Technical problems with Germany’s military aircraft have left 150 troops stranded in Afghanistan and forced commanders to consider using Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... ’s jet to fly the soldiers home.
Der Spiegel online reported that the Bundeswehr soldiers had expected to be flown home from a tour of duty in Afghansitan, but had become stuck in the town of Masar-e-Sharif on Tuesday because their Airbus 310 transport plane’s emergency oxygen masks were defective.
The equipment breakdown was the fourth consecutive German military aircraft failure in recent weeks and comes as aid destined to help fight Ebola in west Africa was left stranded after another plane malfunction.
Der Spiegel quoted German military sources who said that commanders were considering using a military VIP jet “normally reserved for Chancellor Merkel” to bring the soldiers home.
The decision to ground the military Airbus 130 follows similar oxygen mask problems with civilian aircraft of the same type, which has restricted their flying altitude to a maximum of 7,500 metres.
* RUSSIA TODAY > GERMANY UNABLE TO FULFILL "SOME" NATO OBLIGATIONS - MOD.
German DM Ursula Van der Leyon.
Also, GERMANY = survey indicated that ordinary Germans would like Foreign Policy + National Security "independence" from the US-NATO, EU.
GERMANY = JAPAN [etal.] vee China = in Russia's + many Euros' mind, Germany-specific Foreign Policy + National Security "independence" is akin to saying Germany covertly desires to militarily rearm as well as to ultimately develop or acquire NucWeapons.
All things equal, besides a "Neo-Ottoman" Nuclear Turkey or even "Neo-Persian" Nuclear Iran, Russia + EU may also have a NEO-PRUSSIAN [Bismarckian]?, REARMED? + NUCLEAR? GERMANY TO WORRY ABOUT???
#5
Let's see now. The Germans are stuck in Afghanistan because their French airplane broke.
IT'S JUST A FREAKIN' AIRLINER! And a small one at that.
Rent another one.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/03/2014 19:26 Comments ||
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ed, Airbus is also a German company. The 310 has parts built in Spain, Hamburg and Toulouse, and final assembly is in Toulouse, then flown to Hamburg for paint and customer walk through / acceptance.
But just so you don't think they deadhead one way, the return trips carry parts for the 350, 330 and 380.
logistical nightmare. One Saturday morning we witnessed 5 of the 6 Belugas take off from Toulouse carrying or fetching parts.
[Libya Herald] The Grand Mufti has called on Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... in 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... and revolutionaries in Benghazi and Sebha to unite and impose law and order throughout the country by force. It was needed, he said, to protect people and institutions from those whom he called vandals, thieves and crisis makers.
These "outlaws", Sheikh Sadik Al-Ghairani said, had to be smashed "with an iron fist", tossed in the clink Please don't kill me! and made to pay for their injustice.
The role of the revolutionaries was to protect people's property from arson, looting and vandalism, he declared.
Moreover, no one, Ghariani added in his latest fatwa, had the right to disrupt vital public services or the country's utilities, such as the electricity supply, or oil fields, ports or the health services. No one had the right to claim they were doing so in order to obtain employment or to improve their situation.
Protestors believed to be from Ajdabiya, are currently blockading the Abu Tifl oilfield south east of Jalu and run operated by Eni, demanding jobs. However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... it is not clear that the Grand Mufti's condemnation is directly primarily at them. Similar scathing comment in recent weeks have been directed primarily at Operation Dignity in Benghazi, Zintani and other forces ranged against Libya Dawn, the House of Representatives, and groups supporting it.
Also, when the Grand Mufti has spoken previously about revolutionaries in Benghazi, he has made it clear he has been referring to the members of the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shoura Council, the umbrella organization including Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... and other Islamist groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] The US private intelligence company, IntelCenter, which provides information to various organizations, has listed the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shoura Council as the eighth most dangerous group in the world. The Group Threat Index (GTI) listing is based on what the organization says is "terrorist and rebel activity" over a 30-day period -- in this case, up to 15 September 2014. The activity is, it claims, drawn from alerts, messaging traffic, videos, photos, incidents and the number of people killed and injured by a group over the 30-day period.
The latest listing is:
Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS)
Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... (mainly in Somalia) Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... (mainly in Nigeria)
Taliban
Al-Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to Americaâtm¢, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... movement (in Yemen)
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000... (AQAP)
Islamic Front (in Syria)
Benghazi Revolutionaries Shoura Council
Al-Nusrah Front ...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant... (in Syria and Leb) Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC or FARC-EP, is either a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization or a drug cartel based in Colombia. It claims to represent the rural poor in a struggle against Colombia's wealthier classes, and opposes United States influence in Colombia, neo-imperialism, monopolization of natural resources by multinational corporations, and the usual raft of complaints. It funds itself principally through ransom kidnappings, taxation of the drug trade, extortion, shakedowns, and donations. It has lately begun calling itself Bolivarian and is greatly admired by Venezuela's President-for-Life Chavez, who seemingly fantasizes about living in the woods and kidnapping people himself. He provides FARC with safe areas along the border. (FARC)
The BRSC includes Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... , Libya Shield ...a conglomerate of pro-Islamist militias deployed across Libya. It reports to the Libyan defense ministry and is organized like a real army unit. Its commander used to head a Benghazi brigade called Free Libya Martyrs... No. 1 Brigade, 17 February Martyrs Brigade and Rafallah al-Sahati Brigade.
Questions have been asked in the past about InterCenter's reliability and credibility, although not recently.
So far no country or international organization such as the UN or EU has listed the BRSC as a terrorist organization. The US government has classified Ansar al-Sharia as such, as has the Libyan government, and La Belle France demanded that the UN do so at the meeting on Libya held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York a week ago. It is reported that the EU is preparing to do so.
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, the pilot and the copilot had both hit the silk.
Jack! Cynthia exclaimed. Do you know how to drive one of these things?
Jack wiped some of the blood from his knuckles.
No, he said. Do you?... given the wave of liquidations and attempted liquidations in the past fortnight in Benghazi, most of which are being attributed to BRSC affiliates, it seems likely that the organization will further climb IntelCenter's danger index.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
The list may already be defective, as iff MSM-Net Reports on the new alliance, no longer deadly rivalry, between the ISIS/ISIL + SYRIA-BASED AL-NUSRA are correct, then ISIS/ISIL = AL-NUSRA = JOINT OR CO-#1.
DITTO AS PER AQAP aka AQIY, + AQIM, vee AL-NUSRA vee ISIS/ISIL.
Thusly, Vriginia, we have ... ...
* TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > ISLAMIC STATE [ISIS/ISIL] IS JUST AL-QAIDA.
Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... leader Abubakar Shekau dismissed Nigerian military claims of his death in a new video obtained by AFP on Thursday and said the bandidosgunnies had implemented strict Islamic law in captured towns.
"Here I am, alive. I will only die the day Allah takes my breath," Shekau said, adding that his group was "running our... Islamic caliphate" and administering strict sharia punishments.
Boko Haram has shown images of extreme violence before but the latest video shows at length graphic scenes of an amputation and a stoning to death as well as a beheading.
It also purports to show the wreckage of a Nigerian Air Force jet that went missing in the northeast on September 11. Boko Haram said its fighters shot it down but the military denied the claim.
The military announced last week that Shekau was dead and that a man who had been posing as the group's leader in the videos had been killed after fighting with troops in the far northeast.
Security analysts and the United States questioned the credibility of the military's claim.
The new 36-minute video shows Shekau, in combat fatigues and black rubber boots, standing on the back of a pick-up truck and firing an anti-aircraft gun into the air.
Standing in front of three camouflaged vans and flanked by four heavily armed, masked fighters, he then speaks for 16 minutes in Arabic and the Hausa language widely spoken in northern Nigeria.
There was no indication of where or when the video was shot. Shekau appears in separate images from the violence.
The heavily bearded Shekau, who appeared to be the same man as those in previous clips, said the military's claim that he was dead was propaganda.
"Nothing will kill me until my days are over... I'm still alive. Some people asked you if Shekau has two souls. No, I have one soul, by Allah," he said, apparently reading from a script.
"It is propaganda that is prevalent. I have one soul. I'm an Islamic student.
"I'm the Islamic student whose seminary you burnt... I'm not dead," he added, apparently referring to the destruction of the group's mosque in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, in 2009.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/03/2014 00:14 ||
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[ARABNEWS] The GCC bloc has said that it would not stand idle in the face of factional foreign intervention in Yemen and called for the restoration of government's writ in Sanaa.
GCC interior ministers meeting in Jeddah on Wednesday also reaffirmed the group's support to the strife-torn country within the framework of UN resolutions and the Gulf-brokered initiative for peace and security.
"Yemen's security and that of GCC states are one and the same," said a statement released following the meeting, which was attended by Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Naif and intelligence chief Prince Khaled bin Bandar.
The meeting has added significance keeping in view the arrival of the UN envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... on Thursday, following weeks of unrest in Sanaa and the country's failure to name a new head of government.
Benomar wrote on Facebook: "I am headed to Saudi Arabia on an official visit and I will continue my efforts to support Yemen in these difficult circumstances."
The statement said that the Gulf interior ministers voiced deep concern over the threats targeting the government, its institutions and establishments in Yemen.
They condemned the armed acts that have taken place in Yemen, strongly denouncing the looting of people's resources and assets.
The ministers stressed the need give back all premises and official establishments to the authority of the Yemeni state and to hand over all weapons, as well as public and private funds. Yemeni authorities have accused Iran of backing the Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to Americatm, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... rebels in the same way Iranians support Leb's militia Hezbollah.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, has announced that the government will pay for the Haj of the wives and children of soldiers martyred in the line of duty.
He recently ordered the Public Administration of Retirees of the Armed Forces to organize the pilgrimages.
Meanwhile, ...back at the comedy club, Boogie ducked another tomato... various armed forces divisions have completed their preparations to protect pilgrims and Islam's holiest sites during this year's Haj.
Prince Salman has ordered that the nation's soldiers make sure that they do their best to project a positive image of the country. There has been a major deployment of the country's top units and the most advanced equipment for this year's pilgrimage.
Military units are working alongside the country's other safety and security agencies to tackle emergencies. They are also deployed in various capacities including media, hospitality services, and medical evacuation operations.
The Saudi Air Force, operating from King Fahd Air Base, is providing operational support with helicopters for the Ministry of Interior and the other government bodies to help identify traffic bottlenecks at the holy sites. They would also take part in evacuation in the event of natural disasters.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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Prince Salman has ordered that the nation's soldiers make sure that they do their best to project a positive image of the country.
France called on Israel on Thursday to drop plans for new settlements in east Jerusalem, joining the United States and Berlin in criticism of the move. To each his own: you kill, we build.
[IsraelTimes] A Dutch high school student was suspended after posting a video in which he said he belonged to ISIS and wanted to decapitate Jews.
The De Spindel high school in Hengelo, a city in eastern Netherlands, suspended the 14-year-old in recent days, according to a report Saturday by the De Telegraaf daily. The student, who according to the newspaper is a Moslem boy of Balkan descent, was identified in the media only as Ilhan M.
"Hi, I am from ISIS and I would like to cut off the heads of Jews," he is seen as saying, followed by profanities about Jewish women.
It is not yet clear whether the teen was suspended because of the video or a recent inquiry by police initiated earlier this month after faculty reported that he may have possessed a weapon. Police found the boy owned a prop gun.
The key point of this is not the antisemitism. It would have been just as offensive had our little donkey wanted to cut off the heads of Christians... or atheists. The key point is that our little donkey thought that scaring people with ISIS is just the edgy thing a bright lad like him ought to do to show how cool and with it he is, now that grandmamas are getting tattoos. The answer is to expel him from school and throw him in jail with the grown-ups for a year or two, to ponder the wisdom of his choices. No doubt that is not what the Dutch judge will do.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
The key point of this is that the creatures aren't joking.
The tossed in the calaboose Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! leader of Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a 30-year insurgency for self-rule, warned on Thursday the grinding of the peace processor could collapse if Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... holy warriors seize a key Syrian border town.
IS holy warriors have in recent days advanced close to the Syrian Kurdish town of Ain Al-Arab, known as Kobane to the Kurds, a few km south of the Turkish border.
“The siege of Kobane is far from being just an ordinary siege,” PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan said in a message relayed by supporters from his prison on the island of Imrali.
“It does not only target the democratic gains of the Kurdish people but would lead Turkey to a new era of coups.
“If this attempt at a massacre succeeds, it will not only end the grinding of the peace processor, but will also pave the way for a new and long-lasting coup,” he said, according to the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency.
Turkey saw a succession of coups in the 20th century, but the ruling Justice and Development Party has curtailed the power of the military over the past decade and sought peace with the PKK, who have largely observed a cease-fire since 2013.
Kurdish holy warriors have expressed anger over Ankara’s policy against IS, accusing the government of colluding with the group and refusing to allow Kurds to cross the border and fight in Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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Sniff, sniff, came up wid that all by himself, did he???
[Ynet] The Turkish parliament approved a motion on Thursday enabling the government to authorize cross-border military incursions into Iraq and Syria to battle Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... murderous Moslems.
The motion also allows foreign soldiers to be stationed in Turkey and to use its military bases for the same purposes.
Ankara has come under pressure to play a more robust role in the US-led military campaign against Islamic State after the murderous Moslems advanced to within clear sight of Turkish military positions on the Syrian border.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
See also GROONG > [Hurriyet Daily News] TURKEY WILL FIGHT TERROR GROUPS BUT NOT FOR TEMPORARY SOLUTIONS - ERDOGAN.
versus
* BLOOMBERG > ISLAMIC STATE LEADS MIDDLE EAST INTO WARLORD ERA AS NATIONS DISSOLVE.
WARLORDISM = DARWINISM = ONLY THE STRONGEST WILL SURVIVE.
Lest we fergit, US TERROR ANALYSTS/EXPERTS = NO ONE OR GROUP IN RADICAL ISLAM SHOULD EXPECT TO RISE TO #1 = "TOP-TIER"? IN THE GLOBAL JIHAD WIDOUT BEING REQUIRED OR MANDATED TO DE FACTO ATTACK THE US ANDOR ITS INTERESTS.
Iff US-Allied Politicos are going to be saying that defeating or fighting the ISIS/ISIL will take many years iff not decades, then pragmatically the same should have no reason or expectation to feel secure in their own countries from 9-11, 7/7, or Mumbai-style, etc. major terror attacks.
[AnNahar] Retired U.S. general John Allen, who is leading the international effort against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... turbans, said Wednesday that the training of Syrian rebels would be a slow process.
"It is going to take a while, it could take years, actually," Allen said in an interview with CNN. "We have to manage our expectations."
Retired U.S. general John Allen, who is leading the international effort against Islamic State extremists, said Wednesday that the training of Syrian rebels would be a slow process.
"It is going to take a while, it could take years, actually," Allen said in an interview with CNN.
This is a fast moving situation. If it'll take years, why bother?
"We have to manage our expectations."
The U.S. Congress has approved the training and equipping of moderate Syrian rebel units as part of an international plan to defeat the Islamic State (IS) organization in Iraq and Syria.
Allen said the training of Syrian rebels was already under way.
"The process of getting that unfolded is occurring right now with the idea of locating training camps and beginning to accumulate the Syrian elements that will go into those training camps," he said.
The United States, which leads the international coalition, initially launched strikes in Iraq on August 8 and widened its campaign on September 23 to include Syria, where IS has its headquarters.
Allen said the international response has provided an opportunity for new partnerships.
"It's actually an important moment where so many countries from so many different backgrounds share that view, that this is an opportunity to create partnership across those lines of effort that can achieve real effect," he said.
During the interview, Allen spoke about Iran's role in tackling IS fighters.
"We're not going to contemplate a bilateral coalition with Iran," he said, but went on to add that the Iranians "have a role to play, and where that role is helpful, we'll encourage it."
The U.S. Congress has approved the training and equipping of moderate Syrian rebel units as part of an international plan to defeat the Islamic State (IS) organization in Iraq and Syria.
Allen said the training of Syrian rebels was already under way.
"The process of getting that unfolded is occurring right now with the idea of locating training camps and beginning to accumulate the Syrian elements that will go into those training camps," he said.
The United States, which leads the international coalition, initially launched strikes in Iraq on August 8 and widened its campaign on September 23 to include Syria, where IS has its headquarters.
Allen said the international response has provided an opportunity for new partnerships.
"It's actually an important moment where so many countries from so many different backgrounds share that view, that this is an opportunity to create partnership across those lines of effort that can achieve real effect," he said.
During the interview, Allen spoke about Iran's role in tackling IS fighters.
"We're not going to contemplate a bilateral coalition with Iran," he said, but went on to add that the Iranians "have a role to play, and where that role is helpful, we'll encourage it."
The classic definition of insanity, [hoping for different outcomes, etc], aggravated by denial and cognitive dissonance seems to apply.
I've now heard the "it will take years" line so often now, I'm reasonably certain it's a regime talking point intended to anchor results [or consequences] far beyond the tenure of the current administration.
#4
IMO, this is one of the following (or a mixture).
(a) The generals, grasping their political masters' folly, intend to procrastinate as long as possible.
(b) These "freedom fighters" are trained to continue the fight to exterminate Alawites, Christians, and Kurds against brutal Assad regime after ISIS is gone.
Actually, with a minor (for USA) investment in equipment, this can be made to work. For example: "This is a grenade. You'll get grenades just like this when you go operational. You pull the pin, count to five, and throw."
[DAWN] Irfan Khan, a naturalised US citizen from Pakistain with a wife and two children, worked hard to realise the American dream after arriving in this country in 1994.
He held jobs in South Florida as a taxi driver, service technician and operated a limousine company. He was an avid cricket player.
Then he stepped up to a Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, computer industry job in 2011 that promised a good living.
A short time later, Khan was indicted along with his father and brother, both Moslem imams at Florida mosques, with conspiring to provide up to $50,000 to the Pak Taliban.
Khan spent 319 days in solitary confinement before federal prosecutors abruptly dropped all charges in June 2012.
"It was very, very hard," Khan said of his days spent praying and reading in that lonely cell.
Later, a federal judge ordered the acquittal of Khan's brother for lack of evidence, although their elderly father, Hafiz Khan, was convicted at trial and sentenced to 25 years behind bars.
He's serving that time at a federal prison in North Carolina.
Now, Irfan Khan is suing the US government for malicious prosecution, accusing authorities of essentially manufacturing a non-existent case against him.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] RAWALPINDI: A Briton accused of blasphemy, who was shot by a police guard at his cell in the Adiala Jail, has not yet fully recovered and is likely to remain in the hospital until his condition improves.
A statement issued on Tuesday by Reprieve, a UK-based legal charity that represents the accused man, expressed fears that the 71-year-old with a history of mental illness might be transferred back to the prison where he was shot. A spokesperson for the group said that his lawyers filed an application asking that a court rule he be kept in the hospital.
Following surgery to treat injuries from his shooting, the prisoner is said to have contracted a chest infection. The medical superintendent of the hospital told Dawn that the medical board had not yet declared him fit to go back to jail.
He said that the patient was currently being kept in separate room, guarded by police round the clock. Senior psychiatrists from other top hospitals in the garrison city have also visited the man, who had already been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia by doctors in the UK.
Rawalpindi Commissioner Zahid Saeed told Dawn the inmate would only be shifted to prison when doctors will declare him medically fit to be moved back. He said that since there was facility to tend to gunshot victims in the prison, the prisoner could not be moved before his treatment concluded successfully.
"If the prisoner is shifted back to Adiala, he would be given extra security cover. There are three other inmates in Adiala Jail facing similar charges and their security had been beefed up as well," he said. Wonder if the guard who shot him has been assigned to other duties? David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... has previously expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... over the case but the injured man's family and Reprieve are calling on the British government to do more to ensure that his life is not put at further risk.
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10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] GUJRANWALA: Activists of the PML-N, led by an MPA, thrashed supporters of the 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.... (PTI) for raising the slogan of "Go Nawaz go' after the prime minister had left the venue of a ceremony in Wazirabad on Wednesday.
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... distributed compensation cheques among flood-affected people at the ceremony. After he left the place, a group of people started shouting the slogan. Taufeeq Butt, a member of the Punjab Assembly, got off his car and, joined by PML-N activists, beat them up.
"We will hit them with shoes if they raise this slogan again," Butt warned while talking to a private TV channel. He asked the PTI to rein in its supporters. "They can raise slogans in their meetings but they can't spoil others' show."
In her tweet after the incident, Maryam Nawaz Sharif warned PTI supporters "not to mess with the lions". She said PML-N workers had had enough of the PTI's vandalism and added that supporters of the party would find no place to hide if the PML-N hit back.
She said her party's policy of "restraint and civility" should not be misconstrued as its weakness.
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10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Addressing a rally in Mianwali on Thursday, 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.... (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... claimed that the masses in Pakistain have rejected the incumbent rulers.
The PTI chairman claimed he had exposed the electoral rigging by the ruling Pakistain Moslem League -- Nawaz (PML-N) and added that he would ensure they do not go unpunished for this crime.
He further said that protests would continue until 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... steps down.
Khan said there was nothing wrong in raising the slogans of "Go Nawaz Go" and wondered as to why the Sharif family had objections to the people's democratic right.
"Why would they beat up the sloganeers?" he asked
Imran advised his followers to "never bow down to evil" and to always stand united against it.
Talking about the success of his rally in his native Mianwali city, he said all other political parties would have taken six months to stage a demonstration of such a proportion but the PTI had managed the event in just three days.
He said that if Nawaz Sharif could manage a political gathering of even thirty per cent in size of the PTI's Mianwali rally, he would concede that elections were not rigged.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] LAHORE: Terming killing of innocent people against the teachings of Islam, the Pakistain Ulema Council has appealed to the youth not to join such myrmidon organizations like Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria, which promote violence.
The council has decided to approach the great Darul Iftas (institutions for issuing religious decrees) and leaders of the Moslem world to present a unanimous opinion on the situation of the world in general and the situation of Iraq and Syria in particular for Moslem people and youth.
Asking the Moslem rulers as well as the international community to consider the factors that lead to forming of organizations like the Islamic State (formerly ISIS) and inducing the young people to adopt the path of violence and extremism, the council quoted atrocities by Bashir al-Assad and his father Hafez al-Assad in Syria and by the rulers of post-Saddam Hussein Iraq as the factors behind the current expression of violence by Moslem youths.
"Heinous atrocities were committed by Bashir al-Assad and his father, Hafez al-Assad, against the people of Syria and the rulers who came to power in Iraq after the ouster of Saddam Hussein's regime discriminated against people on sectarian grounds. The followers of a specific Moslem sect were not given justice or rights and were constantly treated in a brutal way (in Iraq). These are the factors due to which organizations such as the IS are formed and gain popularity among the public."
Asserting that dialogue is the solution to all global issues, whether they are inter-faith or inter-sectarian problems, it said when governments adopt the path of violence people are forced to follow suit, raising tensions across the globe.
The council believes that there is no room for extremism and terrorism in Islam and no group or individual can be given the authority to kill innocent people. Likewise, the PUC believes that leaders of any country do not have the right to kill their opponents, or make their lives difficult on the basis of religion or sect.
Council Chairman Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi formed the opinion on the IS after seeking and carefully studying the point of view of media representatives and Moslems in Islamic and European countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Foreign Office on Thursday termed the United States' decision to designate three Pakistain-based organizations as terror groups a 'unilateral move' that does not apply to Pakistain.
"There is a procedure at the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... to declare any person or organization a terrorist; however, the US' decision to declare three Pak-based organizations [as terror groups] does not apply to Pakistain," Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam told news hounds at the weekly media briefing in Islamabad.
On Wednesday, the US Treasury Department slapped sanctions on two Pakistain-based terrorist organizations -- LeT and Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HuM) -- and froze the assets of their leaders.
The announcement claimed that the assets were used for providing financial support to LeT, which is accused of carrying out the Mumbai terror attacks.
The Treasury notification described HuM as "a terrorist group that operates throughout India, Pakistain, and Afghanistan, and maintains terrorist training camps in eastern Afghanistan." Both organizations are proxies for the Pak govt...
According to the notification, in 2005, HuM attacks in Kashmire killed at least 15 people, and in 2007, an unspecified number of Indian troops were also killed in a firefight with HuM Lions of Islam in the area. The Pak govt of course plausibly denies all connection. They probably suggest that the attacks were "false flag" attacks organized by RAW. That's what they usually do.
To date, the Treasury Department has designated 27 individuals and three entities associated with LeT. "Tut tut! Not nearly enough evidence to implicate Lashkar-e-Taiba in the Mumbai attacks, much less the Pak govt. All 27 have alibis for the times in question, and the Pak govt wasn't even in the country at the time! Besides, all the witnesses are dead!" Sanctions
Placing sanctions on Harkut-ul-Mujahideen leader Fazl-ur Rehman Khalil, One of the original signers of Osama bin Laden's declaration of war against humanity.
the US treasury said in a statement, "HuM is a terrorist group that operates throughout India, Pakistain and Afghanistan, and maintains terrorist training camps in eastern Afghanistan." ...which for some reason no one seems able to blow away...
In addition, the treasury department also named Muhammad Naeem Sheikh and Umair Naeem, whose Lahore-based businesses Abdul Hameed Shahab-ud-Din (AHSD) and Nia International were designated for providing financial support to LeT. "Tut tut, my good man! Perfectly legit businesses, we assure you! Dealers in fine shoes, fine shoes! For ladies, too! Made from hides provided by holy day sacrifices, so good for your spiritual development even whilst walking!"
In the India-US joint statement released after the Obama-Modi meeting, the two sides said, "The leaders stressed the need for joint and concerted efforts, including the dismantling of safe havens for terrorist and criminal networks, to disrupt all financial and tactical support for networks such as al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... , 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... , the D-Company That'd be Dawood Ibrahim, the local Ernst Stavro Blofeld taste-alike. The Paks just can't seem to find him...
and the Haqqanis." The US actions point to a deeper cooperation against terrorism. National security adviser Ajit Doval has stayed on in the US to have further talks on fighting terrorism. "Shoes! Shoes! Who will buy my pretty shoes?"
"Both LeT and HuM are violent terrorist organizations that train Lions of Islam and support the activities of many of the best known and brutal turban groups, including Al Qaeda," said US under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence David S Cohen.
"Today's designations will disrupt efforts by these terrorist organizations to access their financial networks and the international financial system," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... turbans in Iraq have carried out mass executions, kidnapped women and girls as sex slaves, and used child soldiers in what may amount to systematic war crimes that demand prosecution, the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... said on Thursday.
In a report based on 500 interviews with witnesses, also said Iraqi government Arclight airstrikes on the Sunni bandidosturbans had caused "significant civilian deaths" by hitting villages, a school and hospitals in violation of international law.
At least 9,347 civilians had been killed and 17,386 maimed so far this year through September, well over half of them since the turbans also known as ISIL and ISIS began seizing large parts of northern Iraq in early June, the report said.
"The array of violations and abuses perpetrated by ISIL and associated gangs is staggering, and many of their acts may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein.
In a statement, he called again for the Baghdad government to join the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... , saying the Hague court was set up to prosecute such massive abuses and direct targeting of civilians on the basis of their religious or ethnic group.
Radical forces have committed gross human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... violations and violence of an "increasing sectarian nature" against groups including Christians, Yazidis and Shiites in a widening conflict that has forced 1.8 million Iraqis to flee their homes, according to the 29-page report by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq.
"These include attacks directly targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, executions and other assassinations of civilians, abductions, rape and other forms of sexual and physical violence perpetrated against women and kiddies, forced recruitment of children, destruction or desecration of places of religious or cultural significance, wanton destruction and looting of property, and denial of fundamental freedoms."
In a single massacre on June 12, the report said, about 1,500 Iraqi soldiers and security officers from the former US Camp Speicher military base in Salahuddin province were captured and killed by Islamic State fighters.
However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... the bodies have not been exhumed and the precise toll is not known. No one disputes that Iraqi military recruits were led off the base near Tikrit unarmed and then machine gunned in their hundreds into mass graves by Islamic State, whose fighters boasted of the killings on the Internet.
Women have been treated particularly harshly, the report said: "ISIL (has) attacked and killed female doctors, lawyers, among other professionals."
In August, it said, ISIL took 450-500 women and girls to the Tal Afar citadel in Iraq's Nineveh region where "150 unmarried girls and women, predominantly from the Yazidi and Christian communities, were reportedly transported to Syria, either to be given to ISIL fighters as a reward or to be sold as sex slaves."
Islamic State pushed on with its assault on a Syrian border town on Thursday despite coalition air strikes meant to weaken them, sending thousands more Kurdish refugees into Turkey and dragging Ankara deeper into the conflict.
The report also voiced deep concern at violations committed by the Baghdad government and allied fighters, including Arclight airstrikes and shelling that may not have distinguished between military targets and civilian areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
With ISIS no need to distinguish between civilian and military.
#3
And when they win and are sovereign of all they survey who will be the first to recognize them diplomatically and set up an Embassy? Who will be first to buy their Oil and sell them what they need?
Do you think they will be trusted to make alliances and sign trade agreements? Will anyone be willing to make Cultural exchanges with them? What will the Embassy parties serve for entertainment and what will you be holding in your hand for refreshments while you talk about building economic and cultural links between your two countries.
And if you have a "border" with the ISIS administration...who will be smiling back at you on a bright clear day?
What will ISIS build and offer the International community? And as such...what would you predict their supply of the world's resources they can expect?
Geopolitically what does Iraq NEED? If they are going to get much they are going to have to offer something in return. What can ISIS offer the world?
Think about it. THAT is their future. Count it.
Posted by: Big Thromoth3646 ||
10/03/2014 8:03 Comments ||
Top||
#4
ISIS released a statement today that they beheaded another Brit.
The editor of the British medical journal The Lancet, which ran an open letter accusing Israel of a “massacre” in Gaza, said on a visit to Israel that he will publish a retraction.
Dr. Richard Horton made a statement Thursday during Grand Rounds at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, which he visited earlier in the week.
Horton reportedly said during his statement that he “deeply, deeply regrets” publishing the letter to the people of Gaza in The Lancet during this summer’s conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Several dozen physicians from the West signed the letter, which also accused Israel of “cruel” and “vicious war crimes.” Physicians, researchers and Israeli officials decried the letter.
Continued on Page 49
#6
WHAT is a scientific Medical Journal doing writing a political statement ? Is the Lancet a scientific Medical Journal OR a shill for anti-Semitic propaganda?
Do they have a history of NOT doing serious Medical Journal articles aimed at a readership of practicing doctors of Medicine?
And WHAT practicing Physician would read a propaganda rag in the first place?
So what is the LANCET? A publisher of serious articles about Medicine or a propaganda rag ?
It CAN'T be both. You can't take seriously a scientific Medical Journal publication which publishes political anti-Semitic propaganda as a medical Journal...unless you are a doctor of Ju-Ju which is the rough equivalent of poo-poo.
Which leads me to assume the Lancet probably is just that: Poo-poo.
Posted by: Big Thromoth3646 ||
10/03/2014 7:51 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Lancet editor ‘deeply regrets’ publishing Gaza letter
...Translation: Lancet publishers 'deeply regret' hiring your anti-semitic a$$...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/03/2014 9:11 Comments ||
Top||
#8
...Translation: Lancet publishers 'deeply regret' allowing you to expose their inner bigotry and hatred which allowed the publishing to occur in the first place.
#9
The Lancet was responsible for grossly over-inflating casualty figures during the Iraqi war. For whatever reason they regularly stray into politics rather than sticking to medical issues.
#10
He likely published on the orders of the The British Medical Association (BMA) is the professional association and registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom.
Like a good Comrade, Dr. Richard Horton is there !
[ARABNEWS] The Paleostinian government on Thursday in a reconstruction plan for Gazoo ahead of an October 12 donor conference called for $4 billion to rebuild the war-battered territory.
Gazoo's infrastructure was devastated during a 50-day Israeli military operation which killed nearly 2,200 Paleostinians, while attacks by Gazooholy warriors killed 73 on the Israeli side.
The 76-page report, released ahead of the donor conference in Cairo, said $4 billion (3.2 billion euros) would be needed for the "direct costs" of rebuilding the besieged coastal territory.
It would include $1.9 billion for public and private infrastructure repairs, and $1.2 billion for "reactivating economic productivity," according to The National Early Recovery and Reconstruction Plan for Gazoo.
The government's priority would be "removal of rubble and removal of ERWs," or unwent kaboom! shells and missiles from the war, which it estimated to number 5,000 inside Gazoo.
It would then repair Gazoo's power station, which was struck during the conflict, and work on access to drinking water, health care and education.
The "largest expenditure" would be on housing, it said.
More than 100,000 Gazooks are homeless after the conflict, which ended August 26.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] In first interview since Operation Protective Edge, IDF Chief of Staff Gantz says Gazoo operation was a success: 'We have military officials around the world telling us we have raised the bar in terms of ethical and professional standards.'
"Israel strategic position is better this Rosh Hashana (Jewish new year) than it was last year," IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said in his first interview after Operation Protective Edge ended last month. The full interview with Gantz will be published Friday for Yom Kippur.
Gantz, who is facing mounting criticism regarding the operation is set to finish his term as head of the Middle East's most powerful military in four months, and is confident the army did its job properly. Regardless he is much more concerned by the threat posed in the northern by Hezbollah than Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, in Gazoo in the south.
"The threat facing Israel from the Leb is much larger than that posed by Gazoo," Gantz said, "but does that mean I need to drive to Jerusalem to post haste and demand we attack Leb?' he asked rhetorically.
The comment is a veiled response to critics who said the army failed to address the issues of Gazoo's tunnels, one of the central missions during Operation Protective Edge, which many said was ignored by the State until the operation. "The IDF, the politicians, Cabinet members... we all knew and understood the tunnel threat," he said.
For Gantz, the operation was a professional success: "A number of top ranking army officials from different countries arrived here and told us: 'Your professional conduct was unprecedented.' We have raised the bar to level they do not know what to do with."
Thus Gantz also stresses the need for additional funds for the IDF. The military budget was at the heart of this year's battle over the State budget, and Gantz says he is not completely at ease with the arrangement reached by Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Prime Minister Netanyahu which will see close to NIS 6 billion transferred to the IDF, in addition to its regular budget.
"I am concerned by this agreement. The army cannot be a beggar being called out for every penny - we need to look at the macro."
Regarding his looming departure from the only professional home he has ever known, Gantz looks back at 37 years of military service with pride: "I'm leaving whoever will be my replacement a very good army. Much more integrated, with a higher ethical and professional standard."
In the full interview, set to be published Friday ahead of Yom Kippur, Gantz will talk about the controversial Hannibal Directive employed during the kidnapping of Hadar Goldin, the attempted -- and possibly successful -- attempt to kill the head of Hamas' military wing Mohammed Dief.
[AnNahar] Nearly all residents of the embattled Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane and surrounding area have fled an advance by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group jihadists, a monitor said Thursday.
"Some 80 to 90 percent of residents of Kobane and nearby villages have fled for fear of an imminent assault by the Islamic State group," said the director of the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman.
"We are looking at a total of some 300,000 displaced people and refugees in Turkey. Kobane is practically empty of its residents now," Abdel Rahman told AFP.
IS fighters launched a major offensive against Kobane on September 16 and have advanced to within less than a kilometer (mile) of the eastern and southeastern edges of the town.
"Kobane town is now completely surrounded by IS" except for the northern side of the border town leading into Turkey, Abdel Rahman said.
The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia have been fighting the jihadists' bid to break into Kobane, which in Arabic is known as Ain al-Arab, but are poorly equipped and massively outgunned.
Kurdish leaders have appealed to the U.S.-led coalition battling IS to provide air support to the town's defenders. There were strikes on Wednesday, but they failed to stop the jihadists' advance.
On Thursday, local activist Mustafa Ebdi criticized Washington and its mainly Gulf Arab allies carrying out strikes in Syria for their apparent failure to stop the IS advance.
"The international community has abandoned us," Ebdi said via the Internet.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/03/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Kurds have good instincts---the consequence of living with Arabs for 40+ generations.
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.
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
David Cameron
[DAWN] The Foreign Office on Thursday termed the United States' decision to designate three Pakistain-based organizations as terror groups a 'unilateral move' that does not apply to Pakistain.
International Criminal Court
