What percent think we should have just bombed the place until it was a smooth plane of dust or turned it into a sea of glass instead?
[ToloNews] Gallup has found that one year after the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, 50% of Americans say the US made a mistake in sending troops to the country, while 46% say it did not.
"This war economically was heavy for the United States and caused many human casualties, these two things are the reason for losing the American people's support for the presence of American forces in Afghanistan," said Ajmal Sulail, a counter-terrorism expert.
"This war is the cause that most of our youth are leaving the country, and now its so hard to find educated people now in Afghanistan," said Farhad, a Kabul resident.
According to Gallup research, the Afghanistan War, which began as a direct result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, ultimately claimed the lives of more than 2,400 US service members, and injuries to more than 20,000 US troops and cost the US more than $2 trillion.
[ToloNews] The Islamic Emirate denied the assessment of the US Institute of Peace that says the "Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... " has continued "to harbor a range of terrorist groups that endanger their neighbors."
According to USIP, the "Taliban" has given sanctuary to "the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), which threatens Pakistain; the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which threatens China; the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which threatens Uzbekistan; and ISIS-Khorasan Province, which threatens everyone (including the Taliban)."
But a front man for the Islamic Emirate stressed that the Afghan soil will not be used against any country.
"The Islamic Emirate does not allow anyone to threaten other countries from Afghan soil. Such allegations made in this regard are not true. Unfortunately, such allegations are published without evidence or proof. It is based on inaccurate information and propaganda," said Bilal Karimi, deputy front man for the Islamic Emirate.
According to USIP, one year after the Islamic Emirate came to power, Afghanistan's neighbors in the region are coming to grips "with the reality that they now own a greater share of Afghanistan’s problems and the Taliban realize that neither recognition nor financial aid are going to come from the region easily."
The analysts give various opinions on the matter:
"The neighbors of Afghanistan are concerned and the neighbors of Afghanistan want the recognition of Afghanistan because Afghanistan then would be obliged to follow up with some international conventions. This could not be solved only via some verbal assurances by Kabul," said Torek Farhadi, a political analyst.
"If the neighbors really have concerns regarding Afghanistan, they should recognize Afghanistan,, so their concerns could be addressed," said Janat Fahim Chakari, an international relations analyst.
The assessment said that the regional powers, particularly Iran, Russia and China, were happy to see US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... troops go but are not in a position to replace the massive amounts of development assistance.
Gunmen kill at least 42 people in #Ethiopia’s Oromiya region, two residents who buried the bodies in mass graves say, the latest wave of killings in the country’s most populous region where escalating violence has left hundreds dead.https://t.co/VvvMrstZ7Z
Gunmen killed at least 42 people in Æthiopia’s Oromia region, two residents who buried the bodies in mass graves said on Friday, the latest wave of killings in the country’s most populous region where escalating violence has left hundreds dead.
The attack by an gang against local residents occurred on Tuesday, the residents said, in the Amuru district, around 370 km (230 miles) west of the capital Addis Ababa.
Oromia’s regional administration front man did not respond to requests for comment.
[MiddleEastEye] Life on the streets of the Libyan capital appeared to return to normal on Friday, a week after clashes killed more than 30 people and sparked fears of a return to full-blown war.
Fighting erupted on 26 August when rival factions exchanged intense gunfire and several loud explosions rang out across the city.
The UN-backed Government of National Unity (GNU) said the 48-hours of fighting was "triggered by a military group firing randomly at a convoy passing in the Zawia Street area".
While the clashes have since subsided, heavily armed units continue to patrol the city. Residents spoke of a tense calm in Tripoli, telling Middle East Eye they were avoiding busy areas and restricting their movements in the event of further flare-ups.
Ahmed Alarabi, a 30-year-old resident living near Zawiya Street, said the intense clashes had left fears of further unrest.
"There were street battles in heavily populated neighbourhoods," he told MEE. "I've decided to leave Tripoli, as I'm afraid I might lose a family member after my neighbour lost his son in the clashes."
SUSTAINED POLITICAL WRANGLING
Fears remain that sustained fighting in the capital would likely plunge Libya into full-blown war after two years of comparative peace.
The oil-rich country has been wracked by conflict since a Nato-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Libya once had one of the highest standards of living in Africa, with free healthcare and free education, but since 2011 has seen frequent fighting and the emergence of several militant groups.
"I spent four hours waiting to get some gasoline. We're an oil-rich country and this is our situation," said Khadija El Bory.
"I am tired of this and we want to remove all the current politicians and head to elections."
The current standoff pits the GNU led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah against the administration of Fathi Bashagha, which is based in the east of the country.
Tensions have been brewing since December after the country failed to hold elections, with Dbeibah - who was selected in an interim capacity to lead a UN-backed political transition - insisting he would only hand over power to an elected government.
In response, Bashagha has spent months trying to install his government in Tripoli.
Bashagha, who is backed by eastern-based military strongman Khalifa Haftar, attempted to enter Tripoli in May, leading to a shootout and his departure from the city. Since then, however, a series of deals have brought realignments of some armed factions within the main coalitions facing off around Tripoli.
Enas Dakhil, a 38-year-old who lives on Zawiya Street with his family, said ordinary Libyans had nowhere to turn if fighting resumed.
"I would like to leave and be far from the clashes... but can't leave for anywhere else."
While Bashagha's prospects of seizing Tripoli appear badly dented, at least for now, his alliance with Haftar remains an open wound for many in the capital.
Bashagha was interior minister in 2019 when Haftar launched his year-long assault on the capital. He is now backed by the same parliament that took Haftar's side in the last war.
The US and some western powers have voiced concern over Haftar's close ties with Russia, which supports him with mercenaries from the Wagner group.
The role of the Wagner Group in Africa has been in the spotlight since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, with fears that it could further destabilise the region.
Chadian police arrested Thursday at least 84 sympathizers of the opposition party "Les Transformateurs" on charges of public disorder, amid a very heated political atmosphere in the country.
According to RFI reports, the police accused the arrestees of parading in downtown and organizing rallies without permits from the ministry of security. The law reinforcement forces added that the accused will be investigated.
In reaction of the statement, the party, led by Economist Succès Masra, slammed the accusation and charged the authorities of intimidation.
It also denounced the arbitrary arrests and threatened to protest to obtain the release of its supporters.
Masra’s movement also indicated that its Saturday-planned meeting will go ahead. The party has been staging demonstrations for three weeks against the current leadership led by Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno who took over from his late father killed last year.
Les Transformateurs party refused to join the ongoing national dialogue between Mahamat-led junta and gangs.
On August 20, Mahamat launched the dialogue expected to lead to "free and democratic" elections and the transfer of power to civilians.
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The Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... i revolution leader, Sayyid Abdul-Malik Badr al-Din al-Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... , has on Thursday called on the Saudi-led coalition countries to seize the existing truce chance and stop their aggression completely and end the siege and occupation of Yemen.
In his speech today to the military parade of the Fifth Military Region, called the al-Nasr Brigades, and the Navy and the Air Forces, Sayyid Abdul-Malik al-Houthi called on the coalition countries to absorb the lessons that show the impossibility of achieving their goals in occupying Yemen and controlling its people.
The revolutionary leader stressed that "the Yemeni army is stronger than ever before, and the enemies know the big difference between the reality of Yemen militarily on the first day of the aggression and its reality today."
"All the efforts of the enemies to destroy the capabilities of the army and to strip Yemen of every force to confront their aggression and occupation, have failed," he said.
Sayyid Abdul-Malik al-Houthi urged the continuation of work on building the Yemeni army in order to reach a level of sufficient deterrence to the enemies, to protect the country, and to make a great contribution to supporting the Paleostinian cause.
He pointed out that "Yemen today, officially and popularly, is more present and adheres to its principled religious position in support of the Paleostinian people and Islamic brotherhood."
The Leader saluted the honourable people of Hodeidah province, "who have stood loyally and sincerely with their country and people", as well as "all the sons of the neighbouring provinces who supported the sons of Hodeidah, as is the case with all the free Yemeni people."
He also saluted the military units and formations that participated in this major military parade, extending his thanks and appreciation to the Ministry of Defence and its leaders for their tireless work in building the army and integrating the popular committees into it.
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09/03/2022 00:00 ||
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President of the Supreme Political Council — Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces — Mahdi al-Mashat, on Thursday said the armed forces have recently developed weapons that can hit their target at any point in land and sea.
"The high level our army has reached is one of the gains of steadfastness in the face of arrogance and aggression," President al-Mashat added during the majestic military parade "Wa’ad al-Akhera" of the Fifth Military Region in Hodeidah province.
President al-Mashat addressed the Saudi-led coalition countries, saying "What poses a threat to international navigation is your brutal measures and relish in the suffering of our people."
He warned the coalition countries, "We can now strike any point in the sea from anywhere in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... , not only from the coast."
He noted that evading the obligations of the truce and the continued detention of ships puts the truce in the wind, addressing the coalition by saying: "The fleets that you have mobilized and are mobilizing near the coasts of our country to besiege and destroy it do not terrify the smallest child in our people."
"From this field, the march of rifles called for by the martyr al-Sammad on his last day started and stopped large hordes of the army of aggression," he said.
The Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces stressed ""We will all continue to stand in front of any dangers that threaten the western coast region."
He referred that in the past few days "the armed forces have conducted tests of naval weapons and achieved brilliant success."
"We are convinced that rights are not given but taken, and we are not advocates of war, for our first option is a just and honorable peace," President al-Mashat stressed. "The option of surrender will not achieve our people’s rights and the coming days will reveal whether we will need the last option on the basis of power makes peace."
At the conclusion of his speech, President al-Mashat saluted the people of Hodeidah, Hajja, Mahweet, and Raymah provinces for their firm awareness of the enemies’ filthy conspiracy and their sanding loyally and sincerely with their country and people.
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09/03/2022 00:00 ||
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#1
Maybe Jong Un can ask 'em to reach Japan for him.
Pakistain on Friday "categorically" rejected an Indian media report claiming that an outlawed organization was involved in relief work following the devastating floods in the country.
"Pakistain categorically rejects the contents of the story. It only betrays India's bias and prejudice towards Pakistain, and is part of India’s regular and continuing attempts to mislead the international audience," said Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad.
The spokesperson reminded us that this was "not the first time that the Indian media have shown their proclivity to carry baseless and motivated stories to further a political agenda".
"It is also unfortunate that while the international community is single-mindedly focused on helping Pakistain in the wake of an unprecedented natural calamity, some elements in the Indian media are attempting to cast doubts on the relief efforts," said the spokesperson.
Pakistain reiterated that "strong and robust regulatory and oversight mechanisms" are in place to "monitor flood relief activity by non-profit and non-governmental organizations".
"All relevant agencies are vigilant in ensuring that no illicit activity is carried out under the garb of relief efforts," clarified the spokesperson.
The report that was being responded to was a Times of India story claiming that groups like the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... (LeT) and other hard boy groups "have come out in full strength to deliver relief work and help the flood-affected masses".
It also claimed that Islamabad has banned international NGOs from carrying out flood relief work despite making a global appeal for help.
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[SHAFAQ] Iraq's long-running power struggle between rival Shiite camps devolved into bloody street violence this week in a culmination of months of simmering tensions and a political vacuum.
For 24 hours, loyalists of powerful holy manMoqtada Tater al-Sadr ...hereditary Iraqi holy man and leader of a political movement in Iraq. He had his hereditary rival al-Khoei assassinated shortly after the holy rival's appearance out of exile in 2003. Formerly an Iranian catspaw, lately he's gagged over some of their more outlandish antics, then went back to catspawry... transformed the theater of their peaceful protests in Baghdad's ultra-secure Green Zone into a front line, trading fire with security forces and rival paramilitary groups, and bringing the capital to a standstill.
Just as quickly, with a single word -"withdraw"- from the holy man in a speech, the fighting came to a stop. Immediately, his supporters put down their weapons and left.
Following his calls for withdrawal, Iraqi leaders, including the caretaker premier, expressed their thanks to al-Sadr and praised his restraint. The Joint Operations Command reversed the total curfew it declared in the aftermath of the bloody confrontations.
It was a powerful message to al-Sadr's Iran-backed rivals and the political elite of the holy man's enduring power over his hundreds of thousands of followers and an equally alarming example of the damage they are capable of doing to the embattled country.
Al-Sadr has long derived his political influence from his ability to both command his mass following to destabilize the street, and just as quickly bring them into line. His announcement that he would exit politics showed the Iraqis what could happen when that voice of restraint is taken away: chaos, devastation, and death; which makes his objectives and unorthodox tactics hard to ignore.
Decisive intervention
"We must tip our hats off to Moqtada al-Sadr's decision to stop the violence in the country; his discontent with the infighting will go down the chronicles of history," politician Ali Abdul-Sattar said in a statement to Shafaq News Agency.
"None of the political forces have expected that the Sadrist bloc, led by al-Sadr, would pursue such a moderate discourse," he said.
"[Al-Sadr] said 'I hang my head'. We ask him to lift his head high for what he has given to the country and the people," Abdul-Sattar added, "this proves that the unity of the Iraqi people was and will continue to engender from Iraqi Arab origins and Iraqi leadership. These are messages of reassurance to the Iraqi people."
"The decision to withdraw did not imply that it was preceded negotiation," he explained, "of course, there were contacts between the leaders, especially the religious ones... The solution was only in the hands of two figures, al-Sadr himself and the top religious authority. I believe that the intervention of some religious sides is what brought the situation to a conclusion."
Al-Sadr's party, the Sadrist Bloc, won the most seats in an October 2021 election, but he ordered his politicians to resign en-masse in June after he failed to form a government of his choosing, which would have excluded powerful Shite rivals close to Iran.
The move, however, handed the sway in parliament to his Iran-backed Shiite opponents, the Coordination Framework. Many of al-Sadr's supporters have since the end of July been participating in a sit-in outside the Iraqi parliament, after storming the building and stopping al-Sadr's rivals from appointing a new president and prime minister.
Guarantees
Kitab al-Meezan, a political analyst, believes that "Moqtada al-Sadr's decision to evacuate his supporters from the Green Zone was made only after obtaining guarantees that the parliament will be dissolved."
To support this claim, al-Meezan adduced the Federal Court's decision to defer the ruling on an appeal to dissolve the Iraqi parliament "until a comprehensive agreement with al-Sadr is reached."
"I believe that this, in addition to enacting a law on al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces-PMF) and the disbanding of the armed factions, is sufficient for al-Sadr to command his supporters to withdraw," he added.
On September 1st, Iraq's Supreme Federal Court adjourned, for a third time, a session dedicated to adjudicating an appeal lodged by the Secretary-General of the Sadrist bloc, Nassar al-Rubaie, to dissolve the Iraqi parliament. Instead, a session is scheduled for September 7th, a judicial source told Shafaq News Agency.
Inconsistency and vagueness
Political analyst Najm Obeid ascribed al-Sadr's maneuvers as "inconsistent" and "vague", judging what, in his opinion, is a fluctuation in the political tactics of the maverick leader throughout the timeline of Iraq's longest run without a government since the 2003 US-led invasion of the country.
"At the beginning of the Green Zone sit-in, he called for overhauling the entire political system and dismantling the political process in the country. Those demands later regressed to dissolving the parliament and holding an early election," Obeid said, "shortly afterward, al-Sadr demanded the formation of a government that excludes both the Sadrist movement and the State of Law alliance. Then, he lashed out at the Supreme Judicial Council and appealed for the dissolution of the legislature by the Federal Court."
"On August 29th alone, he made two announcements: the first was his political retirement, and the second was a hunger strike. On August 30th, he decided to protest against his own followers," he added.
"The recent protests backlashed. They were poorly controlled and did not tantamount to the level of the October protests that were more peaceful and showed respect to the state institutions. The latter, on the contrary, disrupted the work of the Iraqi legislative body for a month," he concluded.
Major revolution
Obeid warned that "the poor management of the state and failure to meet the people's aspirations might result in a major Iraqi revolution that would spare no party."
"Many non-Sadrist citizens joined the protests of the Sadrists against parties that have failed to meet the expectations," he added, "those who did not participate in the Sadrist protests demand a peaceful revolution. However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... if their peacefulness was met by oppression, they will respond equally and proportionally."
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Israel has intensified strikes on Syrian airports to disrupt Tehran’s increasing use of aerial supply lines to deliver arms to allies in Syria and 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... including Hezbollah, regional diplomatic and intelligence sources told Rooters.
Tehran has adopted air transport as a more reliable means of ferrying military equipment to its forces and allied fighters in Syria, following disruptions to ground transfers.
Israel has long seen its foe Iran’s deepening entrenchment in Syria as a national security threat and is widening the scope of its strikes to hit at this new transport method, the diplomatic and intelligence sources said.
The latest strikes on Wednesday night damaged Aleppo airport just before the arrival of a plane from Iran, a commander in an Iran-backed regional alliance who was familiar with the incident told Rooters.
Israel also carried out a strike on Damascus airport, damaging equipment, the government said, the second such attack airport since June when Israeli air strikes on the runway knocked it out of service for two weeks.
A Western intelligence source said that strike had also aimed to prevent the arrival of a cargo plane.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military declined to comment on the reports. Israel has been mounting attacks in Syria for years against what it has described as Iranian and Iran-backed forces that have deployed there during the 11-year war.
Ram Ben-Barak, head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, said that Israel’s goal in Syria is to prevent Iran’s plan "to establish another front against Israel in Syria and strengthen Hezbollah’s capabilities in Lebanon."
In an interview with Tel Aviv 102 FM, he added that Israel has "managed to foil this plan in various ways."
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09/03/2022 00:00 ||
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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.
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
...the 
...hereditary Iraqi holy man and leader of a political movement in Iraq. He had his hereditary rival al-Khoei assassinated shortly after the holy rival's appearance out of exile in 2003. Formerly an Iranian catspaw, lately he's gagged over some of their more outlandish antics, then went back to catspawry...
...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...
