[ToloNews] Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... has said on Sunday that the continued presence of US troops in Afghanistan is beneficial for overall security.
"Initially, we backed US forces’ presence in Afghanistan and earlier voted in favor of a respective UN Security Council resolution. I still believe that US presence in Afghanistan does not run counter to our external interests," Putin said in an interview with "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program on Rossiya-1 TV channel, Russia’s Tass quoted Putin as saying.
"On the contrary, when it was announced that the Americans are preparing to withdraw their military contingent - yes, our official position is that maybe this creates additional conditions for a kind of Afghan reconciliation - but I personally think that this creates many risks," Putin said.
"First, we will have to spend more to maintain stability and second, no matter what, still US presence in Afghanistan contributes to stability in the country and their exit creates risks," the Russian leader explained. "We don’t have to fight against the Americans’ presence there."
NATO PRESENCE IN AFGHANISTAN CONDITIONS-BASED
As the peace negotiations continue and amid attempts to withdraw international troops from Afghanistan, NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday said the talks in Doha are "fragile" and that the presence of the international forces in the country is conditions-based.
He made the remarks at the NATO Defense ministerial where he reiterated that a recent attack on the NATO forces in Kandahar indicates that the situation in Afghanistan remains challenging.
"As part of the grinding of the peace processor, NATO has adjusted its military presence in Afghanistan. And our presence is conditions-based. Any future adjustments must depend on progress in the peace talks and the conditions on the ground," Stoltenberg said.
He added that the Doha talks—between negotiating teams from the Afghan republic and the Taliban ...Arabic for students... —provide an historic opportunity for peace in Afghanistan.
Stoltenberg said NATO’s fight against terrorism topped the agenda at this week's Defense Ministers meeting, adding that "NATO supports the grinding of the peace processor in Afghanistan" and that "the Doha talks are fragile, but the best chance for peace."
"The Taliban must reduce the unacceptable levels of violence to pave the way to a ceasefire," Stoltenberg said. "They must break all ties with al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations so that Afghanistan never again serves as a platform for terrorist attacks on our countries," he said.
The NATO chief said the achievements of Afghans over the last two decades should be preserved.
"At the end of the day, peace in Afghanistan has to be created by the Afghans and stabilize their country," said NATO chief.
This comes days after US President Donald Trump ...the Nailer of NAFTA... recently urged the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan by Christmas.
[All Africa] SA's largest cellphone company has long prided itself on being able to operate in some of the toughest environments in the world, but that facility is being tested as never before in a US court case brought by family members of US soldiers who were killed by the Taliban ...Arabic for students... .It's a fascinating and complicated case, which MTN hotly disputes, but the public relations fallout is forcing the company to rethink its operations in countries where angels fear to tread.
The company is facing claims that its Afghanistan operations switched off the cellphone network at the behest of the Taliban and that it paid protection money for its operations not to be attacked.
The company also faces enormous financial losses if the case is lost, but it has some seemingly strong legal arguments on its side too.
The case illustrates how complicated its business has become and possibly explains its recent moves to restructure its operations, including the decision to sell its operations in the Middle East, including Syria, Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... and eventually Iran, in the next three to five years.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2020 00:00 ||
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#1
Very likely the tip of the ice berg for ons post-apartheid vriends.
[FoxNews] The United States is warning it will destroy potential Iranian long-range missile shipments delivered to the Maduro regime in Venezuela, a senior administration official tells Fox News.
"The transfer of long-range missiles from Iran to Venezuela is not acceptable to the United States and will not be tolerated or permitted," said Elliott Abrams, the State Department Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela.
"We will make every effort to stop shipments of long-range missiles, and if somehow they get to Venezuela they will be eliminated there," added a senior administration official.The officials provided no information that such shipments were imminent. They only claimed that Iran and Venezuela are a likely pair for arms deals.
"Iran has announced its intention to engage in arms sales, and Venezuela is an obvious target because those two pariah regimes already have a relationship," said Abrams. "Venezuela is paying in gold to buy gasoline from Iran, and there is an Iranian presence in the country. Venezuela’s economy has collapsed, so every bar of gold for Iran is tens of thousands of dollars the Venezuelan people need for food and medicine."
Last week, a United Nations embargo on Iran buying and selling conventional weapons expired. The Trump administration unsuccessfully tried to convince the United Nations Security Council to extend the embargo. "Iran has shipped missiles to the Houthis, so we know they are ready, willing, and able to ship them to Venezuela and other possible buyers," said the administration official. "Every delivery of Iranian arms destabilizes South America and the Caribbean, and is especially dangerous to Venezuela’s neighbors in Brazil, Colombia, and Guyana."
Posted by: 746 ||
10/27/2020 00:00 ||
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Yesterday the Ba’ath Party announced it, today Raghad confirms — though she also did so the last time his death was announced.
[AlAhram] Sadddam Hussein's right-hand man Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, a long-time runaway, has died, the executed Iraqi dictator's daughter and his Baath party said Monday
Sadddam Hussein's right-hand man Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, a long-time runaway, has died, the executed Iraqi dictator's daughter and his Baath party said Monday.
After Saddam's capture following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the wiry, red-haired general remained the "King of Clubs" in Washington's deck of cards of wanted regime figures with a $10-million bounty on his head.
"I offer condolences... to all Iraqis and all his (Duri's) admirers in the Arab world and around the world," tweeted Raghad Saddam Hussein, along with a picture of Duri and her father, who was convicted and hanged in 2006.
The Baath party, which ruled Iraq until Saddam's overthrow, issued a statement announcing the death of 78-year-old Duri, but it also gave no details on where or the cause.
Known as the "Iceman" for his humble origins selling blocks of ice, he has previously been reported dead or captured only to resurface in audio or video messages.
In 2016, an unauthenticated recording showed Duri praising al-Qaeda and the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist group.
Disaffected ex-Baathists reportedly played a key role in insurgencies after the invasion.
Duri rose to become the number two in the all-powerful Revolutionary Command Council of Saddam's regime.
[JPost] - The Palestinians must renew ties with Israel and accept tax transfer or risk economic collapse, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov told the Security Council on Monday.
"The viability of the Palestinian Authority is being severely undermined by an economic and fiscal crisis that has been exacerbated by the Palestinian decision to end civilian and security coordination with Israel," he told the United Nations Security Council during its monthly meeting on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
[AlAhram] The United States on Monday imposed fresh Iran-related sanctions targeting the Islamic Theocratic Republic's oil sector, including the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum, in Washington's latest action to increase pressure on Tehran.
The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it was slapping sanctions on key actors in Iran's oil sector for supporting the Quds Force, the elite foreign paramilitary and espionage arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps blacklisted by the United States.
The minister of petroleum, the National Iranian Oil Company and National Iranian Tanker Company were also blacklisted, alongside other individuals and entities in Washington's move, as were four people the Treasury accused of being involved in the recent sale of Iranian gasoline to the government of Nicolás Maduro ...Commie el presidente para la vida of Venezuela, successor to Hugo Chavez. Nick is his country's attempt at producing a Muammar Qadaffy, except that even though his country's sitting on an enormous puddle of oil, he can't manage to get it out of the ground. Unlike Qadaffy and Hugo Chavez, he's not dead yet... in Venezuela ...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south... "The regime 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... uses the petroleum sector to fund the destabilizing activities of the IRGC-QF," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have soared since Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal struck by President Barack Obama My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it... and began reimposing U.S. sanctions that had been eased under the accord.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/27/2020 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
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.
[ToloNews] Russia’s President 
...Arabic for 
...Arabic for 
[FoxNews] The United States is warning it will destroy potential Iranian long-range missile shipments delivered to the Maduro regime in Venezuela, a senior administration official tells Fox News.
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
