[DAWN] Afghanistan's Chief Executive, Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... has accused Pakistain of helping enemies of Afghanistan according to a report in the Afghan media on Tuesday.
"Afghanistan's enemy is Pakistain's enemy. What kind of enemy of Pakistain is this? They kill people here, then move around freely there," said Abdullah.
"Pakistain has not cooperated in anti-terrorism activities over the past 10 months," Abdullah alleged.
"There been no change in the military machinery of the Afghan Taliban over the last 10 months, infact it has gotten stronger," added Abdullah.
The Afghan chief executive also blamed 'double agents' within the Afghan government for the deteriorating security condition in the country.
"The Afghan government should first clear agents within its own structure, because they are more dangerous than krazed killers," stated Abdullah.
Abdullah raised the issue of enemy agents within the government and said they were "guiding lights for the enemies of Afghanistan."
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08/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] A deadly hostage drama at a Mali hotel in which 13 people died -- including five U.N. workers -- was claimed Tuesday by fighters linked to the notorious one-eyed Algerian jihadi leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar.
A radical associated with murderous Moslem Malian Islamic leader Amadou Koufa said he gave his "blessing" for the attack on the Byblos Hotel in the central town of Sevare.
Koufa has ties to Belmokhtar -- known as "The Uncatchable" -- the former head of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) who now leads his own bully boy Al-Murabitoun group.
"The hand of Allah has guided the mujahedeen of Sevare against the enemies of Islam," Souleyman Mohammed Kennen told an AFP news hound in Bamako during a brief telephone interview.
The stand-off with the hostage-takers, which began early Friday, ended nearly 24 hours later when Malian troops stormed the hotel.
Souleyman claimed the group was also behind the killing of three Malian soldiers on Monday when their vehicle hit an improvised bomb close to Diabozo, near Sevare. Four other troops were maimed, the government said.
Jihadist attacks long concentrated in the north of Mali -- where turbans linked to AQIM still exercise much control -- began spreading to the center of the country earlier this year, even as far south as the borders with Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... in June.
The U.S. said it targeted Belmokhtar in an air strike in the Libyan desert the same month, but AQIM denied reports its former leader had been killed.
Investigators said Monday they found phone numbers and addresses on the bodies of the "terrorists" killed in the Sevare hotel which suggested they were affiliated with the Macina Liberation Front (FLM), a new Islamic bully boy group drawn from the Fulani people of central Mali.
"At this stage there is no formal proof that it was the Macina Liberation Front, but strong suspicions point to this group that has been seeking notoriety at all costs," she said.
But a regional security source told AFP there is "much coming and going between all these groups. In claiming responsibility for the Sevare attack, Souleyman is also speaking for the other jihadi groups," he said.
The FLM, which emerged earlier this year, has claimed a number of attacks, some targeting security forces in central Mali. It is considered linked to Ansar Dine -- Arabic for "defenders of the faith" -- one of the groups that took control of Mali's vast arid north in April 2012. Washington added Ansar Dine to its terror blacklist in 2013, accusing it of close ties to Al-Qaeda and of torturing and killing opponents in the north.
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08/12/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Wasn't Belmokhtar the bad guy in "Galaxy Quest"?
[Rudaw] The United States will not allow The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... to attack Kurdish People's Democratic Party (PYD) forces in northern Syria, US State Department front man Mark Toner told Rudaw Tuesday.
The statement came after Feridun H. Sinirlioglu, an undersecretary in the Turkish foreign ministry, said earlier Tuesday that the US and Turkey had reached an agreement to create a buffer zone along the Turkey-Syria border under the supervision of US-led coalition air forces.
Sinirlioglu added that according to the deal, if the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) or 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.... enter this zone, they will be targeted by both US-led coalition forces and Turkish air forces.
But according to Toner, based on the agreement with Turkish authorities, PYD forces should not be attacked in the proposed buffer zone. He emphasized that the US would not allow Turkey to attack the PYD in Syria. The PYD is an offshoot of the PKK, and its armed wing the Peoples Protection Units (YPG) have cooperated with the US and coalition air forces in battling ISIS in Syria.
In late July both the US and Turkey accepted an outline for a buffer zone along the Turkey-Syria border. According to the terms of the deal, such a zone would raise the scope and pace of the US-led air war against ISIS.
Turkish authorities announced that the anti-Bashir al-Assad Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... would take control of the buffer zone in order to protect internally displaced persons in the north of Syria.
The zone will stretch about 98 kilometers (61 miles) near the Turkey-Syria border and go 45 kilometers (28 miles) into Syrian territory. It will include the town of Jarabulus in the province of Aleppo.
#4
It is my profound hope that a new administration will release all documents related to the moronic, if not criminal, US-Turkey (2009-2015) and US-Egypt (2011-2013) relations. Of course that "new administration" might not occur in my lifetime, but I can dream.
[IsraelTimes] Even before talks, Tehran dropped pursuit of nuclear weapons, secretary of state says; claims dollar could sink if pact struck down
If Congress were to reject the world powers' nuclear deal with Iran, US leadership and the stability of the US dollar would be threatened, 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... warned Tuesday. Speaking to an audience in New York City at an open discussion on the merits of the agreement, Kerry also emphasized that Tehran had shown restraint in its pursuit of an atomic weapon even before talks began toward the deal, which puts curbs on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Kerry lashed out at critics of the deal, reached between Iran and the P5+1 nations -- the US, Britannia, La Belle France, Russia, China and Germany -- last month, who say that the United States should reject the agreement, reapply sanctions, and return to the bargaining table to hammer out a more stringent deal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been the most strident critic of the deal outside the US.
The secretary of state asked audience members to consider a situation in which the US reimposed sanctions, and then "is going to start sanctioning our allies and their businesses after we walk away from the deal? Are you kidding me?" He warned, "That is a recipe very quickly for the American dollar to cease to be the reserve currency of the world -- that is already bubbling out there."
Later in his talk, Kerry indicated that the Department of the Treasury has been preparing a report that would delineate the potential damage to the US economy should Congress reject the deal. "The notion that we can just sort of diss the deal and unilaterally walk away, as Congress wants to do, will have a profound negative impact on people's sense of American leadership and reliability," he cautioned.
He acknowledged that America's "judgment is that clearly there was a period in which Iran was chasing a nuclear weapon," but seemed to indicate that that pursuit had ceased before Iran came to the negotiating table in 2013, a statement that is in line with American intelligence assessments.
"There has been a fight within Iran, and it continues in some quarters, about where they should go with respect to their nuclear program," Kerry noted. "They have not pursued a weapon, to our best judgment and to the judgment of our allies, since that period of time," he continued, referring to the previous decade.
"The Ayatollah Khamenei has issued a fatwa that nobody should pursue a nuclear weapon," he argued. "And we've essentially said to them, 'Let's take that fatwa and make it into an agreement.'
Nonetheless, he added, "the [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps] still wants one, and they are opposed to the agreement, but the government has adopted an agreement in which they are forbidden forever from producing a nuclear bomb.
"When I hear a congressman or senator say we should get a better deal -- that is not going to happen," Kerry emphasized. "There is not a better deal to be gotten." He said that in both 2003 and 2008, president George W. Bush "tried to get a better deal," but that following both of those attempts, Iran expanded its enrichment capacity and stockpiled the resulting fissile material, which can be used to build a bomb.
Kerry reiterated his claim that, throughout that time, "they could rapidly break out if they chose too, but they didn't.
"They are a nuclear threshold nation today," he added. "They became that and they became that when we had a policy of no enrichment."
Still, he argued, "when they had enough fissile material for 10 to 12 bombs, we don't believe they went ahead and tried to make that bomb."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/12/2015 00:00 ||
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#6
Without naming names, I suspect there is an easily recognizable camp which would celebrate the removal of the Jew from the Middle East as well as the white man from Africa.
#9
theater. McConnel is already arranging a veto-possible margin in the Senate so it looks like they are rejecting it but in the end allow it to go through. the GOP leadership is the most thoroughly disingenuous and possibly corrupt people in DC. At least the Dems and Libs are pretty obvious about what they are up to. McConnel & Boner are weasels.
[DAWN] LANDI KOTAL: The political administration of Khyber Agency has asked the Sipah tribe of Bara to hand over 118 wanted rustics to it and pay Rs120 million fine for attacking a security convoy in October last.
The administration has linked fulfillment of these two conditions with announcement of a return plan for thousands of temporarily displaced families of Sipah tribe.
Sources said that a jirga comprising elders of Sipah tribe met Assistant Political Agent Mohammad Nasir at his office in Khyber House where it was given a list of 118 desperados. They said that the list didn't include the names of Mangal Bagh ...a former bus driver, now head of the Deobandi bandido group Lashkar-e-Islam and the Terror of Khyber Agency... , head of proscribed Lashkar-e-Islam ...a group of Islamic bandidos infesting Khyber Agency. It's headed by a former bus driver.... , and some of his close and trusted lieutenants, belonging to Sipah tribe.
"This time the list is totally different from the last one which the administration gave us few months ago and which included the names of Mangal Bagh and his associates among other 102 desperados from Sipah tribe," a source told Dawn.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... while addressing the Belarusian State University in Minsk on Tuesday stressed the need for regional peace and prosperity and said, "We want cordial and cooperative ties with India and Afghanistan."
The Prime Minister also said, "We will not allow our territory to be used by any murderous Moslems irrespective of their nationality or ethnicity."
Nawaz also spoke of Pakistain's commitment towards eradicating "the menace of terrorism from its soil".
"Our relations with Russia are on an upward trend," he added while expounding on his "vision of a peaceful neighbourhood".
"Pakistain wants good relations with all its neighbours on the basis of sovereign equality," he said.
He emphasised the importance of using trade to enhance regional prosperity and encouraged investment in Pakistain.
"Today Pakistain is one of the most investor-friendly countries in the world. All sectors are open to foreign investment with no upper limit to foreign equity," he said.
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08/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Pakistain on Tuesday lodged a strong protest with India over the latest ceasefire violation across the Line of Control (LoC) and also strongly condemned the death of a civilian on the Pak side due to firing across the LoC.
The Indian High Commissioner was summoned to the Foreign Office by the Director General (South Asia) to lodge protest.
"The Indian Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh was summoned to the Foreign Office today by the Director General (SA) to lodge a formal protest with the Government of India over the killing of a Pak civilian," said Qazi Khalilullah, spokesperson from the Foreign Office.
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08/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] KARACHI: Former Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) politician Nabeel Gabol filed a petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday seeking Rangers' security from the government against alleged death threats issued to him by MQM.
Gabol, a former MNA, maintained in the petition that he no longer has police protection provided by the government.
He further said that the Sindh government has refused to entertain his request to reinstate the security despite his claims of having received death threats from individuals within MQM because of his statements against the party in talk shows.
Gabol warned that if anything were to happen to him, MQM and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah should be held responsible, the former for the crime and the latter for failing to provide adequate security cover to him.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[ALMANAR.LB] Iraq's parliament on Tuesday unanimously approved Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's reform program aimed at curbing corruption.
Abadi on Sunday proposed a series of measures to combat corruption, streamline the government and improve services after popular protests and a call from Iraq's top Shiite holy man Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for drastic change.
"It was unanimously approved," parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi announced to applause after the vote, which was held without a debate as soon as the plan was read.
Of 328 members of parliament, 297 attended the session, Juburi said.
Juburi had urged MPs to sign off on the reforms proposed by Abadi, which have already been approved by the cabinet.
But he said that a complementary plan containing even more reforms was needed, and that Abadi should sack ministers who are guilty of negligence and corruption.
The second plan was also read and approved by parliament, and the session -- most of which was taken up by the reading of the two plans -- ended some 30 minutes after it began.
Amid a major heatwave that has seen temperatures top 50 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit), protesters have railed against the poor quality of services, especially power outages that leave just a few hours of government-supplied electricity per day.
Thousands of people have turned out in Baghdad and various cities in the south to put pressure on the authorities to make changes.
Protestors' demands were given a boost on Friday when Ayatollah Sistani, who is revered by millions, called for Abadi to take "drastic measures" against corruption, saying that the "minor steps" he had announced were not enough.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
How many did Abadi have to bribe to get it passed?
[WASHINGTONPOST] Iraq's parliament voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to back a package of measures aimed at stamping out corruption and government overspending, opening the way for the biggest overhaul of the country's political system since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Just one of the 297 politicians who attended the vote objected to the plan, which was proposed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in the wake of large protests against graft and a lack of services.
The near-unanimous backing of his reform agenda bolsters Abadi, who has been struggling to assert control since taking power last year. His plan calls for initiating a corruption probe, ending a sectarian-based quota system for top government positions and scrapping the posts of three vice presidents and three deputy prime ministers.
When Abadi took office in September, Iraq was rife with corruption and struggling with a security crisis as 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.... Lions of Islam seized around a third of the country's territory. In pursuing his reform program, he is navigating a perilous path in a country where graft is deeply ingrained and powerful political players stand to lose from changes to the status quo.
The premier acknowledged the danger Tuesday in a statement in which he vowed to continue down the road of reform even "if it costs me my life."
Posted by: Fred ||
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A Hamas fighter and tunnel digger has given his interrogators in Israel a bevy of intelligence about the group's recent tunnel construction, planned attacks, battlefield strategy and military cooperation with Iran, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said on Tuesday.
The agency released the information after news of Ibrahim Adal Shahada Sha'ar's arrest was made public on Tuesday.
Sha'ar, 21, from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, was arrested by the Shin Bet and the Israel Police last month at the Erez crossing to northern Gaza, when he arrived to submit an application to enter Israel.
Sha'ar's application to enter was for "personal or humanitarian reasons," and officers at the crossing knew who he was and arrested him on the spot, a Shin Bet official said.
#2
I'll give him brownie points for filing the proper paperwork and trying to enter the country legally. Of course, given that the Israelis guard their borders, he didn't have much choice.
[IsraelTimes] Hamas has dug ‘several tunnels’ into Israel, in new Iran-funded war drive; TV report says Israel wary of tackling new threat for fear of triggering war
A year after a bitter 50-day war, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, has again dug numerous attack tunnels from Gazoo into Israeli sovereign territory, and is gearing up with major Iranian assistance for another conflict, a TV report said Tuesday.
The Israel Defense Forces has confirmed that "not a small number" of terror tunnels have been dug by Hamas under the border into Israel, including one in the area of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, Israel's Channel 10 reported.
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] Back from Islamic Theocratic Republic, PLO official Ahmad Majdalani hails nuclear deal; says Abbas, Rouhani agree on solution to Syria conflict
The Paleostinian Authority is attempting to strengthen its diplomatic relations with Iran, as ties between the Islamic Theocratic Republic and its main Paleostinian rival, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, grow increasingly chilly.
[AnNahar] A major conservative Islamist rebel group in Syria announced its support on Tuesday for a joint U.S.-Turkish plan to establish a border zone free of the jihadist 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.
The powerful Ahrar al-Sham ...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014... rebel faction said the IS-free zone, planned along a stretch of border in the northern province of Aleppo, "is in the interest of the Syrian people".
Meaning themselves...
The safe zone would have "positive effects, from the humanitarian, military, and political perspectives that will serve the interests of both countries", the group's online statement said.
Ahrar al-Sham called The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , a main backer of Syria's fractious opposition, "the most important ally of the revolution".
"The Turkish government and people have presented over the past four years support for Syria's revolution and its people," Ahrar al-Sham said.
"The strategic relationship between us and Turkey is necessary to face challenges and shape the future of Syria."
Ahrar al-Sham is part of a rebel coalition, including Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, that has seized large swathes of territory from regime forces in Idlib province.
Its support for the IS-free zone puts it at odds with its ally Al-Nusra, which announced its opposition to the plan over the weekend.
Al-Nusra said it would withdraw from frontline positions against IS to avoid helping the U.S.-Turkish plan, refusing to coordinate with any groups implementing the zone.
Turkey entered the anti-IS alliance last month, allowing U.S. warplanes targeting the jihadists to use an air base in southern Turkey, and agreeing to the IS-free zone in northern Syria.
Ankara hopes the zone will be safe enough to accommodate at least some of the 1.8 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
But questions remain regarding which gangs would be responsible for enforcing the zone on the ground.
According to Syria expert Thomas Pierret, "Ahrar al-Sham is for Turkey an efficient, loyal, and responsible partner".
"The relationship has always been good. (Ahrar) is more powerful today than other groups allied to Turkey," the University of Edinburgh professor said.
But, Pierret said, partnering with the Islamist faction would be "problematic" for the United States, which is providing support to groups it has vetted as "moderate".
Early in the campaign against IS, U.S.-led air strikes hit Ahrar al-Sham positions, although the group has not been targeted since.
[Bus Insider] An American military source told Fox News that US military leaders were "outraged" when Turkey began launching airstrikes against the Kurdish PKK in northern Iraq just hours after striking an anti-ISIS deal with the US.
"A Turkish officer came into the [the allied headquarters in the air war against ISIS] and announced that the strike would begin in 10 minutes and he needed all allied jets flying above Iraq to move south of Mosul immediately," the source said.
"We were outraged."
The US special forces stationed in northern Iraq advising and training Kurdish Peshmerga fighters had virtually no warning before Turkish jets started striking the mountains, where the PKK is headquartered. A ROZ (Restricted Operating Zone) in 10 minutes. Yea, I'd say 10 minutes is pretty much no warning.
"We had no idea who the Turkish fighters were, their call signs, what frequencies they were using, their altitude or what they were squawking [to identify the jets on radar]," the source explained.
Turkish military leaders asked coalition officers to reveal the trainers' specific whereabouts in order to avoid bombing them, but the officers flatly refused.
"No way we were giving that up," said the military source.
"If one of our guys got hit, the Turks would blame us. We gave the Turks large grids to avoid bombing. We could not risk having U.S. forces hit by Turkish bombs."
The confrontation highlights the tension growing between the US and Turkey, which became a reluctant ally in the fight against ISIS after years of turning a blind eye to the jihadis' illicit activity on its southern border.
#3
fucking morons. Outraged? Hell I predicted it here - and I imagine so did a lot of other current spooks that know the region. They either didn't listen (which makes them fucking idiots), or they are putting on an act, which makes them complicit with State/Obama's treachery. Both of which are sufficient reasons to have a bloodbath in the flag officer ranks if someone competent takes over as CINC.
Figurative bloodbath, although an exmaple like Adm Byng probably isnt a bad idea for these Obama idealogues masquerading as officers. As Voltaire said: "Dans ce pays-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres"
#5
Yada, yada, yada. The admirals too were vehement that we must keep Subic at all costs as it was the keystone to the Pacific! Generalship, it's diseases and their cures.
#7
Beginning in the early 1990s the Turkish government allowed its Muslim Brothers to work in concert with the Islamic Government of Iran, and together they provided the support for Islamist operations in the Balkans. From that time to this, Ankara has not acted as an ally of the United States. It could not then be trusted, and it should not now be trusted until Erdogan and his cabal are expelled from power.
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.
[DAWN] Afghanistan's Chief Executive, 
