A United Nations ...When talk is your weapon it's hard to make yourself heard over the sound of artillery... report released on Wednesday says that there has been a 53 per cent increase in civilian casualties caused by assassinations in the first half of this year in Afghanistan, compared to the same period in 2011.
Overall, however, the report prepared by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), demonstrates a 15 percent decrease in the number of civilian casualties from January 2012 until mid year where 1,145 people have been killed and 1,954 others have been maimed.
Anti-Government elements, according to the report, continue to target community leaders, governmental authorities and civilians that they suspect of supporting the government or military forces.
The UN has attributed 80 per cent of the casualties to anti-government groups, saying Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) account for 29 per cent of the casualties, while assassinations account for 22 per cent of the casualties. 882 people have been killed and 1,593 others maimed by anti-government elements, 14 per cent less than the same period last year.
Pro-government elements were responsible for 10 per cent of the casualties, showing a 25 per cent reduction in compared with the last year.
The UN has asked all parties to ensure civilian casualties are minimised, calling on anti-government elements to immediately cease using IEDs and suicide kabooms.
Because that always works.
The reports show that 114,900 people have been displaced due to conflict related violence which is 14 per cent higher than the same period last year.
[Jerusalem Post] Global Jihad hard boyz operating in Egyptian peninsula receiving financial, logistical support from Salafi-linked terror cells abroad, senior Israeli official reveals.
Global jihad hard boyz in Sinai receive financial and logistical support from other Salafi terror cells in Afghanistan and Iraq, a senior Israeli official revealed on Wednesday.
The groups are usually not connected to Iran, which is working to establish its own terrorist infrastructure in Sinai via Hezbollah, according to the official.
The groups are usually not connected to Iran, which is working to establish its own terrorist infrastructure in Sinai via Hezbollah
A large proportion of the weaponry used in the recent spate of attacks against Israel originated in Libya, where arms depots were raided and cleared out following the revolution there last year.
Israel is particularly concerned about sophisticated shoulder-to-air missiles that can threaten Israeli aircraft flying near the border. Another concern is the possibility that sea mines the Libyan military previously deployed will find their way to Sinai and the Gazoo Strip.
"There is no shortage of weapons and explosives in Sinai," the official said.
The official said that the cross-border attack from Sinai on Sunday -- during which armed Beduin from Sinai killed 16 Egyptian soldiers, stole an armored vehicle and infiltrated Israel -- was motivated by the groups' interest in establishing themselves as a new player in the region. The assessment within the Israeli intelligence community is that the attacks will continue and might increase in frequency.
The IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) cannot yet identify a group that is responsible for the attacks, although Egyptian media reported on Wednesday that the Army of Islam, a Gazoo-based group affiliated with al-Qaeda, was involved. According to Israel, the perpetrators are global jihad operatives, brought together by a common cause -- to attack Israel and Egypt -- and financial incentives for their families.
"These are attacks that are aimed at establishing the groups' reputation and position within Sinai," the official said, adding that the operatives were not subordinate to the Beduin sheikhs who traditionally were in charge of everything that happens in the peninsula.
The focus for Israel now is on increasing its intelligence-gathering capabilities in Sinai. The government is expected to decide in the coming weeks which intelligence agency -- Military Intelligence or the Shin Bet -- will be placed in charge of covering Sinai. Such a decision will draw an immediate budget increase for the chosen agency.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/09/2012 00:00 ||
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The Muslim Brotherhood is busily propagating conspiracy theories about Israeli guilt for Sunday's terror attack in Sinai, which killed 16 Egyptian soldiers. But there's a bright side to this story: For the first time ever, many Egyptians aren't buying it.
True, dozens of demonstrators converged on the Israeli ambassador's house Monday to demand his expulsion, asserting that Israel was to blame. But the real mob scene occurred at the slain soldiers' funerals -- where crowds chanted slogans denouncing not Israel, but the Muslim Brotherhood, and physically attacked a representative of the Brotherhood-led government, Prime Minister Hesham Kandil.
Nor did the media blindly regurgitate the usual conspiracy theories of Israeli guilt: They duly reported the Egyptian military's assertion that the attack was perpetrated by terrorists from Sinai aided by Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Prominent Egyptian commentators even criticized the army for ignoring the intelligence warning Israel had shared, and President Mohammed Morsi for pardoning thousands of radical Islamists and freeing them from jail. And both in television interviews and on social media sites, many ordinary Egyptians blamed the attack not on Israel, but on Morsi, for having reopened the Gaza-Egypt border.
Moreover, the outrage shifted the balance of power between the army and the Brotherhood in the cabinet, enabling the army's representative, Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi, to force Morsi to seal the Egypt-Gaza border "indefinitely," just days after having triumphantly reopened it. The army also poured troops accompanied by bulldozers into the Gaza border region to begin sealing the Gaza-Sinai smuggling tunnels -- a step Israel had long pleaded for in vain. It even launched its first-ever air strikes on suspected terrorists in Sinai.
Finally, the public outrage seems to have emboldened Egyptian liberals: Former parliamentarian Mohammed Abu Hamed, for instance, launched a blistering attack on Morsi in which he even took the courageous step of defending the peace with Israel.
There's no guarantee any of this will last: Anti-Israel incitement has been the norm in Egypt for decades, and anti-Israel sentiment runs deep. But if Sunday's attack proves the start of a process that leads ordinary Egyptians to reevaluate who their real enemies are, that would be an enormous boon not only for Israel, but for the prospects of a lasting Middle East peace.
#1
Oh My, the government is finding it hard to make the people hate Israel, their sworn enemy.
This will be fun, you think WE have troubles with Obama, how about thinking f a whole government BASED on Obamas at every level.(And the people don't like it)
Fun, Fun, Fun.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/09/2012 5:25 Comments ||
Top||
#2
.....how about thinking of a whole government BASED on Obamas.
Redneck Jim
As I watch the US Justice Dept., EPA, senior echelons of our military, and others, I am very much thinking about it.
So much for his supposed pious perfection after he divorced the divine Jemima.
The Taliban have threatened to kill Pak cricket star turned politician, Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... , if he holds a planned march to their tribal stronghold to protest US drone attacks.
Although the Pak Taliban also oppose the strikes, front man Ahsanullah Ahsan said they would attack Imran Khan because he calls himself a "liberal" a term they associate with a lack of religious belief.
The threat could surprise many in Pakistain who have criticised Khan for not being tough enough on the Taliban and instead focusing his criticism on the government's alliance with the US.
Ahsan spoke to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named in an interview on Monday in the bad turban group's stronghold of South Wazoo. "We will kill him," said Ahsan.
Some of his critics have nicknamed him "Taliban Khan" because of his views and his cozy ties with conservative leaders who could help him attract right-wing voters in national elections likely to be held later this year or early next year.
Khan has described himself as a liberal in various TV interviews, but he has also made clear that he is a practicing Moslem. Ahsan, the Taliban front man, seemed to ignore that distinction and said the forces of Evil didn't want Khan's help in opposing drone attacks.
Khan has said he is planning to lead thousands of people in a march to Waziristan in September to demonstrate against the strikes.
"We will not accept help or sympathy from any infidel," said Ahsan, referring to Khan. "We can fight on our own with the help of God," he said, as drones buzzed overhead.
The front man for Khan's party could not be immediately reached for comment. Ahsan said the Taliban consider anyone who participates in elections, even religious parties, as infidels and will target them.
"The election process is part of a secular system," said Ahsan. "We want an Islamic system and will create hurdles to secularism." An AP news hound interviewed Ahsan at a remote compound on a forested mountainside in South Waziristan.
He was taken there from a compound in the Shawal area that housed several dozen Taliban fighters armed with AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and anti-aircraft guns. Artillery fired by the Mighty Pak Army regularly pounded the ground near the compound.
The military launched a major offensive against the Pak Taliban in South Waziristan in 2009 and has claimed to have largely cleared the area.
But the forces of Evil regularly launch attacks, and the interview held with the AP indicated they move relatively freely. Ahsan arrived for the interview in a pick-up truck with two other Taliban capos.
He was wearing a white shalwar kameez and a woolen Chitrali cap. He spoke with an assault rifle laid across his lap, and he and the other commanders had gun sex in celebration at the end of the interview.
The Taliban have threatened to kill Pak cricket star turned politician, Imran Khan, if he holds a planned march to their tribal stronghold to protest US drone attacks.
Although the Pak Taliban also oppose the strikes, front man Ahsanullah Ahsan said they would attack Imran Khan because he calls himself a "liberal" a term they associate with a lack of religious belief.
The threat could surprise many in Pakistain who have criticised Khan for not being tough enough on the Taliban and instead focusing his criticism on the government's alliance with the US.
Ahsan spoke to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named in an interview on Monday in the bad turban group's stronghold of South Waziristan. "We will kill him," said Ahsan.
Some of his critics have nicknamed him "Taliban Khan" because of his views and his cozy ties with conservative leaders who could help him attract right-wing voters in national elections likely to be held later this year or early next year.
Khan has described himself as a liberal in various TV interviews, but he has also made clear that he is a practicing Moslem. Ahsan, the Taliban front man, seemed to ignore that distinction and said the forces of Evil didn't want Khan's help in opposing drone attacks.
Khan has said he is planning to lead thousands of people in a march to Waziristan in September to demonstrate against the strikes.
"We will not accept help or sympathy from any infidel," said Ahsan, referring to Khan. "We can fight on our own with the help of God," he said, as drones buzzed overhead.
The front man for Khan's party could not be immediately reached for comment. Ahsan said the Taliban consider anyone who participates in elections, even religious parties, as infidels and will target them.
"The election process is part of a secular system," said Ahsan. "We want an Islamic system and will create hurdles to secularism." An AP news hound interviewed Ahsan at a remote compound on a forested mountainside in South Waziristan.
He was taken there from a compound in the Shawal area that housed several dozen Taliban fighters armed with AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and anti-aircraft guns. Artillery fired by the Mighty Pak Army regularly pounded the ground near the compound.
The military launched a major offensive against the Pak Taliban in South Waziristan in 2009 and has claimed to have largely cleared the area.
But the forces of Evil regularly launch attacks, and the interview held with the AP indicated they move relatively freely. Ahsan arrived for the interview in a pick-up truck with two other Taliban capos.
He was wearing a white shalwar kameez and a woolen Chitrali cap. He spoke with an assault rifle laid across his lap, and he and the other commanders had gun sex in celebration at the end of the interview.
Posted by: Large Darling of the Antelope3345 ||
08/09/2012 9:43 Comments ||
Top||
#2
You have to try REALLY hard to be on the low end of the curve for human intelligence ... but I give the Taliban credit. They are definitely getting there :-)
[An Nahar] A Russian general Wednesday denied reports he had been killed by rebels in Syria during an operation against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... top coppers.
General Vladimir Kuzheyev told news hounds at a hastily arranged presser at the Russian defense ministry in Moscow that he was flattered by the attention and happy to report he was well.
"I thank the media for devoting such great attention to my humble persona," Kuzheyev said in comments also posted on the defense ministry's official website and replayed on state television. ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
"As a general, I understand that this information was not just a provocation aimed against me but also -- and most importantly -- against my country."
A video released on YouTube by the armed opposition's Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... Area Military Command claimed the killing of a Russian advisor to the Syrian defense minister and identified him as General Vladimir Khodzhev.
The post showed a document with a photograph of a man resembling the Russian general who emerged in Moscow on Wednesday. It added that his local translator had also been died in the rebel attack.
"This proves the involvement of the Russians in the humanitarian crimes against our people and our nation," the rebel commander said in the post.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
"As a general, I understand that this information was not just a provocation aimed against me but also -- and most importantly -- against my country."
Typical Russian paranoia. No known cure, except the one the General appears to have narrowly dodged.
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.
The Muslim Brotherhood is busily propagating conspiracy theories about Israeli guilt for Sunday's terror attack in Sinai, which killed 16 Egyptian soldiers. But there's a bright side to this story: For the first time ever, many Egyptians aren't buying it.
Wazoo
A Russian general Wednesday denied reports he had been killed by rebels in Syria during an operation against 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
