KHARTOUM: Sudan has ordered two senior United Nations officials to leave, UN sources said on Thursday, in what appeared to be an escalation of President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir’s move against UN activities in the country. The sources identified the officials as UN Resident Coordinator at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Ali Al-Za’tari and Yvonne Helle, the UNDP’s country director.
The reason for the expulsions was not immediately clear, but they come a month after Bashir called for peacekeepers from the joint UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) to leave, calling them “a security burden.”
Sudan had already shut UNAMID’s human rights office in Khartoum and called on the mission to prepare an exit plan, days after denying peacekeepers permission to pay a second visit to the site of alleged mass rapes by Sudanese soldiers in Tabit.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2014 00:00 ||
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Hundreds of civilians in Libya have been killed in fighting since late August, the United Nations said on Tuesday, warning commanders of armed groups that they could face prosecution for possible war crimes including executions and torture.
The North African country is struggling with fighting on several fronts as brigades of former rebels who battled side by side to oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 now clash for political power and a share of oil revenues. The conflict has driven at least 120,000 people from their homes and caused a humanitarian crisis, said a joint report by the UN human rights office and UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) that also documents shelling of civilian areas.
The toll includes an estimated 100 people killed and 500 wounded in fighting between rival armed groups in Warshefana, an area near Tripoli “perceived to be harbouring many Gaddafi supporters as well as common criminals”, between late August and early October. A further 170 were killed and hundreds injured in fighting in the Nafusa mountains to the southwest, it said.
Some 450 people have been killed in Benghazi since fighting escalated in mid-October. Hospitals there have been shelled or occupied by armed groups, it said.
Since mid-October, the Libyan army and forces loyal to former general Khalifa Haftar have been waging a war to retake the eastern coastal city, held by Islamist groups.
Information was collected during a UN mission to Tripoli and from activists, journalists and victims’ families. “The death toll was compiled by collecting records from hospitals,” UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a briefing.
Adding to the chaos, Libya has had two parallel governments since August when a group called Libya Dawn seized Tripoli, forcing the internationally recognised administration out of the capital.
“There is a serious lack of law and order, there is absolutely no accountability, so these violations are continuing with impunity, and there has been no effort to really stop that,” Shamdasani said.
“Some of these crimes may amount to war crimes,” she said.
Many of the violations potentially fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) which is investigating the situation in Libya, the report said.
They'll issue their report when Carla del Ponte returns from lunch ... in 2033...
But its chances of pursuing perpetrators are far from certain. In 12 years of operation it has secured just three convictions.
Were any of the convicted defendants still alive?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2014 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] A high-ranking Egyptian source told the Kuwaiti Al Jarida newspaper that 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... informed Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, leadership that it would temporarily halt its support for the terrorist group. According to the report, the move was made to put pressure on Hamas to change its policy against Egypt.
Within this framework, Hamas must end its incitement against Egypt and stop the smuggling of weapons from the Gazoo Strip to terror organizations operating in Egypt's Sinai. The report was not confirmed by other sources and the reliability of the source is unclear.
SEOUL -- Access to major North Korean websites remained unstable Saturday for the fifth straight day
Sorta like Fat Boy...oh this is just too easy...
following U.S. hints at cyber retaliation last week. The homepages of the North's main propaganda organ, Uriminzokkiri, and three other sites whose servers are based in China were inaccessible Saturday morning, since going down on Friday evening.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2014 00:00 ||
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#2
Heh, the beauty of this is they won't out about the malware in their Linx Browser until too late. Then the lettres will start dropping to the bottom of the screen.
#3
I bet this guy is to blame, he got board between Thanksgiving and Christmas, wanted to shake things up a bit, found a North Korea story on Drudge about Pudgie's hot sis in law, Kim Yo Jong, and wanted to impress her. Sent her an advance copy of Sony's The Interview. She rejected both the movie and his advances, and well, the rest is internet history.
Posted by: Herb Theresing1401 ||
12/27/2014 9:26 Comments ||
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TOKYO: Japan, the United States and South Korea are close to reaching a deal on sharing and safeguarding sensitive information on North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes, Japan’s Defense Ministry said on Friday. As Japan lies well within the range of North Korea’s mid-range missiles, acquiring military intelligence on North Korea in a timely manner is vital for its security.
“Ever since defense ministers of Japan, the United States and South Korea agreed on the importance of information sharing in May, discussion has taken place at various levels,” a Japanese Defense Ministry official told a media briefing. “And now we are in the final stages toward signing.”
Under the framework, South Korea would pass relevant information to the US, with which Seoul already has a legally-binding pact to share and safeguard intelligence called General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), and then the US would pass the information onto Japan. It would also work the other way around as the United States has signed a GSOMIA with Japan as well.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2014 00:00 ||
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has hosted the first meeting of Army logistics personnel in 21 years, Rodong Sinmun reported on Thursday.
North Korean army logistics -- now there's a job I wouldn't want...
The event apparently intends to boost the morale of soldiers amid rising discontent in the military due to decreased welfare benefits since the Kim took power.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Yokay, I'll bite, I DON'T SEE ANY SEXY SLINKY NOKOR CHEERLEADERS ANYWHERE???
#4
Easiest job in the NKor Army - Logistics. Fat Boy gets first crack, then the Generals and Fat Boy's relatives, then the Colonels and pols who paid you off. After that there's nothing left to distribute, so nothing left to do.
#5
Unlike someone else with a military morale problem, Pudgy hasn't figured out the old Roman game of sending your unhappy legions out to distance lands to fight and die rather than grumble discontentedly back in the barracks. Busy hands are happy hands.
[AnNahar] A man who rammed his car into a French Christmas market, killing one person and injuring nine others, had nearly four times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood, a police source said Friday.
The 37-year-old man was found to have a blood alcohol reading of 0.18 in his system after the attack on Monday in the western city of Nantes. The legal limit in La Belle France is 0.05.
He remained in hospital under police surveillance, having stabbed himself several times after driving his white van into the crowd.
The violent incident was one of three in as many days that left La Belle France reeling and fearing a wave of attacks, possibly by Islamic jihadists. But the government said they were not linked.
The attacks did however spur authorities to send up to 300 soldiers onto the streets to ease fears and boost security
The spate of violence began on Saturday when a man with a knife attacked three coppers in the central town of Joue-les-Tours while shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest).
The 20-year-old man was rubbed out and two coppers seriously injured.
Then on Sunday a driver ploughed into pedestrians in Dijon in the east, injuring 13 people while also shouting the same Islamic phrase, which has been used by turbans during violent attacks.
The 40-year-old driver had a long history of mental illness, and no ties to jihadist groups, government said.
Nonetheless the attacks have frayed nerves at a time when La Belle France has been repeatedly threatened by 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.... group over its role in the U.S.-led coalition trying to combat the jihadists in Iraq and Syria.
Nantes prosecutor Brigitte Lamy said the Christmas market attacker's mental state appeared to have "deteriorated these past weeks". She said he lived alone and worked in gardening.
Lamy said a notebook found in his car contained "confused" remarks about his "hatred of society" and "risk of being killed by the secret service". He also claimed his family was disparaging him on the Internet, she said.
Sources close to the investigation said he had a drinking problem and had been involved in a case of theft and receiving stolen goods in 2006.
[NYPOST] ... The biggest gripe is that the show depicts Pakistan as undemocratic and allied with terrorists.
"Repeated insinuations that an intelligence agency of Pakistan is complicit in protecting the terrorists at the expense of innocent Pakistani civilians is not only absurd but also an insult to the ultimate sacrifices of the thousands of Pakistani security personnel in the war against terrorism," a source said. "E pur se muove."
'MALIGNING A COUNTRY THAT HAS BEEN A CLOSE PARTNER AND ALLY OF THE US ... IS A DISSERVICE NOT ONLY TO THE SECURITY INTERESTS OF THE US BUT ALSO TO THE PEOPLE OF THE US.'
- Nadeem Hotiana
"Our culture embraces Western society. Pakistan believes in the democratic system of voting in our presidents." We've seen that. Omar Saeed Sheikh hasn't been hanged. Hafiz Saeed is still in business, which involves blowing stuff up in India. Samiul Haq, the father of the Taliban, was the (failed) negotiator with them. The head of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi strolls in and out of court. You turned Swat over to a furry-faced holy man and his equally furry-faced son-in-law and then had to fight to get it back. Christians, Hindoos, Sikhs, and Shiites are bumped off regularly and Mullah Diesel is part of the government. Who's going to Lal Masjid every Friday? How about Hamid Gul? Mirza Aslam Beg? How many TNSM yokels made it home from the fighting in Afghanistan in 2001? Y'really wanna discuss a land of corruption and feudalism, over-seasoned with religious fanaticism?
"Pakistanis never embraced the dictators who, in the past, ruled the country because they took over the presidency through violent means. Yeah. Nobody liked Zia-ul-Haq. Somehow his policies live on after he's decomposed.
" 'Homeland' makes it seem that Pakistan has contempt for Americans and its values and principles. That is not true." Then his lips fell off.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2014 02:23 ||
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#1
" 'Homeland' makes it seem that Pakistan has contempt for Americans and its values and principles. That is not true..."
Here is the rest of the quote (or what should have been)...
We hold all non-Islamist values and principles in contempt, just ask those Hindoos. Also our regular attendance at the Taliban's supreme council, the Quetta Shura is purely a coincidence they just happened to be in the same cave as our agents and piles of weapons bought with US military aid money. And nevermind that 5 Pakistanis who passed information to the CIA on Osama bin Laden (which led to the successful mission to kill him) have been arrested and imprisoned by the ISI ... We are your Best Friends in the region. Trust Us.
#2
We hold assholes,in their place if it's a sewer, so be it.
You're complaining to the wrong people, EIX IT, not bitch, That's whats is wrong now, Bitching not fixing.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/27/2014 9:08 Comments ||
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#3
Hey, boys calm down. You've reached the Big Time. The movers and shakers of Hollyweird hold most of fly over country of America in contempt and portrays it so every day. Welcome to the "10 Minutes of Hate"(c,1984) club.
#5
Pakistani officials are furious with Showtime after watching the fourth season of its hit show “Homeland,” which they say portrays their country as an ugly, ignorant, terror-plagued “hellhole.”
#6
Frankly, I'm astonished they didn't give it their tourism board's seal of approval. I though "ugly, ignorant, terror-plagued hellhole" was what they were aiming for.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
12/27/2014 13:51 Comments ||
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According to media reports, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the attacks in Mumbai in 2008, today challenged his detention under a public security order in the High Court in Islamabad. The Pakistan government had earlier rejected his plea for release.
A judge in an Islamabad anti-terror court had granted bail to Lakhvi on December 18, but before he could be released, the government detained him for three more months under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) in Adiala Jail.
The detention order was served on Lakhvi in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail before his lawyers could furnish the two bail bonds worth half a million rupees each as directed by ATC judge Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi.
Lakhvi, the commander of banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, who was allegedly involved in planning, financing and executing the attacks on Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai in November, 2008, was granted bail for “deficient evidence” by judge Zaidi against submission of surety bonds on Tuesday after about five years of secret trial.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2014 00:00 ||
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Vice President Nuri al-Maliki accused Saudi Arabia of destroying the Iraqi economy, by the oil policy to follow so as to harm Iran and Russia, stressing that Iraq is going through a severe economic crisis.
Maliki is still around? Too bad...
Maliki said in a TV interview followed by IraqiNews.com, “Saudi Arabia has followed a certain oil policy against Iran and Russia in order to damage their economy, but it had a negative impact on the Iraqi economy as well, which led to a decrease in the price of a barrel of Iraqi oil to below $50.”
The oil around Basra should be such that you can pump and make money at $50 a barrel. Not as much as you hoped, and perhaps that would persuade you to move off the oil teat and develop your country...
Maliki added, “Iraq now suffers a severe financial crisis that inflicted the financial budget a large deficit,” pointing out that the 2015 budget cannot even build one school.
Maliki warned that the new government headed by al-Abadi needs to remedy the crisis by re-investment and reliance on the law and the system of infrastructure, stressing that the parliament should quickly proceed with this law and approve it.
Al-Maliki added, “We have a reserve of dollar stock at the Central Bank of Iraq and the government has to resort to this stock to make up for the deficit in the budget,” noting that, “We can borrow from 60 to 70 billion dollars in the form of insurances from the Central Bank, like what is followed by most countries around the world.”
Don't borrow. Live within your means and invest. You don't have to copy the West with regard to borrowing money you can never repay...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2014 00:00 ||
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"In light of these developments, we are promoting tourism as a major activity"
that should do it
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/27/2014 11:14 Comments ||
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#2
Most of these Gulf economies are run by Captains Corruption and Cash Flow. Good luck to them. They will need it. The sooner the world is off the ME oil teat, the better off it will be.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/27/2014 14:17 Comments ||
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Russia has finally found a lever with which to gain revenge on the United States and the West for its support for Ukraine. As payback for the painful sanctions imposed on its economy, Moscow is now brandishing a new diplomatic sword.
The man who handed the Kremlin this sword on a silver platter, thereby enabling it to divert the world’s attention away from what is taking place in Ukraine, is none other than Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Out of total desperation given the near-zero chance of gaining UN Security Council approval of a draft mandating an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, Abbas has now turned to Russia, one of the five permanent members of the UNSC, in hopes that it will help Ramallah advance the draft resolution.
“How didn’t we think of this before?” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov must be thinking to himself. “Here’s an excellent issue to play with in the UN with which to drive the Americans crazy.”
That's not a drive, that's a short putt...
Lavrov seems downright jovial in the photograph showing him receiving veteran Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat during the latter’s visit to Moscow. For his part, Erekat looks as if he has hit the jackpot – an alliance with Russia, a dream come true for the Palestinian people. Both men, however, are fooling each other and themselves.
Lavrov will succeed where 20 U.S. secretaries of state haven't? Yes, I think "fooling themselves" is a realistic depiction...
In truth, Russian support for the Palestinian draft resolution won’t contribute an iota to advancing the document in the Security Council. Lavrov, who once served as Moscow’s envoy to the UN, knows this full well. In the three years since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, Russia has consistently thwarted every attempt by the Security Council to pass a resolution with the aim of removing Bashar Assad from power in Damascus.
The Russians even torpedoed strictly declarative, nonbinding, and symbolic resolutions put forward by the US and the Europeans who sought to condemn the Assad regime. The Americans don’t like seeing the Security Council involve itself with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a portfolio that Washington views as its exclusive domain. One doesn’t need to be an expert in international relations to guess how the Americans would react to a Russian bid to push forward a Security Council draft paper on the Palestinian question, particularly after US Secretary of State John Kerry has also gone on record as stating that the proposed resolution is unacceptable.
What does Moscow gain from all this? It buys time – two, perhaps three days during which the UN doesn’t talk about Ukraine. That’s quite a shabby gain for a country that seeks to solidify its standing as a world power. The Palestinians, meanwhile, are shooting themselves in the foot. Not only have they angered Washington with their obstinacy, insisting on submitting the draft paper for a vote, but now they are perceived by the Obama administration as courting Vladimir Putin, a US adversary. Ramallah wants guarantees from a Russia that is barely hanging on economically due to Western sanctions.
Decades ago, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Abba Eban, said of the Palestinians: “They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” Now it seems they have stepped up their diplomatic game. Abbas and his cohorts in the Palestinian leadership have intentionally created an opportunity – a UNSC draft resolution and an appeal to Russia – that they will not miss.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain ||
12/27/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Deport them all to Russia. Lots of room to have their own state.
#4
Daffy, they could give them twice the land area in the corner of Kazahkstan and Mongolia and forget about them AND earn the undying gratitude of many.
#6
Going for the brass ring on the Palestinian merry-go-round? Better man than you have tried and failed. Most of the time diplomats wind up with a handful of feces.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/27/2014 14:26 Comments ||
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#7
Deport them all to Russia. Lots of room to have their own state.
#9
A palestinian state would not necessarily be a bad thing. If one country is attacked by another country a state of war could be declared and vengeance could ensue.
MARIHATAG, Philippines: Communist rebels in Philippines have freed two soldiers after four months of captivity as a goodwill gesture prior to a possible resumption of peace talks with the government.
Rebel spokesman Jorge Madlos said Friday they will release three more soldiers by January. Madlos spoke to journalists at a rebel camp in southern Surigao del Sur province, where the rebels marked the 46th anniversary of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines.
Regional military spokesman Maj. Ezra Balagtey confirmed that the two soldiers were released unharmed. Their release could pave the way for talks to resume next month. They broke off in 2011 due to disagreements over the release of several jailed rebel leaders.
The Philippine government and the rebels said that formal negotiations to end a lengthy insurgency could restart shortly, though the rebels’ armed wing announced it was beefing up its guerilla campaign.
Peace talks regarding one of the world’s longest-running insurgencies, which have been on-and-off since the 1980s, may resume as early as the second half of January, Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison said in a video message on Facebook. Back-channel talks to “prepare the agenda” for formal negotiations have been ongoing since September and agreements on a ceasefire and social and economic reforms may be finished before President Benigno Aquino steps down in 2016, said Sison, who is in exile in the Netherlands.
Teresita Deles, presidential adviser on the peace process, did not give a timeline for the negotiations, but told AFP that Sison’s remarks were “very positive” and indicated that common ground between the two sides was “broadening”.
“Friends of the peace process have been shuttling between the two parties to explore possible parameters for restarting talks at the earliest time possible,” Deles said of the back-channel negotiations.
“So far, feedback has been positive but there remain matters to be clarified in order to ensure that, if ever we do resume talks, it will not go the same way of an early, major impasse that has happened too often in the past,” she said.
In a goodwill gesture amid a Christmas ceasefire, the rebels on Friday released two soldiers held captive for four months in the southern province of Bukidnon, military spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla told AFP.
However, the communists’ armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), marked the 46th anniversary of its founding on Friday with a call to intensify its guerilla campaign.
“(We) must seize and control the initiative by launching more frequent and sustained tactical offensives with occasional blows to the head of the enemy,” the group said in a statement.
The military declared a month-long ceasefire with the NPA for the Christmas holidays and Pope Francis’s scheduled visit in January. The rebels said they would observe a shorter truce.
The NPA’s strength has dwindled to 4,000 fighters from a peak of more than 26,000 in the late 1980s, according to the military.
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12/27/2014 00:00 ||
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WoT Background because we now have a name and background to add to the previous story of the arrest. Thank you, Mohammad Shawraba.
[AnNahar] Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... has detained a senior party official it accused of spying for Israel and "sabotaging security operations" abroad, a source close to the movement said on Thursday.
"Three months ago, Hizbullah's security apparatus detained a man named Mohammad Shawraba, who is a collaborator in its ranks," said the source, who spoke to Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity.
Hizbullah's investigation of Shawraba, who comes from the southern Lebanese town of Mahruna, revealed he had been working with Israel's Mossad intelligence service since 2007, the source said.
Hizbullah, the movement whose opponents accuse it of being a "state within a state" in Leb, has refused to comment on the arrest.
According to the source, Shawraba was in charge of Hizbullah "unit 901", which coordinates the group's foreign operations.
Shawraba lived in Hizbullah's south Beirut stronghold but traveled frequently, said the source, adding that Israel's spy agency recruited him during a trip abroad.
"This member sabotaged some five security operations that Hizbullah had been planning abroad against Israeli-linked interests," said the source.
Hizbullah had been organizing attacks to avenge the killing of its top military commander Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated in a 2008 car kaboom in Damascus which the group blamed on Israel.
Party chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... had frequently threatened to carry out Dire Revenge attacks.
The source said Hizbullah launched a probe that eventually led to Shawraba's arrest following its attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria in 2012.
The 2012 bombing killed five tourists and the bus driver, but the myrmidon group's suspicions were aroused when the bomber also died and his two accomplices were quickly identified.
Residents of Shawraba's village said they were shocked over the allegation.
"Shawraba is nearly 50 years old, and hasn't been here for a long time, but his family is known for its loyalty to Hizbullah," a Mahruna resident told AFP.
"For now, it's just a rumor, but if the movement officially announces his arrest, his family will disown him," he added.
Hizbullah has rarely been infiltrated by foreign intelligence agencies.
In 2012, the group tossed in the clink Please don't kill me! an official in its missiles unit named Abu Trab, who was accused of providing Israel with information about the locations of Hizbullah's rockets in southern Leb during a month-long 2006 war.
Iran-backed Hizbullah has a massive weapons arsenal.
Iran tested new types of Dehlaviyeh anti-armour and Toophan anti-tank missiles Dec. 26 as part of a large-scale military drill that started earlier on Dec. 25. Both missiles were made domestically in Iran, the Fars news agency said.
Reportedly, Dehlaviyeh is a laser-guided anti-armour missile. It is the most developed missile able of destroying tanks and other armoured vehicles, as well as moving and non-moving objects.
That just about covers it...
The other tested missile, the Toophan, has two warheads and destroys a target by penetrating into it. The tested missile is the most developed Toophan type missile, the report said.
Iran’s army started a large-scale military drill dubbed ‘Mohammad Rasoulallah’ on Dec. 25 near the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The six-day military exercise includes Iran’s navy, air force, land units and the Khatam al-Anbia air defense base.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Rumors that these fruit loops are considering an anti-air version of the Toophan are not verified, the rainbow coloured Toophan SAM is surely a photoshop.
#3
Per the Pakistan Defence website (defence.pk) this is an export version of the Russian Kornet. The Iranian article claims that the missile can be shoulder fired, but the Kornet is a tripod/ vehicle mounted weapon.
It weighs 64 lbs. in the tube, so either the Iranians are incredibly strong, or they are blowing smoke.
The Toophan is a replica of the early TOW (which the Shah bought in the 70's). The version they are talking about is the Toophan 5.
Al
Posted by: frozen al ||
12/27/2014 11:45 Comments ||
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#4
"either the Iranians are incredibly strong, or they are blowing smoke"
I know which way I'd bet, Al.
Posted by: Barbara ||
12/27/2014 14:04 Comments ||
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Peace talks between the Syrian government and the opposition could be held in Moscow next month, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday. The talks are set to take place sometime after Jan. 20, ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said at a briefing.
That's going to turn out well. Does the ISIS attend and if so, do they walk through metal detectors?
The first stage of the talks will bring together representatives of home-based and foreign opposition, and representatives of the Syrian government would join them in the next stage.
Russia, which has staunchly backed Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout the nation’s civil war, recently offered to host peace talks between the government and the mainstream opposition without preconditions. The effort could help Moscow raise its international profile amid tensions with the West over Ukraine.
Lukashevich wouldn’t name the opposition leaders and groups who could take part in the Moscow talks, saying Russia is still awaiting reaction from some of them.
The main Western-backed Syrian opposition doesn’t trust Russia and maintains that any negotiated settlement must be based on the Geneva communication platform, which states that there should be a political transition in Syria toward democracy by the formation of a transitional governing body with full executive powers.
Lukashevich said that the Syrian government could be represented by Foreign Minister Walid Al Moallem or other officials, but Assad himself would be unlikely to participate.
“It’s hard to exclude anything, but in this case the presidential level doesn’t fit the format of the consultative meeting,” he said.
Lukashevich said it wasn’t immediately clear if UN envoy Staffan de Mistura would join the Moscow talks, adding that his participation couldn’t be excluded.
Is lunch included? And what's the per diem?
De Mistura has attempted to decrease the level of carnage in Syria through a plan for “freezing the conflict” in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo as a step toward a broader settlement.
So Assad must have the upper hand in Aleppo; that's the only reason to 'freeze' the conflict there...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2014 00:00 ||
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Tehran: Iran launched extensive military drills on Thursday, local media reported, in a show of strength stretching several hundred kilometres from the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Aden.
The exercises are set to last six days and involve ballistic missile and drone testing, according to military officials. Close to 13,000 personnel will take part in the drills, which will be the first time Iran has organised military manuevers so far from its coastline.
The southeastern provinces of Hormozgan and Sistan-Baluchistan will also be included in the tests, with the Iranian army, air force, navy and Revolutionary Guards participating.
“One of the aims of these manoeuvres is to increase our defensive capability... and to transfer this experience to young” personnel, army chief general Abdolrahim Moussavi told state television.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2014 00:00 ||
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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.
