[Wikipedia] A fatwa by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, against the acquisition, development and use of nuclear weapons[1] dates back to the mid-1990s,[2] though its first public announcement is reported to have occurred on October 2003, which was followed by an official statement at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna two years later on August 2005.... As of Wednesday, the page on this still had not been revised to show that the fatwa, if it existed, was 'inoperative'
As of Wednesday, nobody had asked Obama if he still believed the fatwa
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A new wave of A-29 Super Tucanos arrived in support of the 81st Fighter Squadron’s training mission, April 24 and 26, it has been reported.
According to a report by the US Military, the A-29s will aid in the continuation of the Afghan light air support training mission, which ultimately provides Afghan pilots with the capabilities of finding, tracking, and attacking targets either on their own or in support of ground forces.
"The A-29 program has been an integral part of the U.S. government’s overall ’Building Partnership Capacity’ efforts around the world and immediately supports the development of an indigenous air force in Afghanistan," said Brig. Gen. Christopher Craige, formally acting commanding general at Train, Advise, Assist Command-Air (TAAC-Air).
"This rapidly developed program for Afghanistan is unique for the A-29 development because this is the first time USAF pilots and maintainers have been trained as instructors to conduct training for Afghan students in the United States."
Designed to operate in high temperatures and in extremely rugged terrain, the A-29 is a highly maneuverable fourth-generation weapons system capable of delivering precision guided munitions. The aircraft is being used by the Afghan air force (AFF) for close-air attack, air interdiction, escort and armed reconnaissance.
An AFF A-29 pilot, quoted in the report, said "The AAF plays a major role in this," said one Afghan A-29 pilot.
"We are helping the grinding of the peace processor. When an A-29 is overhead, it gives motivation to the ground troops, and the enemy realizes they can be struck anywhere and will feel the pressure to come to the peace table. This is how we will bring peace and stability to Afghanistan."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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[AAWSAT] Sudan’s president has ordered the closure of 13 Sudanese overseas missions and job cuts at the foreign ministry due to an economic crisis in his country, state media reported Thursday.
"President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. issued a decree ordering the closing of 13 Sudanese diplomatic missions," the official SUNA news agency reported early Thursday, quoting the decree.
It did not name which missions were to be shuttered.
The president also ordered seven other missions to reduce their diplomatic staff to just one person, and a broader 20 percent cut to administrative staff at all missions, SUNA reported.
"The decisions have been taken in order to cut costs given the economic situation in the country," the decree said, according to SUNA.
The president's order in addition included the dismissal of the entirety of the administrative staff at the foreign ministry, with diplomats taking over their duties, the agency reported.
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05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Trumo? Pompeo? You all paying attention? Not the worst idea you could have.
[PRESSTV] Algeria has summoned Morocco’s ambassador over allegations that its embassy in Rabat was involved in alleged Iranian support for a West Saharan separatist movement.
"Morocco’s ambassador has been received today by the Secretary General at the foreign ministry who rejected the unfounded remarks," ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
A day earlier, Morocco cut its diplomatic ties with Tehran, claiming that the Iranian Embassy ...You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy!... in Rabat would lend support to the Western Sahara Polisario separatist myrmidons.
Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975, and since then the territory has been the subject of a dispute between Rabat and the Polisario Front.
The movement, which aims to end Morocco’s presence in the Saharan region, recently said they sought to set up a "capital" in the region, prompting Rabat to caution it would respond with force.
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05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria have staged another protest rally to condemn charges leveled against jailed cleric Sheik Ibrahim al-Zakzaky. The top Shia cleric is accused of criminal conspiracy and inciting public disturbance.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... confirmed on Thursday the arrival of a prisoner who was sent back to the Kingdom from the Guantanamo Bay detention center to serve out the remainder of his 13-year sentence.
Ahmed Mohammed al-Darbi is the first detainee to leave the US base in Cuba since President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... took office. The Pentagon first announced the transfer in a brief statement on Wednesday.
Saudi state security says al-Darbi arrived just before midnight on Wednesday and that his relatives had been notified.
After serving the remainder of his sentence, about nine years, al-Darbi will spend time in a Saudi rehabilitation center for convicted holy warriors that aims to help them assimilate back into society through frequent visits with relatives, religious counseling with moderate holy mans, art therapy and even cash assistance to help them once out.
There have been around 140 detainees transferred from Guantanamo Bay to Saudi Arabia. His transfer brings the number of men still held at Guantanamo to 40.
The agreement to repatriate al-Darbi was made under President Barack Obama They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them... , whose administration had hoped to eventually close the detention center. Trump reversed that policy and has vowed to continue using the center.
Al-Darbi pleaded guilty before a military commission at the US base in Cuba in 2014 to charges stemming from an al-Qaeda attack on a French oil tanker. His plea deal included extensive testimony against others held at Guantanamo.
His charges included conspiracy, attacking civilian objects, terrorism and aiding the enemy for helping to arrange the 2002 al-Qaeda attack on the French tanker MV Limburg. The attack, which killed a Bulgarian crew member, happened after al-Darbi was already in US custody and was cooperating with authorities, according to court documents.
Al-Darbi, 43, was captured at an airport in Azerbaijan in June 2002 and taken to the US base in Bagram, Afghanistan. He has testified to being kept in solitary confinement, strung up from a door in shackles, deprived of sleep and subjected to other forms of abuse as part of his early interrogation.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] A recent report says the US has expanded its role in Riyadh’s bloody war on Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... well beyond mere arms sales and logistical support by secretly deploying a team of elite commandos to the Yemeni border to help the Saudi military in battles against 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 ... Ansarullah movement.
Citing US and European officials, The New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported Thursday that about a dozen commandos with the US Army Special Forces, known as the Green Berets, had been deployed in December 2017 to Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... ’s southern border regions.
The secretive mission, according to the report, is aimed at helping Saudi forces locate Yemeni missile launch sites and destroy the missile supplies of the Houthi movement, Yemen’s de facto military power, which has been defending the country, along with allied forces, against the Saudi aggression.
The New York Times, however, said there was no indication that the commandos had crossed into Yemen.
The report cited a half-dozen officials from the US as well as European and Arab countries as saying on condition of anonymity that the American commandos were "training" Saudi ground troops to secure their border in the face of counter-attacks from Yemen.
The American special forces are using spy aircraft that can collect electronic signals to track the weapons in Yemen and their launch sites, the officials added.
The Saudi troops are also closely cooperating with US intelligence experts in the southern Saudi city of Najran a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen. It is the capital of Najran Province and a favored target of Houthirocket forces.... , which has been target of several Yemeni retaliatory attacks, the report added.
The deployment took place weeks after a ballistic missile fired from Yemen hit close to the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The kingdom claimed it had intercepted the missile, but footage and photos later shared of the strike cast serious doubt on that claim.
Yemeni forces regularly fire ballistic missiles at positions inside Saudi Arabia in retaliation for Riyadh’s attacks against their country.
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05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] Months after being ravaged by a deadly cholera outbreak that killed thousands of people, Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... is now faced with the risk of a second wave of the disease as a new rainy season approaches.
The war-torn country, which has lost much of its infrastructure due to ruthless Arclight airstrikes by Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... over the past three years, is still reeling from one of the world’s worst outbreaks of the killer disease, scientists warned on Thursday.
Since 2016, roughly a year after the attack began, one million suspected cases of cholera have been reported in Yemen while more than 2,000 people have been killed by it.
"We expect to see a surge of cases during the rainy season," Anton Camacho, lead author of a study on the epidemic published in The Lancet Global Health journal, told Rooters.
"If something is going to happen it will happen now so everyone should be aware and respond quickly. The risk is high," he added.
The rainy season is expected to begin from mid-April and last until the end of August.
The first four weeks of last year’s rainy season saw the daily number of cholera cases increase 100-fold, accelerating the spread of the disease across the poverty-stricken country.
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05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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[AAWSAT] Bahraini concerned authorities have questioned 37 coppers after complaints from prisoners and detainees for maltreatment and excessive violence against them.
The Special Investigation Unit (SIU), a monitoring body that investigates complaints by prisoners and detainees in security facilities, disclosed legal violations in the case of citizens sentenced to death.
This prompted the Bahraini Attorney General to request the Minister of Justice to revoke the death sentence and reopen the case file and trial.
The SIU dealt with 43 complaints during the first four months of 2018, involving torture, maltreatment and excessive violence attributed to servicemen affiliated with the public security.
Judge and SIU member Mohammed Youssef al-Zebari said that the panel had launched inquiries to investigate all the complaints.
Zebari said that the unit heard 50 complainants and 113 witnesses during the same period, questioned 37 accused servicemen from the public security and referred 10 complainants to medical examiner.
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05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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[AAWSAT] Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdul Malak al-Mekhlafi said that Iran’s interference in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... "represents an additional disaster to the Yemeni people’s sufferings," stressing that the Persian State would not be part of a solution to the crisis in the country.
In an interview with Asharq al-Awsat on Sunday, following talks with Egyptian officials, Mekhlafi underlined the Yemeni government’s commitment to the three approved references, which include the handover of arms, the release of detainees and the formation of a transitional government on the basis of the Gulf Initiative.
The Yemeni minister, who visited Cairo on Sunday, met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to discuss the need for the militias to hand over their weapons and means to promote coordination to stop the Iranian interference in Yemen.
Asked about the outcome of his meetings, Mekhlafi said: "We agreed on the importance of implementing the three references to the political solution, which include removing the militias’ arms, stopping the Iranian intervention, releasing the detainees and supporting the UN envoy in his next round of talks."
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05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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[AAWSAT] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... is on track to cut its budget deficit to seven percent of gross domestic product this year, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said on Wednesday.
He pointed out the effectiveness of the country's fiscal and economic reform program over the past two years.
Jadaan inaugurated Wednesday the activities of two-day Euromoney Saudi Arabia Conference 2018, which is held in Riyadh.
"The world is witnessing promising progress due to positive expectations for growth rates in developed and emerging markets, Jadaan said, speaking at the conference.
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05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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[AAWSAT] The Bosnian authorities have refused to extradite a person suspected of involvement in the liquidation of Tunisian national Mohammed Zaouari, a member of the Paleostinian Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, Movement.
Zaouari, a 49-year-old engineer and Tunisian citizen, was murdered at the wheel of his car outside his house in Tunisia’s second city, Sfax, in December 2016.
Tunisia’s Prosecution Spokesman Sofiene al-Sliti said on Wednesday that one of the two Bosnian suspects was enjugged You have the right to remain silent... in Croatia, adding that the two people who carried out the liquidation were identified -- both were of Bosnian nationality.
Oh? Not Israelis, and therefore not Mossad, then. Just as Seeking Cure For Ignorance predicted.
Al-Sliti noted that the Tunisian judiciary has sent international letters rogatory to seven countries in coordination with the Interpol, namely The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... , Egypt, Cuba, Croatia, Leb, Bosnia and Sweden.
In remarks to Asharq al-Awsat, al-Sliti said that one of the perpetrators of the liquidation was arrested on March 13, but the Bosnian state refused to extradite the main suspect, to the Tunisian authorities, and justified its refusal by the fact that its laws prevent the extradition of its nationals to other countries.
Zaouari was rubbed out on December 15, 2016 in front of his home in the city of Sfax. Security investigations conducted by the Ministry of the Interior revealed that two persons were involved in the liquidation. Hamas’ Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades revealed that Zaouari was one of its members and a key component in its weapons development, especially in the area of unmanned drones.
The brigade accused the Israeli Mossad service of being behind the liquidation.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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[AA.TR] Ottoman Turkish prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 70 soldiers allegedly linked to FETO, the group behind last year's defeated coup, judicial sources said on Thursday.
Prosecutors in the central Anatolian province of Konya issued the warrants for 70 Ottoman Turkish Armed Forces members, including on-duty soldiers, accused of links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO). Konya police ordered the launch of operations in 34 provinces.
The search for the suspects is underway, said the sources, who requested anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.
Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Ottoman Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Keep it up. The politically faithful (yet militarily incompetent) commissars will lead the Ottoman Turkish military to their destruction
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/04/2018 8:48 Comments ||
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[DAWN] The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday denied rumours that the sudden decision to move Dr Shakeel Afridi, who was imprisoned for his alleged links to a banned Lion of Islam group, from Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. to Adiala jail was part of a possible deal with the United States government.
Addressing a weekly briefing, FO front man Dr Muhammad Faisal insisted that government authorities were not planning to swap Afridi for Aafia Siddiqui ...American-educated Pak cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. In September 2010, she was sentenced to 86 years in jug after a three-ring trial. Siddiqui, using the alias Fahrem or Feriel Shahin, was one of six alleged al-Qaeda members who bought $19 million worth of blood diamonds in Liberia immediately prior to 9-11-01. Since her incarceration Paks have taken her to their heart and periodically erupt into demonstrations, while the government tries to find somebody to swap for her... ‐ who is currently serving a sentence in a US jail for trying to kill US agents and military officers in Afghanistan ‐ or former Pak ambassador Hussain Haqqani who resides in the US and is the prime suspect in the Memogate scandal that surfaced in 2011.
Dr Faisal turned down questions about media reports claiming that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had tried to stage a jailbreak in Peshawar in order to rescue Afridi, saying he had no information about the matter since it concerned the interior ministry.
Afridi, a former senior surgeon believed to be in his mid-50s, was jugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! eight years ago after it emerged that he had passed on intelligence about former Al Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now beyond all cares and woe... to the CIA.
He was accused of helping the CIA track down the Al Qaeda leader in Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... . However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... he was never tried on those charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Seems like the Pak stance on the good doctor is a clear declaration that they were protecting OBL. So why is ISI headquarters still standing?
[AAWSAT] Melina Boughedir, a French citizen, who was put on trial in Baghdad on terrorism charges, denied believing in the ideology of ISIS, Agence La Belle France Presse reported Wednesday.
The 27-year-old mother of four faces the death penalty over her alleged membership of ISIS.
Arrested in the summer of 2017 in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , Boughedir was sentenced last February to seven months in prison for "illegal" entry into the country and was set to be deported back to La Belle France.
But upon re-examining her file, an Iraqi court found that Boughedir knew her husband planned on joining ISIS in Iraq and that she "knowingly" followed him, AFP quoted a judicial source as saying.
On the first day of her new trial Wednesday, the judge asked Boughedir if she knew where her husband was.
"One day he went to get water and he disappeared, I don't know anything about it," she said.
When asked if she believed in ISIS's ideology, she said: "Not at all. This is the case for many foreign women married to ISIS men."
The judge showed Boughedir a series of photos, in one of which she appeared, asking whether she recognized various people.
"For someone who claims to have been forced to come to Iraq because your husband was threatening to take your children, you look very relaxed," the judge said, referring to the picture.
"I was at home and the picture was taken by my husband," Boughedir said.
The next hearing is set for June 3 at the request of Boughedir's new attorney, an Iraqi chosen by the family.
Last month, an Iraqi court sentenced another French woman, Djamila Boutoutaou, to life in prison for belonging to ISIS despite her pleas that she had been duped by her husband.
Since the beginning of the year, Baghdad courts have sentenced more than 280 foreign Lions of Islam to death or to life in prison, according to a judicial source.
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05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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[AAWSAT] A Death Eater commander, held in Baghdad, confessed on Wednesday having been in direct contact with ISIS leader His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart... He added that he met Baghdadi in the summer of 2017 for the last time.
Iraq’s judiciary announced that the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, or CCCI, has upheld confessions given by the detained ISIS official, whose name was not disclosed.
He was first incarcerated Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... and then handed over to Iraq following extensive Iraqi intelligence efforts.
Judge Abdul Sattar al-Birqdar, in an official statement, said the CCCI has issued the documented confessions of the detained suspect, in which he admits affiliation with ISIS and meeting with Baghdadi.
Baghdadi disappeared after ISIS’ defeat in its main Syria and Iraq strongholds. Many reports claimed his death, but none were confirmed.
"The arrest was made by virtue of joint efforts of Iraqi intelligence service and the Ottoman Turkish security services," Birqdar declared.
"The suspect confirmed that the last meeting between them (Baghdadi and the suspect) was in July last year," Birqdar said.
He added that the detainee was a member of the general committee overseeing ISIS affairs after dividing the organization into five "caliphates" in Iraq, the Levant, Africa, Europe ...also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and the Gulf.
The suspect also grabbed credit for a terrorist attack which targeted Iraq’s Al Tarmia town, located north of Baghdad, in the hopes of shaking up national security prior to elections scheduled for next week.
Strategic and military experts told Asharq al-Awsat that what happened in Al Tarmia is a clear breach of security.
"There is an imbalance, whether in the nature of investigating intelligence efforts or the speed of response by the security services," said Dr. Moataz Mohieddin. "There are still sleeper cells in these areas."
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05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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...thus guaranteeing utter chaos in the West Bank the day in the near future when he dies of old age’s ills.
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian leader does not address uproar over comments, but parliamentary body accuses Israel and US of trying to distract attention
The Paleostine Liberation Organization reelected the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... as its leader, the group said early Friday, giving the Paleostinian Authority president fresh backing amid an international uproar over remarks deemed anti-Semitic.
The decision to keep Abbas as the head of the PLO’s Executive Committee came at the end of a four-day meeting by the Paleostinian National Council in Ramallah, the first such summit in decades. Abbas has led the PLO since the death of Yasser Arafat in November 2004.
Talk has ramped up recently over a possible replacement for the 82-year-old statesman. A move by the National Council Thursday to grant the 115-member Central Council authority to assume the political body’s powers is expected to help clear the way to appointing a successor to Abbas and resolve the decade-long rift with the rival Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", party ruling Gazoo.
A statement by the council at the close of the meeting early Friday also condemned the US for plans to move its embassy to Jerusalem, rejected a peace plan being formulated by the Trump administration, and called for the Executive Committee to rescind the PLO’s recognition of Israel.
Abbas has come under fire for a Monday speech at the start of the meeting in which he appeared to blame Jews for the Holocaust, saying it was the Jews’ "social function," including money lending that caused animosity toward them in Europe. He also portrayed the creation of Israel as a European colonial project, saying "history tells us there is no basis for the Jewish homeland."
The comments have been derided as anti-Semitic and have led to renewed calls for Abbas to back away from the Paleostinian leadership.
On Wednesday, PLO Secretary General 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... , a top Abbas apparatchik, claimed Abbas’s words had been distorted, condemning accusations against him.
Abbas did not address the furor during a short speech at the closing session, according to a transcript from the official Paleostinian news agency WAFA released early Friday.
In a closing statement from the National Council, the Paleostinian National Assembly accused Israeli and American officials of orchestrating a campaign to accuse Abbas of anti-Semitism as a diversionary tactic.
Abbas touched on a number of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories during what he called a "history lesson," as he sought to prove the 3,000-year-old Jewish connection to the Land of Israel is false.
He said his narrative was backed by points made by Jewish writers and historians, the first being a theory often criticized as anti-Semitic that Ashkenazi Jews are not the descendants of the ancient Israelites.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Abbas’ remarks were "the pinnacle of ignorance" and that the Paleostinian leader was "again reciting the most disgraceful anti-Semitic slogans."
The Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial said in a statement that Abbas’ speech was "replete with antisemitic tropes and distortions of historical facts" and accused the Paleostinian president of "blatantly falsifying history to the point of accusing the Jewish victims as being responsible for their own murder."
The UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East grinding of the peace processor, Nickolay Mladenov, said in a statement that "leaders have an obligation to confront anti-Semitism everywhere and always, not perpetuate the conspiracy theories that fuel it."
"Denying the historic and religious connection of the Jewish people to the land and their holy sites in Jerusalem stands in contrast to reality," he said.
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman on Tuesday censured Abbas, referring him by his nom de guerre and saying he had "reached a new low."
[PRESSTV] Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says US military buildup in the eastern side of the Euphrates River threatens Syria's unity as it is actually aimed at partitioning the country.
Lavrov said the US claims that it is seeking to rid Syria of terrorists, but in fact it is actively settling on the Eastern Euphrates in a bid to disintegrate Syria.
"This approach is also encouraged by a number of US allies,’’ he said in an interview with Italia’s Panorama magazine published on Thursday.
The top Russian diplomat also said that the suspected chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburb town of Douma on April 7 was a "new dirty provocation made by those who do not want peace in Syria."
One week after the incident, the US, Britannia and La Belle France launched a coordinated missile attack against sites and research facilities near Damascus and Homs with the purported goal of paralyzing the Syrian government’s capability to produce chemicals.
Syria has rejected the accusations of possessing chemicals. It surrendered its chemical stockpile in 2013 to a mission led by the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the UN.
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05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the Islamic Theocratic Republic reserves the right to respond should the US, as a party to the 2015 nuclear deal, withdraw from the agreement.
In a video message posted on YouTube on Thursday, Zarif compared Tehran's full commitment to its side of the bargain to Washington's breach of the deal, which is officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
On 11 occasions, he said, the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that Iran has implemented all it obligations under the JCPOA, but "the US has consistently violated the agreement especially by bullying others from doing business with Iran."
Zarif also slammed the European countries' appeasement to US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... as a deadline looms for Washington to announce whether it will continue suspending anti-Iran sanctions that were lifted under the nuclear accord.
"In the last year or so, we've been told that President Trump is unhappy with the deal and it now appears that the response from some Europeans has been to offer the United States more concessions from our pocket," he said.
"This appeasement entails promises of a new deal that would include matters we all decided to exclude at the outset of our negotiations, including Iran's defensive capabilities and regional influence. But please understand on both issues, it is Iran, not the West, that has serious grievances and much to demand," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
So the Ayatollah has a problem?
Nothing a good steaming bowl of Kohlbasa and Lingueni can't cure.
[IsraelTimes] Images of Fordo show full parking lot, open gates to 'uranium enrichment tunnels,' but no indication of illicit activity.
An Israeli satellite imaging company on Thursday released images showing what it described as "unusual" movement around the Iranian Fordo nuclear facility, a one-time uranium enrichment plant buried deep underground that was converted to a research center as part of the 2015 nuclear deal.
The photographs, which show large numbers of vehicles at the entrance to the facility and other signs of increased activity there, do not in themselves indicate any violation of the nuclear accord, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
The test site in North Korea has collapsed.
Maybe they're preparing a new one in Iran for the joint Iranian-Nork nuclear project.
#3
Saddam's nuclear facility at Osirak. Note the berm. Very high, and difficult to climb (lots of huffing and puffing to reach the top)....unless you were a very fit Maori SAS NCO. Berm was ringed by Russian made Triple-A batteries. Didn't stop the IS Air Force from taking it out however. See 'Operation Opera.'
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.
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
[AA.TR] 
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
Aafia Siddiqui
...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart...
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
