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Yemen prez, govt quit
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
12 21:58 OldSpook [10]
9 23:23 Mullah Richard [10]
8 22:27 JosephMendiola [9]
17 21:12 JosephMendiola [8]
3 09:25 Procopius2k [5]
20 15:23 g(r)omgoru [3]
-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
King Abdullah dead, Crown Prince Salmad new king of Saudi Arabia
The Magic Kingdom gets a new King - farewell to the one pictured to the right...
The confirmation immediately following the announcement of the death of King Abdullah that Crown Prince Salman was to succeed him settled one question in the minds of many in the Middle East.
King Salmon, eh? Something fishy in all this...
There had been mutterings that the succession was not secure, and that on the death of King Abdullah, who had managed one of the world's most perplexing countries for two decades, anything could happen. The new King Salman then went one step further: he confirmed deputy Crown Prince Muqrin as his own Crown Prince and heir.

Prince Muqrin is seen as the closest to King Abdullah of all the surviving royal brothers who control Saudi politics. At a relatively youthful 69, he will presumably have some years left to him both as Crown Prince and then King to ensure that his mentor's legacy of gradual - very gradual - reform is honoured and even expanded upon.

Those questions are answered for now: many more mutterings remain. Despite its apparently monolithic politics, debate about Saudi Arabia's future is more widespread than it appears.
Speculation about impact on oil prices commences - hope you enjoyed the cheap gas while it lasted....
Oil Climbs as Saudi King’s Death Spurs Policy Speculation
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/23/2015 04:10 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Will his thirty wives be buried with him ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/23/2015 5:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Prince Pink Salman
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2015 11:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Watch it buddy I'll get a fatwa on youse :-)
Posted by: Steve White || 01/23/2015 14:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Will Salmon Flounder?
Posted by: Sgt. D.T. || 01/23/2015 15:22 Comments || Top||

#5  I knew it would be you Frank, I didn't have the nerve.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/23/2015 16:37 Comments || Top||

#6  King Salman

Yes he's canned!
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/23/2015 16:55 Comments || Top||

#7  And the UK govt flying govt building flags at half staff for 12 hrs for this guy. Blech!
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/23/2015 17:09 Comments || Top||

#8  ...same people who traded the Lockerbie conspirator for an oil deal with Libya.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/23/2015 19:00 Comments || Top||

#9  I hear the new King has dementia.
Posted by: Woodrow Stalin1308 || 01/23/2015 20:52 Comments || Top||

#10  Well, he's been Islamic for a while
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2015 21:40 Comments || Top||

#11  Prince Salman is repor well-liked by many Washington Politicos, is allegedly "Liberal Conservative" and a Pro-Reformer albeit "gradual", + is an espec Anti-Terror Hardliner.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/23/2015 22:15 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Sisi: Muslims Need To Reform Their Religious Discourse
It isn't often we bring you the news straight from Huffasnuffaguffalus.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi said Thursday that Muslims need to adapt their religious discourse to the present and eliminate elements of their rhetoric that could foster violence.

“Islam is a tolerant religion, but this wasn’t always clear to the rest of the world during the last 20 or 30 years,” Sisi said during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “The terrible terrorist attacks and this terrible image of Muslims led us to think that we must stop and think and change the religious discourse and remove from it things that have led to violence and extremism.”
Sisi seems to be consistent in his statements -- he's now said the same thing twice in a row. That's more than many Arab leaders manage...
Posted by: Steve White || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Or it will be reformed for them.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/23/2015 12:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Said it twice in a row and in English. Remarkable.

Our govt is opposed to him because he overthrew the duly elected govt of Egypt *cough*MusBro*cough but I'm impressed with Sisi so far. The economy is still problematic, but he seems to be working the security end. Admittedly, it is easier for the Egyptians to bulldoze parts of Gaza without drawing the world condemnation the Juices would get for the same act.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/23/2015 12:48 Comments || Top||

#3  He should send his speech to Belgium and ask that it be read aloud.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/23/2015 13:34 Comments || Top||

#4  Sisi makes sense in the world of the sane but Sisi is surrounded by the insane. He ought to watch his back, so that he doesn't go the way of Sadat.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/23/2015 15:14 Comments || Top||

#5  Article dated 1/22, so yeah more than once.

Gonna have to get some GO! FIGHT! WIN! pennants in the colors of Team Egypt.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/23/2015 17:39 Comments || Top||

#6  There needs to be more than one muslim leader speaking this way if for no other reason than to make more than one target. They also need to be saying it in arabic as well as english.
Posted by: irishrageboy || 01/23/2015 17:41 Comments || Top||


Egypt cops linked to 37 deaths to be retried
[ARABNEWS] Egypt's highest appeals court ordered a re-trial on Thursday for four coppers in connection with the deaths of 37 people during political violence after President Muhammad Mursi's ouster, the judge said.

The case relates to one of the most controversial incidents after the army toppled Mursi in July 2013.

A lower appeals court had overturned in June prison sentences, most of them suspended, against the coppers. In August 2013, 37 men the Interior Ministry died during what the ministry said was an attempted prison break.

The prosecutor's office said its probe showed they died while being transported to jail in an overcrowded van into which tear gas was fired.
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Arabia
Govt bans Saudis from adopting Syria orphans
[ARABNEWS] The Ministry of Social Affairs has banned Saudi families from adopting Syrian or other foreign children.

"The ministry does not sponsor Arab children who lost their parents in conflicts, such as in Syria and Iraq. There are global humanitarian organizations that deal with these cases," said Latifah Al-Tamimi, director of social supervision at the ministry in the Eastern Province.

However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
the ministry does support children of marriages between foreign women and Saudi men, providing them full rights as citizens, she was quoted as saying in a local publication on Thursday.

On a related matter, she said that Saudi families recently adopted 560 Saudi orphans. These orphans are entitled to birth certificates, passports and other personal documents.

The ministry also provides adoptive families SR3,000 a month, with the children getting free medical treatment at private hospitals and bank accounts, she said.

However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
orphan children adopted by Saudis must keep their original family names, and must be informed that they were adopted when they grow up. Al-Tamimi said the ministry had not uncovered any abuse of the adoption system yet.

Orphans are entitled to live independently when they are 18. The ministry also supports those who want to get married, providing a financial subsidy of SR60,000 per person.

Abdullah Makki, a former Islamic science professor at Um Al-Qura University, told Arab News that Islam encourages adoption but not changing the family names of orphans. "Islam encourages Moslems to embrace orphans so that they are raised in a family environment," said Makki.

Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia

#1  keeping Saudi pure
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2015 11:15 Comments || Top||

#2  All our burf deefex are belong to us!
Posted by: Anice Nim || 01/23/2015 12:40 Comments || Top||

#3  LOL AN
Posted by: Shipman || 01/23/2015 16:38 Comments || Top||


Europe
Cancelled due to security fears
Antwerp cancels PEGIDA Flanders demonstration over security fears

[Ynet] The city of Antwerp banned a demonstration by the Belgian branch of the German anti-Muslim movement PEGIDA because of security fears, the mayor said. The demonstration was scheduled for Monday and would have been the first of its kind in Belgium. PEGIDA has attracted tens of thousands to its regular rallies in Germany with its anti-immigrant slogans.

Antwerp's mayor, who also banned a rival demonstration set for the same date, said the security threat was too great following police raids which foiled an Islamist attack in Belgium last week.

Belgian Museum Cancels Charlie Hebdo Tribute on Security Concerns

[AnNahar] A Belgian museum dedicated to the creator of comic book hero Tintin said Thursday that security concerns prompted it to cancel an exhibition honoring the murdered Charlie Hebdo
...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
magazine cartoonists.

The museum in Louvain-la-Neuve near Brussels said it took the decision after consulting Wednesday with police who foiled an Islamist plot in Belgium last week, which followed the jihadist attack on Charlie Hebdo in Gay Paree.

"The police presented us with the nature of the potential risks we need to be attentive to," said Nick Rodwell, director of the museum dedicated to the memory and works of Herge.

"We decided not to open our exhibition on Thursday morning insofar as it could raise the concerns of both museum staff and the residents of Louvain-la-Neuve," he said in a statement.

The exhibition was supposed to feature portraits of the murdered Charlie Hebdo cartoonists as well as the latest controversial caricature of the prophet Mohammed, published after the Gay Paree attack.

Rodwell did not rule out reversing the decision if the alert level in Belgium decreases in the days and weeks ahead

The government raised the threat alert to three on a scale of four after police conducted a series of raids January 15 to foil an Islamist plot to kill Belgian police.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Somebody else needs to be brave. Not me!
Posted by: Bobby || 01/23/2015 7:24 Comments || Top||

#2  The order of the yellow stripe and white feather will be issued to all.

White flags to be flown at all official gatherings.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/23/2015 13:33 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey proposes tighter internet law, pursues Twitter critic
[CA.NEWS.YAHOO] Turkey is pressing new legislation allowing ministers to temporarily ban websites and forcing Twitter to block an anonymous whistleblower as part of President Tayyip Erdogan's campaign to bring the internet to heel.

Last year, Erdogan vowed to "eradicate" Twitter after allegations of government corruption were published on the micro-blogging site.

The proposed law, debated by a parliamentary commission on Thursday, would allow ministers to order access restricted to any website deemed to threaten lives, public order or people's rights and freedoms by committing a crime.

The Telecommunications Directorate (TIB) would have to comply within four hours, and then apply for a court order for the ban to be extended beyond 24 hours.

Communications Minister Lutfu Elvan this week defended the proposal, saying it was needed after Turkey's top court in October annulled previous legislation giving greater powers to ban websites, and saying it would only be used in emergencies.

Turkey came under international criticism for temporary bans on Facebook and Twitter as a corruption scandal unfolded last year. The opposition questioned the government's motives.

Erdogan said the corruption scandal was engineered by opponents in an attempt to topple him.

"Naturally the government will as a priority block sites and pages which it does not like and drag its feet on other ones," said Erdal Aksunger, an MP for Turkey's opposition CHP.
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Out of NATO immediately. No special trade status, Immediately.

Any questions about Erdogan being a racist corrupt would-be Islamofascist dictator now?
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/23/2015 4:06 Comments || Top||

#2  There dirtybird goes again, taking the lead from Obama.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/23/2015 17:31 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Netanyahu to meet with Congress in March, but not with Obama
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think this was a direct poke in the eye of Champ by Boehner. Wonder what retaliation The Once has in mind.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/23/2015 7:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Hissy fit on the floor of the oval office. Or be required to listen to his bullshit for 18 holes.
Posted by: chris || 01/23/2015 8:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Come on, why bother? The man lies through his teeth. What's there to talk about? Well, maybe sports standings or golf scores but those are so culturally ethnocentric.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/23/2015 9:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Imagine Bibi's relief.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/23/2015 11:44 Comments || Top||


#6  There is nothing wrong with Bibi trying to shore up support to keep Eagle Eyes on Iran.
Posted by: newc || 01/23/2015 14:19 Comments || Top||

#7  I will especially be on the look out for Netanyahu's speech to Congress. We have had to endure bullshit speeches for 6+ years the ONE. Netanyahu sounds far more like an American than our fearless leader. I'm still ticked off at Oprah for helping put this clown in the WH.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/23/2015 15:03 Comments || Top||

#8  We have had to endure bullshit speeches for 6+ years from the ONE.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/23/2015 15:03 Comments || Top||

#9  Well, look on the good side. Bibi does not have to go through the back door of the White House this time.

OODA loop follies.
Round one:
Boehner 1 - O zero
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/23/2015 16:19 Comments || Top||

#10  Indeed AP, good spitting distance for a RINO.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/23/2015 16:40 Comments || Top||

#11  Boehner 1 - O zero...

good spitting distance for a RINO


There's a few Dems in on this sanctions issue as well; Mr. Obama's done a swell job alienating them.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/23/2015 17:19 Comments || Top||

#12  Golf scores? We haven't seen any of the champs.
Posted by: irishrageboy || 01/23/2015 17:44 Comments || Top||

#13  ..kept with his college records. Particularly, those which identify his parentage.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/23/2015 19:02 Comments || Top||

#14  Rule of thumb: If Zero is ticked, you're doing it right.
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp7492 || 01/23/2015 20:41 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
JuD will continue to operate in Pakistan: Spokesperson
[DAWN] As the Foreign Office said Thursday that the bank accounts of Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
(JuD) have been frozen and foreign travel restrictions imposed on the organization's leader Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain...
, JuD in its official response said it would continue its "charity work" across Pakistain regardless.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


Footprints: JuD's show of strength
[DAWN] "BE patient, you the people of God. You are here to please Allah Almighty and not for enjoyment. So bear with fortitude the inconvenience of waiting for your turn," Ehsanullah, a fourth-year medical college student, consoled those queuing outside the venue for the Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
's two-day ijtema (congregation) on the sprawling lawns of Minar-e-Pakistain.

The participants were getting impatient as they waited in long queues at the five entrances to the venue, where JuD emir Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


Iraq
Peshmerga forces approaching central Mosul, says KDP
[Iraq News] The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by President of the Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani
... hereditary head of the Kurdish Democratic Party, maybe a little too close to the Medes and the Persians for most people's tastes...
, announced Wednesday, that 30 ISIS elements including military commanders have been killed in air strikes in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
.

Saeed Mumozini, the KDP front man in Mosul, told IraqiNews, "The international coalition warplanes have carried out air strikes on ISIS sites in the area of al-Shallalat, located northern Mosul," noting that, "The aerial operation resulted in killing 30 ISIS snuffies including military commanders and destroying 10 mortars launchers that belonged to the group."

"The Peshmerga forces have approached central Mosul up to 17 km."

"The mission of the Peshmerga will be to provide assistance for the Iraqi Army as entering into Mosul," Mumozini added.
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Wehell, as per PAKISTAN DEFENCE FORUM, MilPlans are allegedly in the works to finally destroy the ISIS/ISL via combined US, Kurd, + Iraqi Govt-Army campaign to retake Mosul from the ISIS/ISIL???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/23/2015 22:21 Comments || Top||


French to send 40 troops to train Iraqi, Kurdish forces
France will send some 40 troops to Iraq in coming days and weeks to train Iraqi and Kurdish forces combating Daesh fighters, a military spokesman said on Thursday, adding to a growing number of Western coalition troops on the ground.
Forty. I guess the rest are staying home to fix the 'no-go' problem...
Military staff will be sent to Baghdad and Arbil, in the Kurdish region of Iraq, for a training mission expected to last about three months. That will come on top of more than 3,000 US advisers to be deployed in the region.

“We will advise them on how to prepare operations, how to synchronise efforts against the enemy, how to manage aerial and artillery support and how to monitor the tactical situation,” said the spokesman, Colonel Gilles Jaron.

“We’re not in a frame of mind where we will be confronting the enemy directly,” he added.
No, no, certainly not!
Posted by: Steve White || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I always wonder if these "training" stories are a cover for some extracurricular shit by the forces in question so we can say "Who me??" when anyone asks about boots on the ground.

Posted by: Mystic || 01/23/2015 5:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Seldom is anything related to these events is as it seems Mystic, seldom indeed.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/23/2015 6:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Duhhhhh. Pardon the Clintonian needlessly prolific use of the verb is in #2.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/23/2015 6:20 Comments || Top||

#4  If ISIS is what ISIS is, what ISIS is is ISIS,
But one thing ISIS never is, no matter what the price is,
Because Hussein sez ISIS is an un-Islamic crisis!
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 01/23/2015 22:03 Comments || Top||


In Iraq, jihadists kill with hidden bombs even after leaving
[IsraelTimes] Booby trapped PlayStation controllers, massage belts and rings await returning civilians as Kurdish forces push back 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....
A massage belt, a PlayStation controller, a gold ring -- it sounds like a gift list, but the items the Islamic State group left in Iraq are rigged with explosives to kill.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Life in IS-ruled Mosul under scanner
[ARABNEWS] In a government building in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, a handful of Iraqi contractors gathered to compete for a tender last month. It was the kind of routine session that happens in cities everywhere -- except here the contract was for fortifications ordered by the new rulers in town, 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....

One member of the radical group grabbed a map and explained to those present what was required.

"Under Islamic State's tender document, a trench two meters in depth and two meters in width needs to be dug around Mosul," said a source in the city close to the tendering process.

The winning contractor will be paid the equivalent of $4,000 for each kilometer of trench, the source said.

Interviews with 11 Mosul residents, several of whom fled this month, reveal how Islamic State has created a police state strong enough to weather severe popular discontent and military setbacks, including the deaths of big shots.

Along with the planned trench, the bully boyz have sealed Mosul's western entrance with giant cement walls. They also blew up a bridge that Kurdish fighters could use to attack Mosul. "They will fight to the last drop of blood defending Mosul, and for them this battle could define their existence. Losing Mosul means a final defeat for Islamic State in Iraq," said a retired army general living in Mosul.

In Mosul's city center, in the old provincial council building, sits Islamic State's religious court. Verdicts can be ruthless.

Last week, Islamic State in Mosul posted on the Internet its version of justice: the stoning of a woman accused of adultery; two men crucified, accused of armed robbery; and two men thrown from a building for allegedly being homosexual.

Islamic State runs at least four security organizations in Mosul, including traffic police and a tax force that collects revenues from businesses and individuals.

The most feared groups are an elite security committee that makes special arrests and gathers intelligence; and the Islamic moral police, or Hisba. The religious code enforced by Hisba includes bans on smoking and on t-shirts with English writing.

Businesses must close at prayer times; women and girls must veil their faces; and schools are segregated. The IS have forced Mosul's remaining civil servants to work in Islamic State's new government offices, which cover municipal services, energy, education, religion and health.

Baghdad earmarks at least $130 million monthly to pay Mosul government employees, whether they have stayed in the city or left, said Anwar Matti Hadaya, the exiled head of the Nineveh provincial council's finance committee.

Food is readily available. Meat, vegetables, bread and fruit cost the same as before, and some prices are lower than those in Baghdad.

Only fuel prices are high and electricity, supplied by generators, has been cut to six hours a day. Tankers provide drinking water.

Butchers must pay a tax of around $4 a day to enter slaughterhouses to buy cattle and sheep.

Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari estimates Islamic State has looted $456 million from banks in Mosul, Tikrit and Baiji since its June land grab. "Islamic State is rich," Zebari said. He predicted IS would create its own currency in the coming months.
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  They are apparently surprised that a repressive religious regime is, well, repressive.
Posted by: ed in texas || 01/23/2015 7:40 Comments || Top||

#2  a trench two meters in depth and two meters in width

Ooooh, Oooooh, a moat!!!

It's gotta have crocodiles and piranha and, and SHARKS...WITH LASERS!!!!!

More likely it will be like a Middle Ages castle and they'll empty the garderobes into it.
Wallowing in $#it seems appropriate for these "people".
Posted by: AlanC || 01/23/2015 7:45 Comments || Top||

#3  I am interested to see if they lift the Burka and make public the Tender Offer.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/23/2015 16:42 Comments || Top||


Coalition 'needs 2 years to kick out IS from Iraq'
[ARABNEWS] Top officials from 21 countries kicked off talks in London on Thursday on pushing back Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(IS) holy warriors in Iraq and Syria and tackling the growing threat of homegrown holy warriors in Europe.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said before the meeting that the task of pushing the IS holy warriors back would be slow.

"This isn't going to be done in three months or six months. It's going to take a year, two years to push ISIL (IS) back out of Iraq but we are doing the things that need to be done in order to turn the tide," Hammond told Sky News.

US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
and Hammond co-hosted the talks.

It will be the first time the US-led coalition has met since this month's attacks in Gay Paree against the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo
...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
and a supermarket that left 17 people dead.

"Terrorists want to drive us apart, but in fact their actions have had the opposite effect, they're bringing us together," Kerry said ahead of the talks.

He also called for international action on "the root causes, so that terrorist appeals fall flat and foreign recruits are no longer enticed to go to a place and wreak havoc on it."

A US state department official said imported muscle would be a "real focus" of the meeting and that an expert working group would be formed on sharing information to stop holy warriors traveling.

Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  And then ISIS will just pop up in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Libya, North Africa..... France, England....
Posted by: airandee || 01/23/2015 6:51 Comments || Top||

#2  And it took only 3 years to kick the Nazis out of Western Europe AND the Japanese out of the South Pacific once we got started.

I don't think we're trying too hard for some reason.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/23/2015 7:50 Comments || Top||

#3  He also called for international action on "the root causes, so that terrorist appeals fall flat and foreign recruits are no longer enticed to go to a place and wreak havoc on it."

Somehow, methinks our version of "root causes" and the international definition of "root causes" are going to be opposite.
Posted by: BA || 01/23/2015 9:13 Comments || Top||

#4  There were 'root causes' for the Germans and Japanese behaviors (circa 1938) which didn't matter when some people just needed killing.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/23/2015 9:48 Comments || Top||

#5  ...TRANSLATION: "The White House wants to declare victory and start getting out in time for the '16 elections. It better happen."

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/23/2015 10:14 Comments || Top||

#6  Wut, no tin point plan?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/23/2015 10:20 Comments || Top||

#7  Six years, if you factor in the human rights folks and environmental impact thingies.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/23/2015 12:09 Comments || Top||

#8  How long it takes depends upon how serious the coalition of 21 is about getting the job done. As Pappy said, keep the human rights and environmentalists out of it. Keep the attorneys out as well so they don't define strategies, tactics and ROEs.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/23/2015 15:34 Comments || Top||

#9  I would not assume any sort of victory, i fear it is unlikely, probably just be a higher profile muzz mess.

Unless of course we get a high profile massacre of meaningful people, then maybe we have a chance to start ending this shit once and for all, like the chance we forwent on September 12.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/23/2015 16:52 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas calls on Hezbollah to unite fight against Israel
[ARABNEWS] A letter purported to be from Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,' armed wing, on Thursday appealed to the Lebanese Hezbollah group to unite with Hamas in battling Israel.

The letter, posted on the website of Hezbollah-run Al-Manar TV, suggests the Paleostinian Hamas and Hezbollah were patching up a rift over the Syrian war.

Hamas has been hostile toward Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
, while Hezbollah, backed by Iran, has been fighting against the rebels trying to topple him.

"The true enemy of the nation is the Zionist enemy and all rifles must be directed against it," said the letter, which carried Deif's signature. "All forces of resistance must direct their coming battle as one."

Deif was targeted in an Israeli bombing in last summer's Gazoo war.

The letter offered Hamas's condolences to Hezbollah leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...
over the killing of six of its fighters in an Israeli air strike on Sunday in Syria near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Meanwhile,
...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday he will address the US Congress during a March visit likely to drive home differences with the B.O. regime over whether to impose additional sanctions on Tehran.
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  "Help! We're getting our asses kicked!"
Posted by: Raj || 01/23/2015 1:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Amazing they can't even agree on that.
Posted by: Bobby || 01/23/2015 13:37 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Malaysian IS Detainees Isolated after Preaching to Prisoners
[AnNahar] Malaysian authorities have removed detainees suspected of supporting 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 (IS) from the general jail population after some were found preaching the Lion of Islam IS ideology to fellow inmates, the home minister said Thursday.

"They have been found to influence other criminals in joining the ideology," Zahid Hamidi told news hounds, saying the IS suspects were being housed in dedicated cells blocks.

"These are hardcore people who want to go and fight in Iraq and Syria. We want to neutralise them."

Authorities in Moslem-majority Malaysia have expressed increasing alarm as scores of the country's citizens have either gone abroad to join the IS jihad or been enjugged
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
for supporting the group or seeking to travel to Syria.

Zahid said 67 Malaysians are known to have gone to Syria and Iraq and that five had been killed fighting for the cause.

Malaysia was holding 120 people with suspected IS links or sympathies, including both men and women, said Zahid, who is in charge of domestic security.

Zahid was speaking to news hounds after a meeting with Daniel Russel, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, who is on a brief visit.

Malaysia has traditionally observed a moderate brand of Islam and kept a lid on Lion of Islams.

But the IS ability to lure Malaysian Moslems, along with thousands of others worldwide, to join its bloody jihad has rattled authorities and brought new attention on increasingly conservative Moslem views in Malaysia as its long-ruling government's tight grip has eased somewhat over the years.

Malaysia plans to soon introduce a new anti-terrorism law to counter a potential IS-related security threat as fears grow that recruits may return home to spread bully boy Islam.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hizbullah Denies Report Changes in Rules of Engagement with Israel
[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...
denied on Thursday media reports about "changes in the rules of engagement with Israel" after last Sunday's Quneitra raid which killed six members of the group, while also denying that its response will happen outside Lebanese territory.

"We deny the claims that were attributed to a so-called source who is close to the party about the situation in the region," the party said in statement, dismissing a report by the Rooters news agency.

The agency had earlier quoted an alleged "security source close to Hizbullah" as saying that "the enemy has approached the red lines regarding the security conflict with Hizbullah, and the rules of the game have changed."

The same source noted that "if Hizbullah does not respond to the raid, it will appear as if it's drowning in the quagmire of Syria's conflict and has lost its ability to respond, which is not true."

"Until now, the rule of the game has been responding from outside Leb, unless the Israelis pushed the war into Leb," he added.

He also stressed that "Hizbullah wants to avoid an all-out war."

In light of the report, Hizbullah reminded in its statement of its "firm media policy which does not rely on 'sources' to announce stances."

"The report does not concern us at all," the statement added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/23/2015 07:54 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Nasrallah is not leaving his bunker?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/23/2015 12:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Are 'ye a tad stretched at the moment?


Hezbollah approaching the line between battle hardened and combat ineffective. And the Juices are just watching and abusing their gum with cheap imported BS popcorn.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/23/2015 16:56 Comments || Top||


Iranian ex-veep handed 5 years
[ARABNEWS] An Iranian politician who served as vice-president under former President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad has been sentenced to five years in jail and fined, Iranian state media reported.

Mohammad Reza Rahimi, who was appointed in 2009 after Ahmadinejad's re-election, was indicted in March in connection with a billion-dollar money laundering and embezzlement scheme.

The official state IRNA news agency said on Wednesday that Rahimi was sentenced to five years and 91 days in prison, fined and forced to pay restitution totaling 38.5 billion rials (about $1.3 million).

It did not specify what crimes Rahimi had been convicted of, but said a previous court sentenced him to 15 years prison.

On Thursday, Fars news agency confirmed the five-year sentence, but said that the figure of the fines was incorrect. It did not specify the amount.

In March, Iran hanged the first of four men sentenced to death for a massive financial scam that tainted the government of former President Ahmadinejad. Exposed in 2011, the 30 trillion-rial ($2.7 billion) scandal involved embezzlement, bribery, forgery and money laundering in 14 state-owned and private banks between 2007 and 2010 by people close to the political elite.

Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran



Who's in the News
28[untagged]
13Islamic State
3TTP
3Govt of Pakistan
3Lashkar e-Taiba
2Govt of Saudi Arabia
2Govt of Iraq
1Hamas
1Hezbollah
1Salafists
1Arab Spring
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Govt of Iran
1Houthis
1Govt of Syria

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Tue 2015-01-20
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Mon 2015-01-19
  Heavy clashes in Sanaa, president reportedly flees
Sun 2015-01-18
  Gunmen Seize Yemen President's Chief of Staff
Sat 2015-01-17
  SSP militant hanged for sectarian killing
Fri 2015-01-16
  US drone strike kills seven in South Waziristan
Thu 2015-01-15
  Burqa banned in China's Xinjiang
Wed 2015-01-14
  Convict in US consulate attack case hanged
Tue 2015-01-13
  Police gun down six would-be bombers in Xinjiang
Mon 2015-01-12
  Drone strike kills 8 insurgents in Nangarhar
Sun 2015-01-11
  Nigeria massacre deadliest in history of Boko Haram: Amnesty
Sat 2015-01-10
  Al-Qaida Member In Yemen Says Group Directed Paris Attack
Fri 2015-01-09
  Charlie Hebdo to go forward with next week's issue


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