[SUDANTRIBUNE] Negotiations to deliver humanitarian aid to conflict-stricken regions in Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... have hit a roadblock, as the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) insists on the involvement of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the Juba talks, according to the Sudanese Defence minister Yassin Ibrahim.
In statements after his turn to Port Sudan from Juba, Ibrahim accused the SPLM-N of insisting on the participation of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group involved in the ongoing conflict, and of rejecting the government’s proposed aid delivery plan.
He criticized the SPLM-N’s intransigent stance and accused the group of aligning with the RSF, which he referred to as a "terrorist militia." He expressed regret over the breakdown of negotiations and emphasized the government’s commitment to prioritizing humanitarian needs over political or security objectives.
The Minister, who is also the head of the government negotiating team, further highlighted the SPLM-N’s refusal to sign any agreement or consider the government’s proposals, including a plan for securing specific aid routes in conflict zones. He also noted the SPLM-N’s suggestion for unilateral agreements with the UN, a proposal he deemed contrary to international principles of state illusory sovereignty.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2024 00:00 ||
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[AFRICANEWS] The US and Niger have agreed that American troops will leave the country "no later" than 15 September, they announced in a joint statement on Sunday.
They said the two countries had "reached a disengagement agreement to effect the withdrawal of U.S. forces, which has already begun".
The US has relied on Niger as its primary base for monitoring regional jihadist activity.
The military junta which seized power last year has already ordered French troops to leave, while moving closer to Russia.
The statement commended the "joint sacrifices of Nigerien and U.S. forces in the fight against terrorism", adding that the withdrawal would not affect the continuation of US-Niger relations.
"The United States and Niger are committed to ongoing diplomatic dialogue to define the future of their bilateral relations," it read.
The deal was reached after marathon talks between the two countries in Niamey.
In March, Niger announced the end of its military agreement with the US. Military spokesperson Col Amadou Abdramane accused the US of raising objections about the allies that Niger had chosen.
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05/21/2024 00:00 ||
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[Breitbart] While the Islamic world expressed their condolences for the death of the Iranian President called by critics the “butcher of Tehran”, the European Union stood out among the democratic West by joining in.
Several political leaders of Iran were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday, apparently as their aircraft got into difficulty in bad weather as it returned to the country from neighbouring Azerbaijan. Among those onboard the downed helicopter was Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and the governor of one of Iran’s northern provinces Malek Rahmati, as well as other members of their entourage and crew, Anadolu Agency states.
Breitbart News reported on Ebrahim Raisi in 2023 when he was welcomed to the United States by the Biden White House to attend the United Nations in New York, despite the then-Iranian President being subject to U.S. sanctions for “complicity in serious human rights violations”. Raisi had long before earned the nickname the “Butcher of Tehran” and put on the sanctions list for having “participated in a so-called ‘death commission’ that ordered the extrajudicial executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988.”
The U.S. sanctions order also noted Raisi had been “involved in the regime’s brutal crackdown on Iran’s Green Movement protests that followed the chaotic and disorderly 2009 election”. As reported, Raisi had: “an extensive record of ordering mass executions of opponents of the Islamic regime and is accused of involvement in a range of egregious human rights abuses, including the execution of thousands of political prisoners, including pregnant women and teenage girls.”
While Iranian allies were quick to send condolences, Western states have been more circumspect. Nevertheless, European Council President Charles Michel, a Belgian centrist-liberal, was quick to make an expression on behalf of the whole European Union, he said.
Michel wrote on Monday morning: “The EU expresses its sincere condolences for the death of President Raisi and Foreign Minister Abdollahian, as well as other members of their delegation and crew in a helicopter accident. Our thoughts go to the families.”
Theo Francken, a Eurosceptic Member of Parliament also from Belgium who formerly served in that country’s government as immigration minister and who is active in NATO’s middle east group expressed concern at the European message. Responding first to the announcement that the EU was acting in “solidarity” with Iran to help it in the immediate aftermath of the crash, the politician stated: “Are you totally crazy? This guy is a first class mass murderer.
“What’s next? Saving [Putin]? What a club of geopolitical dwarfs is this EU commission”.
On Monday after Michel’s message of sympathy was broadcast, Francken responded again, calling it hypocritical for European leaders to express condolences to Iran while the regime is holding a European diplomat and aid worker hostage. He said: “Oh boy, European condolences for the death of a butcher and cruel mass murderer.
“Where are all those fake tears for Olivier Vandecasteele and Johan Floderus your EU diplomat who is still been kidnapped by the regime. You don’t speak in my name.”
That Michel did not speak in the name of all Europeans gained some traction, and shortly after Geert Wilders, the right-populist presently working to form a new government in the Netherlands joined the call. Decrying “EU solidarity with evil”, he wrote Monday morning: “not in my name”.
The earliest expressions of sympathy for Iran came from its allies worldwide, with statements published by the Chinese and Russian Presidents, India, Pakistan, and even OPEC. The Hamas terror group and Yemen’s Houthi militia, both militarily backed by Iran in their wars against the West, also sent “deepest condolences”, reports the Jerusalem Post.
Condolences from Western government leaders are harder to come by, so far. Indeed, Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni referred onto to it on Monday morning in the context of expressing hope the next generation of Iranian leadership would commit itself the stability and peace in the region.
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05/21/2024 00:00 ||
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[Washington Examiner] The International Criminal Court again is proving itself a misbegotten menace, indeed an illegitimate body, as its top prosecutor, Karim Khan, seeks an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Actually, the two assertions here are separate, although the first helps demonstrate the second. First, the idea of warrants for the Israeli officials is outrageous. Second, even if it weren’t seeking to arrest the Israelis, the ICC is illegitimate in concept and design.
As for Khan’s request for warrants, it also includes ones for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and two other top Hamas officials. The simultaneous warrant requests apparently are supposed to indicate how neutral and evenhanded the ICC’s team is. Instead, the purported "balance" is offensive. It essentially puts a terrorist group on the same moral and legal plane as the fairly elected leader of a genuinely representative democracy. It all but directly equates the deliberate targeting and torturing of innocent civilians during an unprovoked act of terrorism, on the one hand, with, on the other hand, the "just war" response of the injured party, one that goes out of its way to warn civilians of impending military action and to help provide escape corridors for their safe passage.
Moreover, the specific accusations Khan made against the two Israeli officials are demonstrably false. He told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that the Israelis are guilty of "causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict. ... The fact that Hamas fighters need water doesn’t justify denying water from all the civilian population of Gaza."
[Breitbart] The Israeli rap duo "Ness and Stilla" has reportedly been denied a visa to perform in Miami, Florida, over false accusations that their hit song, "Harbu Darbu," promotes "genocide" by backing Israel’s war against terror.
The song, as Breitbart News reported in November, was written in reaction to the terror attack of October 7, and expresses the spirit of a nation mobilized for war. It calls out Hamas and Hezbollah — and celebrities who back them.
[NEWARAB] Extremist Israeli ministers have called on their military to invade and occupy south Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... and destroy the Hezbollah gang, as cross-border fighting escalates.
On Monday, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Israel should storm Lebanon and "destroy Hezbollah in its entirety."
Ben-Gvir echoed similar threats made a day earlier by Israel’s finance minister, saying that while he agreed with Bezalel Smotrich’s call to forcefully push Hezbollah away from the border and set up a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, such a plan "wouldn’t be enough."
"We would need to do another thing — and that’s a war that would destroy our enemies," Ben-Gvir said about Hezbollah.
"Even if they’re pushed back from the border, even if there’s a security zone, even if they move a bit — you can’t just leave people behind whose entire purpose and essence is to destroy the State of Israel," the far-right minister said.
"What they don’t do in six months they will do in a year, and what they don’t do in a year they will do in two," he added. "We must not leave this to our children. Not in the south [Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip] and not in the north [Lebanon]."
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05/21/2024 00:00 ||
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[GEO.TV] Israel intends to broaden its military operation in Rafah, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday told a senior aide to US President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. The very model of probity.... , who has warned against major action in the southern Gazook city that may risk mass civilian casualties.
Israel describes Rafah, which abuts the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip's border with the Egyptian Sinai, as the last stronghold of Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... fighters whose governing and combat capabilities it has been trying to dismantle during the more than seven-month-old war.
After weeks of public disagreements with Washington over the Rafah planning, Israel on May 6 ordered Paleostinian civilians to evacuate parts of the city and began troop and tank incursions.
"We are committed to broadening the ground operation in Rafah to the end of dismantling Hamas and recovering the hostages," a statement from Gallant's office quoted him as telling visiting US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
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05/21/2024 00:00 ||
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[Jpost] For several months now, there has been a heated debate between the US and Israel about whether it would take four weeks (Israel’s view) or four months (the US’s view) to evacuate the Palestinian civilians taking refuge in Rafah so that the IDF could operate there — an estimated 1.2 to 1.4 million people.
Another heated debate was regarding whether that sheer volume of civilians in such a tiny area could be moved without a mass loss of civilian life; Israel wagered "yes," and the US said "no."
The IDF resolved this debate on Monday in its announcement that it had moved somewhere between two-thirds to 80% of the Palestinian civilian population out of Rafah — with a minimal number of casualties — in under two weeks.This was the first shocking swing of fate, due largely to extraordinary IDF achievements. Nothing succeeds like success...
Posted by: Grom the reflective ||
05/21/2024 00:00 ||
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#1
The US is committed to whining about civilian casualties.
So whatever the IDF comes up with the US will, at best, say nothing and probably say 'too much force'.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
05/21/2024 16:13 Comments ||
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[THEHILL] Pope Francis
...Argentine liberation theologist, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He was elected pope in 2013. Rather than setting up shop in Avignon, where he belongs, the first Jesuit Pope chose to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse instead of the papal apartments. He is big on climate change, against consumerism, and in favor of throwing a blanket over homosexual activity within the clergy. He's not real sure about the Resurrection, about Christ's divinity, and a few other things that would have gotten him burned at the stake a few hundred years ago, but he's hot for a certain South American Earth Mother Goddess... denounced efforts to limit migration at the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday, calling out a Texas effort to shut down a Catholic charity "madness."
The Catholic leader said in a "60 Minutes" interview with Norah O’Donnell that American leaders should instead embrace forgiveness toward migrants colonists entering the country.
"Migration is something that makes a country grow," he said. "They say that you Irish migrated and brought the whiskey, and that the Italians migrated and brought the mafia. Migrants sometimes suffer a lot. They suffer a lot."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in February attempted to subpoena Annunciation House, a Catholic charity that acts as a temporary boarding house for migrants colonists from Mexico. He accused the group of "alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house."
"That is madness. Sheer madness," Francis said. "To close the border and leave them there, that is madness."
"The migrant has to be received," he continued, advocating against GOP efforts to close the southern border. "Thereafter, you see how you are going to deal with him. Maybe you have to send him back, I don’t know, but each case ought to be considered humanely."
A Texas judge blocked Paxton’s subpoena against Annunciation House in March, though his office filed a similar complaint against the charity again Friday.
The Pope’s comments come as Congress is again at a standstill over discussions on border reform. After a previously negotiated bipartisan deal fell apart in February, few attempts have been made to start negotiations again on an issue that Republicans have dubbed a "crisis."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2024 00:00 ||
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#1
How many of those "dreamers" is the Holy See willing to give refuge to?
#2
The Vatican walls are 39 feet high. The Vatican refuses to abide by Italian law, it's host country. Instead, it abides by "Fundamental Law of Vatican City State" which a penal violation can carry a sentence of 30 to 35 years of incarceration penalty for illegal activities.
[AFRICANEWS] The death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash will be a "big loss" to the country, especially as it comes amid a "domestic legitimacy crisis" and Tehran's "contested relationship" with Israel, an analyst said Monday.
Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and several other officials were found dead on Monday, hours after their helicopter crashed in a foggy, mountainous region of the country’s northwest, state media reported.
Sanam Vakil, the director of the North Africa and Middle East Programme at the London-based think-tank Director, Chatham House said the country's political establishment will now "put on a brave face, show functionality as usual, present this as business as normal of a system and life will go on".
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> announced Monday that Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, would serve as the country’s acting president until elections are held.
Under the Iranian constitution, Iran’s vice first president takes over if the president dies, with Khamenei’s assent, and a new presidential election would be called within 50 days.
Vakil said the establishment will favour a candidate who can "maintain ideological legitimacy, and protect the system."
She said there was a possibility of "protests or instability in Iran."
Mass protests in the country have raged for years.
The most recent involved the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who had been earlier detained over allegedly not wearing a hijab, or headscarf.
Raisi won Iran’s 2021 presidential election, a vote that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s history.
The crash comes as the Middle East remains unsettled by the Israel-Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... war, during which Raisi launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel just last month.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2024 00:00 ||
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#1
The IRGC in the Age of Ebrahim Raisi Raisi, who assumes Iran’s presidency on 5 August after the country’s June 2021 election, has set his eyes on further empowering the IRGC with key ministerial and bureaucratic positions likely to be awarded to guardsmen under his new government.
[GEO.TV] As Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... mourns the unfortunate death of its president, Ebrahim Raisi — a potential successor to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> , in a helicopter crash on Sunday, the state-run Islamic Theocratic Republic News Agency (IRNA) has reported that the chopper faced an accident due to "technical failure". i.e.: Its elevation was lower than the ground
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, Friday Prayer leader of the city of Tabriz Mohammad Ali al-e Hashem and others including pilots and flight crew also died when the ill-fated aircraft crashed in mountain terrain amid poor weather on its way back from the East Azerbaijan province.
All passengers, including Raisi, were declared dead when charred wreckage of the Bell 212 helicopter was found early on Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions.
The funeral procession for President Raisi will be held in Tehran on Tuesday.
Khamenei, who holds ultimate power with a final say on foreign policy and Iran's nuclear programme, announced a five-day mourning period while naming Iran’s First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber as interim president and directing him to ensure the election of a new president within 50 days, as per the country’s constitution.
Though the crash came at a time of growing dissent within Iran over an array of political, social and economic crises, with Iran's holy manal rulers facing international pressure over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme and heightening tensions with Israel in the backdrop of war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , any indication of foul play was ruled out by Iran’s state TV.
However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... former Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif ...Persian foreign minister, Mouthpiece of Mullahs, good friend of John Kerry and similar exemplars of Merkin values... has held the United States responsible for Raisi’s death and "his entourage because of its sanctions on the country’s aviation industry".
"The Iranian nation has faced great events in these 45 years, and according to the Supreme Fearless Leader of the Islamic Revolution ...Iran's doddering head theocrat... , they will overcome this tragic event," the state-TV quoted Zarif as saying
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05/21/2024 00:00 ||
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Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/21/2024 10:34 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The 1981 Panamanian Air Force Twin Otter crash occurred on July 31, 1981, when a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter of the Panamanian Air Force, with identity code FAP-205, crashed at Marta Hill, in the community of Coclesito, in adverse weather conditions while on its final approach to the airport. All seven people on board, including General Omar Torrijos Herrera, who led the country's military dictatorship between 1968 and 1981, were killed.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The cause of the crash of the helicopter carrying the Iranian President and Foreign Minister was a technical malfunction, the IRNA news agency reported on May 20.
IRNA: the helicopter crash from Raisi was due to a technical malfunction
As a result of the disaster, four leaders of the Islamic state were killed, as well as the head of Raisi’s security, pilots and crew members, the authors noted.
“Raisi died on Sunday, May 19, 2024, as a result of a helicopter crash due to a technical malfunction,” the publication said.
As Regnum reported, on May 19, a helicopter carrying several Iranian leaders crashed in the north-west of the country in the Verzegan region. The official Iranian delegation was returning on three helicopters after a visit to Azerbaijan. A rescue operation was carried out. A number of states, including Russia, have expressed their readiness to help Tehran in its search. Two special flights of the Ministry of Emergency Situations went to Iran. The location of the helicopter was established.
On the morning of May 20, Iranian Vice President Mohsen Mansouri confirmed reports of the deaths of the country's President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, and the Governor of East Azerbaijan Province Malek Rahmati as a result of the emergency. Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber will serve as acting president of the Islamic republic until elections are held. Raisi's funeral will take place on May 21.
The cause of the plane crash was probably extremely difficult weather conditions, Iranian Ambassador to Belarus Alireza Sanei told reporters on May 20. He noted that the flight took place over mountainous, inaccessible terrain in conditions of thick fog, snow, and minimal visibility. The exact cause of the accident will be determined by the commission, which will take time, Sanei added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to the leaders of Iran and emphasized that Raisi, as a true friend of Russia, made an invaluable contribution to the development of good neighborly relations between the countries and made great efforts to bring them to the level of strategic partnership.
Putin also held talks with Mokhber on May 20. The interlocutors emphasized that both sides are committed to further consistent strengthening of comprehensive Russian-Iranian interaction.
After the death of Raisi and other leaders of Iran, opposition forces in this country will try to destabilize the situation, but the authorities will be able to maintain control, political scientist, historian, expert on the problems of the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia Semyon Bagdasarov noted earlier in an interview with Regnum news agency.
#3
That, and the Bell 212 they were flying in was at least 30-40 years old. 'New' repair and maintenance parts might have been difficult to obtain, so might have been sourced from who knows where or cobbled together from who knows what.
And don't forget inshallah maintenance.....
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
05/21/2024 7:36 Comments ||
Top||
#6
#2,3
(i) Iran lost a lot of face in April.
(ii) Iran may appear monolithic from the West, but there are actually several power groups contesting the rule.
[State.gov] The United States expresses its official condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and other members of their delegation in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran. As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
[THEGATEWAYPUNDIT] Iranian women are celebrating the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and dancing on his "dirty grave."
The "Butcher of Tehran" oversaw a brutal crackdown on the protests in 2022 that rose against the Islamic "morality police."
As reported earlier, a helicopter carrying Iranian President and mass murderer Ebrahim Raisi crashed while visiting a northern region.
The Iranian state reported Raisi’s death.
Raisi oversaw a brutal crackdown on the Iranian people protesting following the murder of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini by regime thugs.
Amini died from injuries sustained at the hands of police after her arrest for the "improper" wearing of a hijab.
Under Raisi, and according to a UN Human Rights Council report earlier this year, the monthslong security crackdown killed more than 500 people, and over 22,000 were detained.
The report also found that Iranian security forces raped and sexually assaulted many of the women in jug.
Brave women in Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... have shared their joyous reactions to Amini’s death on social media.
Mersedeh Shahinkar, who was blinded by Iranian security forces after taking part in the mass protests, shared, "We freely dance and celebrate on your dirty grave."
Shahinkar was joined by Sima Moradbeigi, who lost her right arm after being shot by police during a women’s rights protest.
A mother whose son was executed by Raisi only a few months ago shared a video of her celebration at the news.
Iranian journalist Masih AlinejadI said of the video, "I told you Iranian women are maimed, but unbowed to their oppressors. My social media is flooded with videos of the family members of those killed by the President of the Islamic Theocratic Republic, celebrating his death."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2024 00:00 ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Kirill Semenov
[REGNUM] On May 15, ISIS reported attacks on local soldiers and the Wagner Group (as they still call all Russian forces) in Mali and Niger, including the bombing of 20 people on mines in eastern Niger and the hijacking of a Red Cross ambulance in the western part of this country.
Thus, the local branch of the terrorist organization is trying to demonstrate its activity in the region and at the moment is probably the main opponent of the Afrika Korps of the Russian Defense Ministry, which was deployed in a number of countries in the Sahel - a region also called the “Greater Sahara”.
There is a whole mosaic of terrorist groups and organizations operating here that oppose local governments. But the main role is played by two terrorist organizations: in addition to the one indicated, Al-Qaeda. They have integrated smaller factions and are still present in many countries in the region, despite attempts to combat them (or imitate it) by anti-terrorist forces led by the United States and France.
Therefore, Western forces are leaving this part of Africa today, in many countries of which new governments have come to power.
AFRIKA KORPS, THE TURKISH FACTOR AND FIRST SUCCESSES
The Russians are acting in Africa not to impose enslaving agreements on local governments, as the Americans and French did, but only to ensure security from international terrorism, preventing its spread throughout the region and the world.
Just the sheer noble goodness of their pure Russian hearts, is it? Kewl.
The countries of the European Union and the United States are unable to provide such assistance. They make assistance programs for Africans conditional on compliance with a number of conditions. Firstly, from the promotion of “democratic reforms” and “human rights”, secondly, from the participation of local authorities in the fight against illegal migration in the interests of the EU, and thirdly, from obligations to counteract Russian influence in the region.
Russia does not make such demands and is ready to provide assistance to either a military or civilian government, democratic or Islamic, only in order to prevent terrorist leaders from taking the place of this government.
However, Western countries and Russia are not the only external players in the region.
For example, in Niger, the piquancy of the situation is added by the fact that, according to Syrian opposition sources, a group of 300 fighters of anti-government Syrian formations from the Sultan Murad, Al-Hamza and Suleiman Shah groups, operating under under the auspices of Turkey.
According to sources, they are in Niger to help the new government of this country in the fight against terrorism after it asked the Americans to “exit”.
In addition, Ankara supplies Bayraktar drones to Mali and Burkina Faso, where Russian units also operate. Therefore, it is possible that Africa will become a field of cooperation between Russia and Turkey in the counter-terrorism field.
Cooperation or opposition, given that those groups are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Turkish government. Interesting times, guys — do try to see the amusing side of this little project you’ve taken on after encouraging the locals to push out France and America.
Since the deployment of the Afrika Korps in the Greater Sahara, local armed forces have been able to achieve important successes in countering terrorists. Most notably, in April, Malian government forces killed Abu Huzeifa, a local ISIS affiliate commander, in a large-scale operation in the northern Menaka region.
And earlier this year, the Burkina Faso Air Force, where Russian forces and advisers are also deployed, killed the second-most senior leader of ISIS in the Greater Sahara, Abdulmalik Haroun Oulel, as a result of an air strike on a convoy. It is a major victory for Burkina Faso's army and a sign that the country's recent military-led modernization campaign, led by Russia, is allowing them to more effectively target jihadists.
FULANI, SAHRAWI AND TUAREG
It is significant that Abdulmalik came from the new generation of ISIS-BS leaders, since he was a native of the region and a representative of the local Fulani people, semi-sedentary inhabitants of the Sahel, who were discriminated against by local governments. Therefore, the Fulani often joined the ranks of terrorists and constituted the majority in their ranks. This applies to both ISIS and al-Qaeda.
The two previous ISIS leaders in the region with the corresponding surname al-Sahrawi (i.e. "Sahrawis") were from Western Sahara and Morocco and had previously operated in Algeria before retreating to the Sahel, where they led local Fulani militias.
In October 2015, Adnan Abu al-Walid al-Sahrawi, a jihadist fighter originally from Morocco, along with several supporters from the Mourabitoun group operating in Algeria and Mali and associated with al-Qaeda, pledged allegiance to " Islamic State".
However, at that time the activities of Abu al-Walid’s group in Africa went almost unnoticed. This was also related to the delay in recognition of this branch by the “headquarters” of the terrorists, which took place only in 2017. And when this group was nevertheless included in the “caliphate”, it was first reassigned to the branch of “ISIS - West Africa velayat”, from which “ISIS in the Greater Sahara” remains dependent to this day, despite recognition as an independent factions.
During those years, the dominant jihadist organization in the Sahel was Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). It has carried out terrorist attacks as far away as Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, and Grand Bassam in Côte d'Ivoire.
Back in 1998, Hassan Khattab, the commander of one of the scattered extremist units during the “black decade” (civil war) in Algeria, formed his own organization called the “Salafi Group of Preaching and Combat.”
In 2006, its leadership joined the global al-Qaeda network and swore allegiance to Bin Laden. A few months later, they renamed themselves Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The group then moved its activities from Algeria to the Sahel, primarily to Mali.
AQIM was able to unite several disparate groups in the north and central part of Mali, including the remnants of the Mourabitun movement. Then, in early March 2017, an organization associated with AQIM, Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), appeared. In it, in addition to the Fulani, who make up the majority in ISIS, there are also Tuaregs, along with their Salafi-jihadist group “Ansar al-Sunna”.
"SAHEL PHENOMENON"
Unlike the Syrian-Iraqi conflict arc, where ISIS waged an irreconcilable fight not only with Iraqi and Syrian government forces, but also with its competitors from Al-Qaeda, in the Greater Sahara, the dominant JNIM tried to maintain friendly relations with ISIS -BS.
In the expert community, such relations between the two groups were defined as the “Sahel phenomenon” or “Sahel exception”: local factions of the two largest terrorist groups were able to move in parallel courses for some time without coming into conflict with each other.
The ideas of reconciliation with ISIS (contrary to the general course of Al-Qaeda) were promoted by three AQIM field commanders.
The first of them, al-Humam, was known for openly supporting the Paris terrorist attacks on November 13, 2015.
The second, Abu Iyad al-Tunisi, leader of the Ansar al-Sharia group and member of the AQIM Shura, believed that ISIS could be “returned to the right path.” A noticeable number of his yesterday's recruits from Ansar al-Sharia were already in the ranks of the organization in Syria, and some occupied important positions.
Both were killed by French troops on February 21, 2019 in Elak, north of Timbuktu.
The third AQIM commander who tried to get closer to ISIS, Abu Yahya al-Jazairi, was killed during an attack on Malian armed forces in Bamba on April 6, 2020.
After this, the two groups moved on to open confrontation.
In 2020, ISIS invaded JNIM-controlled territories, committed atrocities against civilians (potentially alienating locals from the jihadist movement itself), and demonstrated the ability to overshadow JNIM activities with terrorist attacks.
The weakening of JNIM and the strengthening of ISIS in the Sahel was also facilitated by the fact that the then government of Mali began negotiations with prominent Tuareg JNIM leaders and openly announced this. These negotiations split the ranks of AQIM/JNIM and pushed its most radical elements to join ISIS.
A significant part of the Tuaregs also left the JNIM, moving to the more moderate group “High Council for the Unity of Azawad”, which does not share the jihadist views of Al-Qaeda.
As a result, the Mali government refused to negotiate not only with radical jihadists, but also with Tuareg rebel groups and moderate Islamists. This caused great displeasure in Algeria, which actively lobbied for the peace process and blamed “the machinations of the UAE” for its failure.
As a result, the failure of the negotiation process led to certain groups of the local population calling on the “jihadists” to unite with each other again.
UNITY ON ETHNIC GROUNDS
The combination of ISIS and AQIM/DNIM could create new risks not only for local governments, but also for the Russian military present in the Sahel countries. Let us recall that it was Russian PMCs (Wagner) that played the main role in the capture of Kidal in Mali in November 2023.
After this, they started talking about the possibilities of restoring ties between ISIS and AQIM/DNIM. Then a new group appeared on the scene: Wahdat al-Muslimin (Unity of Muslims), which called on warring terrorist organizations to unite against common enemies “to preserve the blood of Muslims.”
Wahdat al-Muslimeen is not a jihadist group per se, but rather a pro-jihadist (or simply anti-government) propaganda group that seeks to unite ISIS and AQIM/JNIM to fight local armies and their allies, including those from Russia.
This group is associated with local Fulani communities in the triangle between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. As already noted, representatives of this nationality feel alienated and stigmatized by the armies of the three countries in which they live. The local military often baselessly accuses all Fulanis of having links with terrorists, bringing down repression on them and thereby facilitating the transition of many Fulanis to these organizations.
Therefore, as both JNIM and ISIS-BS become more and more “Fulani” in their ethnic composition (Tuaregs, on the contrary, tend to move into more moderate groups), the threat of unification of the two groups on an ethnic basis remains.
This is an important example of the fact that any actions of the Russian military in Africa must be provided with appropriate expert and diplomatic support, taking into account all regional specifics and ethnic diversity.
The argument that since a certain group has raised this or that terrorist flag, it must be destroyed is not always adequate to local conditions. In reality, such a group can go through a whole chain of “ideological rebirths,” pursuing not religious, but purely tribal goals and objectives, and simply looking for allies among those who are able to protect this tribe or ethnic group from repression and discrimination.
This applies not only to the Fulani, but also to the Tuareg.
Terrorism in the Sahel is still identified with the Tuareg movement. Indeed, jihadist groups and Tuaregs fighting against states in the region are sometimes forced to cooperate with each other. However, jihadists and Tuaregs still should not be identified. They are temporary fellow travelers, sharply diverging in their ultimate goals.
Previously, jihadists had repeatedly knocked out the Tuaregs from their bases, and the Tuaregs, as noted, moved into more moderate movements.
In this regard, information about the nature of certain groups and factions coming from local authorities and the military must be carefully checked. Often, under the pretext of fighting terrorism, groups that are not related to terrorist activities can also be “purged.”
Instead of gaining new supporters in the fight against terrorism, this may lead to increased support for the terrorists themselves from ethnic groups subject to various forms of discrimination.
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