dogs and helicopters was among the tactics to confront the more than 250,000 protesters that are expected to show up.

In his first state visit to Britannia, the US president acknowledged that he felt "unwelcome," asserting that he "used to love London as a city."

Trump’s upcoming visit is expected to be a similar experience for Trump with massive protest plans under way.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Daily Mail: The Palace's secret weapon to tame Trump: Prince Andrew will cozy up to the president using 'golf course diplomacy' to diffuse any dramas... and the Queen will greet him in her garden rather than parade down the Mall amid security clampdown

Shhhhh! It’s a secret! Barack Obama will be happy so many idiots so fervently believe the poison his people whispered in their ears. But honestly, one would expect better behaviour from a country that once adequately ruled a global empire. How on earth did they manage in the old days, when a princeling from some hilltop sultanate arrived in state with his three chief wives? Or more recently, when Colonel Moammar Qadaffi arrived ready to camp out on the lawn?
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/02/2019 12:49 Comments || Top||

#2  I've said it before; but 1776 is looking better all the time.
Posted by: Tom || 06/02/2019 14:04 Comments || Top||

#3  I just wanna see him pull in Phillip and make him stumble. Then give the queen a shoulder squeeze, jostle miss Markle's husband aside out of focus...

It can be great.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 06/02/2019 16:08 Comments || Top||

#4  The goddamn garden indeed.

The Don, that deplorable foreigner,
Adorned in a bonnet and sporran: "Your
Majesty... Liz.
Lemme just take a whiz,
Then we'll go and restore Speakers Corner."
Posted by: Percy Slusomp9445 || 06/02/2019 17:16 Comments || Top||


Would-Be Police Officer Denied Job for Being a White Male Wins Appeal
[BREITBART] An aspiring police officer who was denied a job in his local police force because he was white, straight, and male has won his appeal against the decision.

Matthew Furlong, 25, applied to join Cheshire Police, following in the footsteps of his father Liam Furlong, but was rejected using the so-called "positive action" provisions in the Equality Act.

The force had previously received criticism for having no black coppers and so introduced the policy to try and increase diversity in their ranks.

Mr Furlong’s father complained about the decision and the case was taken to a tribunal which Mr Furlong won, with the court deciding that he had been discriminated against on the basis of his race, sex, and sexual orientation, reports the Manchester Evening News.

The tribunal ruled that positive action can only be used in a so-called "tie break" situation in which two candidates for the role are equally qualified, and that did not apply in case of Mr Furlong, who has a degree in particle physics and cosmology.

The would-be recruit said the experience had "completely shattered" his faith in the police recruitment system.

He went on say that had he lied and claimed he was bisexual, for example, he would probably have been accepted based on that lie at the first time of asking.

"I absolutely agree that a force should represent the equality and diversity of the community it serves but that must be achieved legitimately and without discriminating against anyone," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The police examination "positive action" score for a white male applicant was likely in the 98.6 percentile range, possibly a bit higher. Furlong simply didn't make the cut.

[sarc off]
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/02/2019 1:43 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Trump's border policy takes its toll on Mexico where migrant caravans are turned away by overwhelmed locals
[Yahoo] In the impoverished Mexican town of Tapachula, a short distance from the Guatemalan border, patience is wearing thin. “We’re used to seeing them [migrants] pass through but they didn’t stay before. Now it’s out of control," says Maria at her taco stand.

Business has been dire for her since a squalid migrant camp sprang up a stone's throw away in the town's central plaza - one of many makeshift camps for the thousands stuck between Trump's America and chaos back at home in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

There was a time when caravan after caravan of migrants were welcomed with open arms on their way north. But tightening border controls in the US and a calamitous visa policy in Mexico has triggered an accidental crisis of its own.

The mood has turned so sour in some nearby towns and villages that bands of migrants have been blocked from entering by stretched authorities.

Locals have run out of good will and refugee agencies are warning they are totally overwhelmed.

The mood has turned so sour in some towns and villages where bands of migrants have been blocked from entering Credit: Encarni Pindado
“The first caravan that came through was welcomed with food and even mariachis, but now they’re ungrateful,” says, Rosario Hernandez, who lives around the corner from Mexico’s Refugee Commission (COMAR) in Tapachula.

Hundreds of migrants, mostly from Central America, are staying on the pavements outside the agency day and night, waiting to be processed for papers that give them the legal right to stay in Mexico.

Without those, many are afraid of being detained and deported and even kidnapped and killed by criminal gangs and corrupt immigration officials.

Populist-leftist Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, also known as AMLO, began his presidency in December last year by expediting humanitarian visas for migrants, in sharp contrast with Trump’s hostile, anti-immigrant rhetoric. But the surge in applications saw a reversal in his policy just two weeks later.

Now AMLO, who has warm relations with Jeremy Corbyn, is trying to keep thousands of migrants in southern states via a new regional visitor visas. The pass limits them to states such as Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Quintana Roo and the Yucatan, which are some of the country’s poorest and will struggle to support this new influx of people. Towns close to Tapachula are already resisting migrants, and local politicians with stretched municipal budgets are stoking xenophobia in cynical efforts to keep migrants at bay.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In the impoverished Mexican town of Tapachula, a short distance from the Guatemalan border, patience is wearing thin. “We’re used to seeing them [migrants] pass through but they didn’t stay before. Now it’s out of control," says Maria at her taco stand.

Hmmm..wonder if the Orange Man reads history. For years Washington complained and Mexico City did nothing in stopping the Apache from crossing the Rio Grande and raiding Texas and the southwest territories. The Donks obstructed the Army budget (sound familiar?), but when the Apache raids became too frequent the Texas Donk delegation busted open funds needed to deal with the problem. We put full pressure on the border to include hot pursuit involving confrontation with obstructing Mexican military. Finally the Apache found it easier to raid and loot among the local Mexican population. That got a response from Mexico City.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/02/2019 7:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Arm all the "migrants" and send them home to clean up their own nest.
Posted by: AlanC || 06/02/2019 7:51 Comments || Top||

#3  AMLO is a friend of Corbyn's? If Corbyn wins in GB, send the colonizers there! At least it will be a contrast to the "Asians"!
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/02/2019 10:30 Comments || Top||



#6  1000 Migrants Apprehended at Texas Border in Largest Group Ever
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/02/2019 12:05 Comments || Top||


Europe
Fire in Bosnian migrant shelter injures 29
The title sounds dreadful until it is revealed that the colonists did this themselves — it wasn’t something bad guys did to them.
[AlAhram] A fire in a shelter for migrants colonists in northwest Bosnia on Saturday left 29 people hurt either from burns or injuries after they jumped from windows to escape the flames, authorities said.

The blaze, whose cause was not yet known, broke out after dawn in the privately-run facility in the town of Velika Kladusa, said Ale Siljdedic, front man for the regional interior ministry.

"We know at this time that there are 29 maimed, but we don't know the extent of the injuries," he said.

Around 500 migrants colonists were in the shelter at the time, he said. The fire may have been an accident as those sleeping tried to warm themselves against an unusually cold period, he said.

It was the second blaze in recent weeks to hit a place where migrants colonists were staying in Bosnia.

Three weeks ago, three migrants colonists died when a candle they were using set fire to the abandoned building they were in, according to Indira Kulenovic, a manager for Bosnia operations of the International Federation of Red Thingy and Red Islamic Thingy.

Since early 2018 Bosnia has found itself on the "Balkans route" used by migrants colonists seeking to enter EU countries. Around 3,500 migrants colonists are housed in eight shelters, mostly in the northwest, close to the border with EU member Croatia.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Like when they would dig up dead bodies and tell us they were just killed?
I remember that when I was there.
Same dead dude, different village.
Posted by: newc || 06/02/2019 1:23 Comments || Top||


Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters, counter-protesters face off in Berlin
[IsraelTimes] Numbers at al-Quds Day rally reportedly lower than expected; pro-Paleostinian demonstrators call Israel a ’child murderer,’ label Zionism as ’anti-Semitic’.

Several hundred pro-Paleostinian activists demonstrated against Israel in Berlin Saturday, as part of al-Quds Day events, the Arabic name for Jerusalem, while hundreds of others held counter-protests in support of the Jewish state.

The annual al-Quds Day events established by Iran see anti-Israel protests held around the world in solidarity with the Paleostinian cause on the last Friday of the Moslem holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Why d’you suppose there are Iranian sock puppets in Germany, of all places?
Around 2,000 people had been expected to take part in Berlin, but actual turnout was apparently at around 1,000 lower.
Fifty percent lower is significant. Perhaps people are finally becoming sensible on the subject... perhaps due to lower oil prices and American sanctions, the Mad Mullahs can’t afford to buy nearly as many protesters.
Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the space pirate fleet to attack Zemblonia...
around 800 people were protesting in support of Israel in two separate rallies, including several politicians, according to local press.

The German news agency dpa reported that the government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein; the Israeli ambassador in Germany, Jeremy Issacharoff; and Berlin’s top security official, Andreas Geisel, attended the pro-Israel rally.

Geisel urged the German government to consider banning the political wing of the terror group Hezbollah.

Police were out in force to prevent festivities between the groups.

This year’s protests come as the White House is promoting the June 25-26 meeting in the Gulf state of Bahrain as the first phase of its long-awaited Mideast peace plan. That plan, whose specifics have yet to be released, includes large-scale investment and infrastructure work in the Paleostinian territories, much of it funded by wealthy Arab countries.

Paleostinian leaders said they won’t attend the summit.

American officials said the Bahrain conference will not include the core political issues of the conflict: borders of a Paleostinian state, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Paleostinian refugees or Israeli security demands.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies


Home Front: WoT
Twitter Suspends Researcher Who Exposed Antifa-Journalist Connections
[BREITBART] Twitter has suspended the account of Eoin Lenihan, a researcher who mapped out connections between mainstream journalists and the violent far-left Antifa
...the armed wing of the Democratic Party...
movement on Twitter, following a mass-reporting campaign by left-wing activists.

Lenihan published the results of his research at Quillette, where he explained the twofold objective of his project ‐ first, to discover the journalists who were most closely linked to Antifa via social media. Second, to discover if those journalists covered the Death Eater movement favorably or negatively.

via Quillette:

In October 2018, my research partner and I decided to investigate the truth of this impression by using a mix of network mapping and linguistic analysis to see which prominent journalists who covered Antifa also were closely connected to leading Antifa figures on social media. We then inspected the Antifa-related stories these journalists had written.

We created a data set of 58,254 Antifa or Antifa-associated Twitter accounts based on the follows of 16 verified Antifa seed accounts. Using a software tool that analyzed the number and nature of connections associated with each individual account, we winnowed the 58,254 Antifa or Antifa-associated Twitter accounts down to 962 accounts. This represents a core group of Twitter users who are connected in overlapping ways to the most influential and widely followed Antifa figures. Of these 962 accounts, 22 were found to be verified‐of which 15 were journalists who work regularly with national-level news outlets.

The journalists included contributors to The Guardian, The New Republic, Al Jazeera, and the Huffington Post.

Unsurprisingly, Lenihan’s analysis of the journalists who mingle with Antifa on Twitter found that none of them covered the movement critically:

That correlation turned out to be quite pronounced: Of all 15 verified national-level journalists in our subset, we couldn’t find a single article, by any of them, that was markedly critical of Antifa in any way. In all cases, their work in this area consisted primarily of downplaying Antifa violence while advancing Antifa talking points, and in some cases quoting Antifa Death Eaters as if they were impartial experts.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Antifa

#1  I believe people like Lenihan to be akin to servants of God, fighting chaos with order and truth.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 06/02/2019 15:59 Comments || Top||


Judge finds Navy SEAL’s fair trial rights violated in war crimes case
[NYPOST] The military judge presiding over the court-martial of a U.S. Navy SEAL charged with war crimes said on Friday prosecutors who electronically tracked email communications of defense lawyers without a warrant violated the accused’s right to a fair trial.

The finding came near the end of a two-day hearing that wrapped up just 10 days before Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher is due to stand trial in a case that has drawn the attention of U.S. 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...
Gallagher is charged with murdering a helpless, maimed 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....
fighter in his custody, and with two counts of attempted murder in the wounding of two unarmed civilians, a schoolgirl and elderly man, shot from a sniper’s perch.

The charges stem from Gallagher’s deployment as a platoon leader to Iraq’s northern city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, in 2017.

He has pleaded not guilty
"Wudn't me."
to those and other charges, including obstructing justice. If convicted, the decorated career combat veteran could face life in prison.

Gallagher says he was wrongly accused and that fellow SEAL team members testifying against him, several under grants of immunity, are disgruntled subordinates who fabricated allegations to force him from command.

His defense team has filed motions seeking either to dismiss the charges altogether, or remove the lead prosecutor from the case, on grounds of alleged misconduct by the prosecutor and agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).

The defense specifically has accused Navy lawyers of conducting illegal surveillance of defense attorneys and news media using electronic tracking software secretly embedded in emails sent to the defense.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  You start to get the impression that even military discipline can't overcome lawyerly crookedness.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/02/2019 1:31 Comments || Top||

#2  I would think that the prosecutors should be charged with crimes in this case and on trial themselves.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/02/2019 2:00 Comments || Top||

#3  ...should and out of the military's hands. Clear case to violate the accused's fundamental civil rights of due process and conspiracy to do so. Give it to the Civil Rights division. It seems to call for the 'relief' of the chain of command who let this run.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/02/2019 7:35 Comments || Top||

#4  The trial is sounding more and more like ... Breaker Morant(1980).
Posted by: magpie || 06/02/2019 9:39 Comments || Top||

#5  ...There was something off about this from the beginning. I have found it almost impossible to believe that Chief Gallagher was able to do all the things charged in the call-a-lawyer-before-you-shoot ROE we had over there. The sheer viciousness of his treatment at the hands of the United States Navy raises serious, serious questions, and now we have not only admitted prosecutorial misbehavior, but it was reported Friday that three prosecution witnesses have now decided that they will not testify.

The bottom line is that to a great extent, the USN seems to be unable to prosecute anything that doesn't involve a seaman recruit and a DUI. No one - NO ONE - will ever face justice for the Fitzgerald collision now, after the CNO made public comments that he should have known better to have made. The McCain collision may never be sorted out to the point where we know why supposedly trained sailors were unable to use the controls of their own ship.

This now starts to worry me that if we get into it with the Chinese, we may well get our asses handed to us, along with several thousand body bags.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 06/02/2019 11:24 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm hoping that stories like this are aberrations. But I share Mike's fears that we may be neglecting basic military preparedness and functions in favor of some lawyerly fad of the day.
Posted by: Tom || 06/02/2019 14:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Having a US Army JAG Major sit in on Brigade staff meetings in AFG and tossing in his opinions was difficult for me to stomach as an old contractor sitting in the cheap seats. I don't remember the Albanian SF commander or his "S-2" paying much attention, ha.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/02/2019 16:42 Comments || Top||

#8  The Army JAG Corps appears to be rather ignorant about Art 99. To wit -

(8) willfully fails to do his utmost to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy any enemy troops, combatants, vessels, aircraft, or any other thing, which it is his duty so to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy; or
(9) does not afford all practicable relief and assistance to any troops, combatants, vessels, or aircraft of the armed forces belonging to the United States or their allies when engaged in battle;
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/02/2019 17:20 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Al-Quds rally rejects ‘deal of the century’
It’s not really the right of a bunch of students in Pakistan to decide what the Palestinians do, but y’all go right on posturing. Your country is still at war with Israel, too — not that Israel has noticed any effect from it. Nor the Palestinians, either.
[DAWN] KARACHI: The Imamia Students Organisation on Friday, observed as Yaum al-Quds, took out a rally to mark solidarity with Paleostinians and reject the "so-called deal of the century".

A large number of people, including women and kiddies, attended the rally from Sea Breeze to Tibet Centre on M.A. Jinnah Road, vowing to continue their support for an independent Paleostinian state with al-Quds as its capital.

The key speakers at the rally included Qasim Shamsi of the ISO, Allama Nazir Taqvi of Shia Ulema Council, Nasir Shirazi of Majlis-e-Wahdatul Moslemeen (MWM), Maulana Aqeel Anjum of Jamaat Ulema-e-Pakistain and other leaders of different parties.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies


Woman testifies against suspects in ‘forced conversion’ case
[DAWN] BADIN: A woman, mother of three, recorded her statement in the court of the second additional sessions judge of Badin on Friday in an alleged forced conversion case. She stated that she had been kidnapped about three months back and forced by her abductors to convert to Islam.

The woman stated in court that the suspects had taken her to an unknown village within Tharparkar, subjected her to criminal assault and kept here in illegal confinement during which she was forced to convert.

She said she wanted to live with her husband and children. The court allowed her to go with her husband.

The Hindu woman, a member of the Kolhi community, was recovered a few days after her husband reported her abduction to the Tando Bago police. He had nominated a man and his unknown associates in the FIR.

A Tando Bago police official, Mureed Junejo, told this news hound that the woman was recovered in a raid on a place within Haji Manik Jamali village.

"We have not been told [by the court] to take any legal action against the suspects," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Sonia Gandhi elected leader of Congress lawmakers in Lok Sabha
At the rate they’re going, it’s like being leader of Israel’s Labour party or Britain’s Tories.
[DAWN] United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi was elected the leader of 52 Congress politicians in Lok Sabha, Hindustan Times reported on Saturday.

According to Hindustan Times, the decision was announced at a parliamentary party meeting of the Congress held a week after Rahul Gandhi announced his decision to quit the post following the debacle he faced in the general election that saw the Narendra Modi-led NDA coming to power with 352 of the 542 seats polled.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Iraqi authorities uncover new mass grave in Anbar
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Iraqi authorities uncovered on Saturday a new mass grave containing remains of five people executed by 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 in Anbar.

The mass grave was unearthed in Ar-Rutbah district in Anbar, a security source told Alsumaria News.

An Islamic State terrorist -still under interrogation- had guided the authorities into the grave’s location, he added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
From Hezbollah spy to Haredi farmer
[Ynet] Avraham Sinai's life story is staggering - he was born Ibrahaim Yassin in Leb, and fled to Israel with his family after years of spying on the country's most notorious terrorists; today he is a 55-year-old rabbi who lives in Safed, where he is planning his latest venture, a goat farm.

In northern Israel, in the serene spirituality of Safed, lives a man whose past was anything but serene or spiritual. Today he is 55-year-old ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Avraham Sinai, a father and grandfather living in a caravan on the outskirts of the city. But in another life not too long ago, he was an Israeli spy inside Hezbollah named Ibrahim Yassin.

Sinai's story began 36 years ago, when he was 19-year-old cattle farmer Ibrahim Yassin, who had a pregnant wife named Diba. Ibrahim was away from home taking his cattle to graze when Diba went into labor without him.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/02/2019 00:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Palestinians fear ‘deal of the century’ will finish off their state
[DAWN] The US blueprint to end the conflict between Israel and the Pales­tinians, still in draft form after almost two years, is seen by Paleostinians, and by some Arab officials and politicians, as a plan to finish off the Paleostinian cause.

The initiative, driven by Jared Kushner, 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 son-in-law and White House adviser, was billed by the US president as the "deal of the century".

While its precise outlines have yet to be revealed, Paleostinian and Arab sources who have been briefed on the draft plan say Kushner has jettisoned the two-state solution ‐ the long-standing US and international formula that envisages an independent Paleostinian state alongside Israel in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gazoo.

After several postponements, Washin­g­ton plans a first formal outing of the economic components of the plan at a "Peace for Prosperity" workshop in Bahrain in June.

The plan faces possible delays due to political upheaval in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must fight another election after failing to form a government.

Kushner and Trump, with backgrounds in real estate rather than diplomacy, seem to be approaching this hitherto insoluble conflict as a transaction, three Arab officials briefed on the plan said.

If the politics keep failing, the reasoning seems to be, then try dangling tens of billions of dollars before the Paleostinians and Israel’s Arab neighbours and do a deal that could unlock prosperity for the Paleostinians and security for Israel, these officials said.

Politically, the deal envisages an expansion of Gazoo into part of northern Egypt, under Egyptian control, Palesti­nian officials briefed on the plan said.

Paleostinians would be left with a smaller share of the West Bank and some areas on the outskirts of Jerusalem and no control over their borders.

Western and Arab sources confirmed the outline of the plan.

Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s Middle East envoy, said "rumours" about an expansion into Egypt’s Sinai desert were false. He declined to give details of the political plan before it is released.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: PLO

#1  sounds good too me
Posted by: chris || 06/02/2019 9:57 Comments || Top||

#2  The question is, will Egypt agree to this ?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 06/02/2019 15:54 Comments || Top||

#3  That the Paleos have never given up the notion of the destruction of Israel, they're basically saying in the end - There Can Be Only One. So be it.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/02/2019 17:17 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Justice Department prepares antitrust investigation against Google while federal regulators keep watch on Amazon as Trump administration puts the squeeze on big tech
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/02/2019 03:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



#3  On tech oligarchs, seen over at The Woodpile Report:

They took over means of publishing which they did not create and then succeeded in claiming it as their property while at the same time excusing themselves from any legal liability for what was published by claiming they are merely “platforms” and then began to Thought Police the publishing they deny they are engaged in.

This is the crux of the matter. A common carrier like the phone company is not responsible for content, like death threats, sent over it's wires and cannot censor your conversation. A publisher, on the other hand, is responsible for what they print and must filter legally objectionable stuff.

Right now, as the law stands, Twitter and Facebook enjoy the best of both worlds. They can't be held responsible for content, no matter how immoral or illegal AND they freely suppress political content they disagree with. Congress could fix this, but since the tech oligarchs lean Democratic, don't hold your breath.
Posted by: SteveS || 06/02/2019 16:55 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
French delegation shares ‘immense recognition’ of Kurdish sacrifice in ISIS war
France is supporting the Kurds nobly and generously. Tres bien, guys!
[Rudaw] La Belle France recognizes the sacrifices of those who fought 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....
(ISIS) in Syria and continues to stand by its Kurdish allies, a visiting delegation of French parliamentarians said Friday.

The Foreign Relations Committee delegation from Gay Paree met with officials from the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration (AA) of North and East Syria on Friday in the town of Ain Issa, just north of Raqqa ‐ once the de facto capital of the ISIS caliphate.

"La Belle France has been at your side throughout this, and La Belle France will continue to be at your side for the reconstruction and the stabilization of this region," committee head Marielle de Sarnez told journalists following the meeting.

"I want to give our immense recognition for the sacrifices they made, sacrifices that go beyond the borders of this part of the world ‐ La Belle France in particular recognizes this, Europe
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
in particular recognizes this," she added.

La Belle France deployed troops, weaponry, and airpower in support of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to push back the ISIS onslaught. The jihadists were cleared from their last redoubt of Baghouz, Deir ez-Zor province in March.

The AA ‐ formerly known as the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria ‐ sent its own delegation to Gay Paree in April, where President Emmanuel Macron pledged continued military and financial support for the "humanitarian needs and the socio-economic stabilization of civilian populations in Syria."

The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the most dubious 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....

condemned the visit, accusing Gay Paree of legitimizing the SDF.

Ankara views the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which make up backbone of the SDF, as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an gang fighting for greater political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey.

La Belle France renewed its pledge of support for Syria’s Kurds just as 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 looking to draw down the American presence in northern Syria.

Trump made the shock announcement in December 2018 to withdraw all 2,000 US troops, later backtracking to allow a smaller force to remain. It led to fears the Kurds would be left exposed to attack by Turkey or the Syrian regime.

Macron and even some of Trump’s closest advisors viewed the move as a betrayal of their Kurdish allies who bore the brunt of the fight against ISIS.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iran rolls out HAWK anti-aircraft defenses for Khomeini anniversary
Golly. Is it real this time, or is it, as usual, vapourware?
[Rudaw] Tehran will deploy its HAWK anti-aircraft defense system on Monday to protect its airspace from potential attack when thousands gather in the Iranian capital to mourn the father of the Islamic Revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini, security officials said.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians will descend on Khomeini’s Mausoleum in southern Tehran to remember the leader of the 1970 Islamic Revolution who united the country against Iraqi aggression in the 1980-88 war.

He died June 3, 1989.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  ...The HAWKs are quire real. 45 years old, but real. Some years back, a pic got out of one of their F-14s rigged to carry one in place of the AIM-54s they were supposed to have/gave to the Russians.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 06/02/2019 6:29 Comments || Top||


Turkey, Russia face conflicts over Syria’s push into Idlib
[Rudaw] Ankara and Moscow are again facing an escalation of violence in Syria’s last rebel-held territory, a development that puts their cooperation to the test even as they support opposing sides in the eight-year war that has devastated Syria.

An all-out offensive by Syrian government forces to capture Idlib in northwestern Syria from Lions of Islam could unleash an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, for the area is home to 3 million people.
How tiresome — it’s always about to be an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Damascus rejects Arab Summit’s criticism of Iran’s presence in Syria
[ALMASDARNEWS] The government in Damascus has rejected the final statement of the Arab emergency summit held in Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, which criticizes what it called "Iranian intervention" into Syrian affairs, AP reports.

Damascus said the statement was an unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of Syria.

The Iranian presence is "legitimate because it came at the request of the Syrian government and contributed to support Syria’s efforts in combating terrorism supported by some of the participants in this summit," according to the Syrian Foreign Ministry.

The summit should instead condemn the involvement of other countries in Syrian affairs, "which lacked legitimacy and legality" and provided "unlimited support in various forms to terrorist groups and prolonging the crisis in Syria," the statement added.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Terror Networks
ISIS bride helping CIA track down Baghdadi
You go, girl!
[ALMASDARNEWS] The most senior female ISIS prisoner has played a significant role in the CIA’s manhunt for 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...
, it has been revealed by the Guardian.

The ISIS woman, Nisrine Assad Ibrahim, better known by her doom-inducing nom de guerre, Umm Sayyaf, has reportedly helped in joint CIA-Kurdish efforts to track down Mr Baghdadi by providing detailed accounts of his movements over the years, including the locations of safe houses as well as the obscure traveling routes that he takes.

Miss Sayyaf, 29-years-old, and believed to be Iraqi, was captured in a 2015 US Delta Force raid in Syria, in which her husband, ISIS’s then-second in command and the group’s so-called oil minister, Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
, was killed.

Since being detained, Miss Sayyaf has reportedly spent many hours helping American Sherlocks use maps to determine where Baghdadi may be bogged down.

"They were very polite [the American Sherlocks] and wore civilian clothes," she told the Guardian, "I showed them everything I knew."

In February 2016, Miss Sayyaf is said to have provided the location of a house in the northern Iraqi city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
where she believed Baghdadi was hiding out. Yet, despite being so close to bagging the world’s most wanted man, Kurdish officials told the Guardian that the US did not want to carry out an Arclight airstrike on the home for fear of killing civilians in the tightly packed neighbourhood.

"I told them where the house was," Umm Sayyaf is reported as having said.

"I knew he’d been there because it was one of the houses that was provided for him, and one of the places he liked the most," she told the Guardian.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State




Who's in the News
32[untagged]
9Islamic State
5Taliban
4Arab Spring
3Govt of Pakistan
3al-Shabaab (AQ)
3Govt of Syria
2Govt of Iran Proxies
2Govt of Iran
2Moslem Colonists
2Sublime Porte
2al-Nusra
2Govt of Pakistain Proxies
1TTP
1Hezbollah
1Antifa
1PLO

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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...
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2019-06-02
  Al-Quds rally rejects ‘deal of the century’
Sat 2019-06-01
  Islamic Jihad chief says Gaza groups can fire 1,000 rockets a day at Israel
Fri 2019-05-31
  COAS endorses death sentence for retired brigadier, a civilian for 'espionage, leaking information'
Thu 2019-05-30
  IDF Destroying Hezbollah's Last, Largest Cross-Border Attack Tunnel
Wed 2019-05-29
  22 Released from 'Islamic State Kidnapping' in DR Congo
Tue 2019-05-28
  IS claims responsibility for a Bangladesh explosion
Mon 2019-05-27
  Gunmen raid Burkina Faso church, kill four
Sun 2019-05-26
  Sri Lanka Troops Launch Major Hunt for Islamists Linked to Suicide Attacks
Sat 2019-05-25
  3 killed, 19 wounded in blast inside Quetta mosque ahead of Friday prayers
Fri 2019-05-24
  Emir of Al-Qaeda allied Ansar Ghazwatul Hind, Zakir Musa, has been officially killed
Thu 2019-05-23
  Algeria Army Chief Says Has ‘No Political’ Ambition
Wed 2019-05-22
   'American Taliban' released
Tue 2019-05-21
  8-10 Somali Teens Armed With Hammers Attack Bystanders at East Bank Rail Station in MN
Mon 2019-05-20
  Houthi's launch IRBM at Mecca!
Sun 2019-05-19
  Islamic State in West Africa Forming ‘Jihadist Proto-State’ in Nigeria

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