[ToloNews] The US State Department in its annual report which was published on Monday, included Afghanistan on the list of countries engaged in a "policy or pattern" of human trafficking and forced labor or whose security forces or government-backed gangs recruit or use child soldiers.
According to the report, the current government of Afghanistan did not make any efforts to prevent trafficking in Afghanistan.
"After August 15, the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... did not investigate, prosecute, or convict any traffickers, nor did it identify or protect any trafficking victims or make any efforts to prevent trafficking. The Taliban shut down shelters and protective services for victims of crime, including trafficking victims— leaving vulnerable populations without support," the report reads.
But the Islamic Emirate denies claims made in the report, saying that Afghanistan is a secure place for all Afghans.
"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has prevented all illegal actions such as human trafficking and it has taken decisive measures against it," said Bilal Karimi, deputy front man of the Islamic Emirate.
In addition to Afghanistan, the new state-sponsors section listed Russia, Burma, Cuba, Iran, North Korea ...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche... , and five other countries with a "documented 'policy or pattern' of human trafficking," forced labor in government-affiliated sectors, sexual slavery in government camps or that employ or recruit child soldiers.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that currently there are nearly 25 million trafficking victims worldwide.
"The scale of this problem is vast. There are nearly 25 million people currently victims of trafficking. 25 million people. The United States is committed to fighting it because trafficking destabilizes societies, it undermines economies, it harms workers, it enriches those who exploit them, it undercuts legitimate business, and most fundamentally, because it is so profoundly wrong," he said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wrecked scow, Agent 49 felt gingerly for his head. It was still there. He had been hoping differently... legal experts believe that this report may have bad effects on Afghanistan.
"Human trafficking and forced labor are rejected and do not have any legal justification," said Rohullah Sahkhizada, legal expert.
The US State Department added that it is trying to arrest human traffickers and prevent crimes related to human trafficking.
#5
Pro tip: If you like pork roast with sauerkraut, and you like heat, try substituting kimchi for the sauerkraut. On New Years' Day, my guests always insist I make it both ways.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/21/2022 13:34 Comments ||
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[KhaamaPress] According to the ambassador of Pakistain to Afghanistan, the Taliban ...Arabic for students... are facilitating the government of Pakistain in its talks with groups such as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), also known as Pak Taliban.
Mansoor Ahmad Khan, Pakistain’s ambassador to Kabul, was cited in a report by Pak media saying that the Afghan Taliban were seeking to reconcile the government of Pakistain and TTP and restore their relations, on 19th July.
The negotiation process, according to ambassador Mansoor Ahmad Khan, is still in progress, and the Pak government is "grateful" to the Afghan Taliban for their cooperation in preserving international peace.
Blaming India, the ambassador said that gunnies operating inside Afghanistan for over the past 20 years are sponsored, trained, and supported by India.
The Afghan Taliban are hosting the Pak Taliban in this third round of talks with the government of Pakistain, according to the Pak diplomat.
The first round of negotiations between the Pak parties and the Afghan Taliban mediator was reportedly futile according to Pak officials.
However, ars longa, vita brevis... the second round of negotiations between the Pak parties with the Taliban mediation was successful, as it secured a temporary ceasefire between the parties.
The Taliban have yet to respond to Ahmed Khan’s statement.
This comes as Pakistain’s ambassador urged the international community to step up engagement with the Taliban to avert the growing threat of economic collapse, which is aggravated by severe hunger and unemployment.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/21/2022 02:21 ||
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[KhaamaPress] In a report detailing serious human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... violations conducted by Taliban ...Arabic for students... forces since their takeover, the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) found that more than 700 civilians had been killed and more than 1400 injured.
A recent UNAMA report confirms many of the concerns Afghan human rights activist muppets have voiced since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan last August.
Summary killings and forced disappearances of former Afghan National Security Forces personnel are just two serious human rights violations Taliban forces have committed. These violations persisted for months after the Taliban took control of the country, according to the report.
According to this report, the Taliban were responsible for 178 arbitrary arrests and 160 extrajudicial (desert) executions between August 15, 2021, and June 15, 2022.
In the last 10 months, the Taliban allegedly perpetrated 23 acts of unlawful, arbitrary arrests of former soldiers and 56 cases of torture, maltreatment, and threats.
More than 100 ISIS members were allegedly unlawfully killed in Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. , in eastern Afghanistan, by the Taliban.
The Taliban, on the other hand, denies the report by UNAMA calling it "unfounded" and "propaganda".
Zabihullah Mujahid, in reaction to UNAMA’s report on Taliban repression and abuse in Afghanistan, stated that "The UNAMA report on human rights in Afghanistan is not true."
He declared that anyone who engages in extrajudicial executions or arbitrary arrest will be prosecuted as a criminal and subject to Sharia law.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The defense plans to seek the acquittal of Vadim Cheldiev, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the case of incitement to riots in Vladikavkaz, the lawyer of the other two convicts also intends to appeal the sentences. The verdict against Cheldiev is connected with the fight against dissent, activist Indira Gabolaeva, journalist Ruslan Totrov and blogger Alik Pukhaev suggested.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 19, the Rostov Regional Court sentenced Vadim Cheldiev to 10 years in a strict regime colony, finding him guilty of inciting extremism. Two other defendants, Arsen Besolov and Ramis Chirkinov, were sentenced to eight years in prison.
The investigation considered Vadim Cheldiev the initiator of the rally of opponents of the self-isolation regime. He was charged under four criminal articles, Cheldiev was included in the list of extremists compiled by Rosfinmonitoring. The prosecution could not prove that it was Cheldiev, Chirkinov and Besolov who organized the riots, Cheldiev's lawyer Batraz Kulchiev said earlier. The defendants pleaded not guilty.
Lawyers for the defendants intend to appeal the verdict.
The defense plans to file an appeal against Cheldiev's sentence, Batraz Kulchiev said . "The verdict will be appealed. The defense does not recognize Cheldiev's guilt, insists on a full acquittal," he told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
According to the lawyer, the verdict does not indicate Cheldiev's motive for organizing the riots. Cheldiev was also accused of aggression against the police officers who took him to the investigator in Rostov-on-Don, the lawyer said, adding that the security forces testified in court via video link.
Cheldiev was accused of organizing mass riots, publicly disseminating false information about circumstances that pose a threat to the life and safety of citizens, publicly calling for extremist activities using the Internet, and using violence against a government official that is not dangerous to life or health.
Chirkinov and Besolov were charged with organizing riots. In October 2021, the defense demanded that the case be returned to the prosecutor's office on the grounds that the investigation did not name the motive for the crime of an extremist nature, as required by the decision of the Plenum of the Supreme Court.
The sentences of Besolov and Chirkinov will also be appealed, their lawyer Kamilla Dzotsieva told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.. "The defense intends to appeal the verdict. All three are accused of organizing mass riots. Arsen and Ramis were chat administrators. During the trial, none of the witnesses and victims spoke about the coordination of the actions of the guys who threw themselves at employees [during the riots]. Everyone spoke that these were actions "in response to the actions of employees to oust people from the square". No one directed them, trained them or prepared them for mass riots. Almost none of the throwers was a member of the chat. Vadim, Arsen and Ramis each other they didn’t know personally and met after a year of detention, in a court session on changing jurisdiction. All lawyers tried to show the court the absence of the elements of the alleged crime as much as possible. An appeal is ahead," she said.
According to the indictment, Vadim Cheldiev, while in St. Petersburg and using the authority of an opera singer and a blogger in opposition to the North Ossetian authorities, posted a video message calling for people to gather in Vladikavkaz and "disperse the government and private companies that terrorize the people to hell."
This appeal was immediately qualified by the investigation both as an organization of riots and as calls for extremism. Cheldiev also published two video messages in which he questioned information about the coronavirus. Cheldiev's appeal about the gathering was supported by Ramis Chirkinov and Arsen Besolov, who, according to the investigation, were the administrators of the Freedom and Honor Telegram chat.
The harsh sentence of Cheldiev provoked criticism in Ossetia
An activist from North Ossetia, Indira Gabolaeva, saw political overtones in Cheldiev's verdict. "The court delivered a guilty verdict in the presence of legal grounds for sending the case for further investigation and even termination under certain articles. This suggests that the verdict is political. Representatives of the bodies that lobbied for such a decision do not realize that in the emerging political realities they are causing serious harm to the state. To ignore the opinion of a small people who are losing their already small number of young people in a special military operation, and to make them feel unfair and disrespectful on the part of the federal government is anti-state activity," she told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
A similar opinion was expressed by the political editor of the publication "OsNova" Ruslan Totrov.
"We have witnessed a classic state intimidation. The system does not like it very much when an individual or a group of people try to interfere in its affairs […], therefore, punishments are, as a rule, exclusively indicative," the journalist told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
The case of Cheldiev did not find support among the majority of the inhabitants of Ossetia, Totrov believes.
"The fading of interest in the case was because it is quite difficult to maintain the fire constantly. […] Sympathetically, the inhabitants of the republic clicked their tongues, shook their heads ... The repressive policy of the state in recent years against any dissent just allows the authorities to quite successfully reap the rewards," Totrov said.
Blogger Alik Pukhaev called Cheldiev's sentence unfair.
“There is no question that the punishment was commensurate with the crime in this case. Because the crime as such did not occur... 10 years - note of the "Caucasian Knot" ), in Ossetia the prosecutor Igor Cheldiev received the same term for murder ( the prosecutor Cheldiev was sentenced to 10 years in prison, he was initially charged with murder, but the court reclassified the charge. - Note of the "Caucasian Knot" "). That is, in our country people are imprisoned for murder for lesser terms or for the same ones, but Vadim did not kill anyone," the blogger told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
Recall that on April 20, 2020, the security forces dispersed a rally from Freedom Square in Vladikavkaz, the participants of which demanded that the self-isolation regime be lifted and the government, parliament and head of North Ossetia be dismissed. According to investigators, 13 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Russian Guard were injured at the spontaneous rally.
On July 28, 2021, the Leninsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don sentenced five people to terms in a colony accused of involvement in the riots in Vladikavkaz. On July 7, 2022, a court in Rostov-on-Don found five more participants in the rally guilty of participating in mass riots and sentenced them to imprisonment.
In turn, Vadim Cheldiev stated that the security forces began to persecute him long before his arrest in 2020, trying, in particular, to interfere with the charitable activities of the Iron Ziu movement. Cheldiev also reported that he left North Ossetia after learning about plans to plant drugs on him. Vadim Cheldiev was also one of the initiators of the protests demanding the closure of the Electrozinc plant, according to a biographical note about Vadim Cheldiev published on the "Caucasian Knot".
[KhaamaPress] Facebook has suspended the pages of the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... -controlled Afghanistan National Television and Bakhtar news agency. The said pages are no longer accessible.
Facebook had suspended the Pashto and Dari pages of this media organization, according to Ahmadullah Wasiq, head of Afghanistan National Television.
When the Taliban took Kabul on August 15, 2021, they seized control of Afghanistan National Television’s media center. As a result, they conducted extensive media activities. However, a woman is only as old as she admits... the pages of this media center and Bakhtar News Agency are currently inaccessible.
The pages of Taliban-controlled government agencies in Afghanistan on the Facebook social networking site were previously closed, by Facebook.
Facebook, one of the most widely used social networks worldwide, was the first to name the Taliban as a terrorist organization following their takeover in mid-August, 2021, merely two days after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan.
Facebook perceives the Taliban to be a "terrorist organization" and has banned the publication of any materials created by or supporting this organization on its social media platform.
According to a Facebook spokesperson, this social media platform enforces its anti-Taliban policy on all of its platforms, including Facebook itself, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
While the Taliban has long used Facebook as a social media platform for information and advertising, Taliban officials and spokespersons are more active on Twitter.
According to the spokesperson, Yasin Malik had actually decided to start the hunger strike from July 12 – a day before the last virtual court hearing – but had deferred it until July 22 on the request of Tihar jail authoritieshttps://t.co/dzT1v9WqYY
[IsraelTimes] Military censor says ’no impediment’ to publishing Israel’s attack UAV capabilities; Hermes 450 used in Tuesday strike on Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, post.
After nearly two decades, the Military Censor on Wednesday said Israeli media could finally publish a long-known secret: the Israel Defense Forces uses armed drones to strike targets.
The decision came a day after the IDF struck a Hamas post in the Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip in response to gunfire toward a town on the border, using an Elbit Hermes 450 armed drone.
"It was found that there is no impediment in publishing the IDF’s use of strike UAVs as part of its operational activities," the censor said in a brief statement, after examining the issue.
For years the IDF would not state it uses armed drones, and Israeli journalists who attempted to report on it came up against the IDF censor.
Israel has used armed drones to strike numerous targets over the years, and according to reports, as early as the 2006 war in Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...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... and the 2008 war in the Gaza Strip.
Images published by foreign media outlets have shown the Hermes 450 with pods attached to its wings, used to launch small guided munitions.
Israeli drones have been used in several assassinations of Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip, including a leader of the terror group’s military wing, Ahmed Jabari, in 2012.
Drones have also been used in a technique known as "knocking on the roof," in which an inert missile is fired at the roof of a building to warn residents to leave before the structure is destroyed by armed munitions.
The Military Censor did not elaborate on what caused it to change its policy, other than saying it had held an "in-depth and topical" review of the matter.
Israel has not disclosed how many attack drones it has. The Hermes 450 is operated by the Air Force’s 161st Squadron.
[NationalNews] The Iron Dome launches interceptor missiles to track down projectiles, but the Iron Beam will rely on lasers to strike down airborne targets. The system's fibre laser is expected to down aerial targets within four to five seconds of firing using super heat.
That could apply to my last DnD group. Had a tendency to set everything on fire, intentionally and other. Set fire to two inns with a very loose respect to hands of fire and braining an idiot with a firebrand.
[BenarNews] A hardline Indonesian Moslemholy man vowed to fight on as he walked free on parole Wednesday after serving about 18 months of his four-year prison sentence for lying about his COVID-19 test result.
Muhammad Rizieq Shihab, founder of the banned but influential anti-vice group Islamic Defenders’ Front (FPI),
...founded by Muhammad Rezieq Shihab for nefarious purposes and headquartered in Jakarta, FPI began agitating for national imposition of sharia law in 1998. The group quickly attracted patronage — including funding and military training for its paramilitary arm, Laskar Pembela Islam (Islamic Defenders Paramilitary, LPI)— from Indonesia’s army and Jakarta’s police. They’re fond of vigilante actions and Antifa-style protests with violence, and have been called a conveyor belt leading from radicalism to terrorism. At the beginning of 2021 they were banned, so changed their name to Front Persatuan Islam (Islamic United Front), which everybody including themselves has already forgotten ...
pledged to continue to "enjoin the good and forbid the evil, no matter the risks," in his first public statement after being set free from a prison in Jakarta.
"I’m telling you my friends and fellow scholars, we are united in the struggle and I will not abandon the people, I will not betray the people," Rizieq said in a speech livestreamed online.
"I will try my best to protect the people and will continue to fight for the rights of the people, because we are the people, and the people are us," he said.
Rizieq also said he was forbidden from travelling outside the capital without written permission from parole officers. According to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Rizieq was allowed to go free because he had met minimum requirements for parole, but he will have to report regularly to the Bapas correctional institution in Jakarta for at least a year.
Azis Yanuar, Rizieq’s attorney, said his client would spend his time preaching what he called a "moral revolution" but in a way that avoids breaching his parole terms.
"He will go about it without violating the law and in a softer manner," Azis told BenarNews.
‘WON’T RISK CRIMINAL OFFENSES’
Rizieq would likely avoid mobilizing followers for political rallies ahead of national elections scheduled for 2024, said analyst Rakyan Adibrata.
"During the period of parole, I believe that he will not risk criminal offenses. In other words, he will play it safe," Rakyan, Indonesia director of the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, told BenarNews.
However, the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach... Rakyat said, conservative Moslem politicians might try to court Rizieq as he remains influential politically.
"I believe soon there will be meetings between politicians and Habib Rizieq that will be covered widely by the media as identity politics heats up," said the analyst, using the Arabic honorific for the holy man.
A Jakarta court in June 2021 sentenced Rizieq to four years in prison for saying he was not infected with COVID-19 after testing positive and refusing to give the government access to his test results.
The previous month, Rizieq and five of his associates were sentenced to eight months in prison for violating coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague) ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... restrictions by organizing events in late 2020 that drew thousands of people. These included a gathering to celebrate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad and a wedding for Rizieq’s daughter.
Rizieq, a vocal critic of the government, held the gatherings upon his return home from Saudi 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. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century... on Nov. 10, 2020.
Since founding the anti-vice group FPI in 1998, the holy man and the group’s members have had several brushes with the law.
In the early 2000s, FPI was notorious for raiding bars and night clubs, which, the group said, harbored drug pushers and hookers.
In 2003, Rizieq was sentenced to seven months in prison for these raids.
In 2008, he was locked away Please don't kill me! for 18 months after being found guilty of inciting FPI members to assault protesters from the National Alliance for Freedom of Religion and Beliefs.
In Dec. 2020, police shot and killed, allegedly in self-defense, six of Rizieq’s supporters who were traveling in a convoy with him.
A month later, the National Commission on Human Rights said its investigation found police had acted unlawfully in the killings of at least four of those followers.
FPI, for its part, claimed the six were victims of extrajudicial killings.
The Indonesian government officially banned FPI in December 2020 after it accused the group of violating the law and disrupting peace and security. In addition, 35 members and former members had been convicted on terrorism charges, officials said.
The decision to ban the organization was taken jointly by Indonesia’s home, law and communications ministers, the police and counter terrorism heads, and the attorney general.
[IsraelTimes] Minister aligned with terror group says passage, closed since Israel’s creation in 1948, is Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years. It produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. That's three statements. Only the first is subjective.... ’s sovereign territory; remark seen as trying to complicate maritime negotiations.
A Lebanese minister affiliated with the Hezbollah terror group demanded Monday that Israel give Lebanon control over a long-shuttered rail tunnel that goes from Israel’s northern border town of Rosh Hanikra and stretches hundreds of meters into Lebanon.
"Our sovereign rights lie in our decision to restore every inch of the occupied tunnel, without compromising our decision to restore our land and sea borders as well," Hamieh said during a visit to the Lebanese side of the border, Israel’s Channel 12 news reported.
Dug in 1941 by the British rulers, the 695-meters-long tunnel was part of a rail system that once linked Egypt to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... , passing through British Mandate Paleostine and Lebanon. It has been closed since Israel’s War of Independence in 1948. In 2000, when Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon, it filled the Lebanese exit with concrete while the tunnel remained under Israeli control as a closed military zone.
Hamieh also demanded that the concrete barrier be pulled down.
Israeli sources were cited by Channel 12 as saying that relinquishing control of the tunnel would present a threat to Kibbutz Rosh Hanikra, which lies along the border.
Hamieh’s comments were seen as an effort to torpedo talks between Israel and Lebanon aimed at resolving their disputed maritime border and the question of who has rights to lucrative offshore gas fields.
Though Lebanese authorities have not made any demands about the tunnel for many years, the subject was previously raised by the Lebanese negotiating team in the maritime talks, according to the report.
The report said Hezbollah views the tunnel as a way of gaining leverage in the negotiations. However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... political opponents to Hezboallh in Beirut are claiming the demand is just a distraction intended to complicate the maritime talks.
Moshe Davidovich, head of the Mateh Asher Regional Council, said in a statement that the "delusionary demand by the Lebanese government is at best a failed joke and at worst a foolish attempt to undermine the facts about the State of Israel."
Hezbollah has recently escalated its rhetoric and actions over the border dispute, after Israel moved a natural gas drilling vessel into its Karish field, which Lebanon claims is a disputed area. Lebanon protested the development and Hezbollah made threats to attack the field. In its boldest move, Hezbollah sent three drones toward the Karish platform on July 2, all of which were intercepted by the IDF.
Last week, Hezbollah chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... threatened Israel with war, saying that drones sent recently to the Karish gas field were "only the beginning."
"Write down this equation — we will reach Karish and everything beyond Karish and everything beyond that... If you want to prevent Lebanon from exercising its right to save itself by extracting oil and gas, no one will be able to extract oil and gas," he said in a televised speech marking 16 years since the Second Lebanon War.
Last month, US energy envoy Amos Hochstein discussed with Israel’s negotiating team a Lebanese proposal to resolve the maritime dispute.
According to Hochstein, Lebanon had agreed to drop demands for control of part of the Karish field claimed by Israel, asking in exchange for full control of the Qana gas field that also straddles the countries’ offshore economic zones.
Israel says the Karish field is part of its UN-recognized exclusive economic zone and has been seeking to develop it as it tries to position itself as a natural gas supplier to Europe.
Earlier in June, Israel, Egypt and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... signed a memorandum of understanding in Cairo that will see Israel export its natural gas to the bloc for the first time.
Nasrallah’s speech last Wednesday coincided with US President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S., who gives the term geriatric a bad name. He blames Afghans for losing Afghanistan.... ’s first visit to the region as president. Hochstein, the US negotiator, joined Biden on the Israel and Saudi 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. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century... legs of the trip.
One man’s opinion. It’s true, of course, but even so.
[IsraelTimes] After series of attacks attributed to Israel, unnamed officials suggest ’the highest levels of the Iranian establishment’ are shaken.
An Iranian politician indicated that many in his country feel Israel is operating freely in Tehran and targeting security operations with ease.
In a report published Tuesday in the UK-based Financial Times, an official cited only as a "reformist politician" was quoted as saying that "it feels as if Israel has established a large-scale organization in Tehran and freely runs its operations."
The politician added: "Israel is clearly targeting Iran’s ’highly secure’ image to tarnish its greatness in people’s eyes."
A series of liquidations and attacks in Iran ...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979... have been attributed to Israel in recent months, though Jerusalem rarely if ever publicly takes credit for such operations. But in a rare interview last week — and rarer yet comments on Israeli activity in enemy countries — National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata said Israel had "acted quite a lot in Iran over the past year."
Tensions between Israel and Iran have intensified in recent months, after the liquidation of a top Iranian officer in Tehran, a number of other mysterious deaths of security personnel inside Iran, Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s against Iran-linked targets in Syria, threatening rhetoric from Iranian leaders and Iran’s increasing violation of nuclear agreements.
The most serious blow to Tehran came in May, when Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, 50, was killed outside his home in the east of the Iranian capital by attackers on cycle of violences who shot him five times.
Then last month, Colonel Ali Esmailzadeh, a commander of the IRGC’s external operations unit, the Quds Force, died "in an accident in his home," according to state news agency IRNA. Shortly afterward, Ali Kamani, a member of the Guard’s aerospace division, was killed while on a mission in Khomein in the central province of Markazi, the IRGC said.
The Financial Times report noted a feeling of "anxiety at the highest levels of the Iranian establishment" over the series of Israeli-attributed attacks. In late June, the IRGC replaced its longtime intelligence chief in a move seen by many as a reaction to the suspected liquidations.
Nevertheless, Iranian officials told the UK newspaper that they are not looking to directly escalate tensions at the moment.
"Iran’s policy remains to work with its proxy forces and we will not initiate any attacks against Israel if Israel doesn’t attack Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...In 2006 unknown persons blew up Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the car he was traveling in, the road he was traveling on, and a few innocent bystanders of no account whatsoever. The person or persons unknow weren't Hezbollah, you can bet on that. Really. Even though there was an international tribunal that said it was them... ," a "regime insider" was quoted as saying. "It’s not wise for us to fight with Israel. And Zionists also show teeth to attack but their teeth are not sharp enough to go as far as striking Iran."
In a similar report in The New York Times
... which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... late last month, Iranian officials told the newspaper that Israel’s operations have had drastic and long-lasting effects.
"The security breaches inside Iran and the vast scope of operations by Israel have really undermined our most powerful intelligence organization," said former Iranian vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi.
Unnamed Iranian officials also said at the time that "Israel’s spy network has infiltrated deep into the rank and file of Iran’s security circles."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/21/2022 01:00 ||
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#1
What if it is not just intel ops? What if that entire Islamic Revolution thingie is just a Juice plot to keep the Persians backward and down?
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.
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
...Arabic for 
...Arabic for 
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...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...
[NationalNews] The Iron Dome launches interceptor missiles to track down projectiles, but the 
...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. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century...
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years. It produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. That's three statements. Only the first is subjective....
Hezbollah
...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...
