[FoxNews] Officers at the south Texas border seized over $18.6 million in methamphetamine during an inspection at the Laredo Port of Entry on Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Saturday.
A CBP field officer assigned to the World Trade Bridge referred a 2010 International Pro Star tractor-trailer carrying paint buckets for secondary inspection when it tried to make entry at the port.
After a canine inspection and a non-intrusive inspection system examination, 2,033 pounds of meth was discovered within the shipment and seized by authorities.
Customs and Border Protection said the drugs had a combined street value of $18,694,838.
Laredo Port of Entry Port Director Albert Flores said officers at the entry point have "heightened their enforcement strategy" to help disrupt the flow of deadly, high-risk narcotics from entering the U.S.
"This exceptional drug bust was an outstanding operation that highlights CBP’s commitment in combating the crimes carried out by transnational criminal organizations," Flores said.
During the last week of October, Laredo Field Operations Director Randy Howe tweeted CBP officers at the location seized 1,770 rounds of ammo, $407,208 in currency and made 40 arrests for various crimes.
Howe also tweeted 86,315 commercial cargo vehicles, 18,086 rail cars and 400,607 vehicles were recorded at the port of entry during that week.
RESISTANCE FORCES POWER STRUGGLE – Several sources close to the NRF have said internal squabbling has afflicted the movement over the past month and the infighting has affected its ability to carry out operations against the Taliban. It is not clear how many factions there currently are and who is leading each. However, sources say the NRF has squandered the last of the good weather for the fighting season due to the internal strife. A large-scale offensive had long been rumored to have been planned which would have involved NRF offensives in four Provinces. It does not appear likely this offensive will take place and the internal divisions may have played a part in the delays.
TALIBAN RELIGIOUS SCHOLARS DIVIDED OVER GOVERNANCE APPROACH – After the Loya Jirga earlier in the year, the majority of the Taliban’s religious scholars seemed to be marching in step with the regime. However, sources now say that many are openly critical of the way the Taliban is governing the country. The chief complaint (according to sources) is corruption and theft of public funds by several high-profile Taliban leaders. The scholars say they have been informed by several Gulf State banking institutions that millions of dollars have been deposited on behalf of these leaders and much of it was derived from public funds. The sources say that several blocs are forming among the scholars and private meetings have been held to figure out a way to have those culpable of corruption, removed from public service. However, sources agreed the scholars are frightened of invoking the wrath of the Supreme Leader and his cabal of clerics in Kandahar.
POSSIBLE CHEMICAL WEAPONS RELEASE FROM A WAREHOUSE IN KABUL – A source tied to the Ministry of Defense said they were investigating a potential chemical “cloud” that was released from a warehouse near an unidentified University in Kabul. The cloud caused a group of approximately twenty laborers who were working nearby to become sick and had difficulty breathing. The Taliban escorted several ambulances to the area and evacuated the sick workers to an undisclosed location. It is believed that many, if not all, had died. The source said leaders in the Ministry of Defense seemed to be unaware of any weapons programs that might be seeking to develop chemical weapons and were concerned it was a terrorist group or another faction of the Taliban. A search of the warehouse did not take place as it was said to be owned by an unidentified senior Taliban leader.
CONFLICT TRACKER Kapisa: ALF fighters attacked the former provincial governor’s residence, which the Taliban have used as a headquarters since the fall of Kabul. 8 Talib fighters were confirmed killed and 16 were said to be wounded. Video of the attack has been received and confirmed.
NEXT 24 HOURS
KAPISA HOUSE SEARCHES PROBABLE – The ALF has been steadily increasing the size of its attacks in Kapisa. It has gotten to the point where the Taliban have decided to take action and have dismissed the local Commander’s assurances that the situation is under control. Kabul is dispatching several GDI agents and additional fighters to try and root out the ALF in the Province and negate any further threats. While the searches will likely start today, they are expected to continue for several days/weeks.
[ShabelleMedia] Backed by locals, elite Somali forces killed more than 100 members of the al Qaeda-affiliated terror group al-Shabaab ...... Somalia's version of the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... , functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... , the country’s Defense Ministry said on Friday.
Ministry front man Abdullahi Ali Anod told news hounds that two units of the elite Danab, or lightning brigade, troops with the support of, local militia forces are known as "Macwisley," engaged al-Shabaab in an operation since early Thursday.
The operation, which involved Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s, took place near the town of Adanyabal in the Horn of Africa country’s Middle Shabelle region.
Anad said a large number of al-Shabaab gunnies tried to defend the town but lost over 100 members on a single front.
The military has been conducting operations against the terror group since President Hassan Sheikh Mahamud declared an "all-out war" against it earlier this week after a devastating twin boom-mobileing that killed over 100 people in the capital Mogadishu.
Al-Shabaab grabbed credit for the deadly attack, which also maimed 320 others.
Experts believe the local forces that have been fighting alongside the country’s army are playing "significant" role against al-Shabaab.
Ali Kulow, a former police officer now serving as a security analyst in Mogadishu, told Anadolu Agency that local militia forces helped the government reclaim strategic towns in its recent offensives in parts of the country.
"This militia, that has proven itself a fighting force, is seen by many in the country as a revolutionary force capable of defeating al-Shabaab if they receive logistical support and strategic military planning," said Kulow.
He underlined that the militia knew the countryside better than anybody and had the support of the local population in terms of gathering intelligence on al-Shabaab in the area.
"The government should use the anger and dedication towards al-Shabaab because these people witness the real brutality and money extortion of al-Shabaab. So, I can see a real opportunity here and the government should organize and use them and then integrate them into the national army," he added.
[Garowe] al-Shabaab ...... the personification of Somali state failure... bomber on Saturday evening targeted a military training center in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, in an attack that comes just a week after the bully boyz targeted the city, in a raid that left several people dead.
According to the state media, the bandidosLions of Islam reportedly targeted the vicinity of General Dhagabadan military training facility in Southern Mogadishu. Exactly a week ago, the bandidosLions of Islam attacked downtown Mogadishu killing 121 people while injuring over 350.
The facility is located at the former candy factory and has been targeted by al-Shabaab multiple times in the past. The bandidosLions of Islam often target security forces, senior government officials, and innocent civilians.
"Innocent civilian casualties reported as a jacket wallahwent kaboom! at the outside of the Candy Army Base in Mogadishu, a cowardly attack by al-Shabaab Khawarij after experiencing military setbacks at battlefields," security agencies told the State media.
At least 15 people are said to have died in the base attack, including army recruits and scores maimed. There were several other explosions heard in the city on Saturday evening.
For the past couple of weeks, the al-Shabaab bandidosLions of Islam have suffered casualties in various battlefields, especially in Hiiraan, Galgaduud, and Bay regions. According to official records by the federal government of Somalia, over 400 bandidosLions of Islam have been killed within the same period.
On Saturday, the US Africa Command confirmed the killing of over 15 al-Shabaab bandidosLions of Islam in Cadale, just moments after the federal government of Somalia pleaded with Washington to heighten Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s against the bandidosLions of Islam while killing even those plotting to instigate attacks.
And in a statement, al-Shabaab admitted losing 8 men and claimed to kill 36 "militias" in Thursday’s fighting in Tardo area, Hiran. According to the bad boys, the alleged US strikes joined the fight later in the day, leading to the casualties on their side which they termed as unprecedented.
Further, al-Shabaab reported that a suicide car comb hit government forces in Towfiq, Middle Shabelle, claiming to have killed 23 people. The claims are yet to be verified independently but the al-Qaeda-linked group is mostly associated with propaganda.
A key military base in southern Mogadishu, the Somali capital was hit by a suicide kaboom on Saturday night at around 8 pm local time.
The attack took place at General Dhagabadan army training facility in Wadajir district with reports saying that a bomber went kaboom! at the camp after the evening prayers.
[Garowe] The US military has confirmed the death of 15 al-Shabaab ...... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all of which have enough problems without them... forces of Evil in the latest Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... against the bully boys, just weeks after the federal government of Somalia asked Washington to scale up dronezaps in the country by targeting even those plotting attacks.
In a statement, the US Africa Command confirmed that it killed the forces of Evil in Cadale, Somalia, on Nov. 3, 2022. The airstrike came just a week after the forces of Evil attacked downtown Mogadishu, killing over 100 people while injuring close to 350 according to government statistics.
The airstrike was necessitated by al-Shabaab's decision to attack the Somali National Army within the vicinity of the town. The forces of Evil have been on a Dire Revenge mission after the Somali National Army with assistance from allies heightened a crackdown against the bully boys.
The airstrike, the US noted, did not kill or injure any civilian. Before such airstrikes, the forces of Evil do due diligence according to the rules and regulations laid down by the Department of Defense, which strictly calls for the protection of civilians from such crackdowns.
"U.S. Africa Command takes great measures to prevent civilian casualties. Protecting civilians remains a vital part of the command’s operations to promote a more secure and stable Africa," the command said in a statement that was published on Saturday.
"Al-Shabaab is the largest and most kinetically active al-Qaeda network in the world and has proved both its will and capability to attack partner and U.S. forces and threaten U.S. security interests," added the statement.
Further, the army said that Somalia remains key to the security environment in East Africa. U.S. Africa Command’s forces will continue training, advising, and equipping partner forces to give them the tools that they need to degrade al-Shabaab.
[LIBYAREVIEW] On Saturday, the Public Prosecutor’s Office announced the seizure of 14,910 pieces of hashish and 829,830 narcotic tablets (Drugs). These were hidden in a container designated for transporting durable goods coming from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... , at the seaport of Misrata.
The office ordered that the perpetrators be referred to the competent authorities to complete all legal procedures against them, and confiscate the narcotics.
In September, the Libyan Customs Authority said that it had thwarted the smuggling of huge quantities of narcotic tablets concealed inside a car on the Libyan-Tunisian border at the Wadi El Bir region.
"After an investigation, officers were able to seize 270,000 narcotic tablets," the Customs Department said in a statement. They also found five bags of Heroin, weighing 2.5 kilograms.
The operation was reportedly led by Algerian smugglers. This was part of the efforts exerted by the Customs Authority to impose security and the rule of law, along the Libyan-Tunisian border.
In May, the Head of Libya’s INTERPOL National Central Bureau, Adel Bentaleb claimed that there has been a marked increase in narcos using Libya as a transhipment point. This includes drugs from as far as South America.
"While many of these drugs are neither produced nor consumed here, this has not spared us from the violent mostly peaceful crime inevitably wrought by such activity, which we are determined to combat alongside INTERPOL," Bentaleb said.
INTERPOL has said drugs worth nearly €100 million euros have been seized in Africa and the Middle East, during a large international police operation in March and April of 2021.
In December 2021, Benghazi’s police service seized about 800kg of cannabis hidden inside a truck in the city of Ajdabiya. The Anti-Drugs Department has estimated the drugs’ value at about 14 million Libyan dinars. The shipment is believed to have originated from Algeria and was smuggled to the Libyan city of Zintan, it was en route to Tobruk where it was due to be distributed.
The drug trade in Libya has proliferated since the 2011 civil war. the Maltese authorities have recently seized 612kg of cocaine en route to Libya, in a record-breaking haul worth some €69 million euros.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS] The Islah party, (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 branch of the Moslem Brüderbund), said on Saturday the Saudi-led coalition is detaining Sultan al-Arada, the governor of Ma’rib in the puppet government
Media outlets published the demands of Abdullah Bin Aboud al-Sharif, the son of the head of Islah branch in Ma’rib, to speed up the return of al-Arada, who is detained in Soddy 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. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , considering his return to the city more important than the authority of the Riyadh-formed Presidential Council.
The presence of a Sultan inside Ma’rib is necessary and more important than others; let the Council goes to hell. Ma’rib is first and foremost Abu Abdullah, Abdullah Bin Aboud al-Sharif wrote on his twitter account, addressing Sultan al-Arada.
Al-Arada is one of the eight council members detained by the coalition since they were summoned weeks ago.
Ma’rib is witnessing military developments, indicating Islah’s fears of repercussions on its influence in the oil province.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS] Soddy 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. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... is training about 15,000 fighters to replace the Islah Party holy warriors in Ma’rib province, well-informed political sources said on Saturday.
The former leader of the so-called "Southern Resistance®" residing in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... , Adel al-Hassani, said: "Some Islah leaders believe that Saudi Arabia and the UAE will leave the oil-rich Ma’rib to them."
Al-Hasani addressed the Islah leaders in a tweet on Twitter, saying "Whoever fights your idea and chases you in the deserts of Libya, the jungles of Africa, 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... , Egypt and others, cannot give you oil fields."
He indicated that Saudi Arabia is training the alternative force in Tabuk and Dammam, north of Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi-led coalition seeks to hand over the city of Ma’rib to the forces of the so-called "Saba Axis" loyal to the UAE, in exchange for ending the role of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) in the city of Aden.
This comes at a time the Islah-affiliated governor of Ma’rib and member of the Riyadh-formed "Presidential Council", Sultan al-Arada, is still being held in Saudi Arabia, along with the STC’s president, Aidarous al-Zubaidi and a number of the Presidential Council members since early last October, following the appointment of Khalid bin Salman, who is responsible for 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 file, as Minister of Defense in the Kingdom.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2022 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood
[Breitbart] The NGO migrant “taxi” ship Ocean Viking has called on France, Spain, and Greece – but apparently no African or Middle Eastern countries – to find them a port to drop off over 200 migrants after Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi refused access to Italian ports.
SOS Méditerranée, the French NGO that operates the vessel, have called for help from France, Spain, and Greece to allow the Ocean Viking to dock at a port in one of the three countries and drop off the 234 migrants currently on board.
The call for assistance from the European Union member-states — there is no indication the NGO has sought a safe port in any African or Middle Eastern countries, even if some are closer than European ports in the likes of Spain, at the far west of the Mediterranean – comes after Giorgia Meloni’s interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi, refused the vessel port access in Italy.
French interior minister Gérald Darmanin has complained about Italy’s return to a stronger border policy, claiming that it is the closest port for the vessel, Il Giornale reports.
“When a boat asks to pull over with shipwrecked people on board, it is the safest and closest port that must welcome it,” Darmanin said — although in fact North African countries are generally closer to where Mediterranean boat migrants are picked up than Italy.
The German government, meanwhile, criticised Italy for not allowing in the Humanity 1 migrant transport ship: “On the ship Humanity 1 there are 104 unaccompanied minors. Many of them need medical attention. We have asked the Italian government to provide rapid relief,” the German government said.
Strangely enough they did not indicate that they would be happy for the Humanity 1 to dock at a German port, even though it flies under the German flag.
The European Union has also slammed Italy, with a spokesman for the unelected European Commission stating that “it must be stressed that it is a moral and legal obligation” for member-states to rescue people at sea.
Around a thousand migrants are aboard three NGO ships currently awaiting access to Italian ports, and all have been denied entry by Interior Minister Piantedosi, who has resurrected the security decrees enacted by League (Lega) leader Matteo Salvini when he held the ministry.
So far this year, migrant transport NGOs have shipped over 10,000 migrants to Italy — a large portion of the total number of illegal arrivals, which stands at over 83,000.
[BBC] The largest haul of cannabis ever found has been discovered in a series of raids across Spain, police say.
Authorities said they seized more than 32 tonnes of the drug which has an estimated street value of more than £57m.
Police said they arrested nine men and 11 women, aged between 20 and 59, in busts across Spain.
The Guardia Civil said the "complex business network" was exporting the drugs across Europe.
The weight of the seized plants is roughly equivalent to more than five adult African elephants.
The gang were arrested following raids in Toledo, Ciudad Real, Valencia and Asturias last month but details of Operation Gardens were only made public on Saturday.
Police said the business was run by different "companies" which carried out the different parts of the process - from buying the seeds, to growing and drying the plants, to packaging them and shipping them out.
"The Civil Guard has seized the largest cache of packaged marijuana found so far," a police statement said.
"It was equivalent to approximately 1.1 million plants."
#1
Good. But the BBC journalist does not tell, nor did the BBC editors ask, who precisely has been organizing the shipments. Was it one or more of the Mexican drug cartels, Hezbollah in Latin America, Al Qaeda in North Africa, a new ISIS venture, local Spanish good ol’ boys looking for a little extra cash? A quick search of the English language internet reveals only reprints of the same original report published by various news sites.
[Rudaw] 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.... (ISIS) on Friday released a Kurdish shepherd in Kifri town, Diyala province after receiving a $50,000 ransom from his family, the shepherd’s uncle told Rudaw.
Sabah Nuri went missing in Kifri’s Naren village on September 6 and his family later found out that he had been kidnapped by ISIS.
"We have been waiting for his release and negotiating with ISIS for two months. They initially asked for $100,000 but later agreed to reduce it to $50,000. He was released tonight," his uncle, Rahim Aziz, told Rudaw’s Hunar Hamid late Friday.
Rudaw has learnt that ISIS has kidnapped three people in the village in the last three years, including Nuri. One was killed and the other was released in exchange for a $57,500 ransom.
ISIS controlled swathes of Syrian and Iraqi land in 2014 but it was territorially defeated in both countries by 2019. However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... the group still poses a threat to the residents of areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad due to security.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/06/2022 01:18 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Military says several vehicles traveling on West Bank’s Route 60 highway near Sinjil damaged in rock attacks
Israeli troops shot up a group of Paleostinians Saturday night that the army said was hurling stones at Israeli cars near the West Bank town of Sinjil, killing one.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, several Israeli cars traveling along Route 60, the West Bank’s main north-south highway, were damaged in stone-throwing attacks in the area.
Troops stationed nearby ambushed a group of alleged stone throwers and fired at them, the military said. "Aim for the head...or feet. Either way, it's all good"
One of the Paleostinians was killed and another was seriously hurt.
The Paleostinian Authority health ministry identified the slain Paleostinian as 18-year-old Musab Nofal, from the town of al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya.
The seriously maimed man was treated by army medics and taken to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek medical center.
The Rescuers Without Borders emergency service said no Israelis were hurt in the stone-throwing attacks.
The incident came as tensions have escalated recently, with the IDF pressing on with an anti-terror offensive, mostly focused on the northern West Bank.
The campaign has netted more than 2,000 arrests in near-nightly raids, but has also left over 125 Paleostinians dead. Many of those were killed while carrying out attacks or during festivities with security forces, but some were uninvolved bystanders.
[NPASYRIA] Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Defense, said on Friday that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (HTS, formerly al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front) and the Turkistan Islamic Party are preparing to attack Khmeimim Air Base in Latakia.
Deputy Head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, Oleg Egorov, said that the above-mentioned parties are preparing to attack the Russian base with the use of combat unmanned aerial vehicles and kamikaze drones.
The Death Eaters have equipped a great number of drones with a range of action of up to 70 kilometers at workshops near the settlement of Khirbet al-Jouz, in Harem, north of Idlib Governorate, he added.
"Under a presumed plan of terrorists, the drones are tasked to divert Russian air defense systems and hit Khmeimim airbase facilities," according to Yegorov.
On October 27, the center said that the HTS intends to carry out a false flag chemical attack in Idlib in order to accuse Syrian forces of using poisonous substances against civilians.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2022 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
The ongoing clashes between #ISIS militants and local gunmen in #Daraa city, south #Syria, claim the lives of six people, including a media activist https://t.co/wvr4fFdR6c
[NPASYRIA] Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, Director of 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... Human Rights, said on Saturday that the number of victims of the Iranian demonstrations went up to more than 304 protestors.
Moghaddam said in a statement via Tweeter, "304+ protesters including 41 minors and 24 women killed so far in Iran protests."
"Yesterday in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... ’s 2nd bloody Friday at least 16 protesters were killed," he added.
Meanwhile in the city of Khash, southeast Iran, the security forces cracked down on protesters, killing more than 16 and injuring dozens.
The demonstrations are still ongoing in Iran for the second month at many Iranian cities and towns, following the death of young Kurdish women Mahsa Amini at the hands of morality police for not complying with the country’s dress code.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2022 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
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.
...
...
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...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 
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
...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 
