[NYPOST] WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange ... Australian journalist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks made the Big Time in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by then Bradley, since Chelsea Manning. After the 2010 leaks, the United States government launched a criminal investigation into WikiLeaks and asked allied nations for assistance. U.S. officials are seeking to prosecute Assange under the Espionage Act, blaming him for directingpublication of a huge trove of secret documents that disclosed the names of people who provided confidential information to American and coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.... secretly fathered two children with one of his lawyers while he was holed up at the Ecuadorean embassy in London and fighting extradition to the US, according to a report.
Stella Morris, a South African-born lawyer, began a relationship with Assange, 48, in 2015, she told the Daily Mail Saturday of the couple’s secret romance.
The couple’s first son, Gabriel, was born in 2017 said Morris, 37.
Their second child, Max, was born last year. Both births were filmed with a GoPro camera and the footage sent to Assange, the Mail reported.
The couple managed to keep their relationship and the birth of the children secret from the Ecuadorean staff and diplomats who had given Assange refuge at the embassy for seven years, the newspaper reported.
"I love Julian deeply, and I am looking forward to marrying him," Morris told the Mail.
In an even odder twist, British rapper M.I.A. is a godmother to the children, who are both British citizens, the Mail reported.
*Sara Gonzalez Devant* is a (Swedish Speaking) freelance writer and worked in Timor-Leste between 2005-2006 with a Timorese NGO and for the National Disasters Management Office. Her dissertation 'Displacement in the 2006 Dili Conflict: Dynamics of an Ongoing Conflict' won the Prize for best dissertation 2006-2007 at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford. The paper is published as a Refugee Studies Centre Working Paper (January 2008 WP45). email:
If 'NGO' gives you pause, you are probably correct. She's very likely an intelligence operative.
[Libya Observer] The Head of the Supreme Judiciary Council, Justice Mohammed al-Hafi, told the Presidential Council's Head Fayez al-Sarraj and the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya al-Siddiq al-Kabir in a letter on Sunday that declaring a state of emergency gives exceptional legitimacy to the executive authorities that allow them to issue extraordinary orders and make exceptional decisions.
Al-Hafi said state institutions should now boost the unity of the state by avoiding plunging it into any dangers, adding that there will be accountability for any unnecessary measures taken by executive authorities after the current state of emergency is over.
He called for ending escalation and accusations' exchange between al-Sarraj and al-Kabir, urging them to work as a team to end the crisis. He added that the rhetoric and statements of sovereign state institutions should be heedful and diligent as well as consider official ranks and the seriousness of the situation.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, Bart was wondering if fisticuffs would be appropriate at this point... over the last few weeks, al-Sarraj and al-Kabir have been tit-for-tatting in accusations of mishandling government funds and miscalculations, especially after state employees' salaries have gotten delayed for three months and foreign currency transactions have been put on hold, thus creating a hike in black market rates and prices of commodities as imports have also been stopped.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2020 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[ALMASDARNEWS] Republican members of the United States Senate from the oil producing states said they had held a two-hour phone call with three Saudi officials, and demanded that they take concrete action to reduce oil production, the Reuters News Agency reported.
There were 11 Republican Senators on the call for nearly two hours, including Bill Cassidy, who introduced legislation last week to withdraw US forces in 30 days, faster than the previous call.
There were 11 Republican Senators on the call for nearly two hours, including Bill Cassidy, who introduced legislation last week to withdraw US forces in 30 days, faster than the previous call.
The call, which was led by senators Dan Sullivan and Kevin Kramer of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, introduced legislation in March to withdraw U.S. forces, Patriot missiles, and Thad defense systems from Saudi Arabia unless production was cut.
These same senators recently introduced legislation to remove U.S. forces from Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia, Russia and their allies – who together make up the OPEC Plus group – reached an agreement to cut oil production by 10% of the total global supplies, in lengthy talks on Thursday, and they said they want other producers to cut another 5%.
Oil prices fell to their lowest level in 18 years in light of the coronavirus epidemic, which caused the cessation of economic activities around the world.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2020 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
#1
As someone who lived through the 1970s, I cannot for the life of me see the downside of lower oil prices (except for the Saudis, the Iranians, the Russians, and the oil companies.)
I do sympathize with and admire the frackers and would welcome some way to tide them through this period of low oil prices (something like the CARES act, maybe, just for them)
Posted by: Tom ||
04/13/2020 11:24 Comments ||
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#2
^Wouldn't be simpler to drop a few nukes on Saudia?
A court in Pakistain has sought report on purchases of properties by former Taliban ...Arabic for students... supreme leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor which he reportedly purchased in 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... , Quetta and 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 Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire... Mullah Mansoor reportedly purchased the properties using his fake identities before a dronezap killed him the tribal regions of Pakistain.
Dawn News also added that the court also directed the agency to submit a report on the proclamation of the slain Taliban leader’s two alleged accomplices, who are absconding in an alleged terror financing and money laundering case filed in July, 2019.
Mullah Mansoor was reportedly killed in a US dronezap in the vicinity of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province on 21st May of 2016 as he was reportedly on his way from Iran.
The Pak officials later confirmed that DNA collection report confirmed that the man killed in the US dronezap was the Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Mansoor.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2020 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Iraq’s Prime Minister-designate Mustafa al-Kadhimi has been trying to set up a new cabinet amid public calls for social welfare and the withdrawal of US occupation forces from the Arab country.
Kadhimi, director of Iraq’s National Intelligence Service, met with top members of the outgoing government on Saturday in a bid to put together his cabinet and bring an end to a long-lasting power vacuum.
On Thursday, President Barham Salih named Kadhimi, who enjoys support from the country’s political establishment, as prime minister-designate and tasked him with forming a new government in a month.
He was the third person tapped for the job in just 10 weeks after the former nominee Adnan al-Zurfi withdrew his bid.
Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... welcomed Kadhimi’s nomination for the Iraqi premiership, calling the move a step in the right direction.
The new Iraqi prime minister-designate is facing several challenges, among them calls for economic reforms along with a meaningful fight against corruption in state institutions and the nation’s frustration with the US military presence in Iraq.
Earlier this week, US officials told the News Agency that Dare Not be Named that Patriot missile launchers and two other short-range systems were in place at Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq’s Anbar Province and at the military facility in Kurdistan’s regional capital, Erbil, without elaborating on where those systems had been taken from.
They further noted that a short-range rocket system had been installed at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad.
The US military build-up not only violates Iraq’s illusory sovereignty, but also poses a threat to the country’s armed forces and defies an Iraqi parliament vote on January 5 that called for an end to the presence of all foreign troops.
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.
... Australian journalist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks made the Big Time in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by then Bradley, since Chelsea Manning. After the 2010 leaks, the United States government launched a criminal investigation into WikiLeaks and asked allied nations for assistance. U.S. officials are seeking to prosecute Assange under the Espionage Act, blaming him for directingpublication of a huge trove of secret documents that disclosed the names of people who provided confidential information to American and coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan....
[Libya Observer] The Head of the Supreme Judiciary Council, Justice Mohammed al-Hafi, told the Presidential Council's Head Fayez al-Sarraj and the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya al-Siddiq al-Kabir in a letter on Sunday that declaring a state of emergency gives exceptional legitimacy to the executive authorities that allow them to issue extraordinary orders and make exceptional decisions.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Republican members of the United States Senate from the oil producing states said they had held a two-hour phone call with three Saudi officials, and demanded that they take concrete action to reduce oil production, the Reuters News Agency reported.
...Arabic for 
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
