[IndiaToday] Meet Ahmad Rateb Popal, a middleman who brokered the most critical contracts and bargained between krazed killer groups, foreign troops, and the changing power centres of Afghanistan.
From a US-backed elected government to a hardliner Taliban ...Arabic for students... regime, Afghanistan has witnessed a sea of changes in its administration and ruling culture. However,
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[RFERL] Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) award-winning programming is now available 24 hours a day for millions of Afghan listeners who have come to rely on the broadcaster in the last two decades. Two months after the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... removed RFE/RL from AM and FM radio transmitters in Afghanistan, Azadi, as RFE/RL is known locally, is doubling its time on air providing Afghans with independent news in the Dari and Pashto languages. From 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time Azadi is broadcasting on mediumwave on 1296 kHz, while during the second half of the day programming is available on shortwave.
This broadcasting milestone comes on Azadi’s 21st anniversary, and further solidifies RFE/RL’s role as a true public broadcaster — the only non-governmental radio broadcaster available 24/7 in Afghanistan. In the last two decades Azadi has become a staple of everyday life. Afghans frequently referred to Azadi as their "national broadcaster," and its mix of news and information is commonly heard in public settings in the country, from marketplaces to taxis.
"Our expanded programming for Afghan audiences is indicative of the resilience and creativity of our team and their dedication to continue to reach our audiences in Afghanistan in the face of extreme Taliban pressure," said RFE/RL President and CEO Jamie Fly. "Azadi will now be available for Afghans day and night to give them hope for a better future."
Despite significant pressure from the Taliban, RFE/RL continues to provide bold coverage of stories suppressed by state media. Azadi has given a platform for the most vulnerable -- women and girls, victims of violent mostly peaceful extremism, the LGBTQI+ community, and youth -- to share their experiences. At every step, Azadi has responded to the Taliban’s restrictive governance: when the Taliban forbade music, Azadi continued to play music on air; when the Taliban banned women from public life, Azadi gave women space to tell their stories; when the Taliban barred girls from attending school, Azadi and Learn Afghanistan provided a rigorous curriculum over the radio. For 21 years, Azadi has helped the powerless find community and hope.
In contrast to official Taliban claims, Afghans have again and again expressed their appreciation and gratitude to RFE/RL for providing a vital public service. RFE/RL will continue to find new and innovative ways to reach audiences.
Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, and RFE/RL journalists have paid the ultimate price for their commitment to a free press. In 2018, three Radio Azadi journalists -- Maharram Durrani, Abadullah Hananzai, and Sabawoon Kakar -- were killed in a suicide kaboom in Kabul. In 2020, Mohammad Ilyas Dayee was killed in a targeted kaboom.
[News18] First Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Baradar front-runner as issue of women’s education splits Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... , a high-level source tells News18
Senior Taliban functionaries are considering deposing supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, top sources in Afghanistan said, as mounting frustration on the issue of women’s education threatens to rupture the unity of the government.
First Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is emerging as the person most likely to supplant Akhundzada if the Amir-ul-Momineen is ousted, a high-level source told News18, emphasizing that the discussions are at an early stage.
The decision, in December last year, to ban women from universities, has become a flashpoint in the top echelons of the Taliban. As News18 reported, Interior (Home) Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani ...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network.... and Defence Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqub are not in favour of the crackdown by the hardliners and want the government to reverse course.
But their negotiations with the supreme leader have not borne fruit as Akhundzada is insisting that he will not reverse the ban under international pressure. But Haqqani and Yaqub are unwilling to accept this position, arguing that international support is vital for Afghanistan, the sources said.
"This (Akhundzada’s) is not a logical reason," a top source said. "High officials are therefore thinking about a solution and how to change the leader."
The doors of education are shut to women and girls from middle school onwards, and all women in public are required to cover themselves from head to toe in a burqa. Recently, the government also banned women from working in non-governmental organizations which help provide aid in the impoverished country.
Haqqani and Yaqub (the son of Taliban founder Mullah Muhammad Omar), who lead the moderate faction, have been attempting a rapprochement with major foreign powers as they struggle to manage Afghanistan’s shattered economy. Together they control the security forces and hold sway over large swathes of the country.
One of the options that Taliban officials considered was to have Haqqani as the Amir-ul-Momineen but the interior minister is not interested in the position. Besides, he may not enjoy acceptance in the southern region of Kandahar, which is the Taliban’s headquarters. Yaqub was also considered for the job, but his youth (he is thought to be about 33 years old) went against him. This meant that Baradar has emerged as the likeliest contender for the top post in the Taliban.
It will not be easy to depose the Kandahar-based Akhundzada, though, as he enjoys the support of key governors and has loyalists in several branches of the government. The governors of Kandahar and Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... s are thought to be loyal to Akhundzada, and so also some military commanders.
Afghanistan said it had outlawed university education for women because women were dressing ’improperly’: in the words of the higher education minister, ’as if they going to a wedding instead of college.’
The ban came in the backdrop of a widening political schism between the moderate and Death Eater factions of the Taliban. The moderates, led by Haqqani and Yaqub, are pitted against the supreme leader Akhundzada and his allies in the Taliban heartland of Kandahar.
#1
I would never have considered Taliban inner conflict regarding women’s rights. Isn’t this about the time where The State Department should trot out a spokesperson to tell us that we need to support moderate Taliban voices? Probably still too embarrassed to mention Afghanistan.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/01/2023 23:05 Comments ||
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Fulani People Treated In Southern, North Central Nigeria Like Irritants, Second-Class Citizens Who Have No Right To Live, Fulani Groups Lament | Sahara Reporters https://t.co/BDoDq4jMGJpic.twitter.com/U5JUKSD8LR
The Coalition of Pastoralists Associations of Nigeria (CPAN) has called the attention of the Nigerian government and the international community to the plight of the average cattle herder in Nigeria whose business is reportedly going down.
The group also noted that a pastoralist can lose his life at any time without consequences.
Addressing a world presser in Abuja on Tuesday, the coalition said the Nigerian state and other tribes are working hard to destroy the business of cattle rearing and chase the Fulani ... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity... away from sight, PRNigeria reports.
Speaking on behalf of CPAN, the President of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Baba Othman Ngelzarma, noted that CPAN was using the opportunity to draw the attention of the Nigerian government and the international community to the existential dangers faced by the Fulani across Nigeria.
He said, "There is no gainsaying that the easiest and most effective way of destroying a group of people is to destroy their businesses and sources of revenue for sustenance. The Nigerian state has in recent years watched the cattle-rearing business go down the drain due to natural and man-made disasters.
"Backed with the conspiratorial silence of government, a lot of Nigerians especially sub-national entities across the country have adopted the culture of intolerance towards our people and business of cattle rearing.
"To start with, we all know that global warming is a reality,
Ah, but what if it weren’t? Or rather, what if both global warming and global cooling were real, and over time balanced each other — or were the net total effect of a variety of different cycles that run from months to millennia and are independent and self-regulating, from the great currents of ocean and atmosphere to the movement of continents and the cycles of the sun?
and it has affected the Lake Chad massively, forcing our people to move down south in search of water and food for our livestock.
An admission that they are noxious invaders, taking what they will for the sake of their own survival...
While the Nigerian government has not lifted any finger to recharge the Lake Chad and make it habitable for our people, it has watched on helplessly as different communities and state governments across the North Central and Southern parts of the country treat the Fulani as irritants or second-class citizens who have no right to live or who do not deserve to have a source of living.
Or perhaps the Moslem members of the government are content to see the jihad-aligned Fulani extend the territory of Islam within Nigeria, being tired of dealing with uppity Christians and animists who do not understand their place and purpose within Allah’s universe.
"The state governments formulate obnoxious laws targeted at chasing our people away. They ban open grazing without providing infrastructure for alternatives. They, therefore, seize our cows and arrest our people recklessly, fine them unreasonable amounts and everyone is watching as if all is well.
One imagines the Goths, Mongols, and Saxons gone a-viking were equally indignant at being limited by the natives.
"The Fulani have been the target of stereotypes, ethnic cleansing and mass murder in almost all states of the Federation. From Zamfara in the North-West to Adamawa, Taraba in the North-East, Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa in the North-Central, down to Ondo and Oyo in the South-West, or worse still the South-Eastern states, the Fulani people have been a subject of hatred, annihilation for unjustifiable reasons."
Cain v. Abel, updated for modern times.
Specifically, the MACBAN leader cited the case of Benue and accused Governor Samuel Ortom of setting up a Tiv militia group called Livestock Guards to arrest, extort and impoverish Fulani herders.
He also condemned the recent killing of tens of innocent herders in a village on the border of Nasarawa and Benue states by a military jet suspected to be owned by the Nigerian government,
According to him, no official has taken any step to visit, condole or compensate the community or families of the victims.
"Apart from the most recent bombardment of Tuesday, 24th of January, 2023 in Akwanaja, there were similar Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on innocent herders in Keana and Awe in Doma local government areas of Nasarawa State," he lamented.
Among other demands, the Fulani leaders asked the Nigerian government to thoroughly investigate the killing of herders, punish offenders and compensate the victims.
They also called for the immediate disbandment of the Tiv militia group allegedly set up by Governor Ortom to arrest Fulani herders as well as the resumption of meetings and negotiations meant to guarantee peaceful coexistence between herders and farmers.
Other Fulani groups represented at the presser were the Nigerian chapter of Tabbital Pulaaku International (TPI); Jonfe Jam Youth Development Association of Nigeria; Fulbe Development Association of Nigeria (GAFDAN); Bandiraku Fulbe Youth Development and Right Initiative (FGRDI) and Farmers and Hunters Initiative for Peace and Development.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The FSB has identified 38 clandestine weapons workshops in the regions of Russia, including Karachay-Cherkessia, Dagestan, North Ossetia, Astrakhan and Rostov regions, the Kuban and Stavropol.
During a large-scale operation by the security forces, a large number of weapons and ammunition were seized, and 38 underground workshops were stopped, the FSB said. According to her, 93 people are suspected of illegal production and sale of weapons.
For jihadis, for Mafiya, for home defence in a rough part of the world? If only the editors at Kavkaz Uzel would require their reporters to explain! (Further whining by the periwinkle moderator will be conducted in private...)
The operation was carried out in 38 regions of Russia, including Karachay-Cherkessia, Dagestan, North Ossetia, Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, Astrakhan and Rostov Regions, Interfax writes with reference to the FSB.
According to the agency, 253 firearms, 11 grenade launchers and flamethrowers, 343 artillery ammunition of various calibers, 316 fuses, detonators and fuses, more than 160 kg of explosives and more were seized from illegal circulation.
The "Caucasian Knot" wrote that earlier the FSB reported on the detention of suspects in the underground modernization of weapons and their sale in 31 regions, including Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Stavropol Territory, Krasnodar Territory and Rostov Region.
[IsraelTimes] Man has reportedly received approval from Swedish authorities for demonstration, which comes in wake of a far-right politician’s recent burning of a Koran outside Denmark mosque
"My action is not aimed at the Swedish Jewish minority. I am standing outside the Israeli embassy because I want to remind about Israel’s killing of Paleostinian children," he said.
A Moslem man put off a protest that would have involved burning a Torah scroll in front of Stockholm’s Israeli embassy this past weekend.
The man, identified in reports only as a 34-year-old Egyptian writer living in Sweden, had reportedly received approval from Swedish authorities for the protest, which would have come in the wake of a far-right politician’s recent burning of a Koran outside of a mosque in Denmark.
Continued on Page 49
"He burned a Koran, which is hateful!"
Damn right... and you oughta be grateful.
No hatefuller book
Ever burned. Take a look
For yourself! [hands that moron a crateful]
#5
This must be confusing to the Luciferian eco-green cult. Does the provocation against religion offset the carbon release? It must be giving them a mind wedgie.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/01/2023 22:55 Comments ||
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[Rudaw] Pervin Buldan, Co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), said on Tuesday that one of the pillars of 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 there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important... ’s party is war, adding that Ankara plans to carry out a fresh military operation against the Syrian Kurds in March.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... is expected to hold presidential and general elections in mid-May but the exact date will be confirmed in early March. The vote is seen as the most significant in two decades as it will determine the fate of Erdogan’s rule.
Speaking to her party’s politicians on Tuesday, Buldan said that the alliance between Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development and its far-right ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is based on two pillars: "political conspiracies" and "policy of war."
"It is no longer a secret that they are preparing to launch a new operation against Syria after the election decision becomes final in early March because they do not have any promises they can make to the public during the elections... They want to cover up the hunger and poverty they have caused to society with the politics of war," she was cited by her party as saying.
Turkey has carried out three military campaigns against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) since 2016. Ankara also launched an aerial offensive against the same force in Syria on November 20. As a result, Ottoman Turkish forces and its Syrian mercenaries have occupied the Kurdish cities of Afrin, Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) and Gire Spi (Tal Abyad).
Ankara claims that the People’s Protection Units (YPG), backbone of the US-allied SDF, is the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - gang struggling for the increased rights of Kurds but listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey.
Mazloum Abdi, General Commander of the SDF, told al-Monitors on January 14 that Turkey is planning to invade the Kurdish city of Kobane in northern Syria in February.
The international community, especially the US which has nearly a thousand fighters in northeast Syria (Rojava), has opposed any potential military operation by Turkey in Syria, saying it will further escalate tensions in the war-torn country.
Ottoman Turkish officials, including Erdogan, have repeatedly threatened that a new military operation against Syrian Kurds could be launched any time.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2023 00:48 ||
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[IsraelTimes] State Department advisory urges caution around areas frequented by Westerners, fearing retaliation for recent Koran desecrations in Europe.
The United States on Monday warned its citizens in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... of a potential "imminent" terror attack against synagogues, churches and diplomatic missions in Istanbul in retaliation for several recent incidents of Koran burning ...One of the basic tenets of Islam is that once a Koran has been printed it is expected to last for all time, no matter how old, ratty, and smelly other, lesser holy books may become. Should it actually become necessary to put a Koran out of its misery there is a ritual that includes extensive charivari, featuring long drawn-wailing and head bonking, ritual wife beating, and the sacrifice of dozens of women's noses and pubic lips. When the actual disposal has been completed there is a prescribed period of celebratory gun sex with the expectation of a minimum of two hundred casualties. Should actual infidels dispose of a Koran, Islamic custom calls for three weeks of rioting and a minimum of three dozen dead, which is a holdover from the days of Moloch worship.... s in Europe.
The advisory — which updated a warning made earlier this week — told travelers to exercise caution in tourist sites popular with Westerners in the city, noting the areas of Beyoglu, Galata, Taksim and Istiklal as potential targets.
The notice added that the Ottoman Turkish authorities were investigating the matter.
The Islamic world was infuriated this month when Rasmus Paludan, a far-right activist muppet from Denmark, received permission from the police to stage a protest outside the Ottoman Turkish Embassy in Stockholm in the course of which he burned a copy of the Koran. Days later, Edwin Wagensveld, leader of the far-right Pegida movement in the Netherlands, tore pages out of a Koran near the Dutch Parliament and stomped on them.
In response, millions of Moslems around the world erupted into the streets to protest.
Turkey strongly condemned the actions, and 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 there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important... warned Sweden not to expect his support for its bid for membership in the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... military alliance.
On Friday, Paludan, who holds both Danish and Swedish citizenship, told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that he would replicate the protest in front of the Ottoman Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen every Friday until Sweden is admitted into NATO.
Ankara on Saturday issued a travel warning for the US and Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... in seeming retaliation for similar earlier alerts by Western powers for Turkey.
The Ottoman Turkish Foreign Ministry’s first travel advisory warned of "dangerous levels of religious intolerance and hatred in Europe." A separate statement said, "There have recently been verbal and physical attacks against foreigners and acts of racism committed throughout the United States."
[RFERL] Just weeks before its collapse, the Western-backed Afghan government sent dozens of army officers for training to India, a close ally. Among them was Captain Obaidullah Zahir, a rising star in the Afghan National Army, which was battling the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... insurgency.
After the holy warrior group seized power in August 2021, the Afghan officers were stuck in India, unable to return to their homeland out of fear for their lives and left to fend for themselves by the Indian authorities.
That neglect led to Zahir’s death, according to his former comrades. The military officer died of cancer in New Delhi earlier this month.
"He died because of the long delay in getting treatment," Behzad, another ex-Afghan army officer who did not reveal his real name due to security concerns, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.
Behzad said he and other Afghan military officers initially funded Zahir’s treatment. Despite repeated requests to Indian officials, no help arrived. By the time the authorities sent Zahir to an Indian military hospital, it was too late. He died just a week later, Behzad said.
"We all contributed to arranging his funeral and sending him back to be buried in our homeland," said Behzad, who also resides in New Delhi.
Zahir’s death has put a spotlight on the plight of the scores of former Afghan military personnel who remain stranded in India, some 16 months after the internationally recognized Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan.
The former combatants fear returning to Afghanistan, where human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. groups have documented the killings, torture, and disappearances of hundreds of former members of Afghanistan’s security forces by the Taliban.
"I fear returning to my country will cost me my life," said Behzad, who along with Zahir was among the 120 military officers sent to India in July 2021.
Several dozen Afghan officers have returned to Kabul after completing their one-year training courses in India. The Taliban had guaranteed them safety and jobs. But it is unclear if they are now working for the Taliban.
Radio Azadi reached out to some of them for comment, but they refused to answer questions about their safety or employment.
LEGAL LIMBO
New Delhi is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or the related 1967 protocol intended to eliminate restrictions on who can be considered a refugee. But, in the past, India has granted asylum to refugees from Afghanistan, mostly members of that country’s tiny Sikh and Hindu minorities.
Many former Afghan military personnel are on temporary visas and ineligible to work or receive government help. Some have been offered one-year military courses.
Behzad said India should follow the example of Western countries that have granted asylum or agreed to resettle former Afghan military personnel to third countries.
"As a longtime friend of the Afghan people, India should provide us with material support until the situation in Afghanistan changes," he said, referring to Kabul’s close historic relations with New Delhi.
India has not commented on the fate of ex-Afghan military personnel residing in the South Asian nation. But the Afghan Embassy in New Delhi, which still represents the previous government, said it is in contact with the authorities.
"Together with the Indian authorities, we want to find a lasting solution to their problems," the Afghan Embassy said in a statement sent to Radio Azadi.
That is little comfort for many of the Afghan officers.
"We don't have a clear future," said Javed, a former Afghan army officer who did not want to reveal his real name for security reasons. "My only wish was to return to my country and to serve it, but that is not possible now."
Javed said many of the officers have family members and relatives in Afghanistan, a reality that fills them with dread. The Taliban has targeted the family members of former security personnel in Afghanistan.
"Our situation is terrible," he told Radio Azadi, adding that they are also "worried about what our families are going through back in Afghanistan."
[NBCnews] Since falling into the hands of the Taliban, some of the weapons have been seized from militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir in what experts say could be just the start of their global journey.
The militant groups JeM and LeT could be buying U.S. weapons from the Taliban in Afghanistan, where the United Nations says both groups have bases, or through smugglers in Pakistan, said Ajai Sahn
Weapons left behind by U.S. forces during the withdrawal from Afghanistan are surfacing in another conflict, further arming holy warriors in the disputed South Asian region of 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.... in what experts say could be just the start of the weapons’ global journey.
Continued on Page 49
[An Nahar] A suicide kaboom that struck inside a mosque at a police and government compound in northwest Pakistain
...that’s Peshawar’s Police Lines area mosque, where police, army and government types all prayed together...
reflects "security lapses," current and former officials said as the corpse count from the devastating blast climbed to 100 on Tuesday.
The blast, which destroyed a Sunni mosque inside a major police facility in the city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire... , was one of the deadliest attacks on Pak security forces in recent years. It left as many as 225 maimed, some still at death's door in hospital, according to Kashif Aftab Abbasi, a senior officer in Peshawar.
More than 300 worshipers were praying in the mosque, with more approaching, when the bomber set off his explosives vest on Monday morning, officials said.
The explosion blew off part of the roof, and what was left soon caved in, injuring many more, according to Zafar Khan, a police officer. Rescuers had to remove mounds of debris to reach worshipers still trapped under the rubble.
More bodies were retrieved overnight and early Tuesday, according to Mohammad Asim, a government hospital front man in Peshawar, and several of those critically injured died. "Most of them were coppers," Asim said of the victims.
Bilal Faizi, the chief rescue official, said rescue teams were still working Tuesday at the site as more people are believed trapped inside. Mourners were burying the victim at different graveyards in the city and elsewhere.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating how the bomber was able to reach the mosque, which is in a walled compound, inside a high security zone with other government buildings.
"Yes, it was a security lapse," said Ghulam Ali, the provincial governor in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital.
Abbasi, the official who gave the latest casualty tolls, concurred. "There was a security lapse and the inspector-general of the police has set up an inquiry committee, which will look into all aspects of the bombing," he said. "Action will be taken against those whose negligence" caused the attack.
Talat Masood, a retired army general and senior security analyst said Monday's suicide kaboom showed "negligence."
"When we know that Tehrik-e-Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... Pakistain is active, and when we know that they have threatened to carry out attacks, there should have been more security at the police compound in Peshawar," he told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named on Tuesday, referring to a bad boy group also known as the Pak Taliban or TTP.
Kamran Bangash, a provincial secretary-general with opposition party Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... called for an investigation and said Pakistain will continue to face political instability so long as the current government is in power.
"The current government of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... has failed to improve the economy and law and order situation, and it should resign to pave the way for snap parliamentary elections," he said.
[IsraelTimes] Back in J’lem, secretary implies Israel imperiling 2-state solution, lists Israeli actions US will oppose, praises ’vibrant’ civil society amid veiled criticism of judicial shakeup
#1
Ya think Abbas knows Blinken's ghey? Of course if it was good enough for Yasser...
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2023 10:04 Comments ||
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#2
I think if one returns to Hillary Clinton's Arab Spring, the ouster of Mubarak in Egypt in February 2011, and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, you will find in the conflict that followed the same 'lamenting' of "innocent Palestinian civilians" that you see in today's Israel Times.
To review: In October 2011, and for the first time ever, Senior members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood (MB) arrived in Gaza. In Egypt the MB was expected to win upcoming elections. And in Gaza, Hamas, a MB satrapy, consolidated its ties with Cairo while strengthening its recent power-grab in Gaza. Ironically, Hamas was under pressure from Iran to allow the local Islamic Jihad to do its terrorist thing. Consequently, as attacks on Israel grew, Hamas was inclined to join the more radical elements and support attacks on Israel. The result, as the media had it, was the death "of innocent civilians" on both sides.
At this moment, as the Palestinian radicals ratchet up their attacks, Cairo’s recent willingness to downplay Islamist attacks and come down hard on Israel's response to terrorism, seems to be an unwelcome change for the worse. There is the smell of a new Egypt in the air -- a la 2011. And one wonders if Israel has entered an epoch of tit-for-tat warfare similar to that which occurred in the immediate post-Mubarak period in Egypt.
#3
^ So, how long does Egypt allow Christian /Coptic churches to "flourish"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2023 11:36 Comments ||
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#4
At this moment, as the Palestinian radicals ratchet up their attacks, Cairo’s recent willingness to downplay Islamist attacks and come down hard on Israel's response to terrorism, seems to be an unwelcome change for the worse.
That's how it feels to me, too. Bless you for putting it into words for me.
how long does Egypt allow Christian /Coptic churches to "flourish"?
When the national government is officially allowing tens of Christian churches to be repaired, paid for by the worshippers— while ignoring that the neighbours and/or the local government are physically blocking the work — even as thousands of mosques are built and staffed on the government dime, it’s a Potemkin kind of flourishing.
We flowers who bloom by the Nile...
For now, and perhaps for a while,
Number fifteen percent
And pay tribute, not rent,
To Mohammedan crocodiles. [smile]
[An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... chief Jebran Bassil's announcement that he might nominate himself for presidency had "a very negative resonance" for Hezbollah, informed sources said.
The sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Tuesday, that Hezbollah circles were dismayed at Bassil's words. Time to get a remote starter for the cars
They added that Hezbollah has sensed that Bassil is completely severing contacts between the two parties, regarding the presidential file.
Bassil had announced on Sunday that he might nominate himself for the presidency should the other parties reject two FPM proposals for consensus.
"Should the first and second endeavors fail and our stances be considered as resulting from weakness rather than keenness, I will seriously think of running for president regardless of loss or win, so that we at least preserve the principle of legitimate representation," Bassil said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2023 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Army Commander General Joseph Aoun has advised Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar to "stay home and not go to the Justice Palace — neither in Beirut nor in Jdeideh -- out of concern that he might get arrested by the State Security agency under the excuse of bringing him to interrogation before the state prosecutor," al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.
"The French have also talked to Bitar on this issue and stressed to him that La Belle France is his second country, that his family can travel whenever it wants and that everything such as residence, education and other issues will be provided to them," the daily added.
It also reported that Bitar "communicated yesterday with some colleagues and with bigwigs to verify the matter and whether there are fears for his life or for the lives of his family members."
Bitar took Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...a strong argument in favor of European colonialism, even French colonialism... by surprise on January 23 when he resumed his investigation after a 13-month hiatus, charging eight new suspects including high-level security officials and Lebanon's top prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat. The judge also scheduled interrogation sessions for ex-PM Hassan Diab and former ministers who had been previously charged.
Bitar said he based his decision on a legal review that he himself conducted. A top security official meanwhile said that the Lebanese judiciary had come under U.S. pressure to free detainees in the case, including dual Lebanese-U.S. citizen Ziad al-Ouf.
The week before reopening the case, Bitar had met with two French judges for hours about his investigation. The delegation suggested Bitar should resume work, arguing that holding suspects in detention without trial was a human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... violation.
Bitar's surprise move sparked a judicial battle with Oueidat, who retaliated by charging the judge with "usurping power" and insubordination and slapping him with a travel ban. A defiant Bitar meanwhile stressed that he would not step down, adding that Oueidat "has no authority" to intervene in the case.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2023 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
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.
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network....
... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity...
...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 there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...
...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 there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...
[RFERL] Just weeks before its collapse, the Western-backed Afghan government sent dozens of army officers for training to India, a close ally. Among them was Captain Obaidullah Zahir, a rising star in the Afghan National Army, which was battling the 
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it 
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire...
...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab...
Hezbollah
...a strong argument in favor of European colonialism, even French colonialism...
