BOSSASO, Somalia -- Businessmen and women in the Gulf of Aden port city of Bossaso have voiced concern over the printing of new Somali shilling currency, Garowe Online reports. Some Puntland business community members who declined to be named in print said, the installation of new note printing plant in the premises of the Finance Ministry could negatively impact the local economy and financial activities of businesses.
As US dollars continue to appreciate against Somali shilling, local traders are being blamed for deliberately hoarding the Somali banknotes.
Why would you horde a currency that is depreciating against the dollar?
Exchange rates in local markets sharply increased on Saturday, affecting business transactions and prompting public outcry.
Islamic scholars previously warned the government of setting up note printing plants, a move they said would lead to relapse into the state’s worst currency crisis in 2007.
This is just the Somali version of 'quantitative easing'...
Puntland lawmakers in federal parliament are said to have scolded President Ali, who is now on visit to Mogadishu for failing to cope with the worsening economic situation in the north eastern state.
Economist by training, Ali was narrowly elected as Puntland President in January 2014. Ever since, civil servants and army troops have been complaining about long overdue salaries.
An economist who can't pay salaries? That's Somalia in a nutshell...
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02/08/2015 00:00 ||
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Cairo -- A major political party says it will boycott Egypt’s elections next month in protest at what it calls the military government’s human rights violations. Saturday’s announcement by the centre-left Dostour party raises fresh doubts about whether the elections, due to start on March 21, will produce a parliament that truly represents public opinion.
Dostour said in a statement that the government made it impossible for opposition parties to campaign openly. “The current political climate does not encourage political parties to participate in public life,” it said.
Egypt has had no parliament since 2012, when a court ordered the dissolution of the previous legislature.
The Muslim Brotherhood of former President Mohammed Mursi, ousted in 2013, is barred from next month’s elections because the government has outlawed the movement.
Political parties face many disadvantages in an election law passed last year. Nearly 75 per cent of the seats in the 567-member assembly are reserved for individual candidates, which analysts say favours wealthy businessmen best able to fund personal campaigns. Another 5 per cent of seats will be directly appointed by President Abdel Fatah Al Sisi, the former army chief who has led Egypt since last year.
Opposition activists predict that well-connected businessmen and one or two parties loyal to Sisi will dominate the next parliament.
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[AnNahar] Nigeria has postponed its presidential election on security grounds as the Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... conflict intensifies, handing a potential lifeline to the ruling party as it battles a tough challenge from the opposition.
The six-week delay was announced Saturday after security chiefs said the military needed more time to secure areas under the control of Boko Haram, the Islamist holy warriors who have seized swathes of northeastern Nigeria.
Presidential and parliamentary elections will now be held on March 28 instead of February 14, said Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Gubernatorial and state assembly elections will be held on April 11, he added.
Jega said security chiefs advised that the election should be postponed for six weeks as military operations in the northeast left troops unavailable to secure the vote.
The United States said it was "deeply disappointed" by the delay, with U.S. 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... warning the Nigerian government against using "security concerns as a pretext for impeding the democratic process".
"Because bitter reality must never be acknowledged, no matter how dire."
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02/08/2015 10:01 ||
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[Al Ahram] Five African nations on Saturday pledged to deploy 8,700 troops, police and civilians as part of a regional effort to combat Nigeria's Boko Haram militants.
"The representatives of Benin, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Chad have announced contributions totalling 8,700 military personnel, police and civilians," the countries said in a statement after a meeting in Yaounde.
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02/08/2015 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] The leader of the Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... group that has taken over Yemen said on Saturday that he is open to participation with other parties.
"Our hand is extended to every political force in this country ... the space is open for partnership, cooperation and brotherhood and now everybody bears their responsibility for building, not destruction," Abdel Malik al-Houthi said in a televised speech.
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#1
Looks like the rest of the GCC Member-States 'taint ready to formally accept or make the shake yet.
[Dhaka Tribune] North Korea has test-fired a new anti-ship cruise missile, images released by state media yesterday showed, demonstrating the increased capability of the secretive state's outdated navy.
The images were released in the lead-up to US-South Korean military exercises this spring. North Korea routinely seeks to raise tensions ahead of the annual drills, although this year Pyongyang has also offered to suspend nuclear testing if Washington calls off the exercises.
The images, which were shown on the front page of the ruling Workers' Party Rodong Sinmun newspaper, showed leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... observing the missile being fired from a small naval vessel.
State media described it as a "new type of cutting-edge anti-ship rocket" developed by North Korean scientists that will "bring a great change in the navy's defense of territorial waters."
The missile appeared identical in design to a Russian anti-ship missile, the KH-35, which is capable of flying at high speeds meters above the sea.
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02/08/2015 00:00 ||
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...Industry experts say the threat of urban terror is new to Europe, but not Israel, which is why demand has grown by some 30 percent since January's attacks in France. Of course, it was the European support for "Palestinian" cause, which made Israelis become experts.
#1
Security cams, and the patrolling of gated and walled communities are only a stopgap, not the long term answer. If the fight is not taken to the threat, eventually you will be isolated, forced from behind the walls and thrown to the wolves.
#2
Jooooos with guns.
We will run free like the vandals did
And hold our yarmulkes high
We will fight for truth and justice
And remain
Jooooooos with gunz
We've already heard this but WaPo is now paying attention. A fair bit of snippage on this one.
SAINT-MANDÉ, France — For all her 30 years, Jennifer Sebag has lived in a community that embodies everything modern Europe is supposed to be.
Inclusive, integrated, peaceful and prosperous, the elegant city of Saint-Mandé — hard against Paris’s eastern fringe — has been a haven for Jews like Sebag whose parents and grandparents were driven from their native North Africa decades ago by anti-Semitism.
“I’ve always told everyone that here, we are very protected. It’s like a small village,” Sebag said.
But in an instant on the afternoon of Jan. 9, Sebag’s refuge became a target. A gunman who would later say he was acting on behalf of the Islamic State walked into her neighborhood’s kosher market and opened fire, launching a siege that would leave four hostages dead — all of them Jewish.
A month later, the Jews of Saint-Mandé are planning for a possible exodus from what had once appeared to be the promised land.
In homes, in shops and in synagogues guarded night and day by soldiers wielding assault rifles, conversations are dominated by an agonizing choice: stay in France and risk becoming the victim of the next attack by Islamic extremists, or leave behind a country and a community that Jews say they are proud to call home.
The Jews are proud of France, but France is not -- and really never has been -- proud of the Jews...
The French government has scrambled to persuade them not to go, aware that if Jews see little future for themselves in Saint-Mandé — where Muslims, Christians and Jews have long lived in harmony — then there’s no chance for the European ideal of interfaith coexistence.
The French sold the Jews out in WWII. There wasn't much emphasis on 'interfaith coexistence' then. Now perhaps one could argue that France has changed since then and it would be most excellent if it did. But one need merely look at France -- and most of western Europe -- today to see that the old hatred is there just under the surface.
And yet, for a rapidly rising number of Jews, here in Saint-Mandé and across France, the decision has already become clear.
“The question is not will they leave or won’t they leave,” said Alain Assouline, a prominent Saint-Mandé doctor and president of a Jewish community center. “The question has become when they will leave.”
The attack on the kosher market was the last in a three-day series of radical Islamist assaults that traumatized the nation. By the end, 17 victims lay dead, including much of the staff at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
But of all the communities affected, France’s half-million Jews have perhaps felt the consequences most acutely. French Jews were already on edge by the time Amedy Coulibaly, a 32-year-old small-time criminal and son of Malian immigrants, took hostages at the Hyper Cacher grocery on the border of Paris and Saint-Mandé.
Anti-Semitism had been rising in France, as it had across Europe. In Britain last year, for instance, there were more than 1,100 anti-Semitic incidents recorded, double the number from 2013, according to data released Thursday by the Jewish nonprofit Community Security Trust.
While one could hand-wave and say that all these episodes were due to the 'Asians' or 'North Africans', one could note as well that the politicians, media and societal elites simply haven't been willing to call it for what it is. That makes it clear to the perpetrators that they're doing something that society, deep down, approves. Connect that to the past lessons of anti-Semitism in Europe and it's easy to see why Jews in France, and Britain, and elsewhere would consider leaving.
But the fears of rising violence have been especially pronounced in France after a 2012 attack at a Jewish school in Toulouse that left a teacher and three students dead.
The Jewish Agency, which encourages immigration to Israel, says the number of French Jews leaving for Israel each year had been steady at about 2,000 until 2013, when it hit 3,400. Last year, it jumped to more than 7,000 — making France the leading contributor of immigrants to Israel and marking the first time that more than 1 percent of a Western nation’s Jewish population has left for Israel in a single year, according to Avi Mayer, a spokesman for the Jewish Agency.
Since the Hyper Cacher attack, calls to the Jewish Agency’s Paris office have more than tripled, Mayer said, and the agency is predicting that 15,000 French Jews will move to Israel in 2015. Many others will choose to leave for the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and beyond.
The government has tried to reassure the country’s Jews by dispatching more than 10,000 camouflage-clad troops to guard “sensitive sites,” including synagogues and Jewish schools and community centers. Three soldiers guarding one such center were attacked Tuesday by a knife-wielding assailant in the southern city of Nice. Far from comforting, the troops’ presence has become for many Jews a symbol of their vulnerability.
And yet, Saint-Mandé Mayor Patrick Beaudoin said, the country also needs to defend its Jewish population at all costs. “They belong to this country. France needs them,” he said.
A mass exodus from Saint-Mandé could be ruinous for a city where about a third of its 22,000 residents are Jewish and where the faith’s roots run deep. The formidable white stone walls of one of the area’s main synagogues have been standing for the past century. The community has changed in recent years, with the original Ashkenazi Jews — those with European origins — supplemented by an influx of Sephardic Jews from North Africa.
Muslims from North Africa have also begun to make the area home, adding to a national Muslim population of about 5 million, though their community in Saint-Mandé is considerably smaller than the Jewish one. By nearly all accounts, the new arrivals have been welcomed to the city, with Jews and Muslims befriending one another and going into business together. Assouline, the doctor and Jewish community center leader, has two partners in his practice: one Catholic, the other Muslim.
Jewish residents of Saint-Mandé say the problem of Islamic extremism doesn’t exist here. But as they discovered Jan. 9, it’s not far away, either, lurking in the less-salubrious suburbs, where last month’s attackers had their roots.
“We can’t say that these are jihadists imported from Iraq or Syria,” said Marc Krief, rabbi at the Synagogue of Vincennes - Saint-Mandé. “They were French citizens. They grew up in the suburbs. They went to the local mosques. They learned their way of thinking from here.”
Krief said he has told his congregants that if they want to leave France for economic or cultural reasons, they should go ahead. But he does not want them fleeing in fear when the scourge of anti-Semitism is global.
“I don’t see a country in the world that’s safe enough,” Krief said. “In Israel, there’s war. In the United States, there could be another terrorist attack. It wouldn’t change anything to leave.”
And yet, given the lessons of Jewish history, the impulse to leave Europe amid increasingly ominous warning signs runs strong.
“Personally, I have faith in our community. I’m an optimist,” said Assouline, who intends to stay. “But whenever I say that, there’s always someone who reminds me, ‘In 1933, there were two types of Jews: the pessimists and the optimists. The pessimists left and went to the U.S. The optimists ended up in the death camps.’ ”
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Better late than never.
p.s. If you're fond of living in Europe so much, just wait a couple of generations---the place will be vacated.
[Jewish Free Press] U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is skipping town on March 3, and avoiding the proverbial âtempest in a teapotâ he fears will occur when Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addresses a rare joint session of Congress.
It is the role of the vice president, as president of the Senate to attend joint meetings of the Congress. But Biden did miss one other session, however, in 2011, according to the White House.
Bidenâs office confirmed to NBC News on Friday that he will be traveling abroad at the time of Netanyahuâs speech, but could not say where or why. As NBC News journalist Steve Benen observed, âItâs hardly unreasonable to wonder if this is the diplomatic equivalent if âIâm washing my hair â somewhere.ââ Whatever his destination, perhaps he will find it enjoyable and stay on.
#3
Probably better to keep the idiot away from all photo ops on his trip. Book him for Mongolia, Liberia, Kiska and Attu. By all means keep him away from Thailand - he can get his Jolie's after his pending retirement.
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02/08/2015 22:44 Comments ||
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[DAWN] Condemning terror attacks on schools, mosques, Imambargah ...since Pakistain is very religiously correct, Shia Moslems can't call their houses of worship 'mosques,' which are reserved for Sunnis. It's not clear if imambargahs are used for explosives storage like mosques are... s, Hizbul Mujahideen's supreme commander Syed Salahuddin has said that those carrying out such attacks are the open enemy of Pakistain and Islam.
Speaking at a presser at the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... 's Idara Noor-e-Haq headquarters on Friday, he said that jihad did not teach targeting innocent children and women.
He said that the Modi-led Indian government wanted to eliminate the Islamic identity of Kashmiris.
He blamed former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... for taking a U-turn on the Kashmire policy that, according to him, damaged the struggle of the people of Kashmire badly.
He demanded that the army leadership and the government raise their voice for the right of self-determination for Kashmiri people at international forums.
"If the Kashmire issue was not resolved under the resolutions of the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... and according to the desires of Kashmiris, then the entire continent would face dire consequences," he warned.
He said that India was not ready to consider Kashmire a "disputed territory" and instead claimed the valley as its so-called integral part, which was in negation of the UN resolutions.
"The struggle of Kashmiris will continue till the withdrawal of the Indian army from India-held Kashmire, as the people of Kashmire are struggling for the right of self-determination," he said, adding: "We are not against dialogue, but the epicentre of talks should be the Kashmire issue, otherwise the discussion would prove worthless."
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02/08/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Thousands of Afghan families are fleeing Pakistain to escape harassment after a deadly Taliban attack on a school in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), 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. in December, the head of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Afghanistan said on Saturday.
More than 22,000 undocumented Afghans flocked across the border at Torkham in January, more than twice the figure for the whole of 2014, said Richard Danzinger, the IOM's mission chief in Afghanistan.
Almost 1,500 others were deported in the same month, double the number of deportees in December.
"It all started with the attack on the school in Peshawar," Danzinger told Rooters. "When something horrible happens, people start taking it out on foreigners."
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02/08/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] YouTube will remain blocked 'indefinitely' in Pakistain, a government official said Saturday as experts failed to find a way to filter content deemed offensive and blasphemous.
The video-sharing website has been blocked in the country since September 2012 over its hosting of the "Innocence of Moslems", a movie that sparked furious protests around the world.
The Supreme Court ruled at the time that the site should be banned until a way was found to block all blasphemous content.
"[The] matter was reviewed several times but the situation effectively remains the same," the minister for information technology and telecommunication Anusha Rehman told the Senate Friday.
"The government does not want to take any chance and wants to make sure that after the unblocking YouTube, no offensive content remains viewable in Pakistain," a senior government official said.
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I'm not sure there's another country in the world where this discussion would make any sense. Not that it makes much sense here... [DAWN] The Islamabad High Court (IHC) bench hearing an appeal filed by Mumtaz Qadri ‐ the murderer of former Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Continued on Page 49
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Islamabad -- Trade activity through the Chakothi sector remained suspended for the second day on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) on Saturday after Indian authorities allegedly seized drugs from a truck carrying oranges on the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar road.
Cross border trade came to a halt at LoC after Indian authorities impounded 22 trucks carrying trading goods from Pakistan. Indian authorities claim that heroin was being smuggled in the trucks carrying boxes of oranges.
The Azad Kashmir Trade and Travel Authority (Tata) also declined to return 50 trucks coming from India through Kashmir.
Tata officials confirmed the intra-Kashmir trade embargo and claimed that under an agreement between the two countries, authorities in India-occupied Kashmir are obliged to return the trucks carrying trading merchandise. The officials further said that until and unless Indian authorities provided evidence with regard to the drug smuggling allegation and return the 22 seized trucks, the 50 trucks held by them will not be permitted to return.
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02/08/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Crush the trucks, junkyard-style, then return them.
[AnNahar] Washington received an official apology from Leb on its participation in the "White House conference on efforts to counter violent extremism," because it cannot be a "partner with Israel in confronting terrorism," media reports said.
More than 60 countries, including 14 Arab nations and Israel, are expected to take part in the summit slated on February 18 at the White House and presided by U.S. President Barack Obama Jedi mind meld... The White House planned the conference in light of the recent shootings in La Belle France and earlier attacks in Canada and Australia.
The meetings are expected to continue the next day where the foreign ministers will meet at the headquarters of the U.S. State Department, headed by 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... . The third day is devoted to meetings of experts and specialized committees in Washington.
Related sources said on condition of anonymity that the invitation was addressed to Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil and Interior Minister Nouhad Mashnouq, but the latter clarified that he only received an official invitation from the U.S. government to "visit Washington in March and that he was not invited to the said conference," they told As Safir daily on Saturday.
Mashnouq also said: "Leb, represented by its Foreign Minister, apologized for the participation in the conference after consultations with the PM because Leb cannot be a partner with Israel in confronting terrorism."
"Everybody in Leb knows that the Israeli policy is at the basis of the terrorist ideology and its growth in the region," added Mashnouq.
"Leb has informed some Arab delegations that it does not participate in meetings involving Israel unless it is under the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... and affiliated international institutions' umbrella," As Safir quoted diplomatic sources as saying.
The sources added that the Lebanese delegation in Washington, which participated in the preparatory meetings with the U.S. administration and the Arab missions, pointed out that Israel practices "violence of bandidosmurderous Moslems when it occupies Arab land, killing and displacing people in Leb and Paleostine. How can we make it our partner in the face of terrorism that resembles it?"
The sources did not rule out that "Leb could set some criteria for its participation, asking for the engagement of experts and members of the mission in Washington in the meetings held at the sidelines of the summit on condition that Israel does not participate.
The sources added that the "discussions should have a clear goal away from any confusion aiming at fighting terrorism posed by the IS and al-Nusra ...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant... Front against all humanity."
The IS state controls several regions in Syria and Iraq and aims to spread to the country as its fighters position in the outskirts of Bekaa towns bordering Syria and the Lebanese army is in adamant efforts to stop their efforts to infiltrate Leb.
[Ynet] Turkish foreign minister announces he will not attend security conference after Israeli officials are invited; Lieberman blasts PM's decision to apologize for flotilla incident.
As 'tis said, either at your feet, or at your throat.
Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday pulled out of a security conference in Munich at the last minute, saying he did not wish to attend a joint session with an Israeli delegation.
Relations between Israel and Turkey remain strained since a major rupture in 2010, when Israeli soldiers killed nine Turks travelling in the Turkish-led flotilla headed for Gazoo.
"I was going to attend the conference but we decided not to after they added Israeli officials to the Middle East session at the last minute," Cavusoglu told a news conference in Berlin, where he has been meeting Turkish ambassadors based in Europe.
Withdrawing from the meeting was nothing to do with Turkey's relationship with Germany, he said in the remarks broadcast by Turkish state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
TRT.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the announcement "proves once again how enormous a mistake it was to apologize to Turkey," referring to Netanyahu's decision in 2013 to express his regret to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... for the flotilla incident.
"As long as the current leadership headed by Erdogan and his associates controls Turkey, there is no chance to rehabilitate relations between the two countries," added Lieberman. "Turkey under Erdogan is a state that is interested only in attacking and bashing Israel; and we must deal with it accordingly and stand up for Israeli interests."
Minister Yuval Steinitz, who is to head the diplomatic mission representing Israel at the conference, also criticized Turkey's decision. "Israel would like to express its astonishment over this move by Turkey. Israel will participate in any important international conference, in spite of Turkey's disapproval," he said.
"The Turkish boycott essentially means solidarity with radical Islam, and terrorist groups like the Moslem Brüderbund and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, and more than harming Israel, it casts a long shadow over the future and character of Turkey."
Despite being major trading partners, Israel and Turkey - former allies - frequently engage in bitter verbal exchanges.
President Tayyip Erdogan, an outspoken advocate of the Paleostinian cause, last year likened the actions of Israel to those of Hitler, in comments that led Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accuse him of anti-Semitism.
Last month Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in turn likened Netanyahu to the Islamist bully boyz who killed 17 people in Gay Paree, saying both had committed crimes against humanity.
[Iran Press TV] The United States may deploy ground troops to Iraq where the country's forces are planning for operations against the ISIL-held city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... as soon as April, a US official says.
The US Central Command official told CNN on Saturday that the US military was considering a recommendation for ground troops to help Iraqi soldiers fight against the Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... snuffies holding parts of the country, including the major city of Mosul.
The military was yet busy gathering intelligence about ISIL defenses in Mosul to make sure such recommendations were necessary, the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
This should be interesting. It would appear neither the Kurds or the Iraqi security forces are too concerned about ROE, or the taking prisoners.
#9
Iff true, this will likely mean new ISIS/ISIL death threats agz the Bammer, etal.
* FYI JAPAN TIMES > US GROUND OFFENSIVE AGZ ISLAMIC STATE COMING "WITHIN WEEKS": US POINTMAN, to finally wrest control of large swathes of Iraq from the ISIS/ISIL.
US Diplomatic Envoy John Allen.
Yokay, I'll bite, MAHA-RUSHIAN QUESTIONNE' DU JOUR = WHAT IS OWG CO-SUPERPOWER, GOING-NUKULAAR-WID-US/WESTERN-HELP-N-APPROVAL RISING IRAN INCLUDING HEZBOLLAH GOING TO BE DOING IN THE INTERIM = MEANTIME???
[Al Ahram] Iraq's prime minister said on Saturday he had ordered an investigation into the killing of two Sunni Moslem civilians at a security headquarters in Anbar province, where the army and volunteers are battling 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) myrmidons.
Haider al-Abadi, a moderate Shi'ite Islamist who took office in September, is keen to show his government is accountable to all of Iraq's sects and to mend the rifts Islamic State was able to exploit when it seized parts of the country last year.
Local officials, a tribal leader and an army officer said two men from a prominent Sunni tribe were killed at the Anbar Operations Command earlier on Saturday after being detained at a checkpoint operated by security forces along with Sunni and Shiite volunteer fighters.
Abadi announced the investigation on his official Facebook page, calling the killing "a heinous crime... intended to sow discord and distract (citizens) and the security forces from fighting the Daesh (a reference to Islamic State) criminal gang."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2015 00:00 ||
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The United Arab Emirates is sending a squadron of F16 jet fighters to Jordan to conduct air strikes against Daesh alongside Jordanian planes, an army source in Amman said.
Under directives from The President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, has ordered the stationing of a UAE Air Force F-16 squadron in fraternal Jordan.
“This is a big boost and will be helping our (Gulf) brothers shorten their flying distances and intensify strikes against the militants,” a source from the UAE told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Jordanian military experts say the ability of the kingdom to sustain its air strikes would come under strain in coming days given the 40 mid-life F-16 jets the air force has at its disposal.
Being based in Jordan would cut flying distances for the UAE planes to territory in north eastern Syria under the control of Daesh, defence sources in Amman said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
ISIS will be able to tell who they are by the color of their exhaust
#6
The reason for this, especially the CSAR? A lack of PGM for the Jordanian AF. Obumble hasnt sent them the upgrades ann larger numbers of targeting pods and other guided munitions they need. They are dropping dumb iron. And that means either inaccurate targeting or else getting well into range of anti-aircreft assets.
The Obama administration has pissed away a ton of this stuff in Iraq, yet refuses to give sufficient amounts (in some cases none at all) or the needed weaponry to a force that has shown it is ready, willing and able to do the job. Jordan's King has not set of goal of degrading ISIS, he set a goal of eradicating ISIS. Its almost as if Obama wants to protect ISIS from destruction.
Im beginning to wonder if the conspiracy folks might have been right. Incompetence has its limits, this smacks of deliberation and intent by Obama to preserve Islamist fundamentalism at the cost of our allies in the region.
Never, ever do they miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, unless it's taking the opportunity to destroy an opportunity.
[IsraelTimes] Former chief negotiator Saeb Erekat ...negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel. He has been chief Paleostinian negotiator since 1995. He is currently negotiating with Israel to establish a de jure Paleostinian state... to lead new body, charged with gathering documents for war crimes allegations against Israel
Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... on Saturday ordered the formation of a committee to oversee cases to lodge with the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... , in a move likely to further anger the Israeli government.
The Paleostinians formally joined the ICC last month, enabling them to submit war crimes and crimes against humanity complaints against Israel.
The new committee will be headed by chief negotiator Saeb Erakat and will include various figures from the Paleostinian political scene, universities and human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... organizations, said the official Wafa news agency.
The committee "will identify and prepare the documents and records that the state of Paleostine will present to the ICC," the agency said, citing Abbas.
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda opened a preliminary examination into the situation in Paleostine, her office said in a statement last month, adding it may lead to a full-blown investigation.
The probe would review "in full independence and impartiality" alleged crimes committed since June 13 last year, the beginning of tensions between Israel and the Paleostinians that culminated in Operation Protective Edge -- a 50-day conflict between Israel and terrorist groups in Gazoo that resulted in the deaths of approximately 2,200 Paleostinians, according to Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, figures, and 72 people on the Israeli side.
Israel says half of those killed in Gazoo were Hamas and other gunnies, and that Hamas is to blame for all civilian fatalities since Hamas placed rocket launchers, cross-border tunnel entrances and other elements of its war machine in residential areas.
Israel also maintains that Hamas and other groups operating within the Gazoo Strip indiscriminately targeted civilian population centers with rocket fire and used Gazoo's populace as "human shields," engaging the IDF from private homes, schools, hospitals, mosques and UN compounds, thereby drawing the scorn of the international community.
The ICC probe may pave the way for alleged Paleostinian war crimes to be investigated as well, including Hamas's. Potential cases Bensouda could also take on include Israel's settlement construction on land claimed by the Paleostinians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted angrily to the prosecutor's decision to launch the probe, calling it "preposterous" and "absurd" since "the Paleostinian Authority cooperates with Hamas, a terror group that commits war crimes, in contrast to Israel that fights terror while maintaining international law, and has an independent justice system."
The Paleostinian Authority's decision to press forward its suit in the ICC has cost it greatly, as Jerusalem suspended transferring over $120 million in tax revenue to Ramallah, and representatives within the US government have called on President Barack Obama I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money... to halt the $400 million of aid Washington supplies the PA annually.
Abbas's decision to go to the ICC came after failing to gain a majority for a statehood bid at the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... that called for a full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and East Jerusalem by the end of 2017.
The Paleostinian Authority has indicated that it will likely file another bid with the Security Council after Israeli elections in March.
[IsraelTimes] European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... official defends unlicensed construction in Area C, says Paleostinians have a right to build there
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon to move forward with a plan to demolish some 400 Paleostinian structures built in the West Bank with European funding, Israeli media reported Friday.
The prime minister's order came shortly after a Thursday exposé in the Daily Mail claimed that the EU sank tens of millions of euros into homes which were not granted building permits by the Israeli government.
Perfidy, thy name is The European Union? At any rate, it's time to stop pretending they are Israel's friends in anything but name.
Official EU documentation discovered by the newspaper stated that the buildings were intended to "pave the way for development and more authority of the PA over Area C," raising concerns that the governmental organization was taking sides in the dispute by shaping the demographics of the Israeli-controlled territory.
A portion of the homes, which largely resemble prefabricated caravans, were built in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim and near the Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus, according to Israeli news site NRG.
According to the Daily Mail, the construction in 17 locations cost tens of millions in EU public funds.
On Friday, a front man for the European Union defended its funding for the unlicensed construction, even as another EU official had denied wrongdoing.
Shadi Othman, a communications officer at the Office of the European Union Representative in the West Bank and Gazoo Strip, spoke to the Daily Mail Thursday about the union's funding the construction of the 400 homes for Paleostinians in the West Bank's Area C, which according to the Oslo Accords remains under Israeli control until a negotiated final agreement.
"This is part of the work done to build the future Paleostinian state which will live side by side with Israel," Othman said. "Paleostinians have a right to live there, build schools there, have economic development."
Maja Kocijancic, a Brussels-based EU spokesperson, earlier denied any wrongdoing, insisting that construction had not taken place.
"The EU's funding will provide training and expertise, to help the relevant Paleostinian Authority ministries to plan and build new infrastructure and enable people to reclaim and rebuild their land there," she said. "To date, no construction has started yet under these programs. The EU is not funding illegal projects."
She later declined to comment on a series of photographs purporting the construction of the settlements and an EU-Oxfam sign that stated the main activities of the project was the "rehabilitation and reclamation" of land.
Othman was interviewed about footage collected by the Israeli not-for-profit Regavim, which shows structures bearing plaques with the EU logo. Regavim says the structures were erected in recent months without license from Israeli authorities.
The European Union has long complained to Israel about the thousands of homes built for Jewish settlers in Area C, rejecting Israeli claims that they are built in settlements likely to become part of Israel in a final deal.
Michael Theurer, a German member of the European Parliament and its Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, told the Daily Mail he was "taking these allegations seriously and will thoroughly investigate them.
Ari Briggs, the International Director of Regavim and the report's principal author, insisted that the EU and Oxfam were using the project as a "Trojan horse" to undermine Israeli claims to the area.
"Area C has been identified by the anti-Israel 'humanitarian community' as a hot spot to push Israel," Briggs stated.
"These organizations with EU funding are encouraging and actively aiding the illegal attempt to take over public land. This has nothing to do with human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... and everything to do with taking advantage of less privileged nomadic societies for political goals," insisted Briggs.
James Carver, a British MEP for the West Midlands region, wrote a letter this week to the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs condemning the "illegal" project: "The structures all bear the name and flag of the EU and official EU agents have been photographed participating in overseeing the construction, so the active involvement of the EU can hardly be denied."
"I kindly call upon you to do your utmost to bring an end to these illegal and destructive activities," he wrote.
Alan Baker, an international lawyer who took part in the creation of the Oslo Accords, accused the EU of interfering in the conflict.
"The EU is a signatory to the Oslo Accords, so they cannot pick and choose when they recognize it," he said. According to international law, all building in Area C must have permission from Israel, whether it is temporary or permanent."
"The same principle applies anywhere in the world. If you want to build, you need planning permission...The EU is ignoring international law and taking concrete steps to influence the facts on the ground," Baker stated.
An unnamed Israeli government source claimed the venture exemplified "the double standards of the EU", which "deplores Israeli settlements in the West Bank while simultaneously funding its own for Paleostinians: "If Israel started building houses in the middle of Hyde Park, the British government would immediately take them down...The EU is doing things that would never be acceptable in Europe."
MK Yariv Levin also accused the Europeans of double-speak.
"It is hypocritical of the EU to criticize Israeli construction while at the same time actively supporting and practically taking part in illegal Paleostinian settlement construction on Israeli land," the Likud MK charged.
The European Union is opposed to Jewish construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, maintaining it is counterproductive to the emergence of a Paleostinian state.
[Gulf News] The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Milf) announced its readiness to assist in the neutralisation of Abdul Basit Usman in an apparent effort to appease government and sceptics in the wake of the Mamasapano incident.
"The Ad Hoc Joint Action (Ahjag) group is ready to help in the effort," Mohagher Iqbal, chief negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in peace negotiations with the government, said.
Established in 2002, but activated in 2005, the Ahjag played a crucial role in the apprehension of a number of criminal elements mainly in the areas where the Milf operates. But its significance had been clouded by the January 25 incident in Mamasapano, Maguindanao that left 44 police commandos of the Special Action Force (SAF) serving an arrest warrant against two top terrorists, Malaysian Zulfikli Bin Hir aka 'Marwan' and Usman, a Filipino.
During the same SAF operation, carried out in secret, Marwan was killed but Usman was able to escape. The incident also led to an encounter between police commandos and the Milf wherein the latter claimed that 16 of their fighters and civilians had died from.
Due to the number of SAF fatalities The operation had also caused political backlash on the government of President Benigno Aquino III and had threatened to throw a monkey wrench that could squander the gains of the more than decades old grinding of the peace processor between Manila and the Milf.
Certain quarters have accused Milf of providing protection to Usman and Marwan. The two had been hiding in an area known to under the control of the Milf. Iqbal had denied this and reiterated that the Milf and the government could still continue on with the grinding of the peace processor.
"The Ahjag has mechanisms that we can use in getting Usman," he said while stressing that Milf is not giving protection to the terrorist who has a $1 million prize under the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Moro Islamic Liberation Front
"But reports began surfacing last week that the Obama administration is offering Iran technical concessions on its nuclear infrastructure emph added
in exchange for Iran's use of its leverage to tamper regional turmoil."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to a series of news reports about alleged misuse of public funds at his residences for the first time Saturday night in a video clip his campaign released online. Clip attached to article
The clip mocked reports about his wife, Sara, allegedly pocketing and only later returning money received from redeeming alcoholic- beverage bottles and about the large amount of money the Prime Minister's Residence spent on pistachio ice cream.
'Mr. President, Israel is acting to defend its security,' Netanyahu is shown saying on the phone at the beginning of the clip before he is interrupted by an aide saying 'Mr. Prime Minister, there is a new scandal: Snails in the garden!' The aide then interrupts him repeatedly to tell him about 'scandals' such as 'dirty cups in the sink and 'a popsicle that dripped on the sofa.' Netanyahu tells the aide he wants ice cream, but not pistachio.
The 'reports' come from two media outlets that have targeted him recently and are owned by Netanyahu critic Noni Mozes. Yediot Aharonot, whose name means 'recent reports' in Hebrew, is called 'Lying Reports' on the masthead of the paper reporting the 'scandals' and Ynet is called 'Lie-net.'
'They are trying to distract you from what really matters with nonsense,' Netanyahu says at the end of the clip.
'But we deal with the important things: Who will secure the security of our children? Who will make our economy grow?' Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog responded with his own video explaining why he has not released his own amusing clips. Because you're a stupid & humorless little shit --- like all leftards?
#1
This is not just Australia. This is being spread through the US, UK, New Zealand, Germany - everywhere. Start ringing your food producers, their number is on the label. Ask if they're certified Halal. If they are find out what the certification group does with it. In Australia, Muslims Australia (formerly AFIC) which certifies Vegemite, publicly says it builds mosques, hires imams and funds religious schools. Your money goes to fund the spread of Islam.
#3
Your taxes are paying schoolteachers and professors to indoctrinate your children with anti-Christian bigotry, pretty much throughout the U.S.
Your taxes are paying for farmers and their families to vote for leftist parties so that their subsidies don't end (Iowa being a prime example).
Your taxes are paying Boston cops an average of over $100,000 per year and a large percentage of retired cops in California nearly twice that when they reach 58 years old.
Your taxes are being used for these things. Not defense and roads and interstate commerce, as directed by the Constitution, but indoctrination and rent-seeking.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/08/2015 13:05 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Besoeker - we are trying to avoid Halal Certified products but we cannot
it is on every brand of butter. Every brand of cream. All sugar. When you buy yoghurt there is no halal sticker and yet it is all mixed with halal certified gelatin
about 80% of the abattoirs are now halal certified so they kill the animal by slashing the throat and bleeding to death with a temporary 40 second electric stun instead of instant death by bolt stun.
You go to woolworths or coles (our 2 biggest supermarket chains) and all the barbecued chicken, all the meat is all halal
the transport trucks that drive it pay the Halal tax too, and so do the supermarkets
Muslim men only get slaughterhouse jobs now... and so on it goes
your money is being used, your trade practices are being controlled by Islamic fascists
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.
North Korea
Posted by: Raj ||
02/08/2015 0:18 
[DAWN] Condemning terror attacks on schools, mosques, 
Pervez 
[DAWN] The Islamabad High Court (IHC) bench hearing an appeal filed by Mumtaz Qadri ‐ the murderer of former
International Criminal Court
"But reports began surfacing last week that the Obama administration is offering Iran technical concessions on its nuclear infrastructure 
