[Tolo News] President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... Tuesday condemned the liquidation of Taliban capo Mullah Abduil Raqib, calling him a victim of peace. He went on to invite Raqib's group Tehrik-Islami Taliban to return to Afghanistan.
Mullah Abdul Raqiq was gun downed in the Pak city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), 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 Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. by unidentified attackers on Monday. On Tuesday, a military helicopter transferred his body to his native town in northern Takhar province.
This is not the first time a Taliban leader has been targeted in Pakistain. The U.S. has waged an intensive drone war on Taliban capos throughout Pakistain in recent years. Karzai has been highly critical of the attacks on Taliban leaders, claiming the U.S.' aggression has pushed Taliban leaders away from negotiations.
"We saw several green lights from those willing to start the peace negotiation process, but most of them were assassinated," Karzai's deputy front man Fayeq Wahidi said. "The killing of Maullah Raqiq is part of the coordinated murders."
Sabotaging peace negotiations is considered the main motivation behind the liquidations, though no evidence has been brought forward to prove that.
Participants in the burial ceremony accused the Pak intelligence service (ISI) of being behind the liquidation.
"People shared their sorrows in the burial ceremony. He was working for peace. People rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against those killing him; they blamed ISI for the killing," Takhar Governor Abdul Latif Ibrahimi said.
As Karzai's last term in office comes to a close, he has pushed an increasingly friendly approach to the Taliban, much to the chagrin of U.S. and its 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... allies. Last week, Kabul announced the release of 65 suspected faceless myrmidons from Bagram prison and just two weeks ago news of secret talks between Karzai and Taliban leaders broke.
A delegation of the High Peace Council (HPC) is said to be currently in the United Arab Emirates meeting with representatives of the Taliban.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Sabotaging peace negotiations is considered the main motivation
I can't blame him. Obama opened peace talks with the Taliban without Karzai's knowledge. Karzai probably figures he'll get a better deal for himself if he negotiates with the Taliban directly instead, since Obama is unlikely to take Karzai's interests into account. My recollection is fuzzy, but it would not surprise me if Karzai's increasingly conciliatory posture vis-a-vis the Taliban came after news of Obama's talks with the Taliban - that left Karzai in the dark - leaked out. Karzai remembers what happened to Najibullah. He's wise to cozy up to the Taliban while he has a choice.
[Egypt Independent] Margret Awad, owner of Craft tourist agency and the Taba tourist bus that was bombed, said that tourist buses are not secured enough by tourism police.
The tourist bus was hit on Sunday by a blast near the city Taba in Egypt. Four persons, including three South Koreans and the Egyptian driver, were killed and another 14 injured. The bombing is believed to have been carried out by a jacket wallah.
Awad accused the Interior Ministry of being "reluctant" in securing tourist groups in Sinai and wondered, "How could the bus have went kaboom! if there had been high security provided by the ministry?"
"There's huge negligence from coppers in securing the tourist buses. The proof is that they allowed a civilian wearing an boom belt to get on and explode himself, though four vehicles were in charge of securing the bus and the accident took place 10 meters away from the exit surrounded by coppers," Awad told Al-Masry Al-Youm in a phone call.
"I did not receive any calls from the tourism minister or any official since the accident even for a comment," she said. She estimated the losses of her company after the blast at LE2 million, including the cost of the bus and the insurance on the bus and the driver. She also complained that neither the South Sinai governorate nor security services helped in removing the damaged bus since the accident.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2014 00:00 ||
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A substantial number of Somali refugees in Yemen are requesting to be return back to their home country Somalia following roughly when 5000 Somali refugees were recently transferred back to their country.
They came on their own by boat. Why can't they go back the same way?
The Somali refugees in Yemen insisted on the Somali and Yemen governments to work together and make it easier for the safe homecoming back to the motherland; Somalia. They also asked for a pony Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's government to fulfil the promise they made to those who want to go back to Somalia.
Yemen is home to thousands of Somali refugees who fled the motherland after struggle and a civil war hit their country.
From one shithole to another...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/19/2014 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] There was confusion at the General National Congress this evening after it was announced on TV that Zintan's Qaqaa and Sawaiq brigades had issued an ultimatum to its members to resign by 10 pm or be locked away Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! . Members and staff are reported to have left the Congress building but there was no visible extra security in the road outside which remains open to traffic, unlike previous occasions when there have been threats to Congress.
Zawia Congresswoman Naima Al-Hami told the Libya Herald that over 20 Congress members had left the GNC in response to the threats but that she herself had stayed, saying she would have the honour of being arrested in the chamber if it came to it.
She said that it was time for the government to protect the state. If it did not send troops then this would demonstrate its unwillingness to protect legitimate institutions and that it was complicit with the brigades.
The ultimatum was part of a statement reported this afternoon by Dawlia TV, seen as supportive of Mahmoud Jibril and the National Forces Alliance. The chairman of the latter's steering committee, Abdulmajid Milaiqtah, is the brother of Othman Milaiqtah, the commander of the Qaaqaa Brigade.
The statement allegedly claimed that instability in the country was the fault of the Moslem Brüderbund in Congress and those organizations sympathetic to it. The statement also reportedly said the Brotherhood was an epidemic and disease which only the brigades could cure.
Qaqaa and Sawaiq also allegedly claimed that they were not attempting to grab power but would act as "protectors of the homeland" until such time as the military and other security institutions had been built up to their full strength.
The statement provoked a call to Libyans by the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) to refrain from resorting to force to resolve political disputes and instead rely on dialogue to ensure a peaceful transfer of the powers of the GNC to a new elected body.
The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , La Belle France, Italia, the United Kingdom and the United States also put out a joint statement effectively giving their backing to Congress and stating that the use of force was not a legitimate means "to divert the democratic transition".
Reflecting UNSMIL's call, GNC President Nuri Abu Sahmain, speaking on Wataniya TV, said peaceful dialogue and the transition of power according to legal mechanisms were the only course open to Libya. He said that Congress had instructed the General Chief of Staff to take the necessary measures against the "gangs" and called on the Libyan people to "defend their political choices in the face of these threats".
Reports this evening that forces were heading from Misrata to Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... to protect Congress appear, however, to be premature. According to the Libya Herald correspondent in the city, there has been no mobilisation. Nevertheless, the Military Council there has called forces to be on alert. The Council of Revolutionaries in nearby Zliten also issued a statement this evening calling on revolutionaries to be on alert and warning Qaaqaa and Sawaiq to stop interfering in Congress' affairs. It said that they would use an "iron fist" to punish anyone who harmed Congress.
Questions, however, surrounds the veracity of the statement. In what appears to be a repeat of General Hafter's coup that was not, there was no sign of the Qaqaa brigade in Tripoli this evening although, in what appears to be a precautionary measure, large numbers of military vehicles are reported to have been deployed at the roundabout near the Tripoli end of the Airport Road. It is viewed as a possible route of forces coming from Zintan.
Meanwhile Former Defence Minister Osama Juwaili, himself from Zintan, interviewed by on TV, distanced Zintan from the two brigades, saying they did not represent the town.
The government appears not to be overly concerned about the threat. It has denied on social media claims by Aljazeera TV that it had asked the ministries to evacuate in anticipation of an armed attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Zintan's Qaqaa and Sawaiq brigades threaten to use pens...phones.
[MAGHAREBIA] Moroccan MPs are calling for greater action to stem the spread of myrmidon ideology.
Ulema are in the best position to counter fanaticism, Islamic Affairs Minister Ahmed Toufiq said last week in response to questions from the Chamber of Councillors.
The issue of what the government was doing to fight extremism and terrorism arose when Authenticity and Modernity Party MP Ahmed Touizi on February 11th warned that some imams were exploiting mosques to put out dangerous messages.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2014 00:00 ||
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Hopefully this doesn't make the locals feel all warm and fuzzy. Getting Secretary of State John Kerry's attention can lead to getting the Israel treatment.
As long as the Tunisians don't become our friends they have nothing to worry about...
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Tunisia on Tuesday on an unannounced trip, in a sign of support for the country where the Arab Spring was triggered three years ago.
Kerry was to meet "senior officials to discuss the progress made in Tunisia's democratic transition," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
During his brief visit, Kerry was to meet new Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa and President Moncef Marzouki for discussions and to show "continued US support for the Tunisian people and government", Psaki said.
"What is unique, or at least striking in particular about Tunisia, is the willingness of opposing sides to reach out and show some inclusiveness and cooperation", a senior US administration official said, asking not to be named.
"What's positive and even inspiring in Tunisia is the demonstrated willingness not to take power and hold on to it," he added, pointing to the new constitution adopted last month and the swearing in of a new technocratic interim government.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/19/2014 00:00 ||
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#2
This is Kerry steering clear of all the world's trouble spots -- Ukraine, Venezuela, Syria to name a few -- to blather about things that don't matter in places that don't matter. Smart Diplomacy!
Posted by: regular joe ||
02/19/2014 16:29 Comments ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] "Say not to Democracy" that was the message in the Facebook profile picture of detained Rasel Bin Sattar Khan in January. It was in this very Facebook account where posted many things supporting local and foreign Islamist myrmidon groups, their leaders and also campaigned for killing those who made derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad.
Rasel was placed in durance vile Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! early yesterday from Tangail allegedly for spreading al-Qaeda's much-talked-about audio clip on the internet. He called upon the Bangladeshi Moslems to wage a Jihad.
Law enforcers said Rasel was an administrator of "Basherkella," a Facebook fan page of Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... , student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... . Basherkella, however, denied that Rasel was its administrator.
Rasel's Facebook account shows that he is a fan of the Jamaat-e-Islami leaders. He is also fan of those pages where many contents have been posted glorifying slain al-Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden ... who used to be alive but now he's not... , present al-Qaeda leader Ayman al- Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... , the Talibans and other Jihadi campaigns.
He is also a fan of Abdur Rahman, chief of banned myrmidon outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, executed in 2007 for killing judges in Jhalakathi in 2005.
In one of his timeline posts, Rasel, 21, expressed his desire to start an affair with Pak teenager Malala Yusufjai and talked about "Banglakistan."
In 2012, Malala came under the attack of Pak forces of Evil for going to school and writing about the predicaments of Pak women under Taliban rule.
Quoting a news of a Bangla daily, Rasel said Malala pressed her desire to join politics and become the prime minister of Pakistain. Since Rasel also dreamt about becoming the prime minister of Bangladesh, he said together they could form "Banglakistan."
In the same post, Rasel also said Malala was a beautiful girl.
In another status on November 27 last year, Rasel wrote: "Remember, direct killing is the punishment for those who make derogatory remarks about Prophet Rasulullah (S)! No permission is needed from Khalifa/Imam/Kazi for this [killing]."
"So it is best to send those insects of the hell [back] to hell."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2014 00:00 ||
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Red on red. Or blue on blue -- whichever colour we are using for bad guys these days.
[Pak Daily Times] Diplomatic relations between Pakistain and Iran hit a new low on Tuesday as Islamabad voiced "serious concern" over a warning by Tehran that it may send troops across the border to secure the release of kidnapped border guards.
The five Iranian guards were kidnapped on February 6 in Iran's restive Sistan-Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province by turbans who allegedly took them across the border to Pakistain.
Iran has denounced what it called Pakistain's inability to secure its own borders, with Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli reportedly warning that Tehran may send forces into Pakistain to free the border guards.
"Pakistain regrets the suggestions of negligence on its part over the incident, especially when Pakistain's active support against terrorist groups in the past, is well-known and acknowledged by Iran," a Pak government statement said.
"Pakistain has already informed the Iranian authorities that its Frontier Corps teams have intensively combed the entire region but could not verify the entry or presence of these Iranian border guards on its territory. It is therefore possible that the miscreants along with the kidnapped border guards are still hiding within the Iranian territory." Expressing "serious concern" over the interior minister's reported comments, Islamabad warned that, "Iranian forces have no authority to cross our borders in violation of the international law".
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
No US-Israeli attack on Iran's Nucprogs in return for Iran's help agz the Qaeda Boyz in Syria-ME infers that Iran is safe until Summer 2014 to include Iranian Balochistan.
PAK BALOCHISTAN, however, is gener "up for grabs" - this behooves Pakistan's Govt-Army to take action agz the Pak Talibunnies iff they wish to keep their part of Balochistan.
#2
Hey, Paki-wakis, you gonna let that nuke wannabe push you around? What you got them nukes for anyway? Only take one little one in the right place to give the Mad Mullahs the message, no?
[Jihad Watch] "For the building in which this horrific event took place just to be wiped off the map before we have a say in what's done with it seems like another slap in the face." Platoni is right: this is just another manifestation of the all-pervasive denial of the reality of jihad. They are pretending this jihad attack did not happen.
Instead of acknowledging the murders realistically and redoubling our determination to resist jihad, U.S. officials have consistently dissembled and pretended that Nidal Hasan had motives other than the ones he repeatedly stated. And one thing is certain: whatever memorial is constructed there will say nothing whatsoever about why Hasan murdered these people -- as if a Pearl Harbor memorial said, "Random airplane pilots spontaneously and for no discernible reason decided to attack Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941." It is indeed interesting that the building which was the scene of the crime, and undoubtedly a key piece of evidence, is being demolished while mandatory appeals [which may last for many years] remain ongoing.
#1
Put the shoe on the other foot, if the site were a mosque it would become, after a $5M incentive (shovel ready)from Uncle Sugar, another "Holy Site."
#2
..prolly took a poll that showed the base population was more angry (at parties unknown?) than saddened by the edifice. can 't have that now, can we.?
#3
Since it's govt property you can't even have private citizensput up a memorial plaque to the victims.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/19/2014 12:54 Comments ||
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#4
Most irritating person, this Kathy Platoni...
Must she propagate nonsense about a jihadi?
Allah's all peace and love, mercy, kindness and bliss --
All his pious adherents wanna give you a kiss!
Lousy deeds perpetrated by Doctor Nidal
Lead ignorant haters to propose a cabal,
Singing tunes they receive via tin-foil antenna,
Seeing anything reddish as colored by henna.
Intolerance rash we must salve with a balm
I balm, you balm, we all balm for Islam!
[PJMedia] The Clarion Project has unearthed Federal Bureau of Investigations documents detailing a 22-site network of terrorist training villages sprawled across the United States. According to the documents, the FBI has been concerned about these facilities for about 12 years, but cannot act against them because the U.S. State Department has not yet declared that their umbrella group, MOA/Jamaat ul-Fuqra, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
MOA stands for Moslems of the Americas, which is linked to radical Pak Moslemholy man Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani. The FBI documents that Clarion has obtained show that the group is headquartered in the well known "Islamberg" compound in rural New York. The facility in Texas is known as "Mahmoudberg." It's located in Brazoria county on County Road 3 near Sweeny. Sweeny is in far south Texas, southwest of Houston. The town of about 4,000 is a little under three hours' drive from the state capital in Austin.
#6
This is actually old news. ul-Fuqra has been a known entity for some time. IMHO, the group should not be labeled an FTO, but rather a DTO. I'm guessing some panties got tied in wad over that prospect.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/19/2014 13:59 Comments ||
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#7
Not a good idea to put it in Texas. The national guard... which include a fucking armored brigade... would be called out if things got bad with the order to assault the compound and "go nuts".
#8
We've been watching them here at Rantburg since 2005. (archive search). They are not only in a number of compounds here in America, but elsewhere as well, and Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was on his way to meet their leader in Pakistan when he was kidnapped and killed by Khalid Sheik Mohammed. A lot of their members converted in prison, subsequently reapplying their white collar and blue collar criminal skills in support of jihad, including credit card fraud. They are also connected to National of Islam gangs, and have sent large numbers of men to the hot spots of international jihad.
That the FBI let this go on for so long because of office politics is unconscionable.
[Pak Daily Times] The Pak Islamic hardliner blamed for an attack on India's parliament that brought the nuclear rivals to the brink of war has resurfaced after years in seclusion, setting off alarm bells in New Delhi.
Twice since the end of December, Indian authorities have issued an airport security alert, warning of an attempt by members of a Pakistain-based krazed killer group called Jaish-e-Mohammad ...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat... , or Army of Muhammad, to hijack a plane, with smaller airfields most at risk. Indian officials have said the alerts followed reports of increased activity by Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader of the outlawed krazed killer group.
Azhar was named by an Indian court as the prime suspect in a 2001 attack on India's parliament aimed at taking top politicians hostage. Fifteen people were killed, most of them security guards as well as the five men who stormed the complex.
Tensions between the old enemies spiralled after the attack and up to a million troops were mobilised on both sides of the volatile border. Pakistain refused to hand over Azhar to India.
The portly and bearded holy man has remained mostly confined to a compound in his home city of Bhawalpur in Pakistain's Punjab province for years, but three weeks ago, he addressed supporters and said the time had come to resume jihad, or holy war, against India.
"There are 313 fidayeen (fighters who are ready to die) in this gathering and if a call is given the number will go up to 3,000," he told the rally held in the city of Muzaffarabad by telephone. A Rooters journalist who was present said a telephone was held next to a microphone which broadcast his comments to loudspeakers.
Flags of Jaish, inscribed with the words "jihad", fluttered in and around the venue of the gathering. Azhar spoke from some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location.
Indian intelligence analysts have described Azhar's resurgence as part of a change in tactics in Pakistain as US forces withdraw from Afghanistan this year, and as Islamabad tries to clamp down on Islamic forces of Evil who oppose the Pak government.
The Indians say Pakistain's military establishment is bringing Death Eaters like Azhar out of cold storage, with the promise of helping them fight India, while trying to stamp out the gunnies they can't control.
Talat Masood, a retired Mighty Pak Army general, said: "It is very dangerous that the Pak establishment is giving space to him. They are playing with fire and the fire will engulf them."
A former fighter for Jaish, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , said Azhar remained in command of the group, operating from his Bhawalpur base.
"His speech via telephone should not be a surprise for people involved in jihad, he has been controlling the organization very actively," the man said.
The security alerts in India occurred just days before Azhar spoke. They were not publicised but two officials, one from the domestic Intelligence Bureau and the other from the Central Industrial Security Force, said authorities had increased checks on airport staffers to ensure nobody with forged passes gained access. Security had also been increased in Delhi's suburban rail system, where commuters go through metal detectors, are patted down and have their bags checked in x-ray machines.
Staff of the Central Industrial Security Force now work 10-hour shifts in the metro system, so there were more guards at any point.
Azhar was enjugged ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in Indian Kashmire in 1994 while travelling on a forged Portuguese passport. India freed him and two other locked away Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! Pak Death Eaters in 1999 in return for 155 passengers held hostage in an Indian Airlines aircraft that was hijacked to southern Afghanistan.
One of the other freed Death Eaters was British-born Omar Sheikh, a close associate of Azhar who was later convicted in the 2002 abduction and murder of Wall Street Journal news hound Daniel Pearl.
After his release, Azhar set up the Jaish to fight Indian forces in Kashmire, the Himalayan region claimed by both countries and the trigger for two of their three wars.
"Jaish has an obsession with India that transcends Kashmire. They had so many plans. Any reactivation of Masood Azhar is cause for deep concern," said AK Doval, a former head of India's Intelligence Bureau and one of the foremost experts on krazed killer groups in South Asia.
Other officials in India said the rally in Muzaffarabad and Azhar's address wouldn't have been possible without state clearance, a charge Pakistain strongly denies.
"He addressed a rally, but steps will be taken to ensure he doesn't do it again," said Tasnim Aslam, spokeswoman for Pakistain's foreign ministry.
"It is not possible we would allow his group to cause terrorism elsewhere when it is banned for causing terrorism in Pakistain."
She said independent investigations had often shown that attacks in India were blamed on Pakistain but sometimes caused by domestic politics or rogue members of the Indian security services.
"There's a tendency in India to hyperventilate without finding out all the facts," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2014 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] The government mediators Tuesday demanded a ceasefire from the Taliban before they resume peace talks as another two soldiers were killed in separate attacks.
A faction of the hard boy group announced on Sunday they had killed 23 kidnapped soldiers, prompting condemnation from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... and the cancellation of scheduled peace talks on Monday. Following a meeting on Tuesday in Islamabad, the government negotiators briefed the prime minister and said they had received a "discouraging response" since talks were announced on January 29.
"The prime minister was told that the committee was unable to carry forward the dialogue process in the absence of an announcement by the Taliban ceasing violent activities and then implementing the decision," a statement said. Militants killed an army major near Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), 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 Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. on Tuesday, and a soldier died in a separate border post attack overnight in lawless South Wazoo, security officials said.
Separately, gunman on a cycle of violence shot and maimed a driver who was carrying two staff members of French aid agency ACTED in a car in garrison town of Kohat, police said. Excluding the kidnapped soldiers, some 60 people have died in krazed killer violence since Prime Minister Nawaz announced the peace talks on January 29. A senior Taliban negotiator told AFP the krazed killer group was working towards a ceasefire which might have been agreed at Monday's cancelled meeting.
"The issue was on top of Monday's meeting between the two committees, which was called off by government negotiators," Professor Muhammad Ibrahim said. "There was a strong possibility that we could have agreed on a ceasefire had the meeting taken place," Ibrahim added. He said he had spoken to senior Taliban capo Azam Tariq and we "are making efforts for resumption of the stalled talks". Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) front man Shahidullah Shahid told AFP that "we are in contact with all Taliban groups on the issue of ceasefire and hope to reach a decision pretty soon".
He said implementing a ceasefire would "not be very difficult". Some observers have raised doubts about the ability of the central Taliban command to control all factions, including some opposed to negotiations. The Taliban's demands include the nationwide imposition of sharia, an end to US drone strikes and the withdrawal of the army from northwestern tribal regions -- conditions the government and army are unlikely to be able to meet.
The controversial peace talks with Taliban broke down on Monday following execution of 23 FC soldiers captured from Shongari checkpost in 2010 by a terrorist outfit calling itself Mohmand Agency ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... Taliban -- in a devastating blow to the PML-N government's 'last-ditch' efforts to bring peace to the terror-stricken nation through negotiations. The four-member government negotiating committee immediately cancelled a scheduled visit to Akora Khattak for a meeting with the Taliban committee. "It is a unanimous decision. I myself phoned Yousaf Shah and informed him that we are not coming," adviser to prime minister and coordinator of government committee Irfan Siddiqui told journalists. "We do not want to play meetings," he said, and added that the martyrdom of FC personnel is a highly condemnable act that cannot be tolerated.
"We regret to say that things are not moving in the right direction. Peace talks are purposeless after the sad and condemnable murders," Siddiqui said. A meeting will be convened on Tuesday (today) to discuss the future course of action, he added. Another member of the committee, Rahimullah Yousufzai, said it was necessary for them to discuss the killings of FC soldiers with the government before any further interaction with the TTP negotiators. He said it was not yet confirmed whether TTP had ordered the killings or someone else did it just to spoil the grinding of the peace processor.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2014 00:00 ||
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[IS News.net] Golan Heights field hospital that treats Syrias wounded, as part of his campaign to unveil "the true face of Iran." "On the day that the world powers are opening talks in Vienna with Iran, it is important for the world to see pictures from this place," he said."This place separates the good in the world from the evil in the world. "The good, the prime minister said, is Israel, which "saves lives from the daily slaughter taking place in Syria. This is the true face of Israel."The evil, he continued, is Iran, which is arming those carrying out the slaughter. Link to related Breibart article.
[Jerusalem Post] Over 700 African migrants have taken the $3,500 stipend and returned to their home countries in February so far, says Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar.
Israeli authorities expect well over a thousand African migrants to voluntarily return to their home country over the course of February, Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar said Tuesday.
Sa'ar said that so far in February over 700 African migrants had opted to take a $3,500 stipend and leave, adding that by the end of the month their number was expected to reach 1,500. If so, it would be a marked increase over January and December, when 773 and 325, respectively, returned home, according to Interior Ministry figures.
"The increase in the number of infiltrators that we see [returning home] is dramatic," Sa'ar said, adding that "the number leaving each month brings to mind the numbers that were entering Israel at the peak of the illegal infiltration to Israel."
According to Israeli government figures, there are over 54,000 African migrants in Israel.
According to Israeli government figures, there are over 54,000 African migrants in Israel.
Sa'ar's comments came during a visit to a center set up by the ministry recently in Eilat to process applications by migrants seeking to go home.
The concept of willful return is controversial. Opponents say that if the only alternative is to be jailed, the decision to return is not voluntary.
The government credits the higher numbers to three things: its decision to increase the stipend from $1,500 to $3,500; the construction of the Holot detention facility in the western Negev; and a new law allowing Israel to jail for a year or longer those people caught illegally entering the country.
Also on Tuesday, the Population, Immigration and Borders Authority said that two Sudanese men had crossed into Israel from Egypt on Monday night and were jailed. They joined a further 12 who were caught infiltrating since the beginning of the year.
In addition, a group of around 500 African migrants and supporters began a march from the Holot facility to Beersheba, from where they said they would continue to Tel Aviv and decide their next act of protest. Protest what, the no-cost food and lodging ?
In Egypt, meanwhile, authorities are planning to deport seven Africans of various nationalities who were captured while trying to cross into Israel, security sources said. The migrants appeared in court and were being transferred from Sinai to Cairo in preparation for deportation to their country, according to a report on Monday in Al-Youm al-Sabaa.
Other infiltrators are waiting for decisions on their cases.
The question is whether Egypt is changing its policy or merely increasing its border vigilance amid a heightened security presence in Sinai.
"My impression is that this has a lot to do with the necessity for close coordination with Israel over the Gaza-Sinai border," Joshua Goodman, an expert on the Beduin in Israel and Sinai, and author of Contesting Identities in South Sinai: Development, Transformation and the Articulation of a Beduin Identity under Egyptian Rule, told The Jerusalem Post.
"I have to imagine that Egypt and Israel are cooperating very closely regarding Sinai security right now, since the last thing anyone wants is an incident," he said. Here, take the money and scram. If you come back, we're gonna shoot yaz, kapiche ?
#2
Meanwhile, here in Washingtonstan, the state senate and house have both approved and sent to Governor Inslee ( D-payola) a bill that will allow in state college tuition for children of illegals. Never mind they are also working ona 10-20 cent a gallon gas tax increase to fund their favorite mass transit/light rail sh!t.
I gotta get outta this place.
[An Nahar] Rebels in southern Syria say they are planning a spring offensive against Damascus, which regime and opposition sources say will include fighters trained by Western forces in neighboring Jordan.
The Syrian army, meanwhile, is redeploying troops in Quneitra province located on the ceasefire line with Israel, and stepping up shelling on rebel positions in Daraa on the Jordan border to stop any advance, opposition fighters say.
The looming showdowns come after regime and opposition representatives failed last week to reach consensus at talks in Geneva, and amid reports that some Gulf Arab states have pledged to arm the rebels.
Both regime and opposition sources say the offensive on Damascus will involve thousands of rebels who have been receiving combat training for the past year from the United States and other Western countries in Jordan.
Both regime and opposition sources say the offensive on Damascus will involve thousands of rebels who have been receiving combat training for the past year from the United States and other Western countries in Jordan.
"Daraa (province) is the gateway to Damascus. The battle for Damascus starts from here," said rebel commander Abdullah al-Qarazi, an ex-officer in the Syrian army.
"For now, we only have guarantees (for weapons) from the countries that support" the revolt against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... , he said.
"If the promises are honored, God willing we will reach the heart of the capital," in a bid to break army sieges on the Western and Eastern Ghouta districts outside the capital, Qarazi told AFP.
Qarazi, a brigadier general in the Syrian army before defecting, said rebels in Daraa have "made steady progress in recent months" despite intensifying army bombardment of the province.
Since last summer, rebels have seized parts of Daraa city and several positions close to the border with Jordan, which could be used as a conduit for arms.
Rebels also set up a coalition of 47 factions and opened communications channels with fighters in Damascus province and in Quneitra, the main town in the Syrian Golan Heights parts of which have been annexed by Israel.
But the army is preparing to fight back, "redeploying troops" to the Quneitra front from areas of Damascus, said Ali al-Jolani of Quneitra's rebel military council.
And a Syrian politician told AFP that a major battle is planned in Daraa ahead of a possible fresh round of peace talks between the regime and the opposition.
The second round broke down on the weekend with no progress achieved and no date was announced by the U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
A source close to the regime has said the talks could resume next month but this could not be independently verified.
Meanwhile the Syrian army has in recent days stepped up air raids on the southern province and pounded rebel areas and villages with explosive-packed barrels, a monitoring group said.
On Tuesday, the air force launched three barrel kabooms, one of which killed 13 people including three children, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that Gulf backers of the anti-Assad revolt were preparing to deliver weapons to the rebels, including "both shoulder-fired missiles capable of taking down military aircraft and anti-tank missiles."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Sort of like the "Big Push" back in 1918. Knocking the Hun for six as it were...except this time its Moslems killing Moslems.
[An Nahar] The families of three young men detained by the Lebanese authorities on charges of belonging to a terrorist Qaeda-Linked organization and of planning to carry out terrorist attacks in Leb slammed in a statement the accusations.
"Our sons were lured into heading to Syria but they didn't get blood on their hands. They left their houses to make their parents know their value," a statement by the families of the northern region of Wadi Khaled said.
The statement pointed out that the three men decided to return home five days after they were deceived to head to Syria.
"They realized that it wasn't their path and extremism isn't their way of life and while on the way home they were detained by the army at al-Labwe checkpoint."
The statement noted that the relatives of the three men informed security forces about their absence swiftly, slamming media outlets for portraying their sons as "terrorists."
"We believe in coexistence under the law and our sons never knew and will never know terrorism," the statement read.
The families appealed the state to place teenagers in rehabilitation facilities instead of prisons.
on Monday, Military Examining Magistrate Fadi Sawan interrogated Abdul Majid Hmeidan, Mohammed Ali and Alaa al-Mohammed on charges of belonging to the Qaeda-affiliated group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... .
He also issued an arrest warrant against the three suspects and one in absentia against Omar al-Satem, who is still in Syria.
The al-Qaeda-affiliated ISIL claimed credit in January for the deadly bombing in the Beirut southern suburb of Haret Hreik.
According to the state-run National News Agency, the three detainees have recently headed to Yabrud -- Rima Farms and then to Dankuk in Syria where they met with the Emir of the ISIL, who is known as Abou al-Kheir.
The three have reportedly been taught about takfir ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... is, suicide kabooms and reasons to consider Shiites, Druze, Christians, Alawites, the Lebanese army, al-Nusra Front and the Free Syrian army as takfiris.
They were tossed in the calaboose I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! by the army at the Bekaa's al-Labweh checkpoint.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Yolo jihad syndrome?
They were pulling their lives back together,
Just three aspirant doves of a feather.
Sure, they like to make noise,
But they're really good boys
Who'll nevermore go a-jihading, ever!
A photograph circulated by the Lebanese Army on Monday has turned out to belong to a Syrian man who was an assistant to detained Qaeda-linked bad boy Naim Abbas.
"The picture is that of Syrian national Fares Hussein al-Hmoud, aka Fadi, who was an executive assistant to the detainee Naim Abbas," LBCI television said.
"He is 20 years old and very dangerous," LBCI added.
The army had circulated the man's photo on Monday, asking "anyone who recognizes him to call the Army Command's operations center on the number 1701 or to inform the nearest military post or to use the LAF Shield mobile phone app."
The development comes after the army defused a booby-trapped car Sunday in the outskirts of the Baalbek town of Ham. The vehicle which infiltrated Leb from Syria contained around 240 kilos of explosives, 10 kilos of extremely flammable material and two 122 mm artillery shells.
On Wednesday, the army announced the arrest of top bad boy Naim Abbas, one of the leaders of the Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades ... Leb's current al-Qaeda affiliate, named after a guy whose car the current head of al-Qaeda had boomed... . Following his interrogation, he told the army about a car rigged with more than 100 kilos of explosives which was dismantled in Beirut's Corniche al-Mazraa district.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2014 00:00 ||
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Information dense, long article. Ignoring the politics around defining whether or not the various more or less interconnected branches of the jihadi movement are actually Al Qaeda or not, there's a lot of meat here, not to mention a fairly useful graphic. The article closes with these paragraphs:
[WashingtonTimes] The rhetoric dovetailed with an analysis given to Congress last week by Bill Braniff, a terrorism analyst at the University of Maryland, who told lawmakers that 2012 was "the most active year of terrorism on record," with more than 6,800 attacks killing more than 11,000 people worldwide.
"Strikingly," said Mr. Braniff, "the six most lethal groups in 2012 -- the Taliban, Boko Haram, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan, al Qaeda in Iraq and al-Shabab -- are generally considered fellow travelers of al Qaeda, and yet al Qaeda itself was not responsible for a single attack in 2012."
"What should we take from these seemingly contradictory developments?" he said. "Did al Qaeda succeed by inspiring widespread jihadism, or has it lost to a variety of more parochial, albeit popular, actors?"
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.
Zawahiri
[Pak Daily Times] The Pak Islamic hardliner blamed for an attack on India's parliament that brought the nuclear rivals to the brink of war has resurfaced after years in seclusion, setting off alarm bells in New Delhi.
Nawaz Sharif
Wazoo
Mohmand Agency
[Jerusalem Post] Over 700 African migrants have taken the $3,500 stipend and returned to their home countries in February so far, says Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar. 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
