US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper meet with Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani amid signs that a truce between the US and the Taliban is imminent.https://t.co/pmQ9O20utz
The head of Algerian private media group Ennahar, Anis Rahmani, has been arrested on corruption and other charges, according to a security source.https://t.co/0JN8vnJPoY
The leader of Ahrar al-Sharqiya, who murdered Hevrin Khalaf and have spent 2 years terrorizing Afrin, is in #Libya. Abu Amsha is, too. #Erdogan's finest fighting for the #GNA Last GPA location : 32°50'15"N 13°23'08"E https://t.co/jyY43VosW2
Iran-backed Houthi militias have dropped a threat to tax aid, a UN official says, in a significant step towards resolving a crisis that has jeopardized the world’s biggest humanitarian operation.https://t.co/AGPsuatxTvpic.twitter.com/EeP8xQCzYl
#BREAKING: Germany, Austria and Czech Republic to the ICC: The Tribunal has no authority to debate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict https://t.co/oIzrKfqThL
[Rudaw] A Ottoman Turkish court on Friday acquitted renowned novelist Asli Erdogan on charges of membership of an armed terror organization, in a case which sparked international condemnation.
The court in Istanbul also acquitted Erdogan, who is living in exile in Germany, of disrupting the unity of the state, and dropped charges of spreading terror propaganda.
Erdogan, whose books have been translated into various different languages, was an occasional columnist for pro-Kurdish newspaper Ozgur Gundem which was shut down after the failed 2016 coup against Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... Ottoman Turkish authorities accused the paper ‐ where Asli worked as a literary adviser ‐ of being a mouthpiece for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), considered a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.
The court also acquitted two other defendants, including linguist Necmiye Alpay.
The 52-year-old Erdogan ‐ who is not related to the Ottoman Turkish president ‐ was held in pre-trial detention for four months in 2016 but later released.
She did not attend Friday's hearing but in a statement read by her lawyer Erdal Dogan, Erdogan said her columns did not contain any violent element.
"Their political content is limited to human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... violations," she said, adding that the accusations based on her literary texts "trampled on the values of both law and literature".
After the travel ban against Erdogan was lifted in June 2017, she has largely lived in self-imposed exile in Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and is currently in Berlin.
Her lawyer said she was abroad because she was suffering health problems as a result of her 2016 detention, and for a writing scholarship.
"She is not seeking asylum, she is abroad for a temporary period of time," he told AFP.
"She will not come to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... today but of course she will return. Turkey is her homeland."
The court also acquitted Asli Erdogan's colleagues Bilge Aykut and Necmiye Alpay. The trial against other co-defendants, including human rights lawyer Eren Keskin, is to continue, after their lawyers requested additional time to prepare for their final defense.
Asli Erdogan_ who is not related to President Erdogan _ was arrested in August 2016 with other staff members of the Ozgur Gundem newspaper, which the government accused of links to outlawed Kurdish rebels. She spent four months in prison before being freed pending the outcome of the trial.
Asli Erdogan, 52, was facing a maximum sentence of nine years and four months in prison.
Trump is expected to veto the war powers resolution if it reaches his desk, warning that if his hands were tied, Iran would have a field day.https://t.co/ILxwENxQGO
#2
On one hand, no president has ever recognized the WPR.
On the other hand, we don't want or need a war with Iran. It would be a complete disaster for the American people and is in total opposition to our interests.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
02/15/2020 8:20 Comments ||
Top||
#3
herb, no one said we were going to war with Iran. But, if they do something , his hands don't need to be tied by the democrats. What the fuck are they going to do?
Posted by: Chris ||
02/15/2020 10:29 Comments ||
Top||
#4
First of all, the US has a long history of false flags. Any intelligence community assessment is *extremely* suspect.
Second of all, considering how incredibly bad for the American people a war with Iran would be, even if Iran does something we should resist a war. It will be ruinously expensive, kill thousands of good Americans, ruin the lives of tens or hundreds of thousands more who depend on or love them, and entail another occupation of yet another country for dozens of years or decades. Or permanently. Who wants that?
Literally, who wants it? Nobody in America outside DC elites and their fellow travelers, that's for sure.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
02/15/2020 10:53 Comments ||
Top||
#5
even if Iran does something we should resist a war
Shorter Herb: "roll over, let em have your belly. Enjoy it."
FOAD
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/15/2020 11:10 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Gee, Herb, last time I checked my history books, assaulting an embassy and taking the staff hostage was considered an act of war. I guess that was a American false flag op too? We've been at war since then, we just want to avoid doing the dirty which is why we are stuck with the mess we have today decades later for not recognizing the fact and acting upon it.
In point of fact Trump has been "resisting a war" -- but not resisting confronting and containing Iran. He is both the most effective and the least warlike of our post-Cold War presidents.
This WPR is nothing but virtue-signaling by a Uniparty whose gross foreign-policy incompetence in handling Iran (along with Mexico, China and Russia generally) has brought us to this pass.
#8
Oh, I think you all are worrying too much. If the Asshat Allotoyahs were to act out, our alert and hyper-competent representatives in the House and Senate would respond in a forceful and timely manner.
Lithbid, must find the Lithbid
#9
Uh. You know Jimmy Carter greenlighted the overthrow of the Shah, right? Because he did.
And the reason that the Shah was in power is because the USA overthrew the democratically elected president of Iran, right? Because they did.
I think maybe another regime change isn't the answer.
I also think you people get way, way, way too heavily into dick-waving and don't think about the consequences of a war. What's better: keeping thousands of good, solid Americans alive so that they can go home and live good lives? Or stroke our egos and let them all die?
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
02/15/2020 19:29 Comments ||
Top||
#10
"The Board of Directors has decided that our team will not throw a curve ball until the 4th pitch or later."
#13
You know Jimmy Carter greenlighted the overthrow of the Shah, right? Because he did.
Yes, yes, so you tell us obsessively, Mr. McCoy. It is not the killer point you so fondly believe.
You know that France sheltered Ayatollah Khomeini among others, and French leftwing intellectuals hailed the ayatollah’s little adventure? Foucault, Sartre, the French communist and socialist parties... they were all in. Go yell at them for a change. Read this remembrance of the time for a longer list
Or realize that you are complaining about the actions of an American president who came from the anti-war left wing of the Democratic party, whose multiple stupidities led to the election of Ronald Reagan as the antidote, just as Donald Trump was elected as the antidote to Barack Obama's multiple stupidities. And that your audience here voted against both idiots, and will vote en masse against whichever similar idiot the Democratic party throws up this time round.
[DAWN] Prime Minister Imran Khan ...aka The Great Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality disorders... on Friday called for treason proceedings against Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...the political wing of the Pak Taliban... -Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman ...Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty... for remarks regarding the ouster of the government.
"There should be a case under Article 6 against maulana for his statement regarding the ousting of the government," he said, during an informal conversation with journalists.
"The government will complete its term, it's not going anywhere," Prime Minister Imran added.
Earlier this week, Rehman said that he had ended his Azadi sit-in because he had been given assurances that Prime Minister Imran will step down and elections will be held in three months. The JUI-F had staged a 13-day (from Nov 1 to 13, 2019) sit-in on Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... Road in Islamabad that came to an abrupt end as the party chief announced going for Plan B, blocking various major roads across the country.
[Jpost] Government-backed Iranian hackers have targeted universities in Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... , the United States and Australia in recent months, consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers has found, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported on Friday.
It is unclear whether the attempts to break into computer systems, including those of three Dutch universities, were successful.
The hackers were attempting to steal academic literature and course material to use in Iranian schools, the NOS said, citing PricewaterhouseCoopers' cyber security specialist Gerwin Naber.
Diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and 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 a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... have been strained since the Dutch accused Tehran of plotting two political killings in the country that triggered new European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... sanctions against Tehran last year.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/15/2020 05:45 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
#1
They want to become progressives and teach common core and learn how to pay off exam people for their kids!
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Leb’s ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri ...Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too.... , in his first major address as an opposition figure after the formation of a new cabinet, charged his rivals with pushing the country to near-collapse and cast doubt on their ability to win foreign support.
The speech by Hariri, the country’s top Sunni Moslem politician, laid bare growing political divisions that could complicate Beirut’s push to enact painful reforms and recover from the worst economic crisis since its 1975-1990 war.
A cabinet formed last month by Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies, the first since Hariri resigned in October in the face of protests, must contend with a severe liquidity crunch and fast-approaching debt payments, with a $1.2 billion Eurobond due on March 9.
The government clinched a parliamentary vote of confidence on Tuesday but several major parties, such as Hariri’s Future Movement, the Christian Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... and Kataeb parties, and the Druze Progressive Socialist Party, all withheld support.
Speaking on the 15th anniversary of the liquidation of his father, ex-premier Rafik Hariri, Saad Hariri lambasted his rivals, casting their obstruction of reforms as largely to blame for the depth of the current crisis.
"We organized the Cedar conference, and we got $11 billion dollars for the economy based on reforms we agreed to and promised to implement," said Hariri, referring to a 2018 Gay Paree donor conference. "But what can I do if someone does not keep to his word?"
Hariri, an ally of Western and Gulf Arab states at odds with Iran, threw his most scathing jabs at former Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, the son-in-law of President Michel Aoun ...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... , who he called a "shadow" president who had subverted his work and helped push the country to collapse.
[TheDrive] The propensity of the Iranian regime to make often laughably hyperbolic claims about their military and technological achievements is nothing new, but some of the most absurd claims seem to routinely revolve around the country's ostensible ambitions to become a power in space. Earlier this week, Iran's Minister of Information and Communications Technology Tweeted out a picture purportedly of a spacesuit for future Iranian astronauts. Observers quickly determined that it was actually an altered Halloween costume that is readily available for purchase online.
Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi made the post on Twitter on Feb. 4, 2020. Jahromi previously worked in various managerial posts for Iran's Ministry of Intelligence between 2002 and 2009 before moving into telecommunications. The U.S. government sanctioned him in November 2019, claiming that he had been directly involved in censorship of the country's internet on behalf of the regime in Tehran. He is presently the youngest member of the cabinet of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani.
The Tweet itself is short. "Astronaut costume #bright_future" is all it says in Farsi.
[FoxNews] The United States Air Force updated its official dress code policy this month, in observance of religious practices, to allow military personnel to wear turbans or hijabs as a part of the uniform. Suicide vest optional
The Air Force released an update to the "Dress and Personal Appearance of Air Force Personnel" code on Feb. 7, now permitting airmen to request a waiver to wear religious apparel while in uniform as long as they are "neat and conservative." One would think that would rule out diapers on the head
The material used for headwear must resemble the color of the assigned uniform. This includes camouflage, and must be worn in a fashion that presents a "professional and well-groomed appearance." Osama hold overs? Good luck sealing your M40.
#1
"Well, Col. Awan was walking past the intake and that thing on her head got sucked right in. I guess it was wrapped tight cause the colonel got pulled right in. I think that Rolls Royce turbo fan is a total loss..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/15/2020 0:21 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I believe that Indian Air Force allows Sikhs tow wear turbans, even in flight status. Dron can probably verify this or not.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/15/2020 0:27 Comments ||
Top||
#3
It's not like the Air Farce is a military organization.
#5
Sikh pilots often trim their hair and wear the short pagri , much like a bandana. They all have to trim the beards to a certain length because of the mask. Pilots wear the turban only with dress, not in the cockpit. Some, who are very religious will just wear their hair loose under the helmet and go into battle like hippie rockers.
#8
I'd like to also mention; the characteristic islamic 'mullet' beard demanded by sunnis is from classic wahhabi teaching. It's the addition of Taqī ad-Dīn Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah, the 13th century mullah who added the concept of slaughtering jews and christians as an imperative of 'the faithful'.
We in India have always known this, and men noticed sporting such beards in the military are mentally tagged by their superiors and forever kept from any responsibility which could lead to them getting their hands on a $ 12 million machine of death with weapons of mass destruction.
#10
Jsst to complete the circle, the original Al Qaida was devoted to Ibn Tamiyya, and that Islamist fanatic is considered the progenitor of the modern Salafist movement.
Posted by: b ||
02/15/2020 20:09 Comments ||
Top||
#11
^ Very right. It was tamiyya, Hassan al Bana, and al Maududi that that bastard Sayyid Qutub channeled when he laid the foundation of parallel conquest by militarized brigades and lawfaring taqiya moderates.
His brother Mohammed Qutub, whom Ayman Zawahiri ardently followed based himself in Saudi Arabia and helped proselytize many of the arabs who were just getting rich. The star pupil of Zawahiri was Osama bin Laden.
People can say "That's a Mad magazine's 6 degrees of separation from an innocuous beard to another possible 9/11 !" But we think it's very credible.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it 
...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 
...Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too....
[FoxNews] The United States Air Force updated its 
