[ToloNews] Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, held unannounced talks with the Taliban ...Arabic for students... peace negotiators in Doha, capital of Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... , to urge a reduction in violence across Afghanistan, AP reported.
Gen. Milley met for about two hours with the Taliban negotiators on Tuesday and flew Wednesday to Kabul to discuss the grinding of the peace processor with President Ghani, the report said.
"The most important part of the discussions that I had with both the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan was the need for an immediate reduction in violence," Milley told three news hounds, including one from the AP, who accompanied him to Qatar and Afghanistan. "Everything else hinges on that."
Under ground rules set by Milley for security reasons, the journalists traveling with him agreed not to report on either set of talks until he had departed the region, according to the report.
It was Milley’s second unannounced meeting with the Taliban’s negotiating team; the first, in June, also in Doha, had not been reported until now, said the AP.
The AP also reported that Gen. Scott Miller, the top commander of US and coalition forces in Afghanistan, said in an interview at his military headquarters in Kabul on Wednesday that the Taliban have stepped up attacks on Afghan forces, particularly in the southern provinces of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... and Kandahar, and against roadways and other infrastructure.
"My assessment is, it puts the grinding of the peace processor at risk — the higher the violence, the higher the risk," Miller said. Miller meets at least once a month with Taliban negotiators as part of Washington’s effort to advance a grinding of the peace processor.
In Kabul, President Ghani met with Gen. Milley on Wednesday evening, the Presidential Palace said, adding: "Both sides expressed their concerns over the escalation of violence in Afghanistan and discussed the Afghan grinding of the peace processor and the immediate need for a ceasefire."
Gen. Milley also met Chief of Army Staff Gen. Mohammad Yasin Zia and other Afghan officials.
#2
Talking to the wrong people. It was like talking to the Japanese Foreign Ministry in '40-'41 when the military ran the country. In this case, Pakistan.
[ToloNews] The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) on Thursday said that at least 400 Afghan non-combatants were killed and maimed over the past three months in eastern Afghanistan.
Out of the total number of fatalities, 114 non-combatants were killed and 300 were maimed, the AIHRC said.
"The Independent Human Rights Commission again calls on the warring sides to stop the war and make peace," said Habib Shams, the AIHRC site office in the east.
In the latest development, at least three non-combatants were killed and ten others were maimed after two missiles hit residential areas in the Alishing district of Laghman ...Afghan province with a population of about 445,600, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. During the invasions of Alexander the Great, the area was known as Lampaka, wich is apparently Olde Macedonian for Laghman.The city of Mihtarlam serves as the bucolic capital of the province. The population is half Pashtun, the remainder Tadjik and Pashai. It had a repution for great wealth until it was conquered in the tenth century by Abu Mansur Sabuktigin.
He conquered it and set fire to the places in its vicinity which were inhabited by infidels, and demolishing the idol-temples, he established Islam in them, He marched and captured other cities and killed the polluted wretches, destroying the idolatrous and gratifying the Musulmans. After wounding and killing beyond all measure, his hands and those of his friends became cold in counting the value of the plundered property.
After that it was mostly notable for the production of dirt, rocks, and holy men... province.
Residents in Alishing district say they are tired of war.
Khairkhaw is a resident of Islamabad village in Alishing district. He said that on Monday night a missile hit his house and killed his sister and maimed another six members of his family, including his mother and father.
Shah Mahmoud, a 9-year-old Afghan child, was maimed as a result of a missile attack in eastern Afghanistan. Mahmoud’s parents were seriously maimed in the attack.
"We were at home, two of our guests were martyred, one of my sisters was also martyred," said Khairkhaw.
"It's now 15 days that the fighting rages on, schools are closed, the situation is fragile and we can't even go for prayer," said Malook, a resident in Alising.
"A mortar landed, I don’t know whether it was fired by the government forces or the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... , the mortar took lives of civilians," said Ghulam Haidar, a resident in Alishing.
Residents in Laghman have called on the warring sides to stop the fighting as soon as possible.
[KhaamaPress] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund... President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... on Wednesday submitted a motion to parliament to extend the deployment of Ottoman Turkish troops in Afghanistan for 18 months as part of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... ’s support mission, according to sources.
Turkey has about 1,200 soldiers in Afghanistan under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) support mission.
"Turkey, which has deep friendship and brotherhood ties with Afghanistan, has always backed the unity, integrity and independence of Afghanistan," the statement read.
The motion will be debated in parliament after December 18, as local media Anadolu Agency reported.
A legislation was put into effect on January 6, 2019, allowing the Ottoman Turkish government to send troops to Afghanistan to support the NATO-led mission Resolute Support.
This came days after the Afghan and Turkey government signed Military-Financial Cooperation Agreement and the International Protocol of Financial Assistance in Ankara, providing a five-year financial aid to Afghan forces.
The financial aid that sums up around $13 million, will furnish Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) with military equipment for at least five upcoming years, according to the statement posted by the Afghanistan Embassy in Turkey.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/18/2020 02:27 ||
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[LIBYAREVIEW] The US is expected to bring new charges against a Libyan national suspected of being involved in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Monday will mark the 32nd anniversary of the incident.The suspect was identified by the Wall Street Journal as Abu Agila Mohammad Masud. He was an intelligence officer whom the Journal reported is in jug in Libya and is expected to be extradited to the United States to stand trial.
The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people, spurred global investigations, and resulted in sanctions against Libya. Two intelligence officers faced charges before a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands, after Libya refused to extradite the men to the US.
In 1992, the UN Security Council imposed air travel sanctions, and a ban on arms sales against Libya to pressure Colonel Muammar Qadaffy ...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... into surrendering the two suspects. The sanctions were later lifted after Libya agreed to a $2.7bn compensation deal with the victims’ families.
A former Libyan intelligence official, Abdel-Baset al-Megrahi,
...also in our archives as Abdelbaset Mohmet al-Megrahi...
was convicted of the bombing, and another Libyan suspect was acquitted of all charges. al-Megrahi was given a life sentence, but Scottish authorities released him on humanitarian grounds in 2009 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He later died 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... in 2012.
The case, to be unveiled in the coming days, would mark the second time Attorney General William Barr has overseen charges in connection with the bombing.
During Barr's first stint as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, the Justice Department indicted two Libyan Intelligence Agency operatives - Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah - for building a plastic bomb with a timer, hiding it inside a suitcase and planting it on an Air Malta flight.
The suitcase was eventually transferred to Pan Am Flight 103.
"We will not rest until all those responsible are brought to justice. We have no higher priority," Barr said in 1991, at the time the indictment was unveiled. Parallel charges were also filed against the men in Scotland.
Earlier today, LNA General Commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar welcomed Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio at the LNA Headquarters in Al-Rajma, East Libya.https://t.co/PzK4AWTsej#Libya#LibyaReviewpic.twitter.com/zIPSRhVHGH
[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] A serial sex offender and Black Lives Matter activist recently released from prison served a titular leadership role at the Antifa ...the armed wing of the Democratic Party... autonomous zone in north Portland.
Micah Isaiah Rhodes, 27, was convicted of three counts of second-degree sexual abuse of minors in 2018. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison after violating probation by being near children during an Antifa occupation of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
Since being released from prison in July, Rhodes has returned to the far-left activism he was known for. After the establishment of the "Red House Autonomous Zone" in Portland last week, where Antifa forces of Evil barricaded a house and the surrounding streets, he took on a leadership position. But some in the far-left activist community are quietly voicing their concerns anonymously online.
"I’m incredibly uncomfortable with Micah having a leadership role at [RHAZ]," tweeted user @riotslutt. "I’ll [obviously] default to Black leadership on this, but I’m not gonna hold back on vocalizing how incredibly violating this feels to me as a survivor of sexual assault."
Black anarcho-communist trumps white rape victim. It’s time to step back from your heteronormative white privilege, biyatch.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/18/2020 00:00 ||
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#1
Did you hear that Joe? Clearly a fine first pick for your next cabinet position!
Two top officials in Pakistan on Wednesday categorically denied media reports that Pakistani officials had visited Israel or held meetings in the Jewish state, separately terming the reports “absolutely wrong” and “ridiculous.”https://t.co/xFeIvVzQO1
[THEBAGHDADPOST] An Iraqi politician revealed on Tuesday that his country has officially rejected a railway connection with Kuwait.
Yousif Kilabi, a member of the parliamentary Committee of Dignity, said in a statement that Iraq has answered to Kuwait and officially refused to construct a railway with the country.
The politician noted that a railway connection between the two countries would have serious implications on the trade movements at the Iraqi ports and al-Harir road.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/18/2020 00:00 ||
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#1
It's much harder to stop trains for shakedowns or hijacks...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/18/2020 9:16 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] The head of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency says a new nuclear deal would be needed with Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... under the US presidency of Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden ...Candidate for president in 2020. We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created ... by the — you know — you know, the thing... , since the existing deal has now been breached too many times.
Here comes President Gropey Joe, the great negotiator. Ah well, another thing the US Senate won’t bother to ratify, so at least it won’t be binding on his successors.
Biden has expressed hope that the 2015 deal — which US President Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...... left in 2018 — could be revived if Tehran "resumes strict compliance" with its terms, which it has since breached.
"I cannot imagine that they are going simply to say, ’We are back to square one’ because square one is no longer there," Rafael Grossi tells Rooters. "It is clear that there will have to be a protocol or an agreement or an understanding or some ancillary document which will stipulate clearly what we do.
"There is more [nuclear] material... there is more activity, there are more centrifuges, and more are being announced. So what happens with all this? This is the question for them at the political level to decide," he says.
#2
"There is more [nuclear] material... there is more activity, there are more centrifuges, and more are being announced. So what happens with all this?"
What happens in the rational world is you dissolve the agreement and recognize it's over.
[Jpost] The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on companies based in China and the United Arab Emirates, accusing them of supporting the sale of Iranian petrochemicals as Washington increases pressure on Tehran even as President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... 's term nears a close.
The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it blacklisted the four entities for facilitating the export of Iranian petrochemical products by Triliance Petrochemical Co. Ltd., which was hit with sanctions by Washington earlier this year.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/18/2020 04:04 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Arabic for 
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie 
...the armed wing of the Democratic Party...
...Candidate for president in 2020. 
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
