[PRESSTV] The mayor of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,'s largest city, Oakland, who had earlier this year warned immigrants colonists about a government raid, has defended her move as a "duty" to protect her residents when they are "unjustly attacked" under the Trump administration's "racist lie."
Back in March, Mayor Libby Schaaf posted a message on Twitter, saying that she had learned from "multiple credible sources" that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "is preparing to conduct an operation in city.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which planned to target around 1,000 immigrants colonists living illegally in the Bay Area city in March, said the warning prevented the arrest of as many as 800 people.
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... , who was irked by the move, called on his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to prosecute her for "obstruction of justice." He said the mayor "informed them, and they all fled‐or most of them fled‐and that whole operation, that took a long time to put together."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
"but, but,...then nobody would want to live here!"
[PRESSTV] The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) has said that the whereabouts of its leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky is unknown several days after he was arraigned before the state High Court.
The IMN released a statement on Saturday, in which they said phone numbers which the used to contact the Sheikh have all been disconnected.
"All the lines of the family members staying with the Sheikh while in detention in Abuja have been switched off," read the statement.
"Followers of the Sheikh are deeply concerned with this latest development because those detaining him have never hidden their intention to see to his demise, had it not been for Allah's protection. This was evident right from the December 2015 Zaria massacre by the Army," it added.
The statement went on to call on Nigeria’s State Security Service to at least inform the Sheikh’s family about his current location, while stressing that the Nigerian government will be held responsible if anything happens to Zakzaky.
Zakzaky’s son also said he had lost contact with his father.
"As of this dawn, I would like to inform all those who may be concerned that I have lost all contact with my parents," said his Muhammad.
On Tuesday, Zakzaky was transferred to the central state of Kaduna, where he was arraigned before the state High Court along with his wife.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic Movement of Nigeria (Iran)
[PRESSTV] Thousands of people have staged demonstrations across Bahrain, demanding the immediate withdrawal of American marines from the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom and closure of the US naval base there.
The protesters erupted into the streets in the capital Manama on Friday evening, carrying placards reading "Leave Our Land" and shouting slogans in condemnation of Washington’s support for the ruling Al Khalifah regime.
The demonstrators also condemned the recent massacre of dozens of Paleostinians during anti-occupation protest rallies along the border between the Gazoo Strip and occupied territories, and stepped on the images of 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... and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Similar rallies were held in the villages of Abu Saiba, Shakhurah, al-Daih, Karbabad and Buri.
At least 64 Paleostinians were killed and more than 2,700 others maimed near the Gazoo fence on Monday on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which coincided this year with the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied city of Jerusalem al-Quds.
The occupied territories have witnessed new tensions ever since Trump on December 6, 2017, announced Washington's recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s "capital" and said the US would move its embassy to the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
With shale oil, we don't really need the Persian Gulf any more. That plus solar/wind/etc can finally break us free from entanglements in the Middle East.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
05/20/2018 0:19 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I agree we should pull out. Just remember there are severe penalties for early withdraw (See - Iraq)
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/20/2018 7:25 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Herb,
Altmaier said it only made sense if it’s implemented worldwide. But today everyone knows worldwide implementation is a pipe dream and so Germany needs to start forgetting about its once ambitious “wind and solar dreams”.
http://notrickszone.com/2018/05/18/german-green-energy-only-efficient-if-everyone-elses-is-inefficient-says-german-minister-of-economics/#sthash.lTnWhlHF.dpbs
Posted by: Bag Balm ||
05/20/2018 15:44 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Germany talks big for a country dependent on Russia for natural gas and the ME for oil. Merkel is determined to auger in Germany.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/20/2018 16:28 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Ref #4. Soothing, but you will stink a little, as I recall.
[IsraelTimes] Leaders of various groups warn against 'those who cynically use' Israeli-Paleostinian conflict 'to vilify Jews or promote anti-Semitic tropes'
Taqqiya? Heartfelt sentiment from the assimiliated? Some of each? Should we be pleased that, whatever the underlying attitude, they feel the need to be seen saying this?
Moslem leaders took out a full-page ad in a major British newspaper condemning anti-Semitism.
"We understand that many in our country empathize with the Paleostinians and their right to a sovereign state," said the ad Thursday in the Telegraph, signed by a group called Moslems Against Anti-Semitism.
"However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... we must be ever vigilant against those who cynically use international issues to vilify Jews or promote anti-Semitic tropes."
The ad was signed by the leaders of groups including Faith Matters, a Moslem anti-extremism group; the Association of British Moslems, and Tell MAMA, a clearinghouse for complaints about anti-Moslem attacks.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews praised the ad on Twitter. "Incredible solidarity ‐ a full-page ad by Moslem sisters & brothers in today’s @Telegraph," it said. "Thank you. Together we will defeat the twin evils of antisemitism & anti-Moslem hate."
Last week, the Board of Deputies had joined Tell MAMA in condemning Islamaphobia, when that group on May 8 rolled out a report on anti-Moslem bias in Britannia.
Also Thursday, the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism and Faith Matters joined in calling on Britannia’s Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, to ban a parade planned in London next month because it will include flags of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, the Evening Standard reported.
The parade is planned for Quds Day on June 10, when Iran’s theocracy has called on followers to condemn Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem in 1967. Hezbollah is an ally of the Iranian regime.
Quds day, the Jewish and Moslem groups said, "is a rallying point for anti-Moslem bigots who wish to portray all British Moslems as terrorist sympathizers, and for anti-Semites, who admire Hezbollah’s stated mission to seek out and murder Jews around the world."
#4
Quds day, the Jewish and Moslem groups said, "is a rallying point for anti-Moslem bigots who wish toportray confirm all British Moslems as terrorist sympathizers, and for anti-Semites, who admire Hezbollah’s stated mission to seek out and murder Jews around the world."
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/20/2018 7:18 Comments ||
Top||
[PRESSTV] Britannia’s military is reportedly considering to substantially increase the number of its troops in Afghanistan following demands by 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... for NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... members to "pay their fair share" for the US-led military alliance.
British daily The Times reported Friday that UK’s Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson is believed to have asked Prime Minister Theresa May for deployment of 400 additional military forces to purportedly assist in the battle against the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... Death Eaters, on top of the 600 British soldiers already in the war-torn Afghanistan.
Trump declared last August that the US will deploy 3,500 more troops to the Asian nation in efforts to secure areas that had fallen into Taliban control, after repeatedly warning that NATO members need to fulfill their commitments for funding the Western military alliance.
"Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they're supposed to be paying for their defense," Trump said during leaders summit of NATO member countries last year at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels.
According to the report, May is scheduled to make an announcement about the additional troop deployment at a NATO summit next July, where it is expected Trump will press members even further for more contributions.
Britannia's Ministry of Defense (MoD), meanwhile, declared that it remained "committed to NATO's ...mission, in which we play an important role, and keep our contribution under constant review."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
[PRESSTV] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's Erdogan compared Israel’s actions against the Paleostinians in Gazoo to Nazis' methods against Jews in World War II. In a special session of Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... condemned Israel and the United States. Israeli forces killed dozens of Paleostinian protesters last week. The protests coincided with the US embassy relocation to Jerusalem.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
Damn National Socialist Frenchies shooting at those Germans crossing into France.
[DAWN] The interior ministry has approved transfer of 90 terrorism cases, including the Nishtar Park and Abbas Town kabooms cases, to military courts for trial, it emerged on Friday.
Sources told Dawn that the federal government had approved a total of 90 cases for trial by military courts established under the Pakistain Army Act, 1952.
Suspects to be tried in these cases by the military courts are said to be associated with banned holy warrior outfits, including Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain ...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts... (SSP), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... (LJ), Tehrik-e-Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... Pakistain (TTP) and Tehrik-e-Taliban Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... (TTS).
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi
[DAWN] Former SSP Rao Anwar and his subordinates, who have been detained in a case pertaining to the extrajudicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud, were presented before a Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... anti-terrorism court for an in-camera session on Saturday.
"Raza has said that he cannot appear in court for the Rao Anwar case because he is receiving threats," a lawyer, who requested anonymity, told DawnNewsTV.
The main prosecutor, however, did not show up for the hearing, at which the judge hearing the case expressed severe displeasure.
Anwar, 11 of his subordinates and 14 absconders are accused of abducting the Wazoo native shopkeeper and aspiring model Naqeebullah for ransom and later killing him, along with three other detainees, in a staged encounter in Karachi's Malir area on January 13.
During today's hearing, the government lawyer ‐ present in the court due to the absence of the main prosecution lawyer, Ali Raza ‐ refused to accept notices regarding a bail application filed by suspended DSP Qamar Ahmed, who is a close aide of Anwar and is among the accused in the case.
"Ali Raza is the prosecution's lawyer in the case and he is the one who can accept these notices," the substitute lawyer told the court, to which the ATC judge said: "It is astonishing that lawyers are refusing to even receive notices."
"I had already written to the Sindh High Court that if they are forwarding this case to us, they should also send us the staff and the lawyers to handle the case," the judge remarked.
According to sources within the legal community, Raza failed to appear in court because of threats. "Raza has said that he cannot appear in court for the Rao Anwar case because he is receiving threats," a lawyer, who requested anonymity, told DawnNewsTV.
While in the courtroom, Anwar kept chatting with his former subordinates and asked how they were. The former SSP also commented on the lack of proper air conditioning in court. "I think the AC is not working properly," Anwar said.
Before the hearing began, the ATC judge had barred the entrance of anyone except the defendants into the court.
As a result of this embargo, the security personnel posted outside the court also tried to keep the claimant and his lawyer from entering the court.
However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... both men were allowed to enter the court when they raised strong objections at being kept out of the hearing.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[NY Post] Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been hospitalized in a West Bank hospital, a Palestinian official said on Saturday, providing no further details on his condition.
It was the third time Abbas, 82, had been hospitalized in a week. He underwent minor ear surgery on Tuesday and was released a few hours later and hospitalized briefly again on Friday, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/20/2018 08:27 ||
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Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been hospitalized in a West Bank hospital,
[IsraelTimes] A week after Paleostinians heavily damage Kerem Shalom, fuel lines serving energy-starved Strip partially reopen
The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... said Friday it will donate $35 million (30 million euros) to fully repair the Kerem Shalom Crossing into the Gazoo Strip that was heavily damaged earlier in the week by Paleostinian rioters, the Ynet news site reported.
The Defense Ministry announced Thursday that the fuel terminal at Kerem Shalom ‐ the only cargo crossing between Gazoo and Israel ‐ was partially repaired, and the flow of gasoline and diesel fuel supply to the Strip was gradually being restored.
The army said Kerem Shalom will reopen next week after the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, but is not expected to operate at full capacity.
The EU has already poured in tens of millions of euros to expand and upgrade the Kerem Shalom Crossing, which serves as the main terminal for commercial goods and humanitarian aid into Gazoo. Ordinarily, hundreds of trucks pass through the crossing each day. Its fuel terminal is also the only way to bring significant quantities of diesel and gasoline into the beleaguered coastal enclave.
Three times this month, rioters from the Gazoo Strip broke into the Paleostinian side of the crossing and set fire to parts of the facility.
#3
I thought that you in the EU were big on their right to self-determination. If they don't want a fuel terminal there, don't built it against their wishes.
And since you have 30 million euros burning a hole in your pocket, let me take this opportunity to report that I think I can make productive, or at least economy-stimulating, use of it.
Posted by: james ||
05/20/2018 14:50 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I'm torn between wanting Israelis being paid to get the work don or paying "Palestinians" to do the work so it doesn't.
Israelis will rebuild, and Palestinians will destroy again
[IsraelTimes] PM's assertion appears to confirm earlier claim by minister on extent of Jewish state's intelligence sharing efforts worldwide
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has thwarted terror attacks in more than 30 countries, appearing to confirm a minister’s claim on the extent of Israel’s intelligence sharing efforts.
"Israel’s security services and our remarkable intelligence services have prevented terrorist attacks in over 30 countries, major terrorist attacks ‐ the downing of aircraft," he said during a meeting in his office with the Panamanian president, referring to remarks in January that Israel has prevented hijacked airplanes from crashing into European cities.
"But today we have prevented such catastrophes by sharing our intelligence with other countries, as we share with our friends in Panama," added Netanyahu.
Netanyahu did not provide specific details about the attacks Israel helped prevent, nor the countries that were targeted, and his office did not respond to a request for clarification.
The figure he provided echoed that given by Economy Minister Eli Cohen, who in February said Israel helped prevent attacks in more than 30 countries during 2017. Cohen’s assertion came shortly after Israel revealed that the Military Intelligence Unit 8200 had foiled an 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.... attempt to bomb a flight from Australia last August.
Cohen was rebuked at the time for his claim by Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin, a member of the high-level security cabinet, who questioned Cohen’s credibility on security matters.
"He’s not a member of the security cabinet so he isn’t privy to all the information given by security and intelligence officials," Elkin said of Cohen in an interview with Army Radio. "I’m not sure where he got those figures from."
In his meeting Thursday with Panama’s Juan Carlos Varela, in which they inked a bilateral free trade deal, Netanyahu stressed the "common battle to fight terrorism," while blasting Iran as the "preeminent terrorist state."
"Iran was responsible for the horrible terrorist attacks in Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... , and I think beyond that," referring to the deadly bombings in the early 1990s of Israel’s embassy in Buenos Aires and the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association building. Israel has blamed the attacks on Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group backed by Iran, as well as senior Iranian officials.
"So we have a common battle to fight terrorism, and to fight the sponsors and dispatchers of terrorists," added Netanyahu. "And we are doing it in the Middle East, but I think as I said, it encompasses today the entire world, the entire world."
Echoing Netanyahu, Varela said all countries should be united in combating terror.
"The fight against terrorism shouldn’t have boundaries, ideologies, or fate. The fight against terrorism should unite all human beings to stop the evil that hard boyz represent, and to fight for the right of all human beings to live in this world in peace," he said.
Varela also thanked Netanyahu for providing Panama with information indicating Hezbollah was behind a terror attack in the country, apparently referring to the 1994 bombing of a plane in Panama in which 21 were killed.
"I received a letter from you confirming that I lost my roommate and a serious member of the Panamanian Jewish community to a terrorist attack conducted by Hezbollah in Panama some years ago. Thank you for that information. We shall share it with the family, and I will keep following that case to make sure that justice is done," said Varela.
[PRESSTV] Informed US officials say the administration of 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... will step up its activities in the Kurdish-populated northeastern Syria, reinforcing fears of the Arab country's partition and mounting tensions with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... The unidentified officials said on Friday that the US government had decided to shift its focus from terrorist-held northwestern Syria to the Kurdish-inhabited northeast.
CBS News quoted the officials as saying that the decision was made over the last few weeks following Trump's call for a review of all US operations in Syria.
Tens of millions of dollars will be cut from previous US programs, including projects for "countering violent extremism, supporting independent society and independent media, strengthening education, and advocating for community policing," CBS reported.
A State Department official told Rooters, "US assistance for programs in northwest Syria are being freed up to provide potential increased support for priorities in northeast Syria."
A second source also noted that Washington wanted to move the assistance to the areas in Syria where the US had more control.
US officials, however, claimed that "humanitarian assistance" would not be affected in northwestern Syria around Idlib Province, the last major stronghold for 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... bully boyz in the country.
Washington has stepped up its alliance with Kurdish forces active in Syria despite opposition by Turkey that is worried about the formation of an autonomous Kurdish state on its borders.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Give Lebanon to Syria as they own much of it already and since the Turks won't play give north Syria to the Kurds.
[PRESSTV] Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh says Tehran’s oil exports to remain unchanged if the Iran nuclear deal is salvaged by the EU following the US withdrawal from the multinational accord.
In an address to news hounds after his meeting with EU’s energy chief Miguel Arias Canete in Tehran, Zanganeh underlined that the US decision to pull out of the deal also known as the Joint Comprehensive of Action (JCPOA) would not lead to Tehran's oil exports fluctuation if the EU could salvage it.
"Every new decision in OPEC needs unanimity... I believe that the help of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... helps us... the level of our oil exports will not change," Zanganeh said.
Following US move in May to quit the deal, the US Treasury announced the administration would re-impose a wide range of Iran-related sanctions after the expiry of 90- and 180-day wind-down periods, including sanctions on Iran’s oil sector.
To salvage the deal, the EU announced a package of measures on Friday to counter US sanctions on Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Every new decision in OPEC needs unanimity is unmanning.
[ALMASDARNEWS] A jihadist group issued a statement on Saturday that grabbed credit for the kabooms that took place inside the Hama Military Airport yesterday.
The jihadist group, Saraya al-Jihad, stated that their fighters went behind enemy lines, Friday, and planted several bombs in the western part of the Hama Military Airport.
Saraya al-Jihad’s fighters then evaded the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) troops in the area and returned to their lines, where they detonated their explosives at the Hama Military Airport.
The group published photos from the base, but no proof they were behind the kabooms.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[WASHINGTONPOST] His self-declared caliphate was in ruins when 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... summoned some of his top aides to a meeting in eastern Syria last year. 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.... ’s capital in Iraq had already fallen, and its Syrian headquarters was under siege.
Yet the terrorist leader had something else on his mind: schoolchildren.
The gathering near the city of Deir al-Zour was called by Baghdadi personally to discuss rewriting the terrorist group’s educational curriculum, according to an Islamic State official who was jugged Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! in a joint operation by Ottoman Turkish and Iraqi officials earlier this year. Despite the group’s dire circumstances, Baghdadi wanted to examine a subject that had less to do with immediate survival than with preserving the organization’s ideological core.
"Several top leaders were present, as well as the curricula committee, which I headed," the captured officer, known as Abu Zaid al-Iraqi, said in a videotaped statement aired on Iraqi television.
The meeting, said to have occurred in mid-2017, was the third convening of a committee that had been a pet project of the man at the top, having been "established by caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," the officer said.
The incident provides a rare glimpse into the secluded life of the Islamic State’s leader, a man who has allowed himself to be photographed only once, in July 2014, and has spoken publicly only a handful of times since then. His prolonged absences have given wings to countless false reports portraying Baghdadi as either dead, or gravely maimed and incapacitated.
Despite such rumors, U.S. counterterrorism officials are convinced that Baghdadi is alive and is helping direct long-term strategy for the dwindling numbers of Islamic State fighters defending the group’s remaining strongholds in eastern Syria. The U.S. view is supported by intelligence intercepts and detainee interrogations, as well as writings and statements by operatives within the terrorist group’s network.
[’We are in your home’: After losses, ISIS steps up campaign to inspire attacks]
The evidence, while spotty and difficult to confirm, depicts a leader who has opted to make himself invisible, even within his organization ‐ a decision that has drawn complaints from followers and arguably undercuts his ability to rally his beleaguered forces, terrorism experts say.
But the intercepts and reports also suggest that Baghdadi has shifted his attention in recent months to crafting an ideological framework that will survive the physical destruction of the caliphate in Iraq and Syria. In addition to his effort to revamp the group’s school curriculum, Baghdadi appears to have been behind a series of missives in recent months that sought to settle ideological disputes between factions of Islamic State fighters.
Viewed together, such actions convey the impression of a disciplined retreat, with Baghdadi helping manage preparations for a shift from caliphate to underground insurgency and international terrorist movement, current and former U.S. officials said.
"Even as they were losing djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... and Raqqa, we were seeing indications that they were planning to operate anew, as a clandestine organization," said Nicholas Rasmussen, who served as director of the National Counterterrorism Center before stepping down in December. "As they were being driven out of these places, they were leaving behind a kind of cell structure."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
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.
[IsraelTimes] Leaders of various groups warn against 'those who cynically use' Israeli-Paleostinian conflict 'to vilify Jews or promote anti-Semitic tropes'
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ....png)
"I had already written to the Sindh High Court that if they are forwarding this case to us, they should also send us the staff and the lawyers to handle the case," the judge remarked.
[NY Post] Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been hospitalized in a West Bank hospital, a Palestinian official said on Saturday, providing no further details on his condition.
...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...
[WASHINGTONPOST] His self-declared caliphate was in ruins when 
The gathering near the city of Deir al-Zour was called by Baghdadi personally to discuss rewriting the terrorist group’s educational curriculum, according to an Islamic State official who was 
