[ToloNews] Afghan Interior and Defense Ministries and local officials of southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province on Monday said the war status in the south of Afghanistan will change, following the killing of Mullah Mohammad Rahim Mannan, head of Taliban ...Arabic for students... ’s military commission and Taliban’s designated governor for Helmand.
Mullah Mohammad Rahim Mannan, also known as Mullah Abdulmannan Akhund, was killed on Saturday in Helmand’s Nawzad district in a dronezap.
Mannan was killed along with four other Taliban members, including two of his spokesmen, who were with him at the time of the strike.
A day after Mannan’s killing, the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan released footage which shows a Taliban center bombed by foreign forces in a dronezap in Sangin district in Helmand province. Resolute Support said 29 Taliban members were killed in the strike.
Now Afghan military officials say Mannan’s loss will affect the war in the south of Afghanistan.
"He was a key commander in the south and south-east of the country and was involved in most offensives and insecurities in Helmand and neighboring provinces," Interior Ministry front man Najib Danish said.
"He was also a drug smuggler. He was involved in insecurities in Helmand, Farah, Nimroz and Kandahar provinces," Defense Ministry front man Ghafoor Ahmad Jawed said.
"In terms of the military, when a commander or leader is killed in an area, the group definitely will be affected negatively," MP Khalilullah Shahidzada said.
Helmand local officials also said Mannan was one of the most influential and important commanders of the Taliban in the south of Afghanistan, who in addition to insurgency activities, was involved in drugs’ production and smuggling.
According to officials, he was shadow governor for Helmand province for eight years, and in recent years there were rumors he made decisions independently, without consulting other Taliban Überstürmbannführers.
"He had established a gang for himself and the group was busy collecting illegal money and smuggling drugs," Mohammad Yasin, governor of Helmand said.
"He was a big drugs' smuggler and he was earning money from this," Majid Akhundzada, a member of Helmand provincial council said.
While efforts on reaching a peace agreement between the Taliban and the Afghan government have been ongoing for many years and recently have been accelerated, officials from the High Peace Council (HPC) in Helmand said they never were able to contact Mannan in this regard.
"We could not make any direct contact with him. The other issue is that I do not think the war will end with the death of individuals," Helmand HPC member Ghulam Mohammad Ishaqzai said.
Although Mannan has been said to be one of the most important Taliban Überstürmbannführers in the south of Afghanistan, only a few pictures of him were released recently by the Taliban and there is not much information about him.
Taliban on Sunday in a statement confirmed Mannan’s killing.
[AnNahar] Yemen's Saudi-backed government and the Houthis have agreed to exchange hundreds of prisoners ahead of planned peace talks in Sweden, sources said Tuesday.
The deal covers between 1,500 and 2,000 members of the pro-government forces and between 1,000 and 1,500 rebels, government official Hadi Haig told AFP.
The International Committee of the Red Thingy welcomed the agreement.
[Rudaw] Ottoman Turkish President 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... pledged support Monday for under-fire Venezuelan supremo Nicolas Maduro during a visit to Caracas aimed at strengthening ties with the crisis-wracked South American country.
On his first official visit to Venezuela, the Ottoman Turkish leader blasted sanctions imposed on Maduro and many of his brass hats by the United States, with which his government also has tense relations.
"Trade restrictions and sanctions are wrong," Erdogan said, warning that such measures would only deepen "instabilities."
"You cannot punish an entire people to resolve political disagreements," the Ottoman Turkish leader said, according to an official translation of his speech to a business forum. "Except the Kurds."
Earlier, Erdogan laid a wreath at the tomb of Venezuela's founding father Simon Bolivar, and Maduro also presented him with a replica of the revolutionary leader's sword.
BUSINESS LINKS
But the key highlight was Erdogan's speech at the business forum.
With oil production in a tailspin the socialist president has invited Ottoman Turkish businesses to invest in exploiting a vast mining reserve known as the Arco del Orinoco in the south of the country, an area with considerable gold, diamond and coltan reserves.
Non-oil trade between the two countries this year reached 800 million dollars, according to Caracas, a not insignificant figure given its serious liquidity problems.
Maduro said Ottoman Turkish businesses intend to invest some 4.5 billion euros in its OPEC partner.
"We are going to cover the majority of Venezuela's needs, we have that strength, I would like to highlight this fact," Erdogan told business leaders.
The South American country has suffered from economic woes since 2014, when a crash in the price of crude prompted a crisis that has sparked an exodus of some two million people.
"I want my visit to be considered as a symbol of collaboration of the Ottoman Turkish people with the people of Venezuela," said Erdogan.
Erdogan's trip had been announced, though without a specific date, during a September 21 visit to Caracas by his foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Maduro travelled to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor.... last July for the inauguration of Erdogan's inauguration at the start of a new five-year term as president of Turkey, a country he has led since 2003.
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#1
"Did you bring toilet paper?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2018 14:03 Comments ||
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[AnNahar] The bodies of three migrants colonists believed to have frozen to death were found in three separate Ottoman Turkish border villages, state media reported on Tuesday.
The first body of an Afghan migrant was discovered close to the border with Greece in Serem village in the northwestern province of Edirne, state news agency Anadolu said.
The two other migrants colonists were found in nearby villages -- Akcadam and Adasarhanli -- days after they had died but their nationalities were not given.
Ottoman Turkish officials believe the three migrants colonists froze to death, Anadolu said, but their bodies have been sent to Istanbul for further examination.
Authorities caught an Afghan man, named as Jamaluddin Malangi by Anadolu, who told news hounds in Edirne that Greek police sent him back to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... on a boat via River Evros between Greece and Turkey.
The area is a major crossing point for refugees and migrants colonists trying to enter the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... .
Malangi, who claimed he knew one of the migrants colonists found dead, said that they sought help after crossing into Greece by knocking on doors.
"We wanted help and during this, someone must have called the police and the Greek coppers came and caught us. First they took us to the cop shoppe then they took us near to the river where there were two boats," Malangi said, quoted by Anadolu.
"We were sent back after being put on them (the boats)" to Turkey, he added.
It was not clear whether the migrants colonists found dead were all part of the same group who entered Greece with Malangi or had separately tried to enter the EU member state.
According to Greek authorities, over 14,000 irregular entries have been recorded across the Ottoman Turkish border so far this year, compared to some 5,500 in 2017.
But the number of migrants colonists coming to Europe ...also known as Moslem Lebensraum... has fallen since the 2015 peak when over a million people landed in Greece from Turkey, the majority via boats.
The decline followed a deal agreed between the EU and Turkey in 2016 to stop the flow of migrants colonists with Ankara agreeing to take migrants colonists landing on Greek islands in exchange for incentives, including billions of euros to support refugees in Turkey.
[DAWN] The Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistain on Monday moved the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 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. High Court against the detention of its 133 workers in the province and sought orders for the provincial government to release them and not to make more arrests.
In the petition, TLP provincial chief Falak Niaz requested the court to order the recovery of its 133 workers from the ’illegal and unlawful’ custody of the government by declaring their detention illegal and unconstitutional.
The petitioner claimed that the party hadn’t been informed about under what law its workers were tossed into the calaboose.
He requested the court to declare null and void the government notification of the detentions in question if any.
As interim relief, the petitioner prayed the court to stop the government from arresting more TLP workers until the final disposal of the petition and issue directions for the right of visitation to the detainees.
The petition filed through lawyers Yousaf Ali and Syed Saud Shah said the 133 TLP workers were taken away from their houses or other places on Nov 23, 24 and 30, before being kept at the Haripur Central Prison.
The respondents in the petition are the interior ministry through its secretary, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa home department through its secretary, KP inspector general of police, KP chief secretary, KP inspector general of prisons, and superintendents of Haripur, Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... , Mardan and Peshawar jails.
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[DAWN] The prosecution concluded final arguments in the al-Azizia/Hill Metal Establishment (HME) reference on Monday and the counsel for former 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, then by the courts... will start his arguments on Tuesday (today).
The defence counsel submitted Mr Sharif’s written statement as the court exempted him from personal appearance on Monday.
Concluding his arguments, National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) special prosecutor Wasiq Malik said Mr Sharif had received millions of rupees from the accounts of his son and the HME and this fact was "admitted and un-rebutted".
He told the court that Mr Sharif claimed that he had received 88 per cent profit of the HME in the form of gifts, but he never produced any evidence to support this stance.
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[Rudaw] Iranian officials are desperately trying to stop traders in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region abandoning Iranian commerce in favor of Ottoman Turkish goods. Traders suggest new US sanctions on Iran are not the only factor at play.
Tehran has been trying to attract more business in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region ‐ particularly since the second round of US sanctions were imposed on Iran in early November, sending its economy into a tailspin.
The Iranian consul in Sulaimani and a trade advisor for the Iranian president met with the province’s traders and investors last month.
"They said the volume of trade exchanges between the Kurdistan Region and Iran should increase," one participant told Rudaw. "Increasing trade exchanges with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... has concerned them."
Iran doesn’t want to lose a key trading partner ‐ especially as its economy takes a fresh battering.
"There are more traders who import goods from Turkey than Iran," according to Sheikh Mustafa Abdulrahman, the head of the Kurdistan Region’s union of importation and exportation.
"Nearly 5,000 people import goods from Turkey to the Kurdistan Region, and nearly 3,000 people import goods from Iran to the Kurdistan Region," he added.
A delegation of importers from the province of Sulaimani and Halabja was in Iran two weeks ago. The Iranians shared their concerns over falling demand for Iranian goods.
"I explained to them that the quality of their food and other goods was lower than Turkey’s, and that the reason was not only the sanctions," Abdulrahman said.
At Sulaimani’s recent trade expo, Iranian traders said 2018 was their worst year.
"The cash we have made from selling our goods is not even enough to cover the cost of transporting our goods," one Iranian company representative said.
According to figures from the union of importers and exporters, out of the 3,850 foreign companies working in the Kurdistan Region, just 250 are Iranian while 1,800 are Ottoman Turkish. Roughly 10 percent of companies investing in the Kurdistan Region are Iranian.
"The question is not only about a decline in Iranian companies, we have noticed Ottoman Turkish goods in the province of Sulaimani and Halabja have been increasing. In response to this, some Iranian companies have decided to export high quality goods to Kurdistan and lower their prices so they do not lose the market," Abdulrahman said.
Further trade talks are scheduled for December 12 to try and stem the loss of business.
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#1
"Did you bring toilet paper?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2018 14:03 Comments ||
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#2
wrong thread
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2018 14:03 Comments ||
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[Rudaw] The Iraqi government removed the Fayida customs point between Nineveh and Duhok province on Tuesday following a parliamentary decision that considered the customs points illegal.
"Today, Tuesday, the Iraqi government implemented the decision to remove the customs point between djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... and Duhok," said Barakat Shamo, the head of the Brotherhood and Co-Existence bloc in the Nineveh Provincial Council.
A decision was made by the Iraqi parliament which voted that the customs points were illegal, thus ordering their removal.
The customs had created a "huge problem" for the residents of Mosul and Duhok, claimed Shamo.
The "Fayida Square" where fees had been collected will become a square where trade and exchange between the two provinces can now openly place, added Shamo.
Later in the day, trailers and trucks could be seen waiting in a kilometers-long line near the newly removed Nineveh-Duhok customs point because they are not yet allowed to pass.
The Ministry of Finance has authority over collecting and implementing customs points. The post was vacant in the previous government.
The customs checkpoint, alongside two others established between Sulaimani and Kirkuk and Kirkuk and Erbil by former Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi, who also assumed the duties of the vacant finance ministry were a heavy burden on traders. Many considered the decision illegal arguing customs points within one country should not exist.
Fuad Hussein of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is the new finance minister in Baghdad.
The other two customs points around Kirkuk are also awaiting removal.
The employees at the customs point between Erbil and Kirkuk also were notified to remove it on Tuesday.
However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... it is continuing to tax people. The Federal Police, which are under the command of the interior minister, say without an official governmental letter they won't remove the customs point in Kirkuk.
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[Rudaw] Attacks by ISIS in Kirkuk province have more than doubled in the past year because "the Iraqi government has not addressed risk factors that contribute to instability," according to a brief released by the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
"ACLED data show that attacks in Kirkuk and Salah ad-Dine Provinces are at all-time highs through October 2018," read the report from the US-based think tank of Georgetown University released at the end of November.
In addition to the Iraqi government's failure to address instability, the report noted costly reconstruction, corruption, economic stagnation and "ungoverned spaces in disputed regions across the country."
The latter factor is primarily due to security gaps between Iraqi forces and the Kurdistan Regional Government's security forces, the Peshmerga.
"Much like the hard boy tactics of Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), and the 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.... in Iraq (ISI) ‐ the Islamic State’s predecessors ‐ Islamic State bully boyz are seizing on local grievances, taking advantage of ungoverned space by operating from cell structures to conduct hit and run attacks, kidnappings for ransom, targeted liquidations, and bombings using improvised bombs, read the report.
The areas are constitutionally disputed with both Baghdad and Erbil laying claim.
"While Islamic State territorial control has been reduced to minor pockets of rural Iraq, the group was still carrying out an average of 75 attacks per month in 2018, including a doubling of attacks year over year in Kirkuk province," the report added.
The Peshmerga withdrew from all of the disputed areas October 2017 after a federal takeover. The move ordered by then Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi included the Iraqi Army supported by Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitias and militias.
Over the last year, Baghdad has held the security portfolio over the disputed areas. Many of the areas were under the control of the Peshmerga through the ISIS conflict.
Local residents, officials, media, and security authorities have repeatedly reported the attacks to Rudaw.
Abadi declared ISIS defeated in Iraq on December 9, 2017.
"However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... the Islamic State is far from obliterated. A recent report by the CSIS Transitional Threats Project estimates that the group may still possess 20,000 to 30,000 bully boyz in Iraq and Syria, with an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 in Iraq," stated the CSIS report.
It acknowledged ISIS has lost 99 percent of its territory, but a strategy shift ‐ predicted by Kurdish officials before Abadi's declaration ‐ means ISIS has claimed 75 attacks per month in Iraq, which is more than the average for 2016 (60.5 attacks) but less than 2017 (89.2 attacks), according to CSIS.
Through October 2018, ISIS targeted 394 government and state security services, while just 363 in 2017, and 115 for all of 2016.
Civilians have been targeted less by the group ‐ 272 in 2018, 635 in 2017, and 473 in 2016.
"The lack of an official military presence throughout ungoverned space and disputed territories in Kirkuk and Salah ad-Dine provinces have enabled Islamic State bully boyz to operate freely," stated CSIS.
"This is due in part to the security vacuum caused by the forced withdrawal of Kurdish Peshmerga from these areas following the Kurdish referendum."
The Kurdistan Region continues to host more than 1.2 million Iraqis displaced during the ISIS conflict ‐ many from the disputed areas. After the Kirkuk events, some 200,000 people from the disputed areas sought shelter in the Kurdistan Region. The Kurdistan Regional Government says more than 148,000 persons still haven’t been able to return because of political, social, or security reasons.
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) A Russian official has said there are 1000 Russian women who had been married to 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.... gunnies and are eager to return home.
Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia’s human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... commissioner, said in a conference it had received more than 1000 requests from Russian nationals who left with their husbands to Syria and Iraq and are eager to return home.
She said the husbands of those women were killed in battles, adding that the women "sustained an unimaginable violence".
Moskalkova, however, noted that returning those women remains difficult given that they had taken part in terrorist activity and could pose a threat to fellow citizens if they are repatriated.
Islamic State holy warriors ran over large areas of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and proclaimed an "Islamic Caliphate". The bully boy group had been notorious for maintaining women as sex slaves and executing people who did not abide by their religious code.
Iraq declared victory over the group at the end of 2017, and authorities there say they are holding hundreds of women and kiddies related to the fighters.
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#1
NYET!
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[IsraelTimes] PM takes aim at Iran, says ’Northern Shield’ will continue until ’outcome is achieved,’ dispels claim it was initiated to distract from his legal woes
Videos at the link.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday evening that Israeli efforts to destroy cross-border tunnels build by Hezbollah were "not an isolated operation, but a wide and ongoing operation" aimed at targeting a broader push by the Iran-backed terror group to capture parts of the Galilee from Israel.
"The aim of Hezbollah has been to dig tunnels into our territory. It is part of an effort with a breadth and depth that we have not seen before," Netanyahu said during a televised address at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated during a televised address on Tuesday evening that he instructed his nation’s U.N. delegation to request an emergency meeting over the tunnels constructed by Hezbollah along the border.
"I instructed the Israeli delegation to the UN to request the convocation of an emergency meeting of the Security Council to condemn Hezbollah and its actions," Netanyahu stated during his televised address.
The prime minister said he discussed with the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday the issue of imposing new sanctions against Hezbollah.
Netanyahu added he was going to hold talks on Hezbollah with other world leaders and the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in the next few days.
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[IsraelTimes] Terror group tells UK’s Independent daily that IDF soldiers used fake IDs to enter Strip in November, were caught because of their accents.
Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, officials have told a British news outlet that Israeli special forces troops posed as medical workers for a non-governmental organization during a raid inside the Gazoo Strip last month that went awry.
On the night of November 11, the Israeli unit was exposed inside the southern Gazoo city of Khan Younis following a search at a Hamas checkpoint, resulting in a firefight in which an Israeli lieutenant colonel was killed, along with seven Paleostinian button men.
Continued on Page 49
[AnNahar] A boat carrying 20 men believed to be Rohingya migrants colonists landed in Indonesia Tuesday, authorities said, the latest group of the vulnerable Myanmar minority to reach the world's biggest Moslem-majority nation.
They arrived in Aceh province on Sumatra island in a rickety wooden boat, according to a local official, who said he thought the men were the persecuted Moslem Rohingya.
"We can't communicate with them because they don't speak Indonesian, Acehnese, or English. So we don't know much about them," said Iswandi, the head of Idi Rayeuk district where they arrived, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
It is not known where the group, aged between around 20 to 40, set off from.
However, some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... in recent weeks authorities in both Myanmar and Bangladesh, where around a million of the Moslem refugees are living in camps, have stopped boats of fleeing Rohingya migrants colonists headed mainly for Malaysia.
It has been rare for Rohingya migrants colonists to attempt the sea routes south since Thai authorities clamped down on regional trafficking networks in 2015, sparking a crisis across Southeast Asia as large numbers were abandoned at sea.
That year, hundreds of Rohingya came ashore in Aceh, where they were welcomed in the staunchly conservative Islamic province.
But there have been concerns the desperate community might start taking to the high seas again after mainly Buddhist Myanmar launched a new military crackdown last year that forced about 700,000 members of the Moslem minority to flee to Bangladesh.
In April, about 80 Rohingya in a wooden boat landed in Aceh just weeks after dozens more arrived in neighbouring Malaysia.
Indonesia tends to accept asylum seekers but they are usually barred from working and often spend years in immigration centres.
[AnNahar] UNIFIL was informed by the Israeli army this morning that they have started activities south of the Blue Line to look for suspected tunnels, a UNIFIL statement said on Tuesday.
The overall situation in UNIFIL’s area of operation remains calm and UNIFIL is working with all interlocutors in order to maintain the overall stability, it said.
UNIFIL peacekeepers have further increased their patrolling along the Blue Line, together with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), to maintain the overall stability and avoid misunderstandings that could lead to any escalation.
UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col is in close contact with both LAF and the Israeli army,, and is again urging all parties to use UNIFIL’s liaison, coordination and tripartite mechanisms in de-escalating any tension.
UNIFIL’s liaison teams are operating on both sides of the Blue Line.
UNIFIL monitors the Blue Line around-the-clock and reports all violations of the UN Security Council resolution 1701, which forms the core of UNIFIL’s mandate.
[Rudaw] US Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey urged other countries to share a larger burden in facilitating the conditions for peace in Syria, while floating the idea of the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... enforcing a no-fly zone for parts of Syria.
"Remember we were present not in northern Iraq but over northern Iraq in Operation Northern Watch for 13 years. That can be a UN force," he said on Tuesday, referring to the joint US-UK-The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor.... no-fly zone in the late 1990s that protected Kurdish areas from the air force of Saddam Hussein.
Jeffrey briefed news hounds in Washington, D.C., after meeting with the "small group" for Syria ‐ an informal group of European states ‐ Germany, La Belle France, and Britannia ‐ and Middle Eastern states ‐ 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... , Jordan, and Egypt.
He said a "UN force" or others could play a role in such an endeavor.
"That can be a UN force. Under 2254 there is language on a UN-managed and operated ceasefire. That can be partner forces. That can be other countries’ forces," he said.
The US presence in Syria is without a direct UN mandate. Washington argues that its presence was necessitated to protect the illusory sovereignty of Iraq when ISIS threatened to overrun the country in 2014.
Washington has maintained that its presence in Syria is solely to defeat ISIS, but Jeffrey indicated that if needed the presence could be through various aforementioned options.
"When we say we’re going to be present not forever in Syria but present until our conditions ‐ enduring defeat of ISIS, as was said earlier, the withdrawal of all Iranian-commanded forces from the entirety of Syria, and an irreversible political process," he said.
The US-led international anti-ISIS coalition has primarily been supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in clearing operations in the Hajin pocket. The area is in eastern Deir ez-Zor province near where the Euphrates crosses into Iraq.
"They are involved in a very, very tough battle. This is not an organization that has been totally destroyed. We think that we’ll be able to finish the job in the months ahead, but there’s very heavy fighting there..." Jeffrey said.
He acknowledged the Syrian regime has been conducting "limited" operations against ISIS in southwest Syria.
"So apart from that there hasn’t been much military activity," Jeffrey detailed.
He dismissed the Russian argument that the United States is playing the "Kurdish card." The mostly-Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) has formed the backbone of the SDF.
"Russia is playing a dangerous game accusing us of playing a dangerous game. We are totally committed to defeating ISIS along the Euphrates," he said.
The head of the Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) Nasr al-Hariri also attended.
Jeffrey is not satisfied with the progress of the Astana talks for Syria by Turkey, Russia, and Iran.
"But they did not take any significant action on the constitutional committee," he said.
After ending the Obama Administration's covert operations to overthrow Assad, the Trump Administration Washington would like to see a new UN-backed Syrian constitution and free and fair elections.
"That will be the key point where we see whether we are going to have the political process moving forward under the UN, facilitated perhaps by the Astana guarantors putting pressure on Damascus, or whether we’re going to be in another stalemate..." Jeffrey said.
The Syrian conflict began in 2011. Estimates have put the corpse count around 400,000.
[PRESSTV] American writer and journalist E. Michael Jones says the aircraft carrier is the obsolete form of military technology and the "Iranians can hold the US carrier hostage if they want to."
On Monday America announced that the US Navy was sending one of its aircraft carriers into the Persian Gulf as a "show of force."
The USS John C. Stennis and its accompanying ships, which are currently moving through the Indian Ocean, will arrive in the Persian Gulf by the end of this week, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing unnamed military officials.
If true, this will be the first time in eight months that the US steps up its military presence in the region to such levels, the officials said. That’s the longest period Washington has gone without an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf in the past two decades. The naval deployment is a direct response to Iran’s influence in the region, the officials noted.
"What we are really seeing here is a demonstration of the rule that generals always fight the last war. The last war in this regard was World War II, when the aircraft carrier replaced the battleship as the main way to project power on the seas," Jones said in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday.
He said that the "aircraft carriers are portable airports. You can take them anywhere around the world and you can spread your power, attack the people you otherwise couldn’t do."
He stated that "the aircraft carrier has become an obsolete form of military technology."
The aircraft carrier has been made obsolete in China by missiles which can strike a carrier 2,100 miles off the coast, well beyond the range of the F-18. And it has also been made obsolete by the situation in the Persian Gulf.
The analyst said that if an aircraft carrier sails into the Persian Gulf, "the Iranians can hold it hostage by sinking ships in the Strait of Hormuz," and the carrier will be stuck there with no way out.
"The other issue of course is whether the aircraft carrier can defend itself against missiles now. This is the open question. No one knows the answer. The first time the Russians fired missiles from their ship in the Caspian Sea into Syria, the United Sates pulled its aircraft carrier out of the Persian Gulf," he noted.
Beyond that, the big unanswered question is whether the aircraft carrier can defend itself against state of the art missile technology, he said. "No one knows the answer."
"The first time the Russians fired missiles from their ship in the Caspian Sea into Syria, the United Sates pulled its aircraft carrier out of the Persian Gulf," Jones observed.
"So what we are seeing here is a show of obsolete power" coupled with an arrogant foreign policy that has given up on both diplomacy and moral suasion in favor of might makes right, he concluded.
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#1
The first time the Russians fired missiles from their ship in the Caspian Sea into Syria, the United Sates pulled its aircraft carrier out of the Persian Gulf," he noted.
Mars was also running retrograde to Jupiter in Ursa Major.... Just kidding, I have no idea if the astrological signs were like that -- still he just threw out a whopper of a non sequitur.
#2
While I think it's odd that you never see E Michael Jones and Baghdad Bob together, I have thought for a while that carriers today are in the same position that battleships were in at the beginning of WWII. Not obsolete, but needing new doctrine to defend against new threats and to avoid becoming the next "Prince of Wales".
#6
They can. But how effective it will be as a tactic depends on the attitude of the American president at the time. Do that with President Trump and it’s likely Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei‘s home will become rubble around him. Or that lovely port from which all Iran’s oil is shipped abroad. Or all of the nuclear bomb facilities whose locations Israel has so generously shared. Or... well, lots of possibilities, really.
#11
"The aircraft carrier has been made obsolete in China"
Do tell Admiral. However the Chinese don't seem to think so. They are in fact going to great expense to develop and build several carriers of very their own. They're working on #3 right now.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Moscow denounces all measures that could lead to an emergence of the so-called ’quasi-state’ formations in Syria since they pose a threat of an total destabilization of the region, Russian Presidential front man Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
"We are absolutely against all measures on the territory of Syria that could lead to an emergence of ’quasi-state’ formations, which could subsequently damage the territorial integrity of Syria," Peskov said speaking at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).
"Such measures would lead to an absolute destabilization of the whole region," Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... ’s front man said.
Peskov also said that the formation of the demilitarized zone in Syria’s Idlib "is now bit more complicated than it seemed before."
"The things are now more complicated than we thought of them before," Peskov said as he commented on the developments in the region and added about continued attacks of bad boys.
"This issue was discussed between the Russian president and President [of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor.... Recep Tayyip] Erdogan a day ago," Peskov said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced earlier that the leaders of Russia and Turkey agreed during their meeting in Buenos Aires over the weekend on the sidelines of the G20 summit on steps to implement accords on Syria’s Idlib demilitarized zone.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[DAWN] Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has threatened again to close the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea.
State TV quoted Rouhani on Tuesday as saying that "if someday, the United States decides to block Iran's oil (exports), no oil will be exported from the Persian Gulf."
The strait at the mouth of the Persian Gulf is crucial to global energy supplies.
Rouhani also pledged that the US wouldn't be able to prevent Iran from exporting its crude oil.
Rouhani has made similar threats previously, especially after President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... threatened to decrease Iran's oil export to nil.
His threat was welcomed by many Iranian officials, including hard-liners such as Gen Qassem Soleimani , the commander of the Revolutionary Guard's powerful Quds Force.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2018 00:00 ||
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[12 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
After Vietnam, the balkans, Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan I hope the US government has given up on all ideas of nation-building after reaching out and "touching" an enemy.
#3
Yes. Let Iran close it. Tell all those affected (Eurines and Gulf oil states) that we'll sell them whatever they want weapons wise to open it back up but everything has a use by date 90 days after delivery.
Then watch the fun...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/05/2018 8:50 Comments ||
Top||
#4
These people are long, long overdue for a smoldering kinetic smack down.
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.
... 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...
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 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.
... 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, then by the courts...
[PRESSTV] American writer and journalist E. Michael Jones says the aircraft carrier is the obsolete form of military technology and the "Iranians can hold the US carrier hostage if they want to."
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
