[ToloNews] US politicians are moving to prevent the Trump administration from reducing troop levels in Afghanistan and Germany before President-elect Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden ...Candidate for president in 2020. You're a lyin' dog-faced pony soldier... is sworn in on 20 January 2021.
US news agencies report that the House and Senate conferees have hashed out the mutual terms for the proposed fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act and are set to vote on and approve the measure before sending it to President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... ’s desk.
The US politicians have included two provisions designed to restrict the Pentagon from following through with troop reductions in Afghanistan and Germany, according to a report by janes.com.
Back in November, US acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller announced plans to reduce US troop levels from about 4,500 down to 2,500 by mid-January 2021.
The bill, however, prevents the department from reducing troop levels below 4,000 — or the total number left when the legislation is enacted — until the Pentagon, State Department, and the director of national intelligence detail how a drawdown affects threats to the United States, the counterterrorism mission against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , and more, according to report by janes.com.
"The conferees note the South Asia strategy emphasizes the importance of a conditions-based United States presence in Afghanistan in support of ongoing diplomatic efforts to secure a peaceful, negotiated solution to the conflict," politicians wrote as quoted by janes.com. "The conferees further note that any decision to reduce the armed forces of the United States in Afghanistan should be done in an orderly manner and in coordination with United States allies and partners and the government of Afghanistan."
According to Defense News, Trump with late-night tweets reiterated to veto the annual defense policy bill.
"Very sadly for our Nation, it looks like Senator Jim Inhofe will not be putting the Section 230 termination clause into the Defense Bill," he wrote. "So bad for our National Security and Election Integrity. Last chance to ever get it done. I will VETO!"
US experts said that the bill basically opposes reducing the number of troops below 4,000, but it gives the US president a national interest "waiver" and that it is still a strong signal.
The experts said that Trump can veto, but there is enough support in Congress to override a veto.
Afghan experts said the US forces' withdrawal should be conducted responsibly.
"The United States is providing financial support to Afghan forces and also has advice and training mission to Afghan forces. We will lose this. But the withdrawal will not have more impacts if they commit to providing financial support to us as well as air support to Afghan forces," said Mirza Mohammad Yarmand, a military expert.
[AlAhram] 'The US decision to pull troops out of Somalia at this critical stage in the successful fight against al-Shabaab ...... the personification of Somali state failure... and their global terrorist network is extremely regrettable,' Somali Senator Ayub Ismail Yusuf said
President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... 's decision to pull U.S. troops out of Somalia in the waning days of his presidency triggered dismay on Saturday from some Somalis, who appealed to the incoming U.S. president to reverse the decision.
"The U.S. decision to pull troops out of Somalia at this critical stage in the successful fight against al-Shabaab and their global terrorist network is extremely regrettable," Senator Ayub Ismail Yusuf told Rooters in a statement, referring to the al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab insurgency.
"U.S. troops have made a huge contribution and had great impact on the training and operational effectiveness of Somali soldiers," said Yusuf, a member of Somalia's Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.
He tagged U.S. President-elect Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden ...Candidate for president in 2020. I had the great honor of being arrested with our UN Ambassador on the streets of Soweto, trying to get to see him on Robbens Island... in a tweet criticising the decision.
The Somali government could not immediately be reached for comment early on Saturday to Friday's decision to withdraw almost all the roughly 700 U.S. troops by Jan. 15.
Somalia's fragile internationally backed government is due to hold parliamentary elections this month and national elections in early February, a precursor to the planned drawdown of the 17,000-strong African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... peacekeeping force.
U.S. troops have been in Somalia, mostly supporting Somali special forces known as Danab in operations against al-Shabaab, whose attacks in nations like Kenya and Uganda have killed hundreds of civilians, including Americans.
SUPPORTING SOMALI FORCES
Danab punches above its weight because regular forces are often poorly trained and equipped, frequently desert their posts or become enmeshed in power struggles between the national and regional governments.
If the withdrawal is permanent, "it will have a huge toll on counterterrorism efforts," said Colonel Ahmed Abdullahi Sheikh, who served for three years until 2019 as the Danab commander.
He fought alongside U.S. forces, he said, and during his command two Americans and more than a hundred of his own men had died. Both U.S. and Somali forces opposed the withdrawal, he said.
The U.S. program to expand Danab to 3,000 men was supposed to continue until 2027, Sheikh said, but its future is unclear.
Airstrikes will likely continue from bases in Kenya and Djibouti, which could also provide a launchpad for cross-border operations. Rights group Amnesia Amnesty International says the Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s have killed at least 16 civilians in the past three years.
The U.S. withdrawal comes at a turbulent time in the region. Æthiopia, which is a major troop contributor to the peacekeeping forces and has thousands more troops in Somalia bilaterally, is distracted by an internal conflict that broke out last month. It has disarmed hundreds of its peacekeepers already.
Somalia has been riven by civil war since 1991, but the entry of the peacekeeping force in 2008 helped incubate fledgling government structures that allowed for gradual reforms of the military, such as a biometric system to pay soldiers and the formation of Danab.
But many problems with the Somali military remain, including corruption and political interference. Perhaps a withdrawal will force Somalia to confront them, said Sheikh. Or perhaps it will make them worse.
#1
The Place is a screwed up mess and has been since the 70's.
My father did a TDY there in 67 for a possible "Quick Talk" site. The place was already showing signs of open bribery, regional leaders setting up private armies and general instability.
The US pulling out likely will temporarily cut the Elites and War Lords on the take wealth by 1/2.
But the cycle will repeat. With another country/ Mega Company moving in to pump $$$$ in for some grand plan that never happens.
Assuming Joe Biden is the one who takes the oath of office in January, he’ll want negotiations so he can lean hard on Israel to make concessions, and this way Egypt continues to feel they are important at the center of world events.
Tl;dr: “Pay attention to meeeeee!“
[IsraelTimes] Unsourced TV report says two leaders agreed Egyptian president will invite Israeli, PA foreign ministers to Cairo as part of effort to renew peace negotiations.
Egyptian leader Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi told Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....
Continued on Page 49
[Jpost] Bahrain clarified on Saturday that it will not allow the import of Israeli goods produced in settlements in the West Bank, Israeli media reported.
The statement, released by the official news agency of Bahrain on Friday, stated that a previous comment made by Bahraini Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani, according to which no distinction would be given to products from Israel and the West Bank, "was misunderstood."
[israelTimes] A suspect in a 1982 terror attack on a Jewish neighborhood in Gay Paree that killed six people was on Saturday charged and remanded in jug by French authorities after his extradition from Norway, judicial sources said.
Walid Abdulrahman Abu Zayed was charged with murder and attempted murder by a Gay Paree magistrate specializing in terror crimes, said a judicial source, who asked not to be named.
He had appeared before the magistrate after arriving late Friday at Gay Paree’ Charles de Gaulle airport from Oslo, where he had been living since 1991.
Abu Zayed was arrested in September in the town of Skien southwest of Oslo and Norway approved his extradition on November 27.
The bombing of a Jewish restaurant in the Marais area of the French capital, which also injured 22 on August 9, 1982, has been attributed to the Abu Nidal Organization, which splintered from the turban Paleostinian Fatah group.
[AlAhram] The value of the assets has not been made public
The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... ’s highest court, the Court of Justice, has annulled sanctions imposed against the family of late Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... , whose funds were frozen in Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... after he was ousted in 2011.
European Union member countries imposed the sanctions on Mubarak and his family in March 2011 based on lawsuits filed against them in Egypt for alleged embezzlement of state funds.
The Court of Justice said on 3 December that "the Council cannot conclude that a listing decision is taken on a sufficiently solid factual basis before having itself verified that the rights of the defence and the right to effective judicial protection were observed."
The court’s final verdict follows lower court decisions in recent years to dismiss appeals by the family to overturn the asset freeze.
The value of the assets has not been made public.
The former president passed away earlier this year at a Cairo hospital after suffering complications from surgery in February.
He was ousted following massive protests that started in January 2011. Mubarak ruled Egypt from 1981 until 11 February 2011.
Mubarak was arrested two months following his overthrow and stood trial in a number of criminal cases on various charges. He was convicted of corruption in 2015, alongside his sons Alaa and Gamal, for using public funds to renovate family properties.
He had already served his sentence in detention while awaiting trial in other cases.
Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to kill protesters during the popular uprising, but walked free in 2017 after being acquitted on appeal.
His two sons were acquitted earlier this year on charges of stock manipulation.
[Breitbart] A former MI6 operative who spied on al-Qaeda has warned that an Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... leader is coordinating attacks on Europe, including the United Kingdom, over the Christmas period in Dire Revenge for the republishing of Mohammed cartoons.
Christmas is enough of a reason for jihadis. Any other reason is just decorating sugar on the frosting on the cake of terrifying the Unbelievers and smiting them in the neck and such.
Former terrorist bombmaker-turned informant Aimen Dean told members of the security and policing professions at an online International Security Week conference based in London that plans to commit terrorist acts are being hatched in Islamist-held areas of Libya and northern Syria, and are being coordinated by Abu Omar al-Shishani.
Back in 2016 he was the ISIS minister of war. But with all the deaths since, he might have been promoted...
Al-Shishani, originating from Georgia, was thought to have been killed in a U.S. Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in 2016.
ISIS confirmed his death the following year, but said he had died fighting in the Iraqi city of Shirqat south of Mosul. Could it be that they lied?
However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... it is believed he is still alive and operating out of Syria.
Mr Dean said, according to the i newspaper: "The worry is that, according to people who know him, [Shishani] is planning to avenge the Prophet Mohammed cartoons in places like Germany, UK, La Belle France and all around Christmas time.
"I’m afraid I’m not bearing good news but we need to be worried about the wave of terror that is coming from northern Syria and Libya for Christmas this year."
The Islamists would be sent from Syria via The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund... or across the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe, according to Mr Dean, with jihadists taking advantage of the lifting of lockdown restrictions over Christmas to launch their terror attacks.
And not just in Europe. So be aware and prepared to act, should someone get feisty in your vicinity, dear Reader. Christmas, Easter, and Ramadan month are jihadi triggers.
[BBC] Police in India's Uttar Pradesh state have arrested a Moslem man for allegedly trying to convert a Hindu woman to Islam.
He's the first to be arrested under a new anti-conversion law that targets "love jihad" - a term radical Hindu groups use to accuse Moslem men of converting Hindu women by marriage.
The law has prompted outrage, with critics calling it Islamophobic.
At least four other Indian states are drafting laws against "love jihad".
Police in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district confirmed the arrest on Twitter on Wednesday.
The woman's father told BBC Hindi that he filed a complaint because the man "put pressure" on his daughter to convert and threatened her if she didn't. The woman was allegedly in a relationship with the man but got married to someone else earlier this year.
Police told BBC Hindi that the woman's family had filed a kidnapping case against the accused a year ago but the case was closed after she was found and denied the charge.
After his arrest on Wednesday, the man was sent to 14 days of judicial custody. He told news hounds that he was innocent and had "no link with the woman".
The new law carries a jail term of up to 10 years and offences under it are non-bailable.
WHAT IS THE 'LOVE JIHAD' LAW?
In November, Uttar Pradesh became the first state to pass a law against "forced" or "fraudulent" religious conversions.
But it might not be the last as at least four other states - Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka and Assam - have said that they are planning to bring in laws against "love jihad". All five states are governed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who have been accused of normalising anti-Moslem sentiment.
Critics have called it regressive and offensive, with many concerned that such laws will lead to misuse and harassment since "love jihad" has always been seen as a term used by fringe right-wing radical Hindu groups. It is not a term officially recognised by Indian law.
But it has dominated headlines in the last few months - in October, a popular jewellery brand withdrew an advertisement featuring an inter-faith couple after right-wing backlash accused them of promoting "love jihad".
And then in November, authorities accused Netflix of the same, pointing to a scene in the television series, A Suitable Boy, where a Hindu woman and a Moslem man share a kiss as the camera pans to the backdrop of a Hindu temple. Madhya Pradesh's Home Minister, Narottam Mishra, said it hurt "religious sentiments" and directed officials to look into legal action against the producer and director of the series.
Critics of the BJP say religious polarisation has increased since Prime Minister Narendra Modi first swept into power in 2014. Hindu-Moslem marriages have long attracted censure in India but the attachment of a deeper, sinister motive to them is a recent phenomenon.
[FoxNews] World body reportedly bypassed legal permitting process to fund projects
The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... is being accused of funding illegal infrastructure projects for Paleostinians in an area where Israel exercises exclusive functional control as envisioned by current peace agreements.
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] In interview with Iranian state media, children of slain nuclear scientist say their mother was next to him during liquidation, but not hit by gunfire.
The sons of slain Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh said their father was shot four or five times during his liquidation, in an interview broadcast by Iranian state media on Friday.
Fakhrizadeh, the scientist said by Israel and the US to head Iran’s rogue nuclear weapons program, was killed in a military-style ambush last week on the outskirts of Tehran. The attack reportedly saw a truck bomb explode and button men open fire on Fakhrizadeh’s vehicle.
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... has accused Israel of carrying out the November 27 hit and threatened Dire Revenge. Israel has not publicly commented on the allegations that it was responsible.
In the interview broadcast by Iran’s IRIB news, Fakhrizadeh’s two sons said the liquidation "was really like a war," according to a translation by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster. The sons were apparently not with Fakhrizadeh during the liquidation, although some early reports said members of his family were traveling with him.
The sons said Fakhrizadeh’s wife, apparently their mother, was sitting next to him when he was shot, but was not hit by bullets herself. An earlier New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... report said Fakhrizadeh’s wife had received shrapnel wounds during the attack.
"My father was hit four, five times by gunfire," one of Fakhrizadeh’s sons said.
The sons, who were not identified by first name in the Kan report, said Fakhrizaden had been warned by his security team against traveling on the day of the liquidation, but that he had gone out anyway for a meeting.
Their account of a shootout appeared to contradict claims by Iranian officials that Fakhrizadeh was killed by an Israeli-produced weapon controlled remotely by satellite. Critics saw the claims as a way for the regime to evade responsibility for not preventing the liquidation and not capturing the assassins.
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[Jpost] A former Lebanese Christian member of parliament and a website affiliated with a Christian party in Leb ...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... are Hezbollah's latest targets in the legal arena.
Hezbollah announced on Friday that it is suing a number of entities who have accused it of being behind the earth-shattering kaboom at Beirut's port that killed over 200 people and maimed thousands in early August, Walla reported Saturday.
A former Lebanese Christian member of parliament and a website affiliated with a Christian party in Lebanon are Hezbollah's latest targets in the legal arena. The Shi'ite terrorist organization said it intends to sue the parties for slander, after they claimed Hezbollah was responsible for the devastating blast at Beiru's port On August 4.
Hezbollah's legal representative, a Lebanese journalist named Ibrahim Mousawi, said that the accusations made against Hezbollah by former MP Fares Souaid and a right-wing Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... website were "misleading."
Mousawi claimed that the accusations are especially problematic because they threaten the social peace in Lebanon at a time when the US is exerting great pressure on Hezbollah and its allies.
"When the American administration is focused on oppressing Hezbollah and on pressuring other governments to designate it as a terrorist organization, you learn that there are internal and external entities assisting them in doing so," Mousawi noted when announcing that Hezbollah will be suing those who blamed the organization for the Beirut blast.
After the dust from the devastating blast settled, it was discovered that ammonium nitrate, a white chemical substance that is used as fertilizer as well as for bomb making, was inappropriately stored in a warehouse in Beirut's port. And while many of Hezbollah's political and civil opponents blamed Hezbollah for storing the dangerous chemicals, Hezbollah has rejected the accusations time and time again. No evidence was found so far that could clearly connect the organization to the blast that levelled large areas of Beirut's capital city.
The Lebanese official investigation has yet to provide any explanations, and many mourning Lebanese families are demanding that an international investigation be launched.
Official documents have indicated that the Lebanese Ports Authority, security agencies and politicianship were all aware of the dangerous chemicals being stored at the port, but failed to take action for their removal. Different reports have indicated in the past that the Beirut port is often used as a storehouse for dangerous materials and is an epicenter of public corruption.
Souaid was one of the first Lebanese officials to publicly blame Hezbollah for the Beirut blast, claiming in September that ammunition stored by Hezbollah caused the earth-shattering kaboom.
Former MP Souaid is known for his anti-Hezbollah rhetoric and has publicly criticized the organization in the past. Following Germany's decision in April to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization, Souaid told Arab News that "Hezbollah burdens Lebanon politically, economically and financially in a way that the country cannot handle ... There are no compromises with Hezbollah. Either Lebanon becomes Hezbollah-free or we let it govern and we leave. We cannot coexist with an imposed policy."
Souaid hasn't commented on the pending lawsuit against him and only said that his lawyers would examine the case on Monday. The Lebanese Forces party has yet to release a comment.
[Jpost] It is unclear what has caused recent deterioration in the supreme leader's condition overnight, though some suspect prostate cancer.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini... may have transferred power to his son amid concerns over his declining health, Iranian journalist Momahad Ahwaze reported Saturday.
Taking to Twitter, Ahwaze wrote in Arabic that sources in 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... were concerned regarding the 81-year-old leader's health, and those close to him are reportedly "very concerned" over his deteriorating condition.
As such, his powers have reportedly been transferred to his son, Sayyid Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, aged 51,
...who does not appear to have appeared in our archives before, for some reason...
who currently oversees several important security and intelligence departments in the country. European sources have pegged Mojtaba as a potential successor to the supreme leader's position for over 10 years, and British news outlet The Guardian even dubbed him "the gatekeeper to Iran's supreme leader" in a 2009 article.
Ahwaze noted that it is unclear what has caused recent deterioration in the supreme leader's condition overnight, though he did suspect it could be prostate cancer.
Khamenei's deteriorating health has also reportedly seen the supreme leader cancel some important meetings, such as a recently scheduled meeting with President Hassan Rouhani ...Iran's moderate president, which he is, relative to his predecessor, which doesn't mean he's anything but a puppet of the nearest holy man... , according to Ahwaze.
Khamenei has been in power since 1989, having taken over following the death of the Islamic Theocratic Republic's founder, Ruollah Khomenei. However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... he has had health issues in the past, and in 2014 had surgery on his prostate. According to French news outlet Le Figaro in 2015, Western sources believed the supreme leader had suffered from prostate cancer.
No official confirmation has been made regarding any potential transfer of power, and media outlets have been unable to confirm it.
The Iranian journalist gained notoriety due to his coverage of the Islamic Theocratic Republic's COVID-19 outbreak, despite Tehran's attempts at downplaying its severity, Newsweek reported.
If his reports are true, it would mean Khamenei is stepping down following increased tensions with the US and Israel, as Tehran blames the Jewish state for the liquidation of its chief nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, on November 27.
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.
...Candidate for president in 2020. 
...Candidate for president in 2020. 
[israelTimes] A suspect in a 1982 terror attack on a Jewish neighborhood in 
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
...
...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 
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
...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 
